"dwell"- an unlikely word of encouragement

II Peter 3:13- "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (ESV)

I recently finished preaching through II Peter for our churches mid-week services. As I got near the end of the Epistle, I came to this verse. Since I studied this verse, it hasn't been far from my thoughts. This verse was an unusual source of encouragement to me, and I hope it will be to you as well.

The word dwells is a pretty common place word, it carries the idea of "being at home." In other words in the new heaven and new earth "righteousness will be at home". Let me explain why this simple thought has encouraged me over and over.

If I am being transparent, righteousness isn't really always "at home" in my life. It is at war in and with my flesh. I struggle to do what I know I am commanded to do, and I often do what I know I am not supposed to do. When I was a kid I would think of heaven as this amazing place with gold streets, amazing jewels, etc. Then as I got older and understood more about heaven, I would think of heaven as being with Christ, seeing His glory and enjoying His fellowship. But that picture was hard to really relate to. My sin hinders fellowship with God in so many instances in my life that I have a hard time imagining being in the presence of God.

That is why I love the thought this verse allows me to dwell on (see what i did there =). In the future there will be a time, when righteousness dwells, and I will be there! I will be where righteousness is at home, where it is no longer at war with my flesh, no longer a struggle to do what I know I should do, no longer a struggle to offer God the worship He alone is worthy of.

So if you are struggling today, be encouraged! God's plan isn't just for this life, He is going to make the next one perfect! In the craziness of this life, let's start the process of letting righteousness be at home today, and look forward to the time when that will be an everyday reality.

The Summer Ministry: A Rearview Evaluation

As I begin to do some of the many projects that are necessary each fall, I am often too busy to sit down and reflect on how the previous months have gone. This year the Lord allowed our church to have a summer internship program and I felt it beneficial to make time for evaluation much earlier in my schedule.

Summer is an amazing time of fellowship and often more laid back ministry. For years I have had a burden to be able to assemble a summer internship program and this past year the church voted to make it a possibility. One of the reasons that I feel so strongly about this ministry is the impact we can have on the future ministries of these college men that spend their summer with us.

With that in mind, I have 4 observations:

• The future of the church is bright
• having two young men (one a recent college graduate and one heading to his senior year of college) minister alongside me for the past 11 weeks showed me a glimpse of future. During this election cycle, we hear a lot of doom and gloom, and unfortunately this attitude is even present in churches across our nation. I hear comments about how the church is dying, etc. but after spending time with our interns and seeing their heart for the Lord and the church, I am encouraged. My excitement to see the Lord do great things in the lives of young people has never been stronger. The potential impact the next generation can have for the Lord is massive, and I can't wait to watch it.  
• Churches need to be investing in practical training for men interested in ministry
• Each week we spent time just taking over practical ministry issues. These meetings revealed to me a need to show our young people a "behind the scenes" picture of how churches work. Our churches tend to emphasize the Sunday service (and we should) but we neglect to explain to people how the rest of the ministry works. If we are going to hand over the keys to next generation, we might want to show them how it works. This training really can't be done in a college setting. It has to happen in the local church. 
• Internship programs are a lot of work
• This wasn't a negative! Bringing in 2 people to your ministry who don't know who you are, or what you do, or why you do it, makes for a learning curve. It meant time invested in getting to know them, their background, their personalities, etc. It meant reviewing schedules and event details, etc. I am grateful for all God accomplished in their lives and in our church over this summer. My schedule this summer was more different than it has ever been in ministry. So many things changed, even when I wasn't preaching there others things that needed to be done. But it was one of the best summers of ministry as well. 
• Internships were a blessing to my heart as a pastor!
• I can't express how much I was blessed this summer. When I wanted to start this ministry, my goal was to be a blessing to 2 college students, give them practical ministry opportunities, and help them financially with their college school bill. But as the summer moved along, I think I may have been the one that got the biggest blessing. The Lord knew what I needed and used these men to encourage my heart. I was a blessing to hear them preach, or watch them interact with our church people, or to see them observe various needs and them meet them. 

