Romans 16:25-27

²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶ but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20-21

²⁰ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us [1] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Jude 1:24-25

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

From Randy Bohlender, who created the Zoe Foundation, which “exists to further the cause of adoption as a positive alternative to abortion in America”

The most common objection we hear about adoption involves the cost. It seems a lot of people have a heart for adoption but not the stomach for the cost.   While some fees can be avoided (that’s a long post for another day), adoption is often expensive. That said, I’ve never met an adoptive parent who regretted plunking down the money either.

What most people are feeling is inadequate when it comes to raising the funds. Their fees might range from $15,000-$35,000 but it’s essentially immaterial. To a family living month to month, $15,000 might as well be the size of the government stimulus package. Anything more than they have is out of reach….except for a few important details. God has all the silver and Gold.   God likes adoption. A lot of people like God. Those people and God talk…see where this is going?

If you’re looking towards adoption but wondering how to pay for it, let me give you a couple of suggestions on fundraisers.

Think big.

Often times, people go the bake sale and car wash route. Unless you’re planning on washing every car in your city at a hundred bucks a pop (and charging extra for trucks), you will ever wash enough cars. And as for bake sales, even at a dollar a muffin, can you sell thirty thousand muffins?   The surprising truth is that it doesn’t take much more work to do a large scale dinner or auction than it does to do a car wash or a bake sale…but the return on your work will be a hundred fold.

For our first adoption, we held a benefit dinner. My first inclination involved a bucket of chicken and a case of bottled water. My smart wife and our friend convinced me this wasn’t the best idea. “Hokey” I think was the word they used. We ended up catering a $25/person meal at a nice restaurant in a fun location. We sold tickets that let people pick their price – $50, $75, $100, $250 and up.   I don’t think we sold a single $50 ticket. Most were $75-$100 with plenty that sold for more than that.    We raised $13,000 that night. You’re not going to do that on your best car wash….

Think broadly.

It’s too easy to think “We don’t know anyone who would help us adopt….”. You need to think beyond who you think might help you to every living soul you’ve ever met, and their rolodex, and their friends’ rolodex.   We got the word out using the internet, word of mouth, and mailed invitations. We also gave a stack of invitations to the connector types in our world – the kind of person who can’t get through a restaurant without talking to five people.   Those people really delivered for us.

There was a second wave of people who heard from friends, and in the end, a significant chunk of our first adoption’s finances came from strangers.    I can’t speak strongly enough about the importance of blogging your adoption journey – when you’re back against the wire, people you do not know who have followed your story will step up and help financially because they want to see this story to completion.

Think boldly.

You are not asking for a birthday present for yourself, or even a trip to Disney for your child. You are asking for help in changing the life of a human being for eternity.   Anyone with any sense will know that even with an expensive adoption, the long term cost of raising a child far outweighs the upfront expenses you’re trying to cover. You are the one taking the majority of the workload – getting the baby home is just step one.

Thinking boldly means asking for specific amounts, through specific ticket costs, etc. The agency will not ask you to ‘do whatever you can’….they’ll have a solid number.   Granted, you’d take $10 from someone as quickly as you’d take $10,000, but the people you’re asking for help from need to know that the numbers have five digits, not two.

Most people are looking to do something commensurate with the need, not the minimum they can get by with.   That’s why so few people bought $50 tickets – once they saw what we were really needing, most of them stepped up further than they would of had we been vague about it.

It is not easy to raise the necessary funds, but it’s doable. Don’t let fear stop you from doing what is right. Life depends on someone’s willingness to step beyond fear into the heroic.

From Jonathan Dodson, via his Creation Project Blog. His Church Planting Novice blog is highly recommended.

