PRAYER WALKERS

I'm really excited about First Church's PRAYER WALK throughout the Tri-State tomorrow (Sunday)! We will gather at the church campus at 4pm, then hit the streets, gathering beneath the famous "Florence Ya'll" water tower in the Mall parking lot at 5:45pm for a closing prayer.

We'll have prayer teams walking through shopping malls and casinos asking God to show people what matters most in life. Some prayer teams will walk around government centers to pray for our leaders, for those in our jails, and for people bound by addictions. Others will walk around schools to pray for teachers and students. There are teams that will walk through hospitals praying for the sick and local parks praying for families. We even have prayer teams that will walk the city streets praying for people in need.

The cool thing is that no one esle will know what we're up to! Prayer walking is a type of intercession for others in which we pray silently to God on behalf of those around us. Since you are on location, your prayers are intensified as you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch the needs you are there to pray about. It's the heart of what the great prayer warrior E.M. Bounds talked about when he said, "Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still."

We don’t want this to be a one-and-done thing. We hope people will make Prayer-Walking a regular part of their week. Every time I go for a run, I pray for people I know that are sick or who need Jesus in the neighborhoods I pass. You can do that! When you are walking, running, shopping, working, even when you are driving! If we had more “Drive By Prayers" we might have fewer "Drive By Shootings!”

Would you commit to cover your community in prayer as you walk, run, drive and fly throughout the course of your weeks? I believe this is of one of God’s elite special forces – the Prayer-Walkers! These men and women are literally covering the whole earth in prayer.

Ready, Set, Walk! And change your world through prayer!

TURN or BURN

I've heard of the POWER TEAM for years, but until we hosted the team this week have never seen them in action. These guys are huge and come from various athletic backgrounds. Their feats of strength are fun to watch and they're great at putting on a show.

The thing I've been most pleased with the positive message and influence these guys carry to students through school assemblies. This week around 15,000 students in our community have not only been entertained by the strength of these men in their school assemblies, but have also been challenged to make the best choices...to stay away from drugs, alcohol, junk food and cheating. To choose respect, abstinence, hard work and study. I've been amazed at how the team communicates and connects in different ways with elementary, middle and high school students. They really shine in these settings.

The same day the Power Team was at my daughter's High School a news story broke about one of that school's students who had been found dead outside her mother's apartment several weeks prior. The news confirmed that this high school junior was legally drunk when she died due to hypothermia. Can there be any doubt how desperately our kids need to hear the challenge the Power Team is giving?

Another thing that has blown me away has been Power Team President Todd Keene's message each evening. It's real, even raw at times, but right on when it comes choosing Jesus. It's sort of the "Turn or Burn" style of preaching. And, wow, has it been effective. Over 300 people have made professions of faith in just three nights.

I did a little study of the Gospel of Mark this morning and found that Mark only documents Jesus using the "Turn or Burn" style once - Mark 9:42-48. The Power Team has a unique way of gaining people's interest and opening hearts and minds to hear a message like this. They can say it in a way that wouldn't work for those of us preaching from week to week. And, I'm glad they're doing it. It's an important part of the overall effort of Christ's church to reach a culture that is increasingly turning it's back on God.

The Power Team is bringing more power to our community this week than what it takes to bust blocks, rip phone books, lift telephone poles, and break out of handcuffs...they are bringing the power of Jesus Christ to make an eternal difference in our lives!

POST-EASTER SOUNDS OF LIFE

The Sounds of the Passion series we wrapped up yesterday made me in think about nuances of Christ's last week that I've never really considered before. In that series we tuned into sounds like:

The Sound of My Failure: The Clanging of Coins on the stone floor of the Temple as Judas returns the 30 pieces of silver he'd been paid to betray Jesus (Judas' failure), and the Rooster's Crow as Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, just as Jesus predicted he would before the cock crowed (Peter's failure).

The Sound of God's Love: The Crack of the Whip that lacerated our Lord's back, the Thud of the Hamer that drove the nails through His hands and feet, the Tearing of the Temple Veil symbolizing God's love bursting out upon humanity. All the sounds of the agony that Jesus went through on the cross remind us that everything He endured there He did because of His love for us.

