To be present is to serve; to be present is to die to self.

The Nature of a Leader's Presence

By Peter Sung He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! ~ Philippians 2:8
READING: John 13:1-17
Presence is the greatest of all gifts. It is given by parents who are attentive to their children, by waiters who refill empty water cups and by pastors who listen actively to a distraught mother. To be present is to serve; to be present is to die to self. We see presence in its most complete form on the cross. Jesus was so present to us that he literally died.
God calls us to be present in this world, the very presence and reality of Jesus in us. The nature of a leader’s presence has a quantity and a quality, that is, a quantity of engagement and attentiveness and a quality of response. How much are you present?
And what is actually present? Our love? Our anxiety? I may think I am present but my presence can be hijacked by my anxieties, and it is no longer I that am attentive and responsive but rather my anxieties. Jesus attends to us without burdening us with an overlay of his own emotions. He does not anxiously react but operates out of a framework of love and true identity.
Your presence is the key to greatness. If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all; start by being present. Your presence will allow you to see and respond to opportunities that you previously raced past.
What is the nature of your presence? How much and how are you present? Presence is the key to good leadership because to lead is to serve.
Jesus, Even now, I am hardly here. But you are with me and in me, attending to my prayer. In all of my ambitions and desires, help me to consider the nature of your presence. Amen.

Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) “Equips Leaders to Plant 5 Million Churches Worldwide.” Learn more

Who is the Elder?

“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
1 TIMOTHY 4:12

An older person is not necessarily a spiritual elder. We do not look to the age of a person’s physical body when determining their spiritual maturity. Of course, we owe a certain amount of respect to the aged by virtue of their seniority; but they may not necessarily be our elder in the things of the Lord.

One can be older chronologically and be quite immature in spiritual matters. Likewise, a relatively young man or woman can have a deep relationship with the Lord and be light years ahead of those two or three times their age. A young man or woman who knows God is more elder than a senior citizen who does not know God. We cannot judge by the flesh, or we will be misled.

Source: The Church in the Wilderness by Chip Brogden

Sometimes an influential lay leader in our church plant can be irritating and territorial.

The Goose

By Dionne Carpenter Saul kept a jealous eye on David. ~ I Samuel 18:9
READING: I Samuel 18:5-9
My parents once bought a home in the country that included a little pond just out of sight of the main house. Early the following spring, they bought twenty ducks and one big white goose for their pond. They really enjoyed those ducks! Every morning their goose would herd all twenty ducks up around the bend to my parent’s back door. Mom and Dad loved to feed them cracked corn.
But that goose was a cantankerous old bird. He honked and snapped whenever my folks tried to pet the ducks. It was so annoying! That entire summer they tried unsuccessfully to figure out how to get past that goose to pet their ducks. Finally my parents got so irritated that when Thanksgiving Day rolled around, late in the autumn, they butchered the goose and ate it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Within seven short days, all twenty defenseless ducks were killed by predators!
All of which reminds me of church planting. Sometimes an influential lay leader in our church plant can be as irritating and territorial as that goose. However, consider these three questions before deciding to give them “the ax":
1. Have I missed ways this leader is demonstrating loyalty and courage? (Actually, that goose had served my parents well, valiantly fightingmany an unnoticed battle down at the pond. He had faithfully herdedthe ducks up to the house day after day.)
2. Does my annoyance express godly, shrewd leadership on my part or merely my own pride and carnality?
3. And have I thought through what will happen to the church if I “kill the goose?”
Dear Father, Please deliver me from a jealous spirit and help me to lead all those entrusted to my care with wisdom and maturity, even the “goose” in my flock. Amen. 

Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) “Equips Leaders to Plant 5 Million Churches Worldwide.” Learn more

Comprehending Christ

“Be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height.”
EPHESIANS 3:16-18

We have to come to know the breadth, length, depth, and height of HIM, and may I say that we will never come to the end of Him. But we do not search for anything as if we do not have it, nor do we hope to gain some new thing, for what we call “new” is simply that which has been seen for the first time. Thus, revelation is critical, for it unveils what we already have. Having the Son, we have All.

Source: Lord of All by Chip Brogden

 

A church planter must be a leader of other people if he is to establish a single cell church.

Leadership

By Paul Becker If [his spiritual gift] is leadership, let him govern diligently . . . ~ Romans 12:8
READING: Romans 12:1-8
What capability does a church planter need more than any other? My answer would be: LEADERSHIP.
A church planter must be a leader of other people if he is to establish a single cell church. He must be a person that people are willing to follow. A single cell church is one composed of thirty to eighty people in which everyone knows everyone else. However, if he wants to establish a church that grows beyond a single cell, a church planter must be a leader of other leaders.
Leadership is a spiritual gift. Some people are just gifted by God to lead others. Leadership is also a multi-faceted set of skills and attitudes that can be learned. If you are in a position of overseeing others, you need to learn to guide them effectively whether or not you are a talented leader.
The top Christian leadership teacher in the United States is John Maxwell. He offers many resources to empower leaders, including The Maxwell Leadership Bible. This study Bible is filled with hundreds of biblical leadership lessons that flow out of the Word of God. It’s a wonderful resource. To become a better leader, I use this Bible in my personal devotions. I am using it to mentor my son, Brandon, in leadership. I use the Maxwell Leadership Bible to train my staff in leadership every Monday morning.
Whether you are a gifted or not-so-gifted leader, you can learn to direct your ministry more effectively. This is a lifelong process. Make a resolution: I will learn to become a better leader, starting today. And then, take action!
Lord, Help me to be a good leader to your glory. Amen. 

Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) “Equips Leaders to Plant 5 Million Churches Worldwide.” Learn more

Two Made One

“Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
1 CORINTHIANS 6:16,17

One theme that constantly appears in Scripture is the believer’s spiritual union with Christ. This joining together is perfectly pictured in the illustration of the Ekklesia as the Bride of Christ. When Paul wished to encourage the Corinthians to “flee fornication,” he made a similar analogy but from a very different perspective.

The physical joining together of man and woman, whether in marriage or outside of marriage, has the effect of making them one flesh. Spiritually speaking, the Bride of Christ is joined to the Lord and is now one spirit with Him. This is an admittedly difficult point to get across – even Paul said this is a great mystery, and you do not usually find him to be at a loss for words when it comes to explaining something.

Source: The Irresistible Kingdom by Chip Brogden

The Introverted Evangelist – Seth McBee

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, 
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 
‘Prepare the way of the Lord; 
make his paths straight.’ ” 
Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. - Matthew 3:1–6
For most of us this is what we think of when we think of an evangelist: the semi-crazy person that we admire for their zeal. We are impressed with their courage, but we know that if that is what we are called to do, we could never pull it off.
When we train in evangelism, this is the picture most either point to or think of. Which is one of the major reasons evangelism and evangelist have such a negative connotation for both the believer and non-believer. Essentially, we train folks to fit into a specific personality type and call it evangelism training. We are training people to be extrovert evangelists.

THE EXTROVERTED EVANGELIST

Extrovert evangelists are the people we see constantly interacting with strangers. They are the life of the party, and they love being around people in general. We’ve seen them doing everything from street evangelism to getting into gospel conversations with someone while riding in an elevator with them. This is not only a joy for them, but comes very natural to them. These folks are the “evangelists.”
When I felt the call to tell others about Jesus, I thought this is who I was supposed to be so I went out door to door, handing out bibles, went to community events and handed out tracts, etc. thinking that this is how one is deemed an evangelist and “have beautiful feet by preaching good news.”
The issue for me was this never seemed natural for me. It never felt like this is how God made me. I chalked it up as this was what it meant for me to be a living sacrifice. The problem was it didn’t stop at me, but I preached that others should be doing the same, or they didn’t understand the call to be an evangelist.
However, in the body of Christ, not everyone fits this extrovert mold, yet people think this is how all followers of Jesus must be and live. We must stop calling everyone to be an extrovert evangelist and allow people, specifically introverts, to live out the identity of evangelist and missionary in the way God has made them.

ROUND PEG, SQUARE HOLE

I find it interesting that we have looked past how God has made us, and gone directly to our actions to prove who we are. We should always start with who God has made us to be and out of that find direction for our actions. Even biologically this makes sense. We don’t ask a dude to get pregnant. But, sadly, this is as silly as asking an introvert to be a John the Baptist.
We need to go back to see how the Scriptures speak to us, found in Psalm 139:12-15:
For you formed my inward parts; 
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
Wonderful are your works; 
my soul knows it very well. 
My frame was not hidden from you, 
when I was being made in secret, 
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; 
in your book were written, every one of them, 
the days that were formed for me, 
when as yet there was none of them. 
God has designed each one of us exactly how he wants us. Not only that, but he will use his design of us to reach out and show his glory to the ends of the earth.
Once I realized who God made me, and how he was going to use me, it transformed my thought process on my life and how I lead others on mission.
What I have come to realize is that I am a functional extrovert. Many see me and think I am an extrovert, but in reality, my wife used to call me a hermit because of how much I avoided people.
What this means for me is that I will force myself into situations to meet new people and share stories, but it is not natural for me. I am basically in the middle of the introvert and the extrovert. Because of this, I think I have a unique perspective on how to lead and be an introverted evangelist.

SOME THINGS TO THINK THROUGH 

• Being an introvert and staying an introvert is not a sin. Many put this on others and in return introverts can feel very alienated and burdened to do what others (read extroverts or functional extroverts) are doing. Allow the introvert to be exactly who God has made them to be, an introvert.

• Do not try to make an introvert an extrovert. This is not your calling. Your calling is not to make everyone in your church look like you or act like you. If this was the case, everyone else on the planet could die and you could take over as king of the world. God has made his body different on purpose, including introverts and extroverts.

• Having introverts in your church is not the same as having immature believers or wolves in sheep’s clothing. It seems as though most of us have treated introverts as though they were a disease that needed a cure, instead of image bearers of God created by him for his purpose. Know God’s creation is beautiful, purposeful, and should be celebrated not degraded.

• Being an introvert does not exclude them from the mission. Do not allow introverts to use their design as a crutch. Instead, shed light into how God is going to use them. Allow them to, and lead them into, what it might look like to be on mission as an introvert.

