John Wesley’s Holy Club

John Wesley’s Holy Club QuestionsThese are 22 questions the members of John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves every day in their private devotions over 200 years ago.

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

Adaption for Water’s Edge (I used last night @ our Worship Service)

1. Do I pray regularly?
2. Am I sexually above reproach?
3. Do I allow fear, guilt or anger to control me?
4. Do I waste time?
5. Do I pretend to be something I am not?
6. Am I greedy, envious or jealous?
7. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
8. Can I really say I anytime, anything, anywhere to God?
9. Am I going against my conscience in anything?

10. Am I honest to myself, to God and to others?

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Part 2)

Luke 18:9-14 ⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ ¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Truth #2  Pride erases the good deeds of the Pharisee. Humility erases the bad deeds of the Tax Collector.

This is an amazing insight for me. The Pharisee is doing all the right things outwardly. He is more diligent in religion and more consistent than I have ever been. I have never fasted twice a week on a regular basis. On the surface the things the Pharisee is doing are good…the kind of guy you want leading a small group or serving as an elder….but his pride ruins the whole thing. Because he is proud all the good things he is doing is erased in God’s eyes. What a scary thought…..James tells us that Pride makes God turn against us. Pride makes God our enemy.

It is actually ironic that the Pharisee is thanking God for what he is while God cannot stand the stench of him. Pride always comes with self deception. There are several brands of pride (Self centeredness, self promotion, self reliance) but the Pharisee’s brand was self righteousness. This comes from the belief that a person can generate(Self) rightness with God (Righteousness.)  God hates self righteousness because it steals the glory from Him. And when we are self righteous, we do religious things, but God hates all of them. The religious things we do actually become the barrier between us and God…which is where the Pharisee is in the parable…

On the other hand we have the Tax Collector. He is doing all the wrong things. Stealing from his own people, serving and selling out to the Roman Empire…this guy is going the wrong things. But his heart is precious to God….he has humility. Humility erases the evil things we do as fast as pride erases the good. Humility invited God’s mercy. God is a friend to the humble. This is a guy you would not want in your small group, yet he is justified before God because of humility. God loves humility because it gives Him glory. Humility throws itself on the character and kindness of God.

Prayer for humility

“I beg that of Your great goodness You would make known to me, and take from my heart, every kind and form and degree of Pride, whether it be from evil spirits, or my own corrupt nature; and that You would awaken in me the deepest depth and truth of that Humility, which can make me capable of Your light and Your Holy Spirit.”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (part 1)

Luke 18:9-14 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  ”But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This parable messes with me because it is so exposing. Jesus chooses the Pharisee because in His day they would be considered the apex of spiritual depth. They devoted their life to following the minutia of details about the law. Jesus chooses the tax collector because in His day they would be considered the greatest sinner. Betraying Israel and siding with the Romans would have been similar to the Jews who became servants to Hitler’s Germany. Jesus is pitting extremes to make certain spiritual truths clear. Over the next couple days, I am going to make some observations about the radical truths Jesus was communicating to the people.

Truth #1 Both men entered the Temple as sinners.

The Pharisee’s sin was internal. The Tax Collector’s sin was external. The sins of the Tax Collector are obvious, external, for the whole world to see. The sins of the Pharisee are in his heart, private, between himself and God. These private heart level sins ruin him. Judgment, bitterness, pride, self righteousness…ruin the Pharisee’s life…..even though he went to the temple and did all the right things. The Pharisee’s sin is more complicated because he does not believe he is a sinner. This is always true with the religious sinner. He has too many things to point at in his life to justify why God is pleased with him. (Which is what it means to be self righteous)

Reflections on a Good week

I have spent the morning sifting through this last week and it seems appropriate that I would share what has been going on the last 7 days. Ok, so here are five things.

1. I read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut on my new Kindle DX. This book is insanely awesome, undeniably creepy and yet irresistibly light. Thanks Brandon McCormick for getting me to read it. I am still processing about the book…here is what I want to say. Sometimes a good non-christian fiction book is the best reading in the world. I read so many Leadership and Ministry books, or Jesus books, that this dark book was a breath of fresh air in my soul. And so it goes.
2. We had fifteen 12 to13 year old girls spend the night last night. It was Megan’s (my oldest daughter) soccer team. I am not sure what to say other than I am not ready for my daughter to be this old. God, grant me the serenity to accept…..
3. The new Hillsong CD “A Cross the Earth”  is amazing. We did “Freedom is Here” @ Water’s Edge last Tuesday. Awesome song…..one of the lyrics captures me still “Everything comes alive in my life as I lift You higher.” Still get me even now as I write it.
4. Water’s Edge has had over 500 people the last 3 weeks. What God is doing among us there is amazing. We are seeing our best days with great expectation that better days are still to come. Thank You God, for using us to change so many lives.
5. Some good friends are getting married tomorrow. Jonathan and Aubrey are amazing individuals and I am sure will be an amazing couple.

