Where is Jesus?

This semester, one of my most challenging classes has already proven to be Revelation. To be completely honest, I really have never paid any attention to the book. I have always thought of it as both above my level of literary patience, and sort of irrelevant to the Church today. However, as I both read and study John's apocalyptic prophesy, I am beginning to see that Revelation has much to say to the Church, and that we would be both wise and encouraged by its content.

Today Dr. Rutland preached from Revelation chapter 1 in chapel, and brought to light something I had not previously realized:In Revelation 1:12-16 John is describing the vision he is having of Jesus. He says that, "when I turned I saw seven golden lamp stands, and among the lamp stands was someone "like the son of man," dressed in a robe...and in his right hand he held seven stars..." We later learn that "the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches" (1:20).

Because the greek term for angel, "angelos" is more accurately translated "messenger," it is more probable that the seven angels of the churches were actually the pastors of the seven churches rather than heavenly beings.

The first picture that we receive of the risen Christ in the book of Revelation is that He is among His Church (the lamp stands), and that He holds the pastors of those churches in the palm of His hand (the stars). What a great encouragement this should be to those of us both in the Church and in professional ministry! As Dr. Rutland explained, many people often say, "I love Jesus but I just don't love the church." However, what they (or rather we) don't understand is that that is precisely where Jesus is. When we say that we love Jesus, we are obligated to love the church as well, no matter how un-Christlike they (or better yet, we) might be.

This should make us think twice the next time we are tempted to criticize the pastors of our churches, for they are held in the palm of Jesus and when we go to kick them, we must first kick the nail scarred palm of Christ.

He is with His Church. As ministers, when we get up to preach a sermon that we know will not be received well by members of our congregations, we are to remember that Christ is among his lamp stand and stands behind us every step of the way. When we take a step of both faith and obedience and witness to an unsaved friend, it is the risen Christ who is cheering us on. He is here, among His bride, whom He loves and gave all of Himself for. In that we should put great confidence.

Summer 08 Internship

For the last three and a half months I have been in Pennsylvania doing my summer internship at Allison Park Church. I really wanted to write about all of the things that God did in my heart during my time there for a few weeks now but I felt that I should wait just a while until I could really reflect on everything and hear God about it. And now, although I'm sure that I am not even fully aware of all of the things that I learned at Allison Park, I think I can finally share some of the things that God did in me and taught me while I was there. [In no particular order of course :) ]

1) I learned that ministry is totally not about me. Being in the ministry is not the glamorous job that it may appear to be, and there are so many days that I was so tempted to complain or criticize, and I learned very quickly that if I am not going into ministry for any other reason other than that I know that I have been called to serve God by serving people, then I will not make it. There is no room in the kingdom of God for egos or selfishness and that is most certainly true in the case of ministry.

2) I learned that I don't hate youth ministry! That may sound funny, but before coming to APC, I had told numerous people, possibly including God, that I would never ever ever ever ever do youth ministry. However, I had the time of my life this summer being a youth intern. I wouldn't necessarily say that God has now called me to do youth ministry for the rest of my life, but it's definitely something that He has given me a passion for in these short three and half months. I can't even begin to explain the desire that I felt for these teenagers to know Christ. During City Reach (a week long domestic missions trip that some of our youth took part in), I had the opportunity to see some of the youth that I had been personally mentoring step out in faith and pray for people they didn't even know to be healed, and they were! Working with these kids has definitely been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

3) I learned the importance of encouraging others in ministry as well.

4) I learned how poisonous negative attitude can be; and in contrast, just how powerful a positive attitude can be.

5) I was challenged on a whole new level concerning praying for the sick. Of course I had always believed that God heals and had prayed for people to be healed in the past that received healing; however, this summer it took on a whole new life. Now, I almost go about my day "searching" for people to pray for. I really saw how God can use things such as healing and miracles as a sign for people to believe, and I've been seeing it happen over and over again.

6) I received assurance that it is okay that I don't know what particular area of ministry God has called me to. There were times this summer where I found myself frustrated that I hadn't ever felt a clear call to any group of people (kids, youth, adults, women, missions, etc.) like some of the other interns had. All that I have ever clearly heard from God concerning His call on my life is that He wants me to preach His word. Now however, partly because of a peace that God has given me about it and partly because of something Pastor Jeff said to our intern group during one of our sessions with him, I really do feel much more at ease about it. One day, Pastor Jeff told our intern group, "God really is much more concerned about where you end up then you are!" Right away that registered with me and I've had a peace about it ever since.

