1. You have longed for sweet peace,
   And for faith to increase,
   And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
   But you cannot have rest,
   Or be perfectly blest,
   Until all on the altar is laid.
   • Refrain:
     Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
     Your heart does the Spirit control?
     You can only be blest,
     And have peace and sweet rest,
     As you yield Him your body and soul.
2. Would you walk with the Lord,
   In the light of His word,
   And have peace and contentment alway?
   You must do His sweet will,
   To be free from all ill,
   On the altar your all you must lay.
3. Oh, we never can know
   What the Lord will bestow
   Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
   Till our body and soul
   He doth fully control,
   And our all on the altar is laid.
4. Who can tell all the love
   He will send from above,
   And how happy our hearts will be made;
   Of the fellowship sweet
   We shall share at His feet,
   When our all on the altar is laid.

¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:19-20

I read Paul’s prayer here at the end of his letter to Ephesus and it brings simultaneous confidence, conviction and awe. We look at the life that Paul led up to and through his conversion and see him as a hero to the faith. We read all that he wrote and believe that he was totally brilliant, which he was. That’s why this prayer is so cool and also why it shakes me when I read it. This man who dedicated his life to defending the faith says to the Ephesians that he is proclaiming the mystery of the gospel. You would think that someone like him would have figured it all out, right? I mean, this is the man that wrote Romans. A book that we have since dissected to the core and still don’t get completely. So my question today is this: what makes us think that we can figure out God and how he works?

Last week in Bible study at the church we talked about how difficult it is to share gospel with someone because of the difficulty in getting someone to realize that they need a savior. One of the reasons that difficulty is alive is because sometimes we don’t act or live as if we need a savior ourselves. We get take on this air of having it all figured out and we have to fix those people who are broken. I think it’s obvious that most people are opting to stay broken rather than dealing with the flawed people who think they aren’t flawed.

I also see how this may flow into our worship as well. When we think we have it all figured out, there’s no more mystery. There’s no more awe. Sure, we talk about how awesome God is and how we are “filled with wonder, awestruck wonder at the mention of Your name”, but have those just become another set of words? My son has decided that he is deathly afraid of all our friends’ animals. Granted, our best friends have a coon hound that would eat him in two bites, but that’s beside the point. My son will be playing along, minding his own business, but when Trooper comes barking at whatever, the wind, a shadow, squirrel, Jack Russell Terrier, my son finds his way into my arms kicking and screaming. At that point I’m all that he needs and he grabs on tight and won’t let go.

We have taken that approach with Christ. We think that we have it all figured out until something happens that we don’t think we can handle. Then we strike out running full speed to God for protection. We know that the protection is there, but we don’t really worry about it until trouble comes. We don’t read His Word they way we should. We don’t talk to Him the way we should. We forget that the gospel is a continuous mystery that we will not understand until this life is over. That mystery should be enough to keep us running straight to the cross in reverence and awe. Instead, we meander over by where the cross kinda might be out of duty and schedule keeping. Because we got it all figured out…I think…wait…

There are so many different opinions about this day, and I’m sure you can find someone to agree with whatever side you happen to land on. I have learned to base my love off of the greatest examples I have. My dad is probably the best example of a loving husband that I have on this earth. He has made the life long commitment to love my mom each and every day of her life. I can promise you that today will look no different than any other day in their home because he loves her that much all the time. He doesn’t wait until February 14th to shower her with love and affection. Of course, he spends enough money in the month of February between their anniversary and her birthday that it probably all feels the same. HA! But as much as I get my tangible examples from him, the reason I can follow his lead is because I know who he is following.

Christ love is the most intense, real, sacrificial love that could ever be imitated. It’s a love that far exceeds the commercially accepted norm that we debate for about a week before and a couple days after the 14th. Christ’s love is a benchmark. Christ’s love speaks volumes without saying a word. What’s even better is that his words are also very powerful. I take my love orders from the book of John.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:12-13

I’m called to love people as I have been loved by Christ. There’s no way in the world I can do that in my fallen, human state. But if I’m actively trying then the people I am trying to love will see that. So that begs the question, who are you trying to love? There are tons of people that are in need of THIS kind of love. Truth be told, we are all in need of this kind of love. A love that meets you where you are, pulls you through the tough times and carries you to the other side. That isn’t a flowers and candy kind of love. It’s a love that withstands persecution and rejection. A love that defies conventional logic. A love that no one should go without.

