Sorry for the posting delays. With vacation, work, and the connecting with the needs of my mom since her stroke, my blog has bogged down. But I'm turning over a new leaf!

WHAT WE LEARN ABOUT OURSELVES FROM JOHN 9 …

FIRST, WE HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PAIN AND SUFFERING WE SEE IN OUR OWN LIVES AND IN THE WORLD.

This is natural. If we didn’t have these questions then we’d be living life with our eyes closed and our minds shut down.

Disease and all the other results of the fact that sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden … these things are experienced by everyone. Those who aren’t in relationship and fellowship with God, and those who are. All of us have sinned and live under the curse of sin. In MATTHEW 5:45 Jesus taught this lesson clearly when He said that the rain falls equally on the crops of the righteous and the unrighteous.

At times Jesus removes certain aspects of sin's curse – like in this story in JOHN 9 … the man was born blind, but God restored his sight. But even this man’s healing doesn’t automatically remove him from all the physical aspects of the curse in a fallen world as it relates to aging, susceptibility to sickness etc … but what it does give in this life is restoration of fellowship with God in the Spirit. And that’s priceless!

SECOND, GOD WILL GIVE US OPPORTUNITIES TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT HIM, ABOUT WHAT HE’S DOING IN OUR LIVES (THE INSTRUCTION, THE HEALING, AND THE DIRECTION HE’S GIVING US). WE NEED TO BE WILLING TO WALK THROUGH THESE DOORS GOD OPENS UP FOR US.

vv. 13-34 … We don’t need to be afraid of this, even if we don’t have all the answers. We just need to be willing to offer the testimony of our mouths (our "story") concerning what Jesus has done and is doing in our lives. Here's a simple outline to use as you think about how to share your story ...

1. My life before Jesus … what was missing?
2. How I met Jesus … what He brought to me and filled up the missing places of my life with.
3. How my life has changed and is changing since coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ … what I’m learning.

THIRD, IT CAN BE EASY TO TRY TO TAKE GLORY FROM GOD. WE’VE GOT TO STAY AWAY FROM THIS TRAP.

vv. 24-34 … Gang, God doesn’t share His glory with anyone.

FOURTH, WISDOM WILL COME TO THOSE WHO GIVE GOD THE GLORY FOR WHAT HE IS DOING IN THEIR LIVES.

vv. 30-34 … Wisdom isn’t the “possession” of those with great “knowledge.” No way. Rather, wisdom is the gift of God to those with great humility, who exhibit great surrender, and who are willing to share the life of faith they have with God with the people God brings across their paths.

FIFTH, GREAT BELIEF IN GOD LEADS TO GREAT WORSHIP OF GOD.

v. 38 … God has hard-wired us to be in communion with Him. Rich Mullin’s wrote a song called “Screen Door” that talks about this. The main line says, “Faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine. Faith without works. It just ain’t happening!”

SIXTH, AS HUMAN BEINGS, WE’RE PRONE TO PRIDE AND ARROGANCE … AND BLINDNESS IS THE FRUIT OF BOTH OF THESE SINS.

vv. 39-41 … Getting to know Jesus, touching Jesus, obeying Jesus, and believing into Jesus this is where healing and the answers to our questions will be found.

Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

Friends,

Remember being in elementary school and doing Show And Tell? I went to First, Second, Third, and Fourth Grades at Pioneer Elementary School in Quincy, Washington, and I remember some great Show and Tells.

One day in Second Grade, a kid named Bobby brought something in a bag that he was really excited to TELL us about and then SHOW us. But I’ll never forget the collective gasp that sucked all the oxygen out of the room when he opened up the bag and shook out a dead bunny that he’d found the night before. It wasn’t bloody or anything. It just basically looked like it was sleeping. And Bobby (along with most of the kids) thought it was so cool. But the teacher? Not so much.

Then in Third Grade, when it was GRANDPARENT WEEK, a girl named Janet wanted to bring her grandfather to school for Show and Tell. I guess our teacher thought that maybe Janet’s grandpa could tell the class about all the ways he’d seen the world change since the turn of the 20th Century or something instructive like that. But of course that wasn’t what happened. Because Janet brought her grandfather to class all right – but he was in an urn. Which of course was something that most of us in the class hadn’t ever seen before. Again, very cool. I remembered those two Show And Tells, that’s for sure.

Well this morning the story John tells us in JOHN 9 is kind of like Show And Tell. Actually it’s more like Tell And Show … I did the Tell earlier in the service when I read through JOHN 9:1-41 and shared a bit of commentary with you along the way. And now I’ll do the Show part of the equation, as I share with you some of the things I believe God wants to teach us through this story …

1. SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS ABOUT JESUS
2. SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS ABOUT US, AND …
3. SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS ABOUT HEALING

This is an exciting section of God’s WORD, and as I’ve been studying it and praying through it, and preparing to share it with you this past week, I’ve been really blessed to see how God wants me to open it up for us here this morning. Unlike most of the chapters of John’s Gospel, JOHN 9:1-41 is ONE COMPLETE STORY. In this and the next two blog postings, I'll share these three sets of lessons I'm learning from JOHN 9.

1. WHAT WE LEARN ABOUT JESUS FROM JOHN 9 …

v. 1 … FIRST, JESUS LOOKS AT YOU AND ME WITH EYES OF COMPASSION AND HOPE.

His COMPASSION enables Jesus to see us as we really are, and love us anyway. And His HOPE enables Jesus to see what we can become if we’ll surrender our brokenness and our pain to His touch.

Sometimes Jesus invites us to put our faith in Him and THEN He brings healing into our lives. And sometimes He brings healing into our lives and THEN He calls us to faith in Him. It’s not a fixed formula that has to be followed.

