Luke 23 :: Good Friday? Really?

Luke 23

From Luke 22:67-70

Having already begun the beating, the men in charge of Jesus asked him, "Are you the Messiah?"

"If I said yes, you wouldn't believe me.  If I asked what you meant by your question, you wouldn't answer me.  So here's what I have to say:  From here on the Son of Man takes his place at God's right hand, the place of power."

They all said, "So you admit your claim to be the son of God?"

"You're the ones who keep saying it."

In Chapter 23, amidst the crucifixion narrative, Luke records Jesus as saying...

• Those are your words not mine.
• Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing.
• Don't worry, I will.  Today you will join me in paradise.
• Father, I place my life in your hands!

These are not the words of a king.  These are not the words of the most powerful man on earth.  These are not the words that I want my Savior to say as he is spit upon, beaten, tortured and killed.  This is not the way it is supposed to happen.  Why doesn't he fight?  Why doesn't his Father step in?  Why can't he stop this?

The answers to these questions mean everything.  The answers are the reasons why such a horrible day can be referred to by Christ-followers everywhere as "Good Friday."  Several people have put together lists of why, but I wanted to highlight one...

"This is how much God loved the world:  He gave his Son, the one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.  God didn't go through all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.  He came to help, to put the world right again.  Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted"  - John 3:16-17 (The Message)

Jesus suffered and died to justify the love of God.  His love for his creation, so great that it cost him the life of his son.  His death, his suffering, doesn't point an accusatory finger, but extends a loving embrace.  Have you been embraced by this love?  If you haven't you can.  If you have, that's why we can call it "Good Friday."

Luke 22 :: A Look of Love

Luke 22

Sorry for my delay yesterday.  Rhonda had big birthday and I got a bit side-tracked.  I'm back today though and there was a lot in the reading this morning.  There is one section that has always stood out to me about the reading today, and it all centers around Peter's denial of Jesus.

It's easy for me to look at Peter and see myself or see others I have know that have gone a different direction with their lives.  I know the feeling of saying one minute, "I'd die for you," and the next minute, "I don't know him."  I have made those commitments and I know the frustration of the inability to follow through.  I have no problem identifying with him.

For the past several weeks, I have worked really hard at trying to learn new things about Jesus in the readings and not necessarily about me.  When I started, I wanted to see him more clearly.  In this section, I want to understand Jesus more clearly.  I locked into verse 33 when Peter responds to Jesus words of warning to them, "Master, I'm ready for anything with you.  I'd go to jail for you.  I'd die for you."  Isn't this what every leader wants to hear?  Don't you know you are a good leader when your followers tell you this?  Jesus does something, I'm not sure I would have done.  He knows that Peter wants to believe what he is saying, but he also knows that Peter cannot follow-through with his promise.  In fact, he knows that before the next day, Peter will break it.  It would be easy to read into Jesus' words a bit of "Yeah, whatever Peter, you won't even make it a day," but that is not what happened.  He starts with this little phrase, "I say to you."  This phrase is a deeper connection to Peter.  The Message translates the phrase as "I'm sorry to have to tell you this," and I believe that gets more to the heart of Jesus' response.  He was disappointed and his love for Peter was no less because he knew what would happen.  I like that...a lot.

Then later in v61, after Peter's three denials, Luke says that Jesus "turned and looked" at Peter.  Not with anger nor with pity.  The little phrase here is also important to understand Jesus better.  The phrase is used metaphorically when someone looks at another with the mind.  In a very real essence, Jesus was looking into Peter, not just at Peter.  Jesus knew what Peter had been through and he knew what Peter would become.  I believe that this "look" had a sense of hope in it for Peter, and that made it even worse for him at that moment.

I want to be this way.  I want to have this sort of love for people around me.  When you screw up, I want to look at you this way - not with disappointment, not with anger, not with I-told-you-so, but with hope.  God has bigger plans for you than your failures yesterday, today or even tomorrow.  His gaze into you is filled with hope and promise for tomorrow.  Maybe you've never seen a look like that.  Maybe you've never been told, "It doesn't matter...I love you anyway."  If that's true, my prayer for you is that Father will show you that through someone today.