How should we pray when we suffer? Honestly and with humility. Boldly but with confidence in his blessing. Desperately with our eyes, not on our escape but upon our Lord. Hopefully, by directing our hope to the grace that comes through a cross, not a courtroom. Repentantly, as we let go of sinful demands for vindication and cling to his provision in self-sacrificing propitiation. Pietistically, wanting more than anything a deeper communion with Him. Lovingly, seeking to obtain that mercy for our suffering in order to turn it into a grace for our attackers. Thankfully, for his perfect design and provision in our suffering to bring us the greatest good. Worshipfully, acknowledging that Christ alone is sufficient for our failures and our sufferings.

Challenging article about pacifism from Evangelical Village. I will admit to feeling drawn to pacifism, but I agree with many of the concerns below, which is causing me to reassess my “commitment” to pacifism.

One of our contributors preached a great sermon recently asking the question:

Is War Reconcilable with the Teachings of Jesus?

You can listen to the whole sermon in the link above. Below I am going to give you the main points of the sermon.

There has ben a recent surge of pacifism within Christianity. This surge has mainly found itself within the movements of the Emergent church and Red Letter Christianity. I, personally, along with the sermon at the top, feel that there are some very serious errors with pacifism. Let’s go through some of them:

1) Pacifism fails to distinguish between individual and civil conduct. In Matthew 5 Jesus is very clearly speaking on an individual bases, not civil. Romans 13 gives a clear command to the government to ‘bear the sword.’ There is not a command in Scripture that tells individuals to punish those do evil, but there is a command in Scripture that tells the government to punish those who do evil. Scripture clearly distinguishes between individual and civil.

2) Pacifism suffers from a naive optimism about the nature of man.

3) Pacifism if consistently applied cannot lead to anything, except anarchy. If violence or any type of forceful mean is never a viable option from civil authorities for justice then we have to get rid of police! If we follow the logic of pacifism we wind up with no type of civil authority than can establish justice. Without that authority anarchy is inevitable.

4) Pacifism fails to treat members of the military like Jesus and the Apostles treat members of the military. Every time Jesus and the Apostles interact with people from the military they never mention the military being wrong, ever. Multiple times people of the military are being commended for their faith. Cornelius is described as an upright, God fearing man. If serving in the military is wrong then why do we never see Jesus or the Apostles condemning the practice? Why do we see no one repenting of their military service when they encounter Jesus or are saved? Such as Cornelius and the military man that Jesus says, ‘I have never in all of Israel seen someone with such faith.’ In Luke 3 soldiers walk up to John the Baptist and ask what they should we do in order to follow ‘the way’ that John speaks of… John responds by telling them ‘not to extort money from anyone and be content with their wages.’ That is all he says. If we were to view military service as wrong and sinful, as most pacifists do, then John would of had to tell them to repent of their sin of being in the military in order to follow the way of Jesus. But he doesn’t. he only tells them not to extort and be content with their wages. If a murder were to walk up to John and ask the same question it would be foolish to think that John wouldn’t say, “Stop your lifestyle of murder.”

5) Pacifism poses a problem with the communication of the New Testament. There is Scripture all throughout the New Testament that uses military language. We are told to be ‘good soldiers in Christ.’ There is a pattern of military language that is used to describe a believers life. You would never, as a communicator, use an unrighteous analogy to make a righteous point. If being a soldier and being in the military is wrong, it is rather ridiculous for Paul to use language that calls us to be ‘good soldiers in Christ Jesus.’

6) Pacifism forces you to love your enemy at the expense of your neighbor. The pacifist is forced to say, ‘we will not act because we are to love our enemies.’ Which means they see it as wrong to try and stop, with force, tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin etc… Why? Because we are to love our enemies. But what about the millions of innocent people that were slaughtered at the hands of Stalin and Hitler? Is sitting by and doing nothing really following the command of Jesus to love our neighbor as these millions are slaughtered? I think not.

This post by Ed Stetzer is so on-point that I’m quoting it in its entirety.

1. Elementary is a “Danger” and Not a Goal

You are supposed to “go on” to maturity and “leave” some of the basics. But many don’t–that is why they are commanded to do so.

As church planters, we want to keep it simple. We want to engage the unchurched. We want to reach seekers. And, all of that is good.

