Day 8 of 21 Days of Flesh

GRACE AND TRUTH (Part Two) As grace keeps us in relationship with God and allows us to be deeply related to those outside of faith, truth is what transforms a person. It’s a good thing to be a great friend; it’s beautiful when Christians show sincere mercy, friendship without strings, and love without expectation, but it’s not enough. People followed Jesus because they heard he was a friend of sinners, but they were changed as he called them to live by another wisdom. The wisdom of God.

Religious people drug an adulterous woman in front of an angry crowd and tested Jesus with her sin. She had not only sinned against the Law of Moses, many families, and a handful of men, she had sinned against the man who now was stooping down next to her, challenging her accusers, and advocating for her life. Grace was clear to her and she was cleared of her sin. Everyone left and she and Jesus were left. She knew Jesus loved her, relationship by his grace was sure. But Jesus didn’t just say “good-bye.” He said, “Woman... go and sin no more.” Truth cut through her pain, disfunction, and brokenness and Jesus was offering her knew life!

As we extend grace and relationship, let it not end there. As we win the heart of our friends; as they know we would never leave relationship; as they share their stories and pain, offer grace-filled words of truth.

Day 7 of 21 Days of Flesh

GRACE AND TRUTH (Part One) “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, an we have seen the glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Grace isn’t just getting something we don’t deserve. Grace has a purpose. Christ paid the penalty of our sin, died our death, and it wasn’t just so that we would be forgiven and go to heaven. The purpose of grace is so that we can be in relationship with God again. Although we enjoy the benefits of knowing that God no longer thinks of us with anger and that we can now approach him with confidence, the more amazing thought is that God did all this because he wanted to be in relationship with us! He initiated the great plan of redemption that would cost him his very precious son. He is the one who continues to pursue us while we blindly but intentionally stiff-arm him and hold him at bay. But he keeps grace flowing and thus we never leave his sight or his side.

Because God has given grace to sinners, he can sit at our table or invite us to his. There’s no one who isn’t accepted by Him nor should there be any person we would not eat with. Grace and the relationship extended by grace must be the mark of a Christ follower and it is the front door to our ability to invite friends into truth that transforms. “Full of Grace and Truth.”

Day 6 of 21 Days of Flesh

JESUS IS OUR ONLY PEACE “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Jesus is severely honest about the tension of living in this world. It’s hard enough just to live: To care for our children and spouse; to work our jobs, to keep the house in order. Added to all this we have Christ’s call to mission which seems to only add a level of stress, carrying more burdens, and the simple addition of time constraints.

How is it that God expects us to find a balanced life? How are we to get the most out of this life and still bring life to others?

Maybe balance isn’t the issue. Maybe we can’t have deep impact and maintain our sensible life. Maybe life is hard and ‘in this world’ we will never find balance, harmony, or peace. Quite possibly Jesus is telling his disciples that only in him will they find peace.

The call to care for people outside your immediate world will almost surely add weight to your life, but that’s what makes a follow of Christ so beloved by God. We are the ones who put away grumbling and selfish ambition and like a herdsman driving his sheep through a tempest of sleet and howling snow, we put our heads down and keep moving forward.

When our ministry to people doesn’t come easy, we should not so quickly become upset. When it takes years of prayer, we should not lose heart. When our own world is vexed and perplexed, we should not leave the field.

What we should do is simply go to Jesus. In him and in him alone will we find peace. The people God has called us to are worth it to Him. So much so that He endured the cross. And because Jesus is our greatest worth, we will not shrink back and live for this world.

Day 5 of 21 Days of Flesh

Finding the Emotions of God And Jesus Looked at the Multitude and wept. Luke 18:41

People only do what they want to do or our compelled to do. We often feel as if we should do something for God or for people, and occasionally we muster up enough spiritual energy to do a quick good deed, but we go back to normal, which is life focused on ourselves. How are we to become people that actually wake up with intentions to give our lives away? How can we find a life lived out of passion and want to’s instead of should do’s. Well, for Jesus he just looked at people and loved them. There was something about the way Jesus saw people that moved him to emotion. For sure his head was in it. He understood the ramifications if people live and die without hope in a personal god, but his daily action of looking for people to give his live for, was way beyond strategy, theology, or doctrine. He was moved by watching people.

As you ask God to help you develop a pure and passion-full heart for people, consider looking at people. Peer up from desk in the cubical you work in and just watch people for a few seconds. Consider their human struggle. Stop and thank the barista that is pouring your coffee every morning; make solid and lasting eye contact with them. Instead of giving a head nod or a quick wave to neighbors you always drive by, pull your car over, get out, and give that person a few minutes. Look at people. You may know some of their stories and so you will know how to pray, but others you may have to keep looking at until you’re moved with unction to invite them to lunch to hear their story.

Looking at people, truly looking is a hidden key to finding your heart for people.

Day 4 of 21 Days of Flesh

Are you Settled? Can anything good come from Nazareth John 1:46

One of the greatest myths of life is that ‘its better over there, having what they have or doing what that person does.’ Our world is a transitional space and we move at a pace that pulls us away from being settled in the place God wants us to be. Most people move at least every three years. We get on planes to get away. We struggle to commit to people or to processes because we don’t want to lose our freedom, and at the end of our lives, we have very little legacy with people and often find a gaping hole in our own sense of faithfulness to God.

Christ was from Nazareth, and more specifically Bethsaida, he had a home town. Yes, he did walk around quite a bit. But before his ministry was visibly in full bloom, he lived 30 years in one area and learned both the discipline and benefit of staying put.

A great question for any leader or any serious follower is , “Lord, where have you called me to invest and live my life?” “What is my home town?” “Lord, why am I afraid of committing to this area or these people?” These are the questions that lead to not only the write answers but real kingdom legacy.

When you find what keeps you on the move, and the underlying insecurities and self- oriented concerns that wage war against ‘the simple life’, AND you let God speak into these issues, you will not only find rest for your soul, but you’ll see fruit begin to bloom all around you.

Day 3 of 21 Days of Flesh

Minute by Minute “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19

Okay, who actually gets this? How can this mean anything for us. We don’t see the Father do things...or do we?

Jesus lived 33 years but only “worked” for God the Father three years. In that short time, he was able to pour enough into a few men and women, that they were able to carry out a global movement that reached us. This only happened because Jesus wasted no time. He didn’t try to change the whole universe. He poured his life into just a few, and for a few, 3 years was plenty of time.

None of us feel like we’re so tapped into the Father that we can be as efficient as Jesus was, but we can certainly learn that slow is fast, small is big, and reliance upon the Spirit is more fruitful than thrashing about in torrid ministry ventures, unhealthy exuberance, and immature attempts to reach out. Let us learn today to slow down and ask the Father to show us what he is doing. And when he does, let’s also ask him for wisdom to know how to respond before we jump off the boat and drown in fleshly exploits.

