Cardboard Testimonies from Easter Sunday

This was a part of our Easter service Sunday April 4, 2010.  It was an incredibly powerful moment.  Hope you enjoy it (or re-enjoy it)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h99K75vW8LM

Getting Ready for Easter Weekend

I will blog later this week about the spiritual preparation for Easter and how are hearts need to be ready for what God will do in our lives.  This post, however, is a little more pragamatic if you will and directed almost exclusively to Fellowship Cabotians.  If you find yourself reading this and you don’t go to Fellowship Cabot, there are some principles here that you could draw upon.

1) Go on mission by when you go to church.  We are having four services this weekend.  Saturday night at 5:30.  Sunday morning at 8, 9:30 and 11.  Lots of people who don’t go to church anywhere and are far from God will come to church this weekend.  Try to remember back to a time when you visited a church for the first time.  Do you remember how nervous you were?  Often people can feel nervous and overwhelmed.  We want to make sure that we have room for them and their families.  You can help do that by going to a service where a visitor would not

2) Park as far away from the front door as you possibly can.  For us, this is in the back of the building.  Do not block access to the playground, but park in the gravel in the back.  You can block me in if you would like.  I will most likely be there later than you.  This is especially necessary for those that get there early and those that will be there for multiple services.  When someone drives into the parking lot, even if the spots designated for visitors are full, we want them to find a spot that is easy for them and their family.  Besides the extra walking will allow you to eat a little bit more for Easter lunch.

3)  Serve in a service where you are not attending.  It is not too late.  It never is.  You could walk up that morning and say, “Hey can I help anywhere?”  I promise you that you will not here, “nah, go home.”  It takes a lot of people serving in a lot of different ministries to pull off the worship service, especially on Easter Sunday.  Your church needs you.

4) Say hello and introduce yourself to people that you do not know.  Second only, maybe, to taking good care of children, friendly people is the primary way that new people evaluate churches.  You may think that it is awkward sometimes.  It may be awkward sometimes.  However, people will always walk away encouraged when someone from a church they are visiting goes out of there way to introduce themselves and make the visitor feel welcomed.

5) Invite someone.  Let me say that again.  Invite someone.  People who almost never go to church will come on Easter Sunday.  How about they come with you?  Who wouldn’t rather go to a church with someone they know?  What is the worst case scenario if you invite someone?  “I hate you.  How dare you take enough interest in me personally to ask me to come to your church.  We are no longer friends.”  Not likely.  The likely worst case:  “Thank you,” and then they don’t come.

Easter Sunday is the biggest weekend of the year for most churches.  More than that, though, this will be the biggest day in the lives of some people.  Because this Sunday will be the day that for the first time they hear and receive the Easter message of life and salvation.  You can make that happen.

Knowing Who You Are Not

So yesterday, the staff of Fellowship Cabot got away for a day and did some planning.  The process at Fellowship is planning in the spring for a ministry year that runs with the school year (sort of) from July to June.  During this time, we talked about things that went well the last 12 months, things we could improve upon and then began to look ahead to next year.  We did this for about 8 hours.

I am going to let you in on a secret (which is really no secret if you know me at all).  I don’t really care for meetings.  I am not what you would call a “planner.”  So “planning” + “meeting” *8 hours = long day.  I love our staff.  I love our church, but the all day planning meeting is tough.

Here is the thing though, I called the meeting.  This was my idea.  I looked at our staff a couple of weeks ago, told them why we needed to do this.  We put it on the calendar and had the meeting yesterday.  This is my responsibility, and we did it.

However, I know that this is not my strength.  I know that.  Furthermore, not only do I know that, but I am also able to admit it…out loud…to my staff…and to the world (and by world, of course, I mean the 8 people who read this).  I have no problem at all admiting to you that this is a weakness.  I do not want to pretend otherwise.  What good do I do myself or the church if I pretend that I am the total package?  The answer is none.  In fact, I can do a lot of harm.  Important things will not get done and if done, will not get done well.

So what do I do?  The first step is admiting the weakness.  Then I look to surround myself with other leaders who are good at the thing with which I struggle.  Then I let them lead me.  Milk-a-what?  That’s right I have people that are technically my staff, where I am “the boss” and I let them lead me.   Scott Monnahan is far and away a better organizational leader.  You should have seen the color coded charts.  You should have seen the pieces of paper that he had taped all over the room.  It was beautiful.  You could have given me a month and limitless resources and maybe I could have done what he did.  He did it out of his back pocket.  Why would I not let him lead out during the detailed portions of our day yesterday?

I tell you why not, because I am an insecure leader who is intimidated by other people’s strengths and feel the need to pretend to the world that I am excellent at everything.  News flash: I am not excellent at everything.  News flash:  neither are you.

