Hope Fully... Not hopefully...

I have become very aware of my own instinct to be a skeptic, and I hear and understand those that seem to have their questions about life, scripture, theology or whatever. But I have also realized how dangerous my questions can be if they are not coming back to what the Bible says.

So when I read the Bible, and when I see the words of guys like Peter who said;

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

We are to get ready for action, to roll up our sleeves or we could even say “Fasten your seatbelts… its about to crazy!” With this understanding that our lives our to going to be full of action, much of which will be suffering (just looking at the lives of Men and Women in Scripture who followed Christ), that we can HOPE FULLY, in who and what…? Jesus and what HE HAS DONE!

As a Christian I have no reason to live a life that displays a “Hopefully” attitude, but one that demonstrates a heart that has put my Hope FULLY in Christ Jesus, and His work.

Charles Spurgeon says this;

“God’s Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed.” (No joke, he wrote this… so wish he was still around to thrown down some free style!).

Jesus is on the throne, He is our victor, he did what needed to be done on our behalf, and so, because He has done this, we can fully put our hope in Christ, and die to our ‘hopefully’ ways.

“Greater conflicts may here be foretold, but we may be confident that victory will be given to our Lord and King.” – Spurgeon.

For the Critics in the Pew

I love the Church. I love the theology that for Church to happen we need Preaching of the Bible, practicing of the Sacraments, proper, biblical leadership structure with Jesus Christ as the Senior Pastor, I love that God has called us to be the Church and I am grateful to be in the Church. And yes I am talking about the institutional and organized Church, which I am blessed to be a part of.

Recently I have been reading one of the most refreshing books I have ever read called “Why We Love the Church” written by two guys named Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. Why this book is so refreshing, is they don’t waste their breath, self righteously confessing the sins of other people, but are in the trenches trying to, by God’s grace, point people to Christ.

There are no apologies for mistakes made in History, nor do they play the referee of the Church. What is a referee you ask?
Well as a gospel warrior named Matt Chandler (Lead Pastor of The Village Church…check him out www.thevillagechurch.net) puts it this way;

Critics, “they're like referees. They don't score any points, they don't sweat, they don't play, they know nothing of the highs and lows of the game. They just run around blowing their whistle, and pointing out others mistakes. And when they retire no one cares."

Kevin and Ted take the approach that says; “No, we are not perfect, yeah there have been mistakes made and there will be more mistakes in the future. But by God’s grace, we (the Church) can be used for His glory. We can be the hope of the world through Christ Jesus, and see some come to know Jesus as their Savior.

What seems to be very popular these days is to apologize for mistakes made by the Church in the past. What is funny about this is some think this is a new thing, and such a good thing. That the impact of us not looking in the mirror and seeing our own sin, but making sure everyone knows we are not like the sinners before us is having a tremendous impact for the Kingdom…right.

CS Lewis wrote an article called “The Dangers of National Repentance” in which his main point is that we need to be cautious when we are making apologies for things we distain in other people. DeYoung puts it this way; “In confessing the sins of the church we have everything to gain and nothing to mortify.”

As a 27 year old, I feel that it really isn’t my job to apologize for things that happened generations ago. Yes we (the Church) have gotten something’s terribly wrong, we still do get things wrong (I am speaking as a current Pastor in a church), but as my coach/mentor/friend Ryan Willison would always say to me; “Mac, you can only control what you can control.” I take this wisdom and put it into this conversation and it makes me realize, the first thing I need to repent of, is my own sin.

I do believe there are leaders out there who make apologies and in doing so are truly repentant. Meaning they change direction, have a new way of thinking, and are learning, by God’s grace, not just from everyone else mistakes but their own.

Kevin DeYoung so loving puts it this way to the critics, and to those that love the Church; “I see a willful ignorance to the church’s history, a simplistic understanding of its past errors, and a childish impatience for her current struggles…But let us never for get that the first errors to confess are no those sins belonging to our grandparents or the crusaders, but our own.”

Acts 20:28-32 says this;
“Acts 20:28-32 (English Standard Version)
28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. 32And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I haven’t met a person who likes divorce or sees the benefit to the brutal pain of separation. In our wedding vows Ariane and I made a covenant between God and each other to love one another…”In sickness and health…till death due us part”.
As a husband I am called to love my wife as Christ loved the Church, Christ died for the Church. We are called to exemplify this, to love the Church visible and invisible.