Day 2 of 21 Days of Flesh

A KINGDOM OF HARLOTS In the same way, was not even Rehab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? Hebrews 11:30 We so easily put a person “in” or “out” of God’s grace based on what we see them doing or how view their behavior. In our mind, the line is very clean and we think that Gods kingdom is reserved for only those live better. Or we at least think it should only be granted to those who live up to our standards. But are we sure we are right?

In the case of Rehab, a woman who gave her body to a different man nightly, and who lived a life of public and private humiliation, we would never think God might consider her to be an example for us all. But she is. In the book of James, she is to be honored for her faith and courage in hiding God’s warriors, Joshua and Aaron.

Such a thought, that people of deep brokenness not only participate in Kingdom ventures, but capture God’s favor is a mind blower for sure. Maybe it should blow our hearts apart too. I wonder if we spend too much time judging, writing off, or condemning people that don’t live as “clean” as we think we do. I wonder if we’re too harsh with our own friends, our children, or a spouse when they live out their brokenness.

If the Kingdom is anything, it is all around us, it includes people of all types, sin, behavioral disorientation, and immaturity. God in his great grace overlooks some small sins like prostitution and highlights her faith. At least, let us cast off all judgment and leave the wheat and tares to God. At best, let us thank God he includes us in his Kingdom and work with him in His “Grace-filled” redemptive plan. He overlooked our sin as he carried it to the cross. Maybe we should work on overlooking other people’s sin too.

Day 1 of 21 Days of Flesh

ITS ABOUT COMMUNITY...NOT CONVERSION “That they may be one, just as we are one.” John 17:21

There’s nothing more beautiful than a change of heart that results in a change of life. The scriptures call this instance and this process as being ‘born again.’ The thought that our lives can be different in the blink of an eye, or beautifully recrafted over 40 years, is a remarkable thing to hope for. Most of us minimize the beauty of this by simply calling it ‘conversion’ or the people involved as ‘converts.’ Sometimes we think it is our job to make converts and thus we strike out into unnatural conversations and awkwardly aggressive attempts to wins souls. What we find is that trying to win souls is often a losing experience for us and them.

We must remember that Jesus and the Holy Spirit had no intention or desire to convert people to the religion of Christianity. They were and continue to be concerned with bringing people into and including them in a relationship, community, and family of the trinity and His church. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

When you consider the joy of being a part of the family of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it is impossible to stay focused on “converting” a friend or a stranger. As family members we instead nurture the life of the community in us and we gently nurture others toward the table that has been set for us. When we try to convert we come off as coercers, but when we offer adoption, we come off as brothers or sisters.

Flesh Week 1

So today we begin a new four week series inspired by the book Flesh by Hugh Halter, and tied into a campaign that is attached to the book called 21 Days of Flesh. This series is about learning to live life like Jesus- really live like Jesus. Over the next four weeks we are going to be looking at questions revolving around the concept and idea and reality that Jesus took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We are going to talk about what it means that Jesus became fully human. We are going to unpack what it means to be fully human. And we are going to share together what it means to be truly human just like Jesus.

You see that is where so many of us get tripped up. We know in our heads that Jesus was fully human and fully divine, but we are more comfortable with the divinity of Jesus and we can’t quite wrap our heads around the human part. And we lose what it means to be fully human in our own world and then we in a way lose what it means to be like Jesus. And then we lose street creed because our words and rhetoric don’t line up with the life that we are living.

So let’s go back a bit into history, then we’ll go back even further, and we’ll end up the message in the present and looking to the future about how to “flesh” all this out. (pun intended)

So 80 years ago it seemed like around 80 percent of Americans were involved in church. In 1980 only 40 percent were. Today it is around 25 percent and by 2020 (6 short years away) less than 10 percent will be going to church, much less following Jesus. If we continue to be Christians like we are, and if we keep doing church like we are, we will be as unchurched as Europe, Canada, Australia or anywhere else in the west where people no longer look to Christians or the church for spiritual help. And this is why we need to have a serious look about what it means to follow Jesus. Why we need to have a serious look at what it means that Jesus was truly human and that if we follow Jesus that we’ll actually become more human and not less.

You see, in the video, Hugh Halter said something that maybe you caught or maybe you missed. He reminded us that Jesus came to earth to die for sins. That was huge and the most important single act that changed the world (just an aside is the resurrection apart of that??). But Jesus didn’t just come to die. He came to live a life that we can try to model ours after. No, we can’t die on the cross, but we can in fact live like He lived. As 1 John 2:9 says, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus walked.”

So let’s get to the heart of the matter if you will, the incarnation of Jesus. In John 1:14 in the message we read these words, (which by the way are some of my favorite words in all of Scripture), “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

So in the book Flesh, which is the book that is our jumping off point for our 4 week sermon series, Hugh talks about a five step process or grid or flow of how Jesus moved into the lives of people. The 5 steps are incarnation (what we are talking about today), reputation/street cred (what we are talking about next week), Conversation, Confrontation (what we are talking about on May 11), and finally Incarnational Transformation (what we will finish on May 18). We start with incarnation because that is where Jesus started. He came to earth, moved into the neighborhood, got an apartment, etc.. He dropped into our world.

You could honestly say that Jesus was the most missional and incarnational person ever to walk the face of this earth. And you would definitely be right. You see missional when you break it all down just means simply to be sent, and incarnational means the posture and going in the way of Jesus. God knew that you couldn’t just talk about the Kingdom of God and what it meant to follow Him. He knew that we humans needed to see the Kingdom lived out in the flesh. After all isn’t that what the rest of John 1:14 is about? “We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” We needed to see someone enflesh the values, beliefs, and dreams of the Kingdom of God in order to truly understand it. Jesus, by taking on flesh and blood and moving into our neighborhood, helped us, the human race, move beyond disorientation. Move beyond disorientation away from the Kingdom to orientation towards the Kingdom. And if Jesus came to orientate people towards the Kingdom, shouldn't that also be our role as well, as followers of Jesus? That if we are to enflesh Jesus in our lives, and out into the world, than we should draw people, point people, and orientate them towards Jesus and the Kingdom. But therein lies the rub. You see so many times it seems like people get more disorientated and away from the Kingdom because of what they experience inside religion and through bad experiences with people who are supposed to enflesh Jesus in the world.

And so Jesus came with a heart not to covert but to adopt people into a family, where their false assumptions could be processed and where they could find the real God. John 17: Jesus is praying for His disciples, the world, and us. At the end of a very personal conversation between Him and the Father, He prays that we would be one just as He and the Father are one. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus didn’t pray that a new world religion called Christianity would begin, or that people would go to church or become Christians? He prayed that we would be brought into a relationship He had with His daddy. It wasn’t about puppet converts. It was about family, about relationship, about community. I once heard that God is not interested in prisoners, and this is an important idea for us to consider as we start an incarnational focus. The reason we are doing this as a church is not to grow our church with converts. We are doing this so that we get the heart of God for people and that we learn as a body how to be true kingdom family and invite others to be family with us, which allows people to see and experience the glory of God.

