DownshoreDrift

Church Under Siege

How would you feel if you went to your church one Sunday night for a special gathering to talk about issues happening in your community, to sing songs of worship to God, to pray, and to hear preaching, and a mob of over 2,000 people surrounded your church throwing rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails through the windows and then turned a car over and set it on fire?  How would you feel if you did not have any protection from the police or city or state officials?  What if the mob began to beat on the doors yelling that they were going to kill you and as they threw objects through second story windows, broken glass was showering down on the women and children huddled together for protection inside the sanctuary?

Does this make you think of recent events in Orissa, India? Or maybe something that you would hear about in the Middle East or China or Russia during the days of Communism?

Unfortunately, this event happened in America.  It happened in the Deep South, the Bible Belt - Alabama to be specific. It happened in the city where I now live and work and make my home, Montgomery, Alabama. It happened before we took prayer out of schools, before the Kennedy Assassination, before the Beatles came to America, before the sexual revolution and the gay rights and Hippie movements, and before Roe Vs. Wade. It happenened in 1961 when life was supposedly wonderful in America and we were full of family values.  It happened in a state where 2/3's of adult whites were Southern Baptists.  It was because of racism and ignorance and evil.  To my knowledge, it is the only time in the history of America that a church full of worshipers was ever under siege and it happened during the time that religion in the South was at its height.

This event took place when the Freedom Riders who were trying to integrate the interstate busing system in compliance with Federal Law, rolled into Montgomery, Alabama on the weekend of May 20-21, 1961.  They were met at the Greyhound Bus Station downtown by a mob of white men, women, and children and were beaten mercilessly.  The mob was instigated by the Ku Klux Klan, but it was supported by the police.  Blood flowed that day and several of the Freedom Riders were beaten unconscious or hospitalized. The next day, May 21st, they gathered at First Baptist Church on Ripley Street for a mass meeting of encouragement, worship, prayer, and support before the group tried to make their way to Jackson, Mississippi. The Freedom Riders had already been firebombed in Anniston, Alabama and beaten severely by a mob in Birmingham.  Their reception in Montgomery was similar, but the fact that their gathering at a church, normally considered a sanctuary of protection, insighted violence from the hateful crowd - well, that was a new twist to the violence surrounding the Civil Rights Movement.

This event is important for me because it illustrates the division in the church in America on the basis of racial, cultural, and economic lines. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:11-22 that Jesus tears down dividing walls between ethnic groups - that he himself is our peace. Racial Reconciliation is not a social issue - it is a gospel imperative and those who deny it and divide on the basis of race, are actually denying the gospel itself. That seems harsh, but it is true. Jesus died for all and there is no difference - all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Racial differences are human constructions and are not important when it comes to approaching the throne of grace. Since we are one in Christ, that oneness must be manifested here on earth so that Jesus is proclaimed through our actions and our love and not just our words. That did not happen in the South and in many ways, it still is not happening in our churches.

So, on May 21st, 2010, a few of us will be gathering outside the old First Baptist Church on Ripley Street at 6pm. We will be surrounding that old building with prayers and songs of repentance instead of curses of anger. We will be praying that God continue His reconciling work in our hearts and that justice would flow down like mighty rivers and that the Holy Spirit would flow like streams of living water. We will be praying Pentecost Prayers that the body of Christ would be one and that we would have a unified witness to the reconciling nature of Christ in our lives and our city. The church was under siege 49 years ago tomorrow. It is time for the year of jubilee to break forth and for the Kingdom to come. A few of us will be praying that way. If you are in Montgomery, we'd love for you to join us.

Bringing Our Gifts to the King

The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time dates back to St. Nicholas in 4th century Turkey. Beyond that, it goes back to the three Wise Men who presented the gifts of gold, frankenscence, and myrrh to Jesus shortly after his birth (Matthew 2:1-12). Whatever the origins, gift giving has become one of the most cherished traditions of our Christmas celebrations.  Yesterday during our morning worship service, quite a few people presented their gifts and talents before the Lord in worship to Him and it was beautiful. The whole service consisted of children and adults singing songs, performing dances, playing instruments, and coming together in choirs to give praise to Jesus. It was really beautiful and demonstrates how God has gifted us with amazing talent in our church.

