The Newworship Newsletter

The Newworship Newsletter is is a touch of  encouragement on your journey with Jesus. Every week the latest issue is sent to you. Each message includes:

1 idea from me.
1 quote from someone else.
1 small thing  to do or think about.

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Recent Newsletters

Letter 51
1 Idea From Me
We worship God acceptably through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

1 Quote From Someone Else
“Worship, in all its grades and kinds, is the response of the creature to the Eternal..."
― Evelyn Underhill

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About

One of the primary passages in the New Testament on the worship comes directly from Jesus himself. In John, chapter 4, Jesus is interacting with a Samaritan woman. Without getting into the many layers of the story, Jesus tells her something very directly about worship.

She comes to the table with the general understanding, as did all Samaritans and Jews of the time, that worship was something that needed to be done in a particular location. The location was marked by the manifest presence of God. In the Old Testament, it was God, walking with Adam and Eve in the garden. Sin ruined this unfettered friendship with God. And ever since then God requires a "cleansed" location to dwell among his people. This was a place that God gave his people ways to approach himself that would affirm his atoning work, as well as his intolerance of sin. God is holy, and he will not cozy up to sin in any way.

So, Israel had the tabernacle, and then the temple, where the manifest presence of God distinguished his people from everyone else. And when they were rebellious and worshiping other gods his abiding presence was removed. When they turned their hearts back to Yahweh, his presence was restored. God always wants to dwell among his people.

Long story short, the Jews believed that God must be worshiped in Jerusalem and the Samaritans believe that he must be worshiped on Mount Gerizim. Then Jesus comes along and blows all of this up.

He tells them that worship is no longer centered on a geographic location. As a matter of fact, it is no longer centered on a particular ethnic group. He is saying that true worshipers are those who come to God via the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, it is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that makes their worship acceptable to God.

In this new age, inaugurated by the Messiah, worship moves from a geographic location to the heart of the worshiper. Instead of dwelling in a building that has been cleansed of sin, the Holy Spirit dwells in the human heart that has been cleansed of sin. God's people, as both individuals and the community, are the temple of God.

As I said in a previous post, God accepts the worship of those who accept his Son. Only those who have entered into the family of God, by faith in Jesus the Messiah, are indwelt by the Spirit of Messiah, the Holy Spirit. This is the worship that the Father is seeking. It is worship that is catalyzed, enabled and purified by the work of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Those who do not have the Holy Spirit cannot worship God acceptably. Those who have the Holy Spirit are the only ones who can worship God in the way he desires.

I believe that the NIV gets it right when it translates "Spirit" with a capital S.

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24

Throughout the gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is the revealer, the Spirit of truth. It is this indwelling of Messiah in the believer that marks us as God's people. And it is the Spirit that brings us the ever-growing revelation of God that is then reflected in our worship. The Spirit reveals the truth about God and heals our distorted images of Him. The indwelling Spirit reveals more and more of the beauty, power, and wisdom of God, to which we respond in the outpouring of our worship.

More on this next time.



Letter 50
1 Idea From Me
Let Jesus heal your vision of God.

1 Quote From Someone Else“
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
― A.W. Tozer

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
All of us to one degree or another, need our vision of God healed. It needs to be, at the very least, recalibrated. The tendency is for it to drift in the direction of our own hurts and proclivities. The natural erosion is to make God in our own image. And the most sure way of knowing if you are doing that is to check and see if God always agrees with you. If you find that he always agrees with you, and never confronts your own volition, you can be sure that you need some recalibrating. If he always likes the things that you like, is offended by the things that offend you, is soft on the things you are soft on, or is hard on issues that you are hard on, you might want to rethink things. If God always votes the way you vote, there's a good chance you have drifted.

Some of us need some genuine healing of a false perception or narrative about God. Very often we will project our experience with our own parents onto God. We will inevitably characterize him by our own father wounds. You might see him as harsh or strict. You might see God always looking to catch you doing something wrong. Maybe you see him as being distant, aloof or absent. You may even see him as being a pushover and compromising. It is extremely common for us to see him through those experiences and assume we know his character accurately.

A principal to hold on to is that we must interpret what is unclear by what is clear at all times. Very often we do exactly the opposite. Our culture does that constantly. When it comes to contentious issues, the tendency is for us to take one aspect of an issue and amplify it like a caricature and run with that cartoonish perception. We take one part of the whole and try to define everything else by it.

A good example is the way the prevailing culture often looks at sexuality. We know next to nothing, from a scientific and historic perspective, about trans-sexuality. But we know a very great deal about male and female. We have mountains of data and history to go on. Yet culture will tell us that someone's self-determined trans-identity is concrete but an individuals male or female-ness is fluid and malleable. Even to the point where someone who has transitioned from their biological sex to their trans identity is viewed as a traitor and castigated if they determine it was a mistake and want to de-transition. There are lots of nuances to this that we don't have time to address here. But in principal, we are taking something that is relatively unclear to interpret what should be very clear to us.

That may seem like a bit of a detour to illustrate my point. Bear with me. Scripture goes out of its way to tell us that the most clear, most compelling, and most true way of conceiving of God for our finite, created, human minds is to look at Jesus.

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." Col. 1:15-20

"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word...." Hebrews 1:3

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-14

The New Testament goes out of its way to show us with clarity what God's character is like in Christ. It is who he has always been, and who he always will be. If you have questions about what God is like when reading other portions of the library that is the Bible, you need to look to Jesus to bring clarity to that vision. When we struggle in our relationship with God due to our experiences and false narratives that have been imposed on us, we need to look to Jesus to re-orient ourselves constantly towards what is actually true about Yahweh. He is the lens through which we clearly see God in the way that we can best receive him.

We all come to the table with our own preconceptions and baggage. We all need to have our narrative about God healed. We need to let Jesus turn the gaze of our souls towards what is true. We understand what might be unclear through what is absolutely clear in the person and character of Jesus.

Let Jesus heal your vision of God.



Letter 49
1 Idea From Me
When we worship God we remind ourselves that He is God, we are not, and that is a VERY good thing.

1 Quote From Someone Else
"Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion." ― Brennan Manning

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Over the centuries, our sense of identity gets rooted in many things.

In 1637, Renee Descartes famously said "I think, therefore, I am." It was a statement about consciousness and self-awareness defining ones existence as an individual entity. These kinds of statements could be said to have evolved over time to things like: "I shop, therefore, I am" "I work, therefore, I am," and more recently "I feel, therefore, I am" or "I desire, therefore, I am."

Of course, there are many other ways that people to find themselves in relationship to a myriad of external things. One of the more dangerous mantras we have recently adopted is making our feelings/desires ontological. If we define ourselves by desires, which naturally are malleable and fluid, our identities will be volatile and unstable. Even more, if we are defined by our desires, we are obligated to not only declare and celebrate these desires, we must expect other people to do the same in regards to us. And, to double down, we are then expected to act on these desires as the most true expression of our fundamentally good selves.

These are all obviously, serious problems for the health of an individual. The chaos, depression, and anxiety in our culture, or in many ways a result of this crisis of identity. And it is rooted in layer after layer of deception. Our fundamental selves are not by nature "good" but broken and in need of a savior. We are enslaved by our desires, not freed by them. Sin is always slavery. And anything other than our creator that sits on the preeminent throne of our lives, no matter how banal or natural it may seem, becomes toxic. The good thing made out to be our god/source of identity becomes poisonous to us.

That is one way of thinking about worship. Whatever we make a God of is what we worship. What we worship is what we progressively become like. Our identities become molded to the object of worship. It does become definitive. It does become ontological.

So, the Christian worships God with great regularity, both privately and in community. Amongst many other things, worship accomplishes this for us. It reminds us of who we are in relationship to God. He reminds us that we are created, and he is the creator. It recalibrates us and realigns us with what is actually true about us and the universe we inhabit.

We all drift towards these "lesser gods." This lazy susan of tiny gods that promise everything and deliver precious little. The Christ follower points the gaze of their soul in the direction of the one who infuses the universe with purpose and meaning. And who, being the very essence of love itself, draws us towards himself in the loving embrace of a truly good heavenly father and his children.  This is our redeemed identity. And this is one more reason why we worship God. 

