This post will be a mind-dump – just so much swimming in my head today…

• This weekend we multiply our impact as REAL Church – 1 Church, 2 Locations starts this Sunday, 1/10/10 (www.1realchurch.com)
• Joined Planet Fitness this week – exercising 3-4 days a week there.  Excited to get healthier and happier this year through exercise.  I’ve been disobeying God for too long about this – it was sin for me.
• I’m living in fear and trembling before God as the campus pastor of REAL Church Hamtramck.  I don’t want to screw up, or disobey, or not love people, or not take risks in this church.  But that’s overestimating my influence more than God’s.  I want Him to have the glory in Hamtramck and in me.
• I’m going 5 days strong on not drinking any pop.  No headaches, and God took away my heavy craving for it the first day.  Wow!  I’m amazed with the little miracles God has been doing in me.
• Prayer is sanity.
• Prayer meetings so often can be like people sitting in a museum.  We are observing God, but not talking to Him.  Or too focused on ourselves to pray for others.  Really praying for wisdom to lead our people to talk to God.  There will be JOY, when our prayer meetings start with focusing on Jesus, and lead to praying for others.  Because then our needs will be in their proper place.
• As a leader, I pray out loud during prayer times, because I want people to understand how to pray and to give them the freedom to open their mouths and talk to God.  I feel like too often the enemy keeps us quiet and we focus inward instead of on Him and others.
• “And while you’re down there – why don’t you pull off those socks too!” Ha!
• “Pray like it all depends on God; Work as if it all depends on you!”  – couldn’t find who the original person was who said it.

I loved this commercial from Dominos when I saw it on TV the other day.  I love how they bring into the light what people truly are saying about their pizza – it stinks!  But they had the guts to be authentic and open about it.

That makes me want to try their new pizza.  Plus, seeing that they are headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI makes me want to try it more as a Michigan brand.  (I guess something good can come out of Ann Arbor – go OSU!)

I wonder if churches that have had big scandals in a community might be able to make a commercial like this – and invite people back to re-experience church again!  Sometimes admitting your fault – and showing how you’re trying to correct it can be a big step toward getting back customers or parishioners.

So here is the commercial – in case you were wondering…

Angry pastors are dangerous pastors.  Dangerous to others, and dangerous to themselves.

In Numbers 20 – Moses and Aaron are surrounded by their people complaining that they don’t have any water, and once again blaming them for leading them out of Egypt into the desert.  Moses knew it was their fault that they didn’t believe – and it probably frustrated him to walk with these ignorant people every day.  Well, at least he had a relationship with God (Ex. 33) he would probably say to himself.

They make a right first choice – and leave that group of people, go fall facedown before God, and He shows up in all his glory (v.6).  God tells Moses to stand before them and speak to the rock and they will see that it is God doing it.  But once Moses gets back out with the people – I imagine he gets really frustrated with them again.  Instead of speaking to the rock he calls them rebellious and strikes the rock with his staff and water comes out.  But then God shows up and tells Moses that he rebelled and didn’t trust God enough to make it happen.  Ouch.

I know I’ve been like Moses at times, when I’ve been dealing with God’s people.  Here are a few lessons that I pulled out of this today… (Numbers 20)

1.  Take your frustrations right to God (v.6).  They should be brought to no one else or gossiped about. But make sure that you dump out all the anger before God’s feet and leave it there.  There’s a problem when we don’t as we’ll see.  Because sometimes we use God by asking Him to give us a way to show those people how wrong they are.  In God’s presence, we’re ALL wrong in one way or another.  “Let God be true and every man a liar”.  We need to seek Him in humility to change us and to give us a heart and truth for the people we lead.

2. Take what you’ve learned in His presence to his people (v.7-9). I think this is the temptation we all fall prey to at one point or another.  God gives us specific instructions, but when we get around His people and they frustrate us – we tend to take the task of ministering to them in our own hands.  We can say and do things that God has allowed us to do before – but they aren’t right for that time.  I don’t want to miss God’s promised land because I didn’t obey him fully at the right time.  As a friend’s tweet reminded me today, “Delayed obedience is disobedience.”

