Stake Your Hope… 

There are those we perceive the nature of men is inherently good and getting better.

And, there are those who believe men are by nature corrupt in need of a Savior.  

The latter leads to salvation, the former to devastation. 

If the nature of man is good, then evil has no meaning and men need no redeeming.  

A strong wind is enticing men to the lie that we have somehow moved past a need for the biblical Jesus. 

We are offered hope in man’s best efforts and told to change our narrow thinking.  To enter this new age of possibility, we need only to discard our rigidity.  

“You are not a sinner in need of a savior.”

I’ve seen where this road ends.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

As for me, I say you can keep your possibility.  I’ll stake my hope in the certainty… of an empty tomb and a Risen Savior.

Are you striving with men or are you walking with God?  

Pursuit… connects your passion to the picture in your mind of how things ought to be.  

It’s also the proving ground where God sifts the motives of men.

Somewhere in your center there stirs a holy discontent, an agitation in your spirit towards another day.  

A better day.

A day more like the picture.

Pay attention to the passion in your center and the picture in your head.  God paints these into the stories of men to conform them to His likeness.  

Pay attention also to the pursuit - that method by which you move. 

Inevitably, temptation will drive you to another script and you will have a choice:  you can strive with men or you can walk with God.

If you choose the former, the passion which burned so hot will cool and the picture that once pulled you will shrink to a  size you can manage.  

May this never be!

The passion and the picture you hold belong to God.  He has entrusted these to you.

To shepherd, not to rule.

To steward, not to own.

The opportunities before you are either divine enticements to know God better…  or they are hellish invitations to serve another god.

Depending how you walk.

“Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.”

Offer the picture back to God.

Harness your passion with humilty.  

Lest that picture prove a mirage and the opportunity pass to another.

Trouble is upon you and you must choose. Will you avoid it or confront it?

“Ummm… I’ll take a #1 to-go… does that come with a toy?”

Truth is, most men prefer to avoid trouble. In fact, we spend an inordinate amount of “us” playing it safe and hedging our options.

Now, I’m not saying avoiding trouble is always a bad thing. The instinct awoke in Eden as a means to mitigate the impact of the curse.

I am saying there is a place where self-interest and comfort become idols. And, in this culture, the pursuit of these idols goes mostly unchecked. Such is even encouraged in quarters by people who should know better.

The man who designs his model around trouble-avoidance builds upon two dangerous lies that will ultimately consume him.

The first is the notion that trouble can be avoided.

Jesus told His friends, “In this world you will have trouble.”

He explained that life was about to get hard, that things were going to change. Jesus looked to the trouble of the Cross and the hope that lay beyond it.

There will come seasons where you cannot (and should not) try to flank the lineman, where you must drop your head and brace for the collision.

Trouble will force you to choose between peace with this world and peace with God.

This brings us to the second lie about trouble, the notion that all trouble is bad.

Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that you may have peace…”

Huh? Trouble brings peace? Explain yourself…

Jesus is talking about peace between God and men. Bad news in this world can be good news for this world.

Jesus hands us two facts and a command here:

Fact #1: You WILL have trouble in this world. Count on it.

Fact #2: “I have overcome the world.”

Walking with God will carry you to seasons of trouble.

Will you try to avoid trouble by not making waves, staying neutral, negotiating a settlement, and compromising your core?

Or, will you do as Jesus commanded?

Jesus said, “Take heart…”

Peace with God is within reach because Jesus chose the trouble. In this world we have trouble, but in Jesus we have life.

hey men… so after dan had me share on friday about the door God is amazingly opening for us to go to africa, i wanted to be sure to post the short summary here, in case some of you were gone, or couldn’t hear me in the back w/o dan’s magic microphone.

here’s the deal:
chris arias (my video partner), and i got invited on extremely short notice by my neighbors to go with them to Swaziland, Africa for 10 days after Christmas and shoot video, documenting not only an orphanage their non-profit ministry is in the process of building but also document the lives of people all throughout Swaziland and what God is doing there, so that they can use this as a tool in the States to build support and funding for the ministry. yeah… crazy, huh?

