This Quote was a Little too Fishy!!

As I passed a church yesterday, I saw these words on their portable sign:  "We catch 'em and God cleans 'em!"  It was something close to that, though I may not have the exact working. 



"We catch 'em..."
No, we work in the power of the Holy Spirit to love people and share truth with them, but God draws them and saves them.  Yes, He allows us to sow seeds of the Gospel and to love those who do not know Christ, but truly He "catches 'em" with us as His co-fisherman, if you will.  I know Jesus called His disciples to become "fishers of men", but we don't catch 'em all by ourselves.

"God cleans 'em..."
Not really-well, sorta'!  If God cleans 'em, what does that say about Paul's admonition to "teach faithful men who will teach others also" or Jesus' command to "go into all the world and make disciples...teaching them all things I (Jesus) have commanded you"?  Doesn't that communicate that God doesn't clean 'em by Himself. 

Loving people and speaking truth go hand in hand.  In fact, to site Dietrich Bonhoeffer's statement about faith and works:  "If you have one, you have neither.  But if you have both, you have everything and more."  I believe God's power and personal presence are at work in "catching 'em" and in "cleaning 'em".  I also believe in most cases Abba allows us as Followers of Jesus to assist in both the catching and the cleaning. 

Maybe it is better stated that He draws people to His Son and we get to be there to speak the truth in love and to love them into the family of God.  Then after a person is born again, we get to love them into a deeper relationship with God and our forever family of Christ-followers.  So, God's love and our love are joined with God's work and our work in a powerful union that cooperates in the catching and the cleaning. 

By the way we don't clean 'em in the sense of scraping off all the scaly stuff and gutting them.  The process of becoming like Jesus is more a transformation that a "cleaning".  Wouldn't you say?

Could it be that the religious philosophy that says all we have to do is "catch 'em" then God will "clean 'em" may be a part of the image of the modern church as distant and unloving, that so many in our country hold. 

As I read in Dr. David Ferguson's book-Great Commandment Principle, instead of saying "you need God" the church should be communicating that "we need God and each other".  That seems to get the command of Jesus a lot more accurately when He said in John 13:34-35:
^"34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  ³⁵ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Let's lovingly speak the truth and live God's love so powerfully that all men will know that we are His disciples whether we are "catching 'em" or "cleaning 'em".
 

My Very Limited View of "Leaders" Just Got Expanded!

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The Basic Idea Ministries, Inc

Blog Post:  Originally in April but edited and published June 5, 2013

           

            Abba made it very clear to us early on that I am to live my life “to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and children to their fathers”.  In that light of the Word of God from Malachi 4:5-6, He has made it clear to me that families, marriages, and a core relationship with Jesus are at the heart of God’s loving plan for redeeming the world and loving the world to His great heart.  Seeing love at the family level, feeling the warmth of togetherness, and knowing the care offered by loving relationships in the home make His heart more clearly visible to the those who don't know Him and who do not have those loving relationships.

I believe part of leading well is to love those you lead and lead them to love too!

           

Alongside that marriage-parenting-family model, the Holy Spirit has empowered the church to be another community of loving relationships to show the world that we “are His disciples”, as Jesus said, when we “love one another”. 

            Two and a half years ago God’s course change for the Lewises was to leave North Point Ministries and begin The Basic Idea Ministries in order “to help leaders live loved and give love freely…starting at home”, which is our mission.  “Leaders” in my view at the time meant “pastors, ministry leaders, and missionaries”.  Since then God has clarified some of terms for us.  Apparently He is able to do “exceeding abundantly above” anything I can ask or imagine, as the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3.

 

            Leaders – Certainly, the Lord meant leaders of Christian ministries as part of the target audience for TBI.  We have been able to come to know and serve some wonderful ministry leaders, former ministry leaders, and future ministry leaders, but that is too limited a view. 

The ministry has included mentoring men and couples, who want to lead ... from the Great Commandment heart and Great Commission mission of Christ.

Leaders - A “leader” is a parent tasked with the Biblical mandate to lead his home well.  I believe part of leading well is to love those you lead and lead them to love too!  Consequently, part of the ministry has included mentoring men and couples who are not necessarily leaders of churches or non-profits, but who are parents, grandparents, or singles who want to lead their friends, families, and businesses from the Great Commandment heart and Great Commission mission of Christ.

            Leaders – Though it would certainly have been a wonderful part of it, my original vision didn’t include what Abba is now allowing us to see.  Pastors and missionaries were included in the original vision, and now some of their leaders from denominations, seminaries, and associations are entering the picture and joining the discussions about reaching the next generation.  Our affiliation with Intimate Life Ministries and Dr. David Ferguson has allowed us at TBI the opportunity to discuss and begin to plan in some strategic places, relational ministry approaches to redeeming pastors, families, and churches from a failing model of ministry that has left congregations shrinking in number and power,  and communities unchanged and unclaimed for the kingdom of God.

Broken relationships bring their own curse because the love-glue of a society is dissolved in the solvent of ungodly counterfeit pursuits.

           

Leaders – Recently, besides some ongoing meetings with a few denominational leaders, we have been included in planning meetings with a city’s leaders to “take back their city”.  This very week will find us helping to lead a marriage conference and finalizing (hopefully) a strategy to launch effective marriage ministries in the coming months and years as part of the plan to reclaim a city almost lost to the enemy’s lies and empty promises.  By the grace of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit, territory will be reclaimed and “the hearts of fathers will be turned to their children and children to their fathers” to the degree that the “land with no longer be cursed”.    Broken relationships bring their own curses because the love-glue of a society is dissolved in the solvent of ungodly counterfeit pursuits.

Leaders – Another recent development is the meeting with national network leaders.  These men and women who have the nation and the world on their hearts are joining hands across denominational lines with the oneness Jesus prayed His Father would give the church in order to prayerfully seek revival and renewal in our day.  They/we/you want to see our nation turned to a new level of love for Jesus, for one another, and for those who are the least and the lost. 

So many of these developments are new enough in my experience that I have yet to understand what God is doing with me in the room as I experience some of these discussions and prayer gatherings.  But, whatever is to be my involvement, I am a blessed man to know so many are believing God for so much!  He is able to do much more than we’ve experienced - all to the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.  From my limited exposure, thus far, I believe these leaders to be humble servants of Jesus who are filled with the Holy Spirit, and I feel very blessed to meet them.  

Prayerfully, TBI will be used of God to serve these leaders in ways that we can currently see and in even greater ways that we don’t yet see.  If Jesus returns today and takes us home to breath heaven’s air and join the throng of those who’ve gone before us in a mighty, eternal love fest with Jesus, I can honestly say that this journey of life has been a wonderful ride and more precious than gold.  However, I hope and pray that God will allow us to see His glory here in deeper ways before we see His glory there in eternity.  There are many more who need a clear view of our Father’s loving, powerful heart so they can believe in His one and only Son and get to enjoy the blessing of the Holy Spirit’s filling passing along a better heritage to the next generation than what they received from the previous one. 

Leaders honor previous generations of leaders by loving better and leading more wisely than they were led.  May we honor our parents and families by loving and leading our families even better than we were led.