From the VCC Newsletter on 3/9/2020: Relating to Money (Part 2)

It is true that tithing is the first subject of shaping our relationship with money, it is called the first fruit, meaning that we begin there. So before we do anything else, we must glorify God by our tithe (10%) which supports the local church and the pastoral staff. But, how else do we mature in our relationship with God through our money management? 

Believe it or not, what we do with the remaining 90% is just as critical as what we do with our first 10%. It is possible to tithe and still run our lives in a very materialistic way. To avoid that, we have to begin with the end in mind. We must ask ourselves, “What does God want to accomplish through me?” It could be that God is asking you to support a missionary, or to give to the poor. It could be that you need to have emergency money lying around just for helping people as God shows you needs around you. It might be to sponsor a child in another country. There are any number of good works that one can participate in, but the goal isn’t good works, as much as it is joining God in what he is doing. You get to play on God’s team. Your management of that 90% should always follow God’s lead, the same way your management of the 10% does. This means you may need to adjust your lifestyle, your wants, etc. But if we want to mature in our relationship with God, we must join Him in what he is doing-  we must be a steward of what God has given us. We have to let God take control of 100% of our money.

You might be thinking this isn’t possible. But, do not be fooled by the fallacy that one must meet a certain standard of living- and from that, base your finances around that standard. Let me say, if you really are on a very tight budget, it may be that you start with the tithe. That is a great place to start! Then, as your income grows or changes, you can ask that same question, “What does God want to accomplish through me?” And you can follow His lead, giving Him authority over that 100%. 

When you begin with the end in mind, you will find great freedom in a world of materialism. You can do it! You can free yourself from the grip of materialism. You can experience the power of God in your finances. You can choose to serve only one master.

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC newsletter on 3/2:Relating to Money (Part1)

One of the most uncomfortable topics for a pastor to talk about is the topic of money. Yet, if a pastor is to be faithful to teaching the Bible, the truth is that Jesus said more about our relationship with money than other topics. In the Bible, money is like a spiritual thermometer for the health of our relationship with God. Most famously, Jesus told his disciples that no one can serve both God and mammon because no one can have two masters (Matthew 6:24). Scripture goes on to say that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. While that verse is often misquoted, to say that money itself is evil, the real point is not the money, but rather the attitude of the heart. Who or what do you love? 

The challenge of Jesus is not to live in poverty. In fact, many of the Bible’s heroes are persons of great wealth, having been prospered by God, and having reaped a blessing from sowing in righteousness. The money itself is just a tool. The relationship to the money simply tells us in whom we have placed our trust. When we put our trust in something other than God, it generally shows up in our finances. We call this relationship with money stewardship. 

In church circles, when you say stewardship, most people think of giving. While giving is a part of stewardship, it is really a small part (10% to be exact). But what we do with the 90% is just as important as what we do with the 10%. The tithe is considered the first fruit (meaning the first thing). Then, the 90% should also be spent in a way that pleases and honors the Lord. From this 90% we set aside savings for a rainy day, we feed our family, we put a roof over our heads, we give gifts of love, we help those in need, we clothe ourselves and our loved ones, and provide for the general welfare of our family, including saving for the day when we can no longer provide for ourselves by working. We actually teach a whole class on these budgeting skills called Financial Peace University. In fact, we will be offering the class again beginning Friday, April 24 at our community center.  The point is that how we handle our money either makes us a good and faithful steward or an unfaithful steward. For this reason, it is imperative that we manage our money well. Moreover, our relationship with money tells us more about our spiritual health than any other outward indicator. 

So, if a stranger, who knew nothing about you, took a quick survey of your expenditures what would they conclude that you love most? Would it be entertainment? Would it be your family? God? Food? What would they conclude that you love most?  What evidence would there be that you are a spiritually mature person? Would there be evidence that you are a spiritual person? These are important questions that we all need to answer if we are going to grow in our relationship with God. Next week, I will talk more about how to make a plan to mature in our relationship to God (and money).

