Non-spontaneous baptisms?

Click this for the kids/youth schedule this weekend!

God blew us all away last weekend, when a huge crowd came forward for baptism. (See the previous two posts for the awesome stories.) By the way, we baptize by immersion. That means we dunk you all the way under water.  So this is a pretty big deal.

For this coming weekend, we’re facing 2 big issues:

1) Integrity with regard to youth/children/minors — it has to be their choice, they have to understand the significance of baptism, and their parents or guardians most likely want to watch it! So last weekend, you had to be 18 or over. But not this coming weekend (details below, so stay tuned)

2) Crowd control -- because our 10:45 service had about 5 empty seats, and that’s it! If we open that service to young people, and you invite aunts and uncles and grandparents, we’ll have some very disappointed people!

About to be baptized together as a "double."

Remember… this weekend will not be our last baptism service ever. If you don’t fit the guidelines below, please know we care about you and can’t wait to celebration your public declaration of faith in Jesus. We’ll schedule a service just for you soon, so please be patient!

GUIDELINES:

Students (12-17) can get baptized if you bring your parent or guardian with you, backstage, when we give the invitation.  They’ll check you in, and then return to the auditorium to watch you get baptized. You have two choices (only): Saturday at 5:00 or Sunday at 12:30.  Bring all the family you can!

Students (10-11) can get baptized if bring your parent or guardian with you AND if you have completed our Kids’ Baptism Training packet with your parents.  (There’s one exception, below).  Same choices: Saturday at 5:30 or Sunday at 12:30.

Families (down to age 10) can get baptized without completing the Training Packet, if another adult in your immediate family with be baptized with you. Please make sure you child understands the meaning of baptism: it doesn’t save, doesn’t wash away sins, doesn’t open up heaven. It is a symbol of your faith in Jesus as your Savior, and of your union with Him. Same choices: Saturday at 5:30 or Sunday at 12:30.

It sounds like something Congress would write, I know.  But integrity with kids, and crowd control, loomed big in our minds.

There are TWO people under the water here!

Looming bigger, however, is the powerful hand of God at work among his people!  Pray for this weekend. Pray for our gospel messages (Bill in the Celebration and Classic services, Todd at the Well). We’re going to invite people to receive Jesus, and then get baptized.  PRAY!  The devil hates this, an

d we’re on a battleship!

See you this weekend! I can’t wait to see how God shows up!

Photos of each person getting baptized (more to come; we have some extra processing to do), click here.

Jim Botts, Baptism Hero

The Incredible Jon Lepinski and our Awesome Band

Our Next Baptism Tank Will Be A Triple-Wide

Baptism tank is in the upper left corner...

So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41, NAS95).

Okay, so maybe we didn’t baptize 3,000 souls, but we’re still buzzing about 174. Hopefully, God is setting us up for 3,000 some time in the future… that would be our prayer!  In yesterday’s post, I shared about our Surprise Baptism Service at Neighborhood Church. Today, I’d like to share some memorable stories… vignettes that capture a little bit of what God was doing.

I’d also love it if you could leave some of your own stories in the comment section… a kind of “stone pillar” for future readers of this blog.

