The Obligatory St. Patrick’s Day Post!
Today is of course the day that people drink green beer, wear green face/body paint, and usually end up doing really stupid things. Why do we do this…well to honor a man who gave his life to reaching people for Christ of course! Makes total sense to me.
The legend of Patrick is quite verbose and exaggerated, but it’s important to note that the legend stems from a real man, who did real things. Allow me to first get a few things out of the way. Patrick was not Irish, he was more than likely Scottish. He didn’t drive the snakes out of Ireland…as there were no snakes to drive out. He probably didn’t use the three leaves of the Shamrock to teach about the Trinity. And, Saint Patrick, is actually not considered a saint.
Patrick is embraced primarily in the Roman Catholic tradition but we have to remember that he lived very early on in the history of the church, 387-450/60’s AD, and the church at that time was still primarily Biblical in it’s approach. In fact, the early church fathers Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine were still alive, so his message of salvation in Jesus Christ, his understanding of Mary, and his view of Biblical authority would be very similar to what we would call Evangelical. So, even though he is claimed by Catholicism as a pseudo-saint, in reality he is someone that the entirety of Christendom can look up to, honor, and learn from.
So, what can we learn from this man? First, I believe that we can learn that you don’t need a profound education to make a profound impact. Patrick often called himself unlearned and simple, but it was just this thing that made him so effective in reaching the tribal Druid groups that inhabited Ireland. Patrick wasn’t the first missionary to go to Ireland, he was just the first one to be effective!
Second, we can learn forgiveness. Patrick was actually captured by a Druid Chieftain when he was 16 years old and made his slave. In his autobiography, he states that he was certain that at any time he would be sacrificed to one of their Gods. However, Patrick escaped and made his way back to his family. After several years, Patrick had a dream that he believed was God’s way of telling him to go back and be a missionary to these people. According to legend, yes I know, the Chieftain that was his master was one of his first converts. Can you imagine going back to preach Christ to people who had not only enslaved you, but killed those you loved?
Finally, we can learn endurance. This man dedicated his life to the work in Ireland, he had no hopes nor desire to ‘go back home’ and retire. Ireland was his new home. Almost daily, especially early on, he was faced with danger, ridicule, and rejection; but he refused to quit. Some call this stubbornness other call it perseverance, you can call it whatever you want and I’d encourage you to emulate it!
So, tonight as you are enveloped in a sea of green ‘insert noun here’, just remember that there really was a guy named Patrick who loved Jesus and made a difference!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!
Naive, Fool, or Mocker…I’ve Been All Three!
How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? – Proverbs 1:22
Our small group (shout out to all my groupies!) is currently doing an ancient study (circa 2001) of Andy Stanley’s called The Best Question Ever. The study is mainly about how to make wise decisions; not good or bad, but wise. Wise decisions are basically defined in this way, applying all the truth and information that you have at hand, while also bringing into bear your past experiences, your present circumstances, and your future hopes and dreams. Once you have all of that you can then make a ‘wise decision’. It’s a great study and if you haven’t done it you may want to share this post with your small group leader and encourage him/her to do the study in the near future…hint, hint, hint!
But, I want to focus on one particular lesson in which Andy talks about the three categories of people within the book of Proverbs, the naive, the fool, and the mocker. Andy takes great care in defining each and then gives some poignant illustrations as to how they would respond. Here is a snippet of those definitions:
- Naive: also called simple or simpleton, is someone who simply doesn’t know what they don’t know. They just don’t have enough experience to be able to clearly discern. The danger here is that this person will often wrongly believe that they do know, or they know enough. This trap can be overcome by #1 gaining experience and #2 listening to older/wiser counsel. (Proverbs 14:5)
- Fool: also called foolish, is someone who knows, but doesn’t care. They know that if they stick their tongue in the light socket that it will shock them, but they want to do it anyways, it was fun the first time, so let’s do that again. A fool wrongly believes that just because it happened last time, it doesn’t mean that it’ll happen this time too, and/or they believe that unlike everyone else, they’ll get away with it. The fool can only stop being a fool by accepting the truth and changing his ways. Unfortunately for the fool this only happens after multiple times of things blowing up in his face and having to bear the consequences. (Proverbs 10:23)
- Mocker: also called the scoffer, is someone who knows, doesn’t care, and will ridicule you for caring or trying to correct him. They will continue down the same path, making the same mistakes, knowing that destruction is coming all the while humming their happy little tune. They will make fun of you, slander you, attack you as often as they can, and there is absolutely nothing that you can do to help them. In fact, the only solution is to cast them out of your circle of friends and hope that God grabs a hold of their heart. (Proverbs 9:7-8)
I’m sure as you read through the definitions you probably had pictures of multiple people flash through your mind for each of them. It may have even inspired a verbal reaction of “that’s right!”…but pause in your indignation for just a moment, how often have you been naive, played to fool, or scoffed at others counsel? Self evaluation is never easy and often painful, but always necessary if we are going to consistently make wise decisions instead of naive, foolish, or mocking ones!
