“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”  John 6:66

I met an African Pastor about 15 years ago who said to me, “If someone says they want to be a Pastor then God is probably not calling them or they are out of their mind.  If you can do anything else then do that.”  What a gift of encouragement.  Fifteen years later I can say I truly understand what this Pastor was trying to say to me.  To deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus is all too real.  I had no idea 15 years ago that it would mean denying everything about myself for what every other person would want of me. 

This verse in John’s Gospel as well as the context it is taken from reveal so much about ministry in today’s church.  Those going into ministry would do well to learn these things up front.  But, like me, they would not believe it and because we didn’t yet know what Jesus knew, “there is no life,no resurrection without death, without crucifixion.”  You only learn this by loving the Father and those whom He loves so much that you will allow them to crucify you in order to show them life and love at the risk of them maybe not ever seeing it.

By human standards and much of our standard related to church success today, Jesus was a failure.  But Jesus knew it was what His Father said that mattered.  In John 6:66  all of Jesus’ disciples except the 12 looked at Him and said this is too tough, we cannot follow you anymore.  Jesus was so secure in His Father’s business that He didn’t go chasing after them to change their minds.  He simply obeyed His mission.

The context is interesting.  Jesus has fed the 5000+ people by the sea of Galilee and then later the disciples went ahead of Him to the other side in a boat.  Jesus came walking out to them on the water and then they miraculously found themselves on the other side.  That next day when the people realized Jesus and the disciples were gone, they went and found them.  Jesus makes an accusation toward them.  “I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”  John 6:26

Jesus was saying, “you are not following Me because you believe in Me but because I fed you.”  These are the people who turned and left Him.  In the same manner we find these same people or the like, praising Him on Palm Sunday and crucifying Him on Good Friday.

We have to be careful that in all our searching to find the Church and a place to be fed, that we not miss the church all together.  We can totally miss the point.  And if I were judging by appearance the success of Jesus’ church at this point, I would say by a 5000+/- drop in attendance by His disciple would be an utter failure.  And, 50 days after they had crucified Him only 120 could be found.

What really is the point?  The enemy of the Church loves for us to miss the point.  When we get our eyes on ourselves we miss the point that it’s about others and our relationship with them and our relationship with the Father.  The enemy wants us to blame our Pastors who sacrifice for them in ways they will never realize.  Our Pastors cannot take up the responsibility of every christian to build each other up in love and do their part so the church grows.  (Ephesians 4:11-16)  We can only teach and encourage the body to do so.  The enemy loves to instill fear and division in the Church.  It renders us ineffective and many times his instrument.

The enemy wants us to think like the world when we look at the Church.  He tempts us to believe that God is not in something if it’s declining and not growing the way we believe.  Tell that to Job. And for most of us that would make our personal lives utter failures. 

We must rise above these things and be the glorious Church that Christ died and lives for.  The Church grows based on what the body does to build each other up in love.  Bless those who serve you, reach out to those far from you.  Judge not on the outward appearance.  Love never fails when we love like Jesus.

NOW.  Let me be personal and for those who may read this and are of another congregation be encouraged where God has you.  We have been going through difficult and painful times as a Church.  No one knows that more that me, my family and our leaders.  It has been an incredible test for us all.  But, God showed me He was going to do this, of which I have shared on several occasions.  And, He also showed what He was going to do when this painful part was complete.  I have no alternative as a believer and a Pastor but to trust and follow Him even if many people leave.  To obey is better than sacrifice.   In this case, “the sacrifice.”  Some have not and will not take this journey.  This I understand. 

But, I don’t want to be just another Church;  I want to be a different kind of Church.  One that will lay it’s life down for it’s neighbor.  One that will seek to save that which is lost.  One that is willing to go wherever the lost is not waiting for them to come to us.  A Church that is intentional about building relationships with lost people in order to know them and love them not just in our Church but where they are.  One that will love the way the Bible say.  One that loves God by serving and ministering to others. 

The Bible tells us that God’s kind of love Never Fails.  If it fails, it’s wasn’t love.  My commitment as a Pastor endures.  I believe in God and His plan for us as a Church more than the darkness that seems to surround and makes seeing where I’m going difficult.  I trust Him more than what I see in man.  God will not fail us.  He is true to His Word and what He says is more important than what we want.  What He says will not return empty but will accomplish what He desires.

I would ask you to be more committed to each other than ever before.   I would also ask you to support those who have sacrificed to serve you for many years with no expectation but obedience to God’s Word your friendship and your love.  I would ask you to not give up hope.

Please, take the time to read this article, (We can’t do megachurch anymore.) CLICK HERE

I know this is long but I believe it is important.