But what does it look like to enflesh Jesus in the world, or in other words be missional and incarnational? Well first of all if we are to follow Jesus, we need to start where he started.Let’s learn to drop into the lives of people. Jesus makes an interesting statement in Luke 12:34 about how we get a heart for something. He says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” We often use this verse to refer to money and learning to trust God with our resources, but this concept is about everything. Jesus came to earth because He loved people. In order to get a heart for people, we have to start spending time with people.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: We love the idea, but we’re swamped and simply don’t have time for people. Hugh teaches that every person, no matter how busy, can be at least a part-time missionary. And that being on mission and living an incarnational life isn’t about adding anything to your schedule but instead learning that everywhere you are is a mission field. What you’ll find is that you and I are perfectly positioned to be with people if we just add a little intentionality to get a heart for people. Consider the idea of simply committing 3 of the 21 meals you eat each week to eating with a person who doesn’t follow Jesus. I wonder if that would not only change our hearts, but I wonder if it would change the orientation of those we eat with, and move that orientation slowly towards the Kingdom?

As I was writing this message I thought about 2 people (actually a family and a single) that I have relationships with. A family that lives in our neighborhood and a single who I bump into when he comes into this space on a regular basis. And so I reached out to the guy to see if he wanted to meet up for coffee. And I saw the family the other night, learned that they are going to be moving, and talked about having them over for dinner. Who might you grab coffee with or dinner with this week? Or what if you just changed how you eat your lunch at work?

This is what it means to enflesh and incarnate Jesus into the world. This is what Jesus teaches us to do. That’s what he invites us to do as we learn to live and walk as he walked. Can you imagine what could happen within this Veritas community if we all just gave even one meal a week to learn the story of another person? What would we look and feel like as a faith community if we all had a true heart for our friends to be a part of God’s family?

So before I wrap up with a few thoughts and questions for us to explore together I want to share something that I’ll be doing daily to help us better “Flesh” out Jesus and the Kingdom in the world. Every day I will post on our website/blog, send an e-mail, post on Facebook daily encouragements for us in regards to incarnational living. This devotionals and encouragements will hopefully encourage, challenge, and maybe even convict us to better enflesh Jesus in the world, and be a part of the orientation process for people to begin orientating their life towards Jesus and His Kingdom.

So let’s spend some time unpacking a little bit more what it might mean concretely for you to enflesh Jesus into your world. Who might God be calling you to be more intentional with as far as building a relationship, and helping with the reorientation process? Who might you grab coffee, lunch or dinner with this week that might not have a relationship with Jesus? And what does it mean to you that Jesus actually took on flesh and blood and moved into our neighborhood? Let’s look at these questions together.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the incarnation, the Scripture, and/or the message?

2. What does it mean to you that Jesus took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood? Why does it matter to you and how does it affect your everyday life and existence?

3. Who might God be calling you to be more intentional with as far as building a relationship with? Who might God be calling you this week to grab coffee, lunch or dinner with?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Easter Sunday

So now is normally the time that we dive into the three things that drive us as a community. The 3 values of mission, discipleship, and community (or in simpler nomenclature OUT, UP, and IN). But I feel that our gatherings today beautifully fulfill these values. You see we were developing community by having breakfast together and being together on this Easter Sunday. We are praying together, looking at Scripture, and doing the work of discipleship. And then right after our gathering we are going to work on blessing college students by putting together Final Survival Kits.

So instead of talking about the IN OUT and UP we are just going to dive right into our text that we’ll be unpacking together, the story that lies at the heart and center of our faith. The crux of the matter if you will. The resurrection of Jesus. We’ll be talking about how the resurrection of Jesus impacts all of life and how his resurrection is more than just for some other place and some other time. It isn’t just about defeating death so that when we die we can have eternal life. I mean the whole point of Easter is that God is going to sort out the whole world, put the whole thing to right once and for all- this world, not just somewhere called heaven- and the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of that great work.

So let’s look at the version of the Easter story told from the perspective of the good doctor, Luke found in Luke 24:1-12 and see how we might gain some new insight into this story that many of us have heard over and over again.

Luke 24:1-12 says, “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.  But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.  Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.”

The first thing we notice is how Luke starts off this story of the resurrection. He says, “On the first day of the week.” Now if you and I were to write an account of the resurrection we wouldn’t use these words. We would probably just say, “On Sunday”. So there must be some reason behind Luke’s usage of the words “On the first day of the week” instead of just saying “on Sunday” No doubt Luke, along with each and every gospel writer, is pointing to the connection between the creation story/poem in Genesis and the resurrection story. Jesus resurrection is to be seen as the beginning of the new world, the first day of the new week, and what God wants to do not only in Jesus, not only in us, but in all of creation. If Genesis 1 is about creation, than the resurrection story is about recreation. Jesus was re-created first, and then someday the rest of humanity who are in relationship with God will be re-created along with the rest of the created order. What we are witnessing in the resurrection stories is the birth of new creation. The power that has tyrannized the old creation has been broken, defeated and overthrown. God’s Kingdom is now launched and launched in power and glory, on earth as it is in heaven.

So that first Easter Sunday the women head to the tomb to anoint Jesus body, because they weren’t able to do that after his crucifixion. They fully expected to see his body, and anoint it with the spices they had prepared. In fact, in one of the gospels (Mark) we see the women talking about who will roll the stone away. They had no concept of the resurrection. Not that Jesus didn’t tell them about his resurrection. In fact from Luke 9:22 on he told them in various ways. Two of his greatest stories (Luke 15:24, 32 and 16:31) end with strong references to his resurrection. But they couldn’t hear it, let alone understand it. From the beginning, the gospel is good news not at least because it dares to tell us things we didn’t expect, weren’t inclined to believe and couldn’t understand. Did we expect the gospel would be something obvious, something we could have dreamed up ourselves?

So the women get the tomb ready to anoint Jesus body with the spices that they had prepared, but they found the stone was rolled away. And so they went into the tomb to look for the body of Jesus, but it wan’t there. And so when they couldn’t find the body of Jesus, they started wondering, as the text says. Here again we see that the early disciples didn’t have any understanding that Jesus was supposed to be resurrected. As they wondered what had happened, the angels showed up and began to engage the women and to give them an idea of what had transpired. They ask the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead.” And then they explain that even while Jesus was with them, that he had told them that this resurrection would in fact take place. And they women then remembered his words.

Following their encounter with the angels, the women take off and head back to meet up with the other disciples. But instead of immediately jumping on the bandwagon of the resurrection, the disciples look at these women like they had lost their mind.

