Staff Blogs

Thoughts from David Kaufmann, while traveling in Asia – in an undisclosed location:

As a people_ Dad  calls us to love the city, to dwell among the people, to incarnate with them. As most of you know, I am engaged in working and loving one of the great cities of the world.

My hope and desire is to see ALL in this place come to a knowledge of HIM. I know that without a great move of Father this won’t happen.

Today we will be in 3 areas of the city. Each of our groups with tasks and vision. We will stir up hopeful conversations. 

Please talk with Dad today about His GOOD plan for this team.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Thoughts from Genesis 25:27-34

by Jeremy Mack, Family Life Pastor

When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.  Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.  And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.)  Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.”  Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

            In ancient cultures the birthright was very important.  The first-born son would receive a double portion of the inheritance of his father.  That means Esau, Isaac’s first-born son stood to inherit two thirds of his father’s estate.  Esau goes hunting and doesn’t take the proper provisions to see him through to the end of his hunt and finds himself in need of food and drink.  For a measly bowl of soup and a piece of bread Esau gives up his place as his fathers first-born son to his younger twin brother Jacob.

Did you know that you have a birthright too?  John 1:12 says that “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.   The bible also tells us that we have an inheritance.  1 Peter 1:4,5 says God has called us “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for salvation.”  God has such wonderful things in store for His children.  But we must be careful not to sell our birthright as well.  Because the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:17 that Esau, “when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”

We should be very careful not to commit presumptuous sin.  Esau thought he could sell his birthright for a meal and everything would go on as it had before, he assumed wrong and he lost his inheritance. Sometimes we are tempted to sin and we deceive ourselves into thinking that we can sin against a holy God and ask for forgiveness anytime we want.  We deceive ourselves into believing forgiveness flows to us on our terms and not God’s.

Psalm 19:13

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.  Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Letting the Gospel Transform My Life:

by David Kaufmann, Community Life Pastor
I am so quick to say all the right things and want to live a life pleasing to the Lord, but so many times I do not connect the dots, on how the Gospel is to affect my marriage, or how can I love others well in the kingdom. But, God who is rich in grace and mercy always reminds me, that I must allow him to transform every area of influence and thoughts in my life to Him. We are about to go into a study of the life of Jacob. This man was a real treasure. He tricks his brother for the birthright, marries the wrong woman, works off the wages to marry the woman he really wants, meets God in a “dream”, re-connects with his long, lost brother Esau…. and more. 

You see, all of us are very much like Jacob, crazy, dysfunctional life, but God is always there. He always brings us back to Himself. So, I want to remind myself, that God desires for me to live and to bring all things under His domain. I hope that each day, I can become more and more like the Living, Lord Jesus.

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

I had a specific moment this past Sunday where my circumstances, my emotions, and worship through song all came together in a way that caught me off guard a little bit.

This past Sunday at about 5AM my grandmother, who was 79 years old died.  Two years ago she was doing pretty well, getting old, but still getting around.  She moved in with my parents, who live in Ft. Worth Texas, sometime around 2003 because she wasn’t able to live on her own anymore but she didn’t require 24/7 assistance either.  She had a number of strokes over the past couple years and declined rapidly.  The last time I saw her was at Christmas.  She pretty much stayed in bed most of the day looking at the ceiling.  She hardly talked at all those days and it we didn’t always know if she was recognizing people or not.  It was hard to determine how much of that was due her being tired, or apathetic, or physically unable.  I didn’t go into her room and sit down by her bed thinking “she can’t talk”, so I talked to her and asked her questions and then just sat still and let her answer or not answer.  I looked her in the eyes when I talked to her.  I wanted her to know that I saw her and loved her and, while I couldn’t understand what she was going through, I was there.  The strokes and drugs she was on changed the way she looked.  She didn’t look like Grandma much at all, but she was in there.

That same visit I looked at her and told her I loved her.  She looked back at me and her facial expression became very familiar as she said, “I love you too, very much”.  I knew she knew what she was saying and who she was talking to.  Mom and dad were amazed cause that was more than she had said in a long time.  I felt blessed to be the recipient of her expressed love.

So, back to Sunday morning.  My mom called me at 12:30am to tell me grandma was really sick and in the hospital.  She called again at 5:20am to tell me she had died.  Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep Saturday night.  At 8am I walked into the auditorium for band rehearsal for the worship service.  I immediately went into some kind of “Worship Leader” mode.  I set aside the tired and the grief.  Besides, we had a lot of music to get through and not much time to get through it all.  I didn’t share this as a prayer request to the team cause I didn’t want to get into it.  It was time to get busy.  But during one of the songs (and I don’t even remember which one at this point) the awareness of His presence was obvious to me.  The words I sang affirmed his goodness and closeness to me.  It was as if he was just reminding me, ”I’m here”.  I started to cry as I continued to sing but felt the need to “keep it together” so I pushed the emotions back down.  The funny thiing is that this isn’t like me.  Those that know me well know that I’m not afraid to share my emotions.  So today as I grieve and look back, I wish I would have allowed myself to experience his comfort more in that moment.  That I didn’t decide to “keep it together”.  For all I know that could have been exactly what someone in the service needed to see or hear.  Overall, I have walked away with the reminder that the Lord wants and welcomes all of me.  When I bring my circumstances and my emotions to him during a time of worship, He can teach me a little bit more about himself and how he can be glorified in whatever is going on in my life.