Which day of the week is Church?

I am going to think out loud. 

I have been thinking so much about the Church lately, and where we are in 2014 and what God is going to do among us all.

As I think about the Church, the buzz words come to my mind; small groups, community groups, life groups, gospel communities, missional communities..and the list goes on.

I am not saying anything bad about these terms, but as a Church, collectively, we don't know what they mean or which one we want to use. 

Well..I'm not going to solve that problem, in fact what I say might make the problem worse (before it gets better however). 

We, the Church, are doing an okay job at the weekly meetings. We have learned and are convicted that meeting once a week to study the Bible is either what we are supposed to do or it's a pretty good thing. 

Either way...we are doing it. 

We may even meet again in a different group of people, maybe its all women or maybe you help with the youth. 

But, two times a week is what Christians would called "involved" in your local church. 

Again, these are all wonderful things. This blog isn't about those weekly times together (that's a future blog).

 This is about inconsistency...a hole in our understanding of what is means to be the Church. 

We get together throughout the week; laugh, share stories, pray, cry, play with one anthers children, drink coffee, make meals, watch football, speak Gods word to one another, and fellowship. 

Those are small groups, life groups, gospel communities, or missional communities. That's life. 

But, we aren't quite sure what to do with Sunday morning...

?????

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Ive asked myself this question recently; Why does Sunday morning look so different from the rest of our week.

Unless you're from outside America or your church is at grassroots stage, this applies to you. 

Why does Sunday morning feel scheduled, stiff, or programmed?? 

This isn't meant to harp on any local body, because I know there are congregations filled with the life-giving Holy Spirit.

But why does Sunday morning have to look any different from the rest of our weeks?

What happens when a small/life/missional/gospel community gets bigger and starts to outgrow the house it meets in?

------we raise up leaders to start a new group at someone else's house, in someone else's neighborhood, where there are new people, new surroundings, and a new opportunity to worship in new community. 

But, what happens when a Sunday morning gathering gets too big? Outgrows its walls?

------we move buildings? we build new ones? 

This is all I have ever known, and honestly this is all any of us have ever known, because this is what the American church has been doing for most its life. 

I have heard the reasons and have spoken the excuses myself. "If we want more people to come to hear and learn about Jesus than we have to make room for them. The more room the more converts to Jesus." its as simple as that.

I'm a product of this, so don't get my wrong..I'm really trying not to be harsh.

Well what do we do in theses situations? Like any good Christian we go to the early Church in Acts and we see what God was doing among them... 

The first verse we usually point to is Acts 2:41,

So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

See, there is nothing wrong with having a large church or a bigger building, we can't possibly live in a close community with 3,000 people on a Sunday morning. That's impossible... 

It is impossible. 

But God revealed something to me in his word that spoke to me concerning this disconnect between our missional lives and our attractional Sundays. 

The ONLY reason there were 3,000 believers that day is because it was PENTECOST.

It wasn't normal. It wasn't typical. It wasn't ideal.

Acts 2:1,5,9-11;

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men form every nation under heaven. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors form Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty words of God.

God did something amazing that day, he drew in 3,000 believers because it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God himself. 
This is an atypical situation... 
They were drawn the temple area because of the Jewish celebration called the Feast of Weeks, and hearing the rushing wind and the tongues of the nations and seeing the tongues of fire caused the men to turn their attention to the apostles and ultimately to the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. 
This was significant.

But that's not the point of this blog. 
The point was at the end of that gathering, after 3,000 believers were baptized in Jesus Christ and all was said and done, they went home.
Of course they would gather. They were used to gathering. 
But they went home. They met at home. 
They didn't build a mega-synagogue to meet in. 
The people of God lived their Sunday mornings, daily.

Here are a few examples of the early Church doing "Sunday"
“When they [Paul and Silas] had come out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and then they left” (Acts 16:40).
“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus...greet also the church at their house” (Romans 16:3,5).
“Give greetings to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and to the church in her house” (Colossians 4:15).
“Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved and our co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church at your house” (Philemon verses 1-2).



When we outgrow our building, lets meet at someone else's building too. 
The early Church was the spread out, sent out people of God.


