For a few months now we have been in contact with a guy shooting a documentary of churches across Canada, his name is Joe Manafo, the documentary is 'One Size Fits All'; He and some guys of like heart and mind, showed up here, on the east coast, about a month ago. Nevin, the dude who helps facilitate all kinds of things in our church- including spiritual growth, and myself were chillin at the Backpacker waiting for them to show up for some introductions and a few minutes of shooting. It might be the cynical, skeptical, or the distrusting church planters side of me, that was wondering how this whole thing will come off; How do you tell people that really what you feel God is doing in your church is just to 'Dwell' with one of the nastiest neighbourhoods in the Maritimes. A neighbourhood that my wife, my kids, and the peeps at PAXnorth seem to be truly in love with. How do you tell people who don't know my neighbourhood or see the people we hang with everyday that we are simply committed to becoming a vital part of this community and in subversive and overt ways live out the gospel of Jesus- then expect them to get what that looks like or what that means for us here, on Gottingen St?  

      They came through the door with gear in tow. Looking urban, hip and a bit hurried (they set a pretty ambitious schedule for four days on the coast). Introductions got started, questions began to flow back and forth naturally like old buddies catching up on what God is doing. Over the dull hum of conversations I hear this flesh on flesh- solid SMACK, SMACK...shuffle of feet, and swearing! Immediately I stand up and look out the front window- two of our street friends are swapping fists to face shots like they were on UFC or something. I say, "Sorry gotta take care of something". Go out to the front door and begin shouting at them. "What are you guys doing? What are you thinking, punching each other in the face and in front of this store! You wanna end up in the tank for the night? Come on, grow up!" They stop...look up and down at me. One guy recognizes me, sheepishly replies, "Yeah, yeah, sorry man...uhhh... wasn't really thinking!" He turns to the other guy, calls him a name his mom wouldn't have liked, wipes the blood off his lip and they go their separate ways.

     What does it look like to dwell here?  Well, we're still working that out but God has given us favor, courage, grace and  a whole lot of protection. I'm not sure what will come of it but God knows, plans and directs.  Love it that God has brought people along with us for the journey both here in the north end and from all over the world! 

      John 17: 15-18 - Jesus Prays that we will truly Dwell

The Freedom of Constraint

Proverbs 4 

  As I sat up in the platform of the bow window, working on some sermon prep at this 'beatnik' cafe hostel, the Backpacker, where you will find me most afternoons, a young lady sat down beside me. She was a starving artist working with a renovating company for a couple of months so she could move into a new apartment with her boyfriend. Par usual the conversation got around to "What do you do for work?" My initial thought is always, 'pause.....', not because I am ashamed of being a church planter/lead pastor. I absolutely know this is what I am geared for and wake up 6 out a seven days a week thrilled to do what I get to do (the other day is Monday); No the pause, is cause when I say, "Pastor/ Church planter" it more often shuts conversation down rather then opens it up. She looks at me strangely, asks a couple of questions about, "What that is like, starting like a whole new church?" Then she asks, "Why?" Carefully my reply is always, "Why ? Do you think we have enough churches?" "Well, I'm not into religion. I think it is just a way to manipulate people. People should have the freedom to make their own decisions, and live their lives anyway they want to, I'm free to find my own morals and beliefs."

     Funny thing about Freedom- it is so constraining.

vs 1-4

     Truth is Inevitable:    

If you read this passage it sounds like the Wise Seer is telling us this is not merely a suggestion, but THE way to live out life, intentional precepts, directed instructions- truth. The lady I spoke with at the b-packer spoke as if her way of discovering truth was the best way- even suggested that I leave it alone; she felt it was THE way to live- her version of truth. In fact the way that she came across with her version of truth felt like she was tying to intimate, manipulate or constrain my thoughts on truth. MY POINT: It's inevitable we all live out of what we believe is "true." Even those who say we shouldn't tell others what is right or wrong, aren't they inevitably telling us what they think is right or wrong?! Those who say their are NO ABSOLUTES! Isn't that an absolute statement? The first part of Proverbs 4 tells us that what we believe in our hearts shows in our lives.

