JACKIE PULLINGER - "THE SIGN OF THE CROSS"

Jackie Pullinger – “The Sign of the Cross”
(Transcribed from “The Fragrance of Justice” Conference tape series)

It seems that there are many of us in the church these days who look at miraculous signs and think, ‘If God would only do them, the whole world would come to Christ’. And they’re hoping that the Holy Spirit will fill a church while we worship, and fill it so full that it will somehow get to the ends of the Earth.

No. If it worked like that, He would not have told us to go! It does not get there by itself. It gets there if you go.

You think Jesus Christ, up there in heaven, couldn’t have done sky writing? Done a few signs and somehow by the power of God we’d all be one?

No.

The miraculous sign upon which all men will be judged was the cross. That is the miraculous sign that the world is waiting for, through us.

There’s this terrible song that we sing called “Lord Let Your Glory Fall”. I don’t know if you sing it, but I get real upset when we sing this song.

I can’t sing that song, especially when they sing it all sweet. You know what the Glory of God is? The Son of God, crushed, voluntarily.

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again.”- John 10:17.

God gives us this same privilege. “Anyone who would follow me must take up his cross, daily.”- Luke 9:23

See? That’s it!

I don’t think the Glory of God is going to get to the ends of the Earth when we sing in church. I mean, it’s not a bad thing to do, to praise His name and bless His heart. But that’s not how the Gospel gets to the Nations.

You see, it isn’t “just” a miraculous sign. The miraculous sign comes through a man.

I think the world has yet to see this. The world has yet to see Christians laying down their lives. They’re singing in church for God to do it again.

I think we’re so rude to God. I mean, He gave us His son, He gave us His Holy Spirit and we say, ‘More, Lord’! What more can He give?

He gave everything, and we say ‘More Lord’?

We say, ‘We need more before we go’. No! No! We haven’t used hardly any of what He’s given us yet. And if you go and it’s quickly used up, great! Because as you use it up you get more, and you use it up, and you get more. That’s how it works!

We haven’t seen hardly any of the signs and wonders that we’re supposed to see yet. Hardly any.

Because we think that the sign and the wonder is instead of the Cross. But the sign and the wonder is “in” the cross.

Then, when we understand the Cross, which is His heart, all the other signs and wonders are the expression of His heart. They are not demonstrations of His power, merely. They’re expressions of His heart.

You know that this was Jesus’ temptation, right at the beginning of His ministry, and at the end, to have it all without the Cross.

For any of you, young people, if you will minister with the poor, everything’s backwards.
You spend a year on these people, and then they rob you of your money. In this ministry, you go backwards. God is faithful, of course, they all come off drugs by the power of the Holy Spirit, but then many of them turn back.

I was sharing this with a church in Taiwan and the pastor came up to me afterwards and said, ‘How can this be? We’ve never heard this teaching before.’ And I said, ‘It’s the way Jesus did it.’

Look at Him. At the end of three years, what’s He got to show? I mean, he’s had some great Glory meetings and some people got healed, but what’s He got at the end?
Eleven in disarray and one suicide. His group hasn’t multiplied even.

Not until Peter knows the Grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s that Rock the Church is built on; a weak, forgiven Peter knowing the Grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so few yet in this world have used this explosive mixture of the compassion of Lord with a broken heart, and the power of the Spirit.

It’s what the world waits for.

Transcribed from Tape 4 in the conference tape set entitled “The Fragrance Of Justice”; VMG, 2005

MY NEW HERO: JACKIE PULLINGER

Recently I started listening to a conference tape series called THE FRAGRANCE OF JUSTICE.

It's from a 1988 conference in Canada with John Wimber, David Ruis and Jackie Pullinger.

After listening to one of the Wimber sessions I came across the first Jackie Pullinger tape. Now all I'm listening to is her series.

She is one amazing woman.

You can listen to some of her sermons and messages here:
http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=117

Briefly, she heard God call her to serve the poor in China after being saved for only 7 months.

After no missionary ministry would send her, she finally decided to go on her own, with no church covering or support, just about $100 in her pocket.

After twenty or so years there, she has seen prostitutes, heroin addicts and Triad kingpins transformed into followers of Jesus.

Wow.

In her book, Chasing the Dragon, Jackie Pullinger tells of being called by God to Hong Kong to work amongst the prostitutes and drug addicts living in the notorious walled city. Though fearful for her own safety, daily she would try to make contact with people who lived in some of the worst conditions one could imagine.

But after six months little had been achieved and despair set in. She agonized about it for days. “If God has called me to be here why aren’t people responding?”

One morning she realized what was wrong. She’d been telling people that God loves them and that Jesus loves them and wants to forgive them but she’d not been loving them in any practical way. She needed to go and be as Jesus, with them.

The next three months she spent, “soaking herself in scripture and prayer - and being drenched by the Holy Spirit!”

Her new and very practical approach yielded a remarkable response. Providing food, shelter and healthcare, visiting prisons, speaking up for victims, these became the ingredients of her everyday life.

The situation was so transformed that even the drug barons watched out for her safety. She’s still there and so is the church that grew from her work but the Walled City isn’t. It was demolished ten years ago.

I think I want to compile a list of her best quotes and write an article for RELEVANT about her.

MY NEW CHURCH by Keith Giles

Sometimes I want to start my own Church.

When I take a look at the Churches around me that cling to what is safe and normal, it makes me want to jump off the merry-go-round and find a few others who are sick of the spin and who long for something more.

I’ve actually taken the time to write out on paper what my Church would look like.

First of all, we’d be devoted to the poor. We’d do our best to take the Gospel of the Kingdom of God into the streets where we live and display the compassion and heart of Jesus to the poor, the broken and the forgotten.

I want a Church full of people who love God more than they love their comfort zones.
I want a Church of people who don’t just say yes to God, they actually go and do what He has already clearly commanded.

I want a Church where everyone is welcomed, accepted and truly loved just because of who they are.

I want my Church would take time to listen, not just to preach. My Church would work together with other Christians, regardless of their doctrine or practice, for the main goal of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus to the world.

My Church would not be concerned with buying a building or getting on the radio. It wouldn’t be driven to compare itself to other Churches based on numbers or size or ability.

My Church would be a safe place for anyone to come and hear about God, regardless of who they are, how they vote, or what their sexual orientation might be. In fact, anyone who wanted to come and hear the voice of God and receive the Grace and Mercy and Forgiveness of God would feel welcome, no matter what.

My Church wouldn’t allow people to come and be anonymous. It would be impossible for anyone to come and just blend in without being known, embraced and loved.

My Church would be a place where people could believe, become and belong without fear.

My Church would be committed to helping people actually follow Jesus in their actual lives. We would focus our sermons and our small groups on how to apply the Gospel to daily life, because if we can’t do that we should all go home.

My Church would put into practice the things it says it believes, every single day. Or at least it would die trying to.

Would you commit your time and energy to an organization that patterned itself after Jesus? Would you join a Church like this?

Well, the sad truth is, you can’t. Why? Because you already are that Church.

There is no other Church than the one we’ve got.

You and I are the people of God. We are the Church that He has assembled for these times. We are the Church called to make a difference in this day and to this culture.

We are the Church God has chosen to love others in a way that no one has ever seen before. We are the Church that God has entrusted to be His ambassadors to the world.

In the four walls on Sunday, and outside the four walls the rest of the week, we are the Church. At home, in line at the Grocery store, at work, at school, in fact, everywhere you are, there you will find that Church.

A.W. Tozer put it best when he said, “We must not think of the Church as an anonymous body, a mystical religious abstraction. We Christians are the Church and whatever we do is what the Church is doing. The matter, therefore, is a personal one. Any step forward in the Church must begin with the individual.” (From “The Knowledge Of The Holy”; pg.114.)

