Soiled Saints

January 1994 was a month, I’ll unfortunately never forget.  I was well into my junior year of college.  I was teaching 6th grade boys in Sunday School and working at Pappas Seafood House (great place) in Humble.

Then, Something  bad happened.  I misused a friendship and committed a grave sin.  That sin would haunt me for years, and from time to time, still crops up to rear its ugly, condemnation-filled head.  But let me be clear:

-I did it.

-It was my fault.

-I have to own it.

Because of this sin, I became depressed.  I had already been flirting with depression ever since the fall of 1992 due to circumstantial issues.  This, which was not circumstantial and completely my fault, pushed me over the edge.

I wish I’d known then what I know now.  I’d have brought it into the light of the community of faith I was a part of (i.e. the church) rather than isolate myself away from others.

Enter Victor Lewis.

Victor was born in July 1959, and will be turning 50 in a short while.  When we met, he was a 34 year old attending classes at HBU working for Lyondell.  Vic transitioned into a part-time pastorate as a minister of education at Long Point Baptist Church.  Victor would change my life in ways I could never imagine.

tomorrow I’ll walk you through how:

Victor was a conduit of grace for my soul.

October 1994

Huge storms

Mandy

More on my friend Victor tomorrow

Jason

Playing catch up with summaries:

-we had a great father’s day at SCC. Cool dad video, and some other neat things I’ll write about this week regarding a book called “servolution.”

-I remember in High School, we used to play this game that I hated. It was limbo.

-Ridiculous crazy music.

-A broom stick. Lowered as much as one could.

-Why did I hate it? I was short. They assumed I could win.

-I wasn’t that flexible.

-It was a paradox. Stupid to be sure, but still a paradox.

-We explored the lives of two different leaders. Two different kings. Both sent by God. One did not live up to his potential. The other is still king today.

-We took a journey through 1 Samuel looking at King Saul.

-Israel wanted a king, even though Samuel didn’t.
Vs: 20: We want to be like the other nations.
Samuel: no, the Lord will protect you. You should be different.

-But Saul could have been a God-driven leader, the kind of leader who can really do some great things to help God’s world.

Check this out:
1 Samuel 13:8-15/1 Samuel 10:8
-Saul messes up and sacrifices wrong. This was serious to God.

1 Samuel 14:24-46 Made a rash vow that hurt people…including his son.

-Saul wasn’t listening wisely. He didn’t listen to the right voice.

1 Samuel 15:26: It cost him dearly:

Jealousy: 1 Samuel 18:6-9

1 Samuel 19:1-11 tries to kill David.

1 Samuel 22:11-19 Kills priests.

1 Samuel 28:7-15 Consults a witch.

But……..there is another King.

Jesus in Matthew 18-20: 4 out of 5 major discourses (sermons-teachings) in Matthew.

-talking about how life should be for us who are His.

-what should characterize followers of Jesus.

Matthew 18:1-5, 28-30: Wanna be great? Come to Him like a child.

Matthew 19:28-30: First will be last and last will be first. paradox

Matthew 20:16-19: clues revealed to Jesus’ future. This was heavy stuff.

Matthew 20:20-28: Jesus just drops a major bomb and this mom (More than likely Mary’s sister) just ignores the power of it and goes straight to “can my sons have places of position and prominence and power?”

-The irony is: James dies a martyr’s death and John gets exiled for most of his adult life.

-The other disciples were indignant; not from their request. They were upset the other two were using family to get position they wanted as well.

-25-6: DON’T BE LIKE THE REST. Servant/Slave: hired or forced. Lowest on the social pole.

Jesus was stating a paradox: WANT TO GO HIGH? GO LOW IN SERVICE.

-Be like Jesus: Did not come to be served (had right) but to serve.

-Jesus was a ransom; a bill paid to free slaves.

-Here’s a paradox: we are free to be a slave?

-If you want to go high, you have to go low.

-I won one round of Limbo. I put my face to the ground. Like Matt Redman states: When we face up to the glory of God, we go face down.

Going low with you,

Jason

today t’was a good day at SOuthway.  We were blessed and fortunate to have numerous first time guests and were able to commission Lori Burleson for her trip to Kenya, as she leaves on June 30.

Do you have pet peeves?  I know you do.  I do too.  In fact, I found a website that had the top 10 pet peeves.  And here they are:

Top 10 pet peeves….

1.Mouth Noises/chewing with mouth open

2) Not Washing Hands After Using the Restroom

3) Movie talkers

4) Screaming children/ temper tantrums

5) whiny Schoolgirls

6) Thugs

7) Putting others down

Bad Service at a Resturaunt

9) Overuse of the Word Actually

10) Global Warming Propaganda .”

