No such thing as 'over-confident' in God

On Sunday I shared the second in a series of messages based on a book written by Mark Batterson.  The book called, Soul Print, is about claiming who God created you to be so that you can live into the life and destiny God has planned for you.  Below is the first message in the series.  I will be following with the second tomorrow.  I hope you are called into at least thinking about who God made you to be, and why God might have made you the way you are.  
Mark Batterson is a pastor in Washington, D.C. and is one of my favorite authors and communicators, here is a link to buy the book, if you are so inclined: here

1 Samuel 17:32-40 (NIV)

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”³³ Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”  Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”  ³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.  “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

Over the next several weeks we will be looking at the unique design that God has for each of our lives.  We will be doing this in part, through a book, called ‘Soul Print’ by Mark Batterson

As we think about, talk about and seek out what God might have planned for each of our lives we will consistently look the life of David for examples of important turning points or defining moments in his life.

As we look at those defining moments in David’s life, we will (hopefully at least) gain insight into the potential defining moments in our own lives.

But before we skip ahead to David’s story, or even our own, I want to share with you why I chose to share this book – and the ideas that came to me from it –

Mark Batterson is one of my favorite Christian authors.  I have heard him speak several times and something about the way that he is able to communicate the Word of God really speaks to me.

So, when I heard he had a new book coming out, I was pretty excited.  Then I saw the title, read the description and (to be honest) got a little less excited. 

The book sounded like a typical ‘self-help’ book with some Christian language thrown in for good measure.

That type of book simply doesn’t appeal to me. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I know that we all need help.  But I really believe that as long as we are talking about how we can ‘help ourselves’ we are looking to the wrong place for help. 

I think all of our big, important problems are, simply, beyond us.

But, as I really like Batterson’s work, I got the book anyway.  And I read the first page:

‘There has never been and never will be anyone else like you.  But that isn’t a testament to you.  It’s a testament to the God who created you.  You are unlike anyone who has ever lived.  But that uniqueness isn’t a virtue.  It’s a responsibility.  Uniqueness is God’s gift to you, and uniqueness is your gift to God.  You owe it to yourself to be yourself.  But more important, you owe it to the One who designed you and destined you.’

After making clear that this isn’t a ‘self-help’ book he continues: ‘So let me be blunt: you aren’t good enough or gifted enough to get where God wants you to go.  Not without His help.  But here is the good news: there is nothing God cannot do in you and through you I f you simply yield your life to Him.  All of it.  All of you.

This book is all about you, but it’s not about you at all.  The fact that there never has been and never will be anyone like you simply means that no one can worship God like you or for you.  You were created to worship God in a way that no one else can.  How?  By living a life no one else can – your life

And with that, the book had me.  It had be because I think it clearly communicates two seemingly opposing, but actually linked and complementary truths that we often miss today: We aren’t nearly as great – or capable – as we often think we are.  And there is nothing – really nothing, not anything – that is impossible for us when we have fully submitted our lives to God.

We have a unique and irreplaceable role to play in the story God is telling in the world and playing the role designed for us begins with understanding – or maybe better – discovering who we really are in God’s eyes and who God created us to be.

I mentioned the title of the book, Soul Print, that is a term I had never heard before and it is a term worth defining as we begin to seek out who we really are

A soulprint, like a fingerprint is a unique way of identifying who you are.  A fingerprint, however, is only skin deep.  A soulprint is a unique identifier that runs not skin deep, but soul deep.

Our soulprint is a hardwired identifier of our true identity and our true destiny or calling.

Our ultimate purpose or calling is central to understanding who we really are, because even though we move ‘forward’ in a progression through life – God works the other way around.  Our God always begins (in our hearts, in our minds and in our lives) with the end in mind.

God hasn’t called us to be anyone other than who we are – than who God created us to be. 

We are not ‘just’ anything – we are, each and every one of us, masterpieces of God’s hand.  To think of ourselves as anything other than that is to distort and devalue our true identity

Before David was King, and before he became mighty warrior, he was just the youngest brother in a big family.  A shepherd boy and nothing more. 

But that wasn’t who he was – that wasn’t David’s true identity or his true purpose.  David was a giant killer, a mighty warrior and a great king. 

