He is Good

So last week after admitting that I had mis spoken I was extremely blessed by the out pouring of grace from our church. It was amazing and humbling. And this week church was so good. We had a guest co-leading worship, Michele from New Orleans, and the worship was sweet in our place. You know those times when you recognize that God is on the move? Well He was, people were interacting with Him by singing their hearts out, and then leaning in while we talked about the life of Jesus, and it was totally cool. In the end we broke up to celebrate our eldest member, Granny, turned 90, and we had a party. And while people stayed late into the evening, kids playing in the sanctuary, adults talking and hanging out, I looked over this group that had assembled and was brought to the brink of tears. Life was happening in this moment of shared joy, in spite of the pains and difficulties many of us face; real life was bursting forth in our community. I thought, “This is a miracle, thank you God, for leading my family into a community like this. What an honor to get to share these moments with these people and with You.” What He is doing in our body is beautiful and right, He is drawing us into relationship with Himself and with each other. God is on the move.

I don't want to miss this, I don't want us to miss this, God is on the move in our church. He is changing our lives into the image of His dear Son. He's allowing us to walk this thing out together. I remember a pastor once saying that he realized if he wasn't on staff, he wouldn't attend his church. But I looked around this weekend, and couldn't wait to be together in the moment and in the future. May His grace and peace and joy be with us on this journey.

Sticking my foot in my mouth

So I thought for Lent I would do this thing where I would blog on what I meant to say, or what I forgot to say on a Saturday night service, little did I know that this first one would really be embarrassing.

At some point in the talk on Saturday I mentioned Mt. Herob and Mt. Sinai, and I said that there was a difference between the two. Wrong. I wasn't sure about the statement I had made, but someone asked a question about it afterwards and so I have given some more research to it. Mt. Herob and Sinai are the same thing. While I had been studying I had just passed through an article in reference to Elijahs journey to the mountain of the Lord, and for some reason it stuck in my head as defining a difference between the two mountains. In  arrogance and based on a fleeting thought, I commented, making a joke about Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments, and how Hollywood got it wrong. No, I had it wrong. Argh! :) Keep me accountable church.

So it's not always the most trusted site but here's some info on the subject from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Mount_Sinai

According to the Book of Exodus Mount Sinai (Hebrew: הר סיני, Har Sinai) is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God. In the Book of Deuteronomy these events are described as having transpired at Mount Herob.

According to the documented hypothesis the name "Sinai" is only used in the Torah by the Jahwist and Priestly Source, whereas Horeb is only used by the Elohist and Deuteronimist "Sinai" and "Horeb" are generally considered to refer to the same place, although there is a small body of opinion that the two names may refer to different locations.

Early Old Testament text describes Mount Sinai in terms which some scholars believe may describe the mountain as a volcano, although the word is omitted. This theory is not shared by all scholars.

According to the Hebrew Bible, after Leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites arrived at the foot of the holy mountain and gathered there in anticipation of the words of God.

And in the Jewish encyclopedia: 

Mountain situated in the desert of Sinai, famous for its connection with the promulgation of the Law by God through Moses (Ex. xix. 1-xx. 18). The general opinion of modern scholars is that the name "Sinai" is derived from the name of the Babylonian moon-god Sin. Mount Sinai is often referred to as "the mountain" (that is, the mountain par excellence), "the mountain of Elohim" (Hebr.), and "the mountain of Yhwh" (Hebr.; Ex. iii. 1, iv. 27, xviii. 5, xix. 2, et passim; Num. x. 33), and in many other passages it is called "Horeb" (Ex. iii. 1; Deut. i. 2 et passim). The Biblical text, indeed, seems to indicate that this last was its proper name, while "Sinai" was applied to the desert. According to one theory, Sinai and Horeb are the names of two eminences belonging to the same range; if this be so the range became prominent in the history of the Hebrews some time before the promulgation of the Law. When Moses led the flocks of his father-in-law to the desert and came "to the mountain of God, even to Horeb," an angel appeared to him from a flaming bush, and then God Himself spoke to Moses, telling him that where he stood was holy ground, thus foreshadowing the great event that was to occur there. From that mountain God persuaded Moses to go to Pharaoh and deliver the Israelites from his yoke. After the Exodus, when the Israelites who had encamped at Rephidim were suffering with thirst, Moses, by command of God, smote water from a rock in Horeb (Ex. xvii. 6).

So I asked a question while I was speaking, "Does anyone know the difference between Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb?" FYI, sometimes when I ask a question, most of the time I'm looking for audience participation, but sometimes it's because I don't know the answer or am unsure. And this time even what I thought was right was wrong.

On another note, this is a great reminder for me to take my study and presentation of the Word diligently and seriously. To work to carve out time to search the scriptures, research, and also to keep my mouth shut when I'm not sure. The last thing I want to do as a pastor is point someone the wrong way. AND as a young church with a young preacher, please don't take everything I say as absolute and truth. Bottom line, I get it wrong sometimes. Test what is spoken with in the scriptures, help me when I mess up to learn from it and grow. :)

I'm sorry that I missed it on this one you guys. Embarrassed. Asking for forgiveness. Good thing we serve a merciful God.

