It’s interesting where life takes you or rather, where life follows you. A slow leaving of a place is difficult, not unlike the long, grinding ride to the top of that first hill of the rollercoaster. Tonight we sit in what will be our house for the last few days of living in Austin, TX. We leave next Tuesday morning for the island of Maui, to a new house, a new direction, a new world. A new season in a land with none. What do I expect? God. That’s all. I just expect God. I don’t expect Him to do a certain thing or to manifest a particular way. I just expect God. It’s not a pilgrimage to find God. The finding has been done. It’s a pilgrimage to a deeper walk in the secret place under the shadow that heals. That experience has been very real for me in recent months. The reality of those surprising supernatural intellect boggling encounters is undeniable and has forever left me changed. This is ...(long pause)... The realization of a dream. The awakening of an inheritance. The hand reaching out to lay hold of the mantle left behind. The answer to the prayer of another. The grateful recipient of new life to things once thought dead. I’m 33 this year. How significant that the year of the resurrection of Jesus Christ would be the year of mine as well. If the Son of God became the Son of man so the sons of men could become the sons of God, then I contend for the fullness of the standard of Christ to be manifest in our day. May it be so from Austin to Maui. Austin has been a home for us and a good one at that. We have family (both spiritual and literal) here. The blessing of being a minister in your home town is that you learn to do it without honor. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially when your home town is Austin. This city epitomizes cool in every carnal sense of the word. The music is great, the food is fantastic, and the people are generally friendly. A hill country sunset can soothe a sorry day like not much else and every other cantina serves the best salsa you’ve ever tasted. Every place has it’s negatives and I’m glad to say that Austin has fewer than most. Perhaps one day we’ll live here again. Traci would like that very much for this town is all she has ever known as home. Despite it’s destination, this move has been difficult for her. She deeply loves her family and has an amazing bond with her sisters and can quickly be overwhelmed at the thought of change. I admire and marvel at her for being willing to do something new and wonderful and exciting. She’s a disciplined and diligent woman and God knows I needed such a creature in my life. The fact that I fell in love for one so unlike me still leaves me saying, "Thank you Lord." She has dared to not only let me dream, but dream with me. She is truly a marvelous woman and I love her with all of my heart. I’m blessed to have lived where we’ve lived. I’m blessed to be going where we’re going. I’m blessed to have incredible children who are so excited about all of this. I’m blessed with parents who have given me faith in the God who invades the impossible. I’m blessed with friends that have become the brothers and sisters I never had. I’m blessed with the thought of the future. Tonight, I’m a blessed blessed man.

Taken from a journal entry in 1997.

Each person is navigating an unpredictable sea full of wonder and possibility. Whatever security and predictability we try to create is merely illusion that gives short term peace of mind. Only those who come to accept the unpredictability of life can find lasting peace. Creating temporal security is like dropping an anchor on a hundred foot chain into water a thousand feet deep. We're temporarily happy that we've dropped anchor until we come to realize that we still drift. The analogy of the hymn that speaks of being anchored in the Rock of Ages is full of truth not only that Christ is a 'rock' but that He is the only security. And yet, He, full of wonder and possibility, is like the ocean. He's faithful but not predictable. He's secure but not safe. "He is not a tame lion." Perhaps that is why God likes children. For their insatiable appetite for adventure. Let a child loose in a church sound booth and you'll see what I mean. It's not so much that God is like a child, but that children are so much like God. Somewhere along the way we get old and our divine sense of wonder begins to die. Along with the death of wonder comes the cynical resignation to turn Que Sera Sera into a worship anthem. This is why miracles are so important. They let us know that there is no such thing as impossible.

Now here's an interesting train of thought. We're warned in Eph 4 not to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Yet Jesus said in Jn 3 that those born of the Spirit are like the wind in that you can't tell where they're coming from or where they're going. He's not talking about the Spirit, but He's saying believers who are empowered and led by the Spirit move like the wind. Now how does the Christian now submit to the Spirit without being tossed about? The issue is not the wind. It's in that from which the wind originates. In one case it's the Spirit (Jn 3) in the other it's doctrine (Eph 4). If Paul had said don't be tossed about by every wind of the Spirit, we may have a major dilemma here. But instead he says, every wind of doctrine. The question then remains, are we following a principle or a Presence? Principles are what you have left when the Presence is gone.

I don't believe that doctrine was never meant to be simply a list of things we claim to believe. Doctrine is an invitation for a Divine encounter. John 3 says that Jesus was known as a 'teacher' come from God for nobody could 'do' the things that He did. Instruction without example is illegal. It's not ok just to talk. What good is to believe that God heals today if we never contend for healing? To believe that God wills some to be diseased and struggle is to say that the Father is applying to man the curse that Jesus died to destroy. That's saying that the Father and the Son are at crossed purposes.

