A Church Planter's Journal

1 John 4

SCRIPTURE:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4.18

OBSERVATION:

The previous thought in this passage involves God's love made complete "among us" such that we need not fear judgment. God's love makes a home in us, completing the union/shalom of our lives for eternity. John then goes on to say fear and love have no place together. If our lives are a home designed for God's loving presence, fear is a thug who has broken and entered a residence designed for God alone. Satan, the accuser, makes his home in people by breeding fear--fear of God, fear of others. God's love, though, drives out fear, drives out the thug.

APPLICATION:

We as a culture and a church live in so much fear--fear we won't succeed, fear we aren't good enough, smart enough, handsome enough; fear of poverty, discomfort; illegal aliens, terrorists; fear of death. What's more we pay people to help us fear. The spin-masters of politics and the media make a living off our fear. Even more so, we spend more than half our nation's budget on a military machine designed to keep us from fear. 

Yet, here John tells us there is only one antidote to fear--God's love. If we want to conquer our fears, we need only grow in love. God's perfect love drives out fear. God's love drives out my insecurities that I will never be enough, my fear of those who might harm me, my fear of death. How did Jesus walk for 33 years toward the cross--love. How did the Apostle Paul endure imprisonment and beatings--love. How will The Gallery move through every hurdle placed in our way--love. 

There is nothing to fear. I am loved, therefore I love. 

PRAYER:

Abba, Your love is perfect and an enemy to my fear. I invite You to kick the remnants of fear from my life so Your love might take full residence in me. I pray Your love might grow to vanquish fear in our family. Pour Your love upon us so we might rest without fear as we move through our lives. 

As we worship You tonight take residence in The Gallery community. Baptize us in Your love so fear retreats in all directions. Give us boldness in our love and peace in its security. Amen.

1 John 4.13-16

SCRIPTURE:

¹³We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. 

OBSERVATION:

So much theology in so few words! What do we know? We know that God lives in us. This is pretty common orthodox church understanding, but John says we also "live in him." This implies a couple things. There is a covenantal element to this. When ancients made a covenant/binding oath, they were said to be one. This is why in the marriage covenant we speak of two becoming one. There is also here an expression of shalom. Shalom being a unity, harmony, wholeness. We could also add there is a oneness here reflective of the oneness of the Father, Son, and Spirit. In fact, it's interesting the trinitarian nature of these few sentences. The Spirit is that which tells us we live in God. It is the Father who sent the Son. Those who acknowledge the Son live in God and God in them. And these movements of the God-head confirm God's love for us. 

One more note: That last sentence, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us," holds a wonderful truth. On whom do we rely? Do we rely on our love for God? Do we rely on our good works? No, our reliance, our trust is on God's love for us. It is God's love that is sufficient. It is not our actions that make this relationship possible. 

APPLICATION:

I read this morning of the death of one of the infamous Manson girls. Can't remember the name, but the prisoner who died was responsible for killing the pregnant Sharon Tate back in 1969(?). The evil that made such a horrific act and life possible is unfathomable to me and makes me continue to trust in the Bible's teachings on an evil working alongside and outside humanity. Yet, the article speaks also of the murderer's conversion to Christ in prison. Indeed, later on her deathbed, wheeled into a hearing shortly before she died, she spoke only one sentence: "Our God is an amazing God." 

Is this murderer now living in the eternal presence of Jesus. Only God knows. I would like to hope so. How can this be possible? Because God's love is more powerful than our hate. Because God's grace is amazing and sufficient for murderers and foolish pastors like myself. 

As we head into worship as a community Sunday night, we do so living in God and God in us. We do so because the Father sent His Son, so those wayward beggars like ourselves might live in shalom with the eternal Father, Son, and Spirit. And we do so relying not on our own abilities, but relying on the love of God for His people. Therefore, we move forward with boldness and courage as a new church in St. Paul. The perfect love of God casts out all fear.

PRAYER:

Abba, Jesus, Spirit, lift up our heads, take our hands, lead us into the eternal dance that is You. Tear down the walls of fear in us. Give us boldness and joy for life in You together. Anoint our hearts, minds, words, and actions. May You be lifted up. Draw all people to Yourself. Amen.

1 John 4.7-12

SCRIPTURE:

 ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

OBSERVATION:

How do you wrap your mind around that? This whole passage is so supernatural it seems. I think of John looking back to the short three years he spent with Jesus, and how it changed the whole trajectory of his life. Jesus I'm sure became the standard of what love is to John. And that experience and the Spirit's power I'm sure changed the way John treated others. 

