Starbucks and Salvation

I'm living in the desert...

Some of you will read the blog title and respond, "Of course you are!  You're living in Phoenix!"  Allow me to clarify a bit...

I'm living in the desert...like Israel when they wandered...like Moses when he felt all alone...that type of desert living.  I know the popular conception of pastors/preachers is that they never feel apart from God, and never struggle to know what's coming next.  We've raised up entire generations to believe if you're "on stage", you've always got it all together in every phase of life.  You know what?  That's a lie.  I'm living in the desert.

Almost a year ago I received a phone call concerning a church planting possibility in the Phoenix area.  A few months after that, we flew out to meet with prospective partners.  A week after that, we said "yes" to moving.  Less than 2 months after that I set out cross country with Katie, my oldest daughter, and we began a journey to the area.  After arriving, my wife and youngest daughter flew out to be with us.  The journey began.  Now, nearly 5 months later, there is less clarity in my life then there was a year ago. Through some moving and shaking we felt led to look to the Surprise area to plant the church, in the west valley.  All signs pointed to that being the right decision...and personally, I still think all signs point that way.  But I'm in the desert.  We're 35 days away from our lease expiring on our rental and still don't have a legitimate contract on a house...which takes at least 30 days to close.  We continue to get the "its in process" or "the taxes are almost done" on one home that we thought back in December would be not only a quick sale but a good move...yet nothing.  We look at other properties in hopes that one of them will be the right move...yet nothing.  We pray for God to show up, to do His thing, to remind us that this is indeed His plan for us...yet nothing.  We walk the tightrope between sitting back and allowing Him to work, and being proactive enough on our own to make things happen...yet nothing.

How is this possible?  How do you move cross country, to a place you never dreamed of moving to and find yourself in such a neutral state?  Maybe God is planning on showing up in the nick of time to remind us that indeed He is always working things out for us.  Or maybe this is His way of saying we're heading the wrong direction.  Maybe this is His way of saying we shouldn't have ever moved at all.  I don't know.  All I know is living in the desert stinks.  Imagine being in love with the most incredible person you know, and wanting to spend the rest of your life with them.  Now imagine you can't hear them.  That's what it's like for me.  Don't worry...I haven't lost my faith in Him.  I haven't lost my passion for Him.  I haven't stopped believing He is who He says He is.  I just can't hear him.  I don't know what I'm supposed to do.  I don't know how much is expected of me to take care of things, and how much He expects me to sit back and let Him work. 

The people we have met so far in Surprise have been amazing!  The area is ripe for harvest!  The workers are few!  So why can't we get there?  Am I making too big a deal about getting there?  Why can't I find peace?  There is nothing within me that screams we should not have moved...I suppose at this point I just sit and wait...in the desert.  I hate that place.  I sure pray the lessons learned from it are amazing.  Then again...His lessons always are.

When were the disciples/apostles saved?

Sometimes, my mind gets stuck on certain things scripturally that I can't seem to wrap my head around.  I usually have the toughest time reconciling these things with what I've been taught through years of church life and my current theological journey.  This post is about one of those things...

All my life I've been taught, and believed, that a person cannot 'lose' their salvation.  I believe the bible spells that out scripturally in places like John 5:24, 6:37-40, 10:29-30 and many others.  The concept of being able to lose your salvation would lend to the opposite concept of being able to gain or win your salvation by similar human effort.  Though I agree that human choice is involved in believing, we are prompted to that choice by the Spirit of God and our salvation is achieved supernaturally by the work of Christ on the cross, not by anything we do.  So I still stand on the belief that you cannot lose your salvation...but there is something lately I can't push aside.

In Matthew 10:32,33 we have the words of Jesus which state; "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.  but whoever disowns (some translations read denies) me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (NIV)  When Jesus speaks of disowning/denying in Matthew 10, the Greek word means denying Him as Master of one's life.  This is also the same word Peter uses in his denial of Christ in Matthew 26:69-75.  Similarly in Luke's Gospel, chapter 12, verses 8,9 Luke records a similar statement from Jesus.  In both Matthew and Luke, when Jesus speaks of denying a person in heaven (before God and the angels of God) a strengthened form of the Greek word for deny is used, emphasizing and affirming no connection between the two persons (Jesus and the person).  This strengthened version of the word is used at the end of the Matthew 26 passage in verse 75, to emphasize Peter denying any connection to Christ, which would lead to Christ's denying a connection to Peter in heaven.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not record any reinstatement of a connection between Peter and Jesus.  In John's Gospel however, we have an account of a conversation between the risen Christ and Peter.  Chapter 21:15-19 tell us that 3 times Jesus asks Simon Peter if he loves Him and 3 times Peter responds he does.  Each time Peter responds yes, Jesus commands him to tend/feed my sheep, a reference to taking care of Christ's followers.  In addition the 3 questions to Peter correspond to the 3 times Peter denied Him.  This segment is commonly referred to as Christ's reinstatement of Peter.

So let's recap for a moment...Jesus states if a person denies Him before men that person will be denied in heaven.  Most commentators believe that heavenly denial to be a denial on judgment day, similar to the scenario described in Matthew 7:21-23.  Peter not only denies Christ before men, but Jesus predicts it in Matthew 26:31-35 (which incidentally includes a phrase in verse 35, "And all the other disciples said the same" in response to Peter's statement he would never disown Jesus...yet all the disciples did at His death).  Only John records a private reinstatement of Peter by Jesus.  Now let me throw one more thing into the pot...

Scripture spells out when a person receives Christ as Savior, that person is the recipient of a new Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God.  Jesus predicts the Spirit's arrival in places like John 14:15-31, 16:5-16, and as the risen Christ, Acts 1:4-8.  Prior to the Holy Spirit's arrival, the righteousness of God is spoken in scripture as being "credited" to followers of God who lived prior to Christ's life on earth.  Paul records in places like Romans 4, and Galatians 3:6 that those who believed in God prior to Christ (and therefore w/out the infusion of the Holy Spirit) had righteousness credited to them. James records in his letter, chapter 2:23 that Abraham was called God's friend by his belief and that belief was credited as righteousness.  So for people prior to the Holy Spirit's arrival, their belief in God that resulted in their following God is credited as righteousness to them at Judgment.  After the Holy Spirit's arrival, the infusion of the Spirit is evidenced of a changed life by Christ, and at judgment the righteousness of God is seen in a person through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross and our acceptance of His work to cover our sins.  So....

When was Peter (and the other disciples) saved?  Since the denial and reinstatement occurred pre-Holy Spirit, had righteousness already been credited to the 12 disciples?  Or was Peter's denial and consequential reinstatement mere formality?  Was he truly not saved until the arrival of the Holy Spirit on him and the others as recorded in Acts 2:1-4?  IF God's righteousness was already credited to the disciples pre-Holy Spirit, then what of Judas the betrayer?  IF Peter was considered "saved" by a credit of God's righteousness pre-Holy Spirit (and this seems plausible since Jesus had to "reinstate" him) can we state by this exchange between Jesus and Peter it is possible to love your salvation?  Or was this simply a reinstatement of Peter to an earthly position of leadership and his fellowship with Christ, not an eternal destiny as some think?

Ultimately, I still believe the sum of scripture points to those who are brought into a saving relationship with Christ, by Christ's work on the cross, cannot "lose" their salvation...this may be one of those mysteries we'll not have answers to on earth.  I'm interested in your thoughts...

Focus on the problem, not what you think the solution is...

This is a really random post...

Obviously my mind has been racing the past couple of months with regards to the beginnings of Springwater Community Church in Surprise, AZ.  I'm an avid reader, and that passion has just increased over the past few months.  Consequently, I'm in 'overload' mode in terms of thoughts about the church and who we will be.  I have my vision of the church...I'm dissecting it as I read articles and books about the church...and I'm trying to line it all up under the direction of what Jesus thinks about the church since of course, that's most important. 

One of the things about church is declaring what you're about, or more commonly, what you're against.  I've had people ask (in nice fashion) what our stance on alcohol, homosexuality, abortion, and many other hot-topic issues will be.  I'm old enough and smart enough to know that some people are asking out of a real interest, and others are asking so they can dissect my answer later on after I turn my back on them.  I know these things will come up and I'm working on the best way(s) to address them, but it has me thinking...how often do we focus on what we think the solution is instead of the problem?  For example...we think the solution to the issue of abortion is to make it illegal again.  Certainly, that would have merit in decreasing numbers by some percentage, but it that really the problem?  (Note: I'm still fleshing all this out, so my thoughts in this post are still in transit to their final stage)  At the heart of the abortion problem is women...women who think there is no other choice, no way out, no chance for redemption in their life other than terminating one life to save another (their own), women who think so poorly of themselves as mothers they think they are actually doing the right thing by sparing their unborn baby life with them.  Or alcohol abuse...some think the solution is going back to the days of prohibition.  The evil associated with alcohol is not in the bottle or can.  It's associated with the people who bury their emotions, their struggles, their faults under the wave of alcohol (not that those people are evil, but what tempts them is).  Rid the world of all alcohol, and people who need to get 'numb' will find another way to do it.  

We could play this game with all the issues.  Perhaps what we need to do is not play the game from a distance anymore and instead get into the game up close.  Perhaps instead of seeking to close the bars we go to the bars, in wise fashion, and make friends with people...not make friends with them in a 'spiritual notch on our belt' fashion just waiting to say the sinners' prayer with them.  Make friends with them like Jesus did.  Dinners, fellowship times, life...our world has seen in the past few decades the church 'befriend' them in order to count them in our monthly quotas; may they now see us in the next few decades befriending them on a whole other level. 