• A young guy named Garrett approached me in the crowded hallway. He said, “I need help.” I asked why. He said, “I’ve never received Jesus and I need to!” I shared the gospel with him, and right there he prayed to receive Jesus… and a few minutes later was baptized.
• A newly engaged couple, going through the line to change and get baptized said something like, “This completes our engagement.”
• A 77 year old gentleman sat with Ken Jones during the commotion to get changed and Ken led him to the Lord. He was the last person baptized at the 5:00 (Sat) service. The next day, he flew home to Wisconsin.
• Jim Botts, our Community Life Pastor, baptized people for 4 services. Dave Hall joined him for the 10:45 service.  The rough counts looks  like this (these figures may change as we process baptismal certificates).
  • Saturday, 5 pm: 44 people
  • Sunday, 8:00 Classic: 1 person (baptized at 9)
  • Sunday, 9:00: 38 people
  • Sunday, 10:45: 70 people
  • Sunday 12:30: 21 people
• Jennifer and Darrin Beaver spent their date night on Saturday shopping for extra shorts and clothing.
• Teams of volunteers helped sign in and process happy, nervous people at every service.
• A young woman told me she wasn’t sure she was saved and wanted to make sure. I asked her what she was counting on to connect her with God and get her to heaven. She said, “Because I love him.” We talked about the difference between pointing to our own works (“I love God”) and pointing to Jesus and his finished work on the Cross (“He loved me enough to die for me”).  Who are you going to point to? She prayed to receive Jesus and went public a few moments later.
• We know of four people who received Jesus in preparation for baptism. Any more stories of this?
• The bathrooms and back stairway quickly became slippery. Dedicated volunteers kept mopping and towel-drying (by hand) the stairways and floors all through the services!
• We ran out of shorts!  So we had to recycle them.  People got baptized, returned to change, and handed off their wet shorts to someone else. Go church!
• At the 10:45 service, we did “double-double” baptisms.  Four at once. I don’t have pictures yet, but I will post them soon. A husband stands behind his wife and holds onto her.  The both get laid backwards into the water together.  Two couples do this, side by side, at once.  A double-double, four people at once.  It was the only way we could get through 70 people… Jim and Dave had a tough time keeping their heads above water for this!  Great job, guys!
• The energy in the hallways and changing areas was ELECTRIC. People were high-fiving, excited, happy, nervous.
• The water was warm, about 80 degrees, and we floated a pool chlorinator in it. It still turned greenish and ugly, because of the dye from the unwashed shirts and shorts.  Jim Botts started shivering uncontrollably at 12:30… way to take one for the team! (80 degrees is still lower than his core temperature…)
• When you are baptized, we have to shove you under the water, because you float.
• A number of veteran Christians was baptized… for whatever reasons they never got around to it before, and told us how grateful they were for this opportunity. I was so proud of these guys for standing up strong and proud for Jesus!

ALL THE PICTURES WILL BE POSTED FLICKR… THIS ALLOWS YOU TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT AS MANY AS YOU WANT!!! As of this moment, only 5:00 and 9:00 have been uploaded. We hope to have the rest uploaded by Thursday.  Here’s the link:  Neighborhood Church Photostream.

I’m only scratching the surface of an amazing work of God. Thank you, Lord, for letting me witness your mighty hand with my own eyes, and for letting me be a part of it.

What stories have you heard?

Some links:

Our sermons at Neighborhood Church

Pictures of each person getting baptized… find your own & make a t-shirt!

A Christmastime article I wrote about not letting your Inner Grinch steal another Christmas (please share this with friends via Twitter, Facebook, email, etc)

Surprise! 174 Baptized

11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11, 12, NKJV).

Last weekend, our church baptized 174 people. They didn’t see it coming. (Neither did we, not in those numbers.) We sprung it on them. Here are some comments from Facebook:

• I was at the Saturday evening service and it was so incredible. Thank you Jesus!
• Thank you Bill. What a wonderful surprise and something that I have wanted to do for quite some time. To do it at your offering in front of my own church while holding my wife and in the hands of Dave Hall and Jimmy Botts was something that I will always remember.
• We got the sneak preview on Sat. night. It was AWESOME! Way to to to all of you that stepped up and got baptized this weekend. Praise the Lord! What great leadership we have!
• Thank you Bill. It was a fantastic experience for me and my wife. To be baptized together and to have it witnessed by Neighborhood church was an honor and privelage that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Yeah Bill. Yeah Neighborhood Church. And especially, Yeah Jesus!
• Dude, Praise God! What an awesome celebration of faith!
• Loved the double dunkers. it was pretty awesome! worth waiting for the surprise

It’s impossible to convey the electricity in the room (but thankfully not in the baptismal tank). Last weekend,we played “Baptism Catch-up.” We invited followers of Jesus to stand up and say so the way Jesus told us to say so: through water baptism.  We’re “dunkers” so this was pretty inconvenient.

