Day 20 - The Outsider

Read Matthew 27:11-66

He was a dweeb in the eyes of some.
A loner.
Strange.
Unpredictable.
He was different.
Spoke of strange things.
Weird things.
Things that no one had heard before.
His dad had a bad reputation with some.
He tried to talk about his relationship with his
father. Few of the teachers
listened. Or cared.
He belonged to a gang.
A gang that was considered dangerous.
It roamed the town, causing local authorities trouble.
He got in people's faces.  He hung out with losers.
Rich kids hated him. Some said Satan was in him.
He called the teacher names.  To their faces.
He lived on the streets. He called himself God.
He got violent once. He was expelled for it.

But he came back. He talked about his own death calmly.
He promised to come back from the dead.
One of his gang got him arrested.
He defended himself in court. He lost.
The state executed him. It was a horrible death.
On the third day, he kept his promise. 

The Outsider by Dave Tippett

How does seeing Jesus in this light change or not change your perspective of who He is?

Day 19 - Behold I Am Doing A New Thing

Read Isaiah 43:14-21

Behold, I am doing a new thing." The people of God understood that the God of Scripture is always    leading His people into the future, into new experiences, new challenges, new adventures; and He scolds them and is displeased with them when they insist on looking back and holding on to the past. "I am not back there," He says. "The glory has departed from there; I am ahead of you; follow Me into the future; catch the adventure!"  God wants to put a new song in our mouth and we are to sing a new song!  If we have experienced new birth then He has given us a new name.  He has made a new covenant because His mercies are new every morning! He has given us a new commandment to love one another.  He has given us new life and we are a new creation.  We have a new self because a new and living way has been opened for us.

Matthew 9:17  states  No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.  Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.  If they do, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Jesus did not come to patch up an old system of religion, He didn’t come to fill our lives with rules and regulations.  He came to bring a new and living way to God.  He didn’t want us to package our faith like all other religion within clearly defined systems.  He said come to me and you will find rest for your souls, freedom from fear, death, forgiveness for sins, a clean slate, a fresh faith.

Jesus called us into a rule-free spirituality, which is very difficult for religious people to fathom.            Certainly, rule-less spirituality is only a constructive way to live if love is the guiding dynamic of our lives, and the key to Jesus’ message.  Simply remove rules and you are left with anarchy (1 John 3:4). 

Transcend rules with love and you are beginning to live like Jesus 

Bruxy Cavey in The End of Religion

What is the new thing that Jesus is doing in us?

Day 18 - Leaving 99

Read Matthew 18:1-14

Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep! v6  The story of the lost sheep is all about pursuit and celebration! This is a beautiful picture of our Father God who actively seeks out sinners and brings them home.   My question is also about those “99” who are in the fold?  Are they really in the fold?  The only way into the fold is through God pursuing all of us.  We all need to repent and make the 180 degree turn. Ultimately it is not us that find Jesus, He finds us.  The truth of the matter is that we love God because He first loved us. We have a seeking God who takes the initiative.  This was a revolutionary lesson for the religious people, the rabbis, who only saw God as one who welcomes a righteous person.  1 John 4:19 tells us that we can’t be righteous apart from him.  He welcomes sinners who recognize they need to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness.  The Pharisees thought they were in the fold.  The question we are left with here is, are we in the fold?  Jesus strategy was to ‘lose’ the ‘found’ and ‘find’ the lost! 

There is a huge difference between being religious and finding God.  To those who really understood the extent of their spiritual sickness, He was their caring doctor.  What made Jesus so attractive to the irreligious?  He took the initiative, he gravitated to the soul sick.  He genuinely loved the people others couldn’t stand.  Unfortunately for the Pharisees they could only see contamination coming from contact with sinners.  To those who took pride in their goodness,  He did whatever it took to put His finger on their sin.  He has no interest in us living with our the pseudo-security of human righteousness.

The second discovery is that we should never be satisfied with the status quo.  There are lost sheep out there that need to be found and we must never get to the place where we are happy with the way things are. God wants to work through us.  Finding the lost is a joyful experience, it is what we are all about and it is the most amazing adventure out there.  We carry our friends to Jesus like the friends who cut the roof open and brought him to the Saviour in Mark 2. 

The joy in heaven is not that we are all safe and protected in the fold.  No, it is rejoicing over taking risks to get out there and reach out.  It is a  dangerous mission to go out there, out of the safety of our church walls and be a true expression of Jesus.  We might get a bad rap and others may question your motives.  They may even call you names as we saw happen to Jesus, but He tells us to rejoice in Matthew 5:12 because great is your reward in heaven for bearing His name with grace. The shepherd carries the sheep on his shoulders, he joyfully puts it on his  shoulders.v5 We carry each other’s burdens and we bring them home to Jesus.  Are there people God is calling  you to bring home to Jesus?  Pray for the opportunities, they will come!

Day 17 It All Starts With Love

Read  Mark 12:28-32;Matt. 28:19,20

Are people going to be impressed with our knowledge or the fact that there is nothing that you could ever do that will make Him love you less as we saw in this past week’s small group study.  Nothing can separate us from God’s love-not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers from above or below.  Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38,39 CEV. 

Loving others that we will live like Jesus did and love the people that Jesus loved.  We will reach out to the people that Jesus reached, the down and out, the sick, the poor, the broken and the forgotten.  Nothing should separate us from those people.

The word “evangel” is simply the Greek word which means “good news,” or to share the good news of Jesus. Another common word for this is “gospel.” When a church community puts the great commission before the great commandment or in other words is not motivated by “love”, it loses its purpose of being “evangelical” or “evangelizing” in the first place.

At Grace we put effort into seeing people connected with the living God through Jesus, because we love God and we love what his kingdom is all about. We believe that the expansion of the Kingdom of God is the best thing for this world. Not only do we love Jesus, we love our neighbour, and truly believe that the best thing for our neighbour is Him! If a community is not motivated out of a sense of love but that of “Christian duty” then it begins to see people as projects, rather than objects of God’s love, that should be cared for and loved as well.

When we are motivated out of love it affects how we interact with everyone around us and we don’t see and treat people as our projects.

To reach people without a life giving relationship and bring them to a place of becoming fully devoted      followers of Christ means that we have shifted our focus from just meeting the needs of those who already believe to becoming more inclusive of those who do not know Jesus and designing our ministries to be     relevant and engaging to our community.

Day 16 - Friend of Sinners

Read Matthew 11:1-19 

What  I realized is that in physical appearance, Jesus favored those who would have been kicked out of Bible college and rejected by most churches. Phillip Yancey

There’s nothing to equal the power of a changed life, and there’s nothing that will change a life like God’s forgiving love. Once this has happened to you, you can’t sit still. You have to run get all your friends. And once you experience what it can do for someone else, you’ll be beside yourself, too, just like Jesus.  John Fischer

Somehow I think Jesus would go to parties.  I think he would be able to drive home, remember everything on Saturday morning and have no regrets.  He would have mixed it up with the pagans.  The simple answer we often preach which is insulation and isolation isn’t Christ like and isn’t effective.   Bill Clem, church planter, regional trainer, Sonlife

When friendship is true, unselfish, and forgiving, there is no sweeter relationship. Jesus wrote the          definition of friendship by His acts of love. No person was too insignificant, too lost, too low for His kind of friendship. He cradled the forgotten child, called to the most loathsome tax collector and invited the racially impure.   Tammi Rudkin

Matthew 11: 19  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a      drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

Do you ever notice the people who were most comfortable around Jesus. It was the scum of  the earth in the eyes of the religious people.  Jesus hung out with all the wrong people, prostitutes, tax collectors, the party crowd.  Jesus got a bad reputation, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He wore ‘friend of sinners’ as a badge of honor.  Jesus lived a missional life.  In a day when the religious people had worked hard to abstain from all appearance of evil, there was Jesus getting lumped in with the lot of them.

How would people outside the church describe you?

How can you live a more missional life?

Day 15 - The Irreplaceable Church!

Here's the thing we need to realize church, there is no plan B.  We are called to be His ambassadors, His representatives, His witnesses.  It can be daunting, yes, but we need to realize two things.  He has promised that we receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in Acts 1:8 and secondly, a witness testifies to the things He has seen and heard.  So, do you have any God stories?  Do you know what it means to minister under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit?  


The Holy Spirit is our guide and I was reminded this week from Jude 1:20


 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.


What does it means to pray in the Holy Spirit?


One writer defines it this way.

