Photo on crosswalk.com
Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”
Tim Keller did a great job of giving a tribute to John R.W. Stott during the memorial in Wheaton, IL. It is sad to see many people in this younger generation who do not know the life of John Stott and all the things that he accomplished for the evangelical movement.
John Stott’s balance of great biblical scholarship and his expository preaching enabled the Word of God to illuminate truth to many people around the world. His humility and his willingness to learn from others helped pioneer a greater understanding of the global Church. Even his vision for the Kingdom had a way of inspiring many people to get involved in world evangelization, not just in word but also in deed.
You can read up on Stott’s biography on Wikipedia and on Langham Partnership International. Younger generation, it will do your soul good to read up on this man of God.
Here is the Tim Keller’s tribute to John Stott. It is definitely worth the time.
On Tuesday, November 15th 2011 history was made. Mike Krzyzewski (affectionately known as Coach K), the coach for the Duke Blue Devils became the winningest coach in the history of NCAA’s Division 1 Men’s Basketball with a win over Michigan State in New York.
In the midst of all the celebration and congratulations, one scene caught my attention. The coach who held the previous record, Bobby Knight was broadcasting the game. Right after the win, Coach K went over to Knight and the two of the greatest coaches embraced and exchanged some words with one another.
For those of you who are not familiar with the history of their relationship, it was a mentoring relationship that had a lot of ups and downs. Coach K was a player for West Point as Knight was the head coach. Coach K then went on to be an assistant coach for Knight. In essence, it was a mentoring relationship. This is why the surpassing of Knight’s record of 902 wins was very special. The best part was watching them embrace one another in light of everything they went through in the past.
Here are some lessons we can learn:
Photo by U.S. Military Academy
2) The importance of RESTORATION. It is noted that sometime in 1993 steps were taken to restore the broken relationship. Both men were proud men; therefore the relationship was not an easy thing to restore. Even though things seemed friendly, there were still some scars from the past. But the critical moment occurred in 2001. Coach K was voted into the basketball Hall of Fame and he needed to find someone to introduce him during the ceremony. After some thought, Coach K asked Knight to participate and he accepted. It was during that speech that Knight honored and lifted up Coach K for all his accomplishments; and as Coach K came up to the stage, Knight said that Coach K was “the best coach that I’ve had a team play against.” Coach K hugged Knight and cried. It was a completion to the healing process and the relationship was restored. It is amazing how many people go through life without having important relationships restored. We live with the pain and the bitterness rather than reconciling and living in freedom and joy. Sometimes the breach of the relationship might have been caused by a misunderstanding or even words that should not have been spoken. It just takes a person to humble themselves and take the first step towards repairing the bridge that was broken.
Photo by Bettmann/CORBIS
3) The importance of RECOGNITION. Honor is something that is lost in our generation. But there was a glimpse of it after Duke’s win, which gave Coach K the record of being the winningest coach in NCAA Men’s Basketball history. After the final buzzer went off, Coach K went over to the broadcast table and embraced Knight, who was an ESPN analyst for the game. It was later discovered that Coach K said to Knight in their embrace, “I know a lot of people don’t tell you this, Coach, but I love you.” Then Knight responded in a way that only Knight could respond, he said, “Boy, you’ve done pretty good for a kid who couldn’t shoot.” In the post-game interview, Coach K responding to what Knight said to him, he said to the media, “I think that meant he loved me, too. I’m going to take it as that.” I don’t know why but it reminded so much of the relationship that many children have with their parents, who are from the old school. The parent thinks that giving a compliment or showing weakness is a bad thing, therefore they end up saying nothing or something that might be inappropriate. But the crazy thing is that the child understands and they just want their parents to keep their dignity. This is when we come to understand that honor is a two-way street.
Photo on nbcsports.msnbc.com
As many of you know, the song writer for “Amazing Grace” was John Newton, a former slave trader. But many people might not know that the melody of the song was possibly based on an African spiritual. Wintley Phipps gives an explanation on the history of the song, which was very enlightening. It is amazing how God weaves things together for His glory.
For those of you who love music, enjoy!
When we are in a comfortable and familiar territory, it is easy to think that we are living radically. But the reality is that we can only measure the true level of our courage when we are in enemy territory facing hostile conditions.
Sometimes we can be fooled into thinking that we are living radically for Christ, as we stay within the four walls of the church. But when we live radically in the world, we are able to see what we hold to be true. It is in the midst of hostile territory where we can truly know what we believe in and what we are passionate about.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but it is in the midst of fear, we end up doing the right thing.
