All is calm... really?

You ask the average person on the street what they want for Christmas and many will say, “World peace.” Some people even think that’s why Jesus came – to bring world peace. I mean, didn’t the angels say at Jesus’ birth, “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men”? Didn’t the angels announce peace on earth at Jesus’ birth?

The reason many people think this is because that is the way older translations of the Bible put it. But all the recent translations have updated it. The original language actually translates more like …

… and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests… (Luke 2:14)

It is true that, one day, Jesus will bring peace to all the Earth. But that will be at His Second Coming. Instead, at His First Coming, the peace Jesus brought was not an outward peace, but an internal peace to specific people.

Here’s what that means for me. I need to stop expecting peace to be around me and start inviting it to be inside me. I can experience God's peace that is not limited to my circumstances, but actually sourced in Heaven. Just as I accept His grace and favor, I can also receive His peace. Indeed, I need to stop expecting peace to be around me and start inviting it to be inside me.

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A Social Network Christmas

Here's the video we showed this morning in church:

Restaurant tips

Before I was married, I worked as a waiter to put myself through seminary. And it was during that time that I was challenged to grow in grace of giving. And it was a challenge, partly because it was hard to predict how much income I would make. After all, my tips varied from night to night. Each time I showed up for work I was hoping for a good shift, a busy section, and good tippers.

Here’s how I crunched the numbers. Let’s say I received $47 in tips on one particular night. In that particular restaurant it was customary as a waiter to give 15% of your tips to the bus boy, and another 10% to the bar staff. That, alone, took about 12 bucks off the top. My take home that night would’ve been $35. What that meant for me was that the first $3.50 was set aside for my church. Another $3.50 was designated for savings. I’d have to live on 80%. Twenty eight bucks. It was hard. But I’m sure it would be harder now, if I didn’t begin back then.

Over the years I’ve seen how this practice has brought great blessing. God has provided more than we need. More than that, He has taught me to be content with what I have. Mostly, He has given us the opportunity to invest in things that don’t fade. I’m so grateful for what began with restaurant tips.

As long as we both shall live

The Bible celebrates an exalted view of marriage.

Our culture, on the other hand, propagates many myths about it. And, quite frankly, one of those myths is that marriage is just a legal contract. But in the Book of Malachi, God calls marriage a spiritual covenant. And He emphasized the spiritual component by explaining that when that covenant is broken, people are actually breaking faith (see Malachi 2:14).

If marriage is only a contract, it is disposable. For those who see it this way, if a marriage does not work out, they simply mutually decide to terminate the agreement. Others, because they view marriage as a simply a social custom, put off getting married. Instead, they live together. They rationalize that it is a way of making sure the relationship is really going to work. Interestingly, statistics now show that people who live together before marriage are more likely to divorce than those who do not. As it turns out, living together doesn’t prepare people for marriage; it prepares them to keep their options open.

I appreciate that the Bible views marriage as a spiritual covenant. There are nearly 300 references to the word “covenant” in the Bible. A covenant was an exclusive, solemn and binding mutual agreement between two parties before God. Second only to your decision to follow Christ, your marriage vow is the most important spiritual commitment you’ll ever make.

Maybe it is time to rethink marriage. Instead of buying into the myths of our culture, let’s embrace the clarity, challenge, and satisfying joy for a lifetime that is offered in God’s Word.

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The Message Your Life Sends

In the final book of the Old Testament, God told the people that they were sending mixed messages. Their faith whispered one thing, but their faithless actions shouted something else. Our actions always send the louder signal.

So God told them that they would lose their blessings. He actually says this: “I will curse your blessings” (Malachi 2:2). Curse is another way of saying Wreck. If we waste our influence, we wreck our lives. We know from the context that the people were sending the wrong message by giving God garbage for sacrifices -- the blind and crippled animals in their flocks. They were giving God the leftovers. And God seems to say, “I can’t bless this mess. You're sending the wrong message about My honor.”

These days, we tend measure blessings as health and wealth and easy livin’. But for God’s people in Malachi’s dat, blessing was the privilege of knowing God, serving, God. To be blessed was to be graciously loved by God and to have the privilege of sharing that grace with others. When our actions do not demonstrate that God really is the highest priority in our lives, we miss out on the privilege of serving God and being used by Him. We miss the blessing of blessing others.

