the reluctant leader

Fasting FAQs

Those who know me know that I hate fasting, but I do it anyway.

For as long as I can remember, our church in Manila has started the year with a week of prayer, fasting, and consecration. For me, that week is always the best of times and the worst of times. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably instituted a church-wide week of fasting because that is the only way I could force myself to participate in that spiritual discipline. Left to myself, I would rather visit Five Guys three times a day than skip meals and pray three times a day. But, my church community makes me a better Christian.

Today is day III of our 2013 week of prayer, fasting, and consecration. Many Every Nation churches around the world are having morning, noon, and evening prayer meetings this week. I am already hearing twitter reports of answered prayer and breakthrough, as Every Nation people from London to Manila to Nashville are humbling themselves and getting hungry (for God!).

I am also hearing some questions. Rather than attempting to make up answers myself, I will simply refer you to one of the best fasting cites available, which includes the following info:

• Why fast
• How to fast safely
• How long
• How to prepare 
• How to make your spiritual experience the best it can be
• What physical benefits to expect
• How to finish your fast

I hope that helps as you seek God during this week of fasting, prayer, and consecration.

 

 

 

Removing God from Thanksgiving Day

When our three sons were small, Deborah and I decided that we would not tolerate an entitlement attitude in our home. Our remedy? Teach our kids to be thankful.

Entitlement cannot coexist with gratitude.

Entitlement says that parents, businesses, siblings, government, church, life, God, and Santa owe me something. And since I am owed, there is no reason to say thanks.

Thankfulness is like kryptonite to entitlement. Kills it on contact.

And that brings us to Thanksgiving Day. After a hundred years of cities and communities declaring their own thanksgiving celebrations, in 1789 President George Washington proclaimed November 26 "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of ALMIGHTY GOD."

Notice that the original official Thanksgiving Day was not about being generally thankful, but about specifically thanking ALMIGHTY GOD.

Recently Americans have become obsessed with removing all God references from the conversation. With Thanksgiving we have taken that obsession to an absurd level, not only removing God but also removing the idea of thanks from Thanksgiving Day.

Increasingly we are calling the 4th Thursday of November, Turkey Day. Are we afraid that if we call it Thanksgiving, someone might accidentally thank God?

So now, rather than thanking God once a year for His gracious provision, we eat turkey and watch football.

While You Were Eating: the Power of Lifestyle Discipleship

Jesus said some of his most important theological statements, not in a classroom or from a pulpit, but over lunch.

Acts 1:4 says: "WHILE HE WAS EATING WITH THEM..." he told them to wait for the Holy Spirit before they went on mission. This lunch lesson was both strategic and theological. And, like everything Jesus said, it was also practical and memorable.

We don't know what else they talked about during lunch. Maybe sports, money, traffic, politics. We can only guess. But when they met together later that day, they were still mulling over the Holy Spirit discussion from lunch.

Not able to stop thinking and talking about that lunch conversation, they asked Jesus some questions and that's when he took them DEEP concerning eschatology, pneumatology, and missiology. (According to my friend, Pastor James Lowe, D.E.E.P. = Describe Everything Extra Plain)

Sometimes the best discipleship moments start, not in the classroom, but at the dinner table or the coffee shop. And real discipleship discussions should leave us with questions, not just answers.

Want to make disciples? It's ok to skip the lecture, buy some lunch, and see where that goes.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Ever

I read a Thanksgiving fb post this morning written by a good friend, an American who lives in Singapore. My friend also happens to be Native American, from the Hopi tribe. That fb post brought back a flood of good memories.

Our favorite Thanksgiving ever was the year our "Indian" friend from Singapore happened to be in Manila on Thanksgiving Day. My family will never forget the Indian stories our friend told his pale-faced hosts, stories that had been passed down from generation to generation. The meaning of Thanksgiving came to life to our three young sons as they sat mesmerized listening to a "real Indian" tell story after story about his ancestors and their encounters with the white man and his God.

After reading my friend's post, I read President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation (below) and Stephen Mansfield's Thanksgiving blog. Both inspired, convicted and challenged me. My conclusion, in the words of the legendary missionary to Mexico, Brother Ignacio "Nacho": "My life is good. Really good. Be grateful..."

Like Nacho, I have much to be thankful for. My wife. My sons. My friends. My church. My job. And most of all, my Lord and Savior. Yes, MY LIFE IS GOOD!

For those interested, here is Lincoln's speech calling Americans back to God for a day of thanksgiving. Sounds more like a sermon than a presidential proclamation.

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By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

A Thanksgiving Blog: Where Are the Other Nine?

You know the story. Luke 17. Jesus meets 10 lepers. Leprosy in the Bible times was an incurable disease, dooming its victims to a life of poverty, rejection and hopelessness.

According to Jewish Levitical law and cultural tradition, any time lepers were around normal people they were supposed to broadcast their problem by shouting "unclean, unclean."  But the 10 lepers in Luke 17 broke the rules, and rather than shouting their problem, they shouted the answer. 

And, Jesus healed them. He didn't heal all lepers, but he healed the 10 who broke the religious rules and shouted the answer. 

Here's the strange, but sadly familiar part of the story. Only 1 of 10 returned to say "thanks."

Only one. 1. Uno. Isa. Satu. Une. Eins. Een. واحد. ένας. אחד. один. एक. 하나. ひとつ. หนึ่ง. ONE! 

Jesus ends the Luke 17 story with a question: Where are the other nine? We are not told where they were, but we can speculate. One was busy at work. Another was at his kid's soccer game. Some were on the testimony circuit, telling everyone what Jesus did for them. But only 1 made time to return to Jesus and give him praise and say thanks.