WHAT DOES MISSION LOOK LIKE AS AN INTROVERTED EVANGELIST?

• Introverts, by nature, have a tough time being around people they do not know. So, find an extrovert, or functional extrovert, that loves Jesus and understands introverts. Have the extrovert invite the introvert into their daily lives and functions. This will allow the introvert to be with those they know, yet still be with those they don’t know.

• Allow the introvert to serve at events, parties, activities, etc. in a way in which they are comfortable. We have an introvert in our missional community who started by taking out the garbage, cleaning, and making the food at our BBQs and breakfasts. It was pretty funny because he was like a silent cleaning assassin. People would ask, “who is that?” I’d let them know he was a friend of mine who was here to help, so I could spend more time getting to know my neighbors. Please tell me how that doesn’t speak to kingdom living! After a while, he started to build friendships and started to speak into them and felt very comfortable at our large events, because he knew everyone now. I wasn’t patient at first, but when I started to realize how God had made him and his love for Jesus, I allowed him to live out his identity. When we do this, we become a beautiful picture of the diverse body of Christ.

• Know that because introverts do not like being around people they don’t know or large groups, they will not be the ones who are planning parties, or are the life of the parties. Allow this; it’s okay! Do not force them to do things that they are not made to be. Of course, there is a balance to the call of mission, but at the same time, be patient. I’ve found that the more you allow the introvert time to be around extroverts, or just strangers in general…the more they get to know them and then desire to be around them.

• When an introvert speaks, listen. Introverts don’t want to bother people, because they don’t like to be bothered. But, after they get to know people, they will speak into their lives and their wisdom is usually spot on. First, they listen and watch. When they finally feel the need to speak, they usually hit the heart of the issues at hand. Do not gloss over what they say, but listen and encourage. If you ignore or talk over them, they are stubborn buggers and might never talk again.

• Introverts desire community, they just don’t know it. Most introverts think they want to be by themselves. The fact is, they just don’t want to be around others they don’t know. And it’s not something they need to just “get over”; it’s as real as trying to get an artist to put on a suit and sit behind a desk all day. It just isn’t going to work. So, you can tell when you have an introvert who is an evangelist because they start to gather with those they’ve developed relationships with. My wife is like this. She hates meeting new people; however, once she has developed relationships, she not only makes space for them, they make space for her.

• What is an evangelist anyways? An evangelist isn’t a personality type or a personality disorder, but an evangelist is one who brings good news, both in the proclamation with the mouth and their actions. If this is the case, where does it say that an evangelist is going to be an extrovert or introvert? What if God’s plan was for everyone to do the work of an evangelist? (2 Tim 4:5). Think of the power of the church if we empower both the extrovert and the introvert to be the representation of the good news in the way that God has made them? How many more people would be reached for the sake of Jesus?

A FINAL WARNING

Don’t let the introvert use their design as a crutch for mission. “God didn’t make me that way” is a crutch. Instead, show them what mission could look like. Find another introvert, or functional extrovert, that can aid them in steps of what mission might look like for them. Don’t just tell them; have someone model it. The introvert is an image bearer and desires to see disciples made; they just don’t know what it looks like for them. It’s not because they’re stupid, but because the church has historically modeled what it looks like to be an extrovert evangelist.
Don’t give up on the introvert. Just because they don’t live out the mission as you might, does not make them any less a child of God, nor does it make them any less of an evangelist. You’ll have to be patient with them, that’s okay, God has been patient with you your entire life and you still suck.
The point of this short article is that the introvert is designed by God, not by the lies of Satan. The lie of Satan is that we need to make other people like us, whomever “us” ends up being.
If you have introverts in your church, empower them in the ways God has made them.
If you are an introvert, live out the mission to make disciples in the way that God calls you based on who you are. Don’t use your design as a crutch, and don’t let anyone else use your design as a crutch.
Start small. Ask the Spirit “what’s next?” and he’ll give you exactly what you need to do in the way that he has designed you. It might be the smallest and dumbest thing you’ve heard of, but it’s a step. It could be to help pick up garbage at the next party–you could be the next cleaning assassin for Jesus.
Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade Seth is an Investment Portfolio Manager, serving as president of McBee Advisors, Inc as well as a missional community leader, preaching elder with Soma Communities in Renton, Washington, and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Twitter @sdmcbee.

What Light Teaches Us About Christ

What Light Teaches Us About Christ

by Chip Brogden

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Scripture tells us that the invisible attributes of God can be clearly seen and understood by the things that He has made (Rom. 1:20). Light is one of the most profound things God has ever created to teach us about Himself. The Law of Increase will be more easily understood when we consider it in the context of light.

