“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1

Faith is not a thing that can be placed. It is not a commodity that we possess, like so many chips at a casino, to place on a specific number in hopes that the craps wheel lands on our guess…

Faith is a perception of reality. An “assurance” and a “conviction”.

Faith and belief are the same concept, as used in the new testament.

Faith does have an object. You believe in something. More accurately, having faith is accepting as reality, a concept, truth, statement of fact, etc.

When you faith something, (believe something), you aren’t choosing to acknowledge one reality over the next arbitrarily. Your reality shifts to include the thing you have faith in.

It is an “enlightenment” of sorts, though not in the buddhist sense, but in the “fumbling around in a dark room until someone flips the light-switch on” sense.

We are not told to “place our faith”, we are told to “have faith in God!” or another way to put it “believe God!”. It is also my conviction that this is not something an individual can do on their own. This sort of belief is a work of the Holy Spirit.

Do a word study on Faith with this lens. See what you come up with.

This is a thought in process and I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say about it. It is unrefined and needs help, which is why I posted it. Help.

I was playing my guitar earlier today, and as usual Elena walked over and asked to start strumming the guitar. The difference is that this time, she started singing along. The tune was indiscernible, so I assume she was inventing it.

I think I captured the lyrics fairly accurately. Here they are.

Once upon a time
there was a happy little lady
and her name was mommy
and her name was mommy
and her name was mommy

And she was playing with her magic ball
and she was going to the potty
but she was not going in her pants
she was going all by herself
she was going
she was going
she was going
she was going
she was going
but not forever and ever.

“Talk of the Town” Rhubarb Muffins

1 egg, beaten
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. oil
1 c. buttermilk (OR 1 T. lemon juice mixed with 1 c. milk, let sit 5 min…I used this and it worked well)

1-1/4 c. brown sugar
2-1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1-1/2 c. rhubarb, finely chopped (so you get a rhubarb “kick” in each bite :))
1/2 c. nuts, chopped (optional)

Sugar topping:
1 T. butter, melted
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Mix wet ingredients and add to combined dry ingredients. For sugar topping, mix sugar and cinnamon before adding melted butter. Fill 20 muffin cups and sprinkle on sugar topping. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes, using toothpick test to determine “doneness.”

This is a great recipe to share with friends and neighbors since it makes such a big batch (20). Maybe it’ll be the talk of YOUR neighborhood soon!

I get asked occasionally, “What did faith look like in the Old Testament? If they didn’t have Christ, what did God want them to have faith in?”

I think that Psalm 119 in general, and these two lines from it specifically, reflect that kind of faith very well.

My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. My eyes long for your promise; I ask, When will you comfort me?
Psalm 119:81-82

We can still pray this today. We know that God’s Word and his promise IS Jesus! Psalm 119:81-82 would read something like this today:

My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in JESUS. My eyes long to see Jesus, When will you comfort me?

“…For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Pharisees we’re perfect (outwardly) according to the law (which is what Jesus is talking about here, obedience to the law). How could anyone’s righteousness exceed perfection? This must have been a bit discouraging and confusing to the crowd. Jesus then goes on to “crank up” the requirements of the law, making it even MORE difficult!

Paul said this (Philippians 3:4-12)

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more : circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish [dung, B.S.!], in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

I love this thought. Any striving on our own to become worthy of righteousness is B.S.

Jesus has made us his own, and that is the reason God considers us righteous.

And you know what? That inspires me to want to love the people around me (and everything else the law says we ought to do.)

The purpose of prayer is strengthening of our relationship with God.

Psalm 63 David had a pasionate and vibrant relationship with God

But our relationship is “shadowy” (1 cor 13) and a bit subjective and obscure. How is it possible to have this sort of relationship?

• God knows you more intimately than any other person.
• God loves more deeply than anyone, he died on the cross for us.
• Our relationship with him is safer than any other. We can share anything with him without fear of betrayal.
• He is able to communicate more clearly with us through his spirit.
• He is more faithful than any other friend.

A few years ago, Dave begam to Take an extended time alone in prayer.
* start with a few hours * then to an entire afternoon * then to a day * then to several days

Like in a marriage, a lot of interaction is functional and businesslike, but you need time to simply be together and talk about whatever is on your mind.

Consider starting to do this.

But what do you do?

Read the article: how to spen a day in prayer.

Six thing that have helped Dave in time alone in prayer:

1. Schedule it: find a time and a secluded place (husbands help your wife do this)
2. Reflect on the condition of you soul. (psalm 42)
3. Refresh yourself in the truth. (read his word)
4. Give thanks and praise to god. (discipline yourself to give thanks)
5. Cast your burdens upon god through supplication.
6. Quiet your soul to listen.

What is the unique power of Christianity compared to other religions? We have the power from God to be changed from the inside out.

