Passions, Perspectives and Prescriptions, Part 3: The Prescription is Fasting and Prayer!

I have always sought to follow closely after God in my life and ministry. When I was being trained for ministry a professor once told me that you have three tools in ministry and they are the Bible, the Holy Spirit and Prayer. This weekend I am calling our congregation to a 24 hour prayer/fasting journey as a church. I am excited about how God will use this time in your life and thought I would spend my blog sharing with you some basic insights into fasting to help encourage you in this discipline. The particular information I am passing along is pretty well known and attributable to many places, but I am adapting a piece I found in a book by Nelson Searcy called Ignite that had a helpful Q and A style. I hope it will be used to Ignite your passion for Christ.

What is fasting? Fasting is abstaining from something, usually food, for spiritual purposes!

What does the Bible say about fasting? Both the Old and New Testaments speak to the spiritual discipline of fasting. Moses, David, Nehemiah, Ester, Daniel, Anna, Paul, Jesus and the early church all practiced fasting. Jesus placed fasting on the same level as financial giving and prayer (see Mt. 6:1 - 18) as well as stipulated that there is a time for fasting (Mt. 9:15). Paul says we should give ourselves to both time of prayer and fasting in I Corinthians 7.

What is the purpose of fasting? The primary purpose of fasting is to focus on God by 'centering' Him in all of our live and behavior. I call fasting a time of 'feasting on God' because we are focusing on God rather than our stomach. Fasting can help us see that some things are getting in the way in our walk with Christ - that there are things which have taken control in our lives that we need to remove. Fasting can increase the effectiveness of prayer (II Sam. 12:16) and bring God's guidance in the decision making process (Acts 14:23). There are many reasons why we may fast, but the most important is to focus on God and seek His guidance so that He may be glorified in our lives. I think a great opportunity is before us this weekend as we Fast for our fall festival - that God will help us focus on Him and that He will receive glory through our ministry and outreach to our community this weekend!

What are the different types of fasting? There are many types of fast. There is the absolute fast which would be no food or water for a period of time. There is also a normal fast which is only water, no food or other drink. Then there is what is known as a partial fast which includes juice, waters and sometimes fruit. There is also a seasonal fast known as the Lenten fast during which we give up something for the specific duration of Lent (Ash Wednesday through Easter). The final category of fasting would be called other which means we give up something like relationship, media, telephone, activities, habits, etc.

There are many places in Scripture where Fasting is seen as an opportunity to grow in our walk with Lord as we give something up that normally provides satisfaction so that we might be ultimately and fully satisfied in HIM! Join us this week - pick your fast and focus on Christ!

Fully Engaged!
Biz

Passions, Perspectives and Prescriptions, pt. 2: Perspectives

Perspectives is a word used to describe the way one sees and lives life! For instance, if ten of us standing in the middle of a field were asked to describe what we see, we would no doubt offer 10 different perspectives of what is seen. Now these perspectives probably would not be vastly different, but they would reflect several things that would cause us to see a difference. For instance, where we are standing, where we are looking, how well we can see, even how we are feeling would all impact our perspective and cause us to describe the same thing in several different ways, or from several different perspectives.

Now, take the same idea and think about the local congregation and/or community. Everyone in that congregation and community brings with them a different perspective - everyone. From the single mom who barely has time for herself, to the retired elderly couple looking for someone to work with or some way to make a difference, we all bring with us a different perspective that 'colors' how we see and live life!

In the Bible Jesus helps us see that while there are many different perspectives in life, they all fall under two larger perspectives. One is the perspective of someone who belongs to Christ - the perspective of a disciple. The other is a perspective of someone who does not belong to Christ - of one who is far, far from the Lord.

The basic difference in these two types of perspectives is what Christ calls our 'treasures.' In Matthew 6:21 he says, 'For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.' In other words, our hearts - our perspectives, our attitudes, beliefs and behavior follow and pursue our treasures in this life. A life that treasures self or the individual will have a 'self - centered' perspective. A life that treasures money will have a 'get rich' at all cost perspective - or my identity is found in my possessions. Conversely, a life that treasures Christ and Him alone will have the perspective or pursue the perspective of a 'disciples,' a follower of Christ.

What is your heart chasing today or who are you treasuring? Do you treasure, pursue and constantly seek Christ like you life depends upon His presence? Or, do you seek self, spouse, affirmation, money, (insert your own word here), etc.? This weekend we will be encouraged to pursue and treasure Christ above all else - you know I can honestly tell you that when we reach this point in our life - the point of a reckless pursuit of Jesus, then and only then do we truly begin to life - everything else is just killing time. Decide to live today and join us on our Journey this weekend as we become Fully Engaged in our Walk with Christ!

Fully Engaged!
Biz

Passions, Perspectives and Prescriptions for the Glory of God

My mind has been spinning around way too much these days (probably due to the fact that I have contracted sinusitis and am out of commission for a day or so). The primary thoughts that are driving me are in relationship to Passions that move God's people, Perspectives that have shaped God's people and Prescriptions from His Word that should form God's people - for His Glory in this world!

So, today I want to begin a discussion about the Passions that drive us as God's people, particularly the passions that drive a local congregation and its leadership. I believe the everyone, all of us, has a God given passion to be lived out in this life that we must discover to be fruitful in ministry and effective in life. You don't have to look far into the Word to see that God has created us and knows us intimately and that He has created us for good works in this world. The question I believe we all have to answer is what are those good works and how are they lived out within the context of the local church and the communities in which God has placed the local church!

