The Placebo Effect

I was listening to a popular medical radio program the other day when someone called in asking a question about Diet Pills and whether or not they really work. The doctor responded with a chuckle as he began to explain some fascinating research. I can not remember the exact research results that he gave, and I have not done a lot of research myself on this topic, but I can remember the main points which I will share with you.

The first thing he mentioned is that many of the diet pills that are on the market are nothing more than a placebo. A placebo is defined as a sugar pill, or as an inactive pill with no medicine contained inside of it.

The second thing that he mentioned is that studies have shown that the more that a placebo pill costs, the more effective the placebo pill is. Researches have done case studies to prove this point, the more something costs, the better it works.

Now, I could go a lot of different directions with this, but immediately I began to think of Christianity in America. Unfortunately I feel that many are offering nothing more than a 'placebo religion'. I would define a placebo religion as a religion that speaks to nothing deeper than our feelings, yet never produces the actual change that is required in the new birth experience. The scriptures say, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. This scripture implies that in the new birth experience we are spiritually changed! It is more than just a 'feel good' experience, but there is something intrinsically different about us. When we fail to offer the new birth experience in it's entirety, we are offering a Christianity with no spiritual medication.

There is another principle that is interestingly discovered in the research surrounding the placebo affect. The more something costs, the more effective it is. In a world that is trying to make living for God easier than ever before by watering down certain beliefs, we must understand the principle that the more costly something is, the more power it has to change. In the scripture we find that Christ understood the cost associated with the New Birth Experience by spilling his own blood on Calvary according to Acts 20:28. It was not a cheap price, but it cost something very dear, His own life. How can we, as 21st Century Christians expect to get by on anything less but total surrender to Christ? To think that it is even possible to be in good standing with Him without surrendering everything to Him is purely a humanistic religion. The scripture still speaks for us to take up our cross and follow him. The cross many times seems cumbersome. It costs us a lot to rearrange our lives around the cross, yet being a disciple of Christ is not living out of convenience, but it is living out of surrender!

Many are searching for nothing more than the Placebo Effect. The signs of it are everywhere in our day. Churches want a large crowd whether lives are really being changed or not. People want the resurrection experience without dying on the cross. We want the promises in scripture without the discipline of walking in biblical principles. Lord, help us to communicate a message that truly changes an individual by going deeper than simple feelings, into the actual flesh of the heart! When Christ comes back, he is not coming for a church that feels good, but He is coming for a Church that has been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Is There A Cause?

There has been a flurry of political news that is streaming across all forms of media in a monumental election this year. Although politics is not my specialty, I do enjoy keeping up on current events that are happening in our country. I was listening to the speech that Hillary Clinton gave at the Democratic National Convention on tuesday night and I felt as though she did a wonderful job. It was a difficult speech to give, seeing that she rightfully deserved at best being the Democratic Pick for President and at worst the Vice Presidential Candidate, but she was not considered for either. She went to the podium and began to deliver her speech. The task at hand was to get those who had been loyal to her campaign for president to move beyond feelings of sorrow and hurt surrounding her standing and create a vision to get them to buy into Barack Obama for President.

Midway through Hillary's speech she began to speak directly to her voters by asking a question. That question was simply, "Do you believe in me as a person and idea or do you believe in the Democratic Cause?" This was a question that was trying to pierce through all of the fog into the issue at hand. Hillary was trying to get people to look beyond the past and move the Democratic Cause forward.

As I began to think of this speech my mind progressed immediately to the thought of personality as opposed to cause. Why do we do what we do in our local churches? Are we driven by personality, social status, agenda? or are we driven by the cause? David asked the question of those surrounding him, " Is there not a cause? Every organization is at best one generation away from becoming extinct. The question of sustainability within the marketplace is simply lifting the rally cry for the cause and nothing less. It is the cause that brings proper motivation to a movement.