Personally I find those that stand up to apologize on behalf of something they know little about to be cowards, annoying and usually have no dirt under their nails or calluses on their hands. I remain alert and aware of these individuals because as Paul has warned us; “…fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

I see the “Sorry Critics” as just this, wolves, speaking twisted things looking to draw away from what God has called us to.

I love the Church. I love the theology that for Church to happen we need Preaching of the Bible, practicing of the Sacraments, proper leadership structure with Jesus Christ as the Senior Pastor, I love that God has called us to be the Church and I am grateful to be in the Church. And yes, I am talking about the institutional and organized Church, which I am blessed to be a part of.

With love, For His Glory and Our Joy
Tim

The Abused Bride

The Abused Bride

(This note/blog was written from conviction of my own heart. All of the 'negatives' in this note are things that I have done and do.)

With the sun shining and a father is giving his final blessing to his baby girl this day was perfect. This was the day she had been waiting for her whole life and it was here, her wedding day.

This bride was beautiful and she knew her groom loved her dearly, that he would protect and love her. This bride knew that she would never be abandoned, neglected or abused by her groom and that he would love her so much that he would be wiling to lay down his life for her.

The ceremony was glorious, flowers, vows, tears “I do’s” and sealed with a kiss. Older couples clenched hands as they remembered there special day and being to pray for these two young love birds. It was picturesque, something you would read about in a magazine or see on T.V. and now it was time to party at the reception.

The limo pulled up and the beautiful bride stepped out with the help of her new husband’s strong hand. The photographer was doing all he could to capture every moment. They walked into the reception hall and everyone began to cheer. They celebrated the new couple as a sports fan celebrates their team’s victory. Glasses began to tinkle, sheepishly the bride looks at her groom, they kiss and everyone cheers again. A very weird tradition to desire to watch other people kiss, but the bride and groom obliged several more times that evening.

Suddenly the brother of the bride noticed a thread hanging from the her dress. So then the oppertunity arose, while the bride was near the punch bowl her brother walked up to her and said; “You look disgusting” and walked away.

In disbelief the bride made her way back to her seat and on the way back every single family member she passed had some criticism of her. “You’re too fat”, “Why don’t you look like your sister” some even brought up old memories; “Do you remember when you did that to me, well you hurt me so badly and it’s your fault I am the way I am today” said the alcoholic uncle.

The worst came when her mother came up to her, spite on her and slapped her across the face; “You’re not good enough for anyone! All you do is hurt people. I want nothing to do with you!”

People that were not family members stood on the outside watching intently. Trying to understand how a family, who is supposed to love and support one another, could be so cruel. It didn’t make sense; family was all they had…why would they attack each other that way?!?

At this point the groom noticed what was going on and made his way over to save his bride…


I write this story to paint a picture and remind us of what we are doing when we get so self-righteous, so full of self pity and when we so wrongfully accuse the Church of hurting, or being responsible for why we are the way we are.

We feel justified in blatantly spiting the face of what God has referred to has his bride (John 3:28-30) because someone has mis-represented Christ and hurt us in the process. Or we don’t like a style of worship, or someone’s preaching. Maybe the children’s program isn’t as good as we would do and it super frustrating to see that guy on the elders board.

I am so sick and tired of hearing little comments made about what the Church needs to do better or how the Church has hurt people. As my friend Jonny Mo says; “The Church doesn’t hurt people, people hurt people, and then hurt people hurt people.”

I believe it is time we turned from critics into children. We don’t stand by quietly as our silent father Adam did and allow the bride to be abused so terribly. It is my conviction that we HAVE to LOVE the Church in all her glorious beauty.

We need to thank our God for His grace, repent of our abusing of the Church and strive toward being a pillar that stands for things like; “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.” That we become a people that stand for things like Social Justice, caring for the widowed, loving the broken, giving what we have back to those who need it. Maybe we could begin to be known for what we stand FOR and not what we are against.

We need to have a healthy Godly fear when we are speaking of Christ’s bride. We need to cry out as children for God to redeem his people and keep silent when it comes to what “The Church” could do better. We need to understand that we have nothing to bring to the table, but only by the grace of God can we be used for Kingdom purpose.