We are the Church. The only Church the world will ever know.

So, now, let’s go and be the church we dream of.

[Keith Giles is one of the world's greatest enigmas. Ruggedly handsome yet surprisingly gentle and compassionate with small animals, Keith actually has a very weak grasp of reality and often talks to himself in the bathroom mirror. He's currently writing his own story about his time in the wilderness, serving as a Pastor at The River Church in Tustin, California, and putting together a few subversive projects of his own in his spare time. You can see one of them here at http://subversive1.blogspot.com/]

HELLO. MY NAME IS KEITH GILES. I AM A CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST.

Hello. My name is Keith Giles and I am a Christian activist.

In fact, for me, there’s no such thing as any other kind of Christian.

To be a Christian is to be an activist.

In what way could someone call themselves a follower of Jesus and be anything other than someone who brings change in their wake? How else is a person who names the name of Christ to act?

To be a follower of Jesus is to be one who sees things as they are and asks, “How can the Kingdom of God break in and make things better?”

One of my favorite Christian leaders is Mike Pilavachi, the founder of Soul Survivor. He has a saying I love that goes, “God is a god of hate. He’s also a god of love. The one thing God is not is indifferent.”

Want to know what I hate? It’s Christian Radio. I hate how it proclaims a version of Jesus who is constantly “safe”. Was Jesus really safe? Should we be safe?

John Fischer says that, “Faith is only necessary for a more dangerous life” and I couldn’t agree with him more.

Another of my heroes, Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners Magazine and the author of “God’s Politics” says that Christians are called, not only to serve and love the poor, but to go beyond writing checks from the safety of our pews and even beyond slopping soup in the rescue missions, to bring real, lasting deliverance and hope to the poor of the world.

“You can’t keep pulling bodies out of the river,” says Wallis, “Without sending someone up stream to find out who is throwing them into the river.”

One of my other heroes is Jackie Pullinger who gave up her life to serve the poorest of the poor in the walled city of Hong Kong. She says, “The lie is that the way of the cross is the hard way. The lie is that it will kill you. The Truth is, in this way you’ll find life. In this way, you’ll know Him. In this way, you’ll taste of Grace. To come and die for Christ is an invitation, it’s not a sentence.”

I don’t have any tattoos but if I did it would probably read, “Remember the Poor” just like the one that David Ruis wears on his arm. I’d love to have a permanent reminder on my skin that recalled the “One thing” that Peter and James required of the Apostle Paul before he was sent out on his first missionary journey in the book of Galatians. “All that they asked was that we remember the poor,” says Paul, “The one thing I was thrilled to do.”

It would seem that the kind of Christians God is looking for are the ones who are incapable of walking past the poor without doing something. When they see someone hungry, they give them food. When they see someone thirsty, they give them a cold cup of water. When they see someone who is lonely, they stop and spend a few hours with them. “For whatever you’ve done for one of the least of these,” says Jesus, our example and teacher, “You’ve done it unto me.”

My two favorite t-shirts say, “You have one life. Do something.” and “Actions Speak Louder”.

One of my favorite movies is “Fight Club”. One tells the story of a mixed-up young man trapped in this wayward American culture who is desperately searching for meaning and purpose and real, authentic life. He says things like, “What you own ends up owning you” and leading a small army of devoted followers to change the world by blowing it up. I always watch that film and wonder what it would have been like if someone could have told that man about Jesus.

My favorite books of the Bible are James and the first book of John. James I love because he says things like, “Faith without works is dead”, and First John I love because he says things like, “If anyone claims to be in Him, they must walk as Jesus did.”

Jesus was a radical. He raised up a small army of revolutionaries with the sole “raison d’etre” of changing the world and turning it upside down. In their wake, the followers of Jesus left changed governments, changed religious systems, and changed hearts and minds.

If the early church had simply existed, if it had only found a way to blend in with the culture around it and become safe and acceptable to the populace, you and I might not ever have heard of a person by the name of Jesus of Nazareth who, about 2000 years ago, gave his life to change the world, one person at a time.

The church today needs to become more like its founder. It needs to be driven to press forward, out of its comfort zone, to get its hands dirty, to move in such a way that our words line up with our actions.

To do any less is settle.

Who wants to belong to a predictable movement? Who wants to surrender their life for something ordinary and unremarkable?

Many of us are willing, we say, to die for Christ. The question is, are we willing to live for Christ?

Hello. My name is Keith Giles. I am a Christian activist. What other kind of Christian is there?

The Parabolic Journal

A few years ago I got inspired to do something outside the box and a little beyond my reach.

I was inspired by the 1000Journals.com project and wanted to do an experiment in subversive communication.

My friend and creative catalyst, Scott Laumann, had inspired me to go beyond just talking and dreaming about things and actually putting things into action.

So...with the help of brother, and web-slave, Lito Bujanda-Moore, I put together a website called
http://www.parabolicjournal.com

Things started out with just one journal and a personal invitation to several of my creative friends, who were also followers of Jesus, to take a turn sharing their thoughts and creative expressions of faith inside a blank journal that would be mailed to them.

After the first journal was launched and several email discussions followed among several of the participants, it was decided to open this journal up to the free world.

So, we allowed people to email us and request to be put on the list to receive a journal of their own.

Very quickly the Parabolic Journal grew into about nine journals, a "random" journal (which travels of its own free will from person to person), a digital journal (where people can simply email us jpgs of their virtual pages and have them posted online), and an international journal for those outside the continental United States.

Over the last few years I've had some great interactions with people, just everyday people, who have signed up and created pages for this journal out of their despair, loneliness, fear, hope and determination to survive.

A fire about six months ago destroyed the master list of participants, unfortunately, and I've not been able to reconstruct the actual list just yet.

For now, the site continues to display the pages we've received so far, and new participants sign up daily to be added to the list.

It's one of those projects where my plan was to throw something out there and allow the Holy Spirit (yeah, Him) to take control of who and where the subversive Truth would be sent.

Time will tell how "successful" the project was or is.

JUDGE NOT

JUDGE NOT by Keith Giles

A while back I received an email from someone that caused me to take a hard look at my own self-righteousness.

This person had a moral failure that involved adultery, split up a best friend’s marriage, and totally destroyed people who were close to me.

At the time, I had traversed this minefield by putting on a loving face to all parties, regardless of their fault or sense of remorse. I had done my best to be loving and forgiving, as I suspected Jesus would have been.

However, over time my relationship with this person faded away, mostly because I began to feel uncomfortable around this person and the ongoing sin in their life.

Fast-forward about five years. Now I was receiving casual email from this person as if nothing had ever happened. I felt myself judging this person’s actions and even their heart as the emotions came flooding back again.

As I sat and contemplated how to react to this, I believe the Holy Spirit revealed something to me. I was reminded of what it was like when I first came to California from Texas. I had no friends. I knew absolutely no one. My co-workers were nice, but at the end of the day they all went home to their families and I went home to an empty apartment to sleep on a sleeping bag on the carpet all alone.

This same person who I was now judging had been the only person to invite me over for dinner with their family. In fact, not only did they feed me and hang out with me, they actually loved me. I became part of their family.

Perhaps that was why this person’s betrayal felt so painful to me. I don’t know.

What I do know is that this person had once been the only person to show me the love of Christ at one of the most lonely and desperate times of my life. Yet, here I was standing in judgment of their sin.

Is this the place God wants me to be? Didn’t Jesus call us to forgive? When confronted with the woman caught in the act of adultery, didn’t Jesus offer her grace and mercy?