7) I was shown a truly wonderful example of how a balanced, relevant, Spirit-filled, 21st century church should operate. When we are a part of a church from an attendee aspect only, it can be somewhat difficult to really see the inner workings of all that is really going on, but I can say with confidence that Allison Park truly is going after God and making an impact on the city of Pittsburgh, they really do exist for "the one" and that is something that seems to have infiltrated every aspect of the church.

8) I learned of a whole new paradigm of church-networking. For quite a while I had really been thinking about how much more effective we as THE Church would be so much more effective if we were united and working together for a common goal instead of individually for own reasons however noble they may be, and I got to see this in action when I came to Allison Park through MCM (Multi-Church Movement) and City Reach. It was so incredibly inspiring and refreshing to see churches come together with a common goal, to see people come to Christ! I truly believe that this is going to be one of the most effective ways that the Church will be able to function during these upcoming years and I can't wait to see what God does with it!

9) I learned that you can feed a whole lot of people with Hamburgers and hot dogs from Aldi's :) haha

10) I was able to see yet again just how faithful God is to me. When He specifically told me to go to Pittsburgh this summer I had absolutely NO idea why, and although I'm sure I haven't even fully figured all of it out yet, I know that I am so incredibly grateful to Him for everything this summer. I built so many relationships with people that I know continue to enjoy, I learned more about ministry and myself than ever before, and I now really feel confident to do exactly what He has called me to do. Whatever that is :)

Gentle Savior

Last week a few friends of mine and I went to Pittsburgh City Outreach for their weekly Friday night service; and what I experienced there is hard to describe, in fact it's taken me almost a week to fully process it in my mind.

That night the speaker was a young man named Jared Ruddy, a nineteen year old pastor's son from Littlestown, PA. As he began preaching, it seemed that this would be a relatively normal service, but I was very mistaken. When he was about 15 minutes into his message he basically stopped and said something to the effect of..."Ok, and now God is going to start doing some amazing things." That night out of the apprx. 25 people that were there, I would say at least 6 were healed in some way or another, and at least 4 were prophesied over.

While this may not seem like anything out of the ordinary to some Pentecostals, I think the manner in which this all transpired was most extraordinary. Basically what happened is that he would describe a pain or sickness that someone had and then that person would walk forward, this happened all except for one time. And again, this may also be something that is not too uncommon for some charismatics but the amazing thing about all of this was not the healings, and it was not the prophecies, but it was that through the whole entire hour that this took place there was never any yelling, intense emotions, or cursing of any disease; it was simply a servant of Christ who believed exactly what God had said in His word acting out in humble obedience.

I, in no way intend to "idolize" the young man that spoke that night, but I do completely yearn to have the pure faith that was shown that night. I can just say from my own personal experience walking away from that service I knew that I had experienced Jesus in a way that I had not previously. I got a glimpse that night of how gentle and loving a Saviour we have in Him. He yearns to heal us, He yearns to pour His love out upon us without measure. All we have to do is believe. Had that 19 year old young man not came to PCO that night with all of his faith in Jesus and in His promises, there would have been at least six people that would have walked out of that church building still in pain. Why? Not because Jared had any special powers or "super-faith", but simply because he chose to believe that Jesus is exactly who He knew Him to be and to live his faith out in a very practical and spiritual way.

I want to live like that. Interestingly enough, after I left the service that night I found myself not even being able to "disconnect" from the "Spirit-realm." Both Grace, (one of the other apc interns) and I were both saying it was just as if we wanted the Holy Spirit to just guide us home even as we were driving! I know it may sound silly, but I just know that there is so much more to life than this physical realm and I cannot wait to abide in it more and more every day.