As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that whether in song, art, dance, music, poetry/writing, speaking, serving, working, or making things with our hands, God has gifted us to give praise to Him. The first way that we do that is with our lives. God has blessed us with life, strength, imaginations, talents, experiences, and resources.  Will we present them back to Him as gifts or will we use them for ourselves?  Christmas should be a time to worship Jesus for what He has given to us - Himself.  How do we give ourselves back to Him and back to others, even to the point of sacrifice?

What gifts will we give to Jesus this year?  How might we lay our lives down before Him and serve Him with gratitude and thanksgiving?  What can we give to Him and to others?  What would it cost us to truly serve God and serve others?  If He is the Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift, then whatever we give to Him and others came from Him in the first place.  How can we excel in the "grace of giving"? 

I think that if Christians truly excelled in the grace of giving (time, energy, resources, talents, etc.), it would be the best way to demonstrate the person and work of Jesus, the greatest giver of all. As we give presents to one another this year, could we think about what Jesus has given to us and how we can respond to Him by giving our lives back to Him and in turn, to others?  

What would 2010 look like if we truly lived with open hands, giving as we have received?  

What Pain Can Teach Us

I originally wrote this the night of September 3. I was very discouraged and I started to write and my writing turned to worship and in worship, God made Himself known to me. I was not attempting to be overly dramatic or melancholy, but I often feel things that I can't articulate until I begin to write and that night submerged feelings and memories turned to words and words described pain and pain was brought to God. And, God heals. Tonight, I sit in my room instead of on a plane to India with the team that left this morning from our church to continue our work there. I am home because of the same continuing abdominal wound I wrote about here. I am continuing to struggle with it. Since I wrote this, I have been going to a wound care specialist and I am getting no better. This morning when I went to the doctor, It bled so much I had to go home and change my pants after blood poured all over them at the waist. I am in pain and I am tired. But tonight, I thought of this post that I saved and never published and I read it and God showed up again reminding me that no matter what situation I am in, I can rejoice in Him because He is all that matters. We rejoice not in what we do or in who we are, but in who He is. If you have ever suffered through a trial that you don't understand, I hope that this will encourage you to fix your eyes on Jesus. Even though I am 6 weeks further along in this and things are only getting worse, I can honestly say that I am encouraged because of Christ, not because of the circumstances. He is enough.

Since the end of June, I have been going through quite a physical ordeal. Over two months ago I had out-patient surgery to correct an umbilicial hernia that had occurred a couple of months before. I don't know how it happened, but it just did. So, I was supposed to have a fairly simple procedure and would heal up in about 10 days or so. First of all, the pain from the surgery was unreal. I actually have a pretty high pain tolerance, but this was pretty bad. When I would lean forward, it felt like my stomach was ripping apart. So, this went on for a few days until I began to heal and recover. All went according to plan until the end of July when my body began to push the stitches out and "overheal." That's what the doctor called it. I began to produce a great deal of granulated tissue and it got in the way of my stomach actually healing. Basically, it became a mess. The worst part was the intense muscle pain that I've been going through as my stomach involuntarily contracts all day long trying to hold the wound back from any contact.

Sunday Worship: Matthew Smith "All I Owe"

I went to see Matthew Smith and Indelible Grace last night at a local church. Amazing concert. They take old hymns that are Christ-centered and update the music. I got several CD's and would like to use some of the songs in different ways in our worship at church. You can find a lot of their stuff on Youtube. Here is a song that really spoke to me last night.  It is called, "All I Owe." The words are from Robert McCheyene, I believe. I am preaching on holiness tomorrow and I cannot do that without recognizing that I have no holiness in myself. Everything I have, I owe to Christ. He is my holiness and He defines what holiness is.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God: Pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

I am completely mesmerized by the pictures that the Hubble Space Telescope keeps sending back to us. We see a universe in motion that is more vast than we can possibly comprehend - and more beautiful. God is an artist and His creativity knows no bounds. Take a look at this one:

I saw where they were calling this a space butterfly. Basically, streams of gas are being shot out from a dying star for billions of miles and Hubble captured it. What beauty. In the vastness of space, God is painting a picture. This has been going on for aeons, but we are only just now able to see it.

Hubble has been sending back many amazing pictures of the beauty and vastness of the universe. Just seeing these pictures causes me to think about how small we are, how unfathomably large the universe is, and how much God loves us to do all that He has done for us. Amazing (click on the picture below for a bigger view).

