Step 3

It’s Amazing how often Holy “coincidences” happens particularly At our church we have two services the one in the morning is the Holiness service an the focus is Holiness where the main thrust of the service is usually a call to biblical Holiness in the evenings we have a Salvation service geared for those who are new to faith and or are interested in relationship with God.

We are currently working our way through a sermon series in both services. In the Morning I have been working through the 12 steps as an aid to Holiness today is “Step 3”. In the evening My wife and I are working through What we are calling the Faith Hall of Fame from Hebrews 11 each week. This Week is Abraham.

What is amazing to me is How Abraham is a Lesson in Step 3:

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of GOD as we understood Him.

Genesis 12
The Call of Abram
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him;


God took this 75 year old man and asked him to give up everything and start over from Scratch without so much as a plan. Let’s look at this first part.:

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

God Tells Abraham to Go and Abraham is expected to Put his entire world (his will and his life) over to God and Trust that God can do it better than he can.

God Starts out big and Makes it harder and harder.

First Abraham is told leave your country, the place of His national heritage he knew the land the geography the weather and seasons. His country gave him a general sense of well being. It was the place of his heritage a place where he was afforded certain rights and privileges. Where Abraham’s is being sent he will be a foreigner. If something happens between his people and the native people everyone will gang up on him because he is the outsider. He will have God alone to protect him.

Next God moves down to Abraham’s Family this is not his immediate family those people who Abraham is responsible for. This is talking about Kinsmen When you live in an area people know you in Abraham’s time everyone in his region would have known each other they would have had Shared customs foods even language. For me Coming to RI was a step back into my Family the fist thing I did when we Got here is we went Shopping you know what I bought: Brown bread in a can, Baked beans, Coffee milk, Corned beef, Hash, Clam Chowder and when I call something Showed it is never red!!! For me I was Home It may not be Boston where I am from but we are close enough that the customs the food and the accent is what I am used to.

The third thing Abraham is being asked to leave is his father’s house. This is the biggest and the hardest Abraham is being asked to give up. He must shed any version of the Security his father’s house represents his inheritances as well as any connection to his family his good byes must be permanent because in all likelihood he we not see any of them again he is giving up his future or at least the future he had had planned. His inheritance His Status Abraham would one day have been leader of the “tribe the clan” but God called him to leave it all and simply Go. This is similar to Jesus telling the rich young Ruler to Sell all his possessions and then follow Jesus” (Matthew 19) The man went way sad because he apparently was not willing to Make a decision to turn hisour will and his life over to the care of GOD.

God offers a promise to Abraham:

2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

Notice God Says Go, I will do this. Not, If You Go I will do this. This is a part of Gods Character, his nature, that we would do good to follow. What motivates our actions a sense of duty or obligation maybe some misplaced or imagined debt?

Just doing wants us to do is not enough even if our actions are the same our heart is different. If one person does what God wants because he feels obligated or guilty eventually a time will come when the guilt isn’t enough to motivate him.

This is why Alcoholics and addicts cannot get clean for their family’s sake or any other reason they maybe able to make the same correct decisions but eventually in a moment of weakness they will fall the only thing that will truly work is a complete surrender. The same is true for Those of us seeking Holiness true Holiness is impossible if we are trying to life a Holy life we can’t do it and that’s why so much of the church has a problem with the Doctrine of ‘entire sanctification’ It is impossible! But when it includes an understanding of complete surrender. The Holy life simply accompanies a Holy heart that has been transformed through a complete surrender. Then nothing is impossible because the individual is not the one responsible God is and nothing is impossible for God.

Abraham’s duty is to Act it is to Follow God’s will in Faith because it is the right thing to do not because God is Going to bless him but because God is saying Go right now.

Will you Listen and Go like Abraham or will you leave troubled like the rich Young ruler unwilling to have the Faith required to ‘let Go and let God.

the parable of the older brother

We have all heard the parable of the “Prodigal Son” You have probably heard it preached several times. Jesus is a master Story Teller and this is one of his longest most involved Parables. It just sucks you in right from the very beginning when we get to meet this Younger son. And Jesus Paints the picture of a son we are not supposed to like.
First this younger son approaches his father and asks for his inheritance. This loses some of its edge in translation what the younger son basically said was “Dad I Wish you were dead. I am tired of waiting around for you to drop dead I want everything that I have coming to me now.”

