Joe continued to tell me about his feelings on ministry. Like I said in Part 1, this was a divine meeting. His talking had a natural flow to it, like he had prepared this lesson just for me. Like I have said before, South Africans do not talk unless they have something to say and Joe had more that he felt that I needed to hear. From useless to pride and now the King.
Beyond pride the number one issue among churches today is serving the Kingdom. It is church culture that the church be served. And the pastor is being forced in many cases or gets caught up in serving the church or the kingdom. Now there is nothing wrong with serving the kingdom.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
The danger is that the kingdom is being served and not the King. Joe said, "follow and serve the King, not the kingdom. You can serve the kingdom and not the King, but if you serve the King you will always be serving the kingdom...His kingdom." If you are serving God, then there is no way that anyone can say that you are not serving the kingdom and you will be sure that you are following what God is having you to do.
Israel found themselves serving the kingdom. In there case the kingdom was the law. They were attempting to be completely obedient to the law. There problem was that in their attempt to be obedient to the law and the kingdom, they forgot God. My prayer is that the church will wake up and be obedient to God and not to just to church culture. I understand these are hard and difficult words for some and might even be dangerous and misunderstood. I hope they aren't and I hope you as the reader understand that we must serve the King, after all, it is His kingdom.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Words from Joe: Part 2 - Pride
A little refresher or a catch-up for those who didn't read part one.
Joe is the uncle of my neighbors at the lake. He was born in South Africa and now lives in Australia where he serves other churches, helping to revitalize their leadership. He came over to meet me and I am now sharing his words with you from our 30 min. conversation. He started by telling me how blessed he was to be useless. By being useless, God has used him in incredible ways. After telling me about being useless, he paused for a moment leaning back in his chair, then like a breath of fresh air, sat up on the end of the chair and said...
"And Pride. Pride will take you down faster than anything else and that's why I was so blessed to be useless." He sat back in his chair waiting for a response and so I obliged him, "Pride seems to be the root of all sin." Joe quickly responded. "You have to wake up every morning and see if pride is sticking its head up over the horizon."
It is pride that gets in our way and makes us so we can not be used by God. Reality is that when we sin we are being extremely prideful. We are telling God that He does not know what is best for us and we know better. What an arrogant statement to a loving creator. Now this is not the statement that believers think they are making but one that is made repeatedly. As a follower of Jesus, I know that He knows what is best for me, yet I still am arrogant enough to do what I think is best. And yes, Pride is at the base of all sin. Pride is a heart issue and the heart is source of our sins.
The fruit in the garden...Pride
Striking a rock to produce water...Pride
Being swallowed by a fish...Pride
Sleeping with another man's wife...Pride
Not giving your tithe to God...Pride
Not sharing the Gospel...Pride
And the list goes on...
As Joe was telling me about pride, is message was to a young pastor who has goals, ambition and wants to see many come to faith and the church where I serve grow. It is because of those goals that I and all the other pastors must become like John the Baptist. "The bride belongs to the bridegroom." (More on this later)
Wake up every morning and look to see if pride is sticking its head up over the horizon. Joe does and he is useless.
Joe is the uncle of my neighbors at the lake. He was born in South Africa and now lives in Australia where he serves other churches, helping to revitalize their leadership. He came over to meet me and I am now sharing his words with you from our 30 min. conversation. He started by telling me how blessed he was to be useless. By being useless, God has used him in incredible ways. After telling me about being useless, he paused for a moment leaning back in his chair, then like a breath of fresh air, sat up on the end of the chair and said...
"And Pride. Pride will take you down faster than anything else and that's why I was so blessed to be useless." He sat back in his chair waiting for a response and so I obliged him, "Pride seems to be the root of all sin." Joe quickly responded. "You have to wake up every morning and see if pride is sticking its head up over the horizon."
It is pride that gets in our way and makes us so we can not be used by God. Reality is that when we sin we are being extremely prideful. We are telling God that He does not know what is best for us and we know better. What an arrogant statement to a loving creator. Now this is not the statement that believers think they are making but one that is made repeatedly. As a follower of Jesus, I know that He knows what is best for me, yet I still am arrogant enough to do what I think is best. And yes, Pride is at the base of all sin. Pride is a heart issue and the heart is source of our sins.
The fruit in the garden...Pride
Striking a rock to produce water...Pride
Being swallowed by a fish...Pride
Sleeping with another man's wife...Pride
Not giving your tithe to God...Pride
Not sharing the Gospel...Pride
And the list goes on...
