An Upside Down Kingdom

Many people have described the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached as an "upside down kingdom." In other words, God's reign overturns and subverts every other reign.

Pretty radical when you think about it and not at all the tame, religious, non-world shaking thing that most people think of when they think of Christianity.

In the upside down Kingdom...

The rich became poor, so the poor could become rich.
The foolish confound the wise.
The weak are strong, the strong are weak.
Life comes from death, clinging to life brings death.
The proud are humbled, the humbled are exalted.
The last will be first, the first will be last.

What needs to be overturned in your life for God's reign to fully come in your life?

Amazing Woman

I can't read enough about Mother Theresa. When I think about somebody who attempted to live their life like Jesus, she is the first person I think of. She spent time with those who nobody else cared about. She touched those nobody else would touch. She loved those nobody else loved. This prayer is one that she would often pray and is one of my favorite prayers. It is my prayer for myself and my prayer for you:

Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly, That our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, That every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus! Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as You shine; So to shine as to be a light to others. The light O Jesus will be all from You, none of it will be ours; It will be You, shining on others through us. Let us thus praise You without preaching, not by words but by our example, By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to You. Amen.

What would it look like in your contect to spread His fragrance? What is it in your life that others see and see Jesus? What example can you be to your children or your spouse? What would happen if when people come in contact with us 'they feel His presence'. Oh how I long for that!

Ask Yourself this question every morning and night until Easter

One Question: What must I let go of to have an undivided heart for God?

"'Even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing--grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?''
Joel 2:12-17 (NIV)

HT: Rob Wegner

Living In His Story

This is a painting done by the artist David Arms and it depicts God's Story.  He describes it like this:

"God’s Story comes to us as a redemptive drama in four parts.

Creation—when everything was as God meant it to be.

Fall—the tragic intrusion of sin and death, resulting in the pervasive brokenness of all people and everything God has made.

Redemption—God’s astonishing promise to redeem his fallen image-bearers and creation through the grace-full work of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Consummation—the magnificent fulfillment of God’s plan to gather and cherish a people forever, and to live with them in a more-than-restored world, called “the new heaven and new earth.”

My question for you is kind of a difficult one.  ARE YOU LIVING IN HIS STORY?  Do you believe that God is the one who has or can rescue you?  Do you believe he is the one that can redeem your past?  Do you believe that there is a hope for you today? Not only are you living in his story, but do you believe you are a character in his story? 

Many of us believe we are in our own story.  That we are really alone in the game of life and if we just try hard enough or just catch a few breaks, then good things will happen.  I have come to find out for myself that this doesn't work.

So, will you choose to live in your own story or will you find yourself in God's story?  

The Kingdom of God

Our culture isn't set up as a kingdom, so Jesus' phrase "the Kingdom of God" sounds a bit foreign to our ears. But we do understand leadership and administration. For example, every four years, we elect a man (at least until this point) who instantly becomes the most powerful person in the world. His "reign" extends over what happens in much of the world.

Jesus meant this and more when he talked and prayed about God's kingdom coming. The Kingdom of God was his basic message. And it's what the early Christians meant when they said "Jesus is Lord."

Here's a clear and and concise description of the Kingdom of God by Mike Breen:

"God is in charge.
He loves you and is near to you.
What would you like him to do for you?"

Jesus communicated that message over and over, because he knew it was true and knew that people's lives would be radically altered when they lived into it's truth.

Stop and think about it. If that message is true, what does that mean for the biggest challenge you are facing right now?

Telling the Truth to Yourself

By this point in any Lenten fast, you begin to realize--through the discipline of fasting--that something has more of a hold on you than you thought. And you have to face the truth:
Why?

Why do you like angry words?
Why do you eat more than you need?
Why do you zone out in front of the TV for hours a night?
Why do you obsessively check your email/Facebook/Twitter/etc?


You realize that there is more going--to use my own fast as an example--than "just" a sweet tooth. There is a deeper hunger, longing, ache that to this point you've downplayed or outright ignored. And so, if you want to grow from the experience and see your life become more like Jesus' luminary existence, you must face the truth.

Thomas a Kempis said that if we are to become like Jesus Christ, we must learn to love the truth no matter where it comes from. A difficult thing, to be sure.

So what is the truth telling you?

When you understand this....It all changes!

"God doesn't want or expect you to get it together before you come along, because you can't get it together until you come along"

Anne Lamott in Plan B Further Thoughts on Faith

Video and Book from Sunday

The video we showed yesterday during the service:
"God of the Moon and Stars" by Kees Kraayenoord





The book mentioned during the sermon.
The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller
(The link to the books website also contains links to a sermon series Tim Keller preached on The Prodigal God if you want to explore further)

Overcoming Obstacles

I often tell myself that I don't know if God could really do that (feel in the that for yourself) with me. I can find pretty good excuses:

I don't have the resources.
I don't know the right people.
I can't speak well.
I am young.

