Criticism as Inspiration

                         It makes me feel so good

Jeff Hyson

To always tell you when you're wrong

The big man that I am

To always have to put you down

               -- David Bazan

            I don’t mean to be judgmental, but doesn’t it bother you when people are judgmental?  I mean, if you call yourself a good Christian, you shouldn’t judge people, and those people that do judge people must not be as spiritual as those of us who don’t judge people.  I am so thankful that I don’t have a problem with judging people, and I feel bad for those who do.

            Sound absurd?  Yes.  Have I ever thought someone less spiritual because they were judgmental?  Yup.

            I think there is fine line between advocating for the truth, and being judgmental.  For example, most of us want to stay away from legalism, but we still set up rules for ourselves and how we live.  This responsible living is great, but how easily do we project our own personal rules onto other people?  It is almost natural to do so.  I don’t let my kids run around the sanctuary after church.  While this is just a minor rule for our family, I find myself judging parents who do let their kids run around.  I know I am not supposed to legalistic, especially about minor, insignificant details, but it is really easy to fall into it. 

            Judging others can be even more tempting in instances when we feel that the truth is on our side.  How do we advocate the truth while not being legalistic or judgmental?  First, we need to remember there are absolute truths that take the judgment out of our hands.  It is not OK for someone to commit adultery, or abuse a child.  Am I being judgmental about adultery?  I think not.  The problem creeps in as we add to the list of absolute truths.  Our personal values, which may be great things, can easily rise to the level of absolute truth in our minds, making it really easy to judge other people by our personal standards.

            Here’s the crazy part… these “truths” can change.  Some of the values that I had 10 years ago, that I probably considered pretty close to absolute truths, are not my values today.  I’ve grown.  Some of the things that I was judging people for 10 years ago, I might embrace today.  These might include political or social ideas, or just ways of living life.  Obviously, the ideas and standards that we value we also consider truths.  If we didn’t, we wouldn’t value them.  I feel pretty confident that some of my current values will change as I continue to grow. 

            Passing judgment on someone is all about comparison.  I am better/more spiritual/smarter/holier than that other person.  It makes us feel a little higher on the spiritual totem pole.  It is self-serving and can lead to some pretty dangerous thought patterns.

            I am a firm believer in pursuing truth, both absolute truth, and values that we feel are best for us and our families.  My personal values do not always need to be your personal values.  I don’t mean to be judgmental, but let’s not be so judgmental.

Peer Pressure

Nancy Vasquez

During every school year, I ask my high school students if they give in to peer pressure.

Inevitably, all of my kids claim to be individuals who “don’t care what anyone thinks” and don’t give in to pressure to conform.  However, I look at a room where most of them are wearing the same clothes, listening to the same music, watching the same television shows, and texting the same things on the same cell phones.

I always ask, if you are such individuals, then why are half of you wearing the same Hollister t-shirt and jeans? 

Their outraged responses calm when we start discussing how conformity creeps into all of our lives whether we think so or not. We want to belong. We want affirmation. We want to be a part of a community that accepts us. These things are basic emotional needs that are part of the human experience. It is foolish to think that all of us of all ages don’t crave these things on some level.

The Church is no different.

Pastor Nate’s sermon on “Penguin Christians” was the first time I have ever heard this topic addressed.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve heard hundreds of sermons on Christian non-conformity throughout my life. The difference is that those sermons were all about Christians not conforming to the world. I had never heard about Christians not conforming to each other.

The more I think about the amount of conformity expected in the Church, the more I see it everywhere.

One of my favorite examples is politics. It’s one of my favorites because I have very different political views than most of my Christian friends. I have solid Scriptural reasons for why I believe what I believe politically, and my friends have excellent Scriptural reasons for why they believe as they do politically. However, I’ve spent most of my life not openly sharing my views. Why? Because it was expected that ALL OF US thought the same as MANY OF US. There was an assumption that “all” real Christians would vote for a certain candidate or think a certain way.

This is patently false. Just look at the people Jesus chose to surround himself with: people of all different economic backgrounds, occupations, personality traits, opinions, and flaws. The disciples were hardly a group of individuals who all looked alike and thought alike.

Another place we can look is the early church and the problems it experienced.  Paul spends a lot of time in his epistles discussing the Church as a place where everyone has unique gifts to contribute to the healthy, thriving body of believers. He also spends a lot of time discussing conflicts within the Body of Christ and how they need to be handled and resolved for the sake of the Gospel. 

Working together is a BIG DEAL to God. Being a unique individual is a BIG DEAL to God.  Neither one is optional for The Church and its members. It’s a big enough deal that we need to focus on it and stop making assumptions and drawing conclusions about fellow Christians based on what we think they “should” think or “should” be. 

And I think just talking about this issue is an excellent way to start. The first step of any process is identifying the issue at stake. Now we have. Take a bold step and start looking at your own heart. How do you expect believers to be just like you? What differences make you uncomfortable?

If we were all honest with ourselves, I think we would find a lot of expectations for conformity lurking within. Start looking!

"Story Telling"

Jessica Noblett

Since I was a little girl, I’ve devoured books with an insatiable appetite. With three younger siblings running around, this was no easy feat and I developed the ability to shut out literally any noise and hear only the voices of the story. To this day, I whiz through novels in a matter of days, even hours. 

I love being immersed in another world and the hearts and minds of each character. But trying to escape through a book comes with a price and as a child I’d emerge at the end of each book, exhausted, hazy and blinking back into the real world. My world was not as exciting as whatever exotic land I’d been living in for those past few days and coming back down was a bumpy ride. 

I’m beginning to think that maybe I read the Bible the same way. Interesting characters, exciting plot twists, extreme weather conditions, supernatural encounters, good stories- and then back to real life. 

Because otherwise, isn’t it a little strange that we need to learn and be reminded of God’s plan for story telling? After all, I don’t think I know anyone whose relationship with Jesus wasn’t ignited, encouraged or nurtured by the stories of others. How forgetful we are. 

