I first heard Voddie Baucham back in 2006 while attending a conference. I recently went back and listened to his message again and I would like to share it with you. He asks and answers four questions that probably every human being has asked in some way or another…
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is wrong with the world?
How can what is wrong be made right?
I’ve attached a brief clip below that I hope will entice you to watch the entire message here. I think there are some things here for us to sink our teeth into that will both encourage and challenge us in our desire to see citywide restoration.
The Christmas season has become an interesting phenomenon to me—full of contrasts, contradictions, and irony. It is during this time of the year that we see most clearly both the devastation and the hope that live side-by-side in our city. Shoppers with arms full of gadgets and “must have” items rush past the poor and the homeless. Workaholic fathers looking to assuage their guilt with a purchase or two speed past those “pitiful addicts” standing on the street corner looking for a handout. Meanwhile, churches throughout our city fill up with people celebrating the birth of the Messiah—the One we profess to worship above all else, the One we declare to be worth more than all the riches of this world, the One we say has the power to break any addiction and to set the prisoner free, the One we claim to live for every day of our lives.
Do you see the devastation? Do you see the hope?
Amidst all of these disjointed images are peole and families who genuinely care and want to make a difference. Many seek out ways to help by adopting a family or by volunteering their time to serve others. But all too often, these are isolated, “seasonal” acts of kindness rather that a consistent way of living.
This year, I am challenging each of us to consider a different way of living that extends well beyond Christmas. If Jesus is really our treasure and if making Him known is our passion, then we must share our lives with those around us—openly, generously, sacrificially, and consistently. Paul provides us with the Biblical picture of this sort of lifestyle in his first letter to the Thessalonians when he writes, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
How about us? Are we willing to share our lives with the people of Winston-Salem? Not just our church services or our religious rhetoric or our token donations–our lives!
Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]. For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting]. Matthew 16:24-25 (AMP)
At Hoops4Him we say that the most important part of our name is not the ‘Hoops’ but the ‘Him’. And hopefully we all understand that the ‘Him’ we’re referring to is Jesus. Saying this is one thing. Living it out is another. In fact, apart from a God-initiated heart change we cannot.
So as we start the 2009/2010 Hoops4Him season, I thought it would be a good idea to start with our hearts. It’s an uncomfortable place to start. Many of us would prefer to “get on with it”…whatever “it” is. Perhaps we are afraid of what we might discover about our own hearts. Or perhaps we believe that our “doing” might somehow produce a changed heart. But God’s Word is clear—”The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) That doesn’t mean that God is not concerned with our “doing”. It simply reveals a profound truth—that the source of our “doing” is our heart. Everything we do. Everything we say. Is a revelation of our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 says it this way—”Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)
What we need most of all is a changed heart. More accurately, we need a new heart. A heart that is united and undivided. A heart that is malleable and sensitive to the touch of God. A heart that is broken and contrite. The kind of heart that only God can give. The kind of heart that He promises to give to His children. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19)
The only way Jesus is truly going to be the heart of Hoops4Him is if He’s the heart of you and me. Then our words and our actions will reveal His heart. Before the game. During the game. And after the game.
Look forward to seeing the heart of Jesus on display this Saturday for Week 3 of Hoops4Him 2009/2010!!
NOTE: This update may also be seen at www.hoops4him.org. Hoops4Him is the citywide youth basketball program of 614 Restoration seeking to connect students in our city across geographic, cultural, racial, social, and economic barriers through sports and other recreational activities centered on Christ.
Many people in our city, including me and my family, have been impacted by this current economic downturn. Some among us have been impacted more than others. In the midst of all the incessant commentary and prognostications, consider with me five ways that God intends to use this ‘recession’…
He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in His grace rather than in our goods, in His mercy rather than our money, and in His worth rather than our wealth.
He intends to advance His saving mission in the world–the spread of the gospel and the advancement of His Kingdom–precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how He guards His glory.