backstory:
a few months ago i didn’t know our neighbors, the Martins, very well. i knew they went to BBCC and worked in Waumba Land, and our kids played together, but i had no idea that behind the scenes, they have been running a non-profit ministry, building an orphanage in Swaziland! last year, they sold their house to use the profit to start this ministry and began working with El Shaddai to build the second of two orphanages in Swaziland. This is a country where 50% of children are orphans and the life expectancy is 29, so what they are doing is nothing short of miraculous, extreme Jesus stuff.

well, one day while our kids were playing together, in talking to my wife, they found out i do video production. this peaked their interest, because apparently a few months ago God had put it on their hearts to document with video what is happening, because up until now they have only had photos on a slideshow. they had been praying that God would either show them how videotape, or would connect them with someone who knows video to help them. after hearing this, one night over hashbrowns at the Waffle House, chris and i had been chatting casually about their ministry, and he said “hey, tell them if they can get us there we’ll go shoot it for them”, which was followed by chuckling and one or two off the cuff “wouldn’t that be cool” comments. not long after that, they called to ask me a few questions about a camera someone was loaning them for their next trip, and how to best use it for interviews, etc. and while i was giving them my $.02, i mentioned chris’ comment to them, not really expecting it to go anywhere, and that was the last i heard of the trip, but i was glad to help with my advice.

how it came together:
well, about 2-3 weeks later, out of the blue, they called me and said “are you guys serious about going, because God has opened the door!”. basically God provided mine and chris’ travel, to and from Swaziland, and all meals, lodging etc., and they wanted us to go with them to document the trip and the ministry. we would be staying at the existing orphanage, traveling around the whole country every day shooting video of what God’s doing there. it wasn’t a hard question to answer, but it was hard to answer the question, because suddenly we were faced with a very real challenge, and after seeking God, we gave the nod, and began preparing.

this won’t be like a church mission trip where in the course of several days we build a small church or complete some other project - this is going to be an unscripted adventure through this country, capturing the lives of people and what God is doing through this orphanage ministry. the story we will tell has yet to be written, but no doubt the documentary that comes out of this experience will be His story, and a powerful one.

so, ok God, don’t let me screw this up. lens cap is off, right chris?

getting ready to go:
of course “all expenses paid” always leaves some expenses. we will have to buy extra batteries, a lot of tape, a few peripherals to help us be prepared when there is no radio shack. so we do have to dig up some funds for that…. but that isn’t why i’m writing. this isn’t a funding request per se, but i wanted you to know about this, because you never know if it might sync up with something in your heart.

please be praying for us as we tie up loose ends and prepare to go. here’s a few things we definitely need prayer for:

• the team’s health and safety as we travel
• i had to expedite my passport order, it needs to show up soon
• we are bringing pro gear to do this right - pray for the safety of our equipment, that it would work flawlessly and be kept safe and intact as we travel. also pray we don’t forget anything important
• power issues - we *should* have power at the orphanage we are staying at, but please pray it works, as we’ll be charging a handful of batteries every night for the next day’s adventure
• buddy passes - we are all flying on passes, and there is only one flight per day. please pray we all get on the same plane because that one logistic could throw the whole trip off drastically
• pray for our families whom we will be leaving behind for 10 days, from Dec 26 through Jan 5. this will not be easy for them.
• pray that chris and i will see more than great shots, great angles and a great story. pray that we will be moved to a new level of serving the Lord based on this experience.

that’s the story, and i look forward not only telling you all how it went, but showing you the video as well.

If you’re all about YOU then YOU may want to tell YOU to stay home and sleep in tomorrow morning.  You’ll find tomorrow of no use to YOU whatsoever.

Go grab some YOU time. Maybe catch the podcast from your sofa between commercial breaks or something.

Tomorrow morning we are going to break from series for a week in order to do some recalibrating.  

We’ll pick up the back side of Fifth Dimension next Friday.

In the Friday between (that would be tomorrow) here’s what we’re going to do…

We’re going to visit the why behind the what.

These past three years we have watched the Lord grow a simple prayer into a platform that is touching literally thousands of men each month.  

He is changing men from the inside out. 

Roots are deepening.  

Branches are widening.

And…  the peripheral is crusting.

Ouch.  

Happens all the time. 

Men turn their attention toward the sound of the revving engine.  

But this car was built to go somewhere, not to impress the pit crew.

If you are new to the Cumming Venue, you’ll want to learn more about what you have stepped into.

If you’ve walked with us a while, you’re going to get a nudge.

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