The Next Level Journey...

Men’s Night Out TOMORROW!

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 20:35:21 -0600

The following was sent out by our dear friend in the grace life, Carlos Rodriguez. He’s inviting men to join us tomorrow night (Tuesday) as I get to lead a discussion on living in a discipleship relationship. I’ll be leading a conference there this weekend, and then following up the Tuesday after the conference with the guys again! Below are the details from Carlos... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok guys… now that you have received God’s Grace, what do you do with it?

Please join us tomorrow Tuesday February 2nd at 7pm and welcome Mike Daniel as he presents a sneak preview of The Next Level Life Conference – Real Discipleship that Harvest will host this coming weekend. The conference will address what it means to be in true discipleship.

Sneak Preview – Tuesday February 2nd, 7pm in room 221 of the Family Life Center.

The Next Level Life Conference – Real Discipleship – Friday February 5th at 7pm in room 324 and Saturday February 6th from 9am to 12:30pm in room 324.

Share with a buddy and bring em’ along for both events!

See you all soon!

Carlos Rodriguez - Minister
Marriage & Family and Adult Life Groups
carlosr@harvestfellowship.org
(210) 249-2436

Missionality or Christianity?

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:15:55 -0600

One of the great commentators on modern church movements today is Ed Stetzer. He’s posted a blog on EdSTETZER.com on “Missing the Missional Mark”. I think he shares some good thoughts. As a side commentary, I posted the following on his blog with other commentators: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I get concerned that our missional orthopraxy itself misses the mark - whether social or evangelistic at its core.

God's agenda is Christ. The Church's agenda MUST be Christ: His Life made ours, His finished work, His indwelling Spirit, His continuing and mostly unpredictable/often immeasurable work in & through His Body. 'Seems that out of our love for Him and response to Him, we tend (I believe in our own flesh) to want to work for Him, instead of from Him - experiencing what He died and rose for us to know... Him! We often operate from a paradigm of achieving instead of receiving - which speaks more of us than Him. It is ultimately by His GRACE, not our efforts, that He is glorified.

When Christ is center - not even news ABOUT Him - but He Himself as a relational sufficiency for all things in life - evangelism and the spread of the gospel and and social justice (and everything else He does on the earth for us to know Him more by participating with Him) is the byproduct in perfect proportion.

After all, It was Jesus who said, "...I will build My Church." I think we've been trying to do His job ever since.

What if Jesus Christ HIMSELF is the mission (cf. Phil. 3:10)?

ridiculously graced... -mike.

Wisdom Disparity

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:33:53 -0600

Worldly wisdom vs. Godly wisdom...
What’s the difference?

Understanding cause and effect is the nature of worldly wisdom. Learning consequences, weighing cost, discerning outcomes is all evidence of strong worldly wisdom. Understanding these formulas for life help us make wise decisions.

The Bible prescribes worldly wisdom for making many of life’s decisions: determining finances before building a tower, comparing troops before going to war, even weighing the cost of becoming a disciple, and understanding the laws of the harvest, finances, and friendship. Scripture is filled with wonderful examples of good, well-reasoned, cause-and-effect formulas for good decision making.

But when we try to bring “cause-and-effect” theology to work in our favor with God, we discover something that at first is very disconcerting:

Our formulas don’t work with God.

We try to do what Scripture requires, but we never seem to garner greater favor from God. We submit our requests to Him faithfully, and rarely hear back regarding those things requested. We “get our life straightened out”, yet don’t see Him increase blessing at every turn.

“Wait!” you may say, “I HAVE been blessed, and I DO receive favor, and I DO hear from God, and I KNOW He’s worked in my life!”

Good... Me too!

Yet, it never seems to be in response to my praying, or behaving, or changing. In fact, it’s often the exact opposite. When I STOP praying for something and relinquish my desire to Him, He often brings about what I USED to ask for! When I give up behaving, He often brings about a change of heart. When I see Him working it’s rarely where I WANT Him working! Of course, there are some positive, worldly effects associated with all these endeavors. Better behavior may keep me out of trouble, and veracious prayer may make me more mindful of God, and certainly making good changes in my lifestyle can have wonderful impact in my circumstances - thus worldly wisdom certainly works! But God is not responding to my formulaic expectations.

Scripture deals with this, too. Jonah, couldn’t change God’s mind about Nineveh (or his part there). Abraham couldn’t make any of his own plans for God. Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Job, Paul, Peter, and even Jesus all couldn’t get what they wanted from God.

...Because God does not operate with us in the formulaic paradigm of worldly wisdom.

God operates in a purely relational paradigm.

I have struggled with God over my finances, my relationships, my career, my family, travel, health, talents, pain, opportunities, hopes, sin, perspective, spiritual gifts, and more. Yet, nothing I do seems to bring about greater divine empowerment. Because I am consequential and God is relational, we are too often working toward very different goals. I will never undermine God’s sovereign goal for my life. My goal for me is always me. His goal for me is always Him. He wants Himself for me.

When I desire financial security, He is wanting more of Himself for me. When I am trying to be a better person, He is wanting more of Himself for me. When I want a better marriage, a better job, a better house, even better health, God’s goal for me is none of these. He wants a deeper dependence, a richer relationship, and a more authentic experience of Himself for me.

This conflict may seem insurmountable. But God graciously gives us the solution in His Word. The answer to all I need in this life just happens to be Him, as well. He says to seek Him when we’re thirsty. To seek His kingdom (not ours) and His righteousness (not ours), and all that we need will be provided.

Ironically, I seek what I need when God wants to be my pursuit. He doesn’t desire just to be my Provider. He wants to be my Provision. He doesn’t just want to give me security, He wants to be my Fortress. He doesn’t want to make me better, He wants to be my Righteousness.

He doesn’t want to give me a better life. He wants to be my Life.

So, what is the difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom? Worldly wisdom is discerning cause & effect...

Godly wisdom is living in, through, and from our  relationship with Christ as our Life.

As we depend upon Him - and abide in Him - as our Source, we experience by grace all He has for us. And He moves us into a deeper realization of our Life, who is Christ.

Infinite Genealogy

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:30:50 -0600

‘Was reading a blog this morning and something
caught my attention...

You are in an Infinite Genealogy.

As I scan the “record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” in Matthew 1, I see the line of Christ end with “...of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” Maybe you’ve never thought about it before, but those long lists of Jesus’ ancestors really DIDN’T end with Jesus.

DON’T PANIC!  -- I’m not spreading scandalous chatter about Jesus having kids like the prattle we see on some pseudo-educational TV programming. I’m seeing that all the stories that permeate the lives of Jesus’ ancestry - scandals, dysfunction, kings, paupers, prostitutes, and tyrants - they all meld into the history of Jesus’ family. Out of the challenge of lives filled with struggle and crisis, the greatest life - and greatest destiny - was born... But His divine lifeline doesn’t end there!

John 1 says, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who called upon His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”

This Christmas, consider more than a scene in a stable or a baby in a manger. Think of a life that was given not only FOR you, but a life that He came to give TO you.

You are of a noble line. Your story is part of His Story. The sons and daughters of a royal priesthood and a divine right by grace.... from eternity past, to eternity future.

I pray that you have a fantastic Christmas. ...that Christ's Life will be more than just your entry point for eternity, but your divine opportunity - a divine heritage - to experience His resurrected Life here and now. ...that the purpose of Christ - abundant life, joy, peace, rest, and empowerment for those who will receive Him - will be your experience as you trust His sufficiency and become radically available to participate in His divine nature and plan.

   ... and Welcome to the family!

ring.

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:36:25 -0500

Jesse Sandoval doesn’t live here.

We keep getting a call for someone that doesn’t live here. Actually, we get calls from schools about the truancy of kids we don’t have. We have several calls about overdue lunch bills for someone that we’ve never met. We’ve tried to clear up the confusion. We take the calls occasionally in the hope of letting them know they’ll never get that bill paid by calling us, or that kid that’s truant has shockingly given them a wrong number (imagine!). Nevertheless, they continue to call us several times each week.

Worse still, Jesse Sandoval (whose name has been changed here to protect the potentially guilty - that’s just the way we roll) gets calls here frequently from debt collectors, or debt solutions companies, or debtors anonymous, or whatever. I just took another call for him, choosing to “press nine to have this number removed if incorrect” yet again. If someone calls back for a person you insist doesn’t live there, are they hoping you’ll change your mind the next time they call? Maybe they think we’re just unaware that Jesse does in fact live here, and eventually Jess will hop mysteriously out of the closet, or whatever parallel dimension he’s been hiding in, and answer the phone for himself. Maybe. Just one more call. Who knows? Couldn’t hurt, right?

Except the Jesse Sandoval does not live here. Never has.

The real problem is the debt industry folk are trained to disbelieve people who say the person who owes them money isn’t here. They’re convinced we’re lying. Hiding. Desperate to give in one of these days, admit that we are in fact Jesse S., and seek any possible resolution to their tortuous calls. Now that I think about it, I wonder how much he owes!

I spent most of my Christian life like this. Circumstances, unbelievers, temptation, parents, friends... all wanted to see something I was convinced was not resident in me. Temptation rang righteousness never seemed to be available. Intimidation came knocking, and boldness seemed conspicuously absent. When I had some over-eager desire to do good, it was for me, for my sake or appearance or favor from God - His innate goodness just never answered the call.

I had information that Jesus “lived in my heart” an oddly unsettling idea as a child, and more so as an adult. I’d heard that God lived in His people, of whom I tried to be a good example. I never wanted to do the things that I’d understood “separated me from God” - He’d always love me (I’d been told), but my behavior, attitudes, sinfulness, or lack of service, obedience, and devotion kept me from walking close to God - these were the tales of Church-campish folklore that plagued the grace-tipped legalism of church life. But I didn’t experience a resident Jesus, presumably because of my lackluster Christian life. If the story that I had left Jesus (He hadn’t left me) and I just needed to turn around to see that He was “right there waiting for me” was true, I spent most of my spinning in circles to find Him.

The unmistakable conclusion was that Jesus  just doesn’t live here after all.

Now, I have learned something a bit different:
My successful, Christian lifestyle has no effect on the indwelling reality of Jesus.

The Truth of the New Covenant is that He’s not simply taken up residence IN my life. Jesus IS my Life. I spent about twenty years as a believer attempting to make the necessary changes to experience the abundance Jesus promised, before I realized Jesus already delivered the promise.

So, much like when someone calls for Jesse Sandoval, the next time life demands a righteous response, or temptation calls, or you are faced with a need greater than your resources, or your knowledge or history or ability fall way short of what’s required... when what is necessary in your life is beyond your scope, and the call to act is more demanding than your resolve is steady, let me make a suggestion. Don’t answer.

Every issue in life is a call for God to do something greater than your ability or vision. Don’t think you can take His call.

Sounds a little risky, doesn’t it? Temptation calls - don’t denounce it. Trouble comes by - don’t try to overcome it. Standards for your life set by your friends, family, church, or even yourself ring in your ears - ignore that ringing sound. The temptation you can’t deny. Trouble is bigger than you. The standards and expectations of others and even yourself you cannot meet. When circumstances call, don’t answer. Instead, look to Jesus. You may not see Him, but He is responsible for the results of your life. Let Him take the call.

Romans 5 says to no longer submit yourselves to be used as an instrument of sin, but instead submit yourself in Christ for God’s purposes. This is brilliant advice. When trouble calls, you call Jesus. When the world wants something from you, don’t deliver - seek Him instead.

Don’t try to say no to performance, temptation, depression, worldliness, or fatalism. Instead, when the world comes calling, we answer the hotline to God. Don’t say no to all you “can’t” in life. Say yes to Jesus who IS your Life.

...He’s on the other line.

[from http://StoneLife.org}

Burn

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:06:43 -0500

Made some empanadas the other night. During the process I chopped a bunch of Jalapenos - not that unusual for me. But later, I noticed that my lips were burning (and I hadn’t eaten the empanadas yet!). Then I noticed my cheek was burning just below my eye - starting to water.