Then in Acts 2:42,45-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

Church, lets go home. 

I hope that the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and unifies us together can speak to this hole missing in the Church.
May the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit convict our hearts, in the way we teach, worship, break bread, spend our money, and take care of one another. 

John 20:21

Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

-Jesus 

2 0 1 3

the past year and a half has changed me in ways i still don't understand.

i didn't believe people when they told me that i would make it through 2013, i thought somehow or someway i wouldn't make it. 

the funny thing is, you are probably expecting me to say some really bad things happened or i was sick or there was some sort of life or death situation. thats not true at all. 

if anything, the past year was overflowing with good things. but i didn't see it like that.

i was a child, like a little Israelite girl wondering in the desert after being released from slavery. 

there was a promise ahead, and God was walking so near to me. 

but all i could think, was I'm not going to make it. I'm going to die out hear and its all your fault God because you did this to me. you gave me too many good things.

how embarrassing is that.....

in the fall of 2012 i was at wheaton college and had been accepted on the 2013 summer wheaton in the holy lands trip.

the minute i walked onto wheatons campus thats all i ever wanted to do. i wanted to travel and study abroad and see the world, i didn't care how much it cost.

but prior to applying for that trip God had changed my heart and inevitably changed my plans. 

i never wanted to get married or fall in love because i had seen nothing but failure after failure and i didn't want that. i was fine with being alone, i thought. 

but God gave me Derek, and in the summer of 2012 he proposed.

i was so scared, i didn't think i could handle planning a wedding, i never actually wanted a wedding. the date was set for 8.10.13

but God in his goodness revealed to me what marriage truly meant and changed my heart forever. 

so now i was planning a wedding, in my final year of college and now planning to study abroad for 7 weeks a month before the wedding. 

i couldn't handle it. 

i went to my dear friend, crying in fear of failure. she prayed over me and spoke truth into my life and i will never forget that blessing. 

2013 came and i started writing letters to people, asking them to support my trip.

i felt so weird about asking people for money, but i knew i couldn't go otherwise. 

through that God taught me what it means to be the church and what it looked like to support one another.

by the grace of God i raised 10,000$ to study abroad, which testifies to Gods sovereign hand.

in may i began my trip. we went to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Israel/Palestine. i missed home at times, but more than anything i wished Derek could experience was i was doing. it was truly the most remarkable thing i have ever done.

God changed me so much across the world. i saw so many types of people in so many different cultures. i was humbled and ashamed of my arrogance. i had always been ethnocentric, and God tore my heart apart for the nations. 

i learned so much about myself and what it meant to be a minority. 

i will never read the bible the same, now seeing where jesus and paul and the disciples walked. 

that trip changed me.

so i retuned home feeling like a foreigner still. 7 weeks is just long enough to start feeling at home. but here i was back in the midwest town of 40,000 about to get married in a month and i don't feel like I'm home. 

i was so confused and i just wanted everyone around me to understand and experience what i had. God changed my heart for the nations. 

right when i get home, literally as i am driving home from the airport i find out that my stepdad left me mom while i was gone. 

i couldn't believe it.. my heart sunk and i felt so much despair. 

why was i even getting married? i mean isn't it a joke these days, that people actually get married. 

satan used my moms divorce a month before my wedding to lead me to believe lies about love, marriage, and commitment. 

the flood of lies would come and go throughout the next weeks, but i never truly killed them with the word of God. 

a week before our wedding i was crying everyday. i wasn't crying because i was growing up and beucase my life was changing and i was leaving my parents.

i was crying out of fear. here i was again... crying out of fear.

thats all i had ever done, when things get hard and scary i freeze and cry.

i figured i would probably leave derek or he would leave me, so whats the point anyways. i was so scared of marriage. 

8.10.13 came, and the power of the Spirit covered that day in His grace and mercy.

it was one of the best days of my life. i had so much joy and i was refreshed and encouraged by the gospel of Jesus Christ that day. 

so here i am, its 2014 and i made it. 

all these events of the past year are just details, but they were real to me. 

they may seem silly or insignificant but it was real to me. 

i doubted Gods goodness, faithfulness, and love for me.

but he brought me through. he took me one step at a time and showed me just enough in front of me. 

i knew it was going to be a year that would change my life forever, and it was. 

i was so afraid of taking a step because i was so afraid of failing. 

