I was honest with you in Part 1 of this blog. When asked this question I admitted to getting sweaty palms and a knot in the pit in my stomach. I always feel under pressure to somehow give a grandiose answer that’s bigger and better than anyone else’s vision; bigger than the last time; something no one has ever dreamed of before; a vision so large that only God can fulfill it!

And yes, I admitted into launching into a litany of huge ideas that were full of the American dream of wealth, power and stardom. And, of course, I’m the guy at the center of it all! After all, we don’t have vision for other people. That would take the fun out of it. Vision, I’ve always observed, should all be about the person doing the fantasizing.

Now that we’ve reviewed, let’s move on to a solution for the vision dilemma…

The natural question is, “If it’s not our contemporary idea of vision, what should we do in order to keep ourselves forward focused and give our life meaning?” In order to answer this question, I want to suggest five things that we can focus on as we move forward in our lives and ministries; five things that will keep us headed in the right direction. If followed, these five tenets will steer us over the long haul much better and more efficiently than chasing our dreams and fantasies under the guise of vision.

#1: Focus on Principles

Principles are timeless. They are cross-cultural and applicable in every situation in life. The Bible is full of them. If we can cut through our religious bias and traditions, we can discover these guiding principles and live by them. A religious spirit will be the biggest enemy to such pursuits; trying to conform us to a set of rules and regulations that are intolerant and narrow. However, I have discovered that when principles are applied to life, the way becomes clear and decisions are made easy. I want to be a principled person, don’t you?

#2: Focus on Priorities

Form your priorities carefully and Biblically. Know what is most important in your life and start pursuing your interests based upon the priorities you have established. I suggest you take time and write out a list of your priorities so you can see them and read them. As life goes on, your priorities will change. That’s normal. You will also have to constantly evaluate your decisions, words, motives and actions to determine if you are staying true to your priorities. Living according to a set list of priorities is a process, not a destination. Like a pilot flying an airplane, you will be constantly engaged in course correction. But your priorities can help you navigate your way through life. If you don’t sacrifice your priorities to fit your situation, then your life will head in the right direction and land in a safe place!

#3: Focus on Purpose

When I talk about purpose I am referring to the reason why you are alive. Rick Warren has done an excellent job defining a life of purpose in his bestselling book, “The Purpose Driven Life.” Your purpose is a combination of your gifts, abilities, skills, relationships and opportunities all coming together to point you in a direction. Knowing your purpose will help you understand yourself and make sense out of life. It will help you know what road to take and what road NOT to take. When I think about my purpose and not my vision, I get a more relaxed and consistent view of my future. The pressure is off. I think less about my achievements and the pressure of meeting goals, and more about fulfilling the overall reason for my existence.

#4: Focus on People

When it’s all said and done, life is about people. This is the example Christ left us. When the woman was caught in adultery and sentenced to die a brutal death by stoning, Jesus saved her life. When healing on the Sabbath, He explained that the law was meant to serve mankind and not the other way around. He also explained the same truth to His religious audience when His disciples were picking grain on the Sabbath; reminding them that David took the showbread from the tabernacle (which was unlawful ) in order to feed himself and his men when they were hungry. Rules should always be used to serve as instruments of blessing for humanity, not the other way around. Being a Christian means that we focus ourselves on serving people and doing what we can to make their life better. When we do this, Jesus promises us that we will experience true life (see Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35 & Luke 9:24).

#5: Focus on Peace

Frankly, at the end of the day, I like to sleep! Anything that steals my sleep and keeps me up worrying at night is something I want to avoid. Sometimes when peace escapes me it means that I must address a problem head-on. God won’t let me rest until I do. That’s when I must have the courage to do the right thing. At other times the absence of peace means that I have ventured off course and got myself onto a road that I am not graced to travel. When that happens, I must have the humility to put the car in reverse and back out of the situation I am in. Courage and humility must work together in order for us to find peace. Peace is not a result of compromise; it is the results of confrontation – doing the right thing no matter the cost. When I am operating in the sphere of my calling, long hours and challenging situations are met with a level of peace that allows me to lay my head on the pillow and sleep.

So there you have it: Focusing on (1) Principles, (2) Priorities, (3) Purpose, (4) People and (5) Peace will help us navigate through life far better and easier than focusing on this Americanized thing we call Vision. Do you agree? Disagree? Leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks!

The illustration below might help you visualize this truth better.

For years I’ve been told that Christian leaders need to have a vision. “Where there is no vision the people perish, (Proverbs 29:18)” has been preached to me more times than I can count. “What’s your vision, brother?” seems to be one of the favorite questions we ask each other at ministerial gatherings; one that I’ve had to answer many times.

But I must be honest – every time I get asked that question I get sweaty palms and a knot in the pit of my stomach. I feel under pressure to give some grandiose answer that’s bigger and better than the last time I answered it; something that is unique from anyone else’s vision; something no one has ever dreamed of before – a vision so large that only God can fulfill it!

So I launch into a litany of ideas as big as the State of Texas. That’s what I’m supposed to do, right? I can’t just reply, “My vision is to love God and His people.” That would be boring. I can’t say something as mundane as, “My vision is to obey the Father and be a servant.” That would be dull and unimaginative. So I give them my best rendition of American entrepreneurialism wrapped up in Christian language.