Ironically, one of my favorite Bible stories points to that very thing. It’s in the book of Joshua when God commands the Israelites to build the monument of 12 stones when they reach the other side of the Jordan River. He had them build the monument because otherwise after a generation or two they’d forget what God had done and He saw it coming. Or in Numbers when God tells the Israelites to wear tassels on their garments to remind them to “remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and own eyes.” (Numbers 15.39) 

We may think we’ve come a long way since then, but our memories are no better. These stories remind us that God knows exactly how wayward our hearts are and still remains faithful to us. 

All this to say: how truly incredible is it that one of God’s favorite ways to draw people to Him is through other people’s messy brokenness?! It is so comforting to me to see this constant promise of Jesus that not only will He redeem me, he’s so invested in my mess, so willing to see it through, that He even shows it off to other people and calls it “hope.”

How many of us have people in our lives who instead of shoving our crap in a closet, they show us off to everyone near and dear to them, proud of every inch of us? It’s a kind of love, a kind of acceptance, that’s practically unheard of.

It’s exactly the kind of love worth talking about.

Potty Blog

Sarah Howard

“Mommy! Bethie’s trying to hurt me! Mommy, she’s going to hurt me! Mommy!” Ava, my three year old daughter, is sitting on the toilet, basically freaking out. She’s crying, and frantically pulling the toilet seat lid that’s behind her against her back as tightly as her little hands can, so that she’s sandwiched between the actual toilet seat and the toilet seat lid.

This same scene has been happening every afternoon for the past 2 weeks or so. One day Bethany, my 11 month old daughter, realized that while her older sister was ‘going poopies,’ she could pull herself up and stand right next to her sister. Unfortunately, Bethany has started to grab the toilet seat lid from behind Ava and slam it into Ava’s head. Needless to say, it’s been an unpleasant experience for Ava when Bethany grabs that lid. Hence, the freaking out on Ava’s part when Bethany starts crawling in her direction.

About 3 days ago, I decided that it was time for me to step in and stop Bethany’s little habit. It was time for me to teach Bethany that although she could stand next to Ava, she would NOT be allowed to even touch the toilet seat lid anymore. Ava, however, has still been crying at her sister’s approach. Her anxiety is obvious in her little hands clutching that toilet seat lid against her back with all of her strength. 

In the midst of this potty dilemma the other day, Ava and I had a powerful conversation. Bethie was crawling towards Ava on the toilet. Ava was doing her routine of freaking out. I had been trying to counsel Ava to realize that her sister wouldn’t hurt her. Ava wasn’t listening. All of the sudden, I said to her, 

     “Ava! Stop!”

That got her attention. I said,

     “Your mommy is here.

     Your mommy is your helper. 

     I will take care of Bethany.

     I will teach her to not touch that part of the potty.

     That’s MY job.

      I am helping you.

     You are safe.

     I will not let her hurt you.

     I want you to let go of the lid.

     I want you to take a deep breath and relax.”

She half-way relaxed…and loosened her grip on the lid. I said,

      “My job is to teach Bethie.

       YOUR job is to sit on the potty and relax.

       YOUR job is to trust your mommy. Trust that she’ll take care of Bethie.

       YOUR job is NOT to teach Bethie or hold onto the lid so she doesn’t hurt you.”

Ava looked at me, and said, “But, Mommy, I want to hold onto the lid so that Bethie can’t get it. Is that the wrong thing to do?” I took a deep breath and said,

      “Yes. That’s the wrong thing.

      You need to let go of the lid and trust that Mommy will do her job. 

      You don’t have to do Mommy’s job.

      The right thing for you to do is to SMILE and say, ‘My Mommy is my helper. 

      She will help me with Bethie.”

So we practiced saying that. We practiced smiling. We practiced deep breaths and relaxing. 

Later on, sitting in Sundays’ sermon, I thought, talk about Gospel Thinking!!! I know I’m not God, but I was, through God’s grace and help, coaching my daughter to practice ‘Gospel thinking’ principles while she pooped! Nate said,

      “Gospel thinking focuses on: Who is God? What does God do? 

      Who am I as a result? What should I do as a result?

      False Gospel thinking focuses on: What do I have to do? Who am I as a result?

      What, then, must God do? And as a result, who is God?”

Ava started with False Gospel thinking: ‘I need to protect myself from getting hurt! If I can keep myself from getting smashed, I’m safe. If I can’t, I’m not safe. My Mommy has to keep Bethie from even standing up next to me. If she does, she’s helping me. If Bethie is allowed to stand next to me, she is not helping me and I am alone.’

The Gospel thinking order was completely opposite for her: ‘My Mommy is my helper. My Mommy is keeping me safe and teaching Bethie. As a result, I am safe. I can relax. I can smile. I don’t have to freak out.’

That situation spoke to me. I so often ‘clutch the toilet seat lid’ and freak out. I’m guessing we all do. God, give us grace as a church to learn to invert our False Gospel thinking! Give us grace to learn to do Gospel thinking well…then we can let go of the lid and take a deep breath.

How about you? Can you identify ‘false Gospel thinking’ in your everyday life yet?

My chains are gone, I've been set free

​Sherry Engel

“My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love, amazing grace”

After the events of last week, how can you not correlate the words “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free” with the miraculous escape from bondage of Gina, Amanda and Michelle.  Living in bondage for so many years, and even when there’s an opportunity to escape, two of the three are paralyzed by something, holding them back from freedom from their captor.

It made me think about our everyday life and what Pastor Nate shared in last week’s sermon about the Gospel, “Good News”.  We, just like Gina, Amanda and Michelle, have an opportunity to escape from our bondage but continue to be slaves to our sin. Why?  What paralyzes us from freedom?

Do you live in bondage to something, anything?  Maybe it’s work, people-pleasing, substance abuse, anxiety; the list could go on and on. So, what’s your story?  

Did you ever wish you could live a different story? How do you live a different story? How do we escape from bondage?