There are very few things in life that are healthier for the soul than this.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:3-4 (NIV)
"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39 (NIV):

When we worship God we remind ourselves that He is God, we are not, and that is a VERY good thing.

Grace and peace to you, dear friends.


Letter 48
1 Idea From Me
This Sunday, look around you. Your forever family has gathered.

1 Quote From Someone Else
“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.” ― A.W . Tozer

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
It is so easy to see your Sunday church service as a kind of "dispensary of religious goods and services."

We see ourselves as individuals and/or families (those people who have our emotional urgency) coming to receive because we have needs. And this is absolutely true! We are needy. We are broken. We do need re-calibration. We do need equipping and encouragement that comes from our Sunday worship experiences.

And yes, it's pretty great when the music is actually "good." It's pretty great when the facility is clean, especially the bathrooms. It's pretty great when the programs are intentional and organized. It's pretty great we find the teaching biblically sound and orthodox as far as we can tell. It's pretty great when children's ministry has thought about the safety of the kids they are entrusted with for an hour or so. It's even pretty great to serve in some capacity as we have grown and matured. There are so many great benefits for us as individuals and families in a well run and thoughtful church organization!

Sometimes, however, we can often miss the truly great for the pretty great.

One of the truly great things that often gets overlooked has more to do with "us" than it has to do with "me."

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." Rom. 8:14-17

As I said in a previous newsletter, the church at her best is when people who love Jesus find each other. This is your "forever family." This is the family that transcends empires. It transcends our temporary suffering. It transcends our broken society. It even transcends our flesh and blood.

The Persian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Ottoman empires have all gone away. But the Family of God transcends them all. Name any political system, or national entity in the world and you can safely assume they will diminish or vanish over the span of many centuries. This is the inexorable march of time.  And yet the Family of God, who for millennia are following Jesus, continues to march on, continues to grow, continues to be unconquerable in light of the most intense marginalization and persecution throughout human history.

Much more can be said about this. And we will explore this in future additions. But for now, realize that when you gather with the church family on Sunday, or in your home group, or whenever two or more are gathered in His name, you are living into a reality far greater than the number of people in the room, the noise we make, or the services we enjoy. This is an eternal community of brothers and sisters adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus, with Jesus himself as our big brother.

This Sunday, look around you. Your forever family has gathered.



Letter 47
1 Idea From Me
In worship, we declare the truth: the truth about God, the truth about ourselves, and the truth about what he has done for us.

1 Quote From Someone Else
“The thing that differentiates Christianity from other faiths is that it is all about responding to what Christ has already done for us, not about what we can do to be good enough to get a thumb’s-up from God.” ― Tommy Walker, from He Knows My Name

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
This is the second installment in our series about worship. Today's will be a little bit more story than theology. But it ties into the bigger picture I want to paint in my understanding of the life of worship.

As I said last week, most of my more powerful worship experiences were in performance. I got a degree in music from a Christian university and had even lead songs in churches and camps corporately for several years. I wound up living in Pasadena, California with some friends while I was trying to get my music thing off the ground. I ended up attending a wonderful church called Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock. It was there that God began to really rewire me.

My first time in attendance I observed the body of Christ fully engaged in worship. Not only was the band playing things I had never heard in a church before, but the congregation was out-singing the band.

The way this church is laid out, the band is on the floor and the pews are raked up in a semi circle all the way around the band. So no matter where you sit, you can see everybody else. And what a sight to behold. People of a dozen different ethnic backgrounds standing and singing passionately, hands raised to the same God, proclaiming the same truth of what Jesus has done. It was as if they were a family with hearts pointed towards their Creator, one in mind and spirit for a few minutes together on Sunday. In this they are ascribing ultimate worth to God, reminding themselves of who they are, and responding in gratitude for his goodness and grace.

I had only seen sign posts of this in other church experiences before. That is just from my perspective. Of course, you cannot judge the heart or motives of people based on what you see or hear in a few minutes on Sunday. At the same time, no one had ever defined or explained worship to me in church or in school. I just didn't know how integral, beautiful, and important this was for the life of the individual as well as the church family. And honestly, I was a little bit aggravated that no one had ever explained this to me before.

As amazing as the music wise, and it scratched a major itch for me as a musician, the experience of the church engaged like this was game changing. God turned the light on for me. And I finally was able to identify my own call, which I still walk in today. My life is about helping people turn their lives toward Jesus to discover fullness of life in him. In so many words, this is my mission. It was through music for many years. And it is through everything else that I do it as a writer and teacher to this day.

I will forever be grateful to Tommy Walker, the worship pastor at that church. God used him profoundly to redirect my life as I sat under his leadership for a season. He will always be my worship pastor and older brother in ministry. And to this day, his music birthed in that beautiful little church is still "home" for me.

You can find his amazing YouTube channel here: Tommy Walker Ministries

Next week we will dig a little more into what happens when we come to God authentically as a church family.



Letter 46
1 Idea From Me
Worship is our rightful response to the revelation of God.

1 Quote From Someone Else
"What is the chief end of man?
Ans. 1. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,(1) and to enjoy him for ever.(2)"
—The Westminster Shorter Catechism, The original text of 1647

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
You might know that I was a worship pastor for many many years. That is, I was in charge of the musical end of worship in local churches. I lead, administrated, and shepherded teams and congregations primarily through music. And though I am mostly out of the music area vocationally, my calling has not changed. I am STILL a worship pastor. The goal of my life is to be a sign post pointing people to life in Christ. To his love and goodness. My life's mission is to help other people find life in him. And life to its fullest.

These days, I do that mostly through writing and teaching. But most of my life was wrapped around music to one degree or another. I always loved music. But I didn't always love to worship.

Without giving you my whole life story, I always loved music. Since I was a child, I was listening to Beethoven, Ray Charles, and most anything else I could get my hands on. Later on, God called me to music and ministry. I went to a Christian University and got a degree in music. I did a ton of performing and traveling in both Christian and secular circles.

Some of my most transcendent and God soaked moments were in performance. That is, singing songs "to people" as opposed to singing songs "with people." And it was wonderful. Like Eric Liddell from Chariots of Fire, I felt "God's pleasure" in that role. Truthfully, I was worshiping God, and I didn't entirely realize it.

Corporate singing in the local church wasn't something particularly meaningful for me. It mostly felt like a warm-up for the sermon. And although I really liked many of the hymns we sang, they were sung more out of habit than purpose as far as I was concerned. We never really talked about why we sang the songs other than they were enjoyable to some degree.

It was a great hole in my relationship with God. It was a great hole in my understanding of who we are in Christ and what the church actually is.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to unpack some of that journey for you. What is a life of worship? What does that look like? Why do we worship? How do we worship God in a way that he desires? And what does that do to us as humans? What are we discovering?

The quotes at the beginning of the newsletter might seem a little clinical. A little bit uninspiring. But as we journey for the next little while, we're going to see how beautiful, meaningful and fulfilling a life worshiping the living God is intended to be.

I promise you, Jesus always has more for you than you have known.

Letter 45
1 Idea From Me
The fullness of God in Christ,
The fullness of Christ in the Spirit,
The fullness of the Spirit alive in us,
And through His Spirit, we are made fully alive.

1 Quote From Someone Else
"It is commonly said that the Trinity is a mystery. And  it certainly is … . But it is not a mystery veiled in darkness in which  we can only grope and guess. It is a mystery in which we are given to  understand that we will never know all there is of God … . It is not a  mystery that keeps us in the dark, but a mystery in which we are taken  by the hand and gradually led into the light … ."
—Eugene Peterson

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Here is an excerpt from my book "Hero Worship: a 12 Week Journey to Become More Like Jesus."

Only God is worthy of hero worship. And if we want to know what God looks like, all we need to do is look at Jesus because Jesus is the center of all of Scripture and the clearest view we have of God. The better we understand this, the more profound our Hero becomes.

