The Mustard Seed blog
Raising teenagers is tough. Any parent can tell you that. Their emotions are volatile. Their passions change almost daily. And they often lack the strength to keep their commitments.
The challenges are real, but is there a way to navigate through them to bring fruit—relationally, socially, and spiritually?
A significant portion of our world today is looking for their destiny, trying to find inner peace and happiness. I’m no expert on this subject, and in a short blog, I cannot do it justice. I can share with you what has worked for me and the thousands that I’ve had the opportunity to share this knowledge with. I do not mean to say I haven’t had my struggles, disappointments, and doubts, but I’ve also discovered some truths that have lifted me, brought about a sense of destiny, inner peace, and greater personal happiness.
I quit being a youth pastor. I would highly encourage you to do the same. Just before the time I agreed to a role within Student Ministries at IHOPKC, I flatly stated that I had no intention of doing roller skating and pizza parties. And bless God, neither did my friend and supervisor at the time, David Sliker.
Saint Paddy’s Day is for the pagans.
You might say it that way, and then carefully wash your Christian hands of all the carousing and empty revelry that makes all things Irish into an excuse for a godless spring party. But you might say the same thing, and mean it not as a call to circle the wagons, but to charge the hill.
Deep beneath much of what the day has become is the inspiring mission of Patrick pioneering the gospel among an unreached people, despite the frowning face of the church establishment. Saint Patrick’s Day, in its truest meaning, is not about avoiding the lost, but bringing them good news. It turns out Saint Paddy’s Day really is for the pagans.
The March 17 feast day (first declared in the early seventeenth century) remembers Patrick as the one who led the fifth-century Christian mission to Ireland. Unlike Britain, the Emerald Isle lay beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire. The Irish were considered uncivilized barbarians, and many thought their illiteracy and volatile emotions put them outside the reach of the gospel.
But Patrick knew better. In a strange and beautiful providence, he had spent six years among them as a captive, learned their language, and developed a heart for them. Like Joseph sold into slavery to one day save Egypt and his brothers, God sent Patrick into slavery to ready Ireland for a coming salvation.
Patrick was born in the late fourth century — many speculate around 385 — in what is now northeast England. He was born among the Celtic “Britons,” to a Romanized family of Christians. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. But his parents’ faith didn’t find a place in his heart in his rearing. In his youth, according to George Hunter, “he lived toward the wild side” (The Celtic Way of Evangelism, 13).
But God soon arrested him with severe mercy. Kidnapped at age sixteen by Irish raiders, he was taken back to the island, where he served as a slave for six years under a tribal chief, who was also a druid. While in bondage in Ireland, God unshackled his mind and opened his eyes to the gospel of his childhood.
And so, as a captive, “he came to understand the Irish Celtic people, and their language and culture, with a kind of intuitive profundity that is usually possible only, as in Patrick’s case, from the ‘underside’” (14). When he eventually escaped from slavery in his early twenties, he was a changed man, now a Christian from the heart. He studied for vocational ministry, and led a parish in Britain for nearly twenty years.
That could have been the end of the story. But at age 48 — “already past a man’s life expectancy in the fifth century” (15) — Patrick had a dream, which proved to be his own Macedonian Call (Acts 16:9). An Irish accent pled, “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.”
Having known the language and the customs from his captivity, and having long strategized about how the gospel might come to the Irish, he now answered the call to return to the place of his pain with the message of joy. The slave returned to his captors with good news of true freedom.
But this would be no ordinary mission. The Irish Celtics were “barbarians.” They may have had a few Christians among them, but as a people, they were unreached, with no thriving church or gospel movement.
Patrick would take a different and controversial approach to the prevailing missionary efforts of the fifth-century church. Instead of essentially Romanizing the people, by seeking to “civilize” them with respect to Roman customs, he wanted to see the gospel penetrate to the bottom of the Irish culture and produce an indigenous movement. He didn’t mean to colonize them, but truly evangelize them.
Hunter tells the story in the first chapter of his book on Celtic evangelism.
