The Story of I am Not

Children of Truth

    In my Quiet Time this morning I read through John 18. It made me realize that In order for the truth of the Gospel to take root in our hearts, we must receive it like a child.  We must believe God the "Truth Giver" and humble ourselves to the life giving message that God has communicated to us.  This must be a continual process of transformation.

Transformation involves more than a moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth.   It is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing our lives more and more under the influences of the new principles placed in the soul at salvation.   In other words, sanctification is the process of perfecting the work begun at salvation, and it extends to the whole man.  It is the special function of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work.  Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification.  It also secures union to Christ, and brings the believer into living contact with the truth, where he is led to yield to obedience and to embrace the promises of God for this life and that which is to come.

Perfect transformation is not attainable in this life.  “The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.” (Hodge’s Outlines).  Ask God to show you areas of you life that need to be surrendered and transformed.

 As Youth Ministers, we are responsible for helping students to grow to become more like Christ.  It is a process.  We take students, introduce them to Christ, and help them to grow in their faith.  When we strive to have the mind and heart of Christ, we are striving for excellence.  Christ came to show us a more excellent way.  If we follow Him the best way we know how and serve Him out of our uniqueness, we can achieve excellence.

Papa's Chair

    The Christmas Season has taken on a very different feel over the past two years for my family.  In 2007, my Dad passed away and on Dec. 23, 2008, we lost Candace’s dad very unexpectedly.  This year I was in a very reflective mood when Christmas Day rolled around.  Both of our Dads loved Christmas.  They were like two little kids when it came to the holidays.  They loved to play with their Grandkids and loved to see their faces lights up as they opened gifts.  It was truly a precious time to spend with both of them.  This year I got a little more insight as I had the privilege to sit in each of their “chairs” for a while.

When we went over to see my Mom, I sat in my dad’s recliner and looked around the room and thought about the perspective my dad had seen from this chair over the years.  I saw a glimpse of what he saw as my kids loved on their Mamaw and loved on each other.  I was an awesome sight to see.  As we were leaving, my mom said she had something to give me.  You see up to this point I had never really asked for anything of my dads.  I never wanted to be one of those kids that fought or bargained over a loved ones possessions after they had died.  As she came back into the room, she held out her hand and said, “I want you to have this.  I was your dad’s.”  As she opened her hand, she revealed my father’s wedding band.  She told me that dad would have wanted me to have it.  I slid it on to my finger and thought that the last time this ring was worn it was on my dad’s finger.  I was overwhelmed.  My dad had molded what a godly man should be and do in a marriage.  Now as a symbol of that faithfulness and honor, it has been passed on to me.  It renewed my love for my wife and family in a way I had never expected.  Thanks Dad!!!

            Later we went to Candace’s moms for dinner.  It is always odd walking into their house and not seeing Jim sitting in “his” chair.  That chair became an honored position for him as he watched over his family from that leather perch.   When it came time to open gifts there was only one chair open for me to sit in, Jim’s Chair.  As I sat down in that honored seat, I began to see what Jim saw.  I saw a family that he loved dearly loving each other.  We had so many talks about the importance of family and how important it was for us to be together, especially at the holidays.  I understand now more than ever why that was true for him.  The view from his chair was worth more than any gift that I could have been given this Christmas.

            Christmas is about the greatest gift that has ever been given, Jesus Christ.  It is about the love the Father lavished on the Son, and the obedience of the Son to follow.  This year I saw a glimpse of an earthly father’s love lavished on his family.  It helps me appreciate even more the relationship I have with Christ.  We all need to be reminded of that from time to time.  Thanks you Jesus for the view from Papa’s Chair.

 

The Best Gift Ever

Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  It is by far the best gift we have ever been given.  It has been a family tradition of ours to give our children on gift on Christmas Eve.  Last night, we gave our daughters their gifts, and my daughter Sarah broke down in tears.  She has wanted some tree frogs for a while.  Last night we gave her two tree frogs, Lilly and Freckles. She was so happy that she broke out in tears.  It was amazing to watch how happy she was.  I began to think about the gift that God gave us when He sent Jesus to rescue us form our sins.  When was the last time I broke out in tears over the grace that was given to me.  The incarnation of the living God is the best gift ever given to mankind,

 The history of the incarnation plays a vital role in helping us understand who Jesus is.  It helps us to see that Jesus is more than just a person to call on in times of trouble.  He is God in the flesh.  He is a person who understands us. We can truly say that Jesus “gets me”.  He knows my thoughts, my needs, and my dreams.  He is not just a problem solver.  When we understand the incarnation, then we can see the power of the cross revealed.  We see a God who came in the flesh to show us how to live, how to die to our sins, and how to be raised to walk in His righteousness. The incarnation transcends cultural boundaries. Students want to be understood.  They are looking for a place to belong.  They want someone to understand them and identify with their struggles.  We can help them see that the incarnate Christ is that person.  If we become an extension of Christ’s life, we can impact this generation in a mighty way.  By investing our lives in students, just a Christ invested in the disciples, we will see much change. 