Jesus is God. He can do this however He wants to do it. I don’t want to KNOW, SERVE and SURRENDER MY LIFE to a God that I can completely understand … a God that I put into a box. Because that would mean that I’d be KNOWING, SERVING and SURRENDERING to a God who is less powerful and wise and me. And believe me, I know how low that sets that bar!

I want to KNOW and SERVE and SURRENDER my life to a God who is full of mystery, and who doesn’t do whatever I ask Him to do … but Who’s character is consistent, whose compassion is deep, and whose plans can be trusted.

vv. 6-7 … SECOND, JESUS LONGS TO TOUCH US (WE NEED TO BE WILLING) … GOD LONGS TO INSTRUCT US (WE NEED TO BE TEACHABLE) … GOD LONGS TO HEAL US (WE NEED TO BE OBEDIENT). WILLING, TEACHABLE, OBEDIENT … they’re all about SURRENDER.

vv. 1-41 … THIRD, JESUS WANTS TO TEACH US ABOUT HEALING, AND ABOUT WHO HE IS AS JEHOVAH-RAPHA, “THE GOD WHO HEALS”.

God first revealed this “healing” part of His nature to the Israelites in EXODUS 15 …

After God took the Children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, He brought them into the wilderness of Shur, where for three days they wandered around without water. For seventy-two hours the scorching sun of the desert beat down on them, and the sand burned their feet. Their livestock was dying, their children’s tongues were swollen, and their lips were parched to the point of cracking.

Then, they came to the waters of Marah. Imagine how their hearts must have leaped in their chests when they saw it! They could almost taste it, and feel it cooling them down and refreshing their swollen mouths. But when they got there, the water was bitter, dank and literally undrinkable.

And so immediately they turned on Moses and started to blame him. And isn’t this what we do when we come into hard times, when we have an area of our lives that isn’t working out the way we thought it should, or the way we hoped it would, or even the way we prayed it would? We all too easily grumble, murmur, and complain … instead of believing, hoping, and praying. And yet, God still has plans for us, just waiting for us to discover and live into.

Yes they were in a hard chapter of their lives, but God had brought them out of Egypt, and He would take care of them. And that day God used Moses to make the bitter water sweet by taking a nearby tree and placing it into the water. Mysterious. God-like. God’s care and provision made visible.

And just like the Israelites, God has brought you and me through so much. He hasn’t turned His back on us . Not by a long shot. And so it was here at the waters of Marah that God taught the Israelites that He was Jehovah-Rapha, the God who heals.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 10:11 (CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION)

11 These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days.

v. 31 … FOURTH, OUR SIN BUILDS A WALL BETWEEN US AND GOD. CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE REMOVES THIS WALL, AND OPENS US UP MORE FULLY TO THE LIFE OF REDEMPTION GOD HAS FOR US. THE RESULT OF CONFESSION AND REPENTANCE IS THE RECEIVING OF GRACE AND PEACE.

Maybe you’re here this morning and God wants to bring His healing to your life … but there’s something in the way, there’s some sin you need to confess, repent of, and move away from. If that’s you, what are you going to do about it?

v. 35 … Jesus knows us and stays in touch with us in the midst of our pain and our rejection. We’re not alone. HEBREWS 4:13 …

FIRST CORINTHIANS 10:13 (THE MESSAGE)

13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

HEBREWS 4:13, 15-16 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE)

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

vv. 39-41 … FIFTH, JESUS CAME TO TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN, AND TO RIGHT THE WRONG THAT SIN HAS BROUGHT INTO THE WORLD.

Again, this bring us back to the great COMPASSION and HOPE Jesus has for us … that He brings to us, that motivates His desire to bring His healing to our lives.

In the next posting I'll share with you what I'm learning about myself as a human being from JOHN 9. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

NATURAL CHURCH GROWTH ...
WHICH WAY THE WIND IS BLOWING

The change and growth of a church community can be dumbfounding. At times the numbers diminish, and it's a sign of winnowing, cleansing, and sharpening. At other times the numbers increase and it's a sign of hero-worship instead of Jesus-worship. But whether a church's growth curve is spiking up or tumbling down -- change is more than likely reflective of what is happening in the root system of the tree called "the church".

But let me focus on growth, not decline for a few minutes. Like the old AA saying, "Sometimes quickly. Sometimes slowly." Sometimes growth comes as the result of a sovereign move of God -- catching us totally off-guard. And at other times growth comes as the result of intentionally discerning what God is doing and then partnering with Him. Sometimes when growth comes we're ready spiritually, but unprepared organizationally. And at other times when growth comes we've been looking for it for a long time but fail to see what God is up to, and quickly attribute it to our own efforts, or even "the luck of the draw."

Teresa and I recently spent time at the annual pastor's conference, sponsored by NW Yearly Meeting of Friends Church (www.nwfriends.org) and hosted by Twin Rocks Friends Camp in Rockaway Beach, OR (www.twinrocks.org). We had a great time there and during one of our meals a fellow pastor asked me what 2nd Street can attribute it's recent growth to, and here's a synopsis of what I shared with him ...