If salvation applied only to the soul and spirit I'm thrilled, but the demonstration of the Power of God that brings eternal salvation to the soul also ought to have effect in the body. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will make your mortal body alive if He dwells in you. The word 'saved' in Scripture is 'sozo' meaning the whole person, spirit, soul, and body. So then to accept that invitation for Divine encounter, two things must take place. Sin has to be dealt with and I must be empowered by the Spirit. The blood of Jesus dealt with sin so that's settled. The only question now is how empowered by the Spirit will I be? In this season we are drawn to meditate on the mystery of Jesus. Fully man, yet fully God. By submitting himself to our limitations, and then redeeming us by His blood, He is now inviting us to submit ourselves to His limitations. What limitations does Jesus have? The Kingdom of God is all about advancement. "...and of the increase of His government, there shall be no end." May it be so on our watch.

It's been difficult to write on the blog lately. Even starting this one, I hesitate, type, erase, retype, ponder, pray, close the window, go do something else, come back to it, rinse, lather, repeat... There's so much in me to share. Anyone who has conversed with me in person in the past two months knows this to be the case. After this season of ministry, life, triumph, tragedy, and transition, I'm just not content to hide behind theory any longer. Either the Kingdom is real or I've just taught ideas and concepts. To push the promises of Scripture into a past or future period of history for which I have no responsibility is simply making an excuse for a substandard version of authentic Christianity. No more making excuses and calling it doctrine. So I guess I've been more interested in hearing what's being said than saying what I want to be heard. I want to hear both what God has said and what God is saying. He's got a lot to say. (Jn 16) So bear with me and my sporadic posts for now. There will come a time for writing. For now I just want to hear and see what needs to be written.

You cannot change your heart. God will not change your mind. But if you will change your thoughts, God will change your heart.

More thoughts, impressions, and quotes from this past weekend.

- Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Not from having heard.

- We are kept honest by taking what we have out there. The healing ministry was never designed for the church. Divine health is designed for the church. Healing is supposed to be taken out there. Wouldn't it be tragic to come to the end of time and glance back through human history and see that the only generation to experience divine health was the children of Israel in rebellion in the wilderness? How can an inferior covenant provide a superior blessing?

- What God brings into your house (church) better have a way of being released from the house or it will die in the house.

- Any one of us who visit any event in our past apart from the blood of Jesus voluntarily subject ourselves to a spirit of deception. Your past is off limits to you except to review what Jesus has done. You are a trophy of grace. When you revisit the dark places in your past you fall under the shadow of that sin even though from Heaven's perspective it was purchased and completely removed and no longer has power. So what are you doing? You're actually revisiting something that no longer exists which makes you subject to a spirit of deception.

- The Scriptures are 100% the Word of God, but unless the Spirit makes it alive it's the letter that kills. The purpose of revelation is to bring you to a Divine encounter that leads to personal transformation. In John 5 Jesus tells the Pharissees, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them is eternal life but it's these that testify of Me and you're unwilling to come to Me." Any revelation that does not lead you to a Divine encounter only makes you more religious. We're not studying the Scriptures to equip us to debate with the Christians down the street.

- When the Lord reveals truth, we don't always understand with our mind but our spirit bears witness to it's truth. Your spirit can wrap itself around what your mind cannot yet. God is interested in the mind but He doesn't want to gratify your intellect when the Spirit is supposed to be in charge. When the mind is in charge it's called carnal Christianity.

- The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of continuous advancement. To think anything different is contrary to the Kingdom. "Of the increase of His government there shall be no end."

- Inheritance is you enjoying the benefits of that which you did not pay for. If we do not expand the inheritance we have been given we lose what we've been given. Note the parable of the talents. There is no honor in simply maintaining an inheritance. It's a problem that no revival has ever expanded in the second generation. We have been lousy stewards of outpourings of the Spirit of God for we end up making them about a person and when it comes to our treatment of leadership in the body of Christ we either tear them down or exalt them past their place and if we can lift up a person as our object of worship we elevate them beyond our ability to follow their example.

- Many prophecies that have not come true in your life were not promises of God, they were descriptions of your potential. They were summons by the Lord for you to pursue something that is possible.