Then my hands - dry from multiple washing throughout the cooking process and having been out in the blazing sun a chunk of the day - were starting to burn. Hours after finishing the meal, having delivered some to friends in crisis and returning home to my wife who had also happily eaten them - my hands burned more and more. I’ve always had a high tolerance for capsaicin - the molecule that makes spicy-hot food, but this built to a really uncomfortable level. After many hours, my hands were on fire. My lips were on fire. My face was on fire. Even my arms where my hands had touched were on fire. We searched online to find a few home remedies... have you ever tried dunking you face in milk? ...or a cornstarch paste? ...not all that pleasant. So, eventually, I was sticky AND on fire.

In the end, I just had to wait it out. Late in the evening the fire in my boiling skin had turned down to a low simmer, and I fell into a blissful sleep.

The next morning however, as I got into my car, the power of the smell of jalapenos hit me immediately as I opened the car door. Carefully sniffing the cloth, the radio, the dash, etc. I found that the oil that had seeped into my hands was all over, especially in the steering wheel. Of course, I washed it all off as best I could, and battled repeated bouts of trying to keep it off vulnerable skin areas, and eventually... and I mean EVENTUALLY... it stopped being so noticeable.

I’ve thought often since that I want Christ’s Life in me  to be just like that.

I want to saturate so much in the grace of Christ that my words, my behaviors, my attitudes seep the stuff of Christ. Jesus juice.

In Acts - the chronicles of the early Church - the Apostle Paul became so saturated with the reality of an indwelling Christ that anyone who even had his shadow pass over them, or touched a cloth he had touched, were forever impacted by the power of Christ’s life. He became an expression of the irrepressible, inexhaustible, ever-potent, super-saturating reality of grace.

To the Church in Colosse, he said,
“Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,  so that you may know how to answer anyone.”

What might it look like if people burned with conviction, passion, inspiration, and revelation of Christ as Life whenever they encountered us? Might we walk in greater Christ-confidence? Would we walk with the security of Christ revealed in and through us? Would we no longer be daunted by circumstance, deceived by the flesh, thwarted by condemnation, and stumbling over personal failure in pursuit of performance?

I want everyone and everything I come into contact with to be exposed to the scorching revelation of of an indwelling God - like the burning bush before Moses - that burns with holy fire but is not consumed in the midst of it.
How about you? Ready to burn?

ridiculously graced...
-mike.

[from http://StoneLife.org}

ἐπίσκοπος

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:45:48 -0500

‘Just a quick reminder today for us as overseers in the Church:

...Most ministry happens in the margin.

God will use you as scalpel in the passing conversation between meetings. Father’s heart in you will break for the person you run into who is overburdened by their flesh. His light will illumine your vision - revealing Himself and your identity in Christ - as you are willing to share your own hurts and struggles with someone unplanned.

You are without question among the most able ministers in God’s kingdom today. Let’s pray we are the most available today, too.

ridiculously graced...
-mike.

[from http://StoneLife.org}

Reality of Rest?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:42:26 -0500

For my Facebook friends, this may be redundant, but a great question was posed by a friend of mine asking what we do regarding a Sabbath Rest. The implied question was clear - do we skip it since we’re not under the law? Do we try to schedule a day for downtime every week? Do we have a problem with someone who does skip it? What’s that look like if we are trying to apply it? Well, I’m modifying the question slightly, and answering here for you to ponder... What do you think?

Question: What do we do with “Sabbath Rest” in the New Covenant?

Answer: While practically speaking there is a ton of benefit from deliberately building margin in our schedule (and something I work with coaching clients), the spiritual reality is that Jesus is our rest. What the law required Jesus has already fulfilled for us. This means more than keeping us from responsibility if we don’t do it. It means He actually accomplishes the law for us. The law says to keep the sabbath as a day of rest. Jesus accomplishes the sabbath rest for us.

What a wonderful promise! What great grace! Jesus said, “Come to me...” not to learn to rest... not to make up for too little rest... not to avoid punishment for not resting. No, He said Come and, “I will give you rest.”

That’s the grace life in action. Come - that’s our action, and, “I will give...” - that’s His action. Us receiving - Jesus giving. Just the way it is always meant to be.

As my buddy Frank has often said, Jesus’ word for “give you rest” is actually “vacation you”.

You may ask, “What if your circumstances aren’t restful?” Well, Jesus’ circumstances certainly weren’t often restful. Yet, in His dependence and trust of His Father’s sovereignty, we see Him sleeping through storms, feeding on God though not eating, getting up early to refuel with His Father instead of resting His head on the pillow, and persevering through suffering unimaginable... without much physical rest. Sure He often got away, but rarely for sleep! Instead, He recharged through intimacy with God. Could it be that a very real, practical, empowering Jesus wants to be your rest?

It could be that the rest we need, is the “Rest of the Gospel” - beyond forgiveness of sins by His death, to the New Life sufficiency of Christ as our Source, who IS our REST - as we move from a paradigm of achieving to one of receiving as the mode of our life in Him.

Whew - I need a nap! :)

www.StoneLife.org

Unregulated Relationship

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:04:48 -0500

I love to read my bible, and I love to spend time in prayer (usually), but that said, I have a confession to make...

I’ve not had a regularly scheduled quiet time in the strictest sense in years.

Why? Several reasons:

1) There is no requirement for one - it’s not in scripture, and if it were, we are certainly free from the law. Instead, as with all law, we pursue Christ and as we walk in the Spirit, Jesus takes care of producing righteousness in our life. Not our job. 
2) I spent too many years having a quiet time for the wrong reasons - namely to feel better about myself or try to earn God’s favor - and now trying to religiously keep this time fits too easily into my own flesh pattern. About the time I make plans to get really diligent in my routine of seeking God, you can almost bet that I’m determining my own path in other ways, too! 
3) I’ve found it really fun to LOOK for reasons and opportunities to go to Scripture, to talk to God, to watch throughout the day for Him, and to engage His Word and conversation with Him whenever I have the chance. Of course, I could do both, but now I enter most days anticipating what He’s doing and looking for reasons and opportunities to engage my Father in my life. Which is to say - prayer and scripture have become more pertinent for me as I engage them with practical purpose.

Now - that said, I’ve encouraged MANY people to carve out time with God on a routine basis. Far from wrong, it’s often extremely useful in our relationship with Christ. The question is what works for you, what will it look like to walk with God personally and intimately today, and are you willing to pursue Him with your whole heart not just a set number of minutes each morning?

As I’ve said a few times previously - your AVAILABILITY (willingness) and His ABILITY (power toward you) makes for infinite POSSIBILITY!
Don’t limit yourself, and certainly don’t limit our Father! He desires an unregulated, free, inspiring, personal relationship with you.... NOW! :)

The View from Here

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:54:32 -0500

I passed the rest stop several times on the way to the conference where I was speaking.... I could see how incredible the view was across the hill country canyon from the road, but the rest stop exited the highway and went straight up to an even higher hill - I could only imagine the view from there!

A went a little early to my next speaking time, and buzzed up that steep hill to the rest stop at the top of the world. When I got there I was shocked and dismayed. Trees lined the road. Buildings had been erected for picnic tables and restrooms. But the view was completely obstructed - never cleared for those stopping to see. In other words, they placed the rest stop in that spot NOT because of the view, but because someone thought a rest stop was needed nearby on the highway. The best view in the hill country lost, not for lack of opportunity, but lack of vision.

It seems like life as a Christian may be similar to that rest stop. Paul didn’t pray for deliverance for the Ephesian church. He didn’t ask God to heal or work miracles among them. He didn’t ask for greater blessing or freedom or peace. Paul shared his prayer for the Church:

“17...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe...” -Ephesians 1:17-19a

Amazingly, Paul prayed for revelation, wisdom, experiential knowledge, enlightened hearts, knowledge of hope and value and power that are already ours in Christ. Paul prayed for vision.

See, we look at our circumstances and pray for peace. We look at our need and seek God’s provision. We look at behavior and ask our Father to send revival. We see the pain and struggle on the earth and pray for deliverance. We ask for blessing and power and significance and encouragement. But if you read Paul’s prayer, he asked that we would know that we already have all this and more in Christ.

We seek God for what we need and want because we lack revelation of what we already have.

You are blessed beyond measure. You are freer than you know. You have peace that surpasses understanding. You have a hope beyond every circumstance. You are valued. You are loved. You are accepted. You are significant. You are God’s child. Righteous. Holy. Empowered. Liberated. Graced.

Now if only we could see the reality of the view from where we really are in Christ.

Suffering Excitement?

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 13:33:03 -0500

In Case you missed the Stone Gathering last Sunday, God really shocked me at how powerfully He moved in our time together.

We discovered a kind of exegetical delineation of Romans 5:3-4 - the Celebration of Suffering. It was incredible to see His revelation (caught ME by surprise, and I was teaching!), of how His use of suffering in this world prepares us fully as participants in His glory. We cross referenced Jesus’: “don’t do what I want” prayer in the garden and all it’s implications of our desires versus our choices, and ultimately landed on Paul’s embracing his own weakness in trials, persecutions, and all manner of suffering for the sake of God’s renown - His glory - as His strength is revealed in our weakness.

We all left with the battle cry of a new heart: “Live WEAK!” ...for the cause of God’s glory. It was a BEAUTIFUL time together as His kids.

In studying the Romans 5 passage years ago, I saw that the greek base for suffering is “thlibō”. with the base word, which is the word often translated as “tribulation”. The word in the original greek has a specific concept that is very striking to me. The original use of the word in greek very close to two word pictures, the first is “thribos”, which is “a worn path”. The second is “tribulum” - which was a kind of wheat press - it separated the wheat form the chaff. A modern equivalent would be a hand juicer. The word means “press”.

The idea here is pretty clear when we think about it - God has designed our tribulations - the pressures of daily life - to press out of us what He has put in. As Uncle Frank says, it “squeezes the Jesus” out of us!

Over time, this creates a kind of consistent, learned response of dependence ...a “worn path” of Christ likeness that become normative in the life of a suffering saint. In fact, when Romans 5 says, “suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces charachter, and character produces hope...” a clearer translation would be “proven character”. So, God’s work through the pressures of life is to consistently prove Christ’s character within us by squeezing it out of us, until we fully realize that is in fact who we are - bearers or Christ’s character. This realization results in a greater hope of the glory of God, which is constantly proven by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the proof of God’s consistent love.

The final analysis is this: Are we maturing into the worn paths of Christ’s character proven through the pressures of life? If so, we rejoice in His work as His renown increases through our circumstances, and He uses every venue of Life to bring about His transforming work by grace, for His glory.

The question is, will you embrace your weakness, experience His strength, and receive His grace for His renown? If so, you will experience His Life coursing through you in your suffering, and you too can embrace His sufficient grace to
...LiveWEAK !

Want to study this a little more? Reinforce God’s perspective of suffering by reading the following verses and writing down God’s view of struggle in each of them:

1. 2 Cor. 4:17
2. Is. 54:17
3. James 1:2-4
4. Gen. 50:20
5. Neh. 13:2
6. Rom. 8:28-29
7. Heb 12:5, 6, 11
8. 2 Cor. 1:3-4
9. Rom. 8:18
10. 1 Peter 1:6-7
11. Heb. 13:5
12. 2 Cor. 12:7-10

Enjoy the ride, wherever it may lead you!

ridiculously graced...
-mike.

What Has He Done?

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:26:11 -0500

This is an article I wrote for another resource that I thought might be edifying for us today...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hebrews 1:3 says,
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."

There are three critical questions for us who believe; three necessities of our faith that can be unpacked from this verse:

1. Jesus is the "exact representation" of God's being. The Greek word for exact representation can be transliterated "CHARAKTER". It isn't appearing like God, or acting like God, but an actual conduit of the essence of God. We don't see what God is like in Christ... we see God Himself.  The First Question - who is Christ to you?

2. As God, Jesus is "sustaining all things by His powerful word". He did not just create the world, but rather is constantly perfecting and sustaining His creation, and then in turn "provided purification for sins". Don't miss the progression... He created and sustained, then redeemed. What He made He's taken possession of. We strayed and He came after us. We acquired debt and put ourselves into slavery, He paid the debt and brought us into His family.
The Second Question - to whom do you belong?

