Skin
It’s May. I can hardly believe it, but you’ll hear no complaints from me. There is nothing like warm weather with summer right around the corner. Every May at the Gathering, we turn our focus to relationships, sex, and dating. About 8 weeks ago, we started to plan for this year’s series and discuss the state of our world, specifically images, sex in the media and overall purity. As a leadership team, we looked around, did some research, and became extremely frustrated. Tim Tebow has a $1,000,000 sexual bounty on his head, 20/20 interviewers of porn stars indicate that many “p-stars” prefer to be drugged up when performing their craft for the world to see, 8 year olds are viewing hardcore porn, and by 2050 researchers say that prostitution will be rampant and worse yet: the prostitutes performing the “down-and-dirty” will be robot drones. Hey, but don’t knock it, those same researchers say that robot prostitutes will put an end to human sex trafficking (I’m rolling my eyes of course)…
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul writes of his shock over sexual immorality in the local church. He specifically says that he’s not writing to unbelievers but that his rebuke is for believers. He says that sexual immorality, if not removed, will spread throughout the church resulting in mass destruction. When you consider the Bible and God’s original intent for sex and relationships, it is clear that the world has exploited it for everything it’s worth.
So we began to ask some questions. How can we flip this around? How can we expose the world for all of its lies, and come full circle?
Think about this: strip clubs - where men flock to in the darkness of the night and bare-ly (PUN) 18-year-old girls grind on you for a price - have somehow been coined as “gentlemen’s clubs.” There is absolutely nothing gentle about an 18-year-old grinding the heck out of you. Tom Brady, the all-American quarterback, tells us a couple of years ago about porn, and his acceptance of it. Somehow 67% of men and 49% of women in America now say that porn is “acceptable.” Crazy, right? For far too long porn has been viewed as a victimless-vice and a private matter, when research clearly show’s that viewing porn as a married man increases your chances of having an extramarital affair by 300%! Our world is FILLED with rules, laws, and warnings, but for some reason no such warnings appear for this area.
So, we’re pushing it to the limits this month. It is time to stop dining on the edge of disaster. We need to realize what living on the edge produces. Living life on the edge of sexual sin puts us in a position of extreme vulnerability; one false move and your screwed. It’s time to showcase that viewing porn literally destroys your brain and self-confidence. Sleeping around and living however we want may seem fun for a season, but it develops gigantic voids in character and ultimately removes us from the path God designed for us.
At the end of the day, being close to Jesus should be our goal. For too long we’ve allowed ourselves to sit back, trying to pray against sin and temptation, but not realizing that sin, by nature, is intended to destroy our lives, period. This month we’ve set out to expose the world for it’s dirty little secrets.
We would love to see you tonight and all this month as we embark on our new, 5-week series called SKIN.
If you can’t make it check out our podcast at http://itun.es/iVq4XM
As always, we want to hear from you. Share your stories with us on Twitter at @thegatheringmi or email us at info@thegatheringlive.com.
Gabe
Come, Follow Me.
Today, I was reading in Matthew and came across this story in chapter 4:
“18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.”
Essentially Jesus walks up to these common folk and says, “Hey, come and follow me, because your simple and seemingly unfulfilled life is about to change.”
Now wait just a hot second before you e-mail me or leave me a nasty comment. There’s obviously nothing wrong with being a fisherman.
Well then, what’s my point?
My point, although simple, is this: we live in a world of well intended but hardly accomplished people. During our roughly 25,550 days on earth we are constantly looking for ways to either dull the pain of the day-to-day or ‘Keep Up With the Kardashians’ (so to speak) as it relates to our own lives. We attend seminars, read books, fulfill our spiritual to-do’s, and engage accountability to provide fences around our crazy lives so we don’t fall off the straight and narrow.
When IBM developed their first notebook laptop, it cost a whopping $8,150. (In 2012, it would have cost roughly $19,630.) Its intended purpose was to take the 40-hour workweek down to 20 hours. Essentially this new technology would speed things up so much that we would literally be twice as fast in our day-to-day proficiency levels, giving us more time to sit back on the beach and sip VIRGIN Piña-Coladas.
THE OPPOSITE HAPPENED.
We now live in a world completely dependent on technology and information at every waking second of our day. I’m actually more likely to go to work without pants than forget my phone. Scary, right?
Americans are now more connected than ever before, yet when we look deeper, we are actually among some of the loneliest people on the face of the planet. We have filled our lives with so many “things” that we no longer have time for people-to-people interactions. Moreover, we are less connected to each other on a heart-to-heart level, which, incidentally enough, is the most important element to life and our relationship with Jesus.
There is an enormous amount that can be drawn from Jesus’ simple recruitment of the disciples as they fished that day, but let’s keep it simple. He (Jesus) took average, ordinary, busy people and gave them the opportunity to be extraordinary. And what did they do? They dropped everything to follow Him with only a moment’s notice.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Too many of us have forgotten what it means to fish for men. I’m convinced that the more we take our eyes off our own schedules and chaotic lives, we become closer to the very heart of God.
Today: Take some time to remember that other people matter. Make time for others and Jesus will make time for you and act on your behalf.
