His direct disobedience came with the customary single spanking. So I took him alone into the bedroom and encountered a very disobedient heart.  His anger for the first spanking led to our conversation.

“Solomon do you understand that receiving a spanking is your choice as a result of your decision. It is best for you to obey mommy and daddy because God has given us responsibility for you. When you disobey us you are also disobeying God. It is so foolish to disobey God. Foolish actions will always lead to hurt in your life. This spanking is to remind you that foolish actions lead to a fool’s reward.”

After we finished I found him perched on the bathroom counter about 5 minutes later. When I asked what was wrong he told me, “My butt hurts.”

“What does that remind you of,” I asked.

Looking down he said, “That it’s foolish to disobey you.”

I grabbed a seat next to the counter sat down and asked, “When you disobey me, who are you really disobeying?”

“God,” he responded with tears in his eyes.

“Do you understand that spankings are not punishment for your sin, but the way I remind you of my love and show you the path of righteousness?” I asked.

His response was accompanied by his first look to my eyes, “Yes.”

I began to notice a very tender heart in Solomon. His defiance and anger had given way to sorrow and a teachable moment. So I asked, “What is the real punishment for sin?”

“Death,” he answered.

“Who will punish that sin?”

He responded, “God.”

Taking this moment I said, “This is not why you were created. You were created to reflect God’s glory by bearing his image. God is love, so you can love. God is creator, so you can be creative. God is truth, so you can know, which is why you love to read so much. It is why you are smart little boy. But your sin has made you love the wrong person. You love yourself more than God. That is why you get angry with me for holding you accountable for your wrong. It is why you think it is okay to disobey. But God has made you for so much more than yourself.”

After, we talked about how Christ, who was God, lived a perfect life, died a sinner’s death, and was raised to life three days later. I showed him how Christ did all these as a man in a way Solomon never could because of his sin.

“I want to live for what I was created for,” Solomon said as he listened in one of those rare attentive moments. He then said, “Spankings are kind of like an electric fence.” I was intrigued to say the least. So I asked how.

“The fence keeps me walking on the road I should, but when I want to go a different direction the fence shocks me enough to hurt. But this isn’t as close to as bad as it would hurt if I went passed the fence.” “But dad,” he paused. “I really want to go outside the fence. I want to just grab it even though it hurts and cross it.”

We then talked about how Christ did for us what we could never do ourselves. That Christ did this to free us from the power of sin that makes us want the wrong things. Those are foolish and lead to destruction. We talked about how Christ is worth more than anything on the other side of that fence and the journey down the road Jesus offers is far more than any journey you could ever have for yourself.

“I want to go on that journey with God, dad,” Sol said. “I really do want to live for Jesus and I want to be what he created me to be. I need Jesus to do for me what I can’t.”

“He already did,” I answered.

“I think he knows better than me, dad,” Sol responded.

So I led Solomon in a prayer. He told Jesus he trusted him. He told Jesus he was going to leave behind what he wanted in life. He told Jesus how he wanted what Jesus created him to be.

To say this was a beautiful moment would be an understatement. To say that God answers prayer would seem to routine. To see the eternal result from a spanking that hurts me more than it would ever hurt him, worth it. I love my children too much to let them walk a path away from freedom to foolishness and destruction. After that moment we gathered with my wife and the three of us thanked God for answering our prayers and saving Solomon.

Just a few short weeks later I was blessed to baptize the second member of my family. First my wife a few years ago, and this weekend my son.

“I baptize you, my brother in Christ and partner in the gospel from this day forward, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ. Raised to walk in newness of life.”

May our journey together in the partnership of this gospel be all that our Lord promised and commanded.

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.  - Colossians 1:29

The early Pietist leader, Philip Spener, was heavily influenced by Arndt’s work and wrote the manifesto of the Pietist movement, Pia Desideria (1675).[3] Originally a manual for the reform of Lutheran churches, Spener’s work made an impact on Lutheran as well as Reformed and Moravian streams.[4]

The six measures of reform in the Pia Desideria were: 1. A greater commitment to spread the word of God. 2. A renewed emphasis on the Lutheran view of the priesthood of all believers. 3. A greater focus given to the development of individual spiritual life. 4. Truth should not be established through disputes but through repentance and a holy life. 5. Candidates for the ministry should be genuine Christians who have had spiritual training. 6. Sermons should not demonstrate the preacher’s erudition, but attempt to edify.[5]

Two specific results attributed to the Pietist movement by Reid include encouraging revival and pioneering world missions.[6] The Pietist also increased focus on disciple making in individual lives. Revival and world mission have a clear connection to the emphasis on the spiritual life. When a person grows deeply as a believer, revival and missional impulse come natural.

