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Classic Hymns

I love the richness and depth that hymns bring to worship.

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One of my favorite worship CDs is Page CXVI Hymns I. You can get it free until next Tuesday, so run and get it now! 

Song list for Hymns 1…

Come Thou Fount

In Christ Alone

My Jesus I Love Thee

When I Survey the Wonderful Cross

Nothing But the Blood

Solid Rock

Joy

They are giving it away so promotion is for their 2nd CD, Hymns II, which is now available to download. Song list for Hymns II…

How Great Thou Art

Praise to the Lord

Jesus I Am Resting, Resting

Rock of Ages

Abide With Me

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Doxology

Friends,

These are Beautifully done… trust me! 

It’s Hard To Do

Yesterday I decided to Reset the counter to zero. Rewind the issues that have taken control.  And Reconnect with God. I was reading in Philippians 3:

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11

At The Journey this last Sunday we had a great discussion on what a community transformed by the gospel looks like. Amazing what the answers were – generous, authentic, intentional, trusting, forgiving – but in reality? We need to admit the Jesus way is immensely attractive but hard to live. How do you look ‘not … to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others’ or ‘do everything without grumbling or arguing?

In Philippi, some recommended religious ceremonies (v 3), believing that by pursuing these people would find the life God intended for them. Paul explained that he had tried this. In terms of religious credentials few could compare with him (vs 4–6). Some of this he’d inherited from his family, which he’d then built on with extraordinary zeal and dedication. Yet this way of seeking God, he now believed, had been a complete waste of time. Notice how often he describes his previous way of living as ‘loss’ (vs 7,8). Far better and more valuable was to know Christ and be found in him (vs 8–10).

Look again at Paul’s credentials (vs 4–6). They are all to do with self, achievement and accomplishment. They can’t be part of the solution since they are symptoms of the essential problem – our obsession with self. 

The Jesus way involves changing the perspective so that self no longer sits on the throne, manipulating everything to serve its best interests. So if we are ever going to be the people or community God intends us to be self must be overthrown. The question is how? And Paul is really clear… the power of Jesus. The problem comes when we do the right things without the power of God and in the end are just living moralistic lives. What kills a Jesus movement is when we live morally restrained lives not supernaturally changed lives. The former will end with burn out, regret, or the true self being made known. The latter will result in joy, peace, and incredible blessing! 

You want to be part of the solution… turn to Jesus and out of love for him do the impossible!

Playing By New Rules In a Different Game

Well an announcement that I have been anticipating, as I have been tracking with Francis Chan this last year, has been made. Francis is a pastor of a large church in California and last Sunday shares how he has to be obedient to what God has been doing in his heart and move to do something different an urban centre (most likely LA). He has been wrestling through being led by the Spirit, loving one another, living on mission. Over the last few years he has been wrestling through buildings, models and structures and says WHY?

It is easy to give up something when its small and insignificant but here is a man who, in the eyes of the religious, has tremendous success… big church, big budget. You are giving that up… yep! 

It is so crazy how much of our spiritual existence is trying to live in this place of comfort and convenience. Then I read Luke 9 and this commitment to Christ, carrying our cross daily is a massive deal. When I look at my kids and my family I can't be the dad who sets out to protect them. I long for them to experience the radical adventure of a life lived being led by the spirit… but the fight is incredible.

I spent some time in New York last week hanging out with the guys at Redeemer and they commented how one of the biggest issues with urban ministry is families not wanting to move into the guts of a city because of not wanting to raise kids in that environment, and the cost of housing . WHAT! According to my bible discipleship is being radically countercultural and that is hard to do with big houses, big backyards, and all the toys. One of the pastors at Redeemer said it so well… "in the city our idols are success in the suburban mindset our idols are our kids." We need a conversion from comfort to sacrifice!

