Mobilizing towards Vision

In light of an incredible Vision Campaign, called OCC 2012, (details at occ.org) my buddy Chris sent me these thoughts as an encouragement. Please be encouraged by them as well! Thank you, Chris, and thank you friends, for being on the journey, praying and joining us in Changing the World by Degrees!!!! Chris’s email follows:

“The word kosmokrateros (“rulers of the darkness of this world”) is a military term that has to do with discipline, organization, and commitment. The devil is so serious about doing damage to humanity that he deals with demon spirits as though they are troops! He puts them in rank and file and organizes them to the hilt. Meanwhile, the average Spirit-filled believer often doesn’t stay in one church for more than one year at a time!

“Yes, we do have more authority than the devil has; we do have more power than the devil has; and we do have the Greater One living in us. The Church of Jesus Christ is loaded with heaps and heaps of raw power. But at this particular time, that power is disconnected and disjointed by a Body that lacks discipline, organization, and commitment!

“As Christians, we have no power shortage, nor are we short of God-given authority. We simply have a great lack of discipline, organization, and commitment. In order to change this, we must buckle down in the local church and begin to view ourselves as the troops of the Lord! Once we match the discipline, organization, and commitment that the enemy possesses in his camp, we will begin to move into the awesome demonstration of God’s power!” -From the book “Dressed to Kill” by Rick Renner, p. 238

This section jumped out at me as it related to the OCC 2012 Vision campaign. What this vision is providing is direction, organization and calling us to a commitment as a church to bring all our individual focus together as ONE body and directing it towards a God honoring set of initiatives. As we succeed at this, I am super excited to see what God is going to do through it.

I appreciate the leadership that you, the elders and staff are bringing to this campaign and to our church. Continue to mobilize our “army” at OCC to come against the devil’s schemes and we WILL prevail!

CRAVE Adventure

I think it’s at the center of the human experience. Adventure. God has planted deep within our hearts a longing for FULL life, for experiencing His Abundance, for stepping through our fear and taking a RISK with HIM…this is partially what we refer to when we use the word FAITH. Now, I know that there is another aspect of the human experience that wars with this one: the side that longs for comfort, for ease, for peace. That hobbit-ish side of each of us that thinks adventures are nasty little things that make one late for dinner.

Here’s the road that I’m walking NOW: I have heard God’s call, and we’re walking the road of RISK at Overlake Christian Church (www.occ.org). However, as we’ve taken the first few steps, I’m being buffetted by fear. Discouragement is roaring, loudly. Temptation whispers in the wings, and on top of it all is the stress of attempting something that is without question more significant than anything I’ve ever attempted in 19 years of ministry. The hobbit-ish side mentions something like maybe the status quo isn’t so bad after all.

And then it hits me: Of course.
This vision IS more important than anything I’ve ever pursued in my whole life. It has HUGE consequences: hundreds, thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of souls will be impacted for eternity. People who are far from HOPE will find it in Jesus. Slaves will be set free. Street children will be adopted into homes. Churches will be planted.

We have an enemy. He’s been taking shots at me. But not for my own sake, not because I’m important. He’s trying to take me out because this kind of thing SCARES him. Churches waking up. Hearts set ablaze. Love practically impacting lives. He hates it. So let’s pour it on.

Encouragement came this morning while reading a book by John Eldredge, called Walking with God. In a chapter called Assault. He describes what I’ve been walking through with crystal clarity. Antidote: Draw close to God, and continue to RISK for Him. After all, he’s planted adventure deep within our hearts…

Sex and GRACE

This week we’re wrapping up our Series on LOVE by talking about Grace, and how the Gospel, the good news of God’s love made known through Jesus, is the key to life, to freedom, and to change. His grace and forgiveness are transformative.

I’m excited to unpack this more at Overlake, but for now I’d love to share some insight from Tim Keller, from a paper he wrote called Gospel: The Key to Change.

