THE EMBERS

MYTH #21-Jesus' message is best spread by talking!

2012-02-23T15:19:00.003-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

This myth has become universal in its impactand yet more and more people areunderstanding its limitations. By believingthat the best way to spread the Good Newsmessage of Jesus is by talking, you are verylimited in your perspective and probably notthat effective.
We have called this method of talking theGospel-witnessing. Many classes and seminarshave been given to help believers know how totalk more effectively and yet most peoplecarry a lot of guilt because they are unableto get their mouths to work when it comes towitnessing.

The damage here is, at least, fourfold:FIRST-You limit yourself to getting people tohear your pastor or teacher. Getting peopleinto the church service becomes the mostimportant thing you can do to spread themessage of Jesus.

SECOND-You become a preacher. It's been myexperience that people don't respond well toyou breaking out into preaching. If theywanted to hear you preach, they would ask youto start a church.

THIRD-You become deductive-telling otherswhat and how to believe. This takes away fromthe heart of the Good News. The Good Newsmessage is entirely relational. But if youthink talking is the best way to spread themessage, you will be spreading a system ofbeliefs rather than a simple and dynamicrelationship with Jesus.

FOURTH-You tend to think in terms of findingout what the best argument is for a givengroup or flavor of people, so you canapproach them more effectively. This focusesyou on what your differences are with thosewho are not your particular flavor and notwhat you might have in common.

To debunk this myth I want to share only fromthe words of Jesus as to how to spread Hismessage. The four ways Jesus teaches may notbe exhaustive, but they are powerful.

FIRST-Jesus says that your lifestyle will bea light to those who are looking on. "Youare the light of the world. A city on a hillcannot be hidden. Neither do people light alamp and put it under a bowl. Instead theyput it on its stand, and it gives light toeveryone in the house. In the same way, letyour light shine before others, that they maysee your good deeds and glorify your Fatherin heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16) NOTE themessage of Jesus will be spread through yourlifestyle of good works and people willnotice in a positive way. Also, note thatthere is no talking here emphasized.

SECOND-Jesus says that your love for oneanother will spread His message."A new command I give you: Love oneanother. As I have loved you, so you mustlove one another. By this everyone will knowthat you are my disciples, if you love oneanother." (John 13:34-35) Note there isno talking emphasized here either.

THIRD-Jesus reveals another way that willhave a most definite impact in the world thatdemonstrates the heart of Jesus. "Then theKing will say to those on his right, 'Come,you who are blessed by my Father; take yourinheritance, the kingdom prepared for yousince the creation of the world. For I washungry and you gave me something to eat, Iwas thirsty and you gave me something todrink, I was a stranger and you invited mein, I needed clothes and you clothed me, Iwas sick and you looked after me, I was inprison and you came to visit me.' "Then therighteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did wesee you hungry and feed you, or thirsty andgive you something to drink? When did we seeyou a stranger and invite you in, or needingclothes and clothe you? When did we see yousick or in prison and go to visit you?' "TheKing will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whateveryou did for one of the least of thesebrothers and sisters of mine, you did forme.' (Matthew 25) Here the sacrificiallove message of Jesus is spread by beingaware of Jesus' heart and that Jesus can befound in those in need in our world-thehungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger,the sick, and those in prison. Jesus alsospoke directly to those who didn't noticeJesus in the midst of the needy. "He willreply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you didnot do for one of the least of these, you didnot do for me.' When we are aware of thepoor and needy around us, we aredemonstrating the heart of Jesus in ourworld. Jesus always sought them out and soshould we. And when we do, the attractivenessof the sacrificial love of Jesus shinesthrough. Again, there is no talking here.

FOURTH-Jesus sends His twelve disciples outon a mission. Note what He sends them to do:Jesus called his twelve disciples to himand gave them authority to drive out evilspirits and to heal every disease andsickness. As you go, proclaim this message:'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Healthe sick, raise the dead, cleanse those whohave leprosy, drive out demons.

Jesus goes on to say that there will becertain divine appointments that they aregoing to have and doesn't want them to worryabout what they will say. He says, "Be onyour guard; you will be handed over to thelocal councils and be flogged in thesynagogues. On my account you will be broughtbefore governors and kings as witnesses tothem and to the Gentiles. But when theyarrest you, do not worry about what to say orhow to say it. At that time you will be givenwhat to say, for it will not be you speaking,but the Spirit of your Father speakingthrough you."

FINALLY, Jesus encourages them to saysomething. He says three things abouttalking. 1. He will give His disciplesauthority and power to go spread the message.2. He gave them the primary theme of theirmessage. It was the message of the presenceof the Kingdom. 3. Don't worry about what youwill say when you are in a divineappointment, because Jesus promises you thatyou will be given the appropriate things to say.

So, quit talking so much and start embracingJesus as a lifestyle, learn how to love oneanother and take on the heart of Jesus forthose in need, then He will give you what tosay when you need it. St. Francis of Assisiput this myth in perspective with his famousstatement: "Preach the Gospel at all timesand when necessary use words."

MYTH #20-Jesus takes a stand against sinners!

2012-02-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

This can be a subtle, deceptive myth. It'spopular within much of Christianity to "takea stand" against sin and sinners. ThereforeChristianity is known for itsstands-political stands, values stands,stands against homosexuality, againstsame-sex marriage, against abortion and onand on and on.
There are three damages here: FIRST-When youremphasis is to "take a stand against"something or someone, you become known foryour gloom and doom attitude and turn offthose who are looking on.

SECOND-Even though you may have greatintentions to fight against corruption, youwill find yourself standing against the samepeople you want to share the good news with.It's very difficult to have it both ways, aswe've discussed in an earlier myth.

THIRD-The greatest damage is that byfollowing this myth, you will most certainlymiss the example of Jesus and His Good Newsmessage.

To debunk this myth I want to share a fewobservations.FIRST-Jesus didn't take a stand againstsinners. There were two kinds of people inthe days of Jesus-the religious and thesinners. Jesus didn't seem to have anydifficulty with the sinners at all, but Hisconstant struggles and battles were againstthe religious.

SECOND-Jesus didn't take a stand againstsinners; He stood side by side with them.

THIRD-Jesus didn't take a stand againstsinners; He even sought them out to hang outwith them.

Let's check out a few illustrations of Jesusstanding side by side and even hanging outwith sinners. When Matthew, a tax-collector,was called by Jesus, there is an interestingscene at dinner in Mark 2: Once againJesus went out beside the lake. A large crowdcame to him, and he began to teach them. Ashe walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeussitting at the tax collector's booth. "Followme," Jesus told him, and Levi got up andfollowed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi'shouse, many tax collectors and sinners wereeating with him and his disciples, for therewere many who followed him. When the teachersof the law who were Pharisees saw him eatingwith the sinners and tax collectors, theyasked his disciples: "Why does he eat withtax collectors and sinners?" On hearing this,Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthywho need a doctor, but the sick. I have notcome to call the righteous, but sinners."

In Matthew 11:19 it is recorded: The Sonof Man came eating and drinking, and theysay, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, afriend of tax collectors and sinners.'That's how He was identified with respectto sinners-as their friend.

In Luke 7 Jesus has another interestingencounter with sinners: When one of thePharisees invited Jesus to have dinner withhim, he went to the Pharisee's house andreclined at the table. A woman in that townwho lived a sinful life learned that Jesuswas eating at the Pharisee's house, so shecame there with an alabaster jar of perfume.As she stood behind him at his feet weeping,she began to wet his feet with her tears.Then she wiped them with her hair, kissedthem and poured perfume on them. When thePharisee who had invited him saw this, hesaid to himself, "If this man were a prophet,he would know who is touching him and whatkind of woman she is-that she is a sinner."Jesus allowing sinners to be near Him andtouch Him really stirred up the religiousleaders.

Then in Luke 15: Now the tax collectorsand sinners were all gathering around to hearJesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers ofthe law muttered, "This man welcomes sinnersand eats with them." And again Lukerecords in chapter 19: All the people sawthis and began to mutter, "He has gone to bethe guest of a sinner."

Jesus didn't stand against sinners, so whyshould we? Jesus identified with them, lovedthem and sought them out, so why don't we?Jesus went to the sinners instead of invitingthem to come to an event He was leading. Thisis precisely where I believe we have gonewrong for so many years. We seem to think themost effective way to reach out to people inneed of God is to invite them to come to usrather than going to them. By the way, theearly Jesus movement did not grow throughpromoting large events and building largefacilities, inviting the world to come andjoin them. The spontaneous expansion of thechurch of Jesus spread by contagiousfollowers of Jesus touching other individualsand families with the Good News of the loveof Jesus.

One more thing is important here. The modernday Jesus movement is spreading spontaneouslyand massively throughout the world by takingJesus into the marketplace. The Jesusmovement is all about standing with thesinners-the non-religious-hanging out withthem in their world. It's not about standingagainst the sinners and pointing them out,but about standing with them and pointingthem to Jesus.

MYTH #19-Jesus plus nothing is easier and simpler to live!

2012-02-21T13:00:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

My favorite verse that Paul penned is in thesecond letter he wrote to the followers ofJesus in the city of Corinth. He said, "Iam afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by hiscraftiness, that your minds might be ledastray from the simplicity and purity ofdevotion to the Christ."
Over the last 6 years we have come tounderstand what it means to embrace themessage of "Jesus plus nothing". To embracethis is to embark on a diligent process ofremoving the man-made add-ons that have beenattached to Jesus. When you start out in thisprocess, it is easy to get caught up in thesimplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus.At first, it's easy to drop off many of theseadd-ons. I mean, many of them are soobviously in the way and a distraction fromJesus.

Here's where the myth emerges. I hear it moreoften than I'd like. I hear people say: "I'venever found anything so easy in all my life.It's easy to follow Jesus." This is it! Ifyou feel this way, then I'm not sure youquite "get it" yet. On a certain level, thismight be understandable in that you don'thave to stuff your mind and life with all ofthe legalistic add-on stuff. But there is amyth here just the same.

I am returning to the decision I made whenJesus apprehended my life in a fresh way afew years ago. I said then and mean it moretoday: "I'm trying to do the most difficultthing I've ever done in my life-to follow theteachings and principles of Jesus."

"Jesus plus nothing" is simple and easy tounderstand, however living this kind oflifestyle is not so simple and easy. This isclearly seen in a few of the interactionswith Jesus. It's much easier to just operateyour life with a checklist, and then checkthem off as you do them. "Jesus plus nothing"is not a system of do's and don'ts-a systemof beliefs or a checklist. It's arelationship-a day-in-day-out relationshipwith Jesus.

One of these interactions with Jesus is foundin the Gospel of John (John 6): Jesusanswered, "Very truly I tell you, you arelooking for me, not because you saw the signsI performed but because you ate the loavesand had your fill. Do not work for food thatspoils, but for food that endures to eternallife, which the Son of Man will give you. Onhim God the Father has placed his seal ofapproval."

Then they asked him, "What must we do todo the works God requires?" Jesus answered,"The work of God is this: to believe in theone he has sent."

So they asked him, "What sign then willyou give that we may see it and believe you?What will you do? Our ancestors ate the mannain the wilderness; as it is written: 'He gavethem bread from heaven to eat.'"
Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tellyou, it is not Moses who has given you thebread from heaven, but it is my Father whogives you the true bread from heaven. For thebread of God is the bread that comes downfrom heaven and gives life to the world.""Sir," they said, "always give us thisbread." Then Jesus declared, "I am the breadof life. Whoever comes to me will never gohungry, and whoever believes in me will neverbe thirsty.

But here is the bread that comes down fromheaven, which people may eat and not die. Iam the living bread that came down fromheaven. Whoever eats of this bread will liveforever. This bread is my flesh, which I willgive for the life of the world." On hearingit, many of his disciples said, "This is ahard teaching. Who can accept it?"

From this time many of his disciplesturned back and no longer followed him. "Youdo not want to leave too, do you?" Jesusasked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him,"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have thewords of eternal life. We have come tobelieve and to know that you are the Holy Oneof God."

Here you have a very difficult time among themany disciples. When Jesus made Himself outto be the bread of life-the new manna intown, He invited them into a personal,intimate relationship with Him. It's likeeating of the bread-taking me into your livesin such a way that you ingest me. Because ofthis difficult challenge by Jesus to comeinto a dynamic relationship with Him andlearn to trust Him, many left Him.

Where did they go? I think they went back tothe simple and easy life of going toSynagogue each week and dropped out of theJesus movement. It was just too difficult tostruggle through cultivating a relationshipwith Jesus.

It's the same today. The "Jesus plus nothing"lifestyle is not simpler and easier. If youbelieve that, you are mything out! I amcommitted to being a stubborn follower ofJesus and this is the most difficult thingI've ever tried to do in my life. Theinternal struggles are tough, but so worthit. How do you do the works of God? Getcaught up into obeying, waiting and trustingJesus for everything, then you'll have thesatisfaction of doing the work of God.

MYTH #18-Jesus wants you to be hoooly!

2012-02-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Now before you get too upset with me and thismyth, it's not so much how it is spelled, buthow it is said: HOOOLY has a super-spiritualconnotation to it. But Jesus doesn't want youto be a super-saint or a super-spiritualperson. That's a myth.

The damage is threefold: FIRST-To be HOOOLYsets up a level of spirituality that isunattainable and intimidating.

SECOND-To be HOOOLY sets up a 1st classChristianity versus those who are 2nd classor coach. Talk about shutting the door of theKingdom on people!

THIRD-To be HOOOLY is to operate under agross misunderstanding of what "holy" reallymeans. It's usually half-understood.Literally, "holy" means to be separated untoGod for His mission. However, where I grew upto be "holy" was shortened to mean "beseparated". The way it was applied to me wasthat we are to be separated-different-fromthe rest of the world. It was definitely a"We four and no more kind of lifestyle!" Wewere an established holy huddle in ourcommunity. We were different because wedidn't do certain things-attend movies, drinkany alcohol, dance or even skate to secularmusic. We were different all right andsuccessfully turned people away from theattractive, irresistible Jesus.

To be HOOOLY is just the opposite of whatJesus intended. He mostly used the term"holy" to describe the Holy Spirit, holyangels, and the Holy Place-the Temple. As Isaid earlier the term "holy" means to beseparated or set apart unto God for Hismission. The Spirit is holy. The angels areholy. Even the Temple was holy-separated untoGod for His mission.

Jesus was most upset and angry with those whocontinually acted HOOOLY and missed out ontrue holiness. He rebuked thosesuper-spiritual, nit-picker, hair-splitting,feather-plucking, hyper-critical leaders whoset themselves up as the religious examplesof righteousness. They majored in the minorsand minored in the majors. They professedrighteousness without possessing it and theydid it by carefully following theirtraditions, man-made commandments andreligious causes. This kept them set apartand separated from the rest of the world. Asthey worked hard to keep the 613 laws-248commandments and 365 prohibitions-they justkept drawing the condemnation of men on therighteous acts before God.

The Scriptures taught holiness, but themeaning of it was not to just be set apartand be different, gathering yourselves into aholy huddle.

In the Hebrew Scriptures it is clear that Godwants those who claim to be related to Him tobe holy. In Leviticus 11:44-45 it says: Iam the LORD your God; consecrate yourselvesand be holy, because I am holy. I am the LORDwho brought you up out of Egypt to be yourGod; therefore be holy, because I amholy. Later in Leviticus 20:26 it says:You are to be holy to me because I, theLORD, am holy, and I have set you apart fromthe nations to be my own. Paul and Peterin the New Testament speak of being "calledto be holy" and "make every effort to live inpeace with all men and be holy". Peter saysin his first letter: But just as he whocalled you is holy, so be holy in all you do.

Even though Jesus doesn't command Hisfollowers to be holy, in the spirit of whatis understood by the references in Leviticusand by the few references to be holy by a fewof Jesus' disciples, Jesus does actuallyteach holiness-to be set apart unto God forHis mission. I think Jesus is all aboutteaching those who want to be His discipleshow to be holy. He does this by His two mostrevolutionary words: FOLLOW ME! In contrastto the super-spiritual community of thePharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus invitedthe people who were interested in followingHim to: "Come to Me, all who are weary andheavy-laden, and I will give you rest. TakeMy yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I amgentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FINDREST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy andMy burden is light."

Do you see it? They were into being HOOOLYand were actually a holy huddle who missedout on the second part of the definition ofholiness-to be separated unto God for Hismission. To be holy is to be set apart forGod's use and purposes. Jesus invites us tofollow Him-to be aligned with Him in such away that we are on the mission He has plannedfor us-to walk, talk, think and love like Jesus.

Jesus puts it in a simple way when Hesays, "If you hear my words and practicethem, you will be like a wise man who buildshis house on a rock and no matter what beatsagainst your house, it will stand firm."
Jesus doesn't want us to be HOOOLY, butholy-set apart to follow Him.

MYTH #17-Jesus wants us to change the world?

2012-02-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

This is a myth that penetrates ministryefforts around the world. There is a constantman-made effort to organize the message ofJesus into a standardized methodology. So,over the years many methods have been createdand promoted to be the best ways, andsometimes the only ways, ministry is done.Examples of these methods are gospel tracts,such as the "Four Spiritual Laws", altarcalls at the end of the church service,conversion tactics on the mission field oruse of a certain bible translation. Thesemethods are employed to do what we thinkJesus wants us to do-to change the world.
The damage is fourfold: FIRST-If you thinkyou must change the world, you will create anagenda for every person you approach. If aperson is from a different religiouspersuasion, then your agenda is to talk themout of their religion and into yours. If aperson believes in evolution, then youragenda is to argue with him about creation.If a person is doing something you want himto change, then your agenda is to figure outa way to change him. There are so many noblecauses in our society that have become majoragendas that get in the way of reallychanging the world-like fighting over thehomosexual agenda or fighting abortion orfighting over family value issues or arguingover politics.

SECOND-If you think you must change theworld, you believe you are "right" anddisrespect all others from differentbackgrounds.

THIRD-If you think you must change the world,then you may not include the only one who canchange those in your world of influence-Jesus.

FOURTH-If you think you must change theworld, then you tend to think you are incharge of the results and actually making thechanges happen.

To debunk this myth we need only observe thelife and methodology of Jesus. Jesus alwaysworked with the needs of the person Heencountered. In other words, Jesus allowedthe needs of the person to dictate His approach.
Therefore, Jesus never approached two peoplein the same way. His relationship with eachperson is so unique.

No matter what the need was that Jesusencountered, He was always the answer. Theremay be a physical or mental healing, but He,personally, was the solution to everyone'sproblem. I love the theoretical conversationthat goes like this:Man: I have a problem; it's me!Jesus: I have the answer; it's Me!

Jesus doesn't want us to change the world.That's a myth. Jesus is the only one who isable to change a person's heart and thereforethe only one who can change the world. All wecan do is to introduce Jesus into thesituation with the world around us. We mustbecome convinced that our primary and onlyeffective role is to advance the conversationof Jesus in our world.

Congressman Mark Siljander has summarized theapproach he has used in internationalnegotiations with some of the most difficultsituations in our world. It is a strategy forintroducing Jesus-the universalchange-agent-into most any encounter.(Siljander's new book, A DeadlyMisunderstanding which contains the essence of this approach.) The four phases ofSiljander's approach are the following.First, he says if you want to see realchange, it's important to begin with noagenda whatsoever. If you have an agenda, youwill trigger a variety of defenses and willface major resistance. Don't approach someonewith what's on your mind, but seek what's onhis or her mind.

Secondly, he says if you want to see realchange, you must incorporate unconditionallove. When you show genuine love to someone,you will respect them and their differingpositions they hold. You don't have to agreewith them; just love them in the spirit andspecificity of I Corinthians 13.

Thirdly, he says if you want to see realchange, you must introduce Jesus withoutreligious baggage. It's in the spirit ofJesus that you can truly love someoneunconditionally. The power of Jesus' nameintroduces a dynamic into the equation thatis immeasurable. At the name of Jesus,something good and supernatural happens.

Fourthly, he says if you want to see realchange, you must count on the Spirit of Jesusto make the changes in the person's heart. Inother words, you continue to get out of theway, once you've introduced Jesus, and watchHim work. Leave the results to Him.

This strategy works, not only in the toughestof international negotiations, but in yourfamily, in your community and in yourbusiness. Jesus doesn't want us to changeanyone anywhere. He wants us to touch peopleHe brings to us with no agenda andunconditional love as we introduce Jesus intothe mix and count on His Spirit to make thechanges. You and I aren't going to changeanybody, but Jesus can make that change ineveryone you encounter in His time and in Hisway.

MYTH #16-Jesus can only be truly revealed through the Bible

2012-02-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

As a kid, a minister told me that only theKing James was genuinely effective in sharingthe Good News of Jesus. He even shared withus that no matter what passage you share withothers, the only passages to actually effectsalvation were these. And then, he handed outa card with a series of King James passagesand he made it clear that no other passagesand no other version would "work". Later ajoke we shared with one another while ingraduate school was, "If the King James wasgood enough for Jesus, then it is good enoughfor me!" Naturally, the joke was that theKing James was not even created until nearly1600 years after Jesus.
This myth is a serious one of control. Wejust want to think that we own the only wayto Jesus and that is our favorite version ofthe bible. The damage is twofold: FIRST-Thismyth can lead you into a position that youmight shut the door of the Kingdom to thosewith whom God is working.

SECOND-This myth puts God in a box and willnot allow Him to work in any other way thanyour particular version of the bible or thebible itself.

To debunk this myth I'd like to offer severalexamples. First-The only bible or scripturesavailable at the time of Jesus' ministry wasthe Hebrew Torah, historical books, thewisdom literature and the prophets. So, howwas Jesus revealed?

Second-Jesus was revealed through theteachings of the Hebrew and AramaicScriptures. Remember, Jesus, after Hisresurrection, revealed Himself by sharingwith the two disciples walking to Emmaus. Herevealed Himself by explaining the portraitof the Messiah throughout the then knownScriptures.
In the 24th chapter of Luke, after theresurrection, Jesus appeared to thedisciples. Let's listen in: He said tothem, "This is what I told you while I wasstill with you: Everything must be fulfilledthat is written about me in the Law of Moses,the Prophets and the Psalms." Then heopened their minds so they could understandthe Scriptures. I long to revisit the OldTestament Scriptures with this in mind that Imight see Jesus more clearly-that my mind bybe opened for a fuller understanding.

Third-Jesus is revealed by your life offollowing Him. Jesus says in Matthew 5 thatpeople can see God and respond positively toHim through your good works. He says, "Inthe same way, let your light shine beforeothers, that they may see your good deeds andglorify your Father in heaven."
Paul writes to the followers of Jesus inCorinth and challenges them with the samekind of thinking on how Jesus is seen: Youyourselves are our letter, written on ourhearts, known and read by everyone. You showthat you are a letter from Christ, the resultof our ministry, written not with ink butwith the Spirit of the living God, not ontablets of stone but on tablets of humanhearts. (II Corinthians 3)

Fourth-Jesus is revealed by fulfilling theLaw and traditions. Jesus makes it clear thatHe has not come to abolish the Law in anyway, but to fulfill it. This literally meansto make it full or to fill it up. I envisionthe Law of Moses as an empty container with acertain structure to it and Jesus fills itfull. He is the fulfillment of it! I believeJesus is the ultimate fulfillment of everyreligious structure that is filled with thevarious laws, values and dreams. Jesus canfill up any empty container in the same way.

I heard this from a friend: All roads don'tlead to Jesus, but Jesus leads to all roads.And, He fulfills every desire and longingwithin the hearts of every culture of theworld. In Ecclesiastes 3 it says, He hasmade everything beautiful in its time. He hasalso set eternity in the human heart; yet noone can fathom what God has done frombeginning to end. God has already set thelonging for eternity in the heart of man.

Fifth-Jesus is revealed by the use of paganand other religious writings as well assupernatural experiences. In Acts 17 Paulquotes a local poet who wrote for thereligious ceremonies of worship for Zeus andMollech, yet Paul uses it to reveal Jesus tothe crowd in Athens. We are finding Jesusrevealed in the ancient writings of theMuslim Koran, the Hindu Vedas, and within theearly writings of Buddhism and the religiousthinking of the Polynesian people regardingtheir Creator-God. People in some of theremote parts of the world are seeing Jesus indreams and visions. Hey, I don't even pretendto understand it all, but I know people bythe millions are coming into a personalrelationship with Jesus and following Him.

Sixth-Jesus is revealed by the spoken word ofGod. This is not the logos word of God, butthe rhema word of God. In Romans 10:17 itsays, Faith comes by hearing and hearingby the spoken (rhema) word of God. Thinkabout it! When the massive movement of Jesusin China multiplied into the millions withoutbibles, how was Jesus revealed? He wasrevealed by the spoken word of God about theGood News of Jesus. Even in the earlymovement of Jesus, He is primarily revealedby word of mouth-by the personal testimoniesof those who had already encountered Him.

Seventh-Jesus is revealed by the two naturallights-conscience on the inside and creationon the outside. We see this in Romans 1:For the wrath of God is revealed from heavenagainst all ungodliness and unrighteousnessof men who suppress the truth inunrighteousness, because that which is knownabout God is evident within them; for Godmade it evident to them. NOTE people tendto suppress the truth and that truth is knownto mankind first by what God made evidentwithin them. This might be called conscienceor God-consciousness; these are the moralmotions that are already in every person'sheart-knowing what is right and wrong. Godrevealed this to us in our hearts.

God also made it evident to them to knowabout Him and His plan for them in thecreation: For since the creation of theworld His invisible attributes, His eternalpower and divine nature, have been clearlyseen, being understood through what has beenmade, so that they are without excuse. Foreven though they knew God, they did not honorHim as God or give thanks, but they becamefutile in their speculations, and theirfoolish heart was darkened.

So, it's a myth that only the bible is theplace that Jesus is revealed. The way I seeit is that the Creator-God of the universe isrelentless and will do whatever He can toreveal Jesus to everyone who has ears to hearand eyes to see. Are you listening and watching?

MYTH #14-God dwells in holy buildings today!

2012-02-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

I have mentioned this myth before from adifferent angle. This myth is repeatedlytaught in two ways. The first comes throughthe constant referrals about the auditoriumwithin a church building, calling that largeassembly room the sanctuary. The second wayit is taught is the signage at most churchcampuses. You will find the term "sanctuary",pointing out where the church will assemble.
Essentially this myth is saying that when yougo to your religious house of worship, Godactually dwells there. The building is Hissanctuary or dwelling place. In manyChristian "sanctuaries" the actual place ofdwelling is thought to be up at the altar.Therefore, congregants are encouraged to goforward to take communion, to meet the Lordin prayer, to receive salvation, to be healedor rededicate your life.

So, people today are expected to believe thatGod dwells in holy buildings-Churches,Mosques, Temples and Synagogues. But Jesusand a special teaching from Paul in Athensdebunk this myth soundly.

FIRST-Jesus' conversation with the woman atthe well debunks this myth (John 4):"Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, atime is coming when you will worship theFather neither on this mountain nor inJerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you donot know; we worship what we do know, forsalvation is from the Jews. Yet a time iscoming and has now come when the trueworshipers will worship the Father in theSpirit and in truth, for they are the kind ofworshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit,and his worshipers must worship in the Spiritand in truth."The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (calledChrist) "is coming. When he comes, he willexplain everything to us." Then Jesusdeclared, "I, the one speaking to you-I amhe." Jesus, the Christ-the Messiah, hasshown up and if you will watch and listen,you will come to understand that Jesus hasexplained everything to us. Here with thewoman at the well, Jesus has made it clearthat certain holy locations like mountains orbuildings will not be sufficient to be thedwelling place of God, because God dwells inthe invisibility of spirit and truth.

SECOND-In Athens Paul speaks to a non-Jewishaudience and explains the nature of God andwhere He doesn't dwell. This is recorded byLuke in Acts 17: While Paul was waitingfor them in Athens, he was greatly distressedto see that the city was full of idols. So hereasoned in the synagogue with both Jews andGod-fearing Greeks, as well as in themarketplace day by day with those whohappened to be there. A group of Epicureanand Stoic philosophers began to debate withhim. Some of them asked, "What is thisbabbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "Heseems to be advocating foreign gods." Theysaid this because Paul was preaching the goodnews about Jesus and the resurrection. Thenthey took him and brought him to a meeting ofthe Areopagus, where they said to him, "Maywe know what this new teaching is that youare presenting? You are bringing some strangeideas to our ears, and we would like to knowwhat they mean." (All the Athenians and theforeigners who lived there spent their timedoing nothing but talking about and listeningto the latest ideas.)

Paul then stood up in the meeting of theAreopagus and said: "People of Athens! I seethat in every way you are very religious. Foras I walked around and looked carefully atyour objects of worship, I even found analtar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWNGOD. So you are ignorant of the very thingyou worship-and this is what I am going toproclaim to you.

"The God who made the world and everythingin it is the Lord of heaven and earth anddoes not live in temples built by hands. Andhe is not served by human hands, as if heneeded anything. Rather, he himself giveseveryone life and breath and everything else.From one man he made all the nations, thatthey should inhabit the whole earth; and hemarked out their appointed times in historyand the boundaries of their lands. God didthis so that they would seek him and perhapsreach out for him and find him, though he isnot far from any one of us. 'For in him welive and move and have our being.' As some ofyour own poets have said, 'We are hisoffspring.'

"Therefore since we are God's offspring,we should not think that the divine being islike gold or silver or stone-an image made byhuman design and skill. In the past Godoverlooked such ignorance, but now hecommands all people everywhere to repent. Forhe has set a day when he will judge the worldwith justice by the man he has appointed. Hehas given proof of this to everyone byraising him from the dead." The God ofheaven and earth cannot be limited to dwellin buildings or idols.

THIRD-Jesus' teachings debunk this myth, whenHe teaches about sending His Spirit to Hisdisciples (John 14): "If you love me, keepmy commands. And I will ask the Father, andhe will give you another advocate to help youand be with you forever-the Spirit of truth.The world cannot accept him, because itneither sees him nor knows him. But you knowhim, for he lives with you and will be inyou.

Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me willobey my teaching. My Father will love them,and we will come to them and make our home(our dwelling place) with them."

So, when you go into a holy building, that isnot the dwelling place of God on earth todayas it once was with the great Temple inJerusalem. God, through the Spirit of Jesus,now dwells in you. You are the sanctuary ofGod-His dwelling place on earth. Thechallenge? To walk like it, talk like it andact like it.

