...enfleshing

philippians 2

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 
 6Who, being in very nature^[a] God, 
      did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 
 7but made himself nothing, 
      taking the very nature^[b] of a servant, 
      being made in human likeness. 
 8And being found in appearance as a man, 
      he humbled himself 
      and became obedient to death— 
         even death on a cross! 
 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place 
      and gave him the name that is above every name, 
 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
      to the glory of God the Father.

it floors me every time i try to read and understand this passage. that God, being fully God, came and while being fully God was also fully man; choosing to limit Himself of His "GOD" attributes and abilities in order to fully experience humanity - why? so that a full and complete sacrifice that would be found as good before Himself could be made up. 

a sacrifice by Him, for Him, on our behalf. 

God enfleshed Himself to be one of us, while still being Himself the whole time. 

why? so that when i'm in my corner dealing with my sin, i could have the assurance that i don't need to be worried about being separated from Him. because He knows to the fullest extent the difficulty of sin without succumbing to it. that's why He's good enough; God enough.

how do you explain this? 

ah...selflessness.

as of late, many of my conversations have been occurring around the word 'selfless.' fun to talk about, difficult to act upon, unmistakable when you see it...selfless.

these are the people that make impacts in life. the ones that understood that they gave up their rights when they came to Christ. i find myself wanting to hold on to some of my rights; the ones that i truly enjoy the most. not to selfless of me. the areas that God asks me to sacrifice in are often the areas where it hurts the most; the areas where i have most to lose. i've never seen it any other way - maybe it's just me.

outside of Christ and His sacrifice on the cross...

what's the most selfless action you've ever seen?

why was it so selfless?

what's holding you back from following in those foot steps?

here's one of my favorite verses of all time - a call to selflessness:

1 peter 2:21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 

completing the task...

acts 20:22-24

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

what a difficult thing to follow God's calling, especially when He leads you to a difficult place. paul did not know exactly what was going to happen in detail; he only knew that it was going to be tough. and at the end of the day, he considers his own life nothing compared to the task that was given to him -- how selfless.

what have you found to be some of the most difficult things that God has asked you to do?

what did you gain from either doing or not doing what He asked you to do? 

to different...

as i continue to meet more people in the city of miami, i'm encouraged to see how God is actively moving and shaking things up. different people, different stories, different ministries, same God. what i wrestle with is...can all of these different ministries and people work together (at the same time) to serve the same God?

what have you seen? what do you think are some of the obstacles? benefits?

let me know. 

powerful words...

as i'm wrestling with acts 20, i find it interesting and difficult to read paul's words:

32"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. 34You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "

makes me wonder about my habits in coveting, work ethic, and discipline in giving. not that i think that i'm really bad at any of these, but am i exceptional at any one of them? not coveting, having the best work ethic, and giving as much as i truly could. 

powerful words paul...you don't even blink! 

i want to be like this man.

brickell and south beach...

some of the cool things that are currently in motion...

an opportunity is still in the works for beginning something in the brickell area. after some chat and connection with some folks down on that side of town, i think God is opening doors that are serious about doing something over there - totally pumped. please keep this in prayer. pray for our friend alexandra who's opening her doors in the next few weeks. she's currently going through some tough times with family illness and other stuff. once she settles down from her traveling, we are set to start something down there. 

something new that might be brewing; an opportunity of starting something at south beach. over the last few weeks, we've been in conversation with folks that are like minded and 2 families right now are considering working with us as this network develops with a potential 3rd family sometime around the end of summer; but that's not for sure.

all to say, good things are happening all around town. i can't wait to see what's gonna happen in the next few months and years. 

as we are reading the book of acts, there is a statement that keeps coming up:

THE LORD ADDED TO THEIR NUMBER DAILY (over 7 times - i'm in chapter 17 right now)

that's what im praying for, for the church in miami - God, please build it and add to our numbers daily

what are you praying about today? for your church? for your self? for your friends? 

to a great beginning...

