Viral Faith

“Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  Its not!”        —Dr. Seuss in The Lorax A.W. Tozer is quoted to have said that if the Holy Spirit were removed from the church today, 70% of churches would not notice.  It is startling how quickly the people of God can go from deeply devoted followers to agents of indifference. Biblical indifference is apathy towards the things that matter to God.  We see it throughout Scripture when the people of God value their own priorities above that of God’s.  Elaborate systems and ideologies are developed around the man-made priorities, but in the end, Biblical indifference is disrespectful to God.  We easily understand that the things of God include things like worship, and study of God’s Word, but struggle to recognize that his passion is for his creation including humanity. In the book of Revelations, Jesus speaks to Severn churches (real churches in the firs...

"Living out God's love challenges everything"         --Terry Linhart Jesus entered a synagogue and found a man who was suffering with a deformed hand.  The writer of the Gospel of Mark, sets up the drama-filled encounter by sharing that religious leaders of Jesus' day were specifically watching for Jesus' response to the man. There were religious/political rules of the day that forbade any kind of work on the day of the Sabbath.  While the Sabbath was set up to establish the centrality of God in our lives, it had become a burdensome religious and political rule that made its reality significantly different than its purpose. Jesus wastes no time in asking the Religious leaders if the law permits doing good on the Sabbath or doing evil.   He challenges their sensibilities by boldly asking: "Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?" Those who were listening to Jesus' challenge could not and would not respond.  Yet, in our sancti...

"God offers all of us the amazing opportunity to join in this sacred work.  We have the great privilege of being the hands and feet of Christ in a hostile and hurting world, and there are countless ways to participate.  We can work with joy in the face of difficulty, speak the truth in a place of deceit, choose integrity when corruption is the norm, offer comfort in a time of grief, challenge injustice to protect its victims, and offer forgiveness in the midst of brokenness."         --Richard Sterns in Unfinished Jesus begins his teaching on the parable of the sower by the command "Listen".  He would later tell his followers to pay attention to "what" (Mk 4:24) and "how" (Lk 8:18) they hear.  This listening theme was important as he was about to teach one of the essential truths through parables.  Parables are allegories and metaphorical explanations of reality. Jesus then says "Listen! A sower went out sow.  And as he sowed, s...

Human cry provokes divine resolve      -Walter Brueggemann Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27  Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful (I Corinthians 1:26-27) Throughout the Biblical record, God reveals His Character, will, and His way to humanity and humanity seeks to respond to God's revelation.  This narrative covers the distant past to the conclusion of time in the future.  There are many themes that can be seen consistently through Scripture and amplified through the person of Jesus Christ.  Scripture tells us that God spoke to prophets, but ultimately spoke most clearly through Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-2).  Jesus, is not a representative of God, but the "exact representation of His being".  The Apo...

"The Spirit who inhabits us is not mute, restricting himself to an occasional nudge, a hot flash, a brilliant image or a case of goose bumps."           -Dallas Willard in Hearing God I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.   John 10:14-16 NLT One of the most misunderstood roles of pastoral ministry is that of leading congregational discernment.  This is Biblical practice of seeking direction and vision from God.  Even just reading this, causes some leaders discomfort because we have been taught that to seek this kind of direct communication from God is far too mystical for contemporary followers of Jesus.  It is best left to the "few" who we (the church) oft...

“ The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭5:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “ God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:6-7‬ ‭NLT ‬‬ “However, the Scriptures are clear that care for our neighbors includes prophetic calls to end injustice; resistance to religious, social and political systems of oppression; and identification with the poor and marginalized in society” —Elizabeth Gerhardt in The Cross and Gendercide In western Protestant Christianity, there is a proclivity toward reducing expressions of faith to private and personal interactions.  Yet, for the most part, the Scriptures in which we base our convictions upon, are largely looking community appr...

“Leadership is not about the conference room or the boardroom; it is all about the battlefield. Leadership is always about verbs, action. It is not about the safety of ideas (as important as that might be), but about implementation and movement in the face of opposition. And that takes courage.” — Crawford Loritts in Leadership As An Identity “ The descendants of Joseph responded, “It’s true that the hill country is not large enough for us. But all the Canaanites in the lowlands have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shan and its surrounding settlements and those in the valley of Jezreel. They are too strong for us.”” ‭‭Joshua‬ ‭17:16‬ ‭NLT ‬‬ I have been studying the book of Joshua which details the ancient Israelite community’s move into to present day Palestine and the stories of their journey.  The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for much of the previous 450 years when, God told their leader Joshua (name literally means God saves) that He was literally taking the p...