We had shorts, shirts, unmentionables, hair dryers, changing rooms, towels, bags for everybody’s stuff, photographers… there was no excuse not to get baptized.

Our message was based on the gross but cool story of Joshua 5 (it’s part of a series called BirthRight).  The Jews enter the Promised Land through a great miracle. God parts the Jordan River. Now, they are in hostile territory, and have basically declared war on the Canaanites.  Joshua’s first order of business: CIRCUMCISE EVERY MALE IN THE NATION.  Joshua incapacitates his entire fighting force. Does that make sense?

Only if you see life from the divine viewpoint. God had spoken: there can be no VICTORY until God’s people fully embrace their IDENTITY.  That’s was the idea in Joshua’s day, and it’s the idea today.  BAPTISM is how we go public for Jesus; we tell God, the devil, angels, demons, the church, and a million people on the Internet that we belong to Jesus and he belongs to us. “Identity precedes victory.”

That was the message… it will be online soon. At the end, we prayed, pointed to a door in front of the auditorium, and said “READY SET GO!”

People flooded through the door. It was indescribable to see the power of God made so visible.  Tears. Smiles. Hugs. Laughter. Excitement. You could feel it. Our worship team, led by Jon Lepinski, came up, and continues our worship set (we’d cut it short, moved up [and shortened!] my message, and left time for baptisms and more worship at the end).

Jim Botts and his team (led by Jennifer, Dave, and Janis) were ready. Get clothes, change, sign in, profess your faith, and go get dunked. It was so cool to see an army of volunteers helping people, encouraging, cheering, loving, serving. Our baptism tank is upstairs (behind one of our projection screens, the screen lifts up, making the tank visible in the auditorium).

In each service, one volunteer kept wiping the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs, so people wouldn’t slip.  Up, down, up, down, all service long. That is a heart of SERVICE and SACRIFICE.

I have some awesome stories… I’ll save those for tomorrow.

GOD IS GOOD.

CLICK HERE FOR A SPECIAL, FUN, FREE, ARTICLE I WROTE ABOUT TAKING THE STRESS OUT OF THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! Please tell your friends about it.

My Presidential Platform: Replace Daylight Savings Time

My Fellow Americans,

The time to right a grave injustice is NOW. I need your support. With God’s help and your vote, we will quench the hell-spawned fires of Daylight Savings Time. I am announcing that I will run for POTUS in 2010. I know that’s two years early, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  My platform is simple:

1. Abolish Daylight Savings Time as we know it, and replace it with a new system called President Bill Good Times. PBGT is simple:
2. Every Saturday, before bedtime – at the time of your choosing — turn your clock back ONE HOUR.  That’s right, fellow Americans, I promise you a 25 HOUR SATURDAY, EVERY SATURDAY!  PBGT will impart a healthy glow to every weekend.  You’ll be refreshed, wide awake, and ready for church.

   You might fret that the extra hour each week will throw off day and night. Have no fear!

3. Under PBGT, every WEDNESDAY, that dreaded HUMP DAY, all God-fearing Americans will turn their clock ahead one hour precisely at 2:45 p.m.  Imagine a 23 hour Wednesday. Imagine eliminating one hour from that post-lunch, tired as all get out, Lord-get-me-through-this-week slot. Imagine getting out of work faster, and getting home to bed sooner.  That, my friends, is my promise to you.
4. Adjustments:  If we have to adjust because it’s getting dark at noon or something like that, we’ll either add an hour to Saturday night, or take away an extra hour from Wednesday’s workday.  But none of this “lose an hour of sleep” business, because we all hate it, and it messes up our kids.

So, that’s my platform. Twenty-five hour Saturdays. Twenty-three hour Wednesdays. Never lose another hour of sleep.

Are you with me?

Thank you, and God bless America.

A Cruise Ship or a Battleship?

