He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands

He’s Got the Whole World In His HandsIn a world as big as ours, tolerance and pluralism aren’t a good answer to how we should deal with differences, in that they are not expressions of love. Love does not say to its neighbor, “if I must I will tolerate you”. Its says, “come sit with me.” Love also doesn’t say to its neighbor, “do what you want” or”I don’t care who you are” it’s says, “tell me all about yourself.” While, Tolerance says to its neighbor, “I don’t have to love you just put up with you” and pluralism says, “don’t worry about that your differences don’t matter”.My problem with tolerance and pluralism is that they don’t achieve genuine acceptance or genuine diversity. Its almost as if tolerance and pluralism are bridges that attempt to squeeze across anything that desires to be accepted or celebrated. When in fact, all things that we will or act upon wish to be acceptable. But that doesn’t mean they are or aren’t. Do we accept murder? Do we equate with murderers? No, we do not. So love is greater in that it doesn’t require acceptance of lifestyle or behavior instead frees you to acceptance of the person. Love also allows you to accept some just the way they are and not feel an obligation to change them while others love commands you to intervene. Love is wonderfully un-methodolical.You see we champion tolerance and pluralism to fit it all into the “grey.” Perhaps we think it will allow us to feel better about the things we identify with or to make the world feel better about it. But the world isn’t grey. Not from any perspective. Whether from space looking down on Earth or as you shake the hand of your neighbor. The world is full of color. And only love is strong enough to hold the whole world in its hand.Gavin LindermanAxiom Church

via He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands.

Ruined Soul

Ruined Soul

Hear my cry Oh God
I am ruined by my sin
Every dark and vile thought
Is a glimpse of what’s within
and I’m powerless to change
without Your steadfast love
Your mercy is my strength
Only You can be enough

It’s the greatest story told
How you saved this ruined soul
Man & Maker now restored
So that every heart would finally be yours

What can I deny
My flesh that seeks it’s harm
Oh Lord please come and fight
This battle for my heart

No You couldn’t bear the pain
Of Your children in the dark
So You lifted all the weight
Sent Your son to light the spark

I surrender
I give in
Renovate me
Wash my sin
I relinquish
My control
Reinvent this
Ruined Soul

If God is light, then darkness is a good word to describe a place of being apart from him. But unlike a light switch, the sun rises and falls over time: 1 day. If you are like a child sustained by the light and allowed to run free while the sun is up, then you know well the sadness that comes with the dark. The freedoms are lifted: the risks increase, and the roaches and predators stretch their legs.

Now imagine a sun that never sets and its light shines before us. This is the wonderful imagery that John gives us in Revelation 21:23, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In this reality to-be, we are given hope against the darkness that still exists within. It is as we catch this ray of Jesus Christ, renovation of our dark and ruined soul begins. The tensions that exist because rest is not possible in the land of the dark begin to settle. Peace, love, and righteousness begin to come into to view.

This is the process of transformation that comes to us and waits for our invitation. It waits patiently for us to see the dark part of our self, sin, for what it really is: darkness in opposition to the light. True understanding comes to us, as we are able to say like Jeremiah, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9). As we see our ruined state, we are sharply convicted with the beauty and wholeness of God found in Jesus Christ, the Light of Man. What has been missing from our eyes is now seen; our inability to trust in God over ourselves (Romans 3:18). Don Simpson writes, “The blind pride of putting oneself at the center of the universe is the hinge upon which the entire world of the ruined self turns.” We must come to find a new paradigm for our faith to rest that exists in the light where there is no room for the destruction of our self.

Meet God… Jesus Christ: the one who is able to receive our darkness, absorbed by His Cross, that brings new life to all who will receive. It wont be forced as His love is led by freedom, never willing to cross you or manipulate you. It is the greatest story ever told. How we came to know and be known by God through the healing drama of the Son’s reliable pursuit. We now have freedom to run in the day again, our sadness now turned to perfect joy. For the sun no longer sets.

RUINED SOUL is the first track off of our new worship EP Novus. You can download it on ITunes now by searching for Axiom Worship.

