The Mount :: Poor in Spirit and Mourning

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy are those who are poor in spirit.  Many of us read that and have no idea what poor in spirit means.  To be poor in spirit, is to think meanly of ourselves, of what we are, and have, and do; the poor are often taken in the Old Testament for the humble and self-denying. For those who are physically poor, they have a humble spirit because they don’t have anything.  To be spiritually poor is to recognize that we are in need of God’s help.  It is those who understand they are spiritually bankrupt.  We are in need of a Savior to save us because we can not buy, earn or work our way into his favor.  It simply means to be humble.  We can not inherit the kingdom of heaven if we are not humble and understand there is nothing we have to offer our Creator.  Our humility comes in the shadow of the cross and the victory only Christ could win.

Happy are those who are humble.

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Like I said Sunday this scripture is one of the most taken out of scriptures in the NT.  We like to use this verse in funerals to comfort a family, but Jesus is not talking about physical death here.  Jesus is addressing those who mourn over sin.  He is talking about those whose heart break over sin and the darkness of this world.  When we find our happiness in the humility of Jesus we will realize the brokenness of this world.  Our hearts will be shattered over how sin so often consumes us. Paul too addresses this idea of mourning over sin.

2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

Godly grief or mourning over sin produces repentance. Repentance is turning from ones sin and turning back to God.  The fruit of such mourning is salvation.  This is the comfort Christ refers to when our hearts are broken over personal sin and we  repent we find salvation.  But if our grief is like that of the world, we will not repent but continue in sin and produce a spiritual death.

Happy are those whose heart breaks over sin. 

 

Be Happy :: Matthew 5:1-12

This past Sunday we began our new series called “The Mount.”  We started with Jesus’ introduction often called the ‘Beatitudes.’  We honestly could of spent an entire month on these twelve verses.  Due to the fact that at Capstone we don’t have 2 hour sermons I was not allowed to share all that God had put on my heart over these verse.  This week I will attempt to remind you where we went and go a little deeper into the Beatitudes that we discussed at the Gathering this past Sunday.

Beatitudes

Each one of the Beatitudes starts with “Blessed are those…”  For many of us that makes NO SENSE, so we check out and never get the BIGNESS of what Christ is saying.  If we took the original Latin word that we get the title from Beatitudes – that is then translated into Blessed and looked through the lens of today’s lanuage we would read “Happy are those…” Now we can start to understand where Jesus is going.

Jesus starts off his Sermon on the Mount by sharing with his disciples and audience where to find true happiness.  Our happiness is found in the list that follows: those who are poor in Spirit, Mourn, Meek, seek Righteousness, show Mercy, Peace making and go through Persecution.  These things don’t really click with our society and culture.  Proving those right who say the Bible no longer applies in the twenty first century.  But it didn’t click in Jesus day either.  He was starting off his sermon with some heavy hitters.  He was describing himself and his character while instructing those who dare to follow in how they too should conduct their lives – finding happiness in their reflection of His Father’s holiness.

Next we will break down each “Happy are those…” statements and see other scripture references that support Jesus’ statements – Text supporting Text.

Martyrs for the Gospel

Sunday at Capstone Church we looked at Acts 8 and the story of Stephen.  We saw that the way God scattered his church was through the blood of the Saints.  Our Big Idea was:

Jesus’ blood made the Gospel a reality. The blood of our brothers and sisters continues to pave the way for the Gospel.

The numbers we talked about revealed that Martyrs and dying for the Gospel were not an early church issue, but one that applies today. A 2006 Study from Gordon Conwell says that 171,000 Christians die a year for the Gospel of Christ.  That is 468 a day!  The eight year conflict in Iraq has cost us 4770 American lives.  We will lose that many brothers and sisters in as many as 10 DAYS.

We asked the question is the Gospel something we would really go to prison for?  Can the Gospel be more valuable than my life or the safety of my family?  This is where the Gospel is not all gum drops and Candy Land.  This is where we realize the Gospel is not Rated G, but full of violence, danger, and sacrifice.  Yet many of us in the American church ignore the fact that everyday we will lose brothers and sisters because of their obediance in the Gospel.

I felt like a left an important part of the message out.  So here it is.  I mentioned that many of us will never have to place our lives on the line for the Gospel.  So why ask the question – Would we?

One is that Jesus tells us that is where is all begins.  That we are not worthy to be his disciples if wouldn’t give it all up for His Good News:

Luke 14:26
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

When we can fully answer “Yes – I give it all up”  we now are just not being Christ like, but Christ! When we get to the point where nothing is more important that being Jesus, transformation becomes a reality.  We die to ourselves and are better husbands and wives. We sacrfice so that others can see Jesus in us.  Fear and rejection does not define us, but the Salvation found in the cross does. When we our spiritual lives are sacrificed on the cross with Jesus (Gal 2:20) it makes the decision of our physical life easy.

In no way do I think after a 40 minutes sermon we will get this.  We have to wrestle with the notion.  When we begin to dig we may find that we would not be willing to laying it all on the line.  There is a tension that will always be there.  All we can do is pray for strength, courage, and our brothes and sisters whose blood will continue to pave the way for the Gospel.

If you would like to learn more about Martyrs for the Gospel and current Persecutions of the church head to “The Voice of the Martyrs“

The Mountain

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Watching this I could not help but see His creation worshipping its Creator.  May we worship our Creator instead of Created things.

Thoughts on “Killing an Arab” article

Killing an Arab.

Mark Sayers does an AMAZING job of processing the death of Bin Laden.  As believers in Jesus how should react?  Should we mourn the death of a soul that to the best of our knowledge is in hell?  Should we celebrate that a mass murder finally recieved the justice due him?