Although God has called the church to be built around His personality, many times we become guilty of building our own kingdoms, feeling as though we are pursuing His kingdom. Leading a church by personality or agenda will result in factions within the body of Christ that can not have sustainable growth! Jesus told Peter, Upon this rock I will build my church. He was directly speaking to the foundation of the church, which is Christ. With a foundation that is solidly in place we must unashamadely pursue forward by clearly atriculating the cause of Christ!

Although polictics is it's own animal with a lot of differing opinions and views on issues I believe there is much that the church can learn. To successful lead a country, you must move beyond just having people buy into the candidate, but they must also believe in the cause. As a church, we must move beyond just getting people to buy into us as leaders, but we must frequently communicate the cause of Christ, because that is the revolution that Christ has called us to partake in.

Clear Vision

The other day as our family was headed down the interstate to our next service I began to hear a yelp and scream from the back of the truck. When Jessica looked in the back seat she realized that the screaming was coming from our youngest son, Gentry. Gentry's face was bright red and tears were streaming down his face. As any eight month old child would respond, you could easily tell that something was really irritating him. We noticed that what was causing the blurred vision, the red face, and the huge crocodile tears was none other than a small eyelash that had somehow worked its way into his eyes and was irritating it. In that moment he could not do anything but respond to this irritant in his life.

I have traveled the country and been in a lot of different church environments and I have come to understand the wisdom found in the passage of scripture which says .... without a vision the people parish. Just as my eight month old son quickly discovered that the smallest things can blur vision, I have found that in the church it is normally not the big things that derail God's kingdom, but many times it is the small things. One small irritant in the church can derail the whole body's vision. It can produce a lack of focus in the body that will uproot what God has truly called the church to accomplish. It appears that many times we have faith to believe God for the impossible things that stand before us, but it is the things within the realm of everyday life, the small irritants, that we learn to cope with that eventually blur our vision and detour us from the destiny that God has called us to. As a church body we must be careful to protect vision. The skilled craftsman understands that when he is working on creating a beautful sculpture that one of the most important things that he does is where protective glasses. The church must understand that what God has called us to do is to form and transform lives. In this process many times little shards will fly out and potentially blur the vision of God's calling on His body. We need to protect the vision that God has called us to by putting on the whole armor of God. Realize that even the small irritants of life have the potential to blur vision. We must focus ourselves on fulfilling the vision that God has called us to. I am happy to say that when Gentry was able to work the eyelash out of his eye the crying stopped and he was back to normal. We need to allow the water of the Holy Spirit to flush out any irritants in our lives to renew vision and focus to the Church.

A New Generation

In my travels I am periodically greeted with a sigh of relief and renewed passion from men and women who are my elders. It appears that there is an enormous concern from some that we are at a transitional point in the church world which will define the future of the Body of Christ. There is the notion that there are few young men and women that are willing to sacrifice and answer the call into the ministry as our predecessors have. I understand the concern of the generation before mine, but I feel very optimistic about the future of the church. A very similar feeling was prevelant in Paul's day and Paul hit this head on with his admonition to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:11-16.

These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, until I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that heard thee. KJV

First off we discover that Paul admonished them to not only command, but also teach. If we are to have a succesful transition from one generation to another it must be taught. There must be instruction to both age groups on how to deal with one another. Whenever there is transition there will be changes that occur which can add tension, but the way to successfully transition is through education and open communication. As long as the core values of the organization are not changing it can be succesfully transitioned.

The admonition was to not despise youth, but rather raise the bar for youth to become the example. In the generation that is arising we must understand the clear cut differences than in a previous generation. We must give young people a cause that they can believe in. David cried, is there not a cause? Today, if we succesfully cast God given vision that is bigger than we are, then young people will be happy to join the vision. Youth in a church should not be viewed as black sheep, or those who have unrealistic expectations, but I believe the youth of a church can become examples of students of the Word, in conversation, in charity or love, in spirit, in acts of faith, as well as purity!