MYTH #13-Jesus teaches hate for family members!

2012-02-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

One of the most offensive attacks leveled atChristians and Christianity is thismyth-"JESUS TEACHES HATE." Even Christianclergy and other Christians yield to thisattack. When I was speaking at a major eventfor the Dalai Lama, there were severalhundred clerics in attendance. When one ofthe American Buddhist committee memberscalled me to ask if I would be willing tospeak at this event, I quickly accepted. Butbefore I did, this event organizer said theywere looking for someone to representChristianity and thought I would do a goodjob. I explained to him that I don'trepresent Christianity very well. He thensaid, "Well, what would you represent?" Isaid, "I am just a stubborn follower of Jesus."
Of the fourteen speakers on the platform,most were Buddhist, Muslim, a Hindu nun, aJewish rabbi, a famous religion historian,two Christian clerics (an Episcopalian and aCatholic priest) and a follower of Jesus.What was so disappointing to me were theremarks made by the two Christian clerics.One disappointment was that neither of themeven mentioned the name of Jesus-not once.The other was that one of them apologized inhis speech to the other clerics for theteaching of hate in the New Testament andquoted what Jesus said in Luke 14: "Ifanyone comes to me and does not hate fatherand mother, wife and children, brothers andsisters-yes, even life itself-such a personcannot be my disciple."

If Jesus is identified with this statementcalling for hate in the sense we know hate,then the damage is great as people hear thisand are considering this Jesus. Hate taughtby Jesus makes Him no better than the uglyhate and condemnation of the many religiousfactions in our world. Christians certainlyown that judgmental attitude in the USA.

For years I have taught this as a Hebrewidiom that is an expression of comparison. Ihave always said it means: "By comparison,your relationship with Jesus is sooutstanding that all other relationships looklike hate." That seemed to work for those whowere listening, however something just didn'tset well in my gut. I still didn't like theOne Who is known for the greatest expressionsof love ever being associated with that term,"hate".

Recently, I've been introduced to a conceptI've completely overlooked. My friend,Congressman Mark Siljander, a student of manylanguages, has shown me through his studiesin Aramaic what Jesus most likely said. Youknow, Jesus spoke in Aramaic and there is awritten Aramaic version of the Gospels. Inthe Aramaic "hate" is not the word. WhatJesus actually said was: "If anyone comesto me and does not set aside all otherrelationships, such a person cannot be mydisciple." In other words, it's not"hate", but "set aside" that Jesus says. Thisis so much more pleasing and consistent withthe loving Jesus I know. It makes more sense,yet still a very strong requirement forcounting yourself as a disciple of Jesus. (Bythe way, Mark's book, A DeadlyMisunderstanding, has been released and I heartily recommend it.)

Let's go through all three requirements Jesusoffers to be a disciple. Luke 14 has theentire context. FIRST-This is the priorityrequirement. You must set aside all otherrelationships and make them subordinate toyour relationship with Jesus. He must be thepreeminent one-the priority of your life.Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, andturning to them he said: "If anyone comesto me and does not set aside father andmother, wife and children, brothers andsisters-yes, even life itself-such a personcannot be my disciple."
Note that there were lots of people followingJesus at this time-crowds! He wanted each ofthem to not just go along with the crowds,but to make Him the definite priority oftheir lives. He didn't say that if you don'tdo this, you cannot be my good disciple, butyou cannot be my disciple at all.

SECOND-This is the perseverance requirement.You will follow after Jesus as your priorityNO MATTER WHAT. Jesus says, "And whoeverdoes not carry their cross and follow mecannot be my disciple." No matter whathappens, Jesus is number one for you. He usesthe image of carrying your cross. The crossof Jesus was the greatest expression ofsacrificial love ever. To be a disciple ofJesus you must carry your cross ofsacrificial love with you wherever yougo-persistently. That is one our primaryreasons for being.

THIRD-This is the possessions requirement.Jesus says, "In the same way, those of youwho do not give up everything you have cannotbe my disciples." Jesus is not sayingthat you are to give over all yourpossessions, but to give them up. I see thisas renouncing the ownership of all you have.You really don't own what you have. You are amanager or steward of what God has allowedyou to collect. Jesus wants you to realizethis and be willing to give up all you havefor Jesus and the Kingdom.

It's even more than this. You are not just togive up everything you have, but all you areas well-your very existence. He owns itall-you and all of your stuff! It's learningto wear the cloak of materialism loosely andto live your life as one who is owned anddirected by Jesus.

So, Jesus isn't into hate. He doesn't requireyou or want you to hate at all. That's anasty and unfortunate myth. But Jesus doespresent some very tough requirements to be adisciple who is a follower of Him.

Jesus ends these requirements with a familiarsaying of His. He says, "Whoever has earsto hear, let them hear." You might evensay that the very first requirement Jesus islooking for before anything else is: ARE YOUINTERESTED-interested enough to listen-tohave ears to hear and eyes to see? Are youinterested?

MYTH #12-Jesus mostly taught about the Church!

2012-02-12T20:26:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

It just seems to be a logical thing. Ifyou've grown up in Church or outside ofChurch, you certainly would not be surprisedat or balk at the statement, "Jesus mostlytaught about the Church." But that statementis a myth; it is not a true statement. Jesusonly mentioned the church three times in twopassages. Matthew 16:18-And I tell you that you arePeter, and on this rock I will build mychurch, and the gates of Hades will notovercome it.Matthew 18:17-If he refuses to listen tothem, tell it to the church; and if herefuses to listen even to the church, treathim as you would a pagan or a taxcollector.

The damage is threefold: FIRST-By believingthis myth you will find yourself with anemphasis Jesus never intended or embraced.The term "church" is not a special, holyword. I was taught in my first Greek classthat it was created as a highly charged,powerful term, meaning "called-out ones". Itwas presented to us as a spiritual term-aChristian term, but in actuality it wasn't.However, it was used for any gathering-a citycouncil or gathering for any specific purpose.

SECOND-By believing this myth you might beginto believe that being a member of a Churchand identifying with a Church are at the coreof what is at the heart of Jesus.

Why do you think we emphasize the church &minimize the Kingdom? I think there is asense that one or a few can control theorganized Church, but only God is in controlof the Kingdom. Also, the Church is visibleand easier to relate to; the Kingdom isinvisible and therefore difficult to get yourarms around. Since the Kingdom is Jesus'major theme throughout His ministry and sincewe want to walk, think, love and talk likeJesus, then our theme is best viewed as JESUSand the KINGDOM.

The Kingdom is the rule of God on planetearth both personally and in community. Thechurch is a simple gathering together in thename of Jesus. It is simply a gathering offollowers of Jesus. This simple gathering offollowers of Jesus on any day and at anylocation is a church. These gatheringsrevolve around four ingredients-fellowship,food, prayer and the apostles' teachings. Theonly one of these ingredients that mightthrow you a bit might be the apostles'teachings. We see this as what had beenpassed on through the early disciples aboutJesus and the Kingdom. So, since the Kingdomis the rule and presence of God on planetearth, you could also think of it as whereverthe King is, there is the Kingdom. The Kingand the Kingdom are inseparable. Therefore agood way to view the Kingdom isChrist-likeness universalized.

The Kingdom is universal and everywhere. Thechurch is a local gathering of followers ofJesus who are seeking, sharing in andspreading the gospel of Jesus and theKingdom. The church is not everywhere, butlocalized and limited to those who choose togather together. The Kingdom is everywhereand unlimited in its impact on society. TheKingdom is not waiting for a local gatheringto be established in order to have itseffect. The Kingdom is already there in everycountry and in every culture.

By the way, this triggers a lot ofimplications on the prevalent thinking of"planting churches". The message of Jesus andthe Kingdom is spreading like a mustard seed,starting as small little groups and growing.It's also spreading like leaven in a lump ofdough, growing irreversibly in our world.Wherever you see Jesus and the Kingdombreaking out in a culture or neighborhood orgroup of people, get there as soon aspossible and encourage them.

Our theme then is the theme of Jesus-it's theperson of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Notethis theme throughout the book of the Acts ofJesus.
1. In Acts 1, it says, After hissuffering, he presented himself to them andgave many convincing proofs that he wasalive. He appeared to them over a period offorty days and spoke about the kingdom ofGod. Jesus was concerned to presentHimself to His disciples personally and thenHe spent these last few days teaching themabout the Kingdom. He felt it was that important.

2. In Acts 8, Philip was teaching in the areaof Samaria and it says, But when theybelieved Philip as he proclaimed the goodnews of the kingdom of God and the name ofJesus the Christ, they were baptized, bothmen and women. Note again, the theme isthe name of Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

3. In Acts 28, when Paul was underhouse-arrest in rented quarters in Rome, manycame to meet with him. Note what he felt wasmost important: He witnessed to them frommorning till evening, explaining about thekingdom of God and from the Law of Moses andfrom the Prophets he tried to persuade themabout Jesus. Later in the same chapter itsays, For two whole years Paul stayedthere in his own rented house and welcomedall who came to see him. He proclaimed thekingdom of God and taught about the LordJesus the Christ-with all boldness andwithout hindrance!

Note that none of these men-Jesus, Philip andPaul-felt it was important to teach anyoneabout the Church. It was all about Jesus andthe Kingdom. So, why do we spend most of ourtime and energy discussing and teaching themany themes of the Church, when Jesus didn't?Why do we do that?

MYTH #11-ETERNAL LIFE CAN BE FOUND IN THE SCRIPTURES

2012-02-09T20:29:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

From the very beginning there was a humantendency to organize, identify and label theearly movement of Jesus' followers. Thesefollowers were called the "people of the Way"and "Christians". Later on, the followers ofJesus were organized around the earlyleadership-elders, bishops and priests. Thebishops and the priests were the educatedones and when the Church was organized underConstantine, the priestly hierarchy prevailed.
These hierarchies of priests were naturallyplaced in positions of authority, becausethey were the only ones who knew and whocould discuss the scriptures. The hierarchywas so highly developed that the position ofthe Pope emerged as the highest of allauthorities. When the Reformation occurred,Luther challenged this system of authority byraising up the scriptures as the ultimateauthority, even higher than the religioushierarchy.

But, in my opinion, the Reformation didn't gofar enough. The Reformation movement wasmonumental, but didn't go far enough. ThePope was replaced by the Scriptures and putinto the hands of many little popes inauthority. In other words, the hierarchyremained in place, though altered a bit andthe Scriptures became the ultimate authority.

At that point we re-entered the sameperspective and stance of the Pharisees ofJesus' time. They were deeply into the studyand memorization of Scripture. Even today,the modern-day Pharisees spend their livesstudying the Scriptures.
Within Christianity the Scriptures were firstauthoritative, then infallible and then theywere viewed as inerrant. Each time theScriptures were being lifted up to a higherand still higher level of authority. The mythhere is that the authority and power of theScriptures can somehow bring a person intoeternal life. I believe the Scriptures arehighly important and God-breathed, thereforeI diligently study them. But there is a greatdifference in how I see the Scriptures, sinceJesus apprehended my life several years agoin a fresh way. The Scriptures are no longermy measuring stick, but Jesus is. Now, I knowthis is very difficult for many to handle,because we want to have everything writtendown in order to have something tangible torely upon. But maybe you have gone a littletoo far in lifting up the Scriptures to ahigher level than Jesus ever intended. Hearme out.

The damage that emerges out of this myth isthreefold: FIRST-The Scriptures are so highlylifted up that there is a tendency to worshipthe written Word of God. This is calledBibliolatry. I just heard of a pastor whomade the inerrant word of God (in the way heinterpreted it) the primary rule of hischurch and that "doctrine will lead ourchurch experience" he says. That's justwrong! The written word is not the head ofthe body of the church of Jesus-Jesus is.

SECOND-When you lift up the Scriptures toohigh, you tend to believe that the rightunderstanding of Scriptures is most importantfor a person's eternal future. Without theright understanding of the Scriptures you maybe left behind at the end of time. This hasproven to be the most divisive methodologyever-I'm right and you're wrong. And, thisdivisiveness is most ugly and does nottraffic in the love of Jesus.

THIRD-When you lift up the Scriptures toohigh, you tend to think that our youth todaywho are leaving Christianity can be won backby teaching them the Scriptures in a moreeffective way. It's teaching, teaching,teaching more of the right doctrine.

FOURTH-When you lift up the Scriptures toohigh, you tend to miss the only way topossess eternal life-the person of Jesus. Thetendency is to equate the Gospel with a setof beliefs or a system of doctrines and tomiss out on the dynamic of a personal, faith,followship kind of relationship with Jesus.

To debunk this myth, I want to use the exactwords of Jesus as He addressed the Phariseeson this subject. In John 5:39, Jesus says,"You diligently study the Scripturesbecause you think that by them you possesseternal life. These are the Scriptures thattestify about me, yet you refuse to come tome to have life." This is why Paulexplains how faith comes to us. He says,"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by thespoken word of Christ." Faith comes notby studying and memorizing bible texts, butonly to those who seek after Jesus and listento what He says.

The Scriptures cannot give you eternallife-not at all! The study of the Scripturesis important, but only as they give youJesus. By the way, the Scriptures Jesus wasreferring to here are the only Scripturesthat they had at that time-the Old Testament.Luke relates the story of Jesus walking witha couple of disciples after the resurrectionon the road to Emmaus: And beginning withMoses and all the Prophets, he explained tothem what was said in all the Scripturesconcerning himself. And later Luke says,Then he opened their minds so they couldunderstand the Scriptures.

Remember, in the 1st chapter of the Gospel ofJohn: In the beginning was the word andthe word was with God and the word was God.He was in the beginning with God. Itdoesn't say "IT was in the beginning withGod, but HE-JESUS-was in the beginning withGod." Then, a few verses later, John says,"And He (Jesus) became flesh and dweltamong us."

Searching for eternal life in the Scriptureswill prove to be futile. Yet, many find iteasier than seeking after Jesus personally.It's so much easier to follow a list of do'sand don'ts; it's very difficult to relate toJesus.

It's all about Jesus-always was, is andalways will be. The Good News or the Gospelis Jesus. The Kingdom is Jesus. And, onlyJesus can give you eternal life. In fact,Jesus is eternal life. Follow Jesus and youcan enjoy that life beginning right now.

MYTH #10-Jesus is hated by the world and so should His disciples!

2012-02-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

This is a very common myth within theteachings of Jesus. I lived under itsinfluence and intimidation for years. Jesuswas hated by the world and so should Hisdisciples.
The damage here is threefold. FIRST-Those whofollow Jesus and His teachings tend to feelintimidated by those who do not. When youfeel intimidated by what the world mightthink of you, then you don't act freely andnormally in front of those of the world. Ifthis is true for you, then you will eitheravoid or withdraw from the people of theworld or you might overcompensate and try tocontrol the people of this world and put theminto your religious box. So the result iseither a holy huddle (we four and no more) ora Christian a power block to force people toobey your rules and standards.

SECOND-The gap between those who follow Jesusbecomes so wide that you can tend to thinkthat you have nothing in common. You, who arebelievers, ride on the white horses whilethose who are unbelievers, ride the darkhorses-and they are lame.

THIRD-There is a tendency to "take a stand"for righteousness and to establish sacrednoble causes that are all opposed to theworld. Several years ago, Bob Briner in hisbook, Roaring Lambs, used to have as asubtitle: "7 Noble Causes That KeepChristians from Changing the World". Helisted the following:
1. Squabbling over prayer in public schools!2. Making Jesus a right-winger!3. Thwarting the homosexual agenda!4. Fighting other Christians over doctrinalpurity!5. Shutting down the abortion clinics!6. Cleaning up television!7. Fighting for family values!

These may be noble causes, but when theybecome the focus and the "stand" you musttake against the world, they push the worldaway from Jesus. I've added several more ofthese noble causes today. By "taking a stand"we set ourselves up as the righteous ones andall others who don't agree are theunrighteous. "Taking a stand" becomes sougly. It's no wonder Christians are known fortheir condemning and judgmental spirit andnot for the love of Jesus.

For example, it'simpossible to say to a homosexual, "I loveyou." Then, to tell him he is going to hellfor being a homosexual. You just can't itboth ways.
It is a very simple thing to debunk this mythby what Jesus taught His disciples about theworld, yet I have stumbled over this passagefor years. In John 15 Jesus says, "If the world hatesyou, keep in mind that it hated mefirst." He goes on to say, "If theypersecuted me, they will persecute youalso." I skipped over this for years,because I found this not to be true in myexperience. The world seemed to love me. Itwas the religious who seemed to always giveme the most grief. So, underneath I had thissecret fear that I wasn't in sync with Jesus.

Now, it's been my experience that when youare troubled by something in the scriptures,keep reading. In John 16, Jesus clarifies whothis world is: "All this I have told youso that you will not fall away. They will putyou out of the synagogue; in fact, the houris coming when those who kill you will thinkthey are offering a service to God."

Who is the world? Who are these people? Theywill put you out of their synagogues-theirreligious establishments-and will think thatthey are doing a righteous act-the rightthing-as they come against you. They willthink they are offering a service to God bytheir actions. Who are these people? They arethe religious ones who are at the helm oftheir man-made systems and simply Jesus-Jesusplus nothing-interrupts what they alreadyhave going for them.

The world is not the secular world system,but the religious. We have more in commonwith the fellow travelers of the world thanwith the religious. It's the religious whobelieve they have it altogether and don'thave need for Jesus that Jesus criticized andattacked. He called them vipers and paintedtombstones. He really wasn't nice to them,because they are the greatest threat to theJesus movement today. The non-religious aremuch more attracted to Jesus and to you asyou practice the principles and teachings ofJesus and lovingly touch them.

MYTH #9--Jesus prefers mega-Churches and mega-ministries!

2012-02-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

We live in an age of mega-sizing! Bigger isbetter! Whatever is mega ought to be betterthan what is small-especially is this truewith respect to ministries. The killerquestion that is always asked of a church ora ministry is: "How many?" The living myth isthat Jesus is pleased with these numbers andthe masses, too.
One of the great leaders within themega-church movement, Bill Hybels, hasacknowledged that he has been asking thewrong questions. One of those wrong questionsis the "How many?" question. It just hasn'tproduced the transformational change withinthe church fellowship and has robbed us fromasking the right questions. Now, after havingparticipated as pastor of one of the earlymega-churches in the US, as a staff member ofone of the largest para-church ministries andas a speaker on the largest corporate seminarplatform, I have come to understand the greatlimitations of working with the masses.

The damage of buying into this myth ofmega-sizing is threefold:FIRST-The mega-sizing of the Church hasn'tbrought about cultural transformation withinthe US. Rick Warren posed a question thatought to haunt anyone who is concerned aboutadvancing the Jesus movement: "Tim, why is itthat, even though we have trained thousandsof pastors and now have more mega churches inour country than ever before, we are notmaking any significant penetration into ourculture?" We basically remain at the samenumbers within the Church in the US, yearafter year.

SECOND-The mega-sizing myth of the WesternChristian culture serves as a bad example tothe followers of Jesus around the world. Ifwe are essentially failing in our country,why export this thinking to the many culturesof the world?

THIRD-The mega-sizing myth has producedthousands upon thousands of spectators whobelieve they are doing the will of God onplanet earth. Spectators-not participators!Ministries then become like the footballgame-50,000 spectators in the stands, badlyin need of exercise and 22 people on thefield, badly in need of rest. When you serveas a spectator, it's too easy to substituteattendance for participation-watching and notdoing-hearers of the word who deludethemselves rather than doers of the word.

I want to make three observations in order todebunk this myth that Jesus prefers themega-church and mega ministries. FIRST-Jesusspent most of His time and energy with thefew and avoiding as much as possible themasses. Now, to be clear, Jesus spoke and fedthe masses, but His more common practice wasnot in that kind of venue. One of my mentorsreally worked me over on this. I wascontinually referring to the masses, but hekept correcting me to focus on theindividuals. He said, "You don't change themasses; you change individuals one at a time."

SECOND-Jesus spent most of His time with thepoor and disenfranchised rather than thepowerful. There were powerful people who cameto Jesus and were changed, however Jesustended to seek out the leper, the lame andthe blind. When you're into the mega-sizingof your ministry, there will be a tendency toshow off the celebrity-the actor, theathlete, the rich and successful as examples.There is nothing wrong with the powerful andinfluential, but the crowds may not flock inthe direction of the poor anddisenfranchised. Jesus went there!

THIRD-Jesus was into the power of the few!Instead of going on CNN and seeking toproduce mass seminars, mailers and emailblasts, Jesus sought out three religiousrejects to come and be with Him. And, fromthis relationship with the three, then thetwelve and the seventy-two, the Jesusmovement rippled throughout the world and therevolution is still on today!

We are seeing this play out in our ministry.We are focusing on the few and as those fewreally get it, the message of Jesus spreadslike a wildfire. You see, within the contextof the few, you are able to really get toknow one another and put the principles andteachings into practice. This kind ofexperience is the taste of reality everyoneis longing for. This is the Jesus movement atits best!
Jesus taught: "Where two or three aregathered together in His name, He will showup." This is what we want. This is whatwe desperately need. We need Jesus to show upamong us and lead out with His orders andopportunities. You see, Jesus won't be foundwithin the mega-church or mega-ministry aseasily as within the context of the few.There's nothing wrong with the mega-church ormega-ministry, but there is something farbetter that Jesus had in mind.

Jesus prefers showing up when a few aregathered together in His name. If you knewJesus was going to show up some place thisweek, wouldn't you want to be there, too?

MYTH #8--Jesus taught what the world needs now is love!

2012-02-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Not only is this myth a popular song; it's aconstant and overused anthem of many sermons,articles and conferences. This is so popularthat most would attribute it to one of theteachings of Jesus, but it's not. Jesus hadsomething more in mind when it comes to love.
The damage is minimal, yet to embrace thismyth is to miss out on the dynamic of whatJesus meant by love. The bottom-line problemis that, love in order to be genuine andpowerful must be active.

This one is easy to debunk. FIRST-Love in theteachings of Jesus was a verb-to love. Loveas a noun can be discussed; love as a verbmust be demonstrated. Love as a noun cangenerate lots of opinions; love as a verbmust be operational-not just talked about,but acted out.

SECOND-Love in the teachings of Jesus wasultimately demonstrated in His act ofsacrificial love when He gave Himself up todie on the cross. Jesus came as King of kingsto present the new, revolutionary Kingdom. Itwasn't a Kingdom of just powerful ideas nor aKingdom showing off great power; it was aKingdom of sacrificial love. And, if you areto take up His cross, you must learn to makeyour life a life of sacrificial love as well.

THIRD-Love in the teachings of Jesus isbi-directional-to love God and to love yourneighbor as yourself-and can be practiced byanyone and everyone.
When Jesus was asked to choose the greatestcommandment of all, He couldn't just chooseone. He offered two, because it's impossibleto have one without the other. There arethree times this is recorded in the Gospelsand each one teaches something a littledifferent.

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus replied: "'Lovethe Lord your God with all your heart andwith all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment.And the second is like it: 'Love yourneighbor as yourself.' All the Law and theProphets hang on these two commandments."NOTE that upon these two commandments of loveall of the Law and the Prophets rest. LovingGod and your neighbor are foundational-themost basic actions you can practice.

In Mark 12:28-34, One of the teachers ofthe law came and heard them debating.Noticing that Jesus had given them a goodanswer, he asked him, "Of all thecommandments, which is the most important?""The most important one," answered Jesus, "isthis: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, theLord is one. Love the Lord your God with allyour heart and with all your soul and withall your mind and with all your strength.'The second is this: 'Love your neighbor asyourself.' There is no commandment greaterthan these."

"Well said, teacher," the man replied."You are right in saying that God is one andthere is no other but him. To love him withall your heart, with all your understandingand with all your strength, and to love yourneighbor as yourself is more important thanall burnt offerings and sacrifices." WhenJesus saw that he had answered wisely, hesaid to him, "You are not far from thekingdom of God." NOTE Jesus' commenthere: YOU ARE NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM OFGOD, when you practice these two commandments.

Then in Luke 10:25-28, On one occasion anexpert in the law stood up to test Jesus."Teacher," he asked, "what must I do toinherit eternal life?" "What is written inthe Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"He answered, " 'Love the Lord your God withall your heart and with all your soul andwith all your strength and with all yourmind'; and, 'Love your neighbor asyourself.'" "You have answered correctly,"Jesus replied. "Do this and you willlive." NOTE: DO THIS-THESE 2COMMANDMENTS-AND YOU WILL LIVE!

Do you want to know what you can do topractice the foundational teachings of Jesus,to come close to the Kingdom of God and toreally live? It's just so simple: Love Godand love your neighbor as yourself. (Now notethis: If you don't love yourself, then yourneighbor is in a heap of trouble!)

Jesus didn't teach that what the world needsis more love. That's a myth! No, the worlddoesn't need more love; it needs more lovers!

MYTH #7-Jesus came to take all believers out of here-II.

2012-02-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

The myth that Jesus is all about coming toearth to take people out of here is deeplyembedded in the Christian psyche. However,when you examine biblical history and theteachings of Jesus, that just isn't theprimary direction God is most interested in.He is more interested in the heaven-to-earthconnection; He wants it all to happen downhere where He dwells among those who love Him.
There are five movements throughout biblicalhistory that illustrate the heaven-to-earthdirection of God trying to come down here tobe with us. Yesterday I presented the firsttwo. MOVEMENT #1 happened in the Garden where GOD FIRST WANTED TO WALK WITH MAN, BUTMAN WAS BUSY DOING SOMETHING ELSE. After manwas kicked out of the Garden, God made Hissecond move toward dwelling among His peoplehere on earth. God commanded Moses to build atabernacle where He might dwell among Hispeople. Later that portable tabernacle becamethe Temple in Jerusalem where God dwelt inthe Holy of Holies.

There was a third movement where Goddemonstrated His physical, visible presenceto relate to mankind on earth. It's aninteresting phenomena throughout the Bible.It's what many call the "shekinah" glory-thevisible presence of God on the earth. Thisvisible manifestation of God is the verypresence of God. It's the majestic presenceof God in which He dwells with His people.The forms of this visible dwelling place-theshekinah-are many. It could be a brightness,brilliance or splendor. In the Old Testamentthe Shekinah took the form of light, fire, acloud, a thick darkness or combination ofthese in some way. In the New Testament thereare new forms altogether!

Let's look at a few of these occurrences. 1. Burning Bush-A bush in the desert caughton fire and yet it did not burn up, becauseGod actually dwelt in this burning bush infront of Moses.2. The Exodus-The children of Israel were ledby day by a cloud and led at night by apillar of fire-both forms of the visiblepresence of God.3. Mount Sinai-While Moses was upon on Sinai,the presence of God was demonstrated bythunders, lightnings, a thick cloud and fire.4. Tabernacle-We saw this yesterday when Godorders them to build an altar or tabernaclewhere God will dwell in the light and the smoke.5. Then we come to the most demonstrable formof God's visible presence of all-Jesus-theSon of God.

This is best explained in the first fewverses of the Gospel of John: "In thebeginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word was God. He was with God inthe beginning. Through him all things weremade; without him nothing was made that hasbeen made. In him was life, and that life wasthe light of all people. The light shines inthe darkness, and the darkness has notovercome it. He was in the world, and thoughthe world was made through him, the world didnot recognize him. He came to that which washis own, but his own did not receive him. Yetto all who did receive him, to those whobelieved in his name, he gave the right tobecome children of God-children born not ofnatural descent, nor of human decision or ahusband's will, but born of God. The Wordbecame flesh and made his dwelling among us.We have seen his glory, the glory of the oneand only [Son], who came from the Father,full of grace and truth. His name? Jesus!

God will do most anything to get ourattention so that you and I will want Him todwell among us. Well, here He did it. He sentJesus Who was God in bodily form. All thefullness of God dwells in Jesus. This is whywe make so much of watching what Jesus saysand does and say and do the same. Theultimate visible, presence of God is inJesus! All the fullness of God dwells in Him!

The fourth movement of God was when He sentHis Spirit to indwell believers as an altar,a tabernacle or Holy of Holies. Jesusdeparted and the disciples were to be giventhe Spirit to dwell in them forever! And,ever since Jesus introduced the Spirit to Hisdisciples, we now have the Spirit of God-thepresence of God-living in each of uspermanently. This is why Paul says in one ofthe letters written to the Corinthians:"Do you not know that your bodies are templesof the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom youhave received from God? Therefore honor Godwith your bodies."

There is not a building today where Goddwells-a sanctuary, even though many refer tothe church auditorium as a sanctuary. You whoare followers of Jesus are now thesanctuary-the dwelling place-of God here onearth.

Now, do you remember the reason why Godwanted to dwell in an altar, tabernacle orTemple? It was so that God could dwell amongHis people. I hope you get this. All you haveto do is to meditate on this for about 30seconds and this truth could change your lifeand your lifestyle forever! You are now thevery dwelling place of God on earth.

Don't you get it? The same God of gods Whowalked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, Whowas in the burning bush, Who was in the cloudby day and the fire by night, Who wasrevealed in His fullness in bodily form inJesus of Nazareth. This same God dwells inyou who are followers of Jesus. Do you getit? So that He might bring His presence toearth and dwell among us.

The fifth movement of God to go in thedirection from heaven to earth is that Hewants to walk with you-to show up among uswhen two or three gather in the name ofJesus. It's all about being the church! Godindwells you-His presence on earth is in youwho are followers of Jesus. And, when youcome together with other followers of Jesus,you are assembling (or churching) in Hisname. So every time you gather together inHis name you are practicing being the churchor dwelling place of Jesus.

There is an ultimate movement of God in thefuture that many times is confused forheaven. It's when the New Jerusalem descendsfrom heaven to earth. You see, from thebeginning of time God has desperately desiredto dwell among His people and will someday dothat right here once the new heavens and thenew earth have been created.

I know what you're thinking. There is apassage that seems to say somethingdifferent. It is from the words of Jesus inJohn 14 when He says: "In my Father'shouse are many rooms; if it were not so, Iwould have told you. I am going there toprepare a place for you."

Jesus is going to prepare dwelling places inHis Father's house for His disciples. Itdoesn't mention heaven; that's ourassumption. Note then He says, "And if Igo and prepare a place for you, I will comeback and take you to be with me that you alsomay be where I am." Whatever thisdwelling place is, it will be a place wherewe will be in the presence of Jesus.

