Jesus Is My Friend… is He yours?

This was my old high school worship team.  This is taking worship music all the way to the edge….  Don’t bombard my website with requests to buy the CD because it was a limited edition!!!

My Help Comes From The Lord

There was a time in David’s life when he was being pursued by Saul.  David had done nothing wrong, but Saul was jealous of David because God had favored David over Saul.  Remember that David was best friends with Saul’s son Jonathan.  He was like family.  Saul would use his power, his might and even his friendship with David to bring harm.  But even with all that Saul did – he eventually fell on his own sword.  During this time when Saul is pursuing David… David writes Psalm 35.

1 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.

2 Take up shield and buckler;
arise and come to my aid.

3 Brandish spear and javelin ^[a]
against those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”

4 May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.

5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away;

6 may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

7 Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,

8 may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and delight in his salvation.

10 My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, O LORD ?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

11 Ruthless witnesses come forward;
they question me on things I know nothing about.

12 They repay me evil for good
and leave my soul forlorn.

13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

14 I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.

15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
attackers gathered against me when I was unaware.
They slandered me without ceasing.

16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked ^[b] ;
they gnashed their teeth at me.

17 O Lord, how long will you look on?
Rescue my life from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.

18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among throngs of people I will praise you.

19 Let not those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
let not those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.

20 They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.

21 They gape at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”

22 O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent.
Do not be far from me, O Lord.

23 Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.

24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God;
do not let them gloat over me.

25 Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26 May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.

27 May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The LORD be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

28 My tongue will speak of your righteousness
and of your praises all day long.

There have been times in my life when these words become the very cry of my heart.  Times when people that I’ve wept over, that I’ve prayed over, that I’ve invested time and energy into, that I’ve given opportunities and encouraged in ministry will suddenly turn and in David’s words… “I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.  I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; attackers gathered against me when I was unaware.  They slandered me without ceasing.”

Now… there are choices that we all need to make in light of these circumstances.  How do I respond to unjust accusations?  How do I respond to a King in my life that is trying to bring harm for whatever the reason?  What do I do about a “co-laborer” who speaks one way in front of me and speaks another way behind my back?  What is my recourse when like David I find myself in the situation where… “They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land.  They gape at me and say, “Aha! Aha! With our own eyes we have seen it.”  Do I run to my own defense?  Do I learn the corporate skill of covering my back?  I know folks who have given themselves to this – who live in fear.  Who work in fear.  Something happens and they are instantly scrambling to make sure they have their witnesses and their ducks in a row.  There is no trust.  No loyalty.

The problem with this approach is that once you start going down that road relationship suffers.  You no longer care for people.  You think about yourself.  You start looking at external cues instead of listening to the still small voice.  What are my gauges for success?  Ultimately, it leads you to a place where your emotions are so twisted that you become paralyzed with fear and insecurity.  And then you start doubting yourself and everyone around you.  Who can I trust?  Well… I love David’s response at the situation he is in with Saul… I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you.

What?  Does that make sense to anyone?  It does if you know the Lord.  If you have placed your trust in Him.  To give thanks is a display of trust in the Lord.  It is to say… Yes and Amen to God.  To offer praise to the Lord because He is the same God who works all things together for His purposes in Christ Jesus.  Men use their position and influence to harm.  Not God.  God uses His position and influence to bless.  Yes… God will vindicate.  Especially where there are false rumors, accusations that are presented in such a way as to put you in a bad light, half truths, men’s agendas, ambitions, secret meetings that God always brings to light – whatever it is – God will vindicate.  But, my response is not to seek revenge.  My response isn’t to build my defense.  My response is to seek the Lord.  To cry out for His intervention.  The Lord is my defense and if He doesn’t defend me then what scheme or strategy can defend me?  If God doesn’t bless, then what scheme or strategy or program will succeed?  My help comes from the Lord… My strength comes from the Lord… My security comes from the Lord…. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Four Questions To Keep You Passionate….

Every now and then I find a post that is worth sharing.  This one comes from rev.org and it’s definitely worth passing on….

At the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina, shared four questions that he constantly asks himself to make sure he doesn’t lose his passion for Jesus, the church, and ministry.

Here are my notes on what he had to say:

1) How much time do I spend listening to God? Perry said that leadership is as simple as listening to God. But listening to God takes time… consistent, uninterrupted time.

2) Am I more concerned with being discovered or being developed? You must stop constantly thinking about what other people think of you or your ministry (and stop trying to impress them) and instead, allow God to develop your relationships with others and with him. And also allow God to develop your character and your ministry skills.

3) Am I believing any lies? Perry said that throughout their ministries leaders believe certain lies that hold them back, and in fact, he admitted to running from some really stupid things in his ministry. Don’t allow your critics to doubt what God is calling you to do. And when you get depressed or discouraged, simply go back to where God found you. There you’ll find the strength and answers and fortitude to move forward and not give up.