Do you think about eternity?

What are your thoughts on heaven and hell?

Does the idea of heaven or hell have any affect or influence in how you live on a daily basis? 

Let me just say a BIG amen to this post by Ben Arment.  Check this out…“What you complain about is your calling to fix.“  Come back and let me know what you think.

What an opportunity for God to release creativity into your life for ministry.

What are you complaining about?

What are you going to do about it?

Self-pity is a pit and leads to bondage.  The worst pits are the ones you dig yourself.  

There is no room in leadership for self-pity.  It will drag others into the pit with you.

Self-pity is sin.  ”…and whatever is not of faith is sin.”  Romans 14:23   When we dwell on our situation looking for pity and wallowing in it, we prove our doubt in God’s sufficiency. 

Self-pity is fleshly and carnal minded.  Joy is the byproduct of the spiritual life.  Galatians 5 tells us that one apect of The fruit of the Spirit is joy.  It’s the fruit of abiding in Jesus and walking in the Spirit.  What is not of the Spirit is flesh.    “Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out, into the open, into a spacious, free life.”  Romans 8:6 (MSG)

Self-pity leads to bondage.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”  II Corinthians 10:4 (KJV)  If this preoccupation with self in our state of pity is carnally minded and leads to death but faith in God leads us out into the open to freedom, then self pity puts us in bondage.  It creates a stronghold bound by walls and chains doubt.

Self-pity seeks attention.  It seeks to get it’s needs met by attention from others instead of faith in God to be our deliverer.  It can also be seeking to get God’s attention through pity.

Self-pity leads to sinful behavior.  Self-pity will digress into seeking attention through a victim mentality and blame.  This can turn into gossip and slander and bearing false witness.  We can excuse all kinds of behavior when we seek pity.  Unfortunately, others will go there with us.  They will crawl into the pit with us.  Missery loves company.  It can also develop into self-righteousness or a false righteousness.  You think you are right, after all you are the victim.  You tell others of the wrong that has been done to you because it elevates you and dismisses you behavior and focuses on others.  It’s a shift of blame.  You feel justified but never feel satisfied.

Self-pity is self-deception.  It is blindness. You don’t realize the spiritual state you are in because of your flesh fest.

Self-pity stunts spiritual growth.   It stops you dead in your tracks.  It holds you in that and to that moment.  It will bring you down and not let you move forward.  Pity holds on to the past. and drops an anchor in your life causing you to be battered by the storms of life unable to navigate free of other dangers. 

This will have to be Part 1.   Check back for part 2 and “The way out of the PIT.”

I had an awesome encounter yesterday.  I just stopped in to Port City Java to get a cup and check my e-mail.  A guy came over and sat down at my table.  He asked me if I would write an entry in his journal.  I thought this was a little weird and for some reason it was a little uncomfortable.  He said he had noticed a book on my table and he asked me what it was about.  I said it was a book written by a Pastor about the journey of following Jesus.  He asked if I was in ministry.  I told him I was a Pastor.  He asked a few other small talk questions then said that he would often ask other people to just write something in his journal and that I could take my time and write anything I wanted.  I felt God move me even though I was tentative.   So I agreed.

Now was the big thing.  What do I write?  After all this is not my journal and I don’t know anything about this guy.  It was a real step of faith.  I prayed to myself asking God to guide me in my thoughts.  Then-I began to write.

What I wrote did not seem as significant as what took place after I finished writing.   When I was done I went over to his table and handed the journal back.  Then I sat down.  I asked him what he was reading.  He explained that it was a book on Zen meditation.  Many thought were firing through my brain at lightning speed.  What do I say to that?  I said “That’s cool.”  Sounds brilliant!?  Was that the best I could come up with?  Truthfully, it was the only thing that came to mind.  He looked at me, backing his head up a little with a questioning smile, and said “I’m surprised you would say that being a Pastor.”  I said “Well the Bible says a lot about meditation.”  He asked where.  I said the book of Psalms in particular.  He said show me.  So I got my Bible and read to him from Psalm 119 about meditation on God’s precepts and fixing our eyes on His ways.

This sent us into a conversation over many issues about Christianity and following Jesus.  For an hour we talked.  It was obvious that something had painfully shaped how he felt about church and Christians.  His mom was christian in a very legalistic denomination and his dad was Buddhist.  They divorced over religious issues and probably others, when the kids were grown.

I told him as our conversation was coming to a close that I really enjoyed the time with him and his openness.  He told me that he hoped he did  not offend me.  I said to him that when it is our agenda to always convert people instead of knowing people we offend them or at least walk away disappointed because we didn’t reach our goal.  When it is our chief desire to connect and know people and we value them as created by God even if they don’t know him, it opens doors through relationship that will never open through trying to argue or convince people. 

