Disobedience

From "Kisses from Katie"

   I would like to be to say that I always do exactly what the Lord asks of me.  I would like to say that I always seek Him first when a difficult situation presents itself.  While I am getting better at it, sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I still think what I do with my life should be my decision.  God asks, and reasons, and encourages.  He gently explains that I do not know what is best for me and that I do not always get what I want.  And I just look at Him, not understanding at all what He's trying to say.  Sometimes, I even whine and sob and shriek, just like a tired, angry three-year-old.
   So God picks me up, exhausted from struggling, and plops me in the center of His will for my life.  And then a funny thing happens.  As I kick and scream and struggle, I remember:  I like being in the center of God's will for my life.  God's plan is usually pretty great.  It is a whole lot better than mine anyway.  I am so glad that He does not allow me to win.

Vision Beyond Your Resources

Angela forwarded this devotion from Zondervan to me today.  Thought it was worth re-posting.
Seek and You Shall Be Surprised I almost said no to a miracle. A couple who had just started attending National Community Church requested a meeting, and I almost denied the request because they said they wanted to talk about church government. I  love talking about the mission and vision of the church. Church government? Not as much! Plus, I was fighting a book deadline, so I didn't have much margin in my schedule. So I almost said no, and if I had, I would have missed out on a miracle... After answering nearly ninety minutes worth of questions, they ended by asking me about our vision. I had so much pent-up passion after talking about policies and protocols that I just let it rip. I shared our vision of ... turning our coffeehouse on Capitol Hill into a chain of coffeehouses, with all the net profits reinvested in missions. I talked about launching our first international campus ... and our vision of launching multi-site campuses in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the greater Washington area. Then the meeting came to a rather abrupt and awkward ending. They said they wanted to invest in National Community Church, but they didn't say how or how much. They left, and I was left scratching my head. I wasn't sure anything would come of that meeting, but a few weeks later ... I received one of the most unforgettable phone calls of my life. "Pastor Mark, we wanted to follow up on our meeting and let you know that we want to give a gift to National Community Church." My mind immediately started racing... "We want to give a gift, and there are no strings attached. But before I tell you how much we're going to give, I want you to know why we're giving it. We're giving this gift because you have vision beyond your resources." ... Those four words, vision beyond your resources, have become a mantra for the ministry of National Community Church. We refuse to let our budget determine our vision. That left-brained approach is a wrong-brained approach because it's based on our limited resources rather than on God's unlimited provision. Faith is allowing your God-given vision to determine your budget. That certainly does not mean you practice poor financial stewardship, spend beyond your means, and accumulate a huge debt load. It does mean that you take a step of faith when God gives you a vision because you trust that the One who gave you the vision is going to make provision. And for the record, if the vision is from God, it will most definitely be beyond your means. Having vision beyond your resources is synonymous with dreaming big. And it may feel like you're setting yourself up for failure, but you're actually setting God up for a miracle. How God performs the miracle is His job... "We want to give the church $3 million dollars." I was speechless... It was one of those holy moments when time stands still. I heard it, but I could hardly believe it. I was blindsided by the blessing... God's provision came out of nowhere... It's not our man-made plans that move the Almighty; the Almighty is moved by big dreams and bold prayers. In the awkward silence of my speechlessness, I heard the still small voice of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit hit the rewind button and reminded me of a prayer circle that I had drawn four years before...

Truth and Grace

The last couple weeks I have been led to ponder the balance between truth and grace.  This started after attending a service at North Point in Atlanta with our middle school youth following the Believe conference.  Th sermon by Andy Stanly that day was entitled "When Gracie Met Truthy" (http://www.northpoint.org/messages/christian/part-5) and was about the embodiment of both grace and truth in equal measure through Jesus and the tension that ensues when we try to exhibit both grace and truth in the model of Christ.  Overall I liked the sermon, but the trouble arose based on the example Andy used to illustrate how this plays out at North Point ,which dealt with a homosexual couple and their attempt to serve in the church.  It was really a poor example to use to get his point across in my opinion, but the real problem came in what the example appeared to say about North Point's stance on homosexuality.  The story inferred that the gay couple could not serve because in fact one of the men was still married and therefore was now in an adulterous relationship, and failed to address the fact that the men were in a homosexual relationship which is also a sin but apparently did not preclude them from serving in the church.

So this raises the question which sins make you ineligible for positions of service or leadership in the church or for membership for that matter?  How do we confront people and their sin with both grace and truth?  Is this a question or issue of repentance?  What would happen if an openly gay couple came to West Towne?

I have since had discussions which I probably would not have had otherwise.  I have listened to other sermons (some intentionally and some by happen stance).  I have seen some blog discussions about this which are mainly from Southern Baptist sources it appears, so provide a good counter point of view (Andy Stanley, the Megachurch, and Homosexuality, Andy Stanleys Soft Landing on Homosexuality).  So, I believe this is a good thing and God is working.  I am interested to see where this leads.