so we began church tonight. those present: a nurse, police officer, school teacher, administrator, project coordinator, and i. what's cool is that i didn't do most of the talking. lots of questions went unanswered and i think that it was ok that they weren't answered. truth is, some answers i don't have and for some of the ones that i do, maybe God has a better one.

i'm learning that i need to slow down and listen to Him. His leading and direction; especially in His business, i.e. the church. we all agreed that we needed this and that we will continue to walk together, despite the fact that we are all mainly strangers.

it's funny how the common factor is Christ -- that's really all we need. that's all we had. we've decided that before we get into too many details and try to set up parameters, we will walk through the book of Acts as a church together to determine what God wants and not just assume on traditions or personal preferences. 

so we began church tonight. mixed feelings -- pretty positive overall. i don't want to jump the gun, so i'm trying to contain so much because we are just beginning. but i think it's the beginning of something good, something fresh, something new and old at the same time.

to a great beginning...watching God do what He does best!

new opportunities...

so i began this new phase of ministry just over a week ago. i've been in transition for a bit now; one of the reasons i've not done too well in april jotting down what's been going on. regarding new transitions, one of which is the new job that i have with FCFC. check out their website. they are up to lots of good things regarding community development here in s.fla.

here's my story for this week. i better understand james 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

as i consider james (brother of Jesus) and what he must have gone through, it makes a bit more sense to me.

james was probably left fatherless at a pretty young age (the last time we hear of him is when Jesus is only 12 - then he's gone; most believe that he died after Jesus entered manhood...13 years old) 

if Jesus was only 12/13, that means james was much younger than that. imagine the trauma of growing up poor - the man was the one who earned the income. w/o dad, they were stuck depending on Jesus to earn the money - since he entered the workforce as an apprentice, he probably did not earn a whole lot. meaning the family probably suffered a good bit.

james is an orphan and his mom is a widow. 

i had the privilege of serving a widow and an orphan this week. pretty difficult, but i know that it pleased the Father. i'm fortunate in that part of my role at FCFC is to serve and advocate on behalf of those that may not have enough for whatever reason. pretty cool.

let me ask...

how are you serving your community?

how are you serving members of your church?

how are you serving God where He has you? 

did you know....

in 2007, for the first time in 65 years, more churches were actually started than those that closed. could be both positive or negative. good things, i think. 

who i met and what i've learned so far...

so, right off the top, i was invited to be part of a pretty cool dinner last night. among the new 'friends of dave' are a cool group of people responsible of putting on the CATALYST CONFERENCE, Ed Stetzer (church planting beast and SBC rep - i had to walk behind him to take a pic with him), Allan Hirsch (i think he's a modern day prophet and visionary of the organic/missional church movement), and the purpose driven guru himself, mighty rick warren (as i kissed his forehead, he fell over in uncontrollable laughter).

what i've learned...

christianity - christ = religion (duh, but take a look around, sounds all to familiar)

church the way we are doing it is good for about the 20% of americans that would be open to it (about 12 - 15% actually attend once a month based on stats.)

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER 80% that don't care??!!! WTF! 

we don't take christ to people - if he's God, then he's already working. our role is to help people interpret these 'religious' experiences through the filter which is christ. this is pretty profound in that most people know that if they want to get closer to god, they would normally go to church. the irony lies in that God is everywhere, whether the church is there or not. so what's he doing? he's prepping the people to meet him through the expression of church - His people and oddly enough, not His building.

meaning, the people in your circles of life, have been waiting for you - God's been working on them before you even got there. how will you engage them to help them understand their experience with the almighty?

the church does not have a mission -- God's mission has the church (missio dei - latin for the mission of God - to reconcile a dead world back to himself by using any means possible, mainly the church (people -- you and i )

how are you involved in this? 

totally psyched because it helps to answer the question of what matters most.

any how, just some tid bits. that's all for now. i believe God's gonna do something amazing in miami soon with our current churches and the ones that are to come! be part of it!

if you are not, consider joining a new effort in your town

what do you think? 

in orlando...

