Just a Moment

The 'Moment' comes from the Mundane.

There are so many of us looking for that 'moment' from God - that blast of energy that envelopes us and pulsates through our bodies, changing us forever from head to toe. That's why we have people that travel from church to church - or go on pilgrimages to the 'places' of excitement. If the place has it, then maybe they can catch part of it.

As misguided as these people are in their chase for the experience, I must admit that I do understand what motivates them. I desperately desire to have that supernatural experience that blows the doors off of my life forever. The third heaven of II Corinthians 12:2. Something so spontaneous and out-of-this-world that nothing will ever be the same. I want to hear 'inexpressible things that man is not permitted to tell."

It's important to remember, however, that spontaneity flows out of discipline, and a lot of what we call discipline is really the simple act of showing up. Be there. I want to thank my parents for instilling this trait into me. If you say you are going to do something - do it. If you say you are going to be somewhere - be there. Even if you don't feel like it.

This carries over into everything - even prayer. Sometimes it matters just to show up at the hour you've appointed for prayer. Set a time aside, and be there.

Again, spontaneity flows out of discipline. Michael Jordan 'flew' because he practiced for hours. A great musician 'goes off' because he put in years of disciplined work. DaVinci spent ten years drawing ears, elbows and hands in different aspects - then he painted. This is a novel thought in today's age of immediate results without any work.

You want a 'moment' with God? You need to make a deliberate, disciplined effort in this day of distractions to be with Him, to meet Him in your prayer closet, to be there even when you don't feel like it, on a regular basis. The 'moments' will come from these 'mundane' appointments. When you least expect it He will grab you and take you to places you've never been before. But before He can do that - you need to show up. The extraordinary will come from the ordinary.

The Blurred Line: Traditional vs. Relevance

Acts 4:23 “On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people.”

I Corinthians 5:13 “God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you.”

I Corinthians 9:22 “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”

There is a problem in our present church culture today about what our focus should be on. The argument between the traditionalists and those who are pushing relevance tends to revolve around the whole concept of ‘church.’ What is church to be in this day and age?

Should it be a place for Christians to gather and worship and study the Word together? Or is it to be a place where we open the doors, let everyone in, in the hopes of bringing some to Christ? Obviously – I’m breaking no new ground here – the answer is that church is to be both of these things.

When Peter and John were told to stop witnessing by the Sanhedrin, they went back to their 'own.' They needed to be with men and women of a like-mind. They needed their 'church.' That is why in I Corinthians 5 Paul is so adamant about expelling the man living in sin - the church needed to maintain its purity in the pagan Corinthian culture.

The church needs to be a rallying point for people who have the same mind and heart. It needs to be a place of holiness. It needs to be separate and different, for a variety of reasons: 1) so that it is a light to the outside world, 2) so that people may find rest from the fight, 3) so that true worship of one heart and mind may be offered up to God. This could not happen in a congregation that consists of believers and unbelievers. That is why in their time of trial, Peter and John were able to find strength to continue to preach with boldness.

This is where the 'traditionalists' have the right idea. But those in the current age who are crying out for relevance also need to have their voice heard, because it's the same cry that Paul had in I Corinthians 9 when he spoke of doing whatever he could to reach the lost. It's why, when all was said and done in Acts 4, their prayer was to be able to have boldness to get out and bring the lost to Christ. Evangelism is the heartbeat of any church. Without it, the church will rot from within.

A tension exists because there is a tension between maintaining a pure church and a church that has a heart for evangelism. Both elements must exist in our church culture - but we seem unable to find the balance that the early church found. They were able to have their 'own people' that they could gather together with, while still being a tremendous force in the world. They weren't confused by this concept. They didn't think that they had to somehow blend in to be effective. They didn't think that they had to make their message relevant, or their church compromised by the culture. And they were the most relevant entity to ever exist in the history of the church.