Grace and peace

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/24:Kids are the Key

Many thinkers, scholars, and pastors are worried about the American church and the sad state of evangelism in the church. As I have often reminded us, there is not a single county in the USA that has seen the percentage of church growth increase in 40 years. We do have some larger churches today, but it is primarily because they are taking people from small churches, or they are sometimes the only churches doing outreach (mostly in the form of advertising and entertainment) but not really making disciples of Jesus Christ. This attraction conversion model is producing converts who barely know their bibles, who lack depth or commitment. It is not in spite of our efforts but as a direct result of them. Our system is perfectly designed to get the results that we are getting. 

What does all of this have to do with children? Well, we know that our most effective efforts in evangelism are our efforts to reach children between 4 years old and 14 years of age. We call it the 4-14 window. Over eighty percent of all people who come to Christ do so between the ages of 4-14. Despite the stats, we tend to spend 95% of our budgets trying to reach the other twenty percent (those over 14). We spend the majority of our teaching efforts, and our energy on them too. And in many cases children’s ministry is left with warm bodies to do little more than babysit while the adults get their church on. This should not be! 

I know that not everyone is cut out for children’s ministry, but everyone can pray for and support the children's ministry. One of the advantages we have is that we have two services. You can attend a service and serve a service. Meaning you don’t have to miss out on anything the adults do, and still do some teaching. You can still be a mentor, and help keep our children’s environment safe, comfortable, and encouraging. You can invest in the future, and do some effective evangelism. If we want the church of the future to be there, then we must invest in the children in the present. So that we not only reach them, but we disciple them, so that they will Love God, Love People, and Pass It On, not just now, but for the rest of their lives. I am certain the dropout rate after high school is not in spite of our efforts but as a result of not making disciples of Jesus among our children and grandchildren, but rather placating them with color pages, moralisms, and using the Bible to scold bad behavior. Please join me in making our children a priority at the Vineyard. 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/17/2020: Mission Drift (Part 5)

It has been said that what we believe is important, but what we are committed to is what we become. Commitment, whether it is to relationship, ideas/values, a way of life, a way of eating--you name it--we become what we are committed to. And vice versa, no matter what we say we value, our real values are what we actually do, those are the things we are actually committed to. Here at the Vineyard we talk about five commitments. These are the things that we believe every believer ought to be committed to doing, not just giving mental assent toward these things, but engaging in each of them. We post them on the website, both in the about section and as the key words for the drop down menu/headers across the top of the home page. They are posted at the top of the news/info sheets in the bathroom. On the app, when you hit the menu button in the top left corner, the categories down the side are based on these five commitments. You can see them in our rotating slides both before the service and on the lobby television. If you attend Vitally Vineyard (our intro to the Vineyard class), these five commitments are the last thing we talk about. And every week, when you watch the “What’s Happening” videos on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, they begin every video with those five commitments.  It’s really hard to miss, yet almost everyday somebody asks if they are new. Nope! They have been posted for years. So let me introduce these to you again for three critical reasons: 

1) To avoid mission drift as a church

2) Because we become what we are committed to

3) So that you can clearly articulate what being part of the Vineyard means

Connect 

Being a part of the Body, not just attending. That includes participating in a small group--like a LifeGroup, Celebrate Recovery, or a Kingdom U course. Small groups are one of the best ways to build community and encourage spiritual growth. Through our groups, you can connect with others as you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Grow

This church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ, by extending the invitation to the kingdom of God, and to experience God’s forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As well as pursuing continual spiritual maturity through study and the equipping of the saints. Growth requires an investment of your time in spiritual practices (disciplines) and learning.  

Serve

God has designed each one of us with unique gifts and callings to serve the body of believers and the world at large. At the Vineyard, we provide you with opportunities to use those talents to serve God by volunteering in the local church. We have a class called Discovering my D.E.S.I.G.N. to help you discover your place of service here at the Vineyard.

Give 

We consider it a privilege to give back to God what he has so freely given us. We celebrate generosity and the work God does through our consistent and sacrificial giving. In the Bible, there is no example of generous giving that is less than a tithe (Old or New Testament), so we begin with the tithe and then give as we have been prospered. 

Live 

To love God through a lifestyle of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control--and to avoid the works of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like that. 