Further, I fully believe that each local church will have a different set of Passions based upon several things, but primarily upon the perspective of the community and the prescriptions of God's Word. In my own ministry I have found that my passion begins around the concept that God's people must experience the richness of His Word on a daily basis and the challenge of living out that richness in life and ministry. As I look back over my ministry these days I understand that my heart conviction or passion is that those who sit under me are encouraged, challenged, equipped and empowered to 'live out' the richness of God in their life in a way that makes a difference - a significant difference in the relationships that Christ has given them. I have variously referred to this as 'incarnational' living or more commonly as connecting what happens on Sunday to life change on Monday.

I get excited when one of my church members calls, emails, texts, twitters (pick your poison) me with a testimony about how God is moving in their life, community, work, school, etc. I am deeply moved when I hear about our own folks who are living out the great commission and striving toward the great commandment and then seeing the blessing of God over both. So, I have learned that I have a passion in this area - the area of God's people living out His reality in their life in such a way as others notice and those who don't know Him begin to open up and receive His gift of salvation - that's is it - that is what life is all about. I love this when I see it in my home as well - when my wife lives out her passion through her gifts and when my kids notice things around them that aren't quite right (like brokenness, pain, suffering, poverty) and then ask, 'dad, what do we do about this as Christians.' That is Awesome!

On my white board in my office I have a list of four qualities that I look for in people that have really caught the heart of my ministry and how God has called me to conduct ministry. The first of those qualities is this: A Westside Community Church Disciple is a person who is ACTIVE and ENGAGED in 'market - place' ministry - they are living out the Great Commission and Great Commandment and taking their faith into Christ's world! I look for this, I long for this and I, quite frankly gauge the entire effectiveness of my ministry around this passion that drives me!

Now to some questions that follow: First, if you are not a 'westsider' and you are reading this blog, I want to ask you if you even know the Passions that drive your Senior Pastor and the Senior Leadership in your church. If not, take your pastor out for a cup of coffee and ask the question: 'what is it that drives you, your life and ministry.' Now, if you are a westsider let me ask you a question: do you see ministry that is being conducted from this passion? Can you see the mark of this passion in our ministries and are you, as a result of being discipled in this ministry, closer to this reality today than you were before you got here? If not, why? What can I do as your pastor and what can we do as your church to move you down the road that Christ has already laid out for you?

One step I want you to take is to get more involved in the life of Westside! This week we embark on new journey together. A journey of becoming Fully Engaged! We begin by looking at how we can be Fully Engaged with our Friends and Family. Then we will move to being Fully Engaged in our Walk with Christ, we will then wrap it all up with How we can be Fully Engaged in our Communities! Our new journey also begins with Pierre and Mikelann this weekend - what a blessing it is to have them on board. I am excited about getting to know not only them, but also the passions that drive them in life and ministry for as we experience their own passions for Christ and His Kingdom, I believe we might move closer to our own God given passions - wouldn't that be awesome - that you and I will grow closer to Christ because of their presence with us and their leadership journey in our midst at this time in the life of this great congregations!!!!

So, there you go for my 'Passions' Blog - next one will be perspectives that have formed us - that should be a fun one, because they are certainly varied and vast! Come Sunday - it's time, Westside, to get Fully Engaged and to beging that Engagement with discovering your God given Passion!

Fully Engaged, October 09!
Biz

Partnerships, Passions and Kingdom Priorities

I read an article this week in the Orlando Sentinel about a local food bank/outreach ministry that was going to have to close its doors due to the lack of funding it has received during this recession. In fact the close was imminent until a 'sister' ministry (which happens to be from Vero Beach) stepped in and formed a partnership that brought together similar Passions for Kingdom Priorities! In the article both ministries spoke of their excitment in joining forces together to do God's work in the Orlando area. They spoke of the obstacles that have come their way as opportunities for a new thing and a fresh approach to partnering together in ministry - an approach they would not have been able to (or willing) had it not been for the current circumstances which made moving forward impossible apart from joining forces, apart from forming a partnership around their similar passions for the priorities of God's Kingd0m.

While our situations are somewhat different, we are seeing a similar thing occur in our churches these days. While some churches are closing their doors, ministry is continuing at an even greater pace as ministers join together to form partnerships around like passions for Kingdom priorities! This morning we at WCC welcomed Pierre Bourque and Mikelann Renwick as new partners in ministry. It is uncanny to me how the Lord has opened this door of ministry together and brought to us two individual's who have a passion for the minsitry areas the Lord has been leading us to address for months - two areas I have been asking us all to pray for as well over these past couple of months. While I could never have 'scripted' this approach I am humbled to follow Christ and excited about leading us, His church, into this new phase of ministry life where we too are learning the value and experiencing the excitement of forming partnerships around like passions for Kingdom Priorities. God is moving and when God moves it means that if we are going to follow Him we have to leave where we are!

My question for each of us is how will we respond to this movement of God's Spirit in our midst? What will be our place here and how will Christ use us in the minsitry He is seeking to accomplish in our communities! The first step is to seek the Lord and trust the leadership that He has placed in our midst! If this is something he is doing than it will be like an unstoppable force in our community and will quickly become apparent to all! The second step is to continue to build relationships - stay connected to Christ, each other and the communities to which we have been called. I truly believe that when you get to know the hearts of Pierre and Mikelann and when you see their love for the Lord up close, you will find yourself saying, 'thank you Lord!'

One way you can get to know Pierre, Mikelann and their families is by joining us on October 18th right after our second service for a 'Carolina Chicken and Sticky Rice' meal (this is a homespun recipe that belongs to my dad - I am excited to share this with you). This meal will serve as a 'Lunch on the lawn' and will be a time of fellowship specifically designed for you to get to know them better and the minsitry passions and priorites they hold dear!

All Involved, All Accountable!
Biz