This is the audio from Sunday, March 11 at Tapestry. The lead in (which is not part of this audio for copyright reasons) was from the great movie Ben-Hur. The first scene was saw was Ben-Hur seeing Jesus as He carried the cross to Golgotha. In the film Jesus stunbles and falls, Ben-Hur rushes in, risking himself, to give Jesus a drink of water. Then we went to an earlier scene where Jesus had given a drink of water to Ben-Hur when he was at his lowest. A simple prayer had just escaped his lips, "God, help me."

I hope you are encouraged by this message.

I spoke on "Informed Resistance" one of the chapters from the book, "Cardboard Astronaut" on February 19, 2012 at Tapestry. Listen to the audio as well as download a .pdf of this chapter, or you can purchase a copy of the book from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Cardboard-Astronaut-2-0-ebook/dp/B002ZNJLQE/ref=sr_1_1?...

We had a great service this morning. Here's the audio of the service. Don't forget to pray for our friends at Greenville College who are working with LiNK to bring freedom to North Korean refugees.

If you take the entire “guess” out of “guesswork”, you still have work.

Don’t assume you know what your son or daughter is going through. When you assume you know then it is easy for you to filter what your kids are going through with your own preconceptions and/or paradigm that you developed as a young person years ago when you were a teen or child. Your personal experiences should be the basis that you use to empathize with them in their struggles but not as the basis by which you judge them or their particular situation because you did not experience the pressure their culture places on them today.

Understanding is the key to leading.

How can you lead your child in a relationship with God if you don’t know?

1. Where are they?
   What I mean here is, where do they stand spiritually? Just because they were born in a home that has Christian parents does not make them Christians by default. They may or may not share your values. You would do them and yourself a great service if you would simply sit down with them and ask them about their spirituality. Don’t confuse church attendance with spirituality. They are not necessarily the same thing.

2. Who is speaking to them?
   When we were children the best way to keep us “safe” was to keep us isolated from society at home. The home is no longer a secluded refuge. Your living room or your child’s bedroom is accessible to the entire world via the internet. Check out their facebook profile, friends list, twitter, tumblr and/or the other host of sites available. Take their ipod or mp3 player and listen to it, all of it. These little devices can be the difference in their spiritual success or failure.

   There are many free resources online that you can use to judge the lyrical content of the music they are listening to.

3. What direction they are going?
   Spirituality is not neutral. So, what direction are they headed in? You, as an engaged parent, are the road, the fence and the safety net to keep them headed in the right direction and catch them when they fall down.

 

Remember, they are not miniature versions of you. They are unique individuals that are going through unique challenges that you never faced as a young person whether you were in church or not.

Don’t Abdicate.

Youth ministry is not God’s idea. It’s a response to a deficiency in the family. With that in mind you as a parent must understand that the role of the children’s or youth ministry is not to parent (v.) your child. We do not, can not and will not replace you in your role of leading your child to Christ.

Do Accept.

You must accept the responsibility of where your child is now and where they are headed. So many parents bemoan the spiritual condition of their children and condemn them for their spiritual location. Remember, if your child has ended up somewhere they shouldn’t be, they were following you. It’s easy to say, “I didn’t lead them to destruction,” but can we make the better statement, “I lead them to safety”?

Don’t Antagonize.

Fathers, don’t exasperate your children, but take them by the hand and lead them in the ways of the Lord.

It’s easy to fight for what you believe is right and/or true. It’s harder and more effective to guide into what is right and/or true.

Do affirm.

 
Affirm:  To support or uphold the validity of; confirm.

Never minimize their struggles or accomplishments. Their life has merit, now. They must have something to believe in and they must be believed in.

 

Empower is not the same as enable.

 Two children can grow up in the same environment, even the same household and have totally different mindsets. Typically the difference is that they were either enabled or empowered. This has great spiritual implications for our young people.

An empowered child is given permission to succeed.

Empowerment is based on knowledge.

An enabled child is given permission to be excused.

Enablement is based on ignorance.

“He’s like that because of his heritage” is a cop out. My father killed my mother with his bare hands. I do not automatically inherit that behavior. I can be influenced by my father’s behavior, but I have to choose to be that way.

heritage

–noun

1.         something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth; an inherited lot or portion

2.         something reserved for one: the heritage of the righteous.

3.         Law.

a.         something that has been or may be inherited by legal descent or succession.

b.         any property, esp. land, that devolves by right of inheritance.

 

inherit
–verb
To receive a trait from one's parents by genetic transmission.

Both of these words have the same root, heir, but one is external (heritage, behavior, possesions) the other is internal (inherit, looks, hair color, etc.).

You can’t expect John the Baptist if you didn’t start before the beginning.