This is simply amazing...

Carlos Whitaker was filming a video for his song "God of Second Chances" in a rough part of the city, when Danny, a homeless man, comes up and joins in for impromptu praise...I love, love, love this.

I can't keep my mouth shut anymore...

When news of the Tiger Woods scandal broke weeks ago, I promised myself I wouldn't blog about it.  I told myself to stay away from it.  I advised myself to leave it alone.  Turns out, I don't listen to myself any better than I did to my mom and dad when I was little...sorry mom :)

My first statement is this: there will be no defense of Tiger in this post.  He was wrong.  The news that he is in an Arizona rehab center for his sexual addiction does not lessen his choice in the matter as far as I'm concerned.  He is not outside of forgiveness and restoration, but he is still wrong.

My second statement is this: where is the outrage and frustration with all of these women who KNEW they were messing with a married man?!?!  Before Christmas I was in the KIA dealership waiting on my car to be serviced, and one of the women was on the Today show on the t.v.  She talked about how "Yes", she knew Tiger was married when he came on to her and "Yes" the thought crossed her mind before their first encounter as well as afterwards that he was married but she "just didn't care".  This morning a Phoenix radio station was interviewing one of the women who talked about how hurt she was because she really thought she was the "only one" for Tiger...but how she also dated other guys when Tiger wasn't around because you know, she's "single".  Now news comes out about one of the girls who wants to start a new reality show with another woman who has a support group titled, Mistresses Anonymous (you can't make this stuff up folks).  Her support group, she states, is a group for "...women who are bad relationships with married men."  She'd like to do a reality show with all of Tiger's mistresses, where they can discuss the "downside" of being the other woman and also discuss how he was in bed...excuse me while I throw up in my mouth just a little.

Listen America...these women are not victims.  They were not drugged, placed under hypnosis, or seduced like little teenage girls.  They are predators themselves, seeking the next celebrity, athlete, or musician they can have a roll in the sack or 2 with and then parlay those incidents into fortune, free stuff, and 15 minutes of fame.  We have made it possible for these women to exist because we give them notoriety.  Tiger was wrong...and so were they.  You can't bash one without the other. 

It's all about perspective...

I'm learning more and more that life is all about perspective...a comical example of that is above.

I went to a University of Kentucky website the other day to order my wife a t-shirt.  While browsing, I saw a UK coffee mug that I wanted, pictured above...

When the mug came in, it was not quite what I expected...

Apparently I missed the part in the description that the mug was a miniature decorative item, not something I could consume large amounts of java in...

Perspective...it can change how you feel about many things.  Take for example health care.  For years health care was the furthest thing from my mind.  We had a good plan, my work paid for it, and we just went whenever we needed.  When we moved to Arizona, we had to switch to an individual plan, pay for it ourselves, and couldn't find anyone who would cover our youngest daughter Kenzie's asthma and allergy conditions for they were "pre-existing", even though we had coverage on them prior to moving.  This past week I found myself in an intense discussion with a local pediatrician because we took Kenzie for her 3 year checkup in December, a visit which our insurance considered preventive and therefore would pay for it, and the pediatrician who saw her wrote in her notes that Kenzie had a history of asthma, and their billing dept. billed it as an asthma related visit thereby causing our insurance to kick it out.  I talked to 4 people before I could get someone to understand it WASN'T asthma related, it was a well child visit, and the doctor only did a medical history of Kenzie.  Her response at that point was that she would "talk" to billing, but couldn't guarantee they would change it.  After these incidents, my perspective on health care has changed...it needs reforming and doesn't work for most people.

Perspective...it changes how you feel about many things.  We've been trying to find churches to partner with us in planting Springwater Community.  I met with one church, and thought the meeting went very well.  Then the next week we hear they are not interested...oh, they are interested in planting churches, but only churches that look/act/sound like them...be sure and let me know how that goes.

Perspective...I was asked last night at a meeting I attended to give the highlight and lowlight of the past month.  As I contemplated lowlight's, I thought of our frustration at not having a home in Surprise yet...of needing a second car...of not feeling like I had enough time to do everything.  Then I thought about dear friends in KY who are dealing with illnesses, needs, and frustrations much bigger than I have...I thought about Sam and Tracy, 2 homeless men in North Phoenix we met on Christmas Eve who just need a break to come their way...I thought about good friends in Honduras who chucked life here as they know it and moved their to see what God had in store for them.  Perspective let me see I really haven't had a "lowlight" the past month.