so, i'm in olrlando this week at the national church planters conference. for more info: http://www.exponentialconference.org/

lots of different people, different ideas, different forms...same goal. work with God to build His kingdom.

please pray for me as i discern the next steps of this new work. also, please pray for those that are considering joining this effort. it's not like what most of us know, so it will mean almost detoxing from previous ideas of what is and what was to what could be.

anyway, see you guys on friday.

question for the e-world reading...how are you working with God to build His kingdom where you are?

at work?

at school?

at home?

at church?

let me know. just trying to gather info as we determine the strategy for this new work

peace

to what's next...

just in case you missed it, the announcement was made this last weekend - with God's help, adriana and i will be working towards launching a new church here in town. we've been wrestling with different circumstances to get us overseas, yet we've not been able to go. after prayer and searching for God in his word, we believe that our calling to missions is still valid, we just need to put into practice what we'd be doing over there, over here. so this is where we are and where we hope to go for the next step. 

excited and nervous. anyhow, that's how it is. we are grateful to MBC for all their support and help over the last 4 years. we've been blessed and have grown as we've served there. we know that God is working there and that he has a great plan for MBC and it's team. we love them all dearly.

so...to what's next - there it is. join us in prayer as we venture out to the great unknown...again.

how to pray:

God's direction and guidance for the new church

housing in right area of town

for the lost to know Christ

for God to grow his church here and globally

will you join us in prayer? let me know. thnx again. 

ms/hs spring retreat 08 update...

hey all! here at spring retreat - it's going great! just to wrap it up, 

theme: "As Seen on TV - Take control of your reality"

kids: 56

counselors:9

first time decisions for Christ (so far): 7

lived dedicated to ministry: 5

lives touched by God:65

pretty awesome how God works in the lives of students and adults. keep us in prayer as we finish up and come home tomorrow

peace

2 questions...

ok, here we go. one question, maybe the question that i've been dealing with the most...ready?

WHAT MATTERS MOST?

help me find the answer to this question. i can't place a context or limit it to a circumstance, because then is ceases to matter most in other circumstances. so what is it?

next question...once we discover what matters most:

WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT IT?

that's it for now. 

losing sleep and the mice in my head are running pretty fast.

what do you think?

easter moments...

so on friday night, for the evening worship concert, for some reason, i sensed that someone was looking at me. have you felt that sensation? when you know you are being watched; weird. any how, in the middle of the concert i look back and there is jason; a young teen who is para-palegic in his wheel chair looking at me. i looked at him and smiled. he smiled in response. i winked at him and  he winked back. after my time was done at the sound board, i walked back and sat next to jason. for some reason he reached over and held my hand as we sang in worship. the song playing was 'shout to the lord' by hillsong. needless to say, i was moved to tears quickly because jason can't speak. at best, he made sounds to get across what he felt inside as he joined with the rest of the church. i can't imagine how Christ must have felt in that moment to know that one more was doing his very best in worshipping Christ. moved, proud, happy, proud. 

i thought for a moment about how poor of a worshipper i truly am. sometimes i don't want to and sometimes i just don't care. 

his mom didn't know what was going on (they were first time visitors). she'd never seen him so moved before - the power of worshipping Christ.

once again, i realized, that worship has very little to do with a song or how well i may or may not sing. worship has to do with the object of my attention. as long as it's Christ, i don't think He cares too much about how great the notes are, as He does the intention and sincerity of heart.

Christ taught me and spoke to me through jason; through one that cannot speak. worship Christ with all that you have - that's why you have it.

what was your most inspiring moment this easter? 

how did God speak to you this weekend? 

easter...

hey blog world. i've got one word - EASTER. been a bit busy as of late getting things taken care of at mbc. if you haven't made any plans to attend anywhere, love to have you there. whether mbc or any where else, be sure to go, it's EASTER. 

any how, more to come after EASTER.

p.s. jesus wins - it's EASTER

cop out...

