Legitimate Ministry

A friend of mine says that “We need to be extremely narrow in our focus of ministry, but extremely broad in our definition of what is legitimate ministry.”

I think he’s on to something.

I was meditating on this recently, and two stories – connected stories – spoke to me on the subject.

The first is the apostles’ answer to the Sanhedran when the were questioned about their work: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

I see this as a standard for how we define our own ministry: we obey God. It’s pretty simple actually. Whatever God tells us to do, we do that.

More specifically, we don’t look to religious leaders (or other people, for that matter) to approve of the thing that God is telling us to do. We have one judge, and it’s not you or me, or the guy down the street leading a lot of people.

I think I might go further: you don’t need their approval, and you don’t need their permission to obey God. If God is calling you to do something, to start something, to take a risk, do it!

(I need to insert the obligatory warnings here: “Don’t be stupid!” “Don’t do it in rebellion.” “Don’t build your own empire.” OK? Let’s move on.)

The second story is in the next paragraph. Let me quote it for you:

³⁴ Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. ³⁶ For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. ³⁸ And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; ³⁹ but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.” Acts 5:34-39

This story addresses how we define the ministry of others. The short version: we don’t. As Gamaliel points out: we can’t always tell if someone is moving in the power of God or in the power of man: wisdom is to step back and Let God sort it out.

But what if we get people going off and starting their own thing in rebellion? Then we have people going off and starting their own thing in rebellion. It’s OK. God is not thrown off by that. As Gamaliel points out, those eventually “will come to nothing.”

God will take care of it. He promised to build His church, and I think He means it.

The danger of course, is that if we take on the responsibility of preventing people from starting illegitimate ministry, then we – who are not omniscient – are in danger of preventing legitimate ministry.

Some said – back in the day – that young upstart Loren Cunningham should not leave the Assemblies of God church where he was youth pastor to start Youth With a Mission (YWAM). In the 50 or so years since then, YWAM has become the largest and perhaps most effective missions agency in history of Christianity. Millions of people have come to faith through the men and women of that ministry.

Would you want to stand before God and say “Oops…” for having prevented Loren

from starting YWAM? Would you want responsibility for preventing millions of salvations because you thought Loren was missing God? Me neither.

So my recommendation is that we put our efforts into obeying God. Don’t worry about what others think. Don’t worry about what others do.

Like Nike says: Just Do It.™

The Pilgrimgram comes from an elder Pilgrim about the thing we call "church." Seldom politically correct, this is what I hear God saying to and among His Church today. Feel free to share it.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

What you don’t know CAN hurt you

By Donna Astern

Life is a great teacher. And the older you get, hopefully, the more you realize how much more you still need to learn.

If we apply our hearts to gaining wisdom, we can actually become even wiser than our teachers. But first, appreciate the wisdom your teachers have gained.

God has established the laws of natural realm and the laws of the spiritual. Paying heed to these laws can keep you from serious harm -- the law of gravity for example.

I have met so many Christians with little to no understanding of spiritual laws, and who are bewildered and despairing because of those unknown laws at work within their every day life. Unless they are in enough pain to listen, there is often scoffing at the idea that they themselves may have set something into motion, or allowed a law to repeat through ignorance or foolishness.

It's just easier to blame somebody else. Or decide God doesn't care.

There are a number of spiritual laws at work in your life right now. Like gravity, they can be working for you or against you, depending on what you have activated.

Add to these laws the Principle of Increase and you have the making of either disaster or abundance. When a farmer sows seed, he reaps a multiplied harvest much greater than what he sowed.

Here's a spiritual law you don't ignore without penalty:

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." (Matt 7:1-2)

Sitting around mocking, criticizing, judging others not only causes your own spiritual blindness and pride to grow, but it will cause you to be on the receiving end.

Despising your parents for their failures, weaknesses, and sins insures that you yourself will have even more in your own life. In fact, in the very area where you judge and dishonor your parents is exactly where you will reap in your own life.

How many parents having problems with their children have realized that they are on the receiving end of how they treated their own parents?

We are usually so blind to what seeds we planted, and then we forgot that we planted them.

The good news is that we can appropriate higher laws and overturn the operation of negative ones in our lives through repentance and choosing a new way. The Word of God reveals this better way.