The beauty and diversity of God's creation is beyond my comprehension. The heavens truly declare the glory of God. How can we not praise Him?  How can we not see?

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It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. "Look out!" we cry, "it's alive". And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back - I would have done so myself if I could - and proceed no further with Christianity. An 'impersonal God' - well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our heads - better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap - best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband - that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion ('Man's search for God!') suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?

C.S. Lewis ~ from Miracles.

The Body of Christ and the Beauty of the Kingdom of God

On Sunday, we opened up the floor for people to share testimonies about where they saw God working and moving in their lives. Building off the theme from the week before, "Rejoice in the Lord, Always," we did just that. We rejoiced and gave thanks for what God was doing in our everyday lives. A man came up and shared about how God had been working through him at his work place to lead a man to Christ and witness to another man. Another man shared how he had seen God move in his family through the illness of his father and through the doctors and nurses in the hospital. A teenaged boy shared about how he had seen God work in his life at Scout camp this summer. Another man shared about how he had seen God work in his marriage of 62 years and another praised God for his marriage of 16 years.  A lady came forward to share about how God was working in her life through some very difficult trials.  I then preached on the end of Philippians 4 saying that we could be content in any situation because our focus was on Christ and that as we were in the place that God wanted us to be, we could do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Then, we are to be generous givers and as we give, God will supply all of our needs. He is trustworthy!

After the service, a couple that I had counseled with during the week displayed their desire to commit their lives fully to Christ and obey Him in everything. It was beautiful. The Kingdom of God was breaking through and people were talking about God's work everywhere. After the service, people stayed and stayed just to talk and hang out with one another.  A couple invited several folks over for dinner after church and one young man confessed that he did not know Jesus. We are praying for him. We are seeing more and more African-Americans visit our church and they are expressing a desire to join with us. Praise God! This has been a major prayer of mine that our church would reflect our city racially and culturally, displaying to the world that there are no barriers in Christ. It is happening! And, believe it or not, that is an amazing thing in Montgomery, AL.  Heaven and earth are colliding.

People keep mentioning the basketball ministry that we have been doing with the teenagers in our community. They are curious about it and keep asking how we did it. One man told me recently that Gateway is known throughout the city for our outreach. I told him that honestly it really wasn't that big of a deal. We have probably had 10-15 people tops take part in the ministry, and not all of them at the same time. Basically, we put some basketball goals out in the parking lot, prayed, and have tried to love the guys that come to play. God keeps working through it, though, and His work is what is making the difference.

I really am amazed at what I see God doing. We are not the biggest church in our city. Far from it. We have about 250 people or so. But, we have really big dreams and we serve a really big God and we are bold enough to think that nothing is impossible with God - so we just keep pushing on obstacles until they come down. And, you know what? They do. This is the attitude that we have toward our work in India. The gods and goddesses of Northern India are going to bow the knee to Jesus one day, just like the gods of racism and consumerism in America will bow the knee as well. So, in the name of Jesus, we push on these strongholds with full confidence that we are doing God's will. And, little by little, people held in bondage are set free and people walking in darkness begin to see the light.

Jesus is central. With Him as our point of reference, everything else comes into focus. We are far from perfect, but that is the point, isn't it? We are not the Savior. Jesus is. We need Him today just like we did years ago when we first met Him. We never stop needing Him and He never stops changing us or bringing glory to Himself through us.

What a privilege.

Michael Jackson, Celebrity Worship, and Jesus Christ

We've seen this story play out many times before. Adoring fans. Memorial service watched by millions. Weeping. Platitudes given, speaking of the best of a person while ignoring negative qualities. The past week of tributes to Michael Jackson after his death culminated yesterday in a veritable worship fest for the man known as the "King of Pop." I observed it briefly before quickly losing interest in the coverage.

I was never a fan of Michael Jackson. I just didn't get the appeal. Sure, he was talented, but I didn't see where he was more talented than others. I didn't really like his music, even as a kid in the 80's when he was so popular. So, needless to say, his death did not affect me that much.  As a Christian, however, I should not be so quick to look down my nose at the swooning multitudes who adored the man and are now pouring out so much grief and adulation over his death. How often have I done the same thing, just in different ways?