I also understand that this is not always going on in every single church and to make general statements can be dangerous and really annoying to read. But I also believe it is a good reminder of the responsibility we have to love the Church, to treat her with respect and to be the hands and feet of Jesus through being the Church.

So are we celebrating, or are we abusing the Bride?

Well instead of leaving this with a question I want to leave with a note of encouragment. To make the point that it is such a gift to be a member of the Body of Christ and we should strive to build this body up one another. Through love, tough love at times but always, always in love.
1 Cor. 11:17-34 is a great passage which talks about divisions, but also calls us to build into the church. We do this by using our God given gifts for His purpose, His glory and the furthering of His kingdom.

I know I sound angry in some of what I have written and I do not apologize for the because I feel this is righteous anger. I also know my heart is pursuing growth on a personal level but also as a body.
I am also in a place where my heart breaks when I see division in God's Church but I will not compromise my convictions, nor change what God has commanded us to do in His word.

God doesn't need our help to make sense of what He was "trying to say", His word is clear and my prayer is we could have submissive spirits and embrace our call to love the Church biblically!

Resist with Tenacity 1 Peter 5:8-9

Write a New Note

Resist with Tenacity - 1Peter 5:8-9

Resist with Tenacity (1 Peter 5:8-9)

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

“What’s the point!? This is just too hard and I can’t seem to escape this fight so I am just going to give in…I am just going to lay down and a die!”

This thought has not just crossed my mind, but crosses my thoughts daily. I want to give up, throw in the towel and stop the battle because it is too hard…it can appear so hopeless.

The first thing I notice about this thought pattern is where my hope is lying. I put my hope in myself and what I am able to do. Then when I realize how weak, sinful and wretched I am in I want to give up. This gives me reason to never put my hope in me but in Christ and Christ alone.

Psalm 33:19-21 says this;
“to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”

These words speak to the core of who I long to be and yet so often am not. Many times in my life I feel the fear of death and the ‘famine’ I face have consumed me and nothing can deliver or redeem. This again is because so many times my hope is found outside of Jesus.

How can I do this? Well, thanks to the greatest message ever to touch my soul, because of the GRACE that Jesus Christ poured out on the Cross I am free from this burden. It is because of the amazing grace of God that I am able to place my hope in Him, find my strength in him, and give my life to Him.

In a world where I am constantly bombarded with lies about sex, money and power I need to be ready to resist with tenacity! It is not ok to give in and allow the evil one to consume my mind and heart (which are always joined) and bring me to a place of hopelessness.

It is my conviction that we must be ready and willing to fight. We cannot politely say “Oh, no thank you, no lust for me today please.” Or “Nope I won’t give into my pride because I really think humility is better.”

NO, we need to meet our temptations at centre ice, drop our gloves, square off and be ready for a battle. With tenacity and by the grace of God, we FIGHT!
We look our temptation in the eye and we scream “NO, YOU DON’T GET TO CONSUME ME! I AM HIS (Jesus) AND HE IS MINE. YOU MUST LEAVE NOW!”

I think we like to justify and give in too easily in the name of ‘being nice’ or really just being cowardly!
But I can’t do that anymore and God has ignited a passion in me to not just say ‘No’ but RESIST WITH TENACITY that which ultimately will rob, kill and destroy.

Satan gets no ground in my marriage, my ministry or my life. And I want to call all who long to be men and women of the cross to stand up and resist!

1Timothy 6:10-12 says this;
“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Oh Abba would you fill me with this longing, this pursuit of righteousness. To be a man who stands for godliness, faith, love, enduring suffering, and with love and gentleness, surrender my will and have it replaced by yours…I cry out “I am a sinner or God” but by your grace I am saved.
You have promised me that if I FLEE the evil one He must go, in your name, because you are a conquer and have called us to be more the conquerors in your name (Rom. 8)! I need your strength for this my God.

Friends lets rise up, lets stand up for what we believe in, and with a tenacious resistant we will hush the devil and bring praise, glory and honor to the name of Jesus and the world will know not just what, but who we fight for!

I have questions, but I don't need all the anwsers...

