NACHO LIBRE

I have to say, my favorite movie of all time has to be Nacho Libre. I don't know why really other than it is absolutely hilarious. Anyway, I thought I would post a clip of it below. If you haven't seen this movie, you totally need to. I seriously watch it at least once a week. Enjoy, and thanks Jack Black for being so stinkin' funny!

Is school out?

The older I get the more I believe that most Christians seem to go to Church right before they get saved, and right after they get saved but very quickly, it seems like they get to the point where they believe they have learned all they need to know. And like the kids in the movie Dazed and Confused who just graduated high school, their theme song seems to be Alice Cooper’s song, “school’s out for summer, school’s out for ever.” Just like these kids in the movie who believe that their studying days are over, I believe some Christians feel like they’ve graduated and no longer need to study the Scriptures.

No more do they study the Scriptures like they should – if anything they study sports to get ready for things like the NCAA tournament bracket pick (I’m currently beating my wife this season, just sayin’). No more does a fire burn within their heart to passionately seek Christ – if anything they seek things of the world to make themselves feel good for all the junk in their life. No more are they excited about things of church – if anything they are excited about the football game or race that is coming on right after church. No more do they seek the Scriptures to grow in wisdom - if anything they watch Oprah and Dr. Phil to find life’s answers.

And then Christians seem to wonder why the World is the way it is. We wonder why we continue to mess up and life continues to get harder and harder. We wonder why in the heat of battle we don’t feel God’s presence. We wonder why we are finding it harder and harder to be joyful. You know I have found that if Christ is not the center of our lives, if His word is not the starting and ending point to where we find our source of strength, encouragement, and hope, then we will NEVER find ourselves where we want to be.

As I have studied the spiritual discipline of “study” I have found a lot about why many of us aren’t living the lives we so want to live – we aren’t studying! The purpose of the spiritual disciplines is to bring about a total transformation in our lives. They aim at replacing old destructive habits of thought with new life-giving thoughts.

The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2 that we are transformed by the renewal of the mind. To be blunt with you the mind is only renewed by applying it to the things that will transform it. So what does that mean, it means we have to study the things that can transform us. No wonder Paul writes in Philippians 4:8, “Finally brethren, what is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure, whatever is holy, whatever is gracious, if there is excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK about these things.” The Discipline of Study is the way we think about those things.

We can learn a lot here about Bible Study from the Bereans (Acts 17:11). God called these people “noble” which means “excellent.” In other words, God gave them a star, a smiley face, an A+ for their Bible Study. They dedicated their lives to studying the Scripture, and God called them excellent! How can we get to the point where God calls us excellent? Or better, yet what was the key item that made the Bereans more excellent than the Thessalonians? STUDY. Please don’t think for one minute that the Thessalonians were horrible people. Paul writes to them and prays for them saying ”we (Timothy and he) thank God without ceasing, because, when you (Thessalonians) received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). The difference is that the Bereans received the word of God, but they also went home and studied it.

In the Old Testament days, the Scripture instructed the Israelites to write the Laws and Scriptures on gates and doorposts and bind them to their wrist so they would constantly see them (Deuteronomy 11:18). The purpose of that was to get the mind to look repeatedly and regularly toward certain modes of thought about God and human relationships. However, in the New Testament it replaces the laws and Scriptures written on doorposts to laws written on the heart and leads us to Jesus.

One thing that is clear to me, at least from my own study and the Scripture is that our thoughts that are formed will conform to the things being studied. What we study therefore determines the kind of habits we form, which is why Paul urges us to focus on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious.

So my question is, what are you studying? I like Alice Cooper's song, but I can honestly say this, School ain't out. It won't ever be.

Is your pastor a prisoner?

Recently I’ve had a hard time blogging (as if you can’t tell from it being over 2 weeks since my last post). I don’t know why really except to say that I’ve been spending tons of time with my wife and trying to focus on what matters most in life, my relationship with God. But during this time of an unannounced, unplanned sabbatical, I have watched and read blogs about people who have written about how they have let their blogs feed their ego and control their self-worth.