Is that the love that you are sharing today? Is that the love you are sharing every day? It’s true that Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be the only day that we share love of any kind. I propose that whatever day you show love, that it be the unconditional love of Christ. That’s the deepest love out there. I promise.

Looking at that situation as it stands, it would be easy to just chalk up a week like this one as a loss. I’ve wanted to do that many times. But it’s times like these that God steps in and does what He was always planning to do. There’s no way to know just how He is going to work, but His work is ALWAYS evident. Something that hit me earlier today. I was writing out some plans on my big board and realized that when God is in the plans. It isn’t like that I didn’t know that already, but people frequently talk about how when I stepped out of the way then God stepped in. Well, my words of wisdom for today is that we (myself included) should be including God earlier in the process. Whenever I spend the time to ask God what He wants me to do before I even start planning, I find that even the planning process goes much better. Then when I get to the end and look back, I can see His hand through the whole thing. Sometimes I may want this huge band, and God wants to break things down to where we are forced to let Him fill in the voids created by silence. Sometimes, He wants to use that still, small voice to firmly guide us toward the cross.

We always look to the famous passage about God’s plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) because it talks about our prospering and having a hope and future and all that fun stuff. But the plans won’t just pop into your lap as you’re walking down the street. The verses that follow give verse 11 something to stand on. When I go and pray to Him, He will come to me. If I go and seek Him with my whole heart, He will come and find me (my paraphrase of verses 12-13). When I’m planning out my services, I have to seek God out in THAT stage, then even those plans will be revealed as I work. When you are in the beginning stages of a plan or idea, add God then. See how much of the back end crazy gets avoided when you do that…

I’ve been thinking a lot about faith impacts culture and vice versa. As I continue to look at it, it seems like both have been generally bad influences on each other. It reminds me of when I was a little boy. I am an only child, but with my mom being eighth of 9 and my dad being the oldest of 6, I’ve got a TON of cousins. We used to do so many crazy things and we would get the other in trouble all the time. I guess that’s just part of life as a kid. One of us would dare the other to jump off the bed. Trouble. In retaliation, one dares the other to grab an extra cookie. Trouble.  We are good at influencing each other to push the envelope, and we usually pushed it too far.

So how have faith a culture been mutually bad influences on each other? Well, as I sit here in my office and have been thinking about the upcoming weeks in our church from a worship standpoint, one of the things that continues to be at the forefront of my thinking is the relevancy of our worship experience. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that we have to be relevancy is tremendously important to the church. So I don’t see that as a negative thing. I think the line gets blurry when we are striving to look so much like the world in the things that we do that “they can’t tell the difference”. I don’t think it is my job as a worship leader to confuse the people that walk in the door. I don’t want to put them in such a trance that when the service is over they say, “I didn’t even know I was in church! How did I get here???” Especially since I’m called to be different. As a Christian, it’s an honor for me to BE different. Look at 1 Peter 2:9. Being different is part of the job description. But I’ve been to churches where the people are trying to be relevant, or cool and trendy and they pull some things off. But inevitably, there’s one thing that starts to waver when we try to look like the rest of the culture we live in. That’s the gospel. I feel that in the different times I’ve gone to places that are trying SO hard to be attractive to the rest of the world, they end up diluting the one beautiful difference between the two.

