Acts 11

It's interesting how we hear God sometimes, isn't it? Many people can experience God in different ways, and while this isn't necessarily a popular seminary position, I believe that God speaks to each of us in unique and powerful ways. If he created us all different, and gave us different gifts, abilities and learning styles; wouldn't it make sense that He would choose to connect with us in different ways as well?

God is in the process of expanding my horizon, and it has never been more fun for me to be a believer. I look around, and my heart is broken for the condition of our world, for the condition of the Bride, for the condition of the earth - but I am having a BLAST learning and hearing from God.

This morning, I was spending some time in the book of Acts and I have been reading through Acts looking at the missional aspect of the Church. In Acts 11, Peter comes before the religious leadership of the church in Jerusalem to defend his ministry to the Gentiles and after retelling the story, the Jewish leadership rejoices that God has a heart for the Gentiles. It's like a whole new concept of who God is and a whole new understanding of how He loves people - has just been revealed to the early church! So awesome...

But, what really hit me right between the eyes, was Acts 11:27 which says "Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch."

Did you see?

The men who had been the voice of God and brought insight to the Word of God - chose to leave Jerusalem for what God was doing in Antioch! You see, the verses preceding this one show how a handful of men from Cyprus and Cyrene share the gospel in Antioch, not just with the Jews but with the Greeks as well. God is DESTROYING the racial, ethnic and religious barriers in His quest for the human heart! I love that!

It is in Antioch that the believers are first called Christians, Paul and Barnabas begin their ministry together in Antioch and spend a year planting a church and building up the brothers in Antioch! I can only imagine the kind of stuff that was going on in this city. It must have been pretty awesome, for prophets to decide they didn't want to be in Jerusalem (you know, the place Jesus spent most of his ministry, died, rose and talked about coming back to build a new one) for Antioch!

What I believe was going on, was a hunger for God. The people (even the prophets) realized that there was an outpouring of the Spirit of God and that He was moving and shaking things up in Antioch and that the Church was on fire there and so rather than stay where they had always been, and do what they had always done - they pursued God!

How true does that need to be for me? How often do I decide that this is how God looks, moves and acts - and therefore I will go no further. How saw would it have been if the prophets had not followed where God was moving. Agabus may not have heard the word from God about the famine, the church would not have mobilized and prepared for the famine - and things could have gotten real ugly.

What happens when we decide we are going to follow God, even if it leads us away from the familiar?

Embracing the Spirit...

Do you ever think about yourself and wonder how you ended up like you did? I mean, seriously do some introspection and marvel at who you are? I know for me - lately, I have been really looking at my heart, and I am blown away at the dichotomy of my soul. On one hand - I am so madly in love with Jesus and so desperate to see people fall in love with Him and experience His Spirit, it physically hurts. But, on the other hand - I am completely wicked and so easily distracted and selfish that I find my heart to be offensive and contemptuous.

So, this of course, causes me to pray and read. Earlier this week, God challenged me to read through Acts (one of my fav's) looking for the missional aspect of the leaders of the early church. Basically, what that means is I am reading through the lens of church planting, wanting to know what the apostles did as the Holy Spirit birthed the Bride through them.

This, is of course, rocking my face right off! And while, I could blog about this for a long, long, long time; I will try not to.

Here is what I heard this morning:

Acts 8 - Stephen has just preached like, the mac-daddy gospel to the Sanhedrin and been stoned for it. The church now, officially, is under persecution and we have the first martyr of the Christian Church.

We pick it up in 8:4 - a verse I have skimmed over several times, punched me right in the mouth today. " Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word."

Slow down and read that again.

Let it marinate.

Understand the gravity of that statement (and the next 4 verses after). The Church is officially being persecuted. Saul, in verse 3, is "ravaging" the church from house to house! And as people are fleeing for their lives what are they doing?

Preaching the Word.

Sharing the Gospel.