We really shouldn't be too critical of what we are seeing happen over Jackson's death, because celebrity worship has been around for a VERY long time. It is not just a product of the shallowness of this generation. It is a product of our lostness and spiritual emptiness, but it is as endimic to humanity as the air we breathe out of our lungs. Sure, we express our worship for people in different ways and maybe we aren't screaming and crying over a celebrity, but we still do it.

Sunday Worship: Busyness as Spiritual Idolatry

"How are you doing?"

"Good. Busy, but good . . . Actually, I am soooo busy."

"I know. Me too. I'm really busy."

This is a normal exchange between two Americans in 2009. Whether they are in high school, college, single and working, newly married, have children, or are retired, the constant refrain from most people is . . .

I'm busy.

I said it myself in a tweet earlier today without even thinking about it. It just rolls off the tongue (or the fingers on the keyboard) so easily. I'm busy. It is the explanation for everything. Saying that today reminded me that that is not how I want to see life.  When I say, "I'm busy," I'm saying that I'm doing stuff that I don't want to be doing and I'm running around like crazy trying to get stuff done because I have to. I am describing a state of physical, emotional, and spiritual unrest that leaves me worn out and depleted.  It is not healthy and it is usually unnecessary, for the most part.  So, I'm speaking to myself here.

Resurrection Day, Gardening With the Kids, and Enjoying God's Beauty

We just finished an amazing weekend of worship, reflection on the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ, spending time with family, and looking toward the future. We look backward at what Christ has done so that we can more clearly see our present and so that we can look ahead to the hope that He has for us in Him. Jesus is risen and that means something significant for us today and for our future as well.

On Friday night, our church set aside time to reflect on the sufferings of Christ. We often skip over the suffering so that we can get to the victory, but unless we go to the cross, I don't think that we will be able to really understand the resurrection. We took time to sit in silent prayer and meditation on the Lord and Scripture before the worship started. We did this for about an hour. Then, we sang, prayed, had some Bible study, and took Communion together. One of the songs that particularly touched me was the modern hymn, "How Deep the Father's Love for Us."  There is a verse that says,

It was my sin that held him there / Until it was accomplished / His dying breath has brought me life / I know that it is finished.

My sin is what put Jesus on the Cross. He took it from me so that I would be forgiven, be restored to God, be justified, and so that He could bear God's wrath instead of me. He conquered Satan, death, hell, and He fulfilled the Law, nailing it to the Cross - the debt was paid in full. He disarmed the powers and authorities making a public spectacle of them by the Cross. He rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into His Kingdom.  Because of what Jesus has done, I can now approach God with freedom and confidence. I can worship by the Spirit of God freely. Through Christ, God is reconciling the world to Himself, making all things new. What a glorious Savior!

Dwayne O'Riley, a man in our church, painted a painting for us during the two and a half hour worship/prayer service of the face of Jesus. He worked on it some more on Saturday and displayed it during the service this morning. Here is a picture from Friday night right before a tornado knocked out the power!

 

On Saturday, in the spirit of new life and God making all things new, I planted a small garden with the kids. We planted 7 tomato plants and a basil plant. I have tried this a couple of times before and something always went wrong. One year, I placed the plants too close together and they did not bear much fruit. Another year, we had too much rain and the plants grew huge but I didn't get any tomatoes out of them. I love fresh tomatoes. They taste totally different than the store bought variety.  Anyway, it was a neat teaching time for the kids too. I don't try and make every little thing that we do have a spiritual application (even though all of life points back to God), but this just seemed to make sense and be very obvious. While we were digging up the ground, we talked about how we needed to have a soft heart toward God and how we needed to be humble before Him. We also talked about being good soil and the parable of the sower and the seed. They were really engaged and could understand a lot better with their hands in the dirt working to prepare the ground for planting. It was great to work with them too. They worked hard and, even though it is a little garden, tending it will be a rich experience this Spring. Here are some pics (Erika took them - I was filthy):

 

 

 

Yes, I know. A VERY small garden. But, it will be fun. If we do it well this year, next year, we're taking half the yard!

Worship on Sunday was great and we had a lot of visitors, although a lot of regulars were gone. Easter is not usually one of our larger services because we have so many young people and young families and they often travel to spend Easter with away with other family. But, we also have a lot of relatives come visit, so it is a different mix than usual. We started the day with a Sunrise Service and then about 25 of us went to eat breakfast together at a local restaurant. Our family made this an Easter tradition about 3 years ago and we just invite people to join us. We had a great time. After this, we went to church and continued to reflect on the great salvation that Christ secured for us. I preached about God's grace and mercy, but also about His justice and wrath. Jesus fully took God's wrath for us and brought us to God. My Mom in Mississippi will likely read this along with other family members, so I'll put up the picture that was taken of the family after worship. What a blessing my wife and children are to me.