I am sure I am not alone in this but I have a lot of questions about life, if I am honest almost all my questions are for God. It would be easy but hardly edifying or redemptive for me to write down all my questions for God, so I am taking a different approach to this blog/note. I am coming at this from a stand point where I have lots of questions that really seemed to be answered by one word…Grace.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This is Paul explaining how God answered his tough question about the thorn in the flesh, and although we are exactly sure what the “thorn” was, looking at Paul’s track record (Philippians 3:1-9) for him to complain 3 times is something of significance; and yet God explains that His Grace is enough for anything.

There are so many times in my life where my heart is extremely frustrated with God, even angry because this isn’t the answer that I want…at times it doesn’t feel as though it is enough.

It breaks my heart to even write those words of honesty down, because as I sit at my desk and look at the cross I have hanging on my wall I am reminded of what it was that Jesus went through that I don’t consider ‘enough’. I don’t like that I can comprehend what is going on or it doesn’t make sense to me, so I get mad throw a temper tantrum and say to Jesus Christ, the risen son of God; “Thanks but what you did wasn’t quite enough for this problem.”

I understand that a lot of this is pride and foolishness; I understand that it is sinful to have this in my heart and yet I can’t stop myself from time after time, spiting in the face of grace and saying “I need more then that.”

See I hear and read many guys “just asking questions” and I hear my own questions being brought up by others as well, which if I am honest I get a sense of relief, kind of that “Whew, at least I am not the only one.”

But then I get scared that we are missing the point, that I am just like the Pharisees who, physically followed Jesus everywhere He went. They witnessed his miracles, the saw him die and rise again, in the flesh they were there! But didn’t KNOW Jesus, and were therefore dead. I don’t want to just follow Jesus around, I want to know him.

David was another on who asked many questions. Reading in the Psalms I am sure many of us can resonate with the cries to God. One of which we read in Psalm 22:1-2;

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.

But something I love about David’s heart is he always come back to the truth of who God is…his ‘Shepherd’.
Psalms 23 he writes;
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, [a]
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

We see again the reoccurring theme of questions from man, and answers from God that may not be what we desire, or how we would like them answered…but really who are we to question God and His love, mercy, grace, compassion, or sovereignty. As my great friend Tyson Liske put it one late night when we were hanging out; “How dare I question God’s faithfulness!”

My amazing wife and I went home back to Alberta for a visit last week and I asked my hero (aka my dad); “What is the point of all these questions?” He told me “It is to get people thinking…”

The conversation continued and my dad explained how this is a dangerous slope and we need to be careful that we aren’t just taking apart and not coming back to the bible for our answers.

But really I am not sure what we are supposed to be thinking about. I mean I do, but how is it edifying, how is it redeeming? We dismantle theology, doctrine, even the bible and truth…in the name of thinking?!?!

After years of questions it is my conviction that many of my burning questions have been answered, and usually they fall under either sin, or grace. It is now my conviction that the best way for me to know Jesus…it to stop asking and submit to God’s sovereignty. For me to let go of understanding and say thank you Jesus.

I know this won’t sit well with lots of people, and I will be the first to say “I COULD BE WRONG!” But man how cool it is when “The peace that transcends all understanding” sinks through the hard walls of my heart, which are built up with so many questions and I hear Him say “My grace is sufficient” and that truth, really does set me free…well I have no questions in those moments.

Celebrate with Obedience and Surrender

(I have to admit as I post this, my initial thought was; “Think of something cleverer to talk about…” like the message of the gospel isn’t enough. Or we have heard it enough times that we don’t need to be reminded of the life of Jesus, and it is because of this foolishness in my heart that I share this with you. It is because we so desperately need to be reminded of the saving grace of Jesus that I write knowing that nothing else I could say is as important as what Jesus said to us on the cross. Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Romans 6:6-7
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would not longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (ESV)

I have had a lot of time to reflect on my life over the past few weeks. I have spent mornings in silence, sitting in awe and wondering why would the creator of the universe care about me? Why would He save me? With all that is going on in the world, in our cities, in our family, in our own lives…why would he care for and love me?!? Why would he love you?!?

I mean lets face it none of us have a great track record, we are selfish, we love ourselves and long for ‘stuff’ more then life, well most seconds of our lives anyways. Our minds are generally sick and twisted; we treat people as a means to end rather then those that bear the image of God. I am convinced that we are by nature sinful (Rom. 5:12-13,18-19; Rom. 3:2…not to mention The Fall) and yet God still, being faithful in love and grace…loves us.