After that, I started to think about all the really terrible sins that I had committed in my life. Sure, none of them involved adultery or fornication, but there were plenty of instances where the sin was very ugly, and very real. How grateful I was that God had not only forgiven me of those things completely, but that He had somehow forgotten them in the sea of forgetfulness.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” – Matthew 7:1-5

Still, I am guilty, I think, of judging others in many other, less obvious ways.

For example, if I were asked by my unbelieving neighbor how I was feeling, I might tell him I was doing ok, even if I knew that my prayer life was kinda dry at the moment and I was struggling over a few temptations in my life. I would hold back from sharing those “Spiritual” things with him because I have judged that he is “Unsaved” and therefore “Unspiritual”.

If my good Christian friend were to ask me the same question, I would probably share with him about my struggles with prayer time or temptation. Why? Because I have judged that he is “Saved” and therefore that he is “Spiritual”.

But who am I to judge who is “Saved” or “Unsaved”? According to Scripture, there is but one Judge of Men, and here’s a hint…it ain’t me or you.
It’s God Almighty.

When we judge people as being “Saved” or “Unsaved” and we then proceed to treat them differently according to that judgment, I believe we’re subverting the Gospel itself.

Just for a second imagine what would happen in the above example if I were to talk to my “Unsaved” neighbor openly about my spiritual struggles in an equally natural way as I would with my “Saved” brother? Wouldn’t that be an interesting way to introduce Jesus into that conversation? How could that be a bad thing?

Not only are we not supposed to judge others, we’re pretty bad at it.

Let’s say I had one neighbor on my left who frequently got arrested for various crimes every other week? Suppose that guy hung around with other criminals? What if he were finally arrested and sentenced to death for his crimes?

I’d probably conclude that guy was a “sinner” and that he got what he deserved for living such an ungodly life.

Now let’s say I had another neighbor on my right who went to church every time the doors were opened. He was a leader in the church and the community recognized him as an honest, godly man?

I’d probably conclude that he was “saved” and that he would certainly make it to heaven before I did.

Now, according to Scripture I’d be dead wrong.

The neighbor on my left corresponds to the thief on the cross. That “sinner” who lived a life of total rebellion and was executed for his crimes actually had the unbelievable good fortune to be put to death on the same day as the very Son of the Living God and was forgiven and welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven with open arms.

The “good” neighbor on my right corresponds with the “Rich Young Ruler” who approached Jesus asking what he must do to inherit Eternal Life. Jesus gave him one thing to do, “Sell all that you have and give it to the poor and follow me,” and the guy turned around and walked away from Jesus. As far as we know, he never made it into the Kingdom.

Either way, the point is that we are not the judge of the eternal destiny of men and women. Even if someone declares that they love Jesus with all their heart, we do not “know” for certain either way, and that’s totally ok.

I think what I’m getting at is that we’re not called to treat people one way if we deem them to be “Saved” and to treat people another way if we conclude that they are “Lost”.

Instead, why don’t we love everyone just the same, no matter what they’ve done or how they appear on the outside.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. – Luke 6:30-35

By Keith Giles

RESPONSE: "JESUS IS A VERB"

My article, "JESUS IS A VERB" (see below) was posted online at RELEVANT MAGAZINE the other day.

I received numerous responses, mostly postive, one negative, but the most interesting response was a posting of a song by a Guatamalan songwriter called "Jesus Is A Verb".

Check it out:


by on Apr 05, 2005 - 07:56 PM
Ricardo Arjona, a musician from Guatemala, wrote a song about Jesus is a Verb. I translated it so you could all appreciate it. This song caused an uproar amongst those in the Catholic church when it came out. I think it speaks a lot of truth, while showing a cynics point of view at the same time.

Yesterdary, Jesus tuned my guitar and sharpened my senses. He inspired me.
With paper and pen in hand I write down the song that I had not written
Because to talk and write about Jesus is redundant. It is better to act.
But then something told me that the only way to not be redundant is to tell the truth.
To say that Jesus likes for us to act and not just talk.
To say that Jesus is more than just five letters formed into a name.
To say that Jesus is a verb and not a noun.
Brother, what are you doing reading the Bible all day?
What is written there is summed up in love. Let’s go and practice it.
Brothers, Jesus is a verb, not a noun.
Jesus is more than just a luxurious barroque styled temple
He knows that in the end it’s just a piece of rock.
The church is carried in the soul and in actions. Don’t you forget.
That Jesus, my brothers, is a verb. Not a noun.
Jesus is more than a group of ladies with a very heavy conscience.
That pretend to win their way to heaven through social graces.
If you want to be a member, you’ll have to show the board.
Your Swiss bank account and official ties.
Jesus is more than publicly kneeling and blessing.
He knows that maybe inside, their conscience is burning.
Jesus is more than a flower on the sin saving altar
Jesus, my brothers, is a verb. Not a noun.
The Mormons say it’s a sin to drink coffee.
They have so little to do, they go around making things up.
Jesus, my brothers, is a verb. Not a noun.
Jesus doesn’t understand why they applaud him in the cults.
They speak about honesty knowing that the tithe is a fraud.
Jesus is disgusted by the pastor that gets rich on other’s faith.
Jesus, my brothers, is a verb. Not a noun.
Miss Carlotta was the most religious lady in my neighborhood.
She spoke of loving thy neighbor and popped a hundred of my balls.
I learned since I was a child that religion is nothing more than a method.
You cannot think for yourself, because it has all been established.
They baptized me when I was two months old and didn’t tell me.
There was a piñata party and they didn’t even ask me.
Please, Jesus. Between friends, baptize me.
I know you hate protocol, my brother.
People, don’t divide the faith. Borders are for countries.
There are more religions in this world than happy children.
Jesus thought, “I will make myself invisible so that all my brothers
Will stop talking so much about me and start holding hands”
Jesus, you are the best witness of the love that I profess for you.
I have a clean conscience, that’s why I don’t go to confession.
A murderer can’t revive his victim by praying the Lord’s Prayer twice.
Jesus, my brothers, is a verb. Not a noun.
Jesus, don’t come down here to Earth. Stay up there.
All of those that have thought like you are all dead.
Forgotten in some cementary, with their ideals as their luggage.
They died with a smile on their lips because they were
A verb and not a noun.

LUPITA'S SURPRISE

“LUPITA’S SURPRISE” by Keith Giles

My cell phone rang last Saturday morning as I watched cartoons with my two sons. It was Pete, the manager of the California Suites Inn. Our Church had adopted the residents of this motel where several low-income families lived.

I don’t normally get calls from Pete unless it’s an emergency. His tone was calm, but I could hear some emotion in his voice as he shared with me about a couple in serious need of help.

Lupita and Javier are a young Hispanic couple who live in Garden Grove with their four children. Javier had done some work around the motel for Pete over the last few years and lived in an apartment formerly managed by Pete’s ex-wife, Mary Anne. Pete and Javier were friends and I could tell that Pete was very concerned.

A few weeks earlier, Javier had to stop working because of a respiratory infection. Because they have no insurance, he simply stayed home and tried to rest. A few days later he found he couldn’t breathe and was rushed to the hospital where he lost consciousness and ended up on a respirator.

Lupita was now left wondering how to feed their children and pay their bills while worrying if Javier would live or die.

I asked Pete if Lupita could come and meet us at the motel since The River would be passing out “Easter Baskets” to the residents there. I wanted to meet with her and help her in any way I could. Pete said he’d have his ex-wife drive them over.

When I arrived at the Motel that afternoon I met with Lupita and, with a little help from Mary Anne’s interpreting, we listened to her story. Her tears needed no translation however and we instantly felt compassion for her and her family.

Wendy and my little boys, Dylan and David, all joined hands with Lupita and Mary Anne and prayed for her and for Javier. She understood enough of our words to cry when we hugged her and told her that everything was going to be ok.

