Living a Lifestyle of Worship

I've been finding myself in the shoes of Peter as of late. Not because I denied Christ...not because I boldly proclaimed the gospel to thousands of people...and not even because I seriously wanted to use my plastic knife to cut off the ear of the jerk in the Panda Express who wouldn't stop saying, "G-D- this, and G-D- that..." (and I'm not totally sure that God would've healed this dude's ear even if I did!) No, friends, it is much less noble than that...it is this: I feel like I've drawn on God's power to step out of the boat, but now that I'm out here I'm beginning to lose control and FREAK OUT. But first, a little back story...

For those of you who don't know, a few months ago I leapt out of my comfort zone. I left The Avenue Church, in which I had served for nearly 12 years, and moved to a brand new church in Sugar Land, TX called Grandview Fellowship. Nothing about the move made sense on paper except that it was close to my family (parents, siblings, etc.) - but the real driving factor was this: I knew God told me to go. Moving close to family was a definite plus, don't get me wrong; but we left because God said, "Go."

So I jumped out of the boat and ran across the water toward Him! It was so freeing! So exhilirating! Running into the unknown; into doing something I'd never done before (helping build a fledgeling church) felt exciting! I knew I was going to have to depend on God to make it happen, and that made me feel even closer to Him! (Can you see where this is going?)

Then the wind and waves roared...
"You're not gonna have the ridiculously awesome worship band that you have at The Avenue."
I was looking for musicians at The Avenue when God provided the ones that are there now; what He did then, He will do again."
"You're taking a pay-cut and moving into a more expensive area."
No problem! I thought...God's got this!
The housing market is depressed right now...how're you going to sell your house?"
I don't have to! God has to bring that buyer to us. He knows what we need, and He'll make it happen.

Fast-forward a few months to today. The school year is ending, and my wife and kids will be moving down in about a week and we still haven't sold the house:
...not even an offer
...and we've already reduced the price we're asking
...twice.

At this point in my life, I have a new respect for Peter. I've always wondered why he started sinking. I mean, he'd already walked on the water! Jesus said, "Come" and he did...he'd already taken steps where he should have sunk and didn't! So why, halfway through his journey toward Jesus, did he all of a sudden get scared and start to sink? Why am I, though cheerful and excited at the onset of the journey and having already watched God open tons of doors for this opportunity, beginning to get stressed more and more as the day approaches that we need to be gone from Waxahachie? Why am I fearful that we won't be able to sell our house, and if we do, we won't get the profit & equity we need out of it in order to move into the house we want to buy in Sugar Land?

The answer, I believe, is that I am what I once heard Craig Groeshel call a "Practicing Atheist." A Practicing Atheist, he suggested, is someone who believes in God, but lives his life as if He doesn't exist. You see, I know that God controls everything. I know that He has plans to prosper me, and not to harm me. I know that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and that money is not something the He worries about...He'll accomplish what He wants to do...period. I know all these things. But I KNOW what happens when the bank account hits zero. I KNOW how much I need to clear on selling the house in order to get into the size house I need (...ahem, "want"). I KNOW that living at my parent's house and commuting into Sugar Land every day is NOT a viable long-term option.

So what's the difference between what I know and what I KNOW? The answer is, "I don't know."

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why my knowledge that God is all powerful and that He directs the steps of every home buyer on the planet doesn't subdue my knowledge of the current market status, seller's net sheets, and the like. On paper there's no comparison - God's power wins. But my physical response (loss of sleep, anxiety, worry, etc.) is that of the latter, not the former. Why?

As one who purports that "worship is a lifestyle," I'm embarassed to say that my lifestyle of fretting and worrying about this does not demonstrate the security in Christ that I claim to have. I know to the very core of my soul Who God is, and what He is capable of. I've seen His handiwork in my life and the lives of others over and over again. I know without a doubt that He and His power over creation are real...still I stumble, worry, and freak out over the whole process of selling and finding a house.

I think that's what happened to Peter. He saw God's power...he ran across the top of the water! But somehow, the physical, tangible elements around him caused him fear and he began to sink. Not because he didn't believe God could do it - he'd already experienced that! Still, somehow they got the best of him.

And that's where I find myself right now: sittin' with my good buddy Peter in the "I should know better club," singin' Kum Bah Yah, My Lord. Come by here and RESCUE ME 'cuz I am sinking fast! I'm in good company with the likes of Peter, for sure; but sinking nonetheless. I have periods of gleaming faith and steadfast determination (like tonight as I write this); but my subconscious is eaten up with it. It's always on the tip of my mind (I'm one quick, careless thought away from the death spiral), and my mind is exhausted from it each day. I am literally losing A LOT of sleep over it (3 and 4 AM have been no stranger to me as of late).

