Only Love Remains

So I have been getting torn up recently by the song "Only Love Remains" by JJ Heller.  I love the fact that the song says, "so be gentle with me Jesus as you tear me apart."  In order to be our best, to live uninhibited we have to be willing to be torn apart and rebuilt.  Parts of our lives need to be killed and replaced with Christ.  Without going on too much and ruining the song with my words I'm going to post the lyrics and the song so that you guys can get torn apart like I have been the past few days.


"Only Love Remains" -- JJ Heller


Scenes of you come rushing through
You are breaking me down
So break me into pieces
That will grow in the ground
I know that I deserve to die
For the murder in my heart
So be gentle with me Jesus
As you tear me apart

Please kill the liar
Kill the thief in me
You know that I am tired of their cruelty
Breathe into my spirit
Breathe into my veins
Until only love remains

You burn away the ropes that bind
And hold me to the earth
The fire only leaves behind whatever is of worth
I begin to see reality
For the first time in my life
I know that I’m a shadow
But I’m dancing in your light

Teach me to be humble
Call me from the grave
Show me how to walk with you upon the waves
Breathe into my spirit
Breathe into my veins
Until only love remains

A Dream Worth Fearing For

Mark Batterson for National Community Church has a quote that says, "If you have never been filled with fear because your dream seemed too big, you're dreaming too small." Jerry Falwell always asked the students at Liberty University what our BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goal was? The question is why do so many Christians dream such small dreams. I am not writing this as someone who has made it and is always dreaming beyond my means, but as someone on this journey. It is amazing as you look through history what God has done through people who were completely committed to God's mission.

Look at Moses for example. Moses was a man who grew up with a kingly heritage in Pharaoh's court but had a stirring within him for the people of Israel because they were his people. It was a God given vision but at first Moses took this vision into his own hands and tried to make something of it. My first point that I want to make is that a God given vision will be fulfilled in God's timing. It wasn't until Moses had run away after killing an Egyptian man and run into the desert for 40 years that God choose to raise him up and bring him into Egypt to fulfill his calling and complete the vision and stirring that God had given him 40 years earlier. God's vision was fulfilled in God's timing not Moses'. How often do we feel a stirring to do something that God has called us to do but we don't research it, we don't do our homework, and we end up falling flat on our face. You may have a God given calling to be a light on a High School football team but if you go out and try out for the team without ever touching a football then how are you going to be successful. I am not saying quench the fire in your belly by taking 40 years like Moses had to but I am saying that we have to prepare ourselves to do what God has called us to.

Then look at Paul. Paul went from persecuting Christians to preaching the word of God in a very short time. Look at God's timetable here. For sure it is a much shorter time than Moses but God's purpose was different here. However, the point I want to extract here is not about timing but rather about passion. In Galatians when Paul is talking about his past he says, "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers." Paul was a person who did not half heartedly take on the pursuit ahead of him but I have always been fascinated by the fact that God took someone so passionate for one thing and re-aimed that passion. Often times God takes the things in our personality and creates a dream that fits the experiences that we have been through. Now I say often times because this isn't an every time business. However, in my life I have found that the things that I was passionate about before I decided to go into full time ministry are passions that I still have. I still love football and coffee and I honestly think they will play a huge role in my ministry in the future. With that said find what fires you up and dream big. Don't allow people to determine your dreams for you. If you are passionate about sports and want to do sports ministry but yet you have someone telling you that you need to be a lawyer then you need to evaluate what God's calling for your life is. In the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" Will Smith's character tells his son, "Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. Not even me. All right? ... You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period." I don't want to speak against everyone who may be influencing you but don't let someone take away your dream with someone telling you you can't or that you will fail. You have to ask yourself, “If one person can discourage you from following your dream then is it a dream worth having?” You have got to be the first person to believe in your dream and have the passion to bring people around you and sell your vision. People will see your genuineness and will buy into you as well as into your vision.

I write this blog because I am right here in the thick of it trying to see the forest for the trees. I have a passion to be used by God and am so restless as I wait for my dreams to come to fruition. In as much honesty as I can possibly give, I have a vision that scares me to death. I want to be used in the lives of youth wherever that may be. The wherever it may be part is the scariest part by far. I wrote in my journal the other day the phrase, “WHATEVER IT TAKES, WHATEVER THE COST.” This scares me and scares my wife as we know that our destiny and our dream is not in our own hands.

The question I want to leave you with is, are you willing to put your dream in God’s hands and be scared and what you may find? Are you dreaming small comfortable dreams that will never challenge you or are you willing to step off the ledge and trust that God has given you this dream and he hasn’t doomed you to failure. Pray and wait for God’s Timing, don’t let those around you discourage you, and do whatever it takes whatever the cost. PLACE NO LIMITS ON GOD AND HE’LL PLACE NO LIMITS ON YOU. Is your God given dream scaring you and if not then is it a dream worth having?

Double Minded Discipleship (Luke 9)

"Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" -- Luke 9:62

What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? What is discipleship? I will let you explore those truths for yourself this morning but there is something that I want to talk about in reference to discipleship and that is something that discipleship is not.

Now I am a very strong believer in context and while this verse refers to a plow and is a farming analogy, it has a much deeper meaning to it beyond the technique of how one is supposed to plow a field. In the verses leading up to verse 62 and the chapter shortly occurring thereafter, Jesus is equipping, sending, and teaching those around him what it means to follow after him. In chapter nine just 39 verses before the one at the top of this blog Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Jesus is laying out a very strong argument for the fact that following after Him would not be easy. As a matter of fact Jesus never said that it would be easy. I will not go on the track of the prosperity gospel other that to say that one need not go past the first generation Christians to see that a Christian life is not all about health and wealth.

So what does the plow verse have to do with all of the take up your cross lingo and the whole process of discipleship? Well even after seeing Jesus carry out miracle after miracle, the disciples still do not understand the immense cost that they must pay to follow Christ and that cost is still there today. At the beginning of chapter 9 Jesus tells the disciples that they will be rejected but here at the end of the chapter he says, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." The NET study bible has a great study note on this matter and it says, "Jesus warns that excessive concern for family ties (looks back) will make the kingdom a lesser priority, which is not appropriate for discipleship. The image is graphic, for who can plow straight ahead toward a goal while looking back? Discipleship cannot be double-minded." Discipleship is many things but it cannot be double minded. How can one press toward a goal when they aren't even looking at it? I want to contribute my own anecdote as a former football player and say that it is impossible for a runner to run for the touchdown if they are not looking at the end zone. Commentators always talk about someone who is a downhill runner mean they are focused on going forward rather than sideways in their pursuit of yardage.

Right after chapter nine ends, Jesus send out seventy two to go ahead of him and the missionary verse, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few," comes into affect. Discipleship is a single minded mission. In order to see discipleship effectively working one's mindset must be what is on the horizon and where one is heading. Gospel centered and forward driven. Single minded discipleship is what Jesus demands because, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."