We believe that these five things are critical to being the church, rather than being a consumer of religious goods and services who simply attend church. It is our goal for everyone at the VIneyard to be the church. This is ordinary Christianity! 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/10/2020: Mission Drift (Part 4)

Last week we began looking at how we can fulfill our mission. That newsletter focused on the topic of loving God. This week we pick back up with loving people and passing it on. While loving people is rooted in God’s love for humanity, it is also about recognizing the fingerprint of God on every person. The Apostle John asked the question, if you cannot love your brother whom you can see, then how can you love God whom you cannot see? Every person is created in the image of God, and therefore every person deserves the chance to hear the gospel and to be treated with dignity and respect. Nobody is worthless. At Vineyard it means we take extra time to treat our guests with respect and dignity. It means we do nice things for our guests, like making them feel welcome, giving them something to drink, and treating them like guests in our own home. It means we give mercy to people not because they deserve it, but because we need mercy too. It means we love people enough to teach them the gospel, even if it isn’t convenient. We also are doing outreaches, feeding the hungry, giving out cups of cold water in Jesus’ name, participating in large city-wide events, giving aid to strangers, allowing our facilities to be used for community services, and other acts of kindness.  Sometimes it means knowing when to hold our tongue, not because we don’t have rights as citizens of the USA but because we have the fruit of the Spirit ( love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control), and we choose to be kingdom-hearted people.  

Finally, we come to "Pass It On." It is not enough to be Christ-like to one another in the church, but we must be Christ-like to the whole world. This includes sharing the gospel (teaching, evangelizing, discipling) one-on-one to the last, lost, or the least of these. It means having special assemblies for the public, praying for other churches, other countries, and for our national leaders. It means serving people who may never return our kindness, or even appreciate it. It means we adapt to serve within our culture rather than asking people to change to fit our church’s subculture. It means we never compromise the gospel, but we are always willing to lay down everything else.     

That leads us into next week’s topic: the Five Commitments of the Vineyard. 

Grace and peace,

Hal 

   

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/3/2020: Mission Drift Part 3

How do we fulfill our mission to love God, love people, and pass it on? Well, let’s begin with loving God. In the Bible love and obedience are synonymous. It isn't that we show love by obeying (because you can obey outwardly and have a hard heart), but rather, it is out of our deep love for God that we listen and obey, believing his ways are not only good but strategic. Loving God flows from the church in a number of ways but includes authentic, heartfelt worship. God is worthy of our worship--not just in song--Romans 12.1 says we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice as our act of worship.  This means our whole life is devoted to God. Of course really loving anyone also means loving whom he or she loves. We should love the world because God loved the world enough to send his son (John 3:16). Therefore a church on mission is a church who worships and obeys God and loves the people he sent his son to redeem. At Vineyard we are intentional about worship, both in the assembly and with our lives. It is our desire to create assemblies that honor God and build up the body of believers. It means we give to God our offerings, not out of compulsion, but out of a heart like his to see the world reached, the church strengthened, and servants of God cared for. 

Next week I will focus on loving people, and passing it on. 

Grace and peace,

Hal  

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 12/30: A Great Start in 2020

As we turn off the lights on 2019, and say hello to 2020, my hope is that you have ended 2019 more in love with Jesus than you began the year. My hope is that you are more passionate about the lost, about his presence, and about sharing Christ with those around you. My hope is that you are stepping into 2020 more equipped and more determined to share Jesus with your neighbors. 

For that reason, I want to encourage everyone to be sure to get involved in one of our LifeGroups, and then to make it your mission to multiply that group in 2020. One of our most common requests is for a LIfeGroup, and one of the most common reasons for not staying at the Vineyard was the inability to get connected to one. Nothing says love to new people like finding acceptance in a LifeGroup, but nothing says you're not wanted like, "Our LifeGroup is closed, no new people allowed."  So I am asking you to be the hands and feet of Jesus by doing a couple of things. 

If you are in a LifeGroup, open your group and make room for new people, and get ready to change for the sake of loving people. If you are not in a LifeGroup, let me invite you to join a LifeGroup. 

Then let me invite you to join our next LifeGroup training, January 12 &19. We need a lot more LifeGroups. Our next training is just a few weeks away. So join us for LifeGroup training and then start another group. Maybe even ask a couple of people from your old group to help you start a new group, like missionaries. 

