Posts tagged God

When I was  younger and I came to a list of names while I was reading the Bible, I would usually just skip it. I never saw much application to my own life and thought reading them was just a waste of time. As I matured slightly, I learned that all scripture is useful for one purpose or another. Therefore I realized that to be true to God and His word, I would have to read every word in the Bible, including the chronologies. Recently for my own devotion I have been slowly going through Matthew starting at chapter 1, and in Matthew, right off the bat, we have the chronology of Jesus. As I was reading it I was reminded of all the beauty in God’s plan and how God works in spite and through our worst sin. 

Probably one of the worse sins in the Bible is King David’s lust for another man’s wife. He sees Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop and he desires to make her his own despite his ridiculous number of wives and concubines. So he sends orders to have her husband secretly killed and then immediately after her allotted time of mourning, has her take up residence in his mansion and… well, you know the rest. The first child of their love is taken by God as punishment for his sin, but the second child is Solomon, the King of wisdom. 

The first time I really realized this implication it was while reading this chronology in Matthew. It just hit me. King Solomon and direct ancestor of Jesus himself, was born of the woman whose husband had been killed and who was the object of David’s adultery. This is such an interesting aspect of God’s will and plan. In fact, I really don’t know what to think about it other than to marvel at God’s grace and goodness. How can he use us at all is a mystery, but somehow He is always able to weave the worst of us into something beautiful. I really love getting to be a part of that story.

I am convinced that the single most important ingredient in a great worship leader is not their vocal ability, or their musical ability, but it is their character. In our society and culture we focus so much on the externals that we often times think the people in our churches need to resemble great public figures. Either, speakers, or rock musicians, or whatever. However, from my reading of scripture, especially studying King David (the scripture’s authority on worship, imo) I find time and time again that God really does not value externals nearly as much as internals. Yet, as people we often find ourselves looking at what a person does, or sounds like, or looks like without valuing what God values.

So what is the point, really? I believe that as worship leaders, we need to make sure that we have our priorities straight. To really worship God, we must treasure what God treasures, and work towards His goals, so it only makes sense to prioritize character. How do we lead our teams, and our people to grow in Christ-likeness? How do we focus ourselves on becoming men and women after God’s own heart? My good friend Austin Ryan suggests we focus on seven pillars, or attributes and I think he’s right:

(I took some creative liberty and re-arranged them a little bit.)

1. Authenticity: Are we really the people we are? Is the image we are presenting on stage really who we are the rest of the week? Are we truly in love with God, or are we paying lip-service to Him?
2. Humility: Are we puffing ourselves up? Are we leading as the world does? Or are we serving like Jesus did? When’s the last time you put your team’s needs and desires above your own? When is the last time you truly served out of a love for your people and not for your own glory?
3. Unity: How can we show the world the love of God if we do not love each other? It is by working together toward the goal that we are able to bring people to the presence of God.
4. Creativity: Our God created the heavens and the earth. Everything from the smallest microbe to the largest star. Including flowers, and animals, and humans, this world is filled with creativity. How do we find new ways to worship God with a similar creative passion to what He used to create us?
5. Evangelism: We cannot serve the Lord and continually disobey the great commission to go and teach all everything that Christ has shown us. God’s heart for the nations must be present in all we do.
6. Excellence: We must do everything that we do unto the glory of God. This is simply a matter of doing the best we can with what we have.
7. Party: We have an amazing job to serve the God of the universe, and using our gifts for God should produce in us an overflowing joy. We need to have a good time doing what we do.

So, these seven words represent seven ways that we need to grow and mature as leaders. I think these need to be the priorities as we work to develop worshippers in both Spirit and Truth.

For more about Austin Ryan and his awesome ministry, check out www.worshipcatalyst.com and his Worship Leader Essentials training materials.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

So why has the healing of my dear people not come about?

- Jeremiah 8:22

As we continue reading Jeremiah for our Wednesday Bible study at MCC, we keep discovering some really powerful truths about the way that God responds to us who sin. Here, at the end of chapter 8 after more truth-telling and light shining onto the darkness that is the heart of the people, we find this picture of beauty. In the midst of all their sin, their unrepentant evil. Despite the people’s inability to truly embrace the path of their God, God is still present among them. This rhetorical question helps us to ponder the reality of their situation.

Is not the God of the universe, their God. Has not He shown them time and time again His power and willingness to save them? Has He not shown them what is right and what is good? Then why are they suffering? Could not they be healed? And yet, it is not to happen. These people are so stubborn and dense and too lost in the comfort of their own evil sin that they cannot, no they will not repent.