The Sound of Life: The Rolling of the Stone from Christ's tomb which demonstrated Christ had conquered the grave through His resurrection and the Sound of My Name which is exemplified as the Risen Lord calls Mary Magdalene's name just after rising from the dead.

I've been thinking of all of these sounds, and many more that the Gospels allude to, in a very "micro" kind of way. But today, as we begin the week after Easter, I began to think of those sounds at a higher level, a more "macro" perspective.

The sounds of Christ's last week preceding Easter are sounds that point to sorrow, the sin for which He died, anxiety, the agony Jesus endured at the cross. But the sounds AFTER the resurrection are sounds of joy, restoration, relief, and life!

The week before Easter we call Holy Week, but the week after Easter is holy as well. Because this week we celebrate that all the sounds of Christ's passion before His resurrection lead us to all the sounds of praise afterward!

This week enjoy the SOUNDS OF LIFE! Because Jesus has risen, every sound we hear points to the reality that there is abundant life for His followers here, and eternal life to come!

THE WAY OF THE CROSS

A couple of years ago, while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I walked the "Way of the Cross" via the streets of Jerusalem. It's the likely path Jesus took on that first GOOD FRIDAY as He made His way to be crucified. As I re-read my journal entry from that day the memories flooded back.

Today that sacred path is lined with the hard, wall-to-wall stone roads of Jerusalem. The streets are tight and lined with shops; a few churches and apartments along the way. It's no small feat to maintain your focus with all the distractions around you. Rather than trying to ignore all the activity, I decided to embrace it.

I wondered if what I was seeing and hearing was anything like Jesus would have seen and heard. After all, it was early in the morning on that Friday, people would have been beginning their day in busy preparation for the Passover. On the way to the place of crucifixion, this is what I witnessed:

Children playing soccer in the streets. Their soccer ball was well-worn, their faces were tinged with dust, their black hair dishoveled, but their laughter contagious. Did Jesus walk past children playing, laughing, oblivious to the sacrifice He was making for them?

Shop-keepers calling for us to check out their wares. Some were persistent, one even angry as I walked by trying to remain prayerful in spirit. The shops must have been bustling on that Friday as Jesus carried our cross. Retailers interested in making a buck on the Passover, as He makes His way to pay the price for their sin.

Armed Israeli soldiers standing guard. They added to the tension one feels in Jerusalem due to the discord between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Did tension fill the air as Jesus walked this way? Roman soldiers bearing swords, militant Hebrews plotting rebellion, His own followers...they all pressed around Jesus as He walked the path. How did the tension of Roman swords, lust for religious control, and women weeping affect Him? Could the never-ceasing tension in Jerusalem have made His cross that much heavier?

Masses crowding the streets, mainly tourists. It must have been crowded in Jerusalem as Jesus made His way to die. People from far and wide had come for the holy days. As Jesus carried the cross through the crowds, were they simply crowds to Him, or were they individual faces and names for whom He was about to die?

The thing that amazed me as I completed the "Way of the Cross" was how Jesus kept His focus. As children played, shop-keepers bartered, soldiers patrolled, and the masses moved through the streets, Jesus maintained focus on His mission. So much so that He could pray as He finally arrived at the place of crucifixion, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." He was not distracted, but determined to finish what He came to do...to save us from sin!

"Lord Jesus, on this Friday I praise You for that Friday on which you suffered step by step along the sacred way to Your crucifixion...all for my sin and the sin of the world!"

"Palm Sunday" rings a bell for most people, and everyone has heard of "Easter Sunday." These two Sundays are the bookends of what is called "Holy Week" in the Christian calendar. Holy Week celebrates the last week of Jesus' life, which begins with Him entering Jerusalem to the praise of people waving palm branches and concludes with His resurrection from the grave.

Tucked between these two Sundays are a couple other days on the calendar that may sound familiar - "Maundy Thursday" (Jesus' last supper) and "Good Friday" (Jesus' crucifixion).

Right in the middle of Holy Week is "Spy Wednesday." Ever heard of it? Probably not. It's called "Spy Wednesday" because this is the day that Judas agrees to betray Jesus and hand Him over to be killed. This is a sad day.