The wise Seer points towards a life lived out under an awe-struck respect for God, the Creator Sustainer and tells his children, his pupil, his prodigy- this is discovered, modeled, tested, truth for your journey. 

   The Constraint of Freedom: Notice how the Seer tells us we can discover, follow and journey day by day in this truth? Vs 10-19 In order for Sidney Crosby to be a great hockey player, and eventually lead his team to the Stanley Cup, he chooses the constraining freedom of discipline. He disciplines himself to go above and beyond with diet, exercise, practice, sleep patterns and on and on. This disciplined life brings a freedom to play at the level only Crosby can play. You see that freedom cannot merely be defined as the absence of restraint. Great freedom comes to those who are willing to discipline, train, follow a course of action so that they my attain a better, or the best possible outcome. Doesn't a great relationship of growing love require this kind of disciplined freedom? And if it truly is a growing love, the freedom of restraint is not a burden but a growing delight? I am committed to dating only my wife, pursuing her, and her me not because we can't exercise 'freedom' but because in the restraint of nurturing a deeper love relationship exclusively with each other, we gain a tremendous freedom of trust and joy in each other. The discipline of protecting, keeping this relationship sacred both in private and public ways is more then worth the reward! This is the constraint of freedom, the same constraint that we are instructed toward here in Proverbs. Want to gain a freedom of spiritual understanding, joy, peace, hope, satisfaction in relationship with God? Keep your heart, grab hold of wisdom, keep her, guard her, constrain your steps, direct your life by this relationship of following after God.  

"Guard your heart with all vigilance, 

for from it flows the springs of life."

  Ahhh the freedom that comes from living out of a heart that has been protected, kept, secured by the fear of God! Fresh flowing, life giving springs. 

"It is not what goes into a mans mouth that corrupts his life but what comes out of his heart"- Jesus. "The heart of a man is desperately wicked who can know it?"; "We suppress the truth in our hearts."  Without the constraining love of Christ in our lives we have a natural bend to lean in towards sin, wickedness, selfishness and pride. Just as it is important for my wife and I to continually cultivate our relationship with one another- it is of great importance for you and I to cultivate an authentic relationship with our God, through His Son Jesus, by the power of His Spirit.

"The love of Christ constrains me."- Paul the Apostle; 

"For whoever would save his life would lose it;

but he who would lose his life for my sake

will find it!" - Freedom explained by Jesus! 

SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR LIFE: Get in on the 60.60experiment

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, 

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all you ways  acknowledge Him 

and He will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes;

Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh,

and refreshment to your bones"

                      -Proverbs 3:5-8

  I know, I know....you've read/heard these verses before, maybe they are even your favorite, or you quoted em like they were. 

  One of the rants building up inside me- How come we, as Christ followers, are so quick to spew scripture or scripture-esk sayings at anyone who asks for 'an answer'? Yet we use it in such a way as to completely disassociate them and disengage ourselves from any deeper or challenging conversation? Christ followers need to be well...more like Christ...'ready to give an answer' that engages those who live desperate lives away from God, for a whole pile of reasons, in such a way that causes them to lean in to know more. 

   BUT right now that is not the topic of this post/rant. I know I have heard the above verses more then a hundred times quoted as life verses or as a terse reminder of how to 'get over' what ever problem I might be having with knowing the will of God in any given situation. This time however, as we thought about on Sunday Night- at PAXnorth in the Park (yeah that's right, we decided to have PAXworship at a Park right in the midst of our most 'dangerous' neighbourhood- I guess I'll have to post on that experience as well this week.) These verses are not meant for quick repeat without first some deep reflection/meditation of what you are really asking people to consider.

 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart" : This is a theme that weaves it's way from Adam-to Noah-to Abraham- to Moses- to David- to Solomon- to Isaiah- to Christ- to Paul- to the Church and anyone who has claimed to be a follower of Jehovah, God in between. Love=Trust. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength" This kind of love is a total vulnerable, opening of heart and life kind of trust. The kind of Love that God demonstrated in sending His Son to this earth- God coming down to make himself vulnerable to man, being tested in every way, yet without sin, taking on our abuse, our sin, our punishment of offense on the cross. We can love/trust Him completely because He first loved us.  