Dreams Don’t Happen Overnight

Last night I had a dream, more vivid than the usual surreal setting where I find everyone I know together trying to survive an invasion of some sort. This dream was more vivid because it crossed the line of fairy tale and mingled with my conscious state. Our dreams are often sporadic and fun and the best part about it it is, I always make it out alive. Yet in my awake and alert life isn’t always as successful. But we still have dreams and for me there just as real as they are in my sleep. Kind of like last night, I dreamt of God’s church stretching out like eager seas of life reaching the lips and hearts of the young and like-minded. I dream of Gods church truly being “living stones” (1 Peter 2:15) where the church is not defined by its number, structure, type of service or even worship experience. But it’s redefined by the interaction of Gospel centered life with the everyday life in general. Now, this would clearly not be the normative dream but whoever you are, you dream of something? Maybe your dream is to be successful with whatever you do and serve the fellow man well. Maybe your dream is to win American Idle or the Nobel Peace Prize. I don’t know what it is, but what I do know is dreams don’t happen overnight.

“Gods some kind of light show”(smirk)

I had an interesting convo today during a car ride with my mother in law. I have to admit I hate calling her mother in law because it sound likes a downer. She joked it sounds like some old song she once heard.  Either way, the discussion was a familiar one that many of us have had, but I realized I have never addressed it in the public eye. I think that’s because I don’t much care for debate which is often what this topic leads to. So MOM this one was inspired by you.

Mom expressed to me that so many people critique the Gospel to their preferences. “Some people talk about how God pre-destined everything, and you gotta follow Jesus this way and that way! (point the finger).”  Her voice elevated as she pleaded “Please God don’t tell me where all just a mouse in a maze and its some kind programmed life we all live.” I heard her frustrations and to be honest I am a bit sensitive to it myself.   She then told me when she was growing up that she had a friend of hers parents made a sign and put in their garden out front that said “GOD IS LOVE” and “JESUS IS LORD”. “And no matter which way you phrase that it’s the same.”  It struck me how simple God’s story is for some people yet how intricate and theologically critiqued it is for others. Now I understand this is two extremes represented here, so don’t go and get offended anyone.

She proceeded to share with me a bit of her testimony which was music to my soul. She shared that she has “sensed God’s presence in her life as far back as she can remember. Never left to question or doubt him.” Yet so many of us have…and then we turn to Him and say “give me proof”, “show yourself and then I will believe you! Like Gods some kind of light show.”(smirk)  Isn’t interesting that so many Christians need proof themselves….they long to see Gods miraculous hand. Yet isn’t that the same thing that Satan asked for from Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11…Prove yourself and jump off of this building…if your truly the Son of Man the angels will save you! (Paraphrased) We need to learn from mom. The simple, mundane, everyday uncounted blessing that are like the air we breathe…taken for granite. Oh how helpless we would be without the source of life that God gives. Miraculous…is it not?

She continued to tell me about how it’s so important to be good and serve others. Now at first this seems like a cheapened Gospel…Christ called us to pick up our Cross and follow him…that’s more then just being good. But she went on to explain that, love and goodness are the loudest testimony we have. Even Jesus out of love went to the cross and out of the goodness of his heart gave up himself and served others. After all on the sixth day he said that what he created (us) was “very good”.  Although, I do want to point out one important thing here that cannot be confused. Just because you are good and love others, it doesn’t mean that you’re “in”. You see, all of us where created in the image of God and therefore have some of the same attributes of love and goodness. But there is a difference between “in the image of God” and “the image of God” which is Jesus. We on our own are not good enough or loving enough…it is only by taking on “the image” (Jesus) that we can be truly worthy of being in his presence.

I’m not sure that we left the conversation feeling like we had come to some epic reality or understanding. But I know I left, feeling…well “good” about it and wanting to share our conversation with others because…well I “love” her and believe “love is not complete unless expressed.” – C.S. Lewis

Thanks for a good talk Priscilla.

Lofty Ambition

Often I find myself battling the “should be” mentality that most Christians have. In my experiences, I look inward at my own actions and think, “Should I be doing this, acting this way, or saying these things?” My goal is to correct myself, to live up to a certain standard. What a dangerous place this could be. I know that I am not alone in thinking this way, but I also know that many don’t. You see, in setting your own standard you are missing “His” standard. The imitative is not in choosing your path, but in choosing His path. I have found that when I raise the bar myself, I most often raise it too high. I set it at an unreachable length met by constant failure. Or, on the flip side, I don’t raise it far enough, which leads to me covering my tracks and justifying why I am good enough. When the Christian way is totally reachable, we succeed in failing because we are not “good enough”. Then our experience is cheapened, and castrated from a “full life” ;John 10:10. How exhausting this must be…

So what do we do? Do we continue to disappoint ourselves by missing the mark? Or do we lower our standards so that we always reach the goal? Or…..do we give up all together? Romans 5:6, tells us something enlightening about ourselves that can be hard to admit sometimes.  It says “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” You see, we are completely deprived of reaching any divine measure, as we are “sinners” and “utterly helpless”. I do not point that out to shame us, but to humble our lofty ambition. After all, we are human, not God. So we should decrease and find joy in Jesus’ perfect life. We must ask ourselves, who are we trying to prove our worthiness to? Hopefully, not God, because if we could be worthy, then He sent His Son in vain.

