Fearing God and the Holy Spirit

I was reading this am in Isaiah 11 where it speaks prophectically of the Messiah Yeshua and how the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him. In verse 2, the Spirit is described as a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

I think of the Spirit in terms of giving us wisdom and understanding as Jesus promised in John 16 that the Spirit would lead us into truth. I think of the Spirit being a Spirit of power whether reading when Paul reminds Timothy in his 2nd letter to him that God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a Spirit of power, of love and self-discipline, or when Jesus tells the apostles in Acts 1:8 that when the Spirit comes we will have power to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the remotest part of the earth.

But I rarely think of the Spirit being a Spirit of the fear of the Lord. It makes sense in that Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that if we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfilled the desire of the flesh. That is very similar to what Moses tells the congregation in Exodus 20 about fearing God keeping you from sinning.

Isaiah goes on to write in 11:3 that the Messiah will delight in the fear of the Lord. I am sitting here in The Press coffeeshop at a time I should be heading home wondering if anyone would write that about me. Could I put my name in there? Andy will delight in the fear of the Lord. May it be so.

I better get home and help Robin with the boys!

MyEveryStudent - update

Back in September, I posted a message from Shane Deike about MyEveryStudent. Shane tolds how for $150 a STINT could create their own website using everystudent.com and use this in a staturation strategy. At that time I believe we had it up in running in only a few languages. It is now availble in several other other languages.

Arabic
Chinese
Croatian
French
Japanese
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
and Turkish

Not a Creature Was Stirring

Well there actually was 'not even a mouse stirring' in the McCullough household the night before Christmas.

Robin found a little critter dead in our basement yesterday. (Not actual picture just one I found on google image search.)

73 Christmases

My mom sent me this link of a newspaper article on a sweet dear couple, John and Edith McBrayer. It's a good article on what makes a marriage endure. The McBrayers have been married 73 years. Mrs. Edith was my Sunday School Teacher when I was in preschool and Mr. John B. was a deacon at Blackshear Place Baptist Church when my dad was the pastor there in the late 60's and early 70's. Robin and I try to see them when we can if we are back in North GA area. They had been very generous supporters of our ministry through the years.

Robin and I have had 5 Christmases together. I'd have to live to 109 and Robin 103 to match the McBrayers!

Chip's Thoughts on Movements

Jay posted in July Chip's thoughts on the four marks of a movement from this past summer. I thought it was worth another look as you near the end of the first semester.

High Old Time This Christmas

I like putting quotes by missionaries at the end of my emails. The one I have now is a quote from one of my heroes, Nate Saint. Nate was one of the missionaries along with Jim Elliot and others who were speared to death in 1956 attempting to be the first to take the gospel to an unreached tribe in Ecuador. Their story is immortalized in Elizabeth Elliot's book, Through Gates of Splendor. In a month there will be a national release of a movie The End of the Spear which not only tells of Nate's life and tragic death but also of his son Steve and Mincayani , a tribesman who later comes to faith. I am pretty excited a movie about missionaries will be coming out. Every Christian should go see it!

Nate Saint wrote in his journal a few weeks before he died about why they were going to reach this tribe who lived in fear of any outsiders. He said it was not a call to go but a conviction of the prophetic word in Revelation 7 that someone from every tribe, tongue and nation would stand before the throne. Therefore he, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian concluded that someone must go and tell them.

Here's what he also wrote a few days before Christmas, 50 years ago: "As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever having a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of the darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem, may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost - and our responsibility."

Thirst

In my quiet times lately I have been doing a random plan but it seemed this morning like they all had similar themes. This morning all but the Proverb I read referred to being thirsty and the water that satisfies. It was so ironic that I thought I should write about it.

In Psalm 107 it says the Lord turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs. In Is. 44:3, the Lord says that He will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; He will pour out His Spirit on our offspring and His blessing on our descendents. In Rev 22, it speaks of the river of the water of life that flows from the throne. Near the end, the Spirit and the Bride say, "Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes let him take the free gift of the water of life." And finally one of my fav. Passages is John 7:37-39 where Jesus cries with a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." He speaks of the streams of living water that will flow from within the one who believes in Him and John explains that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit.

My friend Deb who helps oversee all of the campus ministry for Campus Crusade in Western Europe says, "hard ground is thirsty ground". It reminds me that even people who are not aware of it are thirsty. The folks in this very new age coffee shop where I now sit are thirsty. People crowding the malls are thirsty. Everyone in his very soul is thirsty. The invitation to come and drink the free gift is there.

Movements by Steve Douglass

My friend Steve Van Diest summerized Steve Douglass' recent article on movements. Worth reading so we don't launch movements of 'Christian clubs'.