And, of course, I’m the guy at the center of it all! After all, we don’t receive vision that other people fulfill. Our vision should be all about us. Having a vision that somebody else would fulfill would take the fun out of it.

Vision must be big and bold, wild and crazy, filled with extraordinary dreams and fantasies. I know because that’s what I’ve been told all my life. It’s been the relentless message I’ve received from all the elite Christian celebrities we admire. Everyone wants to be like them. We all want to grace the cover of a magazine or host our own TV show.

So I close my eyes and let my imagination take over and talk about big buildings, big numbers, big ministries, big success and such.

And then I usually walk away feeling slimy and sick!

Has this ever happened to you?

Armed with great ideas that we’ve spent hours dreaming and polishing, encouraged by the examples of wildly successful mega-church superstars, many of us have invented our own form of vision that is more fantasy than reality; more celebrity-focused than Savior-focused; more Hollywood than Biblical. We’ve fashioned our own form of vision from Twentieth Century American culture that has been overly fascinated with big business and celebrity.

Listen to the answers we give when asked about our visions. Whenever vision is the subject, most of the time it’s put in the context of wealth and fame. We see ourselves building mega-ministry empires like the industrial barons of the early Twentieth Century, being famous in our media ministries like the film and TV celebrities of the mid-Twentieth Century and leading an army of adoring fans like the Rock stars of the late Twentieth Century.

Barons, Celebrities and Rock Stars…that’s the vision of many Christian leaders in America today.

Make no mistake; God has raised up special servants who were anointed to do ministry in a big way. These men and women become famous and have many followers. But they are the exception not the rule. For the last 2,000 years, the church has moved forward on the backs of men and women who did not care about such things, who did not pine for fame and celebrity status; men and women who gave their lives serving one person at a time. They are the true heroes of our faith but whose names will never be mentioned in a Christian magazine and whose image will never be seen on a television screen.

In the “Land of Opportunity” where a “Can-do Attitude” can create wealth and fame, Americans have imposed a cultural definition of success upon our ministers. Our “Rags-to-Riches” mythology has found its way into our Christian thinking. We have created an unrealistic standard of success for our leaders that, in my opinion, has caused many to feel like failures and driven them to quit. Unless they have large ministries with thousands of followers, they simply don’t feel like they have achieved anything worthwhile.

Unwittingly, we have become victims of our own success. Churches and ministries in the United States reached mammoth proportions over the previous century, touching the lives of untold numbers of people around the world. We need to thank God for that!

But it also has left its toll. The success of the American mega-church has caused a tidal wave of expectations that the great majority of pastors and other Christian leaders cannot live up to. Unless they can preach and teach like the person their congregants see on television and their music ministry is as good as the latest popular worship band they downloaded on iTunes, then they don’t measure up.

At least that’s how these leaders feel. And to ask them about their vision is simply another reminder that they haven’t fulfilled the one they had last time they answered that question.

I’ve got to tell you, I don’t use the term vision much anymore. It’s been too Americanized and secularized for my tastes. If every vision that I’ve heard Christian leaders talk about came from God then every pastor would have a mega-church and their own TV show.

But’s that’s probably not going to happen.

Does that bother you?

When talking about vision, Jesus simply said He came to do His Father’s will. He took great delight in that. He found peace in it. His identity was firmly established in His relationship with the Father, not in the adoration of His fans. He didn’t look for fulfillment in His popularity or personal achievements. He knew His mission was to bring the Gospel to Israel, be rejected by His own people and give His life for all mankind, undoing what Adam had done and destroying the works of the devil in the process.

Somehow, our Lord was able to focus Himself on these things and leave the results to the Father. He found complete rest and peace in fulfilling His mission even when people did not understand and many forsook Him. By our definitions, Jesus was a complete failure whose brief notoriety was overshadowed by the fact that, in the end, He lost His ministry and nearly everyone left Him.

His idea of vision, I’m afraid, was far different than ours.

Do you agree?

Disagree?

Leave a comment and let me know!

In Part 2 of this article, I want to suggest four things that we can focus on that will help us adjust our understanding of vision and give us a greater sense of significance and peace as we serve the Lord. Be looking for it. I’ll send it out shortly.

Discipleship starts at different points in every individual’s life. Every person is different. We all begin our spiritual journeys at different starting points. Therefore, discipleship has to be customized. One size DOES NOT fit all. Discipleship is not a formula. It’s not a set recipe. People are not computers and no discipleship program will upload into the human heart and bring people closer to God.

No, it takes time.

Relationships must be formed.

And everyone is different.

So in order to bring someone into a deeper understanding of Christ, we must find out where they are and meet them there. You catch fish on the fish’s terms. You reap the harvest on the harvest’s terms. From that point, you build an authentic, loving friendship with them. Even if they don’t say the “sinner’s prayer,” your love for them makes the relationship continue.

I personally don’t try to build relationships just for the purpose of selling Jesus to someone. People can smell that a mile away. Have you ever thought that someone really cared for you and wanted to be your friend only to find out later that they wanted to sell you something? Isn’t that discouraging? Frustrating? What do you think about that person after their real motive is discovered? Do you see them as phony? Pretenders? Posers? Repulsive?