In the last 3 years, I have been to Austin many times. It is always a joy to come down to Texas to 80 degree weather when it is in the 40’s in Ann Arbor. But more than the weather, it is a privilege to come to Austin and spend some time with Pastor Ben and his family, as well as with the HMCC of Austin family.
This was a special retreat and as I have mentioned to the HMCC-AUS family, “This was a mile-marker experience in our spiritual journey with Christ.” It is always humbling to know that God loves His people and His Church more than we can ever love it with our finite love. This is why I am constantly reminded of the importance of looking to Him to build up His Church (Mt 16:18).
There was definitely a new vibe in HMCC-AUS. They got some awesome freshmen who are excited for the things of God. They also raised up new leaders and servants who really demonstrated God’s heart, as they served at this retreat. They even expanded in their worship team.
God is moving down in Austin. One thing that really blessed me was that the church came together to fast and pray for 21 days. As soon as we started to worship and as soon as I opened my mouth to preach, God was already moving. Everything flowed so easily, which was a good reminder that preparation really does make a difference (Ex 19:10-19).
I am just thankful and humbled that I got the privilege of witnessing God’s power with front row seats!
Photo on fotothing.com
“Stay Humble. Stay Hungry. Stay Honorable.” Recently, as I was driving home after one of the pre-retreat prayers gatherings, I felt like God dropped this phrase in my heart. It wasn’t anything dramatic, but it was something that pierced my heart and hit me in a profound way. In fact, this phrase is something I would love to continue to live by as long as I live. The more I think about this phrase, it describes a person who is passionately and purposefully pursuing their God-given destiny. This has been my prayer in the last few days.
Stay Humble. It is easy to be humble when you first start off in the ministry. Everything is new. There are fears due to various uncertainties; and you are just learning how to do ministry. This makes you more dependent on God, but after doing ministry for awhile, it is easy to get proud; especially, when things are going well. We forget that it was God who enabled us to do what we do. It is easy to forget where we came from and we start to think that we have certain rights or privileges. This was the warning that God gave to the Israelites before they entered into the Promise Land. God said, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day… then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Dt 8:10-11, 14, 17-18). As a person becomes more “successful” in the eyes of the world, it is more the reason to stay humble and never to forget the One who gave the blessings.
Stay Hungry. The big challenge for many people is to stay hungry for God as we get older. There are so many things that vie for our attention and devotion. It only gets harder as we get older. There are various responsibilities and different challenges that come our way. It is too easy and “convenient” to dismiss a lot of convictions that we had when we were younger. We use the rationale of – “Oh, that was when I was younger and naïve!” “I was more idealistic back then, but now I am more grounded and look at life in a different way.” “That was just a unique time in my life, but now I am in a different stage of life.” We fall into the mindset that says, “that was then, this is now.” But God was convicting me that my standard for spiritual hunger needs to be at the level that I had when I was younger. Things were so pure back then. A lot of the reasons why I did what I did were simply because I loved Him and I wanted to love people. This is the heart that I need EVERY day, EVERY moment of my life. When Jesus was asked which of the commandments were the greatest, He said, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Lk 10:27). I want to stay hungry.
Stay Honorable. Honor is a virtue that has been lost in our generation. But there is something about honor that inspires people. It produces trust and it gives credibility to your words and to who you are. The American Heritage Dictionary defines, “honor” as, “principled uprightness of character; personal integrity.” The longer we are in ministry, the easier it is to start thinking that certain rules don’t apply to us. We start to believe that we are better than other people or we have the mentality that says, “We have arrived and we deserve things.” Personal integrity and principled uprightness of character take a long time to develop, but you can lose it in a single moment. This is the scary part of trying to live a life of honor. A whole lifetime of investment can be lost instantly. Therefore, guarding my honor and protecting myself from destroyers of my personal integrity is a must. This is where accountability comes in and a high dosage of reality checks is very helpful. There is a huge leadership gap in our generation and the world is longing for some good examples. But one thing we cannot forget is that integrity is more than just the external behaviors. It is the heart that God constantly looks at. This is what God told the prophet Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sa 16:7).
Stay humble. Stay hungry. Stay honorable.
Photo from flickr.com
It is hard to believe that HMCC in Ann Arbor has had a retreat every year in the last 15 years. After several years of growth, we started to have a retreat just for the college students. As I reflect back on the various retreats we have had in our church’s history, all I can conclude is that God has been faithful in transforming lives.
