Power Over Fear

Can even the most unfortunate situations serve to advance the mission of God? Philippians 1 gives us evidence that it can. Paul was writing from a Roman jail to the church in Philippi when he writes this: "I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has been known throughout the entire imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear." (1:12-14)

Paul didn't let his circumstances stop him from proclaiming the gospel and being a cog in God's wheel as God fulfills his mission. In fact, he saw his circumstances as a way to advance God's mission to groups of people that would otherwise may not hear the gospel...the prison guards.

Not only that, but his boldness in difficult circumstances gives others courage to be bold as well. Prison is used as a deterrent to modify behavior. If Paul was thrown into prison for preaching, he was demonstrating that the threat of prison is no match for God and His gospel. The gospel would advance regardless even to those administrating his sentence.

The power of the gospel remains the same today as in Paul's time...so the question becomes what deters us from advancing God's mission? Examine yourself, give your fears to God and let God work through you to advance His mission. There is nothing powerful enough on earth to deter God, even your fears and anxieties.

Opportunities Unfolding Beneath our Eyes

As we seek to transform the city of Phoenix through Christ, we are discovering lots of "little ways" that God is giving us to serve others (though it makes a huge impact on others lives).

For instance, we have committed to bring food for three months and other support on an as needed basis to a family in dire need whose daughter attends a local school. The father is a self-employed electrician who was diagnosed with cancer and is unable to work, so we are standing in the gap as best we can to assist this family in their time of need.

Another teacher from that local school needs assistance with one of her students from another country.

We are getting involved with the group of refugee students from Somolia who lack the basic life skills to survive in America.

We are beginning to put together a tutoring group for the student athletes at Camelback High in in conjunction with Young Life and hope that will turn into a Young Life group for that campus.

All of these things are happening because we have taken a vested interest in the community. We have let it be known to everyone who will listen that we are here to work with the community on things that we share in common. (i.e. we want improved literacy among high school students as does the community, we want to care for those who are in a difficult spot in life as does the community, etc.) and God is bringing these type of opportunities to us.

We imagine the same is true in your community...let it be known how you want to serve and then watch as God opens the doors of the community to serve.

The Big Timeout

Boy, it has been a good long while since we posted anything. This is due partly to a personal move and partly due to a vacation. It never ceases to amaze me how disruptive a move is to a family. Our stuff fit perfectly into our old house, but our new one which is bigger is drastically configured differently and has presented us with unique and interesting challenges. Can anyone relate?

Well, we are on the tale end of it and life is returning to normalcy. So here we are.

Through the ebbing and flowing of life each one of us reaches a point of despair. It's a place of agony and blues because we sense that God is not working in our lives. Even as God marches on to fulfill His mission, we feel somehow that we have missed the bus and that we are on our own. This is why the book of Lamentations is so important. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, chronicles through beautiful poetry the anguish of his heart and it reflects the anguish of ours too.

Many of us spend much time, at least in our own eyes, waiting on the Lord and Jeremiah expresses this so well in chapter 3..."the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quitely for the salvation of the Lord...the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love."

So there will be times in each of our lives that as we are marching down the road being used as God's instrument that He will put us in "timeout" for a season so that we may draw nearer to Him. When you find yourself in this season may Lamentations 3 comfort you in your time of need.

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

So is the title of Paul David Tripp's book on helping others through difficult times in life. It is also used in Acts 9 - albeit in a different way. God tells Ananias that Paul is His chosen instrument "to carry my name before the Gentiles" (v. 15)

God continues to march on to accomplish His mission of bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. At the time Paul was just the latest human that He was going to use to to accomplish His mission. As we will see in the the coming days, God used Paul in the a variety of contexts crossing national boundaries and cultures to redeem His people.

God uses us in a similar way today. We are all ambassadors of Him who have relationships with others across many different segments of society. This is most readily seen for those of us who work in large offices or institutions like hospitals. In work places like this we see the economic and ethnic diversity from the support staff to the executives and everyone in between.

