Near and Far Faith

Last night was the final teaching of our Exposed: The truth about sex series at Ignite. Next week we're having a no-holds-barred Q & A about sex to finish it off and I'm pumped.

I noticed specifically with this series that it was a wrestling match every week I taught. I had a bad attitude, I was drained creatively, and just flat out exhausted before we'd start. But each time, as I was drained and asked for the Spirit's help, amazing things happened. The past two weeks we had guys and girls come and get prayed for. I know it doesn't sound like much, but we haven't done that much. I just felt a pushing to do it and we saw some awesome things happen.We've seen awesome revelation in students lives and had awesome Small Group discussion.

The point is this: we can't do it. We can limp by on our public speaking and our humor, but the result that we crave - LIFE CHANGE - can only be accomplished through the Spirit filling you and moving through you. What does it mean for me to empty myself out and allow that to happen?

Tomorrow we start our new series that we lovingly stole from the generous Open network of Lifechurch.tv, So You're Dead... Now What?

We hit 20,000 houses in the Lehigh Valley with a mailer I designed (holy crap I hope I didn't spell anything wrong). So to kick off the service we're learning how to stretch our light board, finally, and opening the service with Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way? I'm pumped. The band is pumped. I instructed to the Tech Team to get at least one noise complaint.

Imagine this in church...

Thank God. Between twitter and Tally's minute by minute blog posting, it WASN'T like I was there! It was like I was starving and someone was dangling donuts at my nose. Sounded amazing. I'm going next year to join the 12,000.

Just wanted to post a quick update. Our OBGYN was on vacation this week and got back into town yesterday. He's awesome, by the way, and called to make sure we weren't freaking out. But he also told us that after consulting with the Pediatric Cardiologist and the Perinatologist, it's best to deliver the twins at 34 weeks. That's 6 weeks before the official due date, but only 2 weeks before the due date we expected with twins. We have an appointment today at which we'll most likely schedule the C-Section. Thanks for your prayers. We're pryaing for healing and specifically maturing of Baby B's heart. I'll keep you up to date.

I never used to like expositional preaching - walking through a book or passage of the Bible. I know. I'm ashamed of that now.

A few weeks ago a friend and mentor told me about how he had started to tackle some issue like tithing and communion by just exposing the truth of scripture - and people ate it up. That's the wrong termanology. People were rocked. It got me thinking. I usually would find scripture to support my topic and show what God wanted to. But I thought I'd try something different. I waited on God to point me to the right passage and then in the "God" part of my message (me, we, god, you, we - thanks Andy Stanley) I just walked through the passage. The difference from before came in two chunks. (1) There was more scripture. In stead of a verse or two, it was 5 or 10. (2) I was learning.

The last three messages I've preached - two during our Exposed: The truth about sex series at Ignite, and one this past Sunday AM about service, have been the most powerful I've preached in years. Not because of me, because of the power of The Word.

We lose that supernatural power sometimes and get in the way. Let the Word speak and expose the truth it says.

The first part of that meaning "upper heart" and the second part being "fast beating". That's what Baby B has. We met with the pediatric cardiologists a few hours ago and got a lot of questions answered. It looked like - on the echoe - a regular beat, then an extra one - like a  bad drummer. That then triggers a period of rapid heart beats - today it went to 233 per minute (you and I are around 100).

The good news is that the periods of rapid beating are seldom and this could go away as the cells in the heart matures. If it gets bad the heart may enlarge and the different organs would fill with water. If that were to happen (we're now going twice a week to the perinatal center for monitoring) we'd deliver the twins right away. They could survive now - Cher's gotten 2 steroid shots to help her lift more and run faster (and to help the twins lungs develop so they're ready for life).

I'm resigning myself to pop into the office as needed but pretty much work from home for now. I got some awesome people to take over Ignite tonight so I can hang at home tonight.

If you'd like to pray with us, pray for peace. We want, above all else, to see God's purposes clearly and be at peace with it. We'll keep you updated.

It's been an unbelievable season lately. Filled with confusion, at times, but when the clouds clear I've been finding myself closer to God than ever before. It's discipline that's brought me here. I wanted to share the ways that it's helped me, in hopes that you can learn these lessons before the shame and guilt that brought me here. Or perhaps the shame and guilt has brought you here and you're ready for an enlightening.

First, discipline in the area of my time with God. The more stuff that you say "no" to so you can spend time with him is in direct relation to the clarity of His spirit. It's numbing process, which is why it's so hard. It's getting up early. It's turning off the TV. It's saying "no" to the things you enjoy. Something in us tells us that face time with God is not as enjoyable as it really is. One of the things that clarity brings is recognition of the lies that Satan feeds our culture... and us. Another thing I've had to come to grips with with this discipline is that it IS a fight. One that I'll lose without effort. But that's why it's a discipline. How would your life be different if you were simply closer to God? What's keeping you.

The second area of discipline I've been learning in is sexual purity. At Brave Generation a few weeks ago I heard God very clearly press me to find an accountability partner. It had been a whisper for weeks, but now it was time to set the example and pull the trigger. Sexual purity is a taboo subject... especially in church. We avoid what is uncomfortable. And what is uncomfortable is sin: lust, temptation, masturbation, adultery, pornography, looking at the right part of a woman. Now that we're all a bit displaced, let's address the issue - selfishness. It sounds so simple, but left unchecked it will tear your life apart from the inside out. So check it. At Brave Generation I asked someone to pray that the right person to hold me accountable would be revealed and immediately he popped into my head. Over the next 2 days we had some of the most awkward conversations that I've ever had, but I refused to turn away simply out of discomfort.

I hope these help you. As part of my accountability, I started x3watch on my office laptop. It emails my accountability partner anytime I go to a site that's pornographic. It's free and since telling a few students about it they've signed up and asked me to hold them accountable. Check it out. Students want a way out, just like we do.