He intends for His children to care for one another and to grow in the gift of love. (this list is from a sermon by John Piper)
Father, help me and any who would claim your Name in our city to count all things as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. Deliver us from our fears that cause us to seek self-preservation over the willful laying down of our lives that You desire and demand. Help us to live open-handedly and open-heartedly towards others. Grant us grateful, humble hearts. Crush the pride within us that alienates us from You. Give us an eternal perspective. In love, do whatever is necessary to move us beyond materialistic, consumer-driven, me-centered lives. Give us hearts like Proverbs 30:7-9…
7 “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
As we were driving home today, Miša (our 4-year old daughter) says excitedly ‘Daddy, I saw Jesus!’ I replied, ‘That’s awesome. Where?’ She pointed out her window and said, ‘There.’ Up in the sky was a beautiful ray of light shining down through the grey blue sky. A few minutes later we pulled into our driveway. Miša then says, ‘I want to see Jesus closer.’ As we walk down our driveway to get a better look, Alena (our 2 1/2 year-old daughter) proceeds to throw her baby doll up in the air and says, ‘My baby touched Jesus!’ We eventually make our way across our culdesac for the best view where we took this picture.
As we walked back towards our house two thoughts entered my mind. 1 – Call me crazy, but I think Miša was right. She did see Jesus. And because she did and wasn’t afraid to say so, I think I saw Him too. 2 – Miša not only saw Jesus, she pursued Him. And Alena (or at least her baby doll) touched Him. Both of them wanted to be close to Him. I do too.
Czech Republic students form the number '20' in honor of th 20th anniversary of the 'Velvet Revolution'.
Many of you know that my wife Renee and I have been blessed to lead five short-term missions trips to the Czech Republic. Over the course of those years, we developed strong bonds with many people that continue to this day via Facebook and other technologies. Our hearts were so moved for the people of this nation that we gave our first daughter a Czech name–Miša. We even took Miša with us to the Czech Republic on two occassions–once when she was still in the womb (at 7 months) and once after she was born (at 9 months). We are hoping to go back someday with both of our daughters, Miša and Alena, but we are trusting God with the timing and related details.
In the meantime, I wanted to ask that you would be in prayer for this predominantly atheistic nation. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the “Velvet Revolution”–the Czech Republic’s freedom from the Soviet Union and its Communist stranglehold. As many in the Czech Republic are preparing to celebrate this day of freedom, many Czechs remain captive to far more heinous oppressors–humanism, materialism and atheism. Many of the younger Czechs have never lived under Soviet domination, but now live under the deceptive domination of the kingdom of darkness. Please pray with me for the people of the Czech Republic. And pray also for those in our own city, in the most ‘free’ nation on earth, who are even now held captive and enslaved by Satan whose chief aim is to kill, steal, and destroy as he masquerades as an angel of light.
This is a powerful and convicting message. Perhaps the citywide restoration at the very heart of 614 Restoration is in need of the fertile soil of anguish?
‘Anguish means extreme pain and distress. The emotions so stirred that it becomes painful. Acute deeply felt inner pain because of conditions about you, in you, or around you. Anguish. Deep pain. Deep sorrow. Agony of God’s heart. All true passion is born out of anguish. All true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of anguish. You search the Scripture and you’ll find that when God determined to recover a ruined situation, He would share His own anguish for what God saw happening to His Church and to His people. And He would find a praying man and He would take that man and literally baptize him in anguish.’
Esse Quam Videri. The North Carolina State Motto. Translation…
‘To Be, Rather Than To Seem’
In today’s world of superficial, shallow, posers and fakers…both inside and outside the ‘church’…I thank God for this powerfully simple motto. And I pray that more who name the name of Jesus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina would ‘be’…rather than seem to be. Considering the state we’re in…it’s time!
‘Rise up O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of Kings.’ (Hymn written by William P. Merrill)
614 Restoration is ultimately and preeminently about restoring the people and places in our city through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While we remain committed to inspiring and equipping this generation of young people to be the catalysts for a powerful move of God in our city, we cannot ignore the plain truth that God has called men to step up and lead. So here is a call to the men in our city who would dare to name the name of Jesus.
This morning, my 4-year old daughter Miša and I read our morning devotional. It was about the day that we will be taken up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air (1 Thess 4:17). At the end of our conversation I said, “We won’t even need wings to fly.” Miša’s quick response — “Yea. Because God will carry us.”
That’s deep. The only thing I might add or change — “God is carrying us…even now.” Thank you Jesus!!
This morning, my 4-year old daughter Miša and I read our morning devotional. It was about the day that we will be taken up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air (1 Thess 4:17). At the end of our conversation I said, “We won’t even need wings to fly.” Miša’s quick response — “Yea. Because God will carry us.”
