Bring Life to Life Group

Small Groups. Life Groups. Merge Groups. Whatever you want to call them.

I have a love hate relationship with them. I love the people. I mean, really love the people. I always feel that I can't get close enough to them because they are usually so awesome. On the other side of the equation, I usually hate what we are studying. Doesn't really matter what it is, book of the Bible, latest book on the shelf at Mardels, etc., I usually am bored about 2 weeks into it.

Why? A number of reasons. One, most people don't usually do the reading so they can't interact with the material deeply. Two, and this is the big one, It doesn't usually help me with the thing I love about the group, the relationships. I really just want to know the people. It's not that Bible/ book studies can't help with that process, they just usually don't.

So were doing something different with our "Life Group" this year. An experiment if you will. We're going to see how it goes.

We are going to do three things in life groups:
1. Confess our sins to one another.
2. Read large amounts of scripture during the week.
3. Pray for our lost friends and commit to sharing the love of God verbally.

Confessing: The meeting will start with confessing. This will be done in gender specific groups of 2 to 3 (depending on who shows up). We have a preset list of questions that everyone knows they are going to answer. It is not exhaustive and doesn't define righteousness (Jesus does), but it does allow honestly and mutual accountability. We will check up each other in regard to our evangelism efforts and our time with God.

Scripture: We will be reading 25 - 30 chapters of Scripture weekly. For example: We are all going to read Hosea 2x this week. This develops an appetite of scripture within us and lets us read scripture in context. If anyone in the group is unable to complete the reading that week, we redo the assignment. The goal is NOT to finish the reading every week. It is to hear God's voice. One of the true values of this model is repetition. Ideally we will have the same assignement for 3 to 4 weeks. If someone in the group doesn't finish the assignement, they are not a failure, we just assume the Lord hasn't finished with us and that text yet.

Prayer for Souls: Each of us not only commits to praying for 2 people to come to Christ we pray for our friends people weekly as well. Therefore these people have 10-12 people praying for them. We also commit ourselves to sharing the Lords goodness during the week to someone both verbally and through our lives. Not necessarily our friend, but someone. Our job is to scatter seeds and pray that it sprouts later.

I'm excited to get into each others lives and encourage each other to deep obedience and sharing the good news.

We'll see how it goes.

(Got this system from Neil Cole's book: "Search & Rescue."

Six Pack Abs and Following Jesus

I have a new fitness guru that I am following on YouTube. It's this older guy who is bent on saving the world from being fat one person at a time. What I really like about this guys is that (one) he isn't selling me anything, and (tw0) he is straight forward, clear cut, and honest.

His most popular videos are called "How to get six pack abs" or something like that. He first spends a lot of time debunking myths that go along with how to get great abs like "you can get them from a bottle," or "you can get a six pack in just 8 minutes a day, three times a week," or "just buy the right ab machine."

He then goes in two his brilliant plan to get a six pack. "Eat less and do more cardio."

That's it.

He elaborates on this point for us, but he says over and over and over again, "Eat less and do more cardio." Mindblowing, I know. But then me makes a point that stuck with me, he says:

"If getting a six pack were easy everybody would have them."

I mean, most americans (at least) would say they want a six pack, but most americans are overweight or obese. Why then the disparity? We'll getting ripped is hard. Really hard. You can't be half-hearted and get a six pack. I know with experience. I work out on a regular basis and have a decent physique, but I've never had a six pack. Why? Because I like nacho's too much and too often.

Most of us know that we should work out. Most of us know that we should eat healthy. Most of us know that we shouldn't be overweight. But the vast majority of us don't. Why? Because it's hard. It takes focus, effort, etc.

I was thinking about this and how following Jesus is the same.

Most of us know that we are suppose to love and fear God; that we are suppose to read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we are suppose to worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging.

It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful? But it's not. It's hard.

When we take an honest look around our churches we see a bunch of spiritually flabby people. And just like everyone wants a six-pack, everyone in church wants a vibrant spiritual life. But most people in church don't. Why? Because, just like getting a six-pack, having a great relationship with Jesus isn't easy. It's hard.

It is easy for, "people to come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." (Isa 29)

It is easy to have a, "reputation of being alive, but you are dead." (Rev 3)

It is easy to, "merely listen to the word, and so deceive ourselves. And not do what is says." (James 1:22)

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Jesus said that in order to follow Him we have to take up our cross. Most people turn away now as they did when He walked the earth.