3. Having sustained His creation, then redeemed it, and ultimately "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven," meaning He is finished with His sustaining, redeeming, creative work. In other words, what Jesus created, He perfected and redeemed, and what He's redeemed stays redeemed. He sits down with it continually completed.  The Third Question - on what do you rely?

So what? What difference does it make for Jesus to be God we can see and know? What difference does it make to us that He created, redeemed, and completed His work in and through us on the cross? Well, here's the proverbial punch line:

Whatever you are pursuing, whatever you desire, whatever change you'd like to see in your life, family, finances, or circumstances...
Jesus is better.

In fact, the entire rest of the book of Hebrews is about all the application of Jesus being a better focus for life. 'Sounds obvious to a seasoned Christ-follower, but don't miss this... What God wants for you, Jesus has already paid for. What God designed and called you to, Jesus has accomplished for you. What will most fulfill and most deeply satisfy you is already available in abundance. He's made it, paid for it, and signed, sealed, and delivered it in His perfect (and perfecting!) work on the cross.

What will it look like for you this week to ratchet up your focus from God's promises to the Promiser Himself? What will you do differently if you pursue not His blessings, but the Blesser? How will you choose, even today, to give up even the good you desire for the Best which is Christ?

radiant faith...

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:00:16 -0500

I sat here at La Cantera in the warm afternoon. The shade overhead and the air-conditioning streaming from the steadily swinging doors of the shops made it pretty nice.

Then I was hit, not by a teen’s slurpy, or the bombardment of bad perfume from a nearby cosmetic counter. I was hit by a cool breeze. I could hardly believe it. I looked around and saw several dozen people stop and take it in. It was downright pleasant - a term not often heard in reference to South Texas weather these days! Even “lovely” could apply. I think we were in shock as much as pleased.

Then I felt pulsating warmth from behind, like hot breath. The breeze hadn’t quite been quelled, yet here was this heat, still present and pulsating evenly across my back. I turned around to find the huge cement planter you see in the picture. It had sat in the heat for so long, no cool breeze would quickly diminish it’s radiating heat.

I was immediately struck by both the blatant persistence of the thing and the effect that it had on me. As pleasant as the breeze was, the emanating heat from the planter was unmistakable. It demanded my acknowledgement. Irrepressible is a word that comes to mind.

Have you ever read the Exodus account when Moses came glowing down from the presence of God. The people - all God’s chosen kids and wanting God’s work in their lives - were totally put-off by the persistent, emanating radiance of God’s glory from Moses’ face. He wore a veil so they wouldn’t just absolutely freak out. God’s glory was penetrating. It was not going to be simply ignored. An Irrepressible Glory shown on Moe’s face. Radiant.

What would it look like if, regardless of the winds of change in our world, even despite the deceiving desires of carnal culture around us, we sat so affixed as constant, conspicuous recipients of Father’s glorious grace, that grace - given to us in Christ Jesus as rest, and peace, and hope, and confidence, and significance, and... well, pretty much everything from food and breath to friends and family... for the purpose of glorifying God, radiated to all around us?

What if we so absorbed the glory of God (unlike Moe, from the inside out), that His grace emanated from us as a people group? What if we - instead of just complaints or isolationism or picket lines or attempting greater relevance in worship services - what if we - demonstrated by our conspicuously Christ-confident life and receipt of all He is in Christ in us - what if we actually sought Christ alone for His glory so much that His glory radiated unmistakably, undeniably, unavoidably from us?

What if... by His grace and for His glory... Christ in you were irrepressible?

Hybrid Truth and a Grace Chaser...

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:51:02 -0500

Have you been served a shot of performance with a grace chaser? Or maybe you had a shot of grace with a performance chaser?

Sadly, it’s pretty normal for me to get a call from someone on a Sunday or Monday, after hearing a message that obligated or condemned but had a “grace package”. They’re often either frustrated or confused by the inconsistencies. What might those inconsistencies sound like, you ask? Well, see if you can spot the conflict in these examples:

• Teaching believers to overcome their sin nature, and embracing grace instead (that’s the grace chaser) 

• A message on all God has done for us in Christ to restore us, so shouldn’t we serve Him with our whole heart (there’s the performance chaser! ...wait for the recruiting application any minute!) 

• A word about the non-legal mandate to tithe (a personal favorite!) - after all, tithing “predates the law” - I’m sure you’ve heard that one (that’s “non-legal legalism”) 

• Someone describing God’s displeasure with you, or that you need to do “such-and-such” to please him, with the tag at the end, “But don’t be condemned by that!” (Nice! - well I’ll try!)

I call these “hybrid messages”, mixing grace & performance or condemnation. Do you see the conflicts? Let’s run through each example quickly...

1) Overcoming Sin - God would say, “What sin?” Embracing grace MEANS realizing we no longer are bound by a sin nature: It is no longer who you are! 

1) He Deserves Your Love & Service - True! ...but only God transforms our heart and mind. He’s given us His heart and mind if we are available for Him to work in and through us. His goal for you is HIM, not working for Him. Besides that, He’s not lacking anything, anyway! 

1) Tithe: requirement but not law! Huh? Tithe is a number - 1/10. Jesus introduced another number: 100%. He gave all of Himself to fulfill all of your need. There is no requirement that He hasn’t met on your behalf. All you have to do to experience His fullness is die to yourself :) - another 100%, but well worth it! Whatever God directs for 100% of your finances (and parenting, and marriage, and career, and health, etc), is His desire - not His mandate - for your life. I’d listen.  

1) How to Please God - To not be condemned means there’s nothing to condemn you - every requirement of you (and there’s a bunch!) is FULLY MET ALREADY in Christ. The law isn’t actually gone, it’s fulfilled and now irrelevant for the believer. Want the good news: God IS pleased with you in Christ. Period.
 
These kinds of lists - born of hybrid teaching - require us to slice the Truth of the New Covenant more thinly as we apply Christ’s life to our circumstances. Please realize every teacher you hear is on God’s list of “hearts to be molded” (mine included!); we all need sharpening. That said, you can take responsibility for appropriating God’s Truth in your life. We are willing but He is able! If you’ll let Him, He’ll use you to sharpen His Truth in Your life!!

Keep the Sword sharp this week, my friends!

ridiculously graced...
-mike.

Check out new StoneCasts!

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:39:02 -0500

Check out the StoneCast update under “Stone Videos!”

...or better yet, subscribe via iTunes HERE

http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=302584068

Dr. Van-DELAY, I presume?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:00:10 -0500

Howdy, Folks!

Because of some tech updates we are doing (along with a complete website redesign!), we have been delayed in working this blog very regularly. That won’t change in the next 2-3 weeks, so I have a couple of suggestions...

1. Befriend Me! I post via Twitter (just starting) and Facebook, but it all ends up on Facebook. If you don’t know that I will know your name when you “befriend me” on Facebook, just include a message that you saw the suggestion on the blog, and YOU’RE IN! :)  
2. Stay Tuned! - We are making great progress on the new site and will begin having some great stuff online at StoneLIFE.org within the next week or so. The blog will pick up sometime after that, but other site content will certainly keep you entertained until the blogging buzz begins anew!  
3. Come By! - Most of the followers of this little blog intend to visit the Stone Gathering on Sunday nights - our little gathering of Truth seekers in our Life in Christ. We meet at 5p on Sunday evening at Lopez Middle School in San Antonio. (Here’s a map) No better time to get fed in real life than when “cyberfood” is looking scarce! :) 
4. Go Back! - I’ve posted now for quite some time, so feel free to visit older posts you may not have been around for, or that may have been most interesting for you. When I look back at some of the early stuff, I sometimes amazed at what I’ve said! :) 
Guess that’s it - enjoy the detour around the construction, and as always - I appreciate your prayers for The Stone, for my writing, and that in all things God would reveal Himself through our life in Christ. Come back soon to see the redesign and new resources!

ridiculously graced...
-mike.

On Target?

Thu, 21 May 2009 08:08:18 -0500

Give a bunch of kids rocket launchers, and you’ll see everything around you systematically destroyed in record time.

But give rocket launchers to a bunch of boys and ask who can shoot the most bubbles being blown from a bunch of girls who are told to see if they can fill the sky with enough bubbles that they can’t all be shot down, and you’ll have kids ready for naps, lawns not needing watered, baths already taken, and smiles all around!

A big part of God’s call on my life is to help people live, lead, walk, and minister on target. That means that whether a family, a church, an elder board, a management team, a work project, or any other coordinated effort, strategy - usually the most elusive of team building exercises - is critical! Here are SOME of the questions that MUST be engaged to see coordinated results:

• What’s the target? 
• Who really is the team? 
• What are the available resources? 
• What are the obstacles to be overcome? 
• What are the obstacles to NOT overcome? 
• What are the parameters, limitations, or principles that determine HOW the target is (and isn’t) to be hit? 
• What is each team member’s role? 
• How and when do you re-strategize these and other questions?

Of course, there are hundreds of other questions that could be added to this list, but the questions themselves don’t guarantee effective strategy.

For those of us who know Christ as Life - living in a truly grace-dependent and all-sufficient relationship with Jesus - the most important variable in this equation is how we determine what we know of God’s agenda, and where (not IF) we are operating out of our own agenda and resources.

This is beyond strategic planning, it’s “God-Sourced” strategy!

So - whether discovering ministry, leading a family, communicating vision, struggling with business, or running a church - seek God’s agenda and resources, ask the right question listening to Him for the answers, be open to where your own agenda or identity struggles get in the way, and move forward with Christ-confidence that transcends your circumstances... as He gives divine direction.

Can I help? I’d love to!! Let’s begin by praying through the right questions, communicating God’s revelation, sharpening both our discernment, and implementing His Life & grace together in a way that only comes with a supernatural unity of God’s kids.
 

Some Next Steps... part 2

Fri, 15 May 2009 14:26:14 -0500

I posted a few comments and suggestions from our last core meeting recently, and wanted to just give a quick update...

1. We’ll be going as a group to the Salvador concert at Cornerstone on May 31, instead of meeting for worship at Lopez. BUT... Let’s meet and carpool. We’ll announce more details the next two weeks at the Stone Gathering, but you can call or email me with questions/suggestions (or post comments below) 
2. LOTS of requests for the new t-shirts suggested on the previous blog. Most popular is “The Church has Left the Building”, but the “We’re the Church having an ‘Out-of-Building Experience” phrases are also liked. What are your suggestions? Post to the comments with yours! 
3. I’ve had some interesting conversation with other church leaders about making the Prayer Blocks and 2nd Mile Ministry venues “multi-church”, which I love. Stay tuned for more, or offer your own suggestions. 
4. Lately, I’ve gotten a number of theological questions, I’ll start posting in a weekly column-type blog. Got Questions? Whether regarding Halloween, tithing, leadership development, missions, gifting, church membership, Paul’s theology, or good books to read - send me an email to: mike@TheSanAntonioStone.com

Let me know what YOU are thinking about ministry, calling, the Church, or questions you have, or whatever God is putting on your mind! Publicly, post to the comments; privately shoot an email my way!

Love you guys!

Some Next Steps...

Mon, 4 May 2009 10:25:17 -0500

We had a great planning time last night for the Stone at Johnny Carino’s.

One of the items to share - that we didn’t really cover thoroughly - was some of our “next steps”. These are some ideas of what we might do that is more of an “out-of-building” experience for The Church. None of these ideas are really “in the works” yet, but they are on my heart - let me know what YOU think!