We understand that Jesus has authority because He is God in the flesh and part of what Christians have called the trinitarian mystery. God is the great three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father and the Spirit are fully present in Jesus. Jesus and the Spirit are fully present in the Father. Jesus and the Father are fully present in the Spirit. Think of it like this:

The fullness of God in Christ,
The fullness of Christ in the Spirit,
The fullness of the Spirit alive in us,
And through His Spirit, we are made fully alive.

If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:9–10 NIV)

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6 NIV)

[Jesus says,] “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:15-18)

Everyone can know Jesus. Everyone can walk in step with His spirit. Everyone can access the Father without some other mediator. He will work in, through, and beyond anyone who seeks Him. That is what “God with us” means for you and me. We are never alone. This Hero is closer than we ever dared dream or imagine.

Troy M Kennedy. Hero Worship Ebook (Kindle Locations 221-223). Kindle Edition.

Letter 44
1 Idea From Me
God accepts the worship of those who accept the Son.
Those who have accepted the Son have received the Spirit who inhabits the worshiper, the temple of God.
They are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"In the day-to-day trenches of life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There's no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship." -  David Foster Wallace

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
This quote from David Foster Wallace is reminder of the universal reality that humans worship something. Although Foster was not a Christ follower, he was painfully aware of this ubiquitous condition in the heart of humanity. We need to find something to orient our lives around. Our souls are starving for meaning.  Tragically,  this brilliant, lauded author never really found this meaning and took his own life at the age of 46.

Humans are  meaning monsters. We will grab onto anything that will orient us in this universe. It may be something true, or it might be fallacy, but we will cling to that thing that tells us which direction is up and which is down. We look to ideologies, politics, money, power, pleasure, family, etc. And without a better Northstar, we will point our lives in that direction following it's natural trajectory. The problem is, none of these things can sustain the weight of our expectations. They don't deliver the goods. They come up short every time. So, we spin the lazy susan of tiny gods praying that one of them will fill the void. We try one after the other after the other, never landing in that solid place that tells us where we are.

God created us to love us and for us to love him. God wanted a family. And it is a long, sordid story of our rebellion against our created purpose calling it freedom and self actualization only to perpetually find ourselves small and broken in need of a savior.

So God shows up so we could know him. So we could know he was willing to come close. So we could touch divinity who is victorious through the most counter intuitive means. Jesus is victorious through sacrifice and suffering. He turns the tables on the power structures of humanity, by giving the blood of innocence to save the lives of the guilty.

Today is Good Friday. Today we recognize the sacrifice and tragedy of innocence shamefully crucified. But we know the end of the story as well. And we know that the pain, evil, deceit, and injustice of the world are defeated in Christ. Death is defeated. And Jesus shows us a new way of being human.

This is the Creator welcoming us, his created imagers in the world, to himself. He says, "This is what you were made for. And my sacrifice heals the separation. You can indeed know which way is up and which way is down." He says to us, "I am strong enough to bear the weight of your expectation. And I will give you meaning, that is more durable than you are. And I will give you life without end, because I am the source of life. Come to me and find your rest."

So we turn our hearts, our minds, our souls in his direction. We orient our lives around the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. And we worship him. That is, we declare the truth of who he is, the truth of who we are, and what he has done. And in doing so, we orient our lives around the truth. We enter one step further into his here, and not yet here, kingdom where light and life and love, displace the dominion of darkness in our present world.


Letter 43
1 Idea From Me
Get your head up. Keep your eyes up above the fray. Jesus is coming.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake up to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach, and you have lost it forever." - CS Lewis

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
You may have noticed that I pulled my own quote from last weeks newsletter. This has been on my heart for a while as I just taught on Matthew 25 at my church a couple weeks ago.

At the end of Jesus' treatise on the end times he lands the plane with the parable of the sheep and the goats. Having just expounded on the destruction of the temple that would occur some 40 years after his death and the conditions and signs of his second coming, he gives us three parables to tell us how we should then live. 

His overarching message is "keep watch." Live lives, responsibly and joyfully as His disciples. Have a perspective on the world around you that transcends your circumstances. You are part of a much larger kingdom. A kingdom that will be around long after earthly kingdoms have collapsed. A kingdom where the one true king and judge makes things right. He is the king and judge who has the wisdom, love, courage, clarity, and perspective to rightfully  meter out both mercy and justice. In other words, he is the one you want holding the scales.

He sees you and I clearly for who we are and loves us unconditionally. And he offers us life and forgiveness if we want it. And if we determine that we don't want his forgiveness and the life he offers, we are not forced to take it.

If you want the with-God life, you get it. If you don't want the with-God life, you don't get it. Nothing is more fair than that.

You also get the consequences of that choice with a trajectory into eternity. If you don't want life with God now, you don't want life with God in heaven. Heaven, by definition, is the presence of God. And hell, by definition, is separation from God. As Dallas Willard once said, "Hell is just about the best God can do for some people."

Christ follower, live with joyful expectation. Live responsibly as disciples of Jesus reflecting his heart, his character, and his priorities out into the world. Keep your head up. Keep watch. Get your eyes above the fray. The good King is coming.

Letter 42
1 Idea From Me
The best thing I ever did was say "yes" to Jesus.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"Conversion is a complete surrender to Jesus. It's a willingness to do what he wants you to do." - Billy Sunday

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
One of the glorious truths about following Christ is the lack of qualifications needed. You don't have to be particularly talented, intelligent, wealthy, charismatic, beautiful, well respected, etc.… He is not looking for any of that.

We come to Jesus in spiritual poverty. It is the blunt realization that we aren't really bringing anything to the table other than our surrender to his goodness, mercy, and will. He brings the invitation and the revelation. We do nothing more than accept. It truly is a gift of God. Not something that I could earn or someones besides Jesus could earn for me. It is not dependent on my good works. It is dependent on his good work.

So, say yes to him today. Trust him with the consequences. And tomorrow do the same. And the next day, do the same. And the next day, do the same, etc.… It is a joyful obedience to the one who loves us most, and knows the most about us. We live one glorious day at a time holding the hand of the Savior as he leads us through this life towards our ultimate destiny of union with him in eternity.

We keep our eyes up. We keep our heads up. We say yes, again and again


Letter 41
1 Idea From Me
"The church at her best is when people who love Jesus find each other."
1 Quote From Someone Else
“Long-term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay also grow. People who leave do not grow.” – Dr. Joseph Hellerman

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. It simply does not exist in scripture. Jesus didn't teach this or model it. He himself created community everywhere he went. The apostle Paul catalyzed community everywhere he went. You cannot follow Jesus alone. It doesn't work. Love is not a solo enterprise.

As someone who is pretty introverted, more often than not, my spiritual dialogue is internal. My wife often comments the only time she finds out what's going on with me spiritually is when I am teaching or leading a group. That is kind of a sad commentary. It's not intentional on my part. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea. She should most certainly be in the loop on the things that God is doing in my heart as we strive and make one another better disciples of Jesus.

At the same time, the fact that these things surface in biblical community is also a really beautiful thing. I may not be modeling it as well as I should. But, I am growing in this area.

The church is the community of Christ followers in loving relationship with one another, growing with one another, encouraging and challenging one another, supporting one another etc... all as a reflection of a Christ-love permeated life. It is people who are unified by love for Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit expressed between them and through them into the world.

The church is not a non-profit organization. It is not a weekend club. It is not a dispensary of religious goods and services. It is not a lot of things that are caricatured in our culture. It is you and I who have experienced the life transforming power of the gospel finding one another, and hopefully a whole bunch of other people, learning and growing and serving together.

Letter 40
1 Idea From Me
"We must be so immersed in God's truth that the lies of the enemy are abundantly clear."
1 Quote From Someone Else
“I’ve experienced His presence in the deepest darkest hell that men can create. I have tested the promises of the Bible, and believe me, you can count on them. I know that Jesus Christ can live in you, in me, through His Holy Spirit. You can talk with Him; you can talk with Him out loud or in your heart when you are alone, as I was alone in solitary confinement. The joy is that He hears each word.” – Corrie Ten Boom

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
For a graduate class that I recently took, we were asked to write a letter to a hypothetical someone challenged with the task of memorizing scripture. Here is what I wrote to our imaginary friend, Sue. 

