Invictus

Go see it…

This is how you suffer…

Matt Chandler is a pastor at the Village Church in TX.  He and his family are enduring the suffering of metastatic cancer right now…and they are suffering well.  Here is evidence…

___________

Dear church,

In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.

The Lord is calling Matt and Lauren and The Village Church body to endure this trial. It will be a challenging road for Matt, his family and our church body. The gospel is our hope and the Lord is our strength. Matt and Lauren continue to find solace and hope in Christ. They weep facing this trial, but not as those without hope and perspective. The gospel clarifies their suffering and promises more of Christ through it all.

You have done a wonderful job respecting the family, and we ask that you continue to do this. They are processing all of this together and need you to give them precious space. Please do not visit them at their house unless personally invited by the Chandlers. The best way to serve the family is to continue to be faithful in prayer. Specifically, pray for the following:

• Wisdom for all the coming decisions
• Strength and peace to endure
• The kids’ (Audrey, Reid and Norah) hearts; pray the Lord is merciful as they process and that their little hearts do not grow embittered
• The Chandlers and The Village would suffer well because of the gospel and for the sake of Christ’s name

As you hurt and weep for the family, do not do it alone. Gather with your home group and with other believers in homes and pray together. This is a time to walk together with others and to endure this trial in community. If you wish, send cards and letters to Matt and Lauren at 2101 Justin Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028.

We will continue to keep you informed as new information is made available. Please be patient with the frequency of the updates. May God strengthen us all and may His glory shine brightly through this.

Dear church,

In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.

On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.

Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.

The Lord is calling Matt and Lauren and The Village Church body to endure this trial. It will be a challenging road for Matt, his family and our church body. The gospel is our hope and the Lord is our strength. Matt and Lauren continue to find solace and hope in Christ. They weep facing this trial, but not as those without hope and perspective. The gospel clarifies their suffering and promises more of Christ through it all.

You have done a wonderful job respecting the family, and we ask that you continue to do this. They are processing all of this together and need you to give them precious space. Please do not visit them at their house unless personally invited by the Chandlers. The best way to serve the family is to continue to be faithful in prayer. Specifically, pray for the following:

• Wisdom for all the coming decisions
• Strength and peace to endure
• The kids’ (Audrey, Reid and Norah) hearts; pray the Lord is merciful as they process and that their little hearts do not grow embittered
• The Chandlers and The Village would suffer well because of the gospel and for the sake of Christ’s name

As you hurt and weep for the family, do not do it alone. Gather with your home group and with other believers in homes and pray together. This is a time to walk together with others and to endure this trial in community. If you wish, send cards and letters to Matt and Lauren at 2101 Justin Road, Flower Mound, TX 75028.

We will continue to keep you informed as new information is made available. Please be patient with the frequency of the updates. May God strengthen us all and may His glory shine brightly through this.

http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/?p=453

Premier…September Nigeria Trip

Take six minutes and enjoy this latest video from our ventures and partnerships with our friends in Nigeria.  Feel free to spread this video to your network.  Enjoy.

Tozer (Part VI); Practical Faith

“Faith enables our spiritual sense to function.  Where faith is defective the result will be inward insensibility and numbness toward spiritual things.  This is the condition of vast numbers of Christians today.”

“I am aware that there are those who love to poke fun at the plain man’s idea of reality.  They are the idealists who spin endless proofs that nothing is real outside of the mind.  They are the relativists who like to show that there are no fixed points in the universe from which we can measure anything.  They smile down upon us from their lofty intellectual peaks and settle us to their own satisfaction by fastening upon us the reproachful term “absolutist”.”

“The idealists and relativists are not mentally sick.  They prove their soundness by living their lives according to the very notions of reality which they in theory repudiate and by counting upon the very fixed points which they prove are not there.  They could earn a lot more respect for their notions if they were willing to live by them; but this they are careful not to do.  Their ideas are brain-deep, not life-deep.  Wherever life touches them they repudiate their theories and live like other men.”

“The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for their own sake.  He takes no pleasure in the mere spinning of gossamer webs for display.  All his beliefs are practical.  They are geared into his life.  By them he lives or dies, stands or falls for this world and for all time to come.  From the insincere man he turns away.”

“The sincere, plain man knows that the world is real.  He finds it here when he wakes to consciousness, and he knows that he did not think it into being.  It was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows that when he prepares to leave this earthly scene it will be here still to bid him goodbye as he departs.  By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser that a thousand men who doubt.” – A.W. Tozer

One more day until the latest Nigeria video will be posted on this blog!  Please visit on Monday to watch and enjoy.