God is so good.  If we stay open to people and to His leading we will experience some incredible things and He will use us in the process.

What great encounters have you had lately?

What are we waiting for? 
Jesus said, (John 4:35) “lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.” As followers of Jesus and especially leaders in ministry we cannot lose sight of this fact.  We can be confused about the difference between waiting for the harvest and preparing laborers for the harvest.  The harvest is always there.  Jesus said in this same passage that we say “four more months then the harvest.”  He then reminds us to look, it’s ready.  The implication is that our eyes or focus is on something else and we are missing the fact that it’s ready.  We have to keep our eye on the harvest. 

Jesus also say that we get to reap from what others have already prepared and labored for.  I like that.  We don’t have to wait to see fruit.  We just have to get out into the field and reap.

This harvest is happening so fast and is so ready that He said the sower and reaper get to rejoice together.  There is a place for all of us in the harvest.

We need to be harvest ready.

How are you laboring in the harvest?

My highlight from toady’s message - I got to show a clip from the movie Transformers.

I mentioned in an earlier post that me and Jesus were on a journey.  One of the things I’ve been pondering is found in a quote from this movie.

“50 years from now, don’t you want to say you had the guts to get in the car.” - Sam

This is a defining moment for Sam and Makala, will they go home or will they become a part of living the adventure? Will they take the risk?  Will they take the road less traveled?  Or will they play it safe?

Maybe it was not so theatrical and with no building music in the background but this is exactly what was going on when Jesus spoke to Peter and Andrew on the shore of Galilee saying, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  This was a defining moment.  They had no idea what was exactly ahead for them. 

3 years down this road Peter was so in love with Jesus, he said he was willing to go where ever Jesus went even if it was to the cross.  In John 21:15-22 Peter has now witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and failed miserably by denying that he knew Him.  He was probably evaluating Jesus call to “Follow him.”   After the resurrection,  Jesus comes to Peter and has a little breakfast with him on the shore.  Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?”  Peter replies “Lord you know I do.”  Jesus says “Feed my sheep.”  This He does three times.  Then Jesus describe the kind of death Peter would suffer and then again as He did in the beginning, He says, “Follow me.”  Peter goes on to ask “what about John.”  Jesus says “What is that to you if he lives or dies, you follow me.”

Jesus call to us to follow Him.  If we choose, it will be a life filled with meaning, purpose, adventure, mystery, and danger, perril, sacrifice, and unlimited posibilities.  We don’t know all that will happen.  Each persons life and journey is unique as is their purpose.  But will we “get in the car?” 

I don’t want to settle for a life without meaning.  I want to say I had the guts to risk it all, where ever Jesus takes me.  I want to Follow Him!  Will you?

Have you had a defining moment?

Did you have the guts to take the risk?

Amy and I took the kids to see Prince Caspian last night.  One of the greatest lines of the movie came near the end.  After the Talmarines are defeated, Prince Caspian, Peter, Edmund and Susan kneel before Aslan.  He says “rise kings of Narnia.”  They all rise except Prince Caspian.  He says again, “I said rise kings.”  Prince Caspian responds, “I do not believe I am ready.”  Aslan says, “It’s for that reason I know you are ready.”

Humility is the key to great leadership.  I know my greatest moments have come when my King has spoken and I feel like I’m not ready.  God can do more with my weakness through humility than all the strength and pride in the world.  It is only through my humility and weakness that God can do His greatest work through me.  When I am weak, He is strong.

This reminds me of an old song, “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”

When have you felt weak and not worthy and God did great things through you?

Just so you know where my head is right now, I’m in my Tuesday Office meeting with Erwin McManus and Jesus.  OK, Erwin is not actually, physically here.  I am so excited about my devotional and study time.  The other day I was in the bookstore picking out a couple of things to read.  I felt really drawn to a specific author, Erwin McManus, who is the Lead Pastor of Mosaic.  Something in me got excited like me and Jesus were about to embark on a great journey.  So I am stoked.

Go pick up a copy of one of Erwin’s books.  It will bless you or maybe I’m just on my own little trip.

What good books have you read lately?

Amy’s 20th reunion is coming up soon and she is helping plan the event.  My sister sent us her collection of 80’s music and we happened to be listening to some last night when our son (Nathan) came into the kitchen.   Nathan constantly cracks us up.  Here is a spontaneous dance by Nathan - a lip-sinc, robot, gangsta, hip-hop thing.  Jam on it!

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

So what goes on at your house that no one would expect?