Then Jesus says, "You know the way to theplace where I am going." Thomas quicklysays, "Lord, we don't know where you aregoing, so how can we know the way?"

The disciples had missed the point just as wecontinually do today. There is not a placewhere Jesus is taking us out of here,therefore no directions are needed. The placeor the way Jesus is talking about is summedup in His answer to Thomas: Jesusanswered, "I am the way and the truth and thelife. No one comes to the Father exceptthrough me." It's not a dwelling placesomewhere out there that we ought to beexcited about; it's a person-Jesus! He is theway, the truth and the life. And, through theSpirit dwelling in us, we are in the presenceof King Jesus in the Kingdom right here onearth. The place doesn't matter; the Persondoes! Where two or three are gatheredtogether, Jesus will show up and dwell among us.

Hey, as much as I'd like to get out of heresome days, what Jesus has in mind is for meto follow Him wherever He goes and be withHim forever. Now, that's what heaven is allabout and Jesus seems to be doing His best tocome back here. Right here. Why then would Iwant to be anywhere else?

MYTH #7-Jesus came to take all believers out of here.

2012-02-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Maybe one of the most common myths is thatJesus came to take us out of here-to escapefrom this corrupt world. This may be the mostcommon identifying factor of what Christiansbelieve. Ask anyone on the street corner.Christians have this formula down pat: "Ifyou believe in Jesus, you will go to heavenand if you don't, you will go to hell."Either way Jesus is all about getting us outof here and on to heaven, therefore that isthe comfort many hold on to and the challengeto not be LEFT BEHIND. Hear me out on this.It will take two sessions to cover this myth.This myth isn't a question of heaven or hell,but about which direction God is moving andwhere He invites us to be-with Him.
The damage with this myth is threefold:FIRST-We have so embraced this myth that wehave become extremely focused on the sweet byand by rather than living in the nasty nowand now. We have so embraced this myth thatwe tend to live in the tyranny of the urgentand plan our lives accordingly. Jesus was allabout Kingdom living being right here right now.

SECOND-We have so embraced this myth that wehave wrapped our lives around the 2nd comingof Jesus as if we know when He will return.This seems to be a bit of a problem, sinceJesus says that He doesn't even know.

THIRD-We have so embraced this myth that weare missing out on the most powerful proof ofthe love and the presence of Jesus that bearwitness to the world.

There are 5 basic movements throughout thebible where God is going in the directionfrom heaven to earth and not from earth toheaven. The first movement is illustrated inthe Garden of Eden. The essence of God isrelational and demonstrates the need forfellowship within the creation. God wants towalk in relationship with man. Check out whathappened in the Garden of Eden. The firsttime we encounter lost people is in theGarden. Apparently, God walked with Adam andEve daily in the garden, but on thisparticular day Adam and Eve didn't show up.They were distracted and walked away from Godand His will. So, instead of walking withGod, they were hiding from God. It's at thispoint that God asks a most relevant question,even for us today, "Where are you?" Now Heknew where they were, but He wanted them tounderstand that they were not where they wereintended to be-walking with Him.

So, this is MOVEMENT #1-GOD FIRST WANTED TOWALK WITH MAN, BUT MAN WAS BUSY DOINGSOMETHING ELSE. God has put a lot of effortin getting you to walk with Him. So, WHEREARE YOU? Are you doing your part to walk withHim daily or are you distracted, walking awayor hiding?

MOVEMENT #2-GOD WANTS TO DWELL AMONG HISPEOPLE. God wants to dwell among His peopleon planet earth. In a very real sense, thisis what will distinguish God and His peoplefrom all others. In Exodus 25:8 God says,"Then have them make a sanctuary for me and Iwill dwell among them."
God commands Moses to oversee the building ofa sanctuary in which He will dwell. Israel ispromised God's very presence. At the veryestablishment of the nation of Israel, God'spresence becomes a fundamental characteristicof the nation's identity. They will be markedby God's presence. To be God's people was tohave God's presence. In Exodus 33, followingthe incident with the golden calf, Godpromises to have His presence go with Mosesand with the people. Moses says, "Is itnot in your going with us, so that we aredistinct, I and your people, from every otherpeople on the face of the earth?" Neverbefore has God dwelt with man in this way.

Man had free fellowship with God in theGarden, but God did not dwell there. God metwith Moses on Mt. Sinai in a powerful way,but God did not dwell there. Now God commandsMoses to make a tent, a tabernacle, so Hecould live with them. God wanted to take upresidence right in their midst!

Again, this is why God asked Adam and Eve,"Where are you?" And, as His people continuedto grow and gather together outside theGarden God was always doing anything He coulddo to bring His people closer to Himself. Buteven more than this, He wanted to dwell amongHis people right here on earth.
And when God shows up among His people, someamazing things happen and people are touchedwith His loving and healing touch.

This theme of purpose is extended to the veryend of the Bible. In the last book of theBible in Revelation 21:3, it says, "And Iheard a loud voice from the throne saying,'Look! God's dwelling place is now among thepeople, and he will dwell with them. Theywill be his people and God himself will bewith them and be their God.'" This isn'tto happen in heaven, but right here on earth.

NOTE God's intention and longing is to comedown here, not take a group to go up toheaven. Jesus doesn't teach that He came downto earth to take us up to heaven. Goddesperately wants to make His presence knownright on earth among His people. Rob Bellsays that God is saying, "I want to get downthere!"
Let me ask you something. Have you ever feltthe presence of God as you gather with Hispeople? God is willing to do anything He hasto do to get close to you and He wants to dothis on planet earth. He is not interested intaking you up to heaven, but to dwell withyou right here.

MYTH #6-You must believe Jesus is the Son of God in order to follow Him.

2012-02-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Jesus is unsurpassed in our world in everyway. There is more written about Jesus thanany other person in history. Once Jesus isencountered, it's very difficult to brush Himaside as just another human. He was, atleast, the greatest one who ever lived,taught and practiced what He taught. Some seeJesus as a great teacher or example forliving. Others see Jesus as a religiousleader. Others have come to believe Jesus isthe unique Son of God. I have come to thisunderstanding personally.
But when you use the term "Son of God", manyjust don't get it or understand how this canbe. This is especially true among the Jewsand Muslims. To them the "Son of God" soundslike all of the other Greek and Roman mythsabout their gods that chose to have sexualintercourse with a human woman to produceunique offspring. To them and many others,this is a gross thought, even unthinkable!It's an animalistic act, but not an act of a God.

The whole misunderstanding about the meaningof the "Son of God" is clarified best by myfriend, Congressman Mark Siljander, in hisbook A Deadly Misunderstanding.The misunderstanding revolves around a word"to beget". The Qur'an is emphatic that Goddoes not and could not "beget" a child, so tothe Muslim mind this is an accursed thought.So, the Qur'an says 11 times Isa (Jesus) wasnot the begotten Son of God. On the otherhand, the New Testament says Jesus wasbegotten by God 15 times.

If you rely on the Greek or English word tobeget, you can easily see why someone couldthink in terms of Jesus being the product ofGod having sexual intercourse with Mary.However, in the Aramaic (language of Jesusand cousin language to Arabic), there are twowords that describe the "begetting". Onedescribes the natural begetting between humanparents (male and female) and the otherspecifically describes a begetting with nomale involved at all.Instead of it being a sexual act of God witha human woman, the idea is specificallydefining the work of the Spirit of God withthe feminine (without a male) to produce avirgin birth (no sex with man). So, "Son ofGod" must be clearly defined before using itloosely in order to communicate who thisJesus claimed to be.

Now, back to the myth. Read it carefullybefore jumping to conclusions and then comealong with me to unpack this myth. For yearsI've held this myth up as a standard forthose who believe. This myth is so embeddedwithin Christianity. This has become thebenchmark for whether or not a person is atrue believer.

The primary damage of this myth that "youmust believe Jesus is the Son of God tofollow Him" is that it has become a doctrinalstandard or proof of doctrinal purity. If youdon't believe Jesus is the Son of God, youare disqualified to even play the spiritualgame. By the way, one other point of damageis that when you embrace this myth that youcannot follow Jesus unless you believe He isthe Son of God, you can so easily shut thedoor of the Kingdom to those who areinterested. I shut the door of the Kingdom somany times when I presented the familiarchart that challenged people to see thatJesus was either a liar, lunatic or Lord. Icontinually pointed out and made fun ofanyone who only viewed Jesus as a goodteacher or example. I was very wrong and veryhurtful to the message of Jesus in doing so.

Now, in debunking this myth I want to directyour attention again to the early disciples.When they first answered the call to followJesus, did they believe that Jesus was theSon of God? No!

They believed Jesus was the latest andgreatest Rabbi on the religious scene. Theybelieved Jesus was an amazing teacher andexample. They believed He was able to performmiracles and heal people. They were highlyresponsive to Him, because He picked them outof a crowd and showed them some affirmationand attention. They weren't even very strongbelievers in Him at first either. Theybelieved Jesus enough to attach their hopesto Him.

When you finally accept the fact that theearly disciples weren't believers and didn'tyet believe that Jesus was the Son of God,you step across a great threshold of truth.You see, there are lots of people that youknow that are just where the disciples werein the beginning. They are curious,fascinated, impressed and interested in thisJesus. When I tell an interested agnosticthat he is exactly like the early disciplesof Jesus, he or she is taken back.

In Matthew 16, Jesus has a fascinatingencounter and interchange with the disciples:When Jesus came to the region of CaesareaPhilippi, he asked his disciples, "Who dopeople say the Son of Man is?" They replied,"Some say John the Baptist; others sayElijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one ofthe prophets." "But what about you?" heasked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peteranswered, "You are the Messiah, the Son ofthe living God."

The disciples have been following thisattractive, irresistible and relevant Jesusfor quite some time and now the questioncomes from Jesus: "Who do you say Iam?" Peter's answer was right on when hesaid, "You are the Messiah, the Son of theliving God." This is the first time thishas been expressed with a sense of convictionby the disciples. The thought was there, butthis seems to nail it down. They believedJesus was God's Messiah, the Son of theliving God.

Now note Jesus' reply to Peter's answer. Hefirst says, "Blessed are you, Simon son ofJonah." Jesus strokes Peter forexpressing the right answer to the question.But before Peter gets too puffed up forcoming up with this great answer, Jesusquickly says, "This was not revealed toyou by flesh and blood." He is saying,"Peter, you didn't think this up on your ownand no one taught you this truth." You see,we continue to rely on teaching our people aset of doctrines or beliefs, thinking thisteaching will somehow be sufficient toestablish and maintain a vital relationshipwith God.

Jesus goes on to explain, "But by myFather in heaven" revealed this to you."Peter, my Father gave you this great insightthat I am indeed the Son of God." This isstill the plan of operation today. The Fathertransformed the hearts and minds of thedisciples, because they have been followingJesus for a long time.
In II Timothy 2, Paul counsels Timothy: Thosewho oppose him he must gently instruct, inthe hope that God will grant them repentanceleading them to a knowledge of the truth, andthat they will come to their senses. Notethat you don't get a heart for change or atransformation of heart and mind by any humanmethodology. Genuine transformation will onlycome as a gift from God-"in the hope thatGod will grant them repentance leading themto a knowledge of the truth and that theywill come to their senses." God willgrant this transformation to all who areinterested enough to have ears to hear andeyes to see. It's a gift from God.

There seem to be three stages of followingJesus. FIRST-Jesus is followed because He isso flawless and attractive-unimpeachable. Heis the one person who has truly walked thewalk and the talk perfectly. No one argueswith this. And the disciples believed in Himenough to follow Him. There is nothing wrongwith this type of following Jesus at all.

SECOND-Then as you follow this attractiveJesus, you will begin to embrace Hislifestyle, teachings and principles and findthem to be very practical and meaningful foryour life. Following this Jesus just makes sense.

THIRD-Finally, as you continue to follow thisJesus and find His teachings meaningful, youwill at some point discover your Creator-God.You will experience transformation of yourheart and your mind and see Jesus as the Sonof God.

So, wherever you are in this continuum of thestages in following Jesus, ultimately you areseeking and hoping to receive this gift oftransformation from God Himself. When youunderstand this, you then can embrace thefact of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Agnostics,Muslims and even Christians who are followersof Jesus.

This is why I have dedicated my life to doingtwo things. FIRST-I am doing one of thetoughest things I've ever set out to do in mylife; I'm trying to follow Jesus and embraceHis teachings as my lifestyle. SECOND-I wantto do whatever I can do to introduce Jesusand His teachings to as many individuals as Ipossibly can. This approach to life is summedup in an old phrase: TO KNOW JESUS AND TOMAKE HIM KNOWN. I encourage you to thinkabout doing the same.

MYTH #5-Jesus is narrow and exclusive!

2012-01-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Whenever I share the message of Jesus plusnothing, most frequently I get an initialresponse-a quote from the mouth of Jesus: "Iam the way, the truth and the life." Thisusually comes from a person who is friendlyto me and is appealing to me from what isconsidered to be a foundational statementfrom Jesus, Himself. And by the way, Icouldn't agree more.
The damage that comes from seeing Jesus asnarrow and exclusive fuels the sense of "weare the only ones who are right and going toheaven" and the rest of the world is wrongand going to hell. In addition to this,viewing Jesus as narrow and exclusive in thisprideful way and believing that our way ofthinking and believing is the only way, truthand life as well, does something that Jesusabhors. Embracing this myth shuts the door ofthe Kingdom on everyone else who is not oneof us and we have become the judge on the matter.

Granted this statement of Jesus seems to bequite narrow and exclusive, but it's onlynarrow and exclusive if Jesus lives withinthe limitations of a Christian box. Since Iseparate Jesus from Christianity, deny thatJesus is the founder of the Christian Churchand reject the mission of Jesus as being toconvert the world to Christianity, peoplebelieve I must be removing Jesus from beingthe way, the truth and the life.

This couldn't be further from the truth! It'snot that Jesus is so narrow and exclusive;Jesus is more preeminent than we have everdreamed and He is all-inclusive. He'll workwith anyone!

In Jesus' first seminar in Matthew 5-7 Hemade a radical statement with respect Hisrelationship with the Jewish Law andtraditions. He said, "Do not think that Ihave come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;I have not come to abolish them but tofulfill them."

Literally, Jesus didn't come to abolish theLaws and traditions of the Jewish culture; Hecame to fill it full-to bring fullness to it.It's like the Jewish culture with its Law andtraditions was like a glass-a form with somesort of structure to it. Then, Jesus came tofill up that form or glass to its fullest-tofill it full. Jesus came to bring ultimatemeaning and fullness to the Jewish religioussystem. In other words, Jesus is the way, thetruth and the life for the Jewish dreams andyearnings.

In the same way, I am coming to believe thatJesus is the way, the truth and the life forall cultural and religious systems andtraditions. Jesus is the meaning and fullnesseveryone is looking for. Jesus fills up thevarious forms or glasses of every culture.

This may seem a little far-fetched for you toembrace at first, but give it some thought.We are finding the footprints of Jesus inevery culture. Many years ago Don Richardsonwrote a groundbreaking book Eternity InTheirHearts. His research demonstratedthat thefingerprints of the Creator-God was found tobe in many cultures. God is already there,because God placed "eternity in their hearts".

In the movie, "Fingerprints of God inJapan", the Creator-God of the Japanesepeople is clearly revealed. In the past theJapanese people were told that they had toreject their Japanese roots and culture inorder to be converted to WesternChristianity. However, it is now clear thatthe Creator-God of the Japanese people wasknown to be in the form of a tri-unity orGodhead. Their Creator-God had a Japanesename, not the Jewish name of Jehovah. Whenthe Japanese watch this film, they weep withgreat joy. They don't have to reject theirculture; God created them and is alreadypresent there.

This same understanding has happened amongthe Hawaiians, Polynesians, Buddhists, Hindusand Chinese. What's interesting is that inmany of these cultures there are similarstories in their history-the flood,sacrifices for sins and many have a gardenscene. In several of these cultures theirancient scriptures speak of a sacrifice fortheir sins that must be made by God, Himself.Where did these come from? These are thefingerprints of God in the many cultures ofthe world.

Jesus is the ultimate fullness of the manycultures of the world. Hey, that's not narrowand exclusive; that's universal andall-inclusive. Jesus is the way, the truthand the life for anyone who has ears to hearand eyes to see. Our mission is not to plantmission stations in these cultures and teachthem our favorite Western Christian hymns.Our tendency has been to introduce Jesus to aculture, stay there among them andorchestrate our Western Christian way ofdoing things. This methodology serves tobring the Jesus movement to a screeching haltin that culture.

Instead, our mission is to introduce Jesus tothe cultures of the world and encourage themto respond with their unique, culturalcustoms. Most recently this was done inHawaii and the church of Jesus is reallygrowing there. Wherever this is done, theJesus movement flourishes. Jesus isall-inclusive and wants to work with everyone.

MYTH #4-Jesus wants the entire world to be converted to Christianity

2012-01-30T20:01:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

I grew up believing not only that Jesuswanted the entire world to be converted toChristianity; I also believed myresponsibility before God was to makeeveryone in my reach a Christian. That's justthe way it was.
It was worse than that with much of theBaptist community around me. They not onlybelieved Jesus wanted the world to beChristian, but Baptist. I remember sitting ina church service in my college town where aBaptist missionary made the statement: "Thereis no Gospel witness in the city ofCincinnati, Ohio." This shocked me, because Iknew my uncle was a pastor there and I alsoknew several others. When I approached thespeaker, he said: "There is no Baptistwitness there." I quickly protested that myuncle and several other pastors I knew therewere Baptist. He then clarified it for me:"They are not General Association Baptists."Do you get it? If people weren't becomingBaptists, then they were not hearing theGospel message! This is just taking thisthinking to its logical extreme and it is nuts!

Think about this myth for a second! Can youreally believe that this Middle Easternmessage of the Good News of Jesus and theKingdom is owned by Western Christians andthat all others around the world must becomeChristian in order to have eternal life? Howhaughty we are?

The greatest damage here in this myth is thatChristians take on the attitude that they arethe only ones who are right and therefore theonly ones who will receive salvation fromGod. The secondary damage from this myth isthat missionary organizations actually stirup more persecution than might have been.When missionaries insist on the natives"converting" to Christianity and to denouncetheir culture, they have the wrong goal. Ofcourse, members of non-Christian cultures arethreatened by this approach and react badly.What's worse is that they miss out on Jesus!Jesus is not the issue in those encounters;cultural conversion is!

I'm convinced that much of the persecution onthe mission field is unnecessary. We arefinding that when you make Jesus the issueand not religious conversion, there is anamazingly positive reception to Jesus. It'sthe same reception Jesus had among thenon-Jewish encounters He had. Jesus is forthe entire world. Jesus never urged anyone tobecome a part of a Christian culture or tojoin a Synagogue or Church. His only concernseems to be the person's heart of faith andthe subsequent act of whether or not theperson becomes a follower of Jesus.

Jesus made it a habit of reaching out topeople from all kinds of religious andcultural backgrounds. NOTE just a fewillustrations of how the approach of Jesusand his disciples was all-inclusive:

FIRST-In John 4, Jesus encountered the womanat the well. She was a Samaritan with verydifferent beliefs regarding the center ofworship. He left her with her culturalbeliefs intact, except that He trumped thecenter of worship by saying that someday thecenter of worship will not be in a givenlocation, but in your heart. Jesus was notpromoting a new religion or defending thestatus quo; He was offering a personalrelationship with God in the heart. Thispersonal relationship would transform bothher religion and the Hebrew religion. WhenJesus conversed with the Samaritan woman, Hedidn't make certain to warn her of her falsebeliefs and be sure to change the mountainwhere she worshipped. There was norenunciation of her false doctrines. It wasall about her relationship with Him.

SECOND-In Mark 7, the Syrophoenician womanwas a gentile from a godless culture. Herfaith was evident in her persistentconversation with Jesus about her daughter.Jesus honored her faith, however He didn'tpull her into a new religious system or studyclass, nor did He have her renounce hercultural upbringing. The presence of Jesuswill change a person from the inside out tobe like Jesus. God's presence will convicttheir hearts in His time of what needs to bechanged in their personal and cultural ways;NOT US!

THIRD-In Mark 6-7, NOTE Jesus' trip toGennesaret. Do you notice how many times theGospel writers refer to going to the otherside of the Sea of Galilee? Whenever theywere on the Jewish side, they crossed over tothe other side. Why? Jesus performed the sameworks among the gentile world. He never urgedthem to change their religious culture, butlet them remain right where they grew up.However, they were drawn to Him.

FOURTH-In Matthew 8, NOTE the RomanCenturion. No doubt the Roman Centurion grewup with the Roman gods, yet Jesus does notspeak to this at all. His concern was hisfaith. When Jesus declared the Romanofficial's faith as outstanding, even greaterthan He had seen among the house of Israel,Jesus didn't tell this man to make sure torepent and go renounce the many Roman deitiesor his faith would be for naught. Further inthe scene in the healing of the RomanCenturion's servant, Jesus says: "I say toyou that many will come from the east and thewest and will take their places at the feastwith Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdomof heaven." Non-Jews or in our vernacular,non-Christians are going to be at the Kingdomfeast. How can this be? It can only bethrough a personal relationship with Jesus.

FIFTH-In John 10, Jesus mentions "othersheep" that are His. Who are these othersheep? Could it be that they are from thevarious cultures of the world? Could they bethose spoken of in Romans 2:14-15 and 1 John 4:7?

SIXTH-In Acts 15, the first followers ofJesus were all Jews. When the first gentiles(everyone else) came to Jesus, some religiousJews insisted that all followers of Jesusmust become cultural Jews. The apostlesclearly decided against this. All peoplecould be followers of Jesus without changingtheir culture!

SEVENTH-In Acts 10, Peter's experience withthe non-Jews is interesting and shocking toPeter. After Peter was supernaturally led tothe house of Cornelius by a radical visionfrom God, he told them: "I now realize howtrue it is that God does not show favoritism,but accepts men from every nation who fearhim and do what is right." Did you get that?God accepts men from every nation who fearhim and do what is right.

EIGHTH-In Acts 17, Paul spoke in Athens:"From one man he made all the nations, thatthey should inhabit the whole earth; and hemarked out their appointed times in historyand the boundaries of their lands. God didthis so that they would seek him and perhapsreach out for him and find him, though he isnot far from any one of us." God made thenations-all nations; they were made by God insuch a way so that all men might seek andfind God.

NINTH-Also in Acts 17, when Paul spoke beforethe gentile audience in Athens, he didn'tquote Scripture, didn't use Jesus' name atfirst, stroked them for their many idols ofworship and proceeded to explain to them whothis UNKNOWN GOD is that they commemorated.He didn't call for the renunciation of these"gods" and he used their "heathen" poems toexplain what God is like (Acts 17:28), yetmany believed in Jesus that day. What's thatall about? I don't know many with this kindof approach.

TENTH-In Revelation 5:9, the reference is toevery tribe and tongue and people and nation.Jesus came to reach all of these, not byexporting any given tribe, tongue, people ornation, but from within each of these faithin Jesus naturally emerges. Since theCreator-God is the source of all people, Hehas already marked all of these peoplegroups. The word translated as "nations" isactually "ethnos" in the Greek. This is wherewe get the word "ethnic" from; in otherwords, there will be every cultural group whoare followers of Jesus.

Anyone, anywhere can be a follower ofJesus-cultural Jews, Hindus, Buddhists,Animists, Agnostics, Muslims, and evenChristians can all be followers of Jesus.Christians have said for years that acultural Jew doesn't have to renounce beingJewish in order to follow Jesus. FollowingJesus makes a person's Jewishness more fulland meaningful. I believe this translatesinto the many cultures of the world.Following Jesus brings out the fullness ofany and all cultures. A cultural Buddhist canbe a follower of Jesus. A cultural Muslim canbe a follower of Jesus. It's just like acultural Catholic can be a follower of Jesuswithout renouncing his cultural background ora cultural Baptist or a cultural Methodist.Anyone can be a follower of Jesus and stillremain within his or her cultural background.

Jesus doesn't want the entire world to beChristian; Jesus wants the entire world tofollow Him. This is why Jesus gives us Hisprimary command to carry on His ministry tothe world. He says, "Make disciples of allnations!" Make followers of Jesus in allnations; don't try to make them Christians!Introduce them to Jesus.

MYTH #3-Jesus is the founder of the Christian Church

2012-01-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

This myth may be one of the most difficult toaccept as a myth, but hear me out on it. Openup your hearts and minds and let's examinewhy I call this a myth. Remember, we'retrying to understand the teachings andprinciples of Jesus, not the teachings andprinciples of our religious instruction andbackgrounds. If I were to hold on to mybackground understandings, I would stillbelieve Jesus was a Baptist!
Many people in the USA and lots more in thecultures of the world believe the myth thatJesus founded Christianity and the ChristianChurch. It's as if this was His intent andHis purpose. This identification is aman-made connection between Jesus andChristianity and the organized ChristianChurch. When the Christian Church became anorganization, Christianity becameChristendom. The organized Church provideslots of services for the consumer, but itwasn't what Jesus intended. In Jesus' timethere already was an organized Church inexistence-the Synagogue. He didn't speakagainst it, but only against its leadership.

The damage of believing the myth that Jesusfounded Christianity or the organizedChristian Church is three-fold: FIRST-Thereligion of Christianity tends to become asubstitute for the personal relationship withJesus. Jesus commonly is left out of theChristian, religious, expression of faith.When I spoke at the major Dalai Lama event,those who were set up to representChristianity didn't even mention Jesus one time.

One of my hobbies is to read over Christiannewsletters and prayer letters to see ifJesus made the editorial cut. It is amazinghow many times Jesus is left out of theirexpression of what their ministry really is.Just recently a major article was publishedin a secular magazine about a visible andprominent Christian leader and his plan tochange the world. Sadly, Jesus never made itinto any part of the plan nor did Jesus evenreceive honorable mention.

SECOND-The organized Christian Church tendsto become a substitute for a personalrelationship with Jesus and with His people.This produces spectators and notparticipators. It's just too easy to checkoff Church attendance as one of the thingsyou feel you must do. But as powerful as theChurch experience might be through authenticworship and exceptional messages, theonce-a-week "event" just isn't what Jesusintended. They already had this experience inthe Synagogue. There's nothing wrong with it;it's just not what Jesus came to found.

THIRD-When you believe Jesus is the founderof Christianity or the organized ChristianChurch, you expect Jesus to be the author andarchitect of what is done in the name ofChristianity and by the local organizedChristian Church. Therefore, Jesus gets theblame for it all! He gets tied to theCrusades. He gets tied to pastoral moralfailure. He gets tied to the raising of moneyand endless fundraisers.

Now to debunk this myth: Jesus was a founder,all right, but not of the organized ChristianChurch or the religion of Christianity. Checkout these observations:1. Jesus must be separated from Christianityand the organized Christian Church. Rememberthe bumper sticker and later the movie:"Lord, please save us from your followers."To link Jesus with the organized Church orthe religious system of Christianitycaricaturizes Jesus beyond recognition. Andthen the world criticizes Jesus and Hismovement on earth based upon the Church andthe religious system. This is as absurd asjudging Beethoven by how well the localJunior High School band plays his music.

2. I have come to believe Jesus is the uniqueSon of God. For me to believe this mythlimits Jesus in most every way. He is to bepreeminent above all things, peoples andreligious systems. To keep Jesus in theposition of being the founder of Christianitykeeps Jesus in His holy box and unavailableto the rest of the world.

3. Jesus never intended to found or launch ahighly organized Church with membershiprequirements and man-made labels. He foundedand launched a movement-a dynamic, relationalfellowship of followers of Jesus who love Godand love their neighbors as themselves.

4. Jesus nor any of His disciples bashed theSynagogue of the day, which equates to theChurch today. There was no thought orteaching on planting new Synagogues(Churches) to compete with the primarySynagogue in the city. This sets up the nextobservation:

5. The dynamic, relational movement Jesuslaunched was not about building anorganization or a monument; He set in motiona movement that was loosely held together.This movement was not to take the place ofthe Synagogue nor is it to take the place ofthe organized Church today. However thismovement is totally out of control-ourcontrol-and in the control of Jesus, the Headof His body.

It was to be a movement that orbited aroundthe Synagogue (Church), the community andaround the marketplace, demonstrating thelove of Jesus to all. This movement doesn'thave the privilege of gathering spectatorstogether, because its all about participationin a fellowship, learning to love God andlove one another. This movement is called thechurch (little c)-the gathering of thefollowers of Jesus into a fellowship. Jesususes the term only three times, because Hisprimary teaching was the Good News of theKingdom. Big C Church was not taught nor wasit in His mind or in the practice of theearly disciples as they spread the message ofJesus and the Kingdom.

The book of Acts is sometimes called the Actsof the Apostles, but I think it's best torefer to it as the Acts of Jesus. Therevolutionary movement of Jesus is still ontoday! The purpose of the movement is to doone of the most difficult things ever-tointroduce Jesus to the world by demonstratingJesus-walking, talking, thinking and lovinglike Jesus. You see, Jesus doesn't want youto demonstrate for Him, but to demonstrateHim and His love.

Jesus launched a revolutionary movement. Areyou participating in this movement-theorbiting (little c) church movement Jesusfounded-or are you still only playingspectator in a big C Church? You can do bothand gain much out of your experience, butjust don't miss out on the Jesus movement inyour community right where you live! Jesus isalready moving in the world around you. He'slooking for you to join Him there!

ONE MORE THING: The Jesus movement thatorbits around the organized Church and thecommunity is not made up of Christians. Themake-up of the Jesus movement is a vast varietyof people from all kinds of culturalbackgrounds. What holds this movementtogether is that each person, no matter hisor her religious background, is a follower ofJesus.

MYTH #2-BEING A BELIEVER IS ALL IT TAKES

2012-01-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Before getting into this myth I want to makeit clear that I am well aware that many ofyou reading/listening to this series may notbe Christians or from a Christian culturalbackground. The reason I feel I must examineseveral of these Christian terms is that Iwant to separate them from Jesus. So many ofthese terms are like barnacles on a ship andmust be removed. Or, they are add-ons toJesus that dilute who He is and what He intended.
Most of my life I have bought into theimportance of being a believer or morespecifically, a believer in Jesus. For yearsI have emphasized the term "believer" over"Christian", thinking this was the bestidentity to use that separates a person fromthe religious form of Christianity. If youperform a quick overview of the five Gospels(Matthew-Mark-Luke-John-Acts), you willdiscover that with few exceptions John is theonly one who uses the term "believe" extensively.
The damage that is done by relying on being abeliever is subtle, but lethal.