Think about the beauty, the rawness, the upside down nature of this story. If you and I were going to tell this story, we would definitely change it. That first Easter was filled not with excitement, joy, relief, or gladness. The first Easter was in fact filled with puzzlement, unbelief, perplexity, and being terrified. The opening mood then of Easter morning is one of surprise, astonishment, fear and confusion. Not what we want to read back on to it. To me this makes the story even more true. It is not sugar coated. If Luke had been making this story up a generation of more after the event as some people suggest, not only would he not have had women going first of the tomb (look at the list of Jesus’ early followers and you’ll find many women including the list in verse 10). You see women were not regarded as credible witness in the ancient world). He would have had the apostles believe the story at once, ready to be models of faith and to lead the young church into God’s future. Not so, it seems to them silly fantasy, exactly the sort of thing (they would have thought) that you’d expect from a few women crazy with grief and lack of sleep.

Even though the male disciples thought that they were were speaking nonsense, Peter still got up and headed off to the tomb. He got to the tomb, looked in, saw the grave clothes and linens lying there, and then he left. I find it interesting then what happened after. The text says “he went away wondering to himself what happened.” Peter didn’t have a theology, a framework, or an understanding at that point. He is confused, disoriented, not sure what is happening. Not until he actually encountered the risen Christ, and began hearing about resurrection again from Jesus did he truly understood what Jesus had been telling him all along. Not the picture that we think of when we think of Peter and that first resurrection Sunday.

But that picture is one that I actually relate with and resonate it. How about you? I’m only the other side of the resurrection but I live my life in unbelief, disillusionment, fear, and perplexity. I often find myself working against the re-creation work that Jesus wants to do in me through this resurrection. So we shouldn’t be surprised, then, of how surprised they were on that 1st Easter morning. It wasn’t just lack of faith that had stopped their understanding of what Jesus had said in Galilee about his resurrection.

But the point of the resurrection is that God’s new creation has already begun. It began with Jesus. He went first. And that if you are in Christ, he has begun that work of re-creating you, making you a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). And then he wants to use you and put you to work to make more bits of new creation happen within the world as it still is. And that we still live in the tension of a world that is being re-created but isn’t fully re-created. The world is not what it used to be, or what it will be. But we can know that because of the resurrection of Jesus, all will be made whole, made right, made new. And that because of Jesus resurrection, that shalom has happened, is happening and will happen. And that because of Jesus resurrection, we can not only be made whole, made right, made new but that we can be instruments of new creation (or as Paul says ambassadors). We are empowered to partner with God to remind our world that it isn’t always going to be like this. We, the people of God, are invited to live as though tomorrow’s new creation has already begun. And we know that, according to our resurrection text this morning, it already has.

So where are you seeing the resurrection work of re-creation in your life, in your relationships, and with the world around you? Where is the resurrection of Jesus touching down and breaking into your reality? These are the questions that we’ll be discussing together.

1. What thoughts, questions, ideas, applications, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture and/or message?

2. Where are you seeing the resurrection work of re-creation in your life, in your relationships, and with the world around you? Where is the resurrection of Jesus touching down and breaking into your reality?

3. Where are you not seeing the resurrection work of re-creating happening in your life, in your relationships, and in the world around you? How might this in breaking of the resurrection happen?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

5th Sunday Day of Service

Here are some pictures from our 5th Sunday Day of Service. Every 5th Sunday of the year which happens 4 times a year, we gather together and serve. The last 2 5th Sunday Day of Service gatherings have been helping Binding Love Scarves, which is a ministry/business in which scarves are made from recycled clothing, sold and half the proceeds go to 2 recovery houses in Thailand that work with victims of human and sexual trafficking as well as at risk individuals. Check out their website at Binding Love Scarves

Circle Maker Week 4: Think Long

Today we wrap up our 4 week series entitled Circle Maker. Talking about praying circles around our biggest dream and greatest fears.

Just to sum up quickly. The first week we talked about the legend of the Circle Maker named Honi and how he climbed into a circle that he drew, and prayed until it rained. We also talked about Jericho and how we all face our Jerichos. Those huge things God may be calling us to face and pray for. And to see that if they come to fruition that it was because of him and not our strength or wisdom or “battle plan.”

Two weeks ago we talked about Dreaming Big. We talked about risk, dreaming big dreams, and how the Kingdom of God is about risk and praying that God would come through in a big way. We talked about how in God’s Math 0 + 0 is actually not zero but 105 million. 105 million quail. We also talked about how we all see God come through in his provisions and how easy it is to forget and complain.

Last week we talked about Praying Hard and talked about the perseverance needed to pray through and continue to pray. And that a huge part of success is persistence. Not that if we just keep asking God he will give us what we want. God is more concerned with the process of what we are becoming, instead of the answer, that we focus on.

This week we are going to be talking about Thinking long and not giving up.

First let me tell you about a story of thinking long and envisioning the future.

On the Swedish Island of Visingso, there is a mysterious forest of oak trees; mysterious because oak trees aren’t indigenous to the island and its origin was unknown for more than a century. Then in 1980, the Swedish Navy received a letter from the Forestry Department reporting that their requested ship lumber was ready. The Navy didn’t even know it had ordered any lumber. After a little historical research, it was discovered that in 1829 the Swedish parliament, recognizing that it takes oak trees one hundred and fifty years to mature and anticipating a shortage of lumber at the turn of the 21st century, ordered that twenty thousand oak trees be planted on Visingso and protected for the Navy.

That is thinking long.

For the record, the lone objector was the Bishop of Strangnas. He didn’t doubt that there would still be wars to fight at the end of the twentieth century. He was the only one who anticipated that ships might be built of other materials by then.

If we are to be a circle maker we need to think long, not just in dreaming, visioning, and taking risks, but especially in prayer. If those dreams that God has birthed within your heart, the vision that if it comes to fruition, that it can only be from God, the big hairy audacious goals that you have, it means that you need to pray long and pray hard and also think and dream in the long term.

There is a brief story in the Old Testament in which we see someone who prayed, was persistent, and didn’t give up on his prayers. This person was Daniel and the his prayer story is found in Daniel 10:12-13.

Daniel 10:12-13 says, Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”

Let’s unpack these two verses a little bit to see what it might say to us about being circle makers and thinking long.

The first thing that we need to look at is the first 4 words in the first verse, Do not be afraid. Now if we look at the verses 5-6 we see who is saying these words to Daniel, “I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.  His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” Now commentators and theologians are divided on who this man is. Some commentators believe this to be a theophany, which is Jesus showing up in the Old Testament. These commentators compare this description of the man with the description of Jesus in Revelation 1:12-16. Other theologians and commentators look to this man as an angel, possibly what we might call a high ranking angel. But whatever the case may be, whenever a heavenly being appears to humans, the first response to humanity is usually don’t be afraid. Probably it is also the first thing we need to hear when God puts some vision, dream, or hairy audacious goal in our hearts. Do not be afraid. Take the risk. Or as Robin Williams said in that great movie Dead Poets Society, Carpe Diem boys. Seize the day. Don’t be afraid and drop to your knees and begin to go to God in prayer regularly, often, and however long it takes. Often our greatest fears are wrapped up in our biggest dreams. And we need to hear God’s word to us, Don’t be afraid. We need to internalize his words to us. Don’t be afraid. And we need to take the fear that comes from seeking out our biggest dreams, and use that as motivation to drive us to our knees in prayer. Not just once, not just for a week, but often, regularly, and persistently.

