What If?

I'm preparing right now to re-teach some foundational teachings of what we're about at Revolutions Student Ministries. A lot of it comes from the very familiar Acts 1:8. In this passage, Jesus casts a God-sized vision for His disiciples. He tells a bunch of guys that had never really been that far from home that they would somehow impact the entire world. In some ways, that must have seemed far-fetched, but if you're talking to a guy who has just risen from the dead, you probably don't doubt anything that He says is possible.

The question that I have for my students & really for all of us is "What If We Lived Like We Really Believed What Jesus Said?". I look at my own life & the lives of other Christians around me, & I don't see us living lives that are pursuing this kind of life. In fact, we're happy if we can just keep our own homes afloat, nevermind reaching the world for Christ. Too many times I think we look at these words of Jesus & think that it's simply a nice pep-talk. After all, Jesus was about to leave this revolution He had started in the hands of guys like Simon Peter; you know the loud-mouthed, ear chopping guy. So Jesus had to get them all pumped up right?

But what if Jesus really meant what He said? God's vision & mission has always been global in its scope & eternal in its significance, yet most of us live lives that just want to get by. We don't chase after a call & a mission that even comes close to the mission of Acts 1:8.

What if we did believe Jesus? What would change about how we live right now? What would we stop doing? What would we start doing?

A Little Link Love

Here are some good things that I found this week in the handful of blogs I follow pretty much everyday.


Here's some stuff from Craig Groeschel on small groups. So many churches struggle with their small group ministry whether it's Sunday School, home groups, or some other format.
http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/03/02/why-i-still-believe-in-small-groups/
http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/03/03/how-to-make-sure-your-small-group-ministry-fails/
http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/03/04/how-to-make-sure-your-small-group-ministry-fails-part-2/
http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/2009/03/05/elements-of-a-successful-group/

Here is a great post from Steven Furtick at Elevation Church in Charlotte. It's really made me evaluate myself & the people who serve around me.
http://www.stevenfurtick.com/uncategorized/imagination-is-not-creation/

Here's a link to Tony Morgan's top posts of February. This is a gold mine. Check out the post about "The New Traditional Church". It's very thought provoking
http://tonymorganlive.com/2009/03/02/most-popular-posts-of-february-09/

Lessons From The First "300"-The Traps

As the story of Gideon begins to close we see some interesting things going on. As Gideon returns as the victorious leader of the army that has defeated the Midianites, the people actually want to make Gideon king over Israel. It's at this point that Gideon eludes that first trap that is set for him as a leader. It's the trap of power. Power & control can be intoxicating. Power can take a once purely motivated leader & twist him or her into a person that is unrecognizable. While the leader may strengthen his positional leadership, his true ability to lead has been compromised.

Although Gideon refuses to be made king, he does ask that he receive some of the spoils of the victory. He takes the gold & precious metals & jewels that were given to him, & he makes an ephod. FYI, that's a fancy name for some sort of structure that would be used as a sort of monument & in this case a monument to what God had done for His people. Sounds great huh? Gideon takes his spoils of war & transforms them into a monument of God's power & faithfulness to His people. Good stuff right? The only problem is that as time went on the Bible says that the people began to actually worship the ephod. The Bible says that even Gideon's family slipped back into the same spiritual adultery that they were in before God revealed Himself to Gideon. It was at this point that Gideon slipped up at the trap of idolatry. Idols don't have to be made out of metal or carved out of wood or stone. My experience is that my biggest idol stares back at me in the mirror everyday. Anything that threatens to usurp God's place as our object of worship & devotion is in danger of becoming our idol. The sad, ironic thing is that the very thing Gideon intended to be a monument of God's faithfulness & power became the very stumbling block back that led people away from God.

The final trap that was set for Gideon along his path is what I call the trap of investment. It's the temptation to neglect the need to invest in the future. Whether it's rooted in an arrogance that thinks we'll always be the leader & that we alone have the answers or whether it's simply rooted in ignorance to the need to invest in future leaders, this is the trap that can destroy an otherwise good leader. When Gideon dies, he leaves over 70 sons, any of whom could have been developed into a leader. The only problem is that none of them were invested in, & Gideon didn't invest in anyone else either. Therefore, there is no leadership & the people, as the Bible says, did what was right in their own eyes. In fact, one of Gideons sons actually rises up & kills the others in an attempt to become king. Pretty dysfunctional huh?

These three traps are common to all leaders. Power threatens to blind us to our need to grow. We think we can simply subdue & rule over our areas of leadership. Idolatry takes on infinite forms & creeps into our lives, often in surprising places. Investment is the key to long term success, yet it does not come naturally. We must make it a priority in our leadership. I believe that if we fail to invest in the leaders around us & the ones coming behind us, then ultimately we have failed to really lead.

What traps are on your path? What do you do to keep your eyes open for those places where the enemy wants to take you out?