Over the course of the past few years I have been searching for that different story.  The problem was that I was looking for another “life circumstance” story, not the story that God has planned for me.  The searching of that story left me more in bondage than ever, wondering why God didn’t provide when I was such a faithful servant.  As I’ve learned to change my perspective, I’ve realized who I am. I’ve realized that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and all good, and if this is the life story he has chosen for me, it must be the best story there is.  I’ve learned that life on this earth isn’t utopia and never will be, but I’ve also learned that someday “there will be no more tears”.

How did I learn to live this different story?  I am so blessed that as I called upon God, the Holy Spirit guided me.  He guided me to Living Faith Alliance Church, and to an amazing Pastorate family. He guided me to a great group of theological study friends and to an amazing counselor, and he continues to guide in my everyday thoughts and actions.

What do you need to do to live the different story?

There are Friends and there are “Friends”

​Jeff Hyson

“No man is an island.” – John Dunne, 1624

“I am an island.” – Paul Simon, 1966

Much has been written in recent years about the fact that technology, and in particular social media, has made us a less social species. Given the fact that I have around 200 “friends” on Facebook, whom I can interact with at the drop of a hat, surely my circle of influence has to be greater now than it would have been in, say, 1950.  But what if I was able to compare my social life with that of an average man in 1950.  We would compare his friends with my “friends.”  First, he would probably have far fewer friends.  Second, he would probably have deeper friendships than I do.  

Never in the history of the world have we had such instant access and so many connections with so many people, and never before have our social connections been so shallow.  Am I in relationship with all of my FB friends?  It’s a tricky question.  I probably know (or knew) most of them in real life.  Can I impact their lives?  Do they even want me to?

When our circle of influence is continually getting wider and shallower, sharing Jesus in impactful ways can get harder.  I want to be ready to show Jesus to the depressed, anxious, and hopeless people that I know are among my 200 FB friends.  The problem is that I don’t want to show the love of Jesus in shallow ways. Sharing an inspirational picto-quote just doesn’t cut it for me.  How do we cultivate real relationships as they become less and less common?

I think it starts with exactly what Diego was talking about on Sunday.  Jesus didn’t come seeking those who were already righteous (or self-righteous, perhaps).  But I’m not talking about my FB friends who seem to have it all together.  I’m talking about us.  It seems like more often than not, we like to be connected to so many people because it makes us feel good about ourselves.  We can have a connection, albeit as deep as a dinner plate, with a lot of people.  We suppress our need for real relationships, because we have so many “friends”.

There are real actual people, not profile pics and wall posts, within our circle of influence who need real actual relationships.  Twitter and Facebook are nice tools for connecting with people, but when it replaces relationships, we lose something.  Relationships take effort.  Being close enough to see that someone is hurting or seeking or ready to accept love means putting in the time to selflessly love them.  

Social media is great for keeping in touch, but if you ever hear me suggesting a new pastorate that only meets on the internet, remind me that no man is an island.

Vision Problems

​Nancy Vasquez

I have vision problems.

Matt Cohen’s story of planting and growing a church in Philly was compelling, thought-provoking, and full of Scriptural Truth, yet I walked away with a nagging uneasiness about the message.

It wasn’t an issue with the speaker. It was with me.

My gut reaction was to say, How am I supposed to plant churches? I’m not young, dynamic and full of energy. I feel wild and crazy if I can stay up until 11pm. And I certainly don’t have the social skills to go out and recruit people for a brand new church.

You see, I think the vision to plant churches is great...as long as it doesn’t involve me...it’s just not my “thing.” Oh sure, I’ll volunteer for all kinds of ministries that are comfortable for me. Ones that use my skill sets and make me feel safe. But not, you know, ones where I don’t belong or excel at.

As I reviewed my notes from the sermon in the midst of this stream of thought, I saw one of the speaker’s points that I had written down. As the new church hit difficulty, the pastor was forced to come to the end of himself and realize how “unprayerful” he was.

This is my vision problem. This is what I wasn’t seeing. It’s not about me or what I want or what I can do or what makes me feel good. It’s not about my social skills or my energy level or lack thereof. I’ve learned much over the past few years about my identity in Christ and my purpose in His kingdom, but it is so easy to unwittingly fall back into self-centered blindness. 

Only when I drop the “me” from the frame can I truly release myself into what Jesus wants for me and what I can do for Him and what skills He wants me to use in what place at what time to further His agenda.

I can’t say I fully understand the church planting concept yet, and I sure don’t know yet what my place is in this endeavor. But I do know that I need to be in prayer for this vision of our church, and purposefully be asking what Christ wants me to do with it. So I’m praying, His will, not mine, be done.

What are some ways you are working though “vision problems?”

Let The Future Begin

Dominick 

Baruffi

One of the things I do to stay organized is make to-do lists. I make them a lot. I have lists on my phone, sticky notes on my bureaus, marker boards, journals, you name it. Inevitably one of the lists I compile gathers all of the things that I need to get done eventually but aren’t really pressing right now, like close an old account or send that important email I have to write up. I might as well name this list “Stuff I Will Never, Ever, Ever Get To,” because those tasks never, ever, ever get done. I’m tempted to say this is due to my laziness, but I think it’s more accurate to say it’s due to a lack of motivation. Life is busyness, and when you don’t prioritize something, it tumbles farther and farther down the to-do list, until eventually it drops off completely. What’s interesting about this is the tasks that we often allow to go undone are really important things! I’m reminded of Ron Livingston’s famous line from Office Space: “You see Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy. It’s that I just don’t care.” Funny, yes, but totally accurate, is it not? What we do reflects what we value. The same is true of what we leave undone. 

I say all this because we, the people of Living Faith, have been bombarded of late with what is essentially a to-do list of really important things. Two weeks ago we heard about disciple-making, and this week it was church-planting. Both are huge on the heart of God and are spoken about at length in Scripture. But often, you and I get caught up in the urgent things of life, so much so that the important things are left undone altogether. Things that God highly values get lost on us because we’re consumed with the daily grind, always shuffling from one thing to the next because there’s just so much to do. And everything that doesn’t get done gets put in the “Someday” or “Future” category of our lives, and just like the to-do lists, in time will usually disappear completely.