Top 3 Most Irrelevant Topics about a “Fascinating” Person

Last night, Ashley I spent 45 minutes watching the DVR’d episode of Barbara Walters “10 Most Fascinating People”.   The most fascinating (definition of fascinating – extremely interesting or charming) person?  It’s a shocker…

Michelle Obama, who I am sure is indeed a fascinating person, achieved few “fascination” points with the audience on ABC’s Barbara Walters special.  Here is why she is fascinating according to Barbara Walters (the three items that she talked to Mrs. Obama about):

1.  Her Dog

2.  Her Arms (seriously, the two things that hang from her shoulders…her arms)

3.  Her most guilty pleasure (surfing through an hour of Television with just herself and her dog…item #1)

Hopefully you are as fascinated as I was by Mrs. Obama’s dog, arms and guilty pleasure.  I don’t know if I was more disappointed in Barbara Walters’ question selection, or Mrs. Obama’s willingness to even discuss such trivial, and indeed non-interesting subjects.

My partial list?

Nancy Pelosi – Speaker of the House

Mahmood Ahmadenijad – Iranian President

Abba Babangida – Fulani Tribe

Raye Elerson – Missionary to Nigeria

Bob Roberts – Pastor of Northwood Church

Dalai Lama – Head of State and Spiritual Leader of Tibet

Tim Tebow – Quarterback at University of Florida (to maintain focus for four years at the center of the ESPN machine and not crack)

Anthony Bourdain – Travel author, host and chef

Seth Godin – Marketer, Author

Mark Driscoll – Pastor, Author, Speaker

Tozer (Part V); God…Theoretical or Experiential

“To many…God is but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He is law, or life, or the creative impulse back of the phenomena of existence.”

“These notions about God are many and varied, but they who hold them have one thing in common: they do not know God in personal experience.  The possibility of intimate acquaintance with Him has not entered their minds.  While admitting His existence they do not think of Him as being knowable in the sense that we know things or people.”

“Christians, to be sure, go further than this, at least in theory.  Their creed requires them to believe in the personality of God, and they have been taught to pray, ‘Our Father, which are in heaven.’  Now personality and fatherhood carry with them the idea of the possibility of personal acquaintance.  This is admitted, I say, in theory, but for millions of Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian.  They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principle.”

“Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the clear scriptural doctrine that God can be known in personal experience.  A loving Personality dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene.  Always a living Person in present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to receive the manifestation.” – A.W. Tozer

Coming soon…Four more days until the arrival of the latest Nigeria video

Tozer (Part IV); Self Death = Joy?

“Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us.  It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction.  We may as well try to instruct leprosy out of our system.  There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free.  We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us.  We must bring our self-sins to the cross for judgement.  We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some measure like that through which our Saviour passed when He suffered under Pontius Pilate.”

“Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life, hoping ourselves to rend the veil.  God must do everything for us.  Our part is to yield and trust.  We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it crucified.”

“Insist that the work be done in very truth and it will be done.  The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective.  It does not keep its victim hanging there forever.  There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies.  After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the presence of the living God.”

Fyi…watch this blog on Monday December 14th for a fresh peak into Nigeria

Tozer (Part III); God made us for himself

“God made us for Himself…Should faulty education and perverse reasoning lead a man to conclude otherwise, there is little that any Christian can do for him.  For such a man I have no message.”

“The Shorter Catechism…asks the ancient questions what and why and answers them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work.  ’Question: What is the chief end of man?  Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’”

“…the life of man upon the earth is a life away from the Presence, wrenched loose from that ‘blissful center’ which is our right and proper dwelling place, our first estate which we kept not, the loss of which is the cause of our unceasing restlesness.”

“The whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of that foul revolt, and to bring us back again into right and eternal relationship with Himself.  That requires that our sins be disposed of satisfactorily, that a full reconciliation be effected and the way opened for us to return again into conscious communion with God and to live again in the Presence as before.”

“The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the church is famishing for want of His presence.” – A.W. Tozer

Tozer (Part II); The Need to Possess

“There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess.  It covets things with a deep and fierce passion.  The pronouns my and mine look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant.  They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do.  They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease.  The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die.  Things have become necessary to us,  a development never originally intended.  God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution…The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing.  These are the ‘poor in spirit…These blessed ‘poor’ are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things.  They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering.  Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things.  ‘Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’” -A.W. Tozer

A discipline of the Christian is as an agriculturalist, continual working the soil of the soul and ridding itself of weeds of possessions; over and over, season after season.

Thoughts from Tozer

Starting reading a book this week by A.W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God); a pastor and writer who passed away in 1963.  Although his thoughts and ideas are 50 years old, his relevance is quite amazing and chronologically pervasive.

On Spiritual Conversion…

“The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.  Christ may be ‘received’ without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.  The man is ’saved,’ but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God.  In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and is encouraged to be content with little…full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter.  It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.”

Remember, Tozer reminds us, “This is life eternal, that they might know him, the one true God, and Jesus Christ who he has sent.”  To “know” him requires continuation, longevity and perseverance.  The ideology of vain popularity and vogue do not teach us the discipline of “knowing” him.  ”Knowing” requires stillness after the momentous paparazzi encounter has long passed on to another locale.