We see that Daniel understood that God would come through in some way. He just needed to be faithful, and seek God’s face. After all, God heard him from the day that he began to pray and lift his requests to God. God responded to Daniel’s prayer the very moment he made his request known. Daniel had been in great and serious prayer for 3 weeks. He didn’t give up but continued praying. An angel was dispatched because of Daniel’s prayers. This is another of many reminders in the book of Daniel that prayer truly matters. It isn’t merely a therapeutic exercise for the one who prayers. Prayer changes things and it changes us as well.

We see that the angel or Jesus contended with the Prince of Persia, for 21 days. The exact amount of time that Daniel was in serious prayer and mourning as spelled out in Daniel 10:2, “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.” The correlation between Daniel’s time of self-denial and prayer and the duration of the battle between the angel and the prince of the Kingdom of Persia establishes a link between Daniel’s prayer and the angelic victory. Since the angelic victory came on the 21st day we can surmise that if Daniel quit praying on the 20th day, the answer may not have come. What if he had stopped praying? What if he thought God wasn’t coming through? What if he gave up? I truly believe that some of our biggest breakthroughs happen right after some of our great setbacks and disappointments. We just need the strength to get through them. It is like this cartoon. If the man would just have continued to dig for a little bit more, the diamonds would have come spilling out. But he gave up right before his big break through. I believe it is no different than with us and with our prayer life. We need to persevere in our prayers, especially if we are thinking in the long term and in the big Kingdom picture. I believe the bigger the dream, the more audacious the goal, the harder and longer you need to pray. It might be 21 days, a year, or it might take your entire life.

But just like the Israelites who circled Jericho or Elijah who got down on his knees and prayed for rain, or Honi the Circle Maker who drew a circle in the sand and wouldn’t leave until it began to rain, you need to think long and pray long. because if you stop praying before the break through you might forfeit the miracle. The question that I wonder about is why the 21 day delay for God to come through on Daniel’s prayer? Why did God allow such a conflict? He certainly could have blasted away in a moment any demonic opposition. God’s plan probably was to use the time of delay to develop Daniel as a man of persistent prayer. This persistence in prayer that Daniel had, and what we talked about last week in relation to the Parable of the Persistent Widow, is not necessarily because of God’s reluctance and that his reluctance needs to be overcome. It is more about us. It is more about our necessarily in training. We talked about it last week that we are all to often looking for the answer, the end result, while I truly believe God is more interested in the process, the refining, the training, and what we are becoming.

Daniel’s success makes us reflect on our failures. How much angelic assistance or insight has never been realized, or greatly delayed because of our lack of persistence in prayer?

Drawing prayer circles is a lot like climbing a mountain. The dream or promise or miracle may seem impossible, but if you keep circling, anything is possible. With each prayer, there is a small change in elevation. With each prayer, you are one step closer to the answer. And the harder the climb, the sweeter the summit. The same is true with prayer. The more you have to circle something in prayer, the more satisfying it is spiritually. And, often, the more glory God gets.

Too often we approach prayer in an ASAP fashion. We want God to answer our prayers as soon as possible. We need a paradigm shift. We need to be willing to pray for as long as it takes. Pray that it will take long enough and be hard enough for God to receive all of the glory. Don’t look for the path of least resistance. Look for the path of greatest glory. And that requires high-degree-of-difficulty prayers and lots of circling.

Very rarely does our first prayer request hit the bulls-eye of God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. Most prayer requests have to be refined. Even “the prayer that saved a generation” didn’t hit the bulls-eye the first time. Honi refined his request twice: “Not for such rain have I prayed.” He wasn’t satisfied with a sprinkle or torrential downpour. It took three attempts to spell out exactly what he wanted: “the rain of Your favor, blessing, and graciousness.” Honi drew a circle in the sand. Then he drew a circle within a circle within a circle.

What promises or miracles or dreams are you willing to pray for as long as it takes? After all, some dreams should be so big that they take a lifetime to fulfill.

Let’s unpack this question together but then let’s begin to apply the message right away and spend some time in prayer together. Let’s not just talk about prayer, let’s actually pray together.

1. What big dreams or greatest fears are you circling in prayer? What promises or miracles or dreams are you willing to pray for as long as it takes?

2. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

3. Gather together with 3-5 other people, share what you are circling in prayer, and spend time in prayer together.

Circle Maker Week 3: Pray Hard

So today we continue our series entitled Circle Maker: Praying Circles around your biggest dream and greatest fear. Two weeks ago when we started this series we looked at the legend of the Circle Maker, named Honi, who drew a circle in the sand, stepped into it, dropped to his knees and began to pray for rain and wouldn’t leave the circle until it rained. We also talked about the “battle” of Jericho and how it was probably the craziest “battle” plan there ever was. We dialogued around the question of “what is your Jericho”? What are those things that are so big, that you have been praying for, that if they come to fruition, it can only be because God was in it.

Last week we talked about the importance of risk, dreaming big, and the Kingdom of God. We talked more about the legend of Honi, the story of St. Brendan the Navigator who, with a group of Monks, put his knee in the sand, got in a boat and set sail. Praying and trust God to guide his boat through the wind and the waves and wherever they landed they established monasteries and planted churches. We also talked about the people of Israel and Moses who both complained, forgot about God’s blessing, and put limits on what they thought God could or couldn’t do. They couldn’t figure out how 0+0 could equal 105 million quail. We shared stories of what risk God might be calling each of us to as well as our community.

Today, in our third week of our series, we’ll be talking about praying hard. So let me ask you a question, have you ever prayed day and night, night and day for something to come to fruition? Something that you believed that God birthed in your heart? What is/was it and has it come to fruition or are you currently still praying through it, and hoping/praying that it will come to fruition?

Jesus told a story about the importance of praying hard and not giving up. This parable is called The Parable of the Persistent Widow and it gives us a great picture of what our prayer life should be like.

Luke 18:1-8 tells us this parable, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

So right from the start of this parable we see what Jesus’ motive in telling this story is. To show the disciples that they should always pray and never give up. To show those of us, who call ourselves followers of Jesus, that we need to pray through, and not lose heart. This doesn’t mean that if you just pray more and more, you’ll get what you want. That if you just nag God long enough, he’ll throw his hands up and relent and give you what you want. Or like how my kids sometimes keep asking the same question, because they think that if they just keep asking, that I’ll relent (and sometimes I do) and give them what they want. This parable is asking us the question, how serious about this thing you are praying for are you. Often we stop praying because we lose heart. We become discouraged and then slack off in prayer. You see it is easy to lose heart in prayer because prayer is hard work that we often approach too lightly.