Here’s to being wise my friends,
Dave
Giving
At Friendship we strongly encourage all of our Ministry Partners to go through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University as we believe it is one of the best tools out there to help you understand what God wants from you for your finances. If you have not gone through FPU I would highly, strongly urge you to do so. Dave is not just the next financial flash in the pan, he’s been helping people for more than 30 years to handle their finances in a way that both honors God and frees them. I know that this is doing FPU a terrible injustice, but let me see if I can give bullet point highlights to what you’ll learn:
- If you don’t tell your money where to go, you’ll never know where your money goes!
- If you are willing to live like no one else now, you’ll be able to live like no one else later!
- If you don’t get out of debt, as fast as you can, you are greatly decreasing your ability to enjoy financial peace!
- God is the originator of all wealth, and he expects you to honor him!
Now, let me answer a two questions about giving:
It’s mine, why should I give at all? The Bible says that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). And, that God is in his very nature a ‘giver’. First, he gave us life, then he gave us the world and everything in it, and after we rejected him, God gave us his Son, Jesus Christ. Giving is in our nature, and when we follow after our Creator he stokes within us the desire to be more and more like him. When we are generous with what God has given to us we literally become more and more like God. And, if you need more inspiration, Jesus says that when we imitate him in his nature of being a giver, he will in turn give us more so that we can continue being generous with others (Luke 6:38).
There are so many good charities, non-profits, mission organizations, community groups; why should it go to the church? The Bible says that the mission of the church is to reach the world for Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). Other organizations can do a lot of good, and this is not a slam on them, but there is no other organization, business, entity, or enterprise that will change people’s eternal destiny! The church is the hope of the world, and when the church is working right, there is absolutely nothing like it! Why wouldn’t you want to invest in the greatest endeavor the world has ever or will ever experience? When you obey God’s command by regularly and faithfully investing in the vision of your local church you are fueling the mission of God to become reality!
I could invest multiple posts on this subject because God is so passionate about it, however, my hope is to whet your whistle for more, to encourage you to engage in the ministry of giving, and allow the Spirit of God to move you forward!
God bless my friends,
Dave
Where was God at Reynolds High School?
Whenever anything like this happens people always ask questions like this. The assumption is that this happened because of God or at the very least, because God didn’t stop it. Below is a re-post of my response to the Sandy Hook shooting, hopefully it will help you or help you in conversation with others:
“Dear Lord, I pray for those who have been devastated by the actions of this man. I pray for parents today who will not be able to pray with their child or tuck them into bed. I ask that you wrap your arms around them and send them your children who will display your true love. I also ask God that you would silence the mouths of foolish men and women who are using this tragedy as an opportunity to continue to spew their hateful words or agendas. I ask God that you would stir your church to action as we pray for and engage other in conversations and that these words I’m about to share will bring your truth into the conversation and encourage other believers to share this truth. In Jesus name, Amen.”
On more than one occasion I’ve been asked this question, or something similar, when a tragedy such as this strikes, “Is God unable, unconcerned, or unwilling to intervene when things like this happen?” I’d like to take each of the presented possibilities first, and then give you what I believe the Biblical answer to tragedy is.