Does this not give you some comfort in your own life? To me it is comforting to know that after all my sins and wrong-doing and stubborn rebellion against what is right and true, my God still comfort me. He still embraces me. He takes me back as though it it just the first time. There is no place on earth that you can go where God cannot find you. There is no height, or depth which can separate you from His love, and His embrace. I find it incredibly re-assuring and comforting (though sometimes rather saddening) that the only thing keeping me from experiencing the love of Jesus is my own refusal to be touched by Him. It is my activity, my schedule, my priorities, my cold heart which keeps me away from God. The solution to finding God is so painfully simple. I must decrease. I must die to self, I must give up, I must lose. Only then, can I live.

How many chances to share the gospel have been missed? I know I certainly seem to keep missing chance after chance. The latest instance was a few days ago. I was driving some people home from a worship night when I got into a conversation with one of my passengers. I was just asking how everyone thought it went when one person said worship  wasn’t really her “thing.” This immediately caught my attention and we began a simple conversation. 

She basically confessed that she grew up in a church background, but had found it to be something that no longer had an value to her. And when I asked her what she believed, she seem unprepared to answer the question. We went back and forth a little until I realized she was a “rationalist” (probably not a very devout one, so I use the term loosely) and that she only believed in what she could see. She said that she did not believe there was any such thing as an absolute truth or that there was anything that existed besides this life. This is where I wish I had known something better to say.

I had just recently been reading an article about a logical proof that God exists and so this is where I steer the conversation. I talk about how there is a logical proof that Go exists, and how there must be an absolute truth, and an absolute morality. Because, as I told her, if there was no such thing as an absolute morality, then you have to honestly believe that Hitler was justified in killing anyone he desired, for if morality is relative then who are you or I to say any different? However, I begin to realize that we don’t have much longer as we are getting close to arriving at our destination. I start to force the argument along without building a strong enough case, and due to my hasty approach, her rebuttal is clear evidence to her that she could still be right. It seems as though I had failed to really help her see the fallacies of her beliefs. As time runs out, I begin to realize that perhaps I could have done something different. I wish I had been more careful, or perhaps tried to stay to the gospel narrative. But, I could do nothing but pray and ask God to use my meager attempts for His glory.

Is anyone ever really won to God by rational arguments about God’s existence? I suppose they could be, I would not know for sure because I have never witnessed it happening. But I doubt my own ability was sufficient in this specific instance. All I could do was be cordial and positive and pray that I may have another opportunity to actually share the life-changing power of the gospel with this person. So I did pray, and I do pray, and I ask you join with me in this prayer for the unnamed student:

God, please change this young person’s heart. Let their eyes be opened and their heart melted by the love, grace and hope of Jesus Christ. Oh, that this person could live a life set apart by a commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Show your greatness and your power by transforming a life and allow the young believer who befriended this person take every opportunity to share the gospel as well, that they too may join in Your work of impacting lives at MCC. In the all-powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

3 “This is what the Lord of  Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place. 4 Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. 5 Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, 6 if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, 7 I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever. 8 But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

- Jeremiah 7:3-8 (biblia.com)

I think about what it must have been like for those Jews who had to live in the exile that is prophesied here in Jeremiah. To think that they might have had access to these very words, feeling the sting of awareness that it was their own foolish stubbornness that led them to experience such anguish. To think they could have spared themselves the agony of exile and the horror of the siege had they just turned back to God. But they were too far gone. They had already given up any desire or hope in the living God. Instead, they had become totally satisfied drinking from the cisterns of their own filth. What sorrow they would have experienced sitting in exile with the consequences of their sin being fully realized. How they would have longed to return to their land, the land of milk and honey which God had promised them centuries earlier. How they would have longed for the “good ol’ days” relying upon God’s provision.

As I think about these things and these people, I can feel sympathy for them, and perhaps a small amount of empathy. Not because I have ever been displaced from my land due to my sin. No, I would not want to diminish their pain by comparing it to my fairly easy American life. But, I can draw a parallel to my life when it comes to sin. How often have I lost sleep fretting over some sin which has limited me, or some wrong decision which led me to lose time or opportunities. How often have I wished the past were changed and I could just start over with the wind in my face, sitting in the passenger seat with God driving down the road of endless possibility and opportunity.