The fact that Patrick understood the people and their language, their issues, and their ways, serves as the most strategically significant single insight that was to drive the wider expansion of Celtic Christianity, and stands as perhaps our greatest single learning from this movement. There is no shortcut to understanding the people. When you understand the people, you will often know what to say and do, and how. When the people know that the Christians understand them, they infer that maybe the High God understands them too. (19–20)
Patrick knew the Irish well enough to engage them as they were, and build authentic gospel bridges into their society. He wanted to see the gospel grow in Irish soil, rather than pave it over with a Roman road.
Essential to Patrick’s strategy was that he not fly solo. Just as Jesus sent out his disciples together (Luke 10:1), and Paul and Barnabas went out together (Acts 13:3), so Patrick assembled a close-knit team that would tackle the work together, in the same location, speaking the gospel and making disciples, before moving on together to the next tribe. It was what Hunter calls a “group approach to apostolic ministry.”
We have no detailed record of Patrick’s ministry teams and strategies, but according to Hunter, “from a handful of ancient sources, we can piece together [an] outline of a typical approach, which undoubtedly varied from one time and setting to another.”
Patrick’s teams would have about a dozen members. They would approach a tribe’s leadership and seek conversion, or at least their clearance, and set up camp nearby. The team “would meet the people, engage them in conversation and in ministry, and look for people who appeared receptive” (21). In due course, “One band member or another would probably join with each responsive person to reach out to relatives and friends” (22).
They would minister weeks and months among them, eventually pursuing baptisms and the founding of a church. They would leave behind a team member or two to provide leadership for the fledgling church and move, with a convert or two, to the next tribe. With such an approach, the church which grew up among the people would be “astonishingly indigenous” (22).
While Patrick’s pioneering approach is increasingly celebrated today — and is a model, in some respects, of the kind of mission needed in our increasingly post-Christian society — most of his contemporaries weren’t impressed. “The British leaders were offended and angered that Patrick was spending priority time with ‘pagans,’ ‘sinners,’ and ‘barbarians’” (24).
But Patrick knew such an approach had good precedent. The one who saved him while a nominal Christian and an Irish captive was once called “a friend of tax collectors and sinners,” and said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 11:19; Mark 2:17). The stakes were high, but he knew it was worth the risk.
Instead of acquiescing to the religious establishment, Patrick took the gospel to the uncouth, and ventured all for the unreached Irish. Instead of coasting toward a cushy retirement, he gave nearly three decades to the nation-transforming evangelization of Ireland. Patrick truly was for the pagans.
According to tradition, Patrick died March 17. Many think the year was 461, but we don’t know for certain. While today’s trite celebrations may leave much to be forgotten, for those who love Jesus and the advance of his gospel, Patrick has left us some remarkable things to remember. And to learn from.
David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org, pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, and adjunct professor for Bethlehem College & Seminary. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.
So how can we change our perspective, our outlook, our picture of our future? James Allen in his groundbreaking book, “As a Man Thinketh” said, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A person is literally what they think, our character being the complete sum of all our thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without the seed, so every act of a person springs from the hidden seeds of thought.”
We all have many things in common, but there’s one big thing we all have in common and when this is understood we can change our future. So what is this big thing that can change our future?
All of us live our lives out of a narrative, a story. Regardless of our background, religion, or culture. This narrative has been formed from many sources, through family, friends, tragedies, experiences, culture and religion. These narratives have built pictures, images in our lives that control or influence the way we act, the decisions we make, the career path we choose, the type of person we marry and the opinions we form. Since a story can be seen it can be concluded that if we can change what we see by changing the story we can change our future.
The Bible is God’s story, His story of creation, His story of redemption and His story of salvation. As we see God’s story it begins to have a great influence upon our lives. So what is God’s story and how can it change our future?
God’s story is a story of creation. God created the world and He created it wonderful, filled with an expression of Himself. No doubt you have visited places where you can hardly take in the beauty of it. All creation is a reflection of its creator. Like us, whenever we build or design or construct something it’s a reflection of us.
God’s story is a story of how we left Him to go on our own. That’s when mankind fell and fell apart. How can we discover our true identity and worth apart from the one that created us? But the story continues.
God’s story is a story of redemption. God never gave up on us. He sent His son in our likeness and as our substitute to take upon Himself the full penalty of our sins so we can be reconciled back to Him
God’s story is a story of salvation. Salvation came through His son Jesus and through Him we can be reunited back to our creator placed in right standing because of what Jesus did.