FIRST-I havecome to understand that this heavy emphasisupon being a "believer" is not sufficient todescribe what Jesus wants from His disciples.Jesus demands more than this, as I'lldemonstrate in a couple of minutes.

SECOND-Being a believer becomes a thresholdexperience-the very doorway intosalvation-that Christians rely upon. Aftersharing a time of counseling a desperate manin the psych ward of a local hospital, I toldthis particular study group that it was soexciting to see this man's attitude of fearchange into a sincere seeking for God. One ofour group members quickly said, "So he becamea believer?" In other words, "Did you closethe spiritual deal and now this non-believeris a believer?" We seem to want this magicalmoment that a person becomes a believer andthen all will be OK.

THIRD-Remembering the day you became abeliever-your threshold experience ofsalvation-becomes a sure sign that your faithis genuine and not being able to nail downthat date means that maybe you never actuallyhave come into a salvation experience at all.This, too, can be a damaging experience.Recently, a pastor told one of his eldersthat if you can't identify that specific timeof salvation faith in your life, then you areprobably not a genuine believer. That nightthe elder interrogated his wife and she couldnot give him a specific day, but she felt shehad come into a personal faith gradually.When the elder shared this experience with agroup I was leading, he was really saddenedby his discovery and it showed in hiscountenance.

Then I asked him, "When was Peter's specificday?" The elder sat there for quite some timeand said, "I don't know." I said, "Troubling,isn't it?" "What about the other disciples?What was their specific day?" The elder sawwhat I was showing him and said, "So, mypastor was wrong."

The damage is done when we put such pressureon people to "make a decision" to be abeliever in Jesus right now. This is why weask people to come forward at altar calls andwhy we praise those who witness to the pointthat they have actually led someone to praythe sinner's prayer. It's all part of ourinstant approach to life. This wasn't thenorm in the life and ministry of Jesus and itisn't the norm today!

FOURTH-To make "being a believer" soparamount, it is too easy to miss out on whathappened with the early disciples and rely onman-made sound bites and clichés. Think aboutit! The early disciples were not "believers"in the sense that most think of it today.They were followers of Jesus and Histeachings, but were a work in progress withrespect to becoming believers. By the way,that process took them over three years!

To debunk this myth I want to offer somethings to think about:FIRST-Demons are said to be believers. InJames 2:19 it says: You believe that thereis one God. Good! Even the demons believethat-and shudder.

SECOND-The false teachers Jesus mentions arebelievers. In Matthew 7 Jesus refers topeople who act like believers, but that's notgood enough. Look at what Jesus says: "Noteveryone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' willenter the kingdom of heaven, but only thosewho do the will of my Father who is inheaven. Many will say to me on that day,'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your nameand in your name drive out demons and in yourname perform many miracles?' Then I will tellthem plainly, 'I never knew you. Away fromme, you evildoers!'

Here was a group of people who spoke in thename of Jesus, cast out demons in the name ofJesus and performed many miracles in Hisname, yet Jesus didn't know them. He had nopersonal relationship with them.

THIRD-Many of you who are reading orlistening to this daily see yourselves asbelievers, too. So, what's the difference?There must be more to it than just being abeliever!

Jesus clarifies this. Jesus makes it clearthat the only ones who will enter the Kingdomof heaven are those who do the will of theFather. And what does Jesus mean by this? Inthe next paragraph He illustrates what thismeans:
"Therefore everyone who hears these wordsof mine and puts them into practice is like awise man who built his house on the rock. Therain came down, the streams rose, and thewinds blew and beat against that house; yetit did not fall, because it had itsfoundation on the rock. But everyone whohears these words of mine and does not putthem into practice is like a foolish man whobuilt his house on sand. The rain came down,the streams rose, and the winds blew and beatagainst that house, and it fell with a greatcrash."

Those who do the will of the Father are thosewho hear the words of Jesus and practicethem! That's more than just being a"believer". Don't get caught up in theChristian clichés and sound bites ofreligiosity. Pray for ears to hear and eyesto see, then listen to what Jesus says and doit. Don't miss this! You must believe, butyou must believe enough to follow Jesus andHis teachings! Whether you are Muslim, Hindu,Buddhist, Jew, Christian or agnostic, followJesus and enjoy the results!

Myth #1-JESUS IS OWNED BY CHRISTIANITY

2012-01-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

The first myth is JESUS IS OWNED BYCHRISTIANITY. Now don't get nervous aboutthis myth. I am not bashing being a Christianor the religious system of Christianity. Iwant to help you consider a very basicunderstanding that causes lots ofmisunderstanding both in this country and innations around the world. Let's examine it.

The definition of this myth is two-fold.First, this popular myth believes that Jesuswas a Christian-that Jesus would becomfortable with being called a Christian andidentifying exclusively with Christianity.Second, there seems to be a sub-myth on thisone-that Christ was Jesus' last name. Let'squickly deal with this sub-myth. Jesus Christis better understood as Jesus, the Christ.Jesus is His name and the Christ, theMessiah, the Anointed One, is His title.

The damage from this myth is many-fold.FIRST-Christians believe they have a corneron the market with respect to Jesus. Theby-product of believing Jesus is owned byChristianity is religious, Pharisaical pride.This pride leads "Christians" to identify itsculture as the right culture-the right way oflife. This excludes all other cultures Godcreated, other than the Christian culture,from following the path of God.

SECOND-If you desire to become a follower ofJesus, embracing this myth tends to distractyou away from Jesus and the Kingdom. Insteadof following Jesus, your focus can so easilybecome being a Christian or defendingChristianity.

THIRD-Non-Christians believe Jesus isexclusively related to Christians andtherefore they have no relationship with Him,even though Jesus is so attractive,irresistible and relevant to them.

FOURTH-Non-Christians identify Christianitywith the disastrous and horrendous actions ofits past-e.g. the Crusades against theMuslims and the persecution and killings ofthe Jews-all in the name of Christianity.

FIFTH-Non-Christians identify Christianitywith the West and as they develop hate forthe West, they develop hate for Christianity(and vice versa). When Christians attempt toconvert people who are not Christians, theystir up such anger and hate-especially isthis true in the non-Christian cultures ofthe world. Christians want Hindus, Buddhists,Jews, Muslims and whoever else is before themto become Christians-to be converted awayfrom their cultures into WesternChristianity. As my son-in-law said, "This isdoing missionary work the hard way!" Insteadof converting people away from their culturesand into Christianity, why not introduce themto Jesus and let Him do His work in theirhearts. Now that's true conversion!

In debunking this myth I want to share fourobservations:FIRST-Jesus never used the term "Christian".The term is found three times in the NewTestament. The first is in Acts 11:26: andwhen he found him, he brought him to Antioch.So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul metwith the church and taught great numbers ofpeople. The disciples were called Christiansfirst at Antioch. This seems to be a derisivecomment by those in Antioch at this point.The second occurrence is in Acts 26:28: ThenAgrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that insuch a short time you can persuade me to be aChristian?" The third time the term"Christian" is used is by Peter in I Peter4:16: However, if you suffer as a Christian,do not be ashamed, but praise God that youbear that name.

When I use the argument that Jesus never usedthe term "Christian", I am saying that He hadsomething so different in mind than to offera label to be worn or an organization tojoin-all to be foisted upon the cultures ofthe world. If Jesus were trying to changepeople's cultural identification, He wouldhave actually done so. When Jesus encountereda person from another culture with other godsand traditions, He was not concerned with"converting" them away from thosebackgrounds. He was primarily concerned witha person's relationship and trust in Him.Take the Roman official-the one Jesus saidpossessed more faith than any other person inall of Israel; Jesus didn't warn him tobeware of the many Roman gods nor did He urgehim to join the synagogue or any otherorganization.

SECOND-Jesus had a better term. MostChristians love to use the ID, "believer" or"born again". What's interesting is that witha couple of exceptions "believer", "believe"and "born again" are used only by John in hisGospel. John and all of the other Gospelwriters-Matthew, Mark and Luke-use the sameand most prominent terminology as they quoteJesus. All five Gospels are in agreementabout the terms "follower" or "follow". Thisis Jesus' designation of those who are inrelationship with Him-followers.

Without a doubt the best use of the term"Christian" is to be a "follower of theChrist". Used in this way following Jesusretains the power of a movement. However,most take Christianity as a religion,religious system of beliefs and anorganization to be joined, which kills themovement by definition and practice.

THIRD-There is nothing wrong with being aChristian or even a Western Christian, ifthat's your cultural background. But there issomething far better and that is to be afollower of Jesus. The largest spiritualmovements in the world are happening amongAnimists in Africa, Buddhists and Hindus inAsia, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East,atheists and agnostics in China and evenChristians in the USA. This movement numbersin the millions those who do not identifythemselves with Christianity or WesternChristianity, but sincerely andenthusiastically call themselves followers ofJesus. They love and worship Jesus!

How can this be? Because Jesus is morepreeminent than we have let Him be. He is somuch greater than any Christian can ever liftup and He must be lifted up. As He is liftedup Jesus will draw all men and women to Him,because He is the most attractive, the mostirresistible and the most relevant ever. Ifthe Creator-God were to ever take on fleshand become man, God would look like Jesus.

When Paul was in Athens (Acts 17:22-31), hestood up in the meeting of the Areopagus andsaid: "People of Athens! I see that in everyway you are very religious. For as I walkedaround and looked carefully at your objectsof worship, I even found an altar with thisinscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you areignorant of the very thing you worship-andthis is what I am going to proclaim to you."

"The God who made the world and everything init is the Lord of heaven and earth and doesnot live in temples built by hands. And he isnot served by human hands, as if he neededanything. Rather, he himself gives everyonelife and breath and everything else. From oneman he made all the nations (cultures), thatthey should inhabit the whole earth; and hemarked out their appointed times in historyand the boundaries of their lands. God didthis so that they would seek him and perhapsreach out for him and find him, though he isnot far from any one of us. 'For in him welive and move and have our being.' As someof your own poets have said, 'We are hisoffspring.'

"Therefore since we are God's offspring, weshould not think that the divine being islike gold or silver or stone-an image made byhuman design and skill. That divine being isJesus and He must not be limited to theChristian box and culture. God set up allcultures in order for them to reach out forGod and find Him."

No, Jesus is not owned by Christianity. He isthe unique one, born of the Spirit of God!This Kingdom Manifesto of Jesus-the GoodNews-is for everyone. It is not exclusivelyfor the Jews or the Christians. Jesus isall-inclusive. He is the ultimate answer foreveryone everywhere. Jesus. Simply Jesus.

HOW ARE MYTHS DEVELOPED?

2012-01-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Now remember a myth is passed on sofrequently that you blindly accept it as THEtruth and it becomes a vital doctrine in yourreligious beliefs. Therefore it is, at best,a legend, a sort of spiritual fairy tale thathas become a sacred belief for you and yourcommunity, yet it is really awell-intentioned falsehood ormisunderstanding. For the most part, I don'tthink these myths we will examine were everdesigned with evil purposes in mind. Theyhave developed from one generation to anotherwithout questioning its veracity.

There is an old story that illustrates howmyths originate and are passed on fromgeneration to generation. It's about a familythat always cut their turkey in half beforethey cooked it. This was certainly very oddby American tradition since everybody alwaysserved a whole baked turkey as thecenterpiece for the Thanksgiving meal.

For many years this strange ritual went onuntil a child from the fourth generationdecided he was going to find out why hisfamily had such a very "strange" tradition.So he went up to his Momma and asked "whyexactly do we cut the turkey across themiddle whenever we cook one for Thanksgiving?"
Somewhat startled by such a sensible inquiry,the mother decided to ask her mom exactly thesame question the youngest had put across:"Momma, Why 'do' we cut the turkey in half?"

Grandma for her part could only scratch herchin and reply, "to tell you the truth, Ican't exactly tell why. All I know is thatwas how I saw my momma do it, and that's howI've done it all these years. Why don't weask Great Grand Nanny!"

So they all huddled around the Matriarch asGrandma asked, Momma, why exactly do youalways cut the thanksgiving turkey in halfbefore you stick it in the oven?

Great Grandma sat her self up and with a lookof disbelief she replied, "Did you neverrealize that our oven was never big enough tostick a whole turkey in? That's why I alwayshad to cut those turkeys in two,"

Do you see how easily this happens? Nowtransfer this same understanding of mythdevelopment over to the world of spiritualthings. Many times the myth emerges out ofpartial knowledge. You know there is nothingmore dangerous than a person who has readonly one book on a subject. From the basis ofthat book and that author opinions areformulated and become fact, until anotherperson offers a different thought on thesubject. I am reminded of the man who came tothe conclusion about all native AmericanIndians. He said, "All Indians walk singlefile, at least, the one I saw did." It's apartial perspective!

Myths also tend to be developed with aprejudiced perspective. Whereas a partialperspective is when you don't have all of thefacts, the prejudiced perspective is when youdon't want the facts. The facts might mess upwhat you already believe!

A man sat in front of his doctor, claimingthat he knew that he was dead. The doctorassured him that he wasn't dead-depressed,maybe, but very much alive. Nothing wouldchange the patient's mind on the issue. So,the doctor sent him on a research project tothe medical library. The research wouldconclusively prove that "dead men don't bleed."

When the patient finished his research, hereturned to see his doctor. The doctor asked,"What did the research say?" "Well," said thepatient, "it is clear that the medicalliterature says that dead men don't bleed."

"Perfect!" replied the doctor. The doctorimmediately went over to the patient, stuck aneedle in his arm, and the man began tobleed. Without any hesitation the patientjumped up and proclaimed, "Dead men dobleed!" Now, that's a prejudiced perspective!Don't confuse me with the facts. My mind isalready made up! Especially is this commonwithin religious circles!

There is one other perspective that breedsmyths. It's what I call a passiveperspective. A passive perspective is whenyou have the facts, but don't act upon them.You are committed, but not involved in thebehavior that the commitment requires. Thisis, by far, an epidemic in our society!Committed, but not involved! You know whatto do in your marriage, but don't do it. Youknow what to do with your children, but don'tdo it. You know what to do in the midst of aconflict, but don't do it. You know what todo with your priorities, but you don't do it.It's like the kamikaze pilot who made 33missions. He was committed, but not involved!

As we examine the person and teachings ofJesus we want to know as much as we can fromJesus, Himself. We want to examine Jesus andHis teachings as objectively as possible.And, we want to examine Jesus and Histeachings actively and not passively. Thislast approach can make the most difference. Idon't want this examination of Jesus and Histeachings to be just another intellectualexercise. It's one thing to know Jesus andHis teachings and quite another thingaltogether to do your best to follow Jesus:Follow Jesus because of His impeccablecharacter and life. As you continue to followJesus, you will find His teachings to be mostmeaningful and fulfilling. And, if youembrace following Jesus as your lifestyle,you may discover how to relate to yourCreator in a personal way.

EARS TO HEAR & EYES TO SEE

2012-01-23T17:12:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

There is a universal truth in themarketplace: "Only 5% think, 15% think theythink and 80% would rather die than think."We live and move in herds. We go along andrarely question what we hear. This isespecially true after hearing things over andover throughout our lives. The tendency is toaccept without question whatever we hear thatis attached to a Scriptural verse anddelivered by a pastor, teacher, guru, priest,imam, or monk we trust. I call these blindbeliefs "myths" that are passed on sofrequently that they become THE truth and avital doctrine in our religious beliefs.

Once we have embraced a given myth, we tendto use it to establish that we are more rightthan another. There is something in ourhumanity that works overtime to be right,which makes those who disagree with us wrong.

I have been caught up in a series of myths myentire life. After growing up in a Christianhome, attending a Christian liberal artscollege and a four year graduate seminary, Iwent along with many of the myths withoutquestioning what I read or was taught. Theresult? My eyes gradually glazed over and Ibecame hard of hearing.

I've spent most of my life seeking tounderstand how to relate to the non-churched,non-Christian world. My books and speakingplatforms have all had a crossover flavor tothem and I finally ended up at the peak ofprofessional speaking opportunities on thelargest platforms in addition to pastoringone of the early mega-churches.

During that season of my life I came to theconclusion that only Jesus could transformour lives.1. NOT Churchianity 2. NOT Christianity3. NOT conversion methods 4. ONLY JESUS

I came to the conclusion that in order toreach the non-churched world I would have toseparate myself from mainstream churches andChristianity. So, I did that to a certaindegree, but I still had to take up offeringsto keep the church and its staff alive.

In the second season of my life Jesusapprehended my heart in a fresh way andpoised me toward taking this same "Jesus plusnothing" message beyond the "secular",non-churched world into the 7 major culturesof the world.

So, now my focus and perpendicular learningcurve have taken me to a simple understandingof Jesus and the Kingdom. I've spent so muchtime and energy unlearning a lot of mytheological premises I received at graduateseminary while a student and professor. It'sbeen a fresh look at Jesus and His message ofthe good news of the Kingdom. His messagewas not the church, but all about theKingdom. He only mentions "church" on twooccasions.

In this journey now we are working with the 7primary cultures of the world-Buddhist,Hindu, Moslem, Jewish, Animist, Christian andAtheist/Agnostic. We don't presentChristianity to them, but Jesus. We teachthem to follow the teachings and principlesof Jesus as the early disciples did. Theresults are amazing. Instead of furtherdividing the world into more warringfactions, we are experiencing a new andsupernatural unity in the name of Jesus. Yousee, Jesus unites and all else divides! I amnow convinced that Christianity isn't theway; Jesus is!

One of the repeated themes and challengeswithin the teachings of Jesus is to have earsto hear and eyes to see. Jesus knows ourhuman tendency to drift away, getoff-message, become distracted, and to divideup and take sides. So, He warns us to becareful that we listen and see clearly.

We are going to make our way through 32myths. These aren't the only myths, but seemto be some of the most common ones. It is notmy purpose to shake up your faith in any wayother than to strengthen it and refocus it onJesus. As you read through each of the myths,remove your religious blinders, think andevaluate what you believe Jesus' teachingreally is. Don't be afraid to go with Histeachings, when they counter things you havebelieved all your life. It may be a littleshocking at first, but when the light bulbclicks on in your head and heart, you'll knowwhat is true.

Jesus without religious baggage is awesome,attractive and even irresistible!The only thing Jesus requires of you and meis to be interested-to have ears to hear andeyes to see.

If you are Muslim, know that your holy Qur'anteaches the uniqueness of Jesus and reveresHim most highly. If you are Buddhist, knowthat His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, loves theteachings of Jesus and encourages people tostudy them and follow Him. If you are Hindu,know that there are millions within yourculture who have come to love and followJesus as did Ghandi. If you are Jewish, do asyour many scholars are doing and study thisJewish Rabbi for yourself. If you areagnostic, you may be better able to checkthis out for yourself, who this Jesus withoutreligious baggage really is.

If you are Christian, you may have thetoughest time examining these myths. It'sbecause you think you already know Jesus.What I have found to be true is that manyChristians seem to know a lot about Jesus,but don't really know Him and follow Him.

Whether Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish,agnostic or Christian, Jesus will never askyou to leave your culture. Jesus supersedesall culture. As a Buddhist friend said to me:"Jesus trumps everything!" If you myth out onJesus, you will find that you are missing outon life at its fullest!

2012-01-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Jesus got my attention-to pay attention to Jesus and his teachings primarily. I came to the realization that I didn't really know Jesus as personally as I would like. I knew a lot about him from his birth to his death. I had written about him, built a Church around him, developed self-help principles from his teachings and I pretty well thought I knew when the widespread and popular 2nd coming of Jesus might take place.

I came to the decision that I was just tired of running a Church, going to a Church, and talking, talking, talking about it. I had this deep desire to practice the church-to be the church and to find out experientially for myself if this Church thing-this Jesus lifestyle I'd articulated for so long, could be lived. More than that, I wanted to know for sure that I could live this lifestyle-really live it out.

I knew that this meant moving away from my frantic speaking, writing and counseling schedule. Somehow all of that needed to be set aside to provide enough space to learn what it means to trust Jesus with my life-moment by moment. This was something I only talked about and rarely experienced. This meant facing several lifestyle adjustments. Fortunately, Diana was willing to make this shift in our lifestyle, too.

We gathered a few friends to ask them if they would walk with us as we followed our new found aspirations. We gathered three couples, spent the day with them and shared our thoughts and feelings. When we asked them if they would be willing to walk with us through this journey to get to know Jesus and live out the Jesus lifestyle, they unanimously agreed to walk with us and we all became enthusiastic about what we might discover about Jesus and ourselves together.

We began with a 45 day prayer covenant that we would agree to pray together. We prayed for wisdom on how to walk with Jesus, for those who are hurting-the abused, addicted, and damaged-to come to us. We prayed that we might learn together how to mentor others to follow this Jesus with us, yet we were determined we would not promote what we were doing. We committed to one another to wait on Jesus to bring people to us with ears to hear and eyes to see. And that's exactly what Jesus did! You know the drill. You pray for God to come through and show Himself in tangible ways, then when He does, you are shocked!

Together we drew up a covenant that held us to our agreements together. As we listed our agreements, they fell into place into what we've come to know as the EMBERS COVENANT. There were six agreements:1. Embrace the teachings of Jesus as a lifestyle.2. Mentor others to do the same.3. Believe God for raising up leaders.4. Empower the youth.5. Restore the broken-the addicted, abused and the poor.6. Serve everyone who is brought our way.This covenant took on the form of a question: What can I do to help?

People were definitely brought our way and we gathered with them to meet Jesus as he showed up among us. What a ride! What a thrill! And it's still continuing today!

This is when I determined to speak on what we were learning-to share with others what we were seeing and experiencing. So, I began with "The Jesus Factor" that turned into a 6 part series of messages. Five additional series emerged with 6 messages each-we call it the "Jesus Journey" and that early articulation was rough, but powerfully effective to help those who were interested to get to know Jesus.

At the end of this 42 week series of messages, it was clear to me that in order to really experience what it means to walk with Jesus, walk with others and wait for Jesus to lead out, something drastic had to happen. So, we decided that we must dismantle our organized Church and begin meeting in homes. This was a tough move, because long-time traditions are hard to break. In fact, I think it's more difficult to dismantle a Church than to start one!

This is when I felt it necessary to discipline myself to write something on Jesus on a daily basis. We first called it 'ACTS 29 Daily', then it emerged into the 'JESUS PLUS NOTHING Daily.' Now, this daily study has been going for nearly seven years.

The Daily podcast/blog subscriber list has continued to grow and many forward it on to family, friends and colleagues, when they deem it appropriate to pass it on. Of all of the studies, the most popular was a series of 32 myths. I called it "Mything Out On Jesus and His Teachings" and published it in a booklet format, straight from the blogs. A steady flow of these booklets are acquired through Amazon.com and several small groups are using this tool as a text for study.

Whereas "Mything Out On Jesus and His Teachings", was sort of an in your face challenge to all those who still wear traditional blinders about Jesus, JESUS PLUS NOTHING is different. JESUS PLUS NOTHING is a gentler, kinder, inductive telling of my personal journey with Jesus, then sharing a more full teaching of the pre-eminence of Jesus, the presence of the Kingdom and the power of the few. JESUS PLUS NOTHING is an invitation to come and see Jesus for yourself. It's also a challenge to not just be a believer in Jesus, but learn to be a follower of him. Begin your Jesus journey today!

Tomorrow, we'll begin revisiting the 32 myths.

3 ESSENTIALS FOR CHANGING THE WORLD

2012-01-19T21:07:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

The fifth top takeaway out of the book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING has to do with Jesus' revolutionary strategy for changing the world. There are three essentials for changing the world.

FIRST ESSENTIAL-The pre-eminence of Jesus-making the main thing the main thing! Life isn't about religion or a religious experience, but a relationship with Jesus. Life doesn't revolve around a set of propositions or a performance system, but a person. His name is Jesus.

Jesus came to restore what man has lost. The loss is like a hole in the soul, filled with a gnawing ache of loneliness. So, at the core of most everything man tries to do is this inner drive to fill the hole in the soul. Every religion, philosophy, and political ideology is an attempt to fill that hole. We were created to be dependent upon God. And if you choose not to be dependent upon God, you will inevitably find yourself dependent upon something or someone else. This sets in motion a perpetual cycle of dissatisfaction. That's the bad news! Jesus, simply Jesus, is the only one who can fill that hole in man's soul. Now, that's the Good News! Jesus is the Good News-the Gospel.

Jesus came to give you what you can't get on your own. What is it that Jesus can give you that you can't get on your own? This may sound a bit strange, but Jesus came as a revolutionary. The revolution is all about restoration and transformation.

Transformation is what is needed at the core level-an inner change of heart. Since I've been following Jesus I have found four experiences that have become amazingly real to me. On the negative side of the emotional ledger we humans are continually struggling with fear, anger, guilt and shame.

Jesus offers a positive counter experience to each of these toxic emotions and makes these offers for anyone who is willing to follow after Him.
* Jesus offers peace that counteracts the fear!
* Jesus offers love that counteracts the anger!
* Jesus offers joy that counteracts the guilt!
* Jesus offers grace that counteracts the shame!

What is really needed is a genuine change of heart-to see your life, predicaments, and people differently. Several years ago, we set out to study only the five Gospels for three years-Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. We did this in order to get to know this Jesus. This focus proved to be life changing! It was through this Jesus journey that we discovered what only Jesus could do for us that we cannot do for ourselves. I have no capability to change a person's heart. I can't give people peace. I can't give people joy. I can't give them love. I can't, but I've come to realize that Jesus can!

Again, I am not speaking of the religious Jesus. I am referring to the most prominent and powerful person ever! And, in the most pragmatic way, this Jesus seems to be able to affect these internal changes in people.
There's something about Jesus without religious baggage-his words, his actions, his loving ways, his bent toward the disenfranchised and especially His name-that brings healing and wholeness to the heart and mind. Jesus is truly the most effective person you can embrace for yourself.

SECOND ESSENTIAL-The presence of the Kingdom-embracing the principles of Jesus as a lifestyle! Most of Jesus' teachings are about the Kingdom, not the Church. Jesus only mentions the church on two occasions. Jesus as the King came to introduce a lifestyle on a different level-the Kingdom level. The Kingdom lifestyle is simply living out the principles of the King's teachings. The Kingdom lifestyle is learning to walk, talk, think and love like Jesus.

Jesus' constant message was the presence of the Kingdom right here right now. He said the Kingdom is here, it's near and it's among you all as you gather in the name of Jesus, the King.

THIRD ESSENTIAL-The power of the few. The first two essentials are most effectively activated in the power of the few. This may be the most counterintuitive dimension within the Jesus movement. "The power of the few" contains the same core idea as the seed. Just as the seed is small and seemingly insignificant, proving to become large, irreversible in its growth and powerful enough to accomplish inner transformation, so it is with the power of the few.

Jesus modeled the power of the few by inviting only three to come and be with Him. He spoke to thousands of people from time to time, but Jesus spent most of His time with a few-from three to twelve.

Jesus was the model and the disciples of Jesus learned to follow the model that was set. They always traveled and ministered in teams of two or more. They practiced the power of the few very effectively. They even authored several of the books of the New Testament, often in tandem with others. For instance, the first letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians) is attributed to Paul. But Paul didn't write the letter to the community of believers in Corinth, alone. Right up front within the letter it says Paul and Sosthenes were the authors. This may be the same Sosthenes who was the leader of the synagogue in Corinth. Paul had help writing the second letter to the Corinthians, too. Paul and Timothy wrote that letter. Timothy also co-authored Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon with him. The letter to the gathering of Jesus' followers in Galatia is said to be written by Paul and "all the brothers and sisters with me." Then, in the book of I John, John says that "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." Note that this letter was composed by a group of people that John called "we."

Read the book of I Thessalonians and you will discover that even though Paul is again listed as the author, yet this isn't exactly true. According to the first verse there were three authors-Paul, Silvanus (or Silas) and Timothy. Now get this! These three men following Jesus and walking together in Jesus' name made such an impression with the Thessalonians that their message spread or echoed forth throughout Asia Minor. It's the power of the few!

My entire life has been preparing to speak to the masses, but I walked alone. Today, I walk with a few and am stronger than ever. Jesus is the pre-eminent one in my life. I'm doing the toughest thing I've ever tried to do as I try my best to follow Jesus' Kingdom teachings. And, I am convinced that there is no chance of keeping Jesus pre-eminent in my life and following His Kingdom principles daily WITHOUT walking in the power of a few others who are walking with me. These three essentials are clearly the only possible way to unleash the power of Jesus in changing the world. And by the way, when you unleash the power of Jesus on the world, you allow Him to first change you.

ANYONE ANYWHERE CAN BEGIN TO FOLLOW JESUS

2012-01-18T22:05:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

The fourth top takeaway from JESUS PLUS NOTHING stirs up so much emotional response. In other words, there is more heat than light at first. It's tough enough to separate Jesus from Christian ownership. Now, this insight sounds even more foreign and out of bounds from what we've been taught.

No matter how much evidence is offered or how many people are produced from non-Christian cultures who are followers of Jesus, it's still stifling to the brain. A little over a year ago about 60 of us participated in the Montana Awakening. We were spread all over the state, sharing the message of Jesus.

I was teamed up with a Muslim friend of mine who loves Jesus and has been faithfully following Jesus for years. My friend is more articulate and genuine in his relationship with Jesus than most Christians I've known for years. On our first night in Montana, we were scheduled to speak along with a couple of others from Germany. I began, setting the stage for my Muslim friend's testimony of how he had come to follow Jesus. Then he would speak and I closed out our session.

Well-meaning Christians bombarded us afterward, vehemently and angrily arguing with my friend and me that it is impossible for a Muslim to be a true follower of Jesus. It was just unthinkable! The same attitude is found among the early disciples in Luke 9, where John says to Jesus, "Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us." You see how it works? It's unthinkable that anyone who is not one of us-one of our group-could possibly have a right connection with Jesus.

In John 10 Jesus tries to instruct His disciples that He has other disciples who do not belong to His disciples' same denomination. He says, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." Whoever Jesus is talking about, these other sheep are not from the same religious and cultural persuasion as His disciples.

