The Worst Kind of Fire
When the U.S. began the Persian Gulf War in 1990, troops took on the Iraqi forces out in the desert of Kuwait. In those two months, January and February, the USA won an outstanding victory and had relatively few casualties. One of the interesting things about that war was that the majority of our troops weren't injured or killed by the enemy. They were the victims of what is called "friendly fire," from artillery. Friendly fire is where you are hit by ammunition by your own troops. In other words, it's where your own soldiers become your worst enemy. You can't prepare for it, and you never see it coming.

Right now in the church today, our biggest enemies aren't from outside, they're from within. The weapons that are used aren't rifles and missiles. It's our own words and attitudes. A lot of fellow church members are seriously wounded because the results of friendly fire. Nonbelievers avoid some of our churches because they know they'll be landing in the middle of a war zone. How many of our church folk become victims of friendly fire? How many times have you been a victim of friendly fire? More important, how many times have you attacked a fellow brother or sister with friendly fire?

 
All in Tune
Source: A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God
"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all turned 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."

 
Spotlight vs. Laser Beam
Have you ever wondered what makes the difference between a spotlight and a laser beam? How can a medium-powered laser burn through steel in a matter of seconds, while the most powerful spotlight can only make it warm? Both may have the same electrical power requirements. The difference is unity. A laser can be simply described as a medium of excited molecules with mirrors at each end. Some of the excited molecules naturally decay into a less excited state. In the decay process they release a photon, a particle of light. It is here that the unique process of the laser begins. The photon moves along and "tickles" another molecule, inviting another photon to join him on his journey. Then these two photons "tickle" two more molecules and invite two more photons to join the parade. Soon there is a huge army of photons marching in step with each other. It is this unity that gives the laser its power. A spotlight may have just as many photons, but each is going its own independent way, occasionally interfering with other photons. As a result, much of its power is wasted and cannot be focused to do any useful work. However, the laser, because of its unity, is like an army marching in tight formation and is able to focus all its power on its objective.

 
Conflict in Community
Source: Larry Crabb, The Safest Place on Earth, p. 40.
"The difference between spiritual and unspiritual community is not whether conflict exists, but is rather in our attitude toward it and our approach to handling it. When conflict is seen as an opportunity to draw more fully on spiritual resources, we have the makings of spiritual community."

 
Get Organized
In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn't. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "What channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?"

Fully Committed

Garibaldi had an incredibly committed volunteer army. He would appeal for recruits in these terms: "I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart and not with his lips only, follow me!" Jesus invites you to discipleship. But He lets you know up front that it is a commitment that will cost you something. It's not going to be easy. To paraphrase Garibaldi, "Let him who loves the Lord with his heart and not with his lips only, be Jesus' disciple!"

We Need More Church Fans
Source: National & International Religion Report, 5/2/94. "To Verify," Leadership.

The Bible tells us that where your treasure is, there your heart is also. That means we could accurately say that many folks are more committed to professional sports than they are to the church. In 1993 the total attendance at worship services in the U.S. was 5.6 billion, while the total attendance at U.S. professional baseball, football, and basketball games combined was only 103 million (less than two percent of the worship attendance, or for every 100 people who attended church less than two were at a sporting event.)

Now the rest of the story: Contributions to churches for the year totaled $56.7 billion (that's just over $10 per person), but the amount spent on professional baseball, football, and basketball totaled $4 billion (that's nearly $40 per person or almost four times what people gave to their local church per person). Is it any wonder that we look at some fans and say that they really are fanatics? They are more sold out for their team than many church attenders. How could we change the nation if the church quadrupled its commitment of resources, discipleship, and evangelism?

Accepting the Marginal
Source: Dallas Willard

The leading assumption in the American church today—and the Australian one I'll add—is that you can be a Christian but not a disciple. That has placed a tremendous burden on a mass of Christians who are not disciples. We tell them to come to church, participate in our programs and give money. But we see a church that knows nothing of commitment. We have settled for the marginal, and so we carry this awful burden of trying to motivate people to do what they don't want to do. We can't think about church the way we have been.

The True Nature of Spiritual Life
Source: James Emery White, You Can Experience the Spiritual Life (Nashville: Word Pub., 1999), 194.

Christian spirituality isn't about sitting at the feet of some guru for a seminar at a retreat. It isn't about having a nice comfortable, safe dose of spirituality in your life to make you feel good whenever your thoughts run deep about ultimate questions and eternal destinies. Jesus called people to follow Him—and there was only one place He was going: a cross. The true nature of spiritual living involves sacrifice, duty, and commitment.

Commitment Challenges

A common source of challenge in life is commitment as illustrated in the following story: The church choir director was frustrated with the sporadic attendance of all the choir members for rehearsals for the Christmas Choral Concert. At the final rehearsal he announced, "I want to personally thank the pianist for being the only person in this entire church choir to attend each and every rehearsal during the past two months." At this, the pianist rose, bowed, and said, "It was the least that I could do, considering I won't be able to be at the Christmas Choral Concert tonight!"