Friends, this should not be.

For the people of God, the question must always be “what does God want?” We are His representatives, His servants. He is our King and we orient our lives around what HE says is important. As we seek Him, the Kingdom is revealed before our eyes, as is our role in His Big Plan. We see clearly what it looks like to be part of the Dance of God, with all of us moving in time to the beat of His glory. And those are the moments when we feel truly alive, when everything comes into focus and the “urgent” things of life fade to distant memories in light of the radiant goodness of our God. 

Here’s the rub, though: you’re probably going to have to start saying “no.” A lot. Are you a follower of Jesus? Then go value what Jesus values. “Does this offend you?” (John 6:61) It should. The Gospel stands directly in contrast to your agenda and my agenda. The Gospel is about God’s agenda. This is when we start to find out how committed we really are to following Jesus. It is easy to put things off for “someday.” But for the people of God, “someday” is today. 

For Living Faith Alliance Church, there’s something new afoot. I believe the Spirit of God is at work right now in a totally new way. Do you sense it? The time is now to embrace that newness. No more “someday,” no more future. The future is here. Let the future begin.

Right Here. Right Now.

Jessica Noblett

As I've reflected on Sunday's sermon, those four words have echoed in my mind. The idea that God has set where I will go and live and the call to grow as a disciple and to make disciples is right where I am: right here, right now. 

The call isn't later in life, after my husband and I have bought a home, secured better jobs, freed up our weekends or honed our people skills (okay, well if you've met my husband you know that was never an issue to begin with.)

Honestly, when I step back and look at my life on a broader scale, I already know that living on mission and loving people like Jesus isn't something to wait on. In many ways I believe that my life does reflect that. But as I've thought about it over these past few days, I've realized the problem is that my excuses are more....daily.  

As a server, I don't always love my job but I love the people I work with. It seems like we are all at a turning point in our lives. Some are trying to get through school, some have been laid off from other jobs, some are single moms and some, like me, are servers because it was the job that was available. The bottom line is that waiting tables isn't the place any of us wants to be for the rest of our lives and one way to enjoy the job is by enjoying being with each other. It’s remarkable to see the unlikely friendships that have formed.

So here I am. God has placed me in a job not only with so many people who are ready to be known and loved but people that I truly enjoy being with. Right here. Right now. So what's the problem, right? The problem is the tiny excuses I make on a daily basis. I'm writing this on my day off and so far I have grocery shopped, done laundry, read a book and done just about everything I can to avoid spending time with other people. Because its my day off and I'd rather not. Not right here. Not right now. In the words of the effortless Scarlett O'Hara, I can't think about it today, I'll think about it tomorrow. 

Even though I believe I am committed to growing as a disciple and making disciples and everything that comes with it, when the small daily things pop up, I'm not as willing as I think I am. It can be so much easier to go on a mission trip than to show people at work who Jesus is on a daily basis is by watching my words or lending a hand when I'm exhausted. It doesn't come naturally but it is where I'm at and how I can love people well. That's the whole idea of letting Jesus into every area of my life.

The truth is, none of my tiny excuses stand a chance. As Nate said, living like Jesus makes me feel weak. It can be discouraging. It can even be, dare I say, irritating. But there is nothing else quite like stepping back and seeing how my life, my choices and my relationships have been changed by Jesus to line up with God's purposes. As painful as it can be, I love seeing God not satisfied in commanding the broad values of my life but stepping into the daily nitty-gritty to change my heart in the smallest decisions. Isn't that what it means to take up our cross daily and follow him?

Let's be encouraged, friends, that the call to grow as disciples begins one day at a time. I’m interested to know, what about this is hard for you? Or the opposite, comment here or on Facebook. What works for you when loving those around you?

"_______is not the absence of_______"

​Sarah Howard

 “Faith is not the absence of doubt.”  That phrase was shared in pastor Nate’s sermon on Sunday.  It started me to thinking so I brainstormed some similar phrases:

• Courage is not the absence of fear.

• Strength is not the absence of feeling weak. 

• Friendship is not the absence of conflict.

• Beauty is not the absence of imperfections.

• Good parenting is not the absence of my child misbehaving.

• Purity is not the absence of temptation.

• Living secure in my identity as God’s child is not the absence of lies.

• A great marriage is not the absence of conflict or difficulty. 

• Following God is not the absence of struggle or ‘fighting for my faith.’

• Joy in my stage of life of staying at home with my kids is not the absence of the realities of things like boredom, struggle, feeling overwhelmed.  

This list is so refreshing to me, because I so want my life to be ideal. I hate to feel weak; I feel like I’m not strong if I’m weak. Or I feel that a beautiful friendship will be ruined if we happen upon a conflict. When my daughter freaks out in the middle of the lobby on Sunday morning, I despair of parenting her well. But it seems that God does not think life is best lived in obtaining ideals. Instead, it seems like He’s wanting to meet us in the middle of the mess, in the midst of the struggle, wanting us to know Him there. 

How about you? Do you struggle to realize God is in the middle of messiness? How would you fill in the blanks “_________ is not the absence of __________”  as God shows you He wants you to know Him in that area? Feel free to comment here.

I'm Not Good Enough!

Blog entry:  

Sherry Engel

A few weeks ago, I looked over the schedule of bloggers, when I realized that I was scheduled to write the blog entry for the Easter Sunday sermon. My mind immediately went to, Oh No! I’m not good enough.  Really!!!!…. how could I write about the most important message of all time?!?

Rewind my life about 20 years and I recall a similar thought pattern.  Jesus doesn’t want me.  I’m not good enough. I try to be a good person, but I’ll never be the “perfect Christian”.  I can’t stand hypocrites, so how could I profess to be a Christian but still make the mistakes I make.  I can’t be baptized, committing to Jesus, because there’s no way I’ll live up to those standards.