So many parents tend to try to wait until their child is old enough to make his own choice, and it’s true, ultimately every person has to at some point make their own choice about their belief or disbelief, but the truth of the matter is that we are born pointed in the wrong direction. You can’t make the choice for your child, but you can be a great help to him/her if you are there, constantly pointing them in the right direction, coaching them, leading them, correcting them.

Remember, John was a miracle baby but he still had to be taught and guided as a Nazerite. Samson was also a Nazerite, it’s easy to contrast the difference between John and Samson. One was empowered the other was enabled. Of course, we can argue that Samson was ultimately successful because he killed more in his death than he did in his lifetime, but we can’t ignore the fact that he died blind and in bondage to his enemies because of bad choices that he was enabled to make as a young man. Delilah wasn’t Samson’s first Philistine.

John the Baptist also died in captivity to his enemies, but because he made the right decisions and wouldn’t back down from the truth.

Shame is based in pride.

Some people “punish” their children out of embarrassment because the child’s behavior affects what people think about them, not because the child does right or wrong.

I’ve seen kids running wild, making messes and exhibiting extremely negative behavior with their parent present and completely oblivious until they realize that the people around them are looking at them (the parent) in a negative light. Then, because they are embarrassed, not for the sake of their child, they over correct their child. They’ll punish the child or make a ridiculous threat that they and the child both know they will not carry out. They shame their child as part of the show that the parent is putting on to mask their embarrassment.

Discipline and punishment are not the same thing. One is based on education for character development and the other is based on training actions through fear and/or deception.

 

 

My friend and co-pastor, Steve, asked me to speak on God's faithfulness this morning at Tapestry. After studying I came to the conclusion that God is not faithful. Listen to the short message and feel free to comment.

"There is a generation of Jacobs that have “the blessing” and the “birthright” and have come to a face to face encounter with God. Yes, that is a limp, the humble walk of a wounded warrior and not the proud swagger of a religious zealot.

They are reaching back to Esau in humility, asking forgiveness and bringing gifts. Esau was the first born and his father loved him, he was a hunter, a reckless and passionate man that was tricked by politics and then deceived by the ambition of his brother, but he was willing to forgive. Esau is at your church, he is shallow, but hungry. He wants to please the Father, but has been treated poorly by the mother because he doesn’t measure up to her standards.

We’ve taught our people to imitate him in the tent, but they can’t function like him in the field."

Attached is a .pdf of the notes I used to teach the message in this chapter. Feel free to use it.

Tell your friends about Cardboard Astronaut. Go to our facebook page and get a free download of the book when you participate in our "For Likers Only" campaign.

 

I spoke this message based on "What The Heck Are We Doing?" from Cardboard Astronaut at a youth convention in Atlanta a while back. Visit the Cardboard Astronaut Facebook Page and download a free copy of the book through our "Only For Likers" promotion and read the chapter for yourself. And, hey, tell a friend about it.

When we teach people we should welcome disagreement and invite them to discuss their disagreements and go to the Word of God as the ultimate authority, always striving to use the scripture in their true context. Then, and only then will people be able to put Christianity into the context of their own lives.

Look, the captain of the ship in the control room and the passenger playing tennis on the upper deck are on the same vessel, making the same journey and in the same peril, but are worlds apart in their understanding.The captain knows how to navigate the ship. He knows how to read the instruments and knows the location of the vessel in reference to its final destination. His job is to know.

The passenger knows when dinner is going to be served, approximately when he or she is going to get to the destination and that someone, somewhere is in charge of the ship. His or her job, in reality, is to be blissfully ignorant of most of the details. Even though he or she is on the journey, the context of everything is different.

If something happened to the captain and crew of this ship, or the passengers were suddenly placed at the wheel, they would be in serious trouble because they don't know how it all works and have never been instructed on how to guide the ship to safety. If we are going to see young men and women continue to follow Christ when they leave their parent's homes and go off to college, when they take the wheel, so to speak, we are going to have to get rid of the cruise ship mentality.

The church is not a cruise ship. It's a tightly knit group of individual rafts that are controlled by their single passenger. This is less controllable for a religious leader and there is less recognition for "Captain Pastor" but it is Christianity in everyday context. As the church we exist in concert, like a choir. The leadership of the local congregation stands in front and leads the choir because that's his job, but the harmony of the song comes from the people who have equal access to the music and choose to sing, individually following the directions of the composer, as much or more, as the conductor.

Excerpt from Cardboard Astronaut 2.0, Inconsequential Christianity, Christianity As A Theory Changes Nothing

 

HE IS WHAT HE IS

I see these t-shirts people wear, “Jesus for President.” Of course the Republicans would expect Jesus to run on their ticket, but after the first debate they would probably beg Him to not run after all or ask Him to consider being a Democrat. The problem with Jesus being the American President is that I don’t think He would be very good at it. Oooh, I know that sounds irreverent, but it’s true. First of all, if He was the American President, he would have to be patriotic, which He is not.