In the final book of the New Testament-Revelation-there is reference to "A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne" of Jesus. (Revelation 7)

NOTE the common theme of these passages. There is no reference to any certain religious group, but it's clear that God is calling people from every nation, every tribe and every language group.

So, how is it possible for a non-Christian-a Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew or agnostic-to come to the point of being a follower of Jesus and have a genuine saving relationship with Jesus?

I've observed it in three stages. First-a person is drawn to Jesus because of His miracles, His teachings. At this stage a person is fascinated with the most amazing man, Jesus. He's a great teacher and a great example.

Second-after following Jesus for a period of time, a person begins to embrace Jesus' principles and teachings. The principles begin to make more and more sense, so the person who has merely been fascinated with Jesus now begins to take Jesus seriously.

Third-after continuing to follow Jesus and embrace His teachings and principles, this is when Jesus begins to transform a person's life. If an internal change or conversion is going to take place, then it will happen at this level of progression.

This progression is perfectly illustrated in Jesus' encounter with Peter at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers by saying, "You are God's Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus strokes Peter for giving such a good answer, but says, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you." Only the Father could reveal this kind of thing to Peter. Only God can change a person's heart. No amount of teachings or belief systems can do this.

Here's the way I see it. You don't have to believe Jesus is the Son of God to begin to follow Jesus. The disciples didn't! In fact, they weren't even genuine "believers", until later. It took them over three years of following Jesus daily for God, the Father, to change their hearts and minds of faith.

When a person begins to follow Jesus, he is set up perfectly to have his heart totally converted-transformed by God Himself. We've seen this happen in every major culture of the world. They first are attracted to Jesus as a great teacher or example and later Jesus apprehends their hearts.

One more thing. You don't have to be a Christian to be a follower of Jesus either. Here's the point! Anyone anywhere can begin to follow Jesus.

JESUS ALONE MATTERS

2012-01-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

In my opinion, the third top takeaway from the book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING, is that Jesus alone matters. What Jesus says. What Jesus does.What Jesus commands matters more than anything else in your spiritual life.

Here's how I frequently illustrate this pre-eminence of Jesus. Think of it this way. If Jesus says one thing and your pastor or favorite spiritual guru seems to be saying something else, who are you going to go with? I'd go with Jesus.
If Jesus says one thing and you realize you believe something different from Jesus' teachings, who will you go with? Jesus's thinking versus my thinking? I'm going to follow Jesus' thinking here. If Jesus says something and what you've been taught all of your life in your religious experience says something else, who are you going with? My advice? Stick with Jesus! How about if Jesus says one thing and Paul seems to be teaching something different-maybe an emphasis or focus that differs, who will you side with?Jesus is not confused or foggy in His thinking. He teaches without flaws or opinions. Always, always go with Jesus, because Jesus alone matters!

What Jesus says is the primary word on a matter, no matter what the subject. We have discussed on several occasions Jesus' conversation with the religious leaders in John 5. Jesus says, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life." Jesus makes it clear here that it's important to realize that seeking Jesus Himself is a higher priority than searching the Scriptures. Jesus alone matters!

If you want to dive into a very productive study, just do a search of what Jesus teaches on a given subject. For instance, according to Jesus who is it that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven and who will not? I'll give you a hint. Jesus makes it clear that not all who call themselves believers will enter.

What Jesus does is the primary example of how we ought to live. Jesus' actions and strategies are counter-intuitive and even counter-cultural to the religious ways of thinking on many occasions. Jesus' approach was to primarily see and interact with individuals. He spoke before thousands a few times, but most encounters were individual and personal.

Jesus also gives us great insight into how we might relate to the many cultures of the world. He never concerned Himself with criticizing or changing a person's religious beliefs from his or her background and culture. Jesus always made it personal-always about the individual and that person's heart of faith and trust. More than that, Jesus always concerned Himself with the personal relationship He had with that person and the person's response back to Him.

What Jesus commands is the primary focus we ought to observe. Jesus never commanded us to convert anyone to our religious ways. He never commanded us to condemn anyone. He never commanded anyone to go, build and organize Churches. The primary emphasis in Jesus' commands was to go and make disciples-Jesus learners and followers-of every culture in the world.

Why is this true that Jesus alone matters and is so pre-eminent? It's because of who Jesus is. Jesus has a name that is above all names. Not Christ, but Jesus. His name is very important-just as important as the personal name of God revealed in the Old Testament. It was Yahweh! Jesus means "Yahweh saves." Jesus. There is something about that name!

At the name of Jesus every knee will bow someday. It's in the name of Jesus that people have been and can be healed. It's in the name of Jesus that people can be transformed inside out. It's in the name of Jesus that people are touched with His love, joy, peace and grace and are never the same again!

NOTE it is not in the name of Christ, but in the name of Jesus. You might say it's a matter of semantics, but it's not! It's personal! His name is Jesus!

The great Dr. Albert Schweitzer of Africa said something that stopped me in my tracks with its powerful truth. He said, "Jesus comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side. He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow me!" and sets us to the tasks, which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple. He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings, which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is."

There is a part of Jesus we can't know by reading books about Him, can't know by listening to sermons on Him. There is a part of Him we can't know by going to church, to Bible college, to seminary. There is a part of Him we can only know by following Him. This is our prayer that through JESUS PLUS NOTHING you will learn to know Jesus by following Him.

JESUS ISN'T OWNED BY CHRISTIANITY

2012-01-16T19:33:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

In my opinion, the second most important takeaway from the JESUS PLUS NOTHING book is that Christianity does not own Jesus. Christians don't have a proprietary hold on Jesus. No matter where I go in the world, most people believe Jesus was a Christian and the founder of the religion of Christianity. Once that link is broken, then there is freedom for an entirely new conversation about Jesus. This is a vital separation.

American Christians complain that Christians are disparaged and caricaturized in the media, in the movies, in politics and during the holidays. There is a stigma to being a Christian in America and it's not always a good stigma. A mega-Church pastor shared with me that Christians are fast becoming less and less impactful in our society. If you think it's got a negative stigma in the US, travel outside the US and you'll discover it's more prevalent there.
Now don't get nervous about this. There is nothing wrong with being a Christian or belonging to Christianity. I want to help you consider a very basic understanding that causes lots of misunderstanding both in this country and in nations around the world.

Christian is not a common biblical term. In fact, only two writers of the Bible ever mentioned it-Luke, twice, and Peter, once. Jesus, Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, James, and Jude never mentioned it. Most people assert that Jesus was a Christian. Most would agree that Jesus would be comfortable being called a Christian and identifying himself exclusively with Christianity. But I believe this is a myth. And the collateral damage from this myth has been devastating.

Many Christians believe they have a corner on the market with respect to Jesus. The by-product of believing Jesus is owned by Christianity is an ugly, religious pride. Jesus came to call people from every culture of the world-the whole world. Jesus didn't come for Christians or to make the world Christian.

Most non-Christians believe Jesus is exclusively related to Christians, and therefore they have no possible relationship with him, even though Jesus is so attractive, irresistible, and relevant to them.

Most non-Christians identify Jesus with the disastrous and horrendous actions of the Christian past and present-the Crusades against the Muslims and the persecution and killings of the Jews-all in the name of Christianity. The collateral damage is that Jesus becomes guilty by association.

Most non-Christians identify Christianity with the West, and as they develop hate for the West, they develop hate for Christianity (and vice versa). When Christians attempt to convert people who are not Christians, they stir up such anger and hate-especially in the non-Christian cultures. This aggressive approach was never the way of Jesus.

Not only is the term "Christian" rarely mentioned, we know it is a man-made term. At first, Christian was used as one of the many tags placed on the followers of Jesus. It was never intended as a serious organizational label. "People of the Way" and "Nazarenes" were also popular identifications.

Jesus had a better term. Many love to use the ID, "believer" or "born again." What's interesting is that with a couple of exceptions "believer," "believe" and "born again" are used only by John in his Gospel. John and all of the other Gospel writers-Matthew, Mark, and Luke-do use the same and most prominent terminology as they quote Jesus. All four Gospels are in agreement about the terms "follower" or "follow." This is Jesus' designation of those who are in relationship with him-followers.

There is nothing wrong with being a Christian or even a Western Christian, if that's your cultural background. But there is something far better, and that is to be a follower of Jesus. The largest spiritual movements in the world are happening among Animists in Africa, Buddhists and Hindus in Asia, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East and around the world, atheists and agnostics in China and even Christians in the United States. This movement numbers in the millions. Other than those within the Western Christian cultural context, this movement consists of those who do not identify themselves with Christianity or Western Christianity, but all sincerely and enthusiastically call themselves followers of Jesus.

All have come to love and even worship Jesus! How can this be? Because Jesus is more preeminent than we have let him be. Jesus doesn't fit into any religious box. Jesus outside of the religious box is the most attractive, the most irresistible, and the most relevant person ever!

A few years ago I wrote an article entitled, "Christianity Isn't The Way; Jesus Is". As long as we keep Jesus in a religious, Western Christian box, we limit Jesus and keep Him away from the people He came to reach. He came to reach to entire world!

JESUS IS ALL-INCLUSIVE

2012-01-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

This week I want to share with you what I believe to be the top 5 takeaways from the new book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING.

I grew up in a very narrow, Baptist tradition. We weren't just Baptist in general. We were a certain kind of Baptist. In fact, out of the more than 220 Baptist denominations in the world, we believed we were the only one that was going to get into heaven! We knew the Southern Baptists weren't going to make it in and the American Baptists were just as liberal and loose. In our little corner of the world, if you didn't belong to one of our kind of Baptist Churches, you were lost and needed salvation. I love what my friend, Tony Campolo, says, "I'm not saying you have to be a Baptist to go to heaven. But why take a chance?"

I share this about my background, because I want you to know that I KNOW NARROW when I see it. Our denomination of Baptists was narrow and exclusive, our beliefs were narrow and exclusive, our requirements to be a member of our Church were narrow and exclusive and our message of how to get into heaven was also very narrow and exclusive. Therefore, we made Jesus fit into our narrow and exclusive box. We made Jesus narrow and exclusive!

Whenever anyone widens the door of salvation beyond what one's tradition and upbringing has taught, that person who is attempting to widen the door is deemed a heretic. There is something in human nature that will do most anything to be right or on the right side. If anyone threatens to uncover some "truth" that demonstrates that a person's "rightness" is wrong, that person who is threatening must be destroyed by labeling him as a heretic or as one who is not in tune with God.

This is what happened when Jesus spoke in the Synagogue in Nazareth. The villagers from Jesus' hometown were amazed at his speaking at first. THEN, Jesus made two remarks about how God had widened the blessing of salvation by healing a Gentile (non-Jew) leper and how out of all of the Jewish widows, God turned to a Gentile widow to be helpful to Elijah. When Jesus shared with them that God's salvation extended beyond the holy huddle of Jewish believers, the Jews went crazy and tried to kill him.

When Stephen spoke in Jerusalem (recorded in Acts 6), he was actually stoned to death for saying some threatening, outside the Jewish hierarchical box kinds of things. He said, "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?'"

Stephen was saying that God cannot be confined, even to the great and holy Temple that was built by Solomon. This, along with challenging them to live out what they profess, was just too much of a threat to them. So, Stephen, the voice of the threat must be destroyed!

Paul, was given harsh treatment, when he spoke in Pisidian Antioch:On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. (Acts 13)

Later in Lystra and Zerbe, Paul was stoned and left for dead by these same holy huddle-minded Jews who were threatened by Paul's message of salvation not being narrow and exclusive, but wide and all-inclusive:Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. (Acts 14)

Even the much loved and respected, Billy Graham, said in an interview: "What God is doing today is calling people out of the world for His name. Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts they need something that they don't have and they turn to the only light they have." That interview placed Billy Graham on some of the most popular heretic lists. People have so much trouble believing that God could be calling people from every culture to Himself.

In our book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING, we demonstrate Jesus' teachings on this very thing. In fact, you will discover several illustrations where Jesus encountered people from other cultures and openly and freely gave them salvation. He didn't require them to become a Jew or a Christian, because to Jesus it's all about a personal relationship with him.

I believe and teach more powerfully than ever Jesus' words, "I am the way, the truth and the life." I'm seeing how Jesus is the way for everyone, everywhere! Jesus is not narrow and exclusive so he can fit into anyone's box. Jesus all-inclusive and will work with anyone!

Go to www.jesusplusnothing.org and get JESUS PLUS NOTHING. Check Jesus out for yourself. Get to know Jesus without religious baggage!

THE JESUS MOVEMENT CAN FIT INTO THE BIG C CHURCH

2012-01-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

NOW before I begin, let me make it clearagain: I am NOT against the organized Church.In our consumer-oriented world, the organizedChurch is the vehicle that can be a solutionto the many community needs-to grow up as afamily, to assist parents in strengtheningthe family, to provide a place of worship andprayer, to address the real needs of thecommunity-hunger, clothing, housing andcounseling.

Embracing Jesus' emphasis and intention withrespect to the movement He was launchingcontinually makes it seem that He was againstthe Synagogue (the modern-day organizedChurch). But this is not true. Jesusrespected the Synagogue (the organizedChurch). However, Jesus came to launch adynamic movement-a few here and a few overthere, gathering together in His name. Thisis where He promised to show up-where two orthree are gathered together.

And when Jesus shows up among the gatheringof the few, He changes lives dramatically.This is a very critical thing. The church ofJesus is all about transformation. My friend,Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek CommunityChurch outside of Chicago, has probablytrained more pastors and church leaders thanany other. Within the last two years Bill andhis staff came to the conclusion that allthey had done building their church wassorely missing the mark. They found thattheir ministry had been emphasizing the wrongthings-asking the wrong question, which was"How many people were in attendance?" Thebottom-line is that the people were notexperiencing transformation! They are nowreworking their approach to ministry,identifying where each person is on his orher spiritual journey and ministering totheir needs specifically. This was quite anadmission, to say the least, and rocked theChristian world as the news spread.

My friend, Rick Warren, pastor of SaddlebackCommunity Church in Orange County,California, shares a similar frustration. Heshared with me his consternation over theglaring fact that the big C Church is justnot changing the culture. Rick has beendiligently training pastors as Hybels overthe years and sees the reality that the big CChurch is not having the Jesus movementimpact on our society. Even though the megaChurches are more visible than ever, thereare still 60-70 smaller churches closing eachweek. The net impact on our population is notincreasing. It's like the big C Church inmany ways has become a holy huddle in themidst of a troubled and lost world. But wecannot settle for this.

For the most part the leadership of the big CChurches sees the vital need to make theChurch experience more intimate, so theybreak down the larger assembly into smallercontexts. One level of the smaller context isfound through affinity groups-like coupleswith children or singles. Another level ofthe smaller context is an educationalapproach through offering a variety ofclasses. Then there are the smaller groupsthat meet in homes during the week to study agiven topic. A final smaller context is moreshort-term, but proves to be quite effectiveand transformational-mission trips or retreats.

Any attempt to get smaller is better andcreates an atmosphere that invitesparticipation. But just because you aremeeting in a smaller context doesn't mean youare practicing the Jesus movement. Most smallgroups never reach the level of intimacy andunity for which Jesus prayed. They usuallydrift into gentle friendships, which aregood, but are not the revolutionaryfellowship movement Jesus envisioned.

There are 3 dynamic, Greek words with amessage of encouragement that can help you tostay on track with Jesus and to participatein A REVOLUTIONARY FELLOWSHIP THAT TRANSFORMSTHE WORLD!

FIRST-parakoloutheo-Keep on recommitting yourself to follow closely after one another! It means "to follow close up, or side by side", "to accompany, to conform to", or "following" teaching so that you practice it. There is a sense of following so closely that you can more fully know a person or persons. Check this out in Mark 16:17; Luke 1:3; I Timothy 4:6 and especially pay attention to II Timothy 3:10.

SECOND-katartizo-Keep on restoring oneanother! In I Corinthians 1:10, Paul writes:"I appeal to you that you may be perfectlyunited in mind and thought." The words"perfectly united" are a translation of theGreek work, katartizo. It is used in severalways in the New Testament: to restore, toperfect, to fit, to prepare, etc. Possiblythe most interesting use of the word is "tomend" a net. Fishermen around the world spendas much of their time mending nets as they dofishing. The maintenance of closerelationships requires our attention tomending as well. It's even used for aphysician to reset broken bones.

So, this word has 3 basic meanings:(1) To mend or repair the nets-Matthew 4:21;Mark 1:19.(2) To complete, furnish completely, to equipor to prepare-Luke 6:40.(3) To prepare and perfect ethically andspiritually-I Thessalonians 3:10; Galatians6:1; Ephesians 4:12; II Timothy 3:17: I Peter1:10.

THIRD-haplotes-Keep on reminding one anotherof the simplicity of Jesus! "But I amafraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve byhis craftiness, your minds will be led astrayfrom the simplicity and purity of devotion toChrist" (II Corinthians 11:3). This isa fascinating word that has more to it thansimply simple. This simplicity carries withit a sincerity, a single-mindedness, anunaffectedness. There is also a notion ofgenerosity and bountifulness in thissimplicity. In other words, the simplicityof devotion to Jesus has a single-mindedabundance to it-an overflowing fullness andliberality about it.

As you can plainly see the church orgathering that Jesus intended has to do withexperiencing a revolutionary fellowship withJesus and those who are also following Him.Although this isn't the primary purpose of aweek-end big C Church service due to thenature of its size, you can experience arevolutionary fellowship within the big C Church.

So, what does Jesus want us to do with theorganized big C Church?Reading through the 5 gospels(Matthew-Mark-Luke-John-Acts) it is clearwhat Jesus and the disciples did with the"organized Church". Let's view the synagogueas the organized Church. There are fourobservations that seem most relevant to us:1. You don't find Jesus or the disciplesbashing the Synagogue (Church).2. You find Jesus constantly correcting theleadership of the organized Synagogue(Church), teaching and practicing living inthe Kingdom.3. You don't find Jesus or the disciplesstarting new Synagogues (Churches), becauseof inadequate teaching or worship.4. You find Jesus and the disciples using theSynagogues (Churches) and then orbitingaround them.

Several years ago I read a book, ORBITING THE GIANT HAIRBALL--A Corporate Fool's Guide ToSurviving With Grace by Gordon MacKenzie. MacKenzie worked at Hallmark Greeting Cardsfor 30 years in the creative department. Hefound that he was unable to be very creative,if he had to spend his time in corporatemeetings. So he learned to orbit around thecorporate bureaucracy and not be entangled init, freeing him to create. He also makes itclear that the hairball was absolutelynecessary. Without it there was nothing topower the orbit and the hairball paid thebills. This is exactly what the earlyfellowships of Jesus did. They participatedin the Synagogue, yet they were in orbitaround their Synagogue, their communities andaround the marketplace. They went toSynagogue (Church) every Sabbath, yet theywere there for a higher purpose. They werethere to introduce more and more people tothe revolutionary fellowship and person ofJesus.

There are two clear action steps here:FIRST-participate in the revolutionaryfellowship movement of Jesus inside oroutside the big C Church.SECOND-orbit around the big C Church, lookingfor those who are interested in Jesus and Hismovement. Once someone leans in withinterest, invite them into the revolutionaryfellowship of Jesus with you.

THE ORGANIZED CHURCH & THE JESUS MOVEMENT

2012-01-11T20:05:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

This week I want to clarify some of mythoughts on the organized Church today. Iknow some of you no doubt feel that I amagainst the Church, but this is not true. Yousee, I am striving to understand what Jesusintended and what Jesus did, in fact, launchas the church of Jesus. Much of the time wehave added man-made doctrines and methods toHis teachings. These doctrines and methodsmay be good in themselves, but Jesus had abetter idea in mind. It's very important tosay that I am not against the organizedChurch, but seek to support it in its manyministries and to encourage leaders andlaymen alike to get back to the heart ofJesus as they conduct their Church ministries.

When I teach what Jesus said and did with Hisdisciples and what He intended with respectto the future disciples of His disciples, itis clearly different from what we know andlove today in the Church. And as I teachthese things the contrasts are very clear,therefore it may seem that I am blasting theChurch in the process. That is not my heartat all. I see the organized big C Church inmuch the same way as the early Synagogues andthe Temple in Jerusalem. When you frame theChurch in this way, it becomes clearer howthe Church fits within the Jesus movement.

The Synagogue and Temple were the massmeeting places where believers would come topray, confess, offer sacrifices, worship andhear the written Word of God read each week.The Synagogue had instruction for childrenthrough adults. Jesus and His disciplesattended Synagogue, never spoke against it,didn't seek to change it, and didn't startanother one to compete with it. There justwasn't any bashing of the Synagogue.

The Church today is the same as theSynagogue. It's a place where believers cangather in mass to pray, worship, hearteaching and enroll their children in somesort of spiritual instruction. It serves theconsumer needs of the people. The megachurches provide programs that are unequaledand very helpful, especially to the needs offamilies.

So, the big C Church has its place in theplan of God, however it's too easy to misswhat kind of thing Jesus intended. I call itthe little c church. The term "church" is nota special or holy word as many believe andteach. It literally means "called out ones"and was used to describe city councilmeetings or any kind of assembly where peopleare called out to meet for a purpose. Itsimply is a gathering of followers of Jesus.The simple gathering of followers of Jesus onany day and at any location is a church.These gatherings Jesus launched revolvedaround four ingredients-fellowship, food,prayer and the apostles' teachings (teachingsand principles of Jesus).

The big C Church by its very nature tendstoward making most people spectators; thelittle c church is all about relationalparticipation. The big C Church is founded ona set of beliefs or doctrines-a system ofdo's and don'ts; the little c church isfounded completely on a personal relationshipwith Jesus and as we gather seeing Jesus showup. The big C Church is a place where you go;the little c church is not a place to go, butwherever you go you are to be the church-thegathering in the name and power of Jesus.The big C Church is an organization; thelittle c church is a live organism-organic inevery way.

Check out these observations:FIRST-the church of Jesus is a movement. Youcannot get your arms around it, visit it, oreven see it. It's like the wind. You can'tsee the wind, but you can definitely see theeffects of it. It's not a monument that onebuilds; it's a movement around Jesus that iscontagious and must be caught. It's not adenominational or religious organization tobe joined; it's a living movement throughwhich Jesus captures your heart.

SECOND-the church of Jesus is everywhere andall around us-wherever followers of Jesusgather together in His name. No matter thelocation (coffee shop, living room, bar,race-track, battlefield, school, office), nomatter the culture (Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim,Hindu, Christian and even agnostic), and nomatter the level of society (the powerful orthe poor), you can find the Jesus movementmaking a difference in His name.

THIRD-the church of Jesus is a relational,participatory dynamic where people encounterJesus and walk with Him together. The Jesusmovement is not driven by a certain doctrinalsystem; it's driven by a real, personalrelationship with Jesus, Himself.

FOURTH-the church of Jesus is out ofcontrol-man's control-and under theleadership of Jesus, the Head. Maybe the onemost deadly move we tend to make in life isto be "in control".

We are given a strong clue to what Jesus cameto do in His prayer to the Father in John 17.He said, "Father, I have finished the workyou gave me to do." Let's listen in ownthis prayer: "I have manifested Your nameto the men whom You gave Me out of the world;they were Yours and You gave them to Me, andthey have kept Your word. Now they have cometo know that everything You have given Me isfrom You; for the words which You gave Me Ihave given to them; and they received themand truly understood that I came forth fromYou, and they believed that You sent Me. Butnow I come to You; and these things I speakin the world so that they may have My joymade full in themselves. I have given themYour word." Jesus came into this world toinvest His life in a few men and now He sendsus out to do the same. "As You sent Meinto the world, I also have sent them intothe world."

This is the essence of the church Jesus cameto build-a movement consisting of a fewfollowers who gather in His name in such away that they are able to know the Fatherpersonally and intimately. He says, "I donot ask on behalf of these alone, but forthose also who believe in Me through theirword; that they may all be one; even as You,Father, are in Me and I in You, that theyalso may be in Us, so that the world maybelieve that You sent Me."

So, are you caught up in the dynamic,participatory movement of Jesus-being thechurch-or are you satisfied with being aspectator-going to church?

BELIEVING ENOUGH TO FOLLOW

2012-01-10T23:36:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Today I want to show you why being a believer is not enough. On the road to becoming a disciple and then making disciples, there is another level of growth and maturity. Let's rehearse the levels up to this point:

1. People who are not followers of Jesus-family, friends, acquaintances.2. People who are interested-the seekers after more about Jesus.3. People who are interested enough to become a believer.

Now, today we come to the final level of progression in order to be ready and able to respond to Jesus' command to "make disciples of all nations."4. People who believe enough to follow Jesus.

Most of my life I have bought into the importance of being a believer or more specifically, a believer in Jesus. In the past few years as I have been focused on the teachings and principles of Jesus, I have come to realize that being a "believer" is probably not the best way to identify yourself with Jesus. If you perform a quick overview of the five Gospels (Matthew-Mark-Luke-John-Acts), you will discover that with few exceptions John is the only one who uses the term "believe" extensively.

Demons are said to be believers. The false teachers Jesus mentions are believers. Jesus refers to people who act like believers, but that's not good enough. Look at what Jesus says: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" Here was a group of people who spoke in the name of Jesus, cast out demons in the name of Jesus and performed many miracles in His name, yet Jesus didn't know them. He had no personal relationship with them.

In addition to demons and false teachers, many of you who are reading or listening to this daily see yourselves as believers, too. So, what's the difference? There must be more to it than just being a believer!

Jesus clarifies this. Jesus makes it clear that the only ones who will enter the
Kingdom of heaven are those who do the will of the Father. And what does Jesus mean by this? In the next paragraph He illustrates what this means:
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Those who do the will of the Father are those who hear the words of Jesus and practice them! That's more than just being a "believer". Don't get caught up in the clichés and sound bites of religiosity. Pray for ears to hear and eyes to see, then listen to what Jesus says and do it. Don't miss this! You must believe, but you must believe enough to follow Jesus and His teachings! Whether you are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Christian or agnostic, follow Jesus and enjoy the results!

Believe enough to follow Jesus. Being a follower of Jesus is the best identification. This ID is straight from Jesus and the writers of the Gospels. All of them use this term. It's possible to be a believer without being a follower of Jesus.

So, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? There are many ways to describe this. Here are three habits that we have found most helpful to teach how to follow Jesus. FIRST-WALKING WITH JESUS. Walking with Jesus means you are devoted to Jesus in four ways:

1. Devoted to copy Jesus-to walk, talk, love and think like Jesus. The question to check this is "What Did Jesus Do?" (WDJD?). Follow Him.

2. Devoted to consult with Jesus regarding your personal, family and professional decisions. The question to check this is "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD?). Follow what Jesus would do in this situation.

3. Devoted to converse with Jesus throughout your day. Prayer is simply a conversation within your relationship with Jesus. The question to check this is "What Is Jesus Saying?" (WIJS?).

4. Devoted to community like Jesus-disciplining yourself to do life with a few others. The question to check this is "What Is Jesus Doing?" (WIJD?).

SECOND-WALKING WITH OTHERS WHO WALK WITH JESUS. The early disciples modeled this by spending time together, studying the teachings of Jesus, eating, praying and fellowshipping with one another. Walking with others is a commitment to be in community with a few, in conversation with Jesus with that few and in copy-mode to stimulate one another to be like Jesus.

THIRD-WAITING ON JESUS TO LEAD OUT WITH OPPORTUNITIES AND ORDERS. This may be the toughest, but is made much easier by walking together with a few others.

INTERESTED ENOUGH TO BELIEVE

2012-01-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

On the road to becoming a disciple and then making disciples there seem to be four levels of progression. Yesterday we saw the first level-the entire world around you who is not presently following Jesus. Our goal is that by showing Jesus off we might find people who are interested.

I want to clarify a little more who these interested people are. They are not interested in joining something. They are not interested in becoming religious. They are not interested in learning a new language. Nor are they interested in leaving their culture or religious identification to become like you in your culture. BUT we are looking for those who are interested in how Jesus might fit into their culture and how their culture fits with Jesus and His teachings.

People who are interested in this way are open to knowing and discovering more about this Jesus. I call this kind of stance 'leaning in' for more. It reminds me of becoming like a little child-open, trusting and in more of a learning mode. When a person 'leans in' in this way, he will inevitably come to the point of personal faith-to be a believer in Jesus.

Being interested enough to believe is what we want. The progression goes like this: First-a person sees Jesus displayed through the lives of those who are following Jesus. Second-once a person sees Jesus displayed, there is a good chance he will become interested in knowing more. Third-when a person follows his interest in Jesus and is leaning in, he will likely become a believer.

For most of my spiritual journey I have found calling myself a believer most comfortable. It's a clean term and has little religious baggage to it. Three observations come to mind here.

FIRST-Being a believer has become a threshold experience-the very doorway into salvation. After sharing a time of counseling a desperate man in the psych ward of a local hospital, I told this particular study group that it was so exciting to see this man's attitude of fear change into a sincere seeking for God. One of our group members quickly said, "So he became a believer?" In other words, "Did you close the spiritual deal and now this non-believer is a believer?" We seem to want this magical moment that a person becomes a believer and then all will be OK.

To accommodate this thinking and to motivate people into becoming a believer, many have created tangible ways to confirm this threshold act of belief. Some urge people to respond during what is called an altar call, such as what is done at the end of a Billy Graham service. Others have what is called an "I believe" service, where a person stands to his feet and says "I believe." Still others rely on urging a person to pray a prayer of belief. Each of these sort of memorializes the time a person becomes a believer.

SECOND-Being a believer has become a time to reference as the time your relationship with God began. Remembering the day you became a believer-your threshold experience of salvation-becomes a sure sign that your faith is genuine and not being able to nail down that date means that maybe you never actually have come into a salvation experience at all.

Recently, a pastor told one of his elders that if you can't identify that specific time of salvation faith in your life, then you are probably not a genuine believer. That night the elder interrogated his wife and she could not give him a specific day, but she felt she had come into a personal faith gradually. When the elder shared this experience with a group I was leading, he was really saddened by his discovery and it showed in his countenance. Then I asked him, "When was Peter's specific day?" The elder sat there for quite some time and said, "I don't know." I said, "Troubling, isn't it?" "What about the other disciples? What was their specific day?" The elder saw what I was showing him and said, "So, my pastor was wrong."