As God would provide, the trunk of my car was filled with a case of Huggies and diaper wipes and a cardboard box of canned food which we gave to her. We also gave her the nicest laundry basket of goodies off the Rescue Mission truck that we could find. The chaplain of the Rescue Mission, Ray Green, gave her his personal cell number and told her to call him so he could get her all the food she needed next week and I took down Lupita’s phone number and told her that The River would help her as much as we could with rent and utilities that were coming due in April.

Just the other day I was talking with Pete and he had good news. He said that Javier had called him from the hospital to say “thank you” for everything we had done to help Lupita and his children. He sounded weak but he was conscious and breathing on his own.

Pete, who has not yet fully surrendered to Christ, but is a valuable member of our Motel Ministry Team…and a friend, fought back tears as he told me how good it felt to help this family in their hour of need and he thanked me and The River for being there for them.

“We make a good team, Pete,” I said. “Without you we couldn’t help anyone here in the motel, or Lupita either. Thank you for working with our church to bring light to these people.”

Pete then shared something with me that I’ll never forget. He told me how Mary Anne had called him the Saturday after we’d first helped Lupita. It seems that, on the drive home after meeting with Wendy and I she had expressed her surprise to Mary Anne. “When I first saw those people from the church I thought, ‘Oh no, they are all so white. They will never help us.’….but then they really did help us. I am so happy,” she said.

Pete and I had a good laugh over that, but then I said, “I’m glad that this was her first experience with someone helping her in spite of race or background. That’s the way it should be,” and Pete agreed.

One last note. Mary Anne and I had an interesting conversation last Saturday about Pete. She said that he was changing. “He’s had more peace and joy in his face the last few months,” she said. “I think it’s because he’s been working with your church to help the people here.” I agreed. Then she told me about Pete’s failing health. How his heart was not so strong and he’d been worried lately about dieing. “His own father died at about the same age that Pete is now,” Mary Anne said. “But the change over him has been so good to see. I told him that I thought that if he died today he’d die with peace in his heart and he said I was right.”

As Mary Anne confirmed my suspicions about the changes that God was doing in Pete’s heart I was encouraged that Kingdom was breaking in at this motel. Not just in the lives of the residents, but especially in the heart of Pete, the manager of this motel. This same manager who initially slammed the door in my face and told me he’d never allow anything religious or Christian into his motel. The same manager who, at first, told me I was wasting my time in this place.

And now I could see that, actually, he wasn’t the same guy anymore at all.

JESUS IS A VERB

JESUS IS A VERB- by Keith Giles

A few days ago I helped put together an ambitious project to serve the poor, the least and the forgotten of Orange County, California. As part of a weekend Conference on God’s heart for the poor, we had put together four different locations where people could step in and serve others. There was one team that visited a local Senior Home, sang Hymns, and prayed over these dear ones while another team set up in the back parking lot of a motel where entire families live because they can’t survive on their minimum wage jobs, barely able to keep their heads above water. This team brought a bounce house for the kids to play on and provided free ice cream sundaes for everyone. They played games, gave out free toys, sang worship songs and shared the love of Jesus with them. Several young children at the motel service bowed their little heads and asked Jesus to come and live in their hearts.

On the other side of the freeway another team was passing out bags of free groceries to the residents of an apartment building. These families were just one step away from those in the motels, barely able to keep their families fed and rent paid. We passed out bread, eggs, rice, beans, various meats to those in line, and we prayed for their needs at the end of the line while their kids jumped on the bounce house and enjoyed their free popsicles.

While I was observing the service at the apartment I noticed the manager standing off to the side with tears in his eyes. I walked over and we started to talk about what was happening. He shared with me that, in his home country of Guatemala they have a saying that summed up what we were doing this day. “Jesus is a verb,” he said. “Don’t tell me you love Jesus…show me you love Jesus.” He continued to share with our team about how we were the first to ever do anything like this. “Others have brought food and left quickly, but you are the first to stay and sing songs and pray with them,” he said. Then he invited us to come back every month if we could.

So much about this weekend of serving the forgotten and the poor has touched me. I’m especially excited that our church seems to be catching this vision for looking outward. The Church has done an amazing job of creating programs that fulfill the needs of those within the four walls. We have Book Clubs and Home Groups and Men’s Groups and on and on. Those are wonderful things. The church is called to make disciples and without these sorts of gatherings it would be nearly impossible to accomplish. However, if we forget to look outward, to those poor and lonely and forgotten among us, how can we really call ourselves followers of this guy Jesus? All he ever did was see the small, the outcast, the poor, the broken and the lost. All he ever did was embrace them, heal them, pray for them, serve them and love them. For us to be followers of this Jesus we must look and act like Him.

“This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:5-6

When someone’s words match their actions we call that “Integrity”. When words and actions don’t line up, we call that “Hypocrisy”. Perhaps what has hindered the Gospel most in the Western World has been this apparent disconnect between the teachings of Jesus and the lives of those who claim to follow after Him.

What the world needs most, I believe, is to see the people of God start to act like the people of God. What they desire most is to experience the love that Jesus said His disciples would embody. What’s needed now is for those who are called by the name of Christ to step out of their comfort zones and live out the values that they say they embrace.

The promise of The Gospel is that “The Word of God has become flesh and dwelt among us”. God has come near. God is with us. Jesus became the ultimate verb. He is the ultimate example of Love in Action.

This is the sort of Love that transforms us. It makes us into agents of change ourselves.

Our calling is to carry the verb and act out the words of our Lord. For all those thousands of years before the Cross, God told his people that He loved them. Then, in the form of the Incarnation, He put that love into action and expressed this amazing love in the flesh. This is a great mystery. Even the angels long to look into these things.

What’s even more challenging is that He then asks us to love others the way He has loved us. That’s putting Jesus into action.

“Show me you love Jesus, don’t just tell me you love Him.”

“We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

-Keith Giles

FAITH FACTOR by Keith Giles

THE FAITH FACTOR by Keith Giles

Not that I watch a lot of television, but I have found myself sitting in morbid fascination at what a person is willing to do for $50,000.

Apparently, there is an endless supply of young American men and women who will force themselves to leap off of buildings, eat horse eyeballs and swim in large vats of live snakes, all for a chance to win $50,000.

We've all asked ourselves that question, haven't we? "What would I do for this sum of money?" Granted, most of us are simply theorizing what our limits would be if we were ever asked to perform some outlandish stunt for a certain amount of cold, hard cash.

Sometimes we wonder about these things because we secretly hope that someone really will come along and offer us that much money, for any reason, because we honestly do need or want that money. Other times, we simply talk about these things as a reason to make conversation with our friends at a dinner party.

My question is, "What would you do for The Kingdom of God"?

I mean, if people are willing to swallow live worms and degrade themselves on national television for only a year's wages, what would the people of God do for the Eternal, Everlasting, Kingdom of The Living God?

Jesus told a Parable of "The Pearl Of Great Price" to illustrate what those who really see the Kingdom of God are willing to do in order to obtain it.

Sell everything. Give to the poor. Forgive those who persecute you. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies.

In comparison, the demands that Jesus place on His disciples really seem like so very little, and the payoff seems so much greater as well.

Lately I've been wondering about this parallel of the Kingdom and the World. I wonder, what is it that I would do in order to receive the Kingdom of God?

If I would be willing to give up my dignity for a small amount of money, would I also be willing to gain the Kingdom of God for a small amount of genuine humility?

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field., which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field."- Matthew 13:44

"What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and yet loses his soul?"- Matthew 16:26

THE DISCOMFORT ZONE

The Discomfort Zone by Keith Giles

Lately I’ve been fascinated with the person of Jesus. He is more incredible, more unsettling, more confounding than my Sunday School teachers lead me to believe.