And then start training people in your LifeGroup to take turns leading the group, so that in the future, they won’t need our LifeGroup course, they will already know how to lead a LifeGroup and be able to start a new group without having to go to class first. It’s called the discipleship loop, and that was how Jesus trained all of his Apostles: 

I do, you watch __________We talk.

I do, you help ___________ We talk.

You do, I help____________ We talk

You do, another watches ___Y’all talk

Without that discipleship loop we are inadvertently participating in religious consumerism. But when we engage, when we not only love God and love people, but we actually pass it on, then we are engaging in authentic Christianity. It is then that we fulfill Jesus’ commission to make disciples. I hope you will join me in 2020 by making disciples of Jesus. 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 11/25: The Great Commission- Part 2

Last week I wrote to you briefly about the Great Commission and the importance of evangelism. If you did not read that letter please go back and do that? This week I want to continue those thoughts.

As I said, the best way to begin evangelism is with a prayer list. To make a list of those persons in your life that you want to see come to Christ, and begin praying for their salvation on a regular basis. As well, I invited you to send me your prayer list, and with your permission, I would even share it with our prayer team. 

This week, I want to suggest some additional simple steps to evangelism. Like the last step, this one is also rooted in prayer. It is praying for God to stir your heart with zeal for the lost. Our lives are often so full of other things, that there is not much room in our hearts (or lives) for the lost. So before we will ever make room in our schedule we need a change of heart. The place to begin then is praying, “God I know that your heart is for the lost. Please give me passion for the lost. Please give me the zeal to reach my friends, neighbors, and family. Please give me a heart for my community.” That prayer will do more to you than you can imagine. You cannot pray that prayer and it not affect your love for the lost.

If you will start with these two things: (1) prayer for people on your list, and (2) prayer for your own passion/zeal to be ignited for the lost. I promise you that you will see people get saved. 

One last thing, will you, as an act of evangelism, please invite your neighbors to our Christmas Eve Candlelight Services on December 24? We have two service times, 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

  

Grace and peace,

Hal 

From the Vineyard newsletter on 11/18: The Great Commission-Part 1.

Our church mission statement is taken from the Great Commandment and the Great Commission (the stuff every believer is supposed to do). The Great Commandment is to love God above all else, with all of our strength/personhood. Then the Great Commandment is to go unto every people and teach them what Jesus taught the Apostles, which has been taught to every successive generation of Christians (also known as evangelism and discipleship). So literally half of our life mission as God’s people is to share the good news of Jesus with those who don’t know him and teach them to likewise obey his commission. However, telling people that does not usually make them want to run out and tell their neighbors about Jesus. Most Christians seize up with fear, others balk at the idea, explaining that is why we pay tithes so the pastor can do it, and if the pastor keeps talking about it, they eventually move on to another church that will do all of that for them (religious consumerism). 

So rather than telling people what they are supposed to do and brow-beat them into submission (or leaving), let me invite you to begin with prayer. Prayer is powerful! Of all the people that I have led to Christ over the years, not one of them came without prayer. Either mine or a faithful person who prayed for them other than me. Many a person came to Christ because of the prayers of a faithful mother, father, or grandparent. Over the years I have developed a list that I keep in my journal of people that I am praying for their salvation. I often add to the list, but I also get to cross-off those who have already come to Jesus. Some people have been on that list for a long time, but most are on the list for only months before coming to Jesus. On a rare occasion, I have the painful job of crossing-off my list someone who has passed away whom I don’t think ever received Jesus. In those moments my prayers become more fervent, not wanting any more on my list to perish without the gospel.  

So this week, I want to invite you, this is the time of year we begin making our lists of what we want most. Would you consider making a list of people whose salvation you are praying for? Then do me a favor? Send me your list! If you like, let me know and I will share that list with our prayer team so we can pray for them too.  