So how does that story affect us and how can we change our future? When we allow God to introduce us to us, we gain a picture of us that is bigger, better, stronger ad greater than what we could have come up with. Through God’s picture of us we can change our future.
-Dr. Rob Carman, Is the founder of Victory World Missions, a prolific author, church planter and well-know conference speaker. www.robcarman.com
But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: Matthew 12:39
DO YOU WONDER ABOUT THE SIGNS?
I don’t think I can recall a period in my church life where there is so much deception being perpetrated upon Church-leaders by demons and upon church members by each other.
It is disgusting to those who are genuinely seeking to please God. Droves are being turned away from genuine relationship with Jesus by the godless, self-seeking, money-mongering, phony “prophets” …. While I have great spiritual disdain for these folks … I am equally disappointed by those in the body of Christ who perpetuate the problem by embracing and seeking after the phony message.
I have heard many solid messages about “not chasing the signs” about living a life that allows signs to follow...but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the church this far out of alignment from truth. The sign seekers are everywhere!
Jesus called a sign seeking generation an evil and adulterous generation. What strong words from the lips of Jesus! Does it seem to you that those who claim to have a gift of discernment cannot discern truth from error. Those who claim to be Holy Spirit baptized are the first to chase after that which is phony.
What’s happening here? The signs of healing and deliverance do follow believers who walk in genuine authority...but the sign Jesus spoke of has already been given and He said there would be no other.
ISN’T THE DEATH, BURIALAND RESURRECTION ENOUGH?
What an insult to God to ask for another sign or an additional sign. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
“And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.” Mark 8:11, 12
Why do you keep looking for signs? I tell you 75% of the people I see for deliverance are “sign seekers”. They dabble in “prophecy” in a quest to be recognized as super spiritual. They go after territorial spirits in their prayer and talk, in an effort to appear spiritually superior.
Their engagement in such opens their lives to greatdeception, and they chase after “they know not what”. They strain atgnats and swallow camels. They are in all of the “new movements” the “fresh fires” ““the river” … it goes on and on and not only are they duped, they become discouraged and eventually go nowhere.
I get “prophetic words” in my e-mail box almost daily, the only problem is they are not prophetic at all...not only are they seldom correct, they are never correct. I wonder, why are people so attracted to this? Why do we seek after more signs from God when we don’t even honor the sign that has already been given and will be the only sign given!
These people have to have special titles to enhance their deception. They call themselves “Prophet” “Apostle” or maybe some other lofty title and claim to hear directly from God. The Church has got to do better!
Where are the genuine preachers who will proclaim the Blood of Jesus and the power of His resurrection?
Some of you reading this fall into this category. Generally, when this happens it is because the message has gone from focus on Jesus to focus on the Holy Spirit. I believe this so grieves the Holy Spiritthat permission is gained by demons to deceive and to give false gifts and to deceive even as a “false” Holy Spirit. Jesus must be the focus. Genuine Holy Spirit filling will cause you to lift up Jesus.
The Holy Spiritdesires no attention, He is honored when Jesus is magnified. While every gift of God’s Holy Spirit is legitimate and valid, virtually all of them have been mimicked, mocked and “adulterated”! Do you see why Jesus called sign seekers an “adulterous” people. They have polluted the simple, powerful message of the resurrection. Don’t chase signs!
I know folks who go to every seminar and meeting held, all of the conferences and have all of the tapes and materials and can’t seem to find peace, they constantly seek, I guess, thinking some day some how, thru some speaker they will hear the “magic” words. There are no such words. God’s Word has already been spoken and the sign has already been given. The resurrection of Jesus was and is the sign.
I know of churches that have been virtually destroyed by venturing out of the realm of God’s Word, particularly by engaging in spiritual warfare beyond our realm of authority. If you want to damage your church, maybe destroy it, try going beyond what God’s Word teaches.
We have not been given authority in the heavenlies...you cannot take back what never was yours, principalities and powers have authority because it has been given to them by the sin and disobedience of people. Get the people saved, leave the principalities alone. They have rights by the people and until the people submit we have no rights to banish these spiritual kingdoms or “take back cities or communities” … we tread on very dangerous ground when we do this.