5 Great Books on the Charismatic Tradition

Last week in Water’s Edge, I talked about the Charismatic Tradition. It is a unique expression of Christian spirituality focused on “power to act.” Here are 5 great books that have inspired me in the Charismatic expression of faith.

1. The Fourth Dimension by Dr. David Yonggi Cho
2. Power through Prayer by E.M. Bounds
3. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
4. The Power of Crying out by Bill Gothard
5. The Kneeling Christian by “The Unknown Christian”

Read and enjoy

The Charismatic Tradition

Ok so last night at Water’s Edge I was talking about the Charismatic Tradition (we are in a teaching series about six different expressions of Christianity. Like every other tradition…there are things we can learn and there are dangers to be avoided in the Charismatic expression of Christianity. While I was teaching I committed myself to put the 7 dangers in my blog….so here they are as promised.

7 Dangers to avoid in the Charismatic Tradition

1. Prosperity Gospel.
2. Over focus on Spiritual Warfare and End Times
3. Seeking a spiritual emotion or experience more than seeking God.
4. Spirituality is measure in gifting & experience rather than Fruit.
5. Unqualified ministers.
6. Dismissing of Spiritual Authority.
7. Disorderly worship services

If you are interested in learning more about what I said, you can jump on the water’s edge podcast (go to itunes and search for water’s edge college ministry.) Also, the whole idea for the series comes from Richard Foster’s book “Streams of Living Water” which explored the six traditions of our faith. You can find it @ http://www.amazon.com/Streams-Living-Water-Celebrating-Traditions/dp/0060628227

Come Away with Me

I was reading in my Celtic Daily Prayer Guide (which is as awesome as it sounds)  and these words struck my imagination….

Arise, my love, my fair one,

And come away with me.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

And come away with me.

For lo, the winter is passed

And the rain is gone away.

Come away with me,

come away with me.

The flowers appear on the earth,

The time for singing has come,

And the voice of the turtle-dove

Is heard in the land.

Come away with me.

The fig-tree puts forth its fruit,

The vines are in blossom,

They put forth their fragrance,

O come away with me

Arise, my love, my fair one,

And come away with me.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

And come away with me.

O come away with me,

Come away

With me.

By John and Ross Harding

This poem is clearly taken from Song of Songs 2:10 “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”

What a moving picture of God and His invitation. When God calls a person….He call them to “come away with Him.” His invitation is not “come with Me” it is “come AWAY with Me.” Away means separation…distance. In other words, God desires to be alone with each of us.  Come AWAY with me is an invitation to deeper intimacy. A pulling away from the things of this world and a pulling toward Him. The word solitary comes to mind…yet not solitary confinement. It is more like the tender desire I have to be alone and spend time with my wife after we have been distanced for a measure of time.

I am sure that many have no knowledge of the sweetness of time “away with God.” But to those who have known time “away with Him,” the preciousness of the invitation is not lost. Perhaps nothing in this earth is more precious that God’s loving invitation “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away with me.” Perhaps nothing is more precious to God than one of His own responding “I will come away with You today.”

(BTW—You can find the Celtic Daily Prayer here http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Daily-Prayer-Northumbria-Community/dp/0060013249/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248779634&sr=8-1 )

Reflection on “Love not the World” by Watchman Nee

In the beginning of summer I read “Love not the World” by Watchman Nee and the thoughts have been with me all summer long.  I took some notes on the book and made some reflections. Here they are as they appear in my journal. I pray that some of you find a nugget that is helpful to you in your day….feel free to comment.

3 ways the word (Cosmos) world is used in the Bible

1. Material Universe (Acts 17.14)
2. The inhabitants of the world (John 3.16)
3. The system of worldly affairs, the whole circle of worldly goods, endowments riches advantages, pleasures, which though hollow and fleeting, stir our desire and seduce us from God.  (1 John 2.15)

(This book is about the 3^rd definition of world)

The world is the material system created by Satan to capture men’s allegiance and draw them to himself. It is Satan’s masterpiece by which he is establishing his own dominion in human hearts worldwide. Satan is directing all his strength and ingenuity to cause the trap to flourish. This satanic power is behind every worldly thing and is designed to seduce and captivate men.