Enhance your relationship with God by getting an extended time alone with God.

Luke 10:41-42 – only one thing is really necessary.

You’ll have to cut out something to make this happen, maybe even ministry goals.

Where do you want to be in your walk with god 5 years from now. What decisions do you have to make to get there.

This might even go against the current culture of our church.

“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” ~Romans 5:8-11

Isn’t God’s love amazing?

What is the right thing for a powerful, righteous king to do to his enemies? Destroy them, right? Purify the land. Keep his loyal subjects safe…

Can you imagine Jesus, in the comfort and glory of heaven, agreeing together with the father that the right thing to do for His enemies is to be destroyed their place?

It’s a wonderful thing that God, in His love and sovereignty decided this too. We were His enemies, in danger of that destruction. But God loves YOU… He LOVES you… so much that He’d do the dying for us.

What does he ask of us? To act like him. To be “sons of your father”.

Who do you consider as your enemy? Do you love them?

At its root, weariness is often the result of pride and self-sufficiency in my life. When I neglect casting my cares upon the Lord, the heavy fatigue of weariness will settle into my soul.

I’ve recently read four excellent books on the topic of missiology specifically related to the culture we live in, how to understand it and how to speak to it: Breaking The Missional Code, They Like Jesus but Not The Church, Unchristian, and most recently Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them.

Several things strike me about these books.

1. They are all written based on a healthy mixture of good data (research!) and objective, Spirit-led observation of reality around them, through relationship with those that are being written about.

2. They all provide biblically-based principals, rather than faddish methodologies, based on analysis of this research and observation.

3. They all come to approximately the same conclusions.

I feel that we would do well to listen up, especially since these books come from three different organizations from three different “corners of the church” (Barna Research Group, a large church in California, and LifeWay research), and therefore aren’t simply creating an echo chamber of thought.

Perhaps soon I will get around to reviewing all of them, but this post is concerned with the Lost and Found book.

Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and The Churches that Reach Them

Of the four, I found this book to be the easiest to digest, with the most recent data, clearly stated methodologies and goals, with to-the-point analysis at the end of each chapter.

The book is an engaging read. A well structured balance of research based data, personal interview, and an engaging “true story” narrative that glues the concepts together with practical advice.

The book’s introduction speaks well to its purpose:

Much has been written and said about younger adults and their view of church. You don’t need a lot of research to tell you what you already know…

…this is not a prescripbe book with magical answers to the problems plaguing churches devoid of young adults. Each church we profile, like yours, is unique in setting, ministry, and calling…

…in this book [the authors] are asking one simple question: Who are the yong unchruched and how can they be reached with the good news of Jesus Christ? (OK, that’s two questions)…

…We realize you do not need another book of statistics. But what we do need is something to help all of us engage an increasingly lost generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need tools that will help us seek and save those of this generation who are lost. As you read, our prayer is that you will be challenged to take action, so that the lost may be found.

After reading the book, it occurred to me that some churches DO need a book of statistics. It seems that even in our intuitive knowledge of the problem that Christianity is considered hypocritically judgmental, and concerned more with it’s own organization than with people, we do little to help this situation, probably because we don’t fully understand the problem.

We bristle at critiques that call us judgmental and hypocritical, saying that we’re simply pointing out sin. We hide behind verses that tell us that the world is going to hate us.

We fail to realize that for some people that God brings into our sphere of influence, we are called to help heal years of hurt from past religious institutions.

We fail to acknowledge that some people simply aren’t going to come to our church, no matter how cool our music is, how “casual” and “lingo free” we try to be, or how many “bring a friend to church sundays” we organize and exhort our people to.

The fact is that Jesus called us to go out among the lost.

I was shocked at the statistics that showed how little of a difference the “young unchurched” reported the style of music or service made in their decision to check out a church or not.

What matter to them are deep relationships and authentic community where it is safe to ask the hard questions without being told to “just have faith”. Along with people who actually care enough about the community they are in to get involved in it, rather than simply protest it, picket it, bemoan it’s fallenness, or simply huddle up an ignore it.

Read this book.

A recent post of his caught my eye: What I’ve Learned Since I Kissed Dating Goodbye (Josh Harris)

“I still stand by the message of that book that premature, short-term romantic attachments can be a big distraction from serving God—especially for teenagers. But in the years since I’ve also seen that a legalistic application of these ideas can be unhelpful, too. One of my main concerns in my church or any other church is that there be no disunity among Christians over issues of dating and courtship. We need to learn to hold our own convictions on this matter with charity. Most importantly we need to make sure that our convictions are shaped by scripture—not culture, church culture or my books.”

