Shepherd The Flock (Thoughts of a Former Youth Pastor turned Pastor)

by Josh Monda | Dec 12, 2013 | Uncategorized

Since becoming a pastor this verse has stuck out in my head.  Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; (1 Peter 5:2, ESV).  Personally I believe there is a very good reason why this is the case.  You see, since becoming a pastor it seems that anytime someone calls me or stops into my office they always apologize.  I am not really sure why they apologize but this seems to be the case the majority of the time.  For whatever reason they seem to think that they are an inconvenience.  Honestly, this is somewhat bothersome to me on many levels.

It seems like the modern pastor has come into this mentality that their job is to advance their agenda.  I am not quite sure where this comes from or at what point this began to happen.  Pastors are busy writing books, perhaps preparing sermons, etc. and have little time for the people.  Honestly I somewhat understand this with a Mega Church naturally a pastor can’t have time to see thousands of folks on a daily basis, but I do not understand this in smaller churches.  To be clear, for me, a smaller church would be any church under 1000.  Seriously, why is it that our people sometimes have to wait weeks to see there pastor or to schedule an appointment weeks in advance.  Before you think this is only in Mega churches it is not.  I can list churches running under 500 right now where this is the case.  I often wonder what it would have been like if this is how Jesus did ministry.  If he said “set up an appointment with my secretary”.  Seriously, at what point did we stop shepherding and become so snobbish that we can’t have time for the people we are to be leading.  Am I so arrogant to think that the only time I shepherd the flock is when I stand in the pulpit?  How foolish we are to think this way.

Honestly, my mind can’t help to think of Jesus and the numerous times He is thought of as a Shepherd in scripture.  I think of those times when He saw the masses and said they were like sheep without a shepherd.  Yet as pastors we want to go in our office and close our door and continue to let our sheep wander.  We constantly see Jesus with the people and we see this at all times of the day, morning, noon, and night.  Shepherding takes place on a constant basis.  Jesus did life with his disciples they hung out all of the time, and from there he did even a little more with three of them.  In addition to the disciples he spent a ton of time with people, the masses were constantly pressing in on him.  Yes he took time away, but why is it we constantly see Him respond to the needs of people?  Because he loved them.  Because He was the chief Shepherd.  As pastor’s we must love our people enough to shepherd them.  We must spend time with them.  They should never feel guilty about coming in to see us, and we should never make it so difficult for them to see us.  I want to shepherd is such a way that the people I am leading know I love them.  I pray this is the case.

faith Archives | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Dec 12, 2013 | Uncategorized

I am sure you have probably heard of Christopher Hitchens but have you heard of his brother Peter Hitchens. Peter Hitchens has a book coming out on May 1st entitled The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith you can pre-order the book by clicking the Title.  I found this video on youtube giving a preview check it out.

Today I was reading back through Mark 9:14-29 and it was impressed upon me how these verse deal greatly with spiritual immaturity.  I believe spiritual immaturity is a perpetual problem in the Christian life and we often struggle with this.

I picture the beginning of this passage of scripture where Jesus is coming down the mountain and he draws closer to the crowd he hears these scribes just ripping into the disciples.  I am sure the scribes were belittling the disciples and questioning their ability to even minister.  We know the Scribes did not like Christ and they had probably hoped that if they could discredit the disciples then they would be able to discredit Christ as well.  

What I think is great here is that Christ steps right into the middle of the scene.  Instead of tearing into his disciples for their lack instead he steps in and draws the attention away from them.  In essence he delivered them from humiliation.  We could take a great lesson from this.

When Christ asks what is going on it is the father of the child that responds to him.  Then when the father explains what is going on Christ responds with a rebuke.  In this passage of scripture we see weak faith.  The father displayed weak faith in fact he was part of the faithless generation that Jesus mentions in verse 19.  In addition to this Jesus says “if you can believe” in verse 23.  This is followed by the cry from the father saying “help my unbelief” in verse 24.  

This child had not been healed because faith was weak.  Sometimes we like to harp on the disciples in this passage but it was not just the disciples that displayed that weak faith.  There was a crowd there and no one had enough faith to heal the child.  The father did not have the faith, neither did the disciples, and certainly not the scribes.

However we also have to take notice that the disciples seemed powerless in this circumstance.  We all know what that is like.  The disciples are the very people that should have been able to heal this boy.  There were nine disciples there when the man first came but not a single one of them was able to heal the boy because they lacked power to do so.

Now before we get on a high horse and think we are better then others we must notice the rebuke Christ gave.  He looked directly at that generation standing before Him and rebuked them.  But can we really think we are any better.  I mean isn’t every generation faithless and in reality are we not all being rebuked for it.

I must confess I have often been spiritually immature.  I am not talking about I have failed to pray or read my Bible or something like that but what I am saying is that I have failed to express faith at times.  So often I let my circumstance control me rather than my faith.  But that is why I am thankful for these two verses here 

When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?”And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

These verses let us know that Spiritual Power is available and we do not have to me immature.  The disciples wanted to know why they had failed.  They wanted to know the cause.  Jesus had already given them power over evil spirits and they had already cast out evil spirits so what was the problem this time.  Why did they fail when they had succeeded before.  Then Christ gives the answer.

Immaturity and powerlessness an be conquered through prayer and fasting.  Jesus pointed out this one thing the disciples were not living close enough to God.  They were not praying and fasting enough, they did not seek him enough, they did not put Him before all things.  we must crave God so much that other things pale in comparison.

I sit and think how often I have been spiritually immature and let other things step in front of my relationship with the Lord.  How often I have not put him before all things and have put my problems in front of my God.  But it is all taken care of if I only put Him before all things.

Barak Obama Archives | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Dec 12, 2013 | Uncategorized

An excerpt from John Piper’s message on Sanctity of Human Life.

I recently read Eric Redmond’s reflections on the election of Barak Obama to the American presidency. It’s the wonderful articulation of the election of Barak Obama I would encourage you to read it.

Though I do not support Barak Obama I can’t say that I buy into the whole ideals that everything I am is wrapped up in the political process.  I remeber my Sunday School class discussin politics briefly and many people say they fear what will happen if Obama is elected.  My question was and still is why?  When i notion the fact that if Obama is president it is because God has allowed him to be people some how can not fathom such a thing.  I would challenge those who believe in Jesus Christ to let their vote count but also let their life count.  As usual I think John Piper has said it well in this short clip.

Russell Moore’s sermon manuscript, Joseph Is a Single-Issue Evangelical: The Father of Jesus, the Cries of the Helpless, and Change You Can Believe In, is now online. Here’s how it closes:

The question for us, then, of whether we are truly pro-life or not, has very little to do with how many signs are in our yards or what bumper stickers we put on our cars. Indeed, it may be the case that after this election the abortion debate will be over in this country politically. 

But even if that’s the case, it’s not over. Our churches are to follow in the walk of faith, which means that–like Joseph walking away from stability and comfort–our churches must be different, they must be counter-cultural, the kind of place where the teenage mother is welcomed and loved, where abandoned children are received, and where a culture that is in love with death can come and hear a message saying that life is better than death because there is a man, an ex-corpse, a former-fetus, who is standing as the ruler over all the nations and the universe. And he is not dead anymore. 

 What we must have is a church in which the gospel we give is the kind of gospel that leads people out of death and despair and toward the kind of life that is found in confessing a name–a name that was first spoken by human lips by a day-laborer in Nazareth, “Jesus is Lord.”

 If we follow this kind of pure and undefiled religion, it doesn’t mean we will be shrill. It doesn’t mean we will be culture-warriors. It doesn’t mean we’ll be belligerent. It will mean that we will have churches that are so strikingly different, that maybe in ten or fifteen years the most odd and counter-cultural thing a lost person may hear in your church is not, “Amen,” but is instead the sounds of babies crying in the nursery.

 And hearing the oddness of that sound, when they look around at the place in which all of the Lord Jesus’ brothers and sisters are welcomed, protected, and loved, the place in which the lies of a murderous and appetite-driven dragon are denied, the lost person might say, “What is the sound of all these cries?” And maybe we’ll be able to say with our forefather Joseph, “that’s the sound of life. That’s the sound of hope. That’s the sound of change.”

 You might even say, it’s “change you can believe in.”

You can also listen to the MP3 online.

Have you seen this video yet.  In it the Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan calls Obama the Messiah.  There is one Messiah and he has come and will come again and it is not Barak Obama.

disciples Archives | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Dec 12, 2013 | Uncategorized

Recently I listened to an interview with Rick Warren and whether you like his stuff or not he had some good things to say in the interview.  In this interview he commented on many things.  For instance he spoke on stages they try to take people through at Saddleback.  They were first to “Know Christ”,Then to Love Christ’s family, then to grow in Christ, then to serve Christ, finally to share Christ.  This is a process that they attempt to take people through.  I enjoyed what he had to say about this because it seems in many churches their is not a process, or even a plan for that matter.  It seems more like a somewhat organized Chaos with no real plan.  On top of that when asked to put their plan into words most churches can not primarily because they do not have a plan.  This can be and is counter intuitive to many churches.  If the people do not know where they are going or where they are being lead then “aren’t they following blindly”.

Really what impressed me most was Warren’s comments on discipleship.  Warren spoke that Saddleback was built on a series of five covenants.  The first is their entry point “Come and See” he said there is no commitment to “Come and See” the only thing you have to do is show up.  You can sit wherever you want, you don’t have to sing any songs you are not forced to say anything you just come and see.  Warren was quick to point out that Jesus never left the people there.  

“From “Come and See” Jesus would take them through consistent steps.  During this time Jesus is constantly turning up the heat.   As they begin to follow Him Jesus begins to say things like You’re my disciple if…He redefines commitment.  ”You’re my disciple if you love on another.”  ”You’re my disciple if you bear fruit.”  ”You’re my disciple if you take up your cross, deny yourself,  and follow Me.”  And on and on Jesus is turning up the heat.”

“In those days, nobody took up a cross unless the Romans were going to nail him to it. So He’s saying, “Come and die.” There’s a huge difference in commitment between “Come and see” and “Come and die.” He doesn’t say “Come and die” at the very first. He takes three years into a relationship with them. And He’s moving them.”

“Churches have not understood that commitment is sequential, systematic, and processed. And to move them from “Come and see” to “Come and die” is what Purpose Driven is all about.”

“What happens is churches tend to be one or the other. You’re either a “Come and see” church or a “Come and die” church. And the “Come and see” churches bring them in the front door and win a lot of people to Christ, but they don’t deepen them to deeper levels of maturity. The “Come and die” church doesn’t reach anybody for Christ, and they’ve got their frozen chosen that they keep taking deeper and deeper and deeper. But those people have koinitis. They’re so close no one else can break into it.”

“What a church has to do is see that “Come and see” and “Come and die” is the whole spectrum. And how do you get people from “Come and see” to “Come and die?” There are classes. There are covenants. There are commitments. There are cells. There’s coaching.”

“It’s not just one-on-one. It’s not just one to small group. It’s not just one to big crowd. There is a combination. And you have to take into account that people learn in different ways. Most churches have not built the levels of learning into discipleship.”

 So often we have no plan.  Our plan is watch this movie, read this book, take someone else through this book.  That is not really discipleship.  So often there is no process to grow someone in Christ.  They either “Come and See” and never get moved beyond that or we as them to “come and die” and they are not ready for that.  Why is it we seldom move people through a time of discipleship.  Rarely do we really take time to get to know those we are supposedly discipling so how do we really know where to start?  We really need to revolutionize how we look at discipleship and stop wasting time.  We need to strip discipleship of all of its protective gear and stop worrying about people seeing the real us and stop pretending to be something we are not and start invading peoples lives with who Jesus Christ is.  We need to be willing to stick it out for a long haul and show them whatever way it takes for them to understand who Jesus is and move them into the direction of “come and die” then we will have radical committed disciples of Jesus Christ.

Please not that the quoted text are the words of Rick Warren in the interview.  

prayer Archives | Bad Days Better

by Josh Monda | Dec 12, 2013 | Uncategorized

I know much is said about Rick Warren and there are verying opinions of him especially in conservative circels.  However I praise God for the prayer he delivered today.  Here it is both by video and the text

Almighty God, our Father: Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama,

the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity,

the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans–united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you–forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone–forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve–forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations–and all people–will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

And Here is the video

Today I was reading back through Mark 9:14-29 and it was impressed upon me how these verse deal greatly with spiritual immaturity.  I believe spiritual immaturity is a perpetual problem in the Christian life and we often struggle with this.

I picture the beginning of this passage of scripture where Jesus is coming down the mountain and he draws closer to the crowd he hears these scribes just ripping into the disciples.  I am sure the scribes were belittling the disciples and questioning their ability to even minister.  We know the Scribes did not like Christ and they had probably hoped that if they could discredit the disciples then they would be able to discredit Christ as well.  

What I think is great here is that Christ steps right into the middle of the scene.  Instead of tearing into his disciples for their lack instead he steps in and draws the attention away from them.  In essence he delivered them from humiliation.  We could take a great lesson from this.