Unable: Is God incapable or not powerful enough to have stopped this? Well the Bible is very clear on this subject: “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
Unconcerned: Doesn’t God care? Is he just so far removed from us that this type of thing doesn’t even bother him? I believe that the Bible is incredibly clear on this as well, John 3:16 says the God cares so much that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. That Jesus loved us so much that he willingly gave up his life for us, no one took it from him (John 10:18). So, maybe he’s just not involved…actually the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is not just aware, but actively interceding, or working on our behalf, at all times (Romans 8:34)
Unwilling: Okay, so God does care, is powerful enough to do it, but he just chose not to for some reason…really loving God, right?! Well, here’s the problem with that thinking, we assume that everything that happens in this world is “God-approved”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. At the dawn of our world God created Adam and Eve and gave them an incredible gift, the gift of being able to choose, theologians call it “free will”. God gave every human being the ‘right’ to choose whether or not they would serve God or reject God. God refuses to force himself on anyone, because a forced love is not love at all. But, if all men have free will, even those who do evil, than evil will always be present…even horrendous evil, and if men reject God then their minds will continue to be corrupted by sin…
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. – Romans 1:28-32
So, why didn’t God try to stop this young man from murdering so many people? How do you know that he didn’t? God may very well have been putting person after person into his life attempting to get him to steer away from his life of destruction and corruption, but he simply rejected them. Maybe there were people in his life, who simply refused to do what was necessary to get him help, or discipline him the way he needed, or love him the way he needed. This is not just about one man and God, this is about hundreds if not millions of people interconnected along the chain of his life, any number of whom could have been the key to keeping this tragedy from happening.
BUT, here’s what I do know; No one of us is grieving more right now than God! The heart of God is broken over the sin and the sinfulness that led to this tragedy. Listen to how the Bible conveys the grief and the love that God shows those who are hurting and broken:
The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. – Psalm 23:4
This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. – Psalm 91:2-6
You may push back, “But I don’t feel God right now! How does God give me comfort if he’s just a spirit?” That is one of the purposes of the church. We as Christians are to be his hands, his feet, we are commanded to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15.
Now, what I’m about to say may offend some of you, but maybe it is necessary. What happened today was an awful tragedy. It was a despicable act by a man who had allowed sin to be in full control and as he spiraled into the depths of his depravity he took the lives of others. We mourn today over those who are lost, we weep today with parents who lost children, children who lost siblings, and friends who lost friends. But, this happens every day in our world. In Somalia this Summer over 29,000 children died in a 90 day span because they did not have enough to eat or clean water to drink. That’s over 320 children per day! In Sudan, some 400,000 to 500,000 children have been murdered or made to engage in warfare where they were killed over the last 10 years. That means that every day in the Sudan 100 – 120 children are killed with guns. These are just two small examples, there are countless others.
Friends the evil in our world is far more expansive and profound than anyone of us could possibly imagine! That fact that things like this don’t happen in every community on a regular basis is proof that God is holding back the tidal wave of sin. Do not let this tragedy derail you from your faith, let it drive you deeper in discovering your faith. Pray for these families, but then pray for your world. Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus? But, don’t stay on your knees, get up and begin to do what you can to change your world with the truth of Jesus Christ.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27
Building Update #6
Hey Everyone!
All sorts of things are happening right now as we continue to move towards breaking ground on the MOMENTUM Project! If you don’t know about the project, just click the rendering to the right and it will take you to our dedicated web page that will give you all sorts of information.
Just over the last week I’ve had three different meetings, and all of them went well:
Meeting #1: The TAC (I have no idea what that means) Meeting with the City of Greenwood to go over all of our dirt work, storm water, sewer, utilities, parking, landscaping, etc… The meeting went off without a hitch and the next step in the process is to present our plan to the Planning Commission for approval of our LAP (this one I know, Land Alteration Permit), which means that once we get this you’ll start seeing dirt moving all over the place!
Meeting #2: The final Architectural meeting with our architect so that he can put the final touches on our building plans to present to the City. Once these plans are approved we can apply, simultaneously for our city and state building permits.
Meeting #3: The financial meeting with Jon Huskins who is working on our behalf in talking to several banks about financing our project. There are a few more hoops to jump through here, but because of your faithful giving to the project and to regular ministry everything is pointing in the right direction, at this point.
So, here are three ways you can be praying based off of these meetings:
#1 – Pray that the City not only grants our LAP but does so with great speed so we can break ground.
#2 – Pray that the hoops we have to go through for the building permit, and the changes that are requested will be minimal.
#3 – Pray that we have competing offers from banks and that the rates will be incredibly low for us.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this pumped about seeing dozers, backhoes, and dump trucks!
Dave
PS: If anyone knows of someone who is in need of around 8,000 sq yards of dirt, about 30% of which is topsoil, please let us know. They have to be willing to haul it themselves but our contractor will be more than willing to load up their trucks for them. If we can’t find someone to take the dirt it could cost us in excess of $50,000 to haul it and dump it! This would be a great savings for us, so keep your ears open!
Our Newest Staff Member, Sarah Pead!