But wait it Gets Worse. If we study a little bit about the culture we learn that the family inheritance is always divided up by the oldest son after the father passes. So the Son was also asking his dad to take his older brothers right away from him.

Well the Father divides up his property and Prodigal takes his share and leaves He spends the riches his Father gave him and eventually finds him self feeding pigs and contemplating eating the food that he giving to them. He realizes that He would be better off as a servant in his father’s House. So he rehearses a speech that he will give to his dad and beg his dad to take him back. But the Story of the Prodigal son isn’t really about the Prodigal Son. There is a real good lesson in the actions of the prodigal son. And I am sure many of you like me can relate to his story. I certainly do I definitely took the gifts and privileges I was given for granted and turned my back on God. I definitely ended up falling flat on my face, humiliated and helpless I had hit my personal rock bottom, so I maid the Journey home. But even though the parable may teach us a lot through the testimony of the prodigal Jesus did not tell it for that reason.

I have Also heard This Parable preached from the Perspective of the Father. The Prodigal turned his back on his father he embarrassed and humiliated the family name. And yet where was prodigal when the father first saw him and greeted him… That’s right he was still a long way off. The Father welcomed him open arms and killed the fatted calf and had a party for his son who was dead but was restored to life.

We definitely learn something about the character of God from the actions of the Father. God is a loving father who is waiting for us to accept the redemption and grace he wants to lavish on us. No matter ho badly we smear Gods name or how bad we damage his reputation or arrogantly we turn our backs on God he waits for the opportunity to take us back. That’s another great lesson we learn from this parable but that is still not the main lesson it is not the reason why Jesus told the story. Lets just call these other lessons the added benefits of this great parable.


Turn with me to Luke 15 1-3 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ 3So he told them this parable:.
So he Told this Parable. Why did Jesus tell the parable to expain to the Pharisees and scripes why he was hanging out with these evil filthy tax collectors and sinners.

OK this is where I need to stop for a minute and discuss this phrase Tax collectors and Sinners. If I ever get smart enough or enough time to write a book it will be a bible study on the rawness of many of the scriptures. The bible is the Word of God and God is a good God. So we naturally assume that his word is going to be a good word. But God is also a real God, Jesus was real and lived in a sin infested fallen world. Tax collectors were considered sell outs to the Jewish people they had turned their back on the Jews and were taxing them and giving the money to Rome the enemy all to make a prophet. They viewed the same way we would an American Taliban. The very mention of Jewish tax collectors made people shiver with anger. The reference to tax collectors doesn’t have that same effect on us 2,000 years later. And Sinners represented those who were known committers of sexual sin or those who had turned their back on their faith.

So let me read that again with the Kind of Rawness it would have had in the ears of the early Christian church.:

Now all the Terrorists, prostitutes and Homosexuals were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ 3So he told them this parable: Jesus told the parable to explain why he was speaking to and teaching the worst possible people in imaginable.
Here we have the Pharisees and the scribes, the religious leaders of the day challenging Jesus’ with these evil sinful people. And what does Jesus do He tells them a story. His Parable is a confrontational narrative that presents God as a God who loves unconditionally. In the parable the Father comes outside twice the first time he goes and gets the sinful son and welcomes him home the second time he goes outside to beg the older son to come inside and enjoy the party.

Lets take a closer look at this older brother Father encounter. The older brother returns and hears the music from the party. A servant tells the brother that his younger Brother has returned. Incensed at the news the brother refuses to go inside. Like many religious folk this brother believes that his acceptance from the father is the result of his performance. For years I have served you he says working in your fields tending your sheep. Teaching your Sunday School paying you tithe cooking for your harvest festival dinner quoting your scripture. But you have never even killed a goat for me let alone the fatted calf.