• Elders and leaders who worship, pray, and even fast together. This brings humility, insight, courage, and stamina.
• Worship that is varied, contemporary, contemplative, with many different instruments and teams ... always focusing on Jesus Christ ... interspersed with Scripture. This draws people's hearts and minds away from ego, fear and tradition.
• People telling their stories ... up front and personal about how Jesus Christ is changing the way they think, what they feel, what they're saying, and what they are doing. This helps create an "us story", not a "me and them story" within our midst.
• Teaching from God's Word that is in-depth, and yet that leaves most of the individual application up to the Holy Spirit. This helps those who gather remain God-dependent, not Gregg-dependent. I just finished teaching # 30 out of John's Gospel -- and next week I'm studying for, praying through, and preparing to teach on JOHN 9:1-7. Before John I taught from FIRST PETER and HAGGAI. Remember that the tortoise won the race, not the hare. Slow doesn't have to equal boring. Rather, intentional can equal thorough, engaging, and deep. I believe that when it comes to the teaching of Gods' WORD, this is what people are longing for in their spirits. To come to worship and drink deeply of the things of God. And people become hungry and thirsty for what they eat and drink. And so as they eat and drink deeply on Sunday, that becomes the desire of their hearts throughout the week. Little will no longer satisfy. Shallow will no longer sustain.
  
• A leadership team who are more concerned about their own (and one another's) faithfulness than about their qualifications. Much of the time when our qualifications are what is being focused on, we will remain unwilling (or not even see the need) for the discipline it takes to become a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. But when faithfulness is what is pursued, focused on, and desired, most of the time, God will get the person qualified (in His way, in His time, and with the person's cooperation) to do whatever He has planned for them to do in the Kingdom. This posture leads to teamwork, not competition.
• Working with other local churches in a spirit of cooperation (Community Health Day in August, Serve and Celebration in September, Feed the Need Community Food Drive in October). We pray for another church, and or local ministry every Sunday. We are contending nor in competition with no one. As each Christ-honoring church in Newberg thrives, we all become stronger. "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done".
• We "weigh and measure" everything we do against our Mission Statement and and our Values ... discerning our annual Ministry Plans before we design them and then letting our Ministry Funding Plans simply follow them, not the other way around. This keeps us lean and attentive to the purpose of our life-together. God has used this methodology to help us increase our Ministry Funding Plan by over 125K in the past two years.
  
• We regularly invite people on Sunday morning to make the choice to become devoted followers of Jesus Christ. There should be no shame or privatizing of our faith. The inner must turn outward with celebration and the strength of community.
• Community Groups (small groups) are growing because we have a Community Group Facilitator who is making them visible. One year ago we had 6 Community Groups meeting regularly. Now we have 18. This is where much of the pastoral care and serving takes place -- as all Community Groups have a service component built into them ... we study and learn together, we seek and find together, and we serve God and the world together. This is knitting our hearts to God and one another at a deeper level.
• We highly value and model authenticity, surrender, brokenness, and transparency. Our Celebrate Recovery (www.celebraterecovery.com) has grown from around twenty people a week 18 months ago to over 50 weekly ... including big group, small group, and step-studies. With great surrender, great healing comes, with great healing, great discipleship happens, and with great discipleship, great leadership develops, and with great leadership, more people will be drawn towards Jesus Christ and into a life with Him.

I know that not everything that works at one church will work at another church. But that's mostly just true with programs. But notice that what I've written about above has very, very little to do with programs. It has to do with posture, with heart, with attitude, with desires, with mission, with passion, and with focus. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

SMALL STEPS. BIG GOD

My mom Nancy had a stroke last Thursday. I feel helpless because I am ... just as I'm sure my mom feels helpless. Larry Hine, a man who has been a spiritual director to both the late Henri Nouwen, and to Brennan Manning often used a blessing with these two men, that for some reason keeps coming to mind during these days and nights ...

"May all your expectations be
frustrated. May all your plans
be thwarted. May all of your
desires be withered into nothing-
ness, that you may experience
the powerlessness and poverty of
a child and sing and dance in the
love of God the Father the Son,
and the Spirit." Amen!

Like you, I wish I knew the way the road ahead is going to turn -- up, down, right, or left. But of course, we cannot know such things. And so I make the choice to surrender, to trust, to wait, to pray, to listen, to hope, to embrace, and to cherish.

The picture above this post was taken by my brother Brad. It's his hand holding my mom's as she lays in her hospital bed. I believe it's a good visual metaphor of how God is holding onto my mom right now -- and of course, to me and to you. Small steps. Big God. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

THE SHACK
BY WILLIAM P. YOUNG

I just finished shacking up with William P. Young. I guess William's middle name is Paul -- and from reading his blog and others, and while following but not joining in the conversations about The Shack I found there -- I discovered that he goes by Paul. So that's what I'll call him from now on in this short email.

I found little in Paul's words to be fearful of and much about them ponder-able.

I think that building theology on the Bible and not on literature, sacred or secular is always a good idea. So I'll keep building my ragamuffin beliefs on God's Word and not, for instance, on Flannery O'Connor, Eugene Peterson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dr. Seuss, Anne Lamott, C.S. Lewis, or Paul Young for that matter. And I'd issue the same caution for building our theology on our experiences. Sandy ground to be sure. At least my experiences. Maybe yours are more sacredly sound than my own adolescent fumblings.

I found Paul's writing getting better from the front of the book to the back. This seems like something an editor could have helped him with. And yet, overall, if I was grading him on "improvement of thought, writing, structure and the portrayal of intent" I'd give him pretty high marks. But I can't say the same thing for his belief-system. It seemed rickety at best, and downright fragile at worst. But then I'm sure some might say the same thing about mine.

And the reason I see Paul's belief system as rickety and fragile is because it seems to have been primarily built on his experiences and disappointments with God, rather than with his interaction with God's written and living Word. At least 1/2 and 1/2 would have been an improvement.

I think that when we have a single-hearted devotion to Jesus Christ we can (and should) read books like this that have somehow caught the hearts, minds, and imaginations of God-seekers and Christ-followers from across a broad spectrum of denominational and transdenominational flavors.

But I also want to temper that belief with by following Paul's keen advice in ROMANS 16:19 that Christ-followers be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil -- because I believe that to do so will save us not only from doctrinal error, but from spiritual heartache and regret.

