Voting Season vs. Egg in the Face

My Feeling Exactly.

I love discussing politics (especially with people in the church) about as much as I love being pelted in the face with an Egg

To be fair, any guy with hair that long is asking for an egg to the face...I hear egg yoke is a great natural moisturizer!

In all seriousness though, as we enter in to elections once again this November sometimes I feel barraged by cheezy television adds, political candidates with awful haircuts, and angry people who are not shy about spewing hatred for one party while worshipping another.

Here is my "Reader's Digest Version" guide to thinking about voting and politics

1. I dont think you can Biblically mandate voting.

Nowhere is scripture will you read "though shall vote, and vote Republican." Is voting wrong? Absolutely not! I have met tons of great people who care passionately about politics and exercise their civil right to vote. Politics are not my thing, but they may be yours and I think its great if that is the case. However, as I study the life of Christ it seems he was way more concerned about building the kingdom of God than the nation of Israel. In the same way, Paul was way more concerned about the church and what God was doing on earth than he was about Cesar. All of this to say, I think its important to check our hearts and make sure we are more excited about the Gospel and what God amongst his people than anything else we are passionate about.

2. If You Don't Vote, Don't Complain!

This is pretty self explanatory, but people who remove themselves from the voting process don't have the grounds to complain about the condition of our town/state/country. That would be like choosing not to take a test and complain about your bad grades!

3. We Should Love What God Loves.


When thinking about politics it is important that we remember passages like:

James 1:27: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction"

Luke 10:27: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O man, what is good; ad what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God"

This is one of many passages of scripture that needs to run through our framework when deciding what political candidate to support. We need to ask tough questions to ourselves about whether or not supporting a person or party is consistent with the Biblical principles we believe in. Just like any other aspect of our lives, we cannot separate politics with what God has called us to. We need to love what God loves and use the political arena to be a light to our communities.

Practically this has worked out in my life in that I am neither Republican or Democratic, but I cant justify voting for someone who supports the murdering of babies...take that for what you want.

4.Remember, God is in Supreme Control of the Outcome.

I will leave you with Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will."

Politics often causes us to lose the forest amongst the trees, Don't forget that God is in control of all things and is completely sovereign over all...including political races

You Are Loved!

Best video i have seen in a long time!

Check this out! Too much fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_S0T7cma_U

Crazy Pastors and What I Wont Be Doing On 9/11

Well, simply put, today I am frustrated. The day started off well enough, work is going well, Mary is happy and healthy, we won a great soccer game last night, but the frustration began when I read an article titled "Pastor declares 9/11 International burn the Koran Day"

The picture above is of Dr. Terry Jones, the pastor mentioned in this article, now that picture may clue you in on the fact that he may not be the happiest man ever...that is actually him smiling! But upon reading the article this morning I decided to do a bit of research on what this guy was all about so I went to his "church's website (http://www.doveworld.org/) and here is what I found on their main page:

- A 10 minute video where Dr. Terry Jones blasts Obama, homosexuals, and Muslims. Nowhere in this video is the gospel presented, forgiveness offered, love displayed...only anger, violence, and hate

- A book authored by Dr. Terry Jones titled "Islam is of the Devil" - creative title!

- You could purchase coffee mugs, shirts, and hats all featuring "Islam is of the Devil" in bold lettering

- A blog...all of the posts speaking to why Islam is evil and why we need to burn the Koran to save America

- A sign stating "Islam is of the Devil"

- And don't forget...a way to give money to the ministry

The most enraging thing about their website was the video where he promotes his views on the Church, Islam, and culture. When watching this video it is impossible to see anything other than an angry man whose heart has not been penetrated by the gospel. He does not love Jesus, he does not desire to make disciples of Jesus, all he cares about is seeing conservative America unite, bear arms, and make actual war (i think) on Islam and our culture. He is using the fears that Christians and conservatives have to promote himself and he is walking an incredibly dangerous line. My fear this man is the living embodiment of Matthew 7:21-23. I understand the soberness of my previous statement, but this man is a wolf in sheep's clothing and after going to his website and seeing his own videos there is no other conclusion to make.

Here are quick reasons why i think making September 11 "Burn a Koran day is a bad idea"

1. It is offensive to those who lost people during the 9/11 attack to make that day a holiday to promote hatred

2. It is this crusader-like mentality that has brought the great harm to the Church and the name of Jesus

3. This plan has already caused riots in Kabul, Afghanistan and could have real bloody consequences

4. What does this accomplish other than angry people getting to throw a fit?

5. Stunts like this distance Americans from the gospel and make reaching people for Christ more difficult

6. It is extremely anti-gospel

7. Participating in this empowers a lunatic and gives him a platform to do more harm

8. This is the danger in tying too tightly the gospel and American politics.


Is Islam something that churches need to think about and consider? Absolutely!
Do we live in a dark world that is lost? Yes!
Does the church need to be active in the community? Of course!

Here is what I want you to get. The only source of change, hope and love that will penetrate not only the muslim community but any community is the gospel of Jesus Christ, not militaristic anger or hate. The reason I am so passionate about church planting because we need less churches like Dove World (great name for a church...Not) and more churches who are committed to lifting high the name of Christ and committed to penetrating their communities not with hate, but with the gospel of Jesus Christ! That is are call, our purpose, and our joy! Lets get after that calling and not this nonsense!

So needless to say, I will NOT be burning any Koran's this 9/11 and I hope you won't either.

as always, your thoughts and questions are welcomed.


~ cal

Babies in Heaven, Justice, and consistency

Good-morning Blogosphere!

Something has been on my mind and heart lately that I hope will valuable to at least one of the 5 of you that read my monthly posts ;)

One of the greatest questions and debates amongst Christianity and people in the Church is "where do babies go when they die?"
People have argued vehemently and passionately on both sides of this topic. I have talked with people who argue from Romans 3:23 saying that the "all" in all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God means "all" and we cant make an exception based on age, even if the baby hasn't been born yet. I have also spoken with people who argue from Luke 12:48 and say if "to whom much is given, much will be required" how can God require anything from someone who has been giving nothing?

Theologians whom I greatly respect and have more scriptural knowledge in their fingertip than anything I could hope for have written books arguing one side of the debate, only to completely flip-flop later in life. This debate has caused certain denominations to make theological statements regarding the "age of accountability" (as if on your 5th birthday magically something happens to you and you can choose to trust Jesus as your savior...not the most brilliant or biblical idea)

After reading about this issue, studying God's Word, talking with a ton of people on both sides I have come to a conclusion:

I have absolutely NO IDEA the eternal ramifications of a miscarriage or when a young baby dies. The Bible absolutely does not speak to that issue specifically and I do not believe God's Word absolutely prohibit either view...and you know what... I am totally cool with not knowing!

6 months ago my wife and I had a miscarriage. And amid the sorrow and grief that both Mary and I felt, we were both comforted not by knowing what the eternal ramifications of the miscarriage were, but we found so much comfort in knowing that God is unquestionably good and that God is my refuge (Psalm 34:8), that God had an unquenchable love for me (John 3:16), and that God was in absolute control of this situation and working on my behalf (Romans 8:28).

