Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I met a missionary yesterday


 I met the missionary for coffee yesterday. I heard of hundreds coming to Christ in Kenya and even Nepal.  I asked him, ‘To what do you attribute this?’  He responded, ‘Prayer. We bathe our trips in prayer.’  It got me to thinking. What if we prayed the same prayers for our church and community that they (we) pray for their mission trips?  Here is my reproduction of their prayer calendar for a trip to Urubamba, Peru. 
 August 1: Claim God’s Victory. (Eph1:20-23)
August 2: Committed Leaders. (I Cor15:58)
August 3: Pray for the lost. (II Tim1:7)
August 4: God’s peace. (Eph3:20-21)
August 5: Unity with church. (Eph4:1-6)
August 6: Open Doors. (Col4:2-6)
August 7: Boldness: (Eph6 19-20)
August 8: Renewed Strength (Eph1:17-20)
August 9: Endurance and Unity (Rom15:5-6)
August 10: Leaders (Eph4:11-16)
August 11: Growth (Eph4:17-32)
August 12: Eternal Focus (Psalm 95:1-7)
August 13: Rejoice (Luke 15:5-7)
August 14: Revealing God (Eph3:10-11)
August 15: Growth (Eph5:8-10)
August 16: Raise up Workers (Luke 10:2)
Expect God to move among us and through us, as we pray this way for our community and church these next 16 days!  Use the Bible verses to pray deeper. The shorter arm of ARC in a God-drenched world! J 

Friday, July 27, 2012

Fasting and the little house on the prairie


[Today's guest blogger leads a home group at Aspen Ridge Church.] I just wanted to let you know how blessed I was from last nights Bible study. My wife and I  appreciated the card and cake in recognition of our Anniversary.  I also loved just being able to join with all of you in prayer and worshiping God through song.  Man, was I recharged after last night!     We looked at some passages and discussed “seeking” God’s will: Eph 1: 3-14,  1 Thess 5:16-18, 
As we considered His will, we discussed that our church has reached a turning point. We are prayerfully considering a change in location that will help us close the previous chapter and begin moving forward with new vigor, new growth, and a renewed vision to build on the church property. The point was raised that, just like Gideon’s army that God shrank so that they HAD to recognize that it was God’s victory and not theirs, we have gone through a similar culling of our ranks. As a result, we are now left with those who are truly committed to ARC and will be willing to put their faith to work and see what God has in store. Not through OUR strength, but HIS alone!
As such, a very good idea was raised about going before God sacrificially through prayer and fasting. Decide this week what you would like to do (give up) in an attitude of fasting and devotion to God as we pray for His blessings. It could be food, it could be television, it could be electronics (except for reading the Pastor’s Blog, don’t neglect THAT), or simply time.  Decide what it is you’re willing to give up for a season and then we will go forward as a group focused on renewing & strengthening our relationship with Jesus Christ as we seek His guidance & blessings for our church. 
                            

Thursday, July 26, 2012

'Wish it was the 4th of July'


On a good Sunday afternoon our youth group meets in the park.  Sun, fresh air and grass between one's toes is a glorious thing. Once we went to a park where homeless people were and passed out sack lunches and prayers. On this day we had a guitarist and we worshiped under a gazebo of sorts.  A young family with two small children kept an ear on us as they played nearby.  Then we opened our Bibles right there in front of God and everyone. We discussed how odd John the Baptist must have looked dressed in camel hair and eating locusts dipped in honey.  We considered his message of hope, pointing the way to Jesus. ‘I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,’ he preached.  Then God spoke up - in front of Himself and everyone, ‘You are my beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.’  Those words from a father settle deep in the heart of any son or daughter but here they carry deeper significance.  Jesus, who always listened to His Father, would carry that good will to a cross and make an exchange - His happy standing with God for our sins. It was a profound moment in the Word. Then we shared prayer requests and prayed together. Later we played ‘ultimate Frisbee’.  Two young men enjoying the park got sucked into the action and soon joined us. This was followed by a water balloon war.  All in all we worshiped, we studied, we prayed, and we played.  It was a good Sunday in the park kind of like the 4th of July!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

e3SportReach


Recently returned from a trip to northeast Kenya and Nepal, Chad joined us for church this last Sunday (along with his wife and their three beautiful little girls). Chad is a part of e3SportReach ministry. This ministry uses sports and compassion ministries to stimulate a hearing for the gospel. They work with local organizations and churches so that they can ‘make disciples’ not simply win converts. e3SportReach goes to some of the hardest and least reached places on the globe - just check out northeast Kenya and Nepal!
Think about it. These are places where the average person would never hear about Christ. And get this. They take normal everyday believers from places like Colorado Springs, give them some gospel tools to use, and turn them loose in these places around the world to share the life transforming news about Jesus Christ. You may be familiar with the fact that Kenya has many Christians (according to ‘Operation World’ a higher percentage of believers per general population than the U.S.). But the northeast corner of Kenya is a bastion of Islam. Yet people there are open and responsive to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  With all the bad news in the world this is good news that we need to hear!  We are proud to support Chad's ministry with our church dollars. Perhaps this year we can send a team with e3SportReach to participate in the global harvest.  This is indeed the long arm of Aspen Ridge Church. 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Sunday's a Comin'!