I'm not advocating simply copying the early church - they were a special movement at a certain time in history, and when you try to repeat a movement of the Spirit, you always end up a few steps behind. We are to be in step with the Spirit at all times. I'm just wondering why we can't have the same relevance without compromise that they had. Why our churches can't be places of holiness (which is by definition "separation"), while at the same time being a strong, loving arm extended to the lost.

Get the Hell Out of My Life

Revelation 2:4,5 "You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first."

II Chronicles 25:7,8 "These troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel . . . even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."

Hell = "the absence of God"

I really didn't intend to sound profane with the title of this posting, but my heart's desire for this year is very clear: I want to get the 'hell' out of my life. My definition of hell is the absence of God - so what I'm aiming for sounds somewhat awkward, but I want to focus on the removal of an absence, if that makes any sense.

I have "God-things" in abundance: church, school, Bible studies, devotional times, Christian songs on my computer, etc. But I lack Him. I lack intimacy with Him. My life is a living absence of Him - a living 'hell,' and I'm tired. God's presence and purpose energize me, and it's that spiritual energy that is lacking right now, in me and in the church.

In II Chronicles 25, King Amaziah sets out to conquer the Edomites. In his zeal, he hires out soldiers from the Northern Kingdom of Israel to help him. He is told, however, to get rid of these men, because God is not with them. He doesn't want to - he's already paid a huge sum of money to secure their services. But he must - anything that is not of God must go. He had too much 'hell' in his camp. Even if he makes the best plans and expends all of his energy, he will lose, because it's God who determines the victory. He had an abundance of resources, but He was lacking God. This incredible void must be removed before he could move forward.

How do you remove an absence? This is an important question, because with this absence comes another presence. It is apathy and cynicism. It is hesitation and delay. It is discontent and covetousness. It is compromise and inaction. It is mediocrity and defeat. It is one enormous waste of time. It is hell on earth.

Back to II Chronicles: Amaziah argued that he had already spent too much time and money on these men. If he let them go, he would lose all of that! But the prophet had a great response, simply stating: "The Lord can give you much more than that!" (v.9) Do we really trust Him like that? Can we cast off all of our old thoughts and methods and traditions - the things that we've spent so much time and money on - and trust that the Lord will more than supply in their absence? It takes a great step of faith to do this - but it's the only way to victory.

It's time to get back to our first love - to commune with God and get rid of all the stuff that gets in the way, the stuff that sucks the life right out of you. There is too much "hell" in my life right now and it's time to get rid of it and move forward. And, as profane as this may sound, there is too much 'hell' in our church camp right now. Too many things that are not of God and are killing us, diluting the power of the church in the process. His absence is killing us. Are we brave enough to do what Amaziah did? Will we send the things that represent His absence out of the camp? Out of our own life? Out of our church?

I wish that we had someone like the prophet who came to Amaziah - someone who could pinpoint the things that don't have God, and say, "Get rid of this, and this, and this. . . . " But we really can't make excuses. We have His Word and His Holy Spirit, who as Christ told us, will have the power to convict us of sin. If we truly want to know - honestly - He will reveal these things to us.

What are some of the possibilities? Traditions. Relationships. Music collections. Mindsets. Movies. Denominations. Authors. Small compromises. These are things that we've invested a lot of time and money into - and they all must go if they are not of God. It doesn't matter how far down the road we've traveled with them, unloading them is the first step to victory. I say this of each one of us personally, and of our churches. There is an absence of God in the things that we do - there is a certain hell that exists in our lives and in our churches. It's time to get the hell out of our life and be consumed by the Consuming Fire.

Lord, please do one thing for me right now - reveal to me what is irrelevant, what does not have YOU, and give me the courage to cast it off without hesitation or regret. Give me a holy reverence for You and for Your Name - so that I may be of actual use to these people around me. Cause me to lift up Christ and nothing else, so that He may draw all men unto Himself, with me on the sideline cheering. Give me the eyesight that allows me to be willing to be the best man - not the groom - as Christ draws His bride in. May You increase as I decrease.

May Your Holy presence be so strong in our church that It consumes all the things that don't matter. Amen.