Those God Gives You

In John 17, Jesus prayed what we call His High-Priestly prayer. It's a moving prayer that includes petitions for unity and protection for those who follow Him. One of the most remarkable claims He made in the prayer was this - "The ones you have given me, I will not lose." That statement is so filled with insight. All through His ministry, there had been those who were connected with Him for a season, but ultimately walked away. However, God had given Him some who would stay connected and turn the world upside down! 

I believe the same is true today with those we disciple. Many will be connected for a season, but what we have to figure out is who God has given us! Those are the ones we want to pour our lives into!

I'm so thankful to be reconnected with one of those God has given me! His name is Jason Rhoades. The connection was made back in 1996 when we moved to Atlanta, GA. Jason went through our leadership training there and our Master's Commission program. We have remained connected all these years. He moved to Lafayette several years ago to help us launch our Master's Commission program here and now he and his wonderful wife Amanda and their two beautiful daughters Jalin and Abby are moving back to be connected with us once again in ministry. Jason has taken a job with an oil company here and he and Amanda will get deeply involved with our church to learn the Crossroads model of ministry from the inside out so they can be our first church planters in the days to come. 

I am so excited about what God has in store for the next season of my life as He allows me to place the ones He has given me over great churches we will plant across the country and around the world! 

Words and Feathers

I shared a message this weekend called "Taming The Tongue." I ended my message with the story of a woman in a small town who shared things she 'knew' about another woman in the village. The things she shared were horribly damaging to her neighbor's reputation, but she told them anyway. She told many people even though the things she was telling could not be proven. Eventually, she found out the things she had been saying about her neighbor weren't true. She felt horrible.

She went to the Pastor and told him what she had done. She asked him what she could do to make it right. The old Pastor handed her a feather pillow and told her to go to the village square and tear open the pillow and empty all the feathers out of it and bring it back to him. She did what he instructed and asked him what to do next. He then instructed her to go back to the town square and pick up all the feathers she'd emptied out of the pillow. "There's no way I can do that." She pleaded. "The wind has carried them everywhere! How could I ever collect them all again?" The Pastor looked into her eyes and said, "You're right, and you can never take back the things you said about your neighbor."

Our words are powerful and we must be good stewards of what we say!

The Man With The Golden Voice

By now I'm sure you've heard the story of Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden voice who's interview with a reporter in Ohio became an overnight sensation after going viral on Youtube. He's now been interviewed by the Today Show and others, reconnected with family and has received job offers by everyone from The Kraft Corporation to the Cleveland Cavaliers! 

It's an amazing story and one Americans have embraced warmly. I think it's because we love a redemption story! Here's a man with an obvious talent that's been lost to drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness and hopelessness and then BOOM - All of a sudden he gets another chance! 

But isn't that the story we all share? We all have gifts and promise, and yet life has a way of burying it beneath our sin and suffering and then BAM - God gives us another chance! That chance - that one shot at TRUE redemption is Jesus Christ! The man with the golden voice that rings out, "Come, all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest!" 

I hope Ted makes it. I hope he stays sober and meets with great success, connected to his family and celebrated by all who loves a good redemption story. Most of all I hope He makes Jesus Lord of his life and experiences what true redemption is all about. I hope he uses that golden voice to praise the One truly worthy of all praise. 

On a side note: Is it just me or does Ted look like he could be President Obama's uncle? Just sayin...

So what are you doing on May 11, 2011?

It's happening again. Another ministry has come along claiming to know the date the rapture will take place. (Followed by the the date of the judgement of the world to boot!) This time they have an impressive marketing campaign and internet following. The last one (of any significance) was the whole 88 reasons Jesus was coming back in '88 thing. 1988 came and went with no rapture. This latest group have selected May 21, 2011 as the date of the rapture with October 21 as the great day of judgement. (I have no idea what they did with the seven years of tribulation that follow the Biblical teaching of the rapture. They somehow reduced things to five months.) 

I don't want to sound like a complete skeptic. I BELIEVE in the rapture of the church. I believe it could happen on May 21st! (Or any day between now and then for that matter!) I just don't believe we can know. In fact Jesus said that quiet emphatically! (Matthew 25:13) We do know that He promised His return would happen within a generation span following the reestablishment of Israel as a nation. That happened in 1948. So, if we're interpreting Matthew 24:32-34 correctly, His return should take place before 2028. I base that assumption on the verse in Psalm 90:10 that states the lifespan of man is 70-80 years. If that's what God considers a generation, then 2028 would mark a full lifespan since Israel was reestablished in '48. (I'm not starting a marketing campaign here, just doing a bit of speculating.) 

We should all be watching and waiting. Jesus is coming back soon and this world isn't ready! So many around us are unprepared and it's our responsibility to tell them. I don't need a date to do that, just a mandate - And that He's given me!