Grace and peace,
Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 12/3: Christmas Giving

Our church mission statement is a simple one: Love God, Love People, and Pass It On. Yet fulfilling that mission is no small task. Everyday we are faced with decisions about how we treat people, how we interact with God and men, and how we steward our resources (time, money, relationships, and stuff). As we move from Thanksgiving to Christmas, most of us are busy shopping and focusing on showing our loved ones how much they mean to us, as well we should. I don’t want to discourage the spirit of generosity. Instead I would like to add-on and ask you to pray about the very mission of Christmas. Jesus came into our world in the most disarming way, as a helpless baby, for one of the most demanding missions ever: to save the world. No pressure! In doing so he left the comfort of heaven to walk among a people who would later curse and crucify him. The very spirit of Christmas is one of making ourselves available and vulnerable to those who need the good news desperately but are not grateful we came. They don’t see our gospel as good news, and often reject us just because of who we are. To that world God gave his Son, and to that world God has called us to minister in the most inconvenient ways, sometimes to an ungrateful, disrespectful, and ever-suspicious world. One that is divided politically, racially, and theologically. To that same kind of world we have been called to continue the mission.

Over the last year we have been through numerous transitions, including a big change in staff. Meanwhile we have expanded our ministry and made several improvements to make our building more functional. We made numerous improvements to the community center (far exceeding the special donations given for that building) and expanded our community outreach . Currently we are wrapping up the new lobby entrance and ramping-up for the Christmas season and all of its related outreaches. Each step we have walked by faith, being diligent to manage every dime. As we look toward to the New Year, we are full of vision and we have some exciting plans. But as you can imagine, just like all of you, we have increased expenses at the end of the year, and in the new year. However, unlike retail, there is no Black Friday to help us; in fact, it is easy for expenses to exceed income during this time of year. So I am asking you to consider your giving in this season of generosity to include the mission and vision of VCC. Thank you for all of your support and confidence in the ministry of VCC. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

JUST LIKE JESUS

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be like Jesus. All too often I think we limit "being like Jesus" to acts of kindness, to praying for people, and doing "church stuff." We might even think of it as being good. This year during lent I was re-reading Dallas Willard's amazing book, The Divine Conspiracy, when something stuck in my head. I grabbed my Bible and opened it up to Hebrews 5.8: Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Suddenly it hit me hard that being like Jesus meant learning obedience. It wasn’t like I had never thought of that before, or that I had never read that text before, but in that moment it hit me that learning to be Christlike meant learning to be obedient.  

For you this may seem overly simple, or maybe in your thinking this should be obvious, but the idea that obedience is more than a great suggestion in how to become Christlike, that it is more than just good for spiritual formation but rather it is essential to being Christlike grabbed my heart. It means that becoming Christlike is more than being helpful, kind, and thoughtful. It means that being Christlike includes a costly decision to obey. When Jesus was in the garden he did not want to suffer the agony of the cross but rather he was pursuing the joy that would result from his obedience (Hebrews 12.2). The Bible never says Jesus wanted to hurt, that he wanted to leave his beloved disciples, or feel the weight of the world’s sin. But he did! Jesus obeyed, even to the point of death on the cross (Philippians 2.8).     Then it occurred to me that the model of Jesus obedience was even when you don't feel like it, and even when the price is high, even to the point of death. It is better to obey, than to offer another sacrifice. It is better to obey than go to church, it is better to obey than offer a song of love or to confess my faithfulness, because obedience is the ultimate expression of love for Jesus and the Father.

Read Jesus' words in John 14.23-24: Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. When everyone is preaching about how God is love, and pontificating about what love is or isn't. When the world shouts down the church for obedience to God, it is not our obedience that is out of step but rather the common misuse of the word love. Love does not do whatever it wants, demanding its own way, it is not self-seeking, it is not rude when it defends the truth or when it finds people falling short of God's standard but neither is it disobedient. No matter what the price, Jesus loved the Father enough to obey. So if we are choosing to be students of Jesus, followers of the Way, then we are also choosing obedience; not just convenient obedience but the costly kind.

HAVE I BEEN BAPTIZING PEOPLE THE WRONG WAY?

I am sure that most people will be thinking about modes of baptism when they read the title to this article, but I am not speaking about modes of baptism at all, nor the connection between forgiveness of sin and baptism. I am thinking about discipleship and parenting. I am thinking about the role of spiritual parents and physical ones. As I have been processing the things we do in church and the role of discipleship I have seen a gap between form and function. Often times what we do, and the things we teach don't line up; Not in a hypocritical way. I mean we accidentally un-teach everything we just taught. I think one of the ways we do that is through church culture.

