I just spent the day yesterday with some other staff members at AIM responding to the fact that one of our First Year Missionary participants in South Africa was killed in an automobile accident. In the midst of getting the details of what happened, working to make sure the team in Africa is cared for, contacting the family, and praying, I found myself thinking about the cost associated with obedience.  This wasn't an instance of martyrdom in the sense that you and I think about martyrs. However, a life was lost as a result of obedience to an understanding of God's will and and call. I've not spent much time asking why. I know that on this side of eternity, there may not be a good answer.   What I do know is that God is sovereign and in His sovereignty He allowed this tragedy to happen.

I've thought a lot about the parents in the last 24 hours. I can't imagine their pain. I think often about the parents who send their kids on our mission trips. I know that they are concerned for the safety of their kids. It's natural. You send your 18 year old half way around the world and as a parent, you worry. You understand that something could happen to them. But you move from that quickly, because the possibility of that happening is remote. And then it happens. As I spent the day working through the aftermath of this tragedy, it occurred to me that God doesn't have us playing games. Yesterday death reached up and took one of our missionaries. I know God was and is sovereign in the midst of that, but a price was paid today. If we're going to be in the center of God's will we will find ourselves in danger and the consequences might be our lives. I've heard it said many times, "The center of God's will is the safest place you can be." How completely untrue that is. The martyrs would tell you that God's will is a dangerous place to be. God has sent us as ambassadors into a world that is in opposition to Him. It is dangerous for us to be in His will and in obedience we take risks.

This summer my 15 year old son, Ryan, will spend 5 weeks in Mexico serving our mission teams. As a parent I think about worst case scenarios. I understand that something could happen to him. I have a choice. Do I allow my son to be in a situation that God would use to make him look more like Jesus? Do I do that in spite of the known dangers or do I opt out of the danger and keep him home this summer? Yesterday I came face to face with the starkness of the possibilities. God reminded me of the cost that might be required and has asked me to choose. I choose to opt in to the danger. I choose to risk something for the upward call of Christ. I choose not to take the safe road that leads to complacency. I choose the danger that exists within the will of the Father. I'm not sure how this will sound, but I'd rather my son die in the midst of obediently responding to God's plan for him, than to live a safe, mediocre life that is an affront to the reality of who he is: an heir of the King, called to wage a battle for the establishment of the Kingdom of the King. So I will let Ryan go to Mexico this summer and I'll pray for two things. I'll pray for his safety, but I'll also pray that God begins to awaken him to his destiny and that he begins to embrace the danger inherent in obedience.

A couple of months ago I was reading through Genesis. As I read I try to be listening for what God might have to say to me. I was reading the account of Abram chasing after his nephew Lot. Lot and his family had gotten in the middle of a battle between some kings and had been taken captive. Abram defeated the king who had kidnapped Lot and his family and returned them to their home near Sodom. At that point, the king of Sodom came out to meet Abram and said, "Give me the people [you rescued] and keep the goods for yourself." He was trying to be benevolent to Abram and to thank him for rescuing Lot by allowing him to keep the spoils of his victory. Abram replied, "I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.'

          Abram understood that God is holy and that our response to God's holiness is to keep ourselves holy as well. He knew that the spoils of the battle were rightly his, but he also knew that an unholy king was seeking to enrich him. By keeping the spoils Abram would have allowed the perception that his wealth, success, and prosperity were the result of an association with someone who was in opposition to God. Rather than allow that perception to be created, Abram refused the spoils. So this is what God said to me, "Is there anything in you, is there anything that is a part of you, have you been enriched physically or otherwise due to an association with sin?"

          It's a good question to answer. We all need to achieve a level of self-awareness. Part of achieving that is coming to understand how we've become who we are.  Does the world look at you and admire you?  Are the things which they admire about you yours due to an association with sin?  Or do the things they admire about you result from your association with the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth?

About a year and a half ago I started teaching a series in my Sunday school class about legalism and faith.  The Lord has been speaking to me about legalism over the last couple of years and most of what I teach on Sunday mornings is a fleshing out of what the Lord shows me.  From that broad topic came a series of lessons about the Kingdom of God and what the Kingdom of God is, at least as I currently understand it.  Out of that came a question:  How did the Kingdom manifest in Jesus ministry and in the book of Acts?⁽¹⁾  Based on my study and what I have observed, it seems the Kingdom manifested itself in the New Testament through signs, miracles, and wonders.