"Hi  Sue, you are not alone! What you have expressed is so very common to  all of us. And in the information age, it has been exacerbated to a tipping point. You are getting a lot of great advice from my fellow  students here. Let me give you a slightly different perspective on the  issue to perhaps round it out.
The truth is, we have a mountain of information memorized. Every  marketing agency, every TV show, theme song, every meme on Instagram,  etc.… has been internalized by the sheer force of advertisers and algorithms designed to make these things as sticky as humanly possible. They are very very good at it. And you and I have been, to some degree,  programmed to learn things in these bite sized forms for quite a while  now. To put it another way, all these messages have contributed to our  spiritual formation, or more accurately, spiritual malformation.

The sad realization is that the vast majority of these messages we  have internalized are either inane or even malevolent. At every moment  of every day we were assaulted by a barrage of fallacies. The torrent of  lies coming at us in every direction is unprecedented in human history.  Satan is the father of lies. And he is having his way in the  information age. What he is amazing at is taking a seed of truth,  something that sounds good and noble and virtuous, and wrapping it in a  candied shell of exceedingly attractive falsehood.

The way that you and I combat darkness is with light. The way we  combat lies is with the truth. That is one of the many reasons why  internalizing the voice of God through scripture is so very important.  Does it take a disproportionate effort? Yes. Is it hard to carve out  time and energy? Yes. Is it worth it, considering the cost of our  vulnerability to the assault of the enemy? Most certainly, yes.

We know God's voice best through knowing God's word. We know the enemies voice by just doing nothing.

In those moments of anxiety in the middle of the night, we need to  know His voice. In the moment of crisis in the daylight, we need to know  His voice. When we are blindsided by life, we need to know His voice.  We need to have so internalized all that is good and true and eternal  that the lies of the enemy are abundantly clear.

So, memorize great passages of scripture. There is no downside when  we understand we are hearing the voice of our loving Father. Our Father  who is for us and wanting to equip us for the battle of life in the  "here and not-yet here kingdom" reality of our lives now. Be armed for the battle with the "sword of the Spirit which is the word of God."


Letter 39
1 Idea From Me
"...we must be willing to practice the things that Jesus practiced as His Spirit coaches and shapes us. As He pours out of us more and more, our egos and agendas become less and less. But this doesn’t happen without practice. This doesn’t happen until we have carved out time to meet with Him and learn His agenda. We have to be willing to change. We have to be willing to be coached. We have to show up to practice." Hero Worship Ebook 
1 Quote From Someone Else
"Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely." John Ortberg

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Everybody has a spiritual formation.

This is the third of our three-part series on spiritual transformation. Last week we learned how in Christ we are a new creation. We are no longer enslaved to the sin of our past. We have been "born again." And we embark on this wonderful journey into the eternity we have inherited through our Savior.

How do we live into that truth? For many of us, our spiritual lives seem adequate or OK at best. We wonder why we aren't leaving the abundant life that Jesus has for us.  We can't just will ourselves into being more spiritually mature. You can't just flip a switch and have the character of Christ.

In Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, we DO have power to change. But it is not a matter of our will producing results as much is our will surrendered to the results. We have to lay down our self sufficient sense of competence and show up to be coached into the life our souls long for.

So, we go into training to become like Jesus. Anymore than we would decide to run a marathon tomorrow, we don't just decide to "put on the character of Christ" and expect immediate, profound transformation. It is a long, glorious, gracious journey that we embark on through the power of the Holy Spirit with other sacred companions to love and challenge us along the way.

That's one of the reasons I wrote Hero Worship. It is a way for us to show up for practice and tell the Coach, "Here I am. I'm ready to learn and grow. I'm ready to exercise these muscles. I'm ready to change." In Hero Worship, we have 11 practices that are ways we can directly imitate Jesus. These are rhythms directly observable and directly reproducible in the life of Jesus. When we exercise these practices in the imitation of our Hero, we see change in our lives, that we could not accomplish by direct effort. His grace accomplishes the work of conforming us to the image of Christ.

The life you long for is readily available. But God doesn't just force us into a mold. He invites us into a relationship. A relationship with someone who is wiser, kinder, and stronger than we are. In the context of that ever growing relationship, increasingly become more like him out of raw, expanding love and admiration.

I invite you to the journey. I invite you to the Savior. I invite you to the life your soul is longing for.

Letter 38
1 Idea From Me
"Just as practice creates freedom for the artist, the practice of the Jesus-like life will produce freedom for us. The flow of His Spirit is evidenced in our real-time encounters with life. Intimacy with God always brings transformation from the inside out. It changes us from the kind of person who knows what is good to one who intuitively does what is good." - Hero Worship Ebook
1 Quote From Someone Else
"Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried.” G.K. Chesterton

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Everybody has a spiritual formation.

This was our premise in last weeks post. And then subsequently, we talked about what it is for us to be spiritually malformed and deformed by our own human nature and surroundings.

And we find throughout the New Testament, that the "with God life" is possible for all of us. And the formation of our spirits doesn't have to follow the trajectory of an Adolf Hitler, or Jeffrey Dahmer, or just that person down the street who seems hopelessly confused, bitter, and lost. Change is actually possible. But what is our part in that change? Do the legalists have it right? Is it just keeping the set of rules with the greatest compliance?

No, the Pharisees did not have it right. Even with the best intentions, pure compliance with the letter of the law didn't produce the transformation of heart that Jesus seems to be describing. He tells us he came to give us "life abundantly." I did all my own experiments with legalism, and by observations of people who work really hard at being "good people," come up pretty short towards the life satisfaction the New Testament paints for us.

The New Testament book of Galatians does a really good job of describing these tensions. And without getting too deeply into it, it lands in the place that faith in Jesus and love for him, will determine the trajectory of our behavior. We become like the things we worship. We imitate the people we admire.

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love." Gal. 5:6

Paul, in speaking about circumcision as a mark of complete compliance with Judaism's law, is saying that this compliance doesn't mean anything once we are in Christ. The whole point of the old covenant, that is, the Old Testament, was to lead us to the Messiah in Christ. It did its job. And I did it very very well. But now there is a new creation. We are not under the law anymore. We are "Messiah – people."

"...for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Gal. 2:21

So, clearly, being a "good person" is neither enough nor the point. When someone brings this up, you have to sincerely ask, "how good is good enough? How do you know?" If this life in Christ was earn-able then Jesus would not have needed to do what he did on the cross and an empty tomb.

The truth is, he did for us what we could not do. He absorbs the cost of sin into himself. That is what forgiveness looks like.

Forgiveness looks like an innocent man unjustly, shamefully, publicly, tortured and murdered for crimes he did not commit

It didn't stop there.

New creation looks like an unjustly murdered righteous men rising from the grave three days later. It looks like that man and meeting back up with his friends to affirm his message that through trust in him, faith,  everyone can be a new creation.

In Him, you and I are a new creation. We have new life. We are part of a new age that he has inaugurated. We are in Christ and he is in us. We are citizens of the here, and not yet here kingdom of God.

How do we live into the at truth?

Part three next week.

Letter 37
1 Idea From Me
Whether we realize it or not, or like it or not, we are spiritually formed by the seen and unseen forces all around us.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"None of us comes to what we believe by ourselves. The world has no freethinkers." - Tish Harrison Warren
1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Everybody has a spiritual formation.

This is obviously not a new idea with me. Much wiser authors and thinkers have been saying this for millennia. Augustine had a spiritual formation. Mother Theresa had a spiritual formation. Hitler had a spiritual formation. Jeffrey Dahmer had a spiritual formation. We are born into the world and our spirits are formed, or better yet "malformed," by the multitude of influences all around and within us.

Depending on your Christian theological tradition, at the very least, we all agree that humans are born with a proclivity to sin. I was once asked by someone whether I believed in original sin. My answer was that I believed that I had an original sin, and that my interrogator had their own original sin. Whether you believe that people inherit a sin nature, or condemnation, at the very least, you believe that they are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God.

Even if you believe that we are born into the world in "mint condition," you know that no one stays that way. Especially if you have been a parent. Generally speaking, kids have to learn good behavior and intuitively exercise bad behavior with no prompting at all!