- How is it that the fires of the Wesleyan revival have diminished into the Methodists we see today? Where John Wesley took ground proclaiming the holiness of the Lord, today there is a branch of that denomination that recognizes leaders who openly practice homosexuality. Yale university founded as training center for the expansion of the Gospel, today is a center for humanism devoted in large part to undermining the very faith it was started to promote. When those who pay a price for revival pass it on to those who are not willing to pay the price to see it continue we end up with a form of previous things. A form has no power. This is true in churches, movements, and family lineages. You must wake up to the concept of inheritance. When a realm that was once possessed by the people of God is abandoned and the standard of sacrifice is lowered then the enemy has access to re-enter and it's always worse than it was at the first.

- What is an inheritance? It's when you get something for free that someone else paid a price for. How are you going to have an inheritance to pass on? By paying a price to expand what you got for free. Today's decisions affect a generation that you will never see. The things that are revealed are the possession of God's people forever.

The past weekend has been a time of personal transformation. Every time God has summoned me to a new level of breakthrough in my spiritual pilgrimage, it has been accompanied with a challenge that threatens to set me back. This time, however, I will continue to contend for that breakthrough. We attended a series of meetings led by Pastor Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. I have never heard revelation like I heard this weekend. This is the message I have been waiting to hear my whole life. I appreciate Pastor Johnson for his willingness to be an honorable steward of the revival that has been the mark of their house for in recent years. Rather than keep it contained in a central location, they have chosen to take the revival out of the building. I don't believe I ever saw him pray for a person (though he may have at the end or afterward) but more than 200 people were healed over the course of three days and most all of them were in the audience at the time. My children will be forever impacted by the things they experienced. I'm going to record some thoughts and impressions and quotes here over the next few days. I want to look back upon this in the years to come as it was a time of prophetic significance for my family.

- Jesus curses the fig tree because it doesn't bear fruit 'out of season', because, in His economy it's a requirement to bear fruit of the impossible. For too long the church has done what is humanly possible and called it God. God is inviting us into a lifestyle where we pursue things we cannot accomplish.

- It's impossible for a true believer to be put into a place where the answer to your biggest problem is not within reach.

- True repentance is changing the way you think. It's not a mind over matter issue. It is a transformation of mind that lets you see reality from divine perspective.

- You may not understand what's going on or what the answer is but if you don't surrender to fear and anxiety God will reveal to you the tools that He has put in your life for the present situation. God never leads you into a battle that you are not equipped to win.

- If the enemy can get me to surrender to fear and anxiety he has brought me into agreement and he is empowered by agreement. Jesus said, in Matt 28, that 'all authority has been given to me in Heaven and on Earth.' That means that satan has no authority for if Jesus has all, apparently somebody has none. Where does satan get his authority? He can only take from those who have. How does he do it? By decieving those who have been delegated that authority to come into agreement with him through fear and anxiety.

- Overexposure to the things of God without surrender will destroy you. The same sun that melts ice hardens clay.

- Revelation (to lift the veil) doesn't create truth. Revelation exposes what was already there. God doesn't hide things from you but for you.

- Much of what you need in life will be brought to you, but most of what you desire you will have to go get. The children of Israel were led to the promise land, it was not brought to them. God brought them to the promise but they (empowered by Him) had to take it. Many prophetic words you've received are descriptions of your potential which is the fruit of your obedience to steward the promise. God will bring you to the promise, however, God is not obligated to fulfill your potential.

- When the disciples were in the storm, they asked Jesus to save them, He calmed the wind and waves, and then turns to rebuke them saying, "How is it that you have no faith?" Notice the pattern. There's a crisis. They pray. God answers. (So far this is the normal Christian life.) But then there's a rebuke. Why? Sometimes we pray as a substitute for radical obdience.

- Why is the antichrist not called antiJesus? Jesus is the name. Christ is His title, annointed One. The antichrist spirit is opposed to the annointing. People don't mind Jesus the Son of God, as it relates to His character. It's the anointing and power that stirs up religious opposition.

- When you don't see a breakthrough the two worst things to do are blame God and apply guilt and shame to yourself. Both of these will hinder your growth.

- In Mark 9 the disciples ask Jesus why they couldn't cast out a particular demon. He said, "This kind only comes out by prayer and fasting." Jesus cast the demon out but neither prayed nor fasted for that situation. How? We tend to pray and fast for a situation instead of for a lifestyle. That way we're fully equipped to see a breakthrough nomatter what situation we face.

- Jesus is the most normal Christian in the Bible.

- Experience is the beginning of inheritance. God does not take you into an anointing to observe or visit.

- Jesus did what He did (fully the eternal God) as a man rightly related to God. If He did the miracles as God, I'm still really impressed. I'm compelled to observe but I'm not compelled to follow. If He did miracles as man rightly related to God, then I'm suddenly completely dissatisfied with life as I know it. For me to walk in that anointing, sin has to be dealt with and I must be empowered by the Spirit. The blood of Jesus dealt with the sin so that one is settled. The only other question then is how dependant upon the Spirit of God will I be?