A Little Bit About Sarah:
I’m so excited to announce to you that Sarah Pead will be joining the Friendship Church staff beginning Monday, September 9th. Sarah will become our Arts & Communications Director. Sarah has been working for the last 5 years as a Graphic Design and Marketing Consultant for Willow Marketing on the Northside of Indianapolis. Willow is one of the top design firms that works with non-profit agencies in the entire Midwest. Her invaluable experience in the design field, marketing, advertising, social media, and print media will become an unbelievable asset to us as we continue to grow as a church.
Sarah has actually been serving in a volunteer role at Friendship for 6 years as our Lead Graphic Designer. In that role she has created all of our graphics for every series that we have done at Friendship, created our church logo, the Friendship Kids logo and branding, Fusion, Man Stuff, Shape, and well, just about every other logo we’ve got out there. Sarah’s guiding hand has allowed us to do things that churches three times our size cannot even do.
What Sarah Will Be Doing:
As our new Arts & Communications Director, Sarah will now be overseeing the following areas:
- All physical print pieces including the Worship Guide, posters, handouts, etc
- Continue to act as our Lead Graphic Designer
- Wed Design & Social Media Team
- Photography & Video Team
- All digital media pieces including e-mail communications, registration forms, event forms, video pieces, etc
- All areas of communications whether print, digital, or video
Why Is This The Right Time For Sarah To Come On?
Man, I am so glad you asked that question! As our church has grown Traci, Dustin, and I have had to increase our areas of responsibility, sometimes even beyond our particular area of expertise. All of the areas listed above are items that one of us is currently doing to varying degrees of success. With Sarah coming on staff it relieves significant pressure from each of us and allows us to focus better on our ‘sweet spots’ in ministry. Below is a snippet of what I shared with the Elders when we first talked about this several months ago:
- With the continued growth of the Shape Women’s Ministry (145 ladies at Rejuvenate…that’s just crazy) and requests for her to counsel ladies; with the continued growth of the church and the increasing time it takes to manage my schedule, requests for meetings, and communications on my behalf, Traci is not able to spend the time needed to continue to grow Women’s Ministry. By removing her media and communication responsibilities it allows her to redeem and re-purpose that time for greater effectiveness and growth for Friendship.
- With our continued growth as a church, our print, digital, photographic, and web media needs continue to grow. This growth is becoming increasingly difficult for Dustin to manage effectively and is beginning to demand more time than can adequately be given without negatively affecting his main responsibilities. Bringing in Sarah will free him up to spend more time and energy in developing the creative arts ministry while at the same time allowing the communications/media areas to continue to grow.
I can’t hardly believe that we were able to get someone of this caliber with this much experience. This will allow us to continue to grow as we grow as a church and relieve a significant bottleneck of time, resources, energy, talents, and people. I’m really looking forward to the many things that God is going to allow us to do through Sarah’s expertise and incredible work ethic!
Send your congratulations and prayers to her new e-mail: sarah@experiencefriendship.com
Zimmerman, Trayvon, and Jesus!
For some the decision was abominable.
For others it was justice.
Some believe that the whole event was simply and completely about race.
Others see it as a bad circumstance gone awful.
Here are the indisputable facts as we stand here today. A young man is now in eternity. Another man’s life is altered forever. A set of parents will never see their boy again. Justified or unjustified, Zimmerman will forever live with the weight of having taken another man’s life. People on both sides of the issue, who do not have all the information (no one does, we weren’t there) are throwing out accusations at those who are on the opposite side of the issue. The media, as always, are doing their best to profit from the lives that have been lost and altered. And, criminals (yes they are criminals) are attacking innocent people in the name of someone they never met or knew.
Regardless of what you think about the event, the trial, and the verdict, I’d like to share a few things with you that, if you truly believe the Bible, we should all agree on.
Racism is a sin. Did you know that the term ‘races’ is a modern word, and in the original language it isn’t even used in the Bible? Now, our modern Bibles have indeed used the word ‘race’ because it is commonly used today, but the best, most accurate translation would simply be ‘peoples’. The Bible teaches very clearly that God created one man and on woman(Gen 2:20-25), and that from their seed every human being on the planet has their existence, and their sinful nature (Romans 5:12-13). One of the largest reason I verbally, strongly, and vehemently resist evolution, is that at its core is racism. Evolution teaches that the different ‘races’ are at different levels of the evolutionary development (Great article laying this out: http://www.icr.org/article/55/). To discriminate against anyone because of the color of their skin is not only stupid, but it is outright sin. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world (Rom 5:8ff), that all mankind is loved by God (John 3:16), and that we are to treat everyone that we meet as ‘better than ourselves’ (Phil 2:3). And I want to be VERY clear here, I have seen massive racism since this verdict was announced, and it wasn’t just from ‘white’ people. Yes, racism is a two way street that is walked by all shades of skin pigmentation!