"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you." (Luke 6:35-38)

One of the major aspects of Biblical prayer counseling is to help the person see where they have violated the commands of God and begun a process of negative reaping in their own lives.

By Donna Astern
Destiny Spirit Apostolic Network



The Pilgrimgram comes from an elder Pilgrim about the thing we call "church." Seldom politically correct, this is what I hear God saying to and among His Church today. Feel free to share it

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

Revival: Future or Present?

For as long as I can remember – and that’s a long time – I’ve been looking forward to revival. I’ve heard the same stories that you have: a great outpouring in the last days, a great pouring out of God’s Spirit that draws people to Him by the millions and changes the face of the church and the world in a year or a month or a day.

We read about the Book of Acts, where 5000 people came to faith in a day, 3000 the next chapter, where signs and wonders seem to permeate the air and where the church met house-to-house. That’s what we’re longing for in our generation.

More than longing, many of us believe that such a revival – or greater – is coming to the Church before this is all over. There have been prophetic words from credible voices that God’s going to bring a harvest of a billion souls in a generation, that He’s going to “change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the earth in one.” Pretty heady stuff.

All that is well and good. We long for revival. We believe revival is coming. I have two problems with that. Both of them come from looking at revival as this great big thing that God does as a sovereign act of amazing power.

The first problem with our picture of revival is that we define revival as so big and so massive that we see it – consciously or subconsciously – as something that God does when He’s good and ready, and we stop taking personal responsibility for it.

I certainly can’t bring a million people to faith in a day, so we step back and most of us confine ourselves to wishing that He’d do His thing in our day.

(If we really believed that God was going to pour out that kind of harvest, wouldn’t we do something to help? Wouldn’t we do something to prepare? Sometimes I wonder if we expect God to do it so we don’t have to. )

At no point did God say, “You know that ‘Go ye into all the world’ thing? Nah… don’t bother. I’ll do it for you.” But we act often enough as though He did.

No, if God is going to bring a massive revival that turns the world upside down again, (and I believe He is), He’s going to do it mostly through His church. Us. You and me. He’s going to use us.

When Jesus walked the earth, He walked as a man, not as fully-powered-up God in a human disguise: as a man in right relationship with God. That’s what the incarnation is all about. And His walking the earth certainly changed things: people’s lives were turned upside down, the lame walked, the blind saw, the dead lived, thousands were fed, thousands more followed Him to hear Him talk about the Kingdom.

He did all of that as a man: flesh and blood like you and me. He taught. He healed. He resurrected people. At no point did he wake up in the morning to sudden success: thousands of adoring followers where none existed the night before. Father God did step in with the odd sovereign act, but that was exclusively limited to speaking: “This is my Son whom I love! Listen to Him!” (See Mark 1:11 & 9:7)

Jesus did the work. He did it empowered and directed by His Father, just as we need to do the work of revival empowered and directed by our Father. But it it’s our work to do; we must not just wait for God to do it for us, hoping that we wake up one day and suddenly there are the tens of thousands of people wanting to fill up our churches. Yeah, He could do that. No, that’s not how He does things.

The second problem with our picture of revival is that we limit it to only the great and spectacular, only the front-page news; worse, we limit it only to front-page news in America.

A wise man once told me: “If you want to see revival, go home. Close your door. Draw a circle on the floor and sit inside the circle. Then pray for revival to start in the circle. When you are revived, then revival has started.”

I am firmly committed that revival has already started. But because it doesn’t conform to our expectations, we say to ourselves, “That can’t be revival!”

First, if you and I are revived, then revival has begun. It’s already here! Now, I happen to believe it’s quite a bit bigger than that, but it’s true: we don’t have people pouring out into the streets asking how to meet God.

We have testimonies of God doing signs and wonders again. In America! We haven’t had that for generations! Other parts of the world are seeing millions won to Christ in a generation. Some African nations are now 80% or even 90% Christian, where the gospel was virtually unknown a century ago. South Korea is experiencing similar amazing growth.

I will agree, this is not enough. We want more. Jesus deserves more! The Moravian prayer has not yet been answered: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”

What we have is not enough, but it is revival. Our prayer needs to change from, “O Lord, please bring revival”, to “Please increase our revival!” Shepherding a revival is a different process than hoping and praying for one to start.