1. Prayer Blocks - folks walk and pray over their neighborhood and others (or apartments, workplaces, or parks, etc.). Register neighborhoods we pray over online so we can be deliberate to pray over areas still untouched AND pray with people for their areas.   Imagine meeting someone, finding out where they work or live, and being able to say we’ve prayed for them - their home, their work, their family, their marriage, their future, and all God has for them! 
2. 2nd Mile - We don’t have to go the extra mile with anyone, but we CAN! Imagine a growing testimony page of God’s hand moving us to spontaneous service and offering opportunities for community service - many of which will be with other churches, ministries, and events.  This is one of the tenants we had in place when we first met to pray about this ministry - that it’s ministering to those outside the Church, not recruiting them to join, that is often the best expression of His love and grace - and our bewildering freedom in Christ! How might we express that we want to serve them not for what we might gain - but serve them because we love them no matter what! 
3. “Grid” - I once launched a ministry venue with a friend called “Solomon’s Cafe”. It was an idea I had from a program on NPR called “Socrates’ Cafe” where folks would gather for a secular discussion of philosophical ideas concerning the nature of life and current events. Solomon’s Cafe was the same idea but from a biblical world view (at least that’s how it started). “Grid” would be looking at the world and asking questions we’d discuss from the Christ Life paradigm... what’s God’s perspective and our response when calamity strikes, toward our role as the Church, toward what evangelism really should look like, toward finances, news events, and political decisions, and our roles as men and women in jobs, families, as singles, with parents... whatever!  One of the greatest challenges as a believer today is discerning and applying a grace-based, Christ-sufficient, God-glorifying grid from which we view the world. We want to be deliberate to be right in the middle of it, but never become of it. 
4. Advertise God / < God (A greater God) / 4God (for God) - Random acts of Service that don’t promote a church venue, but God’s love. T-shirts that make it clear God loves ‘em, & we want nothing from ‘em. Even just making believers think with phrases on shirts or window stickers like, “We’re the Church having an out-of-building experience,” or, “The Church Has Left the Building”.

Okay - some of this has tweaking to be done, but many of them don’t require much more than what we are already doing - we can serve instead of teaching once a month, or dawn our “out-of-building” shirts and go to a concert AS THE CHURCH, instead of a worship venue that night/week. We also should be thinking in these terms ALL THE TIME, so it’s most often not adding a calendar item, but thinking differently as we go through our day, do ministry, and spend time with friends. It’s receiving and appropriating the Mind of Christ.

Pray about this stuff - we aren’t a local church, we are a gathering of THE Church. It’s never about a program; it’s ALWAYS about receiving and sharing God’s supernatural love.

Let’s change the purpose of our lives. Let’s not just live OUT of the box; let’s get rid of the box! Let’s take the time we already spend, the venues we already operate in, the gifts we’re already using, and redeem them for divine purpose. Our Dad is REALLY creative... and we can be like Him!

Really in it...

Sat, 2 May 2009 14:28:10 -0500

I don’t like pickles at all.

But I like cucumbers a quite a bit. Okay - hold that thought...

David B. and I are at the Association of Exchanged Life Ministries Conference outside Atlanta. We got registered a bit late, so we are relegated to the cabins the junior high kids probably stay in at camp - pretty darn rustic, but we are getting to connect - and even minister! - with some great leaders and ministries from all over the country (more on that another time).

Anyway, a discussion today was struck concerning God’s hating those who reject Him. The Bible talks about those who are enemies of God. Let me tell you - God loves His enemies. If you reject Him, He is heart broken not because you’ve hurt Him, but because He hurts for you. He died to spare you the wrath reserved for the devil and his minions. He even died - not for the redeemed - but for sinners, us who are in rebellion against God. It was in the very midst of our rebellion - not repentance, that Christ died for us. If fact, Paul tells us that we only know what love is because JC died for us when we were in rejection of Him. If you think God hates those who reject Him, you don’t understand something critical about God - He IS Love. That’s the sum of His personhood - in relation to people - He’s filled with a burning passion to be in deeper relationship. Just because you or I have the choice to reject Him, I don’t think we’re gonna change His mind about His desire for us.

So what about wrath? Well, that brings us back to the pickle. Somehow, I hate the pickle but like the cucumber. Put a cucumber in vinegar, vacuum pack that dude, and let him sit long enough, add a little flavor if you’d like, and eventually it’s a pickle. In many ways, that’s us in our sin, prior to redemption. Mankind wasn’t designed to be sinful, but now that we are in sin (as unbelievers), we are something immersed in, and changed from the inside-out by, something outside us that has now redefined us. No longer fresh and wholesome (in my opinion!), we are slimy and ruined - totally submerged, submersed, and defiled in the vinegar of our sinfulness.

Now God hates sin. Not because He’s offended, but because it’s the death of humanity - the creation He loves so dearly. You’d hate anything set on destroying your kids, too! He is going to completely irradicate sin - wipe it out. It will one day no longer exist. Our flesh will never improve, but praise God it no longer defines us in Christ - we are regenerated, and refreshed - made new in Christ from the inside-out. He is the fresh, new-life, pure, holy, righteous God that took up residence within our humanity, but refusing to absorb and respond to the sin-soaking the rest of us are in. He is totally us, while being totally “other”. There is none of that sin-vinegar in Him! When He comes into us, we are regenerated anew - all the vinegar in us is driven out completely. Truly you and I are refreshed to our original design - our natural state as bearers of His image. We are no longer immersed (baptized) in the old nature of Adam (stale vinegar), but in the fresh, green, regenerate, new Life of Christ!

Okay - so that’s my version of the “pickle principle”. What’s that got to do with enemies of God, you ask? Well, God loves the sinner. He loves enemies of Truth. I know that’s tough to wrap our minds around, but it’s who He is - He’s not going to act contrary to His nature. But He is going to destroy sin.

So here’s the “deal” (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!): Jesus died to give you a way out of the vinegar, but if you reject the way out, His love still requires wiping out the vinegar eventually - even if you’re still stuck in it. So, He loves you enough to do all that it took to allow you out of sin, but if you choose to stay, you’re going to be recipients of His wrath against the sin that would otherwise destroy His kids.

Romans 8 says that God condemned sin in sinful man. What is condemned? Sin. Now, if you and I receive the righteousness He offers in Christ, then we are without sin, and get a pass on getting wiped out along with our sin. But if anyone passes on His righteousness, they choose to receive the wrath of that condemnation. His love requires wrath for what would otherwise destroy His kids. Immersed in Him, we are free from that wrath. Immersed in sin, He’s not hating the sinner, but the sin they’re soaking in... by choice.

Can’t wait to share with you guys on this and so much more at the Stone Gathering in the coming weeks! Here’s to the CUCUMBERS! :)

Sovereignty Day?

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:17:17 -0500

Ever prayed as you approached your mailbox? ...or answered a call? ...or opened a letter?

I often do. I feel the need for the phone call to be good news. I want the letter to be encouraging (not just a bill or junk). Today, I wanted checks in the mailbox. It seems the clearer my need, the narrower my desires of God.

But today I was struck - as I often am - by the sovereignty of God. Instead of praying for checks in the mail (things are just a tad tight from our Philippines mission efforts), I decided God already had that covered. I chose (that hugely spiritual activity of deciding - the soulical deliberation of one’s will) to believe God has my interests - always in line with His glory - at heart.

Nope - today is “Mike’s Trusting Father’s Sovereignty Day”.

It’s the day (hopefully one of many!) when I am most interested in whatever is on God’s heart - what He would reveal to me. I know this isn’t some shockingly new Truth for those who read or listen to my rants regularly - I talk about the appropriation of grace and the anticipation of His revelation all the time.

But application of Truth is much rarer that articulation of Truth. So today, let me encourage you - when you feel the need for the mailbox, or telephone, or chance encounter, or doctor’s visit, or online bank check (or whatever it happens to be for you today) - God is intent on deepening His relationship with you. He wants you to know Him more, and to walk with Him more contentedly - as you grow in that Christ-confidence built upon the revelation of His more-than-sufficient grace.

Will He reveal Himself as the Giver of Good Gifts? Will He reveal Himself as Healer, or Provider, or Director, or Friend, or Something-You-Don’t-Even-Know-You-Need? I don’t know.

He will reveal Himself. You will find Him as you are seeking Him for whatever He might reveal - not just for the check in the mail. Oh yeah, and by the way... When you seek Him, and find Him, you’ll be really glad you did.

And just maybe you will enjoy a “Trusting Father’s Sovereignty Day” for yourself. It’s worth celebrating! :)

Clearing Space

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:58:28 -0500

Have you ever had a change in where you wanted to be?

There are many causes of circumstantial change - the weather, amount of sleep, economic shifts, scheduling pressures, and a thousand other things. But there remains only one source of personal change - God.

As we submit ourselves to His pruning, He is able to prune away what is farther from the vine - those parts of us as a branch that are more independent of Him. As He moves deeper and deeper - closer to the Vine, we feel more and more fear of loss with each sweep of His pruning shears. Yet, it is these snips of the Master Gardener that keep the Vine producing the best Fruit through me for me as the branch to bear as testimony of the Life in the Vine.

...and every time I submit to that deeper pruning - allowing something closer to my heart - ministry, family, my roles in others’ lives, whatever - to be available for God to prune from my identity (my self-perceptive choices of who I choose to be... all good things, but still needing to have Him as the Source!), I find myself moving closer to Him as a result.

Let me offer an illustration:

I got back from the Philippines last week and was pretty wiped out. After a week of getting over the trip, and having left my office in considerable disarray before leaving, I found myself trying to work in weeks-upon-weeks of paperwork, books, bills, notes, cables, and more piled upon (and around) my desk. In fact, my office was such a wreck I found myself working from the living room, the kitchen, and (of course) Starbucks :)

Finally, I knew for things to get worse would be paralyzing to my workflow. I spent a chunk of yesterday straightening, cleaning, tucking things here and there, and tossing anything possible into the trash. It’s not all clean yet - there’s still a pile of filing, and notes to follow-up on, some data entry for our finances still on the corner, etc. Yet, having cleared considerable space and restored some order to my desk a phenomenal thing happened - I wanted to work there. To sit at my desk, in my chair, working on my faithful macbook pro, music streaming from my speakers, my desk lamp flickering with verve... it was very appealing.

Once I submitted to clearing the space - productivity, comfort, even enjoyment went to a different level.

Now I certainly could continue to have struggled with the mess I’ve accumulated (and still have quite a ways to go, I assure you), but clearing the space for production made me want to move in and produce.

Similarly, I think our job is to make room for our Father as the Gardener. He wants to come in and clean up. He brings questions like, “Am I struggling to be the Dad I want to be, or am I willing to let God use me in my family’s life however He likes?” or, “Am I doing ministry based on what I want to think of myself, or based on whatever God wants to use me for?”

Don’t get me wrong - wanting to be a good parent, or sibling, or spouse are all great things. But like Abraham putting Isaac on the altar, God calls us to a deeper trust of Him. We are not about His promises to us, His blessings for us, or even His work through us. Ultimately... when God prunes us branches even closer to the Vine... we are more and more about Him. As I focus more intently on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith, He produces the very best Fruit - and works through me as parent, spouse, employee, and minister (and everything else He calls us to, for that matter) in ways beyond our hopes and dreams.

So - here’s the question...
Are you at a place where you are ready to make space - allowing Him to move in deeper still, to prune more of the undergrowth of who you are in your self-determining flesh, so that you might experience a greater dependence, intimacy, Fruitfulness, and Life in Jesus the True Vine?

More simply, will you invite Him to bring His shears to everything but Him in your life?

If so, I think you’ll soon be enjoying a deeper desire of your heart, and greater glorification of the Gardener, and freer fellowship with our Father.

“God Stop” of the Week

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:52:06 -0500

I didn’t know who she was, but I knew God sent her.

It was one of those days when you wonder why you do what you do. You know the ones I’m talking about. Things aren’t going right. You aren’t able to do the right things, at the right times, with the right folks, in the right ways.

That had been my whole week. The enemy seemed to get in sucker punches when I wasn’t looking (a lesson in itself, I’m sure!), and as I’d reel around, I’d somehow get hit from behind again. I hadn’t had my balance for days.

“God is this what I need to be doing? Should I NOT seize this opportunity, or spend time on these tasks?” What consumed my time was sucking my energy, and what I longed to be doing I didn’t seem to have any energy for when I did get around to it. Fruitful it wasn’t.

Then, I sat down to take care of long overdue accounting... big mistake. The days are slim. About the time I step out to go to the Philippines to share New Covenant Truth with pastors there, finances not only don’t increase, they get slimmer... the enemy hit me again. We stepped out in clearly given direction, and people disappear, finances dry up, ministry opportunities seem to flounder (do you hear the pity party!).

As I sat reconciling our somewhat meager receivables tonight, trusting God’s providential hand while at the same time wondering why I’m doing this to myself, a stranger walked up with her son. She had passed by once or twice, and now very deliberately turned around and came back to my table on the patio outside the cafe where I sat. It wasn’t a place I normally visit. It wasn’t a time I’d normally be there. There certainly wasn’t anyone I was expecting to see...