What if we really believed that God could use us...that he even WANTS to use us?

In Chicago I learned about a man named Wayne Gordon who began a church in the Lawndale Community. He had to overcome many things to accomplish what he felt God was calling him to do: a change in jobs, his family thought he was crazy, at the time it was the 15th poorest neighborhood in the United States, he was white and the community was 90% black and 5% Hispanic. It would have been easier for him to do something different but following Jesus isn't about just doing what is easy!

We are a little over half way through the season of lent. What is God teaching you or challenging you with? Will you respond or will you give excuses.

Knowing God starts by admitting this (especially if you are religious)

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."

Isaiah 64:6

Getting out of the Christian Ghetto

This caught me off guard the other day and reminded me why we followers of Jesus lack so much cultural credibility.


For $69.99, I could buy this crown of thorns.



If I could only spare a dollar or two, I could have these Scripture mints or these chocolates with a Scripture verse printed on the packaging.



I will resist the incredibly powerful urge to publish the name of this "christian" store (believe me the urge is almost overpowering) and will only shake my head in disbelief.

This is the commodification of faith, not the practice of it. This is turning followers of Jesus into a market segment, not empowering them to be the Body of Christ--the literal hands and feet of Jesus to a broken world--in the world.

When we frequent these places, we go deeper into the bowels of a Christian ghetto of our own making and miss our calling to be the light of the world--a light set on a stand for the whole world to see.

Don't miss your calling.

Tim Keller on Why People like Jesus but not the Church

"Religiously observant people were offended by Jesus, but those estranged from religion and moral observance were intrigued and attracted to him. We see this throughout the New Testament accounts of Jesus's life. In every case where Jesus meets a religious person and a sexual outcast (as in Luke 7) or a religious person and a racial outcast (as in John 3-4) or a religious person and a political outcast (as in Luke 19), the outcast is the one who connects with Jesus and the elder-brother type does not. Jesus says to the respectable religious leaders "the tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the kingdom before you" (Matthew 21:31).

Tim Keller in The Prodigal God.

The Church has left the building

Early this week, I (Scott) spent a little time with the Junior Highers from Trinity's student ministry. They're in Chicago this week working with the Center for Student Missions, an organization that does good work in Jesus' name in several of the largest cities in America.

I can tell from being with the students that they are out of their comfort zone.

I was with them while they served at a Soup Kitchen in North Chicago. I had Hudson (he's 4) with me...and to watch the multiple families with kids Hudson's age sit around the table and eat their (only?) meal there together was more than a little sobering.
They are encountering this kind of world jarring imagery every day this week.
And that's good.

Good because what they are doing is fundamental to following Jesus. Here's why: Unless you want to stay the same, not grow, not be challenged, not have your horizons expanded, have a shrinking heart, love God less, love your neighbor less...your comfort zone has to be challenged.

When you allow your comfort zone to be challenged, your heart begins to beat with life. Your pace quickens. Your eyes open to new things. Your ears hear new sounds. You begin, like the founder of World Vision prayed "to have your heart broken by the things that break God's heart." You enter into a new world.

There are all kinds of way to challenge your comfort zone.
Give something up for Lent.
Take an off-the-wall idea to invest $1, $2 or $5 in blessing someone and run with it.
Open your mind to Scripture on a regular basis.
Get to know your neighbor beyond "Nice weather, huh?"
Go on a mission trip.
Go into the city and instead of saying "thank God I don't live here!" prayerfully see the realities and problems there.

Way to go Junior Highers. Thanks for setting the example.

Ouch

"Jesus got a hearing from people who had lost all hope from religion. And that’s the difference between Jesus and me."
--Don Bryant

A "LANGUAGE" Barrier

I, (Kyle) am currently in Chicago on our "Embrace" mission trip with several Jr. High students.  We are staying in a neighborhood in the northern part of Chicago called Albany Park.  It is the most diverse area in Chicago with 1 in 2 residents being born outside of the United States.   As you drive around, you are constantly seeing stores and restaurants with a language you don't understand.  There is an immediate barrier, simply because you don't understand the language.

As we continue the series, "losing my religion," we are hoping that some barriers are being broken down for you and your thoughts/relationship with Jesus.  So, ask yourself if there is something that has kept you from passionately pursuing the ways of Jesus?  Or do you speak to others in a way that puts up barriers for them and their relationship with him?  Is there some barrier between you and the truth?

I pray that you will begin to seek who Jesus really is and what he is really about.  That you will break through any barriers there are and find Him.

Looking Ahead

The Losing My Religion series is building some steam.

Here's where we're headed:
3/22 - Religion: The Enemy of the Gospel
3/29 - Why Jesus is so Popular
4/5 - Your God is too Small
4/12 - Jesus' real message

Plus, to prepare your mind and heart for Easter (Sunday, April 12),
you can join us for two very unique services that will help you walk through Jesus' last few days before he was killed.