Pre-Christmas Pics

Four Stages of Planting a Movement

Something Ken Miller and I have been working is a way to describe the stages a team is in when planting a movement. Most of the verbage we typically use is based on what kind of WSN team is on the ground (Summer Project, STINT, ICS, nationals or some combo). But that doesn't say what's really happening. We felt we needed something to describe not only where we are in launching a movement on a campus but also when you breakdown a campus into faculties or other Target Areas. You could assess as a team where you are and what steps do you need to take to move to the next stage. (Or what things God has to supernaturally do.)

1. Pioneering Stage: Praying, Probing (decoding and look for persons of peace), Proclaiming Partnering and Power from on High- I guess we would always be doing these things. In "Partnering" it would be finding others who have the same viz whether a local church or another ministry. I put "Power from on High'" because a huge part of pioneering is waiting expectedly for God to move and moving with Him.

2. Persons of Peace You are here when you have found persons of peace for a campus (if going after multiple campuses) or a faculty who in turn can help you reach their oikos. (You've read that article since its Month Four, right?)

3. People of Purpose When you have a critical mass of people who are united with you in Spirit and purpose. They are have the same viz to reach their campus / faculty for Christ.

4. Planted Movement Transformation is happening: lost students are being transformed by the gospel, believers are transformed in a community of grace and truth, and the campus and community are being transformed as these 'people of purpose' are winning, building and sending in the power of Christ.

Man, am I addicted...

Okay I'm officially addicted to Sudoku! It started innocently by occupying my time doing the ones in United's in-flight magazine last month. I didn't fully read the instructions (imagine that?) and just thought the numbers went from 1-9 in the horizonal and vertical rows w/o repeating which they do. I didn't realize the just that the numbers don't repeat in the bold boxes either. (No wonder I couldn't figure it out.) Once I did, I was hooked.

Now my brain has to do several hard puzzles a day. I found websudoku where you can do them free or print them off. It craves the deductive reasoning. I guess now with my two fantasy football teams officially out of it, there could be worse ways to waste my time... like blogging.

The End of Blessing

Back in 1997 when I first started studying the Fearing God passages I was struck by Psalm 67. I am sure I had seen it before, but not really. The psalm begins and ends with the premise that if God will bless us, then His ways would be known on earth, His salvation among all nations and that all the earth will fear Him. The middle of the psalm is all the reasons why the nations should praise Him and be glad.

I started really thinking through all my prayers: whether for wife (a year before I met Robin), good support, a strong movement at the university of Northern Colorado where I was the Campus Director for CCC, etc. I asked myself was if I really praying for these things so that God's ways and salvation would be known among every nation and that all the earth would fear Him. I had to be honest and often I just want to be blessed to be blessed, not blessed to be a blessing.

Being blessed is not the end, but God being feared and worshiped among all the peoples is! It didn't always change what I prayed for but why. If God would bless us with (fill in the blank) then all the ends of the earth would fear Him.

The Four M’s

The Four M's are way to help make disciples and to take them from point A to point B in the Big Six. They are Master it, Model it, Monitor it and Multiply it.

Master it
Paul in 1 Cor 3, said he was an expert or master builder. In each of the Big Six areas everybody on STINT needs to become a Master themselves before they can impart these to others. You can't disciple into others what you don't already master yourself. Mastering comes through experience and study. This is the way it is with each of these areas. What if everyone on your STINT team made it a goal to master the Big Six? What if at the end of their STINT year, they would return home a master of all these skills in ministry that they can use for a lifetime?

Model it
Jesus' disciples saw Him minister firsthand to those in great need. In disciplemaking you should be always thinking of who I can be modministrytry too while I am ministering to others. If not a security risk, take a national with you when you go share the gospel with someone else. (Maybe in those situations you could go with your disciple to a campus in another part of your town or go home with them and share with their family. ) They could join you as you go through basic follow-up with someone else or lead a bible study. Model to them how to spend time in the word and prayer, and on and on.

Monitor it
When Jesus was faced with feeding the 5,000, He told them to feed the crowds involving them by having them pass around the fish and bread and seeing a miracle happen before their very eyes. Monitoring is when you begin to hand the reigns over to your disciples all the while continuing to give them feedback. It might be going with your disciple and letting them begin to share part of the gospel. It might be meet together with another young believer and letting your disciple share the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You want to help them take bigger and bigger steps, encouraging them as they do.

Multiply it
The difference in monitoring and multiplying is in multiplying you are no longer present. After mastering, modeling, and monitoring ministry with his disciples, Jesus sent them out. But its more than just them doing it without you, its them beginning the same process with their disciples. They begin to own the Great Commission and begin the same process with others.

