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The other morning I put a mug of water into the microwave as I always do to make tea. When I took it out two minutes later, the water was cold. Oops. I forgot to turn on the microwave! It reminded me of last August when the same thing happened. Then I paid attention as I turned it on: the fan whirred, the light came on, the turntable rotated. Two minutes later, the unit beeped four times, and the display reported, “Food is ready.” Voila! Except the water was still cold.

Everything worked except the microwaves! That is, no transformation! All form, no substance. And interestingly, it didn’t even provide an error message. Famous U2 vocalist Bono defines religion as “what happens when God has left the building.”

[Samson] did not know that the Lord had left him.” (Judges 16.20, NIV)

Jesus says about the church at Sardis: “You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3.2, NIV)

Having a form of godliness, but denying its power. (2 Timothy 3.5, NIV)

True of churches. True of individuals. God has to do the work of transformation as we allow him access through the Word and prayer, and we respond in obedience. 

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I wrote yesterday about “lasting fruit” from John 15.16, the idea that one can turn ordinary fruit or ordinary ministry (like doing a funeral) into lasting fruit by leading someone to faith in Christ in a conversation. Here’s more.

When I was on church staff about 15 years ago, I brought in my long-time Navigator friend Rich Berry for a one-day workshop. Among his teachings were how to have daily time with God (maybe you’ve heard me speak of that before!). Anyway, everyone loved him, and about a year later, he came back for an evening seminar. One of the participants told Rich: “When you were here last year, my wife really enjoyed your teaching on daily time with God. In fact, she put it into practice, and it was a great comfort to her in her last days. She was ill and has since passed away.”

A success story? Yes, of course. I’m glad the lady was able to have quality time with God in the last year of her life. But here’s the sad part. This couple was in their 60s. The husband was a licensed local pastor. Why had someone not taught them this decades ago? It goes back to what I wrote about the map and the compass: knowledge AND skills.

Here’s another example: I was talking with a pastor at a denominational conference, and he told me: “Studying and preaching the word; there’s nothing better than studying and preaching the word.” I responded, “I can think of something better: teaching someone else how to study and pass on the word.” The thought had not occurred to him, but it was the heart of Jesus’ strategy with his disciples. “He appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach.” (Mark 3.14, NIV)

Jesus did such a good job that in Acts 1, after he ascended into heaven, the apostles made plans to do exactly what he told them to do: “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” A friend of mine calls this the Great Conclusion: we can do this!

None of us is going to be here forever. We must do everything we can to turn our ministry into lasting ministry.

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. (Hebrews 7.23, NIV)

The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV, emphasis mine)

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Yesterday I wrote about fruit-bearing quoting, among other verses, John 15.16: “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and appointed you to go and bring forth fruit—fruit that will last.” (NIV)

What’s the difference between “fruit” and “lasting fruit”? Here’s my best recollection of a story told by my friend Reed, who at the time was a young staff pastor in a large church in Alabama

I did a funeral for a lady from here who had moved to California. It was apparent at the funeral that none of her family and friends here cared that much about her. After all, she had moved away. But her nurse, a Japanese lady, had come back for the funeral, and she did care. As she was lingering, weeping, I went over to her and said, “This is tough, isn’t it? It would be hard to get through it if not for Jesus.” She replied, “Jesus? Who’s Jesus? Is he here?” I took that oppportunity to tell her who Jesus is and lead her to faith in him.

That’s the difference between fruit and lasting fruit. Fruit is doing the funeral and consoling the mourners. Lasting fruit is looking for and capitalizing on opportunities to make a lasting difference in someone’s life. Reed’s actions were a classic example of FRONTLINE ministry as described in my book, Join the Adventure: Be there, Pay attention, Do what you can, Tell the truth.

I hope to write more about bearing lasting fruit tomorrow.

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. (Romans 1.13, NKJV)

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Yesterday I observed from Ephesians 1.17 that we experience deepening intimacy with Christ through the spiritual disciplines and that through this intimacy we experience the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Here’s another good reason for pursuing intimacy: fruit!

So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine. (John 15.4, Passion Translation)

Who wants to be fruitless? The first command was, “Be fruitful and multiply.” 