“Excuse me. You don’t... I mean, I’m not...” she sighed, trying to collect words she could say, “About a year ago I was in a struggle, and you preached a message...” - tears are now streaming - “...and to this day, what you said...” she can’t finish her sentence; she’s now self-conscious with her young son. She chokes tears, and barely gets out a growly whisper, “Thank you.”

I put my hand on her shoulder, and let her take a breath. I introduce myself to her son who shakes my hand. She purses her lips in a twitching smile trying to hold it together. I want to encourage, to affirm, to buoy, but the moment is just too tenuous. Finally, she says it again, “Thank you,” and walks away.

I mumbled something about “here’s my card,” and if “I can ever help,” and then they’re both gone.

So, God is tricky. Those powerful words lingered with me - more powerful than riches or fame or any opportunity - they still ring in my ear; when I think about what I get to do day in and day out, week in and week out, in weakness and utter dependence on His constant grace, all I can do is tell God (and that dear woman sent from God as His encouragement to me tonight) those same two words...

...thank you.

“A=A”

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:04:39 -0500

I met with a well-known pastor and anointed evangelist this morning with one question:

“Don’t I still have to meet with God, spend time in His Word, and wait for His direction to allow God to fulfill all His promises?”

As I often do, I responded with another question: “Are God’s promises contingent upon your behavior?”

See, like most of us, this gentle man of God loves God, has experienced His grace, is led by His Spirit, and eager to walk more closely with our heavenly Father, yet struggles with his responsibility in experiencing all God has for him and his ministry.

He reconciled the truth he knows with the questions at hand. “Well, no, but surely God won’t give me all He has for me if I don’t...” I raised an eyebrow, and he caught himself mid-sentence.

The truth is that God’s favor and blessing are not contingent on our behavior. They are contingent on His own character and grace already extended to us in Christ. It can be so frustrating to relinquish control of determining what God will do in our life, can’t it?

I let this wonderful man struggle through his own conflicting ideas for just a moment, and then said, “What is the goal in your time with God and study of His Word? Is the deepest part of you hungering and thirsting for God to fulfill His promises, for greater supernatural intervention and experiences? Is the focus of your life and ministry to bring about the work of God?”

He thought about this for only a second, and then with watery eyes and a smile said calmly, “No.”

He had discovered his own heart in Christ. He wants God. He hungers for his loving Father. He wants Jesus Himself, not the perks of Christianity. Ultimately it is Jesus who IS our Peace, not just the bringer of peace. It is Jesus who IS our Life, not just the giver of life. Yes, Jesus is our Source, but more than anything else, He is the Source for Himself.

In John 6, Jesus confronts this Himself. Followers found Him wanting to be fed again, wanting to gain more of His provision. He told them to seek Him, not His works, and they replied with a formulaic question - tell us what we must do to receive what you’ve promised? Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.”

It’s so tough, because we want what Jesus will give, and Jesus says “all of that is in Me.”

He is the Source of Himself who is all we need. We ask how to get what we want from Him, and He reveals Himself as both sides of the equation: He is the the means by which we receive Him as the answer to the equation.
Jesus in You = Jesus as Life.
Jesus in you = Jesus as Rest.
Jesus in you = Jesus as the fulfillment of every promise.

I asked my friend why he prays and studies and ministers then - is it for the promises of God? It was obvious he had already answered that question for himself, “No - it’s because my talking with Him, and learning with Him, and working with Him IS the promise of God.”

So, should we study less, or pray less, or seek God less? Of course not! But for this dear saint, there may be a little less struggle, as he appropriates the truth that the answer he seeks, is the answer he’s already got... In Christ.

Change...

Sun, 8 Feb 2009 20:08:52 -0600

There’s a lot of talk about change these days.

The economy needs to be changed.
The real estate & job markets need to be changed.
The government we would all agree needs LOTS of change.
In America today, marriages, churches, parenting, gas prices, schools, environmental responsibility, campaign regulations, energy production, worldview, investment strategies, organizational structures, insurance policies, medical practices, poverty, security, significance, purpose, hope - all these things (and more) need to change.

This may surprise you: I don’t need change. Let me explain.

If I have a jar of water and I drop sand in it, it is now changed. The change is predictable. The change is measurable. Depending on your desired outcome, the change could even be good change.

The water level would now be higher. The water color would be darker (increasingly). The water purity would be very different - it would have lots of “not water” in it! The flavor would no doubt be different. I’m sure I missed some good examples, but it’s certainly changed in a myriad of ways.

I could change it again by removing the sand from it. I could purify it further by boiling it. Even pouring out some of the water or adding more water changes it relative to it’s circumstances.

Now, if the glass of water is you - your life is in you, and you’re in your circumstance - on the table, in the room, under the lights, lots of folks watching you. This glass of water has a history. It has a temperature. It has a future. It has potential. It has limitations. Just like you. I can add things to it, take stuff away, and alter it’s circumstances with a seemingly infinite combination of variables. But no matter what I do - it’s water in a glass, right? I mean - I can make it dirty water, but it’s still water. I can make it less or more water, but it’s still water, I can make the room lighter or darker, the glass dirtier or cleaner, the position more horizontal or vertical, those that see it greater or fewer.... I can change almost every possible adjective used to describe the glass of water, but it’s still a glass of water.

Likewise, you can change things ABOUT your life, but you can’t change your life. Have you discovered this?

No matter what you do, you’re still you. The problems with my life, ultimately, is not the circumstances I don’t like, or the limitations I find myself in, or the qualities ABOUT me that are less than optimal. All of these things I have quite a bit of impact on.

I can change almost anything ABOUT me, and the world will applaud - better skin, better health, better money, better cars, better friends, better houses, better vacations, better parties, better prospects, better jobs, better investments, better relationships, better anything & everything ...which equals a better life, right?

But the nature - the very substance - of your life doesn’t change with a face lift. Your life isn’t fundamentally different with better finances. The nature of who you are and what kind of existence you experience isn’t altered with better organization - it’s just more organized, or better planned, or with funnier people around, or with more money in your pocket, or a shift in the focus of our fears (like fearing not having retirement funds to losing our retirement funds, not having income to losing income, not having a spouse to losing a spouse, etc. etc.) The nature of our life doesn’t change.

In the final analysis, it’s still a glass of water (add whatever adjective you want: more, less, dirty, clean, higher, lower, darker, moving, still, etc.), It’s still a glass of water. ...and you are still you. Changing the water, moving the water, changing the circumstances of the water, doesn’t keep it from still being water. The boiling point may change by adding salt, but it still boils. Creating condensation may add a little water, and it may not run out as quickly, but it’s still water. Get it?

Change whatever you want about your circumstances or you, and you may feel better for awhile. You may feel greater security, or more affirmed, or more hopeful, but in the end, you are still just you... and not altogether different from everyone else, whether they’ve changed much about what’s in their life or not.

Jesus Christ does not want to change your life. He might change it, but that’s not His goal. He doesn’t want to add something to your to-do list. He isn’t interested in removing a little dirt, or cleaning up your appearance. He isn’t in the better-water business.

He’s in the “transform-it-into-something-else-completely business”.

He doesn’t want a change, or several changes. He wants total transformation. He doesn’t want to make a difference; He wants to make YOU different - completely.

He wants more than measurable, behavioral adjustments. He wants fundamental transformation of the very substance of your life. We too often think if we can make enough change to the water in the glass, God will change the external circumstances around the glass as a reward.

God’s given us His Life in Jesus Christ. Jesus is not an additive. He’s not an upgrade. He’s a total replacement. With Christ, I am still me - still my circumstances, still my history, but things ABOUT me haven’t just changed (though that is true); I HAVE BEEN UTTERLY CHANGED. Transformed. Of course, having an entirely different nature can (and often does) change the color, the depth, the boiling point or evaporation rate; but those are the BYPRODUCTS of the transformation, not the goal of the change.

Jesus changed the water into wine. He put the wine into water jars. It was where the water was - same circumstance. Yet it was no longer water. That’s true of us when we are transformed by Christ, too. We are no longer water in a glass - we are something else.

We’re “made new”. Lots ABOUT me is different, but to say that the difference between the water and wine was that it went from transparent to translucent - while true - is silly. It’s no longer water!

God wants to take mortal man, and give him immortal Life. He wants to take earthly individuals and make us an otherworldly family. Lowly people transformed into a Holy Nation. Transformed from substantially self-centric by nature to divinely empowered. ...Not just measurably different, but totally transformed.

I don’t need to be cleaned, upgraded, improved, polished or reworked. I need my life completely exchanged. I don’t need to find myself in different circumstances, I need a different me in my circumstances.

I believe God’s goal through Christ’s transforming work, is that as we believe the Truth of who we now are in Him, we live a different kind of life. Divinely different. Supernaturally supplied. Infinitely impacting the world around us. Living an eternal life with unearthly citizenship.

Knowledge is assenting to the truthful information. Wisdom is understanding what difference that knowledge makes. Faith is appropriating it - acting like that Truth really is true.

When we begin to learn and live as who we are in Christ, by faith, we will see unlike ever before the power of Christ in us. ...of an indwelling God. ...of a truly transformed life.

We won’t just be different. We will never be the same.

waiting...

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 19:55:04 -0600

I pulled up to the school at about five minutes before seven in the morning. I had no idea it would be over an hour before anyone else showed up!

We were serving with a local church plant that meets in another school near our discipleship service location. I thought their setup time began at 7a, but turns out I was a little off. I drove around the school, wondering where everyone was. I tried the doors in the front, in case folks were dropped off and didn’t have cars. ‘Drove back to the other side and tried those doors. Maybe I’ve missed someone while driving around, so I left my car and walked back to the front; still nobody. After about 45 minutes a custodian showed up and, looking skeptically in my direction, quickly opened the back door, slipped inside, and locked it.

Of course, it wasn’t TOO long before the pastor and his crew showed up, along with someone from my own ministry (who had the RIGHT time!), and after helping them setup, we enjoyed a fantastic time of worship and solid teaching.

But it got me thinking... I posted this comment on my facebook status:
Mike is wondering if I will ever imagine how much waits on me  instead of me waiting on Him.

What struck me is that though God’s sovereignty is certainly not dependent on me, His character is inherently relational. He wants me to engage with Him. My wondering was if I could even begin to conceive what God might do - all the things He might have for me and my life - if I would wait upon God.

So often, I find my patience stretched by a thousand things - traffic, ministry impact, revelation of those I serve, direction, impact, clarity. Yet God waits upon me... ever anticipating the moment I will look away from all I anticipate besides Christ Himself.

The Bible certainly is clear on the paradox: wait on God, soar like eagles and run unwearyingly (Is. 40). But I am seldom clear. How about you?

So, there I sat. Waiting upon people, on an event, on what God might do, provide, say, or direct. And it struck me. It is God Himself I long for. It is Jesus Christ who fulfills all the misplaced longing for every tirelessly passing moment.

And here’s the revelation: when you wait on God, you already have all that you anticipate. You’ve got Him. He’s already, unceasingly, ever-presently available. Maybe not to reveal exactly what I want, or meet my needs my way. But the Truth is that Jesus Christ lives in me (and you), and longs for me to long for Him.

As I write this, a girl sits nearby at another table. She keeps checking her phone. She turns to look out the window. Slowly her eyes blink. She curls up sideways in her chair, lays her head on the head rest, pulls her feet up under her, and falls asleep. A few minutes later, a young man, sitting behind a large group of kids in a Bible study, stands up and looks around, sees the girl, and walks over. Touching her shoulder, he wakes her. She smiles and looks at her watch. The two, without a word, slowly walk from the cafe.

God is waiting on you. His plans aren’t thwarted. He isn’t disappointed - He knows just when and how you’ll come looking for Him. But in His anticipation of you - as He waits on you - He never sleeps. He never wavers. He watches the very spot where you sit as you look for something from Him, something besides Him. And the moment you begin to look for Him, He will stand. He will reach out His arms.

...and in His abiding embrace you will find   more than you could ever hope or  imagine waits for you in Him.