My goal of this article is this: we need to re-define ourselves. We are not waiting for revival; we are caretakers of revival. We have something of revival now, and it is our responsibility to nurture it, to shepherd it to carry it out. We must be empowered and directed by God, yes, but it’s our revival. What are we going to do with it?

The Pilgrimgram comes from an elder Pilgrim about the thing we call "church." Seldom politically correct, this is what I hear God saying to and among His Church today. Feel free to share it.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

Being Church 24/7

by Molong Nacau

Jesus never intended for Christianity to become a religious sect. He did however want His followers to follow His footsteps in how He lived life, as designed by God, on this earth. Watching what His Father does and hearing what His Father says is what He does. That’s how He’s obedient to His Father’s will. It’s not a matter of rules or of even choosing between right and wrong but of just being obedient to His Father. In like manner, the same Father calls us. He wants us, as His children, to each become an obey-er, just like Jesus.

Being church is living Christianity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And every child of God can do just that because the Holy Spirit is not just here to stay in a believer’s life on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings but every minute of the day, even if one is just sitting down or lying in bed. We are the temple of God, and wherever we go, we stay the same-the church of Jesus Christ.

Being church is neither going to church nor doing church activities. It is not a full-time or part-time Christian, and most of all; it is not a Sunday-going believer. It is not defining worship as attending worship services in church buildings. Also, it is not having a specialized ministry (a person who specializes in specific ministry in the church or someone who is a part of an elite group that does a specific task in the church or outside the church but is overseen by someone higher in authority like a pastor).

Wherever I go, I meet tens if not hundreds of Christians who don’t care about going to church anymore. It’s not that they have lost their faith, but rather that they have kept it until now. And they’re afraid of losing it if they were to join a church! Most of these folks are not just pew sitters but have ministries in their local churches. Amazingly, I’ve also learned some have backslidden not because they were made to stumble by someone outside church, but by someone inside it!

“Eastern disciplines became popular in the 1970s; some Christians have searched their own tradition for an inner path to the divine, hoping to balance or even supplant the sometimes-dry diet of Sunday churchgoing.” - Bart Ehrman

Millions of Christians around the world are aware of this kind of Christian Modernization. They are not ignorant anymore of the two-faced mask of hypocrisy and its effect on divisions in the body.

Let us hear from author, David Barrett, and see if the message is the same here and everywhere. He said, “World Christian Encyclopedia, estimates there are already 112 million ‘out-of-church Christians’ globally.” He expects this number to double by 2025.

New Zealand pastor Alan Jamieson, author of the book A Churchless Faith, has been studying this phenomenon for years and says it is not the “normal churchgoers” who are leaving the church for reasons of faith:

• 94% of the Christians he has interviewed, who are currently without a church, were in positions of leadership or responsibility, such as deacons, elders and Sunday school teachers.
• 40% of them were once in full-time ministry.
• Many of them said they left the church not because they had lost their faith, but exactly because they did not want to lose it.”

This may be weird, but it’s real. (See also Barna Research Group and Andrew Strom’s book, Out of Church Christians.)

Are these people looking for a different kind of Christianity? Are they tired of being religious? Could it be attending church – Sunday after Sunday, week after week, month after month, and year after year, both now and forever, amen – doesn’t make you a good Christian? Maybe that’s why Justin Kuek, a church planter of 20 years, comments that good Christians don’t go to church! He even wanted to write a book about that. Check out the label my friend. See if you’ve called by His Name. Otherwise, you might end up as just another brand of Christianity on the sidewalk.

“There’s a lot of interest in early Christian diversity because people who have left church, and some who are still in it, are looking for another way of being a Christian.” - Marcus Borg

Structured Christianity?

If you really want to check on Jesus life and ministry in the gospels you will find out Jesus never did the same thing twice in the same way. In other words, He wasn’t into techniques but was unpredictable. In our human strength (or perhaps more accurately weaknesses), we try to systematize everything Jesus did. For example, Peter who, after seeing heavenly glory, wanted to build Tabernacles in the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. And not only one, but three!