The older Son has the nerve the gall to think he has earned a reward. Well maybe not maybe he knows that he has not done enough to earn a party but he does know one thing he has done a whole lot more than his sinful younger brother. But the Younger brother hasn’t earned anything all he did was walk up to the father and accept grace the father poured on him.

Now we have the older Brother standing out side refusing to come into the party. The fathers comes out to him and basically tells him “all I have is yours, I want to pour my grace on you just come in side. The story ends there Jesus finishes his parable without telling us what happened. We don’t know if the older brother broke down and came inside or if he let his jealousy and bitterness keep him out side. Or do we in the context that Jesus is telling this story The sinners and tax collecotors are parting with Jesus and he is for Giving there sins and Jesus is telling the storyt to a couple of hangry older brothers


Well what about you. Are you ready for the Prostitutes and terrorists the alcoholics and homosexuals to begin filling our church or does the thought of that upset you? Maybe you do relate more to the Prodigal and you have hit you personal rock bottom. Than come up here and tell you heavenly father that you can’t make it with out him and accept his grace? It is all up to you.

The glory Days

Remember the Early days, You know when the Booths were still alive? The Salvation Army was still a force for salvation before we sold our soul... For money, respectability, and power?

I have been challenged recently about the dangers of romanticising our past. Author/pastor Mark Driscoll argues in his book "Radical Reformission" that:

"Most Christians and churches prefer the past to the present or the future, because the past is over, while the present and future still require a lot of work. A naive romanticism in each of us desperately wants to believe there was a time after Genesis 2 when the world was a wonderful places to live, when things were better and easier than they are today. This powerful delusion enables us to excuse our laziness and failure to be about reformission because of the difficult days we live in. No wonder denominations and theological traditions continually speak more of days past when their movement began than of the present days that are upon them than of the future days into which they are moving." ~Mark Driscoll~

Our movement doesn't Romanticize our past? <----thinly veiled sarcasm

The Question we should be asking is not, how do we get back to our Glory days? or how do we become the army we once were. But How do we become the fighting force God has raised up for 'such a time as this'? By asking this question we can draw we can draw strength from our past with out getting stuck in it.

Our Last Annual Dinner In your current appointment promised to be interesting one way or another. There were several questions and in my mind and key events to take place which made the usually butterflies going into the evening intensified:

• How would the community respond to my transfer?
• was it a good idea to go with this outside MC (Denise Richardson)
• how would our new Beginner band do?
• would we make a lot of money?

My Biggest question is always: can we tell the story of the Salvation Army in a way that will be both exciting and uncompromising in other words can we get the community to give us their money with out selling our soul and perhaps... in the process steal a few hearts for the Kingdom

The dinner is over (one more in a series of final events in this chapter of our ministry) and all i can say is WOW!


Where do i begin... I know it is a Civic dinner and the purpose is to 'sell' the community on the merits and value of the Salvation Army's program but... there were at least 3 points where I was tempted to to walk up to the mic and give an Alter Call!

Our MC, Denise Richardson (news woman from both USA Today, and the Today show) actually lectured those in attendance about the "S" on a Salvation Army Uniform and told everyone that they should attend a Salvation Army worship service "just to see what it's all about" WOW


Our Successors Major's Lauren and John Hodgson (Corps officer and Kroc administrator respectively) were present giving me the opportunity to actually walk Major Lauren around and introduce her to some of the people who work closely with the corps and introduce major John to key leaders in the community.


Our Kid's were fantastic hearing them play "Muffins Rhapsody" assisted by an ensemble of experienced musicians actually brought me to tears. Words can't describe the feelings an officer/pastors develops for His or her corps/church children. Then our shining stars 11 year old Girls played "Oh how he loves you and me" were nothing short of amazing. After just Nine months of playing they were able to get up and play music that would soften the hearts of men and women. WOW


We made money. Development is still working out some of the details but we cleared between $25,000 - $30,000. Not bad for a dinner that was breaking even 4 years ago. WOW

God is Good. WOW

Lame Duck Preaching

In the Salvation Army an officer (Pastor/evangelist) receives a phone call letting them know that they have been given a new appointment and from the date of that phone cal the officer has approx. 6 weeks in most cases to get their house in order (both literally and fugitively). This come out of the rapid growth of the early Salvation army and the need for a high level of mobility among all of its leaders.