Strategic Development

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:37:36 -0600

I’m meeting with a pastor today to work on strategic development for his church community, and I’m pretty excited to go through the process with him.

The term “strategic development” in the business world is often inferred upon a deliberately planned process of mergers, market maneuvers, or corporate reorganization which facilitates a companies growth in an intended direction. Thus, “Strategic Development” is the strategy a company employs for further development of business and markets.

Interestingly, having spent a chunk of time in this and related fields, I believe the processes of strategic development are largely wasted on business. The ultimate outcome of even the best strategic development is not really business development (as intended), but better process development. In other words, most businesses strategically approach market development (sales, new markets, increasing market share, etc.), which has so many external variables is nearly impossible to plan for, but fail to fully strategize the development of how they do business - workflow, creativity, leadership coaching, authentic culture & identity shifting, and even the strategic process of HOW to do strategic planning!

Okay - if it seems like I’m rambling, stay with me. The Church has been called a business (especially by large churches looking to employ business management practices). I disagree with this almost entirely. The Church is a people group. We are motivated culturally and relationally, not fiscally. We are connected by personal not corporate goals and experiences. We are engaged in a long-term, non-linear process of personal, and relational growth, as opposed to business’s linear, bottom line, short(er) term market growth.

Churches primarily implementing a business approach to strategic development (again, sales, new markets, increasing market share or market penetration, etc.) become country clubs, educational institutions, sales companies, fund-raising organizations, and even charitable organizations. All of which are great things in their respective places. However, the Church is a family - a group of God’s children growing together as we learn and grow through our older brother (Romans 8:29 even says, “...that He might become the first among many brothers).

Anyway - the strategic development that I see being absolutely vital to the Church is the same as that of a family: Who are we, What is God doing in our lives individually and corporately, how do we participate with Him in His process in each others’ lives? ...etc. This as opposed to developing a business plan: who is our market, how do we reach them, what do they want in a church, what will make us most efficient in person-to-dollar ratios, and how much will it take? ...etc.

Okay - there’s a bit of a foundation for further discussion. I want you to pray about this. You and I are the Church. We’re family. We’re a HUGE family, but it’s still family. We all have a role, we’re all connected, and we’re all growing relationally with Father and each other.

In future (not necessarily subsequent) posts, I want to explore strategic development within the Body. This is still a good and necessary thing as a PROCESS, but not so much as a BUSINESS. Environment, cultural development, relationship/team building, and personal growth AT EVERY LEVEL are some of the focal points of a group of people deliberately engaging together in each others’ spiritual journey. If you’d like to hear more on these kinds of topics (or NOT), let me know by email at mike@TheSanAntonioStone.com, or on Facebook (befriend Mike Daniel - San Antonio, TX of The San Antonio Stone).

If there is a lot of interest (or many that AREN’T interested), this may end up a separate blog. We’ll see!

My friends, God has blessed you, will keep you,  His face is shining upon you, He has always been gracious to you,  and He Himself is your Peace! Now go, walk with Him.

A Debate on Praying for Obama?

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:37:56 -0600

Received the following request from someone via Facebook who gave me permission to share on the blog. I think it’s important for us to come together on this as God’s Kids...

Mike:

Joseph Farah wrote an online article today in World Net Daily, entitled "Pray Obama Fails". Quite a different stance from some, (ie Robert Emmitt). If you get a chance to read it, I'd like to hear your opinions. Thanks!

-C.J.

Read Farah’s article Here (and then my response below):

My response:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay - I read Farah, and he has totally missed the point.

God uses government to enforce the common good. To that degree alone they are God's instrument. Of course it doesn't mean God is for every agenda of every leader - how could that be with so many leaders moving in opposing directions with opposing agendas!?

No - God is calling us to be subject to authority, and rightly so, or the welfare of the common good (protection and provision) will be against you. God is NOT affirming WHATEVER agenda a specific leader has.

I will NOT pray against Barrack Obama, but I will also NOT pray for the success of HIS AGENDA. Instead, I will pray for God's work in BO (what unfortunate initials). I will pray for God to work THROUGH him - whether in spite of Barrack or in cooperation with him, so that God's agenda - agreeably in conflict with much of the liberal agenda (and arguably some of the conservative agenda, too!) - will be accomplished for America.

I don't want Barrack's failure, but then again, I don't want mine either. Yet, God might use my failure as the Potter's Wheel of my life to shape me into a more useful vessel. At the same time, I don't want Barrack's success - who am I to direct God's plan in his life, and I certainly disagree with him.

I will pray FOR the President - neither his success nor his failure, but for HIM. ...that God will reveal Himself to our President. ...that God will give a greater wisdom and discernment in critical times to our President. ...that God will bring about His glory in our country with - or in spite of - our President (preferably WITH!).

...and I will pray that the Joseph Farah's of the world will have a heart more for God's work than their personal opinions.

I hope you'll pray that for me, too! :)

ridiculously, radically, irrevocably graced...
-mike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I welcome your questions, too, as we appropriate our Father’s grace and Christ’s Life in each of our  circumstances together! -md.

Today’s Word (dB:V)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:35:25 -0600

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers,  intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-for kings  and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful  and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.   - 1 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV

Thought this was a GREAT verse for today. Tomorrow we are inaugurating a new President. Historical? Yes. A little scary? Sure. He’s the first black Pres - most excellent. He’s also extremely liberal and a bit of a wild card - we know what he’s campaigned, and we know how he’s led previously, and we know they aren’t really well in line. Ergo, we’re not really sure what we’re getting!

I think Barrack is a really smart guy. I think he has lots of charisma (something recently lacking in a lot of ways). I’m even pretty happy with some of his Pre-Pres, choices (but not all by a long shot).

That said, we are clearly told in Scripture what our relationship as believers is to be, from our perspective, with our new President: Intercessors.

So, my friends, pray this week for your parents, pray for your city, and state government, pray for your pastors (...and THANK YOU!), and most certainly, pray for Barrack Obama.

...and may God bless America.

Church Burden

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:23:45 -0600

Today, I took a little time to pray for the Church in San Antonio and the pastors I know here.

If you’re reading this, you either are a pastor, are not a pastor, or maybe even used to be a pastor. ...Regardless, if you haven’t been there, like everything else in life, you can’t know the burden these guys carry.

The pressures of folks’ expectations on top of our own desires and burdens for our local churches, on top of the personal identity struggles of being successful (or not), on top of the very authentic burdens of time constraints and leadership responsibilities... all this and more (think about your financial, health, family, and ministry concerns multiplied by the number of people in your congregation!), add up to an impossible burden for each of our pastors in San Antonio.

For the cause of Christ, these leaders dare to be targets, scape goats, and tireless servants often without clear signs of progress or even the very common signs of regress!

Today, pray for our pastors. There is one Body, of which we are all a part, and yet those serving our local churches carry way too much of the burden of Christ’s call for His Church.

I praise you, Father, that by grace every impossible burden for pastors in San Antonio is ALREADY carried fully to the cross upon Jesus’ shoulders. Show each of us what it means to leave those burdens there, and allow Christ’s Life and rest to minister even more than our prowess as leaders, speakers, teachers, shepherds, and servants. Thank you, God for so many willing hearts to serve and shepherd in San Antonio. Bear them up in your perfect peace, Father.

Launching a Stone

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:32:56 -0600

Well, pre-launch, really. But It’s definitely flyin’!

We got the Stone Gathering up and running on Sunday evening, but not without it’s share of pro’s and con’s. Here are just a few:

Pro’s:
• My team rocked (pun intended). I can hardly believe how great everyone was... truly humbling and inspiring. People just stepped-up left and right to help setup, man tables, run errands, put-up signs. That is the Body at work at it’s finest. It’s not for pay or impressions, but purely following God in humble servitude. I was blown away by how the core group dove in. 
• Worship really was worship. Without fancy staging, or programming, we just went to God. It was very pure and people I think really responded to God’s call through our worship leaders. 
• People heard the Truth. More importantly, people received it and I’m hearing this week as they struggle to appropriate it in their lives and circumstances. What more could I ever hope for!? 
• It was a blast. A pastor friend of mine has this in their church’s mission statement: “Love God. Love others. Have a blast.” Well it sure was fun to go to Him as a truly unified Body, without agenda, obligation, demand, or expectation of each other. Nice.

Con’s:
• Started & ended late. We had some setup struggles the first night, so we ran later the whole time - intro, worship, message... all late. That can’t be repeated. 
• Lighting & recording were problems. Outside, people couldn’t see because the facilities exterior lighting is on a timer we can’t control. Inside, our video camera didn’t capture audio so we can’t put message numero uno online or in the archives. That’s a pretty big loss, but not insurmountable. Just part of pre-launch! 
• Invites. Many have asked me how the group was, attendance was, or “count” was. My response is always, “It was PERFECT!” What great power and freedom we have in Christ! :) That said, I know we haven’t really invited a ton of folks. Facebook fan page isn’t yet up, and not a lot of invite cards went out. Not too many people were added to the evite. I’m not concerned with who shows up, that’s up to God. I am EXCITED to make sure folks know what’s available. I hope people choose to come or not having been invited. I know God’s got that, and I’m excited to see how uses this opportunity to move each of us boldly forward. 
• Staging. Both the band and I were off to the right too far because of the screen fixed in the middle of the stage. This week, we’re going to work on centering a little better, but I’m not sure how that will get fixed. We’ll play with ideas for adding a riser in front, using a portable screen instead, or raising the screen some. Regardless, I’ll be in front of the screen this weekend. 
All in all, it was amazing to see God pull folks together in service & worship, and seek His Truth. I can imagine a hundred ways this little project could go and grow, but I’m sure I have yet to imagine what God will actually DO with us as His Church in San Antonio - not exclusively, but inclusive to all the wonderful leaders and local churches God is raising up in Alamo Town. 
We’re ready for you, Father!  We want to walk in all You’ve given us in Christ.  Let’s Go! Let’s see your Glory! Bring it LORD!

T-8

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:02:36 -0600

Well, we’re eight hours from the pre-launch Gathering of The San Antonio Stone.

Crazy jumble of feelings this morning: relief AND anxiety, excitement AND fretting, rest AND racing... It’s a second-by-second battle to not take things into my own hands! Father’s Word is for this very purpose - that we might discern the soulical battle from the spiritual reality.

Yet - I know God has a plan. I only get to know that plan in part. And in a few hours, He will begin to unfold that plan as we experience it!

I want my goal (notice the “I want...” in that!) to be exactly what I always share our goal to be in this life:

To experience more of who Jesus Christ is in the circumstance He is calling me to.

I don’t want my goal to be an event happening a certain way - we’re responding to His call to see more of Him.

I don’t want my goal to be attendance - His plan for His work is what we want to witness and even dare to participate in!

I don’t want my goal to be for everyone to like or be inspired by my message tonight - who can know the work God wants to do!?

Instead, like Paul, I want to know Christ, becoming like Him in His death that I might attain to His resurrected Life!

The tough part is even when we are involved in godly things, He is our goal, not His work.

His Life is ALWAYS found on the other side of death. To the degree that I can die to myself in The San Antonio Stone, I will experience His Life in me in the midst of it.

What more could any one of us ever desire?

FATHER - bring those You want to speak to tonight. Reveal yourself to each of us. Build YOUR Church - the WHOLE Church - in San Antonio. Transform us with Your Truth. Let us never be the same.

Us in the Church & the Church in US

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 00:40:44 -0600

Had a friend ask about how to plug into ministry because it was tough to find/know a “good church” for her. As you might guess, I have a little different perspective of what we look for when plugging into ministry...

I think the job of The Body is to mutually contribute to each others' growth in our Life in Christ - building a deeper relationship with Him through the Truth encouraged through the use of the gifts within the Church. Sounds complicated, but really it's simpler than we make it!

You need a place where you are challenged to appropriate the Truth of your identity in Christ by grace according to the New Covenant (His finished work, not our performance). So - First, find a place that challenges your understanding and application of who you are in Christ and your reliance upon Him (not work FOR Him).

Second, you need a venue to exercise your gifting and calling... are you gifted in mercy & called to work with kids? ...gifted in teaching and called to single moms? This is not as much about service as it is availability and opportunity on His "potter's wheel" for your life. It is critical that we get out of obligation-mode within the Church: There is nothing required of you that Christ's finished work (note it is ALREADY FINISHED!) has not already supplied!