The Greek word translated “pray in” can have several different meanings. It can mean “by means of,” “with the help of,” “in the sphere of,” and “in connection to.” Praying in the Spirit does not refer to the words we are saying. Rather, it refers to how we are praying. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the Spirit’s leading. It is praying for things the Spirit leads us to pray for. Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

So, being under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit is going to enable us to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  I really believe He will lead us to the people that He wants us to be in conversation with.

Now, just take about 10 seconds and stare at your feet and then be reminded of this verse.

Romans 10:15a; 

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”


Go under the power and influence of the Spirit and allow God to use you as the unique messenger that you are.  


You are irreplaceable as a member of His Church!

Day 14 - If We Are The Body

Read James 2:1-9




This is truly a challenging song by Casting Crowns which really speaks to me.  Read through the chorus again and answer the question of what the body of Grace should be about.  Think of specific ways that we can be His arms, hands, words, feet and the way.  

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS 

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them  there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

If we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way

Day 13 - Keeping It Together

Read 1 Corinthians 12

As a church we need to really ‘keep it together’ and we do that by first accepting each other in Christ! We all have a part to play and we are all needed.  It isn’t about who is more visible or who gets more attention.  It is about concentrating on the importance of the body and circulating the love of Christ through all our body parts!  The goal is that we serve one another in love.  We can’t get caught up in the comparison game and must remember that if we are playing our God-given role, it is important.  I remember one time I was working at a large camp ministry and I was also a youth pastor at that time.  I wasn’t the speaker and I didn’t play a major up front role during my time there. They asked me to focus more behind the scenes with the program staff.  It was humbling, but I was able to gain a whole new appreciation for those in the trenches. It also gave me opportunities to gel with some of my own ministry team on staff as well.  We prayed and served together and also learned a lot of great ways to create an environment for healthy relationships to grow. 

Another way we ‘keep it together’ is that we all focus on the same goal.  We all need to be on the same page and that is a big reason why I feel so committed to this exercise.  My heart’s desire is that we will all   capture the same vision for why God has brought us together here in community.  We need to see how we complement each other and how God has given us strengths to help people.  We also need people in our lives to help us shore up our weaknesses and reveal our blind spots.  It’s not always easy to hear, but it is so needed. Together we are really better and we can do so much more when we are all moving in the same      direction.

Finally, we need to know what position we are playing.  In any sport, the good player will tell you it’s a result of a total team effort, each player playing their position and complementing each other towards the desired end of reaching what God has intended for us. One strong line can’t win a game in hockey and in the church, unfortunately the load gets laid on one line so to speak too often.  We need more players who aren’t just content to ride the pine (that means bench warmers!)  Christianity is not a spectator sport and we all need to be involved.   Have you learned to accept others for what God has gifted them to do?     Do you feel that you are connected here at Grace?  Why or why not?  Do you know what position God has called you to play and are you playing it?    

Day 12 - Clean Sweep

Read Luke 10:38 -11:13

God's greatest desire is to be your dwelling place.  The  Lord's Prayer has been described as a floor plan for God’s House.  It is our Father that wants us to. warm our heart by the fire in the living room, to nourish our spirit in the kitchen, to step into the hallway and find forgiveness. It is a house built especially for us.  It is the kind of house that Mary wanted.  It is the kind of house Martha wanted and yet one of them got it and the other missed it.  It also models the prayer that Jesus would want us to pray

So here we have Mary and Martha as they both prepared for Jesus coming over for lunch.  Listen in on a  possible conversation that might have taken place today.  Martha speaks, “We are going to have God in the flesh, we must clean this place up, Jesus needs to at least see the floor and we need to lay out a spread!  He did say that all food can be sanctified by Him, but I think I will go with a roast beef dinner.  Mary, get in here and mash the potatoes!” Mary responds, “why  don’t we just order in, I just want to be in Jesus’ presence.”  The more she sees Mary just sitting there on the patio as she paces back and forth from the kitchen to the BBQ, the more furious she gets until she finally snaps.  Lord, don’t your care…tell Mary, here to get with the program and help me get this wonderful meal ready.  The table is not set. 

Jesus calmly addresses the situation.  He doesn’t get angry, in fact he says, Martha, Martha.  Now, anytime in Ancient Near East History when someone addresses a person’s name twice, it is a term of endearment.  To worry as Jesus told Martha meant that she was wrapped up in the distractions, the ‘outside noise’ and one thing is needful.