Politics, government, rallies, and benefit concerts will never end racism. If racism is a sin you cannot legislate it away. You cannot elect a politician who gives great and rousing speeches who will convince people to stop being racist. I don’t care if you have a million people at a rally shouting “Racism is evil!”, you’ll have 10 million thinking racist thoughts as they watch them do it on the tv. And, personally, if one more self-appointed, self-important, alcoholic, drug induced, narcistic, actress/actor/singer/songwriter/musician/entertainer gives their ignorant opinion on this I just might barf…was that too much?
The hope and freedom that Jesus offers is the only hope and true freedom! You want to stop racism, to end violence, to shut the human trafficking and sex slave industries down, to end abortions, and every other hot button issue you can think of? Then my friend, you need to start living like and start sharing Jesus Christ. Jesus can take the grand marshal/pubah, whatever, of the KKK and turn him into an inter-city missionary married to a girl from South-Central Philly! Jesus can transform a Black Panther into a suburban pastor married to a girl from Minnesota! You don’t believe me, look at the Apostle Paul. He had more hate in his heart for Christian and Gentiles than Farrakhan has for ‘white people’. In Paul’s own words he called himself the ‘worst of sinners’ yet Jesus not only saved him, but made him THE missionary/apostle to the Gentile world.
My friends, our world will never change because sin reigns here. Until the day that Jesus returns and restores, this world will continue to careen towards the abyss. But that doesn’t mean we cannot be an influence for change in the lives around us. Look at the people around you, who needs Jesus? What role does Christ want you to play in their lives? Your story is powerful, tell it! Your life speaks of Jesus, let Him be heard! You want to change the world? Well, you can’t……But Jesus can!
Gossip
Another great post by my buddy and fellow elder Andy Wendling.
Gossip: talking about someone else. Simple as that in my opinion.
It is so easy to talk about other people. Especially when you are talking about people who are not present. Even better is when they will see your Facebook status later, and even though you didn’t say their name, they know you directed the statement to them. The best part is when they overreact to your post! Then you can even call them names for thinking the post was about them…even though it really was. Fun!!
It is also so easy to listen to some juicy details about someone else’s life. It’s even better to hear about things that are going wrong in someone else’s life, then of course your life doesn’t sound quite as bad. Hearing these things goes deep into your heart, deceiving your heart. If there are people “worse” than you, then you don’t have to work…
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WHY?
“Dear Lord, I pray for those who have been devastated by the actions of this man. I pray for parents today who will not be able to pray with their child or tuck them into bed. I ask that you wrap your arms around them and send them your children who will display your true love. I also ask God that you would silence the mouths of foolish men and women who are using this tragedy as an opportunity to continue to spew their hateful words or agendas. I ask God that you would stir your church to action as we pray for and engage other in conversations and that these words I’m about to share will bring your truth into the conversation and encourage other believers to share this truth. In Jesus name, Amen.”
On more than one occasion I’ve been asked this question, or something similar, when a tragedy such as this strikes, “Is God unable, unconcerned, or unwilling to intervene when things like this happen?” I’d like to take each of the presented possibilities first, and then give you what I believe the Biblical answer to tragedy is.
