Excerpt from Steven Anderson’s sermon:

… you’re going to tell me that I’m supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide, who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth abortion and all these different things — you’re gonna tell me I’m supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he’s in Phoenix, Arizona?

Nope. I’m not gonna pray for his good. I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.

Besides the absolutely foolishness, bitterness and anger within this pastor’s heart, his prayer was a bit more disturbing than on the surface.

Then it hits me like a freight train.  His sermon and prayer is goes against the Word of God.  You know, the Bible.

Using Scriptures, let me translate Anderson’s “I pray for Obama to die”:

“I really believe that Jesus Christ is not King of kings and not Lord of lords and He is not reigning and ruling over all creation. Furthermore, while I claim to be a Christian and a pastor, by praying what I am praying, I am showing my ignorance in the word of God. If I had at least, some point in my life, actually crack the Bible open and simply skimmed a page or two, then I would have read Daniel 2:20-23, Matthew 22:15-22, Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-25 in how are we suppose to respond to civil authority.

But since I don’t read the Bible in the first place, I have no clue what is coming for me when I don’t shepherd His flock well according to Jeremiah (read the entire book) and Matthew 18:6 cf. Luke 17:1-4.

Furthermore, since I am not praying for Obama’s salvation but rather His damnation, I have gone ahead judged Obama. However, if I actually believed Jesus Christ to be King of kings and Lord of lords and I actually read the Bible specially Matthew 7:1-5 to not to judge others and in Revelation 20:11-15 when Jesus is the one who judges, I would have known there is no way God would answer that prayer.

Thankfully, my God is a merciful and gracious and good God. I know by Romans 9:16, it is not by my will or Obama’s will that Obama be saved but rather God will have mercy on those whom He will have mercy on. “

Romans 8:3-4 (ESV) For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Let us pray.  Pray to Father for His sovereign grace, to Christ for His teaching of His Word and to the Spirit for His wisdom and understanding.

Last time we met, we broke down the first half of Romans 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  Essentially we answered “What has God done?”, “If the law was not weakened, could the law fulfill what God has accomplished in His gospel?” and “How did the flesh, sin and essentially, us, weakened the law?”  Now that we have answered those questions, let us put everything together and see what we get.

The first word of passage is the word “for” which is key in that we know that verses 3-4 ground verse 2 which when we use connection grounds verse 1.  The word “for” can almost always be switched out with the word “because” in the New Testament.

Let us reword verses 1-4 and let us see if the big idea becomes a lot clearer:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those are in Christ Jesus only because the authority of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the authority of sin and death only because God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending His only begotten Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Grammatically, it is quadruple run-on sentences ahoy.  But hopefully this gives you a solid big foundation so we can go head first and break down the ideas.

I. The law could not save us nor was it ever design to save us.

Last time, we pulled passages from Hebrews 7 declared commandments to be weak and useless because the Law made nothing perfect and something or someone Perfect fulfilled and did what the Law could not do.

But go back over the Torah and look at the Laws handed by God.  Just look at Leviticus 19 for example:

Leviticus 19:3 (ESV) Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:4 (ESV) Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:10 (ESV) And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:25 (ESV) But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:31 (ESV) “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:34 (ESV) You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:36 (ESV) You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

In other words…

Obey your mom and dad
Take a day of rest
Don’t worship stuff, things or people
Give to the poor
Give your firstfruits and the rest belongs to you
Don’t go into witchcraft and sorcery
Treat all strangers, immigrants and foreigners like they were your fellow comrade (or in some cases better)
Don’t cheat out other people

… I am the Lord your God.

For the Genesis 3:15 on, God has never said, “Look, I am going to hand down a list of commandments and that is going to save you.”  No no.  He has always said, “I am going to send myself down to you and save you myself.”  Even when he hands down the law, all the laws point back to God.

Jesus Christ comes to fulfill the Law and the Prophet and yet, He points back to God:

John 17:26 (ESV) I [Jesus Christ] made known to them your name [Father], and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Now that we have that firmly established, let us get into the rest of the text:

II. By sending His own Son
God fortold this in numerous passages throughout the Old Testament.  If you want to go into Messianic prophecies, start by studying:
Genesis 3:15 (the Protoevangelion)

Isaiah 53
Isaiah 53:7 (ESV)  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Psalm 22
Psalms 22:16 (ESV)  For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet–

Ezekiel 34
Ezekiel 34:12 (ESV) As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

We can do this all day.

The Father sent His Son to do the job because His Son, in submission to Our Father’s will, was the only one able and fully willing to complete mission because God us so much and He desires for everybody to be saved.

III. in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh
God made everything good.  Not anything could be better, but He declared what He made was good.  This is not creation what you see before you but the natural rhythm of existence (time, heartbeat, provision), marriage between man and woman, sex, love, joy, peace, happiness.  God preached the truth in Genesis 1 & 2.  In other words, God preached “Observe my words, do what I say, be blessed in what I say and what you are experiencing right at this moment will last forever.”

Yet, a false teacher/preacher comes along and preaches something in complete contradiction to what God preached.  Satan preaches, “God is holding something back from you. It can get better than this.  You have to trust in yourself and depend on yourself.  You can do it!  True happiness is at your fingertips.”

Our original parents and every single freakin’ person born of man born and choose to believe the false teaching of Satan (Romans 5:12-21) and every person born of man has substituted God for themselves and thus dying as soon as they are born.

Jesus Christ comes into this world, not born of man but of a woman (Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1), lives the perfect life we can’t possibly live and dies the death we should have died and by the power of the Holy Spirit, was raised from the grave (Romans 1:4).  In all of this, He condemns sin in the flesh and thus, Christ substitutes Himself as God for us in what Luther calls the great exchange:

“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.” – Martin Luther

By being in the likeness of sinful flesh and bringing all the sins of those who would believe on Him, He becomes the only one who would bear the wrath of God for our sins or propiatiate Himself for our sins.  With that, His buriel and resurrection as He conquered Satan, demons, sin and hell takes away all our sins and thus becomes our ’scapegoat’.

IV. in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfull in us

Jesus Christ being our sacrificial lamb (propitiation) and scapegoat (expiation) is that singular righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled.  In a nutshell, the law required in order  for you and me to be in the presence of God, you will have to sacrifice a spotless lamb and take all the sins of the people, place them on a goat and release the goat into the wilderness never to return back again.

Hebrews 2:17 (ESV) Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

1 John 2:2 (ESV) He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10 (ESV) In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

V. in us who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

How do you walk according to the Spirit?

First, you have to be saved.  We have been hitting the gospel over and over again so that you, discples of Christ, might go out in the world and boldly proclaim the gospel of God.

Simply, repent (change your mind) of your sins and inquities and believe upon the name of Jesus Christ.

Look how it was setup in Acts 2.  Peter proclaims the gospel and basically calls out the Jews present as the murderers of Jesus Christ:
Acts 2:36-37 (ESV) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.  Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”"

They were cut to the heart, how?  How is it that they were understand and desire to be changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12)?  In other words, how were these people able to even sincerely ask from their lips, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Acts 2:38 (ESV) And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What is the gift? The gift of salvation purchased by Jesus Christ so that we can be with God forever and ever.

Who is the gift by?  The Holy Spirit.

So how can you even begin to ask for the gift, let alone receive the gift?

1 Corinthians 2:12 (ESV) Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

Honestly, that is why I contend that evangelism is so frikkin’ easy.  It doesn’t matter how pretty you are, how well you speak, how well you can argue doctrine or you can browbeat a Mormon.  Just speak and live the gospel and engage with those whom God has put in your path, your neighborhood, your workplace, your gym, your bookstore, your favorite coffeeshop.

All of that is Step 1: Convert.

Remember, the Great Commission is not about getting converts but what, “Go therefore and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).

Step 2: Go therefore.

Now that we are free by the authority of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2), we are free to love God, love others.  In other words, I get to love God and I get to love others.  Jesus says, “Go”.

In other words, go and do.  Don’t wait around until you are complete healed.  Don’t wait around until everything is hunky dorky.  Don’t wait around until you have memorize the bible.  Go and do.  Once you have gone and did, it is then God gives you grace, strength (Ephesians 6:10) and endurance (Hebrews 10:36).

That is why in one of the last letters that Paul wrote, he declares this:

1 Timothy 1:12 (ESV) I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to His service,

God judges us faithful.
God, then appoints us to His service
God, then gives us the strength and grace and equips us to do that service

I don’t care if you were a “blasphemer of God, persecutor of Christians and a violent opponent” (1 Timothy 1:13) like Paul was.  It is the “grace of our Lord that overflows for you and me in faith and love that is in Christ Jesus.”

Let us pray.

From The Week’s article, D.C.’s ‘invisible army’ for Christ:

What does the Family believe?

Its theology is vague, elastic, and focused on power. The basic precepts came to Vereide in a vision in 1935, according to the group’s literature. Living in Seattle, he came to believe that union organizing in the city was communist-inspired. Jesus appeared to him in the form of the president of U.S. Steel, who told him to gather “key men”—prominent businessmen and political leaders—to beat back the unions in His name. Vereide’s recruiting efforts spread eastward, and in 1941 he arrived in Washington, where he began cultivating friendships with powerful people and setting up prayer groups. By then, Vereide was convinced that conventional Christianity had it backwards: Instead of ministering to the down-and-out, Jesus wanted believers to tend to the “up-and-out”—members of America’s elite who lacked intimacy with Jesus. In Vereide’s worldview, free-market capitalism is divinely ordained, and unions and regulations are a form of blasphemy.

Wow, gaining power using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is interesting and provocative since our Lord said back in:

Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Sure, ripping off dangs, darns and J.H.C.’s when you hit your thumb with a hammer might fall underneath this commandment.  Yet, what is a far weightier impact of this commandment and of I have never heard preached before is, that we have been commanded by God not to go do a bunch of crap using His name to justify our own agendas.

The Crusades?

Spanish Inquisition?

Any moment in American history?

God said it here: “I will not hold you guiltless if you take My name in vain.”

How much more does this line up with what Christ said (again):

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Praying and receiving prayer requests this weekend, I dwell on this thought by Mark Driscoll as I loosely quote:

“I had two seminary students come up to me to ask me about working in ministry full time.  You know the type: fresh faced, pastel colored knit shirts and full of enthusiasm.  They asked, “What’s it like to work in fulltime ministry” and asked it in such a tone as though it will be totally swell.

I broke it down for them like this.

Back in high school, I was a quarterback on the football team.  We are out doing scrimmages, offense versus defense, which meant no pads and thus no tackling and so you would think.

On one particular play, I step back to pass and this humongous, 6 foot something, 300+lb lineman is in a full on charge for me.  I wouldn’t know because he is right outside my peripheral vision.  I am not bracing for it all.

I get totally blindsided by this lineman but that isn’t even the worst part.  As he crashes into me, he leads into the tackle, knee first right into my groin.  I get laid out flat.  I am curled up in a fetal position from all the pain.  As I am about to blackout from the pain, all of my friends and teammates are standing in a circle around me, laughing at me in my intense pain.

Imagine that happening day in and day out.

That, my friends, it what it means to be in full-time ministry especially when you are called to one of the offices (Ephesians 4:11-16).”

I am not saying I have felt the full impact of that tackle just yet but I got my taste this weekend:

I got good news that my friend’s sister had a wonderful date with a guy. (Praise God!)

Just found out a couple weeks ago, I find out that my co-worker’s husband of 30 years passed away.

Just a week ago, a child in one of my friend’s classes, his dad, 39 years old, passed away from a heart attack.

Found out today that a husband been cheating on his wife for quite sometime decided yesterday, he no longer wanted to keep cheating and thus, left his wife.

On my own, sack after knee-to-the-groin sack will surely defeat me.

However, I know that I know I am called by God and equipped accordingly to do His will.  However, it is never a one-and-done empowering (akin to Superman).  It is a constant breaking and begging of God for His grace, mercy and strength.

God, fill me with your Spirit.  Just for today.  Give me enough strength to make it back to bed tonight, if I can even make it back to bed.  If by your mercy, I wake up tomorrow, we get to do this all over again.   I love you, Lord.  Thank you for judging me faithful and appointing me to Your service.

I have always know this for most of my life.  However, because every single person I ever have lived with is not an night owl, I really thought something was wrong with me and thus didn’t take advantage of this.

Fortunately, for me and your President, we know how we roll:

“I’m a night owl. My usual day [is]: I work out in the morning; I get to the office around 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.; work till about 6:30 p.m.; have dinner with the family, hang out with the kids and put them to bed about 8:30 p.m. And then I’ll probably read briefing papers or do paperwork or write stuff until about 11:30 p.m. and then I usually have about a half hour to read before I go to bed . . . about midnight, 12:30 a.m. – sometimes a little later.”

About two years ago, I started to switch all of my mental energies to the timeslot when I am “on”: after 9PM.  I really noticed this when I worked an overseas IT gig and was able to write my own hours.  I noticed that I did such a better job at night where as I kept the mindless data gathering during the day.

Knowing my calling in life, this is what my work day looks like.

7AM Wake up; Pray while I am stirring

7:30AM Breakfast then off to work

8AM “Tent-building” aka IT gigs. I have purposely taken computer jobs that require lesser skill sets and honestly, lesser brainpower.  I don’t go in and figure out solutions to problems I never dealt with before.  I come in with my bag of tricks and either I know how to fix it or I don’t.  There is no middle ground.  Results: I do 1000% better job for my employers and my employers (I hope) really like my work.

12PM Lunch meeting – Accountability, church planting, fellowship lunch meetings

1PM Start wrapping up the day

5PM Off work; spending time with family, friends, dinner

9PM Put kiddo to bed

9:30PM Study/meditate/prayer over scriptures; writing papers/posts; all heavy thinking

11PM Workout; Shower

12AM Read Bible

1AM Bedtime

For some reason, this is my perfect schedule and it works well if and only if I observe the Sabbath (Saturday evening to Sunday sundown).

Do you know when your mental capacity is at its peak?

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Whoa.

Is this video promising with the growth of the Muslim population?  How God is so good when He is the one who creates and forms all human beings in their mother’s wombs (Psalm 139:13 cf. Ruth 4:13)

Is this clip seducing us Christians to share and proclaim the love, grace and the gospel of God tons more people who don’t know Him? (Acts 1:8 cf Deuteronomy 7:6-7)

And God to be so good to us that we don’t have to go to the Middle East but yet He brings the Middle East straight to our doorstep?

I watched this video and this verse hits me hard:

Romans 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Naturally, I always read this and knew our salvation had nothing to do with us.

But the Holy Spirit made me see it from another angle.

God is telling me, “I told you not to judge others.  You know my heart for the sinner, lost and the dead.  You know the way you would have been if it wasn’t for my grace.  That is, dead.  Yet, you still think that some are too far out of my grace to be saved.  I have people who do not worship me.  I have elected them.  I will call them.  I will justify them.  I will glorify them.  If you won’t go into their homelands and tell them about me, I will bring my people to you so that you will proclaim my gospel to them.”

“I will have mercy on those who those who were called No Mercy.  I will say to those who were not my people, ‘You are my people’.  And they shall say, ‘You are my God’.”

“… whether you want it to be or not.”

God will run and smash through eternity, time, creation, history, the Cross, Satan, death, sin, hell, disease, death, the tomb, my life and yes, even my will in order to save the ones whom He has always loved.

I thank God that He is bigger and better than what we make Him out to be.

Glory to our King.

“An eye witness who was also captured by the Islamic militants gave us details of how the pastor was killed. He told us they were persuading him to accept Islam and he said over his dead body. He was even said to have preached Christ to Mohammed Yusuf and that reportedly angered the sect leader who then as he ordered that the pastor and others be killed immediately,” he disclosed.”

So how did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?  Did He come down supernaturally and made Pharaoh resist Him?

Not necessary.

Exodus 7:1-6 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.  Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

The Lord sends two old dudes.

They approached this mortal  who thought of himself to be god and demanded to be worshiped as god.

These two old dudes proclaim the gospel of God.

They tell this god that he is, in fact, not god and should not be worshiped as such (Psalm 82:6-7).

They tell him the truth: God is Lord above all.

God hardens the heart of Pharaoh through relentless pursuit, absolute truth and enduring mercy.

God knew how Pharaoh would respond and yet, God did not give up.

If you do not trust in God, God has not given up on you.  He will passionately, lovingly, mercifully and graciously pursue you.

Make no mistake about it: our God is good.

ht: The Sun News Online

Lecrae (via twitter) asks:

What are 3-4 books/authors that have heavily influenced you or that you’d recommend? Don’t hold back, I wanna know.

My response would have taken 10 tweets.

Since I own a blog, I will use it and then respond with a link back.

Since I am about all things pastoring and preaching, here are the books/sets that currently have made a huge impact on me.  That is, it has been nearly a year since I have read it and I still think about it.

Here we go:

1. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper & Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson – What is absolutely incredibly that both of these books point to one question: What is your relationship with your God at this moment?  Both authors ask the hard hitting question, “Is the ‘professionalism’ of ministry getting in the way of your first four ministries (1 Timothy 3:1-7).  Short answer, it should not.  Bible references alongside: Ecclesiastes, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus
2. Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea For Preaching – I tore through this book.  There were such a wealth of material here that I felt like I had to dip entire pages into a bin of highlighter fluid. Bible: Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Gospels, Acts, Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Jude
3. Vintage Jesus & Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears – The Vintage series is your amuse-bouche to all things apologetics and ecclesiology (respectively) and together, a strong reinforcement (re: beat about the head) in learning and knowing the gospel with all of your heart.  However, just because it is a taste, don’t expect to be light and airy.  You best come strapped with your Bible alongside this reading. Bible: Isaiah, Psalm, Ecclesiastes, Acts, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Jude, Revelation,
4. Discipleship Counseling by Neil T. Anderson & Death by Love by Driscoll & Breashears – Solid introduction to biblical counseling and for nothing else, will get you in that mindset of caring for His sheep.  Bible: John, Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Epistles of John
5. Bonus: The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever & Puritan Evangelism: A Biblical Approach by Joel Beeke – You don’t have a fire for evangelism?  Get these books and spark it.  No sales pitches.  No tired-head methods. No zigs.  No zags. Just biblically and theologically solid. (Re: living on mission and letting God be God.  Shocking.  I know.)  If this doesn’t light your fire, then your wood is all wet.  Bible reference: All of it.

What books/sets are hitting you hard right now?

Four months ago, God kept telling me that I should be leaving Gateway and be involved, somehow, someway with The Village Church.

Four months ago it didn’t make sense so I ignored it.

Yet, God won’t relent until He has it all.  Proof of that is the Holy Spirit continued to speak to me with all of His infinite patience and mercies.

About a month ago, I had a meeting with my mentor (Alan Smith, Pastor of Equip/Leadership at Gateway… follow him on Twitter) and he started the meeting with “Joe, God has laid something my heart for the last several months and if it doesn’t sound like from God, totally disregard it.”

He lays on me exactly what God has been laying on me.

I was like, “No, no, that is from God because God has been bothering me about it and I have been totally ignoring/disobeying Him.”

The Thursday after the meeting, I was combing through the Acts 29 website and looking through the church plants and planter candidates and was surprised to find a candidate in Fort Worth, Texas.

I connect with Ben Connelly on Facebook and Twitter.

I checked out the website for The City Church.

I read the prospectus.  Realized that their first vision dinner was that coming Sunday.

(The connection with The Village Church? They are the one of the churches that planted them.)

Long story short, we got connected and I committed to The City last Friday morning over coffee.

When I first heard about The City, I prayed for direction and wisdom. But those prayers start morph into prayers for strength and grace to do His will. In other words, I knew that I knew where I was going to serve.

I know that I am going to plant a church. But I also know that I am 2-3 years out from this. The only thing I really don’t have is church planting experience. If for nothing else, I will most certainly get that experience with The City.

Part of that commitment to The City was submitting myself to the eldership process. I desire the office of elder of the church but I know I will fulfill the role of elder/pastor/overseer/shepherd even if I don’t have the title.

I never need the title because I know what I am called to do.

For the record, I am not seeking out a church plant because I don’t like what Gateway is doing.  Unlike some of the other church planters I have heard from, I love love love Gateway and I have full blessing from my mentors, leaders and friends.

I tend to be “all eggs in one basket” type of guy and I rather be 100% committed to one church then to partake of an evangelical buffet that is the church scene in DFW.

I am so happy to be part of a church plant and even more happy to be one of the very few church planters (from my humble perspective) to say “my last church was wonderful. Glory to God!”

I was pondering thoughts on the Apostle Peter mostly because of studying 1 & 2 Peter (thank to Mars Hill) and my conversation with my son about authorship and penmenship of the different books of the Bible and then spent time dwelling on this verse:

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

It was then what my heart start to ache and I cried out to God, screaming, “CAN YOU DO WHAT YOU PROMISE TO DO?  DESPITE OUR FAILURES, CAN YOU OVERCOME AND LOVE, BUILD AND NURTURE YOUR BRIDE, YOUR LOVE… THE VERY ONE YOU CAME TO DIE FOR!?”.

I hear of the gospel exploding in Africa and Asia and my heart is doing cartwheels.

I hear that Europe has apparently evolved past God with everyone onboard with post-modernism and I think, “My God is King and Lord of post-moderns”.

I hear the upcoming generation is aimless and wandering without a purpose and embraced the “de-churched” label.

Only by the power of the Holy Spirit and utterly dependent on His strength and grace, I will declare, “It’s go time.”

For it is never that we have to worry about us pushing back the forces of hell but rather, we rejoice and celebrate as the gates of hell cannot possibly contain the greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty of our loving God as he works through us, that is, His Church and His Bride.

For God’s glory alone.