In the American church (and probably most western churches) we have those who have been ordained to do most of our baptisms. I have regularly told people that it is not required but I have not resisted the preference for ordained clergy either. Then it occurred to me one day, am I inadvertently teaching people to rely too much on me? Am I inadvertently teaching people to trust in the ability of the ordained more than learning to obey God for themselves?

I am not saying that pastors should stop baptizing people, but if I want parents to be responsible for their children's spiritual formation rather than depending on youth group to save their children, shouldn't I ask them to baptize their children, by getting in the baptismal tub with me, and doing the actual dunking? When someone in our church leads their friend to Christ wouldn't it be sweeter to have them in the baptismal too, physically participating?

Nothing in the Bible requires the person doing the baptism to be ordained clergy, so rather than just saying everyone gets to play, why don't we let everyone play? I want more people making more disciples.

Would you like to baptize your child? Would you like to baptize the friend you led to Christ? Are you nervous? Can I help? I can say the words for you if that will help, but will you do the baptizing?

I think I am going to start asking some new questions.  

Advent and Lent in a Modern Church

I am not a very traditional kind of church person. The church I lead is not formal. Most people call me by my first name, we drink coffee in our auditorium (I usually call it an auditorium rather than a sanctuary). I wear jeans, or slacks, but I never wear a tie, or a robe. Most people wear shorts when it is warm outside, and this is Florida, so that is most of the time. We have guitars and drums and I really do not like hymns, even when they are played on a guitar. So then people are always surprised about the role of Advent and Lent in our church (although we don't even do them in a traditional way). It's not because I dislike the pageantry or the liturgy of tradition, I am just not very formal personally.

For me, Advent and Lent are not about tradition, but about discipleship.  My doctorate degree is actually in Christian Education. So while my dissertation was about the role of biblical literacy in relationship to discipleship and transformation, I spent a lot of hours reading studying about education and learning. I am convinced that the reason things like liturgy and spiritual disciplines resurface again and again, is because they work. These practices of fasting, the lighting of candles and the keeping of church calendars, reading of prayers and so forth year after year, all reinforce what we believe with doing, smelling, and seeing, and sharing. It is the shared practice, and the sight, sound, doing combination that burns these things deep into our minds and evoke emotional responses within us. Nothing in modern education has been able to replace these simple practices.

The intent of Advent and Lent at the Vineyard isn't about time honored traditions, it isn't about being avant-garde or trendy, it is about repurposing and reinvigorating things that really work, so that they do not become routine and empty but instead create a great experience that deeply imbeds our hearts and our minds with truth.

As we make our way into this Advent season, my prayer is that you will use the tools of this great tradition to make room for Christ and the message of peace to those who know and do his good will.
  

Who Can Hear the Voice of God (part 4 of 4)

With the last post I mentioned briefly this idea of follow-through when it comes to hearing the voice of God. Follow through encompasses a number of different issues, but central to growing in your ability to hear is what do you do once you have heard the voice of God on an issue. Do you share what you have heard from God if it’s for someone else? Do you share what you heard if you think it is for the church?  And then there is some bad teaching out there that says, if you do not do what God tells you to do, in the instant he tells you, that God will stop speaking to you. Let’s get this straight, only people are that dysfunctional, God is not nearly that easily offended, or he would have given up on humanity a long time ago. That is not to say that there are never any consequences to not listening. For instance, if God tells you to get out of the burning building you might get trapped in it if you don’t listen. Then the next voice you may hear will likely be the voice of God telling you that you weren’t supposed to have arrived at your final destination so soon. Burning house aside, if you stumble in your obedience today, but avail yourself to God in the future, God will still speak to you. Everyday with God is fresh, with no mistakes in it.

