No Breakfast on January 3rd!

Sorry, guys…there will be NO 4th Seed Breakfast this Saturday (1-3). Be encouraged to take in some of the 12 Open Houses of Christmas in the Mesa Area instead…for more info, go to evbcmesa.wordpress.com.

More soon,
Bill

Where is everybody?!?!?

Hi there, and thanks for stopping in at the Fourth Seed blog.

You are invited to join us at evbcadvent.wordpress.com between now and Christmas Day, where we are offering a daily blog through the book of Revelation for the Advent Season.

See you there!

Bill

Now THAT was a great message!

Hey, all…

For those of you who missed the all-EVBC Men’s Breakfast on Saturday the 18th…well, you missed a good one. LJ Richardson gave his testimony (a tear jerker!), Tim Maughn and the Sunday Six band led worship, and Jim Harper gave a message based around the TV series “Band of Brothers.” Let me share the highlights…

Like military men, we as believers…

* have a clear mission from our leader.

* live in a time of global warfare

* are dropped behind enemy lines

* are up against dangerous enemies

* have much to lose

* are to care for our wounded

* have a mission that demands a team effort

I couldn’t help but think, as Jim was sharing, that contemporary believers are more like reservists than actual soldiers. We know there’s a battle out there, but often avoid the conflict unless we are drug into it by the Lord. We aren’t looking to battle at all, much less take ground for the cause!

I was personally convicted, as a leader in our Area ministry, that I have done a poor job in terms of strategy, equipping and inspiration with regard to our shared role as soldiers. The battle is thick, and a team effort is needed – which means we need to be committed, and working in concert, in order to expect to gain serious victories for the gospel.

Our next breakfast is on the 8th. I’ll be looking to address these ideas as we continue our “Men Who” series. We do need to be men who fight…and we need to do it together. Let’s get together on the 8th and talk about how. (Nov. 8, 7am, Superstition Springs Golf Club, $5).

Other news: The Tuesday morning study through Hebrews is going strong – join us at the Paradise Cafe (Val Vist & Baseline) at 6:30 if you’d like to jump on board  …  Many of our people from Mesa are going to Mexico November 8-10 to do some home-building for poor families through AMOR ministries – make sure you offer them your prayers, and financial support  …  There will be an all-Mesa BBQ at the EVBC Commons on Sunday, November 23rd, from 12:20 to 4:00 – don’t miss it!

God’s best to you all,  Bill

Breakfast Saturday! (oct. 4)

Hey, Fourth Seeders…

It’s that time again…time for a great breakfast on Saturday morning, 7:00a, at the Superstition Springs Golf Club. Last month, we had our largest group yet. Let’s have even more this week!

MEN WHO?

Last month, we began a six-topic series that I’m personally very impassioned about. Increasingly, we men in Mesa are convinced that God would have us do greater, more fruitful, more aggressive gospel ministry in our city. This could take the form of an eventual church plant, or perhaps simply a more focused Area Ministry approach. In any case, we need to be asking ourselves some important questions. Who does God want us to be in these days ahead? What are the hallmarks of effective, godly men? And where do we need to grow to be the most productive and fruitful?

Last month, our topic was “MEN WHO LOVE.” We looked square at the Word and saw that God’s call for us is to love our world, both sacrificially and emotionally. We talked about how human beings are wonderful, and are worthy of our genuine interest, curiosity and exploration. If we’re to be effective in ministry, we increasingly need to see other human beings as wonderful and fascinating? How is that been working for you this past month?

This month, we’re going to nail God’s call on us to be “MEN WHO LEARN.” At evbc, the “b” is a different color. Why? Because we believe strongly in the Word, the Bible. But, do we devote ourselves to the scriptures the way we need to in order both to reach our world and to pass down a well-crafted, orthodox faith to the generations to come? Join us Saturday, and be open to a bolder, deeper vision of becoming a man who, as Paul charged Timothy, “correctly handles the Word of truth.”

I look forward to seeing you soon – God’s best to you all,

Bill

Fall News

Hey, Fourth Seeders…thanks for checking in.