Now let’s look deeper into the parable and what it might say to each of us about our prayer life, our tendency not to pray through, and what it might say to us about praying hard and praying long.

So Jesus starts off the parable talking about a judge from a certain town who neither feared God nor cared what people thought about him. No doubt Jesus clearly intends the judge to stand for God, but this judge is about unlike God as possible. And so if God is the judge in this parable, then the disciples and the followers of Jesus, who pray and don’t give up and lose heart, are the widow in the story.

Now the widow is what we call persistent. She doesn’t give up and keeps coming to the judge for justice. We don’t know who the adversary is or what wrongs she faced. That is not important to the point of the parable. The point of the parable is then to say that if even a rotten judge like that can be persuaded to do the right thing by someone who “pesters” him day and night until it happens, then of course God, who is justice in person, and who cares passionately about people, will vindicate them, will see that justice is done.

The widow kept coming after the judge. She had a holy desperation. A Holy boldness that drove her so that she kept coming and kept coming. She didn’t relent. She didn't give up. She keep crying out to the judge until she got vindication from her adversary, which is what she want. In fact the judge says, in the NIV, that because “she keeps bothering me” that she’ll get justice. The term that is used there is a metaphor taken from boxing. The idea of wearing down your opponent. To soft them up so to speak for the final blow. The knock out blow. So we could say that praying hard is like going 12 rounds with God. A heavyweight prayer bout with God Almighty can be excruciating and exhausting, but that is how the greatest prayer victories are won. Praying hard is more than words. It’s blood, sweat, and tears. Praying hard is two-dimensional: praying like it depends on God and working like it depends on you. It’s praying until God answers, no matter how long it takes. It’s doing whatever it takes to show God you’re serious. This parable gives us a great picture of what praying hard looks like. Knocking until your knuckles are raw. Crying out until you have no voice. Pleading until the tears run dry.

Have you ever prayed that hard for something? Have you ever worn out the knees in your pants or have carpet burns on your knees because you prayed hard for something to come to fruition? To be completely honest I have never been there. Yes I have prayed. Yes I have prayed for things to come to fruition. But I don’t know if I have ever been like the persistent widow in this parable. Coming to the judge over and over with my petition. I have never worn out the knees in my pants because I was kneeling in prayer often. I haven’t gotten carpet burns on my knees from praying. And so I need to take a page out of the persistent widow’s book and begin to pray hard. What about you? What is one thing you could do to increase your persistence in prayer? That is one of the questions that we are going to unpack together in just a little bit.

Now there are some differences that need to be spelled out in relation to the judge and to prayer. One of the differences between the judge and God is that the judge only gave in because he was tired of the widow and her non-stop persistence. He just wanted her off his back and out of his face. And so he gave her what she wanted so she would stop bothering him. God however loves to answer our prayers and he even helps when we pray. God is on your side when you pray. And we are never seen as tiresome to God. He loves it when we come to him in prayer and he desires a relationship with us. And one of the best ways to develop that relationship with him is to spend time communicating with him through prayer.

It takes faith to keep coming to God in prayer. In fact, someone once said success is a derivative of persistence. And studies have shown that if you want to master something (violin, cello, basketball, composers, writers, etc..) that the magic number seems to be 10,000. 10,000 hours to become an expert. And why should prayer be any different. It is a habit to be cultivated. It is a discipline to be developed. It is a skill to be practiced. And while I don’t want to reduce praying hard to time logged, if you want to achieve mastery it might take ten thousand hours. This I know for sure: the bigger the dream, the harder you will have to pray. And so this parable is calling each of us to pray hard. To begin to see prayer not as a last resort but as a first and best resource. And to not only do it alone but do it in community.

So let’s talk about praying hard. Let’s talk about one thing that you can do to increase your persistence in prayer. Let’s talk about what it might look like to be known as a community of persistent prayers. Let’s unpack what this parable might mean for us as we continue to move forward as individuals and as a community.

1. What thoughts, questions, comments, insights, application, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture and/or the message?

2.Would you consider yourself a persistent person? What is one thing you could do to increase your persistence in prayer?

3. What might it look like to be known as a community of people who are persistent in their prayers? What is one thing we could do to increase our community’s persistence in prayer?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Circle Maker Week 2: Dream Big

Today we tackle the second part of our four part series entitled The Circle Maker. Last week we were introduced to the legend of the Circle Maker and we talked about the story of the battle of Jericho and God’s unusual battle plan and how sometimes God calls us to follow him even when it makes no sense and also that God may be calling us to pray and wrestle with our Jerichos. Things so big that if they come to fruition that it is only because of Gods intervention.

Today we are looking at dreaming big, risk and prayer together. We will revisit Honi the Circle Maker for a little bit, share about another person who took risks and trusted in God’s direction, and look at another person in Scripture that prayed and trusted that God would provide in a huge way for the people of Israel.

Last week we talked about Honi drawing a circle, kneeling in the circle and praying until rain came, and then stayed in it until the rain became not just a trickle, not just a downpour, but a soaking rain that soaked into the earth as well as soaking into the people’s faith. Honi stated that he wouldn’t leave the circle until it rained. He had no escape clause. He had no expiration date. He drew a circle and not a line or a semi circle with a way out. He was willing to look foolish and I believe faith is the willingness to look foolish to a watching world. Honi drew a huge circle. In fact, the bigger the circle you draw, the bigger the prayers, the more foolish you feel. But if you aren’t willing to step out of the boat, you won’t walk on water.

If you aren’t willing to put your feet out of the boat, and take a risk you may never see a miracle. Someone who literally stepped out into the water of the unknown, prayed a huge prayer, and trust God was a man named Brendan. Or we may know him as St. Brendan. St Brendan of Clonfert – who is more well know as St Brendan the Navigator set sail with a group of Monks from the Dingle peninsula in a Currach. or Coracle... they drifted free at the mercy of the wind and the whim of the waves – in the will of God. They are said to have visited the northern Isles of Scotland, The Faeroe islands, Iceland and eventually Newfoundland.Picture yourself in the place of Brendan... staring across the ocean toward the horizon.. the edge of your known world... the unknown... maybe there are distant lands across the sea... maybe there is nothing... only God knows!

See yourself standing at the wooden jetty, in front of you a feeble looking boat, made of unseasoned wood and leather, smeared all over in animal grease to seal it from the waves... in the bottom of the craft there lies a roll of leather, there to patch the unavoidable leaks and tears. The boat continuously slams into the jetty bruising the leather as the swell of the great western ocean throws it around... who knows, maybe the waves themselves are returning from those far off shores. Shores which at this time are simply a glimpse of the possible, a dream of what might be out there beyond the horizon.