Listen, that’s not a casual observation, it is the voice of many years of experience with this! Don’t chase signs. Don’t engage in territorial warfare. It’s not wise and it’s not scriptural. It’s not wise because it’s not scriptural.
A man and woman run into an acquaintance with a new boyfriend. She introduces her boyfriend as Prophet John Doe (not real name). The man says, “You are a prophet of God? What exactly do you do? Do you really hear from God about the future…” “Yes,” The ‘prophet’ replied, “mostly, it is scriptural encouragement for the individual, but sometimes God will show me warnings etc. for the person to avoid.”
“So, are you like an old testament prophet?”” “Of course, it is a valid gift and I have it.” “Amazing.” responds the man, that’s just amazing. So, what does God show you for our nation?” “What is thus sayeth the Lord for America?”
After a few hem-haws and throat clearing the man says, “There are dark days ahead for America unless she repents and turns to God…” It is always the same generalizing ‘prophecy’’ filled with “ifs” and “unless”.
I don’t despise prophecy, but I hate the mockery of it! If you are a prophet, you don’t have to announce it or make it part of your title. Just speak accurate, proven, trustworthy words and people will know. Don’t pollute Holy, Godly gifts with your desire to be recognized as something special from God. Actually, genuineness in a call from God works the opposite … no desire to be “puffed up”.
Why not seek Jesus. If you want to be pure in your seeking and chasing. Chase Him, seek Him. The signs will follow you. Those who seek “signs and wonders” … I wonder about the wonders you seek. What sign has importance other than the death, burial and resurrection of God’s Son? May I just say in Love, don’t be seduced, don’t compromise the simple truth of God’s Word. Evil and adulterous people seek after signs...these are the Words of Jesus and they are for our admonition and spiritual safety.
Thanks for your help in this ministry.
Just for Jesus,
-Don Dickerman, Is the founder of Don Dickerman Ministries, a prolific author, has a powerful anointing for healing and deliverance, and well-know conference speaker. www.dondickerman.com
Have you ever gone down a road where you can’t see what’s around the bend? You will never know what is around the bend until you keep going. You have enough faith to go down a road believing that good things are ahead. No one truly knows what is around the bend. Many situations can come up in our lives that are not planned for. With no PLAN, you have only planned to fail. Let me ask you a serious question about your eternity. When you die are you ready to meet God? YES OR NO? You may ask how can I be ready to stand before God and be HOLY, PURE, and FULL OF LOVE in His sight. Let’s see what the Bible says:
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it”? Jeremiah 17:9. “All of us like sheep has gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:6
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death.” Rev 20:14
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18
“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
2 Corinthians 7:10
“Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD and He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name:” John 1:12
YOU MUST RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST BY FAITH AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR.
“That if you confess with your mouth the LORD JESUS and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 “For WHO EVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” Romans 10:13
GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS YOU TO EXPERIENCE PEACE AND ETERNITY WITH HIM. SO THINK ABOUT IT, WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE, LIFE OR DEATH? CHOOSE LIFE!!!
You are being asked into a relationship with the true and living God through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You can speak to God right now on your own. If you choose to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, best friend, and love of your life; then say this prayer to God: “Jesus, I believe in you, I ask you to forgive me and I repent for my sins, wash me, and come into my heart. Be my Savior, my Lord and my very best friend. Come live your life through me, in Jesus’ name, Amen.” For more information please contact us. Thank you for taking your time and we hope and pray you will take God’s Word very seriously and commit your life to Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Throughout the years, Billy Graham and Franklin Graham have prayed for incoming presidents, offering petitions for the head of state and our nation that still ring true today. Billy Graham, considered pastor to the presidents, continually pointed America back to God through his inaugural prayers. Here are five excerpts* from previous prayers you can use while lifting up the outgoing and incoming presidents.
Our Father and our God, Thou hast said, “Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.” We recognize on this historic occasion that we are “a nation under God.” We thank Thee for this torch of faith handed to us by our forefathers. May we never let it be extinguished. Thou alone hast given us our prosperity, our freedom and our power. This faith in God is our heritage and our foundation!