[Jesus said, ] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15.1, 2, ESV)

When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are my mature disciples who glorify my Father!… You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you! (John 15.8, 16, Passion Translation)

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I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know him through your deepening intimacy with him. (Ephesians 1.17, Passion Translation)

A Trinity verse! 

• The Father of glory
• God of our Lord Jesus Christ
• The Spirit of wisdom and revelation

Compare Isaiah 11.1, 2, which is about the Messiah: “There shall come a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of God.” (Emphasis mine)

Think about it: Paul is praying for ordinary people like us that we would have the same Spirit of wisdom and revelation that Jesus has. And how do the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation come? As we know him through our deepening intimacy with him.

And where does the deepening intimacy come from? As we spend time with him through the spiritual disciplines: daily time with God, scripture memory, prayer.  

They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32.47, NIV)

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It’s May 10, and June pointed out this morning that it’s an anniversary for us: two years ago today, May 10, 2017, June’s health crisis started at 2:00 a.m. An ineffective visit to the ER, 5 painful days at home, 6 more days in the hospital, and she came home weak but beginning recovery. We hiked in mid-September, four months later.

Last year, May 10, 2018, was my shoulder repair surgery. Out-patient, which is still hard to believe, but with that and knee replacement surgery four months later, I’m fine. I took a short hike 6 weeks after the knee replacement. It was nice to throw a baseball and a disc with my sons on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019.

I am the Lord who heals you. (Exodus 15.26, NIV)

Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. (Psalm 30.2, NIV)

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I can publish these verses with little comment! I’ve told you I’m enjoying The Passion Translation by Bruce Simmons, and today’s reading cast a familiar passage in a whole new light:

So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose. For he knew all about us before we were born and he destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of his Son. This means the Son is the oldest among a vast family of brothers and sisters who will become just like him. Having determined our destiny ahead of time, he called us to himself and transferred his perfect righteousness to everyone he called. And those who possess his perfect righteousness he co-glorified with his Son! (Romans 8.28 – 30, The Passion Translation)

Here’s what jumped out at me. I am…

• “Convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together…” Every detail?! Even the relationships that aren’t working, the health crises, the disasters? Doug Nuenke, U.S. President of The Navigators lost his home in the 2012 fire in Colorado Springs. When someone commented that God directed the fire around The Navigators’ Eagle Lake Camp (which had minimal damage), Doug responded that God also directed the fire that took his house. Doug’s favorite hymn remains “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”
• “Destined…to share the likeness of his Son.” Wow. How am I moving in that direction?
• Recipient of “his perfect righteousness.” “He…transferred his perfect righteousness….” is a lot more powerful, I think, than the usual, “He also justified…”

For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him. (2 Corinthians 5.21, The Passion Translation)

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I’m listening to the book The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle in which he explains the secret of “talent.” Turns out it’s just plain hard work! But that doesn’t surprise me. What the book does is tie the right kind of hard work to what goes on inside the brain. So far I’ve listened only to several chapters on what he calls “deep practice,” the technique of slow, deliberate, correct-as-you-go practice that eventually results in skill, even the art at work that I talked about yesterday. The vet would have learned to administer vaccinations slowly and deliberately. Her first try would have required concentration and paying attention to the steps she was learning. But practiced enough, it looks like art.

Here’s the application: you can memorize scripture! As I’ve written before, scripture memory is a practice I highly recommend. Dallas Willard said that if he could employ only one spiritual discipline, it would be scripture memory. My Navigator heroes Skip Gray and Jerry White both attribute scripture memory as playing a vital role in their being fruitful into their late 80s and 70s, respectively.

And it just takes deep practice which is nothing more than intentional, persistent practice. I am amazed by how the mind adapts when I take on a new verse. It can be several days or more before I can reliably quote the verse from one day to the next, and even then, I have to check it and correct. But then, seemingly “all of a sudden,” it clicks in. The brain has developed the new skill of quoting that verse! If you haven’t experienced that, you just haven’t stayed with the process long enough or practiced deliberately enough. (Of course you still have to review daily for 8 weeks to really lock it in, but that’s just a continuation of the same process.)

“There’s an app for that.” You can just write verses on cards and keep them with you. Or you can let your technology help. For verses you select, I recommend The Scripture Memory app (formerly called ScriptureTyper). If you don’t know which verses to learn, I recommend Fighter Verses, a free app which has a 5-year program of one verse per week classified into useful topics. The Navigators’ Topical Memory System is also available as an app, published by BattleGear.