His words have a bite that most sermons play down, and his commands are more than enough to make anyone squirm in their chair.

I’ve been thinking these days about the huge gap between the life that Jesus led and the life that I live each day. 1 John 2: 6 says that “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” That’s an astounding and unsettling statement.

I’m finding more and more that my ‘comfort zone’ isn’t pleasing to God. I realize that Jesus didn’t have a comfort zone and that means that neither should I.

Many times I’ve excused myself from helping people in need because I rationalize that they will only use the money for drugs or alcohol, and so I’ve justified not helping them at all. I’ve even assured myself that this is really what God would want me to do because I’m actually being a “good steward” of my money by withholding such assistance.

The funny thing is that Jesus didn’t seem to act this way. In fact, using this logic, Jesus was a really bad steward of his resources because he healed eyes from blindness knowing that those people would surely use their eyes to lust or to covet. He healed withered hands knowing that they would probably use those hands to steal or to do violence to others. He healed lepers who would most likely re-enter society and commit crimes.

Obviously, Jesus wasn’t as much concerned with “being a good steward” as he was with showing compassion on those in need and advancing the Kingdom of God.

Of course, we should be wise in the ways we help people in need. If someone says their in need of food, we can offer to stand in line with them at a nearby fast-food chain and buy them whatever they want to eat. We can engage them in conversation. Ask them their name. Listen to them as they speak. Offer to pray for them as they sit down to eat their food. This is much better than simply throwing money at someone who says they are hungry, and certainly more Christ-like than justifying our lack of assistance as “good stewardship”.

As I was sharing this with my friend Greg Russinger this week he commented that actually the Holy Spirit is all about making us uncomfortable when it comes to the poor. If anything, he said, we need to embrace our “Discomfort Zone” because that’s where Jesus is usually operating in compassion and power.

As we approach this Holiday Season I pray that each of us, myself especially, can embrace our “Discomfort Zones” for the Glory of God.

Mother Teresa once said, “If sometimes our poor people have had to die of starvation, it is not that God didn't care for them, but because you and I didn't give, were not an instrument of love in the hands of God, to give them that bread, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize him, when once more Christ came in distressing disguise, in the hungry man, in the lonely man, in the homeless child, and seeking for shelter.”

Look for Jesus in the people around you. Ask, “What do they need?” and then ask, “What do I have to share?” Those two questions are more than enough to get us going in the right direction.

Happy Holidays,

Keith

“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”- Amos 5:24

JESUS' FAVORITE QUESTION?

Jesus’ Favorite Question by Keith Giles

Did you know that Jesus had a favorite question? Well, it seems that he did.

As you read through the Gospels you start to notice that Jesus almost never seemed to answer a direct question posed to him. In fact, most of the time he would answer the question by asking another question of his own that went straight to the deeper issue at hand.

One question that Jesus seemed to ask the people he came into contact with most often was something like; “What would you have me to do for you?” Or, “What do you want from me?”

It’s something that makes me stop and think. At first I wonder what I would say to Jesus if he were to ask me that same question. Do I want more money? A better job? A nicer house? Or would I ask him for something more “spiritual” like peace or wisdom or joy?

But lately I’ve been challenged by the idea that maybe there is a totally different way for me to look at this question. For instance, Jesus is our example of how we are to live a Kingdom Life. If that is so, then maybe I’ve got it all backwards. Maybe instead of wondering what I want Jesus to give me, or do for me, or bless me with, I should instead begin making it my habit to ask others that same question.

Basically, if Jesus is my example, and if Jesus was constantly walking around asking people, “What would you have me do for you?”, then maybe what I’m supposed to do is to follow his example. Maybe that’s what it means to be “a servant of all”?

The reality of this floors me. I can hardly bring myself to seriously consider this as an actual lifestyle choice. It’s challenging. It’s radical. It’s…well, it’s what Jesus would do.

Can you imagine what your day would be like if you actually started every conversation with “What would you have me to do for you?” and then proceeded to serve each person you met in whatever way they had a need?

Maybe that’s extreme, but it’s something I’ve been hearing from God about lately as a personal challenge. Can I live a life of a servant? Can I put the needs of others above my own? Can I become like Christ by sharing in his ministry of service to everyone I come in contact with?

Only by the Grace of God.

“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”- Mark 9:35

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.- Philippians 2:3

WHAT IS COMPASSION MINISTRY?

WHAT IS COMPASSION MINISTRY? By Keith Giles

About a year ago, Dennis Maranello came up to me after the morning service and shared a word with me that he felt was from the Lord. Even though Dennis had no way of knowing that I had been praying about whether or not I should move forward with the desires in my heart to serve the poor, his word was encouraging and exactly what I was waiting to hear from God about. Essentially, it was a word that confirmed to me that God was indeed calling me to step out and launch this Compassion Ministry here at The River.

Fast-forward to just last week when, after visiting a family at the Motel, I went across the street to the Albertson’s market. As I got out of my car there was Dennis Maranello standing next to a Fire Truck talking with another fireman.

He and I were both shocked to see each other in such an unlikely place, but soon we were talking about the motel across the street. It seems that Dennis is often called there as part of an emergency response team with the Fire Department. We did some small talk and caught up on family holiday plans for awhile but soon we both had to part and so we said our goodbyes and I started back into the store.

That’s when it struck me. Almost exactly a year later, here I was serving the poor in direct response to the word that Dennis shared with me, and I run into him in the parking lot across the street from the motel. It was like God hit me on the head with a soft hammer of confirmation. “Yes, Keith, this is what I was calling you to do.”

If I’ve learned anything this year in the ministry of compassion, it’s that it’s not about taking the compassion I’ve got and giving it to those who need it. The fact of the matter is, I’m the guy who needs more compassion. I need loads more of it than I really have to give. The truth is, this ministry of compassion has been more like a school for me to discover just how little compassion I really have for people in need.

It seems that compassion is something you pursue and receive from God along the way, in order to give it away to others as you go. At least, that’s how it’s worked out for me this last year.

The other realization I’ve made this last year is that, no matter how much we do, no matter how “successful” our service to the poor might be, I always walk away feeling like we barely scratched the surface. “We could’ve done so much more,” I think. It always feels like we’re inadequate to the calling we’ve received.

The reality is, God is the one who does the giving and not us. While we may always feel the “lack” of our resources, the Spirit of God has a limitless amount of Grace, Mercy and Love to funnel through us as we simply step out and say “yes” to Him.

I’ve also learned that, deep down, I’m not really a “people person”. That might seem like a shock, especially coming from a pastor who oversees ministry to children and to people in need. But, the truth is, I’m more comfortable being alone, or with my family, than I am in large crowds or social situations. Still, what I’m learning is that following Jesus is NOT about being comfortable. Far from it. Being a follower of Jesus involves, almost exclusively, pursuing a life that steers as far away from comfort as you can get.

“If any man would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”- Jesus (Matthew 16:24)

God is in the process of changing me into the person He wants me to be, even though it may seem to be an agonizingly slow process. I may never become a “people person”, and that’s ok. But what I will become is more open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life, more open to that voice that urges me to go and share and give freely to people in need. My heart’s desire is to cooperate with Him in every single way that I possibly can. If that means continuing to place myself in a position of discomfort for His will to be done, and for His Kingdom to come, and for my spiritual formation, then by all means, let the discomfort begin.

So, as we move into this New Year, I pray that we could lay down our comfort in exchange for the Kingdom of God and the cross that Jesus has for us to carry for His glory, and for His eternal fame.

LISTEN: ONLINE SERMON "FINDING THE CROSS"

As long as it lasts....