God puts us in places with our co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family so that He can accomplish His mission through us...for we are instruments in the Redeemer's hands.

Our Lunch with the School

Okay...we hosted a luncheon for 37 of the faculty and staff of Squaw Peak School on Thursday. There were six ladies who knocked themselves out making sandwiches and cutting fruit and veggies for the lunch. The teachers were so appreciative and we all had a wonderful time.

The principal was gracious to allow me a few minutes to introduce ourselves and tell them why we were there. I gave each person who attended the luncheon an index card to write down their prayer requests and six out 37 did...with more to come. I also gave each one of them my business card and told them that if they know a family in crisis or has just experienced a tragedy and they don't know were to turn to call me.

Well, I walked into the school Friday morning to pick up some stuff and got pulled aside with our first request. There is a family in great need as the dad was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia that kids normally get three weeks ago. He own his own small business and to keep expenses at a minimum they have forgone health insurance. Their only son is trying to keep the business afloat during this time. Their youngest daughter, a nine year old fourth grader, is having the most difficult time because she is daddy's little girl.

The mommy came to the teacher with all of this Thursday afternoon after our luncheon and the teacher got in touch with us Friday morning. (God's timing maybe?) I will be visiting with the mom along with someone from the school early this week to see how we can come along her side to help them in their time of need.

Even if it is meals and cleaning the house, we will come along the side of the family and help them as we can. We have a pediatric oncology nurse who has offered to talk to the family and bring along a child life specialist to help them during this time.

God often uses a crisis like this to draw people to Him. Being instruments in His hands, we are his eyes, ears, and hands as He marches on to accomplish His mission. Who knows how all of this will turn out, but it is a privilege to have the opportunity to help a family in their time of need.

Meeting the Local School

Today is another first for us as we are hosting a lunch for 37 faculty and staff of our local elementary school. Since we are renting their facility on Sundays, one of our attendees suggested that we host a lunch and introduce ourselves to them. So we are.

We threw out the idea to our congregation on Sunday and they responded wonderfully. One person is making all the sandwiches, one is doing the fruit, another one the vegetables, and one is doing the drinks!

We will be sharing with them our heart to work together on the the things that we can work together on; thank them for letting us use their facility; give them a little pep talk; invite them to keep our contact information handy in case they find out if one of their kid's families is in crisis; and invite them to write down their name and grade level so that we may pray for them through out the school year.

Our hope is that this will open up a door and that we will be able to pour our lives into the the people who educate our children.

Please pray for us today.

God is Faithful in Fulfilling His Mission

We get a glimpse of God being faithful in Joshua 26. The Lord has given the Jews rest after they followed through with what God had told them what to do...namely take the land of the Canaanites as the land that He promised them and defeat the peoples who occupied that land. This could not have been done without the Lord going before them as the Jews didn't have the advanced weapons that their opponents had, nor did they have the fortifications, or the strength to defeat them.

In order for the Israelites to dwell in the promised land, the Lord had to make it happen and He did. This should give us great encouragement for us to complete our mission....namely to make disciples. Jesus commanded us that this is what we ought be doing in Matthew 28 and Acts 1. He also tells us that He will be with us till the end of the age.

Jesus is with us today as God was with the Israelites back in Joshua's day. This does not be mean that life will be easy for us or that making disciples will be easy either. It just means that Jesus will strengthen us to keep on keeping on in spite of the obstacles, conflicts, and tensions of life (Phil. 4:13) until He completes His mission or until He calls us home.

So take heart my friends, Jesus is paving the way for us to complete His mission that He has given to us; he is active in our lives nudging us along (sometimes more forcefully than others) to become more like Him and less like ourselves; to tell others about His love; and to make disciples. We are not doing this by ourselves, but with the power of the one who made the heavens and the earth!

