Christ Will Build His Church

I just wanted to write you all briefly to tell you how encouraged I was by the joy and tireless service of Christ's people yesterday at church.

I woke up at 6:00am and opened my windows to see freezing conditions and fairly strong snowfall. According to the weather reports I heard the snow was supposed to have let up Thursday so I used the bad weather as a justification for grumbling and I allowed unrighteous discouragement in my heart.

I drove through the snow and slippery roads to the HQ/Office still muttering to myself. Upon arrive I was shocked to see John Bender hard at work putting chains on his truck’s tires and Ed Jones readying the AV Trailer for transport. They were both full of hope and joy! Pastor Steve arrived at the HQ and upon seeing Ed and John’s progress declared, “We’re going to have Church and people are going to get saved today!”

Instead of repenting right there for my grumbling, complaining, and unbelieving attitude, I thought that even if we got the trailer to the church nobody would show up in this horrible weather.

God changed my unbelieving heart when we drove up into the Marshall Middle School parking lot. Far from seeing the parking lot totally empty and covered in snow, there was cheering, smiling, excited people who had woken up early and driven through the snow just to set-up church! People were shoveling snow, laying down salt, and rejoicing in the opportunity to worship Jesus together with their church family.

As I helped unload the AV trailer, I can remember hearing someone say something that I think summed up the overwhelming feeling that snowy morning, “Jesus will build his church!”

I’m overwhelmed by the hope, joy, and love people expressed in my follow Christians faithful service last Sunday. Thank you God for giving his church a deep commitment to cooperate worship gatherings regardless of the weather!

Matt Chandler Rezweek 2010 Night 3

Matt Chandler Rezweek 2010 Night 2

Matt Chandler Rezweek 2010 Night 1

Authors@Google: Tim Keller

Radical

Everything is a sermon

Re:Train - Preaching

Here are some pictures from this weekend's Re:Train session on the Leader as Prophet. We've been looking at preaching by examining how we outline and structure, illustrate and apply, to effectively communicate the Gospel.

Bryan Chapell has been teaching for hours straight and challenging us to preach the word!

http://theresurgence.com/2011/02/11/pics-from-re-train-today

FInishing Well

Finishing Well

I was struck by the simple concept that I haven’t been planning the activities and goals of my life in light of the last day. I've approached decision making in only an immediate results way with very little attention given to the meta-narrative of my whole life, not just the next few years but from now until the day God calls me home.

I shouldn't be, but I'm always shocked to hear the stories of pastors who have disqualified themselves or burnt out because of the pressures of ministry, the temptations of sin, and the stress of leadership. Scott Thomas’ stories about Acts 29 pastors who had taken their own lives and destroyed their families and churches were particularly sobering and a dramatic reminder that we’re not just playing "church."

I've found that the first step an integrating a passion to finish well with what God has called me to and entrusted me with, is to sit under the gravity and weightiness of the cosmic battle for the souls of every living being that each of us, aware or unaware, are currently involved in. This realization of spiritual war brings a necessity to planning, a quickness in fighting sin, and some steel in the spine to endure the spiritual, physical, and emotional onslaught and battle-fatigue.

While it may sound morbid to some, contemplating my death helps me to remember my calling, gives me focus, and helps me eliminate every unnecessary preoccupation. I've found myself on occasion walking through graveyards examining the headstones and contemplating how to summarize a whole life in only a sentence or two. The thought of what will be written on my gravestone helps motivate me to finish well by planning and accepting counsel to avoid burnout and disqualification. By God's grace he can draw straight lines with broken pencils like my sinful, foolish, rebellious self.

Remembering the weightiness of the comic battle we fight in, contemplating my death, planning for the last day, and praying, are all ways I prepare to finish well. Prayer must coat and cover all our actions, plans, and strategies because apart from Christ we can do no good thing. By God's grace, through prayer, he will give me the passion to endurance, fight sin, love holiness, and repent, repent, and repent. The goal is a "boring" testimony. I'm still haunted by my Dad's words to me during a conversation about theology sometime ago in which he said, "well, you're still young, you won't always feel that way." While I hope and pray my sinful proclivities, willful ignorance, and youthful foolishness don't always characterize me, I plead with God in prayer that he would keep me faithful to the calling he's put on my life, keep me passionate about his renown, help me to endure in temptation, and persevere my life until I drop and go to the prize!

God is Results Oriented

"God is Results Oriented"

Interesting thought from a guy at Re:Train who insists that God is actually results oriented based on his foreknowledge and election displayed in scripture.

Because God has created the universe for the display of his glory through his redemptive work on the cross, God is results oriented.

Interesting thoughts.

Focus on RESULTS not activities.

"His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." - Matthew 25:23

We built a huge church building God!

Faithfulness isn't judged by new programs and activities but results. The whole point of the new programs and activities is better results for God's glory. The problem is that we focus on programs and not results. Look at resumes, they're about what we've done and not the results of what we've done. You can start many different programs but what is the good of it if they don't accomplish anything. Results are important and by them we can see if programs are fruitful and if we're being good stewards of the resources God has entrusted us with.

"Having the right resources and right abilities, ready to perform at the right place at the right time." - Tim Beltz, Mars Hill Church. (Re:Train, Missional Studies, 1/13/11)