The Maker's Birthday

Robin asked Luke if he knew whose birthday Christmas was. He said, "the Maker's". Pretty good theology for a 3 1/2 yr old. (John 1:3; Col 1:6' Heb. 1:2) Way to go AWANA's since they helped him memorize a paraphrase of John 1:3!

Three of the passages that speak of God as 'Maker' say the world's response should be to fear Him.

"By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him." Ps 33:6-8

"You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the turmoil of the nations. Those living far away fear your wonders; where the morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy." Ps 65:5-8

"Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; He is to feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols but the Lord made the heavens." Ps 96:3-5

May the nations know that Christmas is the Maker's birthday and they be in awe of Him!

Foundations of Movement Launchers

Everywhere he went, Paul shared Christ and left behind leaders. He states in Romans 15:20 that his ambition was to preach the gospel where it was not known so he would not be building on others’ foundations. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul explains the difference between his ministry and the ministry of Apollos by saying that he “planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” He tells the Corinthian believers that they are “God’s field” and then he changes the analogy, “God’s building”. Paul continues to explain that he laid the foundation as an expert or master builder. Others like Apollos came behind him and build on the foundation of Christ to launch a spiritual movement in Corinth.

STINT is about laying a foundation for movements that will bring glory to God. Others will come along and build on what you lay. While foundations are often unseen and rather unglamorous, they are the most important part of the building. It is the part of a building that no one will see but on which the whole structure will be dependant. If the foundation is cracked the building will be faulty. As you labor together this year you probally are asking, ‘What kind of people will we leave behind?’

While this in way is all a disciple of Christ needs, there are ‘foundational’ factors a STINT team needs to focus on when laying the groundwork in making disciples to launch something that will stand the test of time . I call them the Big Six: Evangelism, Follow-up, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, prayer, the Word and the Great Commission.

Go back 1 Corinthians 3:11 where Paul tells us, “no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The Big Six are what we lay on the foundation of Christ. Christ is paramount. These are just areas that will help the disciples you work with grow and give them the skills they need to minister for a lifetime. If you lay a groundwork of the Big Six, in the lives of the students you disciple, your team will be far down the road in seeing a movement launched. Keeping them in front of you will also help you determine if you are working with the right people and will give you parameters for your disciple-making.

Evangelism – We would want a spiritual multiplier in a movement to understand how to lead someone into a relationship with Christ and why it is important for us as believers to be involved in the work of evangelism.

Basic Follow-up – We would want them to know how to lead a new believer in the basics of the Christian faith.

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit – We would want them to understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how dependence on Him is key to growth and fruitfulness in ministry. We would want them to know how to communicate these truths to other believers.

Prayer – We would want them to know how to have a vital prayer life and the importance of having both personal and corporate prayer.

How to Study the Word – We would want them to know how to study the word on their own. We also would want them to know how to lead a bible study.

The Great Commission – We would want them to know and understand God’s heart for the world and our role of making disciples of all nations. We would want them to have a greater vision of what God wants to do in the world and how they can play a part in it.

Fearing God: Blessing

In Deut. 5:25f in the retelling of the Exodus 20 scene, the congregation asks, "why should we die?" They had heard seen His glory and heard His voice. Asking what mortal man has heard God's voice and lived, they petition Moses to go on their behalf. (On a side note: either they thought Moses has not mortal or they didn't care if he died.)

God's response is this is good as I wrote before: they would die. But He also says, "Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep my commands always so it might go well with them and their children forever." God does not want us to fear Him just to fear Him or just to keep us from evil but also that it will go well for us and that we will experience His blessings.

The bible speaks again and again not only of the correlation of fearing God and that keeping you from sinning, but how there are blessings and promises associated with fearing Him.

He are a few promises for the man or woman who fears God: long life (Deut 6:2); wisdom (Job 28:28; Ps 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33); spend days in prosperity and inherit the land (Ps 25:12-13); you lack nothing (Ps 34:9); health and nourishment (Prov 3:7, 8); a secure fortress and a refuge for their children (Prov 14:26); their children will be mighty, wealth & riches are in his house (Ps 112:1-3; 128:1-6); wealth, honor and life (Prov 22:4); a future hope (Prov 23:17, 18); fulfilled desires (Ps 145:19); the Lord's love is great and everlasting for them and He has compassion on them (Ps 103:11, 13, 17); the Lord delights in them (Ps 147:11); the Lord's confidence (Ps 25:14); His eyes are on him/her (Ps 33:18); a key to the treasure of salvation (Is 33:6) and the sun of righteousness will rise up with healing its wings for them (Mal 4:2, 3).