The verse is specific in its declaration no one has ever seen God. But if we love, the God who is love, lives in us. God's love in us is not an eye's view of God, it is a life's view of God. We learn of God as we love. God flows through us as we love. What's more, God's love finds its destination as we love. It is complete in us. If love is giving and if our lives are part of God's giving love, then we become a home for God's love. This is too big for words.

APPLICATION:

I hate the word application as I think of the beauty and depth of these words. What do i do with the idea that I will know God more through my love? I love. What does this love look like? I like the way Jurgen Moltmann puts it. He speaks of God giving us not what we deserve, but what we need. Therefore, I too must give others what they need. I, of course, will never be able to satisfy other's needs, but I can point them to the one who is living water and the bread of life. This is love.

PRAYER:

Abba, may Your love find a deep, deep well in my life. I want to surrender to the power of Your love so it might flow through me into others. Make me, make my family, make The Gallery be marked by love. May nothing but You flow through us. Please mold and shape our lives around Your love. May this love flow through the way we spend our money, through the way we eat, through the way we order our days, through the way we vote, through the way we stick up for our loved ones and our enemies. Amen.

John 3.1-10

SCRIPTURE:

⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You^[c] must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

OBSERVATION:

I've spent all week with this passage in preparation for my message tonight. The depth of it is far beyond any measurement I could give. It's been molding and shaping my thoughts on ministry in a powerful way. 

Here we have a Jewish religious leader, a Law-keeper, telling Jesus he believes Jesus has been sent by God and Jesus tells Him He has to be born again. This is earth shaking stuff for a Jew. A Jew like Nicodemus would have been proud of his first birth. After all, he was born into God's chosen people--the Israelites. Why would he have to be born again? And what's more, he's not only going to be able to see the kingdom of God unless He's born again, born of the Spirit.

I wonder what Nicodemus thought as he left Jesus' place that night. I'm guessing he left thinking, "I don't know what to do. I want to see the kingdom but I have to be a second time by the Spirit of God. What do I do?" Checkmate. Game--Jesus. 

APPLICATION:

We can't do anything. The new life in Christ is a Spirit thing, not a me thing. I can't make it happen. This is grace--God doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. There's no amount of righteous deeds I could do to make this happen. The new birth belongs to God. All I can do is surrender to what the Spirit wants to do. The first chapter of John says those who "believe" and those who "accept" will be given the right to become children of God. Therefore, all we can do is surrender to the Spirit's action. 

This is tough stuff for a pastor to hear. We want to be able to orchestrate stuff, plan, strategize so people are born again. But all our planning is for naught. This is a God thing. What can we do. Believe and accept this is God's heart, believe and accept new life is something the Spirit wants to do within our churches. The wind is going to blow in ways we can't expect; therefore, we should expect the unexpected as we gather.

PRAYER:

Abba, I give up. I want to surrender, help me surrender more. Help me surrender to the movement of Your Spirit. Give me the faith to trust. Give me the faith of a little child who simply accepts His father and mother to care for and provide. Yeah, that feels good. Amen.

Luke 12.22-32

SCRIPTURE:

³¹But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. ³²"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

OBSERVATION:

In this chapter we hear Jesus' warnings: "Beware the pharisees", "Beware greed", "Do not worry", "Do not be afraid", "Seek the kingdom". These are not just the words of a teacher. These are the words of a leader guiding His followers through the maze of dangerous thinking surrounding them. It's interesting His counsel is not simply to run from greed, it's to run from the way of doing religious life as illustrated by the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. It's as if He says, "Don't trust those who love money and don't trust those who love their own righteousness." 

He then contrasts the greed and hypocrisy of the religious and financial elites with birds and flowers. Interestingly, birds and flowers are like the little children we read about on Wednesday. Little kids, birds, flowers are do not work for their provision. It is provided for them. In the same way our new life in Christ is provided by the Spirit, not by what we do (John 3.3). 

What do we do instead of striving? Seek the kingdom of God? How do we seek? We surrender. It is provided for us by the God of all good gifts. The kingdom is ushered in by the King, not by us. Yes, we participate in it, but we do so like the birds participate in the wind and the trees. 

APPLICATION:

These words are goooooood words for a church planter. They call me not to worry. To trust that if I simply seek the kingdom, everything I need to lead The Gallery will be provided. Faithfulness above programming. Faithfulness above cleverness. I must put The Gallery's heart in the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be added unto us.