It was the truths that I already knew about God that brought comfort and joy rather than trying to wrap my mind around what I did not know.

This is a very emotional topic and my goal is not to say you cant fall on one side of the debate. If God has laid on your heart a conviction regarding the eternal destinations hold on to those by all means. But I want to remind everyone that our true hope, joy, and passion is what Jesus Christ has already done for us on the cross! I want to hold on to that way more than anything else!

One danger this debate lends itself to is people making these statements:

"if God is just than..." or " How could a loving God...." "I refuse to accept that God could"

Whether it be the issue of babies in heaven, or social justice, or any issue, it is always dangerous to box God in by what our sinful minds view as just or good.

A great example of this is that we would scream injustice if someone would be allowed to sacrifice themselves in order to free someone on death row. We would never allow that! It is not just that God would spare us from our DESERVED punishment through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. So if God acts outside of our view of justice and goodness on our behalf, how can we demand that God be boxed in by our fallen view of justice or goodness in this issue or any other.

The only things we can hold God to is the promises he has made to us in scripture because we know God cannot lie!

I want to leave you with Deuteronomy 29:29, a passage that has been a great encouragement to me and a passage that speaks directly to this whole issu:

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever"


hope that was a blessing

Cal

What if you believed in Hell?

Do you believe in Hell?

Simple enough question right? Do you believe in a literal, lake of fire and brimstone Hell which the Bible clearly states as the eternal destination for those who have not been saved by faith in Jesus Christ?

The question is simple but the problem is that we do not like the repercussions of that question. In 2003 the Barna Group did a study which showed that 77% of Americans believe in Heaven, 73% of Americans believe in Hell, yet less than 1% of Americans believe that they will go to Hell. Even more so churches don't teach on Hell, Christians don't like talking about Hell, Christians don't like thinking about Hell and Christians dont see Hell as having practical implications on our lives.

Why is this? Does Hell have practical implications on our lives? if so, what are they?

I believe it is an old counseling slogan that says "you act how you act because you think what you think" The basic principle being what you think about something determines how you act about that same thing. For example, someone who is germaphobic believes that any germ they come in contact with will inevitably bring with it a disease that will infect them and cause them severe sickness and death. Because they believe this they stay away from public places, are neat-freaks, and go through sanitizers like its their job.

In the same way, if I believe aliens have invaded the minds of all Home Depot employees, I would respond by staying away from Home Depot, warn about the dangers of Home Depot to others, and I would be very wary of anyone I met who worked at Home Depot.

Once again the point being that we know what we believe and think by how we act.

So here is the million dollar question: If we truly believed that Hell was a real place for those people who did not know Jesus Christ how would that affect how we live our lives?

This question has troubled me a bit lately. So often I see in myself a lack of urgency in my walk with Christ. I do my best to put things on auto-pilot and live a life that is comfortable for me so I don't have to do uncomfortable things and don't have to have uncomfortable conversations. As I ask myself why I so often fall into these patterns the tough answer is that a lot of times I allow myself to believe that it doesn't matter. God will save who he saves, its not my issue, and I would rather be lazy, and do my own thing rather than do what God's Word unmistakably calls me to.

All this to say I came up with a list of how one would act if they truly believed in a literal Hell:

1. Be overwhelmed by Gods grace through Jesus Christ on our behalf.

2. Living a life pleasing to the Lord out of gratitude would be the #1 priority.

3. They would have a desperate desire to reach the lost in their families and communities.

4. They would readily forfeit "being comfortable" for opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ.

5. Through the Spirit they would transform their communities and the lives of those who spend time with them.


This is a pretty sobering list to personally work through, but Hell, our sin, and God's grace are a very sobering reality. My prayer is that you would take some time and see where you are at on this list and ask yourself like I often ask me: "are you living with an eternal perspective?"

Pooch Is getting Married today

This one will be short and sweet because in a just a little bit the wedding madness begins as today I get the joy of seeing my sister Katherine (Pooch Dawg) married to Austin Averill (Tina). It has been a joy for me to see both of them grow in maturity both in life and in their walks with the Lord these past years.

My sister is amazing! She is smart, beautiful, funny, and has a band-with that far exceeds most people.

Austin is her perfect match. He is laid back, kind, strong, loves Jesus and everything I would hope for a future brother in law to be! (especially the fact that I can own him in pretty much any competition...not that its all about me or anything :)

Anyways, all that to say here are 3 major ways that marriage has changed my life and I hope the same will be true for my sister and Austin

1 My View of Love - It is impossible to know what unconditional love is before you are married. Growing up you are stuck with your family, you love them, but its all you have ever known. Since Mary and I have been married my view of love has changed dramatically! I now put Mary's thoughts, fears, hopes, and joys over my own and am constantly in prayer for her, I defend her with my teeth snarled (not literally), and my goal is to give her every reason to continue to love me more and more. God has blessed me with a great wife and I do my best to be faithful to that gift!

2. Soberness in my walk with the Lord - The fact that I am now the leader of Mary and responsible for her spiritual walk is still terrifying to me. Often times I am convicted that I am not giving my all in this area and it is very sobering for me. Just like a father presents a bride on a wedding day I want to someday present Mary to the Lord with the same joy and boldness. In order to do that I need to be the man God has called me to be first and foremost, then I need to lead Mary and be the husband to her that Christ was to the Church! Pretty amazingly big shoes to fill!

3. God is undeniably good! - These last 2 years with Mary and been far and away the best 2 years of my life and my prayer for Katherine and Austin are that marriage would be the same for them and that marriage would draw them closer to the feet of God and that they would never take for granted the joys and a marriage rooted in Christ provides.

Well, thats all I got...everything else they need to know and learn they will do so in time!

Happy wedding Pooch

Cal

ps. the one with the crazy eyes in the picture is Katherine

Unworthy of Jesus?

Hi everyone, its been too long...almost a month. A combination of selling our house, packing our house, closing our house, preparing to move across the country, weddings, wrapping up the ministry year, and a general lack of inspiration are all partly to be blamed for this but I have a few minutes here and want to share with you/visually work through a passage that has been on my mind for over 2 weeks now. Quick disclaimer, this may be my most scatter-brained and least polished blog yet from me as I am still wrestling with this in my mind right now so I would love some input and grace!

Here goes nothing:

Matthew 10:34-39 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy than me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Pretty sobering stuff huh?? I would be lying if I said that this passage hasn't haunted me at all the past few weeks and here are a couple quick thoughts that I have been working through:

1. This passage kills the "Hippie Jesus" misconception.

There is a common belief among many evangelicals and non-believers that Jesus was a good guy who love people, pushed for social justice, loved the weak, and was a cool dude with great hair but not necessarily the Son of God or only way of salvation.

You cannot read this passage and not take a make a decision on Jesus. He proclaims that unless we make him the pre-eminent figure in our lives we are not worthy of him and do not have a part in him. Just like in Revelation where Jesus spits out the lukewarm church, Jesus demands that we live out are faith in painfully real ways on a daily basis. What has kept this passage ingrained in my brain is the fact that when I look around I see an ocean of lukewarm water.