David knew it when he said, ‘I only ask one thing from the Lord.  This is what I want; let me live in the Lord’s house all my life.  Psalm 27:4

Doing stuff for God is not as important as spending time with Him.  Have you found the one thing?

Day 11 - Share His Presence

Read Psalm 46

SIMPLIFY  It begins by reordering our personal life.  We can so easily be led astray!

2 Corinthians 11:3  ‘But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.   What do advertisements do to us?  They teach us to be      completely dissatisfied with who I am and what I have.  The drive to consume is all around us,  to be fiercely competitive, being driven to win, to succeed.  Only two things need to be said about this.  One, contentment is the by product of simplicity.  Two, what difference does the pursuit of all that we devote ourselves to make in the light of eternity?  We need to simplify our lives, ask Jesus to release the grip and deliver us from those things that will only suffocate us and keep our lives cluttered. 

BE STILL  Let be and be still, and know-recognize and understand that I am God (Psalm 46:10 Amplified)  Eugene Peterson paraphrases this same passage in The Message, ‘Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything! Jacob wrestling God fights for us.  It was there with Jacob where God met him. He wouldn’t let go of God and God met Him and broke Him of his self-trust.  We have to banish our world.  Silence, uninterrupted God moments whether it is a quiet morning walk or finding that sweet spot with God are so vital to our spiritual well being. Go where you won’t be distracted.  Write your prayer out to God,   journal your thoughts and mark up your Bible.  If it falls apart, use duct tape! However, we know thatjust reading the Bible is not the point.  We need to discover what God is saying to us! Ask Him to open your eyes, memorize His Word and make it your heartbe.at.  Allow Him to speak to you through the impressions that He places on your heart and mind and then write the word, verse or thought down.  Noise and words and frenzied, hectic schedules dull our senses, closing our ears to His still small voice and making us numb to His touch.                  C Swindoll 

SHARE  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.   Philippians 2:4 It is not enough for us to get in tune with God as He longs for us to be in tune with others. The goal is that the result of my time spent simplifying and being still leads me into a greater understanding of where other people are at and the divine appointments that he has set up for me.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   Ephesians 2:10

Day 10 - Dealing With Hard People

If we truly follow Jesus, we too will take up our cross, so to speak, exposing ourselves to the possibility of even more shame (Matthew 16:24). We'll be more involved with more people - people who we may disappoint, people who may turn hostile, people who may aggravate old wounds. It can become emotionally draining at times and we will feel heaviness. We may even feel like "fainting in our souls."

      However, we can’t allow ourselves to hold back from loving others and being willing to enter into their pain.  What should we do with these feelings that sap us? The writer of Hebrews says to lay them aside, and to disregard them as Jesus did. This doesn't mean denial. To lay something aside, one first needs to acknowledge it and take hold of it. The hostility went "into" Jesus; he didn't deny it. If feelings of shame or despair or   disappointment crop up, we need to acknowledge them. We need to feel what we feel. But as far as the race is concerned, we can't drop out because of them. We can't drop out because the race is to hard, or because we feel too bad. We can't give up following Christ because following Christ is too hard. We lay aside these feelings of quitting.  Yes, we hear them, but we don’t listen to them. At the most extreme level, it means we don't abandon Christ because life is too hard. At less extreme levels, we decide not to be paralyzed by what others think of us. We decide to serve and to love and to follow Jesus even if it exposes us to the  rejection of others.  This is especially true when it comes to those closest to us who don’t understand what it means to follow Jesus.  In the face of such overwhelming feelings, how is it possible to live this way? Brent Curtis adds this reflection:  

  If we deny the wounds or try to minimize them, we deny a part of our heart and end up living a shallow  optimism that frequently becomes a demand that the world be better than it is. On the other hand if we    embrace the arrows as the final word on life, we despair, which is another way to lose heart. To lose hope has the same effect on our heart as it would be to stop breathing. So how do we reconcile our deepest longings with our greatest fears?