We need to love people and build authentic relationships with them whether they accept Jesus or not. We shouldn’t have ulterior motives and be trying to sell them something. Loving people where they are for no other purpose than to help them in their life’s journey is what it means to truly be a “friend of sinners” just like Jesus (Matthew 11:19 & Luke 7:34).

Consider these four stories from the Bible and think about the relationships in your life – the people you work with, go to school with, socialize with, watch soccer games with and even live with…

• #1: Jesus on the Road to Emmaus: In the Book of Luke, there is a story of two men walking from Jerusalem to the small town of Emmaus. They were discussing the weekend events that just happened in Jerusalem. Jesus, a man they thought to be a prophet and perhaps even Messiah, had been arrested and executed. As they spoke, the resurrected Lord (incognito!) joined them on their journey and spoke with them about how those recent events correlated with the scriptures. For the next few hours, they journeyed together while Jesus discipled them, making sense of current events.

Many people are already headed in the right direction. In order to disciple them, you must be willing to join them on their journey and walk awhile, explaining why things in the world are like they are, making sense of current events and helping them see the world from a Biblical perspective. Using the scriptures as a template is a good way to help people see clearly how God has been interacting in their lives all along. But first, a genuine connection must be made.

• #2: Philip and the Ethiopian Official: A similar episode happened to Philip, an evangelist in the Book of Acts. After finding great acceptance among the people of Samaria, God lead him into the desert where he connected to a man who was traveling in his chariot back to his hometown in Egypt. The Egyptian, who was an officer in his nation’s government, was reading from the Book of Isaiah. Philip asked if the man understood what he was reading. He did not. So Phillip volunteered to join the man on his journey and explain to him what the Bible meant. As the two men traveled together for an unknown length of time, Philip discipled him to a place where he understood that Jesus was the Messiah.

Like the two men on the road to Emmaus, someone was willing to connect to this foreigner where he was on his journey and lead him into a deeper understanding of God. Disciplers can’t be prejudiced. We cannot allow ourselves to be judgmental about people and their beliefs. The Egyptian was not of the same nationality as Philip. He had different political views, social views, racial views and cultural views. But none of that mattered. The Bible became the focus of conversation and Philip was wise enough to discern what God was already doing in the man’s life and he continued that work until he was ready to take the next step in his journey.

• #3: Ananias, Barnabas and the Murderer: Saul was on a journey. He was on the fast track towards becoming one of the greatest Pharisees in Israel. But that journey took an unexpected turn one day when a certain blasphemer named Stephen received the death penalty. Saul was invited to the execution. While stones were pelting his body, Stephen spoke with anointed eloquence. Standing near him, Saul heard him pray for his murderers. In this dramatic moment, Saul was put on a new journey whether he realized it or not, one that would eventually make him one of the greatest apostles to have ever lived.

Not long after Stephen’s death, Saul was dispatched to the city of Damascus to arrest Christians. In the middle of a hot day just south of the ancient city, Saul was about to have an encounter with God. No doubt along the way, the nagging memory of how Stephen died, praying for his murderers, must have echoed in his mind and conscience. Out of nowhere, it seemed, Jesus appeared to him on the road and spoke to him about his journey. After this dramatic encounter, Saul proceeded to Damascus where a man named Ananias cooperated with the Holy Spirit and connected to him where he was. Ananias prayed for him and prophesied the purpose for which Paul had been created.

After Paul’s conversion, another man came into his life to help disciple him. Barnabas, whose name means Encourager, connected to Paul and introduced him to other leaders in the church. At first, they were reluctant to receive one who had been so notorious for killing Christians. But because Paul was now connected to Barnabas, the leaders of the church trusted him and welcomed their new brother into fellowship.

There are people who have dramatic encounters with God every day. These aren’t perfect people and their experiences aren’t always on Sunday mornings between 10 a.m. and noon in a church building. We need to remember that God is operating on people 24/7. What these individuals are looking for is someone who will connect with them on their journey and disciple them into the faith. They need a new network of friends. They need someone with courage, love and patience; someone who will not be offended with their current way of life and coach them into something different. They need an Ananias who can speak to their future and a Barnabas who is willing to help get them there.

• #4: Apollos and the Married Couple: Apollos was an eloquent man but he had a problem. His knowledge of the work of Christ was incomplete. He needed someone to come alongside him and teach him the finer points of experiential theology. About this time, a married couple named Aquila and Priscilla connected with him on his journey and explained to him the way of Christ more accurately. After their encounter, Apollos became one of the primary leaders of the early church.

One of the most effective ways to disciple people is working with your spouse. Married people make the best disciplers; because together, they can raise spiritual children as naturally and as affectively as they raise their own physical children. The family dynamic is already built in and comes across as the man and woman share their hearts from two different perspectives. My wife Nicki and I have thoroughly enjoyed connecting with people on their spiritual journeys and parenting them through the twists and turns of life. We regularly disciple young couples in our church.