1 john 4:18....there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. for fear has to do with punishment...

i understand Gods love in 2014 in a way i never could have if i wouldn't have experienced 2013. 

punishment comes from failure, and there is no failure with God.

if God is who he says he is and he is in control, as long as we are walking in step with the Spirit, dwelling in Jesus Christ, we cannot fail. 

2014 will not be without fear or hardship, but it will be covered in grace. 

lets truly believe this is year brothers and sisters, 

"there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus." romans 8:1....

look at all the trees

God is teaching me so much, through the letter to the Romans and through his children. 

The other day I was hanging out with my friend Becca and we were reading Romans 1:21-25. 

We haven't gotten very far because I truly believe God keeps stopping us and teaching us his simple truths along the way.

Christians talk about sin all the time. 
Whether we are overcoming a sin, struggling with a sin, or praising God that he has taken upon himself our sin, we are very fluent in sin.

We would all admit that Romans 1:18-32 is about the sinfulness of mankind. 

Paul talks about how we have known God, yet did not give him glory or thanks.
We have exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
our minds suppress the truth and we worship created things.

But what is sin? 

Its not that easy of a question.

As Becca and I were discussing what sin actually means we ended up in Genesis 2-3, where sin entered the world for the first time. 

Genesis 2:15-18:
The Lord God took the mana and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.

Later in Genesis 3:1-5, we see that the crafty snake tempts mankind, asking whether God really meant what he said. He tells them that God is a liar, that you wouldn't really die if you ate from the tree. 

then sin enters...
Genesis 3:6:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate...

Can you feel the weight? Sin is heavy... it is a burden...

This passage in Genesis tells us what sin is.
Sin is believing that your way is better than God's.
It is claiming to be god.
IT is believing that God is not good and that he is withholding from you, and therefore acting in rebellion of Gods good plan.

Our culture makes God sound mean. 
And sometimes if we are honest with ourselves, we think he is mean sometimes too.

Sin says that God is stingy, he is uptight, he is unloving and a discriminator. 
Sin says God doesn't want whats best for you, he is withholding good things from you, and you know yourself better than he does. 
Sin says that God just cares about rules and restrictions, and he needs to loosen up.

But this is what God revealed to me about himself:
In Genesis 2, when God placed us in the garden in PERFECT relationship with him, he did not give us a bunch of rules to abide by. Instead he actually began with the freedom we have. God said we are free to eat from ANY tree in the garden. ANY TREE. ANY TREE. 
They lived in a garden, and God told them to eat from any tree except one tree. ONE TREE.

God gives us gardens to feast off of and we want that one forsaken plant. 

God isn't mean, he is good. 

This is our plight Christians... to stand up and defend the goodness of the Creator.
Romans 1:28.. "and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done."


Praise Jesus today, 
because he took the wrath of the tree so you could eat from the garden. 

Christians, feast from the garden today.
Because God is good. 

when God isn't good

The title is misleading, because God is always good.

But, I certainly don't always believe that.
Even more than that, I come up with circumstances in my head where i feel the right to say God isn't good.

In God's good word, Paul speaks to the Romans in 1:22-23,
"Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."
He goes on to say in verse 25 that we have in fact served and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator.

God alone is worthy of worship, yet Paul says the unrighteous make images that look like creatures and gave them the glory that alone is due God.
We don't make images, I know i certainly don't cut down a tree, carve a face into it and worship.
But our minds and hearts have crafted more gods, than our hands could make.

Through Jeremiah, God rebukes the people of Israel in 2:27-28,
"They say to a tree, 'you are my father" and to a stone, 'you gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. but in the time of their trouble they say, 'arise and save us!' But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in your time of trouble, for as many as your cities are your gods."

Isaiah makes fun of the people of Israel, pointing out in 44:14-15,
"he cuts down cedars...he takes part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and falls down before it."

