Remember Egypt

A little but important post from Steven Furtick:

You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.
Deuteronomy 7:17-18

Nothing can sabotage radical belief in the promises of God quite like calculation.

The Israelites were facing a seemingly insurmountable task. They were about to enter the Promised Land and face not only a multitude of enemies, but enemies who were clearly stronger and more capable than them. God knew what would happen: they would ask the faith-shattering calculative question, how?

And so He preempted their question with an instruction: remember Egypt.
Essentially, don’t try to calculate how I’ll do it…just remember how I did it.

God’s instructions haven’t changed much thousands of years later for those of us facing uncertainty as to how God is going to come through for us. You might be wondering how God is going to provide for your family now that you’ve lost your job. Or how He is going to cover the costs of your education. Or how He is going to do any of the other number of things you need Him to do.

Well, I don’t know how. Neither do you. And the truth is, we don’t have to know how. We just need to know that He can. And the way we know that He can is by calling to mind what He’s done.

And He’s done plenty. Your life is littered with signposts of God’s faithfulness. Regardless of your circumstances, take a moment and take a look at them. Remember Egypt. Remember what God has already overcome in your past as you face your present. Then leave the how to Him.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Catch The Fire

We worshiped with the Catch the Fire (CTF) ministry school one night this week. They just graduated several students that completed a 3 week leadership intensive.
Formerly Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship,
CTF has been a major catalyst to Rolland and Heidi Baker, Brownsville Assembly, IHOP, Bethel Redding, and many many other influential people and ministries.
It was a nice respite along the journey home.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Delightful

Undoubtedly the best gelato I've ever had. I had pistachio & coconut. Ashleigh had chocolate if you can't tell.










- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Little Italy

Ashleigh taking a break on a hot day in the Little Italy section of Toronto.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Asking God to Help Me See

Sometimes I find myself feeling numb toward the needs of people I see throughout my day. It concerns me to think that I can become unmoved by people without homes, food, or those in pain either emotionally or physically. Sometimes I try to tell myself that it's because of how common it has become to see people in need that I don't always feel stirred inside. But I don't think that is true.

When someone cuts in front of me in line at the grocery store I am not numb to it emotionally. That has happened numerous times in my life. When I feel slighted by someone (whether perceived or real) I am not numb to it. I may not show it on the outside but I definitely notice it. When the waitstaff at a restaurant gives what I deem poor service I notice it and internally react. Why should those type of things cause reactions in me greater than when another human being is in need?

I will be more like Jesus when I care less about the goings on of my own little kingdom and more about bringing justice to the marginalized. Jesus was moved to tears with great emotion over the needs of the people of Jerusalem. I want eyes that see people the way He does.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Sunday to Remember (kind of)

Yesterday morning we went to church in Port Hope. The church we intended on attending started at. 10:30. We ran late so I started looking for any church in the area that began at 11. I found a Presbyterian one close enough to us that we could be there on time.

Upon arrival I noticed a few things:

There were few cars in the parking lot.
Including us there were about 20 people present.
All of the females except one were wearing hats.
All of the males (even those preschool age) were wearing ties.
The only musical instruments on stage were a piano and organ.
All of the bible verses posted were kjv.
The hymnal had hymns and then a separate section of Psalms put to music. I thought that was cool.
Most of the people looked to be over the age of 70 except for two families.
No one spoke to each other before or after service. No one. Zero talking.

The regular pastor was on vacation and a very nice young man from Toronto was shepherding the church while he was away. He was not preaching however. The person preaching that morning was a missionary from The Czech Republic. He stated that he intended to give testimonies of the work God is doing there and then preach the gospel.

He shared mostly about the damage that Baptists and charismatics have done in The Czech Republic by spreading their heresies. The atheists are very bad too, just not as bad as the Baptists and charismatics. As a pastor in a charismatic Baptist church I had to chuckle. I wasn't offended at all but I found it funny. Of all the churches in the little town of Port Hope I have to imagine this is the only one with a missionary giving testimony of how bad charismatics and Baptists are. Unfortunately we never heard what God IS doing there.