There’s also the time when Jesus spat on the ground and made clay and put it on a blind man’s eyes and commanded him to wash it in the pool. May I ask those who have a Healing of the Blind Ministry, did Jesus use a clockwise or a counterclockwise motion? Or maybe I will specialize with a Spitting Ministry. Do you want me to spit on you?

Jesus’ life was never structured; He simply obeyed His Father. Singing for 30 minutes may not be worship at all. Worship is obedience to what He called us to be. That is the highest form of worship. It is the expression of our redeemed lives, our way of life. We cannot just put our Lord or His ways into a system.

Churches today are like spiritual machines. Programs are their survival kits. People love to pour their money into the machine to keep it running. But in reality, church life is like a wind: you don’t know where it goes. It is a journey, a daily journey. It cannot be sewn up in the intellect; it must be uncovered during the journey.

Be Led By The Spirit And Walk In The Spirit

Have you wondered why we are to be led by and walk in the Spirit? Because a disciple is a follower, a follower of Jesus’ footsteps, we are on a journey. No wonder the measurement of our maturity is to be like Christ and the end of it is when we see Him face to face (1 John 3:2). So it’s not joining Discipleship Class 101 or working our way through a curriculum but it is a lifelong day-to-day commitment. A “take up your cross daily and follow Me” subject. The fruit of the Spirit are not there as proof of maturity but is part of the progress of your journey toward Christ. It is not the sign of your qualification as a mature person but a quality of the life you live before everybody. It is not the end of your journey; it is your endless journey until you meet met Him.

We are not only not religious, but we’re not legalists either. We are not guided by rules, but we are guarded by our freedom in Christ. Paul rightly claimed, “Everything is permissible to me but not everything is beneficial.” What a freedom we have in Christ!

You Can Be Natural And At The Same Time Spiritual

Jesus was the most spiritual person on earth and He was also the most natural person on earth. Our religious assumption is that we’re trying to separate our natural life from our spiritual life. When we have devotions, we think we are more holy and closer to God. We feel spiritual. But how about afterwards? When we “minister” we feel spiritual. But when we’re done ministering what are we?

The only valid answer is: You are religious, not spiritual – making Sunday a holy day just because you’ve gone to church, then considering Monday through Saturday unholy because you go to work. You are separating the sacred from the secular. You are not righteous, you are religious! And the danger of being religious is that it prevents you from obtaining the real thing.

The best word we have for this is “hypocrite.” One man entered a church on Sunday morning and wondered why the people there ignored and avoided him. “Ah, I see,” he realized. “They don’t like smoking. Church people don’t like smoking.” So he threw away his cigarette butts. People started to welcome him, believing he was touched by God’s presence in church. After church he went home, opened the cabinet and lit a piece of cigar. Next Sunday members thought he stopped smoking because of a touch from God’s presence. No. It was their legalism and their religiosity. What did this man learn? He learned to play the game of hypocrisy. Where? In the church. And often pastors are the biggest hypocrites there.

I Am The Church Where Should I Go?

God in heaven transferred His residence from a temple building to a temple body, which is Christ’s church on earth. Even from the beginning, God’s original intention was to stay in a Tent, which is mobile, not in a Tabernacle, which is stable. But even then God granted David’s desire, but not for long. “God became flesh and dwelt [“tabernacled” in Greek] among us.” He wants to have a movement of people, not a monument of bricks. He wants called out ones, a community, and a nation of priests. And only God can move people into such a movement of ekklesia.

Movement of ekklesia. Who can make a difference? God’s only purpose for giving His people the Laws, priests, sacrifices, the Temple and circumcision was for them to be different from all peoples of the earth. But a short time later they intermarried with other nations. The pagans’ gods became their gods. They became friends with the world and developed enmity toward God. Is there any difference? Instead of these nations following them, God’s people became their followers. The important thing is not that we do church differently. What counts is how we live life differently.

“The Lord simply said, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.” - Mike Bickle

by Molong Nacau
courtesy Third Day Churches

Third Day Churches, Inc.
P.O. Box 7531
San Diego CA 92167
info@thirddaychurches.com

Visit Northwest Prophetic for a complete archive of regional prophetic words, or to submit a prophetic word.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

Rant: Home Groups

I’ve been thinking about home groups. Church is a really good thing and all, but no matter how good the church is, it’s still a big group. It’s still hard to really get involved. It’s still easy to hide in the background.