You are also called to be a discipler. There’s no doubt about it! God wants to use you like He did Jesus when He met the two men on the road to Emmaus and helped them make sense of their circumstances. He wants to use you like He did Philip when he joined the Egyptian who was reading the Bible and helped him on his spiritual journey. Like Ananias and Barnabas, God wants you to be in tune with Him as He works in people’s lives and be willing to risk befriending people that others won’t. And like Apollos, there are people who need you to share with them your knowledge and experience in order to help them move into something greater.

Are you ready to connect with them?

dd.

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You’ve got to get connected! That’s all there is to it.

But you know that already, don’t you? How many times have you heard it? How many times have you said it? Yet here we are waiting for the Lord’s people to become one. I’ve heard it said that there shouldn’t be any lone rangers in the church. Yet thousands of people are still riding the ranges of life, all alone, wearing their masks and sporting their shiny new revolvers. They’re all dressed up with no place to go… Don’t be that person!

Even when we take it “to the streets,” it still looks a lot like it does inside the church walls. We speak to people using the same language and pray for them just like we do in church, except that the setting has changed. We preach with Bibles in our hands or set up stages and play the same music we sing on Sundays. We bring church outside the walls of the auditorium but continue ministering in the same old wineskin we’ve used for decades.

If people are not interested in experiencing it inside the church why do we think they want to experience outside the church? Trying to invoke a move of God outside the church like this does not recognize ways in which God is already moving in people’s lives apart from the traditional activities of the church.

But the New Testament church was different. They had an advantage. The fact that they had no buildings or traditions to protect provided them with a wide open field of thinking. They had no box. To envision a “move of God” or describe what it looks like to have “revival” had no preconceived ideas to hinder it. They were able to see the world in a whole new light, one that exposed the close-mindedness of the Jewish ideas regarding the work of God among the Gentile people.

Like those First Century Jewish leaders, Christians today can become extremely close-minded concerning the activity of God outside our circles. The fact that the same amount of time has passed from Jesus to us that had passed from Abraham to them may explain the similarities. After 2,000 years, we may have a tendency to think that God thinks like us, acts like us, votes like us, speaks like us and enjoys hanging with us.

This was especially true with Paul until Jesus confronted him on the Road to Damascus. That one conversation obliterated every preconceived idea and paradigm Paul ever had. Nothing was the same after that. Everything in the world had changed. He had to reconstruct his entire religious, social, cultural and political worldviews.

Mental deconstruction is usually harder than construction. This is why it was about 14 years between Paul’s conversion and the time he and Barnabas were sent out in Acts 13. He needed time to rethink everything.

After completing his First Missionary Journey, one that saw more Gentiles coming to Christ than Jews, Paul chose Silas and went out again in Acts 16. With some experience under his belt, Paul and his entourage traversed the length of Asia Minor until they were at Troas on the Aegean Sea. From there, they crossed over to Macedonia and started the Grecian campaign.

At Mars Hill, Paul presented a remarkable and brilliant perspective on the move of God outside the walls of the church. What he said would have stunned anyone who believes that God only moves in certain ways, with certain people in certain places…

You know…people like us!

Paul said that God had been revealing Himself in various ways with various cultures from the beginning; that God loves all human beings and is active in bringing them into a relationship with Him through various means.

When walking through the streets of Athens, Paul saw many idols that the people of Greece worshipped. Among them was a statue dedicated to the unknown God. The Athenians knew that there was a God out there somewhere that could not be named in their pantheon but deserved to be worshipped. Regarding this God and their worship of Him Paul said, “Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.”

Did you get that? Paul affirms that the Athenians had been ignorantly worshipping the God of the Jews – Yahweh. They had simply not known His name nor did they have the full revelation of His ways and desires for mankind.

It didn’t mean that they were in covenant with God.

It didn’t mean that they were born again.

But it did testify to the fact that God was working in their hearts, having placed in them a desire to know Him. Somewhere in the history of the Greek people they knew that there was a God somewhere whose name they did not know but deserved their worship.

God may be moving outside the walls of the church more than we can imagine!

Paul was able to discern the movement of God in that culture and align his message with that movement and speak to the Athenians in practical and relevant ways.

After assuring them in V-24-25 that God is bigger than buildings and even bigger than our imaginations or abilities to worship Him, he says in V-26 that God “has determined their (nations) pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” In other words, it is God who is responsible for the rise and fall of nations and it is He who establishes their boundaries…

…and God works among the people of the earth for one reason – “that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us (V-27).”

Paul is admitting that God has been working all along in the nations of the earth. While He was preparing Israel to be a blessing to people of the earth, He was also preparing the nations to receive this good news and accept His word. While Israel was being groomed to be a blessing, God was not far from the other people groups of the earth, grooming them to join this blessed community.

To this day, we must affirm that God is working in our neighborhoods, cities and nations just as much as He is working in the church. If we limit our definition to a “move of God” or a “revival” only to a religious service in a building somewhere, then we will miss what God is really doing on the earth.

This is why it is my belief that we cannot define the next move of God by the last move of God. Christians trying to recreate past revivals and moves of God is not wise. We must have an open mind and look outside our religious box in order to see where God is going.

It may surprise many believers to know that God is speaking to people outside the church. Some people may even believe that it is impossible for God to give revelation to a “heathen.” But Paul didn’t. In V-28, he affirms that Greek poets have spoken the truth about God. In his sermon, Paul quotes Greek poets saying, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”

Not only were the people of Athens worshipping the God of the Bible but their poets were actually receiving revelation about Him and His desire to have a relationship with all people. This is quite amazing for a Jew who formerly believed the rabbinical saying that Gentiles were created to “fuel the fires of hell.”