THIRD-Being a believer can miss the point of the ongoing process of believing. To make "being a believer" so paramount, it is too easy to miss out on what happened with the early disciples and rely on man-made sound bites and clichés. Think about it! The early disciples were not "believers" in the sense that most think of it today. They were followers of Jesus and His teachings, but were a work in progress with respect to becoming believers. By the way, that process took them over three years!

So, we want people to become interested-interested enough to believe. But there is a catch here. Becoming a believer is more than a threshold experience. It's not just a moment in time where a person has expressed his belief or faith in Jesus. The act of believing is progressive and continual. It's a journey of faith. It's important to encourage those who are interested to be interested enough to believe. Just make sure that when a person believes, this believer learns to keep on believing-living this faith out in his life.

As important as it is to be interested enough to believe I want to show you tomorrow why believing is not enough to get you into a relationship with God. On the road to becoming a disciple and then making disciples, there is one more level that must be reached.

LOOKING FOR THE INTERESTED

2012-01-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

On the road to becoming a disciple and then making disciples there seem to be four levels of progression. The first is found all around you-your family, friends and acquaintances. Or, to put it more specifically, the entire world that is not now presently following Jesus.

Over the years I've come to realize that God is into what I call "divine appointments." A divine appointment comes up in, at least, three ways. First is a scheduled appointment. You know you are going to see a certain person today, but you may not know what may come up there that is all about the move of God. Second is a spontaneous appointment. You know the person, but had no idea you would run into him today. Third is the surprise appointment. You don't know the person you are encountering and it is a surprise to everyone, but God that you are thrown together into this appointment. In every case God is busily setting up divine appointments for each of us all day long. All He wants from us is to show up! In other words, God has something special for you to do as you touch this person. This is why I pray: "Lord Jesus, what is it that you have for me today?" I want to anticipate these divine appointments and look for them throughout the day.

When it comes to being obedient to making disciples of Jesus of all the nations, I think it's best to start right here where God is setting up the appointments for you. It's at this level that we are thinking in terms of exposing as many people to Jesus as possible.

So, how is this done most effectively? I mean, a street preacher on the corner or a spiritual march with signs and bullhorns may have some effect, but I know these approaches are not the most effective. As I have examined the ways we might show Jesus off, I have discovered only five in the New Testament.

FIRST-By lifestyle. Jesus says: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16) Your lifestyle-how you live your life-will speak so loudly to those who are watching. How you handle your problems and stresses, how you love your spouse and how you treat your family and friends are all on display. People can see Jesus in this way!

SECOND-By loving one another. Jesus says: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) People can also see Jesus by our love for one another. This is so attractive and contagious.

THIRD-By giving a blessing when you are insulted. Peter says: To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. And later, Peter says: "Always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you." (I Peter 3:8-12, 15) People who give a blessing when insulted are acting in a counter-cultural sort of way. It's moving to the beat of a different drummer by the name of Jesus.

FOURTH-By sharing your own Jesus story. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without someone to proclaim? (Romans 10:14) This is the only one of the ways we show Jesus off by our words. But NOTE that this is not you preaching to or arguing with anyone. The best thing to share is your own personal story. No one can argue with your own experience, strength and hope you have found through Jesus.

FIFTH-By ministering to Jesus through the needs of people. Jesus says something very unique: 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:35-40) Once a month a group of us feed and minister to the needs of the homeless in Orange County. I always encourage each of the volunteers that by loving and ministering to these dear people they are actually ministering to Jesus Himself.

Now, each of these actions show Jesus off to the world-living a lifestyle like Jesus, loving one another, blessing when insulted, sharing your own story and helping those in need. In fact, when you do these things, you are living a lifestyle on a different level altogether and people notice. The people who notice are all of the people who are watching you day after day. We pray that through our interactions with our family, friends and acquaintances that they will become interested.

We're looking for those who are interested. This is really the only requirement that is necessary-to be interested. By the way, if you are interested and have a passion for Jesus and how His teachings and principles work in your life, you will find all kinds of people interested in the same thing. You will find interested people in Churches, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues, civic groups, schools, gyms, in the corporate setting, and in your community. Do you want to make disciples of Jesus, orbit around your world, looking for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. You're not looking to close any spiritual deals or people to preach to; you're looking for the interested! They are all around you. God is setting up divine appointments all day long just for you. All He wants from you is to show up!

JESUS PLUS NOTHING-THE BOOK!

2012-01-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

For nearly the entire year of 2011 we have been embroiled in the process of writing a book we call JESUS PLUS NOTHING. It's not only a book; there will be several study guides for individuals and small groups to focus on the teachings and principles of Jesus. I read every book that is published on Jesus and have found them all to be filled with Christianese and, at best, Jesus light.

We have come to see and understand that Jesus can and must stand on His own. Jesus alone is enough and needs nothing else to make a significant difference in a person's life. Jesus alone is enough. As Jesus puts it: "Without me you can do nothing." Now, Jesus either meant that or He didn't. "Without me you can do nothing." This understanding and appreciation of Jesus doesn't occur just by hearing someone teach on it or even by reading a book on it. It takes lots of time to get to know Jesus and then to trust Him to be all He is and can be in your life.

The beginning of the book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING, is of necessity my personal story. It's my story of being addicted to religion, particularly Christianity. My addiction was bolstered by my strict, Christian upbringing, my Christian College and four-year graduate seminary experiences, the founding of one of the early mega-Churches, publishing ten best-sellers, knowing the lingo of Christianese and a full store-house of Biblical knowledge from the Greek and Hebrew. THEN, Jesus apprehended my heart in a dramatic way and for the first time I became serious about answering his revolutionary call: "FOLLOW ME!" For the first time in my life I got to know this Jesus personally-the Jesus I only talked a lot about.

JESUS PLUS NOTHING is not only my personal story; it is also a story of reconciliation. With the gap widening between Christianity and the other religious cultures of the world-Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, atheists and agnostics-JESUS PLUS NOTHING offers the only solution to this increasing alienation and illustrates how reconciliation has worked and is working in the world today. This is not about inter-faith or multi-faith solutions. It's not another peace plan for reconciliation! This is about Jesus!

As I continued to write and interact with many around this country and in nations around the world, I was repeatedly introduced to men and women who are focused on being "Church planters" in the many cultures of the world. What I realized early was that JESUS PLUS NOTHING can be extremely helpful to those who are committed to planting or starting up new Churches around the world. What I realized was that no one in the early movement of Jesus "planted Churches." There's a better and more effective strategy for making disciples of Jesus in all nations.

I recently spoke to a group of Church planters and called my talk: "Stop Planting Churches And Join The Jesus Movement!" It was surprisingly well received. Only one man had a problem with the approach I presented and he wasn't actually a Church planter. One of my dear friends in Africa, a man I've never met personally, was asked to speak to a group of Church planters from several African nations. He followed the same approach and was enthusiastically received. Jesus has a better idea than planting another Church. It's what I call the Jesus movement.

As I shared yesterday, JESUS PLUS NOTHING is also a story for the persecuted Church around the world. Why is it necessary to continually read the sickening headlines of Christians and the Christian Church being persecuted-churches burned out, leaders threatened and tortured, and angry mobs within their communities filled with hate? Most of the persecution of the Christian Church around the world can be avoided today without diluting the message of Jesus! Jesus plus nothing else is so attractive and irresistible to people everywhere!

Finally, JESUS PLUS NOTHING is a story for the turned off! Why are so many youth moving away from the tenets of Christianity and not returning? Why are so many Church members finding it more comfortable to be spectators and not participators? Why are more than 75 Churches closing each week in the US? People are either turned off or not turned on to what's going on. We're finding a wide assortment of people who are highly attracted to Jesus, simply Jesus. To add anything else to Jesus is to dilute who Jesus is and what He can do.

JESUS PLUS NOTHING is all about getting to know Jesus and learning to follow Jesus with your entire being. It's a call to personal and global transformation.
There seem to be three stages of following Jesus. FIRST-Jesus is followed because He is so flawless and attractive-unimpeachable. He is the one person who has truly walked the walk and the talk perfectly. No one argues with this. And the disciples believed in Him enough to follow Him. There is nothing wrong with this type of following Jesus at all. Anyone anywhere can begin to follow Jesus, no matter their belief systems.

SECOND-Then as you follow this attractive Jesus, you will begin to embrace His lifestyle, teachings and principles and find them to be very practical and meaningful for your life. Following this Jesus just makes sense.

THIRD-Finally, as you continue to follow this Jesus and find His teachings meaningful, you will at some point discover your Creator-God. You will experience transformation of your heart and your mind and see Jesus for who He is.

So, wherever you are in this continuum of the stages in following Jesus, ultimately you are seeking and hoping to receive this gift of transformation from God Himself. When you understand this, you then can embrace the fact of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Agnostics, Muslims and even Christians who are followers of Jesus.

This is why I am dedicating my life to doing two things. FIRST-I am doing one of the toughest things I've ever set out to do in my life; I'm trying to follow Jesus and embrace His teachings as my lifestyle.

SECOND-I want to do whatever I can do to introduce Jesus and His teachings to as many individuals as I possibly can. This approach to life is summed up in an old phrase: TO KNOW JESUS AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN. I encourage you to think about doing the same. This sums up what we mean by "Jesus Plus Nothing."

JESUS PLUS NOTHING IS FOR THE PERSECUTED

2012-01-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

I receive an email or two per day relating stories of ugly persecution around the world. Usually the persecution is against a group of Christians who are being threatened, burned out of their Church buildings, tortured, abused or even killed. The stories are amazing and very sad.

Before I finished writing JESUS PLUS NOTHING, we advised a persecuted missionary in India to shift his approach from trying to "convert" the Hindus out of their culture into a Western Christian mold. It's no wonder they were being persecuted. Families were angered and village leadership fought against him with all their power and passion over this haughty conversion tactic being used.

Conversion in the sense of yanking a person from his culture and making him join a new culture isn't even mentioned one time in the Bible. Even though this is a fact, many blindly and stubbornly move ahead to put all of their monies and energies into converting people out of their cultures into the Western Christian culture. In a few translations the term "convert" or "converted" is used, but it means to turn to God, not change or deny a person's culture.

As we have discussed in the last couple of days, followers of Jesus are never commanded to convert the world, but to make disciples of Jesus from all of the nations. In fact, no person, clergy or missionary can convert or change a person's heart at all. Only God can perform this kind of inner transformation.

This was the essence of what came out of the conversation with Jesus and his disciples, when Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven."

By the way, when the persecuted missionary changed his approach from trying to convert Hindus to become Christians into simply introducing Hindus to Jesus, the persecution finally ceased.

JESUS PLUS NOTHING illustrates two of the most common types of persecution taught by Jesus. The first is that Jesus made it clear that the world will hate his followers in the same way they hate Jesus. Then, Jesus explains what the "world" will do to his followers. He says, "They will throw you out of their synagogues." In other words, the "world" Jesus is referring to is the religious world. I've certainly experienced this. Most of the so-called persecution I've ever received has come from the religious, not the secular world.

The second kind of persecution that emerges out of Jesus' teachings is the refusal of the Jewish leadership to go along with God's original program of reaching out to the nations of the world. Through God's agreement He made with Abraham, the Jews were to be especially blessed by God and to be a blessing to the nations of the world.

The greatest persecution in the New Testament writings happened when Jesus referred to extending salvation to the nations or Gentiles. When Jesus brought this up in his first talk at the synagogue in Nazareth, the people were so incensed that they took him out to push him off a cliff.

When Stephen referred to being a blessing to the nations of the world, he was stoned to death. And when Paul mentioned it, he was stoned and left for dead.

In my opinion, today most persecution comes out of a religious context and also occurs when well-meaning people try to do the work of wrenching people out of their cultures and changing them into becoming whatever flavor of religious persuasion one happens to be.

Remember what Jesus said to Peter? "My Father revealed these incredible transforming ideas to you. No flesh and blood can teach this, so that you are transformed."

God is calling people to Himself within the many cultures of our world. Instead of you trying to call people out or supporting those who do, just go along with what God is up to. He's got the best idea of all and He's the only one who can truly change a person's heart. Now that's a Jesus plus nothing principle, for sure!

THE HOW OF MAKING DISCIPLES

2012-01-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Here again are Jesus' words, giving a very direct command to those who want to continue following Him: And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

Remember, there is only one command here from Jesus and that is to make disciples-to make followers of Jesus of all nations. Also, keep in mind this is making followers of Jesus, not making followers of your religious persuasion. It's not making followers of your traditions and culture. This is all about making followers of Jesus, who supersedes all religious beliefs and systems and founders. This is Jesus without religious baggage of any kind.

Most people make the mistake of thinking the command here is to go, because of the English wording here. There is no commandment to go, to baptize or to teach. These are participles giving us guidelines on how to make followers of Jesus.

The first participle is BY GOING. This has to do with initiating the follow-through on the command to make disciples. I think this action is best described for us today as introducing everyone everywhere we can to Jesus. We are not to be taking mission trips for the purpose of conversion, but to advance the conversation of Jesus in whatever culture we enter. Jesus fits and is attractive to every culture; your religious system is not. When you go to convert people to your way of thinking, persecution is inevitable.

The second participle is BY BAPTIZING. To baptize means to immerse a person into something-literally to dip into. If you take a white cloth and dip it into a bucket of red dye, your cloth will have a new identification-red. This is the essence of baptism. It is the action of identifying a person with something. John was known as the baptizer. He baptized or identified people with repentance-changing their minds about their stance before God. Jesus identified Himself with John's baptism of repentance. Then Jesus baptized or identified or immersed people with His Spirit.

Listen to how John compared his baptism with that of Jesus: And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:7-8)

The Gospel of John puts it this way: Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." (John 1:24-34)

Jesus extends this identification with His Spirit when He has His disciples wait for the Spirit to come upon them with power: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

NOTE the spread of the message of Jesus to make followers throughout the world is natural, when His Spirit comes upon you.

The third participle is BY TEACHING. This action of incarnating Jesus within the discipleship process is to teach all who will listen to observe and obey all that Jesus taught and commanded. It's learning to flesh out Jesus making Jesus your life's reference point and focal point. It's embracing Jesus as a lifestyle. This is not indoctrination, but incarnation of Jesus in every way possible.

Now, here is the key to the "how" of making disciples. There are two lines that cannot be overlooked. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

FIRST-"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Authority is the rights and power to do whatever He wants. How much is "all"? All means everything; no other authority that matters exists.

SECOND-"I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Get this! The same Jesus who has all authority, rights and power in the universe is the one who is with you always-even to the end of the world.

If you are going to be effective in making disciples or followers of Jesus, you must be a follower of the one who has all authority, rights and power and who is always present with you. If this Jesus is present with you, then those you touch will not only see it; they will sense Jesus in you!

Making Disciples of All Nations

2012-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

I want to revisit what it means to follow through with what Jesus commanded us to do. It has been called the "great commission." Don't get sidetracked from the primary command here. The only command is to "make disciples of all the nations." He offers three participles on how we are to make disciples-(1) by going, (2) by baptizing and (3) by teaching. Today I want to only deal with the command and tomorrow with the three participles.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

Who is the target on which we are to focus for making disciples? Who are we to disciple? Note that Jesus makes it clear that we are to disciple "all of the nations." Nations would be better to translate as "cultures." We are to make disciples of people from all of the cultures of the world who are not now disciples. Disciples of what? A certain religion? A specific theological system? No, we are to make disciples of Jesus-followers of Jesus. Our audience is made up of all people everywhere who are not now followers of Jesus.

The initial exposure to the nations of the world happened on one day at the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 2:4-6: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. So, instantly the seed of the message of Jesus was planted in the hearts of men and women from the nations of the world.

Peter, trying to stick to his cultural traditions and religious Law was confounded by God to realize that God was willing and able to work with every nation or culture of the world. Check this out: Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus the Christ (He is Lord of all)-you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:34-43)

NOTE Peter realized quickly that "in every nation or culture the man who fears God and does what is right is welcome to Him." By the way, that means from every religion as well. God is already at work in people's hearts all over the world in every culture, not to join our culture and religious expression, but they are welcome to God for themselves!

Paul and Barnabas entered the city of Lystra, healed a man and the people believed they were gods-Zeus and Hermes, who had come to the city. Then after hearing them speak and reject their worshipping of them, the Jews attacked them. The crowds were stirred up to attack Paul and they actually stoned him, leaving him for dead. With the disciples there in Lystra, he amazingly had the strength to get up, went back into the city with the disciples and moved on with Barnabas the next day to another city, Derbe. NOTE that their end game was to make disciples of Jesus there: After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. (Acts 14:21-22)

When Paul spoke to the people in the marketplace of Athens, he said, "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this." So Paul went out of their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

NOTE God gave all people life and breath, making every nation or culture of the world. He determined each culture's boundaries and activities in order that they might seek God-by groping and finding Him, since God is not far from anyone. Then Paul says, since all created people are the children of God, we ought to be able to discover and connect with God through His further revelation. This revelation is not through some image or idol, but is in fact a man who was raised from the dead. His name? Jesus.

On several occasions in the book of Revelation the message of Jesus is said to have gone out to "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." This can only happen if we are focused on making disciples of Jesus everywhere, not converting people to become a member of one of our religious systems. Jesus is above all of man's religious systems. Jesus, the incomparable and irresistible Jesus!

2012-THE YEAR OF THE JESUS MOVEMENT

2012-01-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

There's lots of movement in our world today, mostly filled with the spirit of tension and rebellion. Beginning with one businessman setting himself on fire in Tunisia, the match was lit that spread a fire of revolution throughout the Arab world. It's called the Arab Spring! Many saw it as a great move toward democracy around the world. However, whenever a vacuum is created in the power structure of a nation, other powers will inevitably move into that vacuum and the results may not be as desirable as originally anticipated.
Then there are the global economic crises occurring all over the world. European nations are in a lot of trouble and seem to be just a bit ahead of the United States. It's as if all is horribly out of control around the world and right here at home in the US.

As we listen to the discord and the seeming willingness to say most anything within the political arena, distrust reigns. There seems to be a major deficiency in credible leadership in our country and in our world. This creates a massive spirit of insecurity in the society's of our world. There is no one to lead us out of this quagmire. No one who has any answers that resonate with our hearts and no one seems to know the way.

Add to this the gnawing and relentless claims that we are approaching the end of the world as we know it. Even though we have a feeling that the Mayans weren't right about the end of the world, there is still an unsettled feeling about the date this year of December 21, 2012 as the end of the world. Add to this the many other prophecies and opinions that the world is reaching a climactic end. The primary rationale here is that we are all so frustrated with the way things are and don't see any way through it all to make it any better.

I want to add my own prophetic utterance to the many global rumors out there. As I write, travel and interact with people from the many cultures and levels of society around the globe, it is clear to me that we are definitely approaching some highly significant, climactic realization. I'm sensing it and seeing it in every culture. The climactic realization is what I call "the Jesus movement."

The Jesus movement is being stirred up by God calling people out of every culture of the world to Himself. This Jesus movement is greater than all of us, more massive than any movement ever! The Jesus movement is Jesus without religious baggage. The movement consists of people from every culture of the world and most of them won't look like you do.

The Jesus movement is growing fast and is irreversible! The Jesus movement is the Kingdom of God on earth and without any boundaries whatsoever. The genesis of the idea of a movement around Jesus is Jesus' revolutionary call to anyone who will see and listen: FOLLOW ME! All those who follow Jesus are moving to the beat of a different drummer. This drummer is Jesus!

In this New Year of 2012 look for the Jesus movement in your area. Jesus is moving out in your neighborhood. Jesus not only has the character we are all looking for, the security we all long for; he also is the only one who can lead out in such a way so as to bring peace to our world, beginning with peace in your heart.

I'm seeing it everywhere! Pastors and religious leaders are beginning to talk about Jesus plus nothing else added to him. Community, political and corporate leaders are now talking about Jesus in a new way. It's happening all around us!
Look for him there and see what he is up to. The Jesus movement can be discovered as you focus on Jesus outside the box-without religious baggage. It's Jesus plus nothing!

JPN FOR PARENTS & YOUTH LEADERS

2011-12-29T15:00:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Every generation of young people seem to go through the stage of pulling away from their faith and religious affiliation. This stirs up a continual fear among parents and religious leaders everywhere. It's natural and has always been a rite of passage for young people, but this time around there seems to be a difference. This time the youth aren't returning back to their religious upbringing and this time many of these youth are expressing an unusual hunger for spirituality, while rejecting the homegrown answers of their childhood.
A few years ago a successful children's filmmaker approached me. He was interested in making a children's video on the Bible and he was told that I would make it all about Jesus. It was a fascinating encounter, forcing me to find out what is happening in religious instruction for children. From my somewhat limited vantage point, all I could see was that we have spent so much time rehearsing the biographical stories out of the Bible, but only inserted Jesus at the "You-all-want-to-go-to-heaven-don't-you time!" So I moved into research mode.

My first sampling was to ask two of my most "churched" grandchildren what their favorite stories of Jesus were. They were 7 and 9 at the time. Much to my surprise, they were stumped for an answer. Then Luke said, "Jesus was born!" "Yes!" I said. Then Luke added, "And we get presents!" Well, he had the right answer, but maybe his application was a little weak. After that outburst, there was nothing more to be added by my two samples.

I moved into gear and told them about Jesus losing his best friend, Lazarus, and then after Lazarus was really dead, Jesus brought him back to life. "And Jesus had his best friend again!" they said. I then made my way into the wedding feast where Jesus turned the water into juice. "Apple juice?" "No, it was actually grape juice." I showed them how much water was used by outlining a room in their house and they were amazed.

After taking this sampling of what is taught to our children, I met with the Children's Pastors of three local mega-Churches. When I asked how much they actually teach the children about Jesus, they all answered, "Every week!" Then as I pressed in on the studies, they all realized as I had that they do not teach much about Jesus at all. It was a shocking moment for us all!

It's no wonder our youth are leaving the Church and not coming back. What are they going to come back for? The re-telling of the old stories? The old stories just aren't enough to hold a person's commitment and devotion. There must be something more.

You see, I think what we've been doing for so long is to teach children about our religious systems, doctrines and traditions, but have left Jesus out of the equation. Oh, we all know Jesus is around. He actually hasn't left the building yet, but there is little to introduce a kid to this amazing and irresistible Jesus. And if a child doesn't get to know Jesus, other than praying the sinner's prayer, that child will not learn to follow Jesus with his life. Why introduce kids to Church or your religious persuasion without Jesus? There is something fundamentally wrong with this picture.

As I have been writing this book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING, two observations quickly come to mind. First, our children need to get to know Jesus. They are the most receptive to this most authentic person. Jesus even repeatedly teaches that unless one becomes like a little child, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. The answer is not to teach our children better or more, so they can defend and propagate their faith. The answer for our children is to be introduced to Jesus.

Second, our children are most indelibly marked by their parents and other significant adults in their lives-not by going to a religious instruction class. Parents can be so critical of the religious institution, yet it is in the home where the most significant lessons of life and of Jesus are taught or not taught. Kids desperately need to see and hear Jesus from their parents and significant adults in their lives. More than anything else, kids need to get the sense that their models are sincerely following Jesus with their lives. It's more than teaching. Jesus is both taught and caught!

If your children aren't sufficiently turned off in the elementary years, there is a significant opportunity for them to be rescued from their wandering from God and satisfying their deepest spiritual longings through an active youth group. It's within this context that there is a greater opportunity to be influenced by others who have come to know Jesus in a personal way and are not boxed into a system of do's and don'ts and religious verbiage that serve to turn the youth away.

If you as a parent, a youth worker, a teacher, a coach, a mentor or a neighbor, join the Jesus movement and embrace "Jesus plus nothing" for yourself, you will be the best answer for the young seekers around you. In fact, when you touch a child with the powerful message of Jesus, you are planting a seed that has the potential to transform a generation. Note that I'm not speaking religiously, but personally. "Jesus plus nothing" is a personal matter. The person is Jesus!

JESUS PLUS NOTHING IS FOR EVERYONE

2011-12-28T11:44:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

After growing up in a Western Christian culture with lots of love and good Church and family experiences, I met Jesus. He was different than I expected. He was different from the faculty that educated me, different from the religious crowds that flocked around me at speaking events and conferences, different from the many spiritual friends that deserted me during my down times. Jesus was the one who stayed. He was the one who didn't shake his head in disappointment, didn't turn away in disgust. He is the one who knelt down, picked me up, dusted me off. He is the one who embraced me. It was then I realized that the Jesus I had first embraced was different from the one who was embracing me now.

And I realized something else. That Jesus I could follow. That Jesus I wanted to follow, needed to follow, couldn't help but to follow.

Not the Jesus who is wrapped up in a religious system of do's and don'ts. Not the Jesus who is used to raise money to build more and more buildings or fill the religious treasuries. Not the Jesus who was highjacked for the violent Crusades-persecuting, killing, and even mass murdering Jews, Muslims, all non-Christians, and even other Christians who disagreed with them. Not the Jesus who is embraced by a political candidate or party to impress the people. Not the Jesus who wants you to join his club. Not the Jesus who puts a heavy guilt trip on you for not performing. Not the hell-fire-and-damnation Jesus. Nor the meek-and-mild Jesus.

This Jesus is the one I never really knew. The one without Christian verbiage. The one without religious baggage. The one without self-righteous garbage. This is Jesus plus nothing.

This Jesus is the Jesus that the early followers, called disciples, got to know. For three-and-a-half years they were in an apprentice relationship with Jesus. In their system of education they never made the grade of being chosen by a rabbi to follow in his steps, so they had returned home to work the family business. But this rabbi, this Jesus, this new guy in town, he chooses them to follow him. He picked uneducated, untrained, ordinary men to come along with him and learn from him. In a sense, Jesus chose those who hadn't made the cut, walk-ons, as the team he wanted on the field in the most important game in the history of the world.

From those early beginnings, the Jesus movement continues to be the largest in the world today. This all-encompassing movement consists of people from every culture and religion on the earth-Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Pantheists, Agnostics. When Jesus is not boxed into any religious system or wrapped up in a package marked "exclusive," he has proven to be universally attractive throughout the world. People from every culture embrace Jesus, simply Jesus, whether religious or not.

Take Gandhi, for example. He was so captivated with the life and teachings of Jesus that he became one of the greatest followers of Jesus ever. One of the most common descriptions of Gandhi was that he was so "Christ-like." Gandhi discovered that his cultural background as a Hindu was enhanced by Jesus. "I shall say to Hindus," he once said, "that your life will be incomplete unless you reverentially study the teachings of Jesus. Make this world the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything will be added unto you." Gandhi, whose goal in life was to live the Sermon on the Mount, said, "It was that sermon that has endeared Jesus to me." And, about Jesus' death on the cross, he said: "A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act." And finally the quote that was probably his most famous: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

The current Dalai Lama is another example. He has expressed his love and respect for Jesus in many ways and on many occasions. Many of his teachings reflect those of Jesus. As the example and leader of the Buddhist community, the Dalai Lama is called His Holiness, yet he says he is not worthy to even untie the shoes of Jesus. In an OP-ED article for The New York Times, the Dalai Lama wrote: "In my readings of the New Testament, I find myself inspired by Jesus' acts of compassion. His miracle of the loaves and fishes, his healing and his teaching are all motivated by the desire to relieve suffering."
Both Gandhi and the Dalai Lama revere Jesus as the greatest teacher and example who ever lived.

Looking at the long history of Jewish thought, some of the most prominent rabbis have come to revere Jesus as possibly the most influential Jew who ever lived. Dr. David Flusser, in his book, The Sage From Galilee: Rediscovering Jesus' Genius, broke down many barriers that have kept Jews from studying Jesus. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists in the world said this about Jesus: "As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word."

Agnostics are another group of people who have many in their ranks who follow Jesus. In my experience they are perhaps the most open to Jesus when presented without all the religious baggage. Agnostics have a vacuum in their hearts. In my experience, this seems to be a God-shaped vacuum. I continually enjoy conversing with agnostics, once I am able to convince them that I don't want to discuss religion. It seems that this group is better able to view Jesus separated from the religious wrappings. They've already rejected the religious trappings and were left empty. But, when introduced to Jesus without religious baggage, so often they respond by saying: "I can follow this Jesus!"

The "self-help movement" is another group of people who revere Jesus, some going as far as to follow him. Even in our highly educated, secularized society, the principles of Jesus are the basis for most of the self-help and motivational principles. Though they may not use his name, they do use his teaching and his example.

In many ways this is nothing new. Jesus has always worked with people from every culture and found them to be attracted to him. The problem in the First Century was the religious jealousy of the "gate-keepers" of Judaism. When Jesus presented his message of love and compassion to the non-religious and to all other non-Jewish nations of the world, he was resisted, ridiculed, and ultimately rejected.

Yes, Jesus plus nothing-Jesus without religious baggage or boxes-is attractive and can be satisfying for everyone everywhere.

IS JESUS PLUS NOTHING ENOUGH?

2011-12-27T21:31:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

From the very beginning of writing the book, JESUS PLUS NOTHING, I have had so many people challenge the assertion: "Jesus plus nothing." Although I can't go into my answers to these challenges exhaustively in a daily podcast as I did in the book itself, here are a few thoughts for your consideration.
The challenges were basic to the discussion: What about prayer? Don't you need to pray? Yes, but who are you conversing with when you pray? Jesus!
What about the Scriptures? Don't you need Jesus and the Scriptures? Well, Jesus made it pretty clear, when criticizing the religious leaders that they were studying and memorizing the Scriptures and missing him in the process. The written Word speaks of Jesus, but only Jesus, the living Word, can give eternal life (John 5).

What about Church membership? Well, besides the fact that there is nothing in the Scriptures requiring Church membership, the church or gathering of Jesus happens when two or three come together in his name. So, Jesus is all you need-the one, the only one to gather around, whether you are gathering in a living room or assembling in a massive Church service. That's again Jesus plus nothing!

What about Jesus plus the Holy Spirit? What a person is really saying here is, "Aren't you forgetting the Holy Spirit by asserting Jesus plus nothing?"
Check out what Jesus says of the Spirit and the Father in the 15th and 16th chapters of John: "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me, because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you."

Do you see the pre-eminence of Jesus acted out in the play? When it comes to the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the marquee character. And the spotlight is always on him! So, again, "Jesus plus nothing" works!