Working with the Schools

Well we are off to a wonderful start with Squaw Peak School. The staff has welcomed us with open arms and are excited that we are using their cafeteria as a worship space on Sundays. Our relationship with the principal is second to none and we are beginning to plan to do some joint events this school year.

This Thursday will be a big day for us as we will provide lunch for 22 teachers at the school. This will give us an opportunity to introduce ourselves to the faculty, share our vision for the community, and get to know them. We hope that we will be able to build a bridge to them and show them that we are 100% behind their efforts to educate our kiddos.

Who knows where all of this will end up, but we are very excited that God has opened the door to begin to work with our local school.

Another Aspect of What God Does

As God marches through time accomplishing His mission, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:2) This is a way that God shows up in people's lives to demonstrate that He is a living God and continues to build on His testimony of who He is and what He can do.

That is to say, many folks from every generation can testify to God's love, grace, mercy, provision, and comfort because of the work that He has done in their lives. He is the true and living God who is abundant in power and infinite in understanding...one whose compassions are new every morning. This is life transformational stuff that encourages our hearts when we hear how God has entered into a someone's life and transformed it.

This could also be used as part of our testimony as we describe to others how God has worked in our lives and what He means to us.

Let's praise God today for how He has healed us and ask Him to strengthen us to tell others about the marvelous works of our Lord and Savior.

Our Vision, God's Mission

Our vision at Morningside is to "pass the message of Christ to the next generation." David writes in Psalm 145 that "one generation shall commend your (the Lord's) works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts." (v. 4) He continues exhorting the one generation to declare His "fame of abundant goodness"; "sing aloud your righteousness"; "speak of the glory of your (His) kingdom"; "tell of your (His) power" and to make known to the children "your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your (His) kingdom."

Notice all the action that we are responsible for: declaring, singing, speaking, telling, and making known. Each of us are to communicate who God is, what He has done, and the hope that we have in Him as we go throughout life. This stuff is to be a part of our DNA...to be a part of the very essence of who we are.

This is one of the ways that God accomplishes His mission - through us telling the next generation. Let's be of good cheer and unashamed to continually tell the next generation (your kids, grandkids, and others in those age groups) the wonder and hope of our Lord.

The Darker Side of God's Mission

It's clear that God uses His people who He has redeemed as instruments in His hands to accomplish His mission. Whew! That was a mouthful...but what happens when His people turn from Him and replace Him with "other gods" like money, fame, astrology, materialism, or fusing Christianity with other religions or philosophies? God disciplines them.

We see this time and again throughout the Old Testament as the Israelites turn from God then return to Him over and over again. We have to always keep in mind that God's plans will never be thwarted. He will not be denied regardless of the way His people act. He simply makes life incredibly hard on them as Jeremiah proclaims in Jeremiah 5 as He marches on to accomplish His mission.

The Jews at the time were callused toward God. They forsook Him and worshiped other gods; they were unjust and did not care for the poor, widows, or orphans; nor did they seek truth and refused to take correction; their priests followed their own direction not God's and the prophets falsely prophesied. They had stubborn and rebellious hearts.

Yet God in His infinite love and mercy did not kill them, rather He sent them away into captivity until they repented.

So what does this have to do with God's mission and us?

We may ask ourselves from time to time, why isn't God doing more in my city? It seems as if He isn't present. Well God is present, but His people may have fallen out of love with Him and gone their own way much like the Jews during Jeremiah's time. From false teachings to not caring about what God cares about and everything in between, God will not work through those who rebel against Him, regardless if they have confessed in Him.

So God may be working on those rebellious hearts and turning their hardness into softness and this takes time. Then He can do remarkable things through them. May we pray that our hearts would never turn hard toward Him, but remain sensitive to His calling on our lives. May we also pray for those who know Him yet have rebelled against Him that they too would return to Him so that He can do incredible things through them.