PRAYER:

Abba, cast out all fear and worry from this day and life of mine. May I live today like the birds and flowers, confident the wind will sustain the wings you have provided. Anoint my words and actions. Banish all striving in me, so I might live in the Kingdom You have already secured. Amen.

Isaiah 43

SCRIPTURE:
¹⁸ "Forget the former things;
       do not dwell on the past.

    ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
       Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
       I am making a way in the wilderness
       and streams in the wasteland.

OBSERVATION:

These verses have been two of my favorites for the past ten years. They speak so clearly of God's giving love. Because God is love, God gives. Because God gives, giving not what we deserve but what we need, God moves us from the iniquities of our past toward God's preferred future. Israel had clearly stumbled over and over again, but YHWH is love and love gives, so movement toward a hope-filled future where God is brings waters of life even in the wilderness is to be faithfully trusted. 

APPLICATION:

I feel like I am living these verses every minute of every day right now. As a church planter, everything is new. Because I have had positive reinforcement for my past ministries, it would be easy to rely on what worked yesterday for what should work today and tomorrow for The Gallery. But I truly believe God does not want anyone in The Gallery to focus on the past. God is doing a new thing among us. He is taking us into deeper water, places we've never been. It will not look like the past. We must not dwell on the past for if we do we might not see the new thing He's doing among us now.

That new thing I know is a bringing of His living water to those living parched lives. But it is also a new stream of living water in our lives, my life. I feel like my faith is growing deeper every day with this church plant. I wake up every day knowing I can't accomplish all that needs to be done. I wake up parched, but throughout the day, God's Spirit guides and replenishes, and helps me grow. This is a new journey for me, and it's not easy, but I wouldn't trade it for any past ministry experience I've yet had.

PRAYER:

Abba, Your mercies are new every morning. Where would i be without that truth?! I fully dependent upon Your grace for every breath. Your grace is not only amazing. It is life.

Thank You, Abba, for our time with Steppingstone yesterday. Could we be more blessed. I realize this is wholly You and Your provision that has made this possible. Thank You!

Today, Abba, I need Your provision as I think through my teaching for Sunday night. All I need is You.

I pray for my kids in school. Give them joy and help them see Your presence in their lives. Give them deep, deep faith.

Please help Lisa feel better and bless our trip.

And gather The Gallery community together on Sunday night and baptize us with Your Spirit. We live in a dry and weary land too often. We need more of You in our lives. Amen.

Psalm 131

Scripture:

 ¹ Lord, my heart is not proud;
      my eyes are not haughty.
   I don’t concern myself with matters too great
      or too awesome for me to grasp.
 ² Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
      like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
      Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

 ³ O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—
      now and always.

OBSERVATION:

This is a writer come to a special place in his life. He is content in who he is and where he is. Even the length of the psalm indicates a satisfied heart. He is content in the fact that he does not have all the answers. He is content in the provision of God. And He desires the people of God put their hope in the Lord rather than anything else. 

APPLICATION:

I am not this guy! My heart is still proud. I want people to pay attention to me. I look at others with a desire they look at me. I want answers to the great, deep things of this world. I too often am not satisfied. So, I have not fully put my hope in the Lord it seems.

What would it mean for me to not be proud, to be satisfied, content? I would have to stop searching for more it seems. That image of the satisfied, weaned child is the image of the one who realizes. I have enough. I don't live in want. I have enough for now, and when my mother believes I need more, she will feed me. 

Do I have enough? Yes. Why do I want more? Fear. My fear that God will not pull through, my fear that God's provision will dry up, my fear that others will reject me, so I need to justify my existence among them. 

How do I find this contentment? I think it's an issue of faith. In the same way I turned from my sin and accepted God's gift of grace. I need to turn from the "try harder" method and recognize it is born out of fear. I don't need to fear. The Lord is living water. Like Jesus told the woman at the well, those who drink from the well of this water will thirst no longer. 

PRAYER:

Lord, You are enough. I release the following fears to You today:

My fear of not having enough money.

My fear of people rejecting me.

My fear I will not succeed according to the world's standards in my ministry.

My fear I do not measure up in some my contemporary's eyes.

My fear for my children's future. 

You are enough, Lord. I reside in You today. Amen.

Psalm 91:10-16

SCRIPTURE:

¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him; 
       I will be with him in trouble, 
       I will deliver him and honor him.

OBSERVATION:

Fascinating turn at the end of this psalm. God says because the psalmist loves Him, He will answer, be with, deliver, and honor him (the psalmist, presumably all who love Him). The loving relationship is the key here, and with that love comes giving. God wants to give to those who enter into loving relationship with Him. What strikes me so profoundly here is God's promise to "honor him." Now, over and over the scriptures speak of us honoring God, but here God says He will honor those who love Him. 