That fact begged another question:  How is the Kingdom of God supposed to manifest today?  Nothing seemed to indicate that it should or would manifest any differently today.  So we were faced with another question:  Why is there so little evidence of Kingdom power in the western church today, when it seems like demonstrations of power were meant to be the norm for the church?  Our answer to that question was sobering.

It's apparent that the manifestations of the Kingdom in the NT were the result of people believing and being willing to act on that belief.  When someone was sick, they prayed for them.  When there was a spiritual battle with demons, they stood and fought based on the authority that was theirs in Christ.  In short, they exhibited faith and their faith was efficacious.  We concluded that our lack of experience with Kingdom things is the result of a lack of faith.⁽²⁾  By the way, the absence of faith always results in legalism.  We become more interested in appearances than in actually experiencing and walking in the power God intended for us to walk in.  From a Sunday school perspective, we're more interested in coming once a week and participating in a program than coming without an agenda to see how God would move that day.

As I thought about my teaching and our Sunday morning format, I came to some conclusions.  I concluded that our reliance on program every Sunday morning was quenching the Holy Spirit and I needed to get out of the way and allow Him to begin to direct our weekly time together.  I concluded that my teaching was doing very little to address our legalistic mindsets and move us toward the exercise of faith that establishes the Kingdom.  I concluded that the people in my class already know about 90% of what I share with them anyway.  I concluded that the Lord was telling me to stop teaching because He had something else in mind.  I told that class that I wouldn't be teaching any more lessons. They looked at me blankly, but they didn't stop coming either. ⁽³⁾

I also concluded that the Lord wanted to show us something of what the church is supposed to be, that He had something to show us about fellowship and community.  Two of my favorite verses that speak to fellowship and community in the church are in Hebrews. 

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching."

                                                                        Heb. 10:24-25

As I thought about my church experience it came up a little short on the considering and exhorting side.  So I thought, "Let's stop teaching and start considering and exhorting."  So we started meeting without a lesson and without a plan.  We waited for God to guide the discussion.  I confess that it felt weird initially and the times we had visitors it was a bit awkward for them, but there was fruit.

During this year the following has taken place within our group.

• People have confessed grievous sin and they've been ministered to.
• We have prayed for healing and people have been healed.
• We have wept on each other's behalf and born each other's burdens.  We've manifested Jesus' heart of compassion to each other.
• We've confronted one another in love.  There have been no hard feelings.
• We have spoken the truth to each other, often times hard truth, and people have changed in response to the ministry of truth.
• People have shared deep, intimate hurts and they've been ministered to.
• Lies from the enemy have been identified and refuted.
• Marriages have been put back on track.
• A place has been made where there is no judgment or condemnation.  People can unload their burdens in safety and know that all they'll receive back is consideration, love, and exhortation.

I've seen a lot of spiritual fruit in our group in the last year.  More than in the last 15 years of teaching Sunday School lessons combined.  The Lord knit us together in relationship for the purpose of establishing His Kingdom in us and through us and on some small scale, that's what happened.  We didn't establish community in the sense that God intends us to.  I don't think you can do that when you only meet for 1 ½ hours per week.  But He gave us a taste.  The last year has shown me that what He says the church is supposed to be with regard to community, fellowship, and Kingdom impact, is real.  It can happen.  Like all of my other experiences with God, it leaves me wanting more.

You know what's really interesting?  In the midst of our group ministering to each other, there's been a lot of teaching going on.  When we minister, part of what we do is to communicate God's truth; we teach.  But it's been teaching that has been led and motivated by the Spirit, consequently, it produced fruit.

⁽¹⁾We know that Jesus came to re-establish God's Kingdom.  In Matt. 4 He said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  In Matt. 12 Jesus rebuked the Pharisees saying, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you."  He healed the sick, cast out demons, and performed miracles.  Signs, wonders, and miracles seem to be the things that accompany the establishing of the Kingdom of God in the New Testament.

⁽²⁾  There's been a lot written on how and why God moves miraculously and I don't understand the variables operating (faith or otherwise) when Kingdom miracles happen.  I just know that God wants us walk in the Spirit, i.e. to move in response to faith.  I also know that lack of faith equals walking in the flesh and lack of Kingdom establishment.

⁽³⁾ I am a proponent of both teaching in the church and the gift of teaching.  Teaching is one of my spiritual gifts.  The gift/ministry of teaching is necessary and God wouldn't give it if it wasn't important.  However, I believe that its place as the main corporate activity of the western church is out of balance and not what God intended.  But that is another discussion.

I'm leading a youth trip in North Dakota this week.  We're on a Sioux indian reservation in Devil's Lake.  Devil's Lake is the name that was given to this area by indian agents in the 1800's.  It's an incorrect translation of the indian name which means 'People of the Enchanted Water'.  They call themselves The Spirit Lake People, now.

I've been on a number of different trips with AIM.  As an organization we attempt to go to hard places to minister.  This is one of those places.  I'm struck by the social problems.  Unemployment rates of 60%, rampant alcoholism and drug use, teen pregnancy through the roof, lots of dads, but very few fathers, suicide.

The first night we were here a woman knocked on the door of the house we are staying at.  She was drunk.  She had been drinking for four days.  She wanted a ride to Devil's Lake which is about 15 miles away.  She was just sober enough to carry a conversation.  I listened to her tell me about her life.  She has three children, all of whom have different fathers.  She is an alcoholic, her father and mother are alcoholics, her grandfather is an alcoholic, her children either are or are becoming alcoholics.  Her daughter is 16 years old and living with a man in his 30's.  She wanted me to pray for her.

I sat with her wondering how I could possibly minister to her.  I had no frame of reference for her life, her problems, her struggles.  I don't know her pain.  I prayed that God would give me something to say to her that would minister to her.  I shared some things with her and prayed for her.  I'm not sure if I ministered to her or not.  In the end I think I was reasoning with demons.  We got her to Devil's Lake and she stumbled into her home.

We went to church on Sunday.  A man stood up at the end of the service.  He had been ill and recently spent time in a nursing home.  He had a cane to help him walk and moved very slowly.  He spoke to us about some of the social struggles that people on the reservation face and some of the things he has struggled with.  Alcohol, multiple suicide attempts.  I judged him to be in his mid sixties, perhaps he was 70.  He looked as if he could be my father.  He's 49.

The Lord has impressed on me something He's been teaching me over the last few years.  I've asked Him to let me see the world through His eyes.  He's been showing me that most of what we see in the physical is only a manifestation of an underlying spiritual reality.  Paul tells us to look not at the temporal but at the eternal in 2 Cor. 4:18.  The people here are in spiritual bondage.

The question is, what to do about the bondage?  I have with me 14 youth from Seattle Chinese Church and 12 from Alliance Holiness in Chicago ( a Korean church).  They are 26 in all and most of them have never been on a mission trip.  This is a tough place to be the first time out.  We've been praying for God's leadership and asking Him to speak to us in the midst of ministry.  We want Him to give us the words to say.  These kids on the trip can't empathize with the pain of the kids they're interacting with.  They're like me; no frame of reference.

Thankfully, Jesus does know the reality of the pain and the suffering that the people are subjected to here.  He is acutely aware of the spiritual battle that is going on and He's using these kids to begin the process of taking back dominion in this place.  He wants it back and He wants to use us to begin getting it back.

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

My bible study is in the book of Mark recently.  Mark is focused on the things Jesus did.  There are signs and wonders.  Miracles.  I was reading through chapter 9 the other morning.  Jesus is coming down from the mountain with Peter, James and John.  As they come down they see that the rest of the disciples are engaged with the Teachers of the Law in an argument.  There are a lot of people standing around watching.  As soon as they see Jesus, they forget the debate and run to Jesus.  There's probably a lesson there.

One man tells Jesus that his son is beset by a demon.  He says that the disciples have tried to deliver the boy but have been unsuccessful.  At that point Jesus laments regarding the unbelief of the people.  The man brings his son to Jesus and asks Jesus to help saying, "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."  Jesus reply is, "What do you mean, 'If you can'?  Everything is possible for him who believes."

Jesus' reaction to this man stopped me.  It's as if He says, "If?  There is no 'if'!"  Jesus' indignation is comforting to me.  It comforts me the same way that Jesus promise to be with us always comforts me.  It reminds me that my faith makes me eligible to participate in the revealing of the Kingdom of God and that the ultimate success of that revealing has been secured.

Lord, the next time You lead me to minister the Kingdom, and my brain starts to  take over, remind me of the fact there there is no 'if' for those who believe.

AIM's new e-zine has launched.  It seems like there's an e-everything these days.  What's an e-zine you ask?  It's exactly what you would expect.....an online magazine.