Which image better describes a church? Your church?  I know, I know… it’s a metaphor.  All metaphors break down at some point.  Work with me.

CRUISE SHIP: hassle-free, entertaining, self-indulgent, relatively pointless tour with no objective beyond your own pleasure. Relationships exist for mutual satisfaction… tend to be shallow.

BATTLESHIP: mission-oriented, spartan, focused, self-sacrificing journey to achieve a victory for what is good, right, and true. Relationships exist for the sake of the mission… tend to be deep, forged in the heat of battle.

God left us in this world to be a light to the nations. To be witnesses of a coming King, who, when he comes, takes over. We are soldiers in a battle.

• You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:3, 4, NKJV).
• Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:11-13, NKJV).

Our natural inclination is to choose the cruise ship over the battleship any day. Even when we pay lip service to the battleship mentality, our actions and our words pressure church leadership into creating a cruise ship. The operative words become “I, me, my.” What I like, what I don’t like, what I want… comfort me, make me feel good, make me happy.  MY PREFERENCES.

But when we love the mission, when we’ve sold out for the cause of Christ, the operative words become “Reporting for duty… what’s our objective?” Our concern is less for ourselves, and more for a lost world that so desperately needs a Savior. DEFERRING MY PREFERENCES TO WIN THE LOST.

The cool thing is that a good battleship offers:

• An infirmary to mend the wounded
• Shore leave for a much needed sabbath rest
• Social activities to make the mission bearable

It’s not all battle all the time, even on a battleship. But the mission always calls the shots.

I want to pastor a church where the people say: I love this church, because we have great people on a great mission to show forth a GREAT SAVIOR’S LOVE to a world that urgently needs Him.

Instead of asking ourselves, “Do I like this?” we ask “Will this further our mission, and help people who are far from God come closer to him?” “Will this give us the room to minister to the people God wants to send us?”

Here are the mathematics of the church of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah:

Relationships – mission = cruise ship / country club / hedonism / narcissism / Jesus is my chaplain = BORING

Relationships + mission = battleship / on mission / sacrificial / oriented for others / self-giving / Jesus is my Commander = ADVENTURE

Which kind of church do you want?

Which kind of church do you pray for?

Which kind of church do you pressure your leaders to create?

 

 

The Truest Motivator

“For the love of Christ compels us…” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

I sat on a church board as an inexperienced 20-something. It was a big board, with over twenty men. All were older, most were grandfathers.

In one meeting we were discussing the need for more volunteers. One gentleman, a pillar in the church, asserted, “Our people should be serving Christ because it’s their duty!”

This is true. But how far will “duty” get you? Would I rather have my kids clean their rooms out of duty (which is fine if that’s all I’ve got) or out of a higher motive? Can duty really mobilize a church?

Yes. Temporarily. But the motivation fizzles as soon as you face hardship, or as soon as another, competing duty, interferes. That requires leadership to flog the church with more duty…

Doing your duty is a lousy motivation for the people of God.

When that elderly gentlemen spoke up at the board meeting, I was too timid to respond. I know, hard to believe, right? But I was younger… and they were, uh, venerable.

I don’t think I qualify for the venerable label, but I wish I had said, “Yes, but more importantly, we serve God out of love.”

The love of Christ compels us. His love for us. His love in us. His love through us. Do I buy flowers for my wife out of duty or love? Which would SHE prefer?

There is nothing more urgent than that God’s people rest deeply assured in the love of God. But there’s a HUGE problem, and it’s so subtle we don’t recognize it.

Most people today would say, “God loves me.” Even the rookie-est of Christ followers will say, “Jesus loves me.” A child can add, “This I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The love of God has been proclaimed so widely, that it’s pretty much the only thing people believe about God these days. And therein lies the fatal flaw.

Divine love, divorced from divine justice, is shaky, wimpy, and meaningless. In fact, it isn’t even love. It’s leniency, and leniency is a weakness that never motivated anybody to behave well longer than a week.