Creation, the good creation, was meant to point us toward the Creator, how his invisible attributes permeate all the world (Romans 1:20).
But instead, we take creation and make it into an idol.
This is what we have done since the beginning, God says the tree is good, don't eat it.
But, we took the creation, ate and worshipped it.

As a newlywed, it takes everything in me not to worship my husband.
God created him, restored him, and he bears the image of God.
But, my husband is a creature, not worthy of honor or glory.
I make an idol of him.

I always heard the best way to determine whether something is an idol in your life is to imagine your holding this "thing" in your palm.
Ask yourself, are you holding this thing with an open or closed hand, willing or not to let it go.

Now, I'm not sure about you, but that makes me anxious.
I don't think I would be okay if I lost my husband.

But, what God revealed to me was whether or not he would still be good.

IF God took my husband, in his good and sovereign plan, would i still call him good?
That's the harder question, and that's what an idol does to our hearts.
Idols tells us they can do everything, that we don't need God.
Idols put us in control.

Maybe its your kids, job, marriage, singleness, schooling, friends...
if God took away them away, would he still be good?

creation is good, but its only good because the Creator is good...
and creation ceases to be good when it becomes better than the Creator...

Believer,
rest in the freedom of Jesus Christ. he is sufficient, he is good.
keep your eyes fixed on eternity, for it is what we were made for.
don't let this world fool you...we were meant to worship the Creator.
Worship Jesus today.
Worship the Creator.
By the grace that is poured out through the Holy Spirit, we will no worship creation.

Israel/Palestine.3

The title of this blog probably makes you ask yourself why I added Palestine to what I have been calling Israel. 

I had always heard of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, but honestly purposely stayed out of it, avoiding conversation and information concerning it.

But, I realized that this conflict is something that Christians need to speak truth and peace into. 

It's not just about the Middle East, but it confronts our faith very directly because whether you know it or not, what you believe about the end times is intertwined with this conflict. 

My friend Rachel is half Palestinian, which has challenged me to ask questions and understand the issues. 

Yesterday we went into Bethlehem for two reasons; one, to see the Church of Nativity which is the place where Jesus was born and second, to visit Bethlehem Bible College. 

Bethlehem Bible College is a college that trains and educates Palestinians to teach and preach the gospel of Jesus in their context.

The student here are Palestinian Arab Christians. That in itself is loaded with misunderstood identities.

I will explain details shortly, but first it is important to note that most Christians in this land are Palestinian Arabs, and therefore it is beyond important for us to engage. 

So, you ask yourself....why should we be concerned with this conflict? 

1. The church is struggling. 

2. This is the land where church was born. 

In Palestinian territories there are 3.9 million Muslims and 50,000 Christians.

The Palestinian Christians are the most vulnerable in this land. 

I know the terminology can be very confusing and misunderstood, so here are some definitions:

Palestinian: Arabs living in the land of Palestine. Mixed races and nationalities from those who invaded and intermingled. They are not the philistines, but their name comes from the Greeks and Romans who called them the philistines. In 135-136AD, emperor Adrian forced all Jews to leave Israel because of a revolt, and from then on it was called Palestine.

Messianic Jews: Jews who accept Jesus as messiah and observe Jewish customs and traditions. The majority of Christians in Israel are messianic Jews.

Arab country: land where majority of the people speak Arabic and observe Arabic culture. 

Muslims: followers of Muhammad and the holy book Quran. There are two groups of Muslims, Shia: the successor of Muhammad must be family, Sunni: successor must be most qualified.

Arab: someone who speaks Arabic and identifies with Arabic culture

Jew: born of Jewish mother or converts to Judaism. Speaks Hebrew and can be either secular or Orthodox Jew who lives in Israel. They believe in the establishment of Israel as as reigning nation for the coming of the messiah and the rebuilding of the temple. 

Christian Zionist: a view that the establishment of the nation of Israel is in concurrence with biblical prophecy and therefore support the rise of Israel and suppression of Palestine in the land. 

Also, a key note is that there were Christians in Palestine almost 500 years broke Muhammad. 

Here is some history:

The conflict didn't start in the Land, in fact it started in England with the birth of Zionism in 1897. 