Years ago I heard Tony Campolo give a sermon with this byline - ‘But Sunday’s a comin’.  The backdrop was the dark days preceding Jesus' crucifixion but never fear because resurrection morn was comin'! But the cultural motivation of Tony's sermon was that people actually looked forward to the Sunday morning worship service. Now I know that you can worship on Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, with friends or on Facebook. Truth be told, if you're going to be a church you have to have a healthy enthusiasm for being together and for AR that means Sunday morning. This was the pattern of the early church. (so there!) We gather for the Word and worship every Sunday morning even if it falls on Christmas! This is huge for a group of people who call themselves a church. That's why even Satan is engaged in keeping folks from this event. He'll be glad to lob a grenade or two into your living room to mess you up on Sunday morning.  He'll even suggest that you need time alone worshiping in the great outdoors at that very time! Don't listen to him. Fight through it. Get to church. Faith that overcomes the world can certainly make it to church! If you are a child of God, he has redeemed you, gifted you, and placed you in a church so that you'll know it's not all about you, it's about serving God in 'the Body'. And a body just isn't complete if it's missing something!

This fall I am calling for an ‘all hands on deck’ Sunday commitment to church.  Come loaded for bear every Sunday morning! Commit 9am to 12 noon to the Lord and to the body.  There will be children to teach, babies to love, people to encourage, practice for worship, and set up to do in the name of Christ.  If you can’t find a job you can sit in on some great teaching! Then we'll bring a sacrifice of praise and worship the living God. You may be having a tough week but I have great news - Sunday’s a comin’!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

an unlikely moment


Invited over for a shoulder roast.  Who can resist that?  Not to mention the salt water taffy and banana pudding.  There is no agenda.  The dogs play tag for the bone.  The sun is setting.  The man of the house and I sit on the back porch discussing the amazing sun that in a few hours will rise directly in front of us. With no introduction he says to me enthusiastically, Let’s pray’.  Personally, I don't feel like praying.  It has been a long day. My stomach is uncomfortably full. I am feeling more like just shootin’ the breeze and relaxing. We prayed.  It starts slow.  I force some words out, struggling to make my mind form thoughts expressed in a worthy manner before God.  Funny thing is that the further we progress the easier it gets.  We pray with gratitude and tears.  Soon we are simply praising and worshiping God.  I think of the Apostle Paul in a cell writing to young Timothy, passing on the baton of faith, (what he called ‘the battle of faith’) out of nowhere he bursts into prayer - ‘Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.’ (I Timothy 1:17) Do our lives interrupt prayer or does prayer interrupt our lives? Perhaps our lives are simply composed of different ways to pray. Prayer and worship spring out - at any time, any place in a God drenched world. There is nowhere to hide!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The 'We-church' challenge


In our small community prayer group is a man named Jim. Today he came and told us how his business had taken off and that he was moving soon out of state. This was in answer to our prayers with and for him. Then he leaned across the table and said to me, "Remember when you challenged me to stop being a believer who wasn't meaningfully connected to a local church and to invest myself in a church family?" He went on, "Well that week Hebrews 10:25 had already been running through my mind (and he quoted verbatum) ‘Forsake not your own assembling together as is the habit of some.’" He went on, "But I was bartering with God. I told him that after I moved we’d get serious about being involved in a church.  But God responded, ‘No, you need to get involved right now.’  So I did. I researched some churches and the next Sunday I got up and said to my wife - ‘I’m going to church. You coming?’   Guess what?  My wife came and God immediately began blessing my life in ways I couldn’t imagine."  Now he can't wait to engage in a real, living church when they do arrive in North Dakota. 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

'We-church' or 'I-church'?

I am caught between how many believers often view Sunday morning church and  how I view the body of Christ. I wrestle with developing community in an electronic age that almost effortlessly encourages the individualization of faith.  Computers and cell phones strongly encourage us to box our reality around ‘me’ and desensitize us to the give and take of ‘real time’ relationship with the church.  I see this play out in an 'I church' that naturally, electronically, revolves around me; instead of a 'We church' that is better interconnected with the body of Christ. 

The ‘I church’ goes to church needy (when they do come-there are so many options. :) They need human encouragement and interaction but operate from a position of weakness. They tend to critique the worship service and the preaching. They leave with a judgment - church met my needs today or not. It's hard to go from calling all the shots within my small electronic circle of friends to stepping back from the keyboard and letting others or even God have a go in real time! 