I see Paul simply trying to share his with-God experiences -- however "sketchy and/or freely expanded-upon" they seem to be. Is what he shares incomplete? Sure. And yet, let's not expect a book to be different than the intention it was birthed from. I don't see it was Paul's goal to write a volume of systematic theology. Like all things written down in words, Paul's describing the God he has experienced, and not the God he is experiencing. But is it heresy? No, I don't think so. Maybe it's kind of how I view the 7th Day Adventist Church? Is it a cult? No. Do I want to sign up to let them teach me about end times, angels, and dietary laws? No thanks. Likewise, I don't want Paul to teach me theology. But I do think I can learn some things from him ... more about that in a future post.

Maybe Paul will write a belief-stepped sequel and call it The Condo. If he does, I hope it includes some of the life-lessons and God-lessons he's no doubt learning and taking for a test-drive now that his book is such a big hit (# 9 last week on www.amazon.com out of millions of books).

Unlike some of my friends and colleagues, I don't see Paul's words marketing "cheap grace". Rather, I see them revealing to us his incomplete understanding of grace. He's on a journey. And while I don't see myself walking side-by-side him right now, I have great hopes that he's authentically seeking the One True God.

Some web-postings about Paul and The Shack seem like they want to canonize the book and beatify the man. While others seem like they want to burn the book, and excommunicate the author. I see little need to give either extreme much attention.

But neither does Paul seem to me like a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's a man in process. Not everybody can embrace the neat-and-tidy-black-and-white theological categories of MacArthur and Piper. Nor can everyone feel at home in the bend-over-backwards-while-sticking-your-head-between-your-thighs flexible dogma of the emergent church movement's McLaren and Driscolll. Maybe Paul fancies himself living and believing somewhere in between. I know I do. But that doesn't make me a Youngite. It just makes me human.

I'm glad I read The Shack. But I'm also glad that my doubts and questions don't outweigh my beliefs and convictions 10 to 1 (it's probably more like a 80/20 split), that it's my goal to have my faith be both reasoned and experiential, and that I can know the intimacy of God as my "Abba" and Jesus as my "friend" while at the same time be in speechless awe that God is infinite, unknowable, and completely other to all I am and all I can know on my own. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD?

In MATTHEW 11:28 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) Jesus says, Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Jesus didn’t say, “Come unto Me all you who are wise or wealthy or worthy.” He said, Come unto Me, all you who are weary.

Or remember when Jesus said in MATTHEW 9:12 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE), I haven’t come for the well, but for the sick.

In FIRST CORINTHIANS 1:26-27 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) the Apostle Paul says, Are there any among you who are wise? [implying that “no, there is not”] but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong …

Our God is in the business of choosing down-and-outers – people who’ve known rejection … and then He gets busy about transforming them from death into life. And this isn’t just some new plan God started using when Jesus came to earth. God has always used this method. It’s the same method God used in The Old Testament when He came to David in the wilderness and gave him some good, true, righteous men to stand and fight at his side. Listen to the description of who these God brought alongside David ...

FIRST SAMUEL 22:2 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) ... Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was disoriented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.

Distressed, in debt and disoriented. Now that’s a great resume! Do any of those descriptions ring a bell from your own life, from your own experience, from your own choices? Distressed, in debt and disoriented? And yet as this group of men followed David, they learned from him, they changed, and eventually they became a powerful, purposeful righteous band of brothers.

Or consider Jesus’ own disciples and His other followers. Three years before the cross came into the picture, Jesus asked this ragtag group of men and women to follow Him, and they weren’t exactly magna cum laude material. In JOHN 15:18 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) Jesus said to them … If the world hates and rejects you, you know that it has hated and rejected Me before it hated you.

And in the final hours of His life … when Jesus hung on the cross for you and for me, He was rejected, despised and forsaken. And nobody who’s ever walked this world has known the kind of rejection Jesus knew that day.

As Jesus went through the last days and hours leading up to the cross … and as the crown of thorns was forced down onto His head … and as He hung, nearly naked on the cross of Calvary … He experienced a gut-wrenching kind of rejection.

• Jesus was alone as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His arrest.
  
• Jesus was alone before Caiaphas the High Priest.
• Jesus was alone when He stood before Pilate and Herod.
• Jesus was alone as He was nailed to the cross.
• And ultimately, as Jesus tried to breathe, His body heaving up and down, and up and down on the cross, He was abandoned by His Father.

The Apostle Paul wrote in … SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:21 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) God made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

And when that happened, when Jesus became sin, God the Father had to look away from Him, reject Him, and abandon Him. Maybe you’ve felt some of the rejection Jesus felt on the days leading up to the cross and as He hung there on the cross.

Maybe you’ve felt alone … Maybe you can relate to Jesus in the Garden that night … maybe you’ve prayed prayers that didn’t seem to get out of the room, let alone make it all the way to God. Maybe, while going through hard things, it’s felt like God has forgotten about you, that you weren’t on God’s radar, or that God didn’t even know you existed.

Maybe you’ve felt alone … Maybe friends have turned their backs on you. You thought they were loyal … real friends. But when you needed them most they were nowhere to be found, or even worse, maybe they turned against you.

Maybe you’ve felt alone … Maybe the church hasn’t been there for you like you thought it should, hoped it could, or prayed it would. Maybe that’s the reason it’s been hard for you to trust the church, or really get involved in the church – because somewhere in your past it’s let you down.

Maybe you’ve felt alone … Maybe the government or other people in authority over you haven’t given you a fair shake, haven’t really heard your side of the story, haven’t stood with you when you needed them to.

If you’ve felt rejected or forsaken by God sometime during your life, I want to tell you that you haven’t been. Because the truth of the matter is that nothing can separate you and me from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus.