   The only other option to trusting in God is trusting in self; "Lean not on your own understanding"  That is a limited option at best- it means living out of only what you have perceived of yourself. Maybe a perception that you have carried over from a hurtful past or the lies of others, or out of what you think everyone would like you to be. One of the major problems with leaning on our own understanding has got to be the flux factor. Opinions of who I am, or am supposed to be, or what I wish I could be changes from year to year, season to season, setting to setting, and person to person- and that's only looking at it from the inside out. Imagine what that would mean if I really tried to live up to everybody else's 'understanding'? 

   "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."  This is bigger then you can really grab hold of in a quick read. In ALL YOUR WAYS acknowledge Him... We have challenged PAXnorth to engage in this verse deeper then merely quoting, knowing and throwing it out as a way to cope with the latest unforeseen event in our lives.

   I heard of a church who came up with a great idea to practice the "in all your ways" part of acknowledging God in their everyday life. They set up a 60.60 Experiment.

Every 60 minutes for 60 days take time to stop and reflect on the fact that God is here. We are in his presence, He is engaged in our lives. 

   This is a huge challenge. How will 'practicing the presence of God' cause the daily intentions and decisions of my heart and life to be changed?- TRY IT! Then tell us at PAXnorth60.60 Experiment. 

  Just a word of caution: If you truly engage in this 'acknowledging of God in all your ways' - it will begin to give you strength from the inside out and heal many of the scars, wounds broken down walls in your life that perhaps you have held on to for years. RE-read the last few verses of the above passage.

  Eagerly waiting to see what happens when we actually put into life these powerful verses? Me to! 

Survival Handbook: Proverbs Edition

WORST CASE SCENARIO: How do you fend off a shark attack? There is some great advice for surviving almost anything on this site…you can get a book to guide you through the possible worst case shopping scenarios! O.K. admittedly some advice may be more useful than others.
Proverbs is a great book for understanding how we end up in some of life’s worst case scenarios. This Book is not for the faint of heart, it pulls no punches. The wise Seer refuses to gloss over our intentions and outcomes of such topics as anger, laziness, lust, refusing to discipline ourselves or our kids and many, many everyday scenarios we see lived out in our world.
On Thursday afternoon I have the privilege of hanging out with some guys who know the raw end of living out of the consequences of life, at the largest men’s shelter in the Maritimes. Some consequences are of our own making, many are outflows from other people’s decisions. Either way many of us are neck deep in trying to deal with the open wounds and soul sized vacuum that have left their imprint in our very core. It is so hard to make clear decisions in your everyday life when you are starting from the place of scars and vacuums.
Proverbs 1:2-6 tells us the purpose of proverbs is to know, to perceive, to receive, to gain discernment, discretion, increase learning, indeed a guide book for life.
Questions like: How do I deal with this deep loneliness? How do I move beyond the “if only’s” of life? How do I deal with the defeat? How come I feel empty with the things that used to and should bring me joy? How do I move out of powerlessness? How do I know God is real and cares? These were just some of the questions that were asked to me today by some of the hardest of guys. Where do you start to give an answer that is not just some kind of mere religious god-smack?
You might not like the answer:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; the fool despises wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7;28,29; 9:10
Don’t be fooled this is not religious spewing- it is the rationalized, meditated, statement of truth from a Wise Sage.
You cannot hope to address and understand your life in deeper wisdom without:

1. A HUMBLE, self recognition that you don’t hold all the answers. We don’t make decisions out of a vacuum- we make decisions out of beliefs. Islam, Christianity, Agnosticism and Atheism are all beliefs. In fact they are all Theological beliefs because they are a formed opinion about God, like I said earlier, some wisdom is better then others. First step to any sort of wisdom is a humble recognition that my own opinion based upon the evidences that I have accumulated are exactly that. No wisdom can be gained until there is the beginning of an awe filled reverence that there might be more then my own opinion based upon the evidences I have accumulated - “The fear”