This is the hinge between both faith and culture. As I said yesterday, when we turn both of these fast moving cars toward each other, there is only one place for them to crash. What was done at the cross changes both sides dramatically. I believe the reason that the church has influenced the rest of culture negatively is because of the way they look at culture. Just as you have some churches who try too hard to be cool, you have just as many trying too hard to make sure you know that they AREN’T anything like the rest of the world. Granted, we are called to not be lovers of the world or the things of the world (1 John 2:15-16). That doesn’t mean that we should shun the people that are in the world. As a matter of fact, they are the reason we are still here. Some of us have run so far away from the line that we are simply screaming at the cruel, vile world far from the other side. The rest of the world and the culture we live in has never asked us to change ourselves and then maybe they would be a part of the church. We are to look different and they will hate us for it. Bible says so. BUT, there is a lot more room closer to the cross for us in the faith as well. When we run so far the other way, no one can hear you except for when you scream about how bad the other side is. No one wants to hear that. Come a little bit closer. A lot of things change at the foot of the cross. The other side even looks a lot different than you think.

As someone who spends his days sculpting a service that is designed to bring glory to the Father, I have to keep in mind that in my church there are some people who will have never had this experience before. Do I want to alienate them so much that they feel uncomfortable and never want to come back? Heck no. But do I want to present the gospel in a way that it challenges everything they have ever thought about life and Christ and the people around them? Heck yes. But here’s the secret: I’m doing that for you Christians as well. Think about it. Then meet me as I push toward the foot of the cross.

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

This passage is taken from 1 Kings. It’s the story of the well known prophet Elijah. He had just finished making the prophets of Baal look stupid and everyone was trying to kill him. Jezebel had even sent word that she was looking for him. I won’t go into the WHOLE story, but the passage up above comes when the Lord speaks to Elijah while he is in a cave. I was looking through this passage when something hit me. This still, small voice packed a punch.

When I was younger, this passage was used for many sermon wrap ups. As the preacher was winding down and “bringing it to a close” they would always mention how God doesn’t always come in the fire and God doesn’t always come in the earthquake, but in a “stiiiiiiiiillll…..small voice…” Then the church would go crazy and the music would start. The inference was always that we were looking for God to do that miracle so we would know He was there, but sometimes it was when we were quiet that He was speak to us and would bless us that way. And that made sense, especially since we were all looking for our blessing. Or something like that. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that this whole passage is wrapped in controversy. And that this still, small voice just told Elijah to handle some folks. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun is coming his way. So I got to thinking…am I the only one who was led to believe that the still, small voice was there for my blessings only? So I ask that question to you readers. This is an interesting situation to me. The older I get and the more I study and listen to people, I realize that we leave things out sometimes, or we will ‘adjust’ a scripture to make it fit a subject. Sometimes during that process we end up changing what was originally said which, in case you were wondering, is in fact wrong. This one is a little bit different in the fact that they didn’t change anything, they left things out. That silly omission. I challenge you to read the whole story because you will in fact see that the still, small voice brought a punch.

God has no problem getting our attention. He can definitely use fires and earthquakes and tornadoes. But sometimes, He needs us to really listen. There are times when I have to sit my kids down and give them instruction. When I get to something that I really want them to grasp, I get as close to them as I can and do my best to clear all distractions. I want to make sure that we are on the same page. When God speaks softly for the same reason. He wants us to be free of distractions. That doesn’t mean that everything He says is sweet and lovely and warm fuzzy. It just means, “Listen close. Don’t jack this up!” What comes after that is something you better pay close attention to. Write it down.

What is God trying to tell you? Are you not getting it because you’re expecting the small voice to contain sweet messages of happiness and chocolate? Make sure to give Him your full attention. Listen closely. You do NOT want to miss that message.

Okay, I’ll tie it all in now. There has been a trend for a few years now where it seems that the average Christian is losing the ability to defend their faith. We got stuck in the Sunday school portion of our learning and some of us didn’t go much past that so it seems. That’s why we can have the joke that when we were younger you could pretty much always answer ‘Jesus’ to a question and be right. 20 years ago people didn’t question Christianity and the Bible as openly as they do now. The thought across the board was that Jesus was enough so people didn’t really feel the need to go deeper than that. Now we get to an age where people are questioning if Jesus is really enough and what’s wrong with Buddha and Mormonism or even just believing what I feel. They aren’t running into much opposition because we as a people didn’t have much. It was as if we stood up Jesus cutouts and the rest of the world finally realized that was all that was standing in front of them. It was as if we had the strongest defense in the nation and they just never moved.