C.S. Lewis best describes Jesus when he says that he is either "a liar, lunatic or Lord" and the problem is that so many people call Jesus Lord but have no intention of carrying his or her cross. I think this tendency lives inside all of us and this passage should sober us up as we irradiate areas of sin and selfishness in our hearts.

2. What does it mean to be worthy of Jesus?

In this passage we see the word "worthy" used a lot. The idea of being found worthy of Jesus is ingrained into our heads as Jesus says "you need to make me first in all aspects of your life to be found worthy of me."

So the question becomes how do live a life that is worthy of Jesus Christ?

This is a dangerous question to ask because it is so easy for the legalist and pharisee in us to scream out "what we do makes us worthy". What happens then is we set up a list of extra-biblical rules and guidelines that determine our "worthiness".

Things like: (lame) CCM music, only seeing (increasingly lame, false health and wealth gospel) Christian movies, knowing Greek, only associating with Christians, going to a Christian school, ect. all become non negotiable to "being worthy" and anyone who doesnt do exactly what we do is clearly a sinner who isn't "worthy" of Jesus

This type of thinking is not only arrogant, wrong and sinful but is exactly what Jesus hated about the pharisees, which is the idea" what i do by myself makes God love me" Romans 6 clearly outlines that Jesus is our salvation, our righteousness, and our good works. When God looks at me he sees not me, but Jesus Christ's work on the cross on my behalf.

So while we should reject the idea that legalism = worthiness, it is equally dangerous to say "well all I have to do is pray a prayer and Jesus will save me because he has to and I can do whatever I want." This is the category that I have seen in so many friends in the church that is devastating to me. In Matthew 10:34-39 Jesus tells us more or less that if we proclaim Christ, we need to man up and live for him....

But what does that mean?

As I have meditated and thought through what this means and looked through scripture the best example of the type of worthy life that Jesus is talking about is found in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 where Paul says that even though he is free from all he has chosen to make himself a servant to all people "for the sake of the gospel" that more may know who Jesus Christ is. Paul was willing to do whatever it took to show people the saving grace and forgiveness that was offered only in Jesus Christ.

I think this is the best description of a life dedicated to the sole purpose of making the name of Jesus great above all things. Every conversation we have, every interpersonal relationship, what we do in our free time, how we treat family, how we conduct business, ect all need to be drenched in the gospel and our love for Jesus cant be something we turn on and off but has to radiate through our entire being.

This is hard and something we will never have down perfectly which is why Paul in Philippians 2 says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" because this is something that we will constantly need to evaluate and re-evaluate over and over again as we seek to become more like Jesus Christ! Passages like Matthew 10 serve to remind us of this sobering fact.

Hope that made sense, if not, my apologies and next time you will hear from me I will be living over 1000 miles away from where I am living today!

God is good, and life is exciting...


cal

Suffering well!

Hi Everyone, here is a quick video I wanted to share with all of you, its 50 minutes long so make some time, but it is absolutely worth it. 2 giants of the faith who love Jesus so much teach us on how to suffer well!

Here is the Link:

http://www.theresurgence.com/matt_now_knows (sorry, will have to cut and paste, still working out a link bug on this blog)

would love to hear your thoughts

Cal

Full Circle - Moving Back to West Michigan!

What?

Yes, it is true, my wife and I (and our puppy) will be moving back across the country once again this summer as we come home back to West Michigan. I have accepted a Pastoral position at a new Harvest Bible Chapel church plant in West Michigan that Lord willing will be launching this fall.

The past 2 years serving at HBC Orlando has been an absolute joy for both Mary and myself, we have loved our church, our students, and having this adventure out on our own. We will definitely miss many parts about Orlando and are so excited to see how God is going to use HBC Orlando for His glory in the future.

That being said, we are so excited to be moving back home and serving at the next place the Lord is leading us (hopefully for a long long time!)

When?

The tentative plan right now is that our car will be packed and we will be on the road early Monday morning, May 24th. My last official Sunday as a staff member at HBC Orlando is May 16th, we will take the next week to finish packing and making sure everything is all set and ready to go, and after a goodbye lunch on the 23rd with our church family we will be all set and ready to go.

Why?

There are a ton of different reasons that I could give but the major reason is that both Mary and I feel that God is strongly behind this and that He is the one moving us. Here is a few reasons that we feel this is the case:

1. The staff that is assembled: I am so excited that my dad is pursuing God's call on his life to pursue role of teaching pastor. He is one of the most gifted communicators of God's Word that I know, and I am confident that God is going to use him in great ways. Also, my dad has had more influence than anyone else on me and I feel that working under him will be a smooth transition and that this is the best place for me to grow as a pastor and as a person

Chris Mulford, my brother in law, is coming up shortly after us along with his wife Carolyn to be our Worship Pastor. I count myself lucky to call Chris one of my best friends, his love for Jesus is infectious and both encouraging and challenging to me. He is an extremely talented worship leader and musician and I believe he has both the talent and love for Jesus that God will use him to transform lives in West Michigan! Chris is the full package, and I am so pumped to work closely with him for the same purposes! I really believe he will inject a spirit of Worship into our church that Western Michigan desperately needs!

2. My heart is burdened for West Michigan: West Michigan is one of the most churched places in America and also one of the most spiritually dead places in America. People ask "Why plant another church there?" and the answer is because that place DESPERATELY needs Jesus Christ! I have seen it in both the public and Christian schools, people dont know who Jesus is and don't have a saving faith in Jesus but think they have it all because they go to church. The study of God's Word is not encouraged and people are lost. This is my home and my heart has always been burdened for West Michigan, and I feel strongly that this is where the Lord is leading me! Enough said!

3. My Pastoral Position: Like at HBC Orlando I will be overseeing the youth ministry initially. I have loved working with Jr. High and High School students in Orlando and am so glad I will continue to do that on some level. But on top of that I will oversee the Adult Ministries, Discipleship, and have the opportunity to grow in my preaching of God's Word. In all of these areas I need to continue to grow but I have such a great passion for both preaching God's Word and discipleship, seeing people grow in their walks with the Lord. I am so blessed to be able to serve God in this way and I am excited to see God grow me in these areas!

4. Mary's Role: Mary just graduated with a degree in Children's Ministry this spring from FCC and it is so cool to see the Lord open up a place for her to use what she has learned immediately. Mary is happiest when she is serving in children's ministry and every time we plan for it or talk about it her eyes light up and it is such a cool confirmation of what the Lord is doing in her life.

5. Being Back With Family: Both Mary and I cherish our relationships with our family and have missed seeing them over the past 2 years. We are so excited to be able to lean on them and grow those relationships even deeper in the future! Such a blessing!

Prayer Requests

1. That God would continue the work in the students we are leaving in Orlando.
2. That our house would sell quickly.
3. Safety in travel.
4. That God would continue to grow and bless HBC Orlando.
5. That God would stir in the hearts of people even now to join our new Church and be a part of what God is doing!
6. Protection against opposition that has and will come!
7. For Zoning on our building to be approved.
8. That God would provide older men to mentor me and help grow me.
9. That this next chapter in our lives would be one of fruitful service to the Lord!


cal

View from the Sky

Have you recently had a moment when the reality of the mere size and vastness of God has blown you away?