ISAIAH 53:3a (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) says that He [Jesus Christ] was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Because of what Jesus went through during His thirty-three years here on earth, and during the last week of His life, and on the last hours when He hung on the cross … Believe me when I tell you that He is “acquainted with grief.” In other words, He can relate to our hurts, to our pains, to our hang-ups, to our sorrows, to our disappointments.

To the teenager who doesn’t know how to fit in … or where to fit in. Jesus says, “Because of the Cross I’m acquainted with that kind of sorrow, with that kind of pain.”

To the man or woman whose spouse walked out on them … or to the man or woman whose spouse cheated on them, breaking their vows and their trust … Jesus says, “Because of the Cross I’m acquainted with that kind of desertion.”

To the student who tried to get into a certain school but was rejected. To the guy who had his heart stomped on by the girl who he thought loved him. To the employee who heard the words, “We’re downsizing” … whatever it is, Jesus says, “Because of the Cross I know about grief … I know about rejection … I know about pain.”

Again, the Apostle Paul writes, this time to the believers in the town of Ephesus (which was in what is now modern-day Turkey) EPHESIANS 1:6 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE) the praise of the glory of His [God the Father’s] grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [Jesus Christ].

The NEW KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible puts this verse this way … to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

In God’s WORD we read that we are …

• The apple of God’s eye.
• That we are the Bride of Christ.
• That we are the Rose of Sharon.
• That we are a Royal Priesthood, a Chosen People, and a Holy Nation.

This is who we are before God because of what happened on the Cross.

AMAZING LOVE
Chris Tomlin

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted … You were condemned.
I am alive and well … Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.

CHORUS …
Amazing love … How can it be?
That You, my King would die for me?
Amazing love … I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You … In all I do, I honor You.

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted … You were condemned.
I am alive and well … Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.

You are my King
You are my King

God, thank You for Your willingness to send Your Son, Jesus Christ to the cross so that we can know You, be loved by You, and accepted by You. Thank you that in Jesus Christ, we are embraced by You. May the price Jesus paid on the cross drive our priorities deeper into Your heart. May the price Jesus paid on the cross convict us of shallow living, of half-hearted discipleship, of the cheapening of grace that we so easy participate in.

Thank You God for picking a "down and outer" like me. Today I choose to remember what You’ve done for me. What You alone could have done for me. And I thank You. And I embrace You. And I bow down before You. Amen.

Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

LETTER TO A LEADER ...

Earlier this week I wrote the following letter to a friend of mine in leadership. After reading back through it, I feel that it has more to say than to just this one person. So I'm sharing it here with you ...

Friend,

I'm glad that God's plans for your life and your gifts have included you being in the role you are in. I'm know that your journey to this place has included much praying, dreaming, envisioning, planning, waiting, learning, cooperating, leading, applying, serving, knowing, not knowing, and discovery. A Christ-follower, a leader of leaders, a parent, a Sunday School teacher, a friend, a sibling, a child ... you have worn and are wearing many hats.

I'm sure that old saying, "Be careful of what you hope and pray for!" has come to mind more than once in the past three decades of life, ministry and career. What a rare combination of gifts and callings you are. And through it all I have watched you stand strong with God. Thank you for your witness of what it means to have what Frederick Nietzsche said was lacking in so much of Christianity ... a "long obedience in the same direction."

Today while thinking about you my mind has gone to GENESIS 22:14 where God revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac and the ram, and where Abraham named the place God showed up "Jehovah Yireh" which doesn't exactly mean what the 1970's worship song says ... "Jehovah Jireh, my provider". And at the end of the day, the One who had issued the call, watched the obedience of Abraham and became his provider. Abraham didn't have to think long and hard about what to call the hilltop.

Again, the translation "Jehovah Jireh, my provider" is too "present and immediate" in it's tense for what this expression of God's character means. You and I both know from our own life-experiences what Abraham learned after climbing that mountain -- that as God leads, God also provides. But when you look at the Hebrew tense of the words in this verse (as The Emphasized Version of the Bible does), here is what's really being said ...

"So Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh, - as to which it is still said today, 'In the mountain of Yahweh, will provision be made.'" (italics mine)

In other words, "God's provision" isn't always quickly, or easily discovered, looked upon, or lived into. And yet, somehow, in response to our faithfulness, and our humble choice to look beyond the potentially flimsiness of our qualifications, God takes us on a journey of heart, mind and soul, that allows us to trust Him deeper, to depend on Him more consistently, to walk by faith and not by sight, and to hand over the outcomes of our lives into His hands in ways that move past stubborn obedience to true and total surrender."

And when we do this as GENESIS 22:14 says, "God's "provision will (in His timing, and in His way) be made."

Like they say in AA, "sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly." Trust God's timing. Trust the nudges God gives you and that you will only notice by being attentive, dey pendent upon Him, and fully surrendered to Him. Like what the Apostle Paul wrote to His friends in GALATIANS 3:3, I write to you ...

Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? (The Message)

And I love how this verse is rendered by J.B. Phillips ...

Surely you can't be so idiotic as to think that a man begins his spiritual life in the Spirit and then completes it by reverting to outward observances? Has all your painful experience brought you nowhere? I simply cannot believe it of you! (The J.B. Phillips New Testament In Modern English)

A person wouldn't start out a horse race, be way out in front of the pack, and then say, "I don't need this horse. I'm going to jump off it and finish this race on my own two legs. I'm fast enough. I can do this." They'd be a fool to try this. And yet this is the "craziness" and the "idiocy" we all-too-easily fall for when promoted by God to do greater things for Him in His Kingdom. What God has begun, let God continue doing.