Luke 10 :: REAL LOVE

Luke 10

My thoughts on Luke 10 came in the form of a Sunday teaching yesterday.  The story that received the most attention from me was Luke 10:25-37.  The story is commonly knows as the Good Samaritan story.  Jesus cuts across the cultural version of love where we reach out to those like us and calls us to a REAL LOVE that risks our lives, offers concrete care and advocates for those most different than us.

You can listen here if you'd like.

Luke 7 :: A Hooker and a Pharisee

Luke 7

At the end of the chapter, Luke recalls a story about a sinful woman, a woman of ill repute, a harlot...a hooker.  Included in this story is a Pharisee, a member of the religious elite, a socialite of all socialites.  The two prove to be an unlikely lesson on the grace of God.

The Pharisee has invited Jesus to his home for a meal.  Jesus's acceptance of the invitation shows that he was not spurning the Pharisees socially, but that he indeed was here for them also.  The woman has taken advantage of the social customs of the day which allowed her to attend a banquet to wait around for left-overs.  She was allowed to come get scraps, but she wanted to see the Savior.

She brings along an expensive bottle of perfume.  Where she got this, I have no idea.  She may have bought it with her "earnings," or she may have received it as a "gift" from a client, or she may have taken from a client.  She could have also come by it honorably, I presume.  She does to Jesus what she knows to do.  I speculate that this was not the first time she had washed the feet of a man, while crying and splashed some expensive perfume on his feet.  It's the sort of demeaning thing that a john would have requested.  She was expressing love for Jesus in the only way she knew how.  When the Pharisee saw her doing this, he wasn't shocked, but he says, "If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him."

Jesus then addresses the Pharisee with another story.  Two men in debt to a banker - one owes 500 pieces of silver and the other 50 pieces of silver.  If the banker cancels both debts, which of the two would be more grateful?  The host answers reluctantly, "I suppose the one who was forgiven the most."

Looking back at the woman, he continues his conversation with the host.  He explains that she has done much more for him than the host has done.  She has been forgiven much and is very, very grateful.  Jesus then tells her that her sins are forgiven and that her faith has saved her.  Now she can go.  She has what she came for.

Wow!  I am absolutely blown away by this story.  I am floored at the willingness of Jesus to love the unlovable.  I find myself saying, "Yeah!  Take that Pharisee."  I have to ask myself, what does this say about Jesus?  Jesus accepts us where we are when we come to him.  Jesus deals with us where we are when we invite him in.  Jesus accepts our offering no matter what it is.  Jesus cancels debts - both large and small.  Jesus notices our offerings.  Jesus notices our ambivalence.  Jesus forgives sins.  Jesus saves the woman based on her faith - not her church attendance, not her walking an isle, not her commitment to attend temple every week after that, not her quitting her profession...

This really is good news.  This really is the expression of the gospel that people are searching everywhere hoping to attain.  This is the love and the compassion I want to flow through me.  Incredible!

Romans 14:19-23 :: Eat and Drink Freely

Romans 14:19-23 (The Message and TNIV)

Paul seems to now make a shift to those who do eat and drink freely, without the hindrance of abstinence.  All food and drink is good, but can be turned badly by the way that we partake.  Just as the strict adherents to the dietary laws could cause problems with others by their insistence on not, those who are free can also cause problems with their freedom.

The point:  "When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love." (v21)

When we differ with someone else in our freedoms, whether eating or drinking, our primary concern is how we share the life of Jesus with each other.  No matter what side of the fence we stand, grace (the free exchange of love) should rule the relationship.

