“Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You – Ask What You Can Do For Your Country.”

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways, and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.’” Zechariah 3:7


In a season of political conflict both at home and abroad, we should remember something said in another time of national and international tension. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” John Kennedy, who spoke these words at his 1961 presidential inauguration, was a Democrat, but these historic words were inspirational to Democrats, Republicans and everyone else. They were words of selflessness spoken to an increasingly selfish culture - words of giving and serving spoken into a culture too focused on getting and then getting away.

We still need to hear those words today. Christians need to hear them more than anyone. They apply to our patriotism, but they apply even more to our faith. We ask God for things all the time. “God, please get me out of this jam!” “God, please bring down these absurd gas prices!” “God, please heal my friend.” God wants us to ask Him. The Bible encourages: “Ask and it will be given to you.” (Matthew 7:7) The Bible admonishes: “You do not have because you do not ask.” (James 4:2) For a Christian, asking God means a child is asking their Father, and our heavenly Father loves to give to His children. (Matthew 7:11)

So why do we experience so many occasions when God doesn’t give us what we ask? Why can’t we tap into the fullness of Christ’s promise: “My Father will give you whatever you ask in my name”? (John 16:23) What many fail to understand is while God’s love is absolutely unconditional, God’s promises are conditional. In order to receive everything we ask of God in prayer, Jesus imposes these conditions:

(1) “Have faith in God…do not doubt in your heart but believe what you are saying will happen.” (Mark 11:22-24; Matthew 21:22)

(2) “Have faith in me and do what I have been doing.” (John 14:12-14)

(3) “Remain in me by obeying my commandment to love one another as I have loved you, and by bearing fruit that will last.” (John 15:7-16)

These conditions can be summarized in a single sentence: When you are doing what God asks of you, then God will do whatever you ask of Him.

You see, God’s offer is actually much better than what President Kennedy offered. God wants us to ask Him for things. But He doesn’t want the cart before the horse. First He wants us to ask what we can do for Him, and do it. It is His kingdom that needs to come on the earth, not ours! And at least in general terms the Lord has already said what He wants us to do. Believe in Him. Trust Him and everything He says. Live out that trust by obeying His command to love and serve. You can ask God for anything that will empower that kind of life, which means you can love and serve in His power, not just your own. (Zechariah 4:6)

I see many Christians who are so faithful. They love unconditionally and serve sacrificially. But their faith is smaller than their faithfulness. They have not been taught to believe in the manifestations of God’s power – miracles, healings, and extraordinary answers to prayer. So they do good, but not nearly as much good as they could do.

I see other Christians with great faith in God’s readiness to perform awesome supernatural works. They pray boldly. But often their faithfulness is smaller than their faith. Their teaching has focused on their own experiences and prosperity – what they can get more than what they can give. Some think faith in God means faith in whatever prayer they are praying (“name it and claim it”) when faith in God really means praying what God wants you to pray. So they see manifestations of God’s power, but not nearly what they could see.

Zechariah 3: 7 prophetically says if we live like Jesus and serve His purposes, then we will receive all the power, authority and heavenly help we ask for. This brings great faithfulness and great faith together, which is the way it should be. “Faith” and “faithfulness” are, after all, a single word, not different words, in the biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew. They need to be one word in our lives as well. So ask God what you can do for His Kingdom, and then ask for all He can do for you.

HOW DO YOU LEAD?

A question that Christ asked his staff. Actually, two questions; one on Public Consensus ("Who do men say that I am?"), and the other on Personal Conviction ("Who do you say that I am?")

The questions were posed just outside Caesarea Philippi, Israel's most northern boundary. It was a perfect spot to survey local perceptions of the young evangelist, far from the canned bias of the Jewish leaders in metro Jerusalem.

Do these questions reveal the plumb line for today's pulpiteers.

Churches showcase two distinct styles of leadership: Pastors who lead by public consensus, i.e. taking a congregation "where they want to go," and Pastors who lead by personal conviction, i.e. taking a congregation "where they need to go." The trend has shifted from leading people to following them.

But let's be honest, bucking the crowd is no picnic:

Just ask Aaron about his short lived stint of leadership while Moses was away. The multitude wanted to build a golden calf. And, when asked why he complied, Aaron's only defense was, "The people made me do it!"

