Monday, November 15, 2010

Our first love..

God has really shaped our community here in Austin this semester. In the aftermath of SCPx Austin this summer, our spiritual family so desired to see new communities like ours birth! We wanted more than just one student house church... we wanted the love to spread. And it finally felt like the time had come. We felt as if we were all equipped to GO and do it.

So we made some changes and started the semester with a strong "sent out" mentality. As one of the shepherds, I really tried to steer things the "right way", always pounding home the apostolic mission any time we would meet together as a family. We deeply desired to see new disciples, more miracles, new churches, more baptisms, and all of these glorious things that Jesus has set out for all of His kids to take part in.

Over the course of the semester, however Jesus began to bring our family back to His heart. It was as if we were the church in Ephesus and we had received a letter from Jesus commending us for our hard work, but reminding us of the true prize, namely Him.

"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance... You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first." Revelation 2:2-4.

After a good and somewhat messy family chat, our hearts began to join together to love Jesus and love each other. Revelation of the Gospel began to hit us deep (and has been ever since). It has brought true freedom, individual heart healing, refinement, closer family bonds... and funny enough, the sprouting up of new communities, new disciples, and powerful moves of the Spirit.

I have watched students at UT this semester "get it" by no convincing/teaching, but simply because they are encountering God. I have been humbled hearing of students encountering Holy Spirit within their own sphere of influence without ever even setting foot there to "make it happen". I have been humbled witnessing friends (never going through a day of formal church planting training) get God's heart and "strategy" (better known as LOVE) for the lost.

Don't hear me wrong... I believe in training. My heart longs to see new disciples made and new churches planted. I get so excited talking about how God is moving on college campuses... how new communities of faith are birthing! I celebrate and laugh when I witness or hear about signs, wonders, and miracles happening each day. I love everything Student Church and SCPx is about. I love equipping others to do the same.

But as much as these beautiful things make me giddy and excited... I have come to realize more than ever that it is Jesus is who truly makes me come alive! It seems like such a blatant truth, for He is the author of life indeed. But it is the one truth that the enemy is so threatened by if the family of God GETS IT.. that he will do anything to twist the focus.

I am at such peace now knowing that our family has its eyes on our first love. I am confident that He is taking care of everything else... and that HE is the one building His church.

Our family is not defined by the fact that we do "house church" or "simple church". Or that we heal the sick and cast out demons. Or that we multiply, multiply, multiply. Our family is defined by our absolute infatuation with our first love. And Holy Spirit seems to lead the rest! :)


Also, posted this on www.studentchurch.org. Great place to stay connected with other student church planters. http://bit.ly/cYUlIz

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Dead to sin. Alive to God.

I love getting to know the heart of the Father. I have been hit afresh with some sweet truths over the past several months as God has been speaking the truth about who I am in Him...


I read John 3 today and realized this... that it was never in God's heart to condemn us. John 3:17 says "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

Or in the words of Eugene Peterson in The Message, "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted".

Condemnation, accusation.. these are not words of our God. In fact, these words are usually played out by his enemy, "the accuser of our brothers" as John calls him in Revelation.

This truth has led me down a journey of reconsidering how I see myself and how I see others. Do I consider myself in the same way that my Father does? And do I consider others as He does? If Jesus really came not to tell us how depraved we are, but to give us life... how well am I following Jesus in speaking life over myself and others?

Romans 6:11 says "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Dead to sin. Alive to God.

Does the church really believe this? For a while, I did not. I did not consider myself in this way. In fact, I considered myself very much ALIVE to sin. I would talk about sin as if it were my identity. "I'm a control freak... I'm a people pleaser... I'm an idolater..." I would drown people with talk of my unworthiness, my depraved nature, my ikky motives, my desperately wicked heart... certainly never being so proud to consider myself dead to sin.. or born of God, not of the flesh (John 1). I was very humble indeed.

Ha, or not so humble. If humility was wallowing at the feet of the cross in my sins (which in fact was never believing the fullness of the Gospel and the completed work of Jesus in His ressurection)... then the sinless Jesus was not humble at all. But Jesus Christ never sinned and few would argue with the truth that He was the most humble man to ever live. My humility was indeed false. The scary thing is I thought the more I wallowed and came to grips with the depths of my wickedness, the more I would believe the Gospel. After a year of that, I realized that the more I wallowed and mined for new idols in my heart.. the more in bondage I remained.



I heard a friend share something the other day that shed more light on this for me. He was sharing about how we should love one another.. seeing each other through God's eyes.. really calling out our identity as sons and daughters in each other. He shared a verse from one my favorite chapters in scripture, 2 Corinthians 5. It was verse 16, which says: "From now on, therefore,A)"> we regard no one according to the flesh..." The chapter goes on to talk about how we are new creations in Christ.