Within the Eternal Purpose of God there is a marvelous provision that says all things must be gathered together in one into Christ. That phrase translated gathered together in one is just one word in the Greek language: anakephalaioō, which means “to sum up again.” Thayer’s Lexicon is particularly helpful:
“In Ephesians 1:9, God is said to bring together again for Himself… all things and beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into one combined state of fellowship in Christ, the universal bond.”
The not-so-obvious truth in this passage is that this is not merely a gathering together, but a re-gathering together into Christ; getting a lot of scattered parts to come back together again and be where they belong. The implication is that at one time everything was gathered together into Christ. At one time, Jesus did have the universal and manifest preeminence in all things, and we did see all things submitted to Him.
Something happened which caused this Heavenly Order to be disrupted. We are presently in a great interim period where God is working to increase Christ and bring all things back to that original condition – a place where Christ is preeminent in all things, in all places, in all people.
That is clearly not what we see today. So what happened? Why this disruption? When did it take place? And what can we learn from it? To answer these questions we turn to the record of man’s earliest days: the Book of Genesis.

“Let There Be Light”

Scripture tells us that the invisible attributes of God can be clearly seen and understood by the things that He has made (Rom. 1:20). Light is one of the most profound things God has ever created to teach us about Himself. The Law of Increase will be more easily understood when we consider it in the context of light.
Light travels through the void of space at a speed of approximately 186,282.4 miles (299,792,458 meters) per second. Scientists generally believe that the universe is expanding infinitely outward in every direction at a rate of increase equal to the speed of light. The implications of this cosmic expansion are staggering. When you drop a pebble into a pond the ripples expand outward in every direction, emanating from the point where the pebble first disturbed the surface of the water. Similarly, if the universe is expanding infinitely outward in every direction then it has a single point of origin from which this expansion has emanated from. If we could somehow stand outside the universe and capture this expansion on video tape, we could play the tape backwards and trace this expansion back to a specific beginning point.
Why is this significant? The expansion of the universe proves that the universe had a starting point to expand out from. Christians believe this starting point began with a creative act, and a creative act means there is a Creator. Jesus says He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Rev. 1:8, 22:13). In a literal as well as a figurative sense, Christ is the true center of the universe.

Out of Chaos, a Heavenly Order

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Then God said, ”Let there be light.” And there was light. (Gen. 1:1-3)
Earth became disordered somewhere between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. According to the Book of Genesis, the earthwas formless and void with darkness upon the face of the deep. The original Hebrew text could just as easily be translated as “the earth became formless and void.”  The Spirit of God acted upon the chaos and darkness of this world and imposed His creative power and will upon it, for ”God is not the author of confusion [disorder], but peace.” 1 Cor. 14:33
The fact that God brings order to Creation is referred to as Intelligent Design. It means the intricacies of creation are too detailed and explicit to have come together by chance; it is far more likely that a monkey could produce the complete works of William Shakespeare by randomly pressing the keys of a typewriter. One physicist estimates that the odds of a random sequence of events resulting in the creation of life is greater than 1 in 1²⁶ (that is a 1 with 26 zeros behind it, or one chance in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). In other words, it is a statistical impossibility.
If you walk into a dark house and find the furniture scattered and the rooms covered with dust and spider webs everywhere, you would probably conclude that no one had lived there for some time. But if you walk into a house and find the lights are on, the rooms are tastefully decorated, the furniture is arranged in an orderly fashion, the table is set and dinner is cooking on the stove then you would not be surprised to find someone lives there and has put everything in its place. The more we look at creation the easier it is to believe that there is Someone with infinite wisdom Who designed everything with purposeful intention according to a definite order and arrangement. The Scripture says that this Someone is God, Who “created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9

Christ: The Light of the World

God’s first recorded act relative to the Heavenly Order was to call forth Light. This sounds perfectly reasonable until you realize that Light was shining on the first day but the sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day(Gen. 1:4, 14). Whether you interpret the six days of Creation to be literal twenty-four hours, periods, or epochs of time, the fact remains that Light was shining before the sun, moon, and stars were made. We also see that God separated Light from Darkness, not once, but twice (Gen. 1:4,18).
What does this mean? As we progress through the Scriptures we discover a Light that is not attributable to the sun, moon, or stars. This Light is not some abstract spiritual force or metaphor for goodness or morality. This Light takes on a particular personality and identity. This Light is eventually revealed to be a Person. The Scriptures make it very clear, and Jesus Himself states, that He is the Light of the World. When we read the Genesis account we are compelled to accept this literally as well as figuratively and spiritually. The Light that began shining into the darkness, disorder, and chaos of Genesis 1:3 was Jesus Himself. This is the only way to explain why (and how) Light could be shining before the sun, moon, and stars were created.
It also explains why Light was separated from Darkness twice: the first was a spiritual separation we could not see, and the second was a natural separation we can see. The spiritual governs the natural, while the natural helps us to interpret the spiritual. When God said, “Let there be light” He established the foundation of the spiritual and the natural world. In the natural world, according to what we can observe, light is increasing the size of our universe infinitely in every direction. But in the spiritual world, the True Light, Jesus Christ, is shining into spiritual darkness with an irresistible, unstoppable brightness.
When God said, “Let there be Light,” He was saying, “Let Christ be infinitely increased in all directions at once!” And it was so. He must increase, therefore He will increase, and He is increasing.

About Author

Chip BrogdenChip and his wife, Karla, left the religious system in 1999 to serve those who are following Jesus outside of Organized Religion. Today, The School of Christ reaches more than 135 nations with a simple, consistent, and Christ-centered message.View all posts by Chip Brogden →

Will He Find Faith?

