Category Archives: Encouragement

Limits?

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If you love living on the edge, you should trying letting God take the reigns of your life. The thing to expect with God is the unexpected, and that’s the thrill of the Spirit-led life.

I’m not talking about the thrill extreme sports enthusiasts seek jumping out of airplanes at 10,000 feet with snowboards strapped to their feet. With God, it’s not about cheating death; it’s about altogether accepting it.

The excitement begins when we finally realize it’s not about our weakness but about His strength. With God, Gideon defeated an entire middle-eastern coalition of hundreds of thousands with just 300 men. With God, Moses freed over a million slaves from Egypt with nothing but a stick in his hand. With God, Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, went from hunting Christians to baffling the Jewish world in his defense of Jesus, the Christ. The point is God does immeasurably more than all we could ever ask or even imagine.

The thrill is being a part of God’s work, knowing by faith that He moved and you were there. As gruesome as it sounds, imagine David’s thrill carrying Goliath’s head and laying it down in front of Saul. David didn’t kill Goliath, and David knew it! God moved, and David was there. They did it together – the unimaginable!

I refuse to believe the unimaginable was reserved for those who lived thousands of years ago when Peter says it was our time that all the angels and prophets longed to look. We live in the time of the glories that follow the sufferings of the Christ (1 Pet.1:10-12). We live in the time of the Spirit, the time of “Christ in you” (Col. 1:27), the time when the power of God is at work within us (Eph. 3:20). No! There is no greater time in the history of all mankind than right now!

So how do we do it? How do we do the unimaginable with God?

The one common denominator among all the “greats” of the Bible is that they all had to step into the unreasonable unknown with total trust in God. Gideon had to send away over 30,000 men before he could fight with God, because God said his army was too big. Moses had to return to the land where he was a wanted man, and face the very man he had defied and who had the power to kill him at will. David had to stand before his brothers, his nation, a giant and the giant’s army alone. Paul had to renounce almost all he knew. And, Jesus had to work his way to Jerusalem to die on a cross.

None of it made sense at the time. No one knew any of the outcomes beforehand – except God. But these faithful stepped forward. The only question is, will we?

There is no limit to what God can do. The only limit is what we believe he can do.

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”

Colossians 4:3

Curing Our Edifice Complex

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The opinions are still coming in but if I’m any judge, this week’s Backyard Bible Camp was an overwhelming success — and, I hope, a model for how we do outreach at Open Door. Even when we have our own facility, the goal should be to get out of it as often as possible and into the community. The Bible Camp did just that. Big kudos to everyone involved!

The fact is, many people outside the Church are intimidated by our facilities. They see them only from the outside. What’s going on inside is left largely to their imaginations, which are colored by popular culture and its generally negative, even hostile, attitude toward organized religion of any stripe. The only sure way to show them who we are and what we are about, our Father’s business, is to get outside the walls.

I’m not knocking facilities as such. They’re tools and if they are used to successfully advance the Kingdom, then great. But if we’re not careful, they can encourage over time a kind of mental retreat from the world outside. A circle-the-wagons mentality has become common across our brotherhood today. We raise our physical edifice, retreat behind its comforting walls and then wait for the world, if it’s interested, to come to us. The mindset often goes with — and reinforces — this fractious zeal for defending our turf and traditions that for some brothers has come to trump all other considerations, including the Great Commission.

Let’s work hard so that our Open Door serves not only as an invitation to the world, but as an ever-present reminder of our own charge to go forth boldly into it.

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”

Colossians 4:3

Peace! Be Still.

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It’s raining again. Thunder, lighting, wind, wet, duck-and-cover – that’s Oklahoma rain! I just cleaned up a tree in our backyard the last storm twisted off the trunk. But the loss of our tree is nothing compared to what many are facing in the Midwest.

Entire cities are flooding. Families are losing their homes. And with each disaster, the economy retaliates with even higher prices for everything. Many are wondering how they will survive this season.

Here is what James says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).