Here's one of my sermon's from The River online via an MP3 link:

http://newsite.therivertustin.org/mp3/Keithgiles0704.mp3

Cool.

WHAT IF JESUS COULD BE YOU FOR 24 HOURS?

Maybe I’ve been reading too many books by Dallas Willard lately, I’m not sure. But, the other night I had a very strange dream that Jesus and I made a date to allow him to live my life for one day.

Dallas Willard always expresses discipleship to Jesus as “Living your life as he would live it if he were you.” So, maybe I was meditating on this too much the night before. Whatever it was, here’s what happened in my dream.

After getting dressed in my clothes, Jesus adjusted my best tie in the bathroom mirror and picked up my briefcase.

“I’ll be home in time for dinner,” he said. “Enjoy your day off.”

“Sure,” I said.

Jesus jingled my car keys in his hand as he strolled down the sidewalk and got into my car.

Does he know how to drive a stick? I wondered. But, he started the car and drove it out of the driveway with no problem.

As I stood there in my pajamas looking at the car disappear into the distance, I wondered what he’d do at my work in my place. What sorts of trouble might I be in tomorrow?

When Jesus got home it was late. My car wasn’t in the driveway. “I took the bus home,” he said.

As he sat down to tell me about his day as me I notice that my wristwatch was missing from his arm. I was afraid to ask him what had happened to it.

First Jesus explained about why he hadn’t brought my car back. “There was this homeless woman at the stoplight near your work,” he said. “She has two small children and her husband left her two years ago.”

I finally got the nerve to ask him what happened to my car and he responded matter of factly, “You didn’t give me any money, so I gave her your car. You should have seen the look of joy in her eyes.”

I remembered avoiding eye-contact with that woman the last few weeks. I wasn’t even interested in rolling down my window to drop a few dollars into the bucket she was holding. Now she was out driving around in my car. What would I tell my insurance agent?

Then Jesus went on to explain how, once he got to my cubicle at work, he began to hammer out those monotonous spreadsheets that were due on Friday instead of checking email and surfing the web for the first 35 minutes of the day. “I got done about ten minutes before the coffee break,” he beamed.

At break time, instead of slipping outside to eat a Snickers or smoke a cigarette, Jesus walked down the row to visit Charlie, the quiet guy at work that nobody ever talks to. At first I wasn’t sure who Charlie was, but as he began to describe the guy I start to remember him. He was a weird guy I’d never bothered to talk with before.

“I told him not to be discouraged. He’s been considering a divorce, but I reminded him of those early days when he and his wife first fell in love. I think he might be willing to try and love her more, in spite of the way she treats him sometimes. We prayed together before I left,” he said.

The rest of the day, Jesus tells me, he flew through my workload, returned all my old email messages, and got twice as much accomplished as I ever had.

“I really wanted to do a good job,” he explained, “So your boss would know how thankful you are to have a job. I think he was beginning to doubt how dependable and hard-working you were. Character is such as lost art these days,” he said. I nodded along as he spoke and tried to sit up straight in my chair.

“On the bus ride home,” Jesus said, “I met an old woman whose Grandson had just been diagnosed with HIV. At first she went on about his filthy lifestyle and how he got what he deserved.”

Jesus stopped suddenly and I thought he was about to cry.

I asked him, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s a terrible thing,” he said.

“What is?”

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, “To get what you deserve.”

After drying his eyes, Jesus continued with his story. “I reminded her of those early days when her Grandson was a small boy, and then I asked her to share her fondest memories of him as a toddler.”

“He’s going to die soon,” Jesus said. “I wanted her to give him the grace he needs before it’s too late.”

After a few moments Jesus composed himself and stood to go. I offered him some dinner but he shook his head and said, “No thanks,” he said. “I’m fasting.”

Before he left, Jesus looked into my eyes with a smile. “You’ve had quite a day with me in your shoes,” he said. “We should do this again sometime.”

Then Jesus handed me a small box. “I made this gift for you,” he said.

When he left, I opened it. It was a small bracelet that said, “What Will You Do?”

Then I woke up.

-kg
**
Illustration by Andre Syzmanowicz

DO SOMETHING

DO SOMETHING BY KEITH GILES

http://www.soulsurvivorusa.com/articles/foodforthought/do_something.html


I just finished reading a short devotional book by John Fischer called “Love Him In The Morning” and there was one line which was so powerful it actually shocked me as I read the words on the page.

The quote read, “God works through our work and that would mean he can’t do anything if we don’t do something. It’s like the old adage about steering a car when it’s not moving. You can steer it, but it won’t do any good unless it’s already going somewhere.”

Now, I know that Fischer doesn’t mean that God “can’t” do something in the sense that He is helpless to act. However, the point is still a good one. God chooses to act when we act.

Consider God’s promise to Israel that they would be given the Promised Land. That did not mean that they would show up and have it handed to them. In fact, they had to fight, city by city, and conquer the land in order to receive it. Of course, God was with them all the way and, as they acted in obedience, He showed up in power and made the way for them.

Recently, while helping pass out baskets to families living in a local motel, I felt that God was telling me He’d give me the motel if I wanted it. As I watched the children playing together on the balcony and all around my feet, I knew in my heart that I really did want to serve these people and reach out to them in the name of Jesus. So, I said “Yes”.

Immediately I met with the area chaplain of the Rescue Mission about how we could start an outreach to the motel. He met with the manager of the motel about our desire to help people there and received favorable responses. In the meantime, I pulled together about eight people and we began to pray and plan the best way to serve these dear people who were trapped in a cycle of poverty, unable to afford an apartment and just one weekly rental payment away from living on the streets.

It was all coming together and I was very excited about the chance to step into the promised land of this motel. However, the process of receiving what I felt God had said He’d “give” to me proved to be quite the challenge.

The same week that our ministry team had planned to launch our outreach, we had the door slammed in our face by the motel manager. Suddenly he’d decided that he didn’t want us coming in there at all. Unless, he suggested, we could find someone willing to open up their room to host a small Bible study. Which, of course, we couldn’t do if he wouldn’t allow us to go back in and talk with people.

It was very discouraging to our team, and especially to me. But, a few weeks later I got a surprise when a man showed up at our morning services and asked us for help. He handed me a card with the name of the motel he was living in. I had to do a double-take as I realized it was the very same motel we had been praying would open up to us.

I still don’t know how he found our little church, which is pretty far away from this motel and meets at a Junior High Gymnasium in another city.

Somehow God had lead this man straight to us as we were praying for Him to open a way. I’m still amazed at how God opened this door for us.

Now I’m dealing with the challenges associated with helping someone who is used to a lifestyle built around fear, suspicion and extreme poverty. This isn’t easy either. But, it’s part of the process of stepping out into the land that God has promised us.

Faith is like that. Faith is doing something about what you believe. Because I believe that God will give me this motel, I’m continuing to face the roadblocks and my own fears, to set foot into unknown territory.

As we begin to reach out in tangible ways to the people at this motel who are trapped in darkness and poverty and addiction and depression, the Kingdom of God is advancing. The Kingdom of God is being proclaimed and demonstrated to people who have known only despair and hopelessness and pain.

Who can hold back the flood? Who can stand against the Kingdom of God ?

No one can.

“We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do”- Oswald Chambers
****

BLUE-EYED JESUS (A Perspective On Politics & Christianity)

Blue-Eyed Jesus by Keith Giles

I recently re-watched the ABC Special “Jesus and Paul” hosted by Peter Jennings. One of the more fascinating parts of the show was when they randomly asked people on the street what they thought Jesus must have looked like. Many of the people responded by saying that Jesus had blue eyes, was six feet tall and was a cross between DeNiro and Pacino.