In the end, Jesus really is the answer to all the questions about other religions. He is the best defense that we have. I think Paul describes my thought process best in this passage in 1 Corinthians 2:

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers,t did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The base of our defense is just that: Jesus and him crucified. I think where in the past the defense has looked shaky has been in the execution. The key comes from verse 5 of that passage. Our faith should not rest in our own wisdom, but in the power of God that is shown throughout His Word. If the kids down in Tuscaloosa are going to pull off what they pulled off last night, they have to know their playbook inside and out. The coaches make them sleep with them, carry them everywhere, and then they test them to make sure they are reading and studying them. It is one thing to say they have a plan to stop the run. It’s totally different when you show us how you do it. That comes from immersing yourself in the plan and having someone who coaches you through the strategy. In the same way, we can say that Jesus is our defense against all the things that stand before us. “He just is” is not quite strong enough to make people see and understand.

We have a powerful playbook that most of us have not read through. Our strategy is well chronicled if you we would take the time to look at it and pour through it. The power of God is a very intricate and complex defensive scheme that was carefully woven to not let anyone else through. Today people think that maybe Christ isn’t all that He’s cracked up to be. I would step out and say that He’s more than that. But we have been placed out of position and that creates holes in the defense.

When we as a people start to dig into the plan and really get an understanding of this playbook we have called the Bible, we will see that the answers that we have always needed were already there. We just had to look for them. Once we put that book deep in our hearts and minds we will realize that we have a reason to worship. It’s not about we could have done on our own. But in the spotless lamb who came to take away the sin of the world. That defense is airtight. I promise. And when you get to a point to where you can share that with confidence, there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

So, this turned into a sermon. But I had to set up what I believe will become a recurring theme throughout this year. If we can properly deal with what Christ did for us and the importance of that in today’s world, it will truly transform the way we worship Him.

Balaam being stupid (and obviously not married) goes with fervor thinking that God really said this was okay. He jumps on his donkey and starts on the trip. Three different times the donkey does things that impede him from making this trip, at one point crushing his foot. After repeated beatings, the donkey finally just says (yes, SAYS), “Why do you keep beating me? Have I done anything before that would cause you to think that I want to do you wrong? Why would I start now? I mean SERIOUSLY!!!” (MAJOR paraphrasing done by me Numbers 22:28-30) This actually invokes a conversation between the two. It isn’t until this conversation that Balaam realizes that he is an idiot and there was an angel blocking his path the whole time.

How many times do we completely ignore what is being said to us because of something that will bring us gain? I mean, simply put, Balaam was willing to go against the will of the Lord for money. Granted, it was a WHOLE lot of money, but still, it was money. We live in a world where people are getting killed over $200. Can you look back at the times when you knew God was telling you to do something and you kept trying to blow through the signs? What was the moment when your donkey started talking to you? I was gonna name this blog post “Talking Out Your Ass”, but I have a wife who thinks for me and decided that wasn’t a good idea. But so many times we have this moment after we get beat up that we realize that maybe, just maybe we shouldn’t be pursuing whatever it is we are blindly following.

One of the greatest parts of the study method we are using is the application part. After reading this story, I had to figure out what the application was in my own life. Well, I immediately thought about all the people that consider me their worship pastor. I am called upon to lead this people toward Christ in the things I say and do and sing. I was quickly floored by the amazing grace that was given us when Christ died on the cross for us. We cannot take that lightly. It is my job to make sure that we don’t forget that it is Jesus who stands in our place, repeatedly taking the beating that He didn’t deserve so I don’t have to suffer God’s wrath. There were a lot of Israelites that died because of their inability to have faith that God was taking care of them and ended up doing their own things. But, there would have been even more deaths had Moses not stepped in MANY times. We have a reason to worship Jesus. Let that be your fuel and passion for worship. If you are in the midst of a trial right now, take a second, sit down and listen to your donkey. She may be trying to keep you alive.