Romans 12:9-13 ::

Romans 12:9-13 (The Message and TNIV)

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. (9-10)

How did we get to this point?  How did followers of a man best known for the way he loved people become the people listed in this video?  These perceptions are simply "unchristian," they are not like Jesus.  If we are going to be Springs of life to those around us, we must be different.

Paul is clear that we ought to be people who love from our core.  It's not that we do loving things, but that everything we do comes from love.  It's the "I want you to want to" debate that spouses have every day.  Just doing loving things does not make us loving people.  Oh, but I wish it did.  Wouldn't it be much easier if just going to a local soup kitchen would make me love.  Activity is not the change-agent of our selfish hearts, though.  God is the changer of our centers.  He is the one who works his love into us so that no matter what we do - pushing papers, cleaning roadsides, performing surgery, working taxes, taking food to a friend, sitting with the elderly, defending the most vulnerable - it is the fruit of love.  Loving actions are the fruit of love, love is not the fruit of loving actions.

Paul then says we are to run for dear life from evil, but hold on for dear life to what is good.  When the Romans heard "evil" from Paul, it likely conjured up images of hard labor and hardships, toil and peril.  The evil is about doing things.  When they heard "good", they understood Paul as referring to their being, their nature.  The good is about being.

Be good friends who love deeply.  Paul is charging the Romans to a mutual, give-recieve, kind of love.  This kind of love stems from a relationship between two people.  In relationship we are given our greatest leadership exhortation - practice playing second fiddle.  Put the needs of others above your needs.  When we have a relationship with someone, that relationship drives us to step aside.  When we fail to lead and love out of relationship, we slip back into activity and it will lead to apathy.

Let's direct a new video.  Let's be a people who follow the one who love greater than any person in history.  Let's let him open up a fountain of love in us, that we may be known as a people who love.

Romans 11:16-24 :: Grafts and Grace

Romans 11:16-24 (The Message and TNIV)

The “holy, God-planted, God-tended root” is the place of privilege with God that Israel first enjoyed.  The natural branches are Israel and the grafted branches are the Gentiles.  The Gentiles were added into the family and are as holy as the core of the tree they were grafted into.  The Israelites who did not believe were considered deadwood and were pruned from the place of privilege.

Paul employs a very interesting metaphor here.   He references an olive tree (TNIV).  In Palestine, an olive tree that failed to produce foot would be trimmed back, or pruned.  A branch from a wild olive tree would be grafted to the pruned branch and the sap from the wild olive tree would invigorate the deadwood and new life would result in this process.

There are times when we must prune back our beliefs and practices that fail to produce any good fruit.  This pruning back allows for new life to be grafted into our wounded and pruned area.  We then will be able to grow new life and bear new fruit.  The branches that were pruned are not necessarily thrown away for good either.  God can take those old beliefs and graft them into the tree as well.  An old dead belief or practice, now comes alive again.

An example in my life of God doing this for me is in the area of spending time alone with God.  As a teenager, I was taught how to have a "quiet time" with God.  It was very ritualistic for me.  I had a journal that was divided up into days and I couldn't stand to have one of the days blank.  I took great pride in maintaining consistency of day-to-day quiet times.  Over time this ritual became a dead practice. I would go through the motions, but it was a practice that was not bearing fruit in my life or in the lives of others.  I was checking off a box of spiritual maturity...or so I thought.  For a season of my life, I quit having "quiet times."  That was simply a deadwood practice for me.  After a couple of years of God instilling in me the "new graft" of relational connections and community in God and with God, a new shoot was growing from my tree.  The root of spending time with God was holy and pure, but my additional legalism was deadwood.  Now that root of spending time with God, bears the fruit of a relationship with God that goes beyond a 15-minute window with a spiritual journal.  It bears the fruit of actively searching ways to encourage and build-up others around me as a result of the relationship I have with God, through the work and grace of Jesus.  My "quiet times" today don't look like they did, and might not even be considered such by my mentors, but they are what they are and right now, I think God is pleased with the fruit they produce...at least most of the time.