How is it that we can move through difficult emotions? There is someone who can enable us.  By fixing our eyes on Jesus. By looking into his soul. By considering Him and learning from his example. What do we learn? We learn that the life of faith can be hard - seemingly, impossibly hard. It was for Jesus. But we also learn that joy is set before us. Just as the race is set before us, so is joy.  Jesus took his seat on a throne at the right hand of the Father and our destiny as His children is to  reign with him forever over the new and better creation.  It will be fulfilled (Revelation 22:5). Our relationships with each other, without sin, will be open, invigorating and   purposeful. All this is the joy set before us. All this motivates us to run with endurance and      

 to not be deterred by the hostility of others or feelings that would otherwise entangle us.

What motivates you?  What should motivate us?

Day 9 - Soulish Friendship

Read 1 Samuel 20

They stood in the field embracing. Tears streaming down their cheeks. Chests heaving sobs. Red-eyed stares.  In the distance, a young boy was running through the field with the arrows he gathered. If you listen, you can hear their parting words.  I’ll always love you, my friend.  You’ve meant everything to me.  Thanks for watching my back.  I did what I did because I love you. Don’t forget what we’ve lived through here. I won’t.  Not in a million years. David and Jonathan were saying goodbye.  And it was hurting them.  Why did they have to say good-bye?  Why were they in a field?  What was the little boy doing with the      arrows?  Welcome to an incredible friendship.  David and Jonathan probably became friends when David worked in the court of King Saul, Jonathan’s father.  They probably played in the courtyard together, did some chariot racing, kicked the ball around.  They probably had a lot of time together to talk about their trust in God as well as days spent conquering the invisible enemy or practicing hitting targets. They learned to play together, pray together and they learned to be friends.

Today we toss words around like bff or soul mates so often that they have become more like brand names than meaningful descriptions.  For David and Jonathan, those terms were really put to the test,  a test that finally led them to stand in a field clinging to each other in a final embrace. I can imagine how they must have felt.  In a previous youth ministry, I was doing some pretty risky things.  I was taking youth to Vancouver’s east end where we handed out sandwiches to the drug addicts.  We saw people at their worst and just tried to show them love. We also had a skateboard ministry and the gym walls were starting to look like a drag strip!   Then we set up a BMX dirt course on our property and the sky was the limit.  We were doing all kinds of extreme stuff but not everyone was excited about it.  It was hard to deal with because we were reaching out to so many unchurhed youth.

Thankfully, while I was there, I had struck an unexpected friendship with a guy named Graham.  He took time with me, we would sit in his truck after hockey games and talk about life, family and reaching out to the spiritually seeking.  We became closer than brothers.  He was there for me and really understood my passions to see our youth ministry grow and reach out. He listened and he spoke into my life.  Do you have a friend who needs help?  Consider what Jonathan did for David.  He risked it all. He put it all on the line and he used three arrows as the final signal.  “I love you friend, now get out of here.”  When was the last time you gathered some arrows and been emotionally honest with a friend?  Grab your bow. 

It’s time to save a friend.

It’s time to make a friend.

Day 8 An Indestructible Community

An Indestructible Community

Last month I spoke on the prophet Haggai, you will remember that I spoke about home renovations and how this industry has taken off thanks to all the TV shows that highlight every aspect of renovations from kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, decks and so on.  Well, today, we are in for a complete overhaul from the ground up!  I specifically highlighted Mike Holmes last time and his premise of getting the job done right the first time! One tip he always tells you that you shouldn’t get contractors to do a job when they can be available the next day to start.  So, what happens, Mike comes in and shows the complete incompetency of the previous contractor and usually has to rip everything apart and start from scratch. So, this morning we want to start from scratch as we are in the business of becoming an ‘Indestructible Community’  building a home where the Spirit of God dwells.  No small task indeed! 

Matthew 16:14  on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.

However we are aware of churches that were labeled as dead in the Bible in Sardis and Laodicea.  They certainly looked peaceful and acceptable but the verdict that came in was that they were lifeless.  They weren’t dealing with persecution or external pressure, but it was evident that they had crumbled from within.

Why do churches die…here are some of the reasons that have been stated…

> Loss of vision

> Loss of personal passion and love for God

> Loss of love for people

> Un-confronted, un-confessed, unresolved sin

> Believers who do not become disciples

> Church-centered VS God-centered

>form has become the function

> Inappropriate priorities – satisfying saints VS seeking the lost

> Inadequate leadership base – Acts 6 syndrome

> Neglected reproduction – generational issues

> Come and hear VS Go and tell – inside out thinking

> Making absolutes of non-absolutes – putting padlocks on creative change

> Irrelevant ministries – outdated or ineffective

And one website said the #1 reason was neglect of the Word.  However, what does it means to neglect the Word and how can we guard against these very symptoms? 