I have come to see in my own life how much fear motivates me. That constant fear that my last achievement is not good enough, that I may not be liked… And all to often I look confident on the outside but tremble with anxiety on the inside. The good news is I am beginning to understand that I will never feel secure apart from Jesus. As long as I am duplicating other peoples programs – wether it is a model for church or an approach to quiet time, or pleasing those around me. I will miss something about his Spirit. When you try to do what you are expected to do quiet times quickly become busy times… highlighters, notebooks, reference books. A couple years ago I found the courage to walk away and truly rest in God's presence. Now I can go for walks, sit silently and just listen. When you are not feeding on the approval of others, you are free to wander off the beaten path and begin to hear God along the entire journey.

I appreciate Francis because he is not a mega church pastor but a fellow traveller. The beautiful thing about the gospel is I don't have to do anything to be accepted. I'm loved exactly as I am, my worth comes from Jesus. Looking for assurance and acceptance from others is just wrong. I don't know the best ways, I am not an expert, and I have no pressure to get it right… I am just on the journey, learning from everyone I come in contact with as fellow travellers trying to find Jesus in all of life. 

Can you relinquish control and let the Holy Spirit lead in your life? 

Love Your City To Life!

1028994-mediumIn Jeremiah 29, God told the Israelites who had been taken into Babylonian captivity, "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

I have always loved the city. Growing up in a small town I looked forward to the day when we got to go to the city and shop and eat at the restaurants. I would come home to my small town with clothes my friends had not seen before… I loved the fashion, I loved the food, I loved the smells, the energy… I loved the city. The problem is when our love stops at what the city provides us. The great job, shopping, food choices, art, culture… God invites us to love our city to the point where we serve the city, seeking its peace and prosperity.
 
That changes everything! While the Jews were living in that place, they were to engage fully in life, even in the life of a city that was opposed to God. To be concerned for the well being of your city. What a radical idea – repeatedly through scripture we see God's concern for cities and the people within them, Jerusalem, Nineveh, Babylon, Ephesus, Corinth, Rome…  God invites us to love OUR city.

At the end of the book of Jonah, God asks the prophet a rhetorical question in reference to Nineveh, which at that time would have been one of the largest and most powerful cities in the world and was one of the most hostile to the God of the Bible: “Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11) The expected answer, much to Jonah’s chagrin, was “Of course.”

God cares about people, their suffering and pain, their heartaches and trials, the oppression they experience, the injustice they bear. He is a God of compassion. He wants his creatures to experience joy, love, and peace. The logic is pretty simple: God loves people, the human creatures he has brought into being. Cities are where most of them live. Therefore, God cares about cities. And if God cares about the cities and the people who live there, so should we.

Ya, its hard planting churches in the guts of a city but thats why we need God. People are transient, they come and go, sin seems bigger, the cost of housing is higher and ya you can't ride your horse; BUT God's grace is sufficient. Every time my wife and I leave Ottawa and drive back into the city we see the sign… WELCOME TO OTTAWA and we get emotional… I love my city and my calling is to seek the peace and prosperity of my city. 

Allan Barth in an article titled "Vision For Our Cities" writes:630-dsc0232
  

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE?

1. We need to care about the city. We need to be concerned about the city, if for no other reason than our future is likely to be profoundly influenced by what happens there.

2. We need to change our view of the city and not see it as an evil place from which we ought to flee. Negative views are directly linked to disengagement.

3. Understanding the crucial importance of the city, we need to commit ourselves to living in the city. All true ministry is incarnational. We are unlikely to have much effect on the city if we are not living where we can be salt and light.

4. If our intent is to change or have an effect on a city, we have to engage at many different levels.

  • We have to proclaim Christ to individuals and communities.That means church planting, church replant- ing, and church revitalization. With all of its faults, the church is God’s chosen means of converting and transforming individual lives and the life of any given community. More Christians living out the gospel in the city will bring significant influence and change. We need to help people gain an in-depth under- standing of the application of the gospel to their lives.
  • We have to “act justly and to love mercy” (Micah 6:8).
  •  We have to engage culture. Cultural forms are the primary way truth is communicated. Christians need to write, make films, and produce music and other forms of artistic expression. To change a city, you have to change how people think and feel.
  • We have to help Christians apply their faith in all that they do,whether business, parenting, education, or anything else.