Jesus said that we should let the dead bury the dead. Most people wait to bury their dead (in a spiritual sense) before following Jesus.

Jesus said that the road is narrow and few will be the people that pass through it. We believe that the road is wide and anyone who mentions the name of Christ is somehow on that road.

I think we are fooling ourselves as one who thinks a magic pill from TV will give them 6-pack abs in a month.

That's my rant.

Now off the "The Satelitte Cafe" for pancakes.

Jon & Kate Plus Leaving Church

Just got finished watching the season premier of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" with my wife. It is the first time I have watched the show. I primarily did it because of all the controversy that surrounds it and the fact that I (and the whole world) knew about the divorce.

My wife has been depressed after watching the show. I just logically dissected it. It's funny to see how God made the sexes differently. Irregardless, we discussed it afterwards.

The main thing that I pulled from the episode is that both of them (Jon especially) is full of crap. They are hurt. They are wanting to get away from their problems. They want the allure of a new life, Jon w/ his 22 yrs old girlfriend & Kate w/ her bodyguard, and an escape from their old one.

But here's the thing. They are saying, "I am doing this for the kids."

That's the thing that gets me.

Everyone knows that a lie.

They know that's a lie.

We know that's a lie.

Jon wants to get away from Kate because she is controlling (from what I can tell & what I have heard). Jon wants to hook up with his 22 yr old girlfriend. Kate just wants the madness to stop. She wants to hook up with her bodyguard (presumably). That's why they are getting a divorce. It's NOT for the kids.

That reminds me of some people that have left our church lately. They generally leave for the same reason(s). But they give different excuses that can be generally confined into two categories.

One says, "I am tired of all the drama, all the problems, I just want to go blend into another church."

The other says, "The Holy Spirit has told me to leave."

This reminded me of Jon & Kate.

When someone tells me, "I am tired of all the drama," I think, "well, that sucks that you are leaving, but at least you are being straight with me." When someone tells me, "The Holy Spirit told me so," I think, "BS." (But I don't abbreviate it in my head."

When you leave the church for something other than heresy, job relocation, and other legitimate reasons, you are lying to yourself, lying to the person you are speaking to, and both of you generally know it.

You can't tell me that the Gospels and Paul's letters are full of, and focused on, things like unity, love, and perseverance with one another, and THEN tell me that the Holy Spirit is leading you to do the exact opposite. It's like me coming to you and telling you, "I know that that Bible tells me not to worship any God other than Yahweh, but I feel the Holy Spirit telling me to worship this God I just made with my hands." Logic alone would tell you the "Holy Spirit" is not telling you that is contrary to what Scripture blatently stands for.

What I really want Jon to say is, "Look, Kate is controlling, my kids are trouble, and I really want to have sex with my new 22 yr old girlfriend. That's why I'm leaving."

What I really want Kate to say is, "Look, Jon is not the husband he is suppose to be, and I am really tired of fighting. I would rather get a divorce than fight it out."

Instead they say, "We are doing this for the kids. Whatever is best for the kids."

You know that is best for the kids? Jon kicking his girlfriend to the curb and saying, "I am going to fight for my wife and for my kids. THAT is what is best for my family & kids." Kate saying, "I am a control freak. I do rule our family. I want and will go into counseling with Jon. Then we can come out on the other side together. THAT is what is best for my family & kids."

That's what I want from those in the church as well.

What I really want people to say is, "I am leaving because I want to go somewhere that has a better preacher. I am really leaving because I want to go somewhere that has a better youth ministry. I am really leaving because the music is too loud/country/punk/etc..." Instead people say, "I feel the Holy Spirit calling me to the church down the street." And you both know they are spilling BS from their mouth.

You know what is best for the church? You really don't have to look farther than blatent scripture. We show the world God's love by... our love for one another. We show the world God's love by... the unity that we display even in our differences and disagreements. We show the world God's love by... persevering with one another.

What Jon & Kate need is to get in front of one another (probably with a counselor) and work things out for the sake of their kids. For their own sake. For the name of Christ.

What disgruntled church members need is to get in front of one another (maybe with a counselor) and work things out for the sake of one another. For their own sake. For the name of Christ.

A long July

Ok, so I'm back doing the posting thing. Probably won't last long. I have never been one for journaling or that type of thing. It's not that I don't see the value in these types of things, but I am not the type of personality that connects to this type of activity. It's not even that I don't enjoy personal reflection. I do that a whole lot, but it is in my mind. Keeps me up at night sometimes.