So let me remind you today to let God's provision be seen in your visions, in your decisions AND IN the processes you take with God discerning and implementing them. Allow God to truly lead you, and then you can lead the others God has called you and equipped you to lead by simply staying in His footsteps.

Don't sprint ahead of God because of pride. Don't lag behind God because of fear. And as you stay in step with God, listen with the intention and humility of a servant listening for the voice and directions of the master. For a servant is what and who you are ... and what you must remain if you're to continue being God's person for the job He has called you to do. PSALM 123:1-2 speaks so beautifully of this ...

I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We look to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal. (New Living Translation)

Blessings to you dear friend. Your master is signaling, so keep your eyes on Him. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

LIGHT AND DARKNESS

In JOHN 8:1-11 Jesus offered compassion and grace to the woman trapped in adultery ... and He responded with truth-speaking and judgment to the Jewish religious leaders who brought her to Jesus and nearly demanded that He join them in stoning her.

Remember JOHN 8 begins the day after the FEAST OF TABERNACLES ended … and Jesus had gone back to the Temple in the morning to teach. And like the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with the woman they caught “in the very act of adultery” – now they’re trying to catch Jesus in another trap. But wisdom is hard to bait.

And just like 2nd Streeter Edie Salmon most effectively displays the beauty and radiance of the gemstones she sells in her jewelry store against a background of black velvet … Jesus knew that the next words He was about to speak, as recorded here in JOHN 8:12, would come most vividly into focus when placed against the backdrop of the blackness and darkness of the story that just preceded it.

JOHN 8:12 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE)

12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I
am the Light of the world; he who follows Me
will not walk in the darkness, but will have
the Light of life.”

And as we move into the study of these nineteen verses, I want us to ask ourselves several questions …

1. What does it mean that the world is dark, and in need of God’s Light?
2. What does it mean that our hearts are dark, and in need of God’s Light?
3. What is the purpose of Light?
4. What are the benefits of walking in the Light?

2nd Streeter Karl Harn sent me an email earlier this week with an apocryphal story/parable whose dialogue speaks into some of what Jesus is driving at as He tells these Jewish religious leaders that He’s the Light of the world.

The story begins with a college philosophy professor trying to trap a couple of students in his supposed logic. He wanted to show that if God “created evil” then God must “be evil” … and that faith can’t be basis of belief because unlike science it’s non-provable and non-sensory. And when the professor stopped talking in order to watch his bait squirm in the trap, one of the students speaks up and says …

“Professor, is there such a thing as heat?”
“Yes,” the professor replies. “There's heat.”
“And is there such a thing as cold?”
“Yes, son, there's cold too.”
“No sir, there isn't” the student said firmly but politely.

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested … the classroom becomes very quiet … and the student began to explain.
“Sir, you can have more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but there is no scientific classification of something called ‘cold’.

Every body or object is susceptible to study when it either has or transmits energy. And heat is what makes a body or object have or transmit energy. Absolute zero … or -458 Fahrenheit – is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only the word we made up to describe the absence of heat. Cold isn’t the opposite of heat … it’s just the absence of heat .” And as the student spoke these words, the silence in the classroom deepened.

“What about darkness, professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?” the student continued probing …
“Yes,” the professor replies without hesitation. “What is night if it isn't darkness?”

“Respectfully speaking sir, you're wrong again. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, and flashing light, but if you have no light, you have nothing and it's called darkness. Darkness is merely the word we made up to define, or give meaning to the absence of light. Darkness isn’t something. Like cold is the absence of heat, darkness is simply the absence of something.

“So what point are you making, young man?” the professor asked.

“Sir, my point is that when our philosophical premises are flawed to start with, our conclusions will also be flawed. You argue that there is life and then there is death; a good God and a bad God. You’re viewing the concept of God as something finite, something that you and I as human beings can measure. But to view death as the opposite of life is to ignore the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death isn’t the opposite of life. Death is merely the absence of life.”

The story goes on with their conversation focusing on issues of faith, life, and good and evil … and it ends with the student saying to his professor …

“Evil doesn’t exist sir; or at least it doesn’t exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. Evil, like darkness and cold, is a word we’ve created to describe the absence of God. God didn’t create evil. Evil is simply the result of what happens when we don’t have God's love in our hearts. It's like the cold that comes when there’s no heat … and it’s like the darkness that comes when there’s no light.

Gang, God created the world. And God knew that without His Light it would be dark. This is the truth Jesus Christ is revealing here in v. 12. And as Jesus was sharing this hard teaching, some people made the decision to invite His Light into their darkness, and other people made the decision to stay in the dark. And this is the way it has always been.

But how many of you know that Jesus Christ always speaks the Truth? And when Jesus speaks the Truth to us, even when it hurts, we’re drawn to Him and to the words He shares with us about Himself, about ourselves, and about the world we live in.

And this is why we need to serve Jesus Christ as our Lord, follow Jesus Christ as our shepherd, obey Jesus Christ as our King, sit at Jesus Christ’s feet as our Teacher, and embrace Jesus Christ as the Lover of our Souls. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

WHO IS 2ND STREET?

I love it when I'm asked to describe 2nd Street Community Church -- the flock I've been serving as lead pastor-teacher since July of 2006. Here's what I shared with them yesterday at the beginning of our worship services ... I think that my words describe pretty well who we are, what we're up to, and why we exist.

Welcome to 2nd Street Community Church. We’re a rag-tag band of followers of Jesus Christ who want to take off our masks and be real before God. We want to be a church where acceptance of hurting, disenfranchised, people – people who are in the margins of life – is the rule and not the acceptance to the rule.

Our MISSION STATEMENT says that we’re "spiritual seekers cooperating with God and one another to become devoted followers of Jesus Christ." We value LOVE, COMMUNITY, AUTHENTICITY, SEEKING, TRUTH, GROWING, and SERVING.

