I would love to tell you that over time it gets easier to follow Jesus but for me it gets harder. Possibly that is why Paul encourages believers to stand firm(Phil 4:1). There are periods of time when it is easier than others but in the grand scope of things it is hard, very hard.

I am preparing to speak about the rich young man in Mark 10:17-31, more specifically it is 8:05am on Sunday morning. Jesus is calling into question what this man puts his trust into and so I feel this nagging question weighing on my own heart. What has developed in my life as a barrier to Jesus being King of my life? Am I once again viagra up in performance theology or am I dependant completely on God?

As a pastor I feel the pressure to be a super Christian. To make no mistakes and always have it together. Most of the pressure is self-inflicted. I deal with never feeling adequate to the task at hand and many times rather than going to Jesus with it I try to be better at following him under my own will power.

I am grateful for moments of clarity. Times when all the pieces come together momentarily. Times when the words of Jesus probe deeply into my heart and allow him to change me.

Yesterday I with my wife and children, whom also deal with a sin nature, admitted our faults to one another and forgave one another. Maybe that is the first step toward a greater dependency on God. What is in the way? What must you give up to follow Jesus everything?

I am preparing on a Friday before the Sunday that I am going to deliver a message on this passage and I find myself in the story.

Usually I read and study the text in order to deliver a well thought out message. Give scripture, context and interpretation, with space for people to apply it to their lives… but I found myself in the story.

I actually found myself with a strong encounter with Jesus in this story. I am not crippled and I never hope to be but this passage struck my heart and I do not want to leave this moment so I am preserving it in this blog.

As I read the story and the commentaries with David Crowder’s SMS Shine in my ears something happened.

I felt as though I was looking deep into the eyes of Jesus. I had a holy moment in Starbucks! (I almost left earlier because I was in a weird mood but I pushed through that moment and now I know why I need to stay. Jesus had an appointment with me. I have had a busy week full of appointments, I am tired and so he shows up today.) I felt as though he was taking me by the hand and saying to me… this is what I do, I restore what has been taken from you. I felt as if he reached deep inside of my chest and removed the heart that has through tough experiences been beat and hardened. I felt as though he placed a new heart inside of me one that is soft and sensitive to the touch of my Savior. As our eyes met I felt loved deeper than I ever had before. He held my hand and I felt like I could see things in a new way.

I am now currently aware that I am still in Starbucks fighting back tears, feeling like an idiot…

As I wrote this I have had the song on repeat as to never leave this moment. If you know me, you know that I never speak in this way. I cannot explain what just happen but other than to asy that God encounters and rarely in the same way more than once.

I have in the last few weeks been weighed, measured and found wanting. Today I have been found complete in Jesus who is strength in my weakness.

When the real St. Patrick was a missionary to Ireland. He is responsible for many people coming to Christ and avoided the combining of Druidism with Christianity. So, St. Patrick’ Day is a Christian Holiday. Most notable about St. Patrick was he used a clover to explain the trinity, which is the earliest form of ministry creativity. He was the man! For more on St. Patrick click here

The passage that accompanies this final week is Revelation 21:1-4

[The New Heaven and the New Earth]
[21:1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:1-4 ESV)

In this passage we see love and are once again given hope… We trust that God is preparing a place for all of us, we wait and hope for the new heavens and the new earth. From the word of God a hope is born once again. As the prophecy of the messiah gave Israel hope the prophecy of God making his dwelling with man at the end of everything gives the Church hope.

Is there any greater love than that which is given at Christmas. God send his son because he loves us so much. God pursues us in our brokenness and give us a way out with a promise. A promise that one day we will spend eternity with him. It is the great love that God has for us which compels us to love one another.

We love because God loves us. We love one another, we love those who are perishing and we do so because God showed us how to love. God shows us how to love without any love in return. We love so that others might come to know the God who loves them and desires relationship with everyone.

One day their will be a new heaven and a new earth where the kingdom of God will reign. Another way of speaking about the kingdom is three words “I love you.” Lets practice living in that kingdom right now.

Joy comes in the fulfillment of hope. Sometimes we hope for so long that the fulfillment seems impossible, but for those who hold out hope the Joy is indescribable. In Advent you expect the coming and when Jesus finally comes Joy enters this season. Jesus is the cause and the one who sustains our Joy.

The passage the accompanies this week is John 1:19-34

[The Testimony of John the Baptist]
[19] And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” [20] He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” [21] And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” [22] So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” [23] He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
[24] (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) [25] They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” [26] John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, [27] even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” [28] These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

[Behold, the Lamb of God]
[29] The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [30] This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ [31] I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” [32] And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. [33] I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ [34] And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
(John 1:19-34 ESV)

John come proclaiming that hope is being fulfilled the the Messiah is among them. The answer comes back who are you to proclaim this what are your qualifications? He retorts with the prophecy that speaks of the one who prepares the way for Jesus. John is here to get people ready for Jesus and what he is going to do…

He is preparing them, us, the world for the coming of the Lamb… Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus is the lamb that God provides to end the reign of sin. He dies for us and removes our sin.

The Joy of Christmas is a Joy of free people. A people set free from sin, set free from the systems of this world. We are free from oppression, we are free from commercialism… we are free from ourselves. As we deny ourselves and follow Jesus we experience Joy.

The passage that accompanies this week is Matthew 3:1-6

[John the Baptist Prepares the Way]
[3:1] In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, [2] “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” [3] For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”

[4] Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. [5] Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, [6] and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
(Matthew 3:1-6 ESV)

John came announcing that hope is about to be fulfilled. As the centuries unfolded they probability started to believe that it was never going to happen. God would never show up and nothing ever changed besides the name of the oppressors.  John announces that the long awaited moment has come and the God will now send himself to his people.

In his coming there would be an opportunity for peace. For a peace with God that surpasses all understanding. This peace comes at a cost, repent! Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Jesus brings the peace we so desperately need and long for but there is a necessary element required of us and that is repentance. For those of us not adept at Greek to repent means to change your mind. To be going one way and walk the opposite direction. We repent to have peace, there is no peace without repentance.

Jesus brings peace and he cannot give us something when we refuse to accept him. He is not a rigid ideologue who forces himself on us and makes us feel guilty he waits for an invitation into our lives. In order for us to let him in we must repent, we must change our direction and follow him. This is very uncomfortable because in repentance we find out that we were wrong, we made very series mistakes. We now need to own our mistakes through confession. We repent, we confess and we find the Peace that Jesus offers.

We are left with a choice. Amidst all the lights and presents of Christmas we are given a choice… Peace or Comfort. Peace or Comfort? The choice is yours. The path of Jesus is hard but it is the only way to find peace.

The emphasis of this season it to prepare for Christmas. Not preparing through shopping but preparing our hearts to celebrate the Birth of Jesus. One of the ways that we do this is through the corporate worship and message of Sunday mornings and an additional equally important way is through our Advent groups. The Advents groups meet throughout the week in the homes of the people leading them. They are discussion groups about Christmas and the meaning of Christmas centered around the theme and Bible passage for the week and aimed at deconstructing commercialism.

Find a group to be apart of, a list of groups is on the Fusion Community section of the Gathering page.

This week and the opening of Advent is hope. A hope that God is sending help in the Messiah and He will change everything. A hope that all people on earth will find their rest in Him. A hope of salvation for today and a hope of eternal life.

We open with prophesy Isaiah 11:1-10, a prophesy that speaks of the coming of the Messiah once and again.

[The Righteous Reign of the Branch]

[11:1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
[2] And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
[3] And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
[4] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
[5] Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

[6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
[7] The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
[8] The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
[9] They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

[10] In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
(Isaiah 11:1-10 ESV)

It tells the Hebrew people that they can hope again. That a Messiah is coming and he will be everything that they need. He will have all the attribute of a leader. The Spirit of God will be upon him and he will change nature back to the state of the Garden of Eden. He will be a signal for all the people of the Earth to unite under.

Christmas is the fulfillment of this promise. So at the opening of this season we enter into this hope, the expectancy of the Coming of the Messiah, the Christ, God incarnate. We hope for nothing less than God giving himself to us.

I was meditating on a song that led to a thought that led to a blog. I have as other have also wondered where God is when we hurt. From loosing a loved one to a tortured soul we find ourselves distant, disconnected and separate from God in the times we need him most. We feel and cry out, “I have not moved God where did you go.”

In these moments of pain we grow the most, we learn the most but that does not mean anything in the moment itself. In this subjective context I have been thinking.

Maybe God is there? In every tear. In every heart break. In every pain. God is there? In every moment of loss. In every moment of desperation. In every moment of fear? God is there! When we feel lost. When we feel alone. When we feel angry.

Sometimes we cannot see him. Sometimes we need his light to see him through hard situations. God is there in every moment of the human experience. Without God I would be lost. Without Jesus Christ, his sacrifice and rising on the third day I would not have a reason to go on. Through dieing to myself and living for God I have found a reason to exist.

Have you?

You may be thinking, wait a minute isn’t this a Church blog? Yes it is… but let me explain!

For years I have been going to Church and planning Church gatherings. I know if you dim lights and turn up stage lights you will focus on what is happening. I also know if I show a video you will connect with the message.  I also know that with the right staging you can feel very at home and with the right sound you can be very comfortable.

But what is the point?

Yeah I know where this article is going you are going to say that the people are the Church and we need to live like the Church. Yes, I am but not yet! I want to turn back to my question.

What is the point? This question haunts me every Sunday afternoon. What happened? And. What was the point? Why do we get together and sing songs? Why do we get together and listen to messages?

Why won’t these question go away?

I recently attend the memorial service for a good friend John Powell. He was the funniest guy I have ever know and one of the most spiritual as well. I heard a story at the service, three weeks before he passed away he led a young lady in the congregation to Christ while the gathering was going on in the same room. John lived a radical spirituality that was truly spirit led, even though you would have never guessed in meeting him. John came to a building every Sunday and loved the people that came, he never went to Church… he lived as the Church daily. He took Church with him wherever he went. He never wrote a book. He never talked about his spirituality, he was too busy living it. I will miss John, but I will see him again.

The memorial service caused the questions to start swirling again. I sit here is Starbucks asking the questions from Sunday afternoon on a Wednesday morning. We will call it getting and early start.

If our gatherings are not encouraging us to live lives of love… what is the point?

If our gatherings are just creating an experience… what is the point?

If our love is not evident… what is wrong with us?

Yes stop going to Church. Do not cheapen the cross by believing the Church is a place. You are the Church! You are apart of the kingdom of God! Live like the Church, take it everywhere with you! And when we gather may it be a time of love in community continually welcoming new members of God’s kingdom.

Hey Church, see you Sunday morning as we gathering to do this whole community thing. Let’s decide never to go to Church again but agree to be the Church together and apart.

I recently began reading a book with a group of friends called “Loving Our Kids on Purpose” by Danny Silk.  So far it’s been an eye opening, paradigm shifting book that has initiated good conversations between us.  One conversation it sparked was on the topic of control.  Mr. Silk quotes 2 Corinthians 3:17; Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Then states,

“We sing songs all day long about how God is in control.  He does not control you, and neither does your wife, your boss, or your children.  No one controls you.  As a matter of fact, we’ve been given a Spirit of power, love and self control (2 Tim. 1-7).  You cannot blame your life on God…”

One opposing opinion that came from this excerpt is that God can be in control if we give it to Him.  This prompted me to do a little research, so I did a keyword and topic search for “Control” in the Bible… I found where the Bible speaks of God controlling animals, the wind and of us controlling ourselves (self-control), but nothing on God controlling us, or us giving Him control.  To me, to give someone control means to give them your free will, your choice.  Now we can go through life situation by life situation debating weather God was in control or not, but to me, the real question is; Does God want to be in control??  If He created us to be free, if He gave us the choice to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, if He gives us the choice every day to choose Him or to reject Him… why would He want control?  It reminds me of part of the script from one of my favorite Veggie Tales shows, A Snoodles Tale.  I hope it provokes thought, prayer and maybe even a response;

SNOODLE: But sir, if you made this incredible land,
Can’t you make snoodles obey your command?

NARRATOR: The big one smiled warmly the said to the small,

OLD MAN: A gift that’s demanded is no gift at all.

by Morgan Dietz