The Pietist movement demonstrates a historical phenomenon connected with personal piety. The movement, as some have suggested, can lead to a mystical spirituality;[7] yet, the benefits of historical results outweigh the risk. Like the Anglican church of the Puritans, much of the American church is highly institutional, with little to no missional impulse. Since the Pietist movement did result in revival and missionary fervency, one should expect a similar result if our congregations determined to live lives of purity and holiness in Christ. This is not to say the revival is automatic, but instead to say conditions preceding revival will always include a renewed emphasis on personal piety.

The natural overflow of a deep and abiding relationship with Christ will always be a love for people and a passion for God’s mission. Works like True Christianity and the  Pia Desideria can help our modern context return to a faithful, Christ-centered disciple making method, rather than a consumer based entertainment approach.

The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. – Wikipedia

Simply put, you spend the majority of time outside home and work at a third place. Think about it. Where do you spend most of your time? If you have been raised in “church” and you understand that I am a Christian pastor, you will assume I think it should be the church building. But, that is exactly opposite.

The mission of the church flows from the mission of God, namely to glorify himself primarily by redeeming lost man in Jesus Christ. Our third place, then, must be somewhere other than the church building.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying gospel community with other believers, as a part of a local church is wrong. I am saying that gospel community with other believers, as part of a local church should take place in the community as much or more than in a central gathering place.

To take the gospel to people, who were created for a relationship with God in Jesus Christ, we must go to where they are. We no longer have the luxury of cultural expectation to “go to church” as our third place. It is gone for the majority of the population.

Take for instance my context, Roswell, NM. The majority third place in our community is the home of friends. A small town of around 50,000 with relatively few entertainment choices, leaves meals and movies with friends in homes a great option. In order for the gospel to impact lives of those outside the influence of the church we must open our homes in hospitality and accept invitations of new friends.

We desperately need Christian presence in our community third places. People will build community relationships in places other than work or home. Find out where it happens. Join them. Demonstrate a compassion and conviction unlike anything they have seen. Speak the gospel with care and boldness. Stay friends even if they do not believe, because the gospel leads to love of people, not just talking at people.

Take time to intentionally run the race in third place.

Where does your community spend most of their time? How can you take the gospel to the third places of your context?

Colossians 1:29 says “For [presenting every man complete in Christ] I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” This I believe is the calling that Christ has put upon my life.

Now I find myself again in a new territory with a desire to write. Not because I know anything. Usually my answer is “I don’t know” but because I desire to express that following Christ is not about where you end up, but instead about who you know. So Journey and Struggle are the same. The point is following Christ.

I don’t have to act like I know everything or become the center of the attention, because what I thought 10 years ago is humorous to me now. Think of what I will be thinking 10 years from now. So, this has lead me to chronicle the ministry journey for three reasons.

1. It will keep me humble as I see and remember what I thought I knew, while recognizing God’s grace as he changes me as I follow Him around.

2. I learn more when I take in information and then spit it back out. So this will be me spitting it back out. (Mostly to my mother because I am not sure if anyone else will actually read this). In doing so, I hope that I will digest and apply what I learn better.

3. I am in Roswell, NM where a missional experiment is about to take place alongside a true co-worker and friend in the gospel, Matt Brooks, to whom the Lord has joined my heart in less than 6 months. It will be interesting, if nothing else, as we take this journey.

So, here goes. The Roswell Missional Experiment.

(FYI Experiment doesn’t mean haphazard. It means intentional – prayerful – humble – God-centered – don’t know yet what it will look like – try as hard as we can – fail and learn – succeed and rejoice – hope for a mighty movement of God-ministry)

Dave Miller – Pastor of Community / January 1, 2012 / God – Genesis 1:1 from fbcroswell on Vimeo.

How would you describe the Christian life? Going to church? Do what I am supposed to do (whatever that is)? Sitting through something I actually find boring and irrelevant because I am afraid to actually say that church seems pointless to me?

If any of these, or other answers like these, come to mind it isn’t surprising. Somewhere along the way we have let this notion of compartmental Christianity engrain in our lives. In other words, Christianity is what I do for my religious life, but Clark Howard is who I follow for my financial life, Oprah is who I follow for my emotional life, Jim Collins is who I follow for my business life, and Dr. Phil is who I follow for my family life. The list could go on and on.

Yet this is not what Paul speaks of in Galatians 2. In the process of rebuking the apostle Peter for his hypocrisy towards the Gentile believers, Paul says Galatians 2:20. He was reminding Peter that in Christ, he had been crucified to the old way of life and now his new life is lived for Christ, in Christ.

Simply put, it means that Christianity, specifically Christ, is not a part of our lives. He is our life!

We don’t believe in Jesus so our religious life is in order. We believe in Jesus therefore, our life has been reordered. Everything about you: everything you do, everything you think, everywhere you go, everyone you know and meet, every dollar that your earn or spend, every conversation that you have, every hour, minute and second of every day is to be brought into submission of Christ’s lordship in your life.