What about you?  Have you ever had an experience where God has had to prune some deadwood in your life?

Romans 8:31-39 :: Unconditional means Without Conditions, Right?

Romans 8:31-39 (The Message and TNIV)

I love today's reading.  This is one of those passages in the bible that speaks into the darkest place of my heart.  That place where I feel inadequate to handle what is coming at me.  That part of me that feels like I can't go another day.  That part of me that wants to give up the fight.  If it bothers you that one of your pastors has that place in his heart, then you might want to stop reading now and move to another blog where a pastor doesn't.

For someone like me, the preceding verses about how God knows everything about us could be a little intimidating, considering the things I think in that place. What keeps it from being intimidated is right at the beginning of today's reading.  "With God on our side..."  No matter my failures, my insecurities, my own dysfunctional self, God is still on my side.  He's in my corner.  He has my back.  And no matter who or what stands up against me, he can kick their...yeah that's right, he can!  Nothing can come between his love for me and my lack of love for him.  Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture.  Do you hear that?

This carries some incredible weight in my life for two reasons: First, it impacts the way that I love myself.  Nothing I have done, am doing or will do can drive a wedge between me and his love for me.  Nothing.  Second, it impacts the way that I love others around me.  Nothing they have done, are doing or will do can drive a wedge between them and his love for them.  Nothing.  Therefore it shouldn't for me, either.

Can you imagine the splash we could make in the lives of others if we lived this out?  We live with wedges between us and others because of what they have done, don't we?  Imagine if those were gone.  Imagine not having that twinge of discomfort when Muslim man enters the plane after you've taken your seat, because the wedge is gone.  Imagine not cracking a joke to your friends when a gay man walks in to the restaurant where you are eating, because the wedge is gone.

Imagine opening your home to your neighbors even thought they believe differently than your family, because the wedge is gone.  Imagine spending a weekend serving the less fortunate and most vulnerable, because the wedge is gone.  Imagine speaking the truth in love with your co-workers, because the wedge is gone.

What are you imagining being different because there is no wedge between others and your love for them?  What might be different if you realized that the wedge between you and God is completely gone?

Acts 19 :: Curiosity

Acts 19 in The Message and TNIV translations

This is a loaded chapter, for sure.  Paul is extremely busy.  He goes to Ephesus and introduces the believers their to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  After that, he has to deal with witches, then the crowds clamoring for their goddess Artemis.

Here is my fixation phrase for today:  "Curiosity about Paul developed into reverence for the Master Jesus." v17.

I really want to live my life in a way that causes curiosity for others.  Sometimes, though, I think I just do it to keep people curious.  Challenging the status quo is one way that I build curiosity in others.  I wonder, however, if their curiosity is developing into reverence for Jesus.  If I'm being totally honest, I don't think so.

It is my prayer that those of us who call ourselves Springs, live in such a way that causes community curiosity.  Not because we are weird or because we dress a certain way, but because their is something different about our lives.  There is joy, where there should be sorrow.  There is commitment, when everyone says to give up.  There is acceptance, when everyone else rejects.  I really want to be part of a movement of curious people in League City, Texas.  But...

I want that curiosity in others to develop into a reverence for Jesus.  I want them to understand that there is a reason for our "peculiarity."  I want the people I live around to come to the realization that God loves them and gave His Son for them, so that they may have life - more and better life than they ever dreamed of experiencing.

What kind of impact do you think we could make?  What kind of impact could you make?

Matthew11::Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Matthew11

How could this paragraph not stand out to me this morning?

28-30"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

I often find it easy to complain.  Easy to complain about the state of Christianity today, the state of the local church and the state of my life.  Underneath the criticism lies an honest exhaustion though.  I have been a Christian for 30 years, so I should be hitting my prime with this following-Jesus-thing, right?  Instead, when it comes to faith, I am more often tired and worn out than I am refreshed and rejuvenated.  I find myself longing to get away - not always to get away with Jesus, but to just get away.  I need Jesus to show me how to recover my life, how to take a real rest.  I need to learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I want a faith that fits me correctly and isn't so heavy.  I want to live freely and lightly.