Over the course of the next several weeks as we seek our own soulprint, we will look at 5 defining moments in David’s life that helped him discover his. 

The first of these, which came as he was preparing to face the giant Goliath, was in some ways the most important, as it paved the way for all that would come after it. 

David had a chance, as he went out to fight the mighty giant, to wear the kings own armor, and carry the king’s own sword.  The finest protection and the best weaponry available to anyone in the world at that time.  But they weren’t right for David, because simply, they weren’t his.  The sword and the armor were Saul’s and David wasn’t Saul.

Instead David took what he was used to, part of what defined who he was – the slingshot that he used daily to protect his father’s flock and grabbed 5 smooth stones and was ready to make history.

All because he was willing to take off Saul’s armor and be himself – exactly who God had called him to be. 

Today’s sermon is subtitled Holy Confidence.  Holy Confidence is not about being confident in what we can do our how well we can do it.  Holy Confidence, is about who we are confident in.  Our confidence becomes Holy only when it is placed on God.  Another word for this ‘Holy Confidence’ is trust.   Trusting in God, having the Holy Confidence that God is in control and we are not. 

Putting our trust or confidence in God is never more important than when we are waiting for something to happen or waiting for our life to start. 

No one ever tells us when ‘our moment’ is going to come.  David didn’t wake up the morning he defeated Goliath and know that that day was going to be the day that defined who he was and that set his life on a different course. 

And if David was anything like me – or like most of us.  I can imagine that he spent many of his days out in the fields tending his father’s sheep, waiting for his life to ‘really begin’.

But here is the great lesson for us.  It was the skills he learned as a shepherd (a slingshot is a shepherd’s tool, not a soldiers weapon) that prepared him for his big moment.  There is no skill, experience or event that is unredeemable or unusable in God’s eyes and in God’s plan.

Finding our true identity and true, God ordained destiny begins with the courage to take off Saul’s armor – or anything else that doesn’t belong on us or to us. 

The next step is letting go of the attempt to control our lives – even the timing of ‘when they will begin’ and having a Holy Confidence that God is intending what is best for us and loves us.

Amen.

Getting down the mountain is as easy as the person who is guiding you down

Below is the message I shared yesterday at Good Shepherd.  For Lent we are talking about submitting to God.  This is not exactly an exciting topic, but I think it is a crucial one.  I hope it holds for you a word from God.

James 4:7-10 (NIV)

 ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Mark 1:35-39 (New International Version, ©2011)

 ³⁵ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ³⁶ Simon and his companions went to look for him, ³⁷ and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” ³⁸ Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” ³⁹ So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

As you have likely heard me say many times, in this season of Lent we will look at how we can submit or give over specific areas of our lives to God so that we might be able to more fully follow God and so that we might come closer to who God intended us and created us to be.  

But I think it is important, before we talk about how we can submit more fully, that we talk about why we need to submit to God and what submitting really means.

What does it mean to submit?

For me, if I am being honest, the word doesn’t have a great context.  Submitting is synonymous with losing or quitting or getting beaten at something.  But this isn’t quite the real meaning of the word.

The word submit has a couple of possible meanings, the first two I found are the ones that I think are applicable for us: 1. To give over or yield to the power or authority of another.  2. To subject to some kind of treatment or influence.  This is what we are doing when we submit to God. 

We are choosing to yield to the power and authority of God and asking God, through the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to not just influence our lives, but to guide our thoughts, plans and actions. 

As such, I think submitting begins with admitting that someone else has more knowledge, power or ability than you.

When we think about that, it makes sense that we often think of submitting as losing or admitting defeat

In a world where independence and self-reliance is seen as maybe the ultimate value, admitting that someone – anyone, even God – is more capable of planning and guiding your life is a hard pill to swallow. 

But this is what we say we believe.  We say that we believe that God has good things planned for us.  We say in confession and in many other ways that we are not perfect and have fallen short of God’s – and our own – plans for our lives. 

We say that we have faith that God is good and wants the best for us.

So, submitting to God, if we believe what we say makes sense.  God not only wants what is best for us, but knows what is best for us.  God is in perfect position to guide our lives to be all that they can be, if we would simply submit to God’s power, authority and influence in our lives.