2. A RECOGNITION, of God. A self recognition that I don’t hold all the answers is not enough to understanding wisdom. The fact that I can admit that I am lacking in understanding or incomplete in evidence for knowing the deeper purposes of life, left on my own does not complete our Rational self. If there is no Architect there is no reason for being. If this is all just a blind, happen stance, of irrational forces, and this long line of unthinking evolution finally spat us out on top of the food chain with the ability to think and reason, than a logical question would be, for what? It could be then said that in a world that is so highly irrational there would be no true deeper knowledge or meaning beyond our immediate needs and wants, our mere existence, no true wisdom (to say nothing of a lack of argument for good government, morals or justice). A recognition of God moves us into the beginnings of deeper wisdom. There is a Reason, a Logic, a Designer, which leads us to a pursuit of knowing.


3. 
   
   An UNDERSTANDING of a Personal God. The word that the Sage uses is LORD, referring to the name that God used in speaking of himself when He revealed his identity to Moses. Let me shorten this statement: there is a God who has revealed himself to His Creation, personally for a reason, this is the message of the Bible. “Christ the power of God, and the Wisdom of God.”- 1 Cor.1:24
   God reveals Himself to us to highest degree in Jesus.
   
   The foundation of wisdom is an awe-filled humbling of ourselves to the truth that there is a God who wants us to know- To know answers for living well, for making healthy decisions, to move beyond and through scars and vacuums of our lives but most of all to know Him. This is not mere spiritual platitude, which also can be said for the rest of Proverbs. It will take work on our part to stop, read, think, re-read and to look below the surface of these passages to gain wisdom.
   Welcome to the pursuit of gaining useable everyday Wisdom. Here’s to moving beyond mere survival to a deeper living.

Get Up and Walk!

Tonight after studying Ephesians 5:1-21 REAL LIFE: WALK together at PAXworship a young man said to me, "I asked Jesus to come into my life tonight, for myself and not anyone else."
Acts 3 tells us about Peter and John heading to the temple when a man who had been lame from birth was being carried to his ‘office’- street spot outside the temple, to panhandle. No doubt as he had done countless times, day after day through out his life. Everyone who was in a regular routine of passing by this gate would have seen and known this poor lame beggar lying on the roadside gate yard. He asks the disciples for some coin. . Peter tells the man he has no silver or gold but what he does have he would give to the man; “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”- Peter reached and took the man by the hand and raised him up- “and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.’ The scandalous power of God in the life of those who need healing! Thank You God that YOU are still in the power of changing lives completely and in such a way as to impact the entire community! A man crippled from birth is able to walk-pitied, rejected, ignored- this man who perhaps has given up hope of being able to walk; he would never have seen any real hope of medical enhancement available- no way- no hope. Now His walk will never be the same!
Ephesians 5:1-21 Paul tells us to GET UP AND WALK! Walk in a way that shows who's kids we are...walk as a child of God.
Ch 4:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

In the next few verses God's Word will challenge us to walk in Love, Walk in Light and Walk in Wisdom- The opposite of which would be LUST, DARKNESS and FOOLISHNESS.
Love is self sacrificing acts of worship - Lust is using others for self worship
Light is a transforming relationship with God - Darkness is living out of self reliance
Wisdom is understanding that time is short, God's will is daily, and we must rely on God's Spirit. Foolishness is living for the immediate, self gratification, and under the control of what you can 'use' (money, sex, drugs, beauty, fame, etc.)
Tonight God's Spirit broke through to the life of a young addict. Even in the midst of confusion and fear for the future; longing to be set free but not sure if it is possible, longing to WALK! In the Jewish mindset the idea of one's name carried with it the authority and power of that person themselves, the very nature of that person.
"In the name of Jesus Christ walk!" This is the hope of healing and purpose of life that we can WALK in. This young street friend is about to take some first steps by the power of God's Spirit to understanding freedom in Christ. What a blessing that we get to journey with him!