Jesus said in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit will come to “convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment to come.” We should not think it strange that when Joel prophesied and Peter affirmed that when the Holy Spirit would be poured out on “all flesh” that people outside the church should receive bits and pieces of revelation that would ultimately lead them to Christ.

Paul also said in Romans 1:19-20 that “what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” This verse asserts that God is working inside the hearts of people all over the world, revealing truth to them. Besides speaking internally, God also speaks to them eternally through nature as Paul acknowledges, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

I’ve got to admit – most of the time I’m looking outside the walls of the church these days to find the move of God. If Christians can discern God in the culture like Paul did, then we will be able to see how to bring in the harvest.

The harvest tells you when it’s time to reap.

You reap on the harvest’s terms.

Not your own!

What I see God doing in the culture is exciting. More and more people are looking for what’s real. They are nauseated by what’s fake and phony. Slick productions are being replaced by reality TV.

People value participation. They would rather upload their own video on You Tube than watching one on TV.

People want to connect with each other. The global community is getting smaller as combinations of technology drive everything from the global economy to the uprisings of the so-called, “Arab Spring.”

Can you see it?

Like Paul, do you see God in all this?

If so, what is He saying?

What should we be hearing?

What should we be communicating?

How can the church capitalize on it?

Leave a comment and tell me!

When the children of Israel needed water, God gave it to them. His servant Moses took his shepherd’s staff and struck a particular rock in the desert. Out gushed fresh, cool water for the thirsty masses. They were filled and satisfied on their journey.

A few weeks later the children of Israel were thirsty again. God spoke to His servant Moses, giving him specific directions for a solution to the problem. In Numbers 20:8 God said,

“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”

At first glance this command looks pretty much the same as God’s earlier command. The people were thirsty. There was a rock that would produce water for them. Except this time, God said to SPEAK to the rock, not STRIKE it. But what did Moses do?

“And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank

- (Numbers 20:10-11).”

In striking the rock instead of speaking to it, Moses did something that would ultimately keep him from entering into the Promise Land. God said to him in V-12,

“Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

One could surmise that the sins of presumption and anger, among others, were at play in this scenario. Moses was presumptuous in that he assumed the way that God had blessed His people previously was the way in which He would bless them again, and he was angry because of their incessant complaining.

While there are many great lessons from this story for leaders, there is a theological dimension in the story that must be uncovered. While presumption and anger are deadly, the fact that Moses struck the rock a second time in order to produce water presents us with a disturbing metaphor.

Speaking to the Corinthian church, Paul says that the rock in the wilderness was a symbol of Christ. In I Corinthians 10:4 He said, “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

Jesus was smitten once for all our sins. His death was sufficient to make us worthy of every blessing that God has to offer. There is presently no need for a second sacrifice for our sins and unworthiness. Today, we speak to the Rock; we don’t have to strike it again and again for our blessings.

I’m reminded of Hebrews 10:10 that says, “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Whenever you and I feel as if we must sacrifice in order to receive a blessing from God, we are in essence saying that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough. It was inadequate. In sacrificing for God’s blessings we are striking the Rock a second time.

Like Moses, you and I will never enter into the promises of God until we learn that Jesus was smitten once for all our sins. Now we can speak to the Rock in order for our needs to be met. This is why the Hebrew writer said in 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Too many Christians feel as if they must prove themselves to God. They strive all their lives, wearing themselves out with good works, trying to earn God’s favor. They mistakenly believe that if they just work harder, pray harder, sing louder, worship longer and preach tougher that God will pour out His blessings.

So let’s be clear.

God does not want to strike anyone.

He doesn’t need to.

The Rock has already been struck.

Now He’s waiting on His people to speak to the Rock and enjoy what’s already been paid for.

Whether it’s the person who thinks if they just pray more that revival will come or the person who believes their dress and good works will give them favor with God, we must all rest upon the finished work of Christ as sufficient for us to simply speak to that Rock and receive what Jesus paid for! God knows our needs and has set provisions in our path before we ever even realized we had a need.

Paul said in Romans 9:16, “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” By relying on our religious works as an adequate sacrifice to earn the blessings of God, we are striking that Rock all over again. Like Moses, we hinder ourselves from entering into God’s Land of Promise because we errantly believe that our works are adequate for receiving God’s promises.

Are we striking the Rock again or speaking to the Rock in faith?

You be the judge.