“When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
LUKE 18:8

This is perhaps one of the most intriguing questions Jesus ever put forth – from a human perspective it almost sounds as if He wonders about it Himself. There is no doubt that He will perform what He has promised to us; but will we perform what we have promised to Him? Can we patiently wait for Him to fulfill His Word, no matter how long it takes?

Rest assured that, “Now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). Two thousand years after His promise we are even closer to its fulfillment.

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We all come to periodic crossroads in our Christian walk.

The Prayer of Relinquishment

By Dionne Carpenter “Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” ~ Mark 14:36
READING: Genesis 22:1-14
I had the timing all figured out when we transitioned from our second church plant to the third. We prayed like crazy to sell our house by June 30, calculating the sale would be completed in time for us to move by the start of our sons’ schools in September.
But no buyer came. I fumed all through July. God, how could You fail us like this? By late July, I surrendered the timing of our move to God – dejected but yielded.
We all come to periodic crossroads in our Christian walk. Something suddenly takes center stage: something we dearly love, something we’ve assumed, or maybe something we’ve been praying for with all our might. God gives us an unmistakable choice: Will you lay this down? Will you trust even this to Me, to do with as I will? This crossroad moment always addresses an issue that, left unchecked, could poison, divert or dilute our single-hearted devotion to Christ. Whatever the details, praying the prayer of relinquishment leaves the taste of death on our tongue because, of course, it always is a kind of death.
Sometimes God removes what we surrender, and because He has kindly allowed us the dignity to choose, we find peace. But often He returns to us, in purified form, the thing we gave to Him. Our buyer showed up two weeks after my surrender.
I thought the deadline was June 30. I was wrong. God used that painful delay to teach me to trust His perfect timing, then sent us buyers whose terms gave us plenty of time to move into our new house just in time for the first day of school.
Dear Father, Help me to walk at Your pace. Amen.
Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) “Equips Leaders to Plant 5 Million Churches Worldwide.” Learn more

Laboring Christ's Strength

“To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”
COLOSSIANS 1:29

The one who rests in Christ will produce more fruit than the one who strives with self-effort. This is demonstrated in Scripture and in the real-life experience of countless saints.

There is no question that Paul worked, labored, and toiled. But the difference with Paul is he knew that he was laboring according to Christ working in him. Was Paul lazy? By contrast, he was more fruitful than ever. The end result is his statement, “I labored more abundantly than them all,” quickly qualified with, “yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). The “I can do all things” must always be followed with “through Christ Who strengthens me.” If we trust in the Life we will be anything but passive.

Source: The Church in the Wilderness by Chip Brogden

Nothing Impossible With God

“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
LUKE 18:27

Once God has determined to do something, is there anything, or anyone, that can resist Him? Is man more powerful than God, or does it only seem that way sometimes? It does appear that God, in His infinite wisdom and loving-kindness and patience, chooses to delay the fulfillment of His Will. Man can try to withstand it, the devil can rebel against it, and by collaborating with man can even appear to hinder and prevent it temporarily – but in the end, God will have His Will.

Let no one mistake God’s longsuffering for any inability to bring about His desire and accomplish His Purpose. His plan is unavoidable and irresistible.

Source: The Irresistible Kingdom by Chip Brogden

Spiritual Growth Defined

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
JOHN 3:30

A disciple of the Lord Jesus is someone who enters the narrow gate and walks the narrow path until they come to the end of the narrow path and are left with nothing but Christ. As you can see, this is a very, very narrow way, which is why few find it, and fewer still remain on it once they find it. Nothing of self can be retained. All of self must be lost in order to gain Christ.

As we walk the narrow way we are being changed from glory to glory. Today we should reflect a little more of the glory of God than yesterday; tomorrow we will reflect yet more than we did today. This is growth. Growth is not more knowledge or increase of years: it is simply more of Him and less of me. He increases as I decrease. This is what it means to be a disciple.

Source: Embrace the Cross by Chip Brogden

How do you equip and deploy the leaders you need in your new church?

Identifying and Developing Leaders

By Jim Carpenter Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him . . . ~ Acts 16:3a
READING: II Timothy 1:3-14
Our speaker for the evening service was a new graduate of our EMT course (Equipping for Ministry Training). Eighteen months before, he had been petrified to speak in front of other people. Now he confidently and competently challenged us from God’s Word. He’s a future leader in our church.
How do you equip and deploy the leaders you need in your new church? Very carefully! And there are no shortcuts. You should bring godly, mature leaders with you as part of your church planting team. God may send you ready-made leaders, but growing your own takes time. I know of no “formula,” but over the years God has shown me a number of ways that help identify and develop godly leaders.
One-to-one discipleship is essential. I’ve put together three separate one-to-one training courses: the basics, a focus on our church’s values, and a more advanced study of God’s character. Working one-on-one with a man helps equip him.
I use a monthly men’s group as a “fishing pool” for leaders. The stated purpose for the group is to become godly men and to share our lives with one another. We study God’s Word, read books together and pray. It’s very casual. Some of the men show potential for future leadership, others do not, but we all grow spiritually.
We’ve developed a formal leadership course where men commit to 16 months of bi-monthly classes, with practical homework assignments. We try to equip them in one-to-one discipling, small group dynamics, evangelism, and studying and teaching God’s Word.
And of course there’s no substitute for on-the-job training. Timothy learned from Paul as he participated in evangelism, teaching, and new church organization. Leadership is both “caught” and “taught.”
Lord, Show me your plan to discover, develop and deploy godly leaders. Amen.
Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) “Equips Leaders to Plant 5 Million Churches Worldwide.” Learn more

No Going Back

“If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
GALATIANS 5:18,25

In the wilderness you don’t follow your feelings. It says the children of Israel were led by a column of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the cloud moved then they moved. When the cloud stayed still then they stayed still. I mean it’s really as simple as that.