4) Am I risking or am I playing it safe? According to Perry, great leaders must constantly risk. Many pastors, in fact, are one risk away from a breakthrough. Perry is not afraid to fail. Here’s how he looks at leadership: “Take a risk…fail…take another risk.” If God tells you to do something, do it — even if others think you’re crazy.
I thought these were great questions for all of us to keep asking ourselves. Take some time today to ask yourself these questions. If you’re feeling less than passionate, your answers to these questions will help you get back on track.

The Value Of Trials…

Trials provide an interesting dynamic in the spiritual life of the believer.  It’s in the context of trials that God reveals exactly what is in our hearts.  Jesus said… out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… and trials have a way of bypassing our normal defense mechanisms and sense of protocol and expose what is really beneath the surface.  It’s like the old saying… when you have a cup and it’s spills… whatever is in the cup comes out.  If the cup is bitter, then bitterness comes out.  If the cup is self hatred, then hatred towards others comes out.  If the cup is insecurity, then self promotion comes out.  If the cup is selfish ambition, then criticism comes out.  If community is in your heart, then collaboration comes out.

The Bible tells us…

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:2-4,12)

However… the natural reaction to trials is not one of joy but anxiety that manifests itself through complaining.  At first glance… my thought is… of course!!!  I’m anxious because the trial is so hard and unpredictable.  I complain because I don’t like it.  It makes sense.  When the trial is over I’ll stop complaining.  But the truth beneath the surface is that I’m anxious because I simply do not trust God.  It’s unbelief at the core.  But that’s not the only thing that is exposed.  If you are insecure, your insecurities are exposed and guess what… you begin to attack others or build a defensive strategy.  You begin to make excuses for your own short comings and build a case against the short comings of others.  If you are angry, your anger comes out and you begin to justify your outbursts of anger.  If you feel unloved or devalued, then you either withdraw into the shadows and turn to self destructive behaviors to feel relief or you redirect your own self hate and rage onto someone you feel close to.

I have folks that only talk to me when I’ve done something wrong.  Do you have those folks in  your life?  They are such a blessing!!!  It tells me more about them than it does me.  It tells me that they spend alot of time focused on me and my activities rather than God and His activities.  There was a book written a number of years ago entitled “Well Intentioned Dragons.”  I highly recommend it.  It helped me understand what is going on in the mind of those “well intentioned dragons” who feel it is their ministry to point out all the short comings in your life.  It also helped me to look past the behavior and discern the heart.  Sometimes folks relive what’s been done to them and until someone breaks the cycle with the truth spoken in love… it simply will happen to you as well.

The bottom line… how do you deal with trials when they come?  3 things…

1.  Get through them.  The number one test of a trial is endurance.  What is really behind this test?  Faithfulness.  Will you be faithful or will you quit.  It’s simple… but it’s true.  Are you a quitter?  I know alot of people who claim to be finshers, but they quit under extreme pressure.  Do you?  There’s alot to be said about getting through a trial.  As one friend said to me, you won’t look like much – but you’ll get through.

2.  Look within.  God uses all kinds of things to put us through trials.  Mostly people.  It’s a reality.  God uses people to test us.  He also uses circumstances… but mostly people.  Wives, parents, pastors, young selfishly ambitious people, leaders, bosses… you name it.  God uses them.  Knowing that our response should not be… what is wrong with these people?  What is their problem?  Our response should be, what is this hitting in me?  What is discouraging me?  What is frusterating me?  What is making me angry?  It could be that God is pointing out something that needs to be brought into the light of conversation with Him.  It could also be that God is calling out something in you that He desires to use.

The call to leadership often comes through conflict.  When you consistently conflict with a leader, maybe God is calling you to lead.  Maybe it’s time to launch out on your own… or maybe God is calling you to surrender and fall in line with the leadership He has called you to serve.  Only you can decide in those moments which direction you are being taken to.

3.  Let the work happen.  For better or for best… God is at work in us.  Trials point us to the work that He is doing in our hearts.  I can resist the work or I can surrender to the work… how much better to surrender.  Sometimes I don’t have enough clarity or strength to do anything more than just let God work.  Sometimes I don’t even know how to participate.  In those times… just let God happen.

There are so many examples from my own life I could give… but I’d rather challenge you to look to your own story and ask yourself the questions I just referred to.  Rather than look at trials as problematic or necessary sufferings… look at trials as divine opportunities for growth – either to step out or surrender in obedience to what God is bringing out into the light of conversation between you and Him…. and count it all joy.

When time catches up…

One of the most difficult things that a person can hear is this… you’re just old.  It’s a young man’s game and your time is coming to an end.  It’s one of the dehumanizing things that you can say because it presupposes that God is finished with you and now your lot in life is simply to wait to die.  How sad.  Unfortunately… our youth driven culture lives by these words with companies and even churches are willing to throw loaylty out the window for a younger and prettier face.  How many times have you seen that happen?  The truth is… everyone has a shelf life.  The question is… who do you think decides what that shelf life is?  God or man?