- Unable: Is God incapable or not powerful enough to have stopped this? Well the Bible is very clear on this subject: “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37
- Unconcerned: Doesn’t God care? Is he just so far removed from us that this type of thing doesn’t even bother him? I believe that the Bible is incredibly clear on this as well, John 3:16 says the God cares so much that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. That Jesus loved us so much that he willingly gave up his life for us, no one took it from him (John 10:18). So, maybe he’s just not involved…actually the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is not just aware, but actively interceding, or working on our behalf, at all times (Romans 8:34)
- Unwilling: Okay, so God does care, is powerful enough to do it, but he just chose not to for some reason…really loving God, right?! Well, here’s the problem with that thinking, we assume that everything that happens in this world is “God-approved”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. At the dawn of our world God created Adam and Eve and gave them an incredible gift, the gift of being able to choose, theologians call it “free will”. God gave every human being the ‘right’ to choose whether or not they would serve God or reject God. God refuses to force himself on anyone, because a forced love is not love at all. But, if all men have free will, even those who do evil, than evil will always be present…even horrendous evil, and if men reject God then their minds will continue to be corrupted by sin…
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. – Romans 1:28-32
So, why didn’t God try to stop this young man from murdering so many people? How do you know that he didn’t? God may very well have been putting person after person into his life attempting to get him to steer away from his life of destruction and corruption, but he simply rejected them. Maybe there were people in his life, who simply refused to do what was necessary to get him help, or discipline him the way he needed, or love him the way he needed. This is not just about one man and God, this is about hundreds if not millions of people interconnected along the chain of his life, any number of whom could have been the key to keeping this tragedy from happening.
BUT, here’s what I do know; No one of us is grieving more right now than God! The heart of God is broken over the sin and the sinfulness that led to this tragedy. Listen to how the Bible conveys the grief and the love that God shows those who are hurting and broken:
The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. – Psalm 23:4
This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. – Psalm 91:2-6
You may push back, “But I don’t feel God right now! How does God give me comfort if he’s just a spirit?” That is one of the purposes of the church. We as Christians are to be his hands, his feet, we are commanded to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15.
Now, what I’m about to say may offend some of you, but maybe it is necessary. What happened today was an awful tragedy. It was a despicable act by a man who had allowed sin to be in full control and as he spiraled into the depths of his depravity he took the lives of others. We mourn today over those who are lost, we weep today with parents who lost children, children who lost siblings, and friends who lost friends. But, this happens every day in our world. In Somalia this Summer over 29,000 children died in a 90 day span because they did not have enough to eat or clean water to drink. That’s over 320 children per day! In Sudan, some 400,000 to 500,000 children have been murdered or made to engage in warfare where they were killed over the last 10 years. That means that every day in the Sudan 100 – 120 children are killed with guns. These are just two small examples, there are countless others.
Friends the evil in our world is far more expansive and profound than anyone of us could possibly imagine! That fact that things like this don’t happen in every community on a regular basis is proof that God is holding back the tidal wave of sin. Do not let this tragedy derail you from your faith, let it drive you deeper in discovering your faith. Pray for these families, but then pray for your world. Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus? But, don’t stay on your knees, get up and begin to do what you can to change your world with the truth of Jesus Christ.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27
4 Reasons I’m a Better Leader Than I “Should Be”
I am often asked leadership and/or pastoral leadership questions. Usually it is either preceded by or followed with some type of compliment regarding my leadership. Now, while I am very appreciative of compliments (I’m not sure of anyone who isn’t) I must be very transparent in saying that my ability to lead well extends light-years beyond my own individual or natural talents/gifts as a leader. God has placed me within the perfect environment, and surrounded me with the perfect compliments of people for me to become what he has created me to be (FYI He wants to do this for you too). So, I’d like to take a moment and highlight the 4 reasons I can lead better:
- An amazing family of creative, expressive, and talented individuals. Yes, I know that everyone, even the idiots on those award shows who’ve been divorced 5 times, thanks their families, but allow me to explain. God has blessed me with a perfect wife as a compliment to my strengths and my weaknesses. She speaks truth to me when I allow my reality to become distorted and is my biggest encourager and cheerleader when things don’t go as planned. Her role in my ability to lead cannot be overstated! I have also been blessed with two amazing daughters who keep me grounded and fresh. They could not be more alike and more different at the same time and with their combined perspective and quick wit they keep dear old dad on his toes. These three ladies are such an incredible inspiration to me, and I am so thankful that God chose me to be their dad and husband!
- An unbelievable staff that grows me and with me. One of the principles of leadership is, “speed of the leader, speed of the team.” Which translates into: as my team continues to grow, so must I, or else I risk stifling their leadership potential. Over the years God has continued to bless us with high capacity people who have stepped in and done an excellent job in their area of ministry. It’s not always been easy, as many of them are transferring from the secular workplace to ministry, but it’s always been worth it.
- A phenomenal church that gave me the gift of allowing me to be me. For the first 10 years of ministry I was in churches that wanted me to fit into their mold of what they thought I should be. For the past 8 years Friendship Church has taken a very different approach, they (you) have allowed me to be who God created me to be. This has allowed me to truly grow into the roles and responsibilities that I excel at and find others who will do the same. I believe this is part of the reason we have seen God do so much at Friendship, everyone is “playing” the part they were designed to play!
