another plumber???

Have you ever tried to hire a good plumber? I must be honest and say that I have never had the need to, but I have heard some horror stories. It seems like one plumber just can't do the job correctly, you usually have to hire a few of them to really get something fixed. This means two or three bills, two or three exposures of some man's butt crack (this is where the real stress and trauma occurs), etc. I know this is extremely stereotypical, but it's something that we can all relate with, or at least most of us. It's a situation that down right sucks. You put a lot into it, but it never seems to work. This is especially true for old plumbing, it constantly leaks no matter how many times you fix it. You're probably wandering where I'm going with this. I speak about plumbers because of a text that has wrecked me lately from Jeremiah 2. I just can't get over it.

for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no
water.
Jeremiah 2:13

I realized that I have spent my whole life employing plumbers to fix my cisterns that can never hold any water. The cisterns in this passage refer to the things that we turn to for fulfillment instead of God. Idols that we worship instead of the living God. This isn't the part that really convicted me though. I always knew this. I knew from Romans that we are broken and all have fallen short, so I knew that I had committed this evil. It was the first one that really got me. Of course, this was a bit confusing because I thought I had known that too. However, I realized that I have been trying to use counsel from others and even Scripture and Jesus to fix my cisterns, instead of turning to the abundant stream of joy that is God himself. I wanted Jesus to fix what I thought would satisfy me, instead of looking to him for real, fulfilling joy. There is no plumber that will fix our cisterns. They will always leak, if not pour. Turn to the fountain of living water. After all a stream flows freely and doesn't take energy to partake of. It takes a lot of effort and personal expense to fix cisterns, even if you're not the one doing the work.

sanctification

I've been holding on, I've been holding on.
All that is inside me, screams to come back home.
If you feel lost, if you feel lost, sing along.
If you feel tired, if you feel tired, sing along.
And if you feel lost and tired, this is your song.

I've been broken down, I've been broken down.
I ain't giving up, love will come back around.
I've been holding on, I've been holding on.
All that is inside me screams to come back home.

If you feel lost, if you feel lost, sing along.
If you feel tired, if you feel tired, sing along.
If you feel lost, if you feel lost, sing along.
If you feel tired, if you feel tired, sing along.
And if you feel lost and tired, this is your song.
If you feel lost and tired, this is your song.

O, My God shine your light on us, that we might live.
O, My God shine your light on us, that we might live.
O, My God shine your light on us, that we might live.
O, My God shine your light on us, that we might live.
O, My God shine your light on us, that we might live.
-Robbie Seay Band, Shine Your Light On Us, Give Yourself Away.

We sing this song at my church. It seems like this song has been my life lately. I'm so lost and tired. So tired of confusion. God is breaking me down. Everything inside my heart wants to go back six months and never leave. Why? I keep asking myself that over and over. How long? So many questions. It's so easy for me to focus on these things. So easy to see such a small part of the picture. I have found myself singing this song focusing on the chorus, often neglecting the verse and bridge. I am broken down, but love will come back around. When God shines his light on us, we are restored and experience life to the fullest. I think this is why we usually sing another song after this one. It goes like this:

You bring restoration.
You bring restoration.
You bring restoration.
To my soul.


It seems so simple, just a few words repeated over and over. Those are the words of the cross. On the cross, Jesus brings restoration. Not only did he pay the penalty for our sin, but he took the pain and shame that are caused by our sin. Praise Christ! He did it for His glory. In our joy, He is most glorified. It's still all about Him! How worthy of praise He is because of our redemption!

I say all of that to encourage those who are here with me. Life is tough. When things get confusing and you get tired of everything, He will restore. It may take longer than you would like, and you may have to go through things much worse than what you are now. Even so, He will restore to the fullest. He is good.

"For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you." -Psalm 86:5

Call upon Him. He will restore.

death by love

This is a video about a book that I have been anticipating for nearly 3 years since Mark preached a sermon series called Death By Love at his church Mars Hill, Seattle. I would highly encourage you to purchase this book and read it.