 

Since I'm posting pictures, the following are from last weekend when Erika and I took the kids to some Greek gardens near Montgomery and then went to feed the ducks at a nearby park. There were some ducklings swimming in the pond that made for some amazing pictures, I thought. Enjoy and have a great week knowing and believing that because Christ is risen, He makes all things new!

 

 

 

  

I hope that you also had a great celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!  God is so good and I see Him at work all around me is so many amazing ways.

 

Sunday Worship - The Devil Is Right

This video of the song, "Embracing Accusation" by Shane and Shane with a short message by John Piper thrown in, has blown me away. I've watched this about 7 times now and I break down crying in worship every time.  Seriously. I just called Erika in to see it and I broke down crying again. I'm a big baby when it comes to the grace and mercy of God upon me, a sinner.  What an amazing gospel.

Jesus Saves.  Hallelujah, Jesus saves.

Family Worship and Devotion

This is NOT a post about how spiritual we are or how perfect our kids are. Far from it. I am tempted to not even write this because it could appear that I am trying to say, "Look what we're doing! Look what we're doing!"  Again, that is not the case. Please hear my heart in this. This is also not a post about worshiping the family in case the title is confusing. May it never be.

Fellow bloggers Joe Thorn and Steve McCoy have written about this for some time. I just saw a post by Dr. Jim Hamilton on Russell Moore's blog about this as well and I wanted to point to it: http://www.russellmoore.com/index.php/2009/01/06/family-worship-in-2009/ .

If you have kids, I would really encourage you to take some time each morning and/or evening to spend with them in the Word of God and in prayer. We have always prayed with our kids every morning and night and the 20 minutes that I take them to school has been a time of talking through issues, prayer, and listening to a message together on the radio. We also do a ton of "as you go" type instruction during the day. Lately, we have also started going through a book of family devotions by Josh McDowell each evening.  The kids are loving it and can't wait to do it each evening. Kieran, my 5 year old is in charge of the book and he always runs and gets it. It is a very approachable book and it has a scripture passage, a story to illustrate the passage, discussion questions, and a prayer. We adapt it and have great discussions around the scriptures and the topic. God has really been moving in the life of my family through this and I am seeing a greater spiritual sensitivity and desire to know and obey the Lord in my children. Kieran asked about salvation a couple of weeks ago and after some discussion, he prayed to receive Christ. He was incredibly sincere about it and really seems to understand. 

I honestly do not know a busier family than my own. We try and limit activities, but being the pastor of a church of around 250 with no other full time staff and being the father of four kids has me out doing something just about every night of the week. We hit the ground running early every morning, go all day, and have something just about every night, whether it is getting together with another family, going to an event with the church, attending a school function, or, well, fill in the blank. It never ends. Still, we really make spending time together a top priority. We watch no television before the kids go to bed in the evenings. That really helps. And of course, we also have to put them to bed each night, so inserting this time together the 20 minutes or so before they go to bed has been no problem at all. It has been a huge blessing, actually.

I am still learning how to do this. I make huge mistakes. I am not trying to say that we are some type of an example in perfect discipline when it comes to this. Life is busy and we are always running and there are many families that I can point to that are likely more efficient in how they do this. But, I will tell you that doing this has been a huge blessing and it is something that I am glad is a part of my life. ANY family can take the time together to focus on the Lord and pray for one another no matter how busy you are. Turning off the television is the first step. Being intentional about time spent together is the next step. Honestly, I have the greatest kids and wife that I can imagine, and they are incredibly easy to encourage in this area. God has been good to me.

I guess that I am just writing this to encourage other dads and families to take time to go before the Lord together with your children. Whether it is in prayer, Bible study, and/or discussion, take time to go before the Lord together. Yeah, I said that twice. It bears repeating. You don't have to be a spiritual giant to do it. Just make yourself available. God will bless you in amazing ways when you do!