in john 12 it says that during Jesus' entry into town, his presence was a bigger deal than the actual celebration that was taking place. as i shared at the movement tonight, i questioned the students on how excited they are to celebrate the biggest Jesus party in the world - to think that for a weekend, believers world wide unite in celebration, remembrance, and victory. i compared the fact that the police concert sold out in 15 minutes; jonas bros in about 8, hannah montana in about 4. 

where is the line to celebrate Jesus?

are we inviting anyone to his party?

for a man who raised the dead, healed the sick, cured the blind, forgave all sin, and resurrected from the dead - i'm sure that he'd have no problem filling up any venue. yet why is it so difficult to grab the attention of those who don't know Christ?

could it be that i'm not inviting anyone to the greatest celebration on earth?

could it be that i'm not celebrating Christ in my daily lifestyle?

could it be that i truly don't believe that what Jesus did then, he can do now?

these are the questions i posed to the students. as i thought about stuff later on, i thought it fair to ask myself and the rest of the 'grown up' blog world - why aren't we inviting others to Christ more often?

i thought to myself that perhaps its because... 

of what they might here or see. cop out.

of what they might like or dislike. cop out.

of what they might understand or not understand. cop out.

the reason they are a cop out: whether the church experience is right for them or not, you and i have been placed there intentionally to clarify the matter. it's just easier to not invite anyone - there's less work on my part that way and i can pass the blame. it's a cop out, again. 

let me ask: why?

why don't we invite others more often?

why don't we reflect this celebration more often?

why do we choose the easy route and blame others instead?

help me out. why?

it's not Him, it's me... seriously

there's a pattern that i'm seeing in life. things that i want. things that i can't have. things that i can't have now. things that i shouldn't want. and then, again, there is this thing called "WHAT GOD DESIRES." a.k.a - God's will, God's plan, God's preferred plan, God's sovereign plan, whatever. pick anyone of those titles and if you're like me, you wrestle with the why's of life and the why not's of life. 

see, the problem is that i'm not always satisfied with His choices in my life. i'm not always satisfied with my choices in life either, but i think i give God more beef because He's perfect - and because He is, i guess when He doesn't do what i want, somehow, i seem to fool myself that he's less than perfect - which he's not. hear me clearly, HE'S ALWAYS PERFECT and RIGHT!

it's part of that pattern that i was mentioning to you. i discovered the problem in the formula. it's me. it's always been me and what i want. major problem. it's not Him, it's me. it's not Him, it's you and me. it's not Him, it's us. seriously. i know it sounds like a bad break up line, but it's so true. 

amazing, that as cheezy as my excuses seem to be, even to me, he doesn't break up. i'm sure that it bothers Him. but He's slow to anger and quick to forgive - me and my stupid patterns. it's in this that i take satisfaction. it's in this that i find joy. even though i'm me, He's still Him. that's enough for me and us all.

happy birthday...

just wanted everyone out there to know that today is adriana's birthday. she's hot and my wife; one the greatest blessings that God's ever given me. give her a call or drop her an email and let her know that you love her.

splash...

have you noticed the great amount of movement that's occurring everywhere? i'm not sure if it's the price of gas, the recession that 'we are not in,' conflicts in the middle east, or just the amount of people coming and going these days. the world truly has become a smaller place; because of it, i think i notice the motion, transition, and constant change that we as a people, we as a culture, we as a country, and we as individuals are always in. 

it's so easy to get caught up in the movement mistaking it for accomplishment. if there is one thing that i know, busyness doesn't = accomplishment. busyness = busyness. sometimes things get done, sometimes i go backwards. 

so i was thinking about the idea of movement and where God seems to be moving my city (miami) as a whole. always transition. always multi lingual, multi cultural, multi faceted - moving in multi-ple directions. it is what it is. but what will i make of it and what kind impact can be made in such a fluid culture. 

when you think of your home town  and you consider the way it's moving and where it's going - what can you see being the greatest area that needs to be addressed in the ever-moving culture, people, and society? 

i figure, once you pick a direction to move in, you'll make the biggest splash and impact there.

where are you moving? what are you doing to cause a splash?