Even so, it is still hard – and in fact seems to go against our natural will, to submit to God, we want to rely on ourselves. 

No one had more right to think this way than Jesus – Jesus who, while being fully human was also fully God.  Yet let’s look at how Jesus viewed his relationship with God and submitting to God’s authority:

First, from Philippians 2:5-8

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,  did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,  being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

And then a familiar scene from the last week of Jesus life, taken from Luke 22:

 ³⁹ Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them,“Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴²“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 

So in these two passages we see the depth of what it means to truly and fully submit to God

In these passages, we see Jesus example of perfect submission – but Jesus also had something to say about submission, and I think it is important for us to look at that as well

In John 15, starting at verse 13 listen to what Jesus says about submitting :

¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you

We don’t normally think about submitting to a friend – but this is what Jesus offers us and asks of us

Jesus doesn’t force our submission, guilt it out of us or try to scare us into it.  Instead Jesus invites us to follow him.  Why?

Because Jesus knows the way, knows what is best for you and has been where you are and knows where you need to go.

Submitting to friend is about trust and faith.  Trust in the friend’s intentions – that they only want what is best for you.  And faith, faith that the friend you are submitting to, the friend that you are following and listening to knows what they are doing.

When I was 12, I was away at a camp called Summer’s Best Two Weeks.  As part of the camp we were on a 3 night camping trip.  On the afternoon of the last day we were hiking down a fairly steep mountain and our group was faced with two options – follow the path as it zig zagged gently down the long way down the hill or take the more direct route, mostly straight down the hill – basically free climbing down the hill.

Did I mention we were 12 year old boys???? (as for our counselors, well, they were old boys too, 20 year old boys, but still just boys) so it’s not so surprising that they let us go straight down the hill. 

All was going fine – and it was quite a bit of fun  - until I was about halfway down the hill.

I hadn’t even noticed, but I was the last one in the line going down the hill, and before I knew it everyone else was at the bottom and I was still only half way down.

Basically, there were a few tricky steps and I got nervous, then scared and then I just froze.

One of my counselors came part way up the hill and tried to talk me down – but I didn’t budge.  Nothing worked and I was still stuck halfway down the hill.  That was until my friend, Artie, came partway up the hill and started talking to me.

Artie was one of my best friends at camp.  He was a really good friend, but more than that he was the one that got me to go on this hiking trip.  He was an avid hiker and rock climber and kept telling me about how much fun it would be.

When Artie reassured me that it would be fine, I believed him.  And when he started to give me step by step instructions on how to get down, I listened and followed.  

I trusted Artie because he was my friend and because I knew he cared about me and my safety.

I had faith in Artie, because I knew he knew what he was talking about: He was a hiker, a camper and a rock climber – this was his element.           He told me that he had just been where I was.  He said that all I had to do was follow in his footsteps, do what he told me to do and I would be fine.  He guided me along the path down, step by step and before I knew it, I was at the bottom of the hill.

Our lives of following Christ are as simple as my way down that hill – we simply have to submit to our friend Jesus and do what he tells us to do.

Jesus has been where you are today.  Jesus knows where you need to go and Jesus knows how to get you there.

Jesus invites us to listen to him, to follow him and submit to him because that is the only way we can be unstuck from our lives of missed opportunities, wrong turns and faults and get to the path that our lives were designed for.

Our response to Jesus invitation is to submit to God by trusting and having faith in him.  Now as great of an idea as that is, it doesn’t happen magically or simply because we say that is what we are going to do.

Really, truly and fully submitting to God and learning to trust and have faith in Jesus takes time, work and discipline.  And that is the bottom line for us.

If we want to be who we were created to be.  If we want to be who God is calling us to be we need to know Jesus well enough to trust him and to have faith in him.

Submitting to God begins with spending time dedicated and devoted to talking to – and listening to God. 

As always Jesus is our role model, and we saw it in our Gospel lesson a few minutes ago.   Jesus – as was his custom – up early to be alone in prayer with God. 

Following God, submitting to God begins with submitting or giving of our time. 

So as we begin this season of Lent and we start to focus on Christ’s journey to the cross, we must begin to give God some (or some more) of our time.