Know who you are.  Know who you are not.  Surround yourself with great leaders who are better than you.  Then watch your team conquer all the challenges that are put before you.  If you’re lucky, you might even get to see something as cool as this:

I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me

So our Worship Pastor, Jason Merrick, AKA Dr. Worship, and I are having lunch at Quiznos yesterday.  (I call him Dr. Worship, because he leads worship at our church and is by profession a medical doctor).  Anywho, we are sitting there and “Somebody’s Watching Me” comes on, and of course, I stopped talking.  I had to take a moment.  So, I offer Merrick 2 points to name the artist.  How many points you get is based on difficulty.  I offer you the same points.  (Points can be redeemed for discounted blog posts on cloften.com)

That song at Quiznos reminded me of one of my favorite stories that happend to Merrick and I at Quiznos.  I have told this story before in sermons, so I apologize to those that have heard this.  (However, one of  the benefits of cloften.com for me is that it becomes a repository for my favorite stories).

Merrick and I eat there almost every Thursday.  Whoever gets there first gets in line and orders the sandwiches.  (That’s right we eat at the same place every week and order the same sandwiches every week.  You have a problem with that?)  Typically it’s me, what with him being a doctor and all.  This time he was there first and there was a line.  I go to stand next to him and after a minute the dude behind us starts getting angry.  I won’t say that he was yelling, but suffice to say it was loud enough for everyone in the small Quiznos to hear it.  “Oh I guess you guys just get in line wherever you want, huh?”  Merrick tries to explain to him that he was there first, we order together, etc.  “Whatever you want to call it, (obnoxious noise like a phhhhh)”  Just as Merrick was about to explain it to him a little more forcefully, Rufus there mumbles something else at us.  I look at him and apologize and have him get in front of us.  He shoots us a smug look and orders. 

If you don’t know this, Merrick and I are both high justice and quite competitive.  That was hard for both of us.  I leaned into Merrick and said, “The people that work here know that we eat here all the time and that we plan worship services here.  They are watching.”  We calm down, order, get our food and sit down.

The guy in front took his sandwich to go.  After he left, the manager comes over to us and thanks us for how we handled that.  She explained that he is a regular and he gives people trouble all the time.  She appreciated the grace and humility that we showed and thanked us again.  She walks away and I look at Merrick.  He says, “OK, you win.”

If you are a follower of Christ and people know it, know this–people are watching you.  People want to see if you live the same way you talk at church.  I always feel like somebody’s watching me, and they are.  Unlike Rockwell (there’s your 2 pt answer), it is not paranoid.  It is reality.

Stuff Christians Need to Stop Saying #5

What are the reasons that you would make a fifth installment to your franchise?  There seem to be only a handful of reasons:

1) You are such a pop culture phenomenon that you could keep making movies until the end of time and your people will come see them–Star Wars (7), Harry Potter (6 and counting), and Star Trek (11).

2) You have an amazing character and can consistently rework the franchise–Batman (7 live action and multiple animated), Superman (5 live action), James Bond (20+)

3) You have no pride and will crank out cheap movies like crazy–Horror Movies (Jason, Freddy, Saw), Stupid teen movies (Not Another, Scary Movie, etc.), Mediocre kid movies (Beethoven, Barbie, etc.)

Anyone thinking I have pride and won’t crank out cheap product is sadly mistaken.

Set-up: Someone goes through some sort of financial difficulty that results in some sort of sin, like greed or theft.

Response: It’s like the Bible says, “money is the root of all evil.”

Let us all be clear.  First of all, that is not what the Bible says.  Repeat, that is not what the Bible says, unless you put in some well-placed ellipses.  What the verse says is:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

My question is do we intentionally misquote this verse?  Why would we do that?  Well, if money is the root and not the love of money then I get off the hook.  It’s not my fault; it’s “money’s” fault.  This makes money some entity that has some power and control, like the googly-eyed money from the Geico commercials. 

It is not money that causes evil, but our love of money.

Furthermore, it is not the root of all evil.  It is a root of all kinds of evil.  We tend to exaggerate things that we don’t like or understand.  The more ridiculous we can make something sound, the more that we can discount it.  If we say money is the root of all evil, we know that’s not true, so then we can discount the truth that is there.  Money, or even the love of money, is not why I am impatient with my kids or I am lazy.  Even when the love of money is a root, it is not always the root.  The financial arguments we have with our spouse are rooted both in the love of money and selfishness.

However, if we look at what that verse says, we rightly should be convicted.  Our love of money, the fact that we give our pursuit of money top priority in our lives over significantly more important areas, causes a lot of problems.  It divides husbands and wives.  It leads to neglect of children and family.  It leads to dishonesty, coveting, stealing.  It pushes God out of the leadership of our lives.  I typed “it” to describe the love of money.  However, the love of money comes from within. Change “it” to “I” and then we have something (you will also have to change some verb tenses.  Shut up, grammar nerd).