I blew the dust off this little treasure last night and at last the kids decided it was time to share it with the world. This was done in 2002. Britain is now as tall as Traci and Sara's catching up fast. It's incredible what can happen in four years. It's things like this that make a parent ask, "Where has the time gone?"

Whenever we set out to do a thing, most people ask the question of themselves or someone else, "How ought this to be done?" On one hand it's a lazy natured way to avoid reinventing the wheel and on the other hand it's a sense that there's a safety in walking a defined path rather than blaze a new trail. Furthermore, those who have gone before can be both acknowledged if it goes right and blamed if it goes wrong. The forerunner is, in some ways, deemed responsible for all who come after him. In reality, forerunners are the most revered and misunderstood members of society. Walt Disney was one such person. I don't know much about Walt but I feel as though I do. Today I'm flying to Burbank to pitch a software program to some folks at Disney Studios. This is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. Not only have I always wanted to go to the studios, I've always loved the ideal of Disney. The man lived by the motto, If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It. Today, millions of people have smiled at the realization of his dreams and will for generations to come. Now, it's a business, devoid of new magic, for the magic lies not in the technology, but in the ability to create what you dream. It's amazing to me that after all these years, Disney still contains that charm and character worthy of the dreamer for which it's named. But look closely and you'll discover that the elements that exude that charm are those elements that have in them a piece of the dreamer. You can tell them apart from the elaborate marketing pieces that, though they bear the Disney logo, are as shallow as the money they're designed to generate. Disney was about the details, and it's in those details that the 'Disney thing' still exists. What is the Disney thing? As Dizzy said about Jazz, "If you got it you don't need an explanation, and if you ain't got it, no explanation will do." Better yet, go ask a child.

I've got so many thoughts swirling around today that I wish I could just put on a helmet that would keep them out, then deal with them one at a time, and find some peace. If you've noticed lately, (as many have, and thanks by the way) I've been blogging sermons. For those of you who get some sermon ideas from this site, have at it. I would tell a story were there any to tell. The problem with that statement is that there are always stories. They're everywhere, all around you, happening all the time. To be able to see them is the beautiful thing. If you haven't seen one lately, it's not because it's not there, but because you haven't been looking. Ok, I haven't been looking.

How do you see a story? Every story has a beginning, a body, and a conclusion. We get locked in with the beginning, journey through the body, and it's all to arrive at a conclusion which we can't wait for. The catch 22 is that the better the story is, the more we desire the end that we hate to see arrive. It is because of the end that we read on, for the end subconsciously claims to bring resolution to the situational conflict that locked us into the story in the first place. There's a promise that everything that's wrong with this story will be put right before the last page. Will Shakespeare identified the antithesis of the comedy with what came to be known as a tragedy. He would prepare his audience before hand (I would not have, but that's just me) by billing his plays as comedy or tragedy. In doing this he built a safeguard into the expectations of the audience that prepared them in advance for the state of the conclusion. Oh yes, things will come to and end, but hardly a pleasant one. Maybe that's what makes life so exciting. We are promised a conclusion to mortality yet, unlike Shakespeare's audience, we have not been told whether this is a comedy or a tragedy. Because of this, most people tend to gravitate toward one assumption or the other and this I've learned. That the two audiences offend one another by their approach based upon their assumption of the conclusion. Every tragedy includes comic elements and every comedy includes some air of tragedy. The tragic audience can't see the joy of the comedy and the comic audience sees the humor in tragedy. Each is highly offensive to the other.

To bring this rambling thought to a close, some days I wake up seeing life as a tragedy and praying for a comic end and some days I wake up seeing life as a comedy and praying that no tragedy casts a shadow this sunny state of things. Each has it's own anxiety and there's really only one cure for both audiences. Peace. Philippians 4 says "Don't worry about anything, pray about everything, tell God what you need, and be thankful for whatever He gives." I paraphrase, but that's the radical idea there. Now it goes on to say that if you do this, "the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus." Oh look, I just found a helmet.