But, remember, “elementary” is a danger and not a goal.

Too often, simple (which is good) gets replaced with simplism, which reduces the gospel from what it really is.

In your church plant, you can tell people to:

• pray this prayer
• come to these meetings
• give this amount, and
• serve in this job

all while not obeying the central command of the Great Commission: to make disciples.

“Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1).

Some of us pride ourselves on being accessible to the unchurched by keeping it simple–but God calls us to leave the elementary.

“Keeping it simple” while “leaving the elementary” is a hard balance.

How do you do it? First, it starts with you in your own spiritual growth.

1. Recognize your propensity to get busy serving that you forget knowing God. You are NOT naturally spiritually contemplative.
2. Pastor yourself.
3. Pastor your family.
4. Lead your people to maturity.

If you pastor a great big church but end up a personal spiritual midget, the plant will fail, and (more importantly) your spiritual life will fail.

Do not make it a value to say that you will “never go deep.” Instead, find ways to go deep and, at the same time, make it clear and accessible to outsiders.

The reality is that it has become normal for us to NOT grow. We studied over 2500 church attendees in the LifeWay Research study only 3.5% of those we surveyed over the course of a year displayed any measurable growth. But, 55% of those we studied perceived themselves to have grown spiritually.

God has a strong word for the spiritually stuck:

“Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were not yet able to receive it” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).

So, you don’t want that to be you! You don’t want that to be your church plant.

Instead, we want to move ahead, grow deeper, and experience a fuller spiritual life.

“We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become slow to understand. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of God’s revelation. You need milk, not solid food” (Hebrews 5:11-12).

So, are you a grower, shrinker, or stuck? Let’s take a moment and think about it because there are some big issues at stake here. A vibrant spiritual life or a shrinking and dying one. You must have a robust spiritual life.

Then, you have to lead your church to have a plan for robust spiritual growth.

That involves:

1. Moving from decision to disciples.
2. Providing a pathway to spiritual maturity in your church.
3. Spending as much time planning your discipling strategy as you do your launch, assimilation, and worship strategy.

2. God Wants You and Your Church on a Clear Path to Spiritual Growth

If the central command of the Great Commission is to make disciples, and you have a plan for marketing, facilities, and organization, but not plan for discipleship, you have missed the point.

“For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10).

Notice the progression.

Knowing → Being → Doing

We can observe from Scripture a clear pattern that spiritual transformation begins with exposure to the truth. As God’s revealed Truth (the Word) penetrates the mind it leads to the transformation of heart and character. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way:

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

The renewal of the mind, enabled by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, brings about spiritual growth.

Here you can see the pattern of knowledge leads to understanding (knowing), which leads to walking worthy (being), which leads to bearing fruit (doing).

It starts with knowing.

That is why in our research we found that the number one statistical correlation to spiritual maturity was the practice of reading the Bible. There was a strong relationship between those who grew spiritually and the practice of reading the Bible.

You don’t need to get your people thinking you are clever, you need to get them thinking that the word of God is sufficient.

People sit around in a creative planning meetings and ask, how can we communicate this in a way that is clever?

A more important idea: how can we get them to think they only place they see the Bible is on a big screen at church.

God provides both a process for spiritual growth and the means for this transformation.

3. God Involves Us in Our and Our Church’s Spiritual Growth

Unlike in conversion, we “work toward” spiritual growth. But, like conversion and all things with God, he is the source and power of it.

Only God can cause true spiritual formation.

Referring before to their lack of spiritual maturity:

The Apostle Paul said, “… God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

There is this tough balance on this. I was speaking at John Piper’s church when he reminded us that God builds his church. He emphasized point by point I – Will – Build – My – Church. (See that message here.)

If you think it is all on you, then you have placed your work in place of God’s promises.

But it is also clear that God places responsibility upon us for our spiritual growth and the spiritual growth of our church. There is an important balance here.

“So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).

How much energy are you spending on working our your salvation?

This is not something you do once.