Is this kind of life possible?  Are you experiencing it?  There are moments and seasons where I live in this. Everything seems to work.  I'm not talking about everything being good because some of these times have included difficulties in my life of some sort - sick friend, death of a family member, loss of a job, etc..  It's easy to mistake unforced rhythms of grace for prosperity.  The bible talks about us sharing in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings - not sure about you, but I don't like suffering and fellowship together.  When it's all working the way God intended, it's good.  When it's not, I find that it's an issue with me - with my view, with my position or with my expectation.

What is it that is good?  For me it's good when I find myself wanting to talk to Father.  It's good when I find myself satisfied by His Word.  It's good when I see Father working in little things around me, like in the grocery store or at the park.  It's good when I experience the presence of Christ in the midst of difficult days.  It's good when I rest in His provision for my life instead of longing for more.  It's good.

What about you?  Have you ever experienced these unforced rhythms of grace?  When is it good for you?  

Core Virtue :: LOVE

I sacrificially and unconditionally love and forgive others.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

1 John 4:10-12 (TNIV)

Today we move from virtues related primarily to our relationship with God into virtues that directly effect our relationships with others. We are starting with a bang and setting the bar high. Love. Sacrificially. Unconditionally. Oh come on! Is this really possible. Can I really love others sacrificially and without conditions? I am not even sure this is really possible.

If we simply try to conjure up this kind of love on our own, then it is not possible. However, if we submit ourselves to the love of God and learn to walk in His Spirit, then it's not only possible, but it's a natural fruit. When we realized that God has loved us without condition, we are free to love others without condition. When we understand the depth of his sacrifice for us, we can then sacrifice for others.

Loving others is not about liking others. It's much deeper than that. Anyone can like someone who is just like them and treats them well. The test comes when someone hurts you...can you still love them? The test comes when that person is annoying...can you still love them? The test comes when they live differently than you...can you still love them?

A church that embraces walking in the Spirit and begins to display the fruit of love is a church that will make a difference in their community. A family that embraces walking in the Spirit and begins to display the fruit of love will make a difference in their neighborhood. A person who embraces walking in the Spirit and begins to display the fruit of love will make a difference in their family. I want to be this person. I want to lead this kind of family. I want to be part of this kind of church. What about you?

Parenting this Virtue

KidsKreed :: I am loving and forgiving others no matter what.

Kids take everything personally. They often struggle with other kids that aren't nice to them, don't play with them or don't include them in their games. It's important that they understand that God loves those children no matter what, and that we, too, should do the same. It may hurt and it may be difficult, but God will help us if we are willing to let him.

Our kids will be watching us. No matter how much we talk about loving others no matter what, they are listening more to our actions than our words. When we know that we have not acted in a loving manner toward others, we must confess this to our children, so they will understand that we are also on this journey toward love.

Core Practice::Single-Mindedness

I focus on God and His priorities for my life.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Matthew 6:33 (TNIV)

Ever heard a sentence that just didn't seem to give you enough information? I feel this way about Matthew 6:33. But? But what? All these things? All what things? As well? As well as what? This is simply a verse that begs us to read the verses before it. So...

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Well okay, now we've got something significant to discuss. But gives a contrast between two worldviews. First, is the world of the pagans who ruthlessly pursue selfish desires of the flesh with no regard to anyone or anything but themselves. "What shall we eat?" "What shall we drink?" "What shall we wear?" This worldview is a consumptive view of everything. Get more, get more, get more. Everything is seen through the lens of today and how can we keep up with those around us. Today, this view manifests itself much the same way. Our families stretch themselves beyond their means in order to get certain things. "Where shall I live?" "Where shall my kids go to school?" "What shall I drive?" "What league will my kid play in?" "Where will we go on vacation?" These are just some of today's questions that rattle around within this world view. But...there is an alternative.