Lessons From The First "300"-Facing Opposition

In the wake of Gideon's miraculous victory over the armies of Midian, he encounters something he has never had to personally face: opposition. Earlier in the story, stiff opposition reared its head, but it was Gideon's father who came to face them. Now Gideon is faced with opposition & conflict as he & his army are in hot pursuit of the remnant of Midian's army, including the kings of Midian.

Gideon recruits the people of Ephraim to help him track down the soldiers who managed to escape in the self-inflicted massacre at Jezreel. The leaders of Ephraim are pretty upset with Gideon that they were not a part of the initial army that faced off against Midian. The Bible says they "contended" with Gideon. So apparently this was a pretty heated incident. Gideon's handling of this is brilliant. We know that he could have easily pulled rank as the man God called out to lead, but instead he talks up the tribe of Ephraim. He talks about how great they are. He even says that the mission could not have been accomplished without their involvement. He simply helps the leaders of Ephraim see how they played a vital role in God's plan. Their part was just different from his. The Bible says that this approach calmed everyone down, & the contention simply melted away.

After this Gideon sets out with his men to capture the kings of Midian. They arrive in the towns of Succoth & Penuel, & Gideon's army is tired, hungry, & thirsty. In each town Gideon asks for some help from his countrymen. The response is pretty harsh. In each place, they are told to get out of town. Apparently the leaders of these cities did not want to help Gideon because he had not yet captured the kings of Midian. They were covering their backside in the event that the kings escaped. Needless to say, Gideon was ticked. He vowed to capture the kings & return to both of these towns & discipline them accordingly.

Gideon does capture the kings & makes his way back home, & of course, he goes back through Succoth & Penuel. Now it's time for Gideon to go Old Testament on these guys. The Bible says that in Penuel he tore down the great tower they had & killed the leaders. Then in Succoth he took the leaders of the city outside the city & "disciplined" them with thorns & briars. Ouch!

So what's the lesson behind this? The lesson is that leading in the face of opposition requires both wisdom & strength. In the moment, all opposition feels the same. It feels like someone or some group is standing in the way of God's vision, & without wisdom, a leader will always overcompensate. Ephraim's opposition to Gideon was rooted in a misunderstanding. They misunderstood their role in what God was doing. It took wisdom for Gideon to see that & deal with it properly. However, the opposition he faced in Succoth & Penuel was rooted in a total disregard for God's mission. These towns were concerned about themselves & their comfort. And while the discipline may seem harsh to us, there is no way that Gideon could deal with that situation the same way he handled his conflict with Ephraim.

Leading in the face of opposition requires both wisdom & strength. Where do you struggle? Do you need discernment to know how to balance the two? How have you messed this up in the past?

Lessons From The First "300"-Fearless, Focused, & Faithful

OK, I could camp out here forever because there is so much good stuff, but as Judges 7 begins we find Gideon & his army camped out awaiting the battle against the armies of Midian. As they are there, Gideon gets a word from God. "Your army is too big!" By the way, Gideon's army is outnumbered by over 100,000 soldiers. On top of that, Gideon's soldiers weren't really soldiers. They were not only outnumbered but outclassed by their enemy, yet God's word is still that the army is too big. So Gideon tells anyone who is afraid that they can go home. No consequences, no questions asked, if you're afraid, then go home. Just like that, Gideon loses 22,000 men. All he has now is 10,000 volunteer fighters to take on over 130,000 enemy troops.

Then God says, "Your army is still too big!" At this point, I think I would have thought God had lost his mind. The odds were plenty long enough to insure that victory would be considered a miracle, but no, God has to mess around some more. So Gideon take his army to the river to get some water. Any man that lays down & drinks from the river like a dog is going to be sent home. When they get to the river, all but 300 men lay down & drink like a pack of dogs from the river. So 9,700 men are sent home.

Finally the time for the battle has come. Gideon has 300; the armies of Midian number well over 100,000. Do the math. There is no way to fight this battle. So what kind of plan do you implement to not only fight the battle, but to actually attack such an ominous opponent? Well, Gideon put trumpets & clay pots in the hands of his soldiers. In one hand they held a clay pot with a torch inside it. In the other hand they held a trumpet. They surrounded the enemy camp. Then each man, blew his trumpet & screamed, "A sword for the Lord & for Gideon." Don't miss this: in one hand they held a trumpet & in the other a pot. Where was their sword? Where was their weapon?

This is a powerful lesson in the necessity for fearlessness, focus, & faith. Most people were eliminated from the mission because of their fear. Another group was disqualified because they lacked focus. They were too worried about their own thirst to remember that they were on the edge of a battle. The final 300 proved their worth by demonstrating their faith. They walked into an impossible fight without a sword in their hands. Their faith was in their God to win the battle for them. God uses the fearlessly focused faithful few to accomplish the mission.