The gospel is not something you get over, it is something you live out.

You have to learn to live out the implications of the gospel.

God enables us to grow, but we have to “work out” our salvation.

Many church planters are spiritual bankrupt and strategy rich. It is time to declare bankruptcy and not pass it on like a Ponzi scheme to your people. It will all eventually come crumbling down.

You need a plan and your church needs a plan.

Over dinner a couple of months ago with Rick Warren, he talked about their process for spiritual maturity and he listed off the number of people committed to having daily quiet times, the number committed to serving, the number committed to this or that. Why? Because they have a discipling plan. You may not like it because you have an aversion to a baseball diamond, but you need a plan of your own.

4. God Calls You and Your Church To Be Spiritual Learners

“Be conscientious about yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

Guard your life and doctrine well. That is probably not something you hear at a lot of church planting conferences. But, maybe we should. And, discipleship is my topic and you can’t talk discipleship without talking about you being a learner, and that includes guarding your life and doctrine.

Example of the Bereans: this s why you have lots of churches called “Berean” and none called “Thessalonicans.” (That, and “Thessalonican” is hard to say.)

“The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Open minded means ready to receive.

As church planters, we are not a naturally contemplative people. But, we need to guard our lives and our doctrine well and have a plan to lead our church to do the same.

Is discipling part of your planting strategy? If not, you are building a strategy around organizational momentum and not spiritual maturity.

Do you people see you as a great leader or a godly pastor. Hopefully both, but pick godly over great.

From C Michael Patton

We have downgraded belief, truth, doctrine, and “understanding” to a secondary level of importance. It has become the handmaiden of immediate application. We are losing our reason for boasting.

In reality, application is the handmaiden of truth. God wants us to know and understand him. Statements such as “Belief is no good without practice” fails to understand that belief is the foundation of practice and that belief—right belief—brings as much glory to God as anything.

Preaching right belief and understanding, unfortunately, has become the red taped taboo of our generation. Avoidance of such is justified in the name of baseless pragmatism. It is the Evangelical and Emerging misdirection that could alleviate the church of the only legitimate reason we have for boasting. I believe that it is the crisis of the church today.

Friends, if people believe correctly—and I mean truly believe—they will act correctly when the situation calls for it. Not only this, but their good works will be done for the right reasons, based on a motivation of truth. Knowing and understanding God will change lives by bringing people in a right orientation with the way things actually are.

I know that not everything can be understood. I know that God has not revealed himself to us fully. And I know that there is legitimate room for disagreement on many things. But this does not alleviate us of our search for God. Theology, truth, doctrine, understanding, and belief are foundational to all else. God rejoices in correct doctrine.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, the late founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, used to end each class with this statement, “Men, give them something to believe.” I end with the same.

From Tim Chester , author of Total Church

I read Paul’s farewell exhortation to the leaders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20 this morning. As it happens, we have a leaders’ meeting this evening at which I’m handing over some leadership to others so it felt timely. Here are six things I want to highlight with my leaders …

1. Both feed and guard the flock (28-31)

What do leaders do? ‘Guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock.’ (28) Leaders do the positive work of feeding, teaching and instructing the flock. But they also do a negative work of guarding and watching over the flock – warning, rebuking, correcting. And it’s this element that Paul seems to emphasis. Perhaps because we have a tendency to shrink back from confrontation …

2. Never shrink back (20, 26-27)

‘I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear.’ (20) Don’t make it your aim to be loved. You often hear stories of leaders who are deeply loved by their flock. That’s a wonderful thing when it happens, but it’s a dangerous aim because you may shrink from telling people what they need to hear. More often than not, those leaders who are now so loved have come through periods of conflict when their message was opposed. Your aim is to ‘well done, good and faithful servant.’