There are no longer any "have to's" in Christ. Only "get to's"!!!

Finally, I don't think this is just about a local church, but the Whole Church. There really is One Body, and you are already a part. So - 1)find where The Church encourages Christ as your Life and your increasing dependence upon Him as your Source. ...And 2)as you grow in His sufficiency, He'll lead you to venues within His Body where He wants to uniquely empower you to reveal Himself through your gifts.

One of the goals of The Stone is to equip this kind of discipleship in Christ as our Life by grace, and then build bridges between those of us attending and the opportunities throughout The Body to be used as God leads. Many at The Stone Gathering will be leaders or attenders within local churches (I get to work with some amazing leaders throughout the city - each gifted to reveal Christ's Life in unique ways!); some won't be plugged-in anywhere else but The Stone.

The goal is not assimilation, but appropriation.

There are a few churches in San Antonio really teaching Christ's sufficiency, but most are very challenged to fully empower the freedom we have in Christ. My hope is that the sufficiency of His grace will build a greater unity and growth in the Whole Body.

I'd love to see what you feel God is doing in your life, and help find some of the next steps on His path for you. Call or email me, or catch me at our gathering to talk about some specific ministries you might plug into based on where you find yourself now.

Remember: You are free! You are loved! You are a daughter of a Heavenly Father and full participant of Christ's Divine Life! Our only challenge is not to become free, loved, worthy, or holy, but to live out of His love, His freedom, and His worthiness THAT IS ALREADY OURS! Plug in where this can be most appropriated in your life.

Hope this helps!

ridiculously graced...
-mike.

not (quite ) crazy New Year

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 20:54:11 -0600

“I’m not crazy, Pepper; I just finally know what I’ve got to do.”

Today is the fist day of a New Year. In the season of resolutions and renewed determination, it may be really easy to miss the point. The quote above is a line from “Iron Man”, when Tony Stark realizes that all the involvements of high society, all the pleasures of his cosmopolitan and lavish lifestyle, are worthless. What brought him to such a conclusion? ...the clarity of purpose that comes from narrowness of focus. Stark, the comic hero said, “There is nothing except this. There is no art opening; there is no benefit... nothing to sign. There is nothing but the next mission.”

The apostle Paul put it this way: “...Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

When we find the significance of solitary purpose, nothing else has significance.

Paul goes on in Hebrews 12 to one of my most often quoted verses: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...”

You see, when we discover the magnitude of our Life and significance in Christ by grace, everything pales in comparison. We realize there is nothing except this... there is no occupation; there is no other pursuit - material or emotional. There is nothing left for us to accomplish. There is nothing for us except Christ.

In that moment when His life eclipses everything else invading our life - when we throw off everything else that might entangle or distract - we then can see the singularity of Jesus, and the race we run with Him as He moves us more deeply into His Life through the path before us.

Now - go. Run with Jesus. Don’t stop. Don’t look to the left or the right. Don’t be distracted and don’t be dismayed. Seize the New Year with new fervor.

Until there is nothing but Christ.

Sunrise, Sovereignty, & Sufficiency

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:42:18 -0600

I’m sitting on our flight from South Dakota to Denver. The sunrise is amazing, as I reflect on some of the craziness of the week... bags got lost ...our ride from SD to NE couldn’t get to South Dakota due to weather ...and our flight scheduled for Saturday afternoon couldn’t get out proverbially “out of Dodge” until o’dark-thirty this morning (two days later).

Towards the end of the week, we decided to catch a movie, and I realized my I hadn’t pulled my wallet out of my carry-on bag since we arrived. Just think about that for a sec. Here we are, thousands of miles from home, having gone without luggage, missing rides, and changes of plans, yet I hadn’t paid for a single thing in a week. Stacia’s family had provided a warm place to stay (not an easy feat in sub-zero weather!), food (lots of it, several times a day), and great fellowship time. We even had to borrow some toiletries till our bags arrived, and some cold weather gear for hiking and my running excursions (can you believe I ran twice while there!?).

I think this is what God wants for us with Him, too. He wants to be our Provision for everything we need - physically, emotionally, spiritually, and more. From what we eat, how we feel, and who we are - Jesus is the Source. These days, this takes quite a conscious effort for me - like having to remind myself daily NOT to pull out my wallet to pay Stacia’s mom every time she made a home-cooked meal (how insulting would THAT be?!) - I have to be very intentional to rely on Jesus. That’s actually a huge improvement for me, having gone years never even KNOWING to rely on Him as my Source for everything! How great will it be when one day, hopefully in the not-so-distant future, I have a default of NOT trying to do it myself! I can hardly wait when I might go a weak of receiving and walking in Christ’s sufficiency without reaching for my own emotional wallet, relying on my own material security, or establishing my own performance-based identity.

How did that play out this week? Well, because we didn’t have a ride out of Rapid City upon arrival, we spent some wonderful time with family that weren’t yet headed to Nebraska. Great relationship building with a family we never get to ourselves! Our bags arrived before we headed out the next morning - and they had spare stuff for us at the house (we lacked for nothing). Our flight home getting cancelled kept me from preaching Sunday morning upon my return - but the pastor I was filling in or was happily available and Stacia got an extra day off on Monday! It also gave me a day working on some long-awaiting projects I didn’t expect anytime soon. We even got more time with Stacia’s brother and his fam in Rapid City before getting out.

Basically, it’s not too tough to see that every “mishap” was really God’s gracious gift of extra rest, resourcefulness, and relationship building. God’s sovereignty, as we received and trusted His grace this week, has brought us more than we could have anticipated - and MUCH MORE than we had planned.

So, now the sun is up. We’ve arrived at the Denver airport. A cup of coffee, maybe some breakfast, and a magazine perusal. I’ll probably do my long run tonight, and may get to preach for my friend’s church next weekend instead of yesterday...

‘Can’t wait to see what God’s unexpected gifts will be - contrarily or cooperatively with our own plans - today. After all, whatever is in my wallet is His anyway, right?

It really was a beautiful sunrise. 

24

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:00:24 -0600

it is exactly 24 days until our pre-launch event of The San Antonio Stone. Between today and January 11th lie Christmas - with all it’s festivities, family visits, gift exchanges, and church functions - and New Years - a worldwide celebration of the somewhat arbitrary-yet-curious passage of time.

What will you do after the fanfare of the holidays …after the resolutions …after the visiting and celebrating? I know for me, there is EXACTLY twenty-four days until I will be standing out in front of Lopez Middle School. The band will be warmed up. The chairs will be set up. The lights will come up. I’ll greet and shake hands with all our guests (first-timers every one!) who show up.

… and in that instant, a page will turn and a new chapter will begin in my life. Maybe your story and my story will become part of the same story: of Christ, and grace, and Life, and faith, and joy, and hope, and purpose.

Hope we get to share His Story in the making! -md.

Sovereign Grace

Mon, 8 Dec 2008 11:34:38 -0600

"In his heart, a man plans his course,
but the Lord determines his steps." - Proverbs 16:9

This last week God has established an unexpected theme in my ministry - maybe you can relate...

I met with three senior level leaders whose circumstances were each very different, but God's appropriated Truth was very much the same:

1) The first has a huge ministry. He is working to raise up leaders within his congregation, and just isn't sure where they will come from. God's Truth is that Jesus will build His Church; as individuals receive the identity, freedom, grace, and empowerment they have in Christ (discipleship), they will be more available for and and aware of God's ministry through them. Ultimately, as God leads individuals into service through their awareness of Him, we can trust His sovereignty that the sum of the call upon the individuals IS the work He as ordained or that local church. In other words, we don't recruit leaders; we disciple individuals trusting God's call through their increased availability IS the work He wants done! What great freedom for this pastor as an equipper - that as he participates with God in the lives of His flock, God will raise up the leaders He has called, for the ministry He has planned!

2) The second is a planter of a new, thriving local church. He knows the Truth of Christ as our Life, but has never seen a ministry not focused on the funds necessary for ministry. How do we avoid a performance mentality - the legislation of giving - and still have the finances to serve? The question we got to explore together is whose job it was to fund the ministry? Of course, it is not only God's responsibility to fund it, it is His DESIRE to be the one who provides for it! So often, we see ministry struggle financially because they want to motivate giving instead of trusting God to fund whatever He desires done. As leaders, when we share the finished work of Christ within us, the Church is inspired to participate in God's work financially for others. However, when we try to persuade giving for more service, buildings, or resources, people give out of obligation and performance - believing in the work, but responding in the flesh. This pastor realized that we participate with God by utilizing the resources He gives, instead of seeking resources for what we would like to do FOR God. His members will soon be hearing about a much greater freedom in what God wants for their giving, because when we get away from all the "have to's" of the Christian lifestyle, we begin to experience all the "get to's" of the Christ life!

3) Finally, another senior pastor I met with last week is stuck between what he wants to do for his congregation, and his own time limitations - how can I do more with less? We discussed what I call the "Rudder Effect" of ministry. God opens up a channel for ministry, and yet allows obstacles to prevent that ministry from fully taking place (at least for a season). Where's the grace?! The "Rudder Effect" is when God brings resistance to change our direction (like the water-resistance creating pressure against the rudder of a ship). Maybe God is calling the pastor to ministry he can't possibly do without equipping more leaders within the local church, or without incorporating the Whole Church in San Antonio, or without simply greater dependence and rest in Christ instead of how it could all work out in his own perspective. Ultimately, we agreed that God was in fact calling him to ministry that would force him (see the resistance) to empower other leadership within his church - not only for the sake of the ministry, but for the discipleship of those leaders AND for the releasing of ministry by the senior pastor. Everyone will grow and more ministry will be accomplished because of the resistance God allowed in this pastor trying to move forward in God's clear call to ministry.

Proverbs 20:24 says, "A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?"

Could God be wanting you to realize an even greater grace in your life and ministry this week? Are you excited about God's sovereign grace in your life, even when it calls you to trust whomever He might use, however He might use them, whatever He might resource (or not), and whatever resistance He might allow? Are you experiencing freedom from all the "have-to's" of Christian performance and enjoying the "get-to's" of Christ's life? In the final analysis, whatever God is calling you to will bring you to a greater experience of Him - and a greater expression of Him - as you choose a greater dependence upon Him this week and in the coming year. I trust that you have not begun to imagine all He has for you as His grace proves more than sufficient for all your steps - as He directs - in the days ahead.

Have a wonderful Christmas! ...and please let us know how we can come alongside you in ministry and how to be praying for you in the next few weeks.

Three Questions of the Church

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:26:31 -0600

hey, gang!

check out the linked blog entry on TransformSA.com. It’s short and you’ll have an immediate response or two, I’m sure. So… stop by and add your two Lincolns worth!

Go HERE…

Building the Church

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:34:50 -0600

The linked article was by request from TransformSA.com. I encourage you to contribute to the comments at their website if you have any thoughts, as they are hoping it will continue to generate some traffic for their site (had about 300 hits since it was recently posted on the 11th). If we support it, we may continue to have opportunities to share the Truth of our freedom, life, grace, identity, and empowerment in Christ!

Thanks, Gang! Here’s the blog, article, and video(s): “Building the Church?” -md.

The Hand of Authority in America

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 12:36:51 -0600

Hello, my friends. Many of you (probably most reading this blog) voted for John McCain. Now you may feel like you have lost something significant, and I can certainly relate to that feeling. Others voted for Barrack Obama, and you may now feel like you have gained something - an easily encouraged emotion after such a hard-fought political battle.

I’d like to share a word from Scripture that should bring us all back to neutrality - not having lost or gained anything, but witnessing the sovereignty of an awesome God.

The young prophet Daniel was in a very politically charged environment early in his tenure in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was a king that wielded ridiculous authority over those in his court. Advisors and significant officials were appointed, dismissed, even executed at the king’s whim. In a particularly dark hour, he began executing those in his court that couldn’t give him the answer he wanted. Daniel was called upon to advise the ol’ Neb at risk of his life as well. And in seeking and discovering a great mystery of God’s sovereignty, Daniel proclaimed the providence of Jehovah:
 
“Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:     ‘Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;         wisdom and power are His.