Walk in the Spirit. If you begin to be led by your feelings then you’ll make the wrong decision every time. Most of the time, the right decision doesn’t feel good. Doing the right thing is usually difficult. The easiest thing to do is to quit, to give up, to go back to Egypt. But I’m telling you, get to the place where going back is no longer an option – then going back is no longer a temptation.

Source: The Church in the Wilderness by Chip Brogden

An Anointed Head

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”
PSALM 23:1,5

An anointed head and a cup that runs over – this is the hallmark of the Christian. An anointed head exudes a heavenly fragrance that sets us apart from the world, even though we walk about in it daily. It is bearing the Testimony of Jesus that witnesses of a heavenly reality that is quite distinct from the earthly fact. The cup that runs over means we have an ample supply of the Life of the Lord. If we can contain ourselves then we have yet to touch the Lord. For once we have indeed touched the Lord we will overflow. We will not be able to contain Him.

All who walk with the Shepherd should experience Infinite Supply: a never-ending flow of the Life, Light, and Love of the Lord Jesus Himself. This is the normal Christian life, and it is God’s provision for every disciple.

Source: Lord of All by Chip Brogden

His Yoke is Easy

“My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
MATTHEW 11:30

The Law of Life is more powerful and active than anything generated or maintained by self-effort. With self-effort I am always at the mercy of how I feel. If I feel spiritual then I can pray for hours at a time. But if I do not feel spiritual then I cannot even pray for five minutes.

This is why so many believers live their lives like a roller-coaster. They do not live according to principle, according to the Law of Life. Thinking it is up to them to become Christ-like, they turn an easy yoke and a light burden into a difficult yoke and a heavy burden – difficult and heavy for themselves, and for those who must live and work around them. The one who rests in Christ will produce more fruit than the one who strives with self-effort.

Source: Lord of All by Chip Brogden

When Christians die with unrepented sin 7

Hi all,

I thought this week would be the end of the series on Christians dying with unrepented sin, but there are too many examples, so I'll finish next week - dealing with the Lord judging us if we don't judge ourselves.

 

It seems there are 2 extremes of teachings often heard - the 'Jesus never judges us, sin is past, grace is here so I'm not accountable to anyone' teaching, and the 'God is just waiting for me to step out of line and then POW, He will judge me' teaching. Let us find balance through the Word.

 

Jesus does judge Christians

In I Corinthians 11:29-32 Paul says of those prejudiced people: "For all those who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgement against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the rest of the world."

 

Unless one wishes to pick and choose which verses of the Word they believe are for today (and some do), this passage says the Lord WILL judge a Christian IF:

 

1) The person refuses to judge themselves.

 

2) Their refusal to judge themselves puts them in a position of potentially losing their salvation - '...when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.'

 

As I stated last week, when you got saved you judged yourself. When you admit sins as you commit them, you are judging yourself. Therefore you are not in danger of being judged by the Lord. Only those who refuse to deal with their sins to the point they could lose their salvation are potential candidates for Jesus judging them by calling them home early.

 

There are lesser judgements He makes as well, not salvation related but rather related to growing up in Christ, but that will be next week, so stay tuned. Today is about those who potentially could lose their salvation if Jesus doesn't step in and bring them home.

 

Some examples

I arrived just as he died, his chest just collapsing as his last breath escaped. He had been a Christian since his teen years, and now at age 42 he was dead, an alcoholic whose liver had failed. His lifestyle was to be in bondage to alcohol for a few months at a time, to the extent he was known as one of the town drunks, then go to church and clean up his life for a few weeks or months, then he would go back to the bottle again.

 

I asked the Father; 'Do you want to raise him from the dead?' and I heard immediately: "No, I've brought him home lest he commit a worse sin."

 

In the Lord's great goodness, after years of this man's lifestyle of sin/repent, sin/repent, and not able to break through into permanent wholeness, the Lord removed His hand of grace which allowed the abuse his liver had taken through the years to be manifest in his body - his liver failed almost immediately the last time he left being sober to pick up the alcohol again.

In John 5:14 Jesus told the man who had been lame for 38 years before being healed: "Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come to you." Jesus isn't saying the man had to be sinless the rest of his life, but rather that as a lifestyle not to sin, lest a worse thing (hell) come upon him.

