“You’re not a failure if someone else drops the ball. You’re a failure if you never pass it to them.” -Ralph Diehl
Times like this convince me that my dad is a genius.
Matthew.
I just finished reading the Book of Matthew again, and I had two “Whoa” thoughts just now…
The first is in Matthew 28:18 Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
That’s a huge statement. Then following verses relate to the fact that He has all authority:
“Therefore, 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.”
I don’t know – it just struck me as totally awesome that Jesus basically said, “I have all authority in heaven and earth – and I’m giving YOU the authority to make disciples.” That was a “whoa cool” moment and I wanted to share it.
The second this is more of a question. Check this out. In Matthew 27 Jesus was cruicfied. Listen to what happened as He died (starting in verse 50, emphasis mine): “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. AT THAT MOMENT the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. THEY CAME OUT OF THE TOMBS, AND AFTER JESUS’ RESURRECTION THEY WENT INTO THE HOLY CITY AND APPEARED TO MANY PEOPLE.”
Okay so firstly I just want to point out that I think its interesting how Jesus’ resurrection had SO MUCH POWER that these holy dead people were also raised to life. That’s just cool. I also think its interesting that these people were resurrected with enough strength to push the stone away from their tomb while on the inside (either that or the stone was miraculously moved – which is totally reasonable but we don’t know for sure. I like to imagine them pushing that rock away themselves).
But where are their stories? Didn’t one of them do a 5 city book tour on their new book, “Coming Out of the Tomb” or something? Seriously – didn’t their stories get written down someplace? I’m talking about Extrabiblical resources. If anyone knows of anything please let me know, because I want to read it!
What would those stories be like? How long had they been dead? Did they experience a heavenly realm before being resurrected? Were they actually and literally present to watch Jesus remove Satan from authority over the gates of hell? I just don’t know.
Or perhaps the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the only thing the Early Church was even worried about. Perhaps those holy men who were resurrected weren’t concerned about recording their stories, but about being a witness for THE Resurrection that actually saved them.
Maybe those with a resurrected spirit (the Church) ought to do the same thing. Afterall, The One with all authority has given us the authority to do it.
The Ten Talents.
Okay so there’s the parable of the 10 Talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. If you don’t know what I’m talking about … go read it.
I was taught this Bible Story when I was a little guy in Sunday School. I always believed this parable was about investing and utilizing whatever gifts God gave us for His purposes. If God blessed you with money, give. If God blessed you with musical ability, play and minister. If God blessed you with ability to fix cars, fix them for the needy. Etc. Etc.
Dude, that’s not at all what this story is about! I think my Sunday School teacher was a bit off…
The parable of the talents is SURROUNDED with teaching and parables about the END TIMES and the Judgment of God, starting in Chapter 24. This parable must be read within the context of eschatology (the study of the end times). We can’t overlook how this parable ends, speaking of the servant who did nothing, “And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Whoa. Dude. Like, serious. Am I the only one who has missed the true meaning of this parable until now?
I’m quoting my NIV Study Bible because it says it best, “Being ready for Christ’s [second] coming involves more than playing it safe and doing little or nothing. It demands the kind of service that produces results.”
Christians, don’t just play it safe and do little. Only those who live whole-hearted for Christ are worthy to be called disciples (Luke 14:27). From what I can tell of the scriptures, everyone else will spend eternity in hell. “We are saved by faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone.”
Word Up.
I just wanted to touch base with everyone about the past few days of my life. I’ve been in Indianapolis (still am) for a worship convention. It has been fantastic.
Just imagine, if you get several hundred worship leaders in a room and want to lead them in worship — you can expect the worship leaders are TOP NOTCH (although they wouldn’t need to be – I mean the worship leaders should be okay with a vocalist and a kazoo… if you’re too big to be led you’re too small to lead). They have a few worship leaders here that I’ve never heard of – Joel Auge (from Canada) and Mia Fieldes (from Hillsong). There was also the guys at Lakeview Church in Indy (Eric Cooper and Nathan LaGrange), and Ross Parsley and Jared Anderson from New Life Church in Colorado Springs. All of their ministries were top notch. Mia Fildes blew my socks off; her voice is spectacular. If you’re in my worship team you can expect to see some chord charts with her name at the top. 🙂
This is a worship conference by Integrity Media. Integrity is unique because they have.. integrity. They’re the only Chrisitan music supplier that’s not owned by a secular company. I’ve been told by several people that they aren’t out to “sell me stuff,” they want to “resource me.” That’s exactly how I’ve seen it as well. Another thing that sets them apart is that they don’t generate new worship “artists.” They aren’t a label that looks for the greatest band … they’re a label that searches for churches that have got “it” going on, and then network with them. I just love Integrity. (Attention Integrity Staff: if you send me free stuff, I’d be happy to write more blogs about how great you are… HA!!)
