OUTSIDE

OUTSIDE

David had become God’s anointed and the rightful king of Israel, yet Saul remained on the throne. David refused to raise his hand against Saul. David didn’t attempt a coup d'etat to seize the throne by force, nor did he finagle his way to the throne via the kind of smear-and-slander campaigns we’ve seen virtually every U.S. presidential candidate engage in throughout modern history.

Instead, David chose to demonstrate faith. He fled into the hills where he wrote many of the Psalms - like Psalm 37:

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” - Psalm 37:7

See, it’s one thing to read a Chinese proverb written by some anonymous guy whom nobody knows anything about. It’s another thing to read a song of praise to God from a man whose entire life is chronicled in Scripture - the ups, the downs, the success, the epic fails. That's called credibility.

Authentic faith has to be one of the most heartbreaking things we can experience. David had the moxie and wherewithal not only to “wait patiently,” and sing about it, but in the same breath he was utterly broken inside.

Saul wanted David found and killed, therefore David was separated from the community of the faithful - the nation of Israel - where God’s Presence dwelt among them - Immanuel, God with us. That’s when David penned the words to Psalm 42. It's a short Psalm so take a moment to read it.

David desired so desperately to go and be among the people of God in God’s life-giving presence that the best analogy he could muster was that of a deer dying of thirst - panting in the overbearing heat of the harsh Judean wilderness.

David’s heart was simultaneously resolved to “wait patiently” for the LORD, and filled with unimaginable grief due to his separation from his community where God’s Presence dwelled day and night.

Many years later Matthew wrote, “The ancestral record of Jesus, Christ, the Son of David…” (Matt 1:1), and finished his gospel message with Jesus’ imperative, “Having been brought through, therefore, disciple…” (Matt 28:19).

Throughout the centuries the Christian Church has made “church” about a lot of things: conversions, crusades, indulgences, schisms, denominations, building projects, preaching… but have we ever been known by the world over for what David was heartbroken about - there are people OUTSIDE the commUNITY of God - the place where God dwells as Immanuel and the only place where life can be found.

When Jesus issued His final imperative, “disciple all the peoples” I seriously doubt that His intention was for us to “make” anything, to be extorted for anything, to build anything, to fight about anything (wine or grape juice? really?), but rather to live in such rich community that those living OUTSIDE would realize they - like the deer desperately panting for water - lack the only thing that truly matters.

Jesus said to her, “...whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Is that the kind of faith that you’re living out in community with other followers of Christ? I’m confident that’s exactly what Jesus was talking about when He implored the remaining eleven Disciples to “disciple.”

Not long ago Jesus called you to follow after Him - just as He invited 12 guys to do. It wasn’t until all the junk was stripped away that they could finally receive His message, “Disciple.”

It’s a word that looks like His life - always in community, always considering others more important than Himself, always loving, always investing, always inviting, and always compelling those on the OUTSIDE to come in and truly live.

That’s what it means to disciple.

That’s what it means to be part of the Bride of Christ.

Blessings,

-Kevin

PS I’m sorry for not posting in several days. Our whole family has been hit with a nasty stomach bug that’s had me bedridden. By the grace of God I’m feeling much better today!

Been Called?

Been Called?

In Romans 8:28 we read, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” I find those words incredibly uplifting and encouraging today.

Paul, the writer of Romans, starts off with “And we know…” The Greek word Paul is using here would be similar to the English phrase, “I see what your saying.” We don’t really mean that we literally see words coming out of someone’s mouth, but we “see” their point and get that “Ah-ha!” moment, which becomes profound understanding.

So Paul is saying that we who love the LORD have had our “Ah-ha!” moment in seeing/understanding that God truly works all of the craziness of our lives for the good of those who love Him.

Even as redeemed followers of Christ we still tend to hold on to our selfish ambitions and self-centeredness. So maybe when one looks at that verse they mistakenly take that to mean “God works all things for MY benefit.” DANGER! WARNING!

In some sense that’s true, but only to the extent that we (plural) are united together (plural) according to His purpose. “And we (plural) know that in all things God works for the good of those (plural) who (plural) love him, who (plural) have been called (plural) according to his purpose.”

Are you missing that “Ah-ha!” moment with God? The moment when you truly understand that all the struggles, all the pain, all the victories, the peaks, the valleys - and everything in between - that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.