Colossians 1:13 tells us that God has "rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves."

Apart from Christ, we are under the "dominion of darkness." That is, we are dominated by the spiritually dark and rebellious forces in the unseen realm. Scripture is clear that Satan is the prince of this world. And he has, for a season, extraordinary influence. Scripture says that we are slaves to sin apart from Christ. That means that sin "owns" us.

The world around us reeks of this dominion. Death, division, discouragement, injustice, evil… all the fruit of Satan's deceit, shapes everything around us. And it shapes us, whether in the spiritual realm, or in the world of relationships and influences, into which we are born. We are all spiritually malformed. There is no avoiding it.

But there is hope! As Colossians tells us, we can be rescued from the dominion darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us it is in his dominion that we are set free from the forces that have deformed and malformed us. That in Christ we can be "re-formed" into the image of Jesus. By the spirit of Christ who indwells us we can be transformed to be more like him. We are no longer slaves to sin but are alive in Christ.

Much can be said about this. And this post is getting long. So look for part two next week when we talk about how we can actively participate in the work of the Holy Spirit within us towards our own spiritual (re)formation.


Letter 36
1 Idea From Me
You were made to "image" God to the world.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"The image of God isn't an ability given to us by God like intelligence. We can lose abilities, but we cannot lose a status of being gods imager. That would require not being human! Every human, from conception to death, will always be human and always be God's imager. This is why human life is sacred. How do we represent God?.. God is a high king of all things visible and invisible. He rules. He shares that rule with his family in the spiritual world in the human world. We are here to participate in God's plan to make the world all he wanted to be and enjoy it with him. " - Michael Heiser, "Supernatural"
1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
God wanted a family.

He made us not because he needs us to accomplish anything. He made us so he could love us. He made us to be in community and communion with himself. And he delights to share in his creation with humans who are the height of his created order.

We are his kids.bAnd like any good father, he loves to share with his children. He loves to see them grow and mature, fulfilling all the potential that is dormant within them.

A good example is Adam. God could have named the animals himself. No problem. Instead, he gives that responsibility to Adam. It was his joy to share this with him. This is a joyful responsibility. Not a burden.

"Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it." Gen 2:15 (LSB)

God gave Adam the responsibility to cultivate, and steward the garden before the fall. The garden was the environment where humanity was intended to thrive in relationship with God. This responsibility was a gift.

So, Adam, and you and I, are made in the image of God. That is, more accurately, we are "imagers" of God. We are his representatives. We are to embody his purposes and character in the Earth as he would were he in our place. 

Like a king's son or daughter, we exercise our rulership on the Earth "in the name" of the king. The prince does everything in the name of his father. He does everything in accordance with his Father's will and in alignment with his father's character. You are doing these things under the canopy of his authority and guidance. But you are not a puppet. You are doing them as you would do them in submission to the king. And that is his joy.

The king also happens to be your father. That's pretty great. You are his child, which means you are a lot like him. But you are not him. You are an image of him. He then he calls you and I to image (verb) His will, His character, His great kingdom into the world.


Letter 35
1 Idea From Me
Your body is just as important to your spiritual life as your spirit.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"The relationship between the physical body and spiritual transformation is inseparable. ... the body is a principle part of several interrelating aspects, viz., the will, thoughts, emotions, physiology, and social interactions. As such, the body is therefore an inseparable part of the whole person. The whole human person was created as God's image and likeness; consequently, the body likewise reflexively responds to and images God's presence in the world. Far from being a hindrance to spiritual transformation, the physical body is the instrument and means for exercising spiritual disciplines. These disciplines, done in the physical body, posture an individual to receive and release the indwelling presence of Christ." - Darrel Cox (2002). The physical body in spiritual formation: What God has joined together let no one put asunder. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 21(3), 281–291.
1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
This is something of a follow up to last week.

We often live in a false dichotomy that separates out our spiritual lives from our physical lives. This is sort of a low-grade diminishing of the body or over emphasizing of the body. In our culture today the body is paramount. And for many Christians, the body is disposable. Both are equally problematic errors.

The body that God has given us is the way we live out his kingdom purposes in the world. It is where we exercise and put into action our will or spirit. It is what actualizes what is being formed in the inner man or woman. And it is absolutely integrated into every other dimension of what it means to be a person created to be an "imager" of God. (More on that next week)

Psychologists will tell us that even the posture of our bodies can impact our emotional and hormonal lives. You can have a measurable emotional response to something as simple as standing and stretching out your limbs to be as big as you can. This will elicit a hormonal and emotionally positive response. Just as if you slump in posture, and make yourself to be small, there is a measurable response in your physicality and psychology.

The posture and practices of our bodies absolutely matter. The exercise of restraint in terms of our physical desires is a critical part of our discipleship to Jesus. And the actualizing of the transformed and reformed spirit through our bodies in the world is equally critical.

Jesus had a physical body that exercised his purposes in the world. And when he returned, after his crucifixion, he had a redeemed, new physicality. He could still be touched, hugged, and enjoy a meal. But it was something different at the same time. He is the Adam of a new humanity. He is the first born of what it means to be a new regenerate human going into eternity. He was not some ethereal ghost like figure. He was a fully integrated physical and spiritual presence. And you and I as Christ followers will one day receive that redeemed and regenerate physicality.  One that doesn't break down and fail us as we age. But a body that is free from sickness and entropy going into the future kingdom of God.

In the meantime, we submit every aspect or dimension of our personhood to Jesus, including our bodies. The body is a terrible master, but is a terrific servant to the disciple of Jesus. As we submit to the Holy Spirit through the spiritual disciplines every dimension of our personhood is properly ordered in service of the Savior.


Letter 34
1 Idea From Me
There is far more overlap between our physical life and our spiritual life than we generally understand
1 Quote From Someone Else
"I submit my tongue as an instrument of righteousness when I make it bless them that curse me and pray for them who persecute me, even though it “automatically” tends to strike and wound those who have wounded me. I submit my legs to God as instruments of righteousness when I engage them in physical labor as service, perhaps carrying a burden the “second mile” for someone whom I would rather let my legs kick. I submit my body to righteousness when I do my good deeds without letting them be known, though my whole frame cries out to strut and crow. And when I do, I offer up my body as the place of God’s action. I prepare myself for God’s action in me just as Abraham prepared the sacrifice in Genesis 15 and would have no fire touch it but what God himself sent." - Dallas Willard  1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
For a very long time, I resisted anything that resembled "spiritual disciplines." In my estimation, it was just another way to exercise our instinct towards legalism and performance. We all intuitively want to earn our favor from God rather than enjoy the gift of his favor. So, I viewed things like fasting, solitude, silence, frugality, etc... as man-made constructs added on to complicate and burden our faith.

The thing is, I wasn't experiencing the kind of transformation one would expect from a committed Christ follower. I read the Bible dutifully. My prayer life was a little thin. I was very involved in Christian things. I had great Christian friends. And these are all wonderful things. These are all necessary and helpful things. But the depth of internal transformation didn't reflect the promise of abundant life I saw in scripture. As I have said before, Jesus had more for me than I was experiencing.

Years pass, and I accept my experience as normal or even super normal for a mature Christian. Then, I ran into Dallas Willard. Well, first I ran into John chapter 15. And then I ran into Dallas through his books. Dallas would say that the training of the body is essential to the maturing, or forming, of the human person into the image of Christ. I didn't want to believe this. But the more I have tried and trained in the disciplines, that he and many others suggest, the more they make sense to me. There was far more overlap between our physical life and our spiritual life than we generally understand.

Long story short, I wrote a book reflecting my understanding of these things. Hero Worship is my way of framing the spiritual disciplines, and some other practices we see in the life of Jesus, in a way that diffuses potential legalism. The motive isn't to get great at the disciplines. The motive is to become like Jesus. And from our desire to get close to him, and imitate him, our spirits are formed more into his image. We are rewired from the inside out. We increasingly become the kind of people who intuitively do what love requires.

I'm still learning a great deal about these things. But I would encourage you, my friend, to take an introductory step via Hero Worship towards intentionally coming to the Savior with an open, humble, and teachable spirit, full of love and admiration for him. And in that way, the imitation of Christ is not a burden but a joy.