I had a moment like that yesterday that I want to quickly share with you:

The last 3 days I have spent at Harvest U which is an intensive church planting conference which was held in Elgin, Illinois. The conference was wonderful! Very focused, practical and concise and I was proud of myself because this may be the first conference ever where I have been at every session and never skipped out of anything. At conferences I have the attention span about the size of an ant and am usually bouncing around or grabbing lunch with friends or meeting with people rather than sitting through sessions.

However, this time I felt like I needed to soak in as much as I possibly could. I learned tons about small group formation, service planning, staff relationships, and the importance of making Church about God and not about us!

As I boarded the plane last night with Mary, my mind was literally moving at about 90 mph thinking about what I have learned, excitement for the future, what I can do better, and what the Lord has in store for me.

I was in the middle of playing a game of boggle on my phone with Mary when I happened to glance out of the window of our plane.

The sun was setting and when I looked down at the ground all I could see was groupings of city lights separated by miles and miles of land. It's hard to explain what I felt in that moment but I was blown away at the size and presence of God. I thought to myself as I looked at the night sky "all God had to do was speak and this happened." It is truly unfathomable! Psalm 19 tells us that God holds the Universe in the palm of his hand and my spirit literally felt that in that moment.

As I sat in the plane and looked out not only was I gripped by the size of God, but also about the frailty and smallness of myself. The truth of the gospel that says that outside of the blood of Christ there is nothing in me that can please God was made new again for me. I so small! how can I even pretend to be of any worth outside of Jesus Christ.

Thinking back on this whole experience, the coolest thing about it was that I unintentionally responded in the exact same way that Isaiah did in Isaiah 6, where in a vision he is brought into the throne room of the Lord!

Isaiah's first response was "woe is me for I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." When standing before the Lord Isaiah's first response was repentance. This same exact thing happened to me! I immediately repented of sin as I looked out of the plane window. "forgive me for my laziness, forgive me for my pride, forgive me for making you small and me big, forgive me for when I make life about me and not you, forgive me for forgetting how great you are, forgive me for making ministry about technique and not about you!" As I was gripped by the greatness of God all I could do was repent of my sin and thank him for his love and graciousness towards me!

The second thing Isaiah does in Chapter 6 is offer himself for service. When the Lord asks "who will go for us?" Isaiah responds by proclaiming "here I am! Send me." It is in the moments when our eyes are opened who how great God is that we can fully understand that there is no greater purpose in life than to serve him. As I sat in the plane I was so energized and ready to do whatever God would have me do for him! This is the call of all disciples of Jesus to make more disciples and I was so pumped to begin and continue the work God has called me to!

So as I look back and think through that experience, it is so cool that even though we were separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles Isaiah and I shared a similar response to seeing the glory of God. I believe repentance and action are a Biblical response to God and it was so amazing to see those Biblical principles come alive in a very real way for me!

When is the last time you have been struck by the awesomeness of God? And what was your response?

I think being in the presence of God is the place to be, let us strive to work towards that end together in humility!


cal

The 3 vs 30 dilemma

My Aunt Kim recently made a comment that resounded in my heart. Kim is an accomplished academic who has her doctorate in the English Literary field and she recently said "the thing you need to know about school is this: it takes 3 hours to write a "B" paper and 30 hours to write an "A" paper.

This statement made a lot of sense to me as I think back on my college days. The question becomes: Do you do the minimal amount of research and put a small amount of time in to get a good grade or spend nights in the library researching vast amounts of materials and spending hours upon hours writing and re-writing your papers to get an excellent grade?

I was the prototypical "B" student. I knew that I was smart enough to get good grades without trying too hard and I would put the 3 hours I needed into a paper to get somewhere between an A- and B- and then would be on with my life. As I would start a paper I would make a mental scale in my mind, and on one side would be the amount of time it would take to write a thorough, great paper. On the other side would be spending time with my fiancee, hanging out with my roommates, intramural soccer, video games, going out into the city to eat or hang out with friends, general happiness, and sleep...

The paper never won!

I viewed college as a means to an end that would give me the credibility I needed to pursue where I felt God was calling me and I was not emotionally invested in my school work. I also was not a huge fan of the academic community and the general arrogance that flowed out of some of my professors and colleagues (as it turns out, it is possible to love Jesus and not read and write fluent Greek). I think my attitude towards academics was not perfect, and I probably could have gained some had I cared more, but at the end of the day I got a pretty good GPA, had a blast living in Chicago, and don't have many regrets.

Anyways, the reason I write about this is because I believe we often translate this type of attitude towards our relationship with God.

What I mean is, that it is easy to turn our spiritual life into auto-pilate and go to church, do ministry, pray, and study God's word on a minimal level that "gets the job done" but leaves no lasting benefit to us or others.

In the Psalms, David writes "as the deer pants for water so my soul longs after you". I have a dog so I know what it means to pant. when we take our dog to the park, or on long walks by the end she is worn out, her tongue is out, drool is happening, and she is panting with each breath for water. Do I yearn for God like a dog or deer longs for water? Not nearly enough as I should.

Last night I heard Dr. James Macdonald preach on James 1 where James says "if any of you lack wisdom let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach." What is amazing about that statement is that God promises if I need wisdom in a trial to come to him and he will give it to me, and not even hold it against me for asking, yet so often I rely on my own strength, understanding and power which leads to failure and exhaustion.

All that being said, I think if we should strive for excellence in anything it should be in our walks with the Lord and yet so often we turn in "B" or "C" work because we don't care to put the effort in for "A" material.

As I get older I see more and more what a gracious and patient God I serve and am so grateful for his lovingkindness towards me all the time! He is much better to me than I am to Him!

I know this is nothing new to anyone but a good constant reminder none the less.

cal

The Resurrection Matters! (Response to Rob Bell Video)

Part of what I enjoy doing in my free time is hopping around the internet checking out websites/blogs of different churches and evangelical leaders. As a young man who is dedicating his life to serving the Lord via the local church I think it is important for me to have an understanding of what is going on, being taught, and what is making waves in the evangelical community.

On of the best times to do this is the Monday after Easter. I found it so encouraging to hear of all of the new people in churches on this last Sunday and the story of lives being changed through the power of the gospel!

Unfortunately I am not always thrilled with what I see. Yesterday I stumbled upon a video that troubled my heart, got me angry, and made me sad. I want to share that with you now, not for the purpose of bashing an individual (frankly, I don't care enough, nor do I like writing enough to spend the time to go after someone just for the sake of doing it) but I do love the gospel and I do love the resurrection which is why I want to take some time to reflect on what the death and resurrection of Christ does and does not accomplish.

Please check out this video now...or the rest of what I am writing wont make a ton of sense! (copy and paste)

http://vimeo.com/10639312

First of all, on a mere production value, this video is really cool. I find it encouraging when churches and pastors are committed to doing media well. I think sometime churches think that because Jesus lived 2000 years ago we are free to use 2000 year old technology...not the case! One of my favorite churches is Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and they go to great lengths to develop excellent media resources that go to further developing the Kingdom of God! On top of that Rob Bell is a very gifted communicator and has an eye for the artistic that I will never have, I will be the first person to say that he is good at what he does!