3.  Obedience is a holy (or set apart) act EVERY time. God doesn’t always ask us to obey the same way every time.  Whereas one time Moses gets to strike a rock, this time God asks him to speak to the rock.  God is holy and has his plans every time specifically tailored to the situation.  If we don’t obey, we show that we don’t trust that God knows best.  But we forget what it says in James 1:20 – “Our human anger can never make things right in God’s right.”

We’ve gotta be careful to rid ourselves of anger in God’s presence – so that we can serve Him with full obedience in all circumstances, regardless of how we feel about what He is asking us to do.

By the way, I’m preaching to myself…

As I studied Matthew 3, I saw this list by a guy named Ledlow who showed seven distinct classes of Pharisees during the time of John the Baptist and Jesus.  I’ll share which ones I tend to be like, but I’m interested in

WHICH OF THESE DO YOU SEE IN YOURSELF MOST OFTEN?

1.  The Shoulder Pharisee – wore his good deeds on his shoulder and gave to other to be seen by people (Matthew 6:5)

2.  The Wait-a-Little Pharisee – always suggested to doing something else first, before serving God  (Luke 9:59,60)

3.  The Bruised Pharisee – too pious to look upon any woman.  He would shut his eyes when one approached, and this caused him to stumble into a wall or get cut.

4.  The Pestle and Mortar Pharisee – Walked with his head down in mock humility.

5.  The Ever-Reckoning Pharisee – kept a ledger of good and bad deeds in an effort to balance accounts with himself.

6.  The God-Loving Pharisee – noblest of the group.

7.  The Timid Pharisee – the schizophrene of his day – always going back and forth to serve God. Jesus said to this group they could not serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).

I think I’ve been all of these different types at one point or another.  I think my tendency is to be like the Ever-Reckoning Pharisee.  I usually depend more on my good works than I do on God’s grace.  Paul talked about that in Galatians 2 – about how if I do that, then Christ wouldn’t have had to die.

I want to recover from being a Pharisee, stop acting (the word hypocrite means actor), and embrace what God has done for me and is doing in me.

How about you?  Where are you at?

Bono once said on the Zooropa CD, “Some days are better than others.”  Yesterday, I had a really great day.  At school I was awake and alert the entire time.  The students were well-behaved.  I didn’t drink a can of pop the entire day and didn’t get a headache (ask me about that miracle).  Jess and I joined a gym, Planet Fitness, and I worked out.  I avoided eating the pizza they had at the gym when I really wanted a piece.  We had a great time of prayer at church last night.  And I got home, studied, and got to bed at a decent time. Some days are better than others.

In Matthew 17 we have the story of Jesus’ transfiguration, where Peter James and John see Jesus in all his glory.  Peter is ready to make a new trinity, Jesus, Moses, and Elijah as he offers to build them a tabernacle.  The point is:  Peter wanted to stay right there in that moment.  But Jesus picks them up after they fall to the ground in worship – and begins to walk down the mountain with them – back to the crowds of demanding people.  I’m learning a few things from this today…

1.  Don’t keep talking about the good days (v.9) – Jesus warns them not to speak about this day, until he raises from the dead.  Sometimes our good days just need to be a good day, and move on to the next one with expectancy.

2.  Let these days stretch your faith (v.17-19) – I don’t imagine that Peter doubted Jesus’ ability to heal over the next weeks.  When we have a good day and God reveals himself – we need to let it grow our faith in HIM – not in our abilities.  Faith in Him will carry through even bad days.

I think we’d all prefer to stay on the mountain with Jesus – but we gotta go back to daily walking with Him.  I’m sure we’ll run into a few demon-possessed kids (sometimes I feel like my students at school are) – but we’ve gotta have the faith that Jesus can do ANYTHING!  I pray transfiguration days for you – so that you can see Jesus in all His glory – and so that the dying, lost world can be affected by affected disciples.