Then it hits me. This time spent thinking about the past is even more lost time. What if instead of worrying about past mistakes, I look ahead. Jesus is waiting for me right now to hop in the car and continue down the path with Him. He waits for me to return and trust in His timing and His providence. I can make a difference today and right now. All I need to do is turn back to Him right now. It is not ever going to be too late for me as long as I have breath in my lungs and light in my eyes. I can change the world. I can make a difference for the Kingdom and see God work and move through me.

God, show me how to trust in you this very moment. Take away my past, my pain and my fears. Transform me again today into a man after Your own heart and give me the love courage and strength to walk this journey after You. Amen.

A few weeks ago at MCC I had the opportunity to meet with several students and have a lot of good conversations about God and the truth of the Bible. Out of all these conversations, there were 2 that really stood out to me and both called themselves agnostic, (which basically means that they aren’t opposed to believing in God, they just need proof before they believe it.)

The first student was very thoughtful and rational. He truly valued the importance of having a spiritual life. He asked really good questions and seriously pondered the truth that I was sharing with him. As I shared the gospel with him it became obvious that he was truly listening and willing to accept what I was saying. He was searching for evidence and I was able to share it with him, but at the end of the conversation, he said he felt like he really needed to study all the different faiths so that he could know which was true. He wanted to make sure he had a good reason for faith and was seriously willing to look for it.

The second student also claimed to be an agnostic, but as I began to share the truth with him, he seemed far less interested. He said that he really wished there was a God, and he wanted to have a spiritual life, but he simply found it too hard to believe the Bible was accurate and he scoffed at the idea that God could supernaturally intervene in the world. 

I tell you these two stories because I feel they offer a glimpse at two different types of students who need the power of the Holy Spirit to impact their lives. With student 1, God needs to show Himself to be real and the only real truth. With student 2, God needs to convince him that He is real and powerful. For these two students and all other students at MCC, we need to see God move in powerful ways that make students seek the truth and believe the truth. If we want to see a new revival in the lives of students, we need to see God’s power change the lives and minds of these students and convince them of their need for the gospel.

Join me today!

¹⁰ For You, God, tested us; You refined us as silver is refined.

¹¹ You lured us into a trap; You placed burdens on our backs.

¹² You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us out to abundance.

- Psalm 66:10–12 (HCSB)

This verse really just jumped out at me as I was reading it this week. It makes me think about how sometimes in life (like right now for me) God lets us go through times of intense suffering, or stress, or hardship, but he promises to pull us out at the end of it. I guess for me right now things seem a little turbulent due to our upcoming child. Not knowing what is going to happen, worrying about the financial aspect of providing for a baby on such a tight budget, not exactly sure where or how God is going to provide. This passage provide me a little comfort, being able to connect with what the psalmist wrote several thousand years ago.

16 This is what the Lord says:

Stand by the roadways and look. Ask about the ancient paths: Which is the way to what is good? Then take it and find rest for yourselves. 

But they protested, “We won’t!”

17 I appointed watchmen over you and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn. 

But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

18 Therefore listen, you nations and you witnesses, learn what the charge is against them.

19 Listen, earth! I am about to bring disaster on these people, the fruit of their own plotting, for they have paid no attention to My word. They have rejected My instruction.

- Jeremiah 6:16-19 HCSB

When studying for today’s Bible study, I came across this passage and had to read it several times. While this specific prophesy was written to a specific people at a specific time, I couldn’t help but wonder if it applied to me as well. I mean, not directly, that would violate proper hermeneutics, but perhaps the big idea that God has nothing but absolute contempt for the proud and willful who claim to know what is best for themselves, despite claiming allegiance to God.

Clearly this can only properly be applied to people who have been come into direct contact with God, that would be us believers. It should not be directly applied to the lost, those who have never encountered God, though it clearly has implications for those who have heard the gospel, yet refused to listen or respond. But, what really shakes me is that if I am not careful, I could be setting myself up in direct confrontation with God by simply choosing not to listen. This just seems like a really bad idea.

God, please help me to hear your truth and be obedient to you and your direction. Show me how to humbly obey you and follow the ancient path to what is good instead of the path that seems right to me. Allow me to show love to all, and be a right example of your grace and mercy thought the power of Jesus Christ. I pray this in your all-powerful name. Amen.

(Source: biblia.com)

I am not sure if you have noticed or not, but recently I have made a sincere attempt to begin posting more stuff here at tumblr. I kinda dislike the idea of using a blog post to talk about posting to a blog, but I am pretty excited about this and want to share with you what I am calling my Social Media Campaign. Why am I campaigning? Well, actually that is what excites me.