Thursday, April 9 @ 7PM, a 30 minute service called Maunday Thursday where we recall the mandate (maundatum is the Latin word for "mandate") Jesus gave his disciples the Thursday night before he was killed to "love one another as I have loved you."

Friday, April 10 @ 7PM, a 45 minute Good Friday service that revisits the pain and sorrow the disciples must have felt when they realized that Jesus' plan had apparently failed. It's an incredibly moving experience.

Kids are invited to join us (no childcare either night).

Quick Question

Please continue to let us know how you used your money.

"Bless Someone" Friday

Maybe you still have your $1, $2 or $5 bill that was given out on Sunday. Read Jesus' parable about the men given 1, 2 or 5 talents we talked about here (btw, "talent" didn't refer to the fact that they could play the trumpet or juggle--it was a unit of money.)

maybe you're still turning it over in your mind (like I am) how you can possibly use an amount that small to bless someone.

I've already heard stories of families in need being given help, of the money turning into more money for someone going through hard times. I even heard about how a pair of socks moved someone to tears. All very moving stories. All inspired. And all the people who told their stories were moved telling them. They were glad they were given the impetus to think outside themselves.

This is what being a blessing always results in. You discover that giving is way better than receiving. Paradoxically, you end up getting more than you give.

So what are you doing with your money? Tell us your story.

Compassion as a Lifestyle

Last year 13 artists (time hughes, martin smith, matt redman, toby mac, chris tomlin, and more) got together and began doing something different than normal, putting together a CD where all the proceeds would go to help fight poverty. The thing I love is they are using their gifts and talents to make a difference. It has become a part of their lifestyle! What if we quit thinking of "compassion" as something we do and begin thinking about it as something we are. We are called to be compassionate...to be compassionate is to be human.

How Good is God?

What are the things that keep you from getting closer to God? This quote from Bill Hybels rang my bell. I think he's dead-on.

Often what keeps a person who is "close to Christ" from becoming "Christ-centered" is that, at a deep level, he or she doubts the goodness of God: "I don't know if God is good enough to put together a plan for my future that's better than the one I can put together for myself." We're asking people to bet the farm on the goodness of God.

2.7 billion people

The average Haitian citizen has $1.39 to spend each day, in India the average is $1.23. The statistics show that around 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 per day. You possibly received a small amount of money this past Sunday if you are a part of the Trinity family. You may still be asking yourself, what am I really supposed to do with only $1?

We are extremely rich here in the United States. OK....maybe you don't live in a super fancy home or drive a super fancy car, but most of you do have a car! And the majority of you reading this will sleep in a bed under a roof tonight. Heck...your on a computer reading this blog! We are rich.

So...what will you do with your 'measly' dollar or few dollars. Will you tell yourself, "I can't do anything with a dollar!" Or will you really begin to look at how the rest of the world lives and do something with it.

They say it only cost $1 to provide clean water to one person for one year.

They say it only cost about $1 a day to provide the basic needs for a child in a developing country.

They say that it only cost $1 to provide the needed medicine to immunize a child (which if they don't receive it will probably die before the age of 5).

You say it's only a $1!

$1

"I've been around. And boy do I have some stories. Like the time I was the only tip on a $75 bill left by an senior vice president because he didn't like the service he got from his waitress. She was tired, worn out from taking care of her new baby and just wasn't on her "A" game that night. So the cheapo left just me and none of my friends. Zero compassion that man. I was glad to be out of his hands.

She needed milk for her baby, and since it was a bad night, I and a couple of friends were all she could spare to buy just enough milk to get her baby through the weekend. I felt sorry for her.

And then I was part of the change to a chain-smoking addict, where I promptly entered several rounds of passage in the drug underbelly of a nice suburb. You won't believe whose hands I went through and what I saw. Nightclubs, parties, addicts, addicts and more addicts. They like me a lot. It was a bit crazy for me. Thought I'd even be torn in two several times.

Made a few rounds as the fodder for CD purchases at Best Buy (I'm preferential to U2). Bought a few rolls of toilet paper. Even spent a bit of time in the tip jar at a Starbucks.

But then that barista deposited me in her bank, which is where a church leader came in and picked me up. Some ridiculous idea that came up to give me away and tell people that I have a power to do some good. I kind of like that. Noble and all.

So now I and a bunch of my friends are in the hands of people who finally understand me. Get what I was created for. To add to someone's value instead of trying to buy it. To grow their dignity instead of purchasing it. To make them feel their worth instead making them feel like they don't matter.

I kind of like that."

"The Church Just Wants My Money"

Today was our second week in the series, Losing my religion.  Scott gave a great message on how we don't just want your money, but to do what God is wanting to do in us and through us it does take money.  