I love the worship of the big group; it’s often rally hard to match that in most home groups. And the teaching in the big meeting is often (but not always) really valuable. There are things that you can do in a big group that you can’t do in a little group.

But the reverse is equally true. There are things you can do in a little group that you can’t do in a big group, really valuable things like making great friends, like sharing your heart, like getting prayed for regularly, like laughing together until your sides hurt, or weeping together in the presence of God.

The combination of the two is priceless. In fact, between the two, I often think the home group is the more important gathering of the two. Not always. Not saying the big meeting is insignificant. Just saying home groups are that valuable.

Too often, I’ve found it too easy to be too comfortable in a big church. If I plaster on a big fake smile and don’t linger too long in conversation in the lobby, I can get away without ever having engaged anyone at all. I can’t get away with that in a home group. And I like that. I need that.

We’re starting home groups in our church. It’s kind of hard work, mostly because of all the bad experiences we’ve had before. We have as much un-learning to do as anything else.

Here are some values we have in our home groups:

• The first rule is that church leadership is not making a bunch of rules for home groups. If you want to start a group, go for it. We’ll help, but we won’t tell you what to do. Well, we’ll try not to.

• You can meet whenever you want, wherever you want, and as often as you want. Homes are always a good place for home groups, but so are coffee shops, pubs, conference rooms and the local shopping mall. Take field trips. Wherever you are, the Church is, so have at it! Be creative.

• Teach what you want to teach. All we ask is that you love God and love people. Then teach what you want. Teach the Bible. Teach from a study guide, from a popular book, from current movies. Or don’t include any teaching in your group. We don’t recommend reviewing this weeks sermons unless the group insists. They’ve already heard that.

• Invite who you want to invite. People from the church. People from the neighborhood. People from other churches. People from other home groups. Heck, you can invite people from other planets if you can figure out where to park their cars. Bring in guest speakers if you like. Or not

• Relationships are primary. More than teaching. More than acts of service. More than prayer. More even than having a meal together! (Oh my!) On the other hand, there’s not much that’s better at building relationships than praying together, or serving together, studying the Word together or especially sharing supper together.

• If you’re leading a group, you’re choosing to submit yourself to a higher standard of accountability than Joe Schmotz in the back row of the church with the big fake smile. But like Paul Manwaring says, “Accountability is not about making sure you don’t smoke. Accountability is making sure that you are on fire.”

We’ll undoubtedly think of more values as we do this for a while. But for now, this is a good starting place.


Visit Northwest Prophetic for a complete archive of regional prophetic words, or to submit a prophetic word.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

What a Leader Wears

By John Bishop | Living Hope Church

I can be a dumb traveler sometimes. Recently I spoke at a conference called “Innovation 3” in Dallas, Texas. Being from the Pacific Northwest, there have been times when I have forgotten to pack for where I was going and have packed for where I live. Such was the case with Dallas. While I was there, Dallas just happened to have the biggest ice storm they had seen in years. All of that is to say that I wasn’t prepared.

The great theologian Forrest Gump said it best, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Traveling rule #1: The climate or environment always dictates what we “ought” to wear, and if we can dial that in before we travel, we can not only travel with less stuff but more importantly, the right stuff.

Maybe this works for a leader as well. I think the climate of heaven can dictate what we ought to be wearing. "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven..." Colossians 3:1

If we set our sights on Heaven it will begin to reframe how we think, which little by little will change how we behave and in time, will change the clothes we wear. The more we understand the climate of our destination, the better prepared we are to dress appropriately.

Paul was writing to a church that was dividing, unsatisfied, seeing temporal and physical things, and they had clothing drift. Imagine that? They began forgetting spiritual stuff. Paul gives them insight to the heavenly climate; “…You must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience….” Colossians 3:12b

I wonder how relationships would be if we dressed like that? How would the dynamic of teams change if we had higher levels of mercy and humility and lower levels of pride and indifference? Maybe we are dressing more for where we are, and less for where we want to go?

As leaders, we first have to change the grid of what matters most (priorities), then we have to lead by GOING FIRST.

Interestingly, before Paul tells us what to wear, he tells us why we ought to wear it.

"Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with..." Colossians 3:12a

The key word here is "MUST". It’s not about optional clothing. Why? Because we were chosen before the world was created to represent in flesh what God looks like. We are salt and light. We are ambassadors of Christ. We are the people of God, followers of Christ, and LEADERS FOR CHRIST. We, collectively, are the face of the church.

When we wear what Jesus wore, we look like Jesus looked, and people see what they saw in His life. Often as leaders we dress more for ourselves than the people we are called to serve. We have to go first!

Set your sights on Heaven; put on things of Heaven, the same clothes Jesus wore, the clothes he lived for and died in.

After Paul talks about what to wear, he goes on to put forgiveness in a separate category. "You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." Colossians 3:13

Are you making allowances for people in your life who have failed or offended you? People mess up but we don’t make allowances. Instead we make judgments: staff that have betrayed us, people that “we” have sacrificed for leave us, couples who we have prayed with get divorced anyway. Life happens, fast and furious, and church leadership is messy but we don’t forgive; we get hurt, angry and stay isolated.

How can we as leaders ask people to do what we’re not doing? How can we dare not live the message that we preach? Who are you not forgiving? What is causing bitterness in your life? When will it be enough? How long will you carry it?

AT THE CROSS YOU LOST YOUR EXCUSE TO NOT FORGIVE.

Our need to forgive is intrinsically and eternally tied to the fact that God forgave us. He forgave all our crap, all our bad decisions, all of the thoughts that only He knows about, and all of the ways we will blow it in the future. So when we feel someone has wronged us, we should consider it gone. Be done with it. Cancel the debt and let it go. Forgiving for us is unnatural for sure and is a journey, not an event, but it is not optional.

There is one more thing we need to “wear." “And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:14

Out of everything we wear, the most important piece of clothing is LOVE. The order of Paul’s words is interesting and penetratingly convicting. He says to think about Heaven, be merciful, forgive and then love. I guess love could be called the coat we wear that represents what matters most.

I never owned a letterman's jacket in high school but I love seeing students wear them. The letters, pins, colors and logos are all about displaying on the outside what matters so much to them on the inside. It’s a symbol of their achievements, passions and convictions. A letterman's jacket says a lot without having to say much.

At a recent service, I was standing in the back of the auditorium and had the privilege of meeting a young girl who had a lot of letters, patches and pins on her letterman’s jacket. She was a scholar/athlete. Her daddy stood next to her and was so proud of his daughter – of the work she had done and what she had chosen to make her life about. It was a moment I will never forget. He bragged, she smiled and listened, and so did I.

As they walked away, I had a picture of how it is with our Heavenly Daddy. When we do the hard thing like choose love, patience and forgiveness, He is right there standing next to us, proud of His son or daughter, because we are displaying to others what matters most for His eternal Kingdom.

I think the bottom line for me is this: If the church that God has allowed me to lead stopped meeting, would anyone notice or even care? Am I really representing Heaven? Is the church I lead loving its city? Do people authentically care?

What we wear matters more than we think!

John Bishop is the Senior Pastor of Living Hope Church in Vancouver, Washington USA. He is married to his beautiful wife, Michelle, and has three children, David, Katie and Hannah. As a pastor, John strives to cultivate an "Acts 2" church where people pursue being fully devoted Christ followers, and serve each other. He longs for church to be a place where people live the values Jesus died for.

Visit Northwest Prophetic for a complete archive of regional prophetic words, or to submit a prophetic word.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

Hope Does Not Disappoint

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

I’ve been reflecting on hope for a while. I’ve come to the conclusion that I haven’t understood the subject very well.

In our culture – and our churches are part of this – we make statements like, “Oh, I hope John’s operation goes well.” We use “hope” as a synonym for “wish”, and when we do, we reveal that our concept of hope is relatively powerless. Our actions and our unguarded words reveal that we consider hope to be little (if any) more than random chance.

Since I’m going to shoot that perspective down, I might as well do it directly: this thinking is heretical, it reveals lazy thinking, and it’s insulting to the God who loves me enough to die for me.

I’m certain that our insulting heresy is not (normally) an intentional choice; we believe poorly because we haven’t learned any better. We’ve let our secular culture do too much of our thinking for us instead of letting the Spirit of God teach us.