Letter 33
1 Idea From Me
The written word of God leads us to the living Word of God.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”      A.W. Tozer  1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Read the Bible for information and you can miss relationship. Read the BIble for relationship and you get information thrown in.

I came to faith in a stream of Christianity that saw the Bible as the fourth member of the Trinity.🙂 As Tozer above, has said, it was more of an end in itself.  It became more a way of knowing about God than knowing God himself. So I struggled for much of my Christian life being a committed, but somewhat dissatisfied, Christian. In those 2 AM bouts of doubt I had to wonder if this was all there is. Surely, when Jesus said he was giving us life abundant it didn't look like my life. And at the same time, I intuitively knew that it didn't mean more stuff. More abundance in the physical, affluent sense. I knew that God wanted more for me than I had known. But what am I to do about that? What is my contribution? What is my relationship with scripture? How do I live in a way that is authentic as opposed to being a good boy, in hopes that it was enough?

You have probably seen how I have to quoted from John chapter 15 in every one of these newsletters. John 15, for now, is sort of the center of the center in my understanding of the faith. I have discovered that scripture reveals Jesus to me. And Jesus wants me to know him. That is why he sent the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, to live within believers. We are now the temple of God. The manifestation of Jesus is his Spirit that indwells the believer. So, the abundance of life, the longing of the human soul, is satisfied in relationship with Jesus. And Jesus is the author of all scripture. He is its source and its subject.  I read the scripture to know his heart and character.

The more I lean into knowing him in a very pragmatic way, the more abundance of life I have experienced. I know his voice. I know his presence. I know when he is guiding me. And I know when I am rebelling. It is an ever growing real relationship in the spiritual sense. I can't prove it to you. I can't test it in a laboratory. And you can think me delusional, which I would understand. But I know him. And I am continuing to grow in relationship with him, as that is the priority of my faith. Everything else, I mean EVERYTHING else, flows from that.

Seek him, and he will be found. He loves you and wants you to know him. The life your soul longs for is found in knowing him.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:5 LSB

Jesus is the reward.

Grace and peace to you in this new year, my dear friends.



Letter 32
1 Idea From Me
The God who speaks reality into being shows up so that we could know Him.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man ... might become the son of God.”       Irenaeus of Lyons  1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
This is a bit of a follow up to the newsletter a couple of weeks ago. In this advent season, we celebrate the hope nested in the reality that God showed up; that this God would humiliate himself and submit himself to his own creation, in order to redeem His creation. We broke it. And he fixes it. And his solution, that is, the redemptive plan, the meta-narrative of scripture, is one that will eradicate evil without destroying us. The only motive you can possibly chalk up to that kind of behavior is love. Love shows up.

You may have heard this adage. The only way that Hamlet knows there is a Shakespeare is that Shakespeare writes himself into the story. And that is precisely what God has done for us. He shows up in the most inconceivable, vulnerable way. Born in an insignificant corner of the Roman empire, to a seemingly insignificant woman, to accomplish the most significant feat in human history. The restoration of the universe and the restoration of rebellious humanity to God's original intention.

God made you so He could love you. And he made you so that you could be in loving relationship with Him. God wanted a family. He still does. And you and I ,as Christ followers, are adopted sons and daughters into His great eternal family, knit together in love for him and for one another by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.

Letter 31
1 Idea From Me
Jesus is the interpretive center of the Bible.
1 Quote From Someone Else
"Only God could have put the Bible  together. The Bible contains 66 books written over 1,600 years by 40  authors—and it has one theme...From Genesis to  Revelation, the Bible is all about God redeeming humanity. Jesus is its  star." - Rick Warren1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
The longer I have been a Christ follower, the more amazed I am at the scope of scripture. It is truly a miracle of literature. It's continuity from top to bottom is truly stunning as it tells us the story of God's love for humanity.

Every page of scripture is like gravity that is lovingly, relentlessly, pulling it towards the Son. It has an inertia in every verse, moving in the direction of Jesus. In the New Testament as well, it is pointing us continually, not just towards His first coming, but pointing us continually towards His second coming. As you read the gospels, the letters, and the grand, mysterious climax of John's Revelation, we see this hope woven throughout.

It is the story of salvation offered freely to us by God. Peter says it like this.:

"10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." 1 Peter 1:10-12

The Spirit of Christ in Moses, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc. was speaking through these prophets, pointing us to the incarnation of Christ in Jesus. That same Spirit spoke through the New Testament authors who preached the gospel of our salvation, through the work of Jesus. And it is that same Spirit that indwells the believer today that continually points us both backwards and forwards to Jesus.

Jesus is the unifying center of the story, as well as the author of the story. He is God with us, Emmanuel.
God writes himself into the story so that we could know Him. The Bible is His written revelation to you and I of his love.

Letter 30
1 Idea From Me
Weekend worship is when the body of Christ, historic and transcendent, exercises its immense privilege to gather together in the name of Christ and, by the Spirit of Christ, foreshadow the eternal oneness of the here-not-yet-here Kingdom of God.

1 Quote From Someone Else
““Can we reassess whether Sunday coffee-sipping in the sanctuary fits?” Piper wrote, before adding text from Hebrews 12:28. The Scripture reads, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”
— John Piper as quoted from Twitter

1 Small Thing to Do or Think AboutTo coffee or not to coffee? That is not really the question. The question is: how do our actions reflect our understanding of the Sunday gathering as Christ followers?

I came up through that seeker-sensitive church movement of the 80s and 90s. I even served in a very large seeker sensitive church that was very casual in worship. And I loved all of it! I loved the accessibility of it. I loved the culturally relevant language. I loved the entrepreneurial sense in its leadership. I love that it was attracting people who would normally never darken the door of a church. It was a place where disenfranchised ex-Christians were able to rediscover their faith. And people who never knew faith found their caricatures of Christianity blown apart.

It was all very casual. Coffee in the service. Shorts and Hawaiian shirts. Come one! Come all! And it was beautiful.

I believe that there should be a place, like the weekend worship service where people who are exploring the claims of Christ can come and not need a Christian glossary and printed order of service to understand what is going on and what it might mean to their lives.

On the other hand, as we mature in our relationship with Jesus, as we have learned over time to progressively walk in oneness with His Holy Spirit that has made our bodies his temple, our understanding and participation in weekend worship should also mature. I think we do need to put our coffee down. I think we need to give an appropriate gravity to the privilege we have as the body of Christ to gather together in the name of Christ to worship the living God by the Spirit of Christ.

Weekend worship is more than a dispensary of Christian goods and services. It is more than a good band and a utilitarian, entertaining message from a gifted communicator. Those are great things. But primarily it is where people who are bound together by the Holy Spirit, project into eternity, by their love for God and one another, the union of God, mankind, and creation that our souls are longing for.

Let's not trivialize that transcendent reality. And let the disciple of Jesus model for the newcomer the beauty and profound spiritual richness of that same reality by our posture in worship of the living God.

Letter 29
1 Idea From Me
The Bible is a progressive revelation. God gives us exactly what we need when we need it. Prophetic history is a long series of biblical "ah-ha's" we discover with hindsight.

1 Quote From Someone Else
“Biblical prophecy reveals enough about the future to give us hope without telling us so much that we don't live every day by faith.”
— Dr. Ben Witherington III

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
There is, understandably, a great deal of talk about the end times these days. With so much conflict in and around the Holy Land, many people are looking to biblical prophecy for signs or explanations of the scenario. The fact that Israel became a nation in that region in 1948, after over 1800 years scattered throughout many other nations, was a historic and prophetic landmark for many. And the fact that Israel has survived so much conflict since her inception and survived is again an astonishing accomplishment.

Are these signs of the end times? Some people say yes and others say no. People have been predicting the second coming of Jesus for a very long time. At times, they will even assign specific dates to the occasion contrary to what scripture says about the issue. A number of popes were accused of being the antichrist. And in the 20th century, we seem to have had a number of candidates surface in the imaginations of curious believers. From Hitler to Stalin to Mao to JFK to Reagan to Obama, and even to Trump, people are looking for a grand sign of the end.

