God

In Faith in Real Life

The Virus of More: Confessions of a Materialism Battle

October 8, 2013 No Comments

It’s hard for me to look at a Range Rover and not want one. Their lines are smooth, they look Uber comfortable, and I feel like I can take on a mountain with it and win. The other morning a Range Rover cut me off on my way to a meeting with a good buddy of mine. I felt everything inside of me tense up. Maybe that was because I was running 10 minutes late to my meeting or maybe it was because he had something that I wanted. It was hunter green, and it was new. The windows were tinted out, and the rims were classy. The only thing that my car and his car have in common is the color of the paint. My rims are not so classy, my windows are not so tinted, and I most certainly could not take on a mountain and win.

Welcome to my internal struggle with materialism. Materialism is the virus that grows inside of you convincing your mind that you need more and more and more. Materialism not only affects your mind, It affects your eyes too. They begin looking around at the things that you already have and it causes you to see them as old and out dated. It’s like a set of contact lenses that magnifies every ding, imperfection, tear, or sign that your stuff hasen’t been unwrapped from their cellophane covering in a long time.

I’m pretty convinced that materialism has been fed to us by the mass market like small pox blankets were to the Native American’s. The more we watch and believe the commercials, the more we itch with the need to buy the latest and the greatest. Be careful my friends! You don’t need to drive what turns you on. You need to drive what gets you there. There is a big difference between need and want. We get those two things mixed up very easily. That’s part of the game of the materialism virus- it makes it harder to keep your head on straight.

Richard Foster writes about the materialism virus. He says this,

This psychosis permeates even our mythology. The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor. Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry.

It is time to set possessions in their proper place. It is time to find joy in the abundant gifts that God has given us. After all Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” The writer of Hebrews says, “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you'” (Heb. 13:5)

I’m praying that God shows me that it is more about the people around me than the possessions in my home. I bet I’m not alone in this struggle… Where are you at with it?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Changing Seasons and an Unchanging God

October 3, 2013 2 Comments

Where I live in northeastern New Jersey, the leaves are all starting to change colors. The signs that fall is upon us are so evident. In some ways I really enjoy this. I found that I love the change of the seasons.

I am a summer guy, there is no question about that. I love almost any activity that has to do with the summer except for sweating. So the change from it being 96 degrees out with the humidity being something you can taste to a cool 70° is welcome to me right about now. As you drive around the neighborhoods, more and more pumpkins are showing up on people’s doorsteps and I’m starting to notice more cornstalks popping up around too. That one never really made sense to me, I’m just going to be honest. I get why people put up pumpkins they’re cute and decorative, I’m just not to sure about the cornstalks.

One of the things I love about the changing of the seasons is that it reminds me of what I love about the season before it. Right now I am missing sitting and soaking in the sun on a sandy beach. I am missing hearing the sound of seagulls cackle about my head. In the middle of the summer oddly enough I find myself missing a rainy spring day. And in the dead of winter, I long to be outside in a flannel shirt and a vest. Then in the spring I miss sitting under our favorite blanket on the couch with a cup of hot coffee. Every season reminds me of the beauty and joy of the season before it.

In the midst of all of this change, I am reminded of one thing that doesn’t change–God. Whether there are leaves on the trees or leaves on the ground, or they are somewhere in the in between stage, God is still in control. In fact, God is the one who causes leaves to bud out, grow, and then one day fall to the ground. God is holding that together right now.

For some of you it isn’t the natural seasons that you’re concerned about. Right now you’re in the midst of changing seasons of life. Some of you have lost a job, gotten a divorce, or found out you have cancer. Or maybe you’ve recently become a parent, or that precious baby you used to hold in your arms is now breaking free and headed off to college. These changing seasons can be incredibly difficult.

No matter what season of life you’re in remember that God is one who doesn’t change, even if you do. I love the words from Lamentations 3:21-23

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

What is one thing you need to hope in God for today?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Listening to Your Pain

September 24, 2013 No Comments

The other day I wrote on the value of pain. And since then I have had so many conversations with some of you about all of the painful situations that you are currently going through, or already have gone through. It can be so incredibly overwhelming right? It is never easy to talk about cancer, and how that is taking the life of your dad. Or listening to someone share how mental illness is transforming their sister who was once brilliant and vibrant and is now fading away. Pain comes in all shapes and sizes and pain knows very few boundaries.

In the midst of pain we can respond or we can ignore it.