In Christ you died, and now through the power of the resurrection you live not for yourself, but for Christ. His purpose. His plans. His mission. By faith you worship Christ, by faith you order your finances according to Christ, by faith you submit emotion to Christ, by faith your business becomes a ministry hub of Christ, by faith you lead your family towards Christ for Christ.

The life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself for you.

Salvation was God call to live in His kingdom and the story He is writing, believe and leave behind your kingdom and the story you want to have written.

How should we describe the Christian life? Well… just that, life — all of it, in Christ.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

 As a hall of fame bench warmer in high school I remember all to well the work of practice and the watching of games. I understood that I was not that good but I loved the game and the relationships of the team anyway, so I kept playing all four years. There was one role I had on the team on game day. Foul.

Yeap, that was my job. When we need the ball back on a close game, I was sent in to take out (gently of course) the guy with the ball. So I looked forward to close games and the moment that coach would say, “Miller, you know what to do.”

Funny, how the Lord uses Joseph and when. At this point he is thirty years old, and has been tossed in a hole by his brothers, accused of advancing on a master’s wife, thrown into prison, and forgotten by those he helped. Yet God had a plan. Joseph had faith.

When the time was right, and God needed Joseph to make the play, his training and suffering in faith paid off. “Joseph, you know what to do.” What did he do? Nothing but point to the power of God in faith.

Patience in the midst of adversity comes only from an unwavering trust in the sovereignty of God. If you don’t believe God is in control you get out, get anxious, make dumb decisions, get paralyzed in fear, or falter when called. You will be used by God there is no question of that. Jacob was used all throughout his life, even in the prison, but when the turning point came, when the moment of truth and the reality of God calling him to do something way beyond who he was came, Jacob believed with flying colors.

What is paralyzing you in fear, what are you anxious about, what are you trying to control because you think God can’t, who are you manipulating to get your way? All of these scream a wavering in belief of God’s sovereignty. God is in control and will accomplish his purposes in you in his time for his glory. Wait, trust, and when the opportunity comes, don’t hesitate but act in faith.

The swindler, Jacob, had met his match. His father-in-law, Laban, had cheated and changed wages on Jacob. Isn’t it ironic that Jacob who had been known as a cheat his entire life, now has the tables turned?

Jacob is walking upright in his dealings with Laban’s animals and the Lord blessed him. Don’t miss the lesson God is teaching Jacob after he has revealed himself to him at Bethel. God is saying, cheating and dishonesty cannot outmatch my generosity and promise of blessing.

Jacob had to be transformed from who he was to who he is going to be, Israel the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. In order for this to happen God must change Jacob’s heart and motivations. It took 20 years of service to a father-in-law to see this change take place and still a wrestling with God in the chapter 32.

What is a character of trait yours that does not reflect the glory of our Lord? Any tough circumstances in your life? How is God using them to crucify that sin and conform you into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ?

Rather than running from hardship, pray in the midst of it, that you may be molded into the image of Jesus Christ and become who you were created to be, a grand reflection of the glory of God through Jesus Christ.

Yet recently, I spoke with an acquaintance that was held back, even only slightly, from the baggage of the past and the feeling of inadequacy.

Both men fear something, one fears God and falling short of God’s potential in his life, the other fears that the future will only be more of the same. One’s fear moves him, the other’s, paralyzes him.

In Genesis 28 God reveals himself to Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was known not only by name, but also in action to be a cheat and a swindler. While sleeping on a rock, God showed him a ladder to heaven and promised him the blessings of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac.

In verse 17 it says, “And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” And in response Jacob made a vow, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Jacob went to sleep a cheat and awoke a giver. He went to bed on a stone and awoke to an altar of worship. He slept out in the wilderness and awoke in the House of God. What was the change?

God revealed himself to Jacob. Jacob now feared God and started the journey of who he was to become.

If you, as a believer, are not becoming who you already are in Jesus Christ, then you fear the wrong god. Your best day will be tomorrow, because tomorrow you can know God more, becoming more like Christ, but only if you are today more than you were yesterday.

- Pastor Dave

God keeps his promises. You may wonder when, where, how, or even why but never if. If doesn’t factor into the grace of God. There was no, I will give you a son if… There was only I will give you a son. Even in Sarah and Abrahams unbelief God kept his promise. If God denies his word he denies himself. When God says it, it will happen as sure as God lives.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the think for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11

We often times like Sarah and Abraham treat God’s word as a defendant who is guilty until proven innocent. No that is not backwards I meant guilty until proven innocent. Since the fall we have doubted God’s word, yet time and again he has proven in miraculous ways that he is faithful and trustworthy.

Sarah had a child at almost 100 years old, why? Because God said it would happen. Is there an area of fear in your life that controls and paralyzes you? If so you doubt God’s perfect truth. Is there something that you would sacrifice anything for more than God? If so, you doubt God’s perfect truth? Is there anything you want more than God himself, If so, you doubt God’s perfect truth.

Stop doubting and believe.