If you have been following this article through all four parts you know that in the first article I shared a story about hearing the voice of God on April 1, 1996. I was given a six-month plan for getting out of debt, because God was calling us to plant a church. I also mentioned that it took longer than six months because I was reluctant to obey part of the plan (I didn’t want to sell our van). The other part of my disobedience was that in the summer, after we were mostly out of debt, (I had finally sold the van and paid-off my big school loan) I felt certain that God wanted me to start a church right then, to jump-in by faith and that God would provide the net, and that I didn’t need an income. I choked!  You know what else? Because I did not follow to the letter the instructions for getting out of debt it not only took a little longer, but I could have sold the van for a little more money because it was pristine, but in my disobedience we not only added many miles, but some of the interior was damaged. I should have obeyed and sold it in April but I sold it in July, after a few more family trips and youth group trips. The point is that I did not obey all of the instructions, and the ones I obeyed I did not always do it well, but God did not stop talking to me. The worst part of that season in my life was that someone told me my failure to obey to the letter was going to cost me, and that I would never get to plant a church with the Vineyard. Wow, well they obviously nailed that one… I am planting my third Vineyard Church. That incredibly fleshly (neurotic) teaching on the voice of God was the source of incredible pain over the next few months. Then God who has an amazing way of using everything, for the good of those who love him, brought me to a place of renewed commitment to Christ, and to hearing the voice of God for my life. God hadn’t given up on me, nor did he stop speaking to me. God is more committed to the outcome of my life and yours than we will ever be. 

LET GO OF YOUR ‘BUT’ AND OBEY.

Do you know what a ‘but’ is, don’t you? Not a b-u-t-t. A but is really big word for only three letters. It’s the word we interject that keeps us from doing the will of God.  It is that little interjection that keeps us walking by sight rather than walking by faith (2 Corinthians 5.7). Most of us need to let go of it, and get on with what God has for us, but moving-on is a step of faith. That struggle is likely why the writer of the book of Hebrews said it this way: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11.6) The desire of God is that you will let go of your but and obey him, yet most of us have a long list of interjections. One of the things I have learned over the years is that the bigger the but the more likely it is God. God often asks us to do what we could not do on our own, so that we will have to rely on God for strength and wisdom.

Little buts on-the-other-hand are things like: but I might be wrong, but I am no one special, but I am embarrassed, but they might not listen to me, like me, believe me, etc. While those things are real, it is even more certain that you won’t get it right, and no one will listen if you never speak up. These little personal risks can potentially make us feel like a fool, but these are the steps to God entrusting us with bigger things, because those who are faithful in little things are the ones to get the shot at being faithful with big things, but not until they are faithful with the little things. As a side note, calling these things little is not demeaning their importance, rather if the little ones are tough the big ones are even more so. But faithful in little, faithful in much Got it?

So then, if we are willing to let go of our buts, then we can go with God, because the very essence of the but is our flesh. It is the limit our flesh imposes on our spirit’s desire to go with God. What we need in contrast to our but is faith. In 1 Corinthians 2.4-5 it says, our faith should not rest on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.  Jesus said, in Matthew 17.20 that all it takes is for us to have faith as small as a mustard seed to go with God.  Jesus also said, that if we would go in faith that we would do even greater things then he did (John 14.12).

God does not reveal himself to you for your entertainment, or to make you seem important in church, rather God speaks because he has something for us to do and the appropriate response on our part is to listen and get to it. In 1 Samuel 15.22 we read, Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. The point being, that as wonderful as worship is, God does not delight in worship that comes from a heart that isn’t yielded to him. The best worship is obedience, and obedience means not just doing the right things, but being attentive to his voice and doing his will.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD FOR SOMEONE ELSE?

First of all, if it really is for someone else, chances are they already know on some level what you are about to tell them. Nine times out of ten when I share with someone something that God has laid on my heart for them, they already knew it, and it was simply confirmation. That’s easy isn’t it? But most of us just don’t want to stop there . . .

I don’t know why it is, but it’s bewitching really, that having delivered a message from God, that we had nothing to do with, that somehow people suddenly feel they have BECOME the Holy Spirit incarnate and now they feel the need to make things happen, or bring about conviction, or to make people follow through a particular way, or something meddlesome like that.  Please, please, please, remember that is not your job, that is the job of the Holy Spirit (John 16.8). What happens next is up to them and God, but the most common mistake is to try and make people do something. Which often leads to control, manipulation and other sin on the part of the one trying to make it happen. If God does not overrun the will of a person, I am certain that you don’t know better than God, nor do you have the right to force anything on anybody, nor can you make them obey what you heard, nor can you make them repent though forcing them, pushing them, brow beating them, or threatening them. God does not do it that way, and you shouldn’t either. Instead the Bible invites us in 1 Thessalonians 5.20-21 to test for ourselves these kinds of personal messages that are said to be from God to determine if it is God’s word for us, and to keep what is good, but to reject the rest of it. No personal word or prophecy should ever have the weight of scripture.

