Jesus: My Example for Prayer

Not only do we have the greatest resource in the world, and leave it unused too often, but we make excuses why we don’t use it! If you read the last blog, you get that we are talking about prayer.

Somehow Christians have normalized prayerlessness. But it is not normal. If I went to the doctor and told him I haven’t eaten anything in 2 weeks, he would say something is wrong…because that isn’t normal. Normal is eating. Prayerlessness is the same. Normal, for the believer, is praying.

I wondered one time, “Has there ever been anyone who doesn’t need to pray?” And my knee-jerk reaction was, “Jesus: did He need to pray? He, being God, didn’t need to repent, had all knowledge… maybe He is the only one who didn’t need prayer.” But the Bible shows us over and over - Jesus was constantly devoted to prayer!

One verse in particular is Mark 1:35, which says, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

This verse is an excuse killer for me. And it must be for you. Jesus “shuts up” our excuses. Let’s see how He does it for the top three excuses:

“I don’t have time.” - Where does the time go? I have to ask myself that about twice a week. Have you ever kept a “time log“? I had to as a project for ministry work a few years ago. I was amazed at how much time is spent on some things, and comparatively how little is spent on others (yes, like praying!). I spent 3 hours watching a ball game, but when it came to talking to the God of the universe? No time for that? Here is a truth that is across the board: people always have time for what they to have time for. Jesus took advantage of time by getting up very early in the morning.

“I’m too busy.” - This is the tag-team partner of the previous excuse. Too busy. Too much work here, too much running around there. Jesus was pretty busy. But He made prayer a priority. He got up early and got away from it all by going to adesolate place . Before I do anything, I got to get away from everything, and get on my knees in prayer.

“I’m just not sure how to pray” - Jesus taught us exactly how to pray, and we’ll look at what He said next time.

p.s. - no excuses

God has given me the best resource in the world. Do I use it?

Imagine you are working for a large company and your boss gives you a 5 page document, and she wants you to make 80 copies. She walks you down the hall and shows you the biggest, fastest, state-of-the-art copying machine, and says, “Here, this is completely at your disposal!” And you promptly sit down at a desk, grab a pencil and a ream of blank paper, and proceed to hand copy the documents she wants, one word at a time. 

That is crazy. You are offered the best resource in the world, and you do the job your own way with your own abilities. But the crazier thing is, you and I often do the same type of thing every day! God Himself has given us the greatest resource in the universe: Himself! And He has given us access to Himself through a means we can use anytime, anywhere, and for any reason: prayer. 

Why don’t we pray as we should? Why are we willing to operate in our own strength and struggle before we call on the greatest Person in the universe to help us? Who, by the way, wants to help us, actually commanded us to call on Him, and always delivers? 

The answer: I don’t really know. I have been a Christian for 16 years, and I still can’t figure this out. I am sure it has something to do with my pride. But God’s Word makes me sure of something else: He will break my pride until I become dependant on Him for everything, so the glory may rest on Whom it is due. Not me. The Lord. 

Colossians 4:2 reminds us: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” We need that reminder. Prayer is the thing we all need to get back to, reevaluate, tighten up in our own walks with God. This verse gives us three directives in prayer: 

1. I need to pray consistently. Not just before bed or before supper. Not just in church. Always. Constantly. Persistently. God is always with us, at home, work, school, parties, funerals, victory, defeat, morning, evening, rain or shine…Oh, to dwell in sweet communion with the Lord 24/7. Not just knowing He is there, but realizing He is there!
    
2. I need to pray expectantly. An oft-repeated phrase really annoys me. And it’s more the tone that is usually behind it than the words stated. It’s this: “All we can do is pray.” A large SIGH usually follows or precedes it. Like prayer is the ultimate “Hail Mary” pass (pardon the pun, I didn‘t come up with the name) from earth to heaven. I’ll just throw it up to heaven, maybe the right Person will get the message. WRONG! God hears, God responds, things happen - but we need to be watchful, as in “pray, then step back and watch at what God is going to do, because we know He is going to do something…for sure!!!”
    
3. I need to pray thankfully. Not the laundry list. Not the Christmas wish-list. Sure, we bring our needs before Him, but it must always be done in a spirit of gratitude for what He has already done. It is also thanking Him ahead of time for what He is going to do. This is an attitude of trust and faith. God, we need you so desperately, so thank you for bringing us this far, and we know you are going to take us the rest of the way. 

The next couple of blogs are going to be about prayer. But let’s not just talk about it. Let’s do it! 

p.s. - prayerlessness is carelessness! 

Give to the Church? That's Hilarious!

The great thing about a church plant is we are starting with nothing! But the hard thing about a church plant is that we are starting with nothing.

It’s great to start with nothing!

We are going to set the culture from day 1, and we will never hear, “We can’t do it that way, we have always done it this way!” We have a clean slate! But by far the greatest thing about starting with nothing: We are going to see the Lord build things from the ground up. Where are the people going to come from? Where are we going to meet? How will, where will, what if…? The Lord is working these things out right now! This time next year, we will be looking back to where we sit today, fondly reminiscing, “Remember when we were wondering how this was going to happen and God made amazing provision?”

Let’s not think too far ahead… let’s enjoy where the Lord has us right now. And where He has us is in a position of faith. Thank you, Lord, for putting us in a position where we have to trust you! Thank you for putting us in a place where, if you don’t show up, we won’t succeed, because we cannot do this in our own power. The glory rightly goes to God, to whom it is due. 

