This morning I was reading Matthew 7:7-11 and got to thinking, if the Bible says “ask and it will be given to you” why do we tend to shy away from asking for a deeper relationship with Jesus? I mean, I don’t mind asking God for strength or wisdom. I don’t mind asking Him to make me a better dad and husband. But, for some reason I realized this morning that I often neglect to simply say, “Jesus, please draw me into deeper and more intimate relationship with you today.”

I wonder if part of the reason that we sometimes miss out on God’s blessing and power in our lives is simply because we are afraid to ask for it. Knowing that with power comes responsibility, I wonder if our natural inclination is to shy away from the deeper things of God in order to suit our own laziness.

Too often I say that I want to walk more closely with Christ but neglect to ask God for that. Maybe this is why our churches are filled with people that say they love Jesus but act like that don’t even know Him…

Any thoughts?

As you know, last week my wife and I traveled to Arkansas to visit with family. On the way, my wife brought out a book on CD for us to listen to, Love and Respect by Dr. Emmerson Eggerichs. I was not a very loving husband as I let out a groan, not because I think that I am a great husband, but because I was not ready for confrontation or transformation, I was feeling just fine at the moment being a mediocre man. Shame on me. It took about 4 hours to get through it and by the time it was over I was glad that I had listened.

Break through thought for me from the book. A simple question.

“Sherry, have I done anything to make you feel unloved?”

Underlying every conflict are hints of unlove and disrespect. I will not even attempt to do a book review but I will say that if you are married or want to be, you may should give this book or book on CD a go. I do not agree with every thing and I wish that the last section was the first section, but overall, I like it and it has helped my marriage.

The other day a friend asked me an interesting question: In your ministry, what one accomplishment are you most proud of? Having been in ministry for about ten years, that’s a hard question. I think the answer changes as I grow and change. But for the moment here is my answer. David.

David came into the youth ministry about a year and a half ago, he was a brand new Christian, and it was obvious that he had a serious love for Jesus. Since coming into our church David has been more faithful and involved than most. But, more importantly, he has been faithful in seeking discipleship and a deeper relationship with Jesus.

He and I meet weekly over breakfast. At breakfast we talk about life, school, family, friends, girls (him not me), and Jesus. It’s a time where we are completely honest and open. As we meet and our friendship grows, I also see his love for Jesus grow. As I grow, I encourage his growth, and as he grows, he encourages my growth.

This is how discipleship works. We learn from each other, sharpen each other, encourage each other, and ultimately point one another toward a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Last Sunday evening David preached his first sermon. It made me proud to see the depth of his knowledge and his passion for Jesus. If discipling David were the summit of my ten years of ministry, that would be good enough, because I have faith and hope that he will carry on and have a great ministry throughout his life.

But, as it is, my ministry is not over, there are more to lead, more to teach, and more to disciple. I pray that throughout my life I will be allowed to pour into great young men like this one. And that through discipleship we will impact the eternity of many.

Steven Furtic of Elevation Church wrote an interesting post about Christian accountability today that is worth reading (click here).

He writes:

I believe there’s a higher level of accountability required of God’s people.

What if accountability was focused more on making each other great than making sure we were being good?

Then challenges readers:

We would all agree, and rightfully so, that if you see blatant sin in the life of another Christian, it is your responsibility to call it out. To challenge it. To confront it.

But what about when you see blatant potential that is lying dormant in another Christian’s life?
When you see underdeveloped greatness in the life of someone you love, isn’t it just as important to call that out too?

Check out the whole post. It’s worth the read and just might change the way you look at accountability and friendship.

Here are the questions I am asking myself this morning:

Who are we as a church?
What is our identity?
Why do we exist?
Who are we to our community?
Who are we to our members?
Are we being effective?
Are we seeing life change in our members?
Are we seeing positive change within our community?
What is our purpose?
Are we seeing spiritual transformation in our people? In our community?
Can we verbalize the specific mission that God has called us to?
What is our vision?

If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.
-Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)

Author’s interpretation “where there is no vision, the people perish”

Can you answer these questions for your church? Do your answers go deeper than Sunday School answers like: Jesus, God and follow the Bible? Can you articulate the vision of your church?

Does your church have vision?

Do you?

Mike Erre in his book The Jesus of Suburbia; Have We Tamed The Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?, makes a very revealing observation followed by some possible life/body of Christ changing questions.

If we took a close look, we might find that many of our church and religious activities are structured around actually evading God. Rather than really coming before him acknowledging my sinfulness and dependence, it is easier and more satisfying to come before him with a bunch of religious talk and activity. Much like the Pharisee in Luke 18, we think all of our giving, serving, reading, and praying amounts to much in God’s eyes. What would church look like if we were really honest about the lust, depression, greed, addiction, slander, deceit, anger, or [fill in the blank] of our lives? What if we quit hiding behind our religious masks and really dealt with the ugliness of our lives before God and others?

What about your personal and church related activities, are they actually helping you to evade or avoid God? What has happened to believers acknowledging before one another our weaknesses and sins? Are we just putting on masks of works as we claim justification by faith alone? Why does it seem that we accept God’s grace when we see His redemption of our lives and then rely on trying to look and act like we are good. Let us listen to this Mike guy and get honest about things, not because it is the religious thing to do but becasue it is God’s prescriptive way of life for us to have joy and honor him and one another.

The recent posts on home discipleship (here and here) have prompted some interesting discussion. An email that I received said:

Jewish custom requires everyone go through religious study in their youth. The study is not conducted by the parents but by scholars. Why do we think our parents are going to be able to take the place of those scholars even if their own lives are devoted to Christ?

and recently Scott posed the question:

I’ve been thinking alot about the email you received and wanted to ask a couple of questions that I have myself. It was admitted in the email that the training of children by scholars was “Jewish custom.” Does that make it right? As I read the Old Testament (especially the Torah) there are countless of verses that point to the training of children should happen in the homes. This was long before the synagogue system arose. It seems that the training of children by scholars may have been a deviation from God’s plan. Any thoughts?

I think this is a question worth exploring. Personally, I tend to think of Jewish training by scholars as more of religious training than real spiritual training. There is a large gap between the religious and the spiritual. So, having a rabbi teach children about laws, practices, and customs doesn’t necessarily mean it helps those children draw close to the Lord.

Any thoughts?