Here a few lessons I learned from being on a team that might help you become a more mature and productive member of the Body of Christ:

• Egos destroy a team. One player motivated for his/her own best interests will inevitably cause division and defeat on the team. Check your ego in the locker room.
• Patience pays off. You have to work hard over the long haul in order to achieve success. You’ll get your chance to get in the game if you keep working hard, maintain a good attitude and improve your skills.
• There must be room on the pedestal for the entire team. Especially in football, there is no single player who can claim that they, alone, made a great play work. It takes a team. Those of us who saw it happen will never forget when the USA hockey team crowded the podium after receiving their gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. That was a team moment.
• I find my individual purpose while playing on the team. My cleats were useless until I joined the team. It may be a worn out acronym but T.E.A.M. stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. Personal abilities are enhanced by being on a team.
• You must learn to depend on your teammates as they depend on you. On a team, you know that no one can do it alone. You have to trust the guys around you. This is where camaraderie is built – learn to depend on others as they depend on you.
• Everyone has a job to do and must complete their assignment. In order for the team to win, each person has to know their assignment and carry it out. One mistake can blow the whole play. You must be clear on what you must do and stay focused on fulfilling your assignment.
• We must applaud others when they help the team. When the team wins, everybody is a winner. Even the guys on the Meat Squad get trophies! Players who are better than you deserve your praise and gratitude when they perform well. Don’t hold it back. It’s all about team.
• When someone is better than you, give them your spot in the lineup. This is a tough one. But, no athlete plays forever and someone will eventually come along who is better. If that person is on your team, you must be willing to give them your spot in order to make the team better. You must even help them and give them all the necessary advice to make them successful.
• Team wins are more important than individual statistics. Sacrificing personal gain for the benefit of the team is every player’s responsibility. While personal achievements can be rewarding, team wins are even more important. This is why superstars will take less pay and sacrifice personal attention to be on a championship team. This is why Lebron James left Cleveland and joined the Miami Heat. He wanted a championship. Even being the player of the year in their sport is less important than championship trophies.
• Hard work pays off. Even if you can’t see it in the short term, hard work always pays off. Even if it is years later in a different venture of life, team values will always take you places that selfish pursuits can’t. For me, what I learned playing second string on a pee wee football team taught me more than I could’ve imagined. I have carried those lessons with me all my life – and they have been valuable, indeed!
• Practice may never make you perfect but it is necessary for success. How you practice is how you play the game. That’s what I have always heard and that’s what I believe. There are no exceptional performances without exceptionally hard work. What separates those who succeed with those who don’t isn’t always talent. It’s how hard they work. Pete Rose has more hits than any other baseball player in major league history yet was never the most talented player on the field. But no one worked harder than he did. This is how he got his nickname – Charley Hustle!
• When I get better, the team gets better. This is why athletes lift weights and train hard – so they can help the team. Personal gain should always be valued within the scope of team benefits. If it is, a person finds meaning beyond selfish gain.
• A little bit of teasing makes you a part of the team. Bullying can be devastating for young people. So can hazing. But when you’re being accepted as part of a team, expect to be made fun of a bit. It’s part of how males show their affection. It means you’re one of the boys. I think somewhere in our genetic history, it’s natural for men to toughen each other up by a slap of the towel or punch in the arm. It’s a bit of a test. It toughens you up. Better among friends is a little harassment than the serious attacks of an enemy. Light hearted joking in this manner is how men express their approval. When you’re a part of the team, expect it. Relax a little. It’s all in good fun.
• The team wins or loses together. Sometimes success is harder than defeat and at other times, the complete opposite is true. I’ve seen teams dismantled by defeat and other teams undone by success. Regardless, whether we win or lose, we do so as a team. Whether we are standing on a pedestal or going down with the Titanic, we do so together – as a team.
• Don’t blame players and disrespect coaches when things don’t go your way. Competitive sports bring a long string of highs and lows. When people cop an attitude towards their coaches and/or teammates, that person will be a loser for the rest of their life. One of the great lessons to be learned by playing on a team is how to keep your mouth shut at the right time and when to speak at the right time. Knowing the difference is the essence of wisdom.

While these are all lessons that I am still learning, perhaps you are learning your own lessons about being connected to a team. Either way, it’s going to be good for us to know how to be team players in the days to come. Connecting the bones in the Body of Christ is high on God’s agenda. Therefore, we need to know how to be team players.

Billy Ray Cyrus, the famous singer and father to mega-star Miley Cyrus (also known as Hannah Montana), admitted recently to learning a valuable lesson the hard way. When commenting recently on a morning news show about the warning signs in his daughter’s life that her fame and stardom might be getting out of hand, he regretted the fact that while Miley needed a father, he tried to be her friend.

She needed someone who was not trying to win her approval or be her equal. She needed someone who wouldn’t worry about hurting her feelings or offending her if she was wrong. She needed someone who saw her as a daughter, not as a friend or comrade.

She needed a parent.

She needed someone who would apply loving discipline and create a set of rules for her to follow. Instead, she got a friend; a buddy; a pal; someone to hang out with. The result was that parts of her character and sense of direction were never formed. Presently, many people, including Miley, is paying the price.

When I was in college, I had an Old Testament professor, Max McGuire, who was just out of seminary and very close to my age. He and I, along with some other students, used to hang out, watch movies in the dorm and play ball together.

After about a semester of this kind of activity, he came up to me and said, “Mark, I’m going to have to stop hanging out with you guys so much.” I asked why. He said, “Because there are some guys who are taking advantage of that relationship and feeling like they don’t have to respect me in class and turn in their work.” He told me how these guys were skipping class and slacking in their studies and were using excuses like, “C’mon Mr. McGuire, we were playing ball last night. I was tired.”