What kind of message does your life send to your kids, your grandkids, your friends at school, or the people you work with? There is always a ripple effect. Our actions always send the louder signal.

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The First Thing God Wants You to Know

Malachi had a tough assignment. Because the people of his day had grown complacent, contentious, and disobedient, Malachi was called upon by God to issue a stern warning.

So what will God say through Malachi? How will God begin? What will be the first words out of His mouth? We find God’s opening words to His wayward people in Malachi 1:2:

"I have loved you," says the LORD.

Amazingly, God never speaks to us, except out of love. Whether He speaks kind words or severe words; liberating words or corrective words – in all the ways God speaks to us – He always does so out of love.

Incredible! Of all the things God wants us to know – the fundamental thing is this: “I have loved you!” “I have loved you!”

This truth is a significant part of my own journey with God. As a teenager, far from God, I was overwhelmed in a very personal way by God’s gracious love.

And notice God doesn’t simply say, “I love you,” but, “I have loved you.” In other words, not only does God love us now; He has always loved us! Our entire lives have been peppered with these overwhelming evidences of God’s specific love.

I marvel that the first words of God to His wayward people are an expression of love. God never speaks to us, except out of love.

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Beach Baptism 2010

Beach Baptism 2010 from Green Valley Church on Vimeo.

Enthusiastic Inviters

The Bible ends with an amazing invitation:

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" -- REV 22:17

Looking closely at this verse it becomes clear that God wants His Spirit to work in sync with His Bride (that’s us – His people) in such a way that, together, we would invite others to come to Him.

Now, of course, this is the very thing that makes a lot of people uneasy. Let’s be honest. We are okay with our faith as long as we don’t have to have to impose it on others. But here’s why I think this passage takes some of the pressure off. It’s not about convincing, twisting people’s arms, debating, or arguing people into the kingdom. It’s about looking for people that the Spirit is already inviting… drawing … wooing.

And all we have to do is invite. We don’t have to plan the party or bake the cake. We just have to say, “Come with me.” It’s God’s job to convince, it’s our job to just say, “Would you like to join me in this journey?”

Think about how your faith started. Chances are there was another Christian somewhere who took an invitational risk with you. Why not extend that same invitation to someone else? You can bet that the Spirit will be working too.

Experience the thrill of God working through you

You were made to make a God-sized difference in this world. God pre-packaged you for a significant purpose. The Bible puts it this way:

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides… 1 Peter 4:11

I’ve never gotten over the first rush of knowing God was using me. As a teenager on the phone, it suddenly hit me that as I spoke God was actually using my very words. I couldn’t deny it! It was both humbling… and addicting!

According to the passage above, if you have strengths in speaking, then God wants to communicate to others through you! He actually wants you to be His mouthpiece. More than that, if you have strengths in serving, God wants to actually pour His strength into your service. In other words, it will be your arms, but God’s muscle -- your skills, but His strength!

And I've never gotten over it! The thrill of knowing God could use me! I even think that’s the way Peter felt. Because as soon as he wrote this, he broke into praise! That's why the above verse ends this way:

…so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter is pumped up. And you should be as well. God wants to work through you!

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The Company of the Unaffiliated

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing... Heb. 10:25

Gallop regularly surveys the religious faith of Americans. In the most recent results, as always, the overwhelming majority of Americans still consider themselves Christians. What is interesting to me is that they also break that category into smaller groupings (Catholic, Evangelical, Mainline denominations, Pentecostal, etc.). But here’s what is new. For the first time, the largest sector of Christians in America was the group categorized as the unaffiliated. This is the time it has happened.

In other words, there is a growing population of people in this country who somehow identify with Jesus, but nonetheless have so privatized their faith that they have no tangible community with which they identify.

Did you know that there is some research that suggests that if you join a group, you cut your risk of dying in the next year, as much as in half? I heard about one church whose motto for their small groups was, “Join a group or die.” :) I’m not sure I’m ready to adopt that one, but you get the point.

I’m not saying you have to become a social animal. I’m simply suggesting that the New Testament doesn’t allow for an isolated faith. Our faith was meant to be nurtured in relationship with others.