Then the scene switched to find the same question being answered by Biblical Scholars and Middle Eastern Historians. They reported that the average height of a Jewish male during that time period was five feet even. He most certainly had brown eyes, not blue, and he probably looked like any other weather-beaten shepherd off the desert sands; Dirty, sun burnt and quite unremarkable.

This got me thinking. Why is it that we sometimes create mental pictures of Jesus that are so far off the mark? Is it that we really don’t know Him? Is it that we like to project our own likes and dislikes onto Him? Why are we so eager to make Jesus into an acceptable version of the Messiah? Do we also assume that Jesus must have been a good Republican or a Capitalist? Perhaps He was a Democrat or a Socialist?

It’s interesting to me that the scriptures reveal to us a Jesus who was not so preoccupied with Earthly political discussions. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar and unto God what is God’s” was pretty much the only true political statement He ever made, if it can even be called that.
In his time on Earth, Jesus didn’t seem so concerned about the politics of the day. Nor did He talk so much about current events, other than to reference the collapse of a tower in a nearby village where a few people had died.

However, Jesus was interested in a political system called “The Kingdom of God”.
It might shock you to consider that Jesus probably cares less about what Bush and Kerry are saying on their campaign trails than He does about what you and I are doing with our lives.

Many of us, if we’re honest, know way more about the views and values of our particular political party than we do about God’s Kingdom. But, Jesus urged us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all of these other things will be added to you as well.”

It’s not that Jesus wants the Kingdom of God to influence or even to compete with the political systems of our nation, as much as he wants His Kingdom to influence and change us.

Do we share His views of the poor? Are we even aware what His position is on economics, or foreign relations, or peace-making, or consumerism? Are we actively, seriously, continually seeking after the things of The Kingdom of God?

Perhaps we’re more comfortable with a blue-eyed, six foot tall, Republican Jesus who conforms to our political and social ways of living? But, is that really who Jesus is?

Which version of Jesus are you holding on to? Which way of life are you currently pursuing? Is it the life Jesus describes in the sermon on the mount, or is it something pretty close to the life you would have lived had you never heard the Gospel?

The polls are open.

****

SEEING GOD IN A NEW LIGHT

Seeing God in a New Light by Keith Giles
http://www.soulsurvivorusa.com/articles/foodforthought/seeing_god_in.html

Too many times we’ve heard the message that “God is Love”. The idea that God wants relationship and intimacy with us has been cheapened by overuse, rendering any actual understanding of this truth meaningless to the average person.

Most of the time I find myself contemplating the mysteries of God’s love and His boundless grace from my side of the fence. The end result of such scrutiny is more often than not an admission that the ability to fully understand these matters is too rich for me. I have learned to dismiss them as truths that, however glorious and profound, are simply beyond my finite ability to comprehend, and so, therefore, most of the time I don’t bother to tread this path of contemplation again.

However, just the other day I was suddenly taken aback by a picture of God’s nature that has taken over my imagination and revolutionized my relationship with The Almighty One. Beyond that, it has provided me with a powerful insight into God’s motivation for every single thing He’s ever done.

I’m almost too embarrassed to admit here how simple and outright obvious this revelation into the heart of God actually is. Perhaps I will only state something that nearly every Christian has come to fully understand and reveal my spiritual ignorance to the world in the process.
Still, for all of those out there who, like me, may have never quite understood the heart of God in quite this same way, I’ll do my best to share this truth in the hope that others might grasp it too.

What struck me so profoundly was simply the idea that God’s entire purpose and reason for setting all of creation in motion was that, without creation, God would never have known worship, pain or have the opportunity to share His perfect love with us.

He sat before the Creation of the Universe and considered the heavy price He Himself would have to pay, understood His own level of sacrifice, and yet counting this cost, He took a deep breath and said, “Let there be light..”

Suddenly, I saw God as a being who simply wanted to share true love. He wanted people to know Him for who He really was and then He wanted those people to love Him.

Is that so far from what you and I want? Everyone human being has an inner desire to be known and to be loved, sincerely loved, for who they are inside. This is the heart of God too. The entire Universe, the Galaxies, the Earth, the sky, the Oceans, the vast plethora of life on this planet, the design of the human body, the sunset that graces the sky each evening, all of it was created for just one purpose: To woo His bride.

Let me take a moment to clarify what I’m saying. God does not “need” love. He does not have any deficiency or lack that must be met by the creation. The words ‘need’ or ‘necessary’ are totally foreign to God. ‘Need’ applies only to creatures and not the Creator. If God could have a need, then there would be incompleteness in God’s being.

Maybe we’ll never know with any true certainty “why” God created the universe. But, I believe it’s possible to make quite an educated guess. Based on how the dynamic of creation affected God and revealed His nature, I believe it’s safe to assume that God’s motivation for all of this was to share His perfect love with someone outside of Himself.

No, God didn’t "need" to do this. But, He most certainly "wanted" to do this. So much so, that He took upon Himself the greatest sacrifice imaginable to make it happen.

God wants a sincere relationship with His creation. He wants to be loved by His creation as they discover who He really is. He wants a specific, personal, intimate conversation with you and with me that will last for all eternity.

As I ponder God’s heart in this moment of excruciating love, I am confounded and compelled to pause at the wonder of it. If I allow this simple, and yet utterly profound truth to seep into my consciousness, I find myself moved to tears. I’m astounded by how much this new picture of my Father resembles something I’ve already discovered about myself. It creates a connection between us that I never knew was there before. Discovering that God wants to be known and sincerely loved by me has drawn me ever closer to Him.

The sad thing to me is how the picture of God as one who loves us and desires intimacy with us could ever become something that our hearts would be hardened to.

I hope that I will always be captured by this image of God as one who stood in the vast nothingness of darkness and whispered my name before He let loose the very fabric of Space and Time and began creating wonder upon wonder to declare as loudly and skillfully as He possibly could the words, “I love you.”
***

DO YOU FEEL YOURSELF SHRINKING?

DO YOU FEEL YOURSELF SHRINKING?
BY KEITH GILES
(Originally published online at SoulSurvivorUSA.com)

http://www.soulsurvivorusa.com/articles/foodforthought/do_you_feel.html

"And John replied, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'John 3:30 (NIV)

Do you feel yourself shrinking? Do you feel Christ becoming more and more "at large" in your life? I don't. If anything, I feel the opposite. Most of my day is filled with the pursuit of my wants and concerns about my needs, thinking about my plans, and praying about my dreams.

Jesus? Oh, He's there. But He's not taking over. More and more I'm starting to realize that I really want Him to take over. I need Him to take over.

What I need is for Christ to permeate my life. I need to sense his presence all the time. I need to hear his voice. I need to know his heart for people. I need to take His words to heart and start living them out in my actual life.

When you reach this point in your life, you begin to realize the simple power and wisdom of the Spiritual Disciplines. Suddenly the idea of fasting and observing silence and simplicity become things that your very soul craves.

To many of us, the idea of Spiritual Discipline sounds like a means to take away our freedom in Christ. A way to drag us down and force us to observe the Law. That's not what the Disciplines are all about.

Sure, some churches and more than a few leaders, have misused the Disciplines in the past.
Sometimes we can allow others to place their expectations of perfection upon us and bind us up in the pursuit of an outward appearance of Holiness.

But, when a follower of Christ reaches the place where they realize that their flesh is much too weak, even when their spirit is most willing, the Disciplines become an escape route from the bondage of sinfulness.

The Spiritual Disciplines are like turning the spoon away from your own mouth and using it to dig a tunnel under the fence of sin and into the sunlight of freedom.

Jesus' parable of the Pearl Of Great Price (Matthew 13:44), where those who find a great treasure joyfully run out and sell everything in order to get it, is a great picture of what our attitude should be. We're not to worry about how much the pearl costs, we should be worried that we might not be able to sell things fast enough to get the money to buy that pearl.