Judas gets ticked off because a woman annoints Jesus with expensive perfume. He wanted to sell the perfume and put the money in the treasury, which he often helped himself to. But, Jesus scolded him and pointed out that this woman was preparing His body for burial...He knew what was coming. Jesus went on to say that wherever the gospel is preached that this lady's story would be told in her memory. That was more than Judas could handle, so he left and went to the chief priests asking what they would give him if he handed Jesus over to them. They agreed on 30 pieces of silver for the life of the Son of God.

That's why today is called "Spy Wednesday." Judas turns into a double agent and becomes a spy for the enemies of Christ. The thing is, Jesus knew it all along. Judas wasn't really hiding anything...how can you hide from the all-seeing eye of God? The next day, Maundy Thursday, as they shared in Jesus' last supper, the Lord would point out that His betrayer was at the table and tell Judas to go on do what he had in his heart to do...and Judas did, betraying Jesus with a kiss.

Judas was one of Jesus' twelve closest friends, he was an apostle of Christ. Just after Judas left to betray Him, Jesus says something that must have broken His heart, "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Judas was the exact opposite. He was a traitor, the kind of friend who takes what he can and then splits leaving you for dead.

It was in the middle of all the emotion of what it feels like to be betrayed by a friend, that Jesus points out the nature of real love for your friends...willingness to sacrifice for them, even to die for them. That is the kind of Friend that Jesus is. Even though we betray Him at times, He never turns His back on us. Even though we tend to focus on ourselves, Jesus doesn't have a selfish bone in His body. He sets the mark regarding what real friendship is all about.

Wow! I'm so thankful to know today, on "Spy Wednesday," that I have a Friend who will never sell me out. Quite the opposite He is the one who is sold out on our friendship...so much so, that He died to save me.

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME...

Sometimes we think of "worry" as an acceptable sin. After all, if we are worried about something it just means we care deeply about that thing, right? But Jesus sheds a different light on worry. He said, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27).

When you think about it, what good comes from worrying? All it does is work us up emotionally or tear us down spiritually. Worry either paralyzes us with inaction or leads to unhelpful reactions. But faith leads to proactive action. All of this is "self-talk" because I can worry with the best of them!

This week I was driving away from a hospital feeling racked with worry. I was focused on all the potential downsides for the person I'd gone to see. Then...no kidding...as I was talking out loud to God about all this person was facing, a little bird fell out of the sky to the road right in front of me! It was almost comical to see this dead bird, about the size of a sparrow, falling motionless and upside down from the sky above. It was like God dropped a fake bird from Heaven right in front of me with impeccable timing.

The words of Jesus about worry took wing in my heart. "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26-27).

Ben Franklin's reference to Jesus' words in 1787 when he called for prayer during the Constitional Convention, also jumped to mind and put this experience in context for me. He said, "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"

The sparrow-sized bird that fell to the ground in front of my car this week was a great reminder that God still governs in our affairs. He provides all that we need. The person I was worried about is more valuable to God than I could ever imagine! He will take care of her. He will take care of you!

Today I'm going to do with worry what the Apostle Peter encourages us to do with it - "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). I feel bad for that little bird, but I'm really glad it had a dying message for my life.

REFUGE!

When the poor, who are already tremendously vulnerable, experience a natural disaster on the scale of the earthquake in Haiti, it's hard to imagine how these precious people survive.

God's grace and the immediate response of His church, caring benevolent organizations, and compassionate nations like the U.S. certainly offer hope. And these take nothing away from the will to survive and strength of spirit that the Haitian people possess. They've survived so much devastation through the years, much of it man-made by his lust for power and his greed.

May God dispatch all the power of Heaven to Haiti to bring hope and healing, provision and peace, renewed strength and faith to all those who are suffering. I wonder in His dispatching the power of Heaven how God will dispatch His church to these people in need.

Already, many believers from the U.S. are on the ground. Wow, as hard as this must be for them, can you image what a high honor this is - God chose them to be there to represent His love to Haitians during such a crisis as this!

I wonder how it will affect others who've been preparing to serve in Haiti. Our high school students at First Church have been planning a mission trip to serve Haiti this April. Will they be able to go? All we know for now is that God wants us to pray, give, and serve those in need now...however we can.

The Psalm that hit me this week regarding the earthquake in Haiti, also captures God's power and promise to rescue those who love Him. It's a reminder this HE is our refuge and the Haitian refuge in ever-present trouble.

Psalm 42:1-3: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.