How God Advances His Mission Part 2

It's interesting that God uses people like us to accomplish His mission. He promised that the Israelites would have their own land and then He used them to fulfill His promise. In Joshua 10 and 11, the Israelites are taking the promised land one tribe at a time by utterly destroying each of them. What's interesting is that the Israelites are not defeating these tribes under their own power, but by God's power who has gone before them. (10:8) Couple this fact with the commands that God had given the Israelites in the last part of Deuteronomy and the first of Joshua that they take the promised land and you have God telling the Israelites what to do and then going before them to clear the path so that they may be successful.

We find the same pattern in the New Testament. Jesus commands believers to go and make disciples (Matt. 28) and then we observe that all the way through the book of Acts that He went before them to clear the path so that they could make disciples.

The same holds true today. God has given us a clear mandate to make disciples and He goes before us to clear a path so that we can. He is divinely turning hard hearts into soft ones ready to receive the Gospel and trust Christ in each of our cities on a daily basis.

Joshua was Moses' right hand man for many years and when he took over for Moses after Moses' death God told him on different occasions to "be strong and courageous" and "do not fear" but do as I told you and live according to the way that I have told your forefathers and I will give you success.

It's helpful to be reminded that God is with us as He was with Joshua and that we have nothing to fear because God has gone before us to transform our cities through Christ. So be of good cheer and make a difference in someone life today...it may be an eternal difference. God is with you!!!

Our Hearts and God's Mission

Ahhh, the heart of a missional lifestyle. Jesus taught His disciples that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matt. 12:34) If we really desire to transform our communities to the point where Christ is high and lifted up and to be used as instruments that God can use to make this happen, then our hearts must be changed. Not only in the salvation sense, but also in the ways we think, we speak, and live. It is walking the walk, just not talking the talk.

Only then will the world know that we are different and that difference is worth pursuing. May the Lord continually lean upon our hearts...purifying and refining them, so that the good treasure found in them may be used by God to draw our cities to Him.

A Missional Imperative

There is a consistent pattern throughout Scripture regarding God fulfilling His mission. He always goes before His people in order to secure His victory. In Joshua 3, God tells Joshua that the ark of the covenant must go into the Jordan river first before the people can cross the swollen river. (At the time the ark was the dwelling place of God on earth.) Joshua tells the Israelites that this act will let them know that the Lord is with them and that He will deliver on His promise. As the priests who are carrying the ark enter into the water the overflowing waters recede, the river bed dries, and about 600,000 Israelites walk through the Jordan River...dry.

The point we should consider in the context of our cities is that in order for us to see God at work, the Lord must go before us. We can not go before Him. We must seek His will, purpose, and timing, not ours. We must wait on Him and not rush off before Him. We must remember that His timing is perfect, ours is not. This is the only way that we will see God fulfilling His mission. Let's all seek the Lord first as we seek to transform our cities for Christ.

Missional Expectations

God is so good. Not only does He tell us His mission, He also instructs on how to execute His mission. In Matthew 10 Jesus sends His 12 disciples out to transform Israel, but before they go He tells them what they can expect.

1) There will be those who will accept your Gospel messages and those who don't. (vv. 5-15) Don't worry about those who don't (shake off the dust from your feet 10:14) In other words, they are rejecting Jesus, not you. Remember that we are just the messengers, not the creator of the message.

2) Persecution will come. (vv. 16-24) Be discerning as you deliver Jesus' message and if you get into a bit of trouble, God's Spirit will guide and direct you.

3) Have no fear. (vv. 26-32) Because God is with you, who can come against you? God knows everything (even then number of hairs on your head) and values you greatly. Therefore, don't focus on what man can do to you, rather fear what God can do to you.