Like the 10 lepers, I was a hopeless case, until Jesus made me clean and whole. But too often I am more like the 9 than the 1. I am too busy to return and say thanks. I get so busy telling the world what he did for me, that I have no time to daily return to Him and say thanks. Does this sound like you? Not good.

In America this week is a holiday we call Thanksgiving, a day to overeat and watch American football. And hopefully a day to say THANKS to God for all He has done for us.

Final thought. Be the 1. Not the 9. Not just on Thanksgiving. Every day.

 

I Hate Fasting

I don’t remember which year we started, or whose ideas it was (probably Manny Carlos – definitely not mine), but as long as I can remember my home church in Manila has started each year with a week of prayer, fasting and consecration.

This week is both my favorite and least favorite week of the year - because I hate fasting but I love the results of fasting.

Over the years we have heard countless testimonies of salvation, healing, financial provision, freedom from addictions, business turnarounds, job promotions, clear direction, restored relationships,…  that result from answered prayers during our week of consecration. 

I know 2011 will be no different because God still hears and answers prayer.

So this week at Every Nation Nashville we are doing a Joel 1:14… Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord.

Whether you are eating or not, if you are in the Nashville area, you are invited to pray with us at the Every Nation office daily from 8-9, 12-1 and 4-5.

Chritsmas: Pagan or Christian?

Living in the Philippines for the past twenty-six years, we've gotten used to celebrating Christmas wearing havaianas and board shorts. White Christmas? As long as the white part is a beach. 

Now we are in the States. And while Christmas might not be white, it will be freezing. No more havaianas and board shorts.

The cold is not our only adjustment to American Chritsmas. In the new hyper-sensitive, super-tolerant, politically correct America we are supposed to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Chritsmas." Apparently pronouncing the letters C, H, R, I, S and T when followed by "-mas" rather than a "cuss" word is offensive to some.

And it's not just the secularists who don't like Christmas. Some of my fellow pastors do not participate in  Christmas traditions because of the ungldly pagan roots. My anti-Christmas religious friends say:

- Christmas trees are bad because evergreen trees were used in pagan Druid ceremonies

- December 25 was not really when Jesus was born, rather it was choosen to Christianize the pagan winter solstice celebration

- the whole modern celebration promotes materialism

All of the above and more may be true, but does that mean we should skip Christmas?

Could God possibly take something that was pagan and make it point to Christ? Isn't that exactly what the incarnation is all about? Isn't the real reason God came to earth in human flesh to redeem things that were pagan - like me and you?

When Did Busy Become A Core Value?

When did being busy become an aspirational value for Christians?

I am not sure being busy is something to brag about, but many of us wear it as a badge of honor constantly boasting about our bloated schedules as if “thou shalt always be busy” were the 11^th commandment.

Recently while thinking about my busy schedule, I typed the following five questions to myself in my iPad:

- I know you are busy, but are you PRODUCTIVE?

- I know you are busy, but are you STRATEGIC?

- I know you are busy, but are you OBEDIENT (to God)?

- I know you are busy, but are you FRUITFUL?

- I know you are busy, but are you KIND?

I was ashamed of my answers to most of these questions.

It is possible and common to be BUSY and NOT be productive, strategic, obedient, fruitful or kind.

Jesus was never too busy to listen, to serve, to rest, to pray, to eat, or to hang with kids. Sometimes I act like I’m too busy to rest, pray, listen and eat. Not good. Not good at all.

What about you - are you busy or are you productive, strategic, obedient, fruitful and kind?

SERMON PREVIEW: Are You Willing to Buy Ashtrays?

I'm preaching part 1 of Bethel's Discipleship Series tomorrow at Bethel-Murfreesboro.

TITLE: Are You Willing to Buy Ashtrays? (gotta come to church or hear the podcast to understand the title)

TEXT: Luke 15:1-7 (plus the rest of the chapter)

VERSE 1. Not-so-religious people - "tax collectors & sinners" - loved hanging out with Jesus, and Jesus seemed to love hanging with them. Why don't they like hanging with church people today?

VERSE 2. Religious people - Pharisees & Bible teachers - got upset that Jesus was hanging with sinners. Pharisees, the same yesterday, today, forever!

VERSE 4. "Leave the 99... and go after the lost..." If we want to "go after" the lost, we will have to leave some religious people and some church activities. What are you willing to leave in order to go after the lost?

VERSE 7. If God enjoys our worship services, he really enjoys our evangelism. More joy in heaven when just 1 sinner in the baptism tank, then 99 righteous people at the prayer meeting. What are you willing to do to bring joy to heaven?

All for now. To find out about my title, go to Bethel-Murfreesboro or listen to the podcast.

How to Dethrone the Stomach god

Here’s what I was thinking and blogging about this time last year. Thought it was worth re-posting with a bit of editing...

Food is a powerful force. What, when and how much we eat can be a deadly and spiritual decision. Consider this:
- The first commandment was about food.
- The first temptation was about food.
- The first sin was about food.

Food and appetite – what we do with both is kinda important.
 
I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
 (Phil 3:19, 20)

Could this "their god is their stomach" comment somehow be connected to the "enemy of the cross" idea? I’m afraid so.

I don’t want to be an enemy of the cross, so I’m intentionally dethroning the stomach god this week. And the process is brutal. I feel like if I drink any more water, I'll grow gills, and scales.

I dethrone the stomach god at the beginning of every year - but somehow he manages to make a comeback - usually during holidays.

How do I keep him off the throne? Maybe the cross is the key. Gotta kill that false stomach god, before he gets too big.