I learned a valuable lesson at that time. While he might be Max on the ball court or in the donut shop, when we were in the classroom, he was Mr. McGuire. His position demanded my respect. It wasn’t that he needed that kind of recognition…I did. It was healthy for me to treat him with that kind of respect. I didn’t need another friend. I had plenty of those in the dorm. I needed a professor who was superior to me. Drawing that line between friendship and fatherhood; between the person and position; between the man and the mentor has been one of the most valuable lessons in my life.

No matter how old we get, we still need to know how to relate to somebody in a superior position. In fact, I believe that only to the degree that we know how to be a spiritual child can we ever become a spiritual parent. If you can’t come under authority, you will never know how to properly operate in authority. Being a son or daughter teaches you these lessons.

It’s a shame that while we are sitting together in heavenly places, people can’t seems to consistently sit together in earthly places!

Later in that same chapter, Paul says, “…you are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit (Ephesians2:22).” Is it me, or does God paint a picture, not of individuality, but of corporeity; a group of people in which His Holy Spirit uniquely dwells? From this passage we can conclude that God just isn’t about blessing ME – He’s about blessing US.

Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20).” There is a unique presence of the Lord in a corporate setting; one that you and I cannot experience on our own.

The Jews understood this concept. That’s why they gathered weekly at the synagogue. To them, experiencing God was a group activity. When the Rabbis taught, they would sit down and discuss scriptures in a group setting. Jesus did this when He entered His hometown synagogue in Luke 4. After reading the scripture, He sat down and taught. This was followed by an exchange; an interaction. Questions were asked. Answers were given. This same process was seen in most cases when Jesus taught publically. Why? Because the Jewish people believed that revelation emerged from the group as ideas and beliefs were exchanged in discussion.

There are three method of exchanging truth.

The first is through discourse. This is the modern method adopted by most Western educational systems, including the church. One person stands at the head of the class and lectures. The rest of the people in room listen and take notes.

This process assumes that the person doing all the talking knows everything there is to know about the subject. The rest of us, I supposed, are too ignorant of the subject matter to comment.

The second method of transferring truth is dialogue. This is when two or more people share information with one another. This gives everyone a chance to express their ideas. The unique experiences and perspectives of the people involved are shared with the group. This opens everyone up to new ideas that otherwise could not be exposed in a lecture.

The third type of learning is based upon the second. It takes dialogue to a whole new level. When people are connected and moving together on a unified journey in the Spirit, searching for truth, there arises from this dynamic a whole new level of revelation called discovery.

Discovery is the most effective method of learning as it allows each person in the group to take ownership of what has emerged corporately. No one person can take credit for what was revealed.

Discovery takes place when people move from debate to consideration; from wanting to be right to wanting to learn; from forming arguments to listening to peers; from proving people wrong to proving what is right. This phenomenon takes place when the parts of the Body of Christ get connected, forming a single unit that moves to the choreography of the Holy Spirit into the frontiers of truth. It is from this method that the most meaningful learning takes place.

Paul revealed his desire for this pattern of discovery in Colossians 4:16 when he said, “Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is also read in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.” Like their Jewish counterparts, after reading scriptures, a healthy dialogue would commence where discoveries were made.

Early Christians believed that the Holy Spirit would speak to the congregation. Truth was not the personal property of any single individual but belonged to the group. In order to see the full scope of something, everyone had to be involved.

The group heard from God.

The group discovered truth.

The group experienced revelation.

The group was connected!

Having personal devotions was not in their lexicon. The idea of individuals experiencing God by themselves, locked away in some isolated cave, separated from the rest of the community, was unheard of. Although no one can argue that having a healthy personal relationship with God is an important part of our spiritual journey, we cannot forget that there are certain truths, experiences and revelations that can only be receive from being connected to the church.

This is why Christianity is both a private and public exercise. So make sure that you practice both this week!

My first experience at being on a team was in the fourth grade. I fell into it by accident. We had moved to a new town after my third grade year. For the first time in my life, I was a city kid – if you could call it that! Waverly had only about 5,000 residents but coming from a place where we had to drive 20 miles to get groceries, it was a big city to me!

I was discovering all kinds of new things. It was a little like Billy from the old Lassie show moving to Mayberry. I was now Opie Taylor! It was metropolitan by no means, but a step closer to civilization. Being raised in the country, I spent my days riding horses and playing Daniel Boone in the woods. After we moved to the city, I had to learn how to ride a bike, play sports and be social. It was kind of like the TV show Green Acres in reverse.

Do you think I watched too much TV as a kid?

Anyway, one of the new things I admired in my new environment was living so close to school. Every evening, kids were playing baseball right across the street from our house. That’s when I first discovered those cool shoes they all wore – cleats. All the kids had them. I thought they were the coolest things in the world. I loved them! What intrigued me the most about them was the sounds they made on the sidewalk (Sidewalks – another nuance of “city” life!). You could hear them coming from half-a-block away – clink-clink-clink, clink-clink-clink, clink-clink-clink. I loved it! Along with a baseball card rattling in the spokes of my bicycle wheel, the sound of cleats on the sidewalk was music to my ears.

