40-Strong

Birthday thoughts from Stu:

Many well wishers hit me up today with some subtle jabs and some with encouragements and then there is my wife who absolutely went over the top by putting an over 40 slogan on my car windows......all of them.  Ok, and filled the car with black balloons.  Did I mention I had to take the kids to school- listening to car horns honking at 7 30 am?  That is my birthday so far.  Looking forward to my Montana sis coming in, couple of family members and mom and dad.

40 is cool.  Not too worried about it.  Most people freak when they hit 28, but for me- hey, one step closer to Jesus.  Bones are pretty strong.  Think my mind is in there too.  Thinking about a physical fitness comeback.  Been thinking about that for a long time.  Regardless, I'll take the 40.  I think there is an anticipation for more now.   More of God.  More influence.  More substance in Jesus.  More obedience, quicker obedience.  A willingness to be teachable and go wherever God wants me to go.  More kindness....more gentleness; especially to the "Sprint" customer care lady.  Much more gentleness now that I think of it.  Some get mellow with age, and some get cranky and peel.  I think I want to be more refined.  Like an old iron.  You know the classic metal ones with black handles and turn knobs for the heat setting.  You know the ones that weigh like 9 1/2 pounds.  The modern plastic ones just won't compare with how those things roll.  I think I want to age like one of those.  It is ok to be outdated, but still be valued and effective! 

How bout furniture.  The new stuff is cheap and light when you move, but the knobs break off.  Give me a solid wood furniture piece.  Skip the old cars.  They are sweet, but the gas is really not realistic.  Blankets are better old, unless they never get washed.  Old cutlery (like grandma's peach knife) is greater with age.  Puppies are cute, but an old dog just, well, you know it is all about relationship and time and such.

So no more subtle digs on geriatrics and canes and metamucil and such please.  This old iron is rollin!

Peace- Stuart

Your LIfe is Being Built

Tiana Gomez, one of our sweet youngsters in 180, taking time to goof off with Sydney at my son's football game.  Preparing for a weekend of family and birthday celebration and church family stuff.... praying for the fulness of God over our time.  As I am preparing for the weekend, the scripture that I will be speaking on this week is,

 “therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who build his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall.   And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. ”  Matthew 7:24-29

This text is the real deal and is loaded with some powerful truth.  Jesus states that there are two kinds of people:  those that hear his word and those who don't.  You know, the world will tell us there are more voices than this.  Buddah, self, allah, totem pole, inner self, etc... But Jesus claim is that there really is only one voice.  And that is His.  This enfuriates some, and is laughable to others, yet I still have to hold out the quote often used, "Jesus is either lunatic, liar or Lord."  Either way, this scripture points out that there is only One voice.  And there are only two responses to that voice.... heeding or dissing.  The heeding response is the person about listening and doing the will of God in the earth.  It is about building a house on the Rock, JESUS.  That foundation will surely stand through the end of time and eternity.  Then there is the dissing response.  It looks like more than one response.  Some ignore the voice, some curse it, some deny it.  Yet Jesus says, if you diss my voice, you will be dissed.  Sandy foundations make for HARD FALLS.  Thing is, everything is fine until the storm.  One writer infers that the storm is the day of judgment.  My concern is for the people thinking their house is good to go.  Question for the week and as we come into more discussion on Sunday, "Is what you are building made to stand?"....

Peace.

MEMBERSHIP HAS IT'S PRIVILEGES ...AND HEADACHES

It is wednesday pm and the kids are coming on home from school.  Just had a minute of down time and wanted to type a bit.  Contemplating today about community and being a family of faith.  I have been preparing a 12 week training video series that we are hosting in homes of our church members.  Each week is basically fly by the seat of my pants.  Shooting the video session (40-60 minutes); running off homework papers and editing the guidebook each week as we go.  The video is accompanied by a powerpoint series that also needs to be updated and such.  Pretty much that takes up to 3 days to complete (even with Heather helping with the typing) every week.  The goal is to communicate the need of knowing how to function as a healthy and loving and powerful/authentic Christian community.  As we began 180, the church, nearly 6 years ago, many people were interested in our church and how we developed small groups and such, but as we began to move on through the months, it seemed that community would wane with lack of commitment and involvement.  Hence the training.  We have learned that not much can be accomplished in the church when people look at it (church) like another activity.  Church is not an activity it is a living body.  When the church is passive and uncommitted to one another, there is little of lasting value that can be attained in the earth.  Christ, works on an individual level, but Christ surely works in a corporate "body level" even more so.  The church is compared to the body with Christ as the head.  Can you imagine a body being disconnected.  Or worse yet, being connected but not active?  Anemic....paralyzed.  So right now we are in a challenge phase...we are asking people to come in covenant with the church.  We are all excited to be in covenant with Jesus, but because we are in covenant with Jesus, that makes us in covenant with each other.  People are quite unsure about that type of deal.  It just wiggs people out.  Especially difficult people, loud people, obnoxious people.....But that is the type of people that Jesus partnered with.  Loud mouth Peter, lovey dovey John, heady Luke.  Jesus loves people and for the church to connect to who they want to instead of who they are called to, it becomes a membership like a country club instead of the body of the living God.  Praying for a revelation for our church that we can love each other, love Jesus and COMMIT to standing with each other together in the days ahead.  I think we will!  GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOVA Part II- Confession

