GrowthStarts

Forgotten God

What comes to your mind when I say "the Holy Spirit"? Depending on your church background and what craziness you may have seen on Christian TV, it can mean anything from Holy Ghost charismania to a weak, conceptual force, or anywhere in between. Or, for you, the Holy Spirit may be the Forgotten God.

So goes the basis of Francis Chan's latest book, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit(by Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski; Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2009).

Forgotten Godreleases tomorrow--Tuesday, September 1--but I was able to obtain a pre-release copy for review.

After the runaway success of his debut book Crazy Love, Chan has delivered a solid, convicting effort at convincing us of the importance of the Third Person of the Trinity.

Chan manages to avoid the controversial waters of charismatic vs. non-charismatic and instead focuses on the main theological themes of the Holy Spirit. Instead of trying to convince you toward one camp or another, he simply lays out what the Bible clearly says about the Spirit's role in our lives.

You will get a new perspective of the Holy Spirit's working in your life and in the world. Pick up Forgotten God and let Chan's words inspire you to live a greater life for Christ--by the Spirit's power.

Check out the trailer for Forgotten God or read a sample chapter.

Quotable Quote ... John Ortberg

Disciples of Jesus cannot be mass-produced; they have to be hand-crafted.

Are you preparing for the test?

In my exploration of 2 Timothy during my quiet times, I've been on 2 Timothy 3:6-9 this week. It's one paragraph in a larger passage on false teachers.

2 Timothy 3:6-9 (NIV):

"They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, [7] always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. [8] Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. [9] But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."

Tradition says that Jannes and Jambres were two of the magicians who counterfeited Moses' miracles before Pharaoh (Exodus 7:11-12). Paul says that just as Moses exposed and defeated Jannes and Jambres, so God will expose and defeat false teachers.

J&J easily counterfeited Moses' miracles--at first. But as they became more complicated and the pressure got tougher, they crumbled and were exposed (Exodus 8:18).

It's so easy with these broad stroke verses about false teachers to think about other people that this might apply to. But, as always, I try to shine the verse into my own heart and apply it personally.

From looking at verse 9 today, an important point stands out to me: The trials of life will eventually expose the heart. Any folly or sin or deception that is hidden now will later be revealed.

Three great quotable quotes from my Life Application Study Bible:

• "Sooner or later, distraction, opposition, anger, or fatigue will wear us down, and our true hearts will be exposed."
• "Live each day as if your actions will one day be known to everyone."
• "It is useless, in the middle of a test, to acknowledge that you should have prepared."

That last one really captured my imagination. I still remember that sinking feeling when a test was put before me at school and I knew I was not prepared for it.

So the question is, how do we prepare now for a test to come later? I have a few thoughts:

• Don't skip class...don't neglect meeting with other believers
• Study the material...know the Word of God
• Memorize...hide God's Word in your heart
• Go to the labs..experiment by obeying the Word in more ideal conditions (before the test)
• Take practice tests...put yourself in comfort-zone-stretching situations
• Find a study buddy...do life in community with other believers
• Study a little every day instead of cramming...make a daily quiet time a priority

Any others? Tell me in comments...

Is It a Sin to Be Average?

As a young pastor I had the idea that God calls every Christian to do great things. My faith heroes were all mountain-moving, charge-the-hill spiritual warriors. I assumed full submission to Jesus would transform anyone into a spiritual Braveheart; kicking-butt for Jesus and marshalling a battalion of others to do the same.

It sounded good. It was motivational. It was pure baloney.

Worse, it was spiritually dangerous. Not just for me, but for my flock. It filled me and the rest of our leaders with pride. It overwhelmed my congregation and non-leader types with unrealistic and unreachable standards of spirituality. And, I'm pretty sure, it ticked God off.

Read more of Larry Osborne's article HERE at catalystspace.

Can you hear the Lord's frequency?

I recently read a fascinating story about a musical trainer who worked with Opera singers who could not hit certain notes within an Octave, even though the notes fell within their vocal range. It was a mystery. The trainer did extensive testing on their vocal chords, but he couldn’t find any reason why they couldn’t hit those notes. On a whim, he tested their hearing. And what he discovered is that these Opera singers could not sing a note they could not hear. The problem wasn’t singing. The problem was hearing.