I realized this is the very lens of Christ. He does not regard us according to the flesh. He calls us as new creations. The word of Jesus is powerful... by calling us new creations, we ARE new creations. The fact may be that we still believe lies at times and fall into temptation. But the TRUTH is that we are who Christ says we are... we are not born of the flesh any longer. We have been reborn (John 3). We are born of God.. now innocent children of God. (John 1) Sin is no longer who I am.

(This changes the culture of confession altogether.. for confession is no longer "Darn, there I go again with my people-pleasing ways, sorry God..." but instead "I am not a people-pleaser. I know my identity and my approval is in God. I come out of agreement with the lie that I need man's approval. I confess and repent and believe the Gospel.")

So not only do I now "consider myself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Paul's charge to the Romans)... but I consider by brother or sister as the saint that he/she is. I call out the gold in them. I speak life over them, not death. Jesus did not come to the earth to tell us how bad and depraved we are... he came to set us free, he came to save us, he came to take us back to innocence.

It all started with a tree.. and from that moment man was bent toward sin and under a curse. BUT God so loved the world.. that He sent his own son to reverse the curse of that tree by dying on one. Thus straightening out the bent of His kids.. and returning them to innocence... and giving them back the keys of the Kingdom and the dominion of the earth that they so long ago gave away to the enemy.

With these things I mind... I have been praying and dreaming:

What if the children of God began to truly believe who they really are?
What if the church as a whole began to walk as a confident band of saints, instead of a people obsessed with their sins that Jesus already paid for?
What if the people of God began to call out the identity and the destiny in one another?
What if we stopped trying to understand the depths of the depravity of our "old man" and instead walk as people who have "been set free from sin"(Romans 6:6-7)?
What if we spoke so much TRUTH over one another that it began to become a reality... that we are indeed dead to sin and alive to God?
What if those who believe in His name stopped believing that they are too unworthy of the authority to which they have been charged to exercise (Matt 10:1, Luke 9:1, Mark 16:15-18)?
What would happen if the Body of Christ shook off the self-imposed chains that are not even locked and walked in the power of the Resurrection?
What if the Church stopped "glorying in their shame" (which Paul would suggest, makes us "enemies of the Cross of Christ").. and instead walked as "citizens of heaven" (Phil 3)?


Arise Church. Know who you are. Believe the Gospel. Obey His commands. Do greater things than He.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Why I love SCPx...

Last August I went through a 10-day training called SCPx, Student Church Planting Experience. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and Jesus completely rocked my life during it. If you are college student, I strongly encourage you to look into this training. It is one the best things I ever did.


Why I love SCPx...
  1. SCPx is a hands-on training, not a conference.-- I have been to many conferences. It seems that most end with a sore butt from sitting for 3 days straight and a headache from the information overload. Consumption, not always followed by action. At SCPx, you experience interactive teaching every morning and then immediately you are "sent out" into the city or campus to apply it that day! Fruit is seen instantly. No better way to learn than to trust the Holy Spirit and get your hands dirty.
  2. SCPx feels like family-- Usually anywhere from 15-40 students go through SCPx. It is not large scale. You can imagine the deep relationships that are formed over 10 days of living, eating, praying, and loving people together. The SCPx I attended last year in Austin birthed a community that has felt more like family as we have continued to live out church over the past year. I have never felt closer to the church in Acts.
  3. SCPx is not just about the campus, but the nations.-- After SCPx, I saw disciples made, new believers, baptisms, simple church lived out, and signs and wonders on the UT campus. But God also broke my heart deeply for the nations. Because of the church planting training I received at SCPx, I felt equipped and empowered to go to South Asia in January of this year. Now, some of the other SCPx "grads" and I will return there to train young people in the same way to reach their country!
  4. SCPx fosters an atmosphere of freedom.-- God showed His power by healing me physically and setting me free of a life-long battle of allergies and asthma during those 10 days. Also, many bondages and sin struggles I had carried for a year were broken off of me at SCPx. This is because, more than church planting curriculum, SCPx is about knowing how much God loves us and our identity in Him. Then we were freed to love people radically. I have heard many SCPx "grads" say it was as if they received "permission" to live in freedom and walk in radical obedience.
  5. SCPx is a challenge.-- This is the disclaimer I give to students interested in SCPx... this training will challenge you. It will challenge you physically. It will stretch you. It will cause you to trust the Holy Spirit in a way you have never done before. It will put you completely out of your comfort zone at times. It will probably challenge your theology at some point. It will confront your ideas of what "church" is. It will wreck you out in all the best ways possible. It will push you closer to Jesus and others. If your experience is anything like mine, it will be the best challenge of your life.

Check out this site for more info, or go to studentcpx.org for info and the registration application!

For all the Austinites, SCPx Austin is August 6-15. Registration is filling up and there are limited spots, so apply soon.






Back on the blog scene...

I've told several people I would get at this blog game again...
so here we go.


Look out for Jesus stories, recaps from the past year of my life, original thoughts, encouragement and more. :)


Blessings,
Meghan