Give it up- all of it. Let Christ be the authority in your life through obedience to the Word. It is not a daunting task, but a joyful one in knowing that His standard can be reached through the help of the Spirit. What a privilege to be transformed.

Zechariah 4:6

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty.”

Update

Link to new DEEP series sermon I did last Sunday | http://www.copperhills.org/finished_podcast/sermon_06_27_2010.mp3

I know this isn’t a blog but I wanted to share with all of you a couple avenues to get in touch/network with me. Also tomorrow I plan to post a new blog.

1) http://www.facebook.com/truthgodtalk

2) I lead a ministry called CATALYST that you can follow at http://www.twitter.com/truthgodtalk

3) visit my church at http://www.copperhills.org

4) or follow my personal twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gavalanched

lastly keep checking back here or http://www.dougmilem.wordpress.com for I AM CHURCH activity. (coming soon)

Every man

An excerpt from a sermon I did at the Gathering:

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a WAY that seems RIGHT to a man, but in the end it leads to DEATH.”

WAY: All of us have a way in our life that we go about things. It’s our day to day; what we do, where we go, what we think and feel etc. It’s simply our way, but when we take a step back from our way, who benefits? Who is at the receiving end of our way? When you really think of your actions and choices you can follow them all the way to what you hope to gain from them…and when doing so, see what you really care about.

RIGHT: Whatever seems right to you, shows the condition of your heart. Because in the context of what we think is right ALL of our actions stem from. We don’t go around purposefully making bad choices all the time. We go around making choices that seem to best fit to achieve our WAY. So, as far as we are willing to sin is the distance that the condition of my heart allows me to go. Which also means the condition of our heart is as much sorry for our bad choices as it is willing to do them. This reveals truly the human condition.

DEATH: I don’t know about you but that word scars me. Death has some pretty serious implications.

Rev. 21:8. That passage says: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” What this is saying is that all of our ways whatever they are end in death. I’m convinced that the text could read “But the brave, believing, likable, life savers, sexually moral, upright, humble and truth tellers have their part in Hell too.” because what the original verse listed off ranges from the pettiest to the greatest of sins showing us that no matter what your WAYis, it leads to DEATH.

So you may say to yourself: well what hope is there? How can I possibly escape this death? And the answer is: you cant. Because you can’t save yourself from YOURSELF! And if you could, what did Jesus come for?

Jesus came completely RIGHTeous to give you his WAY….the only way, Then he conquered DEATH because he knew that we couldn’t.

First comes sex then comes babies, what happened to love and marriage?

I originally intended to have this post up about 6 weeks ago unfortunately I have let life get the better part of me. Either way I wish to still share a thought with you on the cultural trends we see in marriage. But first I have to get this one out.

Kendall,

I have found that in our relationship there has been much temptation in the area of sex, and part of me thinks we have wronged each other by holding out. I mean think about it, we are both in our sexual prime and what happens if when we get married and the sex isn’t very good? Do you expect me to be happy or forever satisfied by you if our physical life isn’t hot? Now I want you to know I say this to you because I love you and I want to re-consider having sex before it’s to late. What I mean is; I don’t think it would be fair to each other if were not happy. Besides that, you know as well as I do what so many others have to say about this; “test before you buy, taste before you eat.” I’m not trying to be crude I just really think we have no clue what where getting ourselves into. NOW STOP! On one hand this makes complete logical sense , doesn’t it? Why would we wait till marriage to have sex, when we could do it now?! We are at our prime! God designed us as sexual! Your as committed to marrying me as I’m committed to you! Except what are we committed to? Is it really each other or something else all together?

Hopefully anyone still reading has realised that these are not my true intentions. So often though weather we say it like that or not, we have let this become in part our message to Kendall (or whoever your with). On the surface these are totally reasonable things to ask for. But underneath there is so much more being said. One of them being that….”hey Kendall, your just like all the other girls who where not worth waiting for” or ” hey Kendall, if your not good in bed our love means nothing.” or ” I don’t want to hold out for you because sex is better.” but it also says something else. “Hey God, I know you have designed sex to be the ultimate blessing between a man and his wife, but I think your wrong.” or ” Hey God, I know she is your daughter and you have saved her for me my whole life, but I can’t wait on your promise any longer.”