Don’t give up meeting together. Don’t become a part of the company of the unaffiliated. Rather make a commitment to connect with other believers as a regular rhythm of life for you.

Too Much Information

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” -- Jesus in John 17:17

We live in a Wikipedia World. Information, which used to be as rare as rain in California, now floods our lives. So it is more essential than ever that we see the Bible as more than just more data to process.

Let me illustrate this. A lot of people look at Bible Study this way. Imagine the Buckethead below represents the average person. (Cut me some slack. I drew this myself). A lot of people see Bible as information to download.

The trouble is that there is so much other information coming into our brains as well.


This leads to two problems. 1). Information overload. 2). With all this other information, the Bible becomes a smaller piece of all the data we are trying to assimilate.



Instead, I believe God wants us to see the Bible as a filter. It helps us discern what is true, what needs to be interpreted, and what needs to be discarded. In this way, the Scriptures becomes the grid through which we see life.

With so much information bombarding our minds every day, how can we make sense of it? How can we filter that information? And get to the truth? We need to use the Bible as our filter. It’s the difference between information and transformation.

Don’t remember what God forgets

In the Bible, King David wrote:

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5

To acknowledge and confess means to agree with God. It is a way of saying that His perspective on the world, on morality, and even on our own lives, is the proper framework. More than that, it is to admit that our desire to do things independently of Him is destructive. And when we agree with God on that, God forgives!

Even more radical than that, when God forgives, God forgets. It is not that He literally has no recollection, but He no longer acts as if it has any bearing on our relationship with Him.

One of my favorite authors, Jill Briscoe, describes a situation where she was worried about something she had done. As she prayed, she said, “Lord, you remember that awful thing I did…”

She sensed God reply this way: “No I don’t remember, Jill. If you want to remember what I forgot that’s your privilege. But I would suggest that you learn to forget what I have forgotten.”

Celebrate forgiveness! Release guilt! Embrace life! Don’t remember what God forgets.


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Hit the Pause Button

In your anger do not sin… Psalm 4:4

I recently read a very relatable story. Author Kem Meyer tells of a friend who arrived at his church just before the service began. He sat down behind a family he didn’t recognize. As he waited for the service to begin, he noticed that their teenage son was playing on his Gameboy.

As the service started this guy was irritated that the boy continued to play his game. The longer the service went on, the more agitated he became. It was on mute, but still distracting. Finally, he started to lean forward to ask the boy to put the game away, when something caused him to stop. It was just a split second.

As he leaned forward again, he tapped the boy on the shoulder and said, “Hey, you know what? I’ve got a guide with all the moves to beat that game, if you want it.”

It was as if he had this In-your-anger-do-not-sin moment. God always gives us that moment.

As it turns out, that teenage boy in front him was autistic. And because of their son’s inability to sit still, his family hadn’t been able to attend church for years. They had been asked to leave public places numerous times because of the boy’s erratic behavior.

God always gives us that moment – that split-second between anger and sin. It’s easy to blow right through it – so easy to run that stop sign.

But if we can learn to recognize it, and respond well to it, it would make a huge difference in your relationships.

God always gives us that moment.

Listen to the entire message here

Real Rest

How do you sleep at night? In the Bible, David reveals his secret:

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
Psalm 3:5

David wrote this at a troubling time in his life. And like us, it would have been easy for anxiety to rob his sleep. How easily we obsess over our concerns, playing out all the “what ifs” of life. But real rest only happens as we recognize God’s sustaining power, and as we release control to Him.

I’ve learned this the hard way. I have trouble relaxing when my teenage kids are driving. If I’m in the passenger seat, my jaws clench. I try to steer by leaning one direction or another. I hit the imaginary brakes on the floor in front of me.

This past week we were driving home from a family trip. It was close to midnight, and I was getting drowsy. Since my wife was already sawing logs in the back seat, I ask my son if he wanted to drive. He conceded. But guess what? As soon as we swapped places, I was suddenly wide awake!

After several directional comments and coaching from the passenger seat, my son said something very important. He said, “I took the steering wheel, so that you could sleep.”

God says that to us all the time.

What a relief to know, that when it comes to our lives, there is someone far more capable, with a much higher vantage point, behind the wheel.