Thankfully, I wasn’t left to hang out in this misery.  It was like a brick hit me over the head and helped me to see, “THAT’S THE POINT….. I’M NOT GOOD ENOUGH!  If I was good enough, I wouldn’t need a savior.  If I was good enough, I wouldn’t need anyone to help me navigate life.  I can’t live the perfect life, only He did.  I need Jesus and He loves me even with all of my imperfections.

In fact all of my failed attempts at perfection, to be good enough, have only made me more desperate for a savior.  Someone perfect who will win despite all of my fears and failures.  Having that kind of savior in my life is the kind of good news I want to hold onto each day.

So while I continue to struggle with the sinful battle of trying to be “good enough”, trying to control my life, I now know I have a savior that will guide and help me along the way.

Pastor Nate’s sermon articulated it well, I have a savior that…

• died so that I would have the assurance that He is King and is in control and that I have nothing to worry about 
• allows me to set aside my false saviors including myself
• over powers death and gives me eternal life
• gives me a new life filled with the overwhelming power of the spirit of Jesus Christ living within me

So while I’m not good enough, I am loved enough.  Enough that Jesus died and the Father brought Him back to life for me, to guide me to become more and more like Him.  I bank my hope on this, and one day, because of His gift, I will be perfect, just like Him!

Picture Perfect Obedience

Obedience is a big part of my life. As a high school teacher, I spend a lot of time trying to get 150 teenagers to do what I say. This is often a futile endeavor.

There are the usual comebacks to my demands: “Why do I have to do this?” or “I’m just not feelin’ it today.”

 And then there are the nonverbal responses: the heavy sighs, eye rolls, and dirty looks.

Sometimes these protests are followed by the grudging following of whatever I asked. Sometimes there is outright defiance.  Sometimes the students will do part of what they are expected to do and ignore the rest. The responses vary, but rarely does the obedience come easily and cheerfully.

I don’t think most of us are that different from my students. We may end up doing the “right thing,” but we too often get there through a journey of grumbling and whining and second guessing of whoever is issuing the orders.

And the One issuing the commands is God Himself.

Many of us will do what we can to avoid the hard “stuff” the Lord commands: being a good steward of the gifts He has given, being open to whatever mission He calls us to, being forgiving and loving, being willing to capture every thought to put under His control.

While we’re busy making excuses for why we can’t, we’re missing the “big picture” of what life could be if we surrendered it to the Father.  

 Before last Sunday’s sermon, I had never thought of Jesus’ night in the Garden of Gethsemane as the perfect picture of obedience. If anyone had the right to reject and complain about what he was commanded to do, it was Jesus: the spotless Son, asked to carry and redeem the wrath of His Father toward a world of messed up people who deserved every punishment they had coming to them. But the Son accepted His Father’s command to become the world’s most complete picture of love and sacrifice.

There is something very beautiful in simply saying, “Yes, Lord, I will do as you will.” No excuses, no avoidance.

However, the reality is that this kind of graceful obedience comes at a price. Jesus had to die a painful death and take on the identity of a sinner to fulfill his “Yes.”  His sorrow at Gethsemane was real as He agonized about what His Father willed. Yet He still left the decision where it belonged, with God the Father. Jesus didn’t try to bargain His way out. He didn’t try to make excuses for why He couldn’t. He didn’t challenge the Father with a series of “why me” questions.

To obey beautifully requires sacrifice of self to Someone way bigger than we are.  Jesus led by example with His journey to the cross. His death and subsequent resurrection remain the most miraculous, life-affirming acts of love in history. Our acts of obedience to our Heavenly Father will result in the beauty of God’s plan unfolding as we grow in Him, both individually and as a body of believers. Let us strive to follow His steps by leaving personal agendas behind and simply, beautifully saying, “Yes, Lord.”

Are you willing to make the little and big sacrifices it takes to obey? What excuses need to disappear from your life so you can follow the Lord’s commands willingly? Pray and let the Spirit speak the Truth to you.

Blog entry by:   Nancy Vasquez

To He Much Is Given....

Blog entry: 

Dominick Baruffi

When I was a child, my dad made a habit of coming into the room my brother and I shared just before bedtime. He would tuck his two boys in, read to us, and pray over us as Dante and I slowly faded from the land of the living. Almost every time he sat down with us, my dad would repeat the same phrase from Luke’s gospel. Lately I’ve taken to calling it the Baruffi family motto, so frequently was it repeated in our house those days.

 Sitting by our bedside, my dad would remind us: “To he much is given, much is required.”

                                                                         * * * * *        

The words of my father seemed to be ringing in my ears as Nate preached from the stage on Sunday. I had been given much…but what had I done with it? Haven’t all my resources gone towards making my life as easy as possible? Just like the third man in the parable, I often conclude that, despite whatever “talents” I possess, I am not especially talented, and am therefore exempt from the commands of the Master. For surely, if God wanted to really use me, He would have also given me greater resources, greater abilities, greater opportunities to do great things? I tell myself this in order to justify any action I take that I know doesn’t fall in line with the way God is leading me. If much has not been given, then much is not required.

I don’t have nearly the time nor the space to tell you how hypocritical this line of thinking is.

What is needed, I think, is a new definition of “much.” You and I define it as “whoever has the most.” The Master defines it as “whatever I have given you.”

                                                                         * * * * *

Dallas Willard, one of my favorite writers on the spiritual life, once wrote that being a disciple of Jesus means learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live life if he were I. You might want to read that back again. I like Willard here because an important distinction is made; that is, the question is not so much “what would Jesus do?” but rather, “Given these talents, limitations and resources, how would Jesus respond?”