Anywho.

I took two major trips in July. Brazil and Colorado. Brazil was mission. Colorado was vacation.

Brazil was a wonderful experience. Taxing. Hard. But wonderful. Got to take a group there and help out our missionaries in their mission to reach the children of the Porto Alegre area with the gospel of Christ. We were able to witness to around 450 kids in the public school system and pimp our missionaries program down there. We will never know the impact that we made during this time which is really what I prefer in this type of situation. We were also able to run a camp for around 125 kids and we had 24 kids come to Christ during this time. I have to admit is a rush to see the truth affect people for the first time. I guess I like both experiences.

Colorado was wonderful as well. But in a different sense. Julie and I said that this was our best vacation since our honeymoon to Maui. Relaxing yet fun. It is not one of those vacations you come back from and need a couple of days to recoup. But it was also not a vacation where you felt all you did was sleep. Great time.

Anywho. We'll see if I can keep up this blog for a while. It will undoubtably be on and off. But alas, that is me.

Bill Maher "Religulous": Day Two

Ok, so on with my response to Bill Maher in Religulous. I am responding to him not for his benefit, nor really for the benefit of those who might read, but for my own self. Apologetics interest me. No real reason other than that. Maybe.

Before I begin, let me admit that Bill Maher did not, apparently, attempt to put together a well thought out, backed up, argument against God or Christianity at that. It appears it is simply a comedian attempting to get a laugh out of those who agree with him that those who believe in God are fools. Most of the scene's in the movie can be summarized like this, "Hey look at this, isn't that silly looking (point, laugh, move on)." He throws out many arguments that are simply non-sensical and make him and easy target for rebuttal. That being said, let's get started.

Today I am going to address his view of the scripture (i.e. The Bible). It's feels like a good place to start.

First, He argues with some truckers that several things Christians believe are not in the Bible. Among the things he states are not in the bible are original sin, the immaculate conception, and the pope. Now, I'll give him the pope thing, but the other two are downright silly. Original sin is all over the Bible, the least of which is Romans 5. Don't know where he was going there. The immaculate conception is in two of the gospels. I am assuming he is arguing that it should have been in all four. If the Bible is the word of God, then it only has to say something once to make it true. A second witness to the same fact only backs up that truth.

Second he argues against the writers of the scriptures, particularly the gospels. He says that none of them are eye-witnesses, that they were Christ's biographers doing a lowsy job, and that the gospels are simply man-written documents about God. To the first I simply have no idea what standard of authentication he is using as two of the gospel writers were disciples and eyewitnesses, Matthew & John. The fact that the other two were does not discredit them as sources though. To the second charge I note that the gospel writers were not, in effect, attempting to write a thorough biography of the life of Christ when they wrote their gospels. They were, in fact, each attempting to do something differently with their gospels. Johns, for example, was written in a manner to elicit faith by showing a selection of "signs" that Jesus accomplished (i.e. not recording a comprehensive history to be published). To the third, Christians totally agree that the gospels were man-written documents, yet we have a qualification in that they were inspired and guided in the process. I, personally, subscribe to the "verbal plenary" theory of inspiration. It is defined as: "God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human writers of Scripture that, without having their intelligence, their individuality, their personal feelings, their literary style, or any other human factor of expression, His Complete and Coherent Message to mankind was recoded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture: the very words bearing the Authority of Divine Authorship." So did man write the Bible? Yes. But God used man in this endeavor as He does in most of his work here on earth.

Third, he charged that the Bible we have today doesn't match the text, (by which I assume he meant the original autographs... although I would be surprised if he knew that that meant). The reliability of our Bible in reference to what the original autographs contained is actually a strength in this argument. The quality of manuscripts that we have, the quantity of manuscripts that we have, the attestation of internal and external evidence all show that we, as believes, hold in our hands what the original authors wrote (only in English, which is good).

The majority of these topics don't have to be divisive in the talks between those who do and don't believe in God. Most, non-angry atheists (or whatever Maher would call himself), would agree that original sin, the immaculate conception, etc... are in the Bible. Most would admit that we have reliable texts when viewed in regards to the evidence. Most would admit that two of the gospel writers were eyewitnesses and the fact that the other two were scribes or historians doesn't nullify their witness. They may, in fact, disagree that the writers were God-inspired (hard to be inspired by someone you don't believe exists) but that is to be expected.