However, unfortunately in this case, cool production is used to hide a very dangerous message that in my opinion undercuts and takes all power away from the gospel, something that all Christians should care deeply about.

I knew things were headed in a downward spiral about 30 seconds in when speaking as Jesus, Rob Bell says "I am going to be killed, thats where this is headed because you don't confront corrupt systems of power with out eventually paying for it, sometimes with your own blood"

Let me make something obnoxiously clear here: THE REASON FOR CHRIST"S DEATH WAS TO SATISFY GOD'S WRATH ON SIN BY BECOMING SIN SO THAT WE MIGHT INHERIT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST"

Jesus did take on a corrupt system of power, but stating that as the reason for his death is not only laughable, it is false teaching! Scripture makes this abundantly clear, most notably Romans 5:6-11 which states that "Christ died for the ungodly", "we are saved from the wrath of God through Christ's blood", and "while we were yet sinners Christ died for US" notice the emphasis on Christ dying to save us from sin and not on taking on a corrupt system of power. Romans 5 is just 1 of many times scripture clearly lays this idea out for us!

Bell spends the rest of the video encouraging his listeners that this world is not a dark place that should make us despair, and he points to the resurrection of Christ as proof that God cares about "every kind word","that what we do with our lives matters", "that every work of art that celebrates the good matters" and "that every fair business transaction matters" According to Bell, all of these things belong and will go on. All of these statements left to themselves are fine and I would affirm that God does care about us and what we do.... But please understand that this is not the gospel!

Nowhere in his video does Bell mention sin, wrath, judgment, atonement, satan or even that Jesus did anything on our behalf. Bell believes that the world and all in it are inherently good, and that the resurrection of Christ is to celebrate all that is good triumphing over evil. According to Bell it was the government that put Jesus to death, not our sin, we have no responsibility because we are all good. Again, citing Romans 5 I would argue that this teaching flies in the face of what scripture teaches and Bell is making Jesus out to be little more than the South Vietnamese monks who burned themselves in protest of the war.

So why talk about this? Why should we care?

If the reason Christ died on the cross 2000 years ago was not to atone for my sin and to satisfy God's wrath on my behalf I am still damned... Christ death accomplished so much more than what Bell proclaims, Christ death offers SALVATION, RECONCILIATION to God and VICTORY over sin and death! (coincidently those words don't appear in Bell's video either)

Christ did not rise from the dead to redeem the world as Bell says, but to redeem me, a sinner deserving eternal damnation whom Christ has graciously called to Himself and as a result I am able to love, worship, and have a relationship with God both in the present and to eternity. This did not happen because I deserved it or because I am inherently good but because Christ purchased me with his blood. That is the power of the gospel! Christ victory over sin and death is what makes Easter such a beautiful day!

In his video, Bell says that "its easy to be cynical" and I am sure that he would write me off as merely a cynic looking for a reason to be grumpy. But I would say that it is even easier to subscribe and teach a non-offensive, toothless gospel that doesn't deal with the issue sin and has no real power. I have learned in life that the less I talk about sin the more people like me!

So while I understand I am probably not winning myself any friends today, I strongly believe that Christians need to not only be continually grateful for the 1 true gospel, but we must also in humility fight to protect it and not let false teaching take root in our hearts or in our churches. Acts 20:28-29 reads:

"pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained through his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock;"

this is a sobering warning and the reason any of this matters is that if we lose the truth of the gospel, we have lost everything!

I hope those reading this understand that my heart is not to be cynical, angry, arrogant, or critical, but if I firmly believe that we need to protect the gospel, and if I remain silent, I am falling short of my calling.


cal

Don't Believe the Lies! (Genesis 18:1-15)

Last Sunday was different than most for our high school youth group.

I jokingly (sort of) made the statement that most of the time, whether it be a church, youth group, or school, guys/men always seem to get beat up more by the Bible. Gods word seems to outline the failures of men on a much larger scale than women. This is seen in Adam, Lamech, Noah, Abram, David, ect.

Tonight was different in the sense that in Genesis 18 get a close up look into Sarah's sin that causes her to laugh at Jesus when he promises her a son. Sarah, along with many other fall into the sin of not believing in the promises of God. The reason that Sarah laughed at Jesus was because she thought Jesus made a promise that he couldn't deliver.

In I Timothy 2:12-14 Paul states that the reason that women aren't to teach was because just like Eve was deceived by Satan in the garden, women are more easily deceived. This is one of the areas of God's word that flies dead in the face of our culture and we have the choice: believe in God's Word and His promises, or like Sarah. choose to reject it.

After establishing this principle that women are more likely to be deceived than men, I took the rest of the night looking at 3 specific lies that high school girls tend to believe and how we can trust God when we are approached with these lies.

Lie #1: It is not fair that I have to submit.

Submission is something that women struggle with ever since Genesis 3:16 where God says that women are going to desire to rule over their husbands. We looked at how even high school girls struggle with submission, and what they do in order to control things are to use gossip, slander, and moodiness to almost scare others into submission so they wont mess with the girls. I have grown up in a house with a lot of women and I can personally attest that all young girls do this!

Lie #2: God is not in control of my future.

While guys are often lazy and don't have a care in the world, most young Christian women really plan out, fear, and struggle with what will happen to them in the future.

Girls like to have a step by step plan that looks like this:

I need this GPA, to get into this college, i need to find Mr. Right, he needs to be 6'4, have blue eyes, great skin, and have a good job that will allow me to stay home and have 3.5 babies, live in a certain type of house, in a certain type of community.

The problem is if that plan doesn't go exactly according to plan, girls freak out and claim that God doesn't love them or that he isn't in control, so instead of trusting in the promises of God they try to make things happen on their own. This inevitably leads to bad choices with guys, and bitterness and anger set root in their hearts and often times girls walk away from the faith altogether.

Lie #3: God isn't in control of the timing.

What we saw in Sarah in Genesis 18 was that she thought her time to have children had passed and that God hadn't worked soon enough. It is very easy for all girls to feel the same way regarding different things in their lives. "I should have a boyfriend by now", "I should be done with acne", "I should be done with school by now".....

When girls get so caught up with their circumstances and don't trust God, they are overtaken by stress, anger, and bitterness which leads to sin and can often have negative emotional and physical on girls.

It was a great night, covered a lot, and was worn out by the end of it!


cal

Why Sorrow is Better than Laughter

This morning I was doing some emailing in preparation for a conference our jr. high youth group will be attending this weekend. I was listening to a sermon while I was working and like usual I was absolutely destroyed by God's Word and my mind feels like a boulder rolling down the side of a mountain so I thought I would share what the Lord is teaching me in this moment:

Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 " It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad."

How can sorrow and the house mourning be better than the house of feasting?

I have known this passage but always inwardly struggled with what this looks like and how this should play out in my life. I was in high school when the Emo movement was in full swing, and when I saw those kids i thought to myself "they are so sad, self-focused, and selfish that this is obviously not who Christ has called us to be as representatives of himself." Also, the Bible is filled with passages similar to Nehemiah 8:10 "the joy of the Lord is your strength" and Hebrews 12 where the writer says Jesus even died for the Joy set before him.