- An awesome team of leaders. For the first several years at Friendship I led the youth group, organized the children’s ministry, trained all of the small groups and chose their curriculum, sheesh, I even lead the music for a while! There are certainly times in ministry where you must carry a heavier load, until you can find someone else who can do it better! God has blessed us with a great team of Ministry Leaders and Directors who have taken those areas and allowed them to blossom. God has also given us a great team of Elders who lead with me and help make the tough decisions so that we continue moving in the right direction.
The bottom line is leadership, at least good leadership, doesn’t happen in a vacuum! It takes a team of people both seen and unseen to help you reach and expand your leadership potential. Who’s your team?
Part 2: A Biblical Response to Homosexuality (and every other sin)
In the public discourse homsexuality has generally either been vilified or glorified. It’s been vilified to the point where it is almost seen as the unforgivable sin, or an irreversible course. It’s been glorified as an acceptable “alternative lifestyle”, or seen as just two people in love. Neither is Biblically accurate. So, what does the Bible say?
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people––none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NLT
There are many passages that discuss homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13, Leviticus 18:22-24, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Timothy 1:8-10) but I believe the above passage is the best at dealing with each end of the spectrum that is often proclaimed. As you read the verse it is obvious that those who “practice homosexuality” will not “inherit the Kingdom of God”, but wait the verse also includes those who are sexually promiscuous, those who worship anything other than God, those who have affairs, prostitutes, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and cheaters. The idea that homosexuality is in a special grouping all by itself and is therefore a sin above other sins is patently false according to Scripture. On the other side, the idea that homosexuality is not really a sin, or it’s okay as long as you’re in a committed relationship is equally false according to Scripture.
Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT
“Some of you were once like that”, Paul is literally saying that some of the people in the church at Corinth were homosexuals, prostitutes, abusers, etc…, but they met Jesus Christ! This blows a hole in the idea that somehow homosexuality is an unpardonable sin, or that someone who practices homosexuality cannot accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, it also dismantles the idea that homosexuality is genetic, or that a person is just ‘born that way’. Are people born with a predisposition or with a proclivity towards certain destructive behaviors? Yes, 100% yes! I have a predisposition of a very hot and quick temper, is it okay then for me to just blow up whenever I feel like it? Absolutely not, because it goes against what Christ has called me to and robs me of God’s best for me.
So, how do I respond to those involved with homosexuality? The same way I do with everyone who is trapped and held captive by sin, I do everything in my power to help them experience the life-altering reality of Jesus Christ. If a person does not know Christ then there is no escape from sin. The Bible makes it unbelievably clear that before coming to Christ, sin is our MASTER. It is pointless for me to tell someone to change their ways before they have met the one who empowers the change.
What about those people who have accepted Christ, yet are still involved in homosexuality? Ah, here’s where the rubber meets the road! We handle it the same way we would if someone were having an affair, having sex before marriage, was an alcoholic or a drug addict. We lovingly come alongside and teach them the truth of the Word of God and help them understand that this is not God’s best for them, that it is a sin, that in order to experience the life that God has called them to this behavior must stop…
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. – Galatians 6:1-3 NLT
To put it succinctly, Love them to Christ then Lead them to Christ’s best.
The Demagoguing Democrat VS. The Rancorous Republican
No, I’m not talking about Mitt Romney and Barack Obama! I’m talking about all those people on Facebook and Twitter who think it is there personal calling in life to force everyone to see things their way, and if they cannot accomplish this, then they attack, belittle, defame, and yes, even question their faith.
As I’ve said before, I know some very godly Republicans and Democrats, in fact, my grandfather is a life-long Democrat. However, here is what I’ve seen that just breaks my heart. If you’re a white Christian Democrat or an African-American Republican your sanity, salvation, or sometimes both are questioned. Well I have a question, “Since when did your political alignment have ANYTHING to do with your salvation?” Would someone please show me the chapter and verse that says, “…and Jesus endorsed only candidates from the _______ party, and all those that pull the _______ lever in November shall go to Hell.”
Listen, if you’re a genuine follower of Jesus Christ, the Bible gives clear instruction as to how you’re supposed to handle yourself in the arena of politics…don’t believe me, take a look:
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.” ~ Titus 3:1-2
So, the next time you enter into a political conversation remember what the Bible says:
- Don’t slander – no name calling or defamatory statement (ie…you jerk, idiot, you’re such a fool, etc…)
- Be peaceable – don’t seek out arguments with people over political things, if you can’t have a civil conversation, don’t converse!