There are some problem in the Bible that Christians don't yet have an answer for. (None of them were really brought up...) But these remain a point of faith. And that is not bad. Our worldview says that the Bible is inspired and innerant. We believe that the things that we don't know and can't explain are, in fact, knowable and explainable, we are just not there yet. (This is no different than Maher believing in evolution even though it has huge GAPING holes in its theory, including a recent and very serious challenge to it's idea of Darwin's cherished mechanism (natural selection acting on random mutation) as an engine of change.)

Whether you are a theist or an atheist your worldview start with one (or two) unprovable assumptions. One, is there a God (not probable either way)? Two, if there is a God, is he knowable (again, not provable)? This is not to say both worldviews are right. One is right and one is wrong. Either God exists or he doesn't. Either He is knowable or He's not.

But it all starts with faith.

"Religion must die for mankind to live."

Ok, so I know that I'm a dork. I have a great day outside, my family is gone out of town (although I do have our foster baby), and what do I decide to do for fun. Watch some guy rail on my faith. That's right, I spend the afternoon watching "Religulous" with Bill Maher. I have been wanting to watch this movie for quite a while and finally got around to doing so. I think I finally got around to it because not many people want to watch this type of movie with you. Ironman, ok. The Dark Knight, ok. Etc. This is not to say that most people should be interested in this type of movie. In fact, they shouldn't. It is to say that I'm a dork.

I wrote throughout the entire movie. I jotted down notes that both Bill asserted and many of the evangelical Christians did as well. I am thinking I will spend this week unpacking what was said.

There were many accusations from the atheist side that simply weren't true and meant to instigate. There were many concessions on the Christian side that simply weren't true and meant to bring peace.

If it weren't for the 5 seconds of outright nudity right in the middle of the "documentary" I would like to show it to my small group or leadership group in the student ministry. Maybe I can find an edited version.

I will say one thing, though, before I get into this week and start taking apart the arguments in a more minute detail and that is this: I agree with Bill that "Religion must dies for mankind to live." Jesus did not come to start a world religion. He is saddened, I am sure, by what He sees mankind doing with His words. He came to His own people and railed on them for taking what God had given them and turning it into something that oppresses others and their own. Has modern religion done any differently?

No. Religion verses relationship. That's what Christians say for a quick reference to this type of disparity in what we see in the gospels and what we see in our culture. It is a great source of modern issues and, I agree with Maher, should be ended. Though I don't think it will.

We'll this week will be fun for me. And I mean that. I enjoy for my beliefs about Christ to be challenged. It is not for everyone. Not even for every Christian (the whole body of Christ idea). But it is for me.

Sin, Friends, and Doubt

As many of us did, I had a pretty tight "small group" back in the college days. We hung out, talked about life, sang, and did things that college aged people do. (i.e. Things I would never think about doing now...) But we were pretty tight. We went to a Christian college and did all the things associated with that sort of life style. Mission trips, Lead Bible Studies and Outreaches, etc...

So, it grieves me that I have found out that at least two people from that small group have recently come to doubt their faith in a major way. They wonder if God exists. They don't feel His presence anymore. Etc.

Although this is a topic all in itself, it is not the doubt that I necessarily want to focus on. You see, after hearing their stories they described a life that had fallen into sin. One had decided to follow after money and cutting down anything in their way to reach their goal. One had decided to follow after a non-marital relationship leaving scars on their marriage and family.

I found it interesting, but not shocking, that the following after sin lead to doubt. Does God exist? Does He care? Why doesn't God act as I ask Him to?

Sin, by definition, lead one away from God. This, again, by definition includes one's faith. One's worldview. One's trust or disposition toward God. When they were following God, serving, praying, meditating on the Word, etc... this was not nearly the case.

Am I saying that sincere, believing Christians, those not in sin, do not experience doubt? No! In fact, if one doesn't experience doubt, then real faith may not exist. But I am saying it is greatly furthered on by sin.

One of those friends is actively pursuing God again. Looking to Him and asking to find their all in Him. One is not. One is a skeptic, but a Gideon type of skeptic, asking God to show Himself if He is real.

I am not sitting in judgement. In fact, their troubles and stories only make me love them more intensely. I pray more heartily for them now than possibly ever before. I also know I have sin in my life. I am no different than Paul in Romans 7 and continually wish I could live a life void of this problem.

So pray for me. Pray for my two friends. And pray for yourself, that you may follow God with your life. Let Him renew your mind (Rom 12:1-2) so you may follow Him with all your person.