If your life’s purpose is still yours then you have no promise from God that all the things are being redeemed by God for the good of those who love Him.

But to the extent that His purpose becomes yours:

“...through you all the peoples of the earth will be blessed.”

“Therefore, having been brought through, disciple all the peoples…”

“...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

That’s our “Ah-ha!” moment. From that point on we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

All the struggles, all the battles, the pain, the frustrations... in all things God works it for the good of those who love Him.

Have you been called according to HIS purpose?

How will you respond with YOUR life?

Blessings,

-Kevin

UNCHANGING

UNCHANGING

God blessed me with the gift of faith in 2003 in my mid-thirties. I didn’t grow up reading my Bible or having any awareness or understanding of the overarching story of redemption therein. I began graduate level seminary training about 18 months later in 2005 and moved to Dallas to begin full-time studies in 2006.

My expectations for seminary were very VERY different than reality. Back home in San Antonio I’d had a couple of tremendous mentors take me under their wings almost immediately. They were both prominent leaders at my home church. One was the senior pastor of one of the largest churches in S.A., the other was the single adults pastor of the same church.

My expectations for seminary were that I’d not only have two incredible mentors like Don and Robert, but that I’d have dozens of them! I’d have a new home church where godly men would seek me out - affirm my call to ministry - invest in me - mentor me - pour into me - disciple me… AND on top of that I’d have multiple seminary professors who would do the same thing!

Reality was very different. Back home in S.A. the senior pastor called me on a Saturday afternoon just six days after my first visit. He spent about 30 minutes on the phone listening to me answer his question, “Kevin, how did you come to know the LORD?” A few weeks later the single adults pastor invited me to lunch and began pouring into me: asking, listening, helping, caring… discipling.

In Dallas I had none of that. Nobody called. Nobody asked my name. Nobody asked anything. There was nobody to listen or care… Nobody, except God.

I heard a sermon once where the pastor said, “I believe we look the most like Christ when we love our enemies.” His point was that it’s easier to get caught up in churchy activities that seem incredibly important: mission, teaching, service projects, etc., but it’s contrary to our fleshly, selfish, fallen character to really love the mean-spirited and unloveable of the world.

I think that pastor was on the right track, but I believe the Bible teaches us that we look most like Christ not in a particular aspect of His character or in imitating a particular behavior, but rather as our lives are completely poured out in simple obedience to the will of the Father. That’s what Jesus has done perpetually and eternally - forever focused on, concerned with, devoted to, and invested in the heart and will of the Father.

The idea of loving our enemies comes from Matthew 5:44. Jesus didn’t spend His the majority of His time doing apologetics or community service with the guys who wanted to kill Him, i.e. the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Teachers of the Law, and other religious leaders; instead, Jesus spent the vast majority of His time with the Twelve Disciples… teaching, mentoring, listening, caring, loving, pouring into, dying for, and commissioning them to do the very same after He had risen. “Disciple.”

Jesus’ final words recorded on earth - whether looking at Matthew’s gospel or the book of Acts - have the same imperative: disciple.

The “success” of the local church rises and falls on our simple obedience to that simple truth - disciple.

Is your’s a church where the senior leadership personally invests, personally calls, asks, listens, invites, challenges, mentors, teaches, and is intimately poured out and spent for the lives of their flock? Or, is your’s a church where the kinds of things Jesus did are relegated and delegated to interns, volunteers, automated databases, and spam email - thus taking a back seat to the “more important” task of big-time ministers, i.e. stage time and performing on Sunday mornings?

Love isn’t a performance, but rather the unchanging, essential, and eternal character of God.

Preaching can become self-serving. Mission trips can become like a euphoric spiritual drug requiring more and more until it just doesn’t do it for you any more. Teaching can be a venue to demonstrate your superior knowledge. But pouring yourself out for others, asking sincere questions, listening, loving, and genuine, authentic, altruistic Christian discipleship cannot be twisted or perverted.

Love looks like the advent/coming of Jesus, His life poured out for us, His death as the perfect love-offering to the Father while we were still sinners, and His imperative command for us to live life in that very same fashion and manner… to love, ask, listen, pray for, cry with, rebuke, encourage, and celebrate with.

Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” It’s easier to sacrifice yourself in a moment of narcissistic heroism - it’s exponentially more difficult to be poured out every minute of every day for God’s glory until He calls you home or comes again.