Just ask Peter about his spontaneous answers to an inquisitive young girl while Jesus was on trial. Peter's leadership in the upper room was easy; he was with friends. But outside, among the rank and file of unfamiliar faces, he fell apart.

From the opening moments of Pentecost the church was fashioned to be distinct from the world. God designed us that way; to praise Him, to please Him. Conforming to the world was not His mandate. His bride was never meant to be one of the girls. Scripture underscores this distinction with words like, "peculiar," and "transformed," and "unblemished." But though we've been called to be "separate," we seem to be terrified of being different. We feel the need to popularize the church, to broaden its appeal. Rather than claiming our spiritual birthright, we work overtime to hide the distinction.

But Jesus didn't do it that way:

Remember the Rich Young Ruler? When this rising star quizzed Jesus about the prequalifications of eternal life, Jesus gave him a list of commandments intended to underscore the impossibility of the task. But the self-righteous RYR claimed to be equal to the task. So, Jesus raised the bar because He would not offer easy believism, even if it meant losing a great prospect.

Remember the Woman at the Well? After five minutes with Jesus she ran into town exclaiming, "Come; meet a man who told me everything I've ever done." And when you consider that she was the most despicable person in town you begin to realize that Jesus didn't sugarcoat His words.

To the Savior, the gospel was not cheap. Yet, the multitudes came from far and wide to hear it. That's because the multitudes desperately wanted something the world couldn't offer.

So do our churches. Few of Jesus' conversations would be considered church growth techniques. His words tended to alienate rather than recruit. Posting attendance figures was not important. Nor was the favor of power-brokers. His favorite audience was the pitiful, the sinner, and the outcast. His goal wasn't to be admired, but to be followed. That's still true today. That's why His question speaks specifically to Pastors. "Who do you say that I am?"

The Definition of Fear

I was in a hurry that day. I pulled in to get gas and rushed in to the station to pay. I noticed the look on the attendants face. She appeared to be distracted and frustrated. I knew I didn’t want a conversation but I felt drawn to inquire about her day. She informed that her vehicle was broken down and she had two kids and was struggling with how to get to work and pickup her kids from their afterschool care program. I ask where they attended and she informed me they attended the Coalition For Kids program at Mountain View Elementary and at the new evening program at Munsey UMC. She informed me she couldn’t work if the folks at the Rock didn’t assist her kids with their needs. She then told me she didn’t have the money to repair her car and didn’t know what she would do. She was desperate, she didn’t know who I was and she didn’t expect God to move in her life on this day.

At this point, as in hurry as I was, I felt I needed to do what i could to help. I knew that if I was only interested in running a program to help kids and never stepped into their families lives I would be limited at the change I would see. I needed to determine what was really important, my schedule or her life. I thought I knew the definition of importance. I learned a lesson, May I share it with you?
I was reminded that importance is summed up at the Last Supper when the Lord knelt down, girded with a towel, and washed all of the disciples feet. Maybe I had known it but somehow it had escaped me for all of these years that Jesus washed the feet of Judas before the supper ever began. He washed the man’s feet who was going to betray him. That is what importance really is.
When we bow to the basin and the towel, importance has a way of being totally removed from our lives. Servants are not very important. Servants have no rights. Servants move at the command and the whims of the master. Servants have no personal agendas they focus on the mission which supercede any personal agenda.
When we do the small things for the Lord, we advance the Kingdom. The whole attitude of importance revolts against the idea of doing something “hidden” in the Kingdom. Yet, when we fill this role of washing feet, great power, great humility, great purpose slowly seeps into our lives. Increasingly, I am becoming convinced that spiritual greatness comes from serving and with heightening anonymity. Through the pouring out of ourselves into the lives of others with no expectations from those actions, that greatness does indeed seep into our lives.
Through your giving to our ministry, you allow us to serve mothers like Tracy who desperately need our assistance. You become our examples of servants through your selfless giving. You become our hands to lift up the tired and weary hands of mothers and fathers so they may love their children the way God intended. I ask once more for you to consider a selfless gift that we may continue to reach the least, the last and the lost.

Hammer Down!