Where is your city? Stop using the city for your personal gain, Move In, and have Kingdom presence in the city you love! 

Daves To Do List: Buy Burial Plot in Ottawa

Trip to NYC

Real-estate-investment-property-manhattan-apartmentI got the email last week to be included in a group of Canadians from coast to coast travelling to NYC to learn what ministry looks like in an urban context, WOW! So I was already going to say yes but then the list of who we would be meeting with came out… Tim Keller and the Redeemer Church Planting Centre, Jon Tyson, JR Vassar, and Mac Pier and I then I was instantly humbled… Why should I get to spend time with such amazing leaders. My prayer was God show me what you want me to see and hear what you want me to hear, all to see my city changed for your glory.

God has been doing some amazing things in Ottawa as we unite to see renewal come to our city and I new this time would not only encourage and practically help our local expression but lift my eyes to see what it looks like to see a gospel movement in Ottawa.

I tend to like to summarize in bullet points so here are my takeaways.

  1. We Need a City Focus - In Canada half of our population lives in 5 cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Calgary). The cities are are the main shapers of culture, values, and beliefs and for too long the church has been afraid or apathetic to go into the city and shape it with the gospel.
  2. Contextualize the Gospel to your city – Get rid of assumptions and get to know your city… Move in and have presence. Ask the question what makes your city unique? The reality is we usually import a previous model instead of ask what does church look like here? This point was discussed in every setting… ministry in the suburbs or smaller cities and communities is very different than in an urban environment. If believers come to your church from another context let them have an urban conversion before you let them lead. If you let them settle in a church culture without wrestling with the urban tensions they will never be missional.
  3. Pray Your Guts Out…Together – The need to gather together to pray is paramount in seeing movement in your city. We need church corporate prayer but we also need city wide united prayer where the power in prayer comes from our power of agreement.
  4. It Takes all Kinds of Churches to Reach a City – The ways of one denomination seems to be over and there is a growing effort to work together to see churches planted in a city. Redeemer is an incredible example of a church giving herself away for a much bigger purpose. They truly live out Mark 9 – worry less about what's different and join together so we can be one. The city is so broken that we need to join in a non competitive alliance to work together to "build that great city".
  5. When Church Planting Proximity is Key - Too often we work, live, and go to church in different areas of the city. This does not work! We must at a minimum live and go to church in the same neighbourhood and begin to have presence in a place. Church Planting strategies must also reflect this and begin to look less like one big church and more like a network of neighbourhood churches.
  6. Change Happens Through Immersion and Learning Communities – Anything you want to change in your life will not just happen by trying harder. If you want to pray more, help with poverty, engage in community… these things will not just happen unless for a season you immerse yourself in it by e.g.. going on a mission trip, having a prayer retreat… What do you need to immerse yourself into so you can shift from one behaviour to another? Then engage in communities where questions are asked and life is processed through the grid of the gospel. We must stop just listening to preachers and learn together in communities.

So much more but this captures some of my takeaways from such great leaders and an incredible city.

Never Underestimate an “I Love You”

DSC07165We were having dinner last night like we have most nights. It began with Kari praying for the meal, we then all began eating and the conversation began. So what happened at school today? Do you have any homework? Who did you play with at recess? Kellan responds by saying he played soccer with the boys and Emily said I actually spent recess by myself. WHAT! 

When I look back I find it funny how we reacted, thinking that something was wrong. Why would anyone want to be alone? So the interrogation began… Did someone hurt you? Were you feeling ok? Where were your friends? Why were you alone? Were you feeling unloved? She then blurts out why would I not feel loved you both tell me you love me like 40x a day. Then the long pause… 

Emily gets something about the gospel I am still working through! She is secure with being alone because she knows she is loved. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray Luke 5:16. He was so secure with the love he had received from his father that he could withdraw, remove himself from the noise so he could better hear God. 