FIRST, thanks for those of you who faithfully followed the study on Genuine Worship. Your thoughts and comments were appreciated. Many of you have told me that the series truly changed the way you come to church on Sundays, and the way you deal with God in your personal devotional life. That was the fruit we were looking for! Praise God…

SECOND, a couple of reminders

FOURTH SEED BREAKFAST! This Saturday, Sept. 6th, Superstition Springs Golf Club (Power & Baseline NW), 7:00a, $5 donation requested. We’ll be talking all fall long about being “Men in the Church” the way we ought to be. Our church is growing, our needs in the Area are growing, and the prospects of church planting in Mesa are growing. Will we be ready as men to help lead these challenges? We’d better be! Come Saturday as we begin ramping up for the challenges before us.

FOURTH SEED TUESDAYS! Paradise Bakery (Val Vista & Baseline NW), Tuesdays at 6:30a. Men, we’re starting a study on the book of Hebrews. It’s going to be a bit deeper, but very applicable. This is a GREAT time to get on board…plenty of seats, coffee and muffins available.

Though we won’t formally be blogging through Hebrews, I will be using this blog for occasional postings related to the “Men in the Church” theme, and the Hebrews study. So, check in when you can, and leave your comments.

Have a great fall (oh, that’s right…the NFL opens tonight!!!).

God’s best to you all, Bill

GW – Experiencing the Real Reality

Reality…how is it defined?

By your flesh, your natural instincts, your “wants”?

Or is there something more real than that, more true, more genuine?”"‘

“He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” -  Luke 18:9-14, The Message

Who is the “real” person in this story? I submit that both were describing reality in their prayers. The Pharisee really isn’t like other bad people. He really does fast and tithe. The tax man, too, was accurate in his description of his sinfulness.

The difference is that the tax man was in touch with real reality…God’s reality, the divine perspective on our lives. Knowing the deep truths of the majesty of God and the travesty of sin broke his soul and humbled his spirit. On the other hand, the Pharisee had lined his life up next to external, earthly criteria, leaving his soul unmoved, his pride intact.

In a world full of churches who are trying to welcome all sorts of people to come in and “just be real”, it’s my hope that these people who are really sinful (e.g., all people!) would come in touch with the real reality that their sin should bring them to their knees. To not lead people into this reality is to leave them lost in a worldly illusion that will disallow their lives to be “made right with God.”

I’m not saying we should command worshipers to get on their knees and grovel. But we should boldly proclaim the whole counsel of God – His transcendent greatness, our miserable lowliness, and the expansive grace that covers that gap – so that the Word of God can have its way with the people: “God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.” – Hebrews 4:12-13, The Message

GW – Genuineness: What Is “Real”?

Yesterday, I talked a bit about the realities of our modern techno-culture which mitigate against genuineness in our relationships. The world flashes images to us that are not trustworthy, and calls us to become like these images. We then find ourselves, on the one hand, lured to become like the world’s image of success, and on the other hand, charged to become more like Jesus.

Theologically, we also vacillate. If we have been born again in Christ, we are now filled with the Holy Spirit, partakers of the divine nature, and seated at the right hand of God in the heavens. We know this to be true, but we experience daily doses of sin, often but not always volitional, and we know that, if we let our guard down completely, we could be as sinful as anyone else on the planet.

So…who’s the “real” me? And, I hear churches say, “come just as you are”, “we’re just real people like you”, or “take off your mask, and be transparent”, what does that mean?

A lot of the talk about “being real” in the church today is a reaction to a brand of legalism that promoted a pretentious form of clean-on-the-outside-but-rotten-on-the-inside “Christianity”. In our desire to see us get away from such displays of external obedience, we have called for authenticity.

But what is the authentic reality we hope to see? Is it the flesh-gone-wild sinner than manifests himself when all discipline and structure is taken away? Or am I most real when I’m actually living out the Ephesians 1 reality of my divine standing?

Say you’re on a diet. You have decided not to eat so much, but your body craves more. When are you most real? When you exercise your will power and deny your appetite, or when you succumb to your natural instinct to minister to your pie hole (to quote a Haasism)? Or, say you’re getting ready for church, and are staring at your wardrobe. You want to in some way honor the Lord with your choice of attire. But, there is something in you that just wants to be comfortable, doesn’t care what others think, and just wants to dress like the “real” you.