Hope Does Not Disappoint.

First of all, whatever hope really is, it is not about disappointment. It’s not about the longings of my heart (or yours) being disregarded, crushed or ignored.

Hope is built on the love of God, not the roll of the dice. Because the love of God has been poured out in my heart through the Holy Spirit, therefore hope does not disappoint. Two observations:

· This is a done deal: the love of God has already been poured out, the Holy Spirit has already been given. I am not waiting for God to do something, nor is He waiting for me to do something, for hope to become secure. It’s based on things that have actually happened.

· This is likely proportional: If I don’t know the love of God, then I am likely to have difficulty knowing the hope that does not disappoint. To the degree that my life is entwined with the Holy Spirit who was given to me, to that same degree I am able to know this powerful and reliable hope.

In fact, Biblical hope does not rely on chance and it does not rely on me. It relies on God. It doesn’t even rely on God’s power or his will: it relies on who He is. “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and it is His love – His very identity – that is the assurance that hope does not disappoint.

Hope Involves the Unseen

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. – Romans 8:24-25

Hope is all about promises that we have not yet received. If we have the thing promised, then hope is meaningless. But if we have a promise that we have not yet received, then that’s a good place to employ hope.

More specifically, if it’s been promised by God, then we can rely on it, we can be confident that although we don’t see it now – and we may not even see the first clue that it’s even possible – yet because I are recipients of God’s love poured out in my heart, I can have confidence that hope will not disappoint.

Hope is a Fight

What does the verse say? “…with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” The Greek word for perseverance involves fight, a determined persistence in the face of obstacles. There are some animals that when they bite, their jaw locks into place, and letting go is not an option for them until the fight is over. If you kill the animal, the jaw remains locked in place.

So we wait with perseverance. But we also wait eagerly.

I have a friend who has four kids, and on Christmas morning, he doesn’t let them leave their room until the parents give the call, “Merry Christmas Kids!” Before that moment, the parents are wrapping the last of the presents, tucking the last toy into a stocking, while the kids are nearly beside themselves with anticipation. When the call finally comes, there are four pajama-clad blurs down the hallway and woe be unto anyone or anything that stands in the way. That's how we wait.

If you have ever tried to persuade a child that Christmas has been cancelled this year (and I’ve tried), you’ll get an earful. If you persist (and it was a mistake), then you’ll get an idea of what “…with perseverance we wait eagerly” actually means. That's how we wait.

That’s what our hope is to be like. Even though it’s not here yet, nevertheless we cannot be persuaded that it is not coming, and we are excited beyond measure for the arrival of that for which we hope.

Hope Has an Object

We hold on to hope, not as an end in itself. We don’t hope in hope, we hope in God. We have Hope because it is God Himself that has given us hope as He has already given us His love and His Holy Spirit.

And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Psalm 39:7

There is a weakness, a vulnerability, in the subject of hope, and that’s why the object of our hope is so important. Because we have confused “hope” with “wish”, it’s not impossible – not even difficult – to confuse our wishes with hope.

I know people who (generally unintentionally) use hope to attempt to manipulate God. Because they want a thing, therefore they build this expectation of epic proportions, and they tell themselves (and anyone else who will listen) that God is obligated to provide this thing for them because if He doesn’t, He’ll be letting them down. And using this argument, they wait for the perfect wife, the ideal husband, the perfect ministry to be dropped into their laps.

I am not saying that God has not made promises to these brothers and sisters. I’m saying that God promised salvation (sozo) and eternal life, and that we can and must hold onto those promises, knowing (not wishing) that while we may not see them in their fullness yet, nevertheless, we will inhabit that place, and our confidence those truths is as secure as the truth that God loves us, that God has given His Holy Spirit to us.

I live today knowing that I will inherit all that God has promised to me. I can bank on that, regardless of what my circumstances tell me. More than that, I will.