-Justin

encouragement from a world away

As I promised, this is an update from my Russia trip. To fully understand this post I must first cover a bit of a history lesson. To understand the Russian people in the clearest way, their past must first be known. Russia has been free of Communism since 1989. This may seem like a long time, however in the scheme of history 19 years is not long at all! It takes a long time for the people to recover from such a horrible political system. Marxist Communism was staunchly atheist. As a system, it believed that religion empowered the common people with ideas of individual rights, something Communism stood against. Because of this control of religion, The Church in Russia was oppressed for many years. People were not allowed to go to church, or worship freely. The government spread propaganda about every religion explaining them away as silly cults built on lies and myths. To this day, Baptists are considered a cult in much of Russia because the people have not been educated as to what Baptists truly are yet. (Because I come traditionally from a Baptist background, much of what I say will pertain to Baptists or those that hold to a similar theological framework.) Therefore, there has been much for The Church to overcome in the past 20 years or so. Again, we were in the obelisk (state) and city of Bryansk, in southern Russia. You could call this the "Bible Belt" of Russia. The Churches here are very conservative/fundamental in nature. In fact, they closely resemble the American Church from 50 years ago. There are many arguments going on in church hierarchy about what is to be allowed in worship, what is to be worn to church, what social activities are "allowed" or not, etc. It is a fight that has been going on for a while. They are strict about these issues because they fear unbiblical theology will invade the church if they don't draw the line way far to the right. This leads to an unfortunate situation. The Christian Russian youth don't feel as though they can worship as the Lord is leading them to. They want to sing more contemporary songs, and dance along. There are many verses in Psalms where David speaks of dancing before the Lord, however, the Russian Baptist Convention feels that dancing leads to debauchery. So instead of education on the good and bad types of dancing, they outlaw it all together. This same battle was waged in the American church not long ago. So the church that we helped launch (mostly made up of people from 13-around 30) is struggling because of persecution from the Convention. They want to play "rock" worship music and dance along because they feel led to by the Lord.

All of that had to be said to express this. We were able to come along side the pastor of this new church and bring encouragement to him and his congregation. We were able to share with him the history of the American church on many of the subjects that he was being persecuted with and show him that grace wins in the end. That true worship stands firm and nobody can keep you from it. It was also a great time to encourage him to seek the Lord to make sure he was biblical in leading worship. They were so thankful that the Lord had brought somebody who could encourage them through a trying time. It was also good for my heart to be able to encourage them. I hope and pray to this day that the Lord would continue to give grace to the people of Russia and the churches there. That the Church there would strive to worship biblically and trust Scripture for their conduct. Please pray for them as well.

selective perception and...russia?

I must admit that the title of this blog is a bit strange, but it completely encompasses my thoughts at this moment. I had the opportunity to travel to Bryansk, Russia about a month ago on a mission trip. I went with a ministry group that I have been a part of for the past two years. We had the opportunity to put on a youth summer camp and help launch a church plant. The opportunities we had to share the gospel were endless. I had an amazing time there. However, while I was there and upon my return I had a very hard time seeing the things that God did while we were there, at least, I had a much harder time than many of the other people that went on the trip. Why was this? Why did I have such a hard time believing that we accomplished any good? I could tell you how much fun I had and about the things that we as Christians consider obvious such as salvations, and other decisions. But for the life of me, I couldn't see specific ways of God moving. This was clearly pointed out to me this past Sunday morning. My brother, who went with us, and I had the opportunity to share with my parent's church about the trip. One of my best friends, Liz Powell who also went on the trip, did the presentation with us. During my speaking time I recalled the basics of the trip. My brother had the opportunity to share about specific students that we got to pour into. Then it was Liz's turn. She recalled something that one of the leaders of the new church told us. Luba, the sister in-law of the new pastor, shared her heart with us on the last night of the trip. She told us about a trip that she and the group took to the Ukraine to a Hillsong conference. She described it as "the most spiritually moving experience our group has ever been a part of." She went on to talk about how she had, since that moment, prayed that they would experience something like that in Bryansk. She then told us that that dream had been realized during our trip. Wow! What an amazing act of renewal in the hearts of the people there. However, I didn't even remember this story until Liz told it! I was heart-broken. Why didn't I remember such a monumental story? I think there are two reasons.

The trip to Russia occurred at an interesting time in my life. God had ended a year long relationship that I had held onto very tightly. It was an idol in my life that caused a lot of heartache (which is why God ended it for me, because I wouldn't do it myself). I had thought that the trip would help to heal and renew my heart and my relationship with Christ. The trip had helped tremendously to do this. However, that's all that I had truly looked for, its all I wanted out of the trip. This broke my heart, because I had also felt that the trip had broken a lot of my pride and fostered a deep love for other people. I didn't just feel those things they truly took place! So why did I only care about what God did in my own heart? Simply: I am prideful. When it comes to the end of the story the only person that I truly care about is myself. I can love others very deeply, but when the last page turns the only word there is I. Its not just me either. The culture I grew up in is so self-centered that it has become numb to it. So what's the solution to this problem? Scripture tells us that only God can open "the eyes of our heart." Only God can truly show us how self-centered we are and help us to become more centered on him. Pray. Ask the Lord to expose your true heart and repent of your sin. That's the solution to most of our problems. Why else did I have trouble remembering Liz's story?