I’ll never forget that Saturday morning men’s breakfast that we were sitting around a table enjoying bagel egg and cheese sandwiches when someone got a call that Shelly had passed away the night before. Shelly attended our little church and was known and loved by everyone. She was happily married and loved on her beautiful 6 year old daughter. Shelly was a paraplegic. She was not only unable to move her legs, she couldn’t feel them either. The nerve endings in her legs that were supposed to communicate to her telling her that she was in pain did not work. So that Friday night Shelly cozied up to a gas flame heater and fell asleep. She never realized that her legs were burning and suffering excruciating pain. Eventually a clot formed and went straight to her heart. Unfortunately, the nerve endings that were designed to tell her that something hurt and that she needed to do something about it were not working. She never got the message.

Pain communicates!

What is your pain saying to you? What is the next step that you need to take to move away from the source of pain and move towards the place of healing?

There is an old Jewish proverb that I love so much. It says, “What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul.” When I am in the midst of pain, I no longer apologize for my tears. Those tears are as much a part of my communication process as the initial pain is. I value the times when I have what we call in my family “a good cry”. Don’t mask your emotions, don’t apologize for your tears. God has given us each and every emotion so that we can properly relate to Him, and to one another.

Take a breath. Pause for a minute. What is your pain trying to tell you?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Automatic Toilet’s and the Holy Spirit

September 12, 2013 3 Comments

Do you remember the first time that you walked up to a toilet and looked for the handle to flush it and it wasn’t there? The individual that created this little device is a genius, and deserves a pat on the back. As a pastor I shake tons of peoples hands on a Sunday morning. I have made it my routine to go wash my hands after each service. You people are carrying some serious amounts of germs on those hands. So, it’s even better when I go into the bathroom and not have to touch that nasty little lever coated in sickness.

In our office each of the toilets there have automatic sensors on them. Which totally enhances the experience. However, one particular toilet flushes when you walk in the stall. You know, it’s just a preemptive flush. The first time that this happened to me, I was completely taken by surprise. I mean you expect that at the end, not in the beginning.

One of the things that I have always thought about and shared with others is that we should see life through the lens of a parable. What I mean is, what could God be showing you or teaching you through life’s everyday ordinary objects? When Jesus taught the people He often told parables, or short stories that were embedded with images and pictures that people were familiar with. It was a teaching strategy.

Right now you can ask yourself 3 questions to help understand your life’s parable.

Where have you seen God lately?
What is He trying to say to you?
What is He prompting you to do?

Back to the automatic flusher… Every time this happens I am reminded that I am never alone. Even when I think that I am going to be alone, I am not. Let’s be honest, sometimes as parents we retreat to the bathroom because that is generally a place where there is still a little bit of privacy. But as followers of Christ we are never alone. Do you remember what Jesus told His disciples? In John 14:16 He said, “I will ask the Father to give you another helper, and He will be with you forever.”

As I view life through the lens of a parable, a malfunctioning automatic toilet flusher reminds me that the Holy Spirit is with me, ALWAYS! This means that when I am tempted, I am not alone. When I am afraid, I am not alone. When I am weak, I am not alone. When I am hurt, I am not alone. There is no where I can run, no place that I can hide from God. And I love that the toilet sensor reminds me of that.

So, where have you seen God lately? Keep your eyes open, you never know what may pop up in your life that reminds you of what God is doing in the world around us!

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Why is God so mysterious all the time?

September 2, 2013 No Comments

Have you ever figured out why life has happened the way that it has? I mean think about it… what has recently happened in your life that has left you scratching your head wondering, “why in the world did that happen?” For me it was a good buddy of mine who moved away. He was more than just a friend, he was someone who I was able to really “let down my hair with” (I know… I shave my head, and I don’t have hair… just go with it) and just be me. I shared my biggest fears in life, and my craziest goals with him. We’ve laughed together, and cried together. We’ve enjoyed some really great times together. Yet, now he’s gone. I get it why he left for him. But I don’t understand why for me. It seemed like God had provided me a friend, and a mentor. Why in the world would God take that away from me? What was it for you? What left you scratching your head wondering why?

This past June I graduated from Biblical Seminary. I have spent the last 3 years of my life pouring over books, writing countless papers, spending hundreds of hours in class listening to Prof’s and participating in discussions with the express purpose of knowing more about God and His mission here on Earth. Sometimes I feel like we try to figure God out so much that we actually reduce Him to something that we can comprehend! It’s a weird question, I know, but would you want to have a God that you could completely figure out?

Have you left room for the mystery of God?

One of my prof’s, Derek Cooper, wrote in his book Hazardous,

“We are all familiar with the adage that God works in mysterious ways, yet it is sometimes incredible how mysterious God can be. This leads me to a difficult question: how are we to respond to God when we cannot fully see what God is doing in this world?”