Deep inside you hear a call – “SET SAIL”, a secret voice heard only in your heart “SET SAIL INTO THE UNKNOWN”...a stirring on the edge of the wind “SET SAIL INTO THE UNKNOWN, STEP OFF THE EDGE OF YOUR WORLD”... an echo of stones dragged along the beach by the tide “SET SAIL INTO THE UNKNOWN, STEP OFF THE EDGE OF YOUR WORLD, COME WITH ME INTO MINE”

The greatest stories in history, the ones that we remember and we celebrate are always stories with risk involved in them. If you want to be a Circle Maker like Honi or like St. Brendan, you have to be a risk taker. And when you are a risk taker, you definitely need to get on your knees, cry out to God, and pray that he’ll come through. And you realize that if he doesn’t come through, you are screwed.

Another circle maker that took risks, prayed, and saw God come through in miraculous ways was Moses. Moses learned that if you don’t take a risk, you won’t get to see God come through in amazing and miraculous ways. So let’s unpack together one of those times where God did something so big that even Moses couldn’t quite believe it. An event that only God could deliver on and could only get the glory for. We’ll be looking at Numbers 11 together.

Let’s look first at Numbers 11:4-9. Numbers 11:4-9 says,  The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.  When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.”

So after 400 years of slavery, God delivers the Israelites out of the hand of Egypt, but it is much harder getting Egypt out of the Israelites, if you know what I mean. You see it in their comments about all the “wonderful things” they got in Egypt, like eating fish with “no cost” (except the cost of slavery and being under the thumb of Pharaoh.) It seems like they have selective amnesia, remembering the food but forgetting everything else. And so they began to complain, and their focus of their complaint is the miraculous provision of manna. How quickly they go from being amazed and thankful at his provisions of food in the desert, to complaining about the same provision from the hand of God. They are tired of the same old same old and wanted meat. No vegetarians apparently in that bunch.

They lost sight of the miracle of what was happening every day. That God was literally providing for them by bringing Manna each and every day. Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Circle Makers are people who would fall into the camp that see everything as a miracle. Live in wonder of how God shows up and shows off in and through them. In and through the dreams, visions, plans, and risks of people who seek to live the Kingdom of God out in the world.

Now I don’t know about you but when my kids complain about dinner, I get pretty frustrated, especially when either myself or Kim have spent time making the dinner. And they look at it and go eh.. or yuck…or refuse to eat it. I’m not saying my dinners are anything miraculous, maybe its miraculous that they are any good. But they do show God’s provision for my family. But God, in the midst of complaining, does get angry but his anger leads to miraculous provisions. But even though Moses continued to see God’s hand in providing the Manna everyday he can’t understand how God is going to continue to provide. Moses complains as well.

In Numbers 11:11-15 he says, “He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’  I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.  If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”

And so not only does the people of Israel complain, Moses complains about the people of Israel and their complaining. And in the midst of his complaining, Moses forgets the miraculous provisions of manna and can only see what isn’t and can’t see what might be. He limits himself and he limits God’s power when he says, “Where can I get meat for all these people?” He loses out on the fact that God loves when people trust him and dream big.

And despite Moses and the people of Israel’s complaining, God promises a big meal of meat. Not meat for one day or even two but for a whole entire month. A month of meat in the middle of the desert and in the middle of nowhere. God promises the meat in verses 18-20 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it.  You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

But instead of believing that God can do it. Instead of remembering all the amazing ways and stories of how God delivered them, sustained them, and provided for them since their time in Egypt, Moses just can’t see how this monthly long meat fest adds up. He lost the power of dreaming big, taking a risk, and trusting in God’s provisions. His loss in dreaming big is spelled out in verses 21-22, “But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’  Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” Have you ever been there? Have you ever forgotten the provisions of God and refused to dream big dreams and take risks that God called you to take? We have all been there. We have all thought, “but God this doesn’t add up. God, how in the world will you provide for me, my family, etc.. if we take this step?” But thank God that he doesn’t follow our mathematical rules and sometimes make 0 + 0 =105 million. 105 million quail. That is dreaming big.

God delivers on his promise and we see what happens in verses 31-32, “Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.  All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers.” Nothing is impossible for God. I mean he brought meat to the desert where they was no Outback steakhouse for miles around. And not just meat of one day but for a whole entire month.

In fact, God puts Moses in his place and also us, when he says to Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?” This is the question for you and I when he calls us to circle something in our lives and to dream big and to take a risk for his kingdom. When God gives a vision, He makes provision. We just need the courage to step out in faith when God is calling us to get out of the boat. Honi stepped out in faith and the land saw rain. Brendan got in the boat and wherever he landed he established monasteries (places of learning) and new churches. If we don’t have courage and step out in faith we’ll forfeit the miracle. We have to believe that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He can send a west wind that brings 105 million quail into the camp. But we need to do our part and our part is taking a step of faith in pursuing the dream God has put in our hearts.

So what step of faith do you need to take? What decision do you need to make? On what promise do you need to put down a stake?

Those are some of the questions that we’ll be unpacking together.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, applications, etc.. come to mind when you read the Scripture and/or hear the message?

2. What is a risk you have taken that lead to a miracle? What is a risk you wish you would have taken? Is their a risk you are being called to take?

3. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Circle Maker Week 1

So today we begin a 4 week series, running about 2/3 through the Christian season of Lent (which by the way starts this Wednesday with Ash Wednesday…and is when you can start your 40 Day Draw the Circle Prayer book experience…if you ordered one. I do have around 3 extra if you want one). This 4 week series is entitled The Circle Maker and we’ll be looking at questions like this: Do you ever sense that there’s far more to prayer to and to God’s vision for your life, than what you are experiencing? What if you could pray circles around your biggest dream and great fear? So we’ll be spending 4 weeks talking and praying and circling our lives, our families, our friends, our community in prayer. We’ll spend time next week, before the gathering from 10-10:20 at our prayer gathering, and would love to see you there. We will also be meeting at the end of the month at 9 AM to do some prayer circling or prayer walking around the city. (I’ll say more about that as we get closer to the day)

So for the next 4 weeks we will be exploring the idea of being a Circle Maker. And so to truly understand what it means to be a circle maker we need to learn about the first Circle Maker, and the legend of Honi the Circle Maker.

It was the first century BC and a devastating drought threatened to destroy a generation, the generation before Jesus. The last of the Jewish prophets had died off nearly four centuries before. Miracles were such a distant memory that they seemed like a false memory. And God was nowhere to be heard. But there was one man, an eccentric sage who lived outside the walls of Jerusalem, who dared to pray anyway. His name was Honi. And even if the people could no longer hear God, he believed that God could still hear them.

When rain is plentiful, it’s an afterthought. During a drought, it’s the only thought. And Honi was their only hope. Famous for his ability to pray for rain, it was on this day—the day—that Honi would earn his moniker.