No, Jesus is not an American patriot and I don’t think He would say the Pledge of Allegiance whether it says “one nation under God” or not. I know, I know, you’re upset now, and just so you’ll know I do say the Pledge of Allegiance and am patriotic, but my patriotism is not part of my Christianity. (More on that subject later.)

Secondly, If Jesus was the President of America, He would have to view America as more important than other nations, He would have to work to make sure that the policies and interests of this nation would be enforced even at the expense of other nations. He can’t do that, however, because He’s bigger than America. Jesus is disqualified from American politics because you can’t be an American president and a global Savior at the same time.

We’ve tried and tried to do that as a nation, but we can’t separate ourselves from our own agenda. I’m not saying that’s bad, just human. The only way American politics could save the world would be to make the whole world American, that’s assuming that being American is the best thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in America and America has a lot going for it, but America is a man-made entity, and that negates the possibility of it being the best thing for the world.

I’m sure somewhere on the application to be Mr. President, you have to check the little box that says, “I promise to put America first above all other nations,” or something like that. Jesus couldn’t check that little box.

Thirdly, can you imagine the scandal, all of the dirt that could be dredged up about Jesus? Hookers and mobsters, swindlers, revolutionaries, His list of supporters would put Him on the cover of every national magazine, not to mention His background and the fact that He was born in Bethlehem (Israel) and doesn’t hold citizenship here, which is definitely a major factor. Plus, He was always saying something that would damage Him in the polls and though He was very kind (most of the time) He was never diplomatic when it came to talking to politicians and when He got a big group together He never talked about the party He was a part of, never made big campaign promises of how He was going to fix the system. His speeches were always about how we needed to be changed as individuals and how we needed to put others before ourselves and turn the other cheek when someone offended us.

His kind of reform would be too radical and costly for any government.

Most importantly, though, He made it very clear that He wasn’t a politician. He never shied away from political figures or their questions. He just never played the game. He isn’t now nor was He ever Presidential material, He’s a king, a monarch isn’t elected, He is enthroned. America isn’t ready for that.

Can you imagine the headlines:
‘Presidential candidate, Jesus “Christ” to ‘Do away with American governmental system and set up global Kingdom.’”   

Right. It’ll happen someday, but not because we decided to do it.

I would elect Him to be the Most Potentate Generalissimo International Superintendent of the First Holy Non-Denominational Denomination of the World in the Name of Jesus, except for the fact that He did so many things (on purpose) that would disqualify Him from even getting on that ballot.

He wouldn’t even come to see the election. I know the scripture says that if two or three are gathered together in His name he will be there in the middle of them, but that doesn’t mean He’s there for the election.

All the hoopla that we make about our religious politics is ridiculous. I’ve seen and heard men that would turn on their best friend over some political stance or position they hold within their religious organization.   

I’ve heard (and said) some of the stupidest things about the superiority of the particular persuasion of religion I subscribe to or even some dogma that is held within that persuasion. I’ve heard “godly” men spew hate and angry rhetoric against people who don’t agree with them about their pet policy. Of course, Jesus knows all about it and is on their side, 100%.
Right.

There are men that are always looking to start a new party or a new sect and fly the Jesus flag over their idea as if Jesus is the one that gave it to them. If you asked Jesus He probably wouldn’t know the particulars because He wasn’t involved in the planning or the process. He’s just the catch phrase that we use to justify our desire to be in control. We wouldn’t make it in the secular political arena because we are too ignorant about what is going on in the world around us, but we want to bump chests and make declarations and control people so we just start us another political group and call it the church.

One religious group had a resolution they were trying to pass at their national convention a few years ago, it failed and a bunch of preachers got angry and left the organization to start their own party. The funny thing is that this year the same resolution passed and a bunch of preachers got mad and left the organization to start their own party.

It was kind of sad to see the hate mail that was sent out in the “name of Jesus” from some of these so called believers. It was more than sad, it was sickening. Of course, Jesus was on their side (both of them) and absolutely approved of their stance (both sides) and their behavior (both sides) and was going to lead their group to a glorious future (both sides) to infinity and beyond (both sides) and the other guys (both sides) were going to go to hell because they were W-R-O-N-G and E-V-I-L (both sides). How stupid.

No, Jesus would never do as the head of a religious entity, because he wouldn’t be any good at it. If He was going to do it, He would have to do it right. He would have to check the little box that said He was 100% behind the agenda of the poli-church he was elected to lead and I seriously don’t think He would be willing to do that. I don’t think He would even be willing to sign our membership forms.