Now, before young people get to excited about being empowered to think that everything should be quickly handed over to them to transition to a new generation, notice the safeguard that the Apostle Paul stated. Paul asked the youth to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Basically what Paul was saying is that there are things that are required of a generation if they want to be the examples for a new generation. We can not expect the baton to be handed off just simply because of age issues, but through disciplined actions of reading, studying and listening our profit will become evidenced to all. This is the natural progression of things. In verse 16 Paul says to take heed, or be cautious about your actions, adhere to core doctrines and continue in them.

I truly believe that the best days of the church are ahead. Every generation has been concerned about the generation following them with good reason. We must make this a matter of prayer. Until we are willing to believe in youth and give them oppurtunity, youth will never rise to the challenge! Instead of wondering why youth do not step up to the plate, why don't we begin to embrace youth with love and slowly give them oppurtunity to grow into who God has called for them to be! In doing this we allow them to become a part of what God is doing as opposed to making them feel as though they can not be used by God until they have achieved some invisible mark of spiritual success.

Lessons Learned from Michael Phelps

Over the last few weeks the world has been watching in awe as the Beijing Olympics are in full force. Every day that I get online to check my email, I find Olympic updates and it appears that there has been an obsession surrounding news on Michael Phelps and the US swim team. Michael Phelps has not only become an American icon, but he has also become an international olympic legend by now winning 16 olympic medals, 8 of those being at the Beijing Olympics. I was intrigued by the story of Michael Phelps because of the enormity of the task before him. It is so easy for us to focus on what was accomplished by Michael Phelps and praise him, but I guarantee that most of the world had never even heard his name until a few weeks ago. My mind began to think of the scripture in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 which says... Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be castaway. KJV

The lessons learned from the story of Michael Phelps can easily be compared to the church. Here are some observations that we must consider.

1. Michael Phelps has spent years of his life dedicated to training. Training is what prepared him for the race that would allow him to achieve his medals. Without the years of disciplined training Michael Phelps would have never acquired the prize. We must understand as a church that we do rely on God to bring increase, but we must dedicate ourselves in disciplined training to run the race that God has called us to. The scriptures admonish us to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Unfortunately many times we feel ill equipped to accomplish what God wants because we have never invested the time into disciplined training in the word and Spirit. The misunderstanding that we have is that the race made Michael Phelps a champion, but really all the race did was reveal the champion that all ready existed. I feel that there is a need for us to discipline ourselves to become students of the Word and the Spirit! The scriptures tell us that in the book of Acts when the church grew, the word grew! There are deeper dimensions that God is calling us to if we are to possess all that God has for us! God, help us not to miss out on what you have for us because of our lack of desire to discipline ourselves in your Word!

2.In order for Michael Phelps to achieve world records in medals he had to rely upon his teamates in the relay race. No matter how much training and discipline Michael had worked on there came a point when he had to simply wait and watch his team perform. The way that the relay race works is that each teammate is given one lap using the swim stroke that they are best at performing with the fastest time winning. The scriptures tell us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. In the body of Christ we have to learn that God will function through His body! We are all given specific tasks in the body of Christ. We have to rely upon our brothers and sisters to fulfill their function in the body of Christ if we are going to function properly! The five fold ministry must be in operation if we are to see an apostolic move of the Holy Ghost! Our structure will determine our strength. If we allow the Church to be structured as God would have it, with each one relying on the other, it will strengthen us together! It is not all about our individual kingdoms, but it is upon building His Kingdom! God is not coming back for a church, but He is coming back for the church. We do ourselves a disservice when we dismiss functions in the body of Christ! Lord, help us restore apostolic structure!