I have prayed that the same wouldn’t happen to me. So far, I can say it hasn’t. But what I can say is that my Twitter account has controlled a lot of my self-esteem. And even now as I type this, a part of me hopes that some of you who don’t have a Twitter account will go get one and add me to your friend lists. I don’t have many Twitter friends (compared to some others) but I have enough that when I post this blog on my Twitter account several hundred will read it. In a weird way that kind of makes me want to vomit and it also makes me happy.

As I have thought about Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace (my primary social networking sites) I have come to the conclusion that what makes me love these three tools so much is that I love community. I can’t get enough of it! In reality though, normal people want to be in community and that’s why so many people spend so much time on these social sites! Like the cartoon indicates, many people (pastors being a large portion of those) find engaging the people in their church a huge obstacle and so they use the internet to find their community.

But truth be told, it’s hard as a pastor to be in community with the people at your church. Alyson and I are intentionally having to make some big decisions (move closer to the church, etc.) to help create the kind of community we long for. Yet most of the time the people around us don’t seem to want us at their parties, cookouts, etc. For some reason, I truly believe that many people think pastors actually care about what they serve or talk about at their house. Pastors are normal people (we aren’t perfect by any means) and if yours has made you feel like he isn’t normal, then I would suggest finding another church! I mean I would be lying if I said I always sat around my house and thought of holy things!

I realize people in my congregation are going to read this and think I’m talking about them. And for the most part, I’m not. The people at my church are great. We have our issues and problems for sure, but they actually invite me and want me to come to stuff – sometimes too often. But this isn’t just about me it’s about your pastor too.

Any pastor worth their grain of salt wants to be a part of your life in some fashion. If they don’t, then they aren’t pastors! Why would you want to let someone speak into your life, if they don’t really care about your life? You wouldn’t! But don’t be offended if they can’t spend four hours with you on Sunday afternoon, or any other time. Pastors have families that they need to take care of, but they also need community – and this goes beyond their “blood” family. No one can live in isolation and survive, and that includes your pastor. If you don’t believe me, ask any prisoner!

The problem with pastor’s and isolation is that, unlike prisoners, most pastors didn’t make horrible choices to put them in the position of being isolated. Instead, they courageously responded to the call of the Lord and now the devil is using some good meaning, church loving individuals to make them pay for it. Don’t let the devil use you as an accomplice in his handiwork. Make the decision today, to do your part in keeping your pastor in community and away from isolation.

Think Fast!

Part Three of the "Livin' the Dream" series was on fasting. Below is a recap:

I know that most of you ARE NOT LIVING THE DREAM. Things may be going good, and there may not be any major “wants” in your life, but you aren’t living the “dream.” You know as well as I know that things could be better.

Truly “Livin’ the Dream” doesn’t include big houses, fancy cars, and designer clothes. It’s not a life only for professional athletes, movie stars, and corporate executives. It’s a life for all of us who are followers of Christ. I’ve mentioned it before but John 10:10 states that, “The thief (enemy) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they (you) may have life, and have it to the full.” We CAN live the dream.

But that means we must pursue Christ. We must make Christ a part of which we are, part of the very fabric of who we are. The spiritual disciplines aid us in this process. “Fasting” is one of those disciplines. Jesus talked about “fasting,” and the Gospel of Matthew has what He said. Matthew 6: 16-18 states, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

If we look at that Scripture in its context, it seems to indicate that fasting is as much a part of the Christian life as giving and praying (Right before our text Jesus talks about prayer, right after tithing). But interesting enough Jesus says, “when you fast,” not “if.” Is He then commanding us to fast? I really don’t think so. Jesus was teaching a group of people who commonly practiced fasting. For instance, most of the Jews fasted twice a week. So, although Jesus didn’t say, “you must” fast, he did say, “when you fast.” What does this mean to us? It seems obvious to me that Jesus assumed that his followers would make fasting a part of their life if they wanted to remain spiritually healthy. He wouldn’t have to say you must fast if fasting was understood. Right? I mean I don’t have to say you must brush your teeth to be healthy. But I can say when you brush your teeth because it is obvious that to live life healthily you will brush your teeth. The same would have been true with fasting in Jesus day – it was understood that fasting was what people did.

