Not Forgotten is off to a great start.  Things kicked off last night with Pastor Joel and the Deluge Band.  Pastor Joel shared a powerful word on the conference them, and many hundreds were saved and set free.  It reminded me of a giant encounter retreat with thousands of people crammed into the North Campus.  What a tremendous way to start things off.

We also debuted a couple of new things for a 220 Conference that went really well. One thing that we are doing for the first time is displaying people’s twitter messages about the conference on the Big Screen before sessions.  We select from tweets that have the Not Forgotten Hashtag in them (#Not Forgotten).  This is a great way for us to interact and share the stories of those who are at the conference with us this year.  We also decided to work into the conference something everyone in 220 always looks forward to at our local gatherings, and that is our wacky rules videos.  Seeing Wayne dressed up as Mr. T as apart of the “B” Team is not something that I will soon forget!

We actually just finished our first ever Hippo Water Festival.  At some point we stopped planning a conference, and just plain lost our minds.  The fun everyone is having is only the result.

I am also really enjoying getting to hang out with a couple awesome Aussies: Pastor James Murray and Dan.  Here’s a sampling of some Australian words I have picked up on so far: Marker (mocha), jumping stars (jumping jacks), sunnies (sun glasses), skuns (scones), and bitters… don’t have a translation for that one yet I’m afraid!

More conference updates to come!

Share on Facebook

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 - “It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

What we say: “Judge not less you be judged,” “the same measure you use to judge others will be used to judge you,” or “take the log out of your own eye.”

What God says: “It certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside of the church who are sinning.”

The mix up: The problem here is understanding of what it means to “judge” someone, and knowing when it is the right time to “judge.”  ”Biblical judging” is not murmuring, complaining, gossiping, or pretending to know the motives of others you disagree with.  These are all sinful and dangerous behaviors that only reveal the pride of heart of those engage in these habits.  We also cannot have people constantly pointing out everything that others do wrong as if they are the designated slow motion reply camera for the Holy Spirit.

WRONG JUDGING – Let’s be clear, there is such thing as being critical and judgmental in a wrong way.  This is when someone is not “sinning” (like the example given here in scripture), but judgment and criticism is passed on their motives and intentions without the use of scirpture.  It is not your place to pretend to know the secret thoughts and intentions of someone that you don’t like.  This is the wrong kind of judging that often leads to gossip, slander, and strife.

CORRECT JUDGING – You cannot fault a blind man for tripping over a chair, or a deaf person for not hearing an alarm clock.  In the same way, we cannot be surprised when those who do not have Christ sin.  That is why Paul says here it is not his responsibility to judge those outside of the church.  On the other hand, believers who venture into the waters of compromise and sin need to be warned before their actions bring harmful consequences to themselves or others. Three ways faith is destroyed when those in compromise or sin are not warned:

• Wrong attitudes and action are learned by new believers, causing them to fall away
• Reproach is brought on the name of Christ in the hearts of outsiders, causing them to reject the faith
• Those living in sin will eventually destroy their own faith if not rescued

When the scripture says, “It certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside of the church who are sinning,” it saying when you see someone living a life in contradiction to scripture, you have a holy obligation to point them in a better way.  The key here is when it says, “who are sinning.” This does not release anyone to condemn others, or put them down, but it does empower you to lovingly assist those who are in sin with the authority of scripture (not just your opinion).   Just because it is uncomfortable, does not mean that it is wrong or even unnecessary!  Do not misunderstand and think that constructive Biblical criticism based on the word of God is not good.  We all need it! Confrontation is not easy, but it becomes impossible when we do not understand it is for our own good!

Share on Facebook

It seems so convenient that many preachers are blessed with revelation on some of the most pleasing and popular parts of scripture. I wish I could be released by the Holy Spirit to only preach on the things that are most appetizing to those who may listen.  Instead, I find myself puzzled by the difficult, and dare I say “problematic,” passages of scriptures.  This leads me to investigate portions of the Bible that challenge what I know about God, and cause me to question what I value, understand, and believe.

Maybe that is why some do not take the adventure to study these parts of the Bible.  It’s not that God has not released them, but they have not released themselves… released themselves to question, debate, and ponder.  It is a brave and even stupid thing to question.  Brave to question yourself, and stupid to question God.

When you refuse to investigate the difficult to understand, and seemingly contradictory portions of scripture you make a decision to question God, and not to question yourself.  You question God in that you can’t understand why He has allowed this to be in scripture (because it contradicts what you want God to be), so you doubt its significance and relevance by not not studying it, processing it, and eventually sharing it.  When you do investigate these types of passages you make the brave decision not to question God, but to question yourself.

Ask yourself this, “Am I willing to change what I believe if my search leads to a conclusion other than what I already have,” or “Am I going to already conclude what I believe about God and then search the scripture until I find something that brings me to  that conclusion?” Can I say, that perhaps that is how heresy is born? By questioning God and not questioning yourself.  The Bible is a tool that God should be using to form us, not something we should be using to form God.

Share on Facebook

Life is easier when you have the Book of Proverbs at your disposal. My life has not been the same since I started reading Proverbs over 13 years ago.

Proverbs 1:2 – “Their [proverbs] purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.”

It is hard for me to put into words how much the Book of Proverbs has changed my life.  I began reading the Bible at about 11 years old, thanks to the encouragement of a Sunday School teacher.  I became completely fascinated with the stories of the Old Testament, the Psalms of David, the miracles of Jesus, and event the “acts” of the Apostle.  One thing it took me time to appreciate though was the Proverbs of Solomon.

The little nuggets of wisdom never seemed to appeal to me until I was 15 years old.  Up until this point, I had a sovereign respect for God that would cause me to pray at times, read my Bible at others, and even sometimes choose to be holy.  The best way to explain my Christian experience as an early teen was mediocre and full of compromise.  Not passionate and purposeful.  This all changed when I began to read Proverbs.

It was sitting in a Bible class at Christian School that I was first exposed to the infinite value of this book.  Learning the intention of proverbs is  to make me wise, successful, and equipped with the knowledge of God was an invitation I could not ignore (Proverbs 1:1-7).  I realized that God was standing in the streets of my life and shouting for me to stop and give Him a hearing through this book (Proverbs 1:20-33).

It only took me three chapters for Proverbs to change my life, and launch me into an entirely different existence as a believer.  The clear call of chapter one, the universal application of truth in chapter two, and the epic poetry of chapter three opened my eyes to world I was unaware of before, and a relationship with the Holy Spirit that had escaped me until this point.

Proverbs 3:14-15 – “For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold.  Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.”

This is the verse that taught me to purse God.  Before this I knew how to receive from God, and knew that I was to “try” to be obedient.  When I read the words, “nothing you desire can compare with her” something clicked for me.  What was I desiring?  What is it that I really wanted out of life?  After thinking about it, I realized even though I considered myself a Christian, God was not even close to the top of the list of things that I desired.  This confronted the self-righteousness and hypocrisy that I had lived with, and was the sad side-effect of learning about God, without developing a desire to pursue God.  I learned to know God without pursuing Him, and therefore didn’t know him at all.  I was only collecting the postcards that others were sending me from their travels with Him.

That day began my pursuit of God, my relationship with him, my sanctification as a believer, the beginning of life long habit of applying scripture to my life to solve problems, and even the beginning of receiving one of the most  precious treasures I have in life – the rhema.  I would say that I would not have a relationship with the Holy Spirit without the Book of Proverbs.  I cherish every verse of this book with the deepest and gratitude to God.  I love Proverbs!

Share on Facebook