Oh, that my heart would be inclined to fear the Lord and keep His commands always so it might go well with Robin and myself and our children forever.

The Six-Week Movement Launching Strategy

The catalytic team in a large city in East Asia came up with this strategy for launching student-led movements all over the city. The STINT Team in Mexico City has been using a version of this plan this year. Also the a team in Siberia which is made up of Koreans, Americans and nationals. It might not fit one-to-one where you are (Jason in Mexico City said they need to make it a 10-week plan) but might be a way to think through as a team for next semester and how to launch Multiple movements whether you are in a Metro situation or have numerous faculties at your university.

Six Week Plan:
~ Entire Team focuses on one new campus for 6 weeks
~ Six Week Faith Goal: To raise up or discover 5-10 believers, including 3-6 potential student leaders, and select a Catalytic Team member who will coach these students after the initial six weeks.
~ Week 1 -Owning and Learning
Online research, create a prayer guide, daily prayer walks on campus, send campus prayer guide to prayer partners, de-coding the campus
~ Week 2,3 - Learning and Looking
Learn more about the university, begin meeting students, look for believers, Bold proclamation, hold English class (2 times) to meet more students and filteChristiansitians and spiritually interested, begin studying follow-up with new Christian friends (those who receive Christ and existing believers)
~ Week 4 - Looking
Follow up contacts from outreaches, continue follow-up groups, do more evangelism and prayer walks on campus with Christian students, look for a place for student prayer meeting
~ Week 5 - Looking and Launching
Continue follow-ups, Evang. and prayer walks with Christians, introduce Christians to selected coach(es) for that campus, begin a weekly prayer time for all Christians , identify potential leaders.
~ Week 6 - Hand-off
Finish follow-ups, continue weekly Prayer time (have students lead this time, with coaches helping to prep them)
~ And Beyond
Coach(es) continue meeting regularly with student leaders, student leaders should attend monthly Student Leader's Retreat, fellowship and/or Bible study groups can be started later at the coach(es) discernment

~ Student Leader's Retreat (SLR) - A monthly gathering of student leaders from all the Cat campuses to cast vision, train and encourage.

~ Coaching Campus
In East Asia they have established coaches for campuses in the following categories:
~ Six week plan has been implemented
~ Campus where they have contact with at least one Christian, willing and aligned leader

Charlie Brown Christmas

Luke sat mesmerized in front of the TV last night. It was past his bedtime but this night only happens once a year. The best Christmas cartoon was on. As Robin pointed out, its timeless and can you get away with as clear an explanation of the meaning of Christmas as what Linus gives?

Luke quotes...
"Where's the movie?" numerous times whenever they broke for a commercial. There's no commercials in the videos he watches or PBS kids.

"Is Charlie Brown, Chuck?" His best friend is Charlie and somehow he learned that Chuck was short for Charlie.

"He does have hair. A little in the front and on the back."

"What's that bird's name? I don't know his name."

Fearing God vs just being afraid of God

A few years back a friend of mine and co-worker, John Lamb, made this statement (I am paraphrasing because it was in 1997), "the reason we still struggle with sin is because we don't really know what it means to fear God." I thought, "you know, I know intellectually what it means to fear God but I am not sure I practically know."

So I went a journey that Spring of studying all the passages in the bible that relate to fearing God. The first passage I studied and that I often come back to is in Exodus 20:18-21. It's a pivotal scene in the history of mankind. Paul writes in Romans 5 that sin and death entered the world through Adam but it was not taken into account because there was no law. So death reigned from Adam to Moses but people didn't realize they were dead until this scene in Exodus 20.

It's kind of remarkable when you read it again, God spoke and everyone heard the 10 C's. There was thunder, lightening, trumpet sounds and smoke from Mount Sinai. Needless to say, the congregation was scared spitless.

They stayed at a distance and tell Moses, "speak to us yourself and we will listen but don't have God speak to us or we will die." Moses tells them not to be afraid but that God has come to test them, so that the fear of God will keep them from sinning. Then they stay at a distance and Moses enters the thick darkness where God is. (In Deut 5, God says this is a good thing because they would die. "Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me...")

They were afraid of God and stayed at a distance. Moses feared God and entered His presence. They were afraid of God and said they would listen to Moses and again in Deut 5 it says they make a commitment to obey what God says. But there is no real life change because in a little over a month they will be worshipping a golden calf. Moses fears God and he is changed - even physically as he enters His presence.

Fearing God draws us to Him and invokes a change in our lives. Being afraid of God is no different than not believing God or being indifferent to Him. We keep Him at a distance and there is no real change. We keep on sinning. Often I ask myself if I am really fearing God or just afraid of Him.

"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. - Psalm 86:11