Psalm 119:165: True Peace

Psalm 119:165 (NCV) - "Those who love Your teachings will find true peace, and nothing will defeat them." 

I would say that my life in general is pretty peaceful. I've never known persecution or anything beyond a student in my 9th Grade home asking why I wore WWJD t-shirts all the time and me feeling self conscious about it. 

I have peace. I have true peace in my spirit in knowing Jesus Christ. How do I have this peace? How do I know these things? Through my times with my Father in the Bible. I love the teachings of the Psalms and the Proverbs and every page in my Bible. 

Do I understand it all? No. Do I always live it all out? No. Do I have it all together? No. I have a lot I need to work on. I have a lot I need to work out. I have found peace in the teaching of scripture. I have found peace in the ways it teaches me to live my life. 

Am I invincible? Not physically. Bullets don't bounce of me and unfortunately I don't regenerate like Claire Bennet from Heroes. 

I can have peace however that I don't have to worry about eternity. I will live beyond this body. I will live beyond this dust. I will live in the kingdom of God and I will forever worship Him. This life begins now...

"Megaecclesiatic Phobia" Or, A Fear Of Being Lost In The Crowd In Mega-Churches

I'm a pastor on staff and member of a mega-church. It's something I never thought I'd be apart of. I grew up in a church that was larger than most but by no-means "mega". I'm not sure I even knew what the term "mega-church" was or meant until I began attending a university that was a direct off-shoot of a mega church. To be honest my initial thoughts of the church itself were negative. After-all how could someone feel at home in a church this large, how could anyone get connected or be known? It wasn't until after college when a friend invited me one evening to come to this church and help out with the youth group that I got my first insight to how this whole system works. 

Upon walking into the recently built campus' main entrance I felt a bit like a survivor from Oceanic Airlines flight 815. The massiveness of the building itself was enough to make me feel a bit uncomfortable, I had no idea where to go and had it not been for the guidance of my friend I'm not sure I would have known where to go. We began walking through hallways and corridors, that I learned where actually hallways of the Christian Academy also an off-shoot of the church, and eventually ended up in a back gym where roughly 200+ middle school students were playing all kinds of games and running around screaming like the savage "others" on the island. I was beginning to feel like I needed to tuck tail and run. After all this type of thing wasn't for me, I knew God had called me into ministry, but I was hoping for something a bit smaller, a bit more controllable. It was at that moment the Middle School Youth Pastor came up and introduced himself to me. He made me feel welcome and immediately plugged me into a small group of guys to see how they worked together throughout the night. The gym was loud and noisy but the kids were eating it up and the leaders seemed to really care about them. It seemed like the hearts of everyone around me wanted me to feel welcome. By the end of the night I was signed up to try out as the lead guitarist for the worship band and continue on with the 6th Grade Guys small group. This was the beginning of the formation for my diagnosis of how to cure Megaecclesiastic Phobia = "A Fear Of Being Lost In The Crowd At Mega-Churches". 

Megaecclesiastic Phobia occurs when someone feels lost in the crowd at a mega-church. I don't necessarily mean physically lost but more so emotional, and spiritually. It's hard to make your way into large crowds of people and feel like you're doing anything besides going with the flow of the fish. Normally when I see a new leader or student walk into our youth room, we've since moved from the gym, almost always the first look I see is an expression of being overwhelmed. That's why we began to have leader and student greeters at our doors. In fact we do just about everything you can do to make sure that a new individual doesn't feel lost in our ministry. We have a personal greeter, along with a map of where everything is in the room (yes a map... it's a big place... hence mega.) We try to communicate everything from the stage in a way that is easy to understand for someone who hasn't been in church their whole life. Most importantly however we do our very best to get that new individual plugged into one of our Focus Groups. There are where the heartbeat of our ministry happen. It's where 250+ on a Sunday morning turns into small groups of 15-20 on a Wednesday night. (I know 15-20 is a little high but it's the best we can do with what we have.) These groups plug people into each others lives so they can hear about the love of Jesus and see it lived out together in community. It's a great and beautiful thing. 

Almost 2 years ago I was standing in the main entrance to our church campus feeling lost. Now through a series of divine appointments, I'm the associate pastor for the middle school department as well as the worship director for middle school and high school. I lead worship weekly for the middle school as well as handling the majority of the graphic design work for our ministries. All because someone stopped and took the time to make me feel part of what was going on. Someone made me feel important. 

This is the cure for Megaecclesiastic Phobia but it's not the complete story. There are many people I've seen walk in the doors and never make the effort to get involved. It's a sure fire hindrance to the cure if you're not willing to get involved and get your hands dirty. We forget sometimes that we don't go to church for us. We go to worship God. It's not about us at all. 

Just some thoughts. 

Psalm 43 - Screaming At God.

Psalm 43, "God defend me. Argue my case against those who don't follow you. Save me from liars and those who do evil. God, you are my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why am I sad and troubled by my enemies? Send me your light and truth to guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to where you live. Then I will go to the altar of GOd, to God who is my joy and happiness. I will praise you with a harp, God, my God. Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset? I should put my hope in God and keep praising hi, my Savior and my God." 

In verse 2 of the chapter I think we see the Psalmist writing in a place that many of us of the Christian faith often find ourselves. He starts with "God you are my strength." A statement of fact and of hope and of reassurance. It's what he's holding to. Then it's followed immediately by, "Why have you rejected me? Why am I sad and troubled by my enemies?" Don't we all say these things at one point or another in our spiritual journey? One minute we're are praise God and thanking Him for His strength and the next.... we are asking God "Where did you go God? Where are you? Were you ever there?" We begin to doubt who God is in our lives. We begin to doubt His sovereignty and His authority in our lives. 

When these questions arise we should respond as the Psalmist does in the verses that follow. He begins to ask God to "Send me your light and truth to guide me." He stops pointing fingers and begins to look in the mirror. He is asking God to show Him the way. He begins to praise God with song. He focuses his heart toward His Father. 

Does doing this necessarily mean that everything is going to be alright after that? Certainly not. In verse 5 the Psalmist again writes "Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset?" He concludes however, that no matter how bad it's gotten, no matter how sad he is that "I should put my hope in God and keep praising him, my Savior and my God." He finds hope in the One who gives hope. He finds saving grace and peace in the Savior and Prince of Peace. 

Today maybe you are crying out to God in a similar fashion. Screaming to the heavens with accusations about God not being there and your world falling apart. May you stop pointing fingers, look in the mirror, and remember that this is not your world. It's God's. And may you rest in the fact that He loves you beyond what you can comprehend. May you find hope in Him. 

Blessings.