Read more of Mark Batterson's post HERE.

Digging Deeper

I'm excited about a new sermon series starting Sunday as well as a new feature that I am writing.

Marked will be all about the marks of a believer as Jesus outlined in the Beatitudes. It will be an eight-week series, spending a week on each Beatitude.

In conjunction with the start of Marked, I'm writing some daily devotions that expand on the ideas in the message that week. They will be on an insert in the Navigator. I'll also post expanded versions of these devotions each day here on the blog.

These devotions will be great for any Christian who wants to get started having a daily quiet time, or for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the sermon content.

Let me know what you think! We hope these will be helpful resources to help people grow deeper!

Three Translations of the Bible

Mark Batterson writes:

There are three ways to translate the Bible. You can translate it with 1) your mind 2) your heart and 3) your life.

I think a lot of us settle for the mental translation. But the end result is information. And what happens is this: we learn more, do less, and think we're growing spiritually. But not if that's the only translation.

Read more HERE at Evotional.com.

Rethinking worship

My wife Cheryl and I are both on day 5 of a devotional book called Regaining Balance: 91 Days of Prayer and Praise by Randy Sawyer (Nashville, Tennessee: Randall House Publications, 2005). Today was on worship and I loved one particular paragraph that described worship as both an attitude and an expression, and also how we cultivate worship in our lives.

I wanted to share these thoughts, but instead of just copying from the book, here's how I re-wrote them in outline form in my journal:

Worship is:

• an attitude of:
  • humility
  • gratitude
  • adoration
  • wonder
• expressed by:
  • praising lips
  • holy living
• cultivated through contemplating God in:
  • the world around us
  • His Word entrusted to us

Hope this helps you like it did me. God seems to be dealing with me on this subject lately. Now that I have effectively been out of worship ministry for about 16 months, I feel like God is rebuilding in me what worship is. It's like He had to deconstruct it and now is rebuilding it in my heart. That's the best way I know to describe the process I feel.

The process is far from over; rather, it's just beginning in my heart.

What is worship to you?

The brutal truth about spiritual growth

Just finished reading the book Reveal: Where Are You? by Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson (Barrington, IL: Willow Creek Resources, 2007; order directly from www.willowcreek.com). This quick read details out the groundbreaking research that Willow Creek has done regarding the church's role in its members' spiritual growth.

They have done detailed market research with the Willow Creek Community Church and several other churches to determine not just numbers of people involved in church programs, but how those people think and feel about their growth as a Christian.

Some of the results are startling. They found that, contrary to the popular opinion of church leaders everywhere, higher levels of church activity did not predict spiritual growth (as defined as increasing love for God and increasing love for other people).

And they found that some of the most spiritually growing Christians described themselves as being dissatisfied with church. Even though they regularly attend weekend worship services, participate in a small group, volunteer at the church, serve those in need, tithe, and are diligent in personal devotions, they are considering leaving the church because they are so dissatisfied. This group of dissatisfied people make up about 10 percent of the church.

The research begun here will continue. They are involving many more churches and you can find out more at www.revealnow.com. The implications will be huge for the church.

One of the learnings that stands out is that in churches we create a culture of dependence. Whatever the issue or problem is, we create a program or a small group or a sermon series as the answer. But just as children get older and the parents become more of a coach and a friend, so too the church needs to act as more of a coach to the more spiritually mature. We need to teach people how to feed themselves. An adult is no longer happy with being spoon-fed baby food.

These are the principles of GrowthStarts and what I founded this concept on, even before I ever heard of this research! Church needs to change. We need to learn how to help people who are at varying stages of spiritual growth. The most mature especially need to learn how to feed themselves. They are going to find the most satisfaction from a variety of serving opportunities and they need coaching and mentoring.

Like many churches, NorthStar will be wrestling with these research findings and changing our approaches to help people grow in the faith. The days ahead are exciting as we attempt to meet this challenge.