Jesus tells his followers to not pursue those things because he is faithful to provide you with what you need to live. He offers an alternative worldview. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness," he says. The kingdom of God is now. It's seeing life through an eternal lens, rather than a temporary one. It's recognizing that what we do today is an investment in our future, the future of our family and the future of our community. God's kingdom is bigger than our experiences today. When we realize that, we are able to focus on His priorities for our lives. His righteousness has been offered to us. By focusing on his righteousness, we stop demanding perfection from ourselves and from others. His righteousness allows us to love others unconditionally. His righteousness allows us to experience his personal nature. His righteousness covers up our unrighteousness. His righteousness covers up our neighbors' unrighteousness.

Now we can relax. We don't have to be so uptight because we know that Father will take care of us. He will provide. This doesn't mean we cease to work, but it does allow us to break free from the tyranny of the temporary. Because we have a bigger view of our situations than just today, we can rest in the comfort of his priorities for our lives. Those priorities are seen throughout the pages of the Bible, as people embrace the Jesus way of life.

Single-Mindedness: Flows from the foundational belief that God is personal and that he cares about our daily lives. The fruit of single-minded living is found in the list of virtues.

Kid's Q&A:

Big Idea: I love God by focusing on His plan for me.

Hand Motion: Hands on sides of face around eyes signifying focus.

Have you ever had something that you couldn't get out of your mind? What was it? How did it affect you during the day? When we get something "stuck in our mind" it influences everything we do during the day.

How do you think focusing on God's plan for you would affect your day? It might change the way you answer your teacher when she asks you to do something. It might change your response when your parents say to clean your room. It might change the way you think about that video game that you "can't live without."

We can trust God's plan because He promises to take care of us. Just as the birds don't spend time worrying about their clothing or where they will get food, Jesus wants us to know that we don't have to worry about those things either. We focus on Him and He takes care of that stuff.

Core Belief :: SALVATION BY GRACE

We believe a person comes into a right relationship with God by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (TNIV)

On Friday morning, Cameron told me he had written a post for "Salvation by Grace" but got away from the house without publishing the post. He asked me to go online and post it for him. So I did just that...then something happened and I deleted it. Gone. Nowhere to be found. Oops. I'm sure that Cameron's post was probably life-changing for someone and now no one will ever know. Since that happened, I guess he's been tied up, so I wanted to pass along my thoughts on this core belief.

Salvation by Grace was one of the few mantras I remember from my churches growing up. I remember this phrase being thrown around often. Ephesians 2:8-9 was one of the first passages of Scripture I ever memorized. We quoted it before going out and sharing the message of Jesus to people who didn't know it...or at least hadn't embraced it like we had yet. Everybody in my church knew that you were "saved by grace" even if we didn't really know what it meant.

We believe that humanity's relationship with Creator God was severed through disobedience through one man - Adam (Romans 5:12). That's right. The one man created before all men. In Genesis 3, he disobeys God (he sins) and ushers death into our world. This death was not only physical death, but spiritual death as well. His sin separated us from God. Our relationship was not right. We also believe that Jesus came to make that relationship right again. His sacrifice and subsequent resurrection turned everything around. Now, through one man's (Jesus') sacrifice, life would redeemed and humanity could be restored.

So we believe that a person comes into a right relationship with God by His grace. His grace is the giving of His Son so we might have life. His son paid for our sin. His son set things right for us with God. We believe this happens through faith in Jesus Christ - trusting with your life that Jesus is our only way back into a right relationship with God.

How does this belief effect my everyday life? What difference does this make? Not only is our initial relationship reestablished by grace, but it's also sustained by grace as well. I cannot be the husband, the father, the friend, the pastor, the artist that I need to be apart from God's grace in my life. Nothing I do could ever earn this right relationship with God, and nothing I do could ever take this reestablished relationship away. I don't walk on pins and needles wondering if I've done enough good things to get to heaven some day. I don't worry about whether that reaction I had with my kids will reduce the love God has for me. I don't live my life in fear of Father. It's all because of Jesus I'm alive.