Here are a few of the mighty young men of God out of Northern Virginia.  Anderson, Jason, Daniel and in the back Abraham.  In sharing with you a few more memories from our time together on Columbus day, I thought you would like to hear about a very defining moment at the retreat.

As we were in a breakout session, trying to process all that God was doing through our times together in worship, Heather and I felt the need to lead the group in a time of personal reflection and such.  I was able to take the young guys and Heather the ladies.  As we huddled on the outside of the meeting space in the grass, I shared with the men how the scriptures teach us a truth about confession.
  

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.17     James 5:13-17

From this scripture I explained how important it is for us to confess our sins to each other.  The catholics have it right in one way, by having the confessional box.  The reality is though, that what we all struggle with is this shame and guilt that comes with sin.  Sin always brings pleasure in some way, be it drugs, sexual perversion, drinking, cheating.  The immediate satisfaction is right away, but the end result is shame and hiding.  That is how Satan operates.  He lulls us by giving us candy so he can give us cavaties.  We are lulled in by constant tv, only to lose our families.  We are lulled by materialism so we work out of proportion to a balanced lifestyle and we lose our wives and husbands.  We are lulled by interenet porn for the immediate satisfaction of a hidden rendezvous, and we receive the guilt that makes it impossible for us to have any confidence before God and man.  The reality is that we know that sin SEPARATES us from God, but we are not getting out of the junk.  And it doesn't go away....it stacks up and guilt gives way to shame gives way to heaviness, and then depression and before you know it the church is anemic and without power, and the glory of God is substitued by forms and liturgy.  This dying world is in need to see God's radiant bride marching victorious in a sin scarred land.

Jesus teaches us that if we confess to Him, He is faithful to FORGIVE us.  If we confess to each other, we can be HEALED.  Some would argue that I don't need to go to anyone but Jesus, but scripture actually teaches us that we do.  Not for anyone but us.  I think it is harder for us to go to man.  We lose our pride, because we can't hide behind our paper walls and straw houses of pretention.  When we confess to our bros and sis's we have to realize we are not "all that", and it puts the glory with whom it belongs,  God.  When God is the one we hope in, we can strip ourselves.  And in a very mysterious way, when we show our sordid lifestyles, reveal our hidden motives and tell on ourselves, God recognizes a humility and brings a healing in our lives.  To man, we may look shameful, but at that moment, God declares us righteous, forgiven, healed and made whole.  Now from this point, we can begin to say, that I can move forward from the sin that HAD a hold of me!  Victory only comes from being raw with ourselves and our brothers.

How did my boys do from NOVA?  One boy stepped forward and got some of his.  Yes he looked the most "un"spiritual as he confessed his dark issues.  But in reality, he was OBEDIENT and truth known, he probably got the most momentum from the conference.  I was floored that any young man would do this in front of his peers, but when the Spirit of God and the Word agree....and God's people respond, REVIVAL is alive in the church.  THERE IS HOPE.

Have you need of confession? Get some.   - Stu

NVCCC Youth Conference- Harrisonburg, VA

This past weekend I returned from the Virginia Mountains, spending Friday- Sunday at a Presbyterian Conference Center- Masanetta Springs.  The grounds were gorgeous and the time with the youth from Northern Virginia was forever etched on my heart. 

Spending 3 days with the Northern Virginia Chinese Christian Church was an amazing trip.  I have led this conference for years so it was very special to see many of the dynamics of the youth are still intact from year to year, but also that things change.  I spoke to about 30 youth from middle school through working adults in what they call the english ministry.  All the parents would gather and worship in their Chinese tongue, the children and young adults did the same, but only in English.  I was the featured speaker.  I was blessed to bring my wife and three kids with me.  The church was so generous in hosting my whole family and it did add a dynamic that will not soon be forgotten.