I think this wouldn’t bother me as much if the people who preach this would step aside themselves… resign their CEO positions and pulpits and simply hand it over to the youth to run.  I’ve never heard a pastor say… we need to be more relevant so I’m resigning and giving the pulpit to the high school pastor.  Usually it’s we need to be relevant so I’m buying big screens, new lights, going multi-media and spending lots of money to draw a crowd or firing the old worship leader.  One problem with this philosophy… it ignores the Biblical principle of the old mentoring the young by taking the old completely out of the picture.

I’ve heard all the examples of the ages of people and how young they were when God used them.  I’ve even preached that doctrine myself… but the more I reflect on this I’m realizing that there is a major portion of scripture that America has forgotten.  The parts where it talks about the older women mentoring the younger women and the older men training the younger men.  When I look at the conditions of family life… I can point back to a lack of godly mentoring in the lives of young couples.  When I look at many of the un-Biblical trends in the church today… many coming out of the youth culture and implemented without the wisdom and accountability of older saints.  Ministering to lost youth on the streets of Glasgow Scotland I was overwhelmed by the sense of hopelessness because these kids did not have any parental authority in their life at all.  It was sad.  They don’t merely need peer leadership.  They need the mentorship of the elder saints that can push them on to greater things.

Now having said that… we as adults need to do a better job of integrating family and youth culture in our services.  The only place I’ve seen this done effectively is in the black and latino church.  The youth and adults listen to the same music.  The adults are young in their thinking and they don’t complain about the loud music.  They roll with it and have fun.  Whites don’t do this very well for some reason.  Only old white people would tell the young people that God wants them to worship to songs that are at least 200 years old because that’s spiritual and then turn around and listen to Rascal Flats on their way out of the parking lot.

My wife and I went to a marriage retreat and discovered that Bam Crawford was having a Bible conference.  We ended up sitting in on their worship because it was so amazing.  One night they had a Praise Off.  That’s where they have different groups sing and whoever does a better job gets the biggest applause.  It’s all fun.  They start with the youngest and go up the oldest.  The winners were these three elderly ladies that brought the house down.  Not one of the younger folks could touch them and they were highly esteemed and loved amongst that congregation.  They also rocked the house big time.  Contrast that to what I see in pop culture driven churches where it’s dog eat dog and the young and ambitious show little respect or honor for those who have pioneered the way for them to have a voice.  And of course… they still want anything you can give them to help them out!!!!  It makes me rethink my early years.  Did my punk rock youthfulness coupled with a lack of wisdom translate into me offending people without realizing it?  I’m really sorry if I did.

It also reminds me of two stories… (1) the story of David.  The story of David is a story that inspires me.  It’s the story of a leader who was called by God to be King and despite his father’s efforts to keep him in obscurity… God had His eye on Him.  I know my calling comes from God and not from man.  So… ultimately even if I get put back into the pasture where I was called out by God’s prophet to begin with… God will not forget me.  In fact… He has lots more for me to do.  The question is will I remain open and useable?  (2) the story of Joseph.  The story of Joseph is about a man that was sold into slavery… literally gotten rid of by his brothers.  They meant it for harm but God meant it for good.  I’ve been in those situations where people were wanting to do harm to me… but God meant it for good and I grew tremendously through those times.  Maybe there are those who simply want to get rid of you and they don’t care how dehumanizing it makes you feel.  Maybe it’s a slow process of wearing you down until you get to the point where you loose confidence in your own ability to minister.  You may even agree with them… you’re right… my time is over… I should have known better than to think I could minister in my old age.  However – I see examples in pop culture of old guys that never loose their cool.  U2 is middle aged now… and the Stones are almost petrified.  I have to say that knowing that MIck Jagger is almost 70 and still rocks gives me a great deal of hope.  The question is… will I be filled with grace, mercy and forgiveness?  Will I look to God as the one who holds my future in His hands and trust the visions and dreams He’s given me for my life?

The bottom line for me comes down to the fact that I am a slave to God.  Whatever He wants to do with my life… it’s His perogative.  If He wants me to go back to the pasture… praise the Lord.  If He wants to reposition me then… praise the Lord.  There is one thing I can do in the midst of seemingly unjust circumstances.  I can be different from those in power.  I can be loyal to folks even when they aren’t as useful to me as they were in previous years.  I can make a place for them.  I can do for others what I would hope someone would do for me.  I could value relationships over the specific title or position.  Because you never know – you may end up like Joseph and being in a position of power and when that day comes will you be vindictive or will you use your power to bless those who curse you and despitefully use you?  After all… that is the gospel.