It is at these retreats where we have seen people give their lives to Christ for the first time. It is always encouraging to hear how the Holy Spirit moved in the person’s heart during the worship time or how God spoke to them through the Word to convict them of their need for Jesus. It is at these retreats where we have seen people make some life-altering decisions. It is at these retreats where we have see people experience freedom and healing for the first time.
These are good reminders that it is truly the work of God that can change a person’s heart.
As we embark on another college retreat, it is my hope and prayer that God will meet us in a powerful way. The theme for this year’s retreat is, “Epic.”
We decided to use this theme because the journey of following Christ is really an epic journey. It has its highs and lows, its challenges and victories, its joys and pain, but at the end, we know that it is a journey that we all long to endeavor in our lifetime.
For many of these college students, they are just starting their epic journey with God. I am excited that we, as a community of faith will have the privilege of pointing people towards their God-given path. I cannot wait to hear the great testimonies that will come forth from this three day journey at Gull Lake Retreat Center.
May the epic journey begin.
Photo from greaterthings.com
Abortion has been a topic that many Christ-followers have remained silent on over the years. The cultural milieu has made it difficult for pro-life proponents to speak up in public against this atrocity. Also, I think one major contributing factor for the silence is that there are a lot of Christ-followers who have had an abortion. If you then add to this, a culture of shame and a lack of redemptive perspective on life, it is easy to see why the topic of abortion is rarely brought up or talked about in the Church.
This causes a lot of people to remain trapped in their guilt, shame, regret and pain, instead of experiencing forgiveness and freedom.
The discussion on abortion was highlighted recently when Steve Jobs passed away. As many of you know, he was given to adoption rather than being aborted. People have been asking, “What if Jobs’ mother aborted him instead of bringing him to full term and then giving him away for adoption?” Yup, we would have lost a genius and an incredible innovator.
Can you imagine all the millions of geniuses and innovators that we have lost since 1973 due to abortion?
It is hard to describe in words.
Many Christ-followers would say that abortion is wrong, but very few can really argue their conviction with wisdom and with a winsome apporach.
Ray Comfort is an evangelist and a staunch opponent of abortion. He is definitely more confrontational in his approach, but I was impressed with his arguments against abortion. Some say that Comfort is a bit over-the-top, but I would have to say that his approach is causing a lot of people to re-think about their stance on abortion. His analogy with the Holocaust and abortion might be a bit insensitive, but there are definitely some principled similarities that it is hard to ignore.
He has produced a documentary called, “180.” The part that gripped me is the lack of knowledge that people had about Adolf Hilter. As the old adage goes, “those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.”
Another thing that spoke to me was when the people in the video were exposed for their inconsistency. In their shock, they only had two choices – either they conceded to their duplicity and became open to change their views or they became proud and stubbornly held on to their foolishness.
May we speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. This is part of being an advocate and living a life of justice. It is my hope that people will be able to see the ultimate Advocate who defends the defenseless.
Check out the video.
We had a wonderful time at the 15th Anniversary Celebration. It was beautiful to see how God has faithfully led us, as a church for the past 15 years. God was not only faithful, but He has been writing an incredible story of transformation. There have been so many people who came to Christ for the first time in our church. There have been numerous people who have experienced true freedom through the power of the Gospel. There have been people who were trained as Kingdom workers, who are now in various parts of the world making a difference for Jesus Christ.
All I can say is that we serve a mighty God and it is all about Him.
When I saw the 15th year video, I couldn’t help but to get misty-eyed as flood of memories went through my mind. It is hard to believe that God has given us the privilege of serving Him here in HMCC-AA for all these years.
Through it all, it has always been about Christ. It is His fame that we want to continue to proclaim to the nations. It is His story that God is writing and we are just the minor characters in this epic journey. The best is yet to come!
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” (Ps 115:1).
This is a recap of some of the great things God has done in the last 15 years, in and through our church.
Photo from lovetoknow.com
Clayton and Charie King wrote a book called, “12 Questions to Ask Before You Marry.” In this book they give a basic list of things (i.e. attitudes, behaviors, reactions, etc) to help determine the level of maturity when it comes to emotional, spiritual, social and financial health.
They encourage the reader to look at the list of questions as “road signs” or markers in order to help us to see where we are when it comes to maturity. This is just one indication that a person is ready to step into the next stage of life.
After going over the list, it can be easy to be discouraged rather than taking the appropriate steps to grow into maturity. Whether it is getting a mentor or getting a disciple, it is critical that we are proactive in taking responsibility for our maturity. God will always do His part, but we have to make sure that we do our part.
