More Plagiarism

So I was listening to something this morning and thought it was awesome and challenging and all that good and difficult stuff about faith wrapped up in one line of thought.  It was from one of Matt Chandler's sermons (The Village Church...Dallas area) based on Colossians 1.  Anyway, I'm just going to plagiarize his words...so here you go...
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Now watch what [Paul] pulls here, because I want to talk for a little bit about this in light of what I believe is a false and horrible gospel that you hear often. “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience. . .” I’ve heard this said before, so I’m just going to throw this out there. If it’s God’s will for all of us that nobody to gets sick and nobody has any trouble and we’re all supposed to be wealthy, if that’s true, why do we need to have patience and endurance? If all we have for loving Jesus is a life of ease ahead of us, then why is this in the Bible over and over and over again? My problem with the Prosperity Gospel, despite the fact that it’s such garbage, is if you just take a step back and look, is this true for anyone? That’s the thing that I get confused by. Who doesn’t bleed? Who doesn’t suffer? Who doesn’t get sick? Who doesn’t have bad years? Who gets this life? If you can show them to me, you’re showing me some three-year-old. And I’ll say, “Let’s hold off until he gets to puberty, okay?” So I don’t understand the mindset of the Prosperity Gospel. This is why people get angry when you say God is part of this cancer that I have. People get real angry because they’ve been taught that God’s purpose in the universe is to make much of us, make much of me, make much of you, that there is no hurt or struggle for us. But the Bible just said, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience. . .”


And then there was one last word at the end there. It says, “. . .for all endurance and patience with joy...” Joy in my circumstance? I’ll give it to you like this. I have stage-3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma, malignant brain cancer. They’ll tell you how long you have, but they don’t know. It’s just the truth. They’ll even say that. Any doctor worth his salt will. All they have are statistics. And I think it was Twain that said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In the end, here's what I know. Here’s a place of deep joy for me. As a pastor, I know that some people go for a run and they don’t come home. Some people get in the car, maybe kiss their spouse goodbye and don’t come back home. And I know last night, we celebrated my daughter’s 7th birthday, and I got in bed with my wife and I woke up this morning and had breakfast with my children. And I’m going to die just like you. I don’t know when, but it’s coming for me. And I know I have a little window of knowing it’s coming. I don’t know how long that window is, but it means that I get to climb in bed and be unbelievably grateful that I got another day. It means I get to wake up tomorrow (Lord willing) and be unbelievably grateful that I got another day. And that gift has brought me an immense amount of joy. So now, by the grace of God and the strength of God, I’m trying to walk well through what He has for me. And I said it correctly. This is what God has for me. God was not asleep on this thing...oligodendroglioma grows slowly. It was probably in my brain for 20 years. Over the last 20 years, God was not blind to that. It didn’t surprise Him. Thanksgiving morning didn’t make Him go, “Oh, Gabriel, get over here. Here’s the plan. Here’s what I want to do. You get down there and find him a surgeon. You, find an oncologist. You, go. . .” This is not how it played out. It didn’t surprise Him. In fact, He was like, “Okay, it’s time,” and all that was set into motion before that, things that I didn’t even know about until now, were controlled by a good, mighty, beautiful God. And so that belief enables me to walk with joy, patience and endurance through a difficult season.
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So there you go...obviously, that's not the whole sermon...so if you want to check it out, click here.  I'd also highly recommend The Village Church podcast.  Good stuff.  Ok...bye

Best of Intentions

One of the people I consider a 'mentor' once said to me that I need to know my audience before I speak.  Those that know me (at all...well is not a requirement) have probably seen on multiple occasions that I have a tendency to say whatever is on my mind with very little filter.  Obviously, I think my words are so important that I couldn't possibly keep them to myself (did you hear I have a blog?  click here!).  Even when I do choose to filter myself a bit, I tend to be blunt and a little tactless.  That being said...I can honestly say that it's extremely rare when I intentionally say something hurtful (although I'm sure Sara can list a few times).  However, I've been forced to learn again and again that the best of intentions go only so far.  

So I'm guessing that I'm not the only one that struggles with knowing the right thing to say to the right people at the right time.  And one of the worst times to have a bout of verbal stupidity is when people are struggling with tragedy in their lives.  A few years back, some friends of ours lost a child.  One of the hardest conversations I've had with Kate is when I tried to explain to her that just because Jesus rose in 3 days didn't mean that this child would be back in a few days.  But when it came to my interactions with our grieving friends, I can honestly say I failed...I disengaged because I didn't know what to say or do.  It would've been nice to have some kind of guidance on what should or shouldn't be said or done.  Our friend Erica McNeal just published an e-book addressing this issue...it's a quick read with some great advice for when loved ones are dealing with some of the worst situations.  You can get more info HERE.  

Anyway, to bring it back to the whole words words words line of thought, there was one bit in Erica's book that really hit me as a nugget that I need to consider (although I'm going to take her a bit out of context).  She said we should ask ourselves "Am I the most appropriate person to say what I think needs to be said?"  This is a concept that I struggle with almost daily.  I have an almost undeniable need sometimes to 'tell the truth' as I see it...even if it wasn't asked for.  So maybe I need to work on that (as my boss told me today...ouch!).  Maybe all of us need to consider our words, timing AND audience before we speak.  

Maybe I need to think about Ephesians 4:29 more - "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

With all humility...

So a few months ago, there was a huge (ok...huge in the religious section of USA today) uproar when Rob Bell (pastor, writer, speaker, etc.) came out with a book called 'Love Wins'.  In a video promotion for the book, Bell questioned very basic beliefs about hell and what happens after we die, leading some to go so far as to call him a heretic.  I haven't read the book, but I plan to...not because I want to poison myself with false teaching, but because I want to be forced to consider the fact that I just might not be right about everything I claim to believe.

Yes...I said it...I just might be wrong about one or two things that I believe.  Seriously???  Why is that so hard for us to admit?  There are millions of people and thousands of denominations that read the same Bible I do and come to differing stances on many issues.  So I want to read Bell's book because I think if I refuse, then I'm holding myself (and my opinions) up as superior to Bell...and that's just me making myself up as a little god.

Anyway, Francis Chan is a powerful writer and speaker that I respect a lot and he's coming out with a book called "Erasing Hell".  Some people may start to throw stones at this one too, but I hope that the whole ordeal with Bell has helped us to see that we should approach with all humility those who are truly dedicated to bringing people closer to God through Christ.  We don't have to agree with everything they say...but we need to give them the chance to say it before we start 'defending the faith' and throwing around accusations.

Chan put out a video a couple weeks ago that talks about this...thought it was great and wanted to share it, so here you go...that'll do...