Make this the moment – as a Lenten discipline – to dedicate focused time to God each and every day.  For you it maybe, like Jesus, that you get up early before anyone else is awake

Maybe it is after everyone is asleep at night, or in the car to work or the bus home from school.

Where ever and whenever it is, if we submit time to God each and every day we begin to hear  the voice of Christ and hearing that voice we can trust enough to follow the call of Christ.  Knowing that in faith, the God that has been where we are, will lead us to where we need to be.

Amen.

Whatever happened to Bobby McFarrin? or Don't Worry . . .

Below is the message I shared at our inaugural 'Shepherd 701' service on Sunday night.  It deals with, what I think is a foundational issue for our day to day walk with God: Trust.  I don't think we can begin to let go of the worry in our lives until we start to trust God with all of our lives.  Thanks for reading!


 Matthew 6:24-34 (The Message)

 ²⁴"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.

 ^25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

 ^27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

 ^30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

 ³⁴"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

When we look at this passage it is easy to focus on what seems to be the primary message – Don’t Worry

I say that it is easy to focus on that message, but that in no way means that it is an easy message to live up to or put into practice in our lives.

For most of us, worry is a fairly constant companion in our daily lives.  We are surrounded by things to worry about:

At work or school – the big assignment that is proving difficult or the colleague or class mate that is mad at you

At home – any member of the family that might be struggling at school or work

Worries about the economy, about terrorism (where having specific threat levels seems designed to encourage worry), about any number of things

And I could go on and on, from situation to situation in our lives and give examples of legitimate reasons to worry, but I don’t need to – because all of us can easily think of them on our own. 

We are surrounded by worry and things to worry about

Our culture perpetuates and encourages this worry:

The local and national newscasts, not to mention cable news networks, seem to draw almost exclusively on our anxiousness and worry to bring viewers in – ‘what you are drinking that is probably killing you  . . . .news at 11’

So much of the advertizing that we see is simply an attempt to create a fear or worry so that we will be prompted to buy the ‘solution’

I’ve already mentioned our response to real threats in our world, like terrorism with ‘threat levels’ and the like.

Into this situation Jesus comes with a plea – a command, actually – ‘Do not worry’

To understand how that is even possible, it is important to look at the beginning of this passage:

Our passage starts, not with the call not to worry, but with the assertion that no one – none of us – can serve too masters.

I don’t want to get too caught up in a discussion of money, which these verses often lead too.

But I want to point out that Jesus is not saying money is bad.  Instead, Jesus is simply highlighting money as a bad boss – or Lord, which is a better translation for the word master we often hear in this passage, or even the word ‘god’ which is used in the translation we heard a moment ago. 

We don’t talk about ‘Lord’s very often any more, but a Lord is someone who demands and deserves our loyalty, allegiance and worship

So again, Jesus isn’t saying that money is bad, per se, rather he is lifting it up as one of the many things that makes for a bad and unworthy Lord in our lives. 

When we lift up something as ‘Lord’ in our life, part of what we are saying is that we believe this person or thing, as in the case of money, can meet and satisfy our deepest needs. 

The problem with money, or any other thing but God being our Lord is that it is finite.  There is not an unlimited supply of money – or power, or influence or any thing in this world

So if it is money that grants safety and security, then we must immediately participate in the practice of counting, tracking, stock piling and striving for it – because there simply will never be enough

Into this economy of scarcity Jesus provides a different opportunity:

The alternative Jesus invites us to consider is entering into relationship with God, the God who is infinite and whose love for us and all creation is infinite as well. Love operates from a different "economy" than money

When Traci was pregnant with Jack, I had what I think is a common concern – how in the world could I love anyone as much or in the way I loved Charlie?

But that question, as I found out is to misunderstand the infinite nature of love.

When Jack finally came, I didn’t have to divide the love I currently had so that he could have some.  Instead, I suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere had more love to give and share.

No doubt you've noticed the same thing: how the more love you give away, the more you have. Love – and especially God's love – cannot be counted, tracked or stockpiled. And when you live in this kind of relationship of love and trust, you've entered into the realm of abundance, the world of possibility, the world of contentment. Suddenly, in this world – Jesus calls it the "kingdom of God" – not worrying actually becomes an option.

It is hard to believe in this world and this life of abundance that Jesus proclaims.