It's hard to start with nothing!

No building, no bank account, no... people! It is hard to start with nothing! And one of the “obstacles” that stand before us is money. Obviously, starting a church plant requires some start up funds. How does God provide this? He provides it through His people. From provision for the tabernacle in Exodus to provision of the church in the New Testament and beyond, God’s people give to support the work of God.

So how should we give?

In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul talks about collecting an offering from the churches to take to the church in Jerusalem, which was in pretty severe need. This occasion prompted some great teaching about giving. Here are 4 things you and I need to keep in mind when we give.

1. Give generously (2 Corinthians 8:2).
   
   Here’s a little math from verse 2: Joy + Sacrifice = Generosity.
   
   I never met anyone who referred to themselves as a Scrooge: “I hate giving to worthy causes”. We would all like to be thought of as being generous. But generosity is measured by 2 things: joy AND sacrifice (or as the text says, giving out of poverty). You have to have both to fall into the generous category. If you joyfully give $10 when you are a multi-billionaire, that is very nice and appreciated but it isn’t technically generous. Or if you only make $20 a year and reluctantly give 10 of them, while grumbling and complaining about it, that’s not generous either! It’s joyfully and sacrificially giving! We are calling on you to be generous: giving sacrificially out of a joyful heart. How can you foster that attitude? Keep in mind you aren’t giving to an organization or a person or even a charity - you are giving to God. And when you know you are giving directly to Him, you can’t help but want to give and give joyfully!
    
2. Give according to your means (2 Corinthians 8:3, 12).
   
   Always of our own free will, and certainly at times beyond our means, but giving is according to your means. I would love to give 100 trillion dollars to the church. Believe it or not, I don’t even have half of that in my bank account. So what can I give? Well, like the commercial asks, “What‘s in your wallet?” I am not told to give according to Bill Gates’ means, or give what is in Lebron James’ wallet, or looting my neighbor’s house. I am told to give according to my means. How has God given to me? “The need is great, but all I can give is _______.” You be faithful to God with what He has entrusted to you, and by His grace, I will do the same.
    
3. Give according to the law of the harvest (2 Corinthians 9:6, 10).
   
   It doesn’t get any more straightforward than this. Sow a little, reap a little; sow a lot, reap a lot. This is true for the farmer, and this also works for the faithful giver. Proverbs 11:24 teaches the same. You will never out-give God. Ever.
    
4. Give hilariously (2 Corinthians 9:7).
   
   I hope when you started reading, and saw the subject was money, you didn’t roll your eyes and prepare for a guilt trip to give. The last thing I want to do is give a guilt trip, because “God loves a cheerful giver”. You make up your mind, you give generously according to your means… but it has to be given with joy. The Greek word for cheerful could also be translated hilarious. When I think of the word hilarious, several people come to mind. My wife is one of those people. She just says things sometimes that make me laugh and laugh. For days. And then a week later, I will remember it suddenly and laugh all over again! It is that kind of unrestrained joy that we are to make a part of our giving. This brings us back full circle to the joy in 2 Corinthians 8:2. It’s all God’s anyways, and we are giving back to Him what is His and He will use it to do His work and give us more to give back to Him to do more work and… the whole thing really is hilarious!

p.s. - a big fan of hilarity

Harvest University 2011...

What can be said but “Wow!”?

Two and a half days of passionate worship (led by Micah Klutinoty on Tuesday), bold preaching, excellent ministry training, and warm fellowship. Could have stood to be there a couple more days, but we got work to do here!

A few years ago at the very first Harvest U, they had 38 people attend. This year saw almost 1600 people, from all over the world! Is the Lord moving through Harvest? You can do the math on that one.

Part of the festivities was the Graduation Ceremony for the class of 2011. Call me biased, but I was blessed to be a part of the best class ever. I may get arguments from previous classes, and someday from future classes, but I won’t hear it. In my class, I met 6 future legends.

Steve Deedrick is planting a Harvest Bible Chapel in Rochester, Minnesota. Formerly working at Harvest Naperville, Steve is a Harvest guy, through and through.

Frans Alberts was sent to Perth, Australia, to plant. He is one of the warmest Pastors I have ever met. He has a tough assignment, which is probably why he was sent there in the first place.

Josh Knipp is planting in Bloomington, Indiana. An intellectual and a NANC guy, Josh is the ultimate encourager.

Matt Townsend was sent to Philadelphia. Though I thought that might destroy our friendship (it‘s a hockey thing), I can’t see anything ever doing that. His enthusiasm is contagious.

Aaron Dogotch is in the Knoxville, Tennessee area now. The man is a genius - a Biblical genius and a comedic genius. The only thing I don’t like about him is that after I spend time with him, my face hurts from laughing so hard.

And Daryl Molyneaux is planting in Niagara Falls, Canada. Not actually in the falls, though that would be cool. Which Daryl is in spades: cool. I just love the guy. When I grow up, I want to be like Daryl. Don’t tell him. He needs to stay humble. 

It was so great to hear how the Lord is working in each plant! Here comes my bias again, but I still think I have the best Core Group in the history of Harvest Bible Fellowship. Let's keep these other planting Pastors in our prayers. 

It was great to catch up with those who poured into me during my training, see those amazing people from Joliet, and make many new relationships.

I am so blessed to be a part of such a Christ exalting, passionate ministry. And those of you who have committed to planting Harvest Pittsburgh, you should feel it, too! To God be the glory!

p.s. - made it through the Harvest Training Center with only a few scars and a slight lime