Dude! Why bring this up?  Well, first I wanted to show you that pastors can talk about money and not bring up tithing (whoops.  FAIL).  Second, it breaks my heart to see the love of money tear families apart and pull people away from God.  Enjoy what God has given you, use it to glorify him and strengthen your family, but don’t let your love and pursuit consume you.

Money is just an inanimate thing, meant to be controlled by you and surrendered to God’s authority.  Don’t let the googly-eyed money wad control you.

Stuff Christians Need to Stop Saying #2

Can the sequel ever match the enthusiasm of the original?  Godfather II was really good as was Empire Strikes Back, and The Two Towers.  However, for every Dark Knight, there is a Teen Wolf II, so we’ll see.

Setup:  Someone is having a hard time overcoming an obstacle of some kind.  They are wanting to have victory over sin, make a change in their life, but they can’t.

Response:  “Well, you just need to let go and let God.”

First of all, I am not a huge fan of quippy.  None of my sermon points ever all start with the letter C, and they certainly do not spell a word.  (In order to blog you need to Believe, Love, Obfuscate and Google.)  That by itself is enough to make me want to punt “Let go and let God.”  I prefer “Go heavy or go home.” 

Secondly, what does that mean anyway?  That is the problem with the overly quippy expressions, to make it short and cute, you sacrifice depth and meaning.  I can only assume that what is being encouraged is some level of passivity and release.  I need to stop working, and let God do the work. 

Let’s break this down.  God is the one that changes people’s hearts and gives the strength to overcome obstacles.  God brings healing in your marriage, restores relationships with your kids, breaks you free from addictions, etc.  Galatians 5 makes it clear that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to live the lives that God has called us to.  There is a battle going on inside of us and we are often on the wrong side.  So, we need to “let God” change us and lead us.

There is even a smidge (love that word) of truth to “let go.”  Luke 9:23 says we need to deny ourselves.  However, what is said next is “take up your cross and follow me.”  “Let go” is completely passive, but there is nothing passive about taking up your cross and following God.  Being totally dependent on God still means that we need to pray and read his word so he can speak into our lives. 

There are specific commands that God gives us, choices that we have to make.  I can just walk away from temptation.  I can stop yelling at my kids, putting down my wife, gossiping at work, looking at inappropriate websites.  I have my part.  When “letting go” encourages helplessness, we have gone too far in believing that everything depends on God.  This can be convenient blame-shifting.  (Before you get to0 mad, know that “God helps those who help themselves” will be coming at some point.)

Make no mistake, you desperately need God in your life.  If you do not let God change your heart and learn to depend on him, you will struggle.  However, if you think that you can just sit there and your life will change, you will struggle just the same.

We have to trust in a God that gives us the strength, courage, and motivation to make the changes in our lives we so desperately need to make, but we have to make the right choices to pursue God and do what is right if we want to have real victory.  (See, that’s not quippy at all.)

Stuff Christians Need to Stop Saying #1

I am hesitant to label this #1.  This means that I will do more.  However, if this doesn’t go well, I won’t.  But since it didn’t go well, you won’t remember, so we’re good.  As this (possibly) turns into a list over time, some of them will be funny, some will not.  Christians have a lot of expressions that we use.  Some of them have terrible theology in them.  Some are just weird.  Some are old and need a makeover.  Enough intro, here is #1.

Lesson Learned Theory of Facing Trials

Set-up: A Christian is going through some sort of difficult circumstance and is trying to process it.

So the person going through the trial is talking to a friend about the trial and one of them (could be either one) will say, “God is trying to teach you something.  You need to learn it, so this will pass.”  “Yeah, I know.  I thought I had learned this lesson already, but apparently I didn’t.  The trial came back.”

That seems harmless enough, and my guess is that it seems common.  However, there is a danger to that kind of thinking, to believe that trials happen so that God can teach us.  He then will not remove the trial until you learn the lesson.  He then reserves the right to bring more suffering into your life if you did not learn the lesson completely.

There are a couple of problems here.  First, it means we misunderstand the source of trials and suffering.  God is not the source.  A cursed and sinful world is the source.  We sin and suffering results.  Someone else sins, and suffering results.  The world that is cursed where sickness and death are the norm brings suffering.  God does use suffering to refine our character, but that job is never finished and that lesson will never be over.  God will use suffering to teach perseverence which develops character which produces hope, a hope that does not disappoint (Rom 5:1-5).  He will work for your good in all things (Rom 8:28).  Nowhere in that does it say or even suggest that God is throwing suffering on you simply to teach you or that he is holding on to the end of suffering like cheese on a string, waiting for you to learn something, but jerking it back if you haven’t learned enough yet.