In fact God by his grace allows us to die to our sin, to become a new creation in Him, in Jesus Christ. I for one have experienced first hand this freeing work of the cross, it’s not a neat story that sounds good to say when things get bad…but the fact of the matter is; because of Jesus’ obedience to the Father in going to the cross, and in dying to myself and surrendering my life, my sin was nailed their with him. I no longer live in guilt and shame of a ‘man’ I once was, but I live as child of the most high God.

I would argue this should bring us to a place of celebration, as this freedom has been made readily available to us all.

1Timothy 1:14-16 says; “and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life”

I really do try to celebrate the work of the cross in my life, but this morning as I was praying I realized that the best way for me to celebrate Jesus is through obedience and surrender. To remain faithful to scripture and in doing so surrendering my life to what ever it is that God would call me to do.

Now I don’t claim this as a new idea, or even my idea for that matter, but I do feel that I am experiencing true joy in being obedient and surrendering this life. I am seeing the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) come to fruition in my life…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

My heart does not long to celebrate God’s grace by celebrating me, or you…I want to find life in dying to me. I want to be sure that all signs of my life point “Yes, this is because of Jesus.”

I want to celebrate Jesus with obedience and surrender.

To passionately pursue and embrace – Philippians 4:8

It is later Thursday evening and my body is exhausted but my mind and heart a very much awakened by a revelation of God.

As I write this I write with much conviction in my own heart of my lack of ‘passionate pursuit and embracing’. It is also my conviction that this is something that we need to do to find fulfillment in Christ Jesus, to whom all glory is due.

To passionately pursue and embrace my sweet Jesus is all my heart longs to do and tonight as I lay awake next to the most beautiful person I know, my wife, God said to me;
“Tim, passionately pursue and embrace what I have given you.”

My mind races and tears begin to well up in my eyes as I realize how much God has given me.

Of course because my flesh can at times get the best of me I begin to think of the “stuff” God has richly blessed me with; job, place to live, cars etc…OH LORD FORGIVE MY SINFUL HEART!

But as I lay in quite, and listened…shhh, just listen…God continued to speak as I asked Him “Lord where do I begin?”

“Philippians 4:8” was the reply, which I felt could have woken up my wonderful wife as I heard it so clearly it could have been audible.

The passage reads; (ESV interpretation)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is TRUE, whatever is HONORABLE, whatever is JUST, whatever is PURE, whatever is LOVELY, whatever is COMMENDABLE, if there is any EXCELLENCE, if there is anything WORTHY OF PRAISE, think about such things.”

So I begin (because this will continue) to meditate and this is my conviction:

Oh God by your grace would you allow me the strength and courage to passionately pursue and embrace

Truth – because there is truth, we have the living, breathing, life giving word of God which is true! It is inerrant (meaning perfect and flawless) and I long to continue to passionately pursue and embrace truth.

Honor – Lord give me discernment to know when to repent of pride, but pursue honor for YOUR GLORY and my joy.

Justice – My great God of Justice break my heart for what breaks yours, may I not stand on the sidelines and witness injustice, but for your sake be a voice and a warrior that fights for justice.

Purity – Jesus in a world that is still a ‘perverted generation’ I want to passionately pursue Purity in my marriage, my words, my motive, my life.

Lovely – Lord may I appreciate and embrace all that is lovely in this world and in my life, you blessed us with a world which I play a part in destroying. God may I passionately pursue the cultivation of all that is lovely.

Commendable – God may I live a life that is commendable, and when people witness this they SEE YOU in my life.

Excellence – Jesus you don’t want my leftovers but you long to make and mold me into your image. This is a call to excellence, my God my flesh is far too weak to do this without you but I will passionately pursue and embrace my call to excellence in all I do, for you Kingdom’s sake.

Worthy of Praise – Jesus you are this, and only you are worthy of any praise, so I will passionately pursuer and embrace you my Jesus. You are my every thing; forgive me oh Jesus for the many times when I seek my own praise…YOU ARE WORTHY MY JESUS!

So this is again my heart, may you be challenged to passionately pursue and embrace all that God has given you.
With much love
-Tim