Discipleship. It means disciplined living. Discipline calls us not to live naturally, but to live differently. It calls for buffeting our bodies, denying our flesh, and living for the pleasure of others. Does living like this make us fake? If so, the…yes, we’re being ingenuine.

But I think it’s just the opposite. Our “natural” inclinations of the flesh are stimulated by the evil one, the prince of this world, Satan. The father of lies has delivered a bill of goods that, quite simply, isn’t real. When we follow our natural instincts like lemmings follow each other to the sea, it might seem like we’re just “being real” or “going with the flow”…but we’re really caught up in a ridiculous lie with grave consequences.

Jesus calls us to reality. The reality is that there is a God, who has redeemed us, and gives us the capacity to live well … to be lifted up out of the morass of the world’s “reality”, and to abide in His reality instead. The world might look at this and call it pretense, role playing or “acting.” We know better. We know it as being conformed to His image, which is ultimate reality. The more we become like Jesus, the more “real” we become.

How does this brand of genuineness effect our worship? More tomorrow…

Bill

GW – Genuineness: Being “Real”

(My apologies for not blogging in a long time – we’ll try to be more faithful over the next two weeks!)

Get “real”. This is a well-used (one might argue over-used) expression in our contemporary dialogue. It seems that one of the un-desired fruits of modern living is a brand of ingenuine living, leaving people today — call them generation X, Y or Z, or post-moderns — yearning for lives that are authentic, genuine, real.

Check out these song lyrics from Daniel Amos’ 1983 song “Here I Am”:

Here I am, here I am, driving to the studio with all of our equipment
Here I am, here I am, singing in the microphone while the tape is rolling
Here I am, here I am, at the photo session smiling at the camera
There you are, there you are, getting out your money purchasing the record
Here we are, here we are, by way of stereo making minimal contact

Is this a substitute, is this me
Well I can’t see you and I’m out of your reach
Here I am (crying)

Here I am, here I am, attending Sunday service (it’s crowded so I watch on the TV in the foyer)
Here I am, here I am, going to the altar (could this be you next to me?)
Here I am, here I am, getting out my money to buy tonight’s cassette
There you are, there you are, getting out your camera taking photos for the bulletin
There you are, there you are,developing the pictures (is that me there in the crowd?)

You want an autograph, what is your need?
Mine is for you to know that I really bleed (we’re crying)
Moving about in our own exclusive spheres
We touch not, we are not even near
Here I am, here I am, there you are, there you are
I’m reading a letter that says you like my record

In the midst of what we call “the communication age”, someone working hard to communicate his art in the Christian community finds his attempts are actually promoting an even more impersonal, non-communicative reality. It makes me realize that, the more we run around with remotes in our hands and buds in our ears, we’re really drifting farther and farther apart.

And, with these media membranes between us, we’re never sure if we’re encountering the real thing. We can fix our appearances with Photoshop (or makeovers, if live), our voices can be fixed in the production room, our odor can be covered by a myriad of perfumes, and even our personalities can be crafted through chat rooms and Facebook pages. As Brad Paisley sings,…

When you got my kind of stats it’s hard to get a date, let alone a real girlfriend
But I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight every time I login
I’m so much cooler online, yeah, I’m cooler online.

The church has rushed headlong into the media milieu, and has tried to share the Christ through film, recordings and internet mediums. But, can any of these be trusted? Are me naive enough to think that the populace out there truly believes what it sees and hears through the media?

So, where can people go to find the “real” thing? The church. But, are we really “real”, even when we gather together? Or, even when we are individual representatives of Jesus, are we putting our “genuine” selves out there, or a feux version that will impress others more than the “real” thing?

More tomorrow…your comments are welcome!

Bill

So, what can you trust? What’s “real”?

GW – Committed: Disciplined Worship

The fifth hallmark of genuine worship is that it is a commitment. That it is a part of our :discipleship” … which comes from the same word as “discipline” … which calls to mind this passage from the book of Hebrews:

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed” (Heb. 12:11-13).