Here’s another way of putting it. You live within a very specific context: you have a job, a family, friends, classmates, etc. You are also equipped with a very particular skill set, regardless of how you may feel about the quality of those skills. The question that demands an answer from you daily is this: if Jesus were me, how would He go about my business? How would He schedule my day? How would he do my job? How would he spend my money? Keep in mind that while Jesus operates without limits, you do not share His ability to do so. You are limited in the time you have, the tasks you can accomplish, and the people you can impact. How would Jesus respond to the particular situations you encounter if He spent a day in your shoes?

I believe that we will come to think differently about the gifts given to us by the Master when we truly come to know the Master. I recently heard John Piper say there is a universe of difference between knowing about God and knowing God. He’s right. Take this word to heart today: know God. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the very knowledge of Himself as revealed in Scripture. Pursue the knowledge of God that leads to a transformed life, for that is the life we were designed for in the first place. The one who knows the Master’s heart knows what to do with what he has been given.

The Poor, Logs, and Pharisees

This week’s service was a bit of a roller coaster for me.

The first part of the sermon was encouraging because I truly love hearing about Jesus’ heart for the downtrodden- for the poor, the broken, the shame-filled, the outcast and those in bondage. I love being reminded that Jesus is so for the people we naturally consider the least.

So yes, this week's sermon was right up my alley. That is, until the end of the service when Pastor Nate said something about all of this applying to every person in this room and, in some way  or another, we're all poor, broken, shame-filled, outcasts in bondage.

My heart drifted to the floor like a deflating balloon. Not because it's a shock that I one of those, but the reminder that I'm called to love all of the messy Jesus-followers with abandon too. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my pharisaical heart loves people on my own terms, my ideals, my rules.

I love loving the poor, broken, shame-filled, outcasts in bondage who don't know Jesus.  Not always and not perfectly, but I see Jesus' heart for them and my heart aches th at they don't know the hope, grace and salvation that Jesus offers them. I love wading through their messiness with them. I love stories of tangible redemption (don’t we all?!)

On the other hand, I'm much less inclined towards the poor, broken, shame-filled, outcasts in bondage who are already following Jesus but still messy. I guess I want them to have it more figured out, to be further along, to have things fixed. I like making rules for Jesus followers to follow, even if it’s just in my head.

It's a classic example of pointing to the splinter in everyone else’s eyes and ignoring the log in mine. Moreover, it’s convicting to realize that I don’t know Jesus’ heart as well as I’d like to think, and I certainly am not living out His heart for His people.

In the end though I’m encouraged, even though it doesn’t feel like I should be.  The bottom line is that we’re all messy and broken and Jesus has chosen to love us anyway, right in our mess. With love that big and grace so sufficient, I’m hopeful God has bigger plans for my heart as He takes the logs out of my eyes.

Incompetence Does Not Make Me Exempt

Water skiing sucks. That was my mantra for 6 years of growing up on a lake. My dad really wanted me to learn how to water ski when I was a little girl. If you’ve ever water skied, it feels incredibly awkward as you’re learning.

You have to ‘sit’ in the water in a chair position...while trying to steady these wobbly planks strapped to your feet...the whole time, you’re trying not to topple over into the water sideways... meanwhile your arms feel like they’re being ripped out of their sockets every time you take off...then you pretty much drink the entire lake through your nose each time you fall. As I said, it’s not pleasant. Each summer, I’d give learning to ski a good 3 attempts before I’d start crying and say that I couldn’t do it. That I just wasn’t good at it. I’d give up for the rest of the summer. It took me about 5 summers of this routine to finally learn to water ski.

Do you ever feel that because living missionally isn’t natural to you, you don’t want to do it?

It sure isn’t natural for me. When it comes to living missionally, I have the same mentality as water skiing. It feels awkward. It feels unnatural. I’m friends with our neighbors, but when an opportunity comes to mention the name ‘Jesus,’ everything I think of saying feels really strange, so I choke and end up not saying anything at all. It just doesn’t flow.

I don’t know about you, but it makes a world of difference for me to have permission to not be good at something and have it still be ok. That’s what Nate’s little diagram in this week’s sermon  about ‘unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence,’ did for me.

I realized that just because it’s not easy for me, I’m notexempt from a missional lifestyle. It’s not a natural gift, but that doesn’t mean that I never have to bring up Jesus with my neighbors. It makes sense that if I’ve never done it before, of course I’ll feel awkward, and I’ll have to work on it. God’s intent is ‘comptence,’ but it takes effort and time to get there.

Giving up is not an option. Mentioning Jesus to my neighbors will probably continue to be awkward, but as I do it more and more, I’ll move through those 4 steps of competency, just like I did with water skiing. In fact, even though it’s been a good 15 years since learning to ski, it’s like second nature to me. And I actually love it now.

What about you? Does living missionally come naturally to you?

 Blog entry by:  Sarah Howard

Wake up!

Did you ever just want to scream at someone: your kids, your friends, your spouse, anyone , to say “Wake Up”! Why can’t you see clearly?  That’s what I feel right now. “Why can’t all this wisdom I’ve gained change YOU?!?”

Think back to when you were in your late teens and someone tried to impact some truth on you.  How did you react?  I know what I thought…they’re clueless.  They just don’t get it.  I remember my father’s “Haroldisms”, as we called his words of wisdom.  Back then, I didn’t get it. Today though, they resonate clearly.  I remember a friend’s father repeating over and over, “Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God.”  At the time, I thought he was annoying and irritating, but now those words are seared in my mind.  I also remember watching a Godly woman demonstrate what a Christian wife and mother should live like.  Qualities that I aspire to today.

In this week’s sermon, Pastor Nate discussed being prepared for judgment day when Jesus returns.   He shared,  “My desire is that you would just wake up.”   Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was just that easy to “wake up”  or that easy to “wake up” the ones we love?

If any of you are parents of a child entering adulthood, you can understand.  You love your children and want the best for them but you aren’t in control when it comes to changing their hearts.  In his sermon Pastor Nate noted how preparedness is not something you can transfer to another person.  Each individual has to make up their own mind.  It comes down to their choice, not yours. 