 In John 1, we see that “Jesus dwelt among us”.  He became a part of the culture.  He was “one of us”.  We must have the same mindset.  Paul encourages us in Philippians 2:5-11 to have the same attitude as Christ, which means we must live out the Gospel before the people that we have been entrusted with.  The Holy Spirit allows us to be the “incarnate” representative of Christ on earth.  We will have the same spirit and mind of Christ if we tap into the power and guidance that the Holy Spirit offers.

Youth Ministry is the perfect arena in which to practice Incarnational Ministry.  Jesus’ ministry gave us insight into how we should approach our culture with the message of renewal and restoration.  All Youth Ministry is local.  We need to ask ourselves, “How can I be an expert on the local youth culture??”  As a Student Minister, I must bridge the gap between Biblical culture and local youth culture.  Jesus was great at this.  He used common everyday language and situations to communicate God’s love to the people he came into contact with.  His message was presented differently depending on the individual he was speaking with.  We must learn how to construct Local Theologies.  We need to figure out how to best communicate the love of Christ to our culture. 

We must keep the BIG picture in mind.  We have to put people before programs.  We can not underestimate the power of presence.  Just being available and listening to students share the successes and failures in their life; we will make a great impact.  We also must realize that we can’t minister to everyone.   Not everyone wants to be ministered to.  We must also practice the 50-50 rule. The 50-50 rule means that we need to balance our time between our students and our leaders.  We must be able to spend 50% of our time with students and 50% with our adult leaders.  Remember we are a model of relational ministry.  We must be able to balance these two areas. 

We need to be real and authentic with our students and leaders.  Jesus was able to do this very well.  His disciples saw Him in His full glory on the Mount of Transfiguration and in His brokenness in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Authenticity is really at the heart of the incarnation.  When Jesus was baptized and the Father spoke his affirmation over his son by saying “in whom I am well pleased”, we see who Jesus really was.  His divine nature and human nature were transparent for all to see.  All we have to do is look.  His miracles testified to his deity while his sorrow and brokenness in the Garden displayed His humanity.

    Incarnational Ministry is what every believer is called to.  We are the body of Christ.  We are an extension of His saving grace.  We must be willing to step outside of our comfort zone, and “dwell” with those who need to experience the incarnate.

The Spirit of Christmas

    During this time of year it is not uncommon for people to refer to the atmosphere that is created by the holidays as the Spirit of Christmas.  Is there some mysterious spirit that only is detectable during the last month of the year or is it something more.

    If we look at the Christmas story we see that the birth of Jesus was announced to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds by angels.  These angels were God’s messengers.  They were empowered by the Holy Spirit to go and reveal the message of the coming Messiah.  We also see that when Mary went to see Elizabeth that the baby in her womb jumped at the sound of her voice.  This was a result of the Holy Spirit being present in that moment.  The Holy Spirit played a major role in the Christmas story.  This was the introduction of the role that Holy Spirit would soon play in the life of every believer.

    The Holy Spirit announced Jesus’ birth, but would soon be revealed as the promise that would be given to every believer to guide and direct their lives.  We see in John 3 that when Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove.  Then a voice from heaven affirmed that Jesus was indeed God’s son.  The Holy Sprit always preceded the proclamation of God.  After he was baptized, we see that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.  As a result, in John 4 we see that he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert.  After he was tempted in the desert, we see in John 4:14 that he returned to Galilee in the power of the Holy Sprit.  It is interesting to see the progression of how the Holy Spirit works.  

    First we see that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.  We must be totally yielded to God in order to be filled with the Spirit.  In John 3:21-22 we see that Jesus was obedient to his Father and was baptized.  This was how the Messiah was to be revealed to the world.  As a result of this obedience, we see that God wanted to praise the son and even said, “You are my son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life” (MSG).  We see that when the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove that was a mark that separated Jesus from everyone else.  When the Holy Spirit controls our lives it marks us a different from others in the world.  

    Later when Jesus returned from the Jordan now that he was full of the Holy Spirit, He could now be led by the Holy Spirit.  When we are full of the Holy Spirit, then we can be led by the Spirit.  Too often we are not led by the Sprit but by are led by the flesh.  We must constantly be in tune with God and constantly be “filling” up on the Holy Spirit.  In order to be filled, we must empty our selves of everything else to make space for the filling to take place.  Once filled, then we can be led.

    Once we have been filled, and are being led, then and only then can we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.  In John 4:14 we see after Jesus was tempted he returned in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We often miss out what God has for us because we attempt things in the power of the flesh rather than in the power of the Holy Spirit.

    During this Holiday Season, it is important for us to recapture the idea that the Holy Spirit is at work. The holidays cause us to be more generous and helpful than we would be normally throughout the year.  It that because the Holy Spirit only moves during the holidays?  It may be that we are more sensitive to the Spirit’s leading during this season because we are focused on the meaning of Christmas and therefore are more attentive to its movement.  We need to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us year round.  Then we will be led to do the things that God calls us to do and then we will be able to accomplish them under the power of the Spirit rather than our own strength.