God is a good God that loves you and wants you to have peace and hope in your life.  When trials come he is always going to be leading you in that direction, deepening your character.  However, do not believe that that means you are at fault for the suffering because he thought you needed to learn something.  Furthermore, (trying to avoid full blown rant) this kind of thinking is very dangerous for those that are in the middle of a trial that is irreversable, i.e. the death of a loved one or infertility.  We learn to cope, have hope and peace, trust God, but those things do not go away.

By all means, we need to find God in the middle of difficult circumstances.  However, in these situations God is not the strict 3rd grade teacher with the ruler ready to swat your knuckles, but a compassionate Father with you on his lap wanting you to find hope and life in him and to find comfort in the eternal life he offers.

Don’t Lie. We Can Tell.

One of my first posts on here was about the show Lie to Me, which is really cool (the show, not the post).  The post itself was really more filler that I wanted to have on there for when we launched publicly.  You could read it here, but don’t.

Anywho, this morning in our men’s leadership study, we were talking about having friends that can call us up and make us better, not buddies that always agree with us and don’t genuinely help us.  We need to have friends that we can be honest with and we can tell them that we are not doing well when in fact we are not doing well. 

I told them that if someone asks you how you are, you should only say good if you are good.  I also told them that I know when you’re lying from watching the show Lie to Me.  I am certainly no expert, but I am learning to read people better.  Here is what we do.  First, we make this face:

How to deal with mold on your wall

Clearly I am not a handy-man.  If you don’t know that, know it now.  Don’t call me for repair projects at your house.  I can’t help.  I’m no good.  I’m willing mind you.  I will happily hold the board that you cut.  If this is true, then the title of this must be a metaphor for something.  Yes, it is.

This is one of my new favorite illustrations that I use when talking to people.  I say that I came up with it myself, but then you will tell me that you read it in a book 20 years ago. (Every good illustration that I think I made up, I later read somewhere else that predates my use of it.  Some day I will have something original to say, unless this verse is true.)

There is mold on the wall.  How do you fix that?  There are 3 basic ways.  One is to paint over the mold.  Ta-da! No more mold.  The second is better.  You can cut out the piece of sheetrock that has the mold and replace it and repaint.  Ta-da!  No more mold.  The third is the best.  Figure out what is causing the mold.  Fix that.  Then replace the sheetrock.  Then paint.

How are you dealing with the problems in your life?  The sin issues?  Addictions?  Pain?  Are you painting over them?  “Problem, what problem?”  Are you just fixing the wall?  This is where we deal with each instance as it comes.  We need to find the source.  Why do you struggle with fear?  Why are you so angry with your spouse?  Why do do that thing you do when no one else is around?  Spend some time in prayer and reflection.  Ask God to show you what is going on in your heart.  Seek advice and help from a pastor or mentor. 

Otherwise the “mold” will just keep coming back.

Security of the Believer and Holding Hands in the Parking Lot

Today was church in the ice day.  Tim Lundy was supposed to come to Cabot today and preach, but the weather kept him from being able to come.  So what does that mean?  It means it’s impromptu sermon time.  I decided to take what we were going to talk about at Community Group tonight and turn it into a sermon.  It’s from one of this week’s Fellowship Journal readings.  We discussed Romans 8:28-39. 

Paul is assuring us that the relationship that we have with God is secure.  God will finish what he started–those he calls, he justifies and those he justifies, he glorifies.  God is the one doing the work, not us.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  No one can bring a charge against us because God is on our team.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Paul could not be more clear in this passage that our relationship with him is secure and that nothing can separate us from him.

However, we spend so much energy worrying about whether or not our relationship with God is secure.  We worry and fret as if our security depends on us.  Our security does not depend on us but on God.  I was reminded of what our Lauren was like when she was 2.  She would run as fast as she could in one direction with reckless abandon until she crashed something full speed.  She would then get back up and do the same thing in a different direction.

Needless to say, she caused us a lot of anxiety, especially in parking lots.  So any time we were in the parking lot or crossing the street, we would teach her to hold hands.  She wasn’t very good at it.  She didn’t want to hold hands.  She wanted to run.  Do you think her safety depended on her ability to hold my hand?  No way.  I would have a death grip on her arm.  There was nothing she could do to separate herself from me in the parking lot.  In the same way, there is nothing that we can do to separate ourselves from the love that God has for us.

(p.s., author’s note, one more thing.  In this post I am not trying to resolve a centuries old debate.  This is just a small excerpt from a sermon today.  If you have questions, let me know.)

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