Does conviction creep into your soul at all as you read this? Because it should. Here, we have an example of what it means to believe in Jesus and live for Him. They are fleeing for their lives, and they CAN'T stop PREACHING! Or, maybe I should say, THEY WON'T STOP PREACHING! Jesus is absolutely paramount in their lives, even over their own safety and well-being.

Can the same be said for me? Honestly, NO.

I want Him to be, but He's not. My flesh gets in the way and I allow a muzzle to be placed over my mouth. I shy away from opportunities, or perhaps worse, I don't find ways to preach in common everyday situations.

Which leads me, sort of, to my next thought. Is there a difference from the early church to today's? Has the Spirit of God stopped working in some ways? All my schooling and upbringing has taught me that he hasn't stopped working, but all the services I have ever been at, prayer meetings I have been a part of, and classes I have ever attended give example to the contrary.

I am wakening to something. A desire deeply seeded in my soul for the movement of the Spirit of God in my life. I am shrugging of the complacency of comfort and embracing a desire for the power of God to be made evident in my life.

In Acts 4:31, the believers come together to pray and ask God to make them bold, and something happens. The PLACE they are in, is so full of the Spirit of God, that the room SHAKES! Why does this not happen today?

Is God less capable? Is He unwilling to do this? Has His desire to make Himself known through signs and wonders ceased? Some would say yes.

I, venture, no. I choose to believe that God still does move and act in this way. Does it make me uncomfortable - who cares.

I want the power of God to be made manifest in my life, so that as many people can fall in love and experience the wondrous love of Jesus in their life.

But, to go back to my first thought, that means Jesus needs to be the MOST IMPORTANT THING IN MY LIFE!

More important than family. More important than careers. More important than money. More important than fame. More important than ME.

I believe this is possible.

And I am gonna try to die to self, in pursuit of the heart and power of God!

Lord, let it be so...

Mountain top experience....

So - it was pretty cool this morning, I was spending some time praying and God kept bring a passage to my mind.

The story of Abraham and Isaac, when God asks Abraham to take him up to a mountain that He would reveal to him, and sacrifice Isaac there.

As I was praying through the Word and asking God to open my eyes and let me see His heart and His purpose for me in this passage - a revelation came to me...

God no doubt takes people through valleys and then asks them to climbs mountains for Him. He asks Moses to do it. He has Jesus do it a couple of times.

And here, He asks Abraham to climb to the top of mountain. It is not to be given the Law, or to be tempted, or to be transfigured - it is to better understand the Father's heart.

I love as I read this story that at one point, Isaac asks his dad about the sacrifice - and Abraham's response is very deep "God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering" (nate paraphrase)

We can see so much in that simple statement. It is God who provides the lamb that frees Isaac. Abraham trusts that God is going to allow his son to live. Abraham's faith is unwavering. Abraham is foreshadowing Jesus. Abraham is placing the burden of sacrifice on God - not himself.

As I spent some time in this passage - I began to realize, that in my quest to be on the top of a mountain with God - so I can speak with Him and experience as much of Him as possible, it will require everything I have. Abraham was willing to lay down the life of his only son... what about me?

Now, God will not ask me to sacrifice my son as an offering, because Jesus was/is the perfect Lamb and my sin is paid for - but can I abandon all, like Abraham, for the cause of Christ?

It never really occurred to me prior to this morning, but to get to the top of the mountain, you will need to be willing to lay everything down and have faith that the God of the universe, our Father, will be there for us.

Abraham's faith should encourage and challenge each one of us to press into the heart of God, trust that He will provide, and know that no matter how heart-breaking it may be, God's way will ultimately lead to a life-changing experience with Him!

Isn't that what we want? To be changed by God?

Pirating God....

I know that most of the time - I use this blog to help process through what God is teaching me. And today will, of course, be no different.