It is so difficult because so much of our lives and so much of our world is thoroughly invested and entrenched in the world of scarcity

This idea of abundance is ultimately the practical thing those that had Jesus killed could not abide by or stand for.

Because those in power were so invested in the world of scarcity that abundance was down right frightening, even threatening. Scarcity, after all, creates fear, and fear creates devotion to those who will protect you (think "threat levels again).

Abundance, on the other hand, produces freedom.   God doesn't operate from scarcity; God operates out of abundance.

 God resurrects – which, when you think about it, is the ultimate act of abundance: creating something, once again, out of nothing, drawing light from darkness, giving life to the dead.

This is the world Jesus invites us into: a world of abundance, generosity, and new life.

But it is also a world of fragility, trust, and vulnerability. Lilies and birds, after all, can't defend themselves but must trust God's providence and love.

And trust is the fundamental issue.  Who or what we choose to trust determines what economy and what worldview we are participating in:  are we going to accept the economy of scarcity and the worldview of finite resources that we all must – literally fight over and for OR are we going to accept Jesus’ invitation to participate in an economy of abundance based on a worldview centered on the infinite nature of God’s love for us. 

We are constantly surrounded by images of scarcity and the ‘reality’ of the world’s economy of fear, scarcity and worry. 

Jesus provides us with a different image and a different way to live our lives. 

When we begin to put our trust in him, not only do we begin to let go of fear and worry for ourselves, but we plant the seeds of the kingdom of God in the here and now by providing the world around us with a alternative picture of what life can look like.

The life of Jesus, even including his death on the cross, is a life exploding with a witness to the infinite abundance of God’s love. 

Jesus life gives us picture after picture, scene after scene of reason to trust in God’s faithfulness, love and providence. 

When we trust in Jesus – and make the God of abundance our Lord, we begin to provide for others pictures and proof of the infinite reality of God’s love. 

And in the light of that, very real love we are able to say – Do not worry.

Amen.

Walking on Water and other churchy activities

Happy Monday!  Here is the manuscript from the message I gave yesterday in church.  It is a pretty personal one and, I think, a really important one.  

Matthew 14:22-33 (Today's New International Version)

Jesus Walks on the Water

 ²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

    ²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

    ²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

    ²⁸ "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

    ²⁹ "Come," he said.

    Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

    ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

    ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Prayer: God we ask that you would come and be present with us know.  Help us to turn our hearts, minds, ears and eyes towards you.  Help us grow in faith and trust in you as we seek your will.  And now, Lord I ask that you would hide me behind your cross, so you are what’s seen and speak through me so you are what’s heard.  Amen.

I have Spent the last two weeks talking about ‘Stewardship’ and how God is calling each of us to respond to the gifts of time, talent and money that he has given each of us.  Per the message calendar this is supposed to be the 3^rd week with that same message.  It is an important message and one that is worthy of at least three weeks – certainly more than the one week it often gets. 

But I think, I believe, that many if not most of us know and understand that all that we have is a gift from God and we have a responsibility to respond to that gift by sharing generously what we have been made stewards of.   I also spend a lot of time this past week reflecting on what we have talked about the last few weeks and all of the information that was shared during our Bread and Soup luncheon. 

We talked about stewardship and its importance, but we also talked about the financial situation of our church.  As I have been thinking about all of that information, I realized that it was a year ago – almost exactly – when I began having conversations with the Pastor Nominating Committee of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church.  Good Shepherd has been on a journey for 20+ years now; a new leg of that journey began a year ago when God began to draw us together. 

I believe that I am not here accidentally.  I believe that we have been called together for a special purpose.  I believe that God has called us – and is equipping us – to play a role in his Mission and Plan for this world that only we can fill and that we have been uniquely gifted and brought together to fill.

From the very first conversation with the PNC, and several times from this pulpit I have shared the general vision of what I believe we are being called to do and who we are being called to be.  The word that captures what I believe God is calling us to is Missional.  It is a relatively new word that describes a call that God has been placing on the lives of the people of God from the beginning of time.

Simply, being Missional means opening all of yourself up to the work and will of God’s Holy Spirit and accepting God’s invitation and call to become a part of God’s mission in the world.

It involves having eyes to see: 

First, to see the things in and around our communities and our world that are breaking the heart of God. 