When God is acting mysteriously we need to choose, will we trust God or will we doubt Him? At Liquid Church we have a staff philosophy that when there is a void in a relationship, task, or responsibility that we will choose trust over suspicion. When those voids come up we will undoubtably fill them with something. The question is what, trust or suspicion? The same thing is true when it relates to God. When He is being all mysterious and God-like, will we choose to trust Him or be suspicious of Him?

Who knows God may do something incredible in the midst of your mystery. See that’s just it. It really isn’t that God doesn’t know what He is doing. It is that we do not know what He is up to! Romans 11:34 says, “For who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?”

Let’s stop trying to figure God out completely and let’s start experiencing Him. It’s time we start trusting and embracing the mystery of who He is! Besides, I think it is more fun that way…

So, what is the hardest part for you? Trusting? The mystery? Or the space in between?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Elisha, the boys and the bears

June 7, 2012 No Comments

Today’s guest post comes from David T. Lamb. I have had the privilege of having Dave as one of my professor’s at Biblical Theological Seminary. He has a love for teaching the word of God, and has a way of making it come to life! Dave is the author of the book “God Behaving Badly“. I have appreciated his input in my life.

I was sitting at the kitchen table. My teenage son Noah snuck up behind me, rubbed my bald spot and said, “Hey, Baldy, how’s it going?”

I cry out, “Where are the she-bears when you need them?”

In case you were never taught the story of Elisha, the boys and the bears in Sunday school, it’s found in 2 Kings 2:23-25.

He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” ²⁴ When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.

For those of us who love God and love to read his word, stories like this are problematic and so we just ignore them. But that makes us a bit like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand. Unfortunately, ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away. Atheists certainly don’t ignore these stories.

While teaching this story recently I ran across a blog from Infidel guy (http://www.infidelguy.com/article168.html) who asks, “Would you worship a god that kills children just for calling a man bald?…Didn’t hear this story in Sunday school now did we?” Churches and Sunday schools avoid teaching stories like this.

When Paul taught, “All Scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching” (2 Tim. 3:16), do you think he meant 2 Kings 2:23-25? I’m pretty sure Paul had 2 Kings in mind in his letter to Timothy. For Paul, “Scripture” meant the Old Testament. I think Paul would want to us pull our heads out (of the sand) and do the work it’s going to take to understand tough texts so that we can teach them profitably. In order to help us do that I wrote God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist?

What could we say to Infidel guy, or anyone who asks us about Elisha, the boys and the bears? I discuss this problematic passage in more detail in my book (p. 95-98), but I’ll make a couple of points here.

First, if someone asks you about a problematic passage of the Bible, affirm them. It takes courage and a willingness to take the text and the problem seriously. God isn’t afraid of our difficult questions. He can handle them. Scripture is full of faithful people asking God tough questions (Abraham, Moses, Gideon, the psalmist and even Jesus).

Second, these boys were not innocent pre-school-ers as Infidel guy wants us to believe, but they were a teenage gang and Elisha’s life was in danger. There were at least 42 of them. The text makes it clear that the boys were attacked, but not killed (see also 1 Kings 13:24; 20:36).

Third, prophets had been getting killed in record numbers by Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 18:4, 14), so is reasonable that this one time God decided to dramatically protect one of his prophets against attack, particularly when we look at the other things Elisha was able to do. While I don’t fully understand the strength of Elisha’s response, since he was the 9^th century BC version of Mother Theresa, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, raising the dead and preventing a war (2 Kings 3-8), I think it’s OK to cut him a little slack here. I’m glad God protected his prophet.

As we keep reading, studying and teaching the tough texts of the Old Testament, we will deepen our love not only for his word, but also for God himself.

David T. Lamb teaches Old Testament at Biblical Seminary where he had the privilege of teaching Peter Gowesky in two classes (Genesis and Samuel-Kings) in the Winter and Spring of 2011. He blogs at http://davidtlamb.com/.

Image: http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2010/06/bible-stories-elisha-and-the-she-bears/

In Faith in Real Life

Building On Our Legacy: Augustine of Hippo

May 30, 2012 2 Comments

Over the course of the next several days, I’d like to take a look at a few individuals who have made a significant impact on our Christian History. These individuals have lived exemplary lives and are worth talking about. The issue is that very often we get hung up on the latest and greatest names. Believe me I love these people too, the Francis Chan’s of the world. But what about the St. Francis’ of yesteryear? There is so much that we can learn from them and the contributions that they have made to the Christian faith.

