Clash or convergence

Is Pentecost experiencing a clash of cultures, a convergence of cultures, or a cultural revolution? Are we responsible to relate to the cultures around us or to get people out of the cultures they come from? Should we become like the cultures around us to reach them? Do we lose our apostolic identity in the process?

Sociologists define culture as the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular group of people. Social groups are knitted together by their cultural factors such as art, music, common history, or language and these factors distinguished these groups from those around them. As Apostolic Pentecost evolves as a movement and fellowship, I wonder; 1) is there a definitive apostolic culture and 2) if there is not, or there is one poorly defined, how do we maintain the distinction required of God’s people?

Another question of monumental significance concerning culture is, is our movement a group or a category? There is a difference between the two. A police force represents a category. Everyone in uniform belongs to the category, but that does not suggest everyone in the force cares about the same things, holds similar values, or has a common history. Those concerns would make them all a group. Apostolic Pentecost is certainly a category, but I am afraid it consists of many different groups that are far too often at odds with one another.

So are we still in the world, but not of it? Does any of this matter? Someone, help me out please…

A new playbook

In his book The Extreme Future, Dr. James Canton says that today's leaders "are dealing with issues and challenges that are so new and complex that their solutions require an entirely new way of thinking about the future." He goes on to say that "no one is fully prepared to deal with this extreme future. There is no playbook for getting this right. We need new tools, approaches, and eventually new solutions to these new emerging challenges." Is this a case of "the children of this world being wiser than the children of the light" (Luke 16:8)? Lord help us!!!

Plenty of grace to go around

Grace is a powerful force! Although certain brands of Pentecost seem somewhat afraid of too much Grace, I want all I can get. The longer I live for God, the more important Grace becomes to me and the more thankful I am for it in my life.

I am thankful Grace answers my need for eternal salvation. I am also thankful that the value of Grace goes beyond eternal salvation. Grace has a tremendous impact on our faith. When we understand Grace, our confidence in God’s willingness to see us through is greater. We will attempt greater things and larger leaps for God when we really understand Grace’s guaranty.

We are also less likely to be tormented by our fears when we understand Grace. Fear, the worry and torment associated with the unknown, constantly bombards our minds. And, it doesn’t have to be rational fear. It is generally very irrational, but it paralyzes none the less. When one understands God’s commitment to us because of His Grace, one will be less likely to give into fear or driven by fear to make poor choices or do dumb things.

We will be more inclined to wait patiently on the Lord longer if and when we understand Grace. The longer one has to wait for God the more fearful one becomes or the less interested one is. Time is a corroding and degrading element and the longer something is delayed the harder it is for one to keep watching. However, the more one understands about Grace, the surer one will be of the right outcomes even if it takes a long, long time. There is great reward in resting “in the Lord and waiting patiently for Him…” (Psalms 37:7)

The affects of Grace are especially beneficial in our relationships with others. One is far more likely to tolerate people’s issues when one understands Grace. This special tolerance for others comes from a humility born of the impact of Grace in our life. This special tolerance comes in the form of compassion towards others because of the compassion we received from the Lord.

I am thankful for Grace. I want to understand it far more than I ever have. I believe it to be utterly reliable. I am certain it is revolutionary and transformational, eternally and materially.

Enough GRACE

What makes our life possible? What makes living a life in Christ possible? How is it possible to get up each day and believe God for a good outcome? What makes it possible to sing in the rain, laugh in the storm, and rejoice in adversity? How is it possible to have joy when you are unhappy, contentment when you do not have enough, and strength after a long battle? The simple answer is GRACE - the favor of God.

There is no way to make it without it. There is no reason to try to make it without it. I am thankful no one has to do either. I am also thankful I do not have to earn it or be qualified for it. Now, I am not suggesting we can take advantage of it, leverage it against God to get our own way, or use it to commandeer the universe, but I am confident that “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all … shall with him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32 KJV).

I need a revelation about the favor of God. I think we all do. If God wanted us dead we would be. If He intended to fry us for our latest misstep He would have. I do not think that is God’s disposition towards us. I think the Cross said everything we need to know about what God wants to do with us and for us. I need GRACE. Thankfully, I have access to it. How about we not be ashamed of the GRACE message and learn to live in it?

Wrong perspective?