God's purpose in this will be revealed in due time, I know. And I pray that God will show me the answer, so that I can learn from it and learn to apply it in other stress-filled situations...and then, subsequently, to teach others to learn from my (and Peter's) miserable experiences and let your knowledge of Who God is be your reality... (And if you've already learned this lesson, please pass on your wisdom!)

We had a fantastic discussion in worship planning the other day about how to convince people that Jesus is the way.  We've been studying different world religions, and the question came up, how do you talk with a Muslim, a Hindu, or anyone who doesn't acknowledge that the Bible is the absolute authority.  To us, the Bible is it.  Many people who don't claim Christ will at least agree that the Bible is God's Word, or at least a "holy book."  A growing number of people these days, however, do not recognize the Bible as the supreme authority.  Without being able to use the Bible as a reference source, how do you convince someone that Jesus Christ is the only way to God?

I’ve been thinking a lot about wisdom as of late…knowing God’s will, doing God’s will, making wise decisions, etc. I read Proverbs 8 today, which is all about gaining wisdom, and I’d like to share with you something about wisdom. The first verse of Proverbs sums it up… “Does not wisdom call out?”

For the longest time, I thought that wisdom was a state that you attained…sort of like a travel destination. Once you get there, you’re there. You know? Once you’ve got it, you’ve got it. But then, I always wonder what happens to church leaders who fall. Where was their wisdom when they made the fatal choice that brought them down? It seems to me that wisdom it not a state you attain…rather, it is a degree of connection to the Holy Spirit, Who “calls out” to us. As you grow in your knowledge of Christ and Who He is, you naturally gain wisdom because your relationship to Him keeps you close to Him. When you’re close to Him, it is very easy to hear His voice clearly and the dissenting voices of evil are drowned out. If your relationship with Him suffers, though, you decline in your ability to hear His voice. Without hearing His voice and being strengthened by Him, wise decisions are harder and harder to make because your connection to the Giver of Wisdom is hindered (or non-existent). Sounds simple, right? Yet, far too many of us (myself included) allow our relationship with Christ to suffer as we get busy. We skip our Bible Study, or miss church, or whatever. We treat that relationship with Him flippantly…until we have a crisis. THEN we seek His wisdom. THEN we’re ready to open the lines of communication.

I encourage you to keep focus on your relationship with Jesus this new year. Do not lose sight of Him as not only the source of your strength, but of wisdom.

As I sit here typing, my fingers are probably the only part of my body that does not hurt right now. You see, this week I began working out with a trainer...and not just any trainer...a psycho trainer. Keith (or "Big K" as I usually call him because I'm out of breath) LOVES this fitness stuff. He eats, sleeps and breathes it...and he's made it his goal to whip me and my training partners (my fellow church staff members) into shape. And whip he has done! Nearly every muscle in my body is intensely sore, or was intensely sore and is now only "really sore." You know, the kind of sore that causes you to just let your back itch because it's more painful to even try to scratch it!) So why do I do this? Why do I put up with the pain? The answer is because I know that 6 weeks from now I'll be in better health, I'll feel better, and I'll look better (and stop growing out of my clothes). I grew up hearing coaches say, "no pain, no gain." And I believe it.

Tonight I was also reading "The Shack" by William P. Young. I realize that it has been somewhat controversial in staunch religious circles; but then again, "religion" always challenges fresh thinking. You can say what you want to about the book's theology (or lack thereof) and the metaphors the author chooses, it paints a pretty fresh picture of how God (the Trinity) loves and interacts with us. I won't spoil the book for you if you haven't read it, but there is a chapter in which the main character, Mack, is talking with the Holy Spirit about "good" and "evil" and she challenges his definition of "good." (Yes, I said "she" - in this book, the Holy Spirit is depicted in the form of a woman - hence the controversy!) She suggests that humans are not capable within ourselves to define good and evil, because our perspective is skewed by our humanity. For instance, what benefits us we typically define as good, and what we don't like we define as evil. Unfortunately, there are 6 billion of us on the planet, and we all have different definitions.

Instead, she suggests that "evil" is simply the absence of God, just like "dark" is the absence of light. Where there is light, the darkness is gone...so where there is God, evil is not there. The point she's trying to make, is that when pain and hurt come into our life, our natural instinct is to flee from it and call it "evil." In reality, though, that's not always the case. Sometimes God allows pain into our life. Our natural tendency is to call it "evil," but in reality, God uses the pain to grow and mature us. I've recently been undergoing some heavy stress and trauma in multiple areas of my life...and naturally, all I want to do is to cry "evil" and run screaming into the woods. I really want to be found faithful at the end of this, but sometimes I just don't know how I'm gonna make it through. In my Bible study time the other day, however, I read this...