No matter who you are, where you come from, or what language you speak, you have probably heard of a guy by the name of Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine, before he was known as such was known as the son of Monica. Monica’s little boy, Augustine, was really smart and he showed a ton of potential. So much potential that his parents decided to invest everything they had into his education. They gave up all of their savings in order to send him to the finest schools that money could buy. Eventually his parents money ran out and he had to return home. This wasn’t the end of his education. There were others who saw incredible talent in Augustine. He was able to go to Carthage to continue his studies and while in Carthage he became a student of rhetoric. This means that he learned how to speak and write convincingly. You could say that Augustine became a rock star communicator.

Interestingly enough, Augustine wasn’t at first concerned with what he was communicating. His only concern was that he was communicating. It was only after reading Cicero, (a master speaker, and philosopher) that Augustine felt like the content of what he was communicating mattered just as much as the fact that he was communicating. He became convinced that he also needed to seek the truth.

Soon, Augustine in his quest for truth decided that he would abandon his professorship in order to attain that which was most important, truth. Augustine had two main issues with the truth that Christianity taught. One issue was that the Bible seemed to present the truth in such a lowly way. It didn’t fit into his neat little molds and forms that his background in rhetoric allowed for. The second thing was that he couldn’t understand how if God was so good, that He could allow/create evil. These were the issues that Augustine spent many years wrestling through.

Augustine decided that he would devote his entire life to Christ. He would not be lukewarm about anything. He would be completely sold out to the Christian faith. One of the things that Augustine wrestled with in this decision was the fact that he knew this meant his life had to change. See, Augustine liked the things of this world. Augustine liked the women, the life, and every other thing that he desired. This would have to change. He struggled through an intense time where he had to figure out who was going to rule in his life. Would it be Sin, or would it righteousness? He eventually chose righteousness.

As Augustine’s fame grew, so did his platform. He was eventually ordained to serve as Bishop of Hippo. As Bishop of Hippo, Augustine began to make a huge impact on the Christian world. He wrestled with thoughts and questions that have set up future generations of believers. It is because of his time here that he has become one of the most influential theologians. Two things that Augustine determined that have forever shaped our lives. The first is that Augustine was a champion for Free Will. He believed that man had a free will and was not a slave to whatever God wanted him to do. This was huge. The other major contribution that Augustine made was his Just War Theory. This theory stated that there was a right time and also a wrong time to go to war. For a war to be just it must never be fought over territorial ambitions, or to exercise power. It must be fought and led by proper authorities and lastly it also must be motivated by love. On top of these things, Augustine also made significant contribution to the literary world. He wrote many works, with one of his most famous works being “Confessions”.

Augustine has been one of the most influential theologians throughout the centuries. But one of the most interesting things about Augustine is that he was a normal guy like you and me. He wasn’t born with a halo around his head. In fact, quite the contrary, this dude lived a wild life. He grew tired of that, and found that he needed to change. It was at the point of change that God grabbed a hold of him and rocked the world.

What would it look like if God got a hold of your life? I bet He could rock the world through you too!

~Peter

A great resource to read up on Christian History is a book by Justo L. Gonzalez called, “The Story of Christianity”. You can purchase it at Amazon.com here.

In Spiritual Growth

Scraped Knees= Shepherding Opportunities

May 29, 2012 No Comments

My kids have fallen down- many times. In fact it happened recently. Noah fell and scraped up his elbow pretty badly. When we were trying to bandage it up he said, “IT BURNS LIKE LAVA!” Ah to have the mind of a six year old again…

My kids have made mistakes. They have written on walls, gotten pen on the couch, spilled milk, disobeyed, talked back, and been obstinate. They have found that there is a whole lot of life that they want to explore and boundaries that they want to push.

These are the times as parents that are incredibly hard, right? When your kid is in pain, pain so bad that it can only be likened to “burning like fire”, you want to take that away for them. You wish that you could bear the pain on their behalf so that they didn’t have to feel it. When I watch one of my kids fall, my whole body cringes, not because I am hurting, but because I know that they will be.

It is hard as a parent to watch and experience your children disobey, make poor decisions, and mistakes. If you don’t believe me ask any parent of a teenager, they will tell you it is hard!

These are the moments when parenting is tough.

It is in these moments that parents have to step in and show their children that their is a better way. There is a safer way to get from one side of the pool to the other than by running. There is a reason why we don’t color with markers on the couch. There is a reason why we eat over our plates. All of this is for a reason.

When our children disobey, as parents we have to have the difficult discussion about why obedience is important. We have to discuss why attitude is everything. We have to talk about forgiveness. We must teach our kids how to say sorry. All of these things are important to teach lovingly and graciously to our children.