I have attempted at different times keeping a very strict Sabbath, not allowing anything to encroach on my day. It’s not easy. Especially for a Worship leader. Right now I mark out Saturday as my Sabbath because it’s the only day where it’d be remotely POSSIBLE for me to have nothing going on. I keep as free of regular obligations as possible for my own sanity. I am almost always doing something on Saturdays though.

This quote was refreshing:

“Legalistic attempts have been made to rob the Sabbath of its worship and joy by carefully mandating what can and cannot be done. However, Jesus seemed to have intentionally lived in public view to serve as a contrary model of the Sabbath than that given by other legalistic teachers. For example, Jesus healed on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1–14, John 9:1–17), taught on the Sabbath (Mark 6:1–2), and promoted evangelism on the Sabbath (John 7:21–24). Jesus demonstrated that the Sabbath is not to be enforced legalistically, but that it exists for worshipful fun and rest. Furthermore, our true Sabbath is not in a day but ultimately in a saving relationship with Jesus where we can rest from trying to earn our salvation and rest in His finished work (Matthew 11:28–30; Romans 4:5; Colossians 2:16–17). Therefore, the Sabbath is not a law for believers to obey, but instead a grace to enjoy.”

Key words here: worship, rest, enjoy, grace.

We still try to mandate what can and can’t (should and shouldn’t) be done on a Sabbath. My recommendation is to keep it free of structure and obligation, but continue to look for opportunities to worship in service, encouragement, evangelism, mercy, and charity, all fueled by God’s grace and not out of a sense of duty (other than to our Lord).

John Piper is releasing a(nother) new book that I really want to pick up. Finally Alive. The subject of the book is the new birth.

From the bookstore site:

“What does the Bible teach about the miracle of rebirth? In this new book, John Piper explores Jesus’ peculiar command, “You must be born again.
Spiritual rebirth is precious and crucial. When Jesus said, “You must be born again,” he wasn’t simply sharing interesting information; he was directing us toward eternal life.

It is essential to know what God intends when he uses this language of being born again, so that we may experience new birth and help others do the same.”

One quote that grabbed me is on evangelism:

“If you feel average or below average in your fitness to share the gospel treasure, you are closer to the truth than someone who feels powerful and wise and self-sufficient…. [Y]ou are the person God is looking for—a clay pot, who simply shares the treasure of the gospel, not the glitzy intellect, not the glitzy eloquence, not the glitzy beauty or strength or cultural cleverness.” (181-182)

Looking forward to checking this one out.

Box of Tricks: “Gary Chang, a Hong Kong architect, lives in a tiny apartment, but thanks to accordion-like wall units, he can create at least 24 different room configurations.”

This type of innovation is extremely refreshing to see.

(Via Unclutterer.)

Ethics Daily.com: A group of six church-goers came in the other night after their evening services and sat down, not in her area but in another server’s. When the girl came to greet them and take their drink order, one of them said, We want to tell you up front that we will not be tipping you tonight because …”
Are you ready?

“…We do not believe in people working on Sunday.“

Makes me want to turn tables over… but the author makes a good shift to turning that lens on himself. I’m attempting to do the same.

(Via Monday Morning Insight.)

Crazy stuff with awesome implications.

I found this message EXTREMELY refreshing.  A far cry from simplistic, methodistic, rule-based application of dos and do-nots,  Brad masterfully called us to see God’s sovereignty in redemption, calling us to trust in his working in our lives, and not fret over our lack of conformity to The Law.

At least, that’s what I took away.  A brilliant introduction to The Lord’s Supper.  Thanks for speaking faithfully, Brad.

Genesis: 25:22-29 Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Esau

• the older shall serve the younger
• two nations are in your womb

Esau – hairy, hunter, “man’s man” Jacob – cheater and mama’s boy.

Esau sells Jacob his birthright for a bowl of soup.

Genesis 27

Jacob is acting out of complete selfishness. No evidence of faith in this man at all. “The Lord YOUR god granted me success…”

Seems a bit strange that (at face value) God’s blessing can be stolen by deceit.

Does God condone this sort of behavior, or was he powerless to stop it, right the wrong, or reverse the blessing?

Also note the power and permanence of a father’s blessing…

(remimds me of Romans 11:29: the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.)

The human part of this story is despicable. Utter faithlessness and deception. Yet (in coming chapters) God inserts himself into the situation, redeems it, and brings himself glory in spite of it. God is not pleased with or honored by the sin in this situation.

Thank God that it does not depend on our faithfulness, righteousness, performance, track record of successful commitment, to recieve the benefits of God. It depends on the sovereign working of God (through the holy spirit) in redemption.

• Genesis 50:20
• Hebrews 7:25
• Hebrews 10:17

Just wanted to mention that Ronald Reagan had the same idea.

Jus’ sayin’…

(Via Mashable’s Tumblr.)

Part 1 is up (numbers 1-3).  Check it out.