Most of us here share a deep desire to be more intimate, more devoted to God. But something gets in the way of that devotion doesn’t it? I mean, truth be told, the desire we all have to give our hearts to God is shared with our desire for other things – our spouses, our children, sports and entertainment, going to the movies, going out to eat, people watching, etc. One of my favorite pastor’s, John Piper, states, “the weakness of our hunger for God is not because He is unsavory but because we keep ourselves stuffed with other things.” In other words, we are so full on food & entertainment that we have no appetite left for God.

For example, I can spend all day long cleaning the house, washing the dishes, and washing and folding clothes for Alyson, that if I’m not too careful I can be so tired of doing things for her, that I am too tired to spend time with her.
Fasting is that discipline which tries to recapture our hunger for God. It says to God, I am willing to forgo anything in order to be in your presence. It provides an atmosphere where we are prepared to face up to the dulling effects of food and all those things that we continually nibble on. It says that although we love all the wonderful gifts in our lives, we love the Giver so much more.

As we “fast” we get to know the Giver. As we “fast” we understand what it means that Jesus is the bread of life and the spring of living water – without Him we truly can’t survive.

Have you ever fasted? What was your experience like?

livin' on a prayer

Part Two of the sermon series on "Livin' the Dream" was on prayer. Below is a recap:

There is always something we can learn about prayer. I truly have been reminded of that lately; I have heard tons of stories about how prayer changes lives. But that shouldn’t shock me. If it weren’t so, there wouldn’t be so many references to prayer in the Scripture.

As I read this Scripture over and over this week, it became ever so clear to me that it truly is God's will that we pray to him. Literally Colossians 4:2 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer." In case you are wondering what this really is meaning and saying, it says “YOU MUST PRAY!” It’s not a suggestion; it’s a command that God places on our lives. If we are going to live life in abundance; if we are going to live life fully; if we are going to live the dream (meaning be in God’s will), we must devote ourselves to prayer.

But you know what’s so great about God? It’s that He loves for us to come to Him and ask Him for things. God knows we are dependent upon Him and so He wants nothing other than to always be that source of dependence. And, so He desires for us to ask for whatever we need. Scripture says, he delights in our prayers! Proverbs 15:8 literally says, “the prayer of the upright is His delight.”

Interesting enough, not only does our prayers make God happy, but He’s also excited at answering our prayers. Isaiah 65:24 declares that God is so eager to hear and answer our prayers that, “before they (us) call, I (God) will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” Out of all the people in the world (there is approximately 7 billion), God is so excited to hear our prayers that He hears the whole prayer while we are praying and begins to answer our request before we have even finished our asking.

Pastor John Piper says it best, “The Creator of the Universe, who holds our life in his hands and rules the world, is the kind of God who loves us to the point that he wants us to ask him for things.” Revelation 5:8 even states that God loves our prayers so much that they are like incense to Him. If God loves prayer that much, I think we should pray as often as possible don’t you?

But that becomes a problem for a lot of us. Some of us have prayed prayers and because we didn’t feel like they were answered we felt defeated and started thinking that maybe prayer doesn’t work. And so our prayer time with God began to dwindle to something we do out of habit only right before we eat – if even then. For some of us our prayers have even been deduced to quick one-liners, all because we doubt if prayer is effective. However, it seems to me that most of the people who say that prayer isn’t effective are the very ones who don’t pursue Christ. I mean, part of truly pursuing Christ means we are to the point where we truly accept the answer He gives rather than not listening till we hear the answer we want.

Some of the most devout followers of God have written things like: “Early will I seek Thee” (David, Psalm 63:1); In Acts 6:4 the apostles vowed that they would give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word; “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer” (Martin Luther); “God does nothing but in answer to prayer” (John Wesley); and I Could go on and on…

But you see, real prayer is something we learn. The disciples asked Jesus in Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They had prayed all their lives, and yet as they watched Jesus pray, the realized they hadn’t figured it all out yet. Richard Foster, says, “It was liberating to me to understand that prayer involved a learning process. I was set free to question, to experiment, even to fail, for I knew I was learning.”

So my question is this, are you still learning to pray, or have you given up on it?