Tim Keller writes:

Paul says to Christians, ‘your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col 3:3), and in numerous places he says that we are now ‘in Him.’ This means, on the one hand, that the Father accepts us in Christ and treats us as if we had done all that Jesus has done (cf. Col 3:2a). But this is also means Christ’s life comes into us by the Spirit and shapes us into a new kind of person. The gospel is not just a truth about us that we affirm with our minds, it is also a reality we must experience in our hearts and souls.

He goes on to say:

Paul does the same thing in Ephesians 5:25ff, where he urges husbands to be faithful to their wives. What is the point? What makes you a sexually faithful spouse, a generous-not avaricious-person, a good parent and/or child is not just redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out of the changes that understanding makes in your heart—the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Faith in the gospel re-structures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, and our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting. The gospel changes your heart…. The gospel is the dynamic for all heart-change, life-change, and social-change. Change won’t happen through 'trying harder' but only through encountering with the radical grace of God.

On the topic of repentance, Keller writes:

It is important to consider how the gospel affects and transforms the act of repentance. In ‘religion’ the purpose of repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you and answer your prayers. This means that ‘religious repentance’ is a) selfish, b) self-righteous, c) and bitter all the way to the bottom. But in the gospel the purpose of repentance is to repeatedly tap into the joy of our union with Christ in order to weaken our need to do anything contrary to God’s heart….

In the gospel our hope is in Christ’s righteousness, not our own – so it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses…. the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel, the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions of your sin. The sin under all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ.

SEX: What I couldn't say at Church

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Seven Day Sex Challenge

As I understand it, Pastor Ed Young Jr. challenged his congregation (the married folks in the Fellowship Church in Texas) to take up a challenge to have relations with spouse everyday for a week. He talked about it on the Colbert Report, and it's pretty hilarious. His point was that God has a plan for husbands and wives to be close, and that frequent physical connection would bring spouses closer together, not drive them farther apart.

It’s a fun idea.

At least it has the potential to be a fun idea.

And if you’re married, and it sounds completely NOT like a fun idea, then there are probably some really important things that you and your spouse need to commit to working through. Because God does want you close to Him and to one another. God does want you honest and available to your spouse. God does want you tender and affectionate. I know it’s a fallen world and things can be hard in certain seasons. But if that’s the case in your life, please don’t just accept that as normal. Instead, pursue help and wholeness. Seek Jesus, and godly counsel. Spend some time in 1 Corinthians 7.

I’m posting the video of Pastor Ed on Stephan Colbert, and I’d love to bring the challenge to the married couples who are reading this. The challenge is simply this: do whatever you can to grow closer to your spouse. Take steps this week to grow more giving towards your wife. Seek to pursue your husband in new and fresh ways. And ask Jesus to help you walk this road.

Peace. Enjoyment. Closeness. Who knew these are just a few of the good things God has in store for you in marriage?

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/216624/january-26-2009/ed-young

p.s. For some reason I can't embed the video...but it is worth cutting and pasting it...if for no other reason than to watch Pastor Ed's face get progressively more red throughout the interview...

Marriage Disclaimers

(from one Pastor regarding one message on Marriage in which a single sermon isn’t going to be able to address most of the nuances and difficulties of two people living together in love for a lifetime in a fallen world without going insane). This weekend at Overlake, MARRIAGE is the topic in our LOVE: THAT 4 Letter Word Series. Here are the disclaimers in advance:

D1: There is no way 30 minutes, regardless of how skillfully crafted (oh, and this one IS skillfully crafted, friends) can address every situation or season a marriage faces.
D2: This message will be infinitely helpful as a Biblical target to strive towards.
D3: This message is not designed to exclude single people. If you are single, and someday hope to be married, I believe this is a phenomenal message to be challenged by. If you are single and have decided that your singleness is God’s Gift to you, and do not plan on ever marrying, then you will be WONDERFULLY encouraged by this weekend’s message. You won’t have to deal with any of this mess.
D4: If you are married currently, this message will be infinitely challenging. Hopefully and helpfully challenging.
D5: If you are married currently, and your personal emotional stance regarding your marriage is somewhere between “hurting” and “ridiculously broken” then I sincerely want to pray for you, and provide any resources that OCC has to come alongside you in your journey. We believe that God has health and wholeness for you. Please contact Pastor Larry for a full rundown of the counseling resources and support groups that are offered currently. He’s at larryb@occ.org
D6: If you’re currently engaged to be married, this message will cause you to break off your engagement. Just kidding. That was a joke. Seriously. You can breathe again. I believe this sets an INCREDIBLY helpful mental posture as you head into marriage. DO get into one of OCC’s pre-marital counseling classes (you can hit Pastor Larry for that as well).
D7: If you are divorced, there will be no shame or judgment levied against you. But I do predict that you will agree that if both parties in your previous marriage strove towards the Biblical Perspective we are talking about, then the whole shooting match would have turned out differently. And OCC has resources to come alongside you as well.
D8: If you are currently head-over-heels in love with your spouse, then you’ll leave OCC going “why the disclaimers? Mike was just ON. I love it when he PREACHES it. Now get over here and French-Kiss me wildly. It's business time.”

FINAL DISCLAIMER: There is very little substitute for pure grace offered to one another without any expectation in return. It is simultaneously the most difficult AND the most Christ-like thing that you could ever offer in any relationship. As you pursue health, wholeness, communication, love, desires, needs, and plans, never forget that you stand knee-deep in grace. God’s Grace is for you. God’s grace is for your spouse. Receive His grace, and then offer it to others…

Juiced up Pastor

The sun is streaming down into my office, and I’m a bit in awe of God this morning, and I can’t stop thinking about OCC’s membership class last night. I'm a bit juiced up...

God is so good. Another full, and over-full class, another amazing collection of humanity…a cross section of intergenerational, multi-ethnic, amazingly talented, incredible humans…a picture of heaven. One couple had been at OCC for 5 years. Many had been attending for more than a year. But the majority are new to our church within the last 12 months. New life, fresh perspective.

We crash-coursed through Unity, Purpose, Truth, and Covenant. Then we prayed, and after that the conversations began. Pastor Gary and I spent an hour or more just hanging out and connecting with individuals and families who floored me. This couple is from Brazil, she’s a famous folk singer there, and they want to start a Portuguese-speaking life group in their home. This couple started a web resource called Soulbyte, and they want to make products specifically to support the congregation of Overlake. This woman is so passionate about Seattle that she can’t wait until we open a venue down near Pioneer’s Square so we can welcome the demographic that can’t make it to our campus into the same kind of dynamic environment where they can meet Jesus.

There were the amazing stories of how people found our church. Some by accident. Some were looking for another church, and happened to get the directions wrong. Some were planning on going to another church with an earlier service and didn’t get ready in time, so they had to find a church with a later service start time (ours are 9:20, 11am, and 6pm on Sundays). One couple was interested in trying every church EXCEPT Overlake, until a friend earnestly suggested that she give it a try. They did, their family loved it, and now they’ve found a home. One family drives up from Tacoma! What the what?!

These things I share knowing that God is up to something. It is something good. Something exciting. Something impactful. Something that glorifies HIM. He’s on the move at the OCC…

To those of you who were at our membership class last night, I simply want to say again what an HONOR it is to be on this journey with you. To those of you who aren’t yet connected to a life-giving, freedom-living, passionate-for-Jesus kind of church, I humbly want to invite you to check out OCC. And to those of you who are IN, who are ready to charge the gates of Hell with a war-cry and a watergun, I want to say, “Let’s DO this thing!”

Love God.
Love People.
Serve the World.

And remember that its all for Jesus.

p.s. OCC.org is a great place to go to get questions answered…our current series on LOVE: THAT 4 Letter Word…our archives contain all sorts of Hot Topics as well if you’re curious…love to invite you to poke around a bit…Blessings today...and JUICE!!