Second, to see the ways in which God’s work and mission are already being done & to see where there are places of need that are not yet being addressed.

Third, to see how we (as individuals and as a congregation) might be uniquely gifted to participate in that mission or how our unique gifts, abilities and interests have equipped us to reach out into our communities and the world in new ways to fulfill the call and mission of God.

It involves being willing to really put Jesus Christ at the center of your life – your whole life.  We are really good in our world today at compartmentalizing every aspect of our lives.  We put school or work in one box and our family in another.  We put our friends in another box – or maybe a couple.  We put our hobbies and our interests in yet another.  And then there is the ‘God’ box. 

Jesus is not asking to be the box at the center of our lives or even the biggest box.  Instead God asks to be in, connected to and at the center of every ‘box’ of your life.  Even more than that God asks you to get rid of all your boxes and reorder your life with him at the center, connected to each and every aspect of our life.

With Jesus centered in your life it allows God to open your eyes to see the world through his eyes.  It allows your heart and mind to be tuned to the heart, mind and will of God.  And that, at the heart is what it means to be Missional.  There isn’t a blueprint or a step by step process for becoming a Missional person or a Missional church because God calls each of us to different and unique parts of the mission of God.   

How each of us lives into God’s call to be a part of his mission in the world will determine what it looks like for Good Shepherd to be the Missional church God is calling it to be.

[now I am not supposed to do this – I am going to talk about myself – I was told several times in seminary not to do this.  But, I think it is important to share how these beliefs and thoughts are manifesting themselves in my life]  For me the particular places God has opened my eyes and my heart and mind to are: Orphans, the world water crisis, hunger (especially in children) and modern-day slavery. 

How does that translate into change in my life:

Marathon for Living Water International

Beginning the process of looking into adoption

Giving too and talking about in IJM

Regular work and giving to combat hunger (through World Vision – including child sponsorship)

How might this translate into our life together as a church (if these interests/concerns are shared by others in the congregation:

Focus on ‘the least of these’ and how we can share our blessings: through giving, through organizations like ‘Trade as one’, World Vision, LVI and IJM

Increased hands-on involvement in combating hunger locally

Beginning to explore what we as a congregation can do to care for the orphans among us and around us. 

Focus on mission in these areas

While there is no ‘step by step’ process.  There are a few key elements that must be present for us to live into this call of being the Missional church that God intends us to be. 

Trusting in God:

Gideon – as we heard, God winnowed down and already numerically overmatched army and used this small group of soldiers to win a great and amazing victory – with no doubt as to who was responsible

Sending out of the 70 Disciples – In Luke 10 Jesus sends out the 70 disciples in pairs and intentionally has them leave everything behind that they could use or rely on to help them succeed or even survive – even their shoes – again so that they would have no choice but to trust in and rely on God – and in turn be clear in pointing to God in all that they did.

Keeping our eyes on Christ

Peter walking on the water:

Remember Peter DID walk on the water.  It was only once he took his eyes off of Jesus that he began to sink.  If we are focused on Jesus, if we are focused on what Jesus is concerned with then we will be able to do amazing and impossible things through the strength and power of God’s Holy Spirit available to us because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

These two things, trusting in God and focusing on Jesus Christ are the key for us as we face difficult and trying times invididually and as families.  They are the key for us as we focus difficult and daunting times as a church, financially or otherwise. 

We didn’t spend much time on the miracle that was Peter walking on the water, but I want us to hold on to the truth for us in that story –

Nothing is too hard for God.  Nothing, when done in Christ’s name for the glory of God is impossible.  Difficult times, stacked odds and great challenges are merely opportunities for God’s glory to shine through.  

Peter was distracted by real danger: a strong whipping wind, rolling, rollicking waves, and the sheer impossibility of what was happening.  The same is true for us – there is real danger all around on the path that we are being called to, legitimate concerns that seen to demand our focus and attention. 

But by trusting in God and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ we get the opportunity to be a part of the amazing and even impossible work of God in our lives and through us in the world.  

Can I trust you?