Now the beauty of this is that, in Christ, the end of the story does not occur with the conclusion of life, but in fact continues on into the realm of the eternal state of communion with God. THIS is why Christians seem to live with a sense of joy even in the midst of life in this fallen world. Which, incidently, often looks an awful lot like a Shakespearian tragedy. It's not a flippant attitude toward the situational conflict that ignores the present circumstances, but a proclaimed realization that this tragedy will ultimately conclude with a reason to rejoice. Since the conclusion and not the elements determine the whole of the play, I guess Paul wasn't joking when he said to the Philippians, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." For a man whose earthly demise was a tragedy, that's an amazing statement. That's a man worth imitating. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

The following was written in response to a reader who asked about my take on end time events:

I believe in progressive revelation based upon John 16:12-13. This provides evidence that revelation would occur through the work of the Holy Spirit who would “show you things to come”. This leaves us with the ability to gain insight and leaves the listener to discern between what is an educated guess and what is the prophetic word to the church. Since God does nothing without revealing it to his prophets (Amos 3:7) there will be some measure of forewarning. Whether or not the church pays attention or not may depend on the condition of their stock portfolio or whether or not it’s in the middle of football season. We’re just that fickle.

Having said that let me tell you where I’m at. I went through a period of intense interest in end time events and at the close of that dramatic season I asked myself, why? What purpose did it serve to know when the return of Jesus would occur? Consider the story of Enoch, who walked with God so closely that he was simply translated into His presence. Consider Elijah, who had much the same experience. I realized that no place in the Scripture did Jesus tell us to figure out the time, but in fact we’re told to be watchful, sober, vigilant (1 Pet 5:8), and work while it’s light (Jn 9:41). The work is to do the works of the Father (Jn 5:36), destroy the works of the enemy (1 Jn 3:8), and proclaim the good news of the Kingdom (Luke 9:2). That Kingdom is the demonstration of the power of God that began with Christ and continues today (Mark 9:1). Eschatology is secondary because whether you’re a premillennialist, postmillennialist, amillennialist, Pre-Wrath, or Partial Rapture adherent, it doesn’t change the call and commission of Christ to His church.

Consider a house full of children in which the father leaves and on his way out, leaves some instructions saying, “These things must be done before I return.” Rather than being consumed with when he will return, it would behoove me to a greater extent to do be consumed with what must be done. Even if I found out when he’s coming back, what would it change? In fact it may have a negative affect on my attitude toward his instructions. I may wait until the last minute to get His work done in order to make room for my desires.

All of eschatology can be summed up (not simplified but summed up) in a single verse, Matt 24:14. In the Latin Vulgate, “et praedicabitur hoc evangelium regni in universo orbe in testimonium omnibus gentibus et tunc veniet consummatio.” And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. Consider the weight of those words. What if by completing the commission we determine the end? Both our faith and faithfulness to His mandate would then produce the power that moves the hands of prophetic history forward. Faith is the one thing that affected Jesus world and caught His attention. The preaching will not happen without His body. If we do not do the work, this verse will not be fulfilled and thus the end will not come. I believe this is why prophecy is so open ended. If we do as we’re destined to do, the rise of hatred for the follower of Christ will abound and compound into the cataclysmic spiritual showdown that is foretold (Matt 24:9). We will be hated by men, yet we wish to be accepted by men. We will be mistreated, yet we wish for blessing. We will be unjustly judged, yet we claim entitlement to earthly rights. Nobody is anxious to make the kind of impact that will stir the kingdom of darkness to the boiling point against the church. But it is to be, and the generation that could usher in such a move of God could be this one. However, if Jesus were to come back today, we would have to mark out Matthew 24:14 for today, more people will die without having heard the Gospel than at any time in history. Today’s record will be broken tomorrow. We may say we’re tired of waiting on Him. Consider that He may be waiting on us. We wait for a move of God when God waits for a move of His people. In Him we live and move and have our being and as the Body of Christ, when we move, He moves. When Jesus said in Luke 9:1 and Matt 10:1 “Behold, I give you power and authority over all the works of the enemy, I believe Jesus meant for us to walk in that, even if the enemy doesn’t like it. The hatred that will be poured out during the tribulation won’t be toward a lazy church but to a church that is making a global impact for God. An impact that’s not an ear tickling, sin tolerant, selfish desire fulfilling impact, but rather an impact of the power of God that so infuriates the enemy that all who are called believers in Jesus Christ will be targeted for destruction by demonically driven zealots who would rather die killing us than to see us live to proclaim the good news another day. While we cry for the rapture, I believe God loves this world too much to take the hope away from it but would rather allow us yet another opportunity to see people saved. When our heart burns with a passion for the lost, then and only then will we have the courage to truly give our all to fulfill the great commission, and in that day, we would rather miss the rapture to reach one more person than be rescued from this fallen world.

The Future Belongs to the Storyteller.