Are you ever alone or do you always need somebody or some form of noise around you? 

If you are secure in the love of our Father being alone is now a joy not a dread. 

J I Packer says it so beautifully.

"If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how he much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. [Adoption] is the highest privilege the gospel offers….That justification–by which we mean God's forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance of the future–is the primary and fundamental blessing is not in question ….But…adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves." J.I. Packer, Knowing God

Emily thank you for the gospel lesson… now off I go to be alone with Jesus.

The Gospel

At The Journey we are looking at Acts and wrestling through what it looks like to be a 1st Century church in the 21st century. I am amazed that 120 people unleashed by the gospel changed the world… through love they conquered the Empire. What Happened? THE GOSPEL! The first Christians believed that Jesus's resurrection has implications for the entire universe… the renewal and redemption of all things. 

Our problem today is that you could ask 100 Christians what is the gospel and get many different answers. The gospel has become our ticket to heaven, a religious belief, personal and individualistic, obeying rules or attending a church… sorry that is not the gospel. 

I grew up believing the gospel was very personal, I sinned and needed Jesus to forgive me, so if I pray this prayer he will forgive my sin and I can spend eternity with him in heaven one day. The problem was not me having a home in heaven but being disconnected from the most amazing person ever – JESUS! It is not about heaven but a Kingdom where he reigns and rules. His Kingdom is not about a future hope but a current reality – What do homes, neighbourhoods, schools, work places look like when his reign and rule is established. The gospel is much more than you being happy or you having your ticket to heaven. The Gospel changes everything! How you spend your money, sex life, relationships, shopping, work…

Here are some thoughts on what the gospel is by Jared Wilson.(really clear and balanced) My hope is that the gospel will not just be something we believe… our ticket to heaven. BUT will have the traction of the early church and impact every area of our lives. 

"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

– James 2:15-17

"The gospel of first importance is the historical announcement of what Christ has done. And this has eternally transformative ramifications and implications for not just our personal selves but the world itself. 

What I mean is, if the kingdom is inaugurated — and it is — it means that we who are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to God's glory alone are citizens of heaven now (which is also something Paul calls us). And this means that "laying up treasures in heaven" isn't about thinking of clouds and harp-playing babies but participating in the ongoing inauguration of the kingdom even as its consummation rushes to us. It means "rehearsing heaven" now, because heaven is now.

The answer to the question is this: The missional church's scope of salvation will determine the scope of its mission. Is Jesus saving souls but damning creation? Or is he saving souls not just for their escape from hell but to be the princes under his kingship over a coming new heavens and earth, the restoration of the brokenness of all things?

He is making all things new. And this starts with hearts that by the power of the gospel trust Christ and extends to the creation he gives these hearts to steward.

When we err, as we often do, it is in the swing of the pendulum. The two great failures of the evangelical church today are failures of the highest magnitude: neglected proclamation of the gospel and refused embodiment of the gospel.

We have settled for wowing both sheep and goats and wind up ministering to neither.

We do not preach the gospel with conviction and regularity.

And we do not give ourselves away.

We are legalists (for that is what you call someone who does not preach the gospel but insists on Christian behaviorism, even if it's framed as ending poverty and healing the sick), and we are self-idolaters (for that is what you call someone who cares more about having their own needs met than about meeting the needs of others).

Settling for either/or is not kingdom work either.

We must embrace both gospel-driven proclamation and gospel-driven servanthood, for both are vital to the ministry of reconciliation. Too many of us are opting for one or the other, and far too many are actually doing neither.

Our world is at war. There is no square inch of this world which isn't claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.

The gospel is good news to those who are perishing, but it is foolishness to them too, so we must not lose heart or lose hope or lose our nerve.