 

That Jezebel spirit

I have a cd/MP3 series on what the Word states the 'Jezebel spirit' really is which you can get if interested, which is nothing like what is commonly taught, but my focus here is on the Lord's actions not hers. In Revelation 2:20-23 He says:

 

"...you tolerate that woman Jezebel...I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication...Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress and afflictions, unless they repent of her doings, and I will strike her children dead." (her followers, not literal children)

 

Notice the apostle John reports the same conditions as Paul does - people who are given time to judge themselves but do not, with the result of the Lord judging them, and again, sickness/affliction - but remember Paul said He does this that we are not condemned with the world. So even here we see His great mercy.

 

Corinth

Among the believers in Corinth was a man who had a sexual relationship with his step-mother. Paul said that level of sin wasn't seen even among sinners. As stated in I Corinthians 5:1-13, no one confronted him, but rather accepted it and some even boasted of his exploit. Paul told them they should have confronted the man and dealt with it as a (house church) body. Because they did not, he had to step in to deal with it, saying:

 

"...I have decided to turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." v5

 

In other words, the Lord would remove His grace from the man's life, allowing him to suffer the consequences of his sin, which would mean an untimely death. Whether that was illness or accident we don't know, but we do know the man's life would be cut short so that he could make it to heaven, lest he continue down the path of sin and lose his salvation altogether. 'That his spirit may be saved...' Paul said.

 

Notice the process - the man sinned but didn't deal with it when he had been given time to repent. Secondly, no one in the body of the local home based church confronted him. Because the man refused to judge himself, he was to be turned over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.

 

Let me say that this isn't something anyone can do. Paul was the apostle to the Corinthians, so he had authority before God on their behalf. I remember being in a small group praying for a relative of someone in the group, when a woman suddenly 'commanded' him over to Satan for an early death - much to the surprise of the man's relative who had simply asked for prayer for him! You cannot decide you have simply had enough of someone and think you can turn them over to Satan - the Lord won't listen to that prayer.

 

Turning over to Satan

In my nearly 40 years walking with the Lord I can only think of a handful of times I've been moved by the Lord to turn someone over to Satan and be taken to heaven lest they lose their salvation.

 

A case of mental illness, but he loved the Lord

The first involved a young man who was mentally ill. He loved the Lord, but had been kicked out of Bible school for unrestrained 'words' for people, among other behavior, leading to a stay in a mental institution. By the time he came back home and to our church, he was seeing demons nearly all the time, and tried to run them over with his truck.

 

The first accident he had from seeing and then trying to run over demons was about 1am one morning. He knocked on our door a little after that, having walked from the accident site. He said he saw a demon on a barbed wire fence, so tried to run him over - taking out a line of fence and damaging his truck. Over several weeks he got worse and worse, repeatedly trying to run over demons resulting in other damaged fences, driving across fields, and so on. His strong Christian parents were very concerned, and we all prayed.

 

Barb and I talked and prayed as his behavior continued, realizing there was only one solution, though he was only in his early 20's. Medical science had no answers, he would not or could not apply anything I had told him, and he refused to give up his desire to run demons over with his truck.

 

Finally I prayed a prayer I had never prayed before: "Father, we are all at an end. We don't want him to totally lose his mind, but something is clearly wrong beyond our understanding. His ultimate deliverance would be to go to heaven, for there seems no earthly cure nor his willingness to deal with it. As his pastor I ask that you remove your hand of grace and take him home, at your discretion and totally ignore me if I'm out of line." Or words to that effect.

 

Some 7 days later we got a call - he had died in a 1 car accident. No one knew why in the world he would drive off the side of the road right there, and at highway speed. But I did - he was chasing another demon. He died instantly when his truck hit an embankment of a creek. I was shaken to my boots that what I had prayed had actually happened.

 

The Sunday following his funeral, during our worship service, suddenly I saw him standing on the platform smiling at me. 2 other people saw him and several others said they were aware of him watching us that day as well. Lest you think that is weird, remember (dead) Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus, Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the apostle John saw and talked to people already in heaven in The Revelation.

 

Witnesses

Hebrews 12:1 says we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, the Word indicating they are allowed to witness parts of our lives from time to time, as in the case of Moses and Elijah in Jesus' life.

 

Caution - Let us not think that everyone that is sick or with a chronic condition must have some hidden sin that must be repented of, for that is not the case in scripture. But it is also true that sometimes as seen in I Corinthians 11 with the case of the prejudice in the hearts of some there, they were weak and sickly because they would not discern the body of Christ and judge themselves. My topic has a narrow application, but worth sharing on the ways of the Lord in judging believers and the whole process.

 

I've run out of room this week. Next week the conclusion, which will be lesser judgements from the Lord NOT resulting in an early death.

 

Until then, blessings,

John Fenn

www.SupernaturalHouseChurch.org     CWOWI@aol.com

 

My friends, focus exclusively on His Kingdom affairs and “all” these things will be added to you.