As Joe was telling me about pride, is message was to a young pastor who has goals, ambition and wants to see many come to faith and the church where I serve grow. It is because of those goals that I and all the other pastors must become like John the Baptist. "The bride belongs to the bridegroom." (More on this later)
Wake up every morning and look to see if pride is sticking its head up over the horizon. Joe does and he is useless.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Words from Joe: Part 1 - Useless
I had a divine meeting this past weekend. My next door neighbor at the lake brought his wife's uncle over to introduce him to me. He was telling this man about my story (more to come on that later) as a young pastor and he wanted to meet me, a fellow pastor. My neighbor's are from Johannesburg, South Africa and have this really profound dialect and sentence structure, they never say a word unless it is thought-out and adds to the conversation and knowledge. So, these two men walk onto our porch as we are singing Jimmy Buffet song's and playing cornhole, that's how you know when your relaxing. My neighbor introduces his uncle, Joe. Joe politely sits down and remains quiet as our neighbor jumps in to play. I sit down next to Joe and knowing he is a pastor from South Africa, I make a simple comment / question as Southerners like to do, "So your a pastor from South Africa." In that moment this quiet reserved man turned into the most humble, wise man I have ever met.
I can't remember much all the details about Joe, I was too captivated on the humility of who he was and what he was saying. I would tell you about Joe, but I will try to get him to tell you his story. But in short, he was a part of a group of pastors that joined forces and served a congregation of 15,000+. He felt the Lord calling him to go to Austrailia, so he went. He now helps churches restructure their leadership and speaks internationally at confrences. Enough about Joe, he wouldn't want me to talk about him, he would want me to talk about his King.
So here, is the first lesson I learned from Joe in our short, 30 minute conversation.
He said, "I was born useless. I was useless when I was in the catholic church, I was useless when I joined the team of pastor's and I am still useless." He knows people in most every city around the world, London, Paris, New York, Atlanta, Miami, L.A., you name it and he knows someone. However, God sent him to Melbourne, Austrailia and place that he knew no one. He said, "You know God found a place where I was useless again and sent me there. I could have called Brain Houston from Hillsong at any time, but God didn't lead me to Sydney." Here is a man who has trained pastors from around the world, very successful pastors and he calls himself useless. What gives?
Joe understands that the less he gets in the way, the more Jesus can shine. Joe isn't useless, he is one of the most usefull guys I have ever met, look what he has done. Wait, there it is. American culture seeping into God's Kingdom. That's is percisely what Joe doesn't see. Joe never said, "Look at what I have done." No, Joe said, I am useless and God is faithful. It is simply the vine and the branches.
John 15:1 & 5 (NIV)
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
A hammer is can do nothing alone. Neither, can a shovel, grill, pen, airplane, or even a computer. Someone has to pick it up and use it. Another way of saying "you can do nothing", is "you are useless." Joe is a useless tool that has been picked up and used. Joe knows as long as he is useless, God can use him.
John 3:30 (NAS)
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
But I don't want to be useless. That's the point, the more you get our of the way; the more you allow God to work, the more used you will be. Just be careful not to think you did it, then you really are useless to God because then you are using you and God will have to fight you to use you.
Be Useless and Be Used.
I can't remember much all the details about Joe, I was too captivated on the humility of who he was and what he was saying. I would tell you about Joe, but I will try to get him to tell you his story. But in short, he was a part of a group of pastors that joined forces and served a congregation of 15,000+. He felt the Lord calling him to go to Austrailia, so he went. He now helps churches restructure their leadership and speaks internationally at confrences. Enough about Joe, he wouldn't want me to talk about him, he would want me to talk about his King.
So here, is the first lesson I learned from Joe in our short, 30 minute conversation.
He said, "I was born useless. I was useless when I was in the catholic church, I was useless when I joined the team of pastor's and I am still useless." He knows people in most every city around the world, London, Paris, New York, Atlanta, Miami, L.A., you name it and he knows someone. However, God sent him to Melbourne, Austrailia and place that he knew no one. He said, "You know God found a place where I was useless again and sent me there. I could have called Brain Houston from Hillsong at any time, but God didn't lead me to Sydney." Here is a man who has trained pastors from around the world, very successful pastors and he calls himself useless. What gives?
Joe understands that the less he gets in the way, the more Jesus can shine. Joe isn't useless, he is one of the most usefull guys I have ever met, look what he has done. Wait, there it is. American culture seeping into God's Kingdom. That's is percisely what Joe doesn't see. Joe never said, "Look at what I have done." No, Joe said, I am useless and God is faithful. It is simply the vine and the branches.
John 15:1 & 5 (NIV)
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
A hammer is can do nothing alone. Neither, can a shovel, grill, pen, airplane, or even a computer. Someone has to pick it up and use it. Another way of saying "you can do nothing", is "you are useless." Joe is a useless tool that has been picked up and used. Joe knows as long as he is useless, God can use him.
John 3:30 (NAS)
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
But I don't want to be useless. That's the point, the more you get our of the way; the more you allow God to work, the more used you will be. Just be careful not to think you did it, then you really are useless to God because then you are using you and God will have to fight you to use you.
Be Useless and Be Used.
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