We’re not perfect people piously opening our arms to imperfect people. Rather, we’re people from all walks of life, from all kinds of backgrounds, with all kinds of baggage, who gather together here at the Armory each week – and in Community Groups throughout the week – to worship God, to learn from God, to be in God’s presence and to hear God’s voice, so that through surrender and sacrifice we can become less and less like the “old us” and be transformed more and more into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, the Lover of our Souls …

So that His THOUGHTS become our thoughts, so that His WORDS become our words, so that His ACTIONS become our actions. Because if we’re not being transformed into the family-likeness of Jesus Christ, no matter how badly we want to, we’ll never be able to live into and live out the will of God for our lives. Welcome ragamuffins.

Does this sound like a place where you might fit in? If so, come visit us. Our website and other contact information is found below. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+

Cell | 971.832.0010
Email | gregg.lamm@gmail.com
Web | www.2ndstreet.org

CONFESSION AND FREEDOM

In JOHN 7:14-18 Jesus answers some objections and offers some practical teaching about Who He is, and what He’d come to do.

JOHN 7:14 (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE)

14 But when it was now the midst of
the feast Jesus went up into the temple,
and began to teach.

v. 14 … the midst of the feast … The first time Jesus went to the temple as an adult (JOHN 2:13-16) He cleansed the temple and ran out all the people who turned it from a house of prayer into a den of thieves. And now, when Jesus returns to the temple, He comes to teach. And I see an important FAITH LESSON for us here …

FAITH LESSON …

Before you and I can hear and
receive Jesus’ TEACHING, and
begin to internalize and live
out Jesus’ teaching, we need
to invite Him to do some CLEANING
in our minds and in our hearts.

When our lives are cluttered with
unconfessed sin … when we’re
holding things back from God … and
when we live before Him as impostors,
we won’t be receptive to the teaching,
instruction, correction and training
Jesus has for us from His WORD.

And so every time we open up God’s WORD and ask God to teach us, it would be good for us to acknowledge the truth of what King David said in PSALM 66:18 and what he prayed in PSALM 139:23-24 …

PSALM 66:28; 139:23-24

18 If I had not confessed the sin in
my heart, my Lord would not have
listened. (NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE)

23-24 GOD, look deep into my heart,
and see everything I am thinking.
Help me walk away from evil thoughts
and deeds, and lead me in the way
that time has proven true; Your path,
Your will. (PARAPHRASED)

When you and I choose to deny and ignore the sin in our lives, our fellowship with God is broken. Not because God gives up on us, but because God is serious about us living honest, confessional, holy lives before Him and one another. God knows that when we hide our sin, there are always painful consequences, both in our own lives, and in the lives of the people we’re closest to.

The pathway to the cleaning that needs to take place in our lives is walked on when we stop trying to hide our sins from God, and we confess them. And then, from that place of having been made clean by forgiveness and the receiving of God’s grace, we’re able to receive the teaching, the instruction, and the training God has for us.

If you’ve been part of 2nd Street for a while, then you know I love reading the sermons of the great 19th century American pastor-teacher-evangelist-author-missionary Dwight L. Moody … and you’ve heard me tell some of his stories. Well here’s another one …

ILLUSTRATION … A lady in the north
of England told Moody that every time
she tried to pray, she immediately
pictured five bottles of wine she’d
stolen several years before when she
was a housekeeper. And once the
picture of the five bottles of wine
was in her mind, she felt like her
prayers weren’t making it out of the
room. Moody told her, “You need to
go and make restitution, make amends.”

“But the person is dead,” she replied.

“Are there any heirs?” Moody asked.

“Yes … there’s a son.”

“Then go to the son and pay him back,”
counseled Moody.

And then the lady said, “I want to get things
right between me and God, but I can’t
confess my thievery. My reputation is at
stake.” And with that she left.

But she came back the next day and asked
Moody if it would be okay if she figured out
the price of the five bottles of wine and then
put that amount into the church offering.
“No,” Moody said, “God doesn’t want any
stolen money. The only way to repair the
break between you and God is to make
restitution.”

The lady wrestled with Moody’s counsel
for several days, but then finally traveled
out into the country, found the son, confessed,
and offered him a five-pound note for the
wine she’d stolen. He forgave her … and
said that she didn’t need to give him the
money. But after she’d finally persuaded
him to take it, she traveled back to town
with a joy and peace she hadn’t known for
years.

Gang, the unconfessed sins in our lives are the stumbling stones that keep tripping us up in our desire to move ahead in our faith. Let’s invite confession do the work of cleaning God wants to take place in our lives. God doesn’t want you and me to come to church and shout “Hallelujah” and sing intimate worship songs to Him while at the same time we’re trying to hide sin in our hearts.

Sin builds a wall between us and God. And we might be really well known, we might stand tall in the community, we might be actively involved in the church … our friends might think that everything is okay between us and God … but the real question is, HOW DO WE STAND IN THE SIGHT OF GOD? If there’s anything wrong in you life, make it right. Again, I love how King David talked about this in PSALM 32:2-3 …

PSALM 32:2-3 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)

2 Yes, what joy for those whose record
the LORD has cleared of sin, whose lives
are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin, I was
weak and miserable, and I groaned all
day long.

So before Jesus taught in the temple, He had to cleanse the temple. And now we see Him teaching. What areas of cleansing do you need to ask God to do in your life so you can become more receptive to His teaching? Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg

CHOOSING LIFE ...

With the National Pro-Life Sunday
coming up on 20 January, I thought
that I'd post the words I shared on
the steps of the Oregon Capital building
one year ago at a state-wide rally.