I hold to a theology that is extremely God focused. As evidenced above that doesn't mean that my own heart is, but it is what I strive for. I believe (and Scripture claims) that God is the only person who can truly do anything spiritually significant. There are so many people who claim to "do great things for God." When kids are saved at a DNOW, the teacher that is with them all week is given the credit for "leading them to the Lord." It leaves little room for the Lord to receive credit. It's almost as if the teacher is the hero of the story and God is the peon who saves the kid from eternal damnation and hell. At least, thats how the inflection in people's voice lead me to believe. I think that the Bible would rebut this. The teacher is the peon and God is the hero of the story. Christ died on the cross for that student's sin, not the teacher. So why don't we hear "God in his mercy saved him last night!" instead of "So and So lead little Billy to the Lord last night." In my attempt to avoid this situation in my own life, I tend to downplay every spiritual experience that happens in which I am involved. This is just as dangerous as what I have described above. I want to avoid anybody perceiving me taking credit for a spiritual movement. However, I have realized in my attempt to do this I have also downplayed what God has done in the lives of others. Therefore, I must not forget or downplay the events that happen, but I must magnify that it was God who did the moving and not me.

So, now what's left? What is there to do now? I will pray that the Lord will remind me of the things that he did on my trip. I'll pray that the Lord will open my eyes to his movement and his goodness in Russia. Then, I will write about what HE did here.


-Justin

P.S. I will include pictures from the trip in later posts!

creativity...

I must admit, I have been quite frustrated lately. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not at all creative. Although, I long to understand the intricacies of art and beauty, I just don't. God is the ultimate beauty and because I know him, I want to be able to reflect his beauty on to canvas, or a sheet of music. However, God has not given me the abilities to do so. And, as wrong as it may be, it frustrates me a bit. As I observe my generation, I see that it is beginning to express itself more and more through art. It could be that we are growing up and that's just what grown-ups do, or it could be a cultural revolution. I'm more apt to lean towards the second conclusion because my parents aren't very interested in art and never have been. Although I must again admit that could be because I lived in a small rural, country town and art tends to thrive in the city. I'm not sure. Either way I understand that if the church is to keep up with the shifting culture, it must be more involved in art. Not just involved however, but be excelling and leading the pack. I grew up in a period of evangelical art that was horrible. Many of the "Christian artists" that I grew up listening to are terrible musicians. Bands such as DC Talk, MercyMe, Third Day, Casting Crowns, and Kutless to name a few have a great message but leave much to be desired in the musical technicality and quality. They cannot begin to be compared to bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, and Deathcab for Cutie. These guys are the leading musical geniuses of today. The movement of their music mesmerizes hundreds of millions of people all over the world. The problem is that they are not Christians. They don't know the ultimate beauty that is Christ. They are playing for their own glory. The best musicians should be Christian ones. Ones that have savored ultimate beauty. Moreover, they have a deep, intimate connection with It. It's not as though they caught a glimpse one day. For the Christian, God's glory is evident in all things. It frustrates me that art that flows from Christians is so poor. Even though Christians are involved in the art scene, I am scared that it does more harm than good. My pastor recently spoke on this issue. He talked about attending a Beastie Boys/Run DMC concert and then going to a DC Talk/Michael W. Smith concert the next night. He compared the DC and Smitty show to a SNL sketch. The Christian bands were comical and a mockery to him. What's so scary is that he wasn't a Christian at the time. Our art should be engaging to the lost culture around us, but instead mostly, they just mock it. There is a book out called "Rapture Ready," by Daniel Radosh that discusses this exact issue. He is a humanist Jew that evaluates the evangelical subculture of America today and basically mocks it. I think it's one of the great hindrances of the gospel today. So, I want to do something to fix it. Therein lies my problem. As I said above, I'm not artistic. I struggle with the complicated art of stick figures. However, I realize it's not my job to be a good artist. I'm just supposed to make people aware of the problem and beg the great artists out there who know Christ to step up to the plate. Not only that but the church needs be careful of what it produces and promotes. I grew up in a small church and I understand the thought behind letting everybody who wants to sing for Jesus have the opportunity. However, a lost person doesn't. The church simply needs to be careful of what they allow. There are special times and places for those circumstances. An event for lost people to attend is not one of them. Unfortunately, this is only a topic of discussion in a few of the mainline evangelical circles. This is an important issue that needs to be taken seriously. Most seem to approach this issue with passive timidity instead of urgency.

P.S. Derek Webb has a lot of good stuff to say about this issue. He is a artist that loves Christ deeply and longs for Christians to produce better art. His website can be found here.

years...

It seems as though it has been years since I have posted. Well it's at least been a few months. A new post will follow soon...