That's why I need Him

Honestly, something I've always struggled with is feeling condemned by God. I've gone through seasons where it hasn't been so bad, but for the most part, I've struggled. As long as I'm reading my Bible, spending time with Him, and being nice to people, He loves me, but if not, I feel like the illegitimate child He wished he never had. Some of the things that I tried in the past to get myself out of that mental state were to simply remind myself of his love verbally or to read encouraging scriptures such as Romans 8:1 "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...", but the relief was always temporary. Lately however, God has given me a thought that I believe we could all stand to remember more often. It is not profound or incredibly deep, but it is true...Earlier last week when I began to feel down again about my lack of discipline (which in this particular instance really wasn't about discipline but more about circumstance) I had a "God-thought;" if I never messed up again, then I would never have the opportunity to encounter the wonderful forgiveness and mercy found in Christ. Not that God would prefer that I sin just so that He can show me mercy, but He already knows that I will, and even pre-knowing that, He still chose to create and CALL me. When we sin we need to recognize that we aren't reminding God how imperfect we are, we are reminding ourselves of juts how desperately we need Him.

That's my King

I came across this during my devotional time this morning and I couldn't get over how desperately so many of my friends, myself included, need to hear these words. As myself and many of those around me get ready to enter into our last year of college before we venture out into the world, things can be intimidating, if not down right scary. The following is an excerpt from "My Utmost for His Highest" and it really puts things into perspective:

"Hebrews 11:8-He (Abraham) went out without knowing where he was going..." Have you ever "gone out" in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, "What do you expect to do?" Most of the time, you don't really know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in every area of your life, trusting God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don't know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to "go out," building your confidence in God. "...Do not worry about your life...about your body....(Luke 12:22). In other words, don't worry about the things that concerned you before you did "go out."

Have you been asking God what he is going to do? He will never tell you. God will never tell you what he is going to do-He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God and will go out in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised by one iota of anything He does? Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God. " - Oswald Chambers

This burning building...

Last week I heard a message that truly rattled my "world view" to the core. The church that I am currently interning at is going through a sermon series titled, "God Questions," which basically is dealing with various questions that the normal person, believer or not, is looking for the answer to. This particular week's question was: "How can a good God allow suffering?" Now to go through and regurgitate (kind of a gross term) this message back would be too lengthy, but I will say that this message has left a lasting impact on me and I think that it is something the Church, particularly the American Church needs to hear today. For the first time I was presented with the answer to this difficult and daunting question; (or at least what I've come to believe it is), God allows suffering in the world, because he loves us. I know that may sound completely crazy due to the fact that most assume that it is because God is harsh and cruel that he would allow some of the evil that goes on in the world to exist, but the thing is, if God because of his goodness would have to no longer allow anything causing pain or suffering to exist, then He would have to completely wipe us all of the face of the Earth. However, it is because of God's love for us (who because of our fallen nature cause others to suffer) that He allows suffering to happen lest he completely kill us all. It is NEVER God's will that anyone go through suffering of any kind. However, no matter how devastating any situation might be, God is able to make it work out for good (Rom. 8:28).

Something else that this message really provoked me to think about was our Christian world view (particularly our American Christian world view). As Pastor Jeff explained, much of the time we view any suffering that comes our way to be abnormal, as if we are just going through a hard time. Somehow we believe innately that our lives are supposed to be smooth sailing, and a few rough bumps are just part of the trip. However, perhaps this picture of life that we have seemed to adopt is part of the reason why the gospel is not more widely accepted in America. If we see this life only as a "beach" which is normally pleasant and beautiful, instead of as a burning building where people will die if they are not rescued out of, the gospel of Christ is no longer good news, but looked at as irrelevant. Because we as Christians either do not really believe in the reality of hell or we are just not setting it constantly in front of our minds, we do not feel compelled to "rescue" those in the burning building that will soon collapse and go down with those in it, because we are just as convinced as they are that everything in this life really will be ok.

I think when we decide to remember every day that we are living in a world that is cursed with people who are dying every day and going to hell even though Jesus Christ has already made the way for them to spend an eternity with a Father who loves them at the front of our minds, "witnessing" to others will no longer be such a chore, but rather we would feel compelled to do so. Perhaps, if we as believers still find it difficult to understand why we should put "evangelism" so high on our list of priorities, we should begin to consider what we truly believe, because as grim as the present picture of this burning building may be, we have a hope, the blessed hope, which is that Christ is our redeemer.