One day a girl up the street who was a quite good softball player and rode a unicycle to deliver papers (true story!) was over at our house. I complimented her on her cool sounding cleats. She said, “They’re new. I outgrew my other pair. You can have them if you want them.” What? I couldn’t believe my ears! My very own pair of cleats! With her on her unicycle and me on my bike, my noise-making baseball card revving like a motorcycle engine, we raced to her house to try on those cleats. And they fit!

My lucky day!

I wore those cleats everywhere. If people didn’t hear me rumbling down the street on my bike, they surely knew Mark Pfeifer, a.k.a. Opie Taylor, was in the neighborhood. When I got off my bike and clippity-clapped down the sidewalk in my slightly-used-but new-to-me cleats, I was in hog heaven!

Don’t ask me what that means. It’s just something we used to say back in Mayberry!

One day I saw a large number of boys running in shorts and t-shirts in the school yard directly across the street from our house. Wearing my cleats, I jumped on my bicycle and rode over to the school to see what it was all about. I pulled on the school lot to see what was going on from the edge of the blacktop. Hearing the unmistakable rumble of my outfitted bicycle, the coach turned and scowled at me. I froze in horror. This guy never smiled. He was a short, stocky man who smoked cigarettes and used a whole new vocabulary of words I had never heard before. He sized me up from top to bottom (no doubt admiring my cleats!) and yelled, “What are you doing over there? Get over here for calisthenics…NOW!” I had no idea what calisthenics were but I was too intimidated to say no. I immediately dropped my bike and ran towards the other boys on the field, the sound of my cleats leading the way.

I had joined the football team!

I played that whole year and didn’t tell my coach until the end of the season that I was only in the fourth grade – and this was the fifth and sixth grade team! But I survived the weekly beatings and went on to play every year after until the end of high school.

What I learned about being on a team far outweighed the experiences of playing football. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was a part of something bigger than myself. At the end of practice that first night, while I was riding my bike home, I felt proud. I felt significant. I was on a team. My life had meaning…and my cleats had purpose! I was a part of something important. I remember running in the house and announcing, “Hey mom, I’m on the football team!” It seemed like a rite of passage. I felt like a man and thought she should now treat me with more respect.

She didn’t!

From the moment I joined the team, I knew I had what it took. That was confirmed the day my coach announced that I was now a proud member of the Meat Squad! I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I must be really good to be selected for this special squad!’ Ha! What it really meant was that we had to go against the best players week after week in practice. That’s when I learned that my personal desires and achievements had to take a back seat to those of the team. I was just a warm body; someone thrown into the practice to give the first string players somebody to block and tackle. I was one step above a tackling dummy. I was set up and knocked down night after night like a bowling pen.

But I had a purpose. Without the glorious Meat Squad, the first string players would have no one to scrimmage against during practice. They would have had no opportunity to get any better. They needed us. So I discovered that the harder I played, the better we all got. I was there to help the team. I had purpose. This was something our coaches pounded into us constantly. That first year, being the youngest on the field, I didn’t see much action unless it was the end of the game and we were way ahead. But it didn’t matter. I was an important part of the team…

And that’s all that counted!

Rugged individualism is part of our mythology. We applaud one-man armies like Rambo. We love to watch old John Wayne movies where he stands alone against the odds. We love the idea of Elliot Ness taking on Al Capone and organized crime in Chicago; Poppie Doyle taking on the drug syndicate in “The French Connection;” Sheriff Buford Pusser taking on organized crime in his county in the movie, “Walking Tall.”

Think about how many films have the same plot. When I was looking at a movie list recently and noticed that half the movies on the list had the same story line – against the odds, some guy takes revenge on a big organization and brings them down – alone! We play it time and time again. It’s the same movie with different subjects.

All those lonesome heroes in American mythology are the ones who receive our admiration. Only in America could Frank Sinatra repeatedly sing those unforgettable lyrics, “I did it my way” and get standing ovations night after night. Chills course up and down our spines as we hear stories of those independent heroes like William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King Jr. or Erin Brockovich; men and women who stood against the odds and beat the system. It captures our imaginations.

We love it!

We worship it!

We idolize it!

We spiritualize it!

We take it to church!

Every Sunday, we hear sermons consumed with our national obsessions. We make individuals the focus of our songs and sermons. We have taken our own national mythology, wrapped it in spiritual clothes and created an atmosphere where lone rangers and church hoppers live under the delusion that they are doing God’s work while being isolated and disconnected from the church.

Very strange!

The value of our walk with God cannot be measured solely by our personal knowledge of Him. It must also include our ability to walk with others in the Body of Christ. Spirituality must be measured by our ability to be connected to others in the church of God.

Most people can get along with God pretty well. He’s easy to get along with. It’s His people that we have a hard time with! Now that will test your spirituality! This may have been the reason why the Hebrew writer reminded folks, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as in the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).”

Being connected to the church is a command!

How else can we become the people of God?

God desires to take redeemed individuals and put them together to create a corporate body. This corporate entity may have many names but the purpose remains the same – to bless people on the earth.

In order to fulfill God’s purpose for your life, you must know Him personally AND you must connect to His body. It’s not enough to say, “I’m OK with God. I love Him. I’m saved, etc.” You must be involved. There is no way to fulfill God’s plan for your life all by yourself. You must be connected to His people.

Don’t hold back any longer!