"I Just Want My Freedom"

I looked down at my street friend's plate ~mounded up with scrambled eggs, various pieces of ham and toast, smeared entirely with ketchup~ as he talked about how his journey has ended up here. Here, on the streets of H-fax, moving from relationship to relationship, usually depending upon where his drug of choice leads him. "Yeah I had a great relationship with a great lady for 18 years!" he said, shovelling in another mouthful of breakfast. "It really went south though when I got heavier into the crack-pipe. I was just using more and she didn't want anything to do with it. She gave me an ultimatum. I couldn't take that, I just wanted my freedom." "So this is what freedom looks and smells like to you?" I asked.

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as (other Haligonians) Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds." Eph 4:17

Look around....what does your freedom look and smell like to you?
Is freedom the ability to make your own decisions based upon what you want, when you want it, no matter what or where? Is freedom having no one to answer to for anything you do no matter how it might look, feel or the lasting affects it might have?
"They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous, and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity." Eph. 4:18-19


Often time the kind of freedom we imagine ends up destroying the most important relationships in our life and alienating us from God and others. This sort of freedom wraps heavy weights of guilt, regret, hurt, anger, causing us just to use people and things to escape our present realities. This sort of freedom is NO FREEDOM at all- it leads to addiction, self- loathing, self destruction and a deep loneliness of the soul.
We cannot truly be free unless we are able to destroy the grip of sin and the cost of death in our lives!!
People try to set themselves free by taking on 'religion' in order to try and gain freedom from sin or death. But mere religion is nothing more then moralism or legalism. The list of do's and don'ts whereby I get to pat myself on the back because I am better then you. I believe that is called PRIDE- one of the seven deadly sins and the one Satan himself enjoyed- at the cost of heaven. People who are religious read the Bible because they believe it tells them all the do's and don'ts they should do and don't. They don't understand that the Bible is written so we can come to Jesus and know God. Religion doesn't set you free- religious moralism only tightens the chains of self hate, pride and spiritual failure in your life. Read the Easter story- the guys who gave up Jesus for crucifixion were the most religious the world has ever seen!
Freedom comes when we bow our knee to Jesus who took our sins on the cross so that we could be set free from death and sin.
"But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self....and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

Here is freedom! Stop pursing dos and don'ts, pursue Christ.
Take some inventory. What is that ONE thing that you continue to act out in a stubborn protest of 'freedom' ("Don't touch this, or leave me alone here") against God? Maybe it's a past hurt, a image of yourself that someone else has given you? A secret sin of lust? Greed? Addiction? Re- READ THE ABOVE verses Eph. 4:17-24. Now ask the hard questions:

• How is my thinking about this sinful ACTION twisted? "You made me do this. This is the way I was raised. It's just part of my nature. I deserve this guilty pleasure. No one knows anyway. It doesn't effect anyone but myself."


• How is my thinking about his sinful ACTION becoming darker? "God doesn't expect me to act any different then this, after all He made me do this?" Justify, blame, and rationalization are all ways we keep things in the dark.


• How are you keeping this sinful ACTION separated from God? Hide the evidence. Turn off the lights. Turn to a bad habit to dull the truth. Blame someone else for our patterns of walking farther and farther away from God.


• How have you denied the reality outcomes of this sinful ACTION? "No one will ever find out. How did this happen? I can handle it. Just one more time. I'll change later."


• How has your heart grown hard from this sinful ACTION? Romans 1 "Knowing the truth they continued to suppress the truth, until their hearts are hardened to the truth."


• How has this sinful ACTION effected your sensitivity towards God and others? Like spiritual cannibals we come to the point of completely rejecting instruction, rebuke, truth, and spiritual discipline and replace it with self righteous justifications to continue to live out sin.


• How are you making efforts to indulge yourself in this sinful ACTION? Scheming, working, making plans, saving money, lieing, conniving, surrounding yourself with others who are living for the same sin and calling it freedom!