Our Identity In Christ

I have been really thinking about spiritual formation over the past several months and how we can be formed into the image of Christ. The Church's main job is to make disciples of Jesus. We often focus most heavily on everything else and we leave the disciplemaking to parachurch organizations if we think about it at all. But, God wants each of us to reflect Christ.  This starts with knowing who God is and knowing our identity in Christ.  If we know who Jesus is and who He has made us to be, we have the start that we need in living for Him. Who we are dictates how we act. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds and we must live from the life of Christ within us, not from our own resources.

Here is a list of verses that deal with our identity in Christ that I found HERE. Read over them and ask God to help you live from the reality that He provides us. This is also helpful to use in discipling others.

 The Word of God Says in Jesus Christ...

I am faithful (Ephesians 1:1)

I am God's child (John 1:12)

I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)

I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:20)

I am a member of Christ's Body (1 Corinthians 12:27)

I am assured all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)

I have been established, anointed and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

I am confident that God will perfect the work He has begun in me (Philippians 1:6)

I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)

I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7)

I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)

I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)

I am chosen before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 11)

I am holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4)

I am adopted as his child (Ephesians 1:5)

I am given God's glorious grace lavishly and without restriction (Ephesians 1:5,8)

I am in Him (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30)

I have redemption (Ephesians 1:8)

I am forgiven (Ephesians 1:8; Colossians 1:14)

I have purpose (Ephesians 1:9 & 3:11)

I have hope (Ephesians 1:12)

I am included (Ephesians 1:13)

I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)

I am a saint (Ephesians 1:18)

I am salt and light of the earth (Matfthew 5:13-14)

I have been chosen and God desires me to bear fruit (John 15:1,5)

I am a personal witness of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8)

I am God's coworker (2 Corinthians 6:1)

I am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)

I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)

I am raised up with Christ (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6)

I have been shown the incomparable riches of God's grace (Ephesians 2:7)

God has expressed His kindness to me (Ephesians 2:7)

I am God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)

I have been brought near to God through Christ's blood (Ephesians 2:13)

I have peace (Ephesians 2:14)

I have access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18)

I am a member of God's household (Ephesians 2:19)

I am secure (Ephesians 2:20)

I am a holy temple (Ephesians 2:21; 1 Corinthians 6:19)

I am a dwelling for the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)

I share in the promise of Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6)

God's power works through me (Ephesians 3:7)

I can approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)

I know there is a purpose for my sufferings (Ephesians 3:13)

I can grasp how wide, long, high and deep Christ's love is (Ephesians 3:18)

I am completed by God (Ephesians 3:19)

I can bring glory to God (Ephesians 3:21)

I have been called (Ephesians 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:9)

I can be humble, gentle, patient and lovingly tolerant of others (Ephesians 4:2)

I can mature spiritually (Ephesians 4:15)

I can be certain of God's truths and the lifestyle which He has called me to (Ephesians 4:17)

I can have a new attitude and a new lifestyle (Ephesians 4:21-32)

I can be kind and compassionate to others (Ephesians 4:32)

I can forgive others (Ephesians 4:32)

I am a light to others, and can exhibit goodness, righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:8-9)

I can understand what God's will is (Ephesians 5:17)

I can give thanks for everything (Ephesians 5:20)

I don't have to always have my own agenda (Ephesians 5:21)

I can honor God through marriage (Ephesians 5:22-33)

I can parent my children with composure (Ephesians 6:4)

I can be strong (Ephesians 6:10)

I have God's power (Ephesians 6:10)

I can stand firm in the day of evil (Ephesians 6:13)

I am dead to sin (Romans 1:12)

I am not alone (Hebrews 13:5)

I am growing (Colossians 2:7)

I am His disciple (John 13:15)

I am prayed for by Jesus Christ (John 17:20-23)

I am united with other believers (John 17:20-23)

I am not in want (Philippians 4:19)

I possess the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16)

I am promised eternal life (John 6:47)

I am promised a full life (John 10:10)

I am victorious (I John 5:4)

My heart and mind is protected with God's peace (Philippians 4:7)

I am chosen and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12)

I am blameless (I Corinthians 1:8)

I am set free (Romans 8:2; John 8:32)

I am crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20)

I am a light in the world (Matthew 5:14)

I am more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)

I am the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)

I am safe (I John 5:18)

I am part of God's kingdom (Revelation 1:6)

I am healed from sin (I Peter 2:24)

I am no longer condemned (Romans 8:1, 2)

I am not helpless (Philippians 4:13)

I am overcoming (I John 4:4)

I am persevering (Philippians 3:14)

I am protected (John 10:28)

I am born again (I Peter 1:23)

I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I am delivered (Colossians 1:13)

I am redeemed from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13)

I am qualified to share in His inheritance (Colossians 1:12)

I am victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Here is another good teaching on this subject if you want to go deeper.

