When the tire meets the pavement…

You’ve all probably heard the expressions “when the tire meets the pavement”, “when the rubber meets the road”, and “when reality sets in”…right? If not, I probably picked them up from my childhood in rural Nova Scotia. These expressions mean that things can look great when they are ideas or plans…but they can look totally different when they become real and its time to put them into real life.

When the “tire meets the pavement” the car moves ahead. So, are you ready to move ahead with what God has done in your life at #OFLO14?

Jesus once shared a story with some religious folks about a man who was possessed by an evil spirit. The man was delivered from the evil spirit by the work and power of Jesus Christ; what a celebration that must have been! If you were to imagine the man’s life as a house, it would have been swept clean and everything put back in its rightful place. The only problem is that the house was empty; the man’s life was empty of spiritual things. Although the man was made clean by his encounter with Jesus, his life was empty of spiritual things. The evil spirit realized this and returned with seven other friends more wicked than itself to toss the place and make it disorderly again. There was no resistance. There wasn’t even a fight. The house was easily picked off and now filled with more filth than before. The final condition was worse than the first. (Matthew 12:43-45)

It is agonizing to think that after God has revealed himself to so many people at #OFLO14 we would return home swept clean but still empty spiritually.

The reality is that what God does in our lives in a moment still requires a lifetime of follow-up on our part. Right? This is called discipleship, and it is what Jesus was referring to in the story I told you. Mary Magdalene, a prominent woman in the story of Jesus’ life, was relieved of a significant burden in her life by the power of Jesus. Her response: she became an active disciple of Jesus.

The work of Jesus at #OFLO14 has set us free to make a new beginning; but if we now fail to take the road of discipleship, we are in danger of relapsing into a condition worse than before. (1)

What does it take to be a disciple? A disciple regularly interacts with other disciples for fun, food, fellowship, worship, and strength (Acts 2:42-). A disciple studies the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15). A disciple regularly leaves the chaos of the world behind to spend time alone with God (Luke 4:42-). A disciple cuts themselves off from the things that lead them into temptation and sin no matter the cost (Matt 5:29). A disciple shares their inner victories and inner struggles with other disciples (Galatians 6:1-2). A disciple actively works to ensure justice is met and those less fortunate are cared for (James 2:14-17). A disciple seeks to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit and does only what the Father [God] speaks (Ephesians 5:18, John 5:19)

I could go on…but I won’t. If you take even half of those statements seriously enough to implement them into your life, you are on the right track. Your destiny will be changed and your life will be more abundant than you can imagine.

Like I said, this one will take work. Not work to earn God’s love and eternal favor, we already have that. The work we now do is God’s work on earth as we have now because a part of his body. We are his hands and his feet.

This is a marathon; let do it!

(1) The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Gospel of Matthew. R.T. France.

One Day After #OFLO14 Ends…

Ok, so I know that this is technically “two” days after OFLO ends, but most of you probably slept all day yesterday and so that doesn’t really count. Today was your first full day back into your normal routine of school, work, family, school bus, homework, home room, teachers, parents, detention, siblings, lost homework, exams…and so on.

So, I want to ask you this: How are you doing? No, really. How are you doing?

OFLO was amazing! Sometimes regular life is not amazing. OFLO definitely was a place where God’s voice and worship were readily accessible. Sometimes regular life can mask or drown out the voice of God in our lives. OFLO makes having faith easy. Sometimes regular life crushes our dreams and steals away our faith.

When Jesus was on earth he took some of his closest people away on a prayer retreat to a certain mountain. While they were there the presence of God was so rich and so real that Jesus’ face changed its looks and his clothes shone like lightening. The friends that were with Jesus thought this was amazing and wanted to build three shelters so that they could stay there. They recognized that it was good to be there.

Jesus, however, did not comply. The friends and Jesus all returned to their regular life after this prayer retreat on a mountain. Do you know what they faced the very next day? A demon possessed child that Jesus’ disciples had prayed for but was still ill. A screaming, raging, convulsing, foaming at the mouth, display of evil in all of its limited power. (Luke 9:28-43)

What a contrast. One day they experienced the ultimate glory of God and the next they were experiencing the frustrating entanglement of evil in all of its limited but real impact.

Does this sound like what you are feeling right now? Do you wish OFLO had not ended? Would you like to have built shelters to stay in (or just booked a few extra nights at the Crowne Plazza)? Do you want to worship with the house band night after night?

It was good to be there; but now it is good to be home…right? I am sure that some of you (if not many of you) have been confronted with evil, temptations, and the ugly sludge of life already. OFLO was good…so what now?

I have some great ideas for how each of you can carry on what God has revealed to your heart. As your pastor, I have been thinking and praying about each of you and the things that God has done in your heart. And I do have some ideas.

For now, however, I want you to rest comfortable in the fact that feeling a sense of loss and disorientation after OFLO is a real and normal thing to be experiencing. Nevertheless, the answer is not to constantly look back to what was. Rather, look forward to what will be and how God will continue to be with you in the meantime.

I have another idea for you too…and this one will require work. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.