Here is the Christian hope. Jesus is coming back. He was very clear that no one would know when. But his encouragement was for all of us is to live lives of joyful expectancy that reflect our discipleship to him, our one great hero, teacher, and Messiah.

In His words:

"You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Luke 12:40

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father....Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." Matthew 24:36, 42

So the message here is this. Keep watch. Know that all the struggle and hurt of the world do not have the last word. Our good King is coming one day. And we live looking forward to His arrival. So get your head up above the fray. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Look to things that are unseen rather than seen. And seek first HIS kingdom above all the kingdoms of men. This is the Christian hope.

Letter 28
1 Idea From Me
"In fasting, hunger pings our soul and prompts us to remember that light and life come from God, just as it also allows that hunger to shape our thoughts and spark gratitude toward the Father, who is our ultimate sustenance and joy." - from Hero Worship: A Twelve Week Journey to Become More Like Jesus

1 Quote From Someone Else
“Fasting gives birth to prophets, she
strengthens the powerful; fasting
makes lawgivers wise. She is a
safeguard for the soul, a steadfast
companion for the body, a weapon
for the brave, and a discipline
for champions. Fasting repels
temptations, anoints for godliness.
She is a companion for sobriety, the
crafter of a sound mind. In wars she
fights bravely, in peace she teaches
tranquility.”
— S T . B A S I L T H E G R E A T ( A . D . 3 3 0 - 3 7 9 )

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Christians have been fasting for millennia. Jesus spoke of fasting with his disciples with the assumption that they were already doing it. And then he instructed them that when they fast they should do it without complaint or performance. It was between them and God. Because the best stuff in our spiritual formation, the intimacy we have with Jesus, the transformation from the inside out, the growing impulse that intuitively does what love requires, almost always happens in the secret places.

Fasting is one of those practices that helps us lean in to our dependence on God for everything that we are. It is one of those practices that reminds us of the integration between our physicality our spirituality. And it teaches us that we are not ruled or defined by our desires. We belong to Jesus.

I would encourage you to take some time over the next week for a focused period of fasting. Let the hunger ping you to pray for someone or something in your world that has your emotional energy right now. The fast could be skipping lunch one day. It could be a 24 hour fast from dinner one evening through dinner the following evening. As Jesus practiced it, fasting is a break from food. Stepping away from social media, news, binge watching, etc.… are all good things. And should probably be examined and practiced with some regularity. But that is not a fast. That is abstinence from a particular rhythm in your life. Let this fast be in the imitation of Jesus and the millions of Christ followers who have come before us. Let it drive you deeper into your intimacy with him.

Letter 27
1 Idea From Me
The lone sheep is the one that gets eaten.

1 Quote From Someone Else
"...the devil is just as aware of our need for community as we are, if not more, so, and he uses that awareness to gain the upper hand in the fight, doing all he can to cut us off from community with God's people, and from God himself." - John Mark Comer

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Satan got Eve alone in the garden in order to sell her his lies. "Did God really say you shouldn't eat the fruit from the tree?" "You won't surely die if you eat that fruit. You will become wise just like God if you eat it!"

The lie is that God can't be trusted and he's holding out on you. He's trying to keep something good from you. And you have to take things into your own hands to decide what is good for you. That is the original lie behind every other lie we struggle with. And he got eve alone, away from God, and her primary relationship, Adam. That way, no other voice could be heard but his.

There are times in your life when your impulse is to withdraw from biblical community. It might be because of tension in relationships. It might be because you're in a dry season spiritually. It might be because of shame. Perhaps you have gotten yourself sideways behaviorally, and it's just easier to pull away. And we rationalize it 100 different ways. "the church is full of hypocrites." (Yes it is. Welcome! You are not alone.) "I like Jesus but I'm not a fan of the church." "I don't like organized religion." "I feel closer to God by myself out in nature." etc...

It is so easy to rationalize that impulse to pull away. And many of the reasons may actually be true. But they are not the real reason. There is no such thing in the New Testament as a "solo" Christian faith. When we became Christ followers, we became part of a body, a spiritual family. We became one of the sheep in the herd, protected, fed and loved by the Good Shepherd who then calls us to love one another as he has loved us. This is impossible to do alone. And that is a very good thing.
When, for whatever reason, your impulses to pull away from biblical community, you must do the exact opposite. Lean in to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Lean into the family. Lean into the healing that comes when the Healer works through his people and conforms us bit by bit to become more like him.

Remember, the lone sheep is the one that gets eaten.

Letter 26
1 Idea From Me
Intimacy with Jesus is the engine of discipleship. Only in Him is the life your soul longs for.

1 Quote From Someone Else
"Lord, it is night.
The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done; let it be.
The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you.
The night is quiet. Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, all dear to us, and all who have no peace.
The night heralds the dawn. Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities.
In your name we pray. Amen." - The New Zealand Book of Common Prayer

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Resolved today to spend time with Jesus. Talk to him about what you are doing together. Thank him for the beauty all around you. Complain to him about the things you don't like. Laugh with him over a good joke. Cry with him in someone else's loss. Rest in him knowing he is with you and within you. He is your good Shepherd.

Letter 25
1 Idea From Me
Spiritual warfare is, first and foremost, a battle for the mind.

1 Quote From Someone Else
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” - C. S. Lewis

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Where is your attention?
The first freedom that you and I have is what we choose to think about. Thoughts are the place where we can, and must begin to change. In other words, how do you filter your thought life?

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”Romans 12:2

We have to understand that spiritual forces influence culture, which are in turn influencing our minds, which direct and shape our lives. 

You've heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out?” It is computer programming terminology. What goes in is what comes out. It is when scripture says, "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."
Whatever you fill up your mind and heart with is what is going to come out. 
It could be the influence of anime, racy novels, maybe news outlets, language in music etc… We can joke around about how easy it is to see the flags in those things. But we don't always understand how they influence us. How do we value things based on how the world values them? Then you hear Christians chatting about the soft pornography of Game of Thrones, or Fifty Shades of Grey, casually laughing about about obscene sexual deviance and the epitome of gratuitous violence. 

I'm not saying we should boycott Hollywood. I am saying that everything we allow into our minds has an affect on our souls for good or evil. 

What you give your attention to will shape the person you become. You are what you're mind looks at. You are what you contemplate. It's called "spiritual formation."

That's why our entertainment choices, our reading habits, our screen time, our news sources, are all central to either making you more into the image of Jesus, or forming you more into the image of the devil. Harsh but true.
Turn your attention to life and the Source of Life. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Letter 24
1 Idea From Me
Our souls are starving for a purpose to organize our lives around. And one way, or another, whether truthful or deceitful, we will find one.

1 Quote From Someone Else
You didn't create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for!
- Rick Warren

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
It's common for people today to proclaim: "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." From  the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley.

This is a very appealing idea. It sounds brave and self-sufficient. It sounds like we are willing to face the tempest of life under our own strength and "damn the torpedoes." We are willing to shoulder the consequences of our self mastery.
The only problem with that is your self manufactured purpose is only as sturdy as you are. And it turns out, in the face of our own mortality, we aren't particularly sturdy. Life is tragic for everyone eventually. We need a purpose that transcends our circumstances.

You and I aren't cosmic accidents. We aren't a chance convocation of molecules that somehow developed consciousness in spite of its nearly inestimable improbability. We were created with great intent, and love. The God, who speaks reality into being offers us the gift of life in that reality. Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life." When we align our lives with the truth that is embodied in Christ, instead of crashing into reality, we are embraced by Reality.

Letter 23
1 Idea From Me
Talent and character aren't mutually exclusive. But if I had to pick one, I would pick character all day.