New programs, new kids, new staff, a new school year! Thats what we are in the middle of right now. Our school year start up is off to a great start and I am excited about the number of children we are going to be able to impact for the Lord!
We live in a time where it seems families are going to extremes, either they are spending $1,000 of dollars going and coming, dressing and traveling to everything little 9 yr old johnny does or they have not got the time to give him an hour each week for boy scouts. The first is creating children who do not understand the worth and cost of life and have a tendancy to see things in a self centered manner. Notice I said "tendancy". The later creates children who have no expectations for their future, who have no aspirations, narrow mindedness which also creates a self centeredness. Isn't it interesting that each avenue creates a selfish mode of operandi!
We are trying to divert that dangerous way of living, offering children and volunteers a new way of life...one where giving comes before getting, where helping others comes before being helped!

Thank you for allowing us to do what we do!

more to come!

Exhausted?

"The everlasting God...fainteth not, neither is weary." Isaiah 40:28 Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they have to draw on it through you: you have to be literally "sucked," until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and His sheep as well as for Himself. Continually go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say- "O Lord, I am so exhausted." He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that your supply comes from Him. "All my fresh springs shall be in Thee."
As you consider your life, this will be a time you must set aside your self-desires, self-will, self-centeredness. This will be a great time to evaluate your motives. When at first we do things "in the name of Jesus" we find that our real motives and maturity come forward when we are stressed and stretched beyond our comfort zones. Soldiers who whine get shot, soldiers who focus on their call, which is given by their commander keep watch and guard over their emotions and reactions. Will you sacrifice yourself as He did for others? Or will you be shallow in your spiritual while pretending to be more just because you know some scripture and attend church and bible study. "Making disciples for Christ" requires you becoming vulnerable and stepping out into other peples lives and giving up the volunteer hours for the Kingdom and walking the walk of a disciple. "Come, Follow me" is more than a request for the answer, "I will", its a call for your life!

The Cross

To accept the cross is to deny all you value in life. We are a proud people, sensual and self seeking, desiring for pleasure. The cross tells us we are wrong. The cross says you must take this shape, that you are wrong about what life is and life is...only when it takes the form of the cross. The world lives in hostility to the cross, yet Christ was crucified to the world through the cross and the world to Him. Christians are required to live in the shadow of the cross. "He who does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me". Matt. 10:38 Bonhoeffer said, "when Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die." We have no reason or right to choose a different path than the path God chose for Christ Jesus. The cross is the pattern of our lives. We should place all our desires and egos on the cross. The occupied church will not take this danger on nor risk this call. It is much easier for the occupied church to draw up a list of moral code and attempt to give us security in that instead of Holy security. Our faith, Christianity, cannot be blended with "celebrity". They cannot blend, either you have one or you have another. They do not convert they confirm that the if the church looks like the world it is the world.
But we know there are enemies in the camp and our goal is to convert people to the cross. Jesus did not die at the hands of muggers and rapists, He fell to the well scrubbed hands of lawyers, statesman, professors, societies most respected members. Bonhoeffer says cheap grace is grace without a cross. I say I agree, do you?

Discipling is the answer today.

Large ministries, like large bank accounts, most often become monsters that devour their leaders. Our goal as church leaders should not be to grow large ministries that reach unchurched people but to build discipling ministries that develop mature followers of Christ who, in turn, reach large numbers of unchurched people.

As I sit here and type, I am listening to a friend who has called me and is talking to me about his passion for the Lord! How often do we hear passion for the Lord in our day to day conversation. How often have we had opportunity to speak with passion but we have none to be found. I believe it is in being radically saved that we are radical for Christ. I love the heart at which a new believer often speaks of his love for Christ to unbelievers. I am saddened by the unwillingness of "mature" believers to not share the Gospel to the unchurched. It is interesting to me that we have taken the word "mature" and made an assumption that any people who are of years in the Gospel faith are mature believers.

Mature believers are believers that understand the need for prayer, the need for meditating over the word, people whose heart break for the lost and ache for their Saviors touch! They do not judge harshly for they know they will be judged harshly, they have empathy yet they do not water down the Gospel, they discern when and how to rebuke, teach and be silent. This is what discipling is and this is who should be discipling. When we learn to disciple we will reap the souls of the harvest.