Is that what your church looks like?

Is that what your life looks like?

If your excuse is, “I don’t know how,” then the response is, “Learn.”

Pick up your Bible, lean in with all sincerity and vigor, read, learn, while SIMULTANEOUSLY living-out the unchanging culture and character of God… lay down your life… disciple.

Blessing,

-Kevin

OVERBURDENED

Overburdened

Contrary to what even many well-intentioned Christians say, God does, in-fact, consistently allow us to heap exponentially more than we can handle upon ourselves.

Some time ago at church I heard about a young married couple that had traveled up North for a wedding. The wife was 8 months pregnant when the car she was in was hit head-on by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. Mom was in critical condition, underwent  multiple surgeries, and survived. The little baby inside her did not.

In what realm of reality, imagination, or fantasy is anyone capable of ‘handling’ that? Nobody. Ever.

I used to work with a guy who knew I was a Christian. He would frequently come to me with current headlines like a pastor being murdered in the pulpit, a mother’s baby dying, or a dad backing up over one of his kids in the driveway. He would flippantly retort, “Hey Kev, where was your God on that one?”

I used to get angry with that guy for asking. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was angry because I secretly wondered the very same thing, “LORD, where were you on that one?”

I didn’t feel like I had the right comeback or theological argument to respond at the time, so I just tried to be honest with him in saying “I don’t know, but I’m trusting that God is working all that stuff out.”

I’ve grown to realize that's the right answer. God is not surprised, incompetent, or incapable in any situation - that’s part of the majesty of God’s sovereignty. God is in fact working all that stuff out.

Where was God in those - and all - tragic circumstances? Right there - working all things out for the good of those who love (or will come to love) Him.

It is most assuredly part of God’s perfect providential plan to allow us to become overburdened, exhausted, broken, and desperate for Him. It’s part of our fallen fleshly DNA to rely upon self until we hit rock bottom. That’s when the facade is unveiled and authenticity can begin with God.

In American football the long pass of desperation toward the End Zone (goal) at the end of a game is called a “Hail Mary.” Sadly, that nomenclature accurately reflects our American view of prayer and God. Feeble, desperate, last resort kind of stuff.

Our approach is to do everything I can my way so that when I win I can worship and praise myself, “Great job me!” But when I’m down by a few points at the end of the game and the clock is expiring, “Hail Mary..." When the ball gets dropped and the final score leaves me short our quip to God is:

“Way to go God. Where were you on that one?”

Our schizophrenic outlook goes something like this: Since God is SOOOO incredibly awesome and powerful, then He certainly doesn’t have time for little ol’ me and my insignificant problems. Simultaneously our alter-ego chastises God for being distant and disinterested in the minute details of our lives. We're the model of mental and spiritual health aren't we?

Therefore, we determine we’ll painstakingly handle everything (so as not to burden God Almighty with our trivial lives) until it gets so crazy that we have absolutely no recourse other than a “Hail Mary” heaved up to God in total desperation.

Sure, it’s a shot-in-the-dark prayer of utter hopelessness, which we don’t really believe will be answered, but with the clock winding down and no other options... we’ll just launch one up there, eyes closed, fingers crossed, and see what happens.

“Way to go God. Where were you on that one?”

Of course when it doesn’t get answered in our timing, our way, and on our terms then we simply add that to the rest of the “evidence” against the existence or interest of a loving, invested, and compassionate God.

God is in the business of answering prayers, but not so much the shot-in-the-dark, eyes closed, fingers crossed type, but rather the on-my-knees, tears-in-my-eyes, head-in-my-hands variety.

The prophet Nehemiah understood prayer is more than hollow words simply hurled heavenward in desperation. Nehemiah understood that prayer not only involves the weighty thoughts and meditations of the human heart and mind, but that God actually SEES OUR PRAYERS in addition to hearing them!

Nehemiah wrote, “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night.”

Nehemiah understood that God sees our prayers in order to hear them!

That sounds kinda goofy at first, but think about it. God actually sees the condition of our hearts and when we approach God as the Almighty in humility and authentic recognition the Sovereign of the universe sees that we are calling out and He hear us!

God already knows that we have no hope, no power, no ability, no strength, nothing of any merit or value apart from our Creator. So when we approach God as... well, God, then God sees, hears, and answers prayers.