In 1917, because of the rise Christian Zionism, the British parliament declared the Jews to return to their land, but because they were only 6% of the people they were not allowed to have it.

After the WW2 there were 30% Jews and 70% Palestinians living in the land, which led to the first Israel-Arab war in 1948. In that war, 800,000 Palestinians were kicked out of their homes and made refugees. 

The British parliament tried to set up a partition plan that would divide the land, but the Palestinians didn't like his because they were only given half of the land they had previously had. 

The Palestinian territory slowing decreased into what is now called the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These are Palestinian territories with their own government, but is ruled by Israel. 

They are building walls around these areas, which in theory would be fine because it would create a two state system. 

BUT, the Israelis are building the walls in the middle of the Palestinian territory and therefore separating Palestinians from Palestinians.

So, there are families and on both sides who are not allowed to cross to see one another. 

They can apply for a permit, but it has to be almost dyer for them to be able to leave. 

The wall is built 3km too far. 

Israelis are building settlements for themselves inside the walls, and therefore causing more control and conflict.

This conflict is taking away the humanity and well being of the Palestinians. 

There is little unity among Israeli Christians and Palestinian Christians because of their view of the end times, specifically relating to Israel. 

This is crucial for the church. 

The US government's number one supported nation is Israel, in military equipment and money. 

We need to know the truth.

We need to know what scripture says. 

Covenant theology asks the question who is the nation? Who are the descendant? 

It's not about a nation or a land anymore, BELIEVERS, it's about the hearts of the people of God.

God is concerned with his chosen Israel, but God is NOT concerned with the land. 

Covenant theology is not replacement theology, but rather an extension. 

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. 

I do not have all the answers, but The Lord is revealing new things to me in this land. 

We need to be courageous Christians and fight for justice, just at God loves justice. 

Israel.2

Today was refreshing.
I was so overwhelmed for the first two days, but today was a breath of God's grace.
There is so much in Jerusalem, not even including the areas surrounding , that are filled with memories of our risen Lord.
Yesterday was the Old Testament day where we walked around Jerusalem and looked at some of the key places that are still around.
We went to the area where The City of David was said to be, where the original city of Jerusalem was, which David found.
Also, we walked around the Old City walls which were originally built by Herod the Great, but then rebuilt by the Turks when they conquered the city in the 1538! There are some stones that are still left from the time if Jesus, some of which are on the corner of our college, JUC, which at the bottom, left corner in this picture:

Today we went on a New Testament walk throughout the Old City and visited the Temple Mount, which Is the mountain where the temple was originally placed by David, then destroyed and later rebuilt. Then Herod the Great added significantly to the Temple, adding serveral courtyards and embellishments.

So, today we went outside of the walls and sat on the southern stairs. Surround the stairs there were the mikvahs, which were baths where the Jews would cleanse themselves before entering the temple. This is important because it is most likely that Jesus would have taught his disciples not those steps, because rabbis would teach their disciples outside of the temple. Also, It is thought that this is where Paul was trained by a rabbi, and then where Peter preached the Pentecost message, and 3000 were baptized. This was amazing! There are more details... But it was life changing. Here are the steps. Soak it up :) 

Israel.1

Israel has been surreal.
The fact that I'm actually here is blowing my mind, but even crazier is the fact that I'm in Jerusalem!
Emotions are flying.
I'm learning about this land, but I'm also learning about community.
Everyone on this trip is so different, with different minds, ideas of fun, and friend groups.
We laugh different, at different jokes with different friends.
But there is one thing we have in common, we are Christians in the Holy Lands.
I'm going to learn a lot... But it might not just be about this land.
I need perseverance, because I've never been stretched this much in my life.
I'm at the nearing the peak of the craziest year of my life, and there are times when I'm not sure if I'm going to make it...
By the grace of God and his sustaining Spirit, I will not only finish this trip, but I will be changed.
It's not going to be easy or glorious.
But I've learned thus far on this trip, things are only glorious when they are sanctified.
Thus land is only holy because God chose it.
I am only holy because God chose me.
This trip will change me because God is changing me.
It's about Jesus.
❤

Ps. Here is where I'm staying for 3 weeks 😊