The hum of the sliding doors and the cool air said 'welcome' as I wandered into the most incredible grocery store in Austin, Whole Foods Market downtown. It's a few minutes from work so I enjoy going there for lunch. A stroll past the deli, pasta bar, seafood counter, and back to the chocolate fountain is a feast for the senses. It's a place for hippies with money and while I'm not a hippie nor do I have money, I still feel welcome. I had a sandwich made and on the way to pay stopped by the brighly lit section filled with bottled drinks with names like Odwalla, Naked, Vitamin Water, Bolthouse Farms, and Pom Wonderful. I picked one up trying to figure out why in the world anyone would pay so much for so little. On the back of the bottle I picked up, was a story of the family that runs the company that makes the super healthy concoction. I was hooked and read the whole thing. I didn't buy it but I stood there like a fool and read the back of a bottle. The next bottle I picked up didn't have a story about family values, but rather a funny schtick about why in the world you would want to drink this stuff. It poked at the FDA and even itself but, again, I was grinning. It seems like someone's breaking the rules when a product for purchase foregoes dry facts to put a bit of fun in its packaging. It got me to thinking about facts and fiction. God bless the internet but it's made facts free. Facts are everywhere and as long as you have that computer, any question can be answered and any statement of fact can be found. Formerly priceless information is now free. It's truly a wonderful world we live in. But with all those facts, do you think people are interested? For awhile maybe and then we all begin to sound like Cliff from Cheers. We know a little about everything and a lot about nothing. This opens up the world to the storyteller. It is the right brained person who will eventually rule the world, for as the market for facts is saturated, the appetite for creativity is growing. Growing to the point that those who have the ability to tell a story may find that the world opens up to them in new ways. On this note, Jesus would do well here today. "A certain man had two sons" or "A sower went forth to sow" or "Who of you having a servant" or "There once was a rich man" or even "The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto..." Ahh the master storyteller. Stories give us a clearer perspective for they walk us through events that we would have never encountered and introduce us to characters we would have never known. Though the stories themselves may not be true, stories often convey 'truth' to the heart whereas facts only affect the mind. The most powerful stories, however, are those that are both true and convey truth at the same time. The message of the Gospel is that kind of story. I was told recently that many of the 7000 islands of the south pacific have people on them who have never heard the Gospel. "Never heard the Gospel???" I said. How in the world is that possible today? He said, "The last time some of them had a missionary was 30 years ago and since that time there have been children born so in some places in the world there are 30 year old people who have never heard the name of Jesus. It's like being back at the turn of the century all over again. RC Sproul said that more people will die today having never heard the Gospel than at any time in history and tomorrow will set a new record. The church is at its most prosperous yet we have not kept up with the growth. I've just told you a story. It's both true and it conveys truth. I just figure that if a story can get us Americans to spend 3.50 on a bottle of juice, perhaps it will also prompt us to do more to spread the Gospel too.

This video is of my good friend, Paul, leading one of my favorite songs at Golden Triangle Church on the Rock this past Sunday. Paul lost his voice the night before this yet still managed to raise the roof in two services on Sunday morning. I'm just encouraged to see him doing what he's called to do. There's no better experience in this world or the world to come than to know that you're doing what God has gifted you to do and to know that He's pleased with your exercise of that gift. God and man often seem stuck in this stalemate in which one is waiting for the other to move. In the Old Testament God's people followed the cloud and fire. In the New Testament the signs and wonders follow you. In Him we live and move, says the Scripture. Since His Spirit resides within believers, when we move, He moves. He both calls and chooses yet we still need to respond to that call. A calling is an invitation to come and be prepared for service whereas a choosing is the process of selection once the process of preparation has had its season. Many are called, but for lack of submission to the process of preparation, few are chosen to move on to that lifestyle of service. Do you have a call on your life? My prayer today is that every believer who reads this post will find themselves filled with hope and that the calling of the Holy Spirit would find pure soil in you to take root in and that fruit would be manifest in your countenance, attitude, and action. I finally pray that in all of your 'doing' that you would do the will of God and in all of your seeking that you would seek first the Kingdom of God. Amen.