The Only Constant

There has been a crisp feeling in the air over the last few days with temperatures in the morning time at 50 degrees. My mind has immediately began to race to the thought that we are about to enter into a brand new season, fall. Fall represents so many new and wonderful things but I think the biggest realization is that change is coming. I heard a quote once which says, " The only constant in life is.... change." I have found this statement to be true, not only in my personal world, but also in the spiritual world. In my own life I realize that every day represents a change in me. My weight fluctuates from one day to the next. My youthful appearance, which I appreciate right now will one day change and give way to grey hair, possibly even hair that falls out of my head, Yikes! My children seem to change on a daily basis. I have looked at Reese and Gentry before on one day and by the next day it appears that they have grown a full inch. In our daily lives we look at change in a lot of different ways, some good and some bad. I can remember even at my young age going to college and only a small percentage of young people had cell phones, but now you probably could not enter into a high school without at least 90 % of teenagers owning a phone. There is no denying that the world is changing at a rapid pace.

One of the things that I have determined in my life is to embrace change, yet I have discovered it is much easier said than done. Although I believe the mantra of the church should be to constantly preach for changed lives, I also think that we must be careful that we understand what kind of change we are pushing for. If we are not careful we will be shooting at a moving target and not really realizing what we are aiming for. We must be careful to realize that though methods may change, we serve a God that is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Sometimes pausing for a moment to ask a simple question can revolutionize the way we operate. Asking a question such as, Where Are We Going? or What Do We Want This to Look Like When It Is Done? These are questions that can alleviate a lot of frustration from those who are trying to help realize the dreams in their lives. I read a quote from Henry George that I felt was thought provoking, it says, " There is danger in reckless change; but greater danger in blind conservatism." Are there dangers when we begin to change the way things have been done for 50 years? Absolutely! Yet we can not be naive to think that if we hit the pause button time will mystically stand still. There are great dangers to our congregations if we think that we can enable time to stand still and not touch the generation that we live in. The message of the Gospel is relevant, even in the 21st Century. The scriptures tell us of David that he was a man that served his generation by the will of God. There is a call that goes out to men and women that hunger to reach this generation by the will of God. We may think that what worked for another generation will work for this one, but I believe God has a specific will that we are to follow if we want to reach a new generation! God, in an ever changing world, will help us to present a never changing Gospel! What is God calling you to change in your life that you have been fearful of because it is tradition? Remember, if God is calling you to change you must surrender and forge ahead by holding onto his unchanging hand.

Things that Profit

As I was casually grazing through the scriptures today I came across a scripture that stuck out to me as though it was in bold print. The scripture says in Jeremiah 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Although there is a lot going on in this passage of scripture, the thing that leaped out to me is how God categorized what these prophets were doing was that they were making investments into things that do not profit. How many times does it appear that we strive to make investments into things only for them to turn out in the end not producing profit. Although we understand the principle of investment and return in the monetary realm, it is a principle which holds true in every area of life.

Think about the things that you do on a daily basis. Do you spend a good amount of time throughout your day making investments into something, or do you spend an inordinate amount of time making withdrawals. Take it even a step further, are the investments that you feel you are making being placed into things that will profit? Sometimes it is difficult to measure our profit, we have a tendency to look at the now rather than the eternal to gauge our profit, but in God's economy the eternal far outweighs the temporary.

It would be good for us to take inventory periodically over some critical areas in our lives to see if we are investing into things that will profit or if we are chasing ideas that will not produce positive results in our lives, or even worse, that these things we are investing in will lead us away from God, as in the case in the scripture that we read.

As a spouse am I taking the time to listen and respond to the needs of my spouse. Are there healthy deposits being placed into my marriage. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take time out to go on a date with your wife, because without a healthy marriage your ministry will suffer long term.

As a parent do I lose my temper in the frustrating moments, not realizing that those are moments that make a withdrawal out of our children's emotional piggy bank. It is not the large gifts and the amount of money that is spent on a child that bring about profits in your children, but it is in those consistent moments of time spent together throughout the years of their growing from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.

As a minister, am I spending all of my time trying to produce results and fix things, constantly working, but never feeling as though I am achieving? The true things that will bring profit to any child of God are time spent with Him. It is seasons of prayer and times of solitude with Him that will ultimately produce ministerial profit.