Satan and the World

• There is a mind behind this system
• The world is the order of Satan.
• It is difficult to discern the movement of Satan in the world, however the sword and the plowshare have been in open competition for a long time.
• Satan was the first merchant, trading ideas with Eve for his own advantage (Ezekiel 28:5)
• We readily believe that sinful things are Satanic, but do we believe equally that the things of the world are Satanic? (1 John 5:19)
• We flee sinful lusts, and with good reason, but when it comes to such seemingly innocuous things as science and art and education, how readily do we lose our sense of values and fall pray to his entanglement.
• “Now shall the prince of the world be cast out” implies that Satan and the world are linked both in relation and in condemnation .

The Drift toward Worldliness

• Politics, education, literature, science, art, law, commerce, music- these are the things that constitute the world….they are all developing and progressing
  • What is the direction of that progress?
  • What is the ultimate goal of this progress?
  • Who is behind this progress?
  • The world drifts away from God without a fresh act of God every time. It takes a fresh act of God every time.
  • Godly fear only comes with a fresh act of God, but leadership skill can be maintained without it.
  • When material things are under spiritual control they fulfill their proper subordinate role. Released from that restraint they manifest very quickly the power that lies behind them. The law of their nature asserts itself quickly, and the worldly character is proved by the course they take.
  • Colleges were started with spiritual intent by spiritual men. The men who initiated them had, by their close walk with God, held the institutions steadfastly into his purpose. But when these men passed away, the institutions themselves quickly gravitated toward heir worldly standards and goals.

Salvation and the World

• Salvation is not to be seen in terms only of sins forgiven or of hell avoided. It is to be seen rather in terms of a system from which we come out. When I am saved, I make my exodus out of one whole world and my entry into another. I am saved now out of that whole organized realm which Satan has constructed in defiance of the purposes of God.
• Wherever the power of natural man dominates, there you have an element in that system which is under the direct inspiration of Satan.
• Baptism is about translation from one world system into another system.
• When you step into the water, a whole world goes down with you. When you come up, you come up in Christ, in ark that rides the waves, but your world stays behind. For you, that world is submerged, drowned like Noah’s put to death in the death of Christ and never be revived. It is by baptism that you declare this, “Lord, I leave my world behind. The cross separates me from it for ever.”
• May the lord give us that kind of salvation to find ourselves uprooted entire out of the old, doomed order of things and firmly planted in the new, divine one.
• How do I get from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of God? How did Adam lose the kingdom of God in the first place? By death. And how to get into kingdom of God? By birth.
• Our deliverance from the world begins, not with our giving up this or that but with seeing, as with God’s eyes, that it is a world under sentence of death as in a figure with which we opened this chapter, :Fallen, Fallen, is great Babylon (Revelation 18.2)
• Example of how to lvie in the world: Suppose you discover that your job is coming to an end, you would still work there, but your attitude would change. You put nothing into it because you expect nothing out of it. We still go on living in the world and using the things of this world, but you can build no future with them.
• John 8.23 The question is not…”Are you good or bad?”, the question is “What is your place of origin?”

The Believer and the World

• Eden was a garden without artificial wall to keep foes out; so that Satan had entry. God intended that Adam and Eve should “guard it.” (Genesis 2:15) by themselves with a moral barrier.
• Every success we experience therefore calls in us for an instant humble confession of its inherent sinfulness, for whenever we meet success we have in some degree touches the world system.
• The way of escape from the snare of the devil (the world) is not found by running away. John came not eating and drinking, Jesus came both eating and drinking.
• Spiritual bondage to the world is a fruit of spiritual blindness.
• I am not of this world, I am of the Spirit. What need have I to either resist or escape the system of things?
• It is because we possess this new life that the world hates us.
• It is not because we desire to be heavenly that we are heavenly, it is because we are born out of heaven.
• We live in unspeakable conflict and contradiction….however, we possess the peace of God.
• God give us deliverance from sin and victory over the world. He does not give us deliverance from the world.
• Genesis 1.26 God gave men dominion over “all the earth” to subdue it” Adam is told to keep it (2.15) this implies an enemy. Dominion over “every creeping thing that creeps over the earth.” Satan was a creeping thing…a worm. Also, Satan was cursed by God to eat the dust..this is what mankind is made out of in his flesh.
• God meets the situation of the fall and rebel authority of Satan not by meeting Satan, but by reestablishing the authority of mankind.
• Adam and Eve are to guard and subdue the world.
• Genesis 3 is fixed in the crucifixion. Bt redemption reaches all the way back to Genesis 1 where with the resurrection we have regained moral authority over the earth.