As I sit in my now quiet office, back to the routine of fall, I am grateful for the summer God allowed our church to experience. I can't say that every summer will be as good as this one, or that every intern will exhibit a heart to learn or grow. But I can say that this summer God blessed our church with 2 men that were an encouragement to us. Hopefully we ministered to them as much as they ministered to us.  

On a side note, I am beginning the process of recruiting 2 people for next summer, so if you know somebody pass along the information!

Weep with those who weep......

Over the past few weeks, life has been busy. Summer months seem to be crammed full of stuff, fun stuff, but still full. My mind has been wrestling through some current events and so I thought I would write them down.

On July 5th I watched a video of a black man being shot by a police officer in LA. In the desire for full disclosure, I am a white pastor who lives in a primarily white community. There has been much information given and shared about the events of that day. I teach my kids the value of the police and to respect their authority. But the purpose of this post isn't to discuss who was right and who was wrong. Something over the past few weeks has been resonating in my soul.

I watched people respond by saying "they got what they deserved" or "don't resist and follow instructions and this won't happen." Both of these statements may be true, but my heart grows heavy with the spirit of this position. I am grateful that God didn't give me what I deserve. If we are really going to be pro-life, we can't just be pro-the lives we like/relate to. We have to value all life.

Whether you believe in the group called BLM (Black Lives Matter), or if you feel their positions are unjustified, consider this thought for a moment. To these people, they only way that they feel like their position will be heard is for them to do desperate things. What has happened to a group of people, that are created in God's image, who He loves with never stopping love, whom He died to save, that they feel that there is no hope in "the land of free and the home of the brave"?

We have ceased to weep with those who weep. If we don't understand the issue, we ignore it. If we can't relate to a particular struggle, we often pretend that it doesn't exist. For whatever reason we have lost the ability to have compassion. When I started in ministry, I can honestly say, that mercy wasn't my strong suit. But over the years of sitting with people who are about to die, or with widows, or with families that are being torn apart, God has opened my eyes to my need to show mercy.

Let me be clear, this issues at stake here are immense and won't be resolved easily. But there is one part of this situation that we can change quickly. We can become better listeners. We can listen to the struggles of people around us without condemning them. We can open our lives to help them, encourage them, support them. This won't fix all the issues, but it will open doors and allow needed conversations to happen. After all, we are to "love our neighbors as we love ourself." Let's start taking small steps of reconciliation instead of complaining that the goal seems to far away.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.- Proverbs 15:1

The Art of Winning and Losing

Over the past few weeks, we have been exposed to various responses to sets of circumstances that often reveal a lot about people. But to me they have reveal less about the participants and more about the audience.

To recap the situations, we have Cam Newton, after losing the Super Bowl, leaving the press after a few short answers (personally I wasn't offended by this, I dislike all in game and pre/post game interviews). We followed that with Donald Trump in the Republican Debate (since he is in the lead in most polls and to a seemingly large group of conservatives can do no wrong, for the context of this article we will call this winning).

These instances and others have reinforced in me the fact that we have failed to teach people some basic points of dignity. I see this in the way fans yell, boo, mock, and demean the opponents at games, I see it in the way people are treated in online discussions, I see it in the lack of respect given to others who may disagree with our position. In short we have not learned how to win or lose with dignity.

The issues with respect for others would hardly be a topic for me to write about if it was only showing up in the context of the unsaved, or unchurched, but the issue is now front and center inside the group of people who call themselves "christians" ("little Christ"). How can we pretend that the Word of God is the supreme guide for all of our faith and practice, and then go out and demean those people that God created in His image? Our country, and more importantly the church, has lost the ability to have dialogue with grace, conversations that help us understand a different point of view, a different perspective. We have bought into the rhetoric that it is our way or the highway, and our passion for our rights, and positions has made those who don't share our view feeling like we don't care or love them. This is the exact opposite of what Paul was living out in Acts, he was willing to give his freedom, rights, and life away if it meant that people saw how much the Gospel was worth, and how much they were loved by God and by Paul. The value of a person isn't defined by their political affiliations or Economic or Social standing. Their value is built in because they are created in the image of God.

Losing with grace and humility doesn't make you a loser (sorry, Cam) it shows the people around you that you are living for something even bigger. So take some time to teach others by your example the right way to be compete, regardless if you win or lose.