So, sorry that there was no blog yesterday - I think the lack of the blog wisdom probably was responsible for the stock market finishing lower, not to mention the flooding in Asia, all I can say is sorry.  Seriously though, yesterday - for the first time that I can remember I just was not in front of the computer at all, all day.  Nothing exciting or special involved just a day with other, non-computer tasks.  
I did however read the daily lectionary and in this post will share a few thoughts from yesterday's passage from Luke 10.  My plan is to do that now and then later today 'catch up' with thoughts on today's readings.  We will see how that pans out.
Anyway, here goes.
As I was reading the Luke 10 passage, which begins with Jesus sending out 70 disciples to the surrounding regions to preach (with the words that 'the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few'), teach and heal in His name, I was particularly struck by the description of how they were sent out.  
Here is what we have, starting at verse 3:  ³Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 
What I find interesting here is two-fold.  First, in the beginning of this passage it says that Jesus was sending these 70 out to the communities where he intended to visit - so in a way they were preparing the way for Jesus, getting the people ready to hear and experience Jesus.  They were also going to gauge people's willingness to hear and receive the Word of God through Jesus Christ.  
So, the point is that Jesus had something riding on how 'successful' the disciples were.  He was not sending them out as some sort of exercise or practice, but as the precursor to Jesus himself drawing near to them.  
So with that in mind, we turn to the second interesting thing about this: that Jesus sends them out like 'lambs in the midst of wolves.'  What is most interesting here is that it seems at least like this is a choice.  Jesus is instructing them not to carry a purse or bag or sandals.  He isn't saying 'even though you don't have any of those things, go anyway'.  He seems to be saying don't take all that you have at your disposal - just go as you are, all by yourself.  
This doesn't really make sense, at all, right?  Why would Jesus not want the disciples to be as fully prepared as possible?  Why would Jesus not want the disciples to use every resource at their disposal to 'succeed' in their mission?  
As much as this doesn't make 'sense', there is precedent for it in the Old Testament.  God has Gideon send home many of his soldiers (sorting them by how the drink water from a river) before entering a battle where they were already outnumbered; God has Joshua and his men march around the city of Jericho with trumpets playing - announcing their presence and giving away any tactical advantage they may have had - and eventually literally bringing down the walls without any military action.  
In all these cases, what is the point?  Why does God act in the way that he does, in those cases  doing things that don't seem to make military sense and in this case why does Jesus not want them to use all that they have at their disposal?
I think the answer is about trust.  Simply put, God wants us to trust him.  On a daily basis God wants us to use the gifts, talents and abilities that we have been given to the best of our ability.  But God doesn't want us to judge our 'ability' to fulfill a task or succeed at a goal based on our resources, our gifts or our abilities.  It is a bit of a trite saying, but it is one that is appropriate here: God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.  
The point is that the truth is that if God has called you to something, you have all need to be 'successful' because you have God.  When we fail at things that God has called us to it isn't because God failed us or because we didn't have all that we needed to 'do the job', it is because we tried to do it on our own or relied solely on our own gifts, talents, resources and abilities.  
Again, I am not saying we are not supposed to use what God has given us - quite the opposite - what I am saying is that to fully and 'successfully' follow God's call on our lives and live into our part of God's plan we must always begin with trust and faith in God.  
In certain times and in certain situations God we may be asked to do something we simply don't have the skills or resources to do on our own or we may be called to not use all that we have (as Joshua, Gideon and the disciples were).  
Why?  Not to make it harder, but to make it clearer to us and to all of those around that what is happening is happening because of the power of God and God's Holy Spirit working in and through us.  
Philippians 4:13 says 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength' - I fully believe in the truth of this statement.  If God has called us to do something, by definition we have what we need to do it.  The question is are we willing to trust in God's strength enough to be faithful in trying even when 'we can't do it ourselves'?  
The times in our lives when we are faced with great difficulty or great 'odds', I think are opportunities for us to grow in our faith and trust of God and allow God to use us and our lives to demonstrate to those around us the miraculous power of really, fully trusting in God.  
The bottom line is that if we are willing to trust, really trust in God to be faithful to what we have been promised and live our lives according to that trust - it sets us up to witness and participate in extraordinary things,  done in extraordinary ways.  To live an extraordinary life - all for the glory of God.  
We don't need to come prepared, we just need to be prepared to trust in the God who calls us.