Jesus is King, now and forever. The work of the kingdom will lay waste to the gates of hell, but if you are neither speaking Jesus nor being Jesus, you will be part of the detritus left behind.

The situation is too dire to think a cool video and a rockin' praise band will suffice. Our good intentions are worthless if we are not intentional about them.

I like to think that the missional church's proclamation ought to be a two-fisted gospel. One fist to take out the prince of the power of the air with the revolutionary news that the risen Christ is Lord, and one fist to bring justice to the captives with the embodied news that God is love.

Our mission will look like our gospel.

So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
– Luke 9:6

Ask The Big Question

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I was reading Don Millers blog and came across this incredible post. Yep it messed me up! 

"When novelists sit down to write a narrative, there is a question they ask themselves in order to create exciting and meaningful stories, and that same question can also create a more exciting and meaningful life. That question is: What if?

J.R.R. Tolkien once asked the question What if there existed a place called Middle Earth, and What if Middle Earth were under threat? Every good story begins with some form of this question, and so does every life.

Whenever a novel starts to drag, the writer simply has to ask this question, and suddenly life gets exciting again. What if there were a car accident, what if my protagonist won the lottery, what if my protagonist came home and his wife had left with all the furniture? A series of these questions will dislodge whatever fascinating thing is going to happen next in the story.

Now to be sure, you don’t have the power to win the lottery and I don’t recommend getting in a car wreck, but within limits, the question What if? can radically change our story and our lives.

Several years ago, I asked the question What if the 360,000 churches in America could each have a mentoring program and out of that question came one of the most exciting adventures in my life, The Mentoring Project. Bill Hybles once asked What if there were a church in this field? Rick Warren asked What if we could bring peace to the continent of Africa? Out of these questions came stories that have positively affected millions.

What if you asked yourself a series of these questions? What if you got out a yellow pad and wrote down a few story turns that you could engage? What if you ran a marathon? What if you renewed your marriage vows? What if you quit your job? What if you brought home a puppy today? What if you and your family adopted a child?

If your story has gotten boring, perhaps it’s time to ask yourself the what if question. Try this, in the comment box, just brainstorm five what if questions as fast as you can. Try to to take the suggestion seriously, but do it fast. What will begin to happen is you’ll  begin to dream, you’ll stop thinking of life as stagnant, and you’ll be reminded that life, for the most part, is what you make of it."

So great post BUT the reality is we won't ask the questions. Boring or irrelevant seem to be the norm… but why? Life could be so full, so rich if we just laid down our selfishness for a moment, looked at our lives and asked what could my life look like if? Hey thats why we moved across the country to Ottawa. God gave us a picture of what the church could look like in Ottawa, that caused us to move away from family and friends. And it has been so worth it!

Go ahead DO IT, jot down some questions that required Jesus to live out. What would be your questions be? And how would this shape how you live tomorrow? Risky isn't it?

My What ifs:

1. What if 10% of the people in my city loved Jesus and were in Christian Community?

2. What if I loved my wife like Christ loved the church?

3. What if I actually did life in the context of community like they did in Acts?

4. What if I lived completely selfless and gave myself away to the needs I face everyday?

5. What if we adopted a child? 

6. What if churches and ministries stopped building silos and asked what giving themselves away would      look like? What if the church in a city worked together for the good of that city?

7. What if I actually lived out the gospel?

St. Patrick – The Missional Leader

A beautiful post on St. Patrick's day by Jonathon Dodson  

St. Patrick was a Romano-British citizen, kidnapped in Britain at age 16 and served as a slave for 6 years in Wood of Fochoill, Ireland. He later returned to the homeland of his captivity, Ireland, to spread the gospel and plant churches. His mission to Ireland 457-492 began at age 40 after being turned down after his first request to be commissioned as a missionary.