Things to Be Sought First

By R. Jayakumar But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~ Matthew 6:33
READING: Matthew 6:19-32
Worldly wealth gives people obvious security and glory. Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 6:24 that it was impossible to serve both Money and God at the same time. Since monetary blessings are uncertain and often inadequate,as we serve Him, we have a danger of attempting to serve “money” along with Kingdom service.
There is a huge gulf between given (v. 33) and sought (v. 24). The former is a provision provided by someone, whereas the latter is an intentional hunt by us. Jesus guarantees for a “given” provision. His size and time of supply is based on His sovereign wisdom. When we judge God’s provisions insufficient, we choose to hunt for something beyond His provision. This trespass will eventually shift our focus from Kingdom to money.
“First” is not a chronological priority but rather an insistence that disciples set their undivided focus on Kingdom affairs. Consider these two phrases – “money for ministry” or “ministry for money.” The first phrase keeps us focused on His Kingdom by the virtue of His given provisions.The second phrase tempts us to gradually exploit our ministry work for personal gain. Exaggerated reports, unrealistic targets, manipulated accounts, betrayal of trusts, and selfish agendas are some of the traits of the seekers of money among the Kingdom workers.
His provision might be insufficient in your scale, but it is His supply. So, my friends, focus exclusively on His Kingdom affairs and “all” these things will be added to you. “Added” means that His supply will increasingly, again and again,unendingly, and adequately be given. Wealth of the world, though glamorous, is not reliable (v. 19).
Lord, Strengthen my firmness to focus only on your Kingdom. Help me to wait upon you for your provision. Amen. 
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LK10 Stories

Dear LK10 Community,

Lots of great stories of what God is doing in and through our Community!  Take time to read through these to find out what is going on with your fellow Community members.

1.  First, a reminder that the final deadline for registering for our Labor Day Conference is Friday, August 16th at midnight.  Still time to sign up or invite a friend!  It will be great to see so many of you face to face!  Go here:  http://2013lk10conference.eventbrite.com/

2.  Nathan McNally (Colorado) continues to do a great job of leading virtual Church 101 Courses.  The next one starts in September.  Nathan writes:  "We now have people from the Americas, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia."  Dave Broos (Indonesia) went through the course with Nathan and is now a LK10 Member.  When we recently had another inquirer from Indonesia, Nathan ask Dave to take him through the Course.

3.  Helen de Wet (South Africa) is an example of one of the people from various places around the world who found our website.  I've connected her with Maree Watson (Australia) who is taking her through Church 101.  Helen writes:  "Thank you so much John...  I really am quite excited to see what God is going to do... and, yes, Maree and I seem to have clicked pretty well in just writing to each other.  (They plan to begin using Skype to connect.)  ... I am also hoping that this concept will spread in South Africa as many people who know Jesus as Lord are leaving the churches and have no way of knowing what to do...  I will stay in touch with you and let you know how things are progressing...

My Comment:  Very encouraging that people around the world are finding us!  (10:2b Answers!)  And, that the Church 101 Course is proving to be 'viral' as we had hoped.  (This is what Sean Hyatt had heard from the Lord last fall.)  Also, encouraging that the Course is effective whether done face to face or in a virtual group.  Soon we will need other facilitators who can help Nathan with these Courses.  Is that something you would be interested in?

4.  Ken Strauss (Texas) writes:  "At your suggestion we have begun our first Cohort doing Church101.  It's just Dora, myself, Aimee and James but our first meeting last night went for four hours and was great!  Can we get them signed up on LK10 now?  How do we go about that?

My Comment:  Looking forward to meeting Ken and Dora Strauss and Aimee and James Reed at the Conference.  Jim and Cathy Mellon have helped the Strausses start their house church in Hutto, TX (outside of Austin).

5.  Mina Millen (California) writes this week:  "Guess what? I will be sharing C02 with about 8-10 women this weekend at a beach house. God just drops these things into my lap. The one organizing it is a good friend of mine and wants to really listen and share. I was given the word "commissioning". Looks like God may want to launch some women out to sea. Ha!"

Here's some of Mina's history with LK10:  "Well, I discovered your website over a year ago.  I can't tell you how many hours I spent reading through all your journey including the discovery of CO2...  when God said "smaller still".  I was intrigued to say the least.  I eventually asked a girlfriend of mine to join me in this experiment.  (Love your lingo!)  It trained me to hear God's voice and that turned my life upside down or is it right side up?  

My friend, Athena, saw a vision of me speaking at a conference on "evangelism".  That cause me to shake in my boots!  Seriously???  Well, it turned out to be teaching CO2 at a conference last fall to 50 women.  That's when I called John White and asked if it was ok?  After "twisting his arm" and "pulling a few teeth", he relented.  Ha!  I can go on and on but I am so excited to meet all of you.  I can't thank you enough for sharing the deposits God has given you and encouraging me to do the same."

My Comment:  Mina is a great picture of a true 10:2b answer!  God had so prepared her heart to receive what LK10 had to offer.  And, He has gifted her in an amazing ways to pass on the CO2 concept.  She has "infected" literally dozens of individuals and groups with these "rhythms of attention" in the last year.  I've asked her to lead one of the Workshops at the Conference on how she does this.

Share your comments/questions about these stories in the LK10 Forum here:  http://www.lk10.com/community/community-discussion/?cid=24&show=1148

Delighted to be on the journey with you!

John

John White
Team Leader
LK10:  A Community of Practice for House Church Leaders
LK10.com