The Church and the World

• Two worlds seen in the book of revelation. City of Babylon and the city of Jerusalem. Babylon is the “great city.” Jerusalem is the “holy city.” The first thing described in Jerusalem is the wall…emphasizing separation.
• Paul was given special revelation of the church. John was given special revelation of the world. (The other gospels use it 15 times, Paul uses it 47 times, John uses it 105 times.
• John 15.19- I chose you “out of this world” Greek=eklego (Chosen out, out of the world)
• Eklesia—Called out ones. There is no such thing as a call from God that is not a call out of the world. There is no Klesia that lacks the ek. If you are called, you are called out. (Outside the world systems)
• One the one had we are a chosen people, called and delivered out of the world system. On the other hand we are a regenerate people, utterly unrelated to that system because by the Spirit we are born from above. AS the people of God, heaven is not only or destiny, but our origin. God brought out Israel from Egypt, Followers from the World and Jerusalem from Babylon. God’s call is always outward. Colossians 1.13-14 “Delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.
• We are exposed to the light of God and we are to expand it into the world.
• On earth we glorify God (Lights of the world) in heaven we praise God. Heaven is not the place to glorify God; it is the place to praise him. The church glorifies God not by getting out of the world, but by radiating His light in the world.
• The church refuses to aid in the world’s construction but also pronounces judgment upon it. The church is always a source of irritation to the world. The world is a source of grief to the church.
• The church has a responsibility before God to register the victory of Christ in the devil’s territory. It is not enough to win souls, we must reclaim lost territory of moral authority. This is a costly thing, it requires an utterness of allegiance to God that is unqualified.

Sinfulness and Worldliness

• There is sinfulness and then there is worldliness. Today, the question is one of worldliness.
• Luke 21.34 “Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, drunkenness and the cares of this life.” We can be unduly pressed with the things of the world, which is a satanic system. To be concerned with things is legitimate, to be weighed down causes us to forfeit God’s best.
• The book of Revelation suggests that Satan will set up his kingdom of antichrist in the political world (chapter 13) in the religious world (chapter 17) and the commercial world (chapter 18) In Rev. 19.1 as Babylon fell, the merchents wept but heaven cried Hallelujah (only one in Revelation)
• The Christian way is not to remove the world, but deliver the heart from the grip of the world. The line is not in the law or in the feet, but in the heart.

5 Great Books on the Contemplative Tradition

Last week in Water’s Edge, we launched our Warrior series talking through the six great traditions in our spiritual heritage. (Taken from Richard Foster’s book “Streams of Living Water”) Each tradition is a unique expression of the church. Each is rooted in the life of Jesus and comes to us as an invitation to follow Him in a unique pathway.

Last week we talked about the Contemplative Pathway.  It was awesome to see over 500 college students drink in the truth of this tradition. Many of them come up to me after the teaching asking for books and resources so this is the list of my favorite books that inspire me in my own contemplative Journey.

1. The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen
2. Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
3. The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
4. Hinds feet for High Places by Hannah Hurnand
5. Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Open wide your mouth (Psalm 81.10)

Last week my family and I (along with 32 of our closest relatives) went on 5 day-4 night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico.  While I enjoyed the stops (especially Catalina Island which is just magical and if you ever end up there you must rent a golf cart but only for 2 hours…we rented for 3 and there isn’t 3 hours worth of stuff to see)…. I was more eager for the food.  To me a cruise is all about the food. And last week was not disappointing. I did a whole lot of eating and it was a whole lot of delicious.  I could not eat enough. One night for dinner I ordered two appetizers, two dinners and two desserts and ate it all.  Then there was the 24 hour buffet and the room service. It was magical.  I could eat as much as I wanted, when I wanted.  A little like heaven, (Except now I am having to run extra miles to take off the extra pounds…which is a little bit not like heaven)

During the cruise, God continued to bring a passage to my mind that has been one of my favorites. Here it is…..

Psalms 81:10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

Every morning as I wrote in my journal and every time I ate another meal…Psalm 81.10  came to my mind.  Here are some of my reflections on this passage from the week that made my journal….perhaps they will benefit you. 

• God has been pressing me with this passage from the Psalms….inviting me to “open wide my mouth” with the promise “I will fill it.” I must meet the condition “open wide” and He will fulfill the promise “fill it.”

• This passage reminds me that I get as much of God as I choose, I am as intimate with Him as I decide and  I am filled to the extend that I open my mouth. Hard but true words to write.

• God is waiting for me to open my mouth wider…which is strange…I sometimes think I am waiting for Him. Perhaps there are times I wait on Him, but the press of His Spirit through this passage tells me He is waiting on me to open my mouth wider because He has more to fill it with.

So last week I opened wide my mouth during the cruise…..this week, I open wide my mouth and wait for God to fill it.  I think this is the better week by far.