Truthfully, these words are little comfort in the middle of a storm unless you’re a spiritual giant. Who sees joy in suffering when they are suffering? Even Jesus prayed for his cup to pass if it were possible! So, where is the comfort? Where is the pure joy? Keep reading…

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind (James 1:5-6).

The two great questions in the storm are “Why” and “How.” Why is this happening, and how are we going to get through it. James says, God promises to answer both if we’ll but seek him with faith.

Often, what we lack is the conviction that God is always with us, and that He is still in control. Our immaturity is our self-reliance. The blessing of the storm is the opportunity to deepen our dependence on God.

Now if you are in Iowa, you may well ask, “What’s God going to do? I’ve lost my house, all my possessions and I don’t have a roof over my head. What can he possibly do?” My only answer is, I don’t know…but he does. And, this is the faith to which we are called.

The perseverance to which James calls us is not simply to strain to endure or survive the trial itself, but rather to relentlessly decide to trust God again and again and again, no matter what is happening around us.

Lasting comfort is not found in the easing of the storm, but in the presence of the One who commands the storm. Joy is not in the trial, but in the facing of the trial with the One who cannot be concurred.

When all to Jesus we have surrendered, the feelings of being blown and tossed about cease, and we find we lack nothing, because He who is over all, through all and in all has commanded, “Peace, be still.”

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”

Colossians 4:3

Be Shepherds of God’s Flock (Part III)

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One can see the Divine wisdom behind the model for church leadership if one steps back and takes in the full picture. Paul addresses the various functions in the early church in Ephesians 4. During this miraculously gifted age, the Lord equipped some to be “…apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…“

The term “pastor” is synonymous with “overseer” and both terms refer to the office of the plurality of shepherds who are to pastor or oversee the flock (1 Tim. 3; Tit. 1). The evangelist is to “preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2), and it requires great study, preparation and courage to speak God’s oracles to a disobedient world. Both of these offices were created to prepare God’s people to serve the community and become a close knit family — the body of Christ in a broken and corrupt world.

Unfortunately, the most alarming tendency that I’ve seen in the Lord’s church- and it has been exhibited to some degree in nearly every congregation that I’ve spent time with – is the evolution of the eldership to a man-made model. Many of today’s elderships bear little resemblance to the divine pattern for leadership in the kingdom. The model that congregations seem to have adopted has been one more akin to the business world’s “corporate” model of governance – a “board of directors” who meet from time to time, review budgets, attend to personnel actions, and issue decrees.

Are these elders “bad” men? Not at all. But they are often bound up in a failed model that is patterned after the business world. Even those men who are qualified and gifted as elders, and desire to shepherd according to God’s plan, often find themselves restricted by a “corporate” model that fails to provide servant leadership to the congregation. The results of this leadership model is that our people are NOT prepared for works of service, and do NOT act as a family of God in the community.

I learned more about the elders from an elder’s wife than I have from any elders that I’ve been around. Over a three year period, I watched as she single-handedly continued to serve the congregation with hospitality, love, teaching, sharing and faithfulness after her husband had passed away. I have no doubt that this couple understood exactly the role of an elder. It was apparent in their children, too. Both of their children and their spouses actively served in their congregations and were just as hospitable in serving and teaching.

As a restoration church, we must strive to fix this failed leadership model, but I fear it won’t happen within the context of congregations that have become so “institutionalized” that they cannot effectively change. As we consider men for our shepherds, we have much to think about. Are these men exhibiting shepherding behavior right now? Are their wives true, spiritual partners in their hospitality, teaching and example?

At the Open Door Church, we have a wonderful opportunity to restore the Lord’s perfect leadership plan for the congregation. That leadership plan includes assigning the right responsibilities and authority to evangelists, shepherds, and deacons as we move this work forward. It means realizing that these offices work as an interdependent team, not as a hierarchical governing structure. Restoring God’s plan means recognizing the contributions of our great women and insuring that their roles accurately reflect the New Testament pattern. It means moving away from a “corporate” leadership model that has plagued many of our sister congregations.

Most of all it means being courageous. Join us at the Open Door church of Christ. We have a place for you.

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.”

Colossians 4:3