People are pretty good at this, you know.

-Pronouncing something over when it’s not really over.

-Giving up on someone before they really should have—if they should have at all.

Consider the story of Lazarus, in the Bible. When Jesus is told His friend is deathly ill, he gives every indication that He will be there to make sure nothing happens to Lazarus. So, based on the facts and previous, miraculous encounters with Jesus, no one has given up on Lazarus and certainly, no one has given up on Jesus.

Yet.

But give them time and poor odds and they will. Most of us will. And, in this story (true story) the odds get about as bad as odds can get. Author, Michael Steele, in his book, Flash-bang, had an interesting take on this biblical story. He said that, in all fairness, death is the sort of thing that we tend to view as final. He’s right, regardless of your theology (or lack thereof) the death rate is still hovering around 100 percent. And it was at that percent then too. On the other hand, in fairness to Jesus He did say this case was different.

He did?

Yes, He did. When he responded to the messenger Lazarus’ s sisters (Mary and Martha) had sent, He said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God, so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”

So there you have it. God, who cannot lie, told them, This may look like a bleak situation. This may look like it’s over, but don’t turn out the lights on Lazarus just yet. This party’s not over.

But they flipped the switch amyway…

And they put away the confetti and party hats. There would be no celebration, only mourning. Their faith only went so far. Jesus could do something as long as Lazarus was sick, even deathly sick. But once Lazarus died it was over. They knew it. Everyone knew it.

That’s a s far as their faith in Jesus could go because that’s as far as they believed Jesus’ power and authority could go.

And that’s that.

Only it wasn’t.

But here’s the deal. Faith has limits and Mary and Martha reached there’s when Lazarus took his last breath. Don’t be too quick to judge them, your faith would most likely have been buried with Lazarus as well.

Mine too.

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We wrapped up our, “Friends with Benefits” series today with the message, “The No-Consequences Myth.” This was the first (and only) message in the four part series that I felt entirely comfortable having kids in the service. Why? Because I knew even kids needed to hear the one solution to every problem we talked about all month long. In a word?

Jesus.

And 41 people placed their trust in Christ for salvation! That will never get old to me. Each time I see this happen right before my very eyes it is like witnessing the birth of a baby. Physical birth is a phenomenal miracle no matter what perspective you’re coming from. In fact, I’ve never even heard an atheist treat it like nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the same thing with spiritual birth only better if you can believe it. Because this is not only a more rare event, but it’s also birth into the family of God and it’s something that never ends. Your membership in this family is eternally secure!

It was truly an awesome weekend!

Here are some other reflections I’ve had; Read the rest of this entry »

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I always get excited when I know we are getting closer to a powerful movement from God! And I feel like this weekend will be such a time. There’s a lot of evidence for it.

1. Satan has been working overtime, using guilt and depression as we expose dysfunctional sexual views among people today.

2. I opened my blog up to atheists and militant God-haters about a week and a half ago and the response has been so huge I had to start another blog just to deal with it. You can read all about it here.

3. The phone calls, e-mails, and blog comments are WAAAAAAAAAY up when I even hint about sex! Check out all the comments on this post. People are curious, angry, disillusioned, and hurting.

4. Satan always kicks it into overdrive right before God’s Spirit moves big.

So, Brookies, I ask for your prayers and a couple other things as well:

– please follow all the way through and invite, invite, invite.

– at least give out the 3 invite cards I sent you in the mail and follow up with those folks–bringing them to the “Friends with Benefits” conclusion, THIS WEEKEND !

– If everyone cancels on you, or even if it works best for your guests, could some of you shift to either the Saturday evening service or the Sunday 8:30 AM service. The others will be slammed!

– Don’t give into the temptation to pull a no-show rather than coming without a guest. We still need you there praying and showing our guests authentic worship.

Ok, everyone ready?!

Good.

By the way, are you all getting familiar with the 2 newest Southbrook blogs yet?

1. Southbrook Revealed (a weekly recap of the weekend message and services. Click here to visit this blog now.).

2. Planting by the Brook (updated regularly with church planting incites [mistakes, home-runs, and everything we’ve learned in between.} you can go there now by clicking here.

And for the 3 of you who have not yet heard Read the rest of this entry »

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