James 1:2-4
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Now, I've read the "consider it pure joy" part hundreds of time; but the line that caught my heart's eye this time was verse 4..."perseverance MUST finish its work so that you may be MATURE and COMPLETE, not lacking anything." So, the trials are necessary to develop perseverance; and perseverance is necessary for us to become mature and complete.



If I believe that God is over everything (which I do); and if I believe that God is always with me (which I do); and if I believe that He always has my best interests at heart (which I do); THEN, I have to look at pain, trials and frustrations differently. I have to see them, and the pain they cause me, as tools that God is using in my life. The pain I feel in my body right now from working out is intense...BUT, I know that the pain leads to muscular and cardiovascular growth. And I endure it with a smile because I know the outcome in my body will be worth it.

So why do I treat the trials of life any different? Why do I look at something unpleasant and cry "evil," instead of powering through it like I am this workout thing? God has my best interests at heart...there's no doubt in that. And just because it hurts, doesn't make it bad. And in point of fact, according to this scripture in James, sometimes it HAS to hurt in order to produce maturity in you. After all...no pain, no gain!

In two weeks our church is going to spend an entire Sunday focused on prayer. The music, the message, and even an afternoon event will all focus on prayer - in this case, particularly as it pertains to the need to pray for God's hand in our efforts to relocate our church campus.

As such, a friend of mine and I were discussing the concept of "praying without ceasing" today. Scripture instructs us to "pray without ceasing;" obviously this doesn't mean that we are to stay in our closets on our knees all day. So what does it mean? After a time of reflection and discussion, we came upon two pertinent things.

First, to pray without ceasing means that you have a continual open dialogue with God all the time - one that you can start, stop, restart, come back to later, etc. all the time. Driving down the road, when you see a pretty sunset and thank God for the beauty around us...or when you find yourself talking to someone and you begin to ask God for wisdom because they've just popped open the lid on a very sensitive subject...or when a new business deal comes across your desk, and you start your evaluation of it by asking God what He thinks...or whatever else. The point is, talking to God no longer stops with "the Big 3" (Sunday morning church, mealtimes, and right before your head hits the pillow). You are in constant contact with him all day, every day - alert to His presence, and open to His will.

Second, praying without ceasing keeps you focused with a Kingdom mindset. Ever notice how you feel pumped up and encouraged after going to church on Sunday, but by Monday afternoon you're beat down by all that is going on around you? When you're in continual communication with God, your connection to His Kingdom perspective stays intact. People's bad behavior is easier to handle because you can see their pain a little better through God's eye...bad news still hurts, but you can handle it better. In essence, you are more apt to react in a Godly manner to whatever situation comes your way.

Isn't it funny how money seems to rule our lives? If you've got a pulse, then it's likely that you're aware of the HUGE Wall Street crisis, mortgage lender collapses, etc. I've been reading Erwin McManus' book, "Soul Cravings," and today I read an entry with a story about his conversation with a man who believed that the whole world revolves around economics. You know, he made a really convincing argument. Erwin countered, however, that economics is simply about "agreed upon value." If two or more people agree that something has value, you then can have commerce. (Now I finally understand why there is a market for baseball cards and comic books!) Money, he argued, is what people agree has value...ergo, economics.

As Christians, you'd think we'd have a handle on money. After all, the Bible speaks a lot about it. What I have discovered, however, is quite the opposite. As a church staff member, I come across a lot of people who view money like the world does. As a tool for perceived power. I've literally been told by someone that if we did "such and such," he'd stop giving to the church. I wish that were an isolated incident, but it has totally broken my heart to watch how our church's giving decreases when we make an unpopular decision. They believe they can force whatever they want by withholding money from the church...instead of wielding power, however, they are robbing God! (Unfortunately, many pastors bow to that pressure, themselves not fully trusting God to provide for their finances.) How little do people really understand about God and money. And while this is such a HUGE area of weakness in our churches today, it is probably the least addressed topic by pastors! Why is that? Why do we chronically avoid teaching on such an important thing as money?

Money is simply a tool that God allows us to have, give, or use as the case may be. Just like the other resources or gifts He gives us, God gives us money to be used for His purposes. In God's economy, money is just like mercy, singing, teaching children, etc. He has a plan to accomplish His purposes, and money is only a cog in the wheel...it is an important part, but still just a part...

Money is also a tool that God uses to grow faith in us. Since the world economy revolves around money (as was established earlier), our money (or lack of it) is a way that God chooses to help us learn to trust Him. Those who don't have a lot it must learn to give it to God and trust Him for their needs. Those who have a lot of it must learn to give it to God and trust Him for their needs as well - differently than those who don't have a lot of money, but still learning to trust as well, and arguably harder because of the temptation to put your trust in money instead of God.

So I beg the question again...why do we avoid this topic in church, when how we spend our money plays such a POWERFUL role in our relationship with God?