This Vine and branches visual is powerful. When Jesus taught about the dynamic relationship he wanted with his disciples, he used the illustration of the vine and the branches. He clearly taught in this section that the relationship he wants and the only one that matters is for the disciples (the branches) to cling to and stay connected to Jesus (the vine). He even went further to say, "Without me you can do nothing." Nothing. What don't we understand about nothing? How much clearer could Jesus have said it?

Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He lifts up every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15)."

This all happens in the name of Jesus with nothing added. Not Miracle Grow on the leaves. Not mulch on the roots. Just Jesus. Note that it's not that you can do nothing without the Spirit, but it's without Jesus you can do nothing. You just can't short-change this. It is clearly Jesus plus nothing!

Two other thoughts come to mind here. First-every person he encountered, touched, healed or raised from the dead are convinced that Jesus alone is enough.

Second-After Paul listed out his major religious accomplishments when writing to the Philippians, he made it crystal clear that Jesus plus nothing else is all you will ever need. Check out what Paul said: "If others think they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things."

The saying I heard a couple of years ago still stands tall!JESUS ALONE IS ENOUGH.JESUS PLUS ANYTHING IS NOTHING.JESUS PLUS NOTHING IS EVERYTHING YOU WILL EVER NEED.

JESUS WITH ADDITIVES

2011-12-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

If Jesus presented himself as enough, and those he touched believed he was enough, why do we miss this point, which is the very essence of the Good News of Jesus? Jesus plus nothing else added on is all we need, yet we seem to miss it.

We are able to develop entire belief systems around Jesus, enlist the masses to join our organizations around Jesus, judge those who do not quite see eye-to-eye with us about Jesus, and propagate these belief systems, organizations and dogma as the only way to life, yet all without getting to know this Jesus personally.

Today there is a Jesus movement that is popping up all over in the many cultures of the world. This Jesus movement is just that-a movement that is all about Jesus who is not packaged within any institutional, religious structure. The Jesus movement is attracted to and revolves around simply Jesus without being wrapped up in religious traditions or trappings.

Participants in the Jesus movement have been confused and even turned off by these wrappings. In order to fuel the Jesus movement in such a way, so as to keep the primary focus on Jesus without religious baggage, we have been creating materials, embracing the theme of JESUS PLUS NOTHING. It's a movement that is moving to a different beat than most religious groups; it's a Jesus beat!

Today, we are introducing many to Jesus, yet these new "followers of Jesus" quickly become distracted away from the simplicity and purity of walking with Jesus and walking with others. They can easily become distracted by the religious terminology that just doesn't matter in comparison to knowing and following Jesus. Instead of embracing Jesus and growing in Him, they tend to grow into better Bapterians, Presbytists and Episcolics. Simply Jesus or Jesus plus nothing is what these new followers of Jesus need and are looking for.

A lady said to me last week that when she attends one of our studies about Jesus plus nothing, she feels like she has just come back home. Jesus resonates with her; religiosity does not. It distracts her and confuses her and leaves her with her feet firmly planted in mid-air spiritually.

This is exactly what happened to me several years ago. Whenever I spent time with others who were highly focused on Jesus, I felt so at home with this Jesus who was being discussed. It was the most attractive and satisfying experience ever. They spoke about Jesus as if they had just had breakfast with him that morning.

Why had I been missing out on knowing this Jesus for so many years? There are three subtle ways in which this occurs, in my opinion.

First, there is a tendency to add something unnecessary to Jesus. This "something" takes the form of man-made commandments and long-standing traditions; in other words, Jesus with additives.

Second, there is a tendency to hold something sacred that has become a substitute for Jesus. These substitutes can be your sacred scriptures, your revered saints, your religious services, your particular organization or denomination, your cultural identification or religious icons.

Third, there is a tendency to leave Jesus behind. Whether it is in newsletters, religious services, sermons, articles, prayers, or worship experiences. Jesus is embarrassingly left behind! Even where two are three are gathered together in his name, he is so often left out of our conversations.These tendencies take away from the message of Jesus. They diminish Jesus by adding something unnecessary to him, by replacing him with something, and by leaving him and his message behind. These tendencies amount to a deadly triad that keeps us from seeing Jesus clearly. If we can't see him, how will we ever be able to know him? And if we can't know him, how will we ever be able to know if this Jesus plus nothing is enough?This was Paul's primary concern, when he said: "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, that your minds might be led astray from the purity and simplicity of devotion to Jesus." When we move away from the purity and simplicity of Jesus, the natural results are the many Jesus additives. Whatever you are reading, studying and discussing, be sure to make it all about Jesus.

Third, there is a tendency to leave Jesus behind. Whether it is in newsletters, religious services, sermons, articles, prayers, or worship experiences. Jesus is embarrassingly left behind! Even where two are three are gathered together in his name, he is so often left out of our conversations.

These tendencies take away from the message of Jesus. They diminish Jesus by adding something unnecessary to him, by replacing him with something, and by leaving him and his message behind. These tendencies amount to a deadly triad that keeps us from seeing Jesus clearly.

If we can't see him, how will we ever be able to know him? And if we can't know him, how will we ever be able to know if this Jesus plus nothing is enough?

This was Paul's primary concern, when he said: "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, that your minds might be led astray from the purity and simplicity of devotion to Jesus." When we move away from the purity and simplicity of Jesus, the natural results are the many Jesus additives. Whatever you are reading, studying and discussing, be sure to make it all about Jesus.

STRESSFUL WORLD OF RESULTS

2011-12-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

One of the most familiar quotes aboutresults is credited to Albert Einstein. Itis "Insanity is doing the same thing over andover again and expecting different results." Results are rarely neutral. Either you havegreat expectations for certain positiveresults or you have great dread about thepossibility of certain negative results.

Results seem to come in threeversions-good, bad or none at all. Sometimesit's the "none at all" that can be mostdifficult. I really like the t-shirt thatsays: "For every door that closes there isanother one that always opens, but thehallways can be hell."

Results are everywhere. They cannot beavoided. Results are the consequences oflife, whether we cause them or they justhappen to us. Results do happen!
Not only do we all have life results thatwe feel we must negotiate, the bible isfilled with the good, the bad and thenon-results in the lives of the manycharacters. Ananias and Sapphira had somevery good results. They sold a piece ofproperty and made a lot of money. However,these good results were made into bad resultswhen they acted as if they were giving theentire amount they gained into the localtreasure, yet were holding out on God. Theylied in an attempt to gain some praise andaffirmation. Daniel was being faithful toGod by praying daily and through theconniving of some jealous men in the kingdomended up in the lions' den. Bad results forsure, yet God was at work in the midst ofthese bad results and saved Daniel's life.

Then in Hebrews 11 there is an interestingparagraph regarding a great men of faith whoexperienced a lifetime of non-results:13 All these people (Enoch, Noah, Moses,Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) were still livingby faith when they died. They did not receivethe things promised; they only saw them andwelcomed them from a distance, admitting thatthey were foreigners and strangers on earth.14 People who say such things show that theyare looking for a country of their own. 15 Ifthey had been thinking of the country theyhad left, they would have had opportunity toreturn. 16 Instead, they were longing for abetter country-a heavenly one. Therefore Godis not ashamed to be called their God, for hehas prepared a city for them.

There are two basic problems with results. The first problem is that there is atendency to wallow in the bad results whichends in depression. The second is to rely onthe good results, relishing in them as ifthey were produced by us, resulting in pride. So, we end up trusting and hoping in ourresults, gambling on them to be the answer toour problems.

If you focus on your results, you willnever be free from the stresses of it all. Here are some thoughts on how to handle yourresults:FIRST-Do the best you can do. This is yourprimary responsibility and nothing more.

SECOND-Leave the results entirely in thehands of God. You can't control your resultsanyway. In fact, results are none of yourbusiness. I am convinced God is personallyat work in the midst of your results.

With Jesus it's always personal. This iswhy He continually makes it clear to thosewho are listening who He is. His many I AMstatements and claims about Himself place Himinto the middle of your life results.

Jesus uses results in your life to do thefollowing:1. To teach you something through it.2. To work together with something else forGod's glory and your good.3. To get you through the worst of it all. He delights in getting you through it.

So, there are three cautions:1. Don't allow yourself to be slammed by thebad results.2. Don't allow yourself to take credit forthe good results.3. Don't allow yourself to be discouraged bythe lack of results.

Jesus is the only result worth your timeand energy!

SPECIAL INVITATIONS

2011-12-23T00:40:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

The Christmas holiday season is filled withparties, invitations and Evites looking for aresponse. We have attended several partiesthis season and also quite a few charityevents. This year we have looked forward toeach of the parties and have enjoyed them all.

Jesus, being the reason for this Christmas season, the one who is ultimately the reason for any and all of the parties of the season, had an original party that was the party of parties. I want tobriefly walk through the many party invitations sent out for the anticipated birth of Jesus.

In the first chapter of Luke's Gospel two invitations were sent out in an indirect sort of way. Zacharias and Elizabeth were invited to the birth of God's Messiah. They were notified that they were going to have a childwho would prepare the way for the Messiah. And when it came to naming their baby, instead of naming him after his father (according to tradition) they went with their instructions and named their son John.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was invited in adramatic way, naming her as the one God hadchosen to bear this baby in her body. But herinvitation didn't stop there. Her fiancé,Joseph, was also given a special invitationby God to this supernatural birth. The angelexplained to Joseph that Mary's pregnancy wasa God-thing and not a sinful or negativething at all. And, just like John was notnamed after his father, so Mary's son was tobe called Jesus, not Joseph. Can you imaginewhat went through Mary and Joseph's mind withthese special invitations to the birth ofGod's Messiah?

A special group of shepherds in the hills ofBethlehem were sent a dramatic invitationwhile tending their flocks. In the sameregion there were some shepherds staying outin the fields and keeping watch over theirflock by night. And an angel of the Lordsuddenly stood before them, and the glory ofthe Lord shone around them; and they wereterribly frightened. But the angel said tothem, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bringyou good news of great joy which will be forall the people; for today in the city ofDavid there has been born for you a Savior,who is Christ the Lord. This will be a signfor you: you will find a baby wrapped incloths and lying in a manger." And suddenlythere appeared with the angel a multitude ofthe heavenly host praising God and saying,"Glory to God in the highest and on earthpeace among men with whom He is pleased."(Luke 2:8-20)

There were two people who were looking for God's Messiah to show up during their lifetime. One was a priest by the name of Simeon and the other is a prophetess by the name of Anna. They apparently were very familiar with the specific prophecies of theprophet Daniel and believed God's Messiah was about to show up. Their enthusiasm was intense upon finding Jesus.

One more invitation is the most fascinatingto me. There was a group of religiousastronomers who received an invitation tothis unique event-the magi. This was probablya group of serious astronomers who wereresearching when God's Messiah was going toappear. They were studying the stars for thisinformation. Their invitation came in theform of a star. Note what they said when theycame to the region. Now after Jesus wasborn in Bethlehem of Judea in the days ofHerod the king, magi from the east arrived inJerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has beenborn King of the Jews? For we saw His star inthe east and have come to worship Him."(Matthew 2:1-2)

Three observations come to mind here:#1-You are the sum total of the invitations you accept in life!#2-Some invitations are more important than others!#3-God has sent you an invitation-inviting-calling-everyone to follow after Him through Jesus. Think of itthis way. Jesus has a special calling on your life. What will you do with this invitation? Accept it? Reject it? Or will you simply ignore it?

PROMISES IN TIMES OF STRESS

2011-12-21T20:47:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

As we work our way through the stresses oflife, I feel the need to share with you threepromises that can get you through yourday-every day! I not only frequently usethese for myself, but I also share these withpeople everywhere with great success! Let'swalk through each one briefly.

FIRST-THE PROMISE OF GOOD ENDINGS-This isfound in Romans 8:28-"And we know that Godcauses all things to work together for goodto those who love God, to those who arecalled according to His purpose." Thispromise is all about PROCESS that takes timeto unfold. God will take all of ourfailures, crises and circumstances and workthem together with something else for ourgood. "Together" is the operative word. Theloss of a loved one is not good in itself,but God will cause this loss to work togetherwith something else to bring about good. Divorce is not good. An addiction is notgood. A disease is not good, BUT GODintervenes and uses it to bring about good inyour life, IF you love Him (your heart isbent toward Him) and you are called accordingto His purpose (you are plugged into His willand His purpose or, that you are walking withHim).

SECOND-THE PROMISE OF GREAT ESCAPES-Thispromise is found in I Corinthians10:13-"No temptation has overtaken you butsuch as is common to man; and God isfaithful, who will not allow you to betempted beyond what you are able, but withthe temptation will provide the way of escapealso, so that you will be able to endure it." This promise is all about PERSEVERANCEthat is the most important ingredient whengoing through difficult times. When yourlife situation seems insurmountable like youare facing a high mountain range that blocksyou from getting through it, God offers you amountain pass. Note this is not a bailout,but it is the escape provided so that youwill be able to get through it (endure it). You see, contrary to public opinion, THE BESTWAY OUT IS THROUGH!

THIRD-THE PROMISE OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS-Thispromise is found in Paul's letter to thegathering of believers in Philippi(Philippians 1:6)-"For I am confident ofthis very thing, that He who began a goodwork in you will perfect it until the day ofChrist Jesus." This promise is all aboutPERMANENCE that is a welcome sight for thoseof us who live within a temporal worldsystem. Paul expresses his confidence to thebelievers in Philippi that what God began intheir experience (in their hearts) He willcomplete. And He will complete it in thislife up until Jesus returns. This is anamazing earthly promise, not in the sweetby-and-by, but in the nasty now-and-now. What God began in the hearts of your family,He will complete in your friends, in yourfellowship. The vital issue here is "WHATGOD BEGAN", not what you began. It isspeaking about the work of God in your heart. Maybe the greatest problem in recognizingGod's work in your life is that you are.

1. Out of touch with Him and insensitive toHis promptings.2. Out of touch with His fellowship andindifferent to the touch of His people.3. Out of control in your life and findyourself wandering aimlessly.

NOTE that the promises are only as good asthe Promiser! It's too easy to be caught upwith the promise without being captivatedwith the One Who promises. The same is trueof blessing. We embrace the blessings in ourlives without being totally grateful to theOne Who blesses! It is our nature to go forthe prize without the process, without theperseverance and therefore we don't sense Hispermanence and presence in our lives. Wantsome help handling your stresses? Hang on tothe promises of God, Himself, and He will getyou through it!

JESUS IS THE ONE THING

2011-12-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

Do you remember the first "City Slicker"movie with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance.Palance is the seasoned cowboy who is leadingthe city slickers on a cattle drive. He givesthem lots of advice, but there is a time whenhe holds up one finger and says, "This iswhat life is all about. It's just one thing."He didn't explain clearly, but it isindelibly printed on my mind.

Well, Jesus made a similar statement, but Heclearly spells what the one thing is. Infact, He did this kind of thing on severaloccasions, yet those who heard it just didn'thave ears to hear. In John 5 Jesus isspeaking with the Jewish leadership and Hepoints out to them that they have spent theirlives memorizing and studying the Scriptures,thinking they will find eternal life, butthey will not. He says, "The Scriptures speakof me and I will give eternal life, but youdon't seek me." They kept on buryingthemselves in their study of the Scripturesand missed the one thing-Jesus!

I am continually drawn back to the John 15image in Jesus' teachings about the vine andthe branch. Let me share it from the newre-translation we did this year: 15:1-8-"I am the real vine, my Father is thevine-dresser. He lifts up any of my branchesthat are not bearing fruit and he prunesevery branch that does bear fruit to increaseits yield. Now, you have already been prunedby my words. You must go on growing in me andI will grow in you. For just as the branchcannot bear any fruit unless it shares thelife of the vine, so you can produce nothingunless you go on growing in me. I am the vineitself; you are the branches. It is the manwho shares my life and whose life I share whoproves fruitful. For the plain fact is thatapart from me you can do nothing at all. Theman who does not share my life is like abranch that is broken off and withers away.He becomes just like the dry sticks that menpick up and use for firewood. But if you liveyour life in me, and my words live in yourhearts, you can ask for whatever you like andit will come true for you. This is how myFather will be glorified-in your becomingfruitful and being my disciples."

There are several stages of fruitfulnessmentioned here. First-no fruit. Even thoughmost translations translate the verb "cutoff", it actually means to "lift up". It isthe same verb that is used to describe Jesusbeing lifted up. You know how it is when atomato plant droops down and touches theground. Touching the ground will destroy theplant and make it unfruitful. So, thevine-dresser lifts it up in order to allowthe branch to be fruitful.

Second-there is the stage of being pruned.Now, when a plant is pruned, it is not onlythe dead wood that is cut; the pruning mustalso include part of the live plant as well.Even though this is most certainly painful,the end result is fruitfulness.

Third-there is the stage that brings aboutgreater fruitfulness. This is brought aboutby a closer connection between the branch andthe vine. Jesus says: "But if you liveyour life in me and my words live in yourhearts, you can ask for whatever you like andit will come true for you."

In the middle of this teaching Jesus bringsup a simple yet vital principle. Jesus says:"Without me you can do nothing!" Even thoughJesus' teaching here is clear, very fewactually believe it or take it seriously.

You see, it's all about Jesus! What is thegospel or good news message of God? It'sJesus, simply Jesus.

More than anything else Jesus and the Fatherwant us to become fruitful disciples. Andthey will do anything necessary to help us befruitful-lift us up when we have no fruit,prune us for a greater fruitfulness andnurture us with His life flowing through ourconnection with Him, the Vine. The Father ispositively reflected when we are fruitful andact like followers of Jesus. All you must dois hang on, embrace and enjoy your connectionto the vine; He will do the rest! Make like abranch and hold on for dear life-your life-tothe vine-Jesus.

I just saw this and I loveit. Jesus alone is enough. Jesus plussomething is nothing. Jesus plus nothing iseverything! Life is about one thing! It's notyour Church, your cause, your doctrinalbeliefs, the 2nd coming, healing,supernatural gifts or prayer. Life is allabout Jesus. He is the one thing that mattersmost! Without Jesus you can do nothing! Doyou really believe this?

GOD WITH US IN JESUS

2011-12-19T16:18:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

One of the topics Jesus taught from thebeginning and throughout most of His teachingwas the Kingdom. The Kingdom is all aboutGod's presence among us. The Kingdom is theway of living life according to and in thepresence of the King-Jesus. We seem to ignorethis kind of thinking much of the time. Iwant to suggest three observations that maybe helpful here.

FIRST-Jesus came to dwell among us-TO BE WITHUS: "The virgin will conceive and givebirth to a son, and they will call himImmanuel" (which means "GOD WITH US").(Matthew 1:23) GOD WITH US! Christmas is allabout God wanting to come down here and makeHimself at home with us.

SECOND-Jesus called a few TO BE WITH HIM:He appointed twelve that they might BEWITH HIM. (Mark 3:14-15) Jesus set out toaccomplish the work God, the Father, hadasked Him to do-to be with the few the Fatherbrought to Him and to teach them about Hisname. Jesus said: "and I have made Yourname known to them, and will make it known,so that the love with which You loved Me maybe in them, and I in them." (John 17:26)Imagine that! The love with which the Fatherloved Jesus can be in us and Jesus be in usat the same time!

THIRD-Jesus continues TO BE WITH US TODAY.Jesus shares with us the plan for continuingto dwell WITH US today: "If you love me,keep my commands. And I will ask the Father,and he will give you another advocate to helpyou and be with you forever-the Spirit oftruth. The world cannot accept him, becauseit neither sees him nor knows him. But youknow him, for he lives with you and will bein you. Anyone who loves me will obey myteaching. My Father will love them, and wewill come to them and make our home (ourdwelling place) with them." (John 14)

Jesus also shares with us how He will show upand make Himself known among us. "Wheretwo or three are gathered in my name, there Iwill show up in their midst." Jesus willshow up as a few of us gather in His name. Hestill is inviting a few for Him TO BE WITHTHEM today!

You see, Jesus through His Spirit is presentWITH US right now and welcomes us. Afterseeing how the Gentiles (the non-Jews)readily believed Jesus enough to follow Him,Peter said: "I most certainly understandnow that God is not one to show partiality,but in every nation the man who fears Him anddoes what is right is welcome to Him."(Acts 10:34-35)

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus gaveHis disciples one final command to makedisciples of all nations and cultures. Heenvelopes this command with these words:"All authority in heaven and on earth hasbeen given to me. Therefore go and makedisciples of all nations." Then he said:And surely I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, to thevery end of the age." (MT 28:19-20) Hedoesn't say I will be with you again someday.He says "I am with you always-right now oninto eternity!"

Jesus came as Immanuel-TO BE WITH US and HEIS STILL HERE WITH US today, therefore: · Wedon't have to ask Him to be with us! Healready is! · We don't have to ask Him tobless us! He already has! · We don't have tolook for Him! He is invisible, butdynamically present! · We don't have toconjure Him up through powerful charismaticexperiences! He is the one who has powerfullycome to dwell WITH US! · We don't have to beanything other than we are! He wants to dwellwith you just as you are!

A friend in Jesus recently said it this way:Jesus became like us so that we might becomelike Him and He came to live WITH US for atime so that we might live WITH HIM forever.And guess what? Forever starts the moment yourealize that Jesus is Immanuel and you decideto follow Him.

Now to me, this makes Christmas the merriestof holidays! GOD WITH US started 2000+ yearsago and He continues to be WITH US today.This is why I talk to Him throughout the day.This is why I am in a constant conversationwith Jesus asking a very simple question,"What do you have for me today, Jesus?" Andwhen I ask, He shows up. And when I don'task, I don't see Him or even think of Him.Since I know God is WITH US, I am so muchmore at ease about my day. GOD WITH US!

JESUS LEFT BEHIND

2011-12-18T23:47:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.

One of the all-time bestselling series wasLEFT BEHIND. It was based upon bible prophecywith the premise that someday those who arefaithful followers of Jesus will be snatchedaway and the non-believers will be leftbehind. Although Jesus used the context of"in the days of Noah" where only thebeliever/followers were the ones left behindand not the non-believers, this teaching isvery pervasive today.

Whatever teaching is true-Jesus' words or thepopular prophets of our day-I am moreconcerned about Jesus being LEFT BEHIND. Iespecially think about this at the two mostrevered holidays within the Christianworld-Christmas and Easter.

As you know we have set out to do the mostdifficult thing we've ever done in our lives.We are trying to follow the teachings andprinciples of Jesus and embrace Jesus as alifestyle. One of the reasons for not beingable to do this in the past is that we hadour focus on something closely related toJesus year after year, yet quite differentwith disappointing results. We were eitheradding something to Jesus as if He needed ouradditions or we were diluting the awesomenessof Jesus by packaging Him in our comfortable,spiritual boxes. Because our focus was not onsimply Jesus, many times we have caughtourselves just going through the motions ofthe spiritual life. We had effectively leftJesus behind as we set out to live our lives.

I found out the hard way that leaving Jesusbehind proved to be disastrous. Life doesn'twork well without Him and I didn't know whatto do to work well for Him. I kept leavingJesus behind!

This Christmas I want to suggest thethree most common ways of putting Jesus inthe position of being left behind in yourlife. FIRST-We tend to leave Jesus behind inthe manger! Jesus is no longer in a manger orcattle feeding trough. Both the Bible and theQur'an teach that Jesus was born of a virginand He is called the Word of God. In thefirst chapter of John it says the "Word"became flesh (not a book nor a religiousorganization), grew up and "dwelt" among us(made Himself at home among us), being fullof grace and truth. Jesus is not still in themanger, so don't leave Him there. Learn torelate and interact with Jesus out of the manger.

This reminds me of the program for aChristmas pageant several years ago thatlisted out all of the actors by name. When itcame to Jesus, it said, "The baby Jesus isplayed by a 60 watt light bulb." When youleave Jesus behind, an impersonal light bulbmay be the only light you'll be able to seeand share.

SECOND-We tend to leave Jesus behind on thecross! Whether you are Catholic with Jesusvisibly hanging there or you relate to Jesuswith the symbol of an empty cross, the storyand dynamic of Jesus is so much more than across. He's been there-done that and nowwants you to enjoy Him as the resurrectedone-the one who knows you best and loves youthe most!

THIRD-We tend to leave Jesus behind in theclouds! Those who are so focused on Jesus'2nd Coming tend to be looking up into theclouds and looking ahead to the sweet bye andbye. So life becomes all about Jesus comingin the clouds to get us out of this mess.This is not what Jesus taught and lived. Hewants to dwell among us as our King-ourMaster-right here in the nasty now and now.There is no escape clause for those whobelieve and follow Him. And, if Jesus doessnatch those who believe and follow Him outof this world, it is only to bring us rightback down here to dwell in His amazingpresence on earth. In other words, there's aU-turn right back to earth. That's where thestreets of gold, etc. will be-right here!

So, why do we tend to leave Jesus behind inthe manger, on the cross or up in the clouds?Three simple things come to mind. It seems tobe a natural, human tendency to leave Jesusbehind or leave Jesus out. To do this (1)localizes Jesus to some place where we canvisit or not, (2) limits Jesus from doingthings that might be out of my comfort zone,and (3) leaves me alone to my own thinking,so that I can salvage some sort of fantasy ofbeing in control.

To leave Jesus behind is to worship animpersonal God. And, if He is impersonal,then we tend to worship and lift upreligiosity, traditions and man-madecommandments. Hey, this Christmas doeverything you can do to make it all aboutpersonalizing Jesus. Release Jesus from themanger. Remove Him from the cross. Refocusyour eyes out of the clouds and be a part ofwhat Jesus is doing right here on earth rightnow. Jesus is awesome, alive and activelydesiring to make Himself at home in yourlife. Will you let Him do just that thisChristmas?

Skeletons in Jesus' Closet

2011-12-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.
The space-time event in history of the birthof Jesus is filled with so many highlights.And everyone has his or her favorite thing toshare about the Christmas story. Jesus wasborn on time and in the little town ofBethlehem according to the many ancient Prophets.
What fascinates me most about the birth ofJesus is how it all came about through avariety of unlikely players. The Jews verycarefully kept track of their genealogies asthey relate to the godly line of the Messiah.In Matthew the genealogical record is mostlikely that of Joseph's and the genealogicalrecord in Luke seems to be that of his MotherMary.

What is so amazing is that after all of thecare to follow each step of the way of theMessiah's godly line, God purposefullyinserts some very unlikely people. Let's callthese skeletons in Jesus' closet. A skeletonin the closet usually has to do with theuglier side of our family line. Jesus had 7skeletons in His closet that all have apotential ugly side. Let's look at each of them:

FIRST-Mary, His mother. Mary was asinful woman just as any other woman on theplanet. She was an admitted sinner by callingher son her Savior and was surprised at thechoice of the angel to create the Messiahthrough her. This is the least ugly of the 7skeletons and yet was a definite applicationof the grace of God to choose her. Sheclearly recognized that she personally was inneed of the Savior she was to birth.

SECOND-David. Although we know Davidis known as a man after God's own heart, hewas guilty of horrific sins. He committedadultery with Bathsheba and then set inmotion the plan to have her husband, Uriah,killed in order to cover up his sin.

THIRD-Abraham. Remember, Abraham was aGentile and God chose him to be the father ofa new nation altogether-the people of Israel.Abraham's life was not a clean one, eventhough he was to be the father of all whobelieve. Two different kings broughtAbraham's wife, Sarah, into their harems,because out of fear Abraham lied to each ofthem, saying that Sarah was his sister. Whata horrible and shameful way to treat Sarah.

Even though David and Abraham were miserablesinners, Jesus the Messiah is known to be theson of David, the son of Abraham and proud ofit. Then, within the genealogy of Jesus in aculture where genealogies were mostlydominated by men, there are four women,probably all Gentiles, who are included inthe godly line of Messiah Jesus.

FOURTH-The first woman is Tamar, theCanaanite daughter-in-law of Judah. Sheresorted to deception, prostitution and evenincest when she was unable to have a child.She tricked Judah into having sexualrelations with her and she had twin boys,Perez and Zerah. Tamar and her son, Perez,both are included in the godly line ofJesus-both part of His sacred family tree.

FIFTH-The next woman who was also aGentile was Rahab. She made prostitutionher livelihood. Rahab risked her own neck tohide the spies of Israel when she lived inthe ancient city of Jericho. Because of herfaith and action on God's behalf, He agreedto spare her life and the lives of all herfamily during the battle of Jericho. Shebecame the wife of Salmon and the mother of agodly man named Boaz. Boaz was David'sgreat-grandson. By this marriage Rahab wasinserted into the Messianic godly line thatwould produce Jesus.

SIXTH-The next Gentile woman, a Moabite,was Ruth. Although she was a former paganand a Moabite, having no right to marry anIsraelite, God's grace brought Ruth into thefamily of Israel, and through Boaz into theroyal line. She became the grandmother ofIsrael's greatest king-King David.

SEVENTH-The final Gentile woman who wassurprisingly in the godly line of MessiahJesus is Bathsheba. Now get this! Sheentered the godly Messianic line throughadultery with David. Their first son died ininfancy, yet their second son was the greatKing Solomon, who was successor to David'sthrone.

As you can see the story of Christmas hassome amazing surprises in it. Theseundeserving, Gentiles not Jewish, people wereinserted into the godly list solely andcompletely by the grace of God.

So, in the birth of Jesus the Messiah, theskeletons in the closet turn out to be allabout grace-amazing grace! This is the storyof Christmas: That God's Messiah has come todeliver whoever will come to Him. This istruly what the Good News is all about. Jesusaccepts and loves anyone and everyone-nomatter your origin, ethnicity or religiousbeliefs. Jesus proves His love and acceptanceby including four sinful women in His familytree. By the way, this means Jesus acceptsyou and loves you unconditionally, too.Therefore you can celebrate your brokenness,your ways of falling short, the many timesyou've missed the mark. Jesus simplyoverlooks all of your negative stuff andwants you to accept His light into your lifethat you might be whole. Now, that is a MerryChristmas that gets you ready for a veryHappy New Year!

James 5:19-20

2011-12-12T17:32:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.
The last two verses of James are so powerfulto me. It's all about restoration andrecovery! James sets up the blueprint forGOD'S RESCUE SQUAD:19 My brethren, if any among you straysfrom the truth and one turns him back, 20 lethim know that he who turns a sinner from theerror of his way will save his soul fromdeath and will cover a multitude of sins.
The probability of straying from the truth isanticipated here. We must start here. People will stray. In fact, it may be betterto start from your own heart. You have thecapacity to do almost anything, any time,anywhere! We must not be surprised when abeliever strays from the truth! It willusually come in one of two flavors: COMMISSION-Playing God! OMISSION-Leaving God out!