So how does Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 fit into the broader picture of us finding our hope and joy in Christ?

Here is how:

The reason sorrow and morning are better than laughter is because sorrow causes us to think about our human condition, eternity, and to call upon the Lord in a way laughing never will.

I have attended many sporting events in my life, these events are filled with laughter and joy (unless you are a cubs fan) as people watch and support their teams. I have never been at a game where all of sudden the fans in the stadium begin to join in a conversation about human depravity and the devastating effects of sin. At sporting events people want to drink beer, eat hot dogs, and talk about sports, its why they are there.

Likewise very rarely does the bloody death of Christ come up as people are sitting down at a restaurant enjoying a nice steak and a fine wine. And when was the last someone started weeping over the eternity of their lost friends while blowing out the candles on their birthday cake?

The point is that when we are experiencing the "good things" in life we want to sit back and enjoy the ride, our minds are focussed on living in the present.

The purpose me writing this is not to condemn fun, i will still like steak and sports for as long as I live and Ecclesiastes 3 clearly states there is a time for laughter along with weeping. But I do want to say that sorrow and mourning provide great value to our souls that laughter never will!

I want to quickly look at 2 types of sorrow/mourning and look at how it is greater than laughter, spiritually speaking:

Type 1: Sorrow over the brokenness of our world/suffering

Very recently my wife and I endured a time of suffering together. There were tears, sadness, and a lot of hugging and comforting. This sadness and suffering was not a negative thing but in many ways was a blessing in our lives. Both Mary and I would say our walks with the Lord have been strengthened as we were made to rely solely on God, trust that he is good, and
believe even more deeply in His promises.

Whether it be war, starvation, death of a loved one, ect. only by experiencing that type of sorrow and suffering can we truly understand what it means to trust only in God and understand what Job means when he writes "the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

Times of sorrow (especially death) also directs our mind towards the eternal. We evaluate what we believe and whether or not our lives are consistent with what we believe. Sorrow makes us ask the tough questions that laughter and joy try desperately to keep trapped in the back of our minds.

It is for this reason that I often pray that God would destroy my friends and family who are lost in order that they may be drawn to the Himself! Sorrow brings about a soberness that is not found in laughter.

Type 2: Sorrow over Sin

I think Christians are not nearly broken enough over sin. If we were, the church would look drastically different from top to bottom, and would be a much greater agent of change in our culture. I firmly believe that through Christ we are more than conquerers of sin and death(Romans 8:37), and that allowing guilt of past failures to control our lives is sin in itself.

However our sin should cause sorrow in the sense as it serves as a reminder of our rebellion against God and the destruction it brings. Our sorrow over sin should continually bring us back to the foot of the cross as we lift the name of Jesus high in our lives out of a heart of gratitude and amazement for what he has done on our behalf. Where we could never impress God, Christ did so perfectly on our behalf.

I would go so far as to say if anyone is ever comfortable with their walk with God, and are not continually in desperate need for God to form them into his likeness, they are sailing in dangerous water! Or at least they dont understand magnitude of sin and Christ's atonement for that sin.

Sorrow over sin causes us to remove our pride insert Christ in its place!

Like I said, the point of all of this not to suggest that we walk around depressed and constantly keep a box of tissue with us at all times, but that when we experience times of sorrow, we can understand that sometimes sorrow and suffering is a manifestation of God's grace in our lives, as he continues to refine us and draw us closer and closer to himself.

Would love to hear your thoughts,

cal

What I am reading!

I know all of you are obviously dying to know what I spend my free time reading so I thought I would enlighten all of you :) Kidding aside here are 3 books that I have read or am in the process of working through that are challenging me and I would recommend to anyone. So here they are with a quick synopsis by each.

Just Read: Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

I absolutely loved the book! Most simply put, it is a book about what a Biblical church should look like. It goes into issues from doctrine, to roles of leadership, to how to best mobilize the body for ministry, to even how to best use technology to enrich the church. Mark Driscoll is my favorite author and I really appreciated his latest work. I am very excited to see how God is going to use what I have learned from Vintage Church in the future!

Reading: Religion Saves + Nine other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll

I just started digging into this book. The purpose of this book is to look at 9 major issues that are debated by people in the church and look how we can handle these issues from a Biblical perspective. In some ways this book was born out of frustration because so often people hold to firm beliefs on issues and fight to the death with others about things the Bible doesn't outline for us (i.e. dating). This often leads to division and fundamentalism(legalistically holding on to rules outside of scripture), both of which don't please God and are extremely dangerous for the church.

In this book Pastor Mark looks at 9 of these issues and I am looking forward to seeing how he unpacks touchy issues such as birth control, dating, grace, humor, and faith and works!


On Deck: Christless Christianity by Michael Horton

Christless Christianity is going to be the most theologically meaty of the 3 and also the one I am the most excited about reading. Horton's thesis for the book is that the "American Church" has replaced Jesus Christ as its head and in its place has put what he calls "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism". What this means is that churches have assumed that people know the gospel and what Jesus Christ has done, so instead of preaching the gospel the church focuses on how Christians can have a successful life..."our best life now". Rather than focusing on Christ as the focal point of the gospel we become the gospel and Christianity becomes all about making me happy, peaceful, and enlightened. This is a false gospel and pastors need to be constantly be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for in it and it alone lies salvation.

Horton looks at how this epidemic is playing out in the church and how we can combat this movement...needless to say I am pumped about this book!

have a good day!

Cal

Genesis 16 Hagar and Ishmael

Sunday night we continued our study in the book of Genesis where in chapter 16 we meet Hagar who will become the mother of Ishmael.

The first thing that hits me in the face when I read Genesis 16 is that when we allow ourselves to forget the promises of God and when we get consumed with our circumstances, our sin nature quickly takes over and everything begins to fall apart.

Sarai didn't trust that God would provide would provide her a child and therefore took the matter into her own hands and presented Abram with Hagar. Abram wasn't the leader of his family that God had called him to be and indulged in the temptation that was put in front of him, and Hagar was clearly in it for the money and was an Old Testament version of a gold-digger... Things deteriorate so quickly for all parties involved.

We also looked at the similarities between Adam and Eve when they sinned earlier in Genesis, and Sarai and Abram in this story. We see that:

Both women offered their husband what was forbidden

Both men are not being the leaders God calls them to be and fall into sin

In both instances the effects of the sin is devastating on human history

I find these similarities between the 2 couples so interesting as we see that Adam and Eve were the prototype for what God intended our relationship to be with God and each other and they quickly ruined things by falling into sin. God therefore chose Abram and Sarai as a vehicle by which he would restore humanity back to himself through Christ and yet Abram and Sarai fall into an almost identical sin!

We also learned that when we choose to sin, we choose to suffer great consequence. Ever since Genesis 16 there has been great conflict between the offspring of Ishmael and Isaac. It would be almost impossible to even consider the amount of war and lives lost to this indiscretion on the part of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar. It is easy to see why Christians, Jews, and Muslims are all uncomfortable with this chapter as it doesn't paint a great picture of the father (or mothers) of our faith.