You get the point. Marriage is simply not held to the same standard that it once was. This is truly reflected by the divorce rate, abuse etc. This has been a long running issue but what we have found is that it has increased rapidly over the last 20 to 30 years and still continues to climb. So much has changed. At one time boys where taught to become men by the age of 16-18 and they where to become responsible. Following this maturity;was marriage and then an education but clearly today we reflect a new model. Where education is the tool for responsibility and not parents. Where education becomes more important than what God considers one of the greatest gifts to man. Where responsibility scares men so they choose to stay boys. Where boys are 25 years of age or older? Now I know what your thinking…” education is the responsible thing” To this I completely agree but it should not take priority or the person God has put in your life.

Normally by now I would get into a deeper explanation and bring in the reason for  the biblical perspective of commitment, but instead I want to leave that open for you. What are your thoughts? Lets talk.

P. S. Kendall I love you and cannot wait to experience EVERYTHING God has waiting for us as we wait for it!

the ideal marriage?

Being at the ripe old age of twenty-four, I have realized that the topic of marriage comes up a lot within church, small group settings, and even with my friends. It’s almost as if everyone has it figured out. Obviously that is not the case, because the divorce rate is higher than it’s ever been, even in a Christian household. Yet somehow, the pastor or mentor or divorced buddy of yours still knows the answers to a happy future.

So why would we be curious to talk about marriage? Well, if you’re still not married, thinking about your future with someone is a good feeling…I bet in your thoughts of this special someone, they never cheat on you, hurt you, let you down, nor leave you. At least that’s how I have always looked at it. Since I was a teen, I wanted to one day find that special person to grow old with who would always love me for me. I think that in a relationship there is great value because of what you get out of it, like: sex, love, happiness, friendship and so on. Yet, experience has always taught me the opposite. That relationships are painful, unless it’s with “the one” right? I mean how could it be?

You see we build up these truly deceiving ideas of what love and marriage is, because were taught that the Bible gives us this step-by-step direction to a healthy and beneficial marriage. If we just do what is says, the perfect person will be out there waiting for us. But, the Bible doesn’t actually teach that does it? Yet for some reason, we still think that is the case. In fact, in books like Ephesians and Colossians, they talk about how relationships should look like. Ephesians 5: 21 “Submit to one another (wife’s AND husbands) out of reverence for Christ.” Notice this is not for each other, or so that you will live a happy life. Instead, it is out of reverence for Christ. Not so that you will live happily ever after, instead so that you will be rewarded in Heaven and do right to one- another, which is part of your service to God.

In the book of Hosea you find a husband who is commanded to stay with his wife, regardless of what she does, because that would be a witness to how God loves us regardless of what we do. In fact, she is unfaithful to her husband to point that he becomes the father of children that aren’t even his own. Yet, in all of her unfaithfulness, he still CHOOSES to love her and stay with her. This really points only to one thing, an irrational love. Unconditional and undeserving yet He still loves us that much. How we are to be to our husbands and wives is a reflection of our reverence and thankfulness for the love that God has had for us. It should also show us that the kind of love we wish to have in a relationship here on Earth, can only be found in a relationship with Christ. Yes we can be happy with our significant other but it’s also in response to the joy we share for our Lord.

I could go on with this subject, but first, I want to continue this in discussion with you.

This is the first of two different blogs I will be posting in the next month. This one being Marriage under oath, the second being, First comes sex then comes babies, what happened to love and marriage?

Quiet reflections and revelations.

When I think of my experience with God I am reminded of His presence in my life and the fruit I have seen from His Spirit at work. Quiet reflections and revelations I’ve had come to mind. My immediate response? …..Thankfulness, followed by the thought of others who don’t share this sensitivity that I feel. I have a friend who has felt distant from God for some time now….almost abandoned. I think most of you know this person or maybe it’s you laying there saying ” Why Lord? Have you forgotten me? Is this just a period of time that will pass, has God really left, have I done something wrong?” It gives me a sense of unsettling just thinking about it, as it should, but quickly I am reminded of a God who hides himself. (Isa 45:15, Ps 10:1) So what we often experience is not his presence but an elusive absence.

In times of doubt and questioning of God in our lives we often think he has abbandoned us or forgotten us (Ps 42:9). When in reality he has hidden himself from us. But why would a God who is in relationship with us hide? Well, in the simpilist way put; someone who is hidden must be saught after and found. I think just maybe God desires us to seek him and not simply expect Him to come to us and show Himself.

Just a thought…what do you think?