Take a look at your freedom? Are you pursuing self freedom or freedom in Christ? He died to set us free. Stop pursuing good works pursue Jesus Christ. Stop living out pseudo-freedom of sin that only brings bondage. Bring sinful ACTION into the light of Jesus Christ. Confess, repent and pursue Christ.

Fences::Addictions::Miracles

Being invited into someone's life, to share their struggles, hurts, dreams and hopes is not a burden but a true priviledge. Being invited into a streetlevel addicts home to share donuts and life struggles is a true trust. The hurts, regrets, and struggle to survive in the face of addiction, violence, poverty and an unhealthy community can leave you thinking what can really be done here anyway?
Last week I sat in a crack house and spoke with a man holding a baseball bat about life and Jesus. He said, "I'm going to come to the Marquee for your church some night, when things cool down here." My reply was, "Why don't we start something right here in your space? Why not find Jesus right here?"

"I pray for you, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisodm and revelation so that you may know Him." - Eph. 1:16,17

What can you do when your dealing with addictions? What do you do when you need to make some core changes in your life? How do you look your self directly in the eye and see clearly the things that you are holding on to that are really bringing hurt, pain or simply holding you in unhealthy patterns of physical and spiritual life? What do YOU do?
- Pull up your Socks? I just need to try harder. Discipline myself. Get up earlier. Fight harder. Make better decisions in the moments. Think good thoughts. REALITY CHECK: The first step to any kind of change IS getting a clear picture/definition of the situation you're stuck in; However, just to TRY harder brings only temporary results at it's best. Self reliance is still reliance on the same old self.
- Build Some Fences? Join AA. Get an accountablity partner/team. Get a trustee. Put protective software on your computers. Go to jail. Go to a recovery program. Enter Rehab. Many of our struggles come by keeping addictions covered up or by only hanging out with those people, or elements that keep us close to our addiction and a sure way to fail. REALITY CHECK: Fences like recovery programs and accountablity partners are great fences- but honestly they are not enough to set us free. A man that I know who had three of his 'accountablity' partners leave their wives and kids by falling into sexual sin defined acountablity partners by saying, "It is when two guys sit down over coffee for an hour a week and lie to each other." Some times it's easier to stay in addiction because you are finding solace in 'confession' and not truly changing.
- Get Innovative? Move away. Develop a creative alternative. Find a new hobbie. Go for a run. Get a new job. Enter a new program. There are times in our lives when we need a new perspective and a fresh start in order to jump start a new pattern of behavior. REALITY CHECK: Often we discover that even though we have started a new pattern of behavior we still manifest the same habits of addiction only now attached to a different personality flaw.

These three steps we often take to change are limited at best.

"...that the Father of glory might give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might KNOW Him."

Revelation- is unfolded and experienced knowledge

Wisdom- is applied knowledge

CHANGE doesn't come by INNOVATION but by REVELATION in KNOWING God!

Fences, pulling up your socks and innovative ideas are only successful in as far as it allows you to enter into knowing the person and power of God in your life!

"...so that you might KNOW Him, that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened so that you might know the HOPE to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance, and His incomparable great power for us who believe..."

Know the hope of the call - pointing back to the day you came to know God. His loving pursuit of you. The first recognitions of your need; the reality that the goodnes of God was intended for you. The infant cry of faith, there is no other name under heaven or earth whereby we can be saved.

Know the riches of His glorious inheritance- pointing ahead to the security that all you have and need are already secure in Christ Jesus. Stop praying for a greater blessing, a second blessing, for more grace, for more assurance- "In Christ you have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places!" This IS yours in Christ Jesus- Be confident and courageous that all you need in Christ is there for you.

Know His incomparable great power that is FOR YOU who believe- this is the assurance of victory for TODAY! This is the same transforming and displayed power of God in raising up Jesus Christ from the dead! Victory over death and freedom from the strangle hold of sin.

Truly KNOWING GOD is from HEAD to HEART to LIFE

= Transformed Life. This is something only God can do!

Do you KNOW Him?