Interpreting the Spirit

Celeste is in surgery right now, and I'm passing the time in a waiting room. (Wi Fi -- yay!) She's having what I believe would be called an elective procedure, although it is very necessary. It is also pretty routine, or so I'm told. But it's not routine for us, of course. I should get to take her home today, and she'll be fine I'm sure. Still, prayers for her and her quick recovery are appreciated. (Let me know if you are unclear on the details; it's not a secret, but not necessarily something I'll bother to post on the internet.)

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I'm still picking my way through Acts, and I am struck (not for the first time) about the way that the Spirit seems to speak so much to the people. But I think I'm more struck by the fact that the people seem to sometimes misinterpret what the Spirit is saying, even in critical ways.

I'm looking specifically at the way the Spirit spoke to Paul and to other believers about Paul's return to Jerusalem in Acts 21. Clearly, Paul is led to return to Jerusalem, knowing that he must somehow later go to Rome. And meanwhile, the Spirit is speaking to other believers about Paul's journey.

Apparently the other believers are hearing -- correctly -- that Paul's trip to Jerusalem will not be fun for Paul. However, they interpret that message to mean that Paul should not go to Jerusalem.

That is a major misinterpretation! And not by just one person, but seemingly by many people. Apparently a group of believers in Tyre, and subsequently Agabus and others in Caesarea urged Paul not to go.

I think what surprises me most is that the Scripture seems pretty clear that the Spirit was speaking to the other believers, and some/many/perhaps all of them hear the Spirit perfectly well ... but miss the point. Fortunately, Paul gets the point, and he is not talked out of his own interpretation. He is obedient to his calling.

But I find myself wondering about all of this. After all, God can be crystal clear when He wants to be; His arm is not too short, and I do not believe His voice is too timid. So why not communicate in a clearer way, so that Paul receives confirmation from the body rather than a conflicting interpretation of the Spirit?

I'm not suggesting that we should ignore the body, become free agents, or anything like that. I'm just wondering how often the body, en masse, gets it ... wrong.

May God have mercy on us. May we hear His Spirit, and correctly understand what we're called to do.

And may we be merciful as we encounter others, whose interpretation of the Spirit is not the same as ours.

Buckle Up

I'm very excited to see what God has in store for Southlake this summer. Having just hired a preacher after a 2 year search, the elders and staff are coordinating a major undertaking for the summer. Sunday mornings will have a very different feel in several ways, and the small groups will be strongly encouraged to get out of the building and find a way to serve the community. There is a feeling of momentum like I haven't felt in a long time, and an eagerness about what will happen next.

One of the changes in Sunday mornings this summer will be an intentional move to make time for testimonies from the body, on a regular basis, about what God is doing. My understanding is that they will intentionally look for things God is doing now, and not a year ago, or 3 years, etc. In other words, the desire is not to dwell on what God used to do, or what he did, but on what he is doing ... right now.

One of the ways I think I see God moving -- and where I hope to have some testimonies of God's hand at work -- is with the band at Southlake. We may have an opportunity to lead a worship gathering at a prison this summer -- how cool is that? What's more, we've talked for several years about recording a few songs on CD, to give away to visitors, etc -- and there is real movement afoot now to make that happen. (Does talking about it out loud have the potential to jinx it? I hope not. :-)

Seriously, I think there is probably a reason why we have not recorded anything before now -- I think the timing is God's.

Don't believe me? Get this: I taught myself to play bass literally 4 months before the band played together the first time -- and without knowing that there would be a need for me to play. Nino was new to the guitar when he came. Kyle Conway had to have Nino teach him the songs (and some of the chords!) the NIGHT BEFORE the band played together the first time. And yet we've gotten positive feedback (praise God!) pretty much every time we've played together. God's hand was all over the timing in these things -- we were ready, just when he needed us to be. Just in time.

Want another example? Stephen Lemmons was our primary (read, 'only') keyboard player for quite some time. (He's amazing -- totally self-taught, if I'm not mistaken.) But one day he was asked to be a shepherd at SBC, and there's really no way he could have continued to be our one-and-only, or even our primary keys guy, and shepherd at the same time. Well -- wouldn't you know it? -- a few weeks earlier, Mikey Cunningham had shown up for the first time at SBC. (If you don't know Mikey, he's our primary keys guy for the past year or something; I think he was born playing piano, and he picked up a stack of other instruments along the way.) God brought Mikey (and his wife Janet, too!), just in time.

So what's coming? I don't know. If you know me, you know I've felt like I'm waiting for something to happen for some time now. I don't know what that is, or what it means. It might just be something I ate. (No, seriously. I should really eat healthier.) But maybe, just maybe, God has some exciting things in store.

And with the momentum seeming to pick up at Southlake ... I'm buckling up.

Ready Freddie

Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: “What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.” -- Luke 10:1-2

Something struck me odd about these two verses.

Jesus had his pick of some number of people – for the sake of argument, let’s say he had 150 too choose from. But he only chose 70. And then he says to the 70, ‘I wish there were more of you!’

But … if he wanted more than 70, why not just choose more people? I mean, why not pick 120 people to send? Or just send all the people he had to ‘select’ from, instead of selecting some of them and leaving the rest out?

I think the reason is probably very simple. He chose all the ones who were ready.

Ready to take on the assignment. Ready to be obedient, whether we feel like it or not. By ‘ready’ I do not mean ‘perfect’ – no one is perfect except Christ. But while we won’t be perfect until we’re made perfect in heaven, I do believe there are stages to our development, and I believe that God will typically assign tasks to us based on our readiness and ability to complete the tasks.

Paul might have used a different word than ‘ready’; I think he might have said ‘worthy’. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul is writing to believers, and at one point (2 Thessalonians 1:11) Paul actually prays that the believers would be ‘worthy’ of God’s calling, and that they would accomplish every act that is prompted by their faith. I think Paul was praying that they would be ready – actively practicing obedience in order to be in the groove when they are prompted by their faith to particular actions.

You know. Ready.

So. Are you ready?