What do we know about the Capital C church that is indestructible?

The builder is God – Psalm 127 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.  

Jesus Christ is our cornerstone! 1 Peter 2:6

For in Scripture it says:  (Isaiah 28:16)

   “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Ephesians 2:19  That’s plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all--irrespective of how we got here--in what he is building. 20  He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation.

1. We must build with a solid foundation.  – The Word of God is our authority

A solid foundation  - The Word of God, the teaching of the apostles and the prophets need to be our foundation.

1 Thessalonians 2:13   And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

It is our basis for our teaching and yet talk about being indestructible!  There have been many who have made bold claims to eradicate the Bible and completely rid the world of it and yet it has endured through all the ages and remains the world’s best-selling book.

The Scriptures were banned, burned and ridiculed by rulers of every age, from Roman emporers to English monarchs. Many who dared to read and share the Word met horrible deaths. Yet God’s truth could not be crushed. The greatest worldly powers were no match for the mission of the Apostles, crusaders, translators, reformers, preachers and printers dedicated to spreading the Gospel of the indestructible book.

Why is it so special?

It is full of wisdom – All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden  in Christ!

Check out this website -

http://www.profitableforallthings.net/docs/indestructible-book.pdf

It continually points us back to Jesus Christ as the author and finisher of our faith

We can have incredible confidence in the Word Of God.

2. We must get in the right frame of mind.  – Take every thought captive in the Cornerstone!

2 Corinthians 10:4,5

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

It is often after the truth has been revealed about the home whether it’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition or Holmes on Homes that the demoltion team has to come in. The problem could be that mold is growing in the rafters or the structure of the home has been declared unsafe.  Whatever it is, the living conditions are unsuitable and the team has to come in and literally rip everything apart and level the place to the ground.

We know that is what the Word of God does in our lives, it is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

We all have to battle wrong thinking and the enemy loves to plant thoughts of defeat, resignation and failure in our hearts and minds.

In my previous ministry, we hired a young man to work part time with our youth.  He didn’t have any Bible college education at the time, but he had such a burning passion to minister to our youth.  He came from a broken home where his father left when he was 15.  He had come through a lot of personal struggles and he was a bright example to our youth.  Still, he struggled with his own feelings of being unworthy and inadequate as a youth worker.  We had been paying for him to get his schooling and he felt like a failure at that as well.  There were many times that he would come into my office and tell me he was going to quit the course, but we would continue to affirm his identity in Christ and would finish with a B average for a guy who didn’t complete HS.   

Unfortunately in the end he succumbed to his feelings of inadequacy and stepped down from the position while there. However, the great thing is that the story didn’t end because he continued to receive encouragement and is now working with a church in Calgary that is reaching out to youth on the street there which is right up his alley.

So, a community of faith, especially those who know us well in a small group, a mentor, a triad can help us battle those wrong thoughts through renewing our minds together.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The tongue is a deadly weapon and strongholds can also take place through gossip and so in community we can say together we will not tolerate this kind of bad behavior and we will stop it before it starts. 

James 3

In community, we can fight together and not go alone. 

3. We must be surrounded by believers who want to fit in ! Discover your perfect fit in the body of Christ.

Now the play on words here doesn’t mean something you tried to do back in junior high!  But what it does mean is this.  It’s not enough just to be around other Christians.  There has to be this synergy, a desire on the part of each believer to really become part of something greater with other believers that makes us stronger than we would ever be on our own.

I have had some experience framing and one thing I’ve learned is that you have to tie everything back in as we did when we built Brynley’s room in our basement.  The studs are secured into the top plate and bottom plate, the tapcons the get drilled into the basement floor, the top plate was mounted into the cross beam.

Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone 21  that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day--a holy temple built by God, 22  all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.  Ephesians 2:21,22 The Message

1 Corinthians 12:12  The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  1 Peter 2:4,5

18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

If you have done some framing, you’ll know that they refer to the short studs underneath a window as ‘cripple studs’ and in community we are not always strong.  Sometimes we are broken, crippled emotionally and spiritually and if you are, that’s ok.

Isaiah 42:3  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.

It is not an exclusive community but an inclusive one!