In Relevant Magazine, the Kings share 14 markers to look for when it comes to maturity:
2) You have never had a job of any kind for more than six months. If you have never worked, you need a job. Any job will do. Just start somewhere. You need the experience. If you’ve had numerous jobs over the years and none of them have lasted very long, it may be a sign that you are lazy or easily bored or have a problem being told what to do by a boss.
3) You are unable to pay your basic bills each month. Without assistance from family members or friends, you simply could not make it financially. This includes car insurance, rent, groceries, power bill and basic medical expenses. If you can’t pay your basic bills, you will cause a train wreck later on.
4) As a general rule, you lack self-control in your life. Whether it’s your spending habits, how much you eat, the amount of time you spend watching TV or your constant obsession with being online (checking email, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube), these are signs of immaturity, and are a crucial red flag that points to an inability to control your desires.
5) Your relationships look more like a roller coaster than a marathon. You are unable to develop long-term relationships with the opposite sex. You’ve never learned how to push through problems, boredom or conflict, and your default mechanism is to break it off and start a new one. Your past is filled with failure in the area of commitment.
6) You always play the victim. You’re always secretly trying to uncover a conspiracy by your peers to exclude you from social outings, parties, get-togethers or group dates. It’s immature to think the cosmic forces of nature and love have combined their powers to hurt you. None of us are that important in the grand scheme of things.
7) You tend to speak negatively of other people. Whether in one-on-one conversations or in large groups, your habit is to bash or attack someone who is not present to defend themselves. Immature people say things about people behind their backs (or online) that they would never dream of saying to their faces.
8) You are plagued by jealousy. Little children get upset on the playground when they see their best friend playing with or talking to another child. Grown-ups get past this stage … at least they should. Are you consistently jealous of other people’s possessions, salaries, houses, cars, friends, physical appearance or family? Can you celebrate the blessings of God in others’ lives? Or does God’s goodness to others stir up envy inside your heart toward them?
9) You have trouble finishing. My two sons are notorious for starting little projects around the house, getting bored and then abandoning them for us to dean up. They don’t know how to finish things yet because they’re not even 10 years old. Are you known for beginning things all gung-ho with great passion, but you consistently fizzle out and never see it through? Grown-ups finish what they start.
10) You are crippled by debt. The most practical area of your life to examine is your finances. If you owe tens of thousands of dollars on credit cards, student loans, your car and so on, then your problem is not your debt. It’s immaturity. You haven’t yet learned how to live within your means.
11) You can’t say no. If you are the guy or the girl who is always taking care of others, bailing your friends out, staying up til 2 a.m. on the phone trying to talk them out of another crisis, then you will have a rude awakening when your own life expects you to give your undivided attention.
12) You fall in love too fast. How many times have you told someone that you were “in love” with them since you turned 18? This may be an indication that you need to mature emotionally. Falling in love after every first date shows you haven’t really moved very far toward emotional maturity. It also guarantees you will get hurt as often as you fall in love, leaving your heart wounded for years to come.
13) Your relationships are too physical. If you have a track record of messing around and messing up with just about everyone you’ve ever liked or dated, this is bad news. When you start out basing a relationship on making out, kissing or fooling around physically, you teach yourself to ignore the other person, their feelings and the self-control that is essential in a godly marriage. Adults draw the line and stand back. Children run ahead without caution and suffer for it.
14) You have a problem with authority. Children hate being told what to do, regardless of their inability to be responsible for themselves. Are you like that? Do you tend to rebel against all forms of authority in your life? Do you balk at being told what to do by the government, the IRS, even a traffic policeman? Grown-ups understand that submission to authority is in their best interest, and they are willing to submit to God first and then to one another. Immature kids rebel.
May this list EXPOSE, ENLIGHTEN and ENCOURAGE us. Maturity is often times a painful process; but this is when we have to remember that while Jesus loves us just the way we are, He loves us too much to leave us where we are. Let’s take the steps to mature.
It is always a joy to visit Singapore. Not only do I get to see first-hand what God is doing in HMCC-SGP, but I get to spend time with Jackson and Rachel. They have become very dear to me, as I have seen them grow up in our ministry every since they were freshmen at the University of Michigan. It is great to have people who are partners in the ministry – people who are just as passionate about things as you are and people who laying down their lives for the Gospel.
Here is a video update on things that they have been experiencing.
I asked them to answer two questions: 1) What are some things that you are thankful for? 2) What are you looking forward to this coming weekend?