The Parable of the Cook Part 2

One thing that the cook could never seem to understand is why, after so many meals and so many restaurants built, that the patrons seem obese, the cooks seem discouraged, and the owner is not pleased. The owner, in His Manual, has promised that those who hunger would be filled, blessed, protected, led, and strengthened. The patrons long for that, but they find themselves separated from the very thing they cry for. Why? Is it the sovereign will fo the owner for some to be blessed and others to struggle? Is there any place for miracles in this age?
The owner set physical boundaries in place and then treats them like suggestions. He creates gravity and then walks on water. When a storm interrupts His nap, He commands it to stop and it does. The laws of nature bend and not just for Him. There are those who cry out, press in, simply believe, and it stops His world as He acknowledges their faith and miracles happen. In Luke 17:5 the disciples, awed by what they saw Jesus do and realizing that there was this one thing that impressed Him, saw the key and they make a request. "INCREASE OUR FAITH." Jesus let’s them know that it’s not the size but the quality. If you have faith the size of a seed you can alter the laws of nature. A seed that never takes root, or has to compete with weeds won’t do much good, but as long as the soil of your heart is fertile, amazing things will happen. Then Jesus tells an unusual story that addresses the patrons even today. He says, “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’?  Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?
In modern times, we are accustomed to coming to church to receive from God. We think the restaurant is for us. We come for what we get instead of coming to minister to Him first. In the Old Testament one would have never thought to go to the temple without the intention of offering a sacrifice. I may be drawn to gathering with others for what it does for me. I ought better to be drawn to gather to worship for what it does for Him. There’s nothing wrong with coming to a place for ministry but as a way of life it builds in you an expectation to be served and builds in leadership and expectation to make people happy and neither are Kingdom values.
To increase faith, bring an offering of sacrifice to Him first of all. God’s not interested in dead animals but the yieldedness of the heart. Isaiah 60:18 is the context for a key in Isaiah 62:8-10. The sacrifice of praise and worship creates a highway that draws others into the very presence of God. The instrument of your body as a living sacrifice reflects the yieldedness of the heart. To come to a worship service and do nothing is a tragedy. Lift your head, lift your voice, lift your hands, do the pious sway. “But the enemy is hindering my worship,” many people say. The man of the Gadarenes had a legion of demons who couldn’t keep him from worshipping Jesus. We worship both to BE set free and because we ARE set free. This is why you can’t tell the level of spirituality by someone’s expression of worship. You CAN however tell a lot about a persons yieldedness in their expression of sacrifice for in true worship there must be an offering.
Servants, you’ve worked hard in the fields. Now let’s set a meal for Him. And if we eat, great, but if all we do is to prepare a meal for Him, it’s reason enough to gather. The promise, though, is true. Prepare and serve Him first, and afterward, you will be filled.

After all of the books, sermons, movies, and even the words of Christ Himself, Jesus is still an uncharted land whose borders have yet to be defined. The unflinching honesty, mercy, compassion, vengeance, and wisdom left him an unpredictable mystery to the point that even when He told His disciples what He would do, they were still surprised when it actually happened. At His departure He promised that His Spirit would guide disciples in their lives from then on, providing the needed peace to those rare individuals who would take up that offer and in doing so follow the unpredictable whims of God as His love and glory cover the earth like water. If one claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you'd best keep your shoes tied and your hands open. Be ready to move and hold onto nothing. Nothing but Christ. When one holds fast to Christ the ability to enjoy life is amplified. We desire to possess but we often fail to enjoy that which we fight to possess. In Christ, we may possess little, but enjoy much. In this abundance of life we find hope. The fact that the collective mass of society rejects this hope is reflected in the church's methodology of marketing the Gospel to get the attention of that collective mass by any means necessary. Yet God sought to hide this eternal treasure in the simplicity of this mysterious homeless individual who could calm a churning sea with a word and make blind eyes see with spit and mud. What do you do with a man like that? Apparently, you kill him. I'm still learning what He meant when He said, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." His message waited for a time when hope was fading. It seems that time has come again.

It's one thing to talk or write about knowing God. It's entirely another thing to do. I may mistake writing for doing as well as one may read these words and ingest the philosophy without placing action behind the idea. I know God, but not as much as He can be known and my writing is birthed from a desire to push my limited knowledge to a limitless place of where the experiences that are had cannot be matched or manufactured. I don't, however, simply desire an experience, but God alone. Whatever experience, pleasant or unpleasant, that goes along with that, I welcome. I would give whatever necessary to have seen the era of Jesus Christ and His time here and what each moment's radical actions and reactions were that in such a short time changed the face of history forever. The finest promise in all of eternity is that He can be known and even desires to be. According to the Scriptures, He can be known by a child, yet one who has the mental capacity to gain wealth may find it difficult to even attain salvation, let alone knowledge of God. Perhaps the difference is this. A child doesn't know he needs Jesus yet he wants. A successful man may not want and have no knowledge of his need. Many people today recognize the need and want because they need. A child simply wants, not out of need but out of simple, focused, uninhibited, radical, desire. When it comes to knowing Him, serving Him, loving Him, Jesus calls us to radical desire. The term 'radical' is a mathematical term meaning "the root of a quantity". It's taken from the Latin root 'radix' meaning 'source' so 'radical' means 'to arise from the source (or root)'. The church must become radical again. If you, like me, are drawn to a deeper walk, then get radical, that is, get back to the Source and from there, arise.