We ended the night by looking at Genesis 16:10-16 where Jesus Christ shows up as the hero! In verse 10 Hagar has fled from Abram and Sarai because Sarai had become jealous and was mistreating her, she was pregnant, traveling across the dessert, going to a foreign land with the child of an alien. Things were not looking good for Hagar to say the least!

But we see in Vs. 10 that THE angel of the Lord (Jesus) comes to Hagar, blesses her, commands her to return to Abram and Sarai and most importantly causes Hagar to call upon the Lord and brings her to himself!

What I love about Genesis is that time after time we see that without Christ things fall apart and time and time again Christ shows up and restores things. It is impossible to read the Old Testament and not see Christ as the focus of everything that is taking place!

It was a great night and we are learning so much through our study of the Word together!

Cal

John 14: Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life (JR. High YG Mar. 3)

Last night we as a youth group studied John 14 and here is a quick recap:

In the beginning of John 14 Jesus tells his disciples that he is going back to Heaven to prepare a place for us...I think its so cool that Jesus spent much the first 30 years of his life as a carpenter's son/apprentice and now he is acting as a carpenter in heaven building us homes!

We talked about who we would want to live by in Heaven if we could pick 1 person...I chose Peter. The reason being that when the guards tried to take Jesus in the garden, Peter cut one of their ears off. I figure if I can get on Peter's good side he would be a good neighbor and protect me from any hecklers in Heaven :)

One thing we noticed was that this would be a very scary thing for disciples to hear! Jesus was their leader, their teacher, their provider and the reason they gave up everything they had. Now Jesus was telling them he was leaving! The disciples were going to have to learn to trust Jesus in a whole new way!

We spent the rest of the night looking at the statement in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"

This is such a loaded statement that really flies in the face of what our post-modern culture of tolerance and individualism preaches. We as Christians are called exclusive, arrogant, and unloving because we believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father, but we believe that because we believe in Jesus! If we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died for our sins and rose again, we need to believe what he says!

This is why i hate the "Jesus was just a cool morale teacher" statement. If you don't believe he was the Son of God, than he was a lunatic because he repeatedly said that he was the Son of God and called people to believe in him and follow him. He also said if you didn't know him you didnt know God. What I love about Jesus is that there is no middle ground with him. You have to totally embrace him or completely reject him and sadly I think many people try to find a middle ground which is impossible!

The rest of the night we looked at how Jesus actually is the way, truth, and life. We ended the evening taking some time to ask ourselves if we do really believe that Jesus was who he said was? And if we do how is that changing our lives!

It was a great night and I am already excited for this weekend!

cal

Sunday Feb 28 HS Youth Group - Covenant with Abram

This Week we were Genesis 15 looking at when God re-established his covenant with Abram.

What I love about this passage is that in the very first verse God tells Abram that God is his shield. What a beautiful picture! And what is even more awesome is that we as spiritual descendants of Abram have Jesus Christ as our shield.

So we spent the first part of the night talking about different ways that Jesus is our shield. I explained to the students that we need to understand that Satan and demonic opposition is a very real thing and should sober us up about our walk with Christ and we need to understand that we may face very real opposition when we commit to follow Jesus.

However we need to believe and embrace the fact that in regards to demonic opposition, or sin, or death that Jesus is our "Christus Victor" meaning that Jesus has already won the victory over these things and in Christ we share in that victory. While we need to be sober to satanic opposition we should not get consumed or overwhelmed by it because it is giving Satan may more respect than he is due. The battle is won! We have victory is Christ and he is our shield and protecter! I love that verse...So cool!!

We also see in Genesis 15 that Abram questions God about what is going on. Abram is really old, has no kids, is still an alien in a foreign land and says to God "how are your promises going to come true, I don't understand." In studying this passage we learned that it is ok to have questions and not understand what the Lord is doing as long as we continue to trust in Him and His Word. We also learned that when we have doubts to go to the Lord and talk to him rather than keep them inside because when we do it turns into bitterness and unbelief.

We finished the night looking at Genesis 15:11 where Abram sets up the covenant like God commands him and then immediately he has to fend off birds of prey that seek to eat the animals on the altar.

What we learned from that picture is that as soon as we commit to following the Lord and doing what he commands us we need to expect to face opposition. This happens because our sin and Satan would want to discourage us and have us fall flat on our face. This opposition is a test of our faith and we need to equip ourselves through God's Word, prayer, and accountability to deal with this opposition!

We finished the night in small groups looking at specific ways we can follow the Lord better and deal with opposition when it comes.

I love the students and really am beginning to feel God stirring in their hearts, its a cool and encouraging thing to see!


Cal

Sunday Feb 28 - Dating and Relationships

Sunday was a busy day for the student ministry! Sunday morning I was so excited to be able to take a both the Jr. and Sr. high students and have some time to teach on the importance of having a biblical perspective when it comes to dating/relationships.

I believe that have a Christ-centered perspective on dating/relationships is so important for students to be committed to having well before they begin the process. My hope Sunday morning was to outline some Biblical principals that would lay a foundation to help the students whenever they begin that process.

The first thing we covered was "What is the Purpose of my Life?" The reason we started by answering this question is because if we don't clearly understand what the answer to this question, we wont have the ability to do anything else well! We looked at a few passages but settled in at Isaiah 43:7 which clearly states that we were created for Gods glory. Since we are created for His glory our primary purpose is to Glorify God in all aspects of our life including relationships.

Another thing we spent a good amount of time was explaining to the students that they are under their parents authority and need to abide by the rules their parents have set in place whether or not the students agree with them. I explained, using Psalms 139:16 that God not only created us, but placed us exactly where he wanted us, and when we complain or choose not to follow our parents rules we are in fact telling God "I don't trust you" because God's Word clearly states that he is the one who has placed us under our parents authority!

We spent the rest of the morning looking at what we should look for in the person that we will one day marry and came up with a list of non-negotiable standards that we would set. That list included:

1. Passionately loves the Lord
2. Trustworthy
3. Kind (physically and emotionally)
4. The guy needs to be able to lead (motivated) and the Girl needs to be willing to follow
5. Committed to purity
6. Committed to you and the Lord!

All in all it was a great morning and I trust and pray that the Lord will do a great thing through the lives of all of our students!

Cal

Feb. 24 Jr. High Youth Group Recap - John 14

Last night was a lot of fun!

We had a lot of students in our home last night (especially girls) and they were their normal energetic selves.

We were going to be studying John 13 last night which is the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet, so we themed our games around doing things with our feet. 1 game had everyone open and eat a pack of fruit snacks using only their feet...that quickly digressed into mayhem but was a lot of fun in the process. We also had a relay race where students needed to pass an orange from one side of the room to the other using only their feet! All good fun!

This year our Jr. High youth group has been working its way through the Gospel of John and examining the life of Christ in order to get a better understanding of who our savior was and how we can better follow him.

Last night we were in John 13 where Jesus washes his disciples feet. We learned some very important lessons about what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus. First we learned that Jesus came to be our servant, and if we truly want to be disciple of Jesus we must also serve. A follower of Jesus who isn't a servant is like a fish that cant swim...not a fish!

Secondly we looked at who Jesus served. I think its no accident that before Jesus washes his disciples feet we are told that Judas had already set in his heart to betray Jesus. We talked about how hard and emotional it must have been for Jesus to wash the feet of Judas, and how it is easy for us to be servants to our friends but not our enemies.

We also compared Jesus washing Judas's feet to Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We looked at the similarities of those 2 situations and found that Jesus made a much greater sacrifice dying for our sins than he did washing the feet of Judas.

The night ended with the students splitting off into groups and performing short skits on how we can be a servant in situations where we feel we are being mistreated. It was a lot of laughs and goofing around, but they did a great job and got the point!

Discussion Question: In what ways am I similar to Judas in my relationship with Jesus? And what does that show about how much Jesus loves me?

All in all...Great Night!

Genesis 14 HS Youth Group Recap (Feb. 21)

Last Sunday night may have been my favorite night of high school ministry ever!

We were studying Genesis 14 where Abram has to bail his nephew Lot out of slavery.

We also met Melchizedek who we saw as the most clear picture of Jesus in the Old Testament and we looked at 5 different ways Melchizedek was a picture of Jesus:

1. He was the king of Jerusalem...God's city
2. He has no genealogy and he is called eternal in Hebrews 7:3
3.He was called an eternal priest before God initiated the priesthood (Christ is also called our High Priest in Hebrews)
4.He came with bread and wine - a picture of communion and Christ's body and blood
5.Abram gave 1/10 of all he had to him (tithing)

We spent the majority of the night looking at Abram's relationship with his non-believing friends who came with him to rescue Lot (Mamre, Aner, and Eschol)

We learned 3 things from his interactions with those men:

1. Abram was a good friend and neighbor - i mean you don't go to battle to rescue the nephew of a guy you dont like right?
2. Abram stood for righteousness in the midst of his unbelieving friends. (He did the influencing)
3. Abram was more concerned with showing his love for God to his friends than governing their morality.

I think so often we as believers are more concerned with making our unsaved family or friends act like a "good Christian" rather than helping them understand their need for Jesus in their life. We can get so hung up on the externals and lose sight of the big picture!

Discussion Question: Why is focusing on a non-believers actions rather than heart a recipe for failure?

All that being said it was a great night and look forward to getting back at it next Sunday


cal

Tiger Woods: A Biblical Perspective

If you are a fan of sports, or have read the news, or been near a TV this week you are well aware that Tiger Woods has just made his first public comments since the unfortunate details became public regarding his personal life. I think there are some valuable lessons that we as the body of Christ can learn from this situation, and I hope these thoughts help us in setting up a Biblical framework for how we think and discuss this situation which is a very hot issue in our society right now.

I am a sports fan, for as long as I can remember I have known how to find ESPN on any TV I have ever owned or watched. Often I jokingly say to my friends, “I am to useless sports information, what Charles Spurgeon was to preaching.”

That being said, I have been fascinated with all of the attention and drama surrounding the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal that has rocked our culture. I don’t care to know what Tiger did or any of the details regarding those incidents. All I need to do is read Jeremiah 17:9 to know that the heart is desperately wicked. What has fascinated me, however, is that as a young man who desires to serve the Lord with his life, this has really given me a unique insight into not only Tiger Wood’s life but into our culture as a whole.

We have all seen and heard many responses and opinions about Tiger Woods since November and I think we can break these responses down into 3 major categories:

1. Anger: Many people have been angered by Tiger Wood’s actions and have demanded that he apologize publically to all of us, as if we are owed something from him. Some have even gone so far to demand that he retire from golf and leave the public arena all together.

2. Apathy: This whole scandal has really shown us the true nature of post-modern thought. The most common response by media and other golfers has been, “It is none of my business what he does with his personal life.” This idea that if you let me do what I want, you can do what you want is very individualistic and void of any accountability. This is a very dangerous mindset that is beginning to infiltrate the church and flies straight in the face of how God has called the body of Christ to function.

3. Selfishness: The third response we have seen is, “I don’t care what he does, I just want to watch him golf.” The sad thing about being a celebrity is that you are exploited for what you can provide people, but most don’t care about Tiger, or that his family is in ruins - they just like watching him win tournaments.

So how do we as believers respond to this?

I believe our first response should be grief, as we recognize our fallen state and we understand that all sin grieves the Lord.
In Genesis 6:5-6 we read:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

It is important to understand that it is not only the sin of Christians that grieve God, but all sin is a reminder of man’s rebellion against God’s authority and His design for mankind. All sin hurts God. Therefore when we look at Tiger, let us not be angry, disappointed, or point our finger and laugh, but let us be devastated by the overwhelming path of destruction that sin leaves in its wake.

Secondly, it should make us long for the return of Jesus all the more. In Romans 8 Paul writes:

Creation itself will be set free its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth

Creation itself longs to be free from the shackles of sin, and we should as well. Let us never get complacent with our walk with the Lord, but let us always keep our eyes on Jesus in anticipation of His return!

Now, I also want to take a moment and look at the actual statement that Tiger Woods made, as it gives us a chilling insight into his heart.

The Good:

I took away some very positive things from Tiger’s press conference. First, I saw a man who was experiencing the effects of sin in his life. His wife was not with him, and even more telling than anything he said, was the fact that while he gave his speech his own mother wouldn’t even look at him. Tiger has learned in a very public and very dramatic way that left to himself, his sin will set fire to every good thing in his life and completely rob him of any joy.

Secondly, he defended his wife and children. While I understand that the only reason he needed to defend his family was because of his betrayal of them, I was glad to see him defend his wife’s honor. He held her in high esteem and defended her against false accusations. This may be the first ever time Tiger has loved his wife unselfishly. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church and there was evidence of unselfishness and sacrifice in what Tiger said.

The Bad:

Most plainly said, Tiger is still his own god. Tiger made it very clear in his press conference that it was his fault for what occurred, and it was his responsibility, his job, that he had power to make things right. He said over and over again that “it was up to him.”

I know that much of the evangelical attention will be on his profession of Buddhism as a way to fix his issues. That doesn’t surprise me at all. Buddhism is an inherently selfish religion, because at its center is the goal of achieving enlightenment and becoming your own god through meditation and works. Ironically will never connect you to the real God because Buddhism is a demonically originated religion built to lead people astray. God’s Word makes it very clear that only through Jesus can we know God!
What I know to be true is that as long as Tiger continues to put his faith in himself rather than Jesus Christ, he will never experience the forgiveness, joy, and freedom that Christ provides, and left to himself he will once again destroy everything.

The Terrifying:

Tiger ended his press conference with this statement:

“Find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.”

What a terrifying look into this man’s heart! This man desires our worship and our belief in him. What is so scary is not that he will be forgiven, and he will (our culture is very quick to forgive), but that people do and will continue to worship this man. Tiger Woods is a god to many people in this country… a false god!

If this whole mess has taught me anything thing, it has made me so glad that my heart, faith, and worship belongs to Jesus Christ, who through His death and resurrection alone has the power to save!

- Cal