God allows these awful, tragic, and deplorable things this side of eternity so that we never forget that Christ is our anchor, and that our eternal residence is not here.

God allows everyone to be given more than we can handle with the foreknowledge that we will fall to our knees in genuine desperate dependence and recognition of God’s sovereignty over all things, and cry out for help.

Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13; “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

God’s “way out” is in our Father’s arms.

God is everywhere always, but when things are good we typically ignore God and attribute success and serenity to ourselves - our work ethic, our intellect, our discipline, and our tenacity.

An old friend of mine once said in a sermon, “We see the beauty and love of God most clearly through tears.”

If you are OVERBURDENED in life because of loss, hurt, defeat, depression, or overwhelming circumstances - cry out to God. Not the false gods of self-medication, self-help, new age spiritism, or rigid religious formalism, but God our Creator, Savior, and Friend.

Jesus sees our prayers welling up in our hearts before we pray them.

Ask Jesus Christ to come into the throne room of your heart and reign forever there. Not only will He respond with a resounding “YES!” but He will resolve, reconcile, and redeem every hurt, every slight, and every wound for His glory.

“And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more nor mourning nor crying nor pain, they will be no more, because the former things have passed away."

Blessings,

-Kevin

Prediction & Promise

Prediction & Promise

After having spent three years with Jesus those twelve men must have felt pretty good about themselves. The Twelve Disciples witnessed Jesus performing miracles off every imaginable variety: healing the sick and lame, turning water into wine, calming storms, casting out demons, and the one that provoked the religious leaders the most… telling people they were forgiven for their sin(s).

The folks who do internships with big Wall Street firms and fortune 100 companies invariably pick up a swagger of confidence. The Twelve were no different. These dudes had some serious swagger goin on. My vivid imagination conjures up images like a modern movie trailer or high budget commercial…  

The scene opens with a wide shot in super slow motion - party music to set the mood…

Jesus (in the middle of the Twelve) is dressed modestly, compassion in His eyes, and is fairly unimpressive to look at.

Meanwhile, the Twelve Disciples are strutting their swagger, wearing designer sunglasses, Armani togas, some with arms folded, others looking out at the crowd like “AHHH YEAH, you know who WE are!” One of them pointing at Jesus as to say, “That’s right suckas Jesus is my homie!”

I realize that’s a dramatization, but not by much. See in Matthew 26:31-32 Jesus said to them, “This very night you will ALL fall away on account of me… but after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

Peter’s response vividly demonstrates both the group’s and his personal level of swagger - it was something the rest of them were all thinking, but Peter was always “that guy,” the one bold enough to say what everyone else was thinking… “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will!”

Jesus is unimpressed with our self-righteousness, our posturing, and our spiritual swagger. Like a needle to a balloon, Jesus said to Peter “The truth is that this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

Jesus isn’t so much concerned with our arrogance and our perverted self-image as much as He’s concerned with accomplishing the will of the Father in Heaven, i.e. conforming us into the image of Christ.

Peter was clearly wounded, so he did what any self-respecting arrogant, self-absorbed, egomaniac would do… he upped the ante. It quickly went from “I’ll never fall away!” to “Even if I have to die with you, I will NEVER disown you!”

How do I know they all suffered from the same malady of delusional self-worth and loathsome arrogant swagger? Because after Peter took offense to Jesus’ rebuke and injected correction in saying “Even if I have to die with you, I will NEVER disown you!” we read, in v.35 “And all the other disciples said the same.”

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Jesus knows that humanity is lost and utterly depraved.

He stepped down from His eternal throne of majesty to occupy the time and space that we destroyed in Eden.

He resolutely set out for Jerusalem and the Cross from before the foundation of the cosmos.

He knows that we’re broken beyond Oprah’s self-help techniques, beyond Dr. Oz’s medical miracles, beyond mega-church motivational speeches.

At the end of three years those Twelve Disciples were arrogant, self-absorbed, egotistical children. Jesus burst that bubble experientially when He was arrested in Gethsemane and they all fled just as He predicted… then, right before dawn - before the rooster blasted the final remnant of hubris from Peter’s twisted heart - Peter fulfilled Jesus’ prediction by adamantly demanding for the third time, “I don’t know the man!”

The guy who claimed he would DIE for Jesus was readily deterred with a few probing inquiries.