Then he shifted into the sermon out of 1 Kings. It was the section where Jeroboam has two golden calfs formed so that people would not have to go to Jerusalem for worship any longer. Using that story as the backdrop he talked about the importance of doing things God's way and not doing what is right in our own eyes. One example was dressing appropriately on The Lord's Day. I was the only guy in the house without a tie on. Modern fashions are not appropriate for God's true people. He talked extensively about the evil of all things contemporary. Then he talked about modern music with drums showing how people have wandered away from God and made the church carnal. At this point I am realizing he may not have enjoyed it as much as i did when one of our worship leaders led playing guitar and wearing a Homer Simpson t-shirt a few weeks ago in church. He also railed against the notion that God is concerned with our hearts more than our external appearance and behaviors.

I was wearing a cross necklace that reminds me of a man named Father Bishoy from Egypt that I met many years ago. He is one of the humblest, gentlest, and most teachable people I have ever met. I wear it sometimes to remind myself to stay low, stay unoffended, and that I have much to learn. I took it out and rubbed it like a rosary. I wasn't offended. I wanted to stay humble and find some meat among the bones I was spitting out.

Several times he mentioned the importance of preaching the real gospel. The word gospel literally means good news. Good News. I don't know if it's a message of good news to say that God's goal for your life is for you to wear clothing that was popular in the 1940's, listen to outdated non-percussive music, and live unconcerned about your true self (your heart). That sounds horrible to me. I think every time we preach the gospel it should sound like good news. I have been so guilty of not letting the goodness of the gospel shine through at times. This world needs the Good News of Jesus.

The missionary had a family of six people there with him. We were a party of five. If you take away the visiting pastor that leaves a total of about 12-13 people from that church in attendance. We were clearly the only ones who missed the hat and necktie memo. He clearly wasn't preaching to the choir if you know what I mean. As he talked about churches that are contemporary being too casual with God our four year old was lying under her chair (we were in the back) coloring. Uh oh.

Now all things considered:
Being contemporary is not important. Being authentic is.
God deserves awe and reverence and He should not be treated whimsically.
Modern worship music is only as valuable as it is pleasing to God.

This isn't me complaining as much as it is me processing. It was a bit surreal. Maybe even more surreal than a costume dog show. Funny thing is that at the end of the dog show someone awkwardly yelled out "Hallelujah!" No one yelled that Sunday morning.










- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Are We Pentecostals (pt 2)

"Pentecostalism has not always been linked to glossolalia (speaking in tongues). In fact, it has only been in the past 110 years that the two became linked in American religious thought. Previous to 1901 many churches that believed speaking in tongues passed with the death of the first apostles called themselves Pentecostal.

The dominant factors that we see stemming from what took place on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 are inclusion and unity. When the Holy Spirit touched the community of believers in the upper room He did so in a way that empowered them to communicate with people from diverse locales. The people from different parts of the Roman Empire were then included in mass numbers into this new community. The greatest sign of the Holy Spirit's supernatural empowering was that this new community lived at peace in unity with one another.

Ethnic boundaries were dissolved as this new community of individuals found their identity in Jesus rather than in their ancestral heritage. Social boundaries were also destroyed as the wealthy and the poor lived together as equals. Those who could had more gave of what they had so that those who had less would not be without.

For Pentecostalism to stay true to it's origin it must represent ethnic unity and social equality empowered supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. Glossolalia was one of the instruments used by God to bring those things about but it was not the core of this new community of people. It would be similar to seeing a magnificent house where many previously homeless people lived that was built where once only a vacant lot sat and then focusing all attention on a hammer that was used throughout the building process. The hammer was useful, even necessary for the house to be built but certainly not more significant than the family that dwelled in it.

If being labeled a Pentecostal caused people to think that I was a part of a movement where all human divisions were obliterated by the blood of Jesus I would surely not resist wearing that label. Either the term needs to be redefined or a new one created altogether."

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad