Mission…Impossible?

How often do we limit ourselves based on what think we can and cannot do?  ”I can’t” is the rally cry of the weak.  Yet, Scripture says that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4:13, emphasis added) and that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” (Romans 8:37).  So, then, why can’t we?  What is it that we are being prevented from doing out of fear, which is not of God (2 Timothy 1:7), or doubt, which is a lack of faith in God?

Oswald Chambers, in his classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, said:

We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our eduction or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God….When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, ‘I can’t.’ Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter.  If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.”

Is there something in us that cries out, “I can’t!”?  If so, it is one of two things:  Either I am not submitting to the lordship of Christ in my life, or I am not a child of God at all.  Either one can be devastating.

Resurrection Weekend at The Gathering

This weekend is going to be huge in the life of The Gathering.  We are going to start the weekend with an incredible time of reflection and worship at 7:00 PM Friday, celebrating Communion together.

This has always been very special to our Gathering Family and this year promises to be even better!  If you have come to trust in Jesus, we invite you to share in this very special Good Friday service as we remember together the sacrifice that was made to purchase our redemption.

Our Good Friday celebration will also kick off a weekend Fast.  Did that scare you away?  I hope not as this is going to be an incredible time of focused prayer during the weekend as we remember throughout the day on Saturday what this weekend is really about, plus it will give us an opportunity to be in prayer together about what God is going to do in our worship celebration on Sunday morning.  I want to encourage you to pray for the many people who will be with us that morning who need to experience Jesus for the very first time.  I’ll be giving you a guide explaining what a fast is and how to go about it effectively at the service on Friday night.

Then on Sunday morning, we’re going to “Break Fast” together at 9:00 A.M. in the Commons (so bring your favorite breakfast dish), celebrating what God did during the fast and what He’s going to do in worship.  We’ll also have another opportunity to spend some time in prayer together.  At 10:45, we’ll have the big celebration.  Led by one of the best worship bands anywhere, we’ll celebrate the risen Lord and then hear what God has to say to us, expecting great things.

There are two other big things about Sunday:  First, we’re looking to completely “PACK THE HOUSE.”  We want every member of The Gathering present on Sunday morning with at least one guest.  I can’t think of a better time to invite someone to come with you to experience all God is doing through His ministry here!  Secondly, we’re going to celebrate through Believer’s Baptism.  There is absolutely no more appropriate day for baptism than Resurrection Sunday morning!  We know of four people who will be baptized so far and are going to do something a little different:  We’re going to offer spontaneous baptism.  As when the Ethiopian was saved in Acts 8, in which he asked,  “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”, we’re going to offer anyone who comes to trust in Jesus on Sunday the opportunity to be baptized immediately!  What a cool thing that would be, huh?

So, as you can see, it’s going to be a weekend you’re not going to want to miss!  Please make plans to join us and find at least one person that you know needs to be here and bring them.  I can’t wait and hope you can’t either!

The Death of Sin

I read this morning about killing sin.  Killing. Sin.  Hm. Seems only fair since sin is in the business of killing us.  Promising the world and delivering the grave.

I had to question whether or not that is really possible. As a pastor and follower of Christ, I know that He has overcome sin, but does God expect that I should really kill (mortify) all sin in my life?  After all, I’m only human!

The more I thought about that, the more I realized that, yes, I’m only human, but is that the problem?  Is it that I’m only human or that I’m not human enough?  Let me unpack that just a little bit:

In Genesis 1 and 2, God created all that is, including man and woman.  In that creation, there was no sin at all.  In essence, there was an ideal Man.  That is, humanity the way God designed it was without sin.  THAT is what it is to be “human.”  Complete and without sin.  OK, so then Genesis 3 hits and all chaos breaks loose.  Sin enters the world and Man falls…becoming, essentially, less than human.  From that point on, then, it was not that we sin because we were “only” human, but that we weren’t human enough.

When Christ came, He lived a perfect life, not because He was God, but because through perfect obedience to the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2), He was a perfect HUMAN.  He was what we were designed to be, and because of His work on the cross, made it possible that we no longer needed to be overwhelmed by sin again.

Look at this:

“…our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”  Romans 6:6

Done away with.  That’s pretty strong.  Sounds pretty definite.  Not managed or minimized…done away with.  Does that mean I no longer have to sin?  Well, sounds like it.  I think as I meditate on this, it means that as improbable as it is that I will no longer sin at all (because I still have the residual sin nature that was left in me because of Genesis 3), I cannot say that it is impossible.  Scripture seems pretty clear that Jesus has made it so.

So, then, what’s the take away?  I stop giving myself a pass.  I stop using the excuse that, because I’m only human, I’m going to sin.  Instead, I need to decide that sin WILL NOT reign in me.  I will no longer allow myself excuses as to why I still fall to the same old vices.  I have to “consider myself dead to sin” (Romans 6:11) which means that it is no longer an option for me.  As Oswald Chambers said, “You cannot [do this] until you have radically dealt with the issue of your will before God.”  That’s really it: Is it going to be my will or God’s will?  Who is the sovereign in my life?  If I’m honest, I have to say that it depends on when you ask me and what the subject is.  Sometimes, it’s God (at least in the easy parts of my life), but sometimes, when I’m dealing with my favorite flavor of evil, it’s me.

The only thing left for me to do is to realize the truth in the power of Christ in me to “consider myself dead to sin,” to be in constant prayer for that power to be manifest in me, and to be vigilant to daily make the mortification of sin in my life my aim.

“Lord, identify me with your death until I know that sin is dead in me.”

That’s a tough one to pray.

My Andrew

I didn’t get online yesterday after church simply because I needed some rest and time to unplug, so I didn’t get the chance to write on here about my little Drew’s birthday.

Four years ago yesterday, God so richly blessed Karen and me with a little bundle named Andrew David Price.  A “Daddy’s boy” from the start, he has been so much fun and makes me smile all the time (except when he doesn’t!….and I guess that’s to be expected sometimes.)  I am a blessed man, indeed, and little Drew is much of the reason for that.

Drew, my prayer for you is that you grow to be a man who loves Jesus with all your heart and lives to serve Him, blessed by Him and a vessel of mercy for Him.  I want you to know that I will ALWAYS be here for you as long as God gives me breath.  You give me so much joy and I thank you for loving me so much in return.  By God’s grace, I look forward to all the things we will experience together as you grow into all that God has for you.  Happy birthday, son.  I love you with all my heart!

Rob Bell Attempts to Explain Apparent Inconsistencies in Love Wins

MSNBC interview with Martin Bashir:

What do you think? Did he adequately answer the questions or did he continue in the postmodern practice of embracing and promoting contradictory propositions?

UPDATE:

Listen to an excellent follow-up interview with Martin Bashir.