Jesus, God, could have left it there. The Bible could have simply recounted humanity’s sin in Eden, our failures and stubbornness in the nation of Israel, our rejection of the Messiah in Jerusalem, all of which affirming Jesus’ prediction that left to ourselves we have & always will - disown Him.

But He didn’t leave it there.

Jesus predicted our rebellion, abandonment, rejection, and denial. He also said, “But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Jesus didn’t leave it at a fatalistic prediction of denial and rejection - Jesus, God, interjected a promise of hope.

Jesus told these Twelve Disciples “This very night you will all fall away on account of me… BUT after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

The Cross of Christ strips away all the swagger, arrogance, and hubris. It leaves us with an unshakable tension of our personal unworthiness and unshakable inherent value.

Judas selfishly focused on the unworthiness side of the equation and subsequently hanged himself.

The remaining Eleven Disciples held on to that redemptive promise “but after I have risen, I WILL go ahead of you into Galilee.”

Those Eleven guys were hanging on to what seemed like an impractical, improbable, and impossible promise from God. That’s all they had, but they were on the verge of finding out that’s all we ever need.

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At the close of Matthew’s gospel we read, “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.”

On that long road to Galilee I imagine there was a lot of time for reflection about what had transpired over the past three years. On that long road to Galilee there was no big budget ultra-slow motion strut, no Armani togas, no designer sunglasses, and no delusional “AHHHH YEAH!” swagger. There was a group of eleven defeated men bereft of all personal pride and egotism… hanging desperately to a promise from God.

That’s when Jesus - the RISEN LORD - chose to come to them because NOW that all the junk had been stripped away… Jesus finally had something He could work with. That’s when Jesus said, “Disciple all the nations” (Matt 28:19).

Blessings,

-Kevin

Expectations & Outcomes

In Matthew 16:21 we read, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

The longer I walk with Christ and serve in ministry the more I'm convinced our expectations and outcomes are a plague. They are the plague of self-imposed disappointment, defeat, and depression in this life. Often, the things we project and eagerly anticipate are the very things Jesus must wrestle, dislodge, topple, or depose in order to have His way with us.

Peter’s response to Jesus ministry and mission was, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!"

We, like Peter, often miss the point because we draw our own dim conclusions, fabricate our own fantastic expectations, and project our own pious outcomes - all false idols our Lord must topple in our lives so we may live.

On the surface, the things we want, expect, and shoot for regarding relationship with Jesus sound incredibly spiritual and majestic. In reality, they frequently oppose the very plan and will of God.

So where are you frustrated in life? Where are you worried? Where does anxiety reign rather than peace? Those are the very areas where you have said to Christ, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen!” His rebuke to us is the same as it was to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

Maybe it's the fear of losing custody of our kids, of declining health, of time management issues, of financial problems, career goals, or relationship problems. To all of these Jesus compassionately responds, “...merely human concerns.” Then we rebuke Jesus, saying, "Oh yeah! But they're MY CONCERNS!"

Turns out, that's the whole problem. Scripture tells us, “Cast all your anxiety on him (Jesus) because he cares for you.”

The Bible does not tell us to pray our anxieties out to Jesus. We are to throw them, heave, chuck, sling, launch, catapult, and eject 'em upon Him “because He cares for you!”

Praying anxieties is not the same as CASTING them upon Christ. Take those things that are frustrating, worrying, and causing anxiety - and CAST them upon the LORD. After you cast them, wipe your hands clean, then get busy with the Lord's work. What work? "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

If you're not sure what that means or what that looks like, then you should get involved in a strong local evangelical Christian church. If you want to know what that looks like, visit poetrybaptist.com online. Better yet, come visit us in person! 19311 FM 986 in Terrell, Texas.

The point Jesus made is that we allow our expectations and outcomes to get in the way of Kingdom business. Jesus wants us to stop dwelling upon human concerns and focus on the imperatives He commanded. Love God and people. Get involved and invested in the local church. Serve the Bride of Christ. Disciple.

You cannot be simultaneously focused on the Kingdom of Heaven and upon the troubles of this world. That's like trying to look at the ground and the stars at the same time. Stop with the detrimental expectations and debilitating expectations.

Cast your fears, frustrations, worry, and anxieties upon Him.

Be faithful to what God has given you today. With simple obedience that flows freely from authentic faith -or- riddled with anxiety flowing from your own expectations and outcomes?

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

-2 Corinthians 3:18

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley
aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com