Grace and Peace,

Benson

Lent is Coming

Part of what I plan to commit to for Lent is to revive a mode of communication that I have let fall, the Blog. Nothing is worth blogging unless it's something that grabs you, this Lent season I will attempt to post every week what some of my musings are about what we are talking about at East Valley Vineyard Church. I'll dive into my thoughts about the topic, where I'm being challenged, what's seen with clarity, and what did I forget to say. :) This season of Lent is already percolating in my head and my heart as a challenge to go deeper into what God has for us. We will be discussing topics like; A Time to Lose, Power of Weakness, Out of the Darkness, Why did He die? This will be a time of intentionality for us and I want to invite you to join in this journey with EVVC, as we seek to grow closer to Him.

Lent arrives February 13th and goes until March 30th. All are welcome.


Blessings,

Benson

7 Lessons I’ve learned this first year:

There is more to come. I am excited about the future. God is not done with us. In our infancy we are just starting to roll over, and then we’ll learn to crawl, and walk, and run, and leap. Few learn these things over night, but as we grow we will look back and be amazed at when we stood for the first time. We are His workmanship fashioned for His purposes and He is working on us! There is more to come! More of His amazing grace. More of His passionate love. More mercy, faith, trials, and grace. More, more, more! To the praise and the glory of His name and of His fame forever and ever. Amen

7 Lessons I’ve learned this first year:

Lesson 6

You never have to swim alone. In the Penguins of Madagascar there’s this great dialogue that occurs when one of them gets lost:
Kowalski: Oh, no. He must be out there all by himself.
Skipper: He's one of us, men. You all know the Penguin Credo.
Kowalski: Never bathe in hot oil and Bisquick?
Skipper: No.
[Rico speaks Japanese gibberish]
Skipper: No, that's the Walrus Credo. It's "Never swim alone." Private's out there all by himself, and we never leave one of our own.
Kowalski: Oh, yeah.
Skipper: Let's go. 
I love this idea, the Penguins Creedo, "Never Swim Alone." Not only are we in this church plant with amazing families and friends supporting it, but the point that you don’t go alone is crutial. He (God) is with you and you don’t carry the weight by yourself, He never leaves a man down. I have taken heart in this; He will never leave me or forsake me. All the prayerful plans we have made for this church, all the things that we dream for it to be and do, all that the current moment has and that the future will have. One; they don’t have to rest entirely on me. And two, if we are pointed toward Him we are in the right direction and we never have to swim alone. That’s good news.

7 Lessons I’ve learned this first year:

Lesson 5:

The sacrifice is worthy of the calling. AKA, church planting is tough, but it’s so worth doing! This life in Christ will cost you. It will cost you everything. It will cost you your very life. I know that’s not a popular view in today’s culture, but it’s true. This year I left so many things dear to me on the altar of sacrifice; time, family, friends, maybe a little pride and arrogance too. I’m not talking about throwing my family under a bus in some crusade or quest for my glory (Church planters; that is in no way Gods will for you and your family!). I’m talking about laying down MY rights and My conclusions and My way on how things should go. It’s about the internal wrestling of my heart and affections. In my journey I have wrestled, am wrestling, with what this all means, but I know that when I give my stuff  up to Him I am a better father, husband, friend and pastor. Sacrifice is worthy of the calling. He is challenging me to sacrifice my rights to participate in His calling. And what has He called me to do? The same exact thing He has called you to do. To follow Him. Lay down my life (daily the Bible says) and follow Him.

7 Lessons I’ve learned this first year:

Lesson 4:

God loves me. I can hardly type this right now without crying because I know that I am loved. Have you ever been truly loved, accepted, adopted, and cherished? I don’t always feel this way, but I know that is His view of me, and there are times when I feel it. This summer we were getting ready for a driving trip we were taking on Sunday, but Thursday the car broke down. So I start on the process of finding out what’s wrong with the thing, on the process I spend 40 dollars on miscellaneous parts, then narrowed it down to the alternator. 130 bucks for that. We are family of 5 on a budget, only doing cash for everything, and we are on the salary of a teacher. That cost was the difference of gas for our trip, and it had to be paid. You might be guessing the rest of this story, but it’s so good I’ve got to share it. I had told another church that I would come out and speak on Friday night at a special service. I did not want to go. I was in a poor mood, frustrated, upset, sour. But I had committed so I went. And God is so good, on the drive over there I was praying about it and giving my poor attitude to Him, and felt the weight lifting. So I spoke there and had a great time. On my way out, the pastor slipped a check into my hand. He says, “We prayed and felt like we were supposed to give this to you.” Now, mind you, I did not even mention the vehicle troubles or cost at all and was not expecting anything in payment. Politely I said thank you and got into the car. On the drive home I opened the check. It was exactly $170.00 dollars. I was so overwhelmed I had to pull the car over, tears pouring down my face, my breath taken away. Overwhelmed by the love of my Heavenly Father. He loves me. He shows it and I know it.