With respect to scripture memory, nothing has changed since Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, practiced and recommended the discipline decades ago. The Talent Code just gives us a bit of science into how the mechanism works–and it works for everyone! Give it a try!

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1.8, ESV) Remember, it’s hard to meditate “at night” unless you have it memorized!

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I enjoy art wherever I find it: last week we went to a piano concert Tuesday night and a play Saturday night. Both art, well done. But yesterday I took our dog, Babo, to the vet for his annual shots.

As you can see, he’s a small dog, and when the vet came into the room with three syringes, she filled her pockets with dog biscuits and sat on the floor. (I’ve never seen a vet work anywhere other than standing up with the dog on the examining table.) She petted him, told him what a good dog he was and what a handsome dog he was, and then she put a dog biscuit off to her left side. When Babo went to get it, his rump was in perfect position for the first shot. Then she put down another biscuit, bringing his body around to where she wanted it for the second shot. Third shot, same drill. All three shots in what seemed like about 30 seconds.

That’s art. Babo didn’t appear to notice any of the shots, and while she continued to talk with him, she did the physical exam.

I was sharing this story with my friend Eric, an airline pilot, and he said he often flies with people who make an art out of flying the plane. Wayne Gretzky was an artist on the hockey rink, and Derek Jeter was extraordinarily smooth at shortstop. Artists all. Once, I watched skilled carpenters framing a house: the same smoothness, speed, and dexterity as the vet, just a different medium. I marveled when the guys did my concrete driveway a few years ago. It goes down just a pile of concrete, and a few guys in a few minutes (that’s all the time they have!) smooth it out. It’s all art.

May we all see our work as not only useful but as an opportunity to be artists.

Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being Christian doesn’t cover up bad work. (Colossians 3.22 – 25, MSG)

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When something significant happens in sports, I sometimes try to discern what the life lessons might be. This year’s Kentucky Derby is such an opportunity. I know nothing about horse racing, but I enjoy the drama and pageantry of the Kentucky Derby and the other two races in the Triple Crown.

This year, for the first time in Derby history, the winner was disqualified for, essentially, going out of his lane on one of the turns. (Who knew they had lanes?) What are some takeaways?

• Competitions have rules. “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2.5, ESV)
• Sometimes infractions are called, and sometimes they’re not. It’s tempting to say something like, “It’s a shame that a good horse was deprived of victory by the officials (‘stewards’). Why can’t they just let them play?” But of course not calling something that should be called is as much of an error as calling something that shouldn’t have been called. Ask The New Orleans Saints about their January 20, 2019, game with the Rams.
• As always, how we handle adversity counts. We’ll see how this horse, his trainers, his owners, and the jockey go on from here.
• Submission, something Americans aren’t always good at, is a necessary character quality. During a World Cup (soccer) game a few years ago, the German team apparently scored a goal, but it was disallowed because of a rule infraction. After the game, an American reported interviewed the German team captain and attempted to bait him into saying something about the officiating. “What do you think of the goal you scored that was taken away?” The German replied, “It’s a goal when the ball goes into the net and the referee allows it. There was no goal.” That’s a submissive attitude!
• There are little-known jobs that sometimes become very important! A normal Kentucky Derby day can come and go with no mention of the stewards. Now, they’re called upon to do their jobs on an international stage. I read recently in The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien: “We are simply called to serve others, often in small ways, and do the best we can with the work entrusted to us.” And, I might add, do the job well when the spotlight isn’t on so that you can perform well when it is. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” (Luke 16.10, ESV)

²⁴ Isn’t it obvious that all runners on the racetrack keep on running to win, but only one receives the victor’s prize? Yet each one of you must run the race to be victorious. ²⁵ A true athlete will be disciplined in every respect, practicing constant self-control in order to win a laurel wreath that quickly withers. But we run our race to win a victor’s crown that will last forever. ²⁶ For that reason, I don’t run just for exercise or box like one throwing aimless punches, ²⁷ but I train like a champion athlete. I subdue my body and get it under my control, so that after preaching the good news to others I myself won’t be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, The Passion Translation)