We ended the morning by giving away money.  Each person came down and took an envelope from a money tree and in it was either, $1, $2 or $5.  (matthew 25:14-20) 

The challenge is to take that money and invest it in something or someone.  

If you are a part of the Trinity family please post on here and let us know what you did with the money. 

If you are just stopping by the blog today, how will you use what God has blessed you with for his Kingdom?  

We are also going to begin Financial Peace University in the spring.  If you would like to be a part of that class please email : trinitychurch@sbcglobal.net and sign up soon. 

I hope as we continue through this series, you are beginning to lose your religion and learn what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.

A Sick Day

The blog had to call in sick due to the unwanted presence of the influenza virus.
Proof that technology is still no match for biology.

Love In Action

Today is Friday and I can hear the screams and cheers.  I want to remind you that today is the day we are challenging you to bless someone.  This can be something very simple and small.  

Mother Theresa said,

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love.  It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it."

So, today be a blessing.

  

Go visit and elderly person in your neighborhood.  

Give the single mom on your street flowers. 

Write a note to someone who needs to be encouraged.  

To bless someone doesn't always mean using money, but whatever you do today may you do it with great love.

A Prayer

"Every day I see again that only you can teach me to pray, only you can set my heart at rest, only you can let me dwell in your presence. No book, no idea, no concept or theory will ever bring me close to you unless you yourself are the one who lets these instruments become the way to you.

But Lord, let me at least remain open to your initiative; let me wait patiently and attentively for that hour when you will come and break through all the walls I have erected. Teach me, O Lord, to pray."
Amen.

Henri Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy

Scott

what is your barrier?

I went to Hazelwood West High School today to pick up a student for lunch. As I drove down the path to enter the school parking lot, this is what was sitting and waiting for me. As I pulled up, they signaled for me to roll down my window. They asked me a couple of questions: Why I was there? And what my name was? They then proceeded to write down my tag number as I drove into the parking lot. Now I understand the reasons for this. And I understand that to be able to pick up a student, I had to make it through a few barriers.

I believe that if we are honest with ourselves in this time of Lent and examining our lives, there may be a few things that are keeping us from passionately following Jesus. A few barriers.

Doubts
Fears
A sin we feel like we can't tell anyone about
Pride
Fact that we really don't understand what it means to follow Jesus
Bad Expectations of the Church
Religion

I hope that you will choose to face these things in the coming weeks. That you wouldn't allow anything to get the way of you following Jesus with everything you have. That you would be able to look back and see the barriers you had to make it through to find the real Jesus. What are the barriers that have been in your life or are in your life now?

Kyle

Temptation

When you intentionally give up a habit/activity/behavior for a period of time like Lent, you very quickly find out that habit/activity/behavior stares at you like one of those weird paintings where the eyes seem to follow you around the room. You can't seem to get away from your desire to do that thing.

What you discover in short order is that that thing actually has power over you.

Surprise! You've grown quite fond of junk food (what I happen to be giving up)/sweets/angry words/TV, or whatever it is you've decided to do without. In fact, you might even experience long periods where you find yourself thinking about that thing. Wanting it. Longing for it. Contemplating what it will be like when you get to have it/do it again (I'm not saying I've already planned a trip to Crown Candy Kitchen, but there may or may not be a date in my calendar).

This is crucial moment. Fasting, Richard Foster says, is the one practice that, more than any other, reveals the things that control us. Jesus--the smartest man who ever lived--understood this and encouraged regular fasting.

Giving something up for Lent isn't an exercise in spiritual muscularity, it's an exercise in humility. We find out that we are weak, that we need help, and that we can't do this alone.
We need God.
We need a community to support us.
We need to admit that we need help.

The photo is from Baskin-Robbins--for me a true Lenten den of iniquity--and if my family hadn't been in the car, I think my car may have automatically gone through the drive-thru.

What is your Lenten sacrifice teaching you?

Scott

Do I really?

I love this art from a blog I read called the Plow.

It causes me to ask myself a few questions:

Who is it difficult for me to love?

When I think of God loving me, do I see myself as someone that is also unlovable at times? Yet, in the midst of my messedupness, he still loves me!

Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." During this time of lent; this time of examining your life...who in your life do you need to love more, show more compassion for, invest in more? Ask yourself if you really love people, or do you just love those that love you?

Kyle

What are You Giving Up?

I'm giving up junk food. As in non-nutritive dense, non-food, food.

Since moving to the STL, in the interest of time I've developed a habit of eating what's quick, easy...and bad for me. I've always had a sweet tooth, but it hasn't been good for the last two months.

5 days in and I'm already feeling the cravings for junk (funny how we train our bodies to want what's bad for us). What really kills is that I discovered Old Town Donuts and I already miss them.

What about you? Add a comment and we'll create a running log of the things people are giving up for Lent.
--Scott