God has been doing some really neat things through my work with Christian Challenge at Mesa Community College and through the worship activities I have been a part of. Some of these things are big and some of them not too big. I currently make an attempt to send out a monthly prayer letter to my supporters. This letter contains a summary of all the big things that I am doing throughout the month. While it offers a really good overview of what is going, I really want to give people an opportunity to join with me on a more regular basis. So, I have decided to use Social Media (specifically tumblr for now) as a way to share what is going on in the ministry every week. 

Essentially this boils down to a post a day on 7 different topics areas: 

1. Ecclesia Sundays: thoughts about church and it’s importance.
2. Big Dreams Monday: posts like this one which talk about dreams, goals and future plans
3. Evangelism Tuesdays: a recap of the previous week’s evangelism encounters and prayer requests for the following days EV efforts
4. Bible Study Wednesdays: a short thought from the passage for our weekly Wednesday bible study
5. Worship Thoughts Thursday: a video, song or idea as Thursday I lead worship at ASU Challenge
6. Personal Thoughts Fridays: just personal thoughts of a more spiritual nature
7. Odds ‘N Ends Saturdays: answering questions, responding, or other random posts.

I am not sure if I will continue posting everyday, but I do think the posts on these days will be in these general categories. My hope is that I will be able to engage people in the work that God is doing and that people will choose to join in the adventure with me. 

If you were following me yesterday on twitter (@jeffmashaw) you might have seen these posts:

Tucson can make me feel very schizophrenic sometimes. ;)

Here are the linked photos:

This is just so pretty to me, and one of the things I miss the most about Tucson is Mt. Lemon covered in clouds and snow.

And then there’s this:

I hate Tucson traffic and its lack of a reasonable freeway system that connects the east side to I-10.

But then I look and see a sunset and fall in love all over again:

Argh, Tucson!!! Anyway, it was a really nice time in Tucson. My dad and I are building a cajon. I will be writing more about that later this week, but I had a really great time getting together with my parents. I feel like a little time going back where I was raised can really rejuvenate me. It is tiring, but especially after the 4 hours of driving round trip I feel closer to God. I am really thankful and blessed to have such an awesome family, and such a powerful God who displays his glory in the heavens for all to see.

Just like Romans 1:20 says:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Today is Sunday. What are you doing today? If you are like most college students, then probably recovering from your hang-over, doing laundry and finally sitting down to homework. However, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, I would strongly encourage you to consider going to church today. If you don’t have a church you go to, then I would strongly implore you to connect yourself to a local body. 

Scripture tells us that the Church is the body of Jesus Christ, and that it’s members are the all the saints and believers through-out the world, through-out the generations. The Universal Church is one body spanning the centuries and the globe. However, this universal body is made up of local manifestations, or churches. It is in this local group of believers that we get to live out the commandments of Jesus. In fact, if you carefully read the New Testament, you will see that almost all of the letters and the directives in those letters were not to individuals, but to churches. So when Paul is writing that “your body is the temple of the living God,” that is directed to an entire church body. While there may be some truth in the personal application of that, it is the body as a whole which is the true temple of the living God. God’s present in each of us as individuals, but He truly manifests Himself in the corporate gathering of the saints.

So I tell you that if you are not connected to a local body of Christ, serving and growing together with other believers, you are not only missing out on the promises and joys of the gathering, your are stunting your own spiritual growth and connection to God.

(Source: plus.google.com)

I feel like sharing a little bit about what it is that I do with my life, as many of you may not know. I am a missionary. Everyone who answers the call to follow Jesus Christ is to be a missionary to the people who are around them. Well I am a missionary on the college campus. I get the opportunity to serve God by hanging out with college students and sharing Jesus Christ with them. I feel as though I am not very good at it yet, though I know it is what I am supposed to be doing because God called me to do it. I have a desire to help college students see the light of day.

As I chat with young people on the college campuses, I get a real sense of true lostness. In the Christian world, we speak of Lostness as a code-word for not-saved people, or sinners, but when you talk to students you actually can feel how truly lost they are. As I just posted, dictionary.com defines “lost” as:

having gone astray or missed the way; bewildered as to place, direction, etc.

I really can see this bewilderment in most of the young people that I talk to. They seem confused and simply have no idea how to find what they are looking for. This is what encourages me in my work. I am not lost. I have been found. I have direction, purpose and a location, and I get to share this with students. It is my hope that as I continue in my work, I will see some lost students be found. It is my hope that God will use me to help find some of these people. That is a little bit about what I do.