You know how it goes…we make a plea for people to come forward and meet Christ at the front of the church.  Then we make announcements and bulletin inserts begging people to join the ministries that are hanging by a thread in the church.  But nowhere in there is the call to adventure that comes when you’re a disciple of Christ.

Jesus knows how to do it.  As I read John 1 – I didn’t see altar calls or bulletin inserts, but I saw Jesus calling people to be his disciple in many different ways.  Here’s what I found – check it out for yourself:

1.  Curiosity (v.39 – “come and see”) – to Andrew
2. Change (v.42 – “But you will be called Peter”) – to Simon
3. Courage (v.43 – “Come, follow me”) – to Phillip
4. Compliment (v.47 – “here is a genuine son”) – to Nathanael
5. Confirmation (v.48 – “I could see you”) – to Nathanael
6. Crazy Vision (v.50-51 – “You ain’t see nothing yet”) – to Nathanael

How did Jesus call you?  Are you being creative in calling people to follow Christ?  How can we be more accurate – like Jesus was with these groups of men?

Graduate.
VFCC.
Chilton.
Jess.
Graduation.
Marriage.
NY.
Toledo.
REAL.
Pastoring.

What would a wild, untamed church look like?  This quote really sums it up for me tonight…

CARE MORE THAN OTHERS THINK IS WISE; RISK MORE THAN OTHERS THINK IS SAFE; DREAM MORE THAN OTHERS THINK IS PRACTICAL; EXPECT MORE THAN OTHERS THINK IS POSSIBLE.

I refuse to live respectable religion.  I want heart pounding, risky faith.

It’s Friday.  It’s my last day of school for 2 whole weeks.  I’m excited, so I thought I would share with you some of my favorite Christmas movies and some cool links to Christmas movies online for free!!!

Charlie Brown Christmas – FREE on Hulu – http://www.hulu.com/watch/115462/a-charlie-brown-christmas

ABC Family 25 Christmas movies – FREE on Hulu – http://www.hulu.com/collections/342

New Muppets Christmas Special – FREE on Hulu – http://www.hulu.com/watch/113155/a-muppets-christmas-special-a-muppets-christmas-letters-to-santa

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES:

1.  Elf
2. Home Alone 1 & 2
3. Christmas Story
4. Charlie Brown Christmas
5. Grinch cartoon
6. Muppet Christmas Carol
7. Frosty the Snowman Cartoon
8. The Santa Clause
9. Ernest Saves Christmas
10. Christmas Carol – Jim Carrey

I’m sure there’s more – but that’s what I could think of today.  Leave a comment with your favorite Christmas movie – or maybe one I didn’t mention.  

Nobody ever genuinely became a Christian because they wanted to go to church religiously yet feel dead inside.  Yet, so often this becomes our story when we go on in our relationship with God.  We become like so many marriages in our society – a hardened, separate, and individualistic business transaction.

As I thought today about my life when I chose to follow Jesus – I realized that I never desired to become a regular churchgoer – I just wanted to love Jesus.  Yet so often, in our desire to live for Jesus, we think that we must start going to work for Jesus.  We do His work, He hooks us up with miracles and provisions, and that’s our relationship with Him.

Something has been stirring in me lately to love Jesus again.  I can do all the actions of a pastor or Christian, but I want my heart to want to do it, because I love Jesus.  Man, do I love Him.  He’s been faithful, when I’ve been the unfaithful one in our relationship.  He’s been speaking, when I haven’t wanted to be on speaking terms with Him.  He’s sat with me in low times and just listened, even when I didn’t acknowledge Him with me.  He’s definitely loved me better than I have loved Him.

I want to love Him deep in my heart, not just deep in my actions.  I feel the flame burning again.  Let it burn consistently (which is where action comes in to the belief and love part).

How about you?