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replies, "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" asks Holmes Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow."

After a pause, Watson says: "Well, Holmes, What does it tell you?" Holmes is silent for a moment and then he speaks. "Watson, you imbecile, can't you see that someone has stolen our tent." There is a danger, when we come to Scripture that we look for the complicated rather than looking for the obvious

Faithful Instructions
Contributor: Randy Leckliter

There was a man who got lost in the desert. After wandering around for a long time his throat became very dry, about that time he saw a little shack in the distance. He made his way over to the shack and found a water pump with a small jug of water and a note. The note read: "Pour all the water into the top of the pump to prime it. If you do this, you will get all the water you need."

Now the man had a choice to make, if he trusted the note and poured the water in and it worked, he would have all the water he needed. If it didn't work, he would still be thirsty and he might die. Or he could choose to drink the water in the jug and get immediate satisfaction, but it might not be enough and he still might die.

After thinking about it, the man decided to risk it. He poured the entire jug into the pump and began to work the handle. At first nothing happened, and he got a little scared. But he kept going, and water started coming out. So much water came out that he drank all he wanted, took a shower, and filled all the containers he could find. Because he was willing to give up momentary satisfaction, he got all the water he needed.

Now the note also said, "After you have finished, please refill the jug for the next traveler." The man refilled the jug and added to the note, "Please prime the pump. Believe me, it works!"

We have the same choice to make. Do we hold on to what we have because we don't believe there are better things in store for us, so we'll settle for immediate satisfaction? Or do we trust God and give up all that we have to get what God has promised us? I think the choice is obvious. We need to pour in all the water and trust God with everything. Then once we have experienced what God has to offer, the Living Water, we need to tell other people, "Go ahead, prime the pump. Believe me, it works!"

How Many Saturdays?
Source: Jeff Davis

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital. Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

'It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail, and by that time I had lived through over 2,800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

'I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

'Now let me tell you one last thing before I take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday, then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

And 4 more after the jump

Pragmatic Religion
Source: James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life,
pp. 33-34.

Years ago in Germany, there was a young Jewish boy who had a profound sense of admiration for his father. His family's life centered on the acts of piety and devotion prescribed by their religion. The father was zealous in attending worship and religious instruction, and he demanded the same from his children.

While the boy was a teenager, the family was forced to move to another town in Germany. There was no synagogue in the new town, and the pillars of the community all belonged to the Lutheran church. Suddenly the father announced to the family that they were going to abandon their Jewish traditions and join the Lutheran church. When the stunned family asked why, the father explained that changing religions was necessary to help his business.

The youngster was bewildered and confused. His deep disappointment soon gave way to anger and a kind of intense bitterness that plagued him throughout his life. That disappointed son, disillusioned by his father's lack of integrity, eventually left Germany and went to England to study. He sat daily at the British Museum, formulating various ideas and writing a book. In that work, he introduced an entirely new world-view, envisioning a movement that would change the social and political systems of the world. Drawing from past experiences with his father, he described religion as an "opiate for the masses" that could be explained totally in terms of economics and personal gain.

Today, millions of people still live under the system invented by this embittered man, and millions more suffered under previous regimes that incorporated its values. His name, of course, was Karl Marx, and his idea was communism. And it all began with his father's misuse of the name of God for the sake of profit.

And four more illustrations after the jump

This was a rather large weekend for me. I started off on Friday night where I spoke to a local youth group about, well me. It's been a while since I've just given a flat out testimony of God's work in my life and I found myself sketching out the time from my conversion in my late teens to now and once again marveling at just how good God has been to me.

The results were good, I lifted a little bit of material from my Sunday sermon and challenged them about where they were heading in life (I guess that's standard fare for teenage talks) and specifically challenged them in their Spiritual ambition.

Afterwards I was talking one on one with some of the kids. One girl pulled me aside and asked me the question "How do you hear from God". It was great to be streched by the question. She didn't want a prepacked answer but a reflection of my life with God based on what she heard in the talk. Who said kids today dont listen :)

The questions continued on Sunday when one of the youth leaders passed on questions from their Sunday morning get together. Things like "Why is my school Calvanist, they keep saying everybody has a choice to be saved" which I thought was quite insightful!

I preached Sunday morning and even used some illustrations that I blogged about last week :) I spoke about identity theft and based it loosely around 1 Peter 2:4-10. It was well recieved and made people think which is my number 2 goal in preaching (number 1 being that what I say are words of hope).

The big idea I was trying to hammer home is that are Spiritual Identities are in being God's holy priest. We have been created with a plan in mind and work to do in the world.

I'm going to post the full text later in the week after I format it up.