I hope to be sharing some memorable moments from my trip but in one of our 5 worship gatherings we experienced a defining moment.  As usual, I was feeling free to be very open and quite confrontive about certain things that I was sharing about.  In general I was sharing how the need to totally love and serve Christ is totally essential.  At one point I asked those who were certain of their love for God to stand up and identify themselves as so.  One precious girl stood but leaned over at the chair in front of her.  I asked her from the podium, "are you ok?", thinking she might be sick or something.  She replied, "is it ok if I half way stand up?"  Without thought I quickly replied, "Absolutely not.  You need to sit down, because to serve and love God cannot be a question of deliberation but of commitment."  That young girl had tears in her eyes throughout the entire sermon.  I was wondering if somehow I may have been too direct, especially to a middle school student.  But the reality was that she was one of the ones I know that I was most impressed with.  It took guts to do and say what she said.  It was a miracle for that conversation to take place in the setting we were in.  And yet, the directness simply set the tone for the reality that God is just not satisfied with comfortable, status quo Christianity.  I loved that girl's honesty, her sincerity, her passion in the struggle.  It was real.  There were no masks and hypocrisy, only pure heart wrestling.  I so respected her for that.  And in a strange way, I felt excited for her because our 8 hour car drive was all for her.  That one girl was a soul that I knew God would touch that weekend.

Later in the weekend, maybe in the night session that very day, this sweet Chinese middle school girl, convicted to the core of her heart at how the Living God Jesus Christ deserves to be worshipped by a people who are not ashamed to live for Him alone and nothing more or less, gave her heart and life to Christ.  I was so humbled and in awe to watch God do what only He can do.

I thank the Lord for the opportunity to know these precious people, a church filled with uncommon love.  And I am so grateful to be used to sow into this fine fellowship and be a part of the work that the Lord did on their precious hearts.

Getting Free- A Few Thoughts

Sorry for the quiet blog.... so glad you are still tuning in and I hope that you are being blessed by the entries.  Today I share a piece from friend and fellow pastor in Kenya, Caleb Ochieng.  Caleb writes a lot on relationships and how we are constantly operating in lower level living because we are being influenced by true demonic oppression and attack.   We are not simply "just depressed,"  or "frustrated".  It is essential to remember that we are in a battle and that it is a key to hold fast to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God which gives us wisdom on how to relate and operate effectively in relationships.  In this writing I share two things from Calebs work 1) self examination and 2) praying for those coming against you. 


Breakthrough from controlling and influencing spirits


"The simplest way to overcome these forces and to live positively in God is to do the following. The list is not exhaustive, it is just a clue:

1. Acknowledge your limitations and sins. Do not allow pride and deception to convince you that you are ok and do not need a personal examination. For something to gain power over against you it must find its relative in you. “The prince of this world is coming but he has nothing IN me” john 14:30. What is in you is the force. What is on you cannot affect you much. It is what comes from within a man that defiles him. (Mk. 7:15, Mt. 15:18-20). In most cases people who are innocently suffering in the hands of others tend to think that they are righteous and their persecutors are wicked. They look forward to the day God will judge those people who afflicted them that they forget to “examine themselves to see whether they are still in the faith”. (2nd Corinthians 13:5.) You too have sins that should be confessed, sins of hatred, selfishness, anger, bitterness, self-righteousness, etc.

2. Pray for them. We have to remember it in our minds that it is when Job prayed for his three friends that God restored his fortunes two times what he had at the beginning. (Job 42:10). It was when Abraham had prayed for Abimelech that God “remembered His promise to Abraham and visited Sarah. Genesis. 20; 18; 21:1. Look at how the two breakthroughs were connected. You pray for those who have mistreated you and you are next in line. What you make happen for others, God makes it happen for you. Your breakthrough is always linked to your human enemies. If you pray for them and bless them you will encounter your own breakthrough almost immediately. If you hold on to their sins against you, God will hold on to your sins against Him and that will be a ceiling upon your head against the flow of God’s goodness. Remember it is seasonal. Breakthrough is always seasonal. It is not present always. It happened to Abraham at exactly the time when God had promised to give him a child from his loin. It happened to job at a time when God had decided to restore Job’s fortune and health. Had he refused to pray for his enemies the blessing of restoration would have just passed by. "

Pastor Caleb rightly suggests that many of us are burdened by unforgiveness, bitterness and unresolved conflict.  Instead of focusing on the hurt and anger, we would do well to pray for our adversaries and perhaps the demonic noose would be loosened around our own day to day experience and walk.

-  Thanks Pastor C