I can say that I have come a long way from “Now I lay me down to sleep…”, but when I think about that prayer that my parents taught me at a young age I think about how I was taught then to petition the Lord for my needs. The simplicity of that prayer was a foundation builder for my approach to prayer even today. I didn’t know it then, but I was creating my relationship with Christ during that few seconds each night that I prayed for restful sleep. From there I learned to pray for other people, upcoming tests, and even frivolously to not get into TOO much trouble when I broke the rules. It was much later that I learned that about the effectiveness of prayer in the lives of Christians and how it’s a critical part of this lifestyle. The Bible talks a whole lot about prayer because of the extreme importance. Just click on this link and go through all the different passages about prayer and see the different situations in which prayer is mentioned.

Prayer and worship go hand in hand. When I was growing up we used to have an altar call every Sunday right in the middle of the service. I actually used to loathe this time when I was younger because it took FOREVER! But as I look back at those times, I remember how people used to walk to the front and the petitions would be laid at the altar. I can still hear “Pray for me, pray for me. O-ooooOOO my brother, pray for me…” I think in all of my years I went up there like twice. Of course at that time I saw it as taking away from the songs that I would hear. Now that I recognize how effective a time that was for us as a people, it’s hard to find anywhere that places that emphasis and time DURING the worship service. Quick side note, I may be working that time back into the fabric of our worship experience. I’m being moved to do so even as I write this.

Psalm 141:1-2 gives us a unfiltered moment between David and the Lord where in verse 1 David cries out to God to hear his prayer. Then in verse 2 he asks that his lifted hands (worship) be “as the evening sacrifice”. I think it was on purpose that David was in prayer and worship at the same time. We cannot overlook the importance of prayer in our worship times. They go hand in hand. I know that for me sometimes prayer seems like something that gets in way of the busyness that is my life. But what would happen if we just slowed down and really talked to the Lord and let Him talk to us? During worship? What a concept…

Here’s a challenge, take some time this week and slow it down long enough to listen to God. Let me know how that goes. I’ll be sure to share my experience as well.

There is a lot of responsibility that we accepted as Christians when we took this job and that was to continue to spread the gospel to others, giving them a chance to hear something that they may have never heard before. Something that is so life changing that you gave yourself over to it. Everyone needs that chance.

In this world of knowledge and people searching for answers, I continue to hold on to a verse I learned when I was like 12 years old. Paul says this to the church at Corinth.

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers,t did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

The whole passage is really cool in context, but the verse I remembered was 2. I strive to nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. There is a lot of stuff to know here in this world. But there is so much wrapped up in knowing Jesus Christ that you could spend a lifetime getting to know him and never know everything. So my goal is to get back to what I need to know. It was written that “I spend my life to know, that I’m far from close to all you are, the greatness of our God”. That’s what I’m going for. Who is with me? You? How about you over there?

Lastly, this is November. I know it’s crazy to be thinking that, especially since yesterday was 74 and today is going to be close to the same. Nevertheless, we are here and this is the time to be thankful. So I have 2 goals this month. 1, to try and blog every day this month. 2, I want to share something that I’m thankful for on each of those days. Since I didn’t write yesterday, here’s 2 for the day. I am thankful for my wife. She has been amazing woman to me for 9 plus years. She continues to stand by me as we go through this life and I lead us down some crazy, winding roads with no side rails. She’s right there 100%.

The second thing is a 3 in 1 type deal. They come in the forms of Kahmylia Isabelle, Brisa Noelle and Harry Ernest Walls, V. My kids are so amazing and I can’t believe that they are mine. I’m always harder on them than anyone else, but that’s because I want so bad for them to be God honoring, respectful and responsible children. I have 3 little blessings and I am continuously amazed at the rate in which they grow. Who knows how long it will be before they actually read this, if they EVER do, but know that I am thankful for them. What are you thankful for today?