Well my wife and I are under "Farewell orders". We are 2 weeks into that short transition time. And while we have received our 'marching orders' once before that was a special circumstance where were merging two congregations and so we didn't have to leave our charges, we took them with us.

I have found one of the biggest thing this period has effected for me is my preaching. Much like a president facing the inevitable end of his term I have realized I have precious little time in this place with these people. I have also realized that i have nothing to lose.
Yesterday I found myself Preaching with complete abandon calling the body to Holiness with a new passion and urgency. It is special because i can now recognize leaders weather on the verge of a new appointment, retirement or and some cases even impending death who seemed to be infused with a supernatural energy in there preaching and leadership it is during those times that I was impacted by many of them.

God is Good and this Journey he has us on is an amazing ride!!! not always easy but what a rush.

Yea I am back

I made i commitment that i would not blog if I was not up to date with my paperwork. Right around Christmas i fell behind on my Statistics and that hole just got deeper and deeper until i finally sat down and worked my way out of it now i can blog again!!! which is important because my second son is going to be born any day now and that is something worth writing about.

Plus i have had several cool things happen recently that i am itching to write about if for no othewr reason than i don't want to forget them.

Top 10 blog topics that i missed due to my own refusal to get caught up with esentially easy paper work

10. Star Search
9. Boston Red Socks living in NYC
8. Doing my part to promote Revolution
7. Tour Guide in the Big Apple
6. Pro-Life?
5. Stapleton's Biggest Looser
4. The Community Gym
3. Do We really get through???
2. 2 Boys one bithday???
1. Ghetto Wedding

I will try to catch up on these recent topics if there is anyone who still reads this blog and has a special request let me know i will skip to it.

Church is great "they Swear"

I have been a fulltime Officer (Pastor) with The Salvation Army for about 4 years. But I started preaching more than 10 years ago when i was 18 have been. In our Congregation I am only afforded the opportunity of preaching every 2-3 weeks, my wife as well as many of our body also preach actively. My wife and I strongly feel the need to affirm the gifts of our Soldiers (active church members who make a commitment to a lifestyle of holiness and service) and we think that it is import to present the preacher a one of (not one above) the community of faith.

But I love preaching. The week or two before a sermon, when I become immersed in a particular passage is when I have had some of my most significant spiritual breakthroughs. Before I offer the Word I first listen to the spirit speak it into my own heart. Sometimes this is a struggle because the word i am preaching is hard for me to hear and leads me to a course of action and or repentance.

The joy I find in the week or more of preparation does not in any way diminish the "fun" I have on a given Sunday morning. It's like being a QB in the big game. Just like many athlete i am always sick to my stomach before its "my turn". But once I give that opening prayer i get in the zone. (most of the time)For me preaching is a conversation between three parties: the Preacher (me) the Congregation, and the Holy Spirit. All three parties are free to speak up during a sermon and often do. For instance last week we were working through the call of Abram in Genesis 12:1 and I asked the question would you give up everything that makes you feel at home: People, country and family. and just go simply because God said God with little more instruction. After a second someone shouted back if i was sure it was coming from God. (a reference to a sermon from a few weeks earlier titled "God or Gas"). There are no rhetorical questions at our worshiping community if you ask it be ready for an answer.

Another great part of preaching at the Stapleton Salvation Army is the mix of people in the house. Last Sunday we had:
West Indians from: Antigua, Trinidad, St.Thomas
African American
Liberian
Indian
Jewish
Albanian
Grown Men Dealing with addiction
Teens fresh of the street
sweet little ladies who have loved Jesus all their lives

We have a truly mixed congregation, which also brings some interesting idiosyncrasies. Last Sunday after the line: "God said Go and he went and at 75 years old he left everything to follow God." I heard a couple a amens and then out of the blue I heard some one say just above a whisper. "Damn!!!" Trying to hold back my amusement i wondered it came from one of the Men, the teens or maybe a sweet little old lady. Regardless i knew i was in the right place.