Thou hast warned us in the Scriptures, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” As George Washington reminded us in his farewell address, morality and faith are the pillars of our society. We confess these pillars are being eroded in an increasingly materialistic and permissive society. The whole world is watching to see if the faith of our fathers will stand the trials and tests of the hour. Too long we have neglected Thy word and ignored Thy laws. Too long we have tried to solve our problems without reference to Thee. Too long we have tried to live by bread alone. We have sown to the wind and are now reaping a whirlwind of crime, division, and rebellion.
And now with the wages of our sins staring us in the face, we remember Thy words, “If my people who are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” —Billy Graham, 1969 inaugural prayer
While Billy Graham attended and prayed during many presidential inaugurations, he also participated in private events at the request of the elected presidents. In 1965, he preached a sermon to President Lyndon B. Johnson and invited guests during a private event on Inauguration Day. Here, Billy Graham can be seen entering the Washington D.C. church with wife Ruth Bell Graham, President Johnson and his family.
We pray, 0 Lord, for President-elect George W. Bush and Vice President-elect Richard B. Cheney, to whom You have entrusted leadership of this nation at this moment in history. We pray that You’ll help them bring our country together so that we may rise above partisan politics and seek the larger vision of Your will for our nation.
Use them to bring reconciliation between the races, healing to political wounds, that we may truly become one nation under God. Give our new president, and all who advise him, calmness in the face of storms, encouragement in the face of frustration, and humility in the face of success. Give them the wisdom to know and to do what is right, and the courage to say no to all that is contrary to Your statutes of holy law. —Franklin Graham, 2001 inaugural prayer
And now, on this twentieth day of January, 1993, we commit to you President-elect (Bill) Clinton and Vice-President-elect (Al) Gore, who you have permitted to take leadership at this critical time in our nation’s history. Help them always to see the office to which they’ve been elected as a sacred trust from you. We pray that you will bless their wives who will share so much of the responsibility and burdens. Make President-elect Clinton know that he is never really alone but that the eternal God can be his refuge and he can turn to you in every circumstance. Give him the wisdom you’ve promised to whose who ask and the strength that you alone can give. We thank you for his predecessor President Bush and the dedication he gave to this office. Bless him as he and Mrs. Bush continue their dedicated service to our country in other spheres. We commit this inaugural ceremony to you and ask that the memory of this event may always remind us to pray for our leaders. I pray this in the name of the one that’s called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Amen. —Billy Graham, 1993 inaugural invocation
Billy Graham offers the invocation during President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993.
And now we come to a new era in our history. In Thy sovereignty Thou hast permitted George Bush to lead us at this momentous hour of our history for the next four years. As he today places his hand upon the Bible and solemnly swears before Thee to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, give him the wisdom, integrity and courage to help this become a nation that is gentle and kind. Protect him from physical danger, and in the lonely moments of decision grant him Thy wisdom to know what is morally right and an uncompromising courage to do it. Give him a cool head and a warm heart. Give him a compassion for those in physical, moral and spiritual need. O God, we consecrate today George Herbert Walker Bush to the presidency of these United States with the assurance that from this hour on, as he and his family move into the White House, they will have the presence and power of the One who said, “I will never leave thee or forsake thee. [Hebrews 13:5]”—Billy Graham, 1989 inaugural invocation
Billy Graham prays during the first inauguration of Richard Nixon in 1969.
Our Father and our God, we thank You today for the privilege of coming into Your presence on this historic and solemn occasion.
We thank You for Your gracious hand which has preserved us as a nation. We praise You for the peaceful continuity of government that this Inauguration represents.
We recall that the Bible says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Psalm 127: 1, KJV). You also said that to whom much has been given, much shall be required.
We look gratefully to the past, and thank You that from the very foundations of America You granted our forefathers courage and wisdom, as they trusted in You. So we ask today that You would inspire us by their example; where there has been failure, forgive us; where there has been progress, confirm; where there has been success, give us humility; and teach us to follow Your instructions more closely as we enter the next century.
Give to all those to whom You have entrusted leadership today a desire to seek Your will and to do it. —Billy Graham, 1997 inaugural prayer
*Source: Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center Archive