Visit Northwest Prophetic for a complete archive of regional prophetic words, or to submit a prophetic word.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations

Stupid Leader Tricks

By Geoff Surratt | Seacoast Church

One of the most challenging aspects of working with leaders is seeing an otherwise brilliant leader making a stupid mistake. The most common stupid mistake I see is when a leader tries to do most of the work of the ministry themselves. The reason often comes down to one of several basic issues:

Lonely Martyr Syndrome
Have you ever thought, "No one will do it as well as I will"? If you are like most leaders you think no one cares more about the outcome of ministry than you. You have given away tasks to others in the past and they either did a poor job or dropped the ball altogether. You know that you need to give away ministry to other leaders, but if you do the quality of the ministry will suffer, needs will not be cared for and people will leave the ministry. Rather than giving away ministry you wind up taking on more and more tasks, stretching yourself beyond the breaking point.

If we were really honest we would admit that deep inside we believe that the success of the ministry depends on us. And deeper down we would admit that we like it that way. We crave the validation we get from praise. This attitude also feeds our bitterness and resentment toward people who we feel are using us. We relish the role of the lonely martyr.

Hired Gun Disease
The thinking goes like this, "I am being paid to be the leader, how can I ask volunteers to do my work for me? We're taxing our people's time already by asking them to teach classes and attend small groups, we can't ask them to do even more. And what will the people think of me if I am not working hard? They will find out that other people are doing all the work and I am laying down on the job." One of the key factors of moving to a team based ministry is to get past the guilt of giving away work and realizing that what is a burden is for you is a blessing for someone else.

Corner Cutting Disorder
Sharing ministry is a lot of work; often it is easier to just do it myself. To share the load I have to first identify what part of the ministry I will give away. I then have to find a leader who could take over the task, recruit the new leader and train the new leader. After I have trained the leader I need to coach them in their new task. When they make mistakes I have to help them improve rather than stepping in and taking over. In the end recruiting, training and coaching usually takes a lot more time and effort than doing the task myself. Many leaders work too hard and do too much because doing it themselves is simply easier.

Rejection Aversion
When I first saw Sherry Sparks I knew I was in love. She was the foxiest looking 15 year old chick I'd ever seen. (That is how we talked in 1978) The problem was that the thought of actually talking to her terrified me. What if something fell out of my nose while I was talking to her? Worse, what if I finally got the courage to ask her out and she rejected me? Fortunately I was able to ask a friend to see if a girl he knew would ask her best friend to call Sherry and find out if she would be willing to allow me to call her. Finally I called the lovely Miss Sparks and invited her to our church's next youth group party; two children and 32 years later she still has that effect on me.

Sometimes we don't ask people to share the load of ministry because inside we are still that fifteen year old terrified of being rejected. Whether it's asking for a first date or asking a member to lead a ministry the fear of rejection is never easy to deal with. (By the way it would be a bad idea for a pastor to ask someone to lead a ministry WHILE on a first date.)

Ministry Garage Sale
Every couple of years we go through a painful exercise at our house; we clean out the garage. The challenge is that cleaning out always entails getting rid of stuff. If we aren't ruthless each spring we will eventually drown in a pile of priceless treasures.

Is it time for a garage sale in your ministry? You have been accumulating tasks and responsibilities for years and it might be time to give some stuff away or to simply throw some things away. What are you willing to pass on to someone else? What are you ready to see end all together? Be ruthless, your ministry will grow when you do.

Excerpted from Ten Stupid Things that Keeps Churches from Growing available May 1, 2009 from Zondervan.

Geoff Surratt is Pastor of Ministries for Seacoast Church, a multi-site congregation based in Charleston, South Carolina. Geoff is a co-author Multi-site Church Revolution (Zondervan, 2006) and author of Ten Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing (Zondervan, 2009). You can connect with Geoff at www.geoffsurratt.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/geoffsurratt.

Visit Northwest Prophetic for a complete archive of regional prophetic words, or to submit a prophetic word.

Cool blogs:
• The Pilgrimgram • Firefall Zine • Tall Skinny Kiwi • Darpa's Domain • Bill Johnson • The Internet Monk

Resources
• Be a Hero! • Bethel Redding • Graham Cooke • Church Soundguy • End Time Prophetic Vision

Ministries
• Northwest Equipping • Healing the Northwest • Mosaic Northwest • PacificMinistries • Revival Town • Rivers of Grace • Storehouse Ministries

Missions
• Youth With A Mission • Int'l House of Prayer KC • Int'l House of Prayer NW • Int'l House of Prayer WA • Disciple the Nations