Somewhere along the line, contemporary worship lost much of its discipline. Doing the disciplined work of worship — attending regularly, reflection, kneeling, confession of sin, hearing scripture (even the “boring” sections), peacemaking, going to the communion table — has been rejected by a culture that wants the opposite of these — attending when it’s convenient, having the mind dazzled by media imagery, sitting comfortably in padded seats, avoiding the topic of sin, minimal (if any) reading from the text (preferably from a more-interesting-than-the-raw-truth version), honoring anonymity over interaction, communion served while we sit. We’ve worked hard to make sure worship isn’t “painful” — and, by so doing, have found ourselves with “untrained” congregations with “feeble arms”, “weak knees”, and bearing little in terms of righteous living.

After His resurrection, Jesus commissioned his disciples (a.k.a., disciplined ones) with this familiar charge: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). He didn’t call us to make attenders. He didn’t call us to make satisfied customers. He didn’t call us to gather groups of people to enjoy more happiness, blessings and prosperity than others. No, he called us to go into the world and introduce disciplined living (discipleship) to those He will save. And the main method of this discipline is active, selfless involvement in the community (baptism) and comprehensive education (“teaching…everything“).

I’m convinced that our corporate gatherings should look, sound and feel like gatherings of disciples. And, our worship should be an exercise of that kind of commitment. We should be further down the road of discipleship after each gathering…not only in terms of teaching, but in all aspects of the disciplines of worship.

More next time…

GW – Corporate: How WE Pray

(Kudos to my lovely wife for reminding me of the truth that the Lord’s Prayer is a call to corporate worship!)

LUKE 11

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”

This is a simple point, and one that you have likely heard before, and it’s this: The first half of the prayer given to the disciples is about GOD. The other is about US.

“Hallowed be your name.” This is in the imperative, making it a command. Literally, we are told by Jesus to command God that His name be revered. An accurate translation could read, “Father in heaven, make it a point that you receive all the praise, glory and honor that you deserve.” This is a bold thing to pray, because God often gets glorified most in our suffering and trials. But the point is clear. God, first off, it’s all about you getting worshiped!

“Your kingdom come.” Again, the imperative. “Come.” I say this to my dog Ella all the time…and I’m a bit riled if she doesn’t immediately bound my way. So, too, in our prayer, we are telling God to see His rule and reign (kingdom) ushered into the lives of people, beginning with ourselves. Your praise, your rule. That’s how the first half of our prayer is supposed to go.

Then, we shift to the WE section! We stay in the imperative, making these requests boldly!

“Give us bread every day.” Not me, but us. Not enough for me, but enough for the community. Like the manna provided in the wilderness, God promises enough, and encourages us to pray boldly for that. (But, for us in the U.S., most of whom have more than enough already, this prayer seems a bit stilted…like praying for warm days in the summer!) Honestly…do you pray for the needs of others more than your own?

“Forgive us our sins.” I regularly confess my sins, and ask for God’s forgiveness. But I rarely ask for the forgiveness of others — rather, I more often ask God to help people get it together, and quit sinning. Here, he says “our sins”. Which corporate sins are you a part of? A great example of this is found in Daniel 9 (see below). Daniel, whose life was pretty spotless, said to the Lord “we have sinned.” If I were Daniel, I might say, “Look, God, I’ve done well, so I shouldn’t have to suffer for other people’s wrongdoings, should I?” But, since I am truly part of the body, one person’s sin is everyone’s sin, including mine. When we pray about that person who is trapped in sin, we should do so with a “we” and an “our” instead of a “they” and a “their.”

“Lead us not into temptation.” Somehow, as I’m reading this, I feel a great weight taken off of my shoulders when I think that God would have me praying about the lives of others, rather than my tendency to get self-absorbed with my own battles with sin. Keeping it “our” instead of “my” helps me remember, too, that my sin damages the body, not just me.

Much more could be said, but, to conclude: When Jesus told us to pray, he never mentions the word “I”. You’ve heard it say there’s no “I” in team? Well, there’s no “I” in prayer, either.

Keeping it corporate, Bill

——————————————-

Daniel 9:7-19

“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against usour rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. and against

“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant [individual moment here!]. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! [three strong imperatives there!] For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”