This straying might be based upon anopinion-opinions are usually man-madeadd-ons. Be careful of embracing another'sopinions. Straying might be based uponspecialists-experts and gurus and bibleteachers that seem right. Or, this strayingmight be based upon dilution-watered-down.

Along with the probability of straying, thereis the possibility of saving that person forthe sake of Jesus and His kingdom. If onestrays and one turns him back, he willactually be saving his soul from death andcover a multitude of sins. I am reminded ofGalatians 6:1: 1 Brethren, even if anyoneis caught in any trespass, you who arespiritual, restore such a one in a spirit ofgentleness; each one looking to yourself, sothat you too will not be tempted. 2 Bear oneanother's burdens, and thereby fulfill thelaw of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he issomething when he is nothing, he deceiveshimself. 4 But each one must examine his ownwork, and then he will have reason forboasting in regard to himself alone, and notin regard to another. 5 For each one willbear his own load.

Restoration is encouraged by those who arespiritual. Restoration is not a populartheme throughout the churches; shooting thewounded is more like it. Yet restoration isat the very core of salvation. It's almostlike we must sneak salvation back into thechurches.

NOTE an effective progression here might beto express the balance of compassion forpeople and commitment to truth. COMPASSIONFOR PEOPLE is experienced when you: 1. Go tohim only after you look at yourself (Gal 6:1,7). 2. Go to him personally-(Matthew 18:15).3. Go to him for what's best for him/her. Theword restore has to do with mending thatwhich is broken or putting something backthat was out of joint.

NOTE it is not "rebuke" him or "reject" him,but restore such a one. Restoring a brotheror sister is like bringing back to them thepractical application of salvation to theirsouls. It's being a friend. A friend issomeone who knows the song in your heart andsings it back to you when you've forgottenthe words!
RESTORATION requires that you be likeJesus-full of grace and truth-have acompassion for people and commit to theTruth! Start with Grace and Side with the Truth!

No doubt there are all kinds of relationshipsaround you who are candidates for a rescueusing the spirit of restoration. As you areaware, you will find yourself saving liveswherever you go.

The most common straying and the moststrategic restoration revolve around the sameissue-a personal focus on your relationshipwith Jesus. Paul was concerned when he wroteto the Corinthians: "I am afraid, lest asthe serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,that your minds might be led astray from thesimplicity and purity of devotion toJesus." That is the ultimatestraying-leaving Jesus out of your life equation.

Therefore, the most important thing you cando to restore someone is to reintroduce himback into a relationship with Jesus. Thisrelationship may begin at any level-seeking,walking with or loving Jesus. Just encouragethem to get to know Jesus without anyreligious baggage. It's Jesus plus nothing!

James 5:1-18

2011-12-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICKHERE.
When I look at these 18 verses as a whole, itseems to be moving in one direction-we mustpray (13). Prayer is simply talking andlistening to God. The primary purpose ofprayer is to exercise TRUST in the Lord. It's interesting to note that in the case ofnearly two-thirds of the prayers offered inthe bible, the people praying already knewthe answer but were praying anyway. Prayingis trusting! When you pray, you are bendingyour heart along with your knee toward theLord saying that you are trusting in Him forwhatever it is that you are bringing before Him.

Here James is exhorting the believers who aretrusting in something other than God or doingthings in response to their life conditionsother than trust. Let's look at each one:1-Why pray (trust in God) when you can trustin your own riches?1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl foryour miseries which are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garmentshave become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and yoursilver have rusted; and their rust will be awitness against you and will consume yourflesh like fire. It is in the last days thatyou have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold,the pay of the laborers who mowed yourfields, and which has been withheld by you,cries out against you; and the outcry ofthose who did the harvesting has reached theears of the Lord of Sabbath. 5 You have livedluxuriously on the earth and led a life ofwanton pleasure; you have fattened yourhearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You havecondemned and put to death the righteous man;he does not resist you.

There is a horrendous responsibility on thosewho are rich. First of all, because of theirriches it makes it impossible to get into thekingdom of God. Their riches can buy people,places and things for their enjoyment. Thisthen leads toward trusting in those riches. Fortunately, God can do the impossible, so Hemakes it possible for rich people to be ableto put their trust in Him rather than intheir riches. Instead of just enjoying theirpeople, places and things amassed by theirriches, they learn to use these riches forthe kingdom and to meet the needs of thoseGod puts in their paths.

NOTE James says that those riches will rot,be devoured and your precious things willrust, because you have stored up foryourselves your treasures. What good is itif a man gains the whole world and loses hissoul?

Secondly, the rich tend to treat poorly thosewho are not rich. James points out thatthose who work for the rich will somedaytestify as to how they were treated. To beskimpy in what is paid, to withhold pay oversomething petty, to demand something for sovery little; it's like committing a fraudagainst these people. James says, "You havefattened your hearts in the day ofslaughter." You have lifted your lifestyleto the greatest luxury on the backs of peopleyou have treated poorly or wrongfully.

This reminds me of the well-known text in ITimothy 6:10: For the love of money is aroot of all sorts of evil and some by longingfor it have wandered away from the faith andpierced themselves with many griefs.

2-Why pray (trust in God) when you can worrywith impatience?7 Therefore be patient, brethren, untilthe coming of the Lord. The farmer waits forthe precious produce of the soil, beingpatient about it, until it gets the early andlate rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthenyour hearts, for the coming of the Lord isnear. James urges those who areimpatiently stewing in their worries to payattention to how life works. Check out thefarmer. The farmer waits! The Lord willcome through on your behalf and you must wait.

3-Why pray (trust in God) when you cancomplain against one another?9 Do not complain, brethren, against oneanother, so that you yourselves may not bejudged; behold, the Judge is standing rightat the door. 10 As an example, brethren, ofsuffering and patience, take the prophets whospoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We countthose blessed who endured. You have heard ofthe endurance of Job and have seen theoutcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lordis full of compassion and is merciful.Impatience and worry will inevitably producea constant flow of complaining. NOTE theexamples:1. Of the prophets who endured.2. Of Job's endurance with a great outcome.The Lord is full of compassion and mercy andNOTE Jesus, the Judge, is standing right atyour door listening to all of your complaintsand stewing.

4-Why pray (trust in God) when you can makedeals (swear oaths) that trick people intosomething you want?12 But above all, my brethren, do notswear, either by heaven or by earth or withany other oath; but your yes is to be yes,and your no, no, so that you may not fallunder judgment.
YOU MUST TURN TO PRAYER-trusting the Lord inthe midst of your troubles.13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then hemust pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to singpraises [Even if you are not in troubleand are cheerful, still turn to prayer andsing praises.]. 14 Is anyone among yousick? Then he must call for the elders of thechurch and they are to pray over him,anointing him with oil in the name of theLord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith willrestore the one who is sick, and the Lordwill raise him up, and if he has committedsins, they will be forgiven him.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to oneanother, and pray for one another so that youmay be healed. The effective prayer of arighteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijahwas a man with a nature like ours, and heprayed earnestly that it would not rain, andit did not rain on the earth for three yearsand six months. 18 Then he prayed again, andthe sky poured rain and the earth producedits fruit.

NOTE the connection between sickness andconfessing your sins. There is apsycho-spiritual-physical dynamic within eachof us. Sins will affect your psyche and yourphysical health as well. So, make it a habitof confessing your sins (being open aboutyour life) to one another and pray for oneanother that you may be healed. NOW HOWMIGHT THIS HAPPEN? By paying attention tothe 3 habits of walking with Jesus, walkingwith others and waiting for Jesus to leadout. These habits present the perfectopportunity for you to be open and honestwith someone you trust.

NOTE "the effective prayer of a righteous mancan accomplish much" statement. It is notthe techniques of prayer (how or when youpray), but the emphasis is upon who ispraying-a righteous man. When you arewalking with Jesus and doing what He woulddo-walking, loving and thinking like Jesus,you are a righteous man/woman who has the earand heart of Jesus in all you think and doand ask. So, pray!

James 4

2011-12-11T17:14:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Now that we see the destruction of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, James continues to move toward the root cause of conflicts among us-even the cause of wars on the planet. In chapter 3 we saw the comparison between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. Here in chapter 4 James compares the human ways (do it my way) with God's ways. Doing things according to your way or the way of the world will end in quarrels, fights, interpersonal conflicts, stepping on one another, cut-throating in the marketplace, etc. He simply lays out the primary cause and the cure in these matters.

THE CAUSE-(1-5)-selfish desires. 1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. [You lust after something and take on a murderous disposition of anger in order to get it.] You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. [You want something you can't have or don't have and become disagreeable and quarrelsome.]

You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. [From God's perspective, you don't have for two reasons-(1) you do not ask and (2) you ask with the wrong motives-to satisfy your selfish desires. You are not seeking things from God, but are acting like people of the world system who live outside the kingdom of God.]

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever, wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: ``He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us''? [Friendship with the world (even acting as they do) makes you an enemy of God. Don't you get it that God passionately desires His work within you-that He will do anything to hold on to you?]

NOTE your selfish desires are directly opposed to the desires of God. Your selfish desires want all kinds of things to be spent on your earthly, temporal satisfaction. His desires are to continue to dwell in and among you, so that He can work His work in and through you for earthly/eternal benefits in the kingdom.

NOTE that the word for pleasures or selfish desires is the word from which we get Hedonism. Hedonism has a built-in pride-the progression goes like this. 1. My way is the best way! 2. My way is the only way! 3. I want to do it my way! 4. I want you to do it my way!

"Do it my way" is a reminder of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by the Devil himself (Luke 4)! NOTE his involvement here:

THE CURE-(6-17)-submission to God. 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ``GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.'' 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble! If you are going to win in the struggle with your selfish desires, you must pay attention to the following: (1) Submit to God-all that you are/do and give it to Him! (2) Resist the devil-and he will flee from you-Devil=Pride! (3) Seek after God-a closer relationship with him in your soul

Seek after Him by drawing near to God, by cleansing your hands, you sinners, by purifying your hearts, you double-minded and by sobering up. Be miserable, mourn, weep, due to your pride. Humble yourself and He will exalt you. Humility is like underwear; you should have it, but shouldn't show it.

Humble yourself and soak up the grace of God. NOW, rather than humbling myself and soaking up the grace of God, I tend to end up struggling with His grace and doing it my way!

Your humility triggers God's grace that in turn gets you through the struggles you face with your own selfish desires. There are two enemies that will militate against your humility and God's grace-how you use your tongue and how you view your time!

Your tongue: 11 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

Your time: 13 Come now, you who say, ``Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.'' 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, ``If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'' 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

FAITH IN THE GRACE OF GOD IS A CRUTCH. YOU CAN USE IT, WHEN YOU ADMIT THAT YOU NEED IT! This is the struggle with the grace of God. You just don't want to see your faith as a crutch that you need. I have come to the conclusion that I don't just need a crutch to depend upon, but an IRON LUNG. That's the kind of dependence I need to struggle with my selfish desires (doing it my way).

God wants it done His way. Satan wants it done his way. YOU GET TO MAKE THE CHOICE!

"Alex Haley, the author of ROOTS, has a picture in his office, showing a turtle sitting atop a fence. The picture is there to remind him of a lesson he learned long ago: 'If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help.'" Says Alex, 'Any time I start thinking, WOW, ISN'T THIS MARVELOUS WHAT I'VE DONE! I look at that picture and remember how this turtle-me-got up on that post.'"

HUMBLE PEOPLE DON'T THINK LESS OF THEMSELVES; THEY JUST THINK OF THEMSELVES LESS!

James 3

2011-12-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Today in James we are looking for a bigger and better mouth-trap.

1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. NOTE that when you are a teacher, people will hold you to a stricter judgment. It is so easy and inevitable that as you teach you will misspeak in some way. AND, your audience has difficulty remembering much of what you said, but they will not forget the mistakes you made in speaking. (I hate when that happens! This is why I continually say to myself, "Stick to your notes. Be careful of having a 'bright idea' in the middle of your teaching without thinking through the consequences!")

The tongue is so powerful-the power to bring on depression or to encourage contentment. FIRST-It's inconsequential yet most important of all. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. 4 Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

SECOND-It's influential. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

THIRD-It's inflammable. 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by gehenna (the cursed garbage pit).

FOURTH-It's insubordinate. 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

FIFTH-It's inconsistent. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

If the tongue is good, there is nothing better. If it is bad, there is nothing worse. If the tongue is to be good, it must be tamed by loving heavenly wisdom and hating earthly wisdom. NOTE how James paints two pictures-earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. He defines each very specifically.

13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

EARTHLY WISDOM-14 But if you have bitter jealousy [sharp & cutting words] and selfish ambition in your heart [divisive, factious, all about their own self-interest], do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

NOTE that "bitter jealousy" and "selfish ambition in your heart" become an earthly, putrid fountain for earthly wisdom. Then, note the flow out of this dirty fountain-Earthly-limited to this planet, nothing from heaven. Natural-soulish-the best humanity can do. Demonic-from the pit of the most cursed garbage dump in all of Israel!

THEN NOTE that an additional flow from this sort of fountain is "disorder" (restless confusion) and "every evil thing" (worthlessness-good-for-nothingness). Keep in mind that the ultimate flow from this fountain of earthly wisdom is a tongue that is out of control and dangerous, therefore it can destroy people!

HEAVENLY WISDOM-17 But the wisdom from above is first pure [holy-single-minded-on a mission], then peaceable, gentle [equitable-fair and open], reasonable [able to be approached-to consider things without quick reaction], full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering [unprejudiced and consistent], without hypocrisy [as good as your word]. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace [Only in peace is the fruit of righteousness found-a tongue tied to heavenly wisdom is a seed sown in peace that will produce a Jesus-kind of lifestyle.]

So, a tongue-check is really a heart-check! To tame your tongue, you must learn to love heavenly wisdom and hate earthly wisdom in the same way a gardener loves plants and hates weeds! You must be tongue-tied-your tongue must be tied to heavenly wisdom; meekness is the knot that holds it together ("in the gentleness of wisdom"-verse 13).

James 2:14-26

2011-12-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,'' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. Here we are back to that most powerful statement." Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone."

18 But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

The tension between faith and works is pervasive among believers and it always has been. The tension takes the form of doctrine versus demonstration-belief versus behavior and theological versus experiential. The same tension is found in two main heresies or extreme opinions-perfection by performance (legalism) versus perfection by experience (Gnosticism).

Throughout the Scriptures this tension takes the form of WHAT GOD DOES versus WHAT MAN DOES. Check it out! By faith Abraham believes God (WHAT GOD DOES) and moves out (WHAT MAN DOES). By faith in God's word (WHAT GOD DID) Noah built a boat (WHAT MAN DID). Every one of the miracles of Jesus has this element-disciples fill up the water pots (WHAT MAN DID) and Jesus changed it into wine (WHAT GOD DID).

MAN DOES WHAT HE DOES BY FAITH IN WHAT GOD DOES. GOD does 100%-Man does 100%. (Now don't get nervous, God's 100% is much greater than your 100%.)

Paul addresses both of these tensions by writing two balanced books: Romans--in chapters 1-11 he lays out WHAT GOD DOES and 12-16 he lays out WHAT MAN IS TO DO. Ephesians--chapters 1-3 deal with WHAT GOD HAS DONE and chapters 4-6 deal with 33 things for MAN TO DO.

He takes Romans and writes the book of Galatians-to counteract the extreme of MAN DOES IT ALL. He takes Ephesians and writes the book of Colossians to counteract the extreme of GOD DOES IT ALL. In the first few chapters of Romans and Ephesians, Paul is saying, "Look what God has done for you!" And in the last few chapters he says, "Now act like it!" WHAT GOD HAS DONE-that's where your faith comes in; NOW ACT LIKE IT-that's where your works prove out your faith!

There is a great visual that illustrates how the balance of the two can work and how one without the other doesn't. Suppose you are in a row boat with 2 oars--one is faith and the second is works. If you row with either one without the other, you will only go in circles. If you use both, you will make progress.

This entire tension between faith and works comes down to: God's work (believe it-faith) demands your response (just do it-works). You do (works) the possible by faith that God will do the impossible.

SO, how is your faith working?

James 2:1-13

2011-12-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

In chapter 1 we learned that pure religion is more than the muttering of prayers and rituals-more than being externally oriented. Pure religion has to do with visiting orphans and widows and keeping oneself unstained by the world. Keeping yourself unstained by the world begins with preventing yourself from being a hearer only (1:19-21), but an effective doer of the word of truth (1:22-25). In other words, being a hearer only tends toward definition without demonstration that leads to the worship of doctrine. But even sound doctrine by itself tends to put people sound asleep! James is appealing to be unstained from the world and the world's ways by not doing things by lecture, but by a lab that demands definition and demonstration!

Now, James continues his theme of keeping yourself unstained by the world when he turns to the subject of showing partiality. Don't hold your faith with an attitude of partiality toward others! 1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," [Your value system is false.] 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? [You are practicing discrimination.] 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? [You fail to honor the poor whom God honors.] 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? [You favor those who oppress you.]

INSTEAD, fulfill the royal law. 8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

NOTE verse 5-LOVE GOD, and now verse 8-LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. The royal law is an interesting term. Literally, it is the "law of the king" or the law that is fit for the king or a kingly law or the law of the king and kingdom. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40 that the entire Mosaic Law rests on "loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself", so here this is a fitting reference to the royal or kingly or kingdom law.

Instead of having an attitude of partiality, seek to fulfill the royal law of Jesus! 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

So, speak and act (do): FIRST-Because you will be judged by the law of liberty (judged by the law that set you free from bondage and slavery, so reflect this gratefulness in your actions toward others).

SECOND-Because mercy wins out over judgment (literally, mercy celebrates, even boasts, triumphs over judgment).

NOTE there are two kinds of judgment that Jesus taught (Matthew 7): 1. Condemnation judgment 2. Conclusion judgment-discernment Here James is clearly speaking of the "condemnation" kind of judgment that is merciless!

NOTE the logic of this as it relates to being stained by the world. This is much like the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-27). The question is "Who is my neighbor?" The answer is anyone in your path that has a need you can address. So, today: 1. Many people suffer affliction of all kinds. 2. Many believers never relieve affliction for others, due to the stains on your heart and mind. So, believers find themselves going through the following process of ignoring the needs of those around them, even though (a) they were positioned there by God, (b) they were aware of the person's condition, (c) they were capable of meeting the person's needs and (d) they each had good rationalized excuses.

What is desperately needed is for people of true faith to remove the stains of the world that remain on their hearts and minds. To say it another way, I think Jesus is looking for SPOT REMOVERS!

You know what's interesting, Jesus never saw a prostitute; He sees through the stains! Also, Jesus lived out the royal law and therefore was and is always GOOD NEWS for everyone without partiality!

HOW CAN YOU BE A SPOT REMOVER? #1-Receive your own spot remover for the stains in your life-His love for you! #2-Reciprocate your love back to Him in gratefulness-your love God! #3-Release your love to others-your love for your neighbors!

PEOPLE OF TRUE FAITH ACT AS SPOT REMOVERS BY EMBRACING THE ROYAL LOVE OF GOD.

James 1:16-27

2011-12-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

The second subject James deals with is what pure religion or pure faith ought to look like. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. God is not to be regarded as the one who causes our problems, but He is the source of all that is good. AND, He has brought us (believers in Messiah Jesus) forth by the word of truth so that we might be an example among what He has created. Now James sets forth what kind of truth we are to follow.

Although religion is not a wonderful term today, James is using this term to describe "people of faith". He lists four basic elements of pure faith (religion), because people of faith are people of God's truth.

FIRST-Prepare yourselves to receive the word of God's truth. Be quick to hear. Be slow to speak. Be slow to anger-(the anger of man doesn't achieve the righteousness of God). Put aside all things that might distract you from receiving God's truth.

19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

SECOND-Prove yourselves to be doers of the word. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

NOTE that when a person is not careful to be a doer or one who applies the word, he deludes himself. Since we live in a world of information bombardment, it is too easy to be merely hearers who delude themselves. The delusion works like this. Just by hearing something, you believe that is enough-even feel like you have embraced this truth, might even share it with others. Just from hearing and agreeing with what you have heard, you may begin to think you have already done it, but you are a hearer only who has deluded himself. It's too easy to take a quick look into the mirror of truth and forget what it said. BUT if you look intently into the truth of God, apply it, not forgetting what you read and actually do the word you have just read or received, THEN you will be blessed in whatever you do!

This follows Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount when He says, 24 ``Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 ``And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 ``Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 ``The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall.'' Matt 7:24-27 Just hearing the word of truth without acting upon it sets you up for destruction!

NOTE the tension between hearing and doing faith; it's the same as the tension between faith and works. We'll deal with this in more detail later, but the best statement on this subject that will suffice for right now is: Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone. Genuine faith will be accompanied by works that prove out your faith.

THIRD-Put a lid on your tongue. 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. NOTE how powerful the tongue is. Your tongue can cause deception in your own heart and make your pure faith worthless.

FOURTH-Pay a visit to the orphans and widows in their distress. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

NOTE how simple the demonstration of pure faith really is in the sight of God. Orphans and widows are at the heart of God. By paying attention to these who have lost their loved ones you may find the secret to keeping yourself unstained by the world and its values. God's heart is always with the needy and the broken and not in the large rallies and events or huge book promotions.

I view it as a CSI fellowship. God's heart is in the covert (underground and quiet), the subversive (revolutionary, against the tide of the normal) and the indelible (permanent marks on the lives of men and women-marked with a mark from God's own heart). I think God honors a CSI kind of fellowship. Try it out and see!

James 1:1-15

2011-12-05T19:24:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

The ACTS OF JESUS was all about the early gatherings around Jesus and His kingdom, it seems right to continue in the early days with the earliest of books written to the believers at that time. Remember that in the early "church or synagogue" of Jesus, there were more Jews than Gentiles. I like to call them Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles. One of the earliest books written to these believers (primarily to the Messianic Jews) was JAMES.

JAMES was most likely written by the apostle who presided over the leadership group of Messianic Jews in Jerusalem. We saw him in Acts 15. This is one of four James' mentioned and is the half brother of Jesus. It was written between 48-50 A.D.

The book is filled with the most practical issues of walking with Jesus and walking with one another. It's like the Proverbs of the New Testament. I see the entire book's theme as faith in action-I call it FAITH IS A VERB. You see, faith works when life doesn't. There is also an interesting play between faith and works that is introduced in this book.

Let's get into it: 1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

James, although an apostle, maybe the chief apostle, and the brother of Jesus, doesn't reference either but sees himself in the "highest calling" of all-a bond-servant. We'll see this term more throughout the New Testament (NT). It refers to a slave or a person who is hired on as a servant.

NOTE that this letter from James is written specifically to the twelve tribes who are dispersed. This refers to those Messianic Jews who lived outside Palestine, scattered around the world among the Gentiles. There were 2 great dispersions-the eastern and the western. The first was when 10 of the 12 tribes were carried away by Assyria and in the time of the Babylonian captivity (586 B.C.). The other was the western dispersion that happened during the reign of Alexander the Great (early 300's B.C.). This placed Jewish communities throughout the world in large numbers in some areas where they were united in their synagogues. This gives better understanding to why Paul felt the need to travel all over in his mission trips. He knew of these communities throughout the world who would be interested to hear the messages of the kingdom of God and the Christ (Messiah).

James begins with a section on trials. It's something everyone faces from day to day and especially those who were living outside Jerusalem who might easily get discouraged when their new faith is attacked even by other religious people in their communities, let alone those outside the fellowship of faith. I see this as a time of lifting the faith of believers outside of Jerusalem. So, when you need a faith-lift, what do you do? I think the answer is REFOCUS.

FIRST-REFOCUS BY REJOICING IN THE PRODUCT! 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Are you serious? Count it all joy when you face a variety of trials in your life? There is a way of refocusing so that no matter what comes your way, you may be able to reframe it to see the good in it.

There are two kinds of temptations or testings. One has to do with tripping you up-to trick you into doing something wrong. The other is to test with the view toward approval-to prove you as genuine! When you are faced with a test that might trip you up, God wants you to view it as a test of genuineness.

Don't focus on the trial or testing itself. You'll end up wallowing in it-the problem will get bigger and bigger! Instead, focus on the end-product! "Here comes another testing or trial. What will I learn from this?" James says the primary thing you will gain from trials is perseverance. The testing of your faith produces perseverance-the ability to hang in there and get through it. And, if you allow perseverance to have its way, you will be more mature and complete in your life-lacking in nothing! WOW!

Therefore, when a trial comes your way, refocus and look for what's in there to make you more mature and complete to the point of lacking in nothing! This goes along with that promise of good endings-Romans 8:28, where God causes all things to work together for good!

NOTE when you brood over your problems, you'll hatch despair! NOTE that many times you'll find yourself being overwhelmed by problems that aren't that big-like mountain climbing over molehills! NOTE-it's not what happens to you, but how you handle what happens that counts!

SECOND-REFOCUS BY REQUESTING A NEW PERSPECTIVE! 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Now, in the midst of a trial it's difficult to know what to do. Many times these trials call for decisions to be made. So, in a time such as this, refocus by asking God for wisdom. NOTE that you are encouraged to ask God for wisdom and He will give it to you, if you ask. I hang on to that with everything I've got! I ask Him for wisdom and I believe He will give it to me as I need it. NOTE that you must ask in faith without doubting. In other words, ask Him for wisdom and count on that fact that He will give it to you and act out accordingly with this wisdom from God. If you doubt, you will not get it and you will be tossed about on the surf by the winds of life's circumstances. You cannot expect to receive anything when doubting. HOWEVER, if you ask for wisdom in faith without doubting, you can expect that you will receive it!

This seems to coincide with the promise of great escapes-I Corinthians 10:13, where God provides a mountain pass in order for you to get through it!

THIRD-REFOCUS BY RECONSIDERING YOUR POSITION BEFORE GOD! 9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. 12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, ``I am being tempted by God''; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

Trials are the great leveler of both the rich and the poor! In ICU, it makes no difference what you own or what you owe. If you are rich, glory in your humiliation before the Lord. if you are poor, glory in your high position with God. You came into this world naked and you'll go out in the same condition-with more things wrinkled and drooping. After you die, there will be a big garage sale of all of your treasures.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial-God will reward this kind of response to problems with the "crown of life"-one of five special crowns given to those who love Him. It's interesting that perseverance is tied to loving God. We persevere due to our relationship with Him-love for Him.

NOTE James points out the cycle of how temptation works. It doesn't come from God, but from inside ourselves. 1. Temptation-the thought of it. 2. Carried away and hooked by internal lust for it. 3. Then lust gives birth to sin. 4. When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

God will not take you into that kind of temptation, but will use it all for the testing and proving out of your genuineness. It's like a refining process, burning off all of the dross and impurities out of our lives.

The promise of great expectations seems to work well here-Philippians 1:6, where He promises to continue His work inside us until Jesus returns!

Remember, faith is like a kite-a contrary wind makes it go higher and higher!

FELLOWSHIP IS A VERB

2011-12-04T21:07:00.001-08:00

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Are you in? Are you in far? And, are you inviting others in?

What are the benefits of being in, being in far and inviting others in? The benefits are all summed up in the person of Jesus. Over the years we have come to understand the following:

FIRST-Religion cannot regenerate a person's heart-not Christianity, not Islam, not Judaism, not Buddhism, not any.

SECOND-Churchianity cannot regenerate a person's heart-not the presbytists, nor the episcolics, nor the bapterians.

THIRD-Only Jesus has the power to regenerate and fill a person's heart with life that eternally satisfies.

Jesus is not into converting you to a religion, but wants a personal relationship with everyone on planet earth. Religion is mankind trying to avoid going to hell in order to go to heaven. Relationship is mankind saying, "I've been to hell and I don't want to go back!" Jesus offers Himself. It's like man says: "Jesus, I have a problem. It's me!" And Jesus says: "Man, I have the solution. It's me!"

He offers Himself as our SALVATION. Salvation is not what many make it out to be-a membership card into heaven or proof of fire insurance to keep you out of hell. Salvation is so much more than that! Check out this partial list of what salvation is:

1. To make wide-freedom from stuck, from distress-free to be! 2. God will come through on your behalf-wait and see mighty deeds! 3. Safety & Security-to maintain life unafraid of numerous dangers! 4. Healing-emotional/physical well-being-Wholeness! 5. Constant loyal love-genuine love that seeks restoration! 6. Destroys purposes of evil forces-You can count on it! 7. Distinguishes Himself as the God of gods! 8. God's unconditional love in action-He is relentlessly courting us! 9. Proactive presence of God among His people! 10. Death is a doorway to the presence of God! Only one who can save like this is worthy of our devotion! His name is Jesus!

God isn't calling you into Christianity, churchianity or some unique spiritual club. He is calling you into the fellowship of Jesus and His people. Believers in the 1st century "were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). God wants us to do the same today.

Listen in on Jesus' prayer about the fellowship: I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me. They were yours in the first place; then you gave them to me, and they have now done what you said. They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that everything you gave me is firsthand from you, for the message you gave me, I gave them; and they took it, and were convinced that I came from you.

They believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the God-rejecting world but for those you gave me, For they are yours by right. Everything mine is yours, and yours mine, and my life is on display in them. For I'm no longer going to be visible in the world; they'll continue in the world while I return to you. Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me, so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind. As long as I was with them, I guarded them in the pursuit of the life you gave through me; I even posted a night watch and not one of them got away, except for the rebel bent on destruction (the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

Now I'm returning to you. I'm saying these things in the world's hearing so my people can experience my joy completed in them. I gave them your word; the godless world hated them because of it, because they didn't join the world's ways, just as I didn't join the world's ways. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world, but that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world. Make them holy-set apart for a mission-with the truth; Your word is truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I'm consecrating myself for their sakes so they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

I'm praying not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind-just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they'll be as unified and together as we are-I in them and you in me. Then they'll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you've sent me and loved them in the same way you've loved me.

Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am, so they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, having loved me long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you, but I have known you, and these disciples know that you sent me on this mission. I have made your very being known to them-who you are and what you do-and continue to make it known, so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them (John 17:6-26).

He wants you in! He wants you in far! He wants you to be inviting others in! Make fellowship a verb in your life!