4) Jesus demands complete allegiance over family and friends. (vv. 34-39)

5) Should someone believe that the Gospel is true and trust Jesus, they will be saved. (vv. 40-42)

As we think about transforming our cities, it seems that these expectations still hold true today. Being "missional" is extraordinarily tough as the personal costs are high. Consider:

that many will scoff at our beliefs (after all their minds tell them that there are many ways to Heaven); this will emotionally hurt and discourage a great many of us from continuing to be missional. After all, who wants to be ridiculed?

that standing up for the Gospel will get us into trouble from time to time with our fellow man; this may include us being physically hurt or being unjustly treated and will stop a few more of us from continuing to be missional. After all, who what's to be ridiculed, possibly suffer personal injury and to be dealt with unjustly?

that the opposition can be so great that we begin to fear man, rather than God;

that it test our allegiance. Do we love family or our friends more than God? Many of us would say no, but when the rubber meets the road would who do you love more family or God?

These expectations sober us. We begin to see that this Jesus thing is more than just showing up for Sunday Service, but a lifestyle rooted in a conviction that this is the only way and a deep love for fellow man. Looking at the face of this, who in their right mind would subject themselves to this type of lifestyle? Unless the reward was far greater than the pain. Jesus promises us that our rewards are stored in Heaven. There is a great reward waiting for us. Do we have the courage to go get it?

God's Mission Transcends the Generations

This maybe a "duh" to many of you, but as I was reading through Deuteronomy 33 this morning the Bible makes an obvious point: God's mission transcends the generations. In the last paragraph of this chapter God tells Moses to go up on the mountain of Abarim and look across to the land of Canaan which God is going to give to the people of Israel, but Moses will not be going with them, for he will die on the mountain.

In the prior chapter Joshua was named to succeed Moses in another example of generational change. Today, there are many churches that have long histories (some have 200+ years of history) as they have passed on what Christ is doing in their communities to the next generation. Undoubtedly, this will cause some tension because the generations may have different ideas on the ABC's of ministry. Sadly, this diverts energy from what the real mission is: going in our neighborhoods and communities, by the grace and power of God and letting God use each of us as His instruments to transform our cities.

Just think for a moment if the Israelites were so bogged down in what to do about the ABC's of ministry that they never crossed the Jordan River to claim the promised land. They would have certainly missed out on God's blessing as God would raise up another generation to fulfill His promise. Regardless of which church you are currently attending, please be mindful that God's mission will transcend your lifetime; that His mission is about Him - His glory, His word, and His love - it is not about us; and that we are to be used by Him to transform our communities.

By being mindful of these things and practicing them, we will have taken the focus off of ourselves and placed it squarely on God by sacrificing our individual preferences. In turn, God will continue to work through your church body as you pass His mission to the the next generation.

Living in Accordance with God's Mission

People, especially young people, today can smell phoniness and hypocrisy very quickly. They yearn for authenticity, reality, and truth. They tell us not to say one thing and do another. They tells us that our hearts have to align with our words, attitudes, and actions otherwise we will lose credibility with them fast.

Jesus addresses these issues in Matthew 6 by teaching that we need to "beware of practicing righteousness before other people in order to be seen in by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven." It seems like the quickest way to lose credibility with others and God is to do something under a false premise. In Matthew 6 Jesus provides three examples where this plays itself out: giving, praying, and fasting. In each of these examples, it appears that the person giving, praying, or fasting has the need to draw attention to oneself rather than to God. Jesus points out hypocrisy in this type of behavior.

How can God work in people's lives who don't know Him, if we are continually drawing attention to ourselves and away from God? What does say about our hearts? Are they on board with God's agenda or our own? It seems that throughout Scripture the message is to lay low (position of humility) and look high (directing our affections and thoughts to them, not ourselves).

Let's examine ourselves and root out our behaviors that others can sniff out as not being true and authentic toward God. Let's live in accordance to God's mission.

Just What is Missional?

Below is and excerpt from a blog named The Missional Challenge and it gives a fairly straight forward explanation what what it means to be missional.