Choices Not In The Top Ten

11) Cell Phone Drivers

14) Emo Bands

17) Hypocrites

18) Brainless “environmentalist” groups

23) Celebrities claiming to be environmentalists.

26) Skinny jeans on men

37) Infomercials

39) The naming of celebrity couples

41) People who demand tolerance…that is!, ironic

45) People who miss their lips while putting on chapstick

I have a few of my own:

When people talk on their cell during movies.

People who don’t silence their cell phone during important meetings. Like prayer meetings.

-One word:  Cats.  (Another word:  Joke)

-Two words:  Country Music (another 2 words:  no joke)

-three words:  Please press 3 (I want a person not automation)

- People who forward email alerts without checking to see if they are real or not.

-Fwd of a fwd of a fwd that you have to open 10 windows for a one sentence email.

-the emails that say if you don’t pass this onto at least 10 people you don’t love Jesus and are probably going to hell.

-stuck at a green light.  Behind someone who doesn’t realize they have the right to go.

-I realized that if God were to have pet peeves….which he does..read some of the book of Isaiah and Matthew 15-16, this is one of them.

-Stuck at a green light when you’re supposed to go.  God’s given us the green light.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.   John 3:17-18

-All through out John we see Jesus as being “sent”.  Sent on a mission.

34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.  John 3:34-36

-messenger is like sender.  Familiar concept in Jewish life.

³³So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them,  “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. John 4:33-35

²⁹and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. ³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³¹ If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. John 5:29-31

Why did God send Jesus?

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:38-40

Turning Point:

²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,^[a] but now they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:20-22 ESV

-Expect hard times.  Why?  People don’t know who sent Jesus.  Won’t know the Jesus that sends you.

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  John 17:18

¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them,  “Peace be with you.” ²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. 22 And when he had said this, he  breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  John 20:19-22 ESV

-aftermath of the crucifixion.  Great news:  He’s alive.  The tomb is empty.

-Jesus the sent, now becomes the sender.

-Father sends Jesus, Jesus sends us, and gives the HS to empower.

Why does Jesus Send Us?

-He has the right to do so.

-He has the power to equip so.

-he has the glory due him.

-we get the joy.

⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  Romans 10:14-15

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He said to them,  “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”Acts 1:6-8

Green means go.

My biggest pet peeve in ME-good intentions but never leading anywhere?  Intentions must lead to action.  While we are sending Lori, may we also realize that we too are sent.  His mission.  Our joy.

Back soon with more.

Jason

Well, after prayer, and some counsel, I’m coming back to the blog. For one, i need to at least honor the people I said I was going to honor, and catch folks up on what’s been going on here around Sundays.

I received some counsel from a couple of good friends who know me, my heart, and my desires (both sinful and Savior-pointing). They encouraged and challenged me to be in the world, not of it.

So, the plan is to be back Sunday or Monday (depending on how tired I am Sunday evening) with a look at Sundays past and just past.

Then, I’ll begin to complete the series I started. And we’ll go on from there.

Hopefully, we’ll go on from there, making comments about life, culture, and other things, by God’s grace pointing to the supremacy of Christ (to steal a Piper phrase).

If you could, please pray for me: Specifics: my ability to concentrate, focus, and the possibility to go back to school.

Love, peace, and grace.
Jason

God has a sense of humor.  Don’t believe me?

I’ll prove it.  Consider animals like the duck-billed platypus.  Or the fact that certain a-list celebrities…………are on any list whatsoever.

In His humor, God has seen fit to in a 1o day span to completely wreck me and humble me.  I dare not say I’m humble.  But I can safely say God is in the process of humbling me.  Through conversations, and conversations about me, I’ve been deeply wounded and to be fair, have asked God to teach me even in that woundedness.

The one thing I thought I had some talent at, that one area of life that no matter what else, i could point to as “hey i’m good at that” has been under a small but sincere bit of fire.  And God has used that as a gateway to point out some subtle but sure idols.  That one issue has become the entry issue to deeper issues.

I’m in a place where some things formerly tools for kingdom work and for me to glorify God have become unfortunately idols for me to self-worship.

One is worship music.  I’m ashamed to say it, but such bands as David Crowder*Band, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Hillsong United and more….I’ve used them in a way not to be a beam to point me to the greatness, beauty and glory of God.

I’ve sung the songs………now get this……..imagining that………..now seriously……..if you know me……….

I’m the worship leader.

If you know me, you are having a dual reaction.  You are laughing your rear end off, and simultaneously shrieking in horror.

My voice?  I can’t carry a tune in the back of a pickup truck, much less a bucket.  When I sing, people think pterodactyls have come back to life.

seriously.

So for me to be a worship leader?  pre——————-posterous………

And idolatrous.  Taking songs created to glorify God and using them to daydream about people paying attention to me?