The name of this particular e-zine is Wrecked For The Ordinary.  The web address is www.wreckedfortheordinary.com.  I just spent some time reading some of the articles.  They're good.  There's one particularly contributor I'd encourage you to read.  Scott Molgard is his name.  I've included the links to two articles he wrote as well as another one that touched me.  Currently Scott is on the World Race and is southern Mexico.

http://www.wreckedfortheordinary.com/category.asp?category=Culture&filename=rite-of-preparation

http://www.wreckedfortheordinary.com/category.asp?category=Adventure&filename=missionaries

http://www.wreckedfortheordinary.com/category.asp?category=Poverty&filename=when-orphans-worship

 I'd love to have your feedback.

“When the disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, “To what purpose is this waste?   For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.”   Matt. 26:8-9

One of the things that God is continually trying to beat into my brain is where I need to stop and where He needs to start.   He’s also continually trying to beat out of my brain the notion that there is validation to be found in the world.   I think I’ve got a pretty good theological understanding of my inclusion with Christ in His death and resurrection and the truth that those two facts completely enable me to walk in the Spirit.   I understand my need to go to the Cross and continually die to myself and God shows me the areas where that death hasn’t yet become a reality.   As I was reading the other day I stumbled across a whole new level of dying that I hadn’t even considered before.

The writer used the episode in Scripture where Mary Magdalene anoints Jesus with the perfume to speak about the concept of wasting.   The disciples rebuked her for “wasting” such a valuable gift.   Jesus affirmed her in her extravagance towards Him.   Here’s the bombshell.   “Wasting” ourselves completely on Him is more valuable in His sight than any amount of working we might do, no matter how noble the work.   Am I willing to allow myself to “waste” my life at the feet of Jesus, pouring everything out for Him because I consider Him to be of such value that He is worth it?   Does my validation come from what I do for the Lord or does it come from loving Him with everything I have?  Am I willing to waste my life on Him?

God wants us to waste ourselves on Him.   That could look a lot of different ways and there will be working since He is a God of redemptive action.   However, when we are looking only to Him and are willing to lavish everything we have on Him, He is most pleased.   I’m fairly certain He is pleased with nothing less than that.   You can’t begin to consider the idea of wasting yourself on God if you’re still harboring some sense of rights or entitlement.   If you still have a thirst and a hunger for the things of this world you’ll never be able to waste yourself.   Hear what I say.   It doesn’t mean you can’t own and enjoy the things of the world.   It means that having those things can’t be your motivation.

Lord, I want to waste myself on You.

I just returned home after spending a week in Palenque , Mexico with the first of three World Race teams to launch in 2007.   The second team will launch in June and the third in September.   Last year we had one trip and 27 racers go around the world in 11 months doing ministry.   This year we’ll have 3 groups and about 150 participants.   I think we’re on to something.   Take a good look at the picture of the team.   You’re looking at world-changers.   I would encourage you to keep up with them as they blog during the course of this year.   They’ll be traveling around the world for the next 11 months doing church planting and other types of ministry.   You can check them out at www.theworldrace.org.   You can also link to their blogs and see video.   It will be edifying.  

Why would a high caliber college graduate with a bright future, walk away to spend a year pouring themselves out on behalf of others?   It flies in the face of convention.   It defies the logic of our culture.   Some may come for the adventure.   After all a trip around the world is a once in a lifetime kind of thing.   For those that come with that attitude we disavow them of the notion that the World Race is nothing more than a trans-global backpacking tour, a hip way to spend a year.   If I could boil the purpose of the World Race down to one statement I’d describe it as a mission to establish the Kingdom of God .   That Kingdom is going to be established this year in the places they go, the people they meet, and in themselves.

I had the privilege of spending a week with this team and they get it.   I’ve never been around a group of people with such a Kingdom mindset.   As of last Monday they have launched out in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas .   To say they are ready to go is a bit of an understatement.   During the week I was there, they were already doing ministry in Palenque and seeing God establish His Kingdom.   One evening one the Racers named Jake, shared with the group how he and a team member had ministered to a particular gentleman.   He shared how the Lord went before them and facilitated the ministry.   He was tremendously excited.   He reminded me of the account of the 70 in Luke 10 who returned from their ministry “…with joy....”.   Jake was full of joy.   I saw him living the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.   Here’s something interesting; the abundant life Jesus promised is lived as we play our role in establishing the Kingdom.   Jesus came declaring the Kingdom.   Through our inclusion in His death and resurrection He lives in us.   Shouldn’t our lives be about establishing the Kingdom as well?