The cripple stud on the corner of the window are attached to the king stud.  They are also referred to as ‘jack studs’.  A very good reminder to me as well!

We need accountable spiritual friendships.

We can be an indestructible church

If we…

• Build with the word of God as our foundation  - why is this the right foundation – it takes us to the heart of God…without it, we often fall astray

• Take every thought captive in Christ - wrong thinking tears down each other.  God will bring someone who had the right word at the right time to keep us strong.

• Surround ourselves with other believers who truly want to discover their perfect fit into the body of Christ.

What is the future of the church?  It is a message of hope!

The Takeaway

When the church becomes a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, She is indestructible!

Day 7 While You Were Out

Read 1 John 3:1-3

We continue to focus on the kind of community that God wants us to experience as His body the church.  It really comes back to learning how we all find our perfect fit in a body that is so diverse and intricately complex.  We are His body and we represent Him best when we fit together with our hope and desire are set on conforming to His likeness as a holy people belonging to God. 

1 John 3:1-3  states, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

When Sharon was gone to Ecuador on a missions trip,  I had the opportunity to do a ‘while you were out’  special on our kitchen.  It was an 11 day trip and  when she returned it was time for the big reveal!!  The all-nighters and hard work paid off for her response.  One day God will do a huge ‘reveal’ with us and it is my prayer that He will say of us, well done, good and faithful servants.  My prayer is that we would be doing the kind of things that when tested by fire last for eternity. 1 Corinthians 3 describes those things as the gold, silver and precious stones and those are precious building materials. May we learn to be used well in the hands of the expert Builder!

I believe as we serve the Lord our motivation is his appearing and it empowers us and infuses us with strength right now.  He is the author and finisher of our faith – trusting Him releases His power in our lives to look and become like the kind of community that others will take note of.  “ I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  John 17:23

So, let the renovations continue in His House!

Day 6 Extreme Makeover...God Edition

In JR Tolkiens, Lord of the Rings II,  we have a picture of Christ as the ‘white wizard appears’.  His     followers, the fellowship of the ring, do not recognize him for as Hebrews 10:31 states, 'it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'  Their fear of him gives way to surrender as He reveals himself to them.  They are in utter amazement because they saw him die and go to the depths and yet now he appears as the one who conquered death, a picture of our Lord.                                                                                        Today we are going to focus on focus on the fact the God loves you the way you are but He loves you too much to let you stay that way. We need to have a healthy fear of the Lord and we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling but this too comes with the promise as Paul writes in Philippians 2:13, 'for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with lovingkindness.  Jeremiah 31:3  Most of us are familiar with Extreme Makeover a reality TV show a few years back where an episode consists of 3 individuals who have been picked from all over the country for you name it, a nose job, tummy tuck or laser surgery. Well,  God wants to do an extreme spiritual makeover for us and this one last forever!  For the believer in Jesus, it is summed up in Hebrews 10:14…”For by that one offering he perfected forever all those whom he is making holy.”  He desires that we become a royal priesthood of believers who minister on behalf of our community, calling out to God for the needs of others. In the Old Testament, The chief duties of the priests were to watch over the fire on the altar of burnt     offering, and to keep it burning evermore both by day and night, Lev. 6:12; 2 Chronicles 13:11; to feed the golden lamp outside the veil with oil, Exodus 27:20, 21; to offer the morning and evening sacrifices, each accompanied with a meat offering and a drink offering, at the door of the tabernacle.    Exodus 29:38-44. But was this the reality God wanted his children to experience? … To know that their sins would have to be paid for year after year?...that the feeling of guilt would never disappear?   Jesus came to do the will of the Father and to set in motion God’s original design for His people.  An institutional  priesthood was not part of God’s design.  Now that is quite a statement to make.  Let’s take a look at Scripture…Exodus 19:6  and you will be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.    The fear of God is not meant to keep us from God, it is meant to keep us from sinning.  But what do we feel like when we mess up…when we sin?  Most often we don’t feel like reading our Bible, let alone praying.  This was certainly true of the children of Israel, they did not come back to the God who loved them so much.  They said, Moses, have the Lord speak to us.  Furthermore He never wanted His chosen nation to have a human king, He was so desirous of relationship with His people, He longed to be their king, but He would not force His kingship on them.  In order for us to experience His makeover, we need Him on the throne of our life.