1 Quote From Someone Else
 "Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom." - Charles Spurgeon
1 Small Thing to Do or Think About

Having been in worship arts ministry for many many years, I have rubbed shoulders with a lot of extremely talented people. I have also rubbed shoulders with a lot of marginally talented people, of which I am one. 🙂 Interestingly, some of the most gifted people I have ever met are also some of the most difficult to work with. People whose personal lives are often disproportionately wrecked by regretful and seemingly obvious poor choices. I hope that doesn't sound like sour grapes on my part. None of us is above, making a calamity of our personal lives. Yet, it must be hugely challenging to not find one's identity solely in one's great talent. And that often leads to the malformation of one's character

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5

The beauty of life in the kingdom where Jesus is the king is that wisdom is available to everyone. You don't have to be particularly smart, or talented, or good looking, or of some elevated status, to walk in the wisdom of the Savior. Scripture says we can merely ask, believe, and it will be given as we need it. Jesus' offer of "come follow me" is no respecter of persons. We can all get covered in the dust of our rabbi's footsteps as we follow closely behind. That is wisdom that shapes one's character. Following Jesus rewires us from the inside. You can't get close to the maker of the universe and stay the same.

Letter 22
1 Idea From Me
The Kingdom of Heaven is for those who receive the King.

1 Quote From Someone Else
 "Indeed, the social and political realm, along with the individual  heart, is the only place in all of creation where the kingdom of God, or  his effective will, is currently permitted to be absent…
…So when Jesus directs us to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” he does not  mean we should pray for it to come into existence. Rather, we pray for  it to take over at all points in the personal, social, and political  order where it is now excluded: “On earth as it is in heaven." - Dallas Willard

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
The availability of the kingdom of the heavens is directly related to Jesus. Jesus is the king of his kingdom. If we except the king, we get the benefits of his kingdom. If we reject the king, we miss out on his kingdom.

In Matthew 13 Jesus is speaking to a crowd of people in parables. He gives a parable of various kinds of soil in their relationship to the word of the kingdom (vs19.) In explaining the parable Jesus says that some people will be unable to understand them. Their meaning is hidden from them. I believe, the reason is, if you don't except the authority of Jesus as the son of God, you certainly aren't going to receive what he has to say. If you miss the gravity and authority of the one who spoke creation into existence, you will not understand, or receive the word of his kingdom. The parables will be meaningless to you or obscured because they can only be received,and understood in the proper context of the one who is teaching. Jesus is the king Messiah. Miss that and you misunderstand everything he says about his kingdom.

Letter 21
1 Idea From Me
In any given situation, ask yourself, "What is the most loving thing I can do?"

1 Quote From Someone Else
 "Love offers us no place to hide. It offers no loopholes, short cuts, or workarounds. But aren't you glad Jesus didn't look for a loophole to loving you? What does love require of you at home, at work, on the little league field, in traffic, in line at the grocery store?" - Andy Stanley

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
"What is the most loving thing I can do?"
This is the question that helps us resolve a lot of issues.
Not, "What will cause me the least grief?"
Or, "What will make this person like me?"
Or even, "What does public sentiment to do?"

Love is full of both grace AND truth. Remember, Jesus words to the woman caught in adultery, "... Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin."

Often, we are tempted to go along with someone's dysfunction for fear of the mess they will make if you don't. But the truth is, capitulating to someone's unhealthy patterns is not the helpful or loving thing to do for them. Even if they dislike you for it. It is worth it in the long run.

And sometimes, the most loving thing to do is to NOT point out the mistake they have made or the gaff they have pulled. It can be a loving thing to guard someone's dignity when they know they are wrong.

1st Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

Letter 20
1 Idea From Me
“Intimacy with Jesus is the engine of discipleship. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to joyfully obey Him. To joyfully obey Him is to love as He loves."

1 Quote From Someone Else
  "The new life begun in us at the touch of God’s gracious word upon the depths of our soul is experienced by us as love of Jesus and his Kingdom. ... “The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him, and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.” (John 14:21, LB) Obedience would be the sign of love, as love was the sign of discipleship. ...he is teaching that obedience and love go together because love alone stays to find a way to obey." - Dallas Willard, "The Spirit of the Disciplines"

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Is my conviction that our growing relationship with Jesus, in our regular, coming and going every day lives, is what produces the abundant life He wants for us. Fullness of life is found in fullness of intimacy with Christ. In this way, our obedience to him isn't so much an act of duty or manipulation of God's favor, but it is an act born of love and admiration. It is to do what he does in order to be like him because we love him. So, our motive isn't fear or self interest, entirely. Those things prove themselves to be entirely unsustainable. And, more often than not, turn out to be more an inflation rather than deflation of our egos.  As the love of Jesus is selfless, so our imitation of him will make us progressively more and more selfless. As CS Lewis, put it, "humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less."

May our overriding passion in life be to fall more and more in love with Jesus. To know his voice and know his presence more clearly every day. And to joyfully follow him in obedience and admiration so that the abundance of  life he gives overflows through us to the people he puts in our path.

Letter 19
1 Idea From Me
“Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’” (Mark 2:27 NIV). Jesus reminds us all why we step away with Him. The Sabbath, the rest, is meant to lift the burden of life, not add to it. The tide goes in, and the tide goes out. There is a time for us to work with all our might. But it is in our design to step away and rest. The soul rest we have in Jesus doesn’t just restore our energy reserves. It restores our identities. It makes whole what has been chipped away by the struggle of life. His rest regularly tells us who we are and whose we are. He restores, realigns, and recalibrates all that is crushed in our hurriedness."

1 Quote From Someone Else
  “If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath - our pneumonia, our cancer, our heart  attack, our accidents create Sabbath for us.”  - Wayne Muller              

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Having been in ministry for a very long time, Sunday is not my Sabbath. Sunday is game day for me. But it might work for you. If not, pick another day. My day is Friday. I try to disengage from anything that has to do with work/ministry. I try to do things that are restful and renewing.

What does that look like for you? Do you feel guilty when you let off the gas? Or do you feel like  sabbath doesn't really mean much for you?

I would encourage you to pick one day of the week where you can freely disengage from all of the self defining, striving that crowds your life. Do something with that time that is restoring. It might be working out or taking a run. It might be learning to paint with oils. It might be to take a nap and read a really good book.

Whatever that might be, make it a sacred appointment with your Heavenly Father. Step away from all of the other activity and let him love you in the rest. Your soul needs this.

Letter 18
1 Idea From Me
"The holiness of Jesus isn’t afraid of the mess. It isn’t afraid to get dirty. It isn’t afraid to appear guilty by association. It isn’t afraid to touch the untouchable. Instead, His holiness enters in and elevates everyone it touches."

1 Quote From Someone Else
"The incarnation is a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers. . . . Until we too have taken the idea of the God-man seriously enough to be scandalized by it, we have not taken it as seriously as it demands to be taken."
—Frederick Buechner

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
The love of Jesus came close. And as we follow Him, He will lead us places we never expected to go and spend time with people we never planned to meet. This is the challenge and adventure of following our Hero. He calls us to enter into the mess and joy of the lives all around us.

Who are the people that you tend to overlook or avoid? Is it because their lives are messy? Is it because they have some thing you are envious of? Why is it difficult to "mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice"  when it comes to some people?

Prayerfully ask God to reveal some of those challenging people in our lives. Whether their lives are more broken or more successful than we prefer, how can we unselfishly be a blessing? How do we meaningfully enter in with the kind of love Jesus has exhibited to us?

As God reveals someone to you, make a plan to engage with them and encourage or bless them without expectation. Write their names down in your journal somewhere and make a concrete plan.

Letter 17
1 Idea From Me
"The Holy Spirit within you isn't just tolerating you. He isn't wishing He was somewhere else. He isn't wishing you were someone else. He celebrates your existence in this great universe He created."

1 Quote From Someone Else
"I am someone in whom God dwells and in whom He delights."
- James Brian Smith

1 Small Thing to Do or Think About
Scripture clearly tells us that the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells us. He makes our bodies His Temple. This is an acceptance and intimacy beyond what we can imagine. He is closer than the air around us. And he is available to us at all times even when we don't feel his presence. 

This is the mystery that Paul talks about. Christ in you, the hope of glory! You are never alone. And you are never unloved.

One small thing you can do this week, at the beginning of each day, is to celebrate this miracle.

Say aloud: "I am someone in whom God dwells and in whom He delights."  Say it and believe it a little more each day.

The more we let this truth penetrate our hearts and minds, the more we are able to confidently love others without expectation. We can then love because he first loved us. 

Receive that love. Everything else will follow.