Perspective...what's yours?  It just might be the difference between having a great day, or coming home miserable.

Can America go to war?

The recent shooting at Fort Hood by a Muslim who was apparently terrified to go and fight a battle against Muslims has raised some very interesting questions in my mind.  I'm no world history major, but remembering what I can from school it seems America in the past went to war with other nations over perceived threats to the American nation or way of life.  In many cases, opponents of the American way/dream were perceived as being 'ungodly' or 'unholy' and this justified our actions.  Many Americans felt Communists were definitely ungodly and were quick to say yes to shutting down their lives.  (interestingly enough, Paul's writings in the New Testament describing how a community of people share everything and make sure everyone is on an equal playing field has some communistic overtones to it...but that's for another post someday :) )

Since the foundation of America it was believed by many that God had placed our founding fathers on this land to establish a 2nd Israel.  The shaping of Colonial England was often under the umbrella of "Manifest Destiny" and Pilgrims viewed the New World as the New Canaan.  As that thinking established itself and grew, once America received its independence it became free to wage war as God's instrument in most minds.  Woodrow Wilson, announcing his declaration of war to Congress stated, "To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured.  God helping her, she can do no other."

Similarly Franklin Roosevelt in his declaration of war after the attack on Pearl Harbor used phrases like America's "righteous might" and concluding his prediction of victory with the phrase, "So help us God."  We assume with WW1 and WW2 that soldiers who were taking the fighting role believed in some aspect they were playing a 'righteous' role and their mission was approved by God Himself.  The Vietnam and Korean wars, along with the Gulf War conflicts signaled the beginnings of a change in the American soldier.  War was not as glorified as it had been previously, and with the advent of the average American family seeing pictures in their home on their t.v.'s of the death and destruction, war by America was not so supported.

Fast forward now to 2010...and the above mentioned tragedy at Ft. Hood.  It's safe to say America's armed forces are no longer completely made up of the type of soldier who fought in WW1 and 2.  The armed forces today are made up of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists...some are in the armed forces because it was their only option to stay out of jail...some are in because it was the only way they could pay for college.  Point being, it is not too big a stretch to state our military is no longer as unified in cause and concern as it may have previously been in history.  Tying this into the former belief that we were God's instrument of war, the question of America going to war becomes tricky.  We assume in the Old Testament when God sent Israel to war, from the highest ranking officer to the lowest foot soldier, all were in complete agreement and unison with the battle(s) at hand.  To a point, this may have even been true in the earliest years and battles of America as a nation.  However, now it appears this may not be.  If that is the case...if soldiers of different rank and file are not 100% sold out to the cause, should America be involved in any military conflict that is not 100% considered an immediate threat to American lives?  Notice I didn't say lifestyle, but lives.  It seems we may do more harm to our men in uniform by sending them on a mission not all of their comrades in arms believe in.  The tragedy at Ft Hood was definitely a tragedy...but perhaps its time for those who make decisions for our military to see that as a potential wake-up call.  Unless threated with invasion or guaranteed attack on our home soil, perhaps its time to bring all of our people home.

New Year's Rockin' Steve...

With apologies to Dick Clark for the above post title...

5 days into the new year of 2010 and life is rockin'!  We are less than 2 weeks away from our first public "vision-casting" meeting in Surprise.  A vision-casting meeting is basically where we will be letting people know what Springwater Community Church is going to be all about.  My plan is to have about 4 or 5 of these, coupled with bible study and prayer time for the area and people.  We've had to push back the initial worship service a little, but I'm okay with that.  No need to rush things.

We're rockin' and rollin' concerning our housing status as well.  We have offers in on 2 homes in Surprise, and it's basically a realty version of an old west showdown...whoever blinks first wins.  It's exciting, but I'm also starting to weird out a little.  Back in December when we put the offers in, we thought we'd hear something by Christmas and we envisioned coming back from our Christmas break in KY getting ready to pack up and move.  Now, we are still in the holding pattern, and we have friends coming to stay with us in mid-February and our rental agreement on our current home is up the end of February...hence, the accelerated weirdness on my part. 

The new year is rockin' as well in terms of personal health.  Alissa and I are determined to get healthy...not occupied so much with losing weight, though that would be a plus :)  We just need to be healthy.  We live in an area where its 70 degrees in January and we need to be taking advantage of that!  Our intention is to walk, run, hike, whatever we can do to increase our health as well as instill in our daughters early the importance of being healthy.  At age 8, Katie is already asking questions about her belly, what weight is good weight, etc...she won't really tell us where this line of questioning is coming from, but needless to say we are raising our awareness of teaching about being healthy as opposed to just being thin.

So, it looks like it will be a busy and eventful year for us.  In June, Alissa and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary...we're starting a church...we're moving to a new community...let's get it rockin'!!!