That’s a tough place to be when you love your children so deeply.  I’m learning through this season in my life that I’m not my children’s savior, Jesus is.  And sometimes God has to rock our kids hard, in order to wake them.  So as a parent, you may need to get out of the way and let your child be woken up. 

Reflecting back over the last 20 years, I realize God didn’t just bring me out of my sleep all at once, but gradually, awakened me.  So while you may just want to scream at someone to “Wake up! Jesus is coming!”   You may just need to quietly continue to plant the seeds.

How can you plant seeds to help others to gradually “wake-up”?

Blog entry by:  Sherry Engel

A Fine Line? Not So Much…

            Just how fine is the line between solid Christian doctrine and a crazy doomsday predictor living in a camper?  Doesn’t the Bible tell us to be ready, and doesn’t it give us some signs to look for?  Shouldn't all good Christians study this with zeal?  

            Predictions of the end of the world have been coming fast and furious over the past several years.  Needless to say, you are reading this because they’ve all been wrong.  Oddly enough, each seems to get more attention, more press, and more followers than the last. Usually mixing in some misconstrued scripture, a little wishful thinking, and a pinch of doomsday fear, the would-be prophets stir up a following and usually manage sell some books.  Humans are naturally eager to know what the future holds, and we love to latch onto anything that gives us a glimpse of things to come.

           This passage in Matthew 24, from which Nate has been teaching,  is often cited as a sort of “road map” for spotting the milestones of the second coming of Jesus.  It includes things like false messiahs, natural disasters, and war.  Anyone who watches the news or reads a newspaper would not be off the mark in thinking that sounds a lot like the world we live in today.  Indeed, it does. With our 24/7 news culture, at least one of those things makes headlines almost every day.  Surely, we're living in the "last days," right?

            The only problem is that none of these phenomena are new.  Even a brief overview of the last two thousand years shows a world history punctuated with the rise of false prophets (leading to many world religions and cults), natural disasters (global cooling, plagues, volcano eruptions), and wars (The Mongol Conquests, the Crusades, World Wars I and II).  Every generation since Christ could have read Matthew 24, looked around at the world, and been justified in thinking the return of Christ was imminent.

            So if Jesus isn't speaking specifically (and cryptically) to Christians of 2013, what do we do with this teaching?  Jesus lays out some pretty specific guidelines.  Stay alert, watch out for false teachers, don’t be lead astray, stay strong and don’t live in fear.  These seem like pretty good guidelines for living, period.  Even if we’re not focusing on the second coming. 

            I must admit, if it's not obvious, that this is one of my least favorite topics of discussion.  The primary reason I don’t like to focus on the “end times” is that people often seem so eager to lose the forest for the trees.  In other words, this topic, more than most, seems to capture the imagination and draw our focus away from the primary objective of reaching people, feeding the poor, caring for the helpless and hopeless, and sharing the love of Jesus with the world.

            I know and agree, “the end is near,” but instead of a myopic focus on a specific prophesy, this truth should spur us into action.  The end is, indeed, near.  Whether it’s the end of the world, or just the end of our time on it, we need to remain focused on doing what we’ve been called to do.  Let’s stop wasting time and resources on counting vowels in Genesis to calculate the date of the rapture, and use our energy on something that will yield fruit; that’s a line of doctrine I can follow.

Blog entry by:   Jeff Hyson

Missing Jesus?

“We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—“

                                -Paul Laurence Dunbar

These are the first two lines of one of my favorite poems. It speaks to the cultural truth that we like to hide from reality.

It’s second nature to me. I have worn a mask my whole life, one that attempts to make me appear as an individualist, willing to do my own thing no matter what anyone thinks. One that makes me look as if I don’t need other people’s approval.          

                Lies, all bold-faced lies.  I’ve only recently begun facing this truth that I’m a liar.

I desperately care what other people think. I always have. My life is so full of paralyzing fears of relationships that I literally can’t deal with them at times. I second guess everything I say, everything I do, everything I think:

                Did I say the right thing? Is someone going to be offended?

                I should have kept my mouth shut!

                Should I have done something differently? That made me look stupid!

I am, as I see it, socially awkward. My life has been spent attempting to emulate the outgoing, the “cool,” the people who can talk to anyone with confidence. When I couldn’t copy them, I sat in my tiny corner with a mixture of envy and awe toward those front and center, who work their way through relationships with seeming ease.                  

I became a people worshipper.  My entire identity was wrapped up in what other people thought of me. I clung to those who “approved” of me, my friends and family, as my heroes and my idols. When these idols let me down, as fallible humans always will, my identity went crashing down, too.

I was the first point in last Sunday’s sermon  a person embroiled in “an obsessive and destructive pattern of using people to…feel loved, becoming a slave to others’ opinions.” 

I was so busy seeking approval that I didn’t see what God wanted me to see: His plans, His purposes, His sovereignty, His wonder, His deliberate creation of me as I am.

There is such great freedom in taking the mask off, to breathe fully and without fear. To finally realize that I am God’s precious daughter, created as beautiful in His sight, even with what I see as horrible flaws. To be honest enough to reveal the truth that yes, I am a mess who needs to get my priorities straight, but I am not a hopeless mess. To step out in faith to do what I can to repair relationships destroyed in part by my unrealistic expectations of people as my saviors.

When my focus is on God, I have freedom to pursue what He wants for my life without distraction, to face Him and the world without the suffocating restrictions of a mask of lies.

Blog entry by:   Nancy Vasquez

Hey...He Was Talking About Me!

I think I would have rather had a tooth pulled than write this post. In fact, I did everything possible to avoid writing this all week, including reorganizing my entire sock drawer (which, though very important, was far from pressing). I did this primarily because I did not want to relive Sunday's sermon. I’ve heard teachings and lectures on the Seven Woes of the Pharisees before, and honestly I was expecting more of the same going into the service. But Nate’s message was not more of the same. It was personal. It wasn’t about the leaders of Jesus’ day. It was about me.

Because I am a Pharisee.