That’s just wretched.

So, I’m not listening to a lot of my favorite music to regain a sense of self-control and discipline.

To return the music to its place and honor both the God its’ directed to and the artists who wrote it.

And unfortunately, it’s the same with this blog.

Instead of writing and recording the way/s God is using, working in, and changing me, I’ve been concerned with how many people will see it, how many comments I’m getting, etc.

In other words, I’ve used this tool to worship my self and get affirmation and stroke from the people reading this.

So I’m taking a bit of a break until I can authentically regain a sense of self-control with this so it can be what it was meant to be:  A tool for me to see Christ, and hopefully to help others.

Don’t worry.  I’ll be back soon to complete the series of posts I started way back when.

And Lord willing, the best will be yet to come from this keyboard.

Until then….I’d appreciate your prayers.

Jason

-Here are some notes from Sunday:

What if I had never been to church before, were stranded in the ocean…turn up on an island, and there’s the Bible. ESV no less. And I read it. All of it. Cover to cover. And then somehow I come back to the states and attend this church I’ve heard about. Would it match up?

- How would someone who’d never gone to church but has read what the church is supposed to be describe our worship? Picture this building through the mind of a newcomer or someone completely unfamiliar with church.

-Would they see:

-People who talk in a different language than the rest of the known world?-christianese: flesh, washed in the blood, etc.

-People claim to be excited about God, yet the bulletin is more engaging.

-”For many, worship has become more of a commodity for keeping us as consumers happy than a consuming calling by which we are made holy.” Scotty Smith

MAIN IDEA OF TODAy: TRUE WORSHIP IS A LIFESTYLE NOT A LYRIC.

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2: esv
- appeal: urges, or beseeches” them. That word, parakaleo, has the force of a command, with the personal element of an appeal.

-Mercies of God: mercy: not getting what you deserve. literally “great mercy,”

-living sacrifice: Oxymoron….In the OT, the sacrifices were dead…a one and done mentality. But we are still living, an ever-present reminder of the mercy of God.

TRAGEDY: We have reduced the category of “worship” to the musical dimension of worship, thus giving the distinct impression that everything else in the worship service is not worship.

-Our lives are the worship service. The phrase worship service should have been and must become synonymous with “the Christian life.”

-When we gather here, we engage in a service of worship to our God. No longer can we think of this as a service to us….a serving of songs, (guitar on the side) scriptures, and sermon (go large this morning….5.95, please pull around).

-If we look at our worship gatherings as the only time we worship, then its no wonder why we are up in arms if a song wasn’t sung…or if one was sung. But we are the church worshiping the 164 hours we aren’t either in this building or en route to this building. We are the church when:
-we fight with our family/we drive /we eat/ We are doing homework/ We are fixing the car/ We are doing everything..

Verse one talks about making a fairly deliberate commitment to look at our lives as the worship service.
-2: how we maintain that happening.

-testing: greek dokimazo: find out worth by putting it to use

Incarnational Impact: living and breathing examples of Jesus Christ in day-by-day ways.

“Follow the trail of time, money affection and allegiance to determine what/who you worship primarily. The trail NEVER LIES.” Louie Giglio

-Reading: The NT book of Titus, Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll. Preaching the Cross (Mark Dever, J. Ligon Duncan, Albert Mohler, C.J. Mahaney with contributions by Piper, Sproul, and MacArthur), Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks, The Reign of Grace by Scotty Smith.

Beginning in July ‘09, I will begin: Jesus and the Victory of God by NT Wright, The Purpose of the Path by Andy Stanley, The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordiero

-Watching: Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Frost-Nixon, The Yes Men, Enron: The Smartest People in the Room. Psych seasons 1 and 2.

soon to be watching: Frost-Nixon interviews (The real ones), Psych Season 3 (when it comes out).

-Seeing: Star Trek, X-Men Origins: Wolverine,

soon to be seeing: Transformers, the new Denzel flick.

-T.V.: Re-runs, but enjoying House, Hell’s Kitchen, and the Biggest Loser when I was able to see them.

-Listening to: Mostly sermon podcasts (Chandler, Chan, Driscoll, Noble), but will venture into the new Jars of Clay album (The Long Fall Back to Earth; their best in years), David Crowder*Band, AlterBridge, and PW Torch audio shows (yes, PW stands for Pro Wrestling.).

soon to be listening to: See above, plus total church training and other misc. podcasts.

What are you watching, seeing, listening, and reading this summer?

Jason

-I’m praying as bodies are now being found from the Air France plane.

-I’m amazed that the Pittsburgh Penguins are hanging with the Red Wings. I thought it would be a sweep. Still…Red Wings in 6.

-I wish the Lakers would lose the finals. But I just don’t think they will.