3. Trust grace (21, 24, 32)

‘I entrust you to God and this message of his grace’ (32). Of course we preach grace. But in reality we often find it hard to entrust people to grace. We want to hedge them around, to protect them, to steer them. From good motives, we can add layers of obligation that become legalism. Paul’s message is ‘the wonderful grace of God’ (24) and so his only ‘obligations’ are ‘the necessity of repenting of sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus’. (21) [For an attempt to show how we are sanctified by faith and repentance alone and therefore a pointer to a faith-based approach to pastoral care see my book, You Can Change.]

4. Guard yourselves (28)

‘Guard yourselves and God’s people’ (28). The first three points are about our ministry. The second three are about our own lives. We are to guard God’s flock. But first we are to guard ourselves. Never let the busyness of ministering to other keep from ministering to your own heart. As Robert Murray M’Cheyne famously said: ‘The greatest need of my congregation is my own personal holiness.’

5. Sacrifice (24, 33-35)

‘My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling other the Good News about the wonderful grace of God’ (24). The only life worth living is a life spent serving Jesus because Jesus is the only thing worth living for (Matthew 13:44). Verses 33-35 and striking. Paul works to suply his own needs. And then he works some more so he can help those in need.

6. Shed tears (19, 31)

‘I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears’ (19). ‘Remember the three years I was with you – my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you’ (31). I am convinced that tears are a good sign of authentic ministry. Do we love your flock so much that we weep for them? Let’s ask God to open our hearts and give us a love for people.

From Drew Goodmanson, an elder/pastor at Kaleo Church and CEO of Monk Development. He recently published early results of a study of church web sites.

• 0% of respondents who were Non-Christians said their going to church was influenced by the church website.
• 6% of participating churches had a gospel presentation on their website.
• 27% of the respondents said the church website was how they first learned about the church.

For Visitors (attending the church for under 3 months)

• 77% said the church website was somewhat to very important in my decision to attend the church.
• 83% said the church website was somewhat to very important in facilitating their participation in the church community.

For Beginners (3-6 months)

• 45% said the church website was somewhat to very important for their ongoing discipleship and spiritual growth.
• 73% said the church website was somewhat to very important in sharing their faith with others (friends, business colleagues, others)

Regulars (6+ months)

• 27% said they visit the church website more than once a week.
• Feature Rated Most important: Listen or ability to download Sermons.
• Most requested functionality: Ability to post prayer requests or needs.

From John Piper via Justin Taylor

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? . . . Is it a discipline?

You can call it that.

• It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater.
• It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers.
• It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns.
• It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food.
• It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water.
• It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid.
• It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin.
• It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey.
• It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.

God has given us means of grace. If we do not use them to their fullest advantage, our complaints against him will not stick. If we don’t eat, we starve. If we don’t drink, we get dehydrated. If we don’t exercise a muscle, it atrophies. If we don’t breathe, we suffocate. And just as there are physical means of life, there spiritual are means of grace. Resist the lies of the devil in 2009, and get a bigger breakthrough in prayer than you’ve ever had.

From Jonathan Leeman at the 9Marks Blog comes this quote from James Gilmore, who spoke at the 2008 Text and Context Conference

James Gilmore wrote a book (with Joseph Pine II) called
Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want
. It was published by Harvard Business School Press (2007). Leadership Journal published a brief interview with Gilmore. Here’s a couple of excellent quotes:

• “As a business guy, I’m always cautious about taking any business thinking and applying it to the church…To me, the church should not aim to be ‘real’ as an end. The church is there to proclaim truth. Trying to be hip and cool and real does a disservice to the church. We’re not called to be successful. We’re called to be obedient, even if they don’t come.”
• “If somebody doesn’t find you objectionable, I wonder if you’re preaching the full counsel of God.”
• “If you truly see people, that comes off as real. If you love, you will automatically come off as real. You don’t need to strive to be real.”
• “Real is telling people about their sin and their need for repentance and their need for a Savior.”
• “Read my book to understand the culture that you’re preaching to, not as an operating model for your church.

Fear and Trembling in the Experience Economy

Decoding the Future, the Phoniness, and the Shifting Sands

Question and Answer with Jim Gilmore