"Here is a simple explanation of the word missional—it describes being a missionary everywhere you are! It is about doing missions—aligning your life with the redemptive mission of Jesus in the world. It includes adopting the posture of a missionary in order to engage those in the culture around you with the gospel message. It is based on the recognition that every believer has been sent by Jesus as Christian missionaries with the good news of salvation together in community with other believers to their specific geographic and cultural context. Just as God sent Jesus, Jesus sends all believers (John 20:21)."

If you have some extra time, you can read the rest of his post here. The author of this blog, Dave Devries wrote his doctoral dissertation on this very subject and has uncovered a lot of stuff and has given careful thought to it.

Meeting People Where They Are - The Missional Path

Jesus provides a subtle yet powerful example of how we should engage with our cities. When reading about the beginning of Jesus' ministry, you will discover that He is always going and seeking people. This is how He found His disciples. Matthew 4 notes that He found Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John simply by walking by the Sea of Galilee. He did not expect them to come to Him while He sat in His house or the city square, but He was proactively searching for His disciples.

Likewise, Matthew notes that Jesus went throughout all of Galilee (think going throughout Central Arizona) teaching in the syngogues (he went to where people gathered). As His famed grew He continued going to different regions and cities. He went to Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan river.

It seems that this can be very instructional to us. Jesus was on a mission to save His people from His sins and in order to accomplish His mission, He had to go and seek out His people. He had to let people know who He was and why He was there. Some would argue that this is what present day evangelists do (they go region to region and city to city proclaiming the Gospel) which certainly is true, but do they reach your neighbors, friends, co-workers, or family? Possibly some of them, but not all of them.

This is where we come into the picture. God wants to use Morningside as His instrument to reach those we know and there are two ways of accomplishing this: either going and seeking them individually or going where they gather as a group. Notice that either option involves going and seeking, it does not involve them coming to us.

Moringside is each of us...it is you. It is not a building...it is you. God want to use you as His instrument to transform the city of Phoenix for Christ...one neighbor, one family member, one friend, or one co-worker at a time by following Jesus' example and going and seeking them. Let us do that very thing.

How We Fit Into God's Plan

Being missional is more than just the lastest buzz word and craze in Christianity. It is at the very heartbeat of God. God is on a mission to fix what was broken in the Garden of Eden. God makes it clear that in order to be in His presence you must be pure and spotless (holy). That is to say you can't make any mistakes in thoughts, words, or deeds (you can't sin)...that you must obey all of God's commands all of the time.

Now we know that is an impossible task, even the atheist will confess that we all make mistakes, so how is God going to fix what was broken? Enter His Son, Jesus.

About 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

"I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:10 ESV)

This verse predicts that God will make someone (Christ) the way to salvation. Jesus testifies twice to this very thing, once in John 8:12 (ESV) "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." and in John 9:5 when He healed the blind man. "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (ESV)

Not only that, but when the angel appeared to Joseph in Matthew 1, he told Joseph that Mary "will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for will save his people from their sins." (1:21 ESV)

God has made a way to fix what was broken in the Garden of Eden, He name is Jesus. But God's mission has not stopped there, in some respects it has just begun. The second part of Isaiah 49:10 is just as important as the first: "that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." He needs a way to distribute His missional story and this is where we come into the picture. Now, He can accomplish his mission any way He wants, but He as chosen people like you and me to distribute the story through word (proclaiming the Good News) and deed (loving and serving others as ourselves).

We are a vital part of how God is going to redeem His people. As we look at our cities today and recognize that many of the younger generations don't know a thing about the God of the Bible, we have to think like missionaries in order to engage them. In many ways that starts off by getting to know them and their concerns, finding common interests, and building friendships before bringing up anything spiritual. At some point, God will have laid the ground to have a honest and forthright discussion about the importance of Jesus in many of those relationships. Remember, He is on a mission to spread His salvation "to the end of the earth" and He will not rest until He accomplishes His mission.