I’ve been greatly challenged at this conference. When I came down here I was more-or-less “vision-less.” I searched and prayed, but I couldn’t see where the worship in my church was going anymore. I seemed to have ran out of this leadership fuel about 2 weeks ago. But like I said, I’ve been greatly challenged.
I’ve been thinking about a lot of different things regarding worship at New Hope. Some of them weird and diverse. I’ve got so much to think and pray about.
Gimme That Relevant Faith …
Do you remember the old song that was simply sang:
Give me that old time religion. <br>Give me that old time religion. <br>Give me that old time religion. <br>It’s good enough for me.
What kind of song is that? I sang it repeatedly when I was younger, but now I’m thinking about it and I can’t help but laugh out loud. If you love this song I am truly sorry, but lyrically this does not have good implications. (It’s quite possible that this song meant something completely different 40 years ago and had very DIFFERENT implications than what I will be discussing in this blog. But as everything else, this is how I see it.)
On a positive note, it’s truly important that we look at the roots of our faith. God gave instructions in the old testament for His people to look back and remember the paths that brought them to where they were. That’s still important today; no question.
But this song seems different – almost defiant. It’s almost like it could be said, “My grandfather’s expression of faith was right. Yours is wrong.” Or worse yet, “I want a religion that’s so deeply rooted in old time history that I will stay negligent to the lost world or even bother to look around and notice that my religion is no longer effective.” Wanting “old religion”can only imply that you are rejecting any new expressions.
Any song that supports the widespread belief of the world that Christianity is irrelevant is a horrendous abomination.
In case you were wondering, my random rant of this song has absolutely nothing to do with anything anyone has said or done recently. I was just brainstorming “old songs” from my childhood and I thought of this one, and then realized how unbiblical it could be taken.
We need to be cautious of the songs we sing in our churches. Choosing songs based solely on the beat or musical construction is simply a horrible idea. People are singing and experiencing their theology during a music worship service — that’s no small priority.
I’m Sick…
Okay so once in awhile I’m allowed a good rant, aren’t I? This is my ranting blog… discussing things I’m really sick of.
I’m sick of people assuming I’m Republican simply because I’m a Christian. Granted, I tend to agree more with the Republican platform but being a Christian is not the reason.
I’m sick of people assuming I hate Liberals simply because I’m a Christian. No joke – I went up to a family at a restaurant a few weeks ago because the entire family looked really familiar, I thought I graduated high school with one of the children. They asked me where I worked and when I identified myself as a Pastor the father laughed and said, “What? Do we look like a left winged Liberals?” That’s just ridiculous.
I’m sick of the reality of what Bill Maher is referring to in his movie “Religolus” … “Religious people don’t know about Religion. … None of them could even name the Ten Commandments.” I’m quite disappointed that there weren’t people to legitimately answer Bill’s questions; its quite obvious that he still has no clue what Christianity is actually about. But evidently neither do most Christians.
Quenching The Move of The Holy Spirit
1 Thes. 5 gave Christians instructions on how to handle a great move of the Holy Spirit when it told us us, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good…” “Do not quench the Holy Spirit.” That means that we should be careful not to “shut down” the Holy Spirit if He’s moving in our group. Now you might say, “If God wants to do it, then he’ll do it.” Although I’ll never argue against the supremacy of Christ, I believe there are seven very common ways that Christians can stifle what God is doing in the Spirit: ÂÂ
Control – Refusing to make room for the Spirit’s manifestations and activity. There’s nothing wrong with planning for a smooth church service, but we should be careful not the plan the Holy Spirit right out the door.
Exhibitionism – This is a lot like “control” but with a different motivation. This is when we add to the Spirit’s manifestations and draw attention to ourselves.