By failing to instruct the church in the dimensions of God’s love… by failing to teach the doctrines of propitiation, justification, expiation, and divine wrath, we have invented a love more worthy of Strawberry Shortcake than of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

If God is merely love, his love is not amazing. He’s just one more of many loving persons in my life. The biggest one perhaps, but his love isn’t special enough to motivate a lifetime of reciprocal service and sacrificial love. When God points to the lever that pries our heart from selfishness to service, that lever is the mercies of God (Rom. 12:1).

Not duty.

God’s love for me had to justify itself in the face of God’s wrath against me. The process by which that happened  required the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. We pastors must firmly establish the indispensable link between Christ’s Cross and God’s love. Without that link, love is wimpy. But with that link, God’s love is fierce, mighty, permanent and amazing.

You cannot plumb the depths of God’s love without doctrine, without theology. You cannot explore its dimensions, or appreciate its manifold angles. You cannot be secure in His love without fathoming the mind-boggling lengths God went to to satisfy his holiness. And you won’t serve God faithfully, for a lifetime, without knowing the love of God which passes knowledge.

When the Enemy calls God’s love into question (his favorite tactic), then a thousand arguments from Scripture must rise up from within to shout him down.  We desperately need the meat of the Word.

If God’s love doesn’t compel you, you don’t know God’s love.

Magic Tricks

I’m not kidding… try to figure out the first one (with his arms), and pleeeeeeaze tell me how he did it.  The second one (with the cards), is so cool, I’m not even gonna try to figure it out.

Quick reminder: our Saturday worship service has a new start time: 5:00!  And don’t forget the new 12:30 service w/cookout afterwards! We supply everything…

Grace Words in the Old Testament

13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. (Joel 2:13, NKJV).

This is one of my favorite Old Testament verses. It not only turns around a chapter and a half of unpleasantness, it does so by clumping together the almost the whole constellation of Hebrew words for grace. How cool is that, all here in one verse!  Let me introduce you to the core grace vocabulary in the Old Testament.

GRACIOUS… Hebrew words… hanan (verb), hanun (adjective), hen (noun “hayn”).  Make the “h” rough, like you’re clearing your throat.  This word conveys the feeling of having compassion on a begger, or of doing something nice for the ill-deserving.  I love this word, because it is part of my last name: Giovannetti. The Hebrew name, Johannan (notice the last part), comes into Italian as Giovanni (Gaelic = Siobahn, Scandinavian = Johann, English = John — that’s why the “h” is there).  The first part, Gio, refers to Jehovah or Yahweh, the LORD.  The second part, hanan, tells us he’s gracious.  The hen, hanan word group is all over the Old Testament.

• Ge 6:8* But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
• Ps 84:11* For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
• Pr 3:34* Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.
• Jer 31:2* Thus says the LORD: “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness– Israel, when I went to give him rest.”
• Zec 12:10* “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
• Isa 30:18* Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
• Isa 30:19* For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.
• Jon 4:2* So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.

MERCIFUL… Hebrew word… racham (noun), rachum (adjective)… (again, clear your throat in the middle, and accent the last syllable… rah-CHAHM).  God’s tender mercies; that God feels compassion for us in the pit of his stomach. I know it’s an anthropomorphism, so work with me.  The tender-hearted compassion of God. The mercies of God toward the pathetic, wretched, and miserable. You can’t go far in the Old Testament without bumping into the tender mercies of God.

• 18 “O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. (Daniel 9:18, NKJV).
• 2Sa 24:14* And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
• Ne 9:19* Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go.
• Ps 25:6* Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old.
• Ps 119:77* Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; For Your law is my delight.
• Isa 63:15* Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?
• La 3:22* Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
• Da 9:18* “O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.