Would it change how we approach life if we realized the Lamb slain is the Lion of Judah? Would it change how we approach life if we looked at how much we could do instead of how much we cannot do? Would it change our approach to life if we saw how great God was in us instead of how dangerous the world is around us? Certainly, this is more than a bandaide? Certainly, this is more than eternally safe? Come on somebody, lets make a list and start taking some names... :)

Evangelism

Evangelism is meaningless without the outcome of discipleship in mind. The point of redemption is not uniformity with a particular brand of Pentecostalism but the formation of Christ in people’s lives. Discipleship emphasizes movement from the micro of dysfunction to the macro of Christian living. Evangelism is our attempt at inducing individuals to begin their personal journey towards Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:58

We are living in an extraordinary time as well as the end of an era. The 21st century will involve an extraordinary degree of spiritual opposition. It will involve extraordinary and complex problems. It will involve extraordinary financial pressure, family dynamics, and a demand for change and assimilation. Because of the nature of the times we live in, ministry must be extraordinary, worship must be extraordinary, organization must be extraordinary, and everything we do must pass the muster of the moment.

150 years ago people were born, lived and died in the same community. But consider this; in the 1920’s cars become popular modes of transportation, in the 1930’s we saw the expansion of commercial air travel, in 1969, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a part of the U.S. government's Department of Defense, set up the first parts of the network that would eventually become the Internet, and in 1994 the internet become globally accessible with the launch of Windows 95 which included Netscape. In 75 years we went from horse and buggy to the World Wide Web. Whether we understand it or not, what happens in Washington, Sacramento, Chicago, Berlin, Hong Kong, and Iraq affects and will continue to increasingly affects our lives.

If we are going to abound in the work of the Lord today, we are going to have a dichotomous vision. We must be able to look forward without losing sight of what is behind us. It is clearly time to look ahead. David’s sling worked and became, in some sense, a romantic tool, heavily associated with faith. But, it would prove woefully inadequate where David was going. The key to 21st century ministry will be expanding our knowledge base and skill sets. We innovate and adapt or die.

Conversely, there are elements of our experience we cannot afford to lose. We cannot remain apostolic, with the distinct blessings of God on our lives, without crystal clear convictions. We still need an illuminated fortress of truth serving as a point of reference as we navigate this constantly changing world. Likewise, we can never forget the power of the simple spiritual things we do. Much of what we do still comes back to simple, spiritual, persistent prayer and praise. There is the basic demand for searching, seeking, and knocking. We forget how to do that at our own peril.

I for one am excited about the future. I think I am ready for change. I think I have disposed of all my sacred cows. Of course time will tell, but I am thrilled about where we can be if we decide to be there and take the necessary steps towards abounding.

A realistic opinion

It is incredibly hard to live an inspired life when you always second guess yourself or suffer with an inflated self image. Individuals with poor self image convince themselves they cannot. Individuals who think too highly of themselves are eventually exposed as wannabes and run over by the tide. Unfortunately, we disqualify ourselves from the greater things in life with our own unrealistic opinions of ourselves.

I like to offer three simple keys that will help us maintain a realistic opinion of self. These keys help us understand who and what we are, not who or what we think we are. The first key is to remember that you are an individual. You cannot be and you do not have to be like anyone else to be well or do well. The second key is we are one of God’s creations. God was involved and is involved with our lives in a loving, paternal way. The third key is that we are works in progress. We do not have to be perfect today; we have a lifetime of learning and growing ahead of us.

We can feel good about ourselves, even when we struggle with something as long as we have confronted it and developed a plan to overcome it. We can feel good about our chances to succeed because God is with us. Likewise, everyone finds themselves behind the learning curve some times. Individuals have achieved great things and many exhibit incredible talents, but no one is superlative. Thankfully, we do not have to be. We can be ourselves and feel good about the progress we are making day-by-day through discipleship. We can also rest in knowing God is our helper.

It is alright to like ourselves because “he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” and “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 1:4 & 2:10 KJV).

The confrontation of growth

Each new discovery of life is a traumatic confrontation in proportion to the significance of the discovery. If I am to grow significantly, I am going to have to struggle significantly. The first great struggle is a confrontation with who and what I am. The theologian Sam Keen, in his book To a Dancing God said; "Awareness of what presents itself to me involves a double movement of attention: silencing the familiar and welcoming the strange. Each time I approach a strange object, person, or event, I have a tendency to let my present needs, past experience, or expectations for the future determine what I will see. If I am to appreciate the uniqueness of any datum, I must be sufficiently aware of my preconceived ideas and characteristic emotional distortions to bracket them long enough to welcome strangeness and novelty into my perceptual world." One of the great questions of personal growth and discovery then is am I courageous enough to accept the possibility that new datum could make my old familiar outdated and unreliable.