When we truly understand just how utterly fantastic God's Kingdom really is, as compared to our own kingdom, then the idea of giving up time and food and money and worldly success is nowhere near as precious.

Jesus has some pretty strong words for those who call themselves by His name in Luke chapter 14, verse 27. He says "..Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."

Taking up my cross means my own death. It means the end of my personal kingdom and the beginning of His.

My prayer is that God would give me the strength to daily deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him. I want to go where He¹s going. I want to walk with Him.

What will it cost me? My car? My house? My dreams? My job? Great. What else? I want to kick my kingdom to the ground and dance while it burns.

I'm ready to follow Him now. "He must increase, I must decrease."

Do you feel yourself shrinking?

By Keith Giles

INTERVIEW: JOHN FISCHER

SUBVERSIVE: INTERVIEW- JOHN FISCHER
BY KEITH GILES

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/article.php?sid=4522

For more years than I can remember, John Fischer has been saying what no one else had the vision, or the guts, to say out loud, or in print. He has always been able to discern the difference between what needs to be said and what has already been said too many times before.

As a prolific writer of songs, articles and a sought-after public speaker, Fischer has used his gifts to communicate the truth in love, especially when it comes to matters of Faith. Speaking to me over the telephone, Fischer doesn’t waste any time getting to the point. “Faith is necessary for a more dangerous life,” he said. Although he admits we’ve managed to immerse ourselves in a Christian subculture that seems intent only upon spreading the safety net. “That’s been a huge theme for me for a number of years as I’ve watched the Christian sub-culture grow up around me,” said Fischer, who inadvertently helped to create this very same sub-culture as a popular songwriter during the ‘Jesus Movement’ of the ’60s. “That’s why I’ve watched it so carefully,” he said. “And we’ve moved into areas now that we would have never thought of, and never intended to go, thirty years ago.”

As Fischer has watched the Christian subculture collapse in upon itself, he’s concluded that there’s one main thing that keeps it from being effective. “It finally dawned on me that the message of ‘Safety’ was really bugging me. It almost starts to appear that the bulk of the Christian sub-culture, all these Christian products in the Christian world, however it got started, it appears to exist today out of a fear of the world and a desire to be safe within a subculture where we can still enjoy all those worldly things, but they have been made safe for us and for our consumption. Like a Good Christian Seal of Approval,” he said.

“That has had some terrible ramifications,” said Fischer. “I think primarily it’s kept us out of having any kind of real impact on the culture at large. But, I think in terms of individual faith it has also affected us. Faith itself has to come in the midst of some kind of tension, pressure, fear, whatever. If everything is fine and we’re comfortable and we’re only around people of faith, in an environment of faith, then who needs faith?”

Pointing to a passage in the book of John, chapter 17, Fischer illustrated his observation with a prayer by Jesus on our behalf. “One of the most poignant expressions of this is Christ’s prayer where he says, ‘Father I ask not that you remove them from the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.’ We don’t stop to think a little more deeply about that and realize that Jesus is praying for us to be protected. If so, what does that assume about our situation? It assumes a dangerous situation. So, it’s no surprise that Jesus is not intending to put us in a safe place. He would much rather we be in a dangerous place, but He’s praying for us and looking for that opportunity to have our faith grow by being challenged in such a way.”

The irony is that, sometimes it’s our own misguided brand of evangelism that prevents any true evangelism from taking place. “We have had evangelism preached at us so much that we feel like we are wasting our time if we are in the presence of a non-Christian and we’re not telling them about Jesus. What that is saying is that we’ve made evangelism more important than Love,” said Fischer. “We sometimes mix the Great Commission with The Great Commandment and that is to ‘Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus even said that if you do this, you will fulfill all the Law. I think we can assume that the ‘Go and make disciples’ at the end of Matthew was not presuming upon that earlier statement. In other words, He still said that (if) you love your God and love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll be fulfilling everything else.”

Fischer conveys a sense of exasperation as he considers the effects this has had on our culture. He argues that evangelism isn’t just about conveying information, it’s about having a life that really is different. “I think that’s where our life comes in, and the importance of our relationships, and being vulnerable and loving people follows. Then when we do get around to telling people about Jesus it’s because they want to hear about it. They’ve asked us about Him. It’s not that we’re interrupting their lives and saying, ‘Here, you need this piece of information’.”

Fischer’s ministry has been to talk about the practical nature of faith and how God meets us on a moment-by-moment basis, about how faith meets real life. “That’s always been the thing that I’ve wanted to talk about. I think we have such a tendency to miss the wholeness of what life is meant to be, and what faith is meant to be,” he said. “We keep it in a ‘faith compartment’ and it only works on Sunday’s and when we’re doing something obviously ‘Christian’. For sometime I’ve talked about this modern Gnosticism that we experience in the Western World. We keep our religion separate from our life. Once those two come together, that’s actually where the joy and excitement comes because suddenly there’s meaning to life. I get to find God in the midst of this stuff and now it’s not insignificant anymore. The most mundane part of my life has meaning. That’s a big thing for people to discover and I think we often miss it and yet it’s so simple.”

Delving deeper into the scriptures, Fischer has found himself at a surprising loss for words when he realizes how far we’ve strayed from the original wisdom of Jesus. “I’ve just been doing a study recently on the Sermon On The Mount and it’s just unbelievable how far from that we are. We are so far. We aren’t even at step one,” said Fischer. “What Jesus is talking about in this passage runs right in the face of everything that you see in the Christian subculture. The success mode, the worship of personalities and money and all that. Jesus is talking about a whole different reality there. We even have Christians who are out there talking about our political rights and religious rights to be this or to be that. Jesus message was all about giving up your rights, if anything. I just don’t get it. How can this even bear the name of Jesus?”

Looking at the words of Jesus, it is sometimes difficult for Fischer to understand why we’ve allowed the culture to ravage our Lord’s message of servanthood and compassion for others. “I think it’s largely because we have made so many alliances with our culture and the economic nature of our culture and our affluence and the whole 4.2 billion dollar ‘Christian Industry’ providing Christian goods and services to people,” Fischer said. “Where does that even fit in the picture of what Jesus was talking about? All we’re doing is we’re continuing to keep people focused on being consumers, we’re just providing Christian stuff to consume and taking their money for that.”

While Fischer is quick to admit that there’s nothing inherently wrong with capitalism or making a living, the truth he wants us to get is that capitalism doesn’t have the answers we all need. In America especially, the line between what it means to be a good Christian and what it means to be a good American are so blurred for us, we don’t even know the difference anymore. To us it’s become the same thing. “The point is that if we were Christians in a capitalistic system, we could deal with this, we could work it out. I think we could still be neighbors and work in our workplaces and do what Jesus said to do. But, instead what we’ve tried to create is a Christian Capitalism,” Fischer said.

“I’ll leave you with the best quote of all,” he said. “A guy posted this at my website the other day. He said, ‘I started to build a Christian coffeehouse until I realized that the world already had one and maybe I should just go there.’ Isn’t that great? Where was this guy twenty-five years ago when we tried to make a Christian version of everything? Yeah, the world already had that so just go there. It’s very simple actually.”
***
You can visit John Fischer at http://www.fischtank.com His new book, Love Him In The Morning is based on his enduring song of the same name. Fischer’s book takes little time to digest, but a lot longer to chew on, urging the reader to turn the pages slowly and consider the thoughts within them more seriously.

[Keith Giles only wishes he were half as cool as John Fischer and when he grows up (whenever that might be) he hopes to write just like him. Until that day, you’re welcome to visit http://www.parabolicjournal.com and waste a few hours.]