Join us this month @thegatheringmi as we unpack this idea in our new series: The Perfect Cast
-Gabe
“The President Can Wait”
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Last June, I had the unique privilege of spending time at the former home of Mother Theresa in Calcutta, India. I saw the room she slept in for over 50 years. I interacted with the Missionaries of Charity who worked alongside side her for decades and still live in the home. While there, I heard a revealing story about an appointment she had with President Reagan in the mid 80’s. At the time of the President’s arrival in Calcutta, she was caring for a dying man in one of her rescue homes. Several people came to her requesting she leave because President Reagan was waiting. She refused to leave. She held the dying man in her arms for nearly an hour until he breathed his last breath, insisting that was far more significant than a meeting with the President or any dignitary for that matter.
I think often of the Gospel writer’s description of Jesus when he interacted with the hurting. They said he was “moved with compassion.” Maybe when the disciples saw the vast crowds, they were overwhelmed or even annoyed by the pressing needs. When Jesus saw the crowds, his heart and soul stirred. He hurt for the hurting.
The Apostle Paul apparently felt the same way. He said “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” when referring to the spiritually lost. He actually hurt for the hurting.
I believe the nearer we draw to Christ the more we hurt for the hurting. Paul prayed for the church in Galatia that “Christ be formed” in them. What extraordinary compassion Jesus exemplifies for us. He cries “Father forgive them” in the face of his torturers. He embraces the leper. He ministers to the sick from morning until evening after the death of his close friend and cousin, John the Baptist.
Almost no meaningful spiritual formation occurs in our hearts without quiet reflection and meditation. Today, I suggest you pull away from the busyness of your life and ask Christ to sensitize your heart with his compassion so that you hurt for the hurting as he did.
Dominic Russo
Overcoming the Tuesday Traffic Blues
I was in my car driving to a meeting today among a sea of cars crowding the streets and highways. As I looked back and forth at different people making their commute, I couldn’t help but notice a common look of despair on their faces. Some would call it the “Tuesday-traffic-blues.” In any event, they looked miserable.
I began thinking, as I always do, about life and the significance of it; that life is like a vapor, a blade of grass that soon fades. As different thoughts flooded my mind I began to feel not only inspired, but also convicted for the masses of people who simply live each day to fill some sort of void, and nothing more. Those who never care enough to do anything about their own significance.
I began to ask myself several questions and process some things out loud; what are people fighting to accomplish? What are we hoping to become? It’s easy to sit in church week in and week out singing songs about the ‘surrendered life’ - but how many people dare to scratch the surface of the extraordinary life? Are we all posers? The answer is not an easy one, as there seems to be a vast chasm between those who posses lofty ideals and those who actually get into the trenches and battle living a normal and unfulfilled life.
The ultimate conclusion I have come to is this: in order to live a life that is exciting and extraordinary, we must have extraordinary discipline. As Christians we are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus on a daily basis. If we fail to pick up our cross every day, we actually go to war with our true nature. Am I saying that we all need to quit our jobs and do something different right now? No, but we must keep asking God daily what He has in store for us.
In Luke 18, Peter is speaking with Jesus and tells him that ‘we’ (the disciples) ‘have left our homes to follow You.’ Jesus then makes this statement to Peter in Luke 18:29-30, “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, 30 will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.”
When we put our life on the chopping block and give it to God, for His purposes, we find fulfillment not only in eternity, but also in THIS LIFE. Jesus is the same yesterday, TODAY, and FOREVER. His promises are true and applicable in our day-to-day lives now!
How can you start living this way?
It’s simple; carve out time to pray and read the Bible every day, without exception. At the start of 2012 I felt a strong conviction to be inundated with the word of God so I made a bold goal to read through the Bible from stem to stern 4 times. Like any relationship, if we expect God to move on our behalf in 2012 we must put in the time to cultivate our relationship with Him. When you do this your life will change, perspectives will change, relationships will change, goals will change, and God will show you the path to walk…
ONE OF THE MOST FREQUENT QUESTIONS I FIELD IS:
I don’t think the individuals posing these questions are trying to be mean-spirited or contrary. Many of them are just curious. “Why spend the time and money flying halfway across the world when people here in America, in your own ‘backyard,’ don’t know Christ?”
As of this month, there are officially 7 billion people in the world. Of those 7 billion, 2.2 billion call themselves Christians - this includes Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals. Assuming that all 2.2 billion people that label themselves Christians ARE following Christ, that leaves us with 4.7 billion “lost” people. 4.7 billion people who have not professed faith in Jesus Christ. Of those 4.7 billion “lost” people, 50% have never heard the Gospel and a staggering 33% have never even HEARD the name of Jesus Christ. It’s true. A little over 1.5 BILLION people have not even heard the name of Jesus Christ.
Where do these 1.5 billion people live?
ASIA.
In India, for instance, there is 1 full-time Christian worker for every 44,000 people. In America, there is 1 full-time Christian worker for very 400 people.
In the US, there is LITERALLY a church on every corner. There are five 24/7 Christian TV stations. There is a Christian radio station in virtually every city. There are Christian billboards, Christian Universities, Christian High Schools, Christian dating websites, Christian holidays. The Gospel is clearly within reach of every American. Not to say, the work in America is OVER. It certainly is NOT.
However, based on the Red Letters of Scripture, God’s heart is beating and frantically searching – not for the 99 who are already in the fold– but for the ONE who is yet lost. God’s heart is BEATING for Asia. I believe that the salvation of the people of Asia is profoundly on his mind. It is a tragedy, perhaps an indictment, on this generation of Christ followers that 1.5 billion have never heard his name. The body of Christ in the US alone has enough MONEY, enough MAN POWER, and enough EDUCATION to spread the Gospel throughout all of Asia in the next 5 years.
There is only ONE THING God needs:
YOU.