Neglecting the Word – This is neglecting to test all things by biblical standards. Some “trust” the Spirit’s leadership in a non-biblical way by trusting Him to uphold the Standard of the Word in our midst.ÂÂ
Prayerlessness – Some “trust” the sovereignty of God in a non-biblical way by “trusting” God in their prayerlessness to do the part that He has assigned to US (prayer!). This is not trusting God, but rather it is presumption. Some people totally screw up the truth when they think if God wants to do something, He’ll just do it. But God has given us a dynamic role in determining things with our prayer and fasting. Take the farmer for example, God provides the sunshine and rain … but the farmer has to plant and pull weeds. Don’t expect the Holy Spirit to move if you’re not praying.ÂÂ
Despising – We must not despise the times when God’s power is released in small measure. We walk in the tension of being grateful and faithful in the days of small things while continuing to be desperate to seek God for the full measure. We continue to pray for the fullness of revival because we see what we lack. However, we operate in faith by seeing what we have in God now.
Laziness – Some refuse the work and effort that required to regularly pray for people in need. It’s not easy, dude.ÂÂ
Compromise – You can’t grieve the Holy Spirit and flow in the Holy Spirit at the same time. We should seek to fully obey God by living out the Sermon on the Mount. We must seek to live without compromise by declaring war on all known sin in our lives. Prayer and fasting are never a substitute or lack of obedience. The pursuit of full obedience is different than attaining it. There are powerful dynamics that occur in our heart when we aim at pursuing 100% obedience. Sesame Street taught me to always compromise. That’s fine if all that’s at stake is 5 minutes with a Tonka Truck, but a compromise in your spiritual life is a bummer. “You never win when you compromise.”
Hang On To Your Belt. He’s Coming.
I typically would say a phrase like, “If God sends a great spiritual awakening . . .”
Just now I caught myself saying, “When God sends a great spiritual awakening . . .” and I had absolute confidence, NO DOUBT IN MY MIND, that it would happen very soon.
It’s later than its ever been. We’re closer than we’ve ever been before.
I Want to Get Wasted.
Recently I’ve been extremely busy. Now let me reiterate that … extremely busy. When I get stressed like that, I tend to do a hard shift to “Control Country” when it comes to my life and I get tunnel focus. Seriously – if it doesn’t help me accomplish something on my calendar or to-do list, I don’t do it. I’m not saying that’s good – I’m just saying that’s what I do. When this goes on for several days it gets to an unhealthy state… I start thinking things like… (I’m not even joking here…):
“I don’t have time to eat a meal — that’s time wasted.”
“I’ve needed to use the bathroom for 2 hours, but I can finish these three other things before I take that break. Urinating wouldn’t be the most productive use of my time – it’d be time wasted.”
“24 hours in a day – I’ll spend 8 at my office and 10 working at home. I can relax with the remaining 6 hours.”
Obviously with this pattern, it would be easy for me to have this “wasted time” mentality when it comes to my God time as well. But that’s the worst thing I could do. In the stressful times is when I need the God time the MOST.
So last Friday night God was dealing with me about this, and I just came to the conclusion that if my “God time” was wasted time, then I want to get wasted. I want to absolutely ruin and waste my life if that’s the case. All the stuff that’s “me” can be ruined and wasted if it means being closer to Jesus. I love Jesus.
Immediately after that moment, I started shouting out my prayer and promise to God. Then I began spontaneously singing it to a melody that I had actually written 8 months ago.
I want to be wasting my life seeking You. I won’t let anybody get in my way of reaching You. I want to be wasting my life finding You. And I won’t let the devil get my focus away from You.
It took me several hours figuring out how to use my new recording equipment, but I used this song to experiment with the features. I’m posting the whole deal… including a long and snazzy hip-hop keyboard solo and some very out-of-tune background vocals (sorry…). There’s some rough spots, but give me a break its the first thing I’ve ever done on my new equipment. Give it a listen, click here.
Lyrics and Recording are copyright Adam Diehl 2008…. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! 😀
My Name is . . .
No joke — I actually woke up this morning, got a cup of orange juice and for some reason just blurted out, “My name is John Daker!” This video has been a favorite of mine for quite some time — I just can’t help but laugh. Enjoy.