Good afternoon. My name is Gregg Lamm and I’m a pastor in Newberg. I’ve been married for nearly 26 years to my precious bride Teresa, and am the father of three sons, Ryan, Jesse and Ian, as well as the father of one child who is living with Christ in heaven because of the self-centered choice my girlfriend and I made in October, 1976 to end our child’s life by abortion.

And so while I’m Pro-Life because I’m seeking to be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, I’m also Pro-Life because of the brokenness the sin of abortion has caused in my own life, and in the lives of people I’ve shepherded as a pastor over the past 23 years.

In August 2004, Dr. Ken Wilson, the then President of Oregon Right-To-Life wrote the following words in a newsletter …

“Why is killing unborn children still legal?
Because we are failing. Protestant and Catholic
Christians have the power to save millions of
precious babies: We just don't."

So why don’t we stand? Maybe it’s because swimming up stream for thirty-four years has left us tired, and somewhat overwhelmed by the miles of moral and legislative reform yet to cover before our journey is over. Maybe it’s because other priorities of our country, which as Judge Robert Bork wrote, “is slouching toward Gomorrah” have distracted us, and at times even paralyzed us.

Archbishop Vlazny spoke of the legal and statistical realities of abortion in our nation … and challenged us to increase our efforts to stand for the rights of the unborn, to be the voice of those whose voices cannot be heard. As we close our time together today I would like to challenge us to …

• Let God’s WORD and God’s Truth become in new ways the foundation of why we choose to stand up and let our voices be heard … and I challenge us to …
• Let God’s WORD and God’s Truth be at the root of our convictions to consistently vote Pro-Life … and I challenge us to …
• Let’s God’s WORD and God’s Truth be the source of our passion and our energy, the source of our priorities, and the source of the stewardship of our time, our gifts, and our resources.

WHY SHOULD WE VALUE ALL LIFE, BORN AND PRE-BORN? THOSE WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LISTEN TO AND LIVE INTO THE WORD OF THE LORD …

GENESIS 1:27 … So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

ISAIAH 64:8 … Yet, O LORD, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are the Potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

WHO IS THE CREATOR OF THE PRE-BORN? THOSE WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LISTEN TO AND LIVE INTO THE WORD OF THE LORD …

JOB 31:15 … Did not He who made me in the womb make everyone else as well? Did not the same God form us both within our mothers?

PSALM 139:13-16 … For You [oh God] created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

HOW IS GOD CONCERNED WITH THE PRE-BORN? THOSE WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LISTEN TO AND LIVE INTO THE WORD OF THE LORD …

ISAIAH 49:1 … Listen to Me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth He has made mention of My name.

JEREMIAH 1:5 … [God says] Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you saw the light of day I had holy plans for you …

IS THERE HEALING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE HAD ABORTIONS, OR FOR THOSE WHO HAVE PARTIICIPATED IN PROVIDING THEM? THOSE WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LISTEN TO AND LIVE INTO THE WORD OF THE LORD …

JEREMIAH 31:15-17 … A voice was heard in Ramah of painful crying and deep sadness: Rachel crying for her children. She refused to be comforted, because her children are dead! But this is what the Lord says: “Cease your cries of mourning; wipe the tears from your eyes. The sorrow you have known will come to an end and there is hope for your future.”

ISAIAH 1:18 … [God says] No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. If your sins are blood-red, when you ask Me to forgive you, they'll become snow-white. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow … as white as wool.

Dr. Wilson went on to write in his August 2004 newsletter …

“If some Church leaders are unwilling to
stand for God's truth, God's people must stand
without them. It is never easy being a Nathan
the prophet, [or] a St. Francis of Assisi … and
yet sometimes [God calls us to] tell leaders
they're wrong. How many more million babies
must die before we courageously risk
all in battling this mortal sin?”

The time is now for us to arise, to pray, to give, and as Dr. Wilson said, “courageously risk all in battling this mortal sin” of abortion. But we must enter this next chapter of truth-speaking and aggressively peaceful advocacy with God’s WORD as our foundation, with the Spirit of Christ as our guide, and with our lives, our purposes, and our resources united with one another as we labor within the church, within the government, and within our culture … doing the work of speaking up and standing-in-the-gap for the Pre-Born.

Mother Teresa was right when she said that …

"The greatest destroyer of love and
peace is abortion, which is war against
the child … Any country that accepts
abortion is not teaching its people to
love, but to use any violence to get

what they want."

As we leave this place today, I invite us to let the words the Apostle Paul wrote to the followers of Christ living in Galatia to both ground us and guide us … and to be our encouragement and our equipping … Here is a paraphrase of Paul’s words …

GALATIANS 6:9 … Friends let's not allow our fatigue from doing what Christ has called us to … get us off track from being who we’re called to be, or slow us down from doing what we’re called to do. Because in the end, if we stay the course, if we don't give up or throw in our hand … at just the right time [according to how God keeps time], we will see the big picture of what God is up to, what God has invited us to partner with Him in – and the harvest will be astounding. (a paraphrase)

In ACTS 17:6 … the early followers of Jesus Christ were described as “the ones who were turning the world upside down.” And in ACTS 13:36, King David was described as a man “who served the purposes of God in his own generation.” Friends, may these be the words spoken of us today and in the days, weeks, months, and years to come … when describing our commitment to Pro-Life issues, and the methods we employ …

As you and I “serve the purposes of God in our generation” … in our culture, in our state, in our towns, in our churches, in our nation, in the world, and in the relationships we have with those God brings across our path, may God use us to bring Light into darkness, to bring healing into brokenness, and to bring God’s gift of reconciliation into that which has been torn asunder. And may we be known as those who are “turning the world upside down” for the sake of the Kingdom of God and God’s purposes. Godspeed.

read.think.pray.live.

Gregg