On the other hand, the ‘We church’ folks have come to church to encourage or serve others (where do those nursery workers and children's ministry teachers come from? :) They have come to worship God and to be transparent before the Word of God - not critique the performances.  It’s not that they are unaware of how things could be improved; it’s just that they desire much more to be in God’s presence. 

I have just scratched the surface of a rather large topic. No matter how you view church, human failings greatly color our lives.  You could even accuse me of hypocrasy for using an electronic medium to critique the effect of the electronic media! But I'd rather you ask yourself - Am I more like the 'I-church' or the 'We-church'?  I have great affection for the ‘We church’!  

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

What life has taught me

'I will sing of the lovingkindness of the LORD forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.' Psalm 89:1  Life has taught me to be less self reliant. The less I opine the more ministry I do. I seem to have less answers than I used to. Life has taught me that what I really need is more God and less problem solving. I am driven more and more to simply pray and worship.  Worship is perfect inserted into the middle of a political discussion. After we've expressed all our fears and expounded our favorite themes we must simply express in prayer trust in God's purposes and love! No discussion should be without it.  Prayer is perfect in home group when someone expresses a need or a problem.  This is when home groups often turn into amateur therapeutic sessions where we solve each others problems. What if we simply said, 'Thank you for sharing. Now lets go before the throne. Let's allow the Holy Spirit to intercede according to the will of the Father.'  Or when someone ‘shares’ some juicy tidbit as a 'prayer request' - immediately invite the ‘sharer’ to pray with you for that party.  Never verbalize a prayer request for a third party that you haven’t already prayed for in real time. I ask myself - 'Do I seem to pray most when I am wanting something from God or am I mostly worshiping and expressing gratitude?'  I love praising through the Psalms! I try not to miss those shared  moments of joy or need that pop up unexpectedly during the day - as opportunities to speak directly to God together.  This is what God has taught me.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Summer showers!


How is your summer ministry going? Recently we went on vacation.  We traveled 3,000 miles in 2 weeks spending lots of time with family. It was the best vacation ever! (see July 4th blog :) But what I loved most were the little opportunities for prayer that God opened for me.   
In a quiet corner during busy wedding preparations, a surprise tearing up when, after we’d kicked around boyfriend solutions, I offered to pray for my niece.
Several states later, at the church my daughter-in-law serves as secretary, the pastor shows me their ‘wall of pastors’. It represents a fascinating century of God at work in the life of this church, complete with an actual 1711 Bible in the case.  Pastor Ken describes their dynamic faith battle over the years. I ask him - Is it all right if I pray a blessing over your church and your ministry here? We pray that God will protect and increase their ministry. 
Later my son and I are on the back patio of his new home, as Sagittarius rises, talking of God’s faithfulness.  We pray together seeking God’s blessing and wisdom in days to come. We pray for their first child due in November and his mother’s health. We praise God for the glory of the cross and share a moment of worship.  
I pray with my daughter from Michigan thanking God for the job He’s just given her. I pray with the elder setting up communion before church.    
Of course there are other ways to do ministry this summer but remember that you are the long arm of ARC, called to be a blessing in the name of Christ.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The best vacation ever

I’m back from the best vacation ever. No, we didn’t go on a safari to Africa or even a cruise.  Here’s what we did. We headed off to Louisiana for a family wedding.  Staying with family can be tricky - and there must have been 20 of us crowded into a single family dwelling. We even discovered people sleeping on couches when we got up.  We worked together, played together, ate together and sent off a happy couple into marital bliss. Then we headed up to my son’s new home - another thousand miles.  I helped him move a couple tons of landscaping rock - one wheel barrel at a time - with a lot of good conversation.  Later my wife and I took turns riding shotgun on his police shift. It was better than an amusement park ride - lights, sirens, plenty of quick turns and even a little drama! Before we left we crowded into the doctor’s check up room together to watch our grandchild-to-be in action a-la-sonogram. He stretched this way and that. It was a truly astonishing picture of new life as we caught him exploring his world of mommy's  womb.  And as an added bonus - as the nurse took measurements - we discovered his gender together! Next we traveled north for my wife’s parent’s fiftieth anniversary celebration.  Again - a lot of family members crowded into a single family dwelling for a raucous 3 days and nights of meals, laughter, and planning - followed by me preaching at the church where I met my wife some 29 years ago.  That afternoon we celebrated 50 years of covenant marriage with some 200 friends and family and lots of cake. What could be better than celebrating a wedding, a new life, and 50 years of God-honoring matrimony in less than two weeks? God is good.  The icing on the cake? No car problems. No family drama. (You know what I mean:)  It doesn’t get any better than that!