In the book of Ezekiel, God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel and tells his people that they haven’t been shepherding, or taking care of His people. God reveals the condition of the shepherds heart as well as the condition of the flock. Neither one is doing very well.

You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the disease you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.

~Ezekiel 34:3-5

God speaks through Ezekiel and is trying to get the attention of those who are taking care of God’s flock, or God’s people. This passage is challenging to me both as a parent and as a pastor. It makes me ask the question, am I caring for the people that God has entrusted to me?

What about you? I don’t care if you are a pastor, or a parent. A father, or a friend. Are you lovingly guiding and caring for those that God has placed in your life? How do you help your kids, friends, etc… know that you care?

~Peter

In Spiritual Growth

Play the Background

May 23, 2012 5 Comments

Here’s a follow up to yesterday’s guest post. If you haven’t read that, go check it out and jump back here and get in on the conversation.

One of the albums that I enjoy listening to is “Rehab” by Lecrae. (You can purchase that here.) The whole album is great but, one of my favorite songs on the album is “Background”.

Check out his video for “Background”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsz6K4Wqv24]

It is lines like these that mess with my head…

It’s evident you run the show, so let me back down
You take the leading role, and I’ll play the background
I know I miss my cues, know I forget my lines
I’m sticking to your script, and I’m reading all your signs
I don’t need my name in lights, I don’t need a starring role
Why gain the whole wide world, If I’m just going lose my soul

I mean, for real… Why gain the world only to loose your soul along the way. This messes with my head because to many people think that kind of thinking is crazy! We know people who have sacrificed their family and their friends in order to step up another rung on the ladder. We know men who have lost their marriages because they believed the lie that other women were telling them. This may even be your story!

Lecrae throws it down in this song. I don’t care if you are a pastor, a youth pastor, a church secretary, a plumber, a CEO, or a line cook… God honors humility.

The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.

~Proverbs 15:33

Can you say this with Lecrae: “Matter of fact, just take my pen, here, you create my rhymes”? That means setting aside your desires, your plans and your dreams in order to follow and live by God’s desires, plans, and dreams. That is setting down and surrendering the rights to your dreams. Wow! I wish that I could say that was true in my life all the time.

What is most challenging about being humble? Or maybe even a more difficult question is, Do you trust God enough to give him your dreams?

~Peter

In Spiritual Growth

Guest Post: Who’s Getting the Glory?

May 22, 2012 5 Comments

Recently, I read a quote that stopped me dead in my tracks. The quote said this:

Too often we ask God to glorify His name with ours.

After reading it, I went back and read it again, and again. I could not stop thinking about that quote. Then I read Psalm 115:1 which says, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name goes ALL the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.”

Then I began thinking of all the times in my life where I was guilty of asking God to glorify His name with mine. I thought of the times when I have been teaching a group of teenagers about the truths of God’s word and I want them to tell me they liked my teaching. I thought of when I put together a worship service and I nearly expected people to compliment my creativity. I thought of when I’ve desired to go on mission trips to 3^rd world countries and make a difference, when deep down inside what I really wanted was for people back home to comment on my “boldness” and “willingness” to follow God. The list could go on and on. Sadly, I began to realize how often I’ve attempted to stick my name in the limelight. I realize that doing that casts a shadow on God’s glory.

Now, I have a feeling that I am not the only one that struggles with this. One of the reasons is because our culture is full of opportunities to capture some glory…

Sports companies like Nike, Reebok, and others are willing to pay professional athletes ridiculous amounts of money to promote their line of shoes, clothing, etc. In music/media we spend money on iTunes and other similar downloading programs which give a portion of the money to the writing artist and keep a portion for themselves. Our culture is obsessed with sharing dividends, or for lack of better terms-glory. Now, I want to clarify: I am not trying to criticize our culture’s way of promoting products for business. What I am saying is, that’s not the way that God works.

God clearly deserves ALL the glory in our lives. It is HE who has the power to save us not the other way around! But, instead of giving God all the glory, we have been mentally programmed to try and take some ourselves. The Church is not exempt, in fact, we must be very aware of this temptation because this mentality could easily rise up within the Church. When the people of God attempt to steal God’s glory it points others in the opposite direction of God.

Is this something you’ve struggled with? Unfortunately, I have. What areas of your life do you need to re-evaluate to make sure that God is getting ALL, not just some of the glory?

Crisman Koechig is the husband of his wife, Ashley. A student of Toccoa Falls College. And a Youth Pastor to his awesome students @ Family Worship Center in Indiantown, Florida.

In the midst of pain we can respond or we can ignore it.

Pain communicates!

Where have you seen God lately?

What is He trying to say to you?

What is He prompting you to do?

Have you left room for the mystery of God?