There are three guidelines you always need to follow when it comes to sharing what God has said to you.

First, ask God, do you want me to tell them about this?  Not everything you feel is from God is meant for the consumption of others, but it could be a matter that God has given you to pray about. In 2 Corinthians 12.4 Paul says, that he had things revealed to him that he was not permitted to tell. Don’t just assume that you are supposed to say everything that comes to your mind. The Bible is quite clear that only a fool does that (Proverbs 10.21, 15.2, 17.28, 18.7). The prophet Daniel had a vision about the distant future concerning the kingdoms of the earth, and he was the top advisor to one of the Kings in the vision but he was told that he should not tell of it now but record it for later (Daniel 8.26).  Even though Daniel lived to see some of the vision come true, and it may have helped Daniel in making some of his decisions, he was not allowed to share it until later. We do know that later on that recoded vision of Daniel kept Alexander the Great from destroying the Jews and their culture because they showed Alexander the prophecies in the Book of Daniel that foretold of his great conquest and his rise to world dominion. The moral is that unless you ask God you might actually cause yourself or those around you pain in a way that is unnecessary. So what should you do?

Secondly, ask the Lord if this is the right time for you to share it? Just like Daniel, maybe you should be silent now, but later it may be needed to help someone. The caution is not that you never share it but maybe its simply, not right now. Or maybe there are issues of private sins, or some personal stuff that probably should not be said in front of others. Matthew 18.15-17 gives us steps for confronting one who has sinned.  It does not begin in front of anyone, but it starts one-on-one, with a heart full of mercy and compassion not judgment.

Third, ask yourself about your attitude and the nature of the message. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14.3 that prophecy strengthens, encourages, and comforts.  The correction may be needed but it should always build-up rather than tear someone down.  If it seems condemning in nature then it is not the voice of God, even if it is true. Romans 8.1 makes it quite clear, there is now therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That means if you are condemning the other person, then you are not speaking for God, even if the message was accurate.

One last thing to consider, sometimes God will tell me something about a situation or a person that is not for me to share at all, but it is meant to prepare me to deal with a situation, or confront a lie, when I hear it later on or whatever.  There can be any number of reasons why God will tell me something in secret but I need to keep my mouth shut.

HEARING FROM GOD FOR THE CHURCH.

The the same basic rules apply here as with individuals, the greatest difference being is that you not only have the autonomy of the individual to consider, but also the leadership of the church, and the body at large. If you have heard from God, for the body, then it should prove-out when the leadership of the church hears it.  God does not give leaders the responsibility to lead and then keep them in the dark.  Even when they sin, they should know if a word of warning is for them or not. If they can’t recognize that, then you need to go somewhere else, but don’t take it upon yourself to usurp authority; that is dangerous ground. Look at this in Hebrews 13.17, Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. Those who have been called by God to lead must give account to the Lord for what they do and how they lead, and nothing you can say or do could possibly weigh in heavier than that. But if they are still disobedient, the truth is that God has the responsibility to deal with them not you, remember, you are not the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, I would not stay under the leadership of leaders who are not listening either.

Wrapping Up

Throughout this series of blog posts the emphasis has been that every Christian hears God’s voice, it’s just a question of are you listening. Secondly that the language of the Holy Spirit is first the Bible, then people, events, dreams, visions, circumstances and numerous other ways, but not in any particular order after the Bible. The point is that God is communicating with his people. The third message was that we put up hurdles to hearing God and we need to take them down, so that we can hear him when he is speaking to us. Then finally, having heard God that we need to obey God when he speaks.  Every time you obey God your “hearing” gets better and clearer, and your faith gets larger, and you learn a little more about God’s will for your life. In contrast, every time you ignore or reject the voice of God, it means that you are going to miss out on what God has for you because you are going to do everything in our own strength, and by our own understanding.  We are most fruitful when we work with God rather than in spite of him.