Sunday Worship - The Stand & Our God Reigns

The Stand by Hillsong United - with a really unique video.

Our God Reigns by Delirious. Delirious is one of my favorite bands of all time. I've been listening to them since the mid-90's. This song proclaims the gospel of the Kingdom.

Sunday Worship - Rescue

This is the song Rescue set to scenes from mission work in a Romanian Gypsy village.

Sunday Worship - Revelation Song

He Has Made Me Glad

Yesterday, we celebrated Caelan's third birthday.  He is doing great!  He is strong and healthy and he is also alive. We praise God for that. When we had the cancer scare back in March, we knew that if the cancer had returned and God did not intervene, Caelan would have probably not made it to his third birthday - today. Scary. Sure, there was a chance he would make it, but a recurrence of his type of cancer is brutal and fast acting. But, God was gracious and He did intervene!  I brought Caelan up on stage on Sunday and praised God before our church.  It is important for me to remember what an awesome God we serve by recounting His gracious acts and praising Him continually.

I wanted to link to what is probably my favorite worship song right now, "He Has Made Me Glad," by Hillsongs (HT: Micah Fries). Our praise team does this song every once in a while and it always moves me deeply. I hope that it touches your heart and leads you to the God who is our shield, our strength, our portion and deliver, our shelter and strong tower - our very present help in time of need. The God who makes us glad.

Micah-the-Pastoral-Intern's Book Reviews

We have a brilliant pastoral intern this summer named Micah. He will be a senior in college this year and he is praying about going into vocational ministry. So as a formative experience, we developed a learning internship for him this summer. He has shadowed me to meetings and events and he went with me to the Alan Hirsch conference this past weekend in New Orleans. We've spent a lot of time together, and even though Micah's been a part of our church since he was 13, my respect for his heart for God and intellect has grown exponentially in the few weeks that we have been doing this.

I've given Micah quite a few books to read as the internship has begun and have asked him to write a short reflection on each book. We sit down and talk through it together, exploring different issues that emerge. Initially, we are looking at issues that might frame his perspective on ministry in the 21st Century. Where and how can he most faithfully represent Christ to a dying world?  He has posted his reviews online at http://collegerambling.blogspot.com/ .  You seriously need to check out his reviews from writers like Eugene Peterson, Ron Sider, Bob Roberts, Alan Hirsch, George Grant, Watchmen Nee, and Marty Duren (Micah is going to spend some time at Marty's church in North Georgia this weekend).  Micah will be interning with us through the summer and his experiences and learning have just begun. Keep him in your prayers, especially if you are a part of Gateway and you are reading this.  If you have any advice or encouragement for a young man trying to discern whether or not to enter vocational ministry, I'm sure that it would be appreciated.

Sunday Worship - The Call

I sang this song yesterday morning with several thousand people here in Montgomery. I can't get it out of my head. It's Majesty by Delirious (we were led in it by a band from Kansas City). I pray that you have a great Lord's Day and that you fully worship God with all your heart!

I went to The Call yesterday in Montgomery. It was a gathering of thousands of people from all over the country that met to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our land. It was a day of fasting, prayer, and worship, primarily targeted at the younger generation. They planned it to coincide with the 40th Anniversay of the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, so racial healing and repentence for our country was a major theme of the gathering. It was inredible to see thousands of young people from every ethnic group worshiping God with abandon with nothing separating them. We are truly ONE in Christ.

I know that I have written a lot about racial healing lately. Living in Montgomery, the past surrounds you and you realize how much God has done, but how much more needs to happen - especially in the Church. But, God is at work in our city in that regard among believers and I have become a part of it. I am also working on a book on the subject, so I am praying and studying our history quite a bit and am also working through solutions. I am completely convinced that the only answer to the problems and the pain of our past is a moving of the Holy Spirit in the Church. When God shows up in our lives, all dividing walls come down. We don't need more programs or more words. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, repentance, healing, and restoration to our land. I got to taste a little of that today and I praise God!