As we begin to consider the actions that we take on a daily basis under the thought of eternal profit, it would amaze us how much in life produces anger, frustration, resentment and jealousy, yet they are things that will not produce eternal profit. Lord, help us to focus on investing into those things that produce eternal profit!

Creating Culture

Culture is such a powerful tool in shaping the paradigms that people possess. I grew up overseas as a Missionary Kid and I have discovered that the older that I become the more the thoughts that ramble through my mind have been shaped by the myriad of experiences I have been through. Being exposed to the poverty in the Philippines has created an incredible understanding of seeing through the fog of materialism that resides in so many in the United States. Living in Eastern Europe has helped me to appreciate a thirst for knowledge and history. There is a hunger to understand where people are coming from, for we are products of our experiences in life. All of this has become the culture of my life. I can't help but think about the calling that God has placed upon the Church to reach a lost and dying world. I heard a term coined a while ago that stood out to me as profound yet simple. A post modern term that we could use for missionary is nothing more than a Cultural Architect. Culture will dictate response. If someone is from an abusive background, the culture of their life will reflect how they treat relationships unless an intervention takes place. That is exactly what the work of the Church is all about. We are called to create culture! It is amazing to think that we possess the ability to create culture. The Bible says that we were made in the image of God. One of the things that separates us from the animal kingdom is our ability to create! Far to often I have seen the church sit back and allow circumstances to dictate culture, but we are called to create culture! Far to many of us allow life to happen to us instead of us creating the life we are called to! Revival does not just happen, but it is birthed out of someone taking the time and energy to create culture through spiritual warfare. That is what intercessory prayer is, creating culture in the spirit realm long before we ever step foot into the natural arena. I believe that one of the deficiencies of the 21st century church is our lack of understanding into the power that we possess to create culture in the Spirit. We show up hoping that God will move. We place time and energy into the production, but we lack the investment into creating culture! God, help us move into the dimension to understand that we possess the power to create culture that will shape the destiny of the church!
When I was a pastor I learned a principle that was rather humbling, Creating buzz and excitement from the pulpit bring temporary energy, but it will not sustain and change culture. Becoming a true cultural architect requires an understanding of a slow, methodical, and intentional process that we go through! For example, to create the culture of embracing a burden for world missions in a church, it requires exposure to missions opportunities. It has to be more than a one time rally cry for missions, but people have to internalize responsibility for culture to be created and sustained! I will blog more on this later, but for now think about how you can create culture in your world today! In what dimension of your life do you need to change the culture that exists and skillfully create a new culture?

What Do You Think?

The brain is such a powerful tool in realizing things in our lives. There are a lot of different thoughts concerning the power of positive thinking which I believe hold a lot of validity. What we choose to set our minds on will not necessarily change what happens to us, but it will change our outlook on things. The scripture says to set your mind on things above! There is something about us directing our thoughts on the things of God that holds power in our lives. David said in Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. The art of meditation is nothing more than learning how to direct your thoughts. As children of God we must learn to direct our thoughts, for the battle for our soul is fought in the mind.

While on deputation I have learned to appreciate the power of disciplining my thought life even more than ever. There are so many unexpected circumstances that come my way on a daily basis that it is impossible to prepare for them physically. I am in new surroundings on a daily basis. I am with new people and new personalities on a daily basis. All of these realities present challenges and rewards. What I have discovered though is that the way to prepare ourselves for the new obstacles that we face is through preparing our thought life. If I approach every day with a positive outlook, it could change the way that my day goes. How many days in our lives have we felt like have been a waste not because of what happened, but because of the way that we approached them in our thoughts! You will typically find what you are looking for! If you expect an experience to be a bad one, you will key in to find something bad. If you expect a great time, you will mentally look for positive things. I encourage you to approach today by setting your mind on the things of God, you may be surprised how much He shows up throughout the day if you Think of Him.