SLOW TO ANGER… roughly prounounced, air-ek uh-PIE-yim. It means “long of nose” which itself means having a very long fuse.  Let’s just mark it down that when judgment occurs in the Old Testament, it is long overdue.  Had God not been slow of anger, he would have blasted the relevant person long ago. But he waits and waits and waits and waits, giving us every opportunity to turn to his grace. With God, you get three strikes, and then three more, and three more, and three more… seventy times seven… and only then are you out. The basis of this longsuffering in God is the work of Christ on Calvary. We’d have no hope if God had a quick trigger finger!

• 17 They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them. (Nehemiah 9:17, NKJV).
• Jon 4:2* So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
• Na 1:3* The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
• Ps 103:8* The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
• Ps 145:8* The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.

GREAT KINDNESS: Hebrew word… hesed (clear your throat on the initial “h” and accent the first syllable… HEH-sed).  You might see it transliterated as chesed or checed, but those reminde me of “cheesehead” and I can’t stand the Packers, so I skip the c. The adjective “great” translates the Hebrew word rab (rahv), which means “a whole lot of it.”  God has a whole lot of hesed. An infinite storehouse. Here is the central word in the Old Testament for the freely given lovingkindness in the heart of God. We get hesed, not because we deserve it, but because he gives it freely out of his own character.  I think the old King James Bible translators actually coined the term “lovingkindess” for this word (not sure, though). It’s my all time favorite Bible word, and it’s EVERYWHERE in the Old Testament. Hesed emphasizes the UMERITED quality of God’s grace. He is infinitely more committed to you than you will ever be to him. Hesed is easy to overlook, because it is translated by so many different words.  I’ll underline them below (except “lovingkindness” which I think is always hesed).

• 27 And he said, “Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” (Genesis 24:27, NKJV).
• Ps 17:7* Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You From those who rise up against them.
  Ps 26:3* For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth.
  Ps 36:7* How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
  Ps 36:10* Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
  Ps 40:10* I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly.
  Ps 40:11* Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
  Ps 42:8* The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me– A prayer to the God of my life.
  Ps 48:9* We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness, In the midst of Your temple.
  Ps 51:1* <<To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.>> Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
  Ps 63:3* Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
  Ps 69:16* Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
• 3 The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. (Jeremiah 31:3, NKJV).
• 12 Then he said, “O LORD God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. (Genesis 24:12, NKJV).
• 10 Then he said, “Blessed are you of the LORD, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. (Ruth 3:10, NKJV).
• 3 Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.” (2 Samuel 9:3, NKJV).
• Isa 54:8* With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness (hesed) I will have mercy (racham) on you,” Says the LORD, your Redeemer.
• Isa 54:10* For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy (racham) on you.

One more word for today, and we have to go outside our Joel verse for it, but that’s okay…

LOVE… Hebrew word… ahab (a-HAHV). It’s a grace word, so let’s include it.

• 15 “The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 10:15, NKJV).
• 7 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 “but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8, NKJV).
• 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. (Proverbs 3:12, NKJV).
• 9 “Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” (1 Kings 10:9, NKJV).

THE MORAL OF THE STORY… never again say that we find law in the Old Testament and grace in the New.  The whole Bible is the testament of God’s grace.

Okay, it is now 5:30 am, and I’m going back to bed for a quick nap before I start my day.

Pastor’s Priority One

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. “Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:1-7, NKJV).

Pastoral marching orders, clear as good, Italian crystal.

I wonder how many pastors in America would state their priorities as prayer and the ministry of the Word. I can’t say I achieve these priorities all the time, but I lean into them. I strive for them. I do my best to prioritize time for prayer and study in the Word.

Believe me, there are a thousand alternatives that clamor for attention. I know, I’m easily distrac— oooh… something shiny…

Scripture supports these priorities for those in a pastoral position:

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. (1 Timothy 5:17, NKJV).

Hey, do you support your pastor’s study time in the word and doctrine? Do you encourage your pastor to be a person of the Book?  Do you encourage your pastor to shut the door and meet with God in prayer and Scripture?  And do you want a pastor who labors in the Word and DOCTRINE?