The body of Christ

I am very thankful today for the Body of Christ. I am coming to terms with how precious it is to assemble with the people of God to entertain the presence of God and participate in the work of the Spirit and Word. How valuable is this heaven to earth experience we enjoy with one another? Incalculable!

I have had the privilege of being with the body all across the United States and now overseas in Europe. During those travels I have discovered a few things through reflection. One, I could feel at home anywhere if I wanted to. We are one body, joined by a common experience and belief. If felt displaced it was my fault. Another discovery was my way was not necessarily better, it was just more familiar. I doubt there is a prescribed style of praise and preaching. Paul told us to preach the word, not preach the word this way. Another discovery I rejoice in is that this is a cross-cultural experience. Not because we intend it to be necessarily, but because this experience deals with the most common human needs. God intended it to be. Anywhere you go, redemption and regeneration works on the heart and minds of men and women bringing about Christ in us.

Thank God for the church. Thank God I am in it!

Freedom

Freedom is the state in which a person is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions. I am so thankful for the freedom I have as a citizen of this great country and as a citizen of a heavenly kingdom. I am so very thankful that God’s providence allowed me to be born in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Likewise I am so very thankful I have been born again into a heavenly kingdom where I am free from the bondage of sin and death.

I really do rejoice in my freedom. Some may think Pentecost is restrictive. Some may suggest our civil liberties are lost. I cannot completely concur. I chose to live for God and I am very comfortable with the fact that there is nothing undue or unreasonable about His requirements. I am also very willing to tolerate certain inconveniences in exchange for a compulsory education, a representative democracy, and the right to assemble and worship as I chose. We are truly blessed!

I also want to recognize and publicly appreciate my fellow veterans and those now serving in our Armed Forces. Freedom is very free – for most people. Freedom was purchased by the blood of heroes and is preserved by the indomitable spirit and selfless sacrifice of those now filling their shoes. If you were not one of those heroes you owe them a debt!

God bless America, the land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above…

Speech control

Be careful little mouth what you say is a line from an old Sunday school song. Truer and wiser words are hard to find. Unfortunately, I have never been an expert at regulating what I say. Probably like many, I have not yet learned the profoundness of silence. But, I want to. I recognize I need to.

This discipline is not simply a speech issue though. This discipline is primarily a thinking issue. “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6:45 NLT). Now, I am not suggesting every time someone says something they shouldn’t that he or she is evil. I do not think that is what the scripture is suggesting either. I think what has happened is he or she has failed to regulate the mind and subsequently something less than honorable found an occasion to get out.

The Apostle Paul left us some clear governance for our thoughts in Philippians 4:8 and subsequently a very effective means of regulating our speech. The New Living Translation records it this way; “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Regulating our speech begins with regulating our thoughts accordingly and, if I am not thinking truthfully, purely, and lovingly, I probably should not be talking.

Easier said than done of course! Isn’t everything about living for God? But we can and we should. Now, let me go on record at this time and say I am sorry if my mouth has every run away from me at your expense. I really want to be the perfect man who “offends not in word” (James 3:2 KJV). The older and hopefully wiser I get, the more I come to regret my careless, misguided words. I share the sentiments of the Psalmist; “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalms 19:14 KJV). I could even go along with the old adage: let my words be soft and sweet today because tomorrow I may have to eat them.

Alternatives

An alternative is an option. An alternative is a reasonable substitute. An alternative is what I can do instead of what I am currently doing. Often, an alternative is a good thing and just what the doctor ordered. My problem is, I was never taught to actively look for alternatives. I am not alone. Like me, many of us settle for the status quo regardless.

Obviously there are no alternatives for some things. If one wants to be saved, he or she must believe that Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. He or she must be born again of the water and the Spirit. He or she must cooperate with the work of sanctification in his or her life. The Bible is the authoritative voice of Christian logic and understanding. There are no alternatives to these. However, can I suggest there are lots of possibilities for alternatives?

Is Sunday worshiping a mandate? Is the ‘one church per city model’ the best model? Are there ministry options other than preaching or playing music? Do we have to wear a suit and tie to every service? Must our sanctuaries have pews or rows? Understand, I am not trying to be anti-establishment with these questions, I am just wondering if there are better alternatives.

As change accelerates, as innovation reduces the shelf life of just about everything to 3 days, and as the demand for effective ministry increases proportionately, I suggest our response include discovering and implementing alternatives. If there is a better way, if there are better options, don’t we owe it to ourselves and a lost world to discover the best alternatives and put them into practice?