You know where it says, “I promise to obey all of the teachings of the pastor and do what is expected of me to uphold the image and traditions of the (insert religious entity here).”

What if the pastor teaches something I don’t agree with and cannot substantiate with scripture? What if there are things about the religious traditions that are, gasp, wrong? Yeah, I think Jesus would have a problem with that, too.

The problem with elected officials is that they have a term that ends at some point and the majority picked them so the majority expects to be able to have some input into how they are governing in their elected office. Anytime there is an election process, Jesus is disqualified, because as earlier stated, you don’t elect a king, he is enthroned, and religion isn’t ready for that. We don’t want a king, and we certainly don’t want the King, we just want a catch phrase that makes us right.   

Not happening.

From Cardboard Astronaut 2.0 by Armando Heredia. Click here to purcahse.

The thunder rolled, booming all around me. There was lightning in the big West Texas sky which was painted a dark indigo blue by the rain that was about to fall in torrents.

My face and hands were covered in mud and my clothes were dirty enough to just throw away. I had spent the entire afternoon in the mud holes catching frogs. It had been raining the days previous and out where the mesquite grew wild there were places that held water, little ditches and ravines of caliche rock where the water would stay until the sun evaporated it in the coming hot summer days.

Somewhere along the way I found a milk carton, the cardboard half gallon kind that you pull the edges of one side apart at the top to open. The frog I had in my hand was pretty big and I didn't really want to let it go so I stuffed it into the carton. Then, after scrambling around I found another and another, stuffing them into the carton with the other frogs. I spent a few hours catching and stuffing frogs. The wind had picked up as the storm blew in. All around the sky was getting darker.

As a little boy I couldn't have told you why I did what I did next, though I understand it now. I had found a long sharp metal rod at the edge of the fence bordering the little yard of my step-dad's mother's house where I was staying. I took the carton of frogs and threw it to the ground. I watched it as it kind of bumped around, the frogs trying to escape the confines of that little box I had placed them in. And then, with lightning and thunder and wind blowing all around I stabbed that rod through the carton. I hadn't planned it, this wasn't why I had spent all afternoon catching the frogs. But I stabbed it again and again, running the rod through, watching with a kind of grossed out feeling the box banging around as the frogs desperately tried to escape.

Blood covered the rod and oozed out of the holes of the carton. It was splattered on my hands and the ground all around the carton. The movements of the carton began to diminish as the frogs died in the box. Some of them were skewered by this terrible rod that I had attacked them with, others drowned in the blood that filled the box. It was a horrible, malicious and seemingly inexplicable act of violence. I have often thought back to that day and am horrified by the capacity for evil that I had resident in me as a child.

I wouldn't have believed you if you had told me I was going to be doing that to those frogs before it all came to pass, but there I was with that bloody rod and a bloody box full of frogs.

The beginning of trouble for the frogs didn't happen when I found that rod, nor even when I put them in the box, it started when I went looking for frogs and I had no capacity to receive them and no authority to keep them.

I had the power to go and get them, the power to catch them, but I didn't have anywhere prepared for them. I should have never caught them, or at the very least I should have let them go, but that was the problem, I didn't want to let them go, because I had caught them. I was powerful because I was the hunter and they were my quarry, if I let them go it would be weakness on my part, even though I had no place to keep them. So, I stuffed them in a box. They couldn't live in that box for too long and I knew that when I stuffed the first one in, but it didn't matter because I didn't want it to matter.

I had the power to catch them but no authority to keep them. I knew that I couldn't bring those frogs into the house, that my step-parents weren't going to let me into the car with a handful of "nasty" frogs. They're gross, dirty, give you warts, pee on you, make a lot of noise and require special foods and the right kind of environment, all of which either require tolerance, sacrifice, or money. No, I knew I had no authority to keep those frogs so I stuffed them in a little box to hide them from the people who made the rules.

The problem was that the frogs weren't content to stay in the box, they weren't made to be in there. They made a lot of noise and the box wouldn't stay still. In reality I had no authority to even put them in the box, but they were my frogs, because I caught them.

I was too weak to let them go so I killed them.

While I was killing the frogs the storm had come upon me, the lightning and thunder, wind and rain. It was a very dramatic moment and for some reason a fear came on me. I mean a horror. I stood there with that bloody rod and the box of dead frogs at my feet, the blood spreading on the top of the rain water and I became afraid. I was afraid of what God would do to me because of the frogs. I didn't know God but I knew some things about Him and in reality it would have really been poetic justice if I had experienced the retribution I felt like I deserved. A kid holding a bloody metal rod in a lightning storm.

Friend, I promise I will never do this again, with frogs or anything else and I won't stand by and watch someone else do it either.