I have been involved in a struggle now for a little while. And while I know that my struggle is tame and probably severely trivial compared to the rest of humanity's struggles, it has been a problem for about 2 weeks now. Allow me to share with you, my problem: I WANT TO DOWNLOAD/STEAL MUSIC. You see, I use to believe that because it was called "file-sharing" it was not stealing. Even though I downloaded all of these really great albums and music at no cost to myself. I justified it in my own mind.

Well, leave it up to God to go ahead and mess up my routine! A couple of weeks ago, I was praying and asking God to reveal areas in my life where I was not meeting His Standards - and of course, He went ahead and jacked up my whole secret (and unknown even to me) life of thievery.

So, I have been obedient - and abandoned my life of crime - but it has not been easy. Let me just say, I am absolutely SICK of the music I use to run with every day. I hear the same songs, and am very bored with the same beat - and ready for some new tunes. So, I went to actually PAY for music, and I found out that music is expensive. If I am going to pay $1.29 a song - I need to REALLY REALLY like it! (I am a pretty cheap dude) So I am continuing to run to the same old stuff. Why? Because the music is important enough for me to try and steal, but not worth my time and money. I am willing to take it for free, but when it costs me something, I don't want it that bad!

As I was running this morning, God and I were having a "discussion". I was trying to convince Him that I was just in stealing music - and that He needed to let me do it. I was trying to "talk Him into" allowing me to go back to my life of crime! Of course, He wouldn't have it, and as I ran and pleaded - He opened my eyes...

How often, have I been guilty of using God. How much of my life have I told God that you are important enough for me to use, and take what I can get - as long as its for free! But the minute that He begins to require and ask things of me, and it starts to COST ME something - I abandon Him for my flesh? This was a sobering realization.

I have been SO guilty of pirating God, and haven't spent nearly enough time counting the cost - and willingly paying it! He is so worthy everything I have, and what if I truly invested into my walk, my relationship, my calling? What if - instead of just stealing from God; I bought into His way, His plan, His process, His purpose? I think I would find the fruit of the Spirit very evident in my life. I believe that the flesh would weaken as His Spirit in me grows and takes control. I think that the envy, bitterness, fear and pride would fade away - as love, boldness, generosity and humility took over.

So - this morning, my question is: are you pirating God? Or have you realized the value, and bought into who God is? Truly.

Running....

It's kinda funny - last night I was running around a new circle in a friends neighborhood, it's a four mile loop that is frequented by joggers, dog-walkers, and bikers; so it stays pretty busy.

Something occurred to me as I ran through pain and stomach aches (I ate pasta right before I ran, bad combo).

Every runner I past - we gave each other a little nod, or hand wave or something to acknowledge each other, as if to say "Hey, we are in this together, we both hate our bodies and love torturing ourselves in this primitive way" Kinda funny, but as I began to think through this it occurred to me: shouldn't we be able to recognize those walking with God and pursuing a life like Jesus - and at the very least wave to them.

I mean, when I am running and see another runner - I don't question if that person is running, I see them running and so I know they run. Shouldn't my life with God be that transparent for all to see? I don't think that it was difficult in the life of the early church believers to distinguish who is and isn't a believer. The believers were radically different from the world. They gave away their stuff, they gave food to everyone who needed it, they sold land to give to the church, they wouldn't shut up about Jesus, and the love that they showed was infectious.

Where has that gone?

So many times in my life I have asked or wondered - is that person a Christian? What a shame that we don't know simply by the way we live and move in our lives.

I am not thinking through this and writing any of this saying it is our job to judge a persons walk with God - but I think, as a person truly walks with God, the question would become irrelevant as the Holy Spirit works and molds and changes the life of the believer.

Just like I never questioned whether or not someone was running last night, I just knew.

What if we allowed the Holy Spirit to make us so on fire, so radically conservative - where we lived for the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus - and nothing else mattered. It's kinda what I see in the New Testament. It's kinda what I think Paul spends 13 books trying to convey.

What if we were able to tell who was fighting this war against the enemy, just by how the walked/ran through life?

What if we saw a world of people sprinting for Jesus - not themselves?