-David Carradine died this week: Sadly, more people remember him for Kill Bill than his epic turn as evil slave-owner Justin Lamont in the mini-series “North and South.” What’s that you say, he was popular for another reason? Kung Fu anybody?

-My best friend Nick reports that Obama was a rock star in Germany. Little surprise. He’s a rock star in Houston. His presidential head (that’s like 10 feet tall) is here by the other presidential heads across the street. And no, it’s not terrifying at ALL to have Abe Lincoln stare at you 24/7.

-Up is a smash movie. Terminator Salvation is going to be smashed. It won’t even gross its production costs at least in US theaters. Strange…….a Pixar movie dominates again, while Terminator and Angels and Demons combined gross is barely enough to cover Terminator’s cost. We live in a wild, wooly and weird culture.

-And yet somehow, by God’s grace, we are called to bring remedy to all of it. Sports, movies, and so much more.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Jason

-I’m praying as bodies are now being found from the Air France plane.

-I’m amazed that the Pittsburgh Penguins are hanging with the Red Wings. I thought it would be a sweep. Still…Red Wings in 6.

-I wish the Lakers would lose the finals. But I just don’t think they will.

-David Carradine died this week: Sadly, more people remember him for Kill Bill than his epic turn as evil slave-owner Justin Lamont in the mini-series “North and South.” What’s that you say, he was popular for another reason? Kung Fu anybody?

-My best friend Nick reports that Obama was a rock star in Germany. Little surprise. He’s a rock star in Houston. His presidential head (that’s like 10 feet tall) is here by the other presidential heads across the street. And no, it’s not terrifying at ALL to have Abe Lincoln stare at you 24/7.

-Up is a smash movie. Terminator Salvation is going to be smashed. It won’t even gross its production costs at least in US theaters. Strange…….a Pixar movie dominates again, while Terminator and Angels and Demons combined gross is barely enough to cover Terminator’s cost. We live in a wild, wooly and weird culture.

-And yet somehow, by God’s grace, we are called to bring remedy to all of it. Sports, movies, and so much more.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Jason

KCC Student Staff

I’m approaching my 19th birthday. “Wait, Jason, aren’t you 36 today??” Technically, yes. But I’m approaching the 19th birthday of what some would call my “new birth,” and what others would call my “re-dedication.” I’ll leave it up to people much smarter and knowledgeable than yours truly to decide what that is.

All I know is that after July 1990, my life’s trajectory changed forever. And that was due to God working through the folks mentioned in my last blog, and the folks I’m about to mention here.

Jeff Chandler: Jeff Chandler was a 25 year old youth pastor when he arrived in Kingwood in the summer of 1989. Cool dripped off of him like sweat on a human during Houston summers. He was built, and somehow made a permed hair look uber-cool. (The curls were natural if I am to be honest) Jeff radically changed the student ministry, taking over from Dave Norris, which released Dave to do what he was really good at. The ministry began to grow, and exploded with a trip to Panama City, Florida, which is more commonly known as the Riviera for Rednecks. During that trip, in which I wasn’t supposed to originally go, Jeff had to be rushed into emergency preaching service, as the original speaker had to leave for a family emergency. It was that Thursday night that God convicted me of my apathy and hard heart and through Jeff, I’ve never been the same since. The only thing Jeff has more than “cool” is passion that oozes from his pores for those who don’t know Jesus.

Mike Cahill: Mike is coming later. I mention him here simply because of the time frame in this blog.

Scott Wright: Scott, or “big Scott” as he was known was an ever-present reminder of the command in Titus 3 to be gentle. He was big enough to crush anyone. Yet he was such a gentle soul. Such a servant. Scott Wright; the only thing bigger than his biceps was his heart for people. Scott would make anyone feel like a valued soul. He was a loyal friend and a loving father. The only thing about Scott that I regret is the fact that he’s in heaven now. Scott died in 2004, yet his legacy lives on through his children, and through (hopefully) people like me whom God used to impact greatly.

John Trautner: John is perhaps one of the smartest men in the history of the KCC world. John came out of the business world because God captured his heart for ministry. John was the summer intern as a 25 year old, and in 1992 I got to see a guy who was cerebral yet passionate and was not afraid to express himself in his own unique way. One of the greatest blessings of my life was to spend two weeks with John on the mission field in Spain. John and his wife Laura are incredible examples of gentle lions who roar love of God and others.

To sum it up:

Jeff Chandler: I learned passion. Never get over the cross.

Mike: Later…..

Scott: love everyone. Accept everyone without condoning their actions. But just love people.

John: Express yourself in your way the way God wired you. You don’t have to be someone else. Just be the person God made you.

What a privilege to have been formed by God through these guys!
Jason