He changes times and seasons;     He sets up kings and deposes them.         He gives wisdom to the wise         and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;     He knows what lies in darkness,         and light dwells with Him….” 

God has chosen to place Barrack Obama in the presidency. You and I have a responsibility in that process, but it is God alone who sets up and deposes leaders. Joseph & Mary were responsible for going to Bethlehem for the census. Caesar had an agenda he was executing through that very census. But it was God’s sovereignty that empowered Caesar and Joseph and Mary for a much grander agenda than the world has ever known.

Tonight, whether for or against a more liberal president, whose popularity dramatically increased in conjunction with the advent of a national economic crisis virtually designed and precisely timed for the demise of republican authority - we may pretend there is a shift in national agenda, we may feel like there has been a usurping of position or a turning of power - a changing of seasons - but the truth is we have witnessed the oft-overlooked deliberately disguised hand of God. I pray, as Daniel did, that God will reveal to us the mystery of His sovereignty in our generation. I pray that He will pull back the veil of His agenda. …that He will undermine every voice raised against His glory. …that He will supernaturally express His grace in the lives of His people. …that He alone will draw every eye, every heart, and every thought to Himself.

In so praying, I am confident that God’s agenda is ultimately advanced. His will SHALL be done. His kingdom WILL come. We will know Him on earth, as He is revealed in Heaven. And in Christ alone be the kingdom, and the power, and the glory - now and forevermore.

New Article & Two Videos

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:41:04 -0600

Just finished a new article on “The True Church” for TransformSA.com, entitled “Building the Church”. The first video is a teaser being sent out on email.

To be fair to TransformSA.com, I’m going to wait a day or two so they have a chance to post the article before I post the second video and article here.

Check back soon!

Why Vote  (though you’re planning NOT to)

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:45:22 -0500

you may be thinking your vote can’t possibly matter - and you’re tired of the political rhetoric, preferring to avoid the whole scene at this point. i want to give you three quick reasons why your vote really matters regardless of who wins your state…

1. non-presidential votes. there are other critical issues for state and local governments that will be decided by our legislature, commissioners, and others. though you may not be very familiar with them all, you can, where necessary, vote based on platforms - republicans’ economic empowerment verses democrats’ government intervention enablement was a major decision for a couple of those I voted for. There was one item I didn’t feel qualified (sadly) to weigh-in on, so i skipped it. the local elections represent the pool of potential candidates for bigger elections later. we too often complain we don’t have good options for mayor, governor, senate and congress seats… even president, yet those seats are seeded by local officials we vote into the political arena earlier in their careers.

2. popular vote still matters. whether your “preferred candidate” wins or not may not be decided by a state electorate vote won or lost by thousands, but as we’ve seen with gore and bush a few years back, the popular vote - total votes per candidate - has a lot to do with what the electorate does when they have close calls AND how the media spins victory or defeat as a statement about our government. too often popular votes point politicians toward issues in ways Christ-followers disagree with, but we have avoided casting our opinion in the political thinking pool, regardless of the elections results. in other words - the issues represented by the candidates are bigger than the candidates themselves; they’ll affect future candidates, congressional votes on issues that matter over the next 2-4 years, and the cultural crises as they are spun in the media.

3. a critical counter-balance i have a concern that because mccain/palin is favored in texas, many texans for them won’t bother. if that happens, it misrepresents that even here, obama is favored more than he is in conservatives’ thinking. personally, i believe he has misrepresented himself as is borne out by his history. i feel he sympathizes too strongly and personally with those who do not have america’s interests at heart. i also believe even if obama wins, we will benefit from a close popular vote that does not iterate a strong liberal empowerment for his presidential agenda. 
okay - take a half-hour today (or a couple of hours on tuesday!) and VOTE! it’s SERIOUSLY worth exercising a right that hundreds have died to give and protect. for those of you who believe you can’t vote on the sovereignty of God (you know who you are), God’s sovereignty is God’s job; your acting in faith with the opportunities He gives you, is your choice.
you will be glad you did.

Grace & Discipline

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:12:50 -0500

I had someone who knows and operates in the Truth of Christ’s Life ask an important question of me recently, “If we aren’t under the law, why would we be disciplined?” GREAT question!

We know God’s discipline is real. No one asked me IF there was discipline under grace, but WHY there is discipline under grace. So, where do we look in Scripture?

Hebrews 12 is one of the best discourses on God’s discipline - IF we discover it within it’s context!

v.1 - “…since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

The writer has just detailed the annuls of biblical heroes - the annuls of the righteous. Every one of whom failed in their flesh but had their faith - their dependence upon God - counted to them as righteousness. Here, he in essence says, “Hey - we’re engulfed in an ancestry replete with testimony of God’s faithfulness in spite of us! Let’s believe their testimony - their witness - and throw off everything that leads us into bondage so we can live (run) as God calls (the race marked out for us)!” He’s setting us up for the REASON we’re disciplined. We are TOO EASILY ENTANGLED in the wrong stuff (which he’ll show us next)! Then the writer continues (keep in mind this is the CONTEXT of the teaching on discipline - wait for it… wait for it…):

v.2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Here, the letter writer is describing the narrowness of focus on the race we are called to - fixing our eyes on the “one thing” worth our focus, Jesus Christ. He is in a positive way telling us to NOT focus on behavior, impact, fruit, evangelism, calling, God’s will, etc. He says we must fix our eyes on the Source, and all these things will result through the transformation Jesus makes as the Author (designer) and Perfecter (builder) of our life of faith. Now, this is critical to everything else the writer says in the chapter. God - through the finished work of Jesus on the cross will accomplish all He desires for us as we REORIENT OUR FOCAL POINT from ourselves, our behavior, our significance, our agenda, and our success to Christ alone. He has designed a life for us we cannot live; He will accomplish the life only He can live through us. Just as He died, resurrected, ascended, and is in perfect fellowship with the Father, so He alone is able to bring us to death, life, glory, and fellowship in Himself with God. Go back and read v. 2 again. This is Life with Christ as our Source, and everything following depends upon this Truth. Then he continues…

vv.3-6 - “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:   ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,   and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,   because the Lord disciplines those he loves,   and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’“

Remembering Christ’s example as a dependent Son who modeled the faith-life as He designed it, we can receive discipline as from a Loving Father, not a torturing tyrant! If God disciplines out of love - it’s not for us to win His favor (law); we are already RECEIVING LOVE! It’s not for Him to exact justice (we no longer live out of a relationship with the law, cf. Romans 7) Instead, the discipline is FOR our benefit.

vv.7-10 - “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”

Do you remember the goal - not behavior, but dependence? …not dominating rules, but divine relationship? …not imitation but transformation? God wants us to experience the Life that comes from a focus on Christ as the Source. He wants us to be free of the bondage of entangling flesh. His goal is NOT payment for sin (Jesus paid that already, right?), but Life through His Spirit within us! Having laid the foundation in the context of Christ as our Life (not focusing on any other source or purpose for our life), he is now making his point - since our focus is Christ, and Jesus Himself is both the means to the goal, and the goal at the end of the means (author AND perfecter), expect God’s love to be exercised in our life to help reorient our focus from the flesh (self, independence, performance, guilt, obligation, etc.) to the spirit (our true identity in Christ with Him as the Source of righteousness, purpose, peace, rest, freedom, hope, significance, joy, etc.).

If you are a believer, God has already accepted you. Your sin is already paid for. Your identity is already secure. His love is already yours. You are His child. He is your Abba.
We experience His discipline because of His favor, not because we are out of His favor.
For what purpose? …to move us into a greater experience of the Life we already have in Christ, as His pruning discipline shows us where we focus on anything but Him as our Source.
…And to the degree we receive this loving exercise in our life, we experience Him as the GREATER Provision for Life, from which everything else naturally grows… as we grow in receiving grace, by faith, and run the race more intentionally, in Rest.

Feel Like Your Compass is Broken?

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:15:44 -0500

I was watching the movie “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins. They crashed a plane in the woods far from where anyone would search. His character, Charles, took the end of a paperclip, rubbed it on silk to magnetize it, and set it on a leaf in still water. The tip pointed towards the north, and they knew they needed to head south - the opposite direction.

Alec Baldwin’s character said, “That doesn’t feel like south, Charles.”
Charles replied, “Just because you’re lost, doesn’t mean you say your compass is broken.”

It really struck me as a great line.

So often we know the Truth of our identity in Christ. We know that in Christ, what is true of Jesus is true of us. In Him, we are righteous, loved, significant, free, hopeful, forgiving, peaceful, at rest, and so much more. Yet, we don’t feel righteous. We don’t feel significant. We are not experiencing circumstances conducive to peace and rest and hope.
But we know the Truth - we see it in God’s word, and we’ve experienced God’s love in Christ finished work on the cross.

Just because I can often feel lost… just because I don’t always experience the truth, that doesn’t mean the Truth isn’t true.

In Christ, you are loved, when you don’t feel loved. You are righteous, when you don’t feel righteous. You are significant, when you don’t see of feel significant. You are free. You are a child of the King. You are at the right hand of God in Christ.

Just because in your circumstances, feelings, or immediate experience you seem lost, it doesn’t mean your Compass is broken.

Therefore, Wherefore...

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:19:19 -0500

I’m excited about prayer this morning.

That may seem kinda like getting excited about tap water - everyone is glad it’s there, uses it a lot, and knows it would be tough without it, but it doesn’t stir a lot of excitement. When was the last time you heard an exclamation, “Woo Hoo! TAP WATER!”?

Yet, I am excited about prayer. I had the privilege to pray with a handful of folks at a Christian school this morning. Man, did it enthuse me! Why, you ask? What did we pray about that was so exciting?

Clarity.

Not too “woo-hooable” yet? Okay - here’s the hitch: whatever is true, whatever you and choose to believe, will become alive - real - in our life if we take the tenet of truth to the next level with a “Therefore, wherefore…” What’s that mean? It means I can say, “Therefore, wherefore Christ is within me as a believer, I am not needing Bob’s affirmation today,” (in which “Bob” = anyone through whom you usually try to get needs met; and in which “affirmation” is whatever need you feel “Bob” might meet!).

“Therefore, wherefore…” means since THIS is true (biblical), THAT must also be real (my experience). It says, “Since God is righteous, He will ultimately justify my current crisis”; or “Since I have all things in Christ, I don’t have to gain anything from the meeting I’m walking into right now.” Basically “therefore, wherefore one thing is true, I can appropriate it to my immediate circumstance.”

I realize there’s a little archaic language linguistic judo here. Switch it around if that helps: ”Wherefore God loves me, therefore, I really love this tough person.”

So - some critical, take-it-up-with-the-Holy-Spirit, questions: What is true for you? I can’t tell you what God has made ring true for you (that doesn’t mean truth is relative, but certainly God’s revelation of truth is). What has God shown you to be true from His Word, from your experience, from His kids (that’s us)? Now, Wherefore THAT is true, THEREFORE…. what?

Maybe God has revealed through Jesus’ work on the cross that you are really loved. So what? What difference should that make in your day? Therefore, wherefore you are REALLY loved, you can live today with total acceptance, or confidence He’s with you, or trust in His sovereign choices for you, or responsiveness by loving Him through all you do.

My point is pretty simple (believe it or not). We can appropriate the Truth of Christ’s life, by uncovering the implications for that Truth for immediate circumstances.

“…You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”   - John 8:32

We apply the Truth of Life and grace, by clarifying with God how I can live because of that Truth. Ask yourself, “If this is TRUE, then how should that make my circumstance different?” Along the way, you will likely begin to discern some of the lies we’ve been living out - “I’m getting identity from that person’s opinion,” or, “I’ve gotten so upset because I’m clinging to rights that I don’t have to enforce!” Peace and rest and hope and significance will come as God clarifies His Truth, and His Truth sets us free. And the Truth is that in Christ, you have more than you know.

So - get excited with me about your conversations with God. Get excited about the implications of what He may reveal. Get psyched about the clarity this kind of thinking can bring to your walk with Him… and the joy, love, peace, and hope that results… and the people it may impact.

Therefore, wherefore the Truth CAN be applied to your life, today you CAN walk in His Truth.