God has no need to honor those who love Him, but it is His desire to honor us. We know from the New Testament that we are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ--above all things--angels, principalities, the animal kingdom, etc. We are honored in the heavenly realms, and the scriptures indicate God takes great delight in honoring us. Why? Because He loves us!

APPLICATION:

I love to honor my kids. It gives me great delight to hold them up and let them know I am proud of them. Above all the people in this world, my family receives my honor more than others. I love to honor my kids because they love me. I love them. This is love to lift up and bestow worth and honor. Only my family sits next to me at dinner. No one else! 

I guess this is just a small taste of the way God honors us, me. But I know I do not deserve this honor! So much so than is the giving and the love. If one of my kids makes a mistake, I still desire they sit at the dinner table and eat with the rest of us. In fact, even if my child committed a heinous crime, if they're love for me remained, I would desire restoration of our relationship so I might once again bring my child to the place of honor in the family. God's love for us is this and so much deeper. The river of His love continues to give, raise up, and esteem. But we must love Him back. There can be no honor in the relationship without love.

I don't know what to do with any of this, but to praise God for the way He gives, loves, and honors those who call Him Abba.

PRAYER:

Abba, I love You. You first loved me. And today I learn You honor me? I have no category for this. I don't deserve this, yet You give honor to me. Your love is far deeper than I can fathom.

Lord, I look at my day today and again say, "I can't do this by myself, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." So, I move forward into this day. And I give You thanks that the mountains I see ahead are really so insignificant. They are not eternal mountains. They are temporal, of this world, things to cross over as we move toward eternity. Give me the insight to see what not only what is good today, but what is best. And in the midst of these tasks, help me honor others the way you honor me. Help me lift up the way You lift me up.

For this wedding, Lord, may my words give glory and honor to You. I pray a blessing upon this couple. Give them deep, deep faith. And for my meetings, give us power to accomplish Your purposes. And for my family, give us the faith to honor each other in this home. Amen.

Psalm 91

SCRIPTURE:

 ¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High 
       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

OBSERVATION

I am loving these focused readings on God's love. This first verse echoes yesterday's first verse from Psalm 23 "The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing." Both Psalms hit me in the position of the beloved to the Lover. The sheep in Psalm 23 are protected. In the Shepherd they find their rest. Here those who dwell "in the shelter of the Most High will rest..." Later in the psalm the image is given of finding shelter in the wing of God. These are very intimate images. To dwell in God's shelter...isn't this our hope for eternity? But the writer here is not only speaking of eternity. He writes of now. We can dwell with God now and He is present. How do we know? His shadow falls over us because He is so near. 

APPLICATION:

These images of resting in God's dwelling, living with Him so close that I sit in His shadow, resting with Him beside cool waters in a pasture to which He leads me, these images give me so much comfort. As a pastor and a church planter, it is easy to see myself as God's soldier so often. And while this is true to some extent, the intimacy to which God draws me is not like the intimacy of soldiers in a barrack with their commander. God is not my 4 Star General. God is my Abba who longs to sit with me beside cool waters, who longs to share a meal with me, who longs to watch over me like a mother bird watches over her young. 

In these images there is a sufficiency of provision. I honestly look at all before me in planting The Gallery, and I've thankfully come to the conclusion that I can't do it. There's too much to do. The only way The Gallery will be planted is through God showing up. So, what do I do? Rest in His tender care. God is not longing for The Gallery to hold worship services or make programs or hold functions. God is longing for this new community to surrender and rest in His presence, to be led by His rod and staff, and He longs for this flock of faith-filled dwellers and followers to grow. Why? Because it is God's very nature to give love through the never ending river of His life and love. 

So, today amidst all the emails and planning, I will dwell with the Lord forgiven, provided for, intimately living under the shadow of the One so near.

PRAYER:

Abba, help my mind and body rest in You. May Your Spirit be our home, and may we not seek any other dwelling.

Draw The Gallery to Your side. Speak to us today, Abba, and draw us close. Help us see Your love. Help us dwell in Your love, trusting in its sufficiency. And may Your love flow through us into those we encounter, so they too might find the life You alone give. 

I pray for Ryan Daniel and Sarah. Give them rest with so much change in their life. 

I pray for our ministry teams. Give them the wisdom they need.

I pray for my family. May our relationship with You grow deeper with each breath. Deepen our faith. You are all we need. Amen.