Here's an email I received from friend today. Note the final line of this post, but read the email first.

Bill,

I thought a writing a book called "Why Christians Shouldn't Go to Church" or "Why Christians Should Avoid Church" or the bumpersticker version: "Preserve Christianity - Avoid Church"

The premise would be based on the realization that Church attendance is destructive, for the following reasons:

The Sunday morning gathering in a church building that we call "Church":

1) Is an artificial unBiblical contrivance of the late 4th Century that undermines the true fellowship that happens in homes.
2) Has encumbered the "Church" (corporate body of Christ) with debt.
3) Has reinforced the suspicion of the heathen that it is about money.
4) Relegates worship to a once a week 1- 2 hour experience.
5) Created a clergy and intimidated the laity.
6) Has left monuments to failure everywhere by having empty churches that are used for art museums and concert halls, reminding the heathen that no one is really interested in going to hear the Gospel anyway.
7) Seats people military style and makes one person the "main " contributor - the Preacher.
8) Allows laity to be non-involved.
9) Delays the decision for Christ - because the witnesser invites some one to church rather than saying, "Would you like to repent and give your life to Jesus Christ?"
10) Sets up pastors as a punching bag that dysfunctional Christians with latent hostility can target while they pretend to be in right relationship with God.

Nevertheless - "Be not weary in well doing -- knowing that your labor in the Lord is never in vain!" - God

(The man who wrote this to me is a Pastor and has been for 25 years.)

"A Personal Pilgrim's Progress"

Oh the consequence of choice, the taste of regret, the deafening laugh of the aggressor, the heat of the ultraviolent taunt of an adversary, the chains forged by the dreams of another, the mind devining the fate of my future, the scream of the soul, the damning dying gargles of nonachievers, the advice of the accuser.

Oh the body that succumbs to fatigue that comes from the mind, the heart broken like an engine over driven and ill maintained, the once beautiful feet that now carry nothing, the furrowed brow of a man with more questions than answers, the wince of the expectation of discomfort, a free spirit free no longer,

Is creating a state of discomfort the only way to avoid it? On this road am I only to drag my face along the ground? I wait to feel a hand beneath my chin Almighty Lifter of my head? Can my vision be restored? Is it possible? That God can is of no discussion. That He will, no discussion can answer. Who can know His mind? Is He good? Have we any other choice but to believe it is so?

"That's just life. This is the way it is."

No, I can't accept that. That's not my life. I will never accept that life is pointless drudgery moving from one day to the next. I will never allow myself to become that. Life is to be lived! It's to be abundant. There is a way of escape and a way of finding once and for all, the life I am called to, and to find once and for all, that He is good. The living is to be chosen and if I choose to adopt the hopeless banal monotony of those around me, it will be to my shame. If I, however, choose to join those who have fought adversity to create the handholds by which I now pull myself up the face of this wall, I will find triumph. A reason to lift my voice and shout toward the future that it may be warned that I shall there be victorious, and my family with me.

I've gone to find myself. If I return before I get back, please keep me here. Thank you.

"How can I (average Joe regular type guy) attain to the position of Pastoring a church?" This is a question I've gotten asked alot lately. I thought for awhile about the sovereign call of God, or writing about divine direction, or stepping out in faith. I finally settled on sticking with the bubble bursting bare bones of the business. In ministry, as in everything, it’s not what you know. It's who you know. Churches commonly don’t extend beyond two degrees of separation. They don’t typically hire senior pastors who have no connection to them other than a resume. A church comes open and gets flooded with resumes from any number of qualified people so a church feels the right to be picky. Make a list of pastors you know and contact fellow minsters who would be good references. Your letter won’t cut it. Why? Because nobody in the church wants to take the responsibility for deciding to bring you on if you screw it up. So a trusted outsider who refers you is the most open door to this opportunity. It’s a carnal system and has less to do with spirituality and more to do with protecting the investment of the established congregation. If you can assure the interviewing entities that the extent of your vision is to maintain the building, add some non threatening programs, and let them go by noon, you’re at least going to be a finalist in the church version of American Idol. In doing this you can help them maintain the illusion that they’re making a difference in their community by simply showing up on Sunday morning and paying their tithes.

Forgive my sarcastic tone and please don’t discount the truth contained therin. Do you have a living room? Then you have a facility. Do you know people who would come if you invited them to a time of Bible Study, worship, and prayer? Then you have a congregation. Would those people work with you to reach out to minister to the families, the sick, and the poor of your community? Then you have a church.