- Be considerate – try to understand where they are coming from, ask why they believe the way they do, sometimes understanding them goes a long way!
- Demonstrate humility – don’t for a second think you have all the right answers…NEWS FLASH…you don’t!
Dave
Humility served with Grace…
Friendship Church has been growing like crazy lately and I must be honest in saying that I’ve taken a great deal of joy in it. I’m fairly certain I’ve been able to steer clear of pride or taking undue credit, but I’m pretty sure that yesterday was God’s gentle preemptive strike on any pride that might be flaring up inside of me.
I drove up to the church yesterday around 7:30am. I had already visited my local Starbucks and had a pleasant conversation with a couple of the barista’s that I know. I was looking forward to having just a tremendous morning worshiping unhindered with my Friendship Church family.
You know that feeling that you get when you know something is about to happen? Yeah, I didn’t get that feeling, but something sure did happen! In fact, a whole bunch of things happened! Without going into detail, not an awful lot went according to plan. I grabbed the guys that were there already, and said in my most confident voice, “Guys, when things like this happen we can be certain that God is up to something great! Our job is just to be flexible.” I truly meant it, I’d been here before, but it didn’t stop my heart from beating a little bit faster.
I went to my office and read through my notes and Scripture passages one more time and then I began to pray for the morning. I prayed for my family, the families of all the ministry leaders who were on for the day, I prayed for the band, ushers, greeters, coffee team, kids volunteers, and every body else I could think of. As I was praying I felt my voice crack, just ever so slightly. I’ve been struggling with my sinuses for over a week and my head felt like it was about to explode. So, I prayed for myself, that I’d be able to think clearly, to communicate with energy and enthusiasm.
As I walked out of my office for our morning prayer/pep-talk with all of our volunteers, I could literally feel the heaviness of the spiritual battle that was taking place. I sensed that something was going on, I just couldn’t put my finger on it, and still can’t. We all gathered together and I told them the same thing that I had told the guys earlier and we all prayed together.
As the service began there were a lot of empty seats, and that old fear began to creep back into the back of my mind. I had just sent out an e-mail telling people how great things had been going, what they could do to help us continue to grow like parking on the grass, sitting in different spots, etc… And, now our attendance was going to be low, “I’m going to look like and idiot” I thought.
Just then it hit me, now it wasn’t an audible voice but I heard it just as if it was. “Do you see how fragile ‘your’ success is? With just a few sick children, a couple of families that stayed up too late last night, an alarm clock or two that didn’t go off, and the numbers are all gone. Remember, it is only with ME that all things are possible.”
At that moment I thanked God for all He has done for us, and will do for us. I confessed any potential pride that was welling up inside of me, and I simply prayed that somehow, in some way that the message and the music would make an impact in someone’s life.
When I got up to speak, I was stunned. No, not every seat was filled and we were down a little bit, but what I saw was that God had already worked even before I said a word. My message was certainly not the best, my head is still throbbing and I’m pretty sure I lost my train of thought more than once, but I’m also certain that he used it, IN SPITE OF ME!
And there my friends was God serving me a little bit of humility with a side of grace…
It’s Time To Be A Man!
I’m not really sure when it began for me. Maybe it was when I saw my first Clint Eastwood western, who knows, but at some point in my early childhood I realized I wanted to be a REAL man!
As I’ve grown up my idea of being a real man has matured and been honed by the manly role models we find in the Bible. I’ve learned that a real man has integrity, cares deeply for those around him, protects and provides for his family, loves God passionately, is ready and willing to admit when he’s wrong, and many other things.
It’s also become increasingly disappointing to me to see how culture and, yes even the church, has attempted to redefine and diffuse what being a real man is all about (usually a man is portrayed either as a mindless idiot or a wimpy submissive boob!). In the church we’ve tried to civilize men, make them into…well manly-women (Keep being a man but act and behave like a woman, not sure how that’s supposed to work).
Well, I’m calling all you men out there who have a desire to reclaim your true, authentic, God designed and God given masculinity. I’m calling you to become men of character, men of integrity, amazing husbands, awesome dads, and unbelievable role-models to the next generation. I think it’s high time we become all that God has intended us to be!
Who’s with me?!
DaveCrandall.Me 