What does this belief mean to you? How does it impact your daily life?

Mark 9

John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.”

Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.

“On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.

Mark 9:38-42

Mark 9 is a loaded chapter, to say the least. I was drawn by all 5 of the teachable passages (could be more). I have chosen to process with you through one of them, though.

Admittedly, I have a problem with criticism. I have a bit of what I've been told is a gift of discernment. Unfortunately, I have not matured in that gift, completely. It's easy for me to see the good in someone and to embrace that person no matter what they may look like on the outside. However, I can also easily see the bad in someone, and in the words of the great theologian, Bon Qui Qui, "CUT them." My passion and desire to be more like Jesus has turned my criticism 180 degrees in my life though. When I first became a Christ-follower, I would criticize those who didn't know Jesus and felt like it was my duty as a Christian to point out faults and turn them to Jesus. Now, I feel more compassion, mercy and grace flowing to those very people, and less and less flowing to the "Christians" in my culture.

What I hear being said to me in this passage is simple. Quit criticizing those who are acting in my name, and on my behalf just because you don't agree with their methods. If they are not my enemies, then they are my allies. Okay, I hear that, but...

No "buts." No matter if I agree or if I get it, it's clear. If someone is not preaching against Jesus, then I should praise God for them. I don't have to agree with their methodology, I don't have to trust them...I have to trust Him.

It is very interesting that Jesus calls these new Christ-followers, "simple child-like believers." My response to them is crucial. If I keep them from doing any work or ministry "in Jesus' name," then I am guilty. This is serious.

Father, I want to trust you with all of your 'ministers.' You know hearts and you know motives. Even in the most awkward moments, may your light shine through them, as I pray it shines through me when my heart is not right and motives are not pure. None of us are perfect and all of us need you to re-interpret our messages to the hearts of the people you want to reach. May I live in that trust more today, than I did yesterday.

Ask And You Shall Receive

If you missed Sunday, go to the link on the left and listen to the service mp3.

Well, as is the case so often, as we begin to be more intentional about engaging with our neighbors, opportunities start popping up and God definitely lobbed me a softball yesterday. My newest neighbor, came home yesterday and had apparently had some type of procedure done at the doctor or hospital. I saw them drive up and walk slowly into their front door. Then, after dinner, Rhonda made a batch of her incredible chocolate chip cookies and I took them over last night with a post-it note with all of our phone numbers in case he needed some help. It really was that simple.

I didn't spend a lot of time...in fact, I only spoke with his wife on their front porch. I walked back across the street thinking, "Man, I can't wait to get to know them better." Yesterday, we dove a little deeper into loving our neighbors and what that could and should look like for us. Does it surprise you that when asked to describe Christians, twenty-somethings end up using words that seem to be "unChristian." Antihomosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, too political, unloving, uncaring, etc. are some of the words used to describe them. For a detailed look at the Barna Study I referenced visit unChristian.com. I don't know about you, but I want to be part of the change of our friends' perceptions of us.

Our neighborhoods don't need more people who act like good Christians...they need more people who will act like Jesus. People who will reach across racial barriers and make friends. People who will slow down and listen to others. People who sit across the table from neighbors no matter what their religion. People to love when it doesn't look like they should. People to care when it appears no one else does. These are the people we believe God is calling The Springs to become. We can show our neighbors that we are Christ-followers who do not have to be judgmental. We are Christ-followers who will love you in spite of our differences. We are Christ-followers who will admit we don't have it all together, and we don't expect them to, either. We are Christ-followers who aren't just looking to "save" our neighbors, but actually get to know them. We are Christ-followers from both sides of the isle - from red and blue states.

I want to be part of the movement that earns back the right to be called "Christians" because we actually do "act like Christ." Do you believe it is possible? How bad do you want it?