Sayers, as we all should, points to the cross when questioning and confused.  He says that the cross was the perfect balance of both love for humanity and justice for humanity’s sin!  I believe that justice and love are a tension that will always be in a sin filled world.  We worship a God both of endless love and hard justice.  So how do you choose?

Read this article whether you side with love (mourn) or justice (cheer).  I agree with Sayers in the last two paragraphs.  You have to read the article to see my thoughts!

War Langauge

One of the points from Sunday’s Message on the Holy Spirit I didn’t get to was the War Language Paul uses in Romans 9 when talking about our flesh and our Spirit.  Here is the last text we looked at:

Romans 9:12-15
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Paul says here in Romans that a death match is going on.  It is a Kill or be Killed mentality.  We can either be killed by our flesh because it will put us to death – not physical death, but spiritual death.  Or we will kill our flesh through the work of The Holy Spirit.

When talking to people about accepting a relationship with Jesus Christ I hear they would be living a life of a hypocrite.  They need to get some stuff right before they come into God’s family.  Here Paul says we will never defeat the flesh ourselves.  It has to be the Spirit of God in us that will conquerer the lust of the world and desires of the flesh.  Without the Holy Spirit in us it is a lose lose situation.  The War is over or should I say never began – victory to the Flesh.

We so often fall into the trap thinking our obedience saves us.  Since we can’t control our flesh and fail at obedience we can never obtain salvation! But that isn’t the Gospel- it is moralism. Our salvation is based on Christ obedience, not ours. Because of Jesus’ obedience to live the life we couldn’t and die the death only he could – the flesh HAS BEEN DEFEATED.  May we harness the power of God in US!  May we trust in his obedience and not our own works.  When we trust in the Holy Spirit to the defeat the flesh, it frees us focus on power of Gospel Transformation.

Fountain Inn Community Egg Drop

Fountain Inn Community Egg Drop from Capstone on Vimeo.

Cypress Network Gathering

This week I had the honor and privilege of hanging out with a group of guys who push and challenge what Capstone can accomplish and will be.  Early in our journey of planting Capstone Church we were introduced to the Cypress Project.  We spent 10 months of training under Neal McGlohon, Dino Senesi and Chris Rupp.  What we thought would help us simply plant another church, launched us into the relem of a movement for our city.  The idea of not just another “new” church but a movement of missionaries engaged in the Harvest for the kingdom of God to transform a city with the Gospel of Christ was stamped into our DNA.

Going into this week I felt pretty good about Capstone and the direction we were heading.  Attendance is as high as it ever has been.  Our given has been amazing.  And we have been serving and pouring into our city the past years.  The last two days the Lord has releaved that there is so much more.  Our city is STILL filled with thousands of lost people.  Our city is not having spiritual discussions.  The Body of Christ in our city is still disunited.

This has shaken me to my very CORE.  Yesterday morning as I sat and listened our guest speaker, Tim Hawks from Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, TX, share about how he and other pastors in his city were taking ownership of the lostness in their city – my heart leap in agreement that we too must take the same steps.

I also walked away with the a Spirit of Patience.  We are young – 2 years old.  We are in a town with pastors where Collobration isn’t too high on the priority list. It is going to take much prayer and work to defeat the darkness of city.  But I know that Christ has already overcome this world and calls us to be the salt and light of the city.

As I mentioned in a Tweet from Wednesday, this is Game Changing Stuff.  There are going to have be some long meetings, deep prayer times, Spirit lead conversations, Gospel centered partnerships and shifts in thinking.  If we are going to Transform our City with Gospel we are must link arms as the Bride of Christ and push foward with the Light of Christ.

I will put down some quotes, stats, thoughts and scripture from the past week later this weekend.

Top 5 Charlie Sheen Quotes

I currently only get one channel with our rabbit ears, and even I have been able to keep up with Charlie Sheen Saga over the past week.  Charlie Sheen has gone Coo Coo for Cookie Crisp!  Dude is talking CRAZY!  Check out this link below and see the 15 Quotes from Charlie mainly on himself this week.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/charlie-sheens-craziest-quotes/story?id=13028952&page=2

Here are my favorite top 5 quotes:

On his dual personality: “I have a 10,000-year-old brain and the boogers of a 7-year-old. That’s how I describe myself.”

On his daily life: “It’s perfect. It’s awesome. Every day is just filled with just wins. All we do is put wins in the record books. We win so radically in our underwear before our first cup of coffee, it’s scary. People say it’s lonely at the top, but I sure like the view.”

On partying: “I mean, what’s not to love? Especially when you see how I party man, it’s epic. The run I was on made Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards, all of them, just look like droopy-eyed, armless children.”

On his natural high: “I am on a drug. It’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available. If you try it once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”

My FAVORITE: “I’m different. I have a different constitution, I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man. Dying’s for fools, dying’s for amateurs.”

Ministry of Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 ESV
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

If you have heard any of my messages from this past year, God has really had me processing Paul’s challenge to the church of Corinth to have their ministry of reconciliation. The argument Paul puts out there is that since Christ has Reconciled us to the Father through the cross, we have not only a duty but expectation that we share that message. He says a few verses later that we are “ambassors for Christ”. And I whole heartily agree.

So what does that look like? Is it door to evangalism? Is it handing out water in the park? Is inviting a friend to have coffee and tell your story of reconciliation? I believe we all have our individual ministries of reconciliation. The Lord has blessed us with different and gifts to be many ambassors in our world today.

You will hear more from me on Reconciliation. I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg as we discuss the idea of reconciliation and making us right again with our heavenly Father.