Although I’m sure Patrick enjoyed a good beer, his life was counted for much more than good times and green clovers. Patrick was a man of remarkable faith and mission. In the 5th century, Patrick planted more than 200 churches and won 100,000 people to Christ. How did this happen? Far from contemporary attractional church models, Patrick pioneered mission to the pagan tribes of Ireland through innovative strategy, incarnational ministry, and robust faith in Christ.

St. Patrick, the Missional Leader

When entering a new town or province, the first thing Patrick would do was befriend the local ruler. Very often that leader would come to Christ and permit Patrick to evangelize the area. Next, Patrick would establish monastaries for the training of Christians, but unlike many of his contemporaries, Patrick emphasized mission as a part of Christian training. In essence, he established missionary training centers in every city in order to effectively reach the whole of Ireland.

In essence, Patrick established missionary training centers in every city in order to effectively reach the whole of Ireland.

Patrick also learned the local language, the old Gaelic, and translated the gospel into their culture. He developed their “flavor of writing” and adapted colloquialisms and was known for his persistent study of Gaelic culture. He painted heaven as a great feast, not an angelic reunion, which appealed to the banquet culture of the Irish.

St. Patrick, the Missiologist

Patrick was a savvy missionary and developed numerous ways to communicate the gospel which reflected thoughtfulengagement of culture. When confronting pagan Druid religion, which used the circle to represent reincarnation, Patrick superimposed the cross onto the circle of reincarnation to demonstrate the triumph of the cross over druid belief. Hence the Celtic cross. Notice that the circle never overlays the cross, but the cross is on top of the circle.

Patrick new that the gospel must interact with the world; it must reject, redeem, and recreate life and culture under the lordship of Christ.

To be sure, this was no artistic whim; it was a direct power encounter with the pagan belief of his day. Patrick new that the gospel must interact with the world; it must reject, redeem, and recreate life and culture under the lordship of Christ. Maybe we need to come up with a cross over the top of a $100 bill! It was also Patrick that used the indigenous shamrock (three-leaf clover) to explain the Trinity to the Celts. Three leaves, one clover; three persons, one God.

St. Patrick, Man of God
In addition to his missional savvy, Patrick’s Confessio reveals a man who was immersed in Scripture. He was shaped by his relationship with the Trinity and passionately devoted to the Celts. Consider his exemplary
prayer for any Christian or church planter:

and without complaint I would faithfully be of service to that pagan people to whom the love of Christ translated me and granted me, as long as I live, if I should be worthy; that at last with humility and in truth I might serve them. And so, according to the measure of faith of the Trinity it is my duty without the fear of censure to make known the Gift of God and his eternal consolation without fear faithfully to expound everywhere the name of God (Confessio, I. 65-75)

21-01

As a community we are doing a series called 21-01: How to be a 1st Century Church in the 21st Century. The last two weeks we looked at the appearance of Jesus in John 20 and 21 and I am truly shocked at how this fearful, locked up, disillusioned, abandoned group of disciples started a move of God that rocked the world! What happened? 

I have been tracking with Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone in Simi Valley, and he is honest and real about his journey towards the Spirit led life and ministry.

Why are we functioning on any power other than the Holy Spirit? Chan said…

"You will try and fail to start movements. Movements come from Jesus, from the Holy Spirit. If you try to go surfing and there are no waves, you send your buddy out to start splashing and try to make waves. We can't do it.

Think about the book of Acts, and how unstoppable they were. This is Holy Spirit powered.

These days I am dreaming about being the church we saw in Acts. To dream about the exciting, messy movement of God in the world. Not that we would do something but that God would do something.

Also Chan said something like this…

If you are not suffering, there is a problem. Imagine how close you’d be with Jesus and how safe you would feel had you suffered alongside Him. Then you would know this is real.

If you are going to live a Spirit led life and Pastor a Spirit Led community suffering is real. The way of the cross is one of dieing to your selfishness and letting God lead you by his Spirit. Lets together discover a life and community led by the Spirit.

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