I am guilty of every charge Jesus brought against the religious elite of his time. I am selfish, blind, arrogant and proud. I am full of all manner of lust, greed, slander and envy. And this is not hyperbole, friends. I see this play out in the decisions I make each and every day: decisions to gossip about someone to be part of the crowd; decisions to be showy when being discreet would do the job; decisions to ignore God altogether because why bother when I’ve got me?

I am a Pharisee.

And this is why I wanted no part of reliving Sunday’s sermon. Because I get it. I'm a Pharisee. I'm horrible and selfish and want all the glory for myself. I'm a Pharisee, ok? What do you want from me? I know I'm a sinner and guilty on all accounts. I live with it every day. I don't want to sin, yet I repeatedly choose to do so. And there are days where I have thought that I am never going to change, that I should just give up altogether because what’s the point?

The Judge has spoken. The gavel has dropped. The ruling is clear: “Guilty.”

What do I do now? How do I respond to that, other than “yep?”

It took me until midweek to realize my mistake. While all this is true, it is only half the story.

There’s more.

The beauty of the Gospel is there is always more grace. Just like the prodigal, we have a Father that is forever waiting at the gates for us, ready to run out to meet the poor, disheveled soul who thought life would be better if he did things on his own. I cannot tell you how many times I have been that poor, disheveled soul. It seems like a billion, billion times. And every time I come crawling back to God, embarrassed to even show my face to the Father I so quickly deserted, He does what he has done so many times over: He embraces me. He takes me back. I am unworthy to receive Him, but He does not count my sin against me. That penalty has been paid.

All because of Jesus.

This is the Gospel we claim as ours. Even in our sin, we can confidently approach God because we come as sons and daughters. Most of the time, we’re too distracted by our sin to remember this. That’s exactly what the enemy wants. As long as the focus is your sin, you are of no threat to him. But instead of spending all my time focusing on my sin, I’m learning to spend all my time focusing on Jesus. Sin is my problem, but Jesus made it his problem by dying in my place. And grace covers a multitude of sin.

I am a Pharisee. But by the grace of God, that is not all that I am.

Blog entry by: Dominick Baruffi

Prove it, Again?

            Have you ever thought a sermon totally didn’t apply to you, but then all of the sudden, WHAM, you remember something you were thinking like a week ago?  Yeah, that happened to me this past Sunday…and I was a little embarrassed when I thought of the context in which I was ‘judging the Judge.’  

            The week before Christmas, my two daughters caught a nasty cold.  It lingered, and a few days later my husband caught it as well.  I was completely sure that I would inevitably catch this cold.  And I was angry about.  Angry about how sick I was going to be (with this cold that I hadn’t yet caught).  It was Christmas, for crying out loud.  I could just picture myself on the 25th, with watery eyes, sneezing and coughing uncontrollably, trying to nurse and care for my seven-month-old, while also disciplining my rammy two-year-old. 

            As I waited for my self-fulfilling prophecy to come true, I realized that my anger was not just towards the situation, but actually more towards God.  He controls all things, right?  So couldn’t He control this cold hitting my family at Christmas?  Couldn’t He have kept us healthy at least until the day after the holidays? 

            As the days went by, I kept not getting sick.  I expected to wake up with instant strep throat, but every morning as I opened my eyes, I felt fine.  As Christmas Day approached, I felt torn.  Was God being gracious to me, the mommy who carries so much weight for the family?  Was He sparing me and caring for me, knowing I couldn’t handle being sick myself while trying to care for my sick family?  Or was He just cruelly waiting until the very last second to slam me on Christmas morning?

            I know this all sounds a little ridiculous, but I’m not exaggerating these thoughts.  I really had them!  I even told my husband about this struggle.  My thoughts were honestly dominated by wondering about my fate: would I be sick or not sick?  ‘Is God being extra kind and good in sparing me, or is He being completely mean and malicious?’ I thought.  As you can imagine, I felt far from God during worship time on the Sunday before Christmas and on Christmas Eve.  I was waiting for Him to prove Himself before I’d say anything good about Him.

            Well, after all of this internal struggle, I ended up not getting sick.  You would think I was settled in my mind, then: God is extremely kind and gracious, giving us what we don’t deserve and not giving us what we do deserve.  Nope.  Not me.  I actually forgot about it.  As each day passed without sneezing, the struggle faded more in my mind.  I’m not even sure if I ever even said, “Thanks, God, that I didn’t get sick.”  My lack of sickness didn’t actually prove God’s goodness in my mind.  I felt okay to open my heart to Him again, but not cemented in my belief in His care.  

            So in the end of the sermon last Sunday, when I heard these lines: ‘I’ll follow God when He makes it more clear,’ ‘I can’t follow God until I have it all figured out,’ and ‘I’ve found a loophole about Him,’ I saw myself the week before Christmas.  Delaying my declared love for God until I figured it out and saw the end of my story.  I was willing to be thankful and have an open heart to God IF I didn’t get sick, IF He proved, yet again, that He was good.

            The answer that Jesus gave to the third ‘test’ in Matthew 22 really stood out to me.  The religious leaders asked Him which was the Greatest Commandment, and He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”  You know what Jesus, with that answer, says to me?  He says, “Guess what? I might not choose to prove Myself in every situation.  Every situation is not a fresh test of My goodness.  There may be times when you can’t outright see My goodness and care.  But I still demand your love, Sarah.  I still call you to worship Me as good, to declare My faithfulness and care for you, even when you can’t see it.  Enough with the tests!  Enough with the having to prove Myself over and over and over again.  Love Me with all you’ve got…and loving Me includes every day stuff!  Even when you might have simple cold.  Love me there.  One way it’ll look is believing and declaring that I’m good in any situation you encounter.  You don’t have to wait for me to prove Myself again.”

            So I’m taking this and running  Maybe you’ll join me, too.  So whether in sickness or in health, let’s love the Lord our God…who is good in every situation.  Whether we see it or not. 

Blog entry by: Sarah Howard