Because you can’t have it all. There are no omni-competent Superpastors, though, I know, you’re telling me I come close.  Even the apostles had to choose… ‘It is not desirable that we LEAVE the Word of God…” See that? In order to administrate the Widow’s Dinner, they’d have to LEAVE the Word of God. They couldn’t do both, and neither can today’s pastors.

In my seminary days, I was taught a rule of thumb for preaching, and you won’t believe it, but here is yesterday’s standard:

ONE HOUR IN THE STUDY FOR EVERY MINUTE IN THE PULPIT.

Think about that. Generations of preachers abided by that rule of thumb… So a 40 minute sermon took, uhhhh, 40 HOURS of study time.  No kidding. I told you you wouldn’t believe it! But that’s what it takes to produce the life-nourishing messages of days gone by.

No, I don’t spend that much time (you might say, “It shows.” but that would be mean).  But I strive to give my best and most time to studying God’s Word, because I want to lay out a feast for you and pray for you and be one of those guys who “labors in the Word and doctrine!” I just wonder if most churches consider that guy worthy of DOUBLE HONOR… My hunch is most churches resent that guy for not being a “people person” and not doing the works of ministry.

The number one way I LOVE YOU IS BY FEEDING YOU GOD’S WORD. That’s mainly how I express my love for the Body of Christ. It’s my love language. It’s a privilege and I’m grateful. It’s not my only way, because I am deeply involved in people and life too.  But, what good am I as a pastor if I can’t bring the DEEP THINGS OF GOD’S WORD, and the WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD, and the SOLID FOOD OF SCRIPTURE to bear on the deep issues of real-world life.

Without Scriptural depth, I might as well be Oprah.

I think my pastoral marching orders are clear. Priority One: devote myself continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Simple.

I’m blessed to have a church that wants me to keep first things first. I’m not saying it’s ALL study time… Because I spend large amounts of time doing other things too… but I’m just writing this, at 2:47 a.m., to ask you to support your pastor, whatever your church, when your pastor shuts the door, and devotes large chunks of time to prayer and the ministry of the Word. To make that time available to God, he/she has to make it unavailable to you. Are you okay with that? Are you willing to receive ministry from the BODY?

One hour in the study for every minute in the pulpit… wow! Talk about discipline for the pastor and solid food for the people of God!

This focus on prayer and the Word is the desperate need of the church today. We need revival, and God blesses his Word.

• If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. (1 Timothy 4:6, NKJV).
• Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:16, NKJV).
• Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2, NKJV).

Here are my latest sermons. I hope you find them well-studied road maps for the terrain of your real life journey.

P.S… sorry for the long blog break, I was swamped for a while!

How to Handle a Legalist

I am loving the discussion in the comment section on the previous blog (scroll down and read it if you’re interested).

I’d like to add some fuel the fire.

SITUATION: Titus, a pagan Gentile, has turned to Jesus Christ. He is on the fast track to leadership in the church…

COMPLICATION: …but he isn’t circumcised. Most people don’t care, but some do. The “Judaistic agitators” make a big deal about Titus’ status.  If he’s going to be a leader in the church of the Messiah Jesus, he ought to at least be circumcised, right?

CAVING IN: In the interests of peace and love, a lot of Christ-followers were going along with the pro-circumcision agitators.  “Why not get circumcised and we’ll all just get along.”

HECK NO!: Enter Paul, with fire in his belly:

“And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Galatians 2:4, 5, NKJV.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  In my humble interpretation of Scripture, we are commanded to defer to younger believers who might bruise their conscience or might slip into sin by copying our liberty.  We yield to our truly weaker (i.e., younger, newer-in-the-Lord) brother and sister.

BUT WE SHOULD NOT BUDGE AN INCH FOR LEGALISTS WHO AREN’T TEMPTED, AND JUST WANT TO CONTROL US.

RATIONALE: To quote Paul, the truth of the gospel is at stake!  Don’t yield to legalists. Don’t waste your breathe, your time, your emotion, your energy.  Tell them to go wind their hair buns and leave you alone.  In Christian love.

Sorry for shouting.