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
Psalm 3:5

Hear the entire message here

Check out this video about people making a difference at Green Valley Church

Doing what you're designed to do. from Green Valley Church on Vimeo.

Finding your Balance with Love

God’s definition of love in 1 Cor. 13 seems so beyond me that I sometimes don’t know where to begin. Part of the reason is because, as I study it, I am trying to balance two opposing realities.

1) Love’s description is so ideal. It portrays a quality of love that has never been fully achieved, except once. Only God truly loves like this. (Go ahead, look it up if you don’t believe me).

2) On the other hand, I am convinced that God really wants us to at least try to practice this kind of love.

So how do we balance the two? I was driving the other day. Actually my teenage daughter was driving and I was in the passenger seat. So you know what that means, right? We were both driving. I was doing the parent-thing by watching the road for both of us.

As we pulled up to a red light, a bicyclist pulled up next to us. It was clear what he was trying to do. He was trying to slow down for the light, yet keep enough forward motion to avoid unlatching his foot from the pedal. In other words, he was trying to balance.

At the worst time possible, just as the light turned green, he lost his balance and fell down directly in front of us. Fortunately my daughter observed the whole episode and didn’t budge. Nevertheless, I shouted, “Brake!” because that’s how parents “drive” from the passenger seat. The bicyclist dusted himself off, and we proceeded carefully. Nonetheless, my poor daughter had to endure Driving Lecture #187 – the one about how you can’t trust those bicyclists; they just fall down right in front of you without warning.

But I understand what the embarrassed bicyclist was trying to do. He was just trying to balance. But it’s hard to balance without momentum.

I am discovering the same is true with God’s love. It is only as we build momentum, only as we pick up speed, that we find the ability to balance perfect love with actual love. As we begin to love as God does, even in limited ways, God will be working in us, making our love more like His.

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Praise God for what He is about to do

I believe that all of life should be lived the way we say grace at the dinner table: giving thanks ahead of time for what we are about to receive.

In John 11:41 we find an amazing prayer. Jesus prays, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me." A closer look reveals that this prayer came right before God did one of the most spectacular miracles in the Bible. God brought Jesus' friend, Lazarus, back from the dead.


Now, mark this. When Jesus prayed this prayer, Lazarus was still in the grave. The thanksgiving came before the miracle. It seems backwards. You would think the thanksgiving would come after the resurrection. And no doubt there were plenty of shouts of thankfulness after Lazarus was brought back to life. But Jesus did a very odd thing: Jesus thanked God before it happened.

Jesus reveals a great approach to life. Pre-gratitude. Become someone who thanks God for what He’s going to do before it happens. Not that we tell God what to do, but we thank Him for whatever He will do, knowing it is for our good and His glory.

I’ve made it a habit to approach each day like I approach each meal. I give thanks ahead of time. In the process, I have found that I am much more aware of what God is doing. Sometimes they are simple things, like dolphins dancing in the waves, or a special conversation with one of my kids. I realize these are some of the very things I was thanking God for earlier. Even during difficult situations I am more inclined to look for God in the midst of it. And to know there is a hidden blessing I’m suppose to discover. If you want to experience a thriving faith each day, become a forward-thanker.

PRAISE as a remedy for worry

Worry can be an extremely heavy burden. Like an overloaded backpack, it can weigh us down. I know this. I also know I am supposed to release my worries to the Lord. But I have a problem; I usually take them back shortly after I release them.

Before a recent flight, I had to pass through one of those security check points. Stripped of all the metal I could think of, I laid my backpack on the conveyor belt for screening. Apparently something looked suspicious, because they pulled my backpack aside. A security officer asked to go through my backpack. As he did, he gave me very specific instructions: “You may watch me as I go through your bag, BUT you cannot touch anything!”

It turns out they were concerned about my harmonica. Maybe they were afraid I’d actually play it, and drive the pilots crazy! After identifying the harmless instrument, I was free to go. But I had learned an important spiritual lesson. Once I give the backpack of worry to God, He says the same thing to me: “Don’t touch it! Go ahead and watch what I'm about to do, but don’t touch it!”

The Bible says, Do not fret … but rather delight yourself in the Lord (Psalm 37:1-4). When you release worry to God (and I advise it) don’t take it back. He's a professional when it comes to your baggage. Leave it with Him.