With a six-foot staff in his hand, Honi began to turn like a math compass. His circular movement was rhythmical and methodical. Ninety degrees. One hundred and eighty degrees. Two hundred and seventy degrees. Three hundred and sixty degrees. He never looked up as the crowd looked on. After what seemed like hours, but had only been seconds, Honi stood inside the circle he had drawn. Then he dropped to his knees and raised his hands to heaven. With the authority of the prophet Elijah who called down fire from heaven, Honi called down rain.

“Lord of the Universe, I swear before your great name that I will not move from this circle until you have shown mercy upon your children.”

The words sent a shudder down the spine of all who were within earshot that day. It wasn’t just the volume of his voice. It was the authority of his tone. Not a hint of doubt. This prayer didn’t originate in the vocal chords. Like water from an artesian well, the words flowed from the depth of his soul. His prayer was resolute yet humble; confident yet meek; expectant yet unassuming.

Then it happened.

As his prayer ascended to the heavens, raindrops descended to the earth. An audible gasp swept across the thousands of congregants who had encircled Honi. Every head turned heavenward as the first raindrops parachuted from the sky, but Honi’s head remained bowed. The people rejoiced over each drop, but Honi wasn’t satisfied with a sprinkle. Still kneeling within the circle, Honi lifted his voice over the sounds of celebration.

“Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill cisterns, pits, and caverns.”

The sprinkle turned into such a torrential downpour that eyewitnesses said no raindrop was smaller than an egg in size. It rained so heavily and so steadily that the people fled to the Temple Mount to escape the flash floods. Honi stayed and prayed inside his protracted circle. Once more he refined his bold request.

“Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of Thy favor, blessing, and graciousness.”

Then, like a well-proportioned sun shower on a hot and humid August afternoon, it began to rain calmly, peacefully. Each raindrop was a tangible token of God’s grace. And they didn’t just soak the skin; they soaked the spirit with faith. It would be forever remembered as the day. The day thunderclaps applauded the Almighty. The day puddle jumping became an act of praise. The day the legend of the circle maker was born. It had been difficult to believe the day before the day. The day after the day, it was impossible not to believe.

Honi was celebrated like a hometown hero by the people whose lives he had saved. But some within the Sanhedrin called the Circle Maker into question. A faction believed that drawing a circle and demanding rain dishonored God. Maybe it was those same members of the Sanhedrin who would criticize Jesus for healing a man’s withered arm on the Sabbath a generation later. They threatened Honi with excommunication, but because the miracle could not be repudiated, Honi was ultimately honored for his act of prayerful bravado.

The prayer that saved a generation was deemed one of the most significant prayers in the history of Israel. The circle he drew in the sand became a sacred symbol. And the legend of Honi the circle maker stands forever as a testament to the power of a single prayer to change the course of history.

And so God calls his people to sometimes do what might seem strange to others in order to live out his Kingdom in this world. Like drawing a circle, kneeling in it, and praying until it rains. Or the strange call that God gave to Joshua in Joshua 6:1-16 which is the text we’ll be unpacking a bit this morning.

“Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.” So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.” When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them.  The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”  So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there. Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.  The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding.  So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!”

Now there are a few things that I want to unpack in this text that speaks to God, the power of prayer, and the upside down ways of the Kingdom.

First we need to look at the city of Jericho. Now cities are not like the cities in our day and age. All cities were walled cities for protection of it’s people. Jericho was around a 12 acre city, with 50 foot high upper walls and 6 foot thick lower walls. An impenetrable fortress of a city. For all intensive purposes Jericho seemed to have the upper hand. A higher position, a defensible city, and the safety of the walls. From a human perspective, this would be a hard, if not impossible battle. Yet from God’s perspective, the battle was already over, because he said to Joshua, “I Have” in the past tense. it was already a done deal, the Israelites just needed to trust and live into it. This is a question that we are going to dialogue around in a little bit but what is your Jericho? What is the thing that God is calling you to be about that seems above and beyond you? What huge, God-inspired thing are you praying for and if it comes to fruition that only God can get the honor and the glory? Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish.

Now I have some issues with the book of Joshua and Judges and the conquest stories and what we do with them. But putting that aside, the thing we see here is that to call this story the battle of Jericho isn’t truly honest, because in all reality, it wasn’t much of a battle and the Israelites didn’t even fight. They just marched, prayed and worshipped and God did the rest. God could have done it without the Israelites, but he wanted them to be part of the work. But that work seemed to the Israelites (and to us) about the stupidest battle plan anyone could come up with. It made not sense according to military intelligence and it required total dependence on God. It required great faith from Joshua as he had to explain and the lead the nation in this plan. It required great faith from elders and the nations, because they had to follow Joshua in the plan. So their victory was not linked to military prowess. Victory comes from God and not their own fighting.

I mean what kind of “battle plan” is “march around the city 1 time each day for 6 days, then on the seventh day march around the city 7 times and then shout.”? To have the helplessness of Israel to march 6 days of silent marching. To have a good look at the walls that seemed to be impenetrable. They could have been attacked from the highpoint on the wall. And they knew that this “battle” was bigger than they were. But as they marched they knew God was with them. They actually did something that they had never done before, bring the priests and the ark into battle. Both the priest and the ark symbolize God’s presence in the midst of the battle. So that is another question that we need to unpack together, where have you seen God in the midst of the “battle” of life?

And so the Israelites needed to have courage and it took endurance to persist in the march for a week before seeing the walls come tumbling down. It takes courage and endurance for us to pray a huge prayer, to continue praying until it comes to fruition (if it is the Lord’s will for it to come to fruition) and to trust God to come through in his power and not ours.

After seven days of circling Jericho, God delivered on a four-hundred-year-old promise. He proved, once again, that His promises don’t have expiration dates. And Jericho stands, and falls, as a testament to this simple truth: if you keep circling the promise, God will ultimately deliver on it. This miracle is a microcosm.

It not only reveals the way God performed this particular miracle, it also establishes a pattern for us to follow. It challenges us to confidently circle the promises God has given to us. And it begs the question: what is your Jericho?

What promise are you praying around? What miracle are you marching around? What dream does your life revolve around?

Drawing prayer circles starts with identifying your Jericho. You’ve got to define the promises God wants you to stake claim to, the miracles God wants you to believe for, and the dreams God wants you to pursue. Then you need to keep circling until God gives you what He wants and what He wills. That’s the goal.

So let’s unpack together these questions about where God has come through when we have done something that seemed strange and what our Jericho is.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, applications, etc.. do you have regarding the message and/or Scripture?

2. Share a story where God asked you to do something that seemed to make sense to you (or to others). What happened? How did God show up? How did he get the glory?

3. What is your Jericho? What huge God-inspired thing are you praying for? What might God be calling you to circle in prayer that seems like the huge walls of the city of Jericho? How can Veritas help?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?