When Christ asks what is going on it is the father of the child that responds to him.  Then when the father explains what is going on Christ responds with a rebuke.  In this passage of scripture we see weak faith.  The father displayed weak faith in fact he was part of the faithless generation that Jesus mentions in verse 19.  In addition to this Jesus says “if you can believe” in verse 23.  This is followed by the cry from the father saying “help my unbelief” in verse 24.  

This child had not been healed because faith was weak.  Sometimes we like to harp on the disciples in this passage but it was not just the disciples that displayed that weak faith.  There was a crowd there and no one had enough faith to heal the child.  The father did not have the faith, neither did the disciples, and certainly not the scribes.

However we also have to take notice that the disciples seemed powerless in this circumstance.  We all know what that is like.  The disciples are the very people that should have been able to heal this boy.  There were nine disciples there when the man first came but not a single one of them was able to heal the boy because they lacked power to do so.

Now before we get on a high horse and think we are better then others we must notice the rebuke Christ gave.  He looked directly at that generation standing before Him and rebuked them.  But can we really think we are any better.  I mean isn’t every generation faithless and in reality are we not all being rebuked for it.

I must confess I have often been spiritually immature.  I am not talking about I have failed to pray or read my Bible or something like that but what I am saying is that I have failed to express faith at times.  So often I let my circumstance control me rather than my faith.  But that is why I am thankful for these two verses here 

When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?”And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

These verses let us know that Spiritual Power is available and we do not have to me immature.  The disciples wanted to know why they had failed.  They wanted to know the cause.  Jesus had already given them power over evil spirits and they had already cast out evil spirits so what was the problem this time.  Why did they fail when they had succeeded before.  Then Christ gives the answer.

Immaturity and powerlessness an be conquered through prayer and fasting.  Jesus pointed out this one thing the disciples were not living close enough to God.  They were not praying and fasting enough, they did not seek him enough, they did not put Him before all things.  we must crave God so much that other things pale in comparison.

I sit and think how often I have been spiritually immature and let other things step in front of my relationship with the Lord.  How often I have not put him before all things and have put my problems in front of my God.  But it is all taken care of if I only put Him before all things.

These days have been crazy I blogged about it here. So I have not really known which was up or down between going to the hospital, taking my daughter to school,coming home from school, the stress of a baby coming early, my mom coming in a week, and moving man it is crazy.  But…

Today I was doing some reading and read this verse ”She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  For some reason I could not take my mind of this verse it was just stuck in my head.  Now I know we read this verse at Christmas and most of the time we probably just blow right by it but I want to spend some time on this verse.  

Now Joseph was actually going through a pretty traumatic experience.  I know we do not say alot about him usually but think about this he finds out a girl he is going to marry is pregnant and he has done nothing to get her that way.  Then and angel comes to him and tells him that the this child is “of the Holy Ghost” talk about traumatic.  What is great is Joseph did not just freak out and run away, he did not clam up.  Joseph actually did something that we all should consider doing when a traumatic experience hits he got along and called out to God.  Now scripture does not come out and say this but it certainly is implied.  Joseph was a righteous man he probably wept to God and poured his heart out to God.  God sometimes just waits for us to pour our hearts out to Him when we experience difficulties.  Let me share with you a few verses that comfort me when I just need to pour out to God as in these last few weeks.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16).

 

“It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear (Isaiah 65:24).

Finally I love the end of this verse when it says for “He will save His people from their sins.”  Not He might save, but He will save.  Who does he save “His people”.  Those of you who tend to lean towards the Calvin side of things can figure this out.  The Mission of Jesus Christ His purpose for living is to save “His People” I take comfort in knowing I was, and am the mission of Jesus Christ.

In this blog I am going to talk about two things we say in relationship to prayer that are really kind of goofy.

 

I am sure that you have heard this one before. “This was bathed in prayer” What does this statement mean?  I am convinced that this has become a blanket statement for Christian to cover up either stupid decisions or things they do not want to explain.  We use this statement almost to say well I prayed about it so it has to be right.  It like saying I robbed a convenience store but it was bathed in prayer, I gossiped about my brother or sister but it was bathed in prayer, I made a decision that had a terrible effect on someone but it was bathed in prayer.  I mean come on what a load of crap.  Can we really say this just to cover up our ignorance?

This statement is also filled with arrogance.  I mean when we tell someone this what are we saying to them.  ”I am more spiritual because I bathed this in prayer” we are making an assumption that the other person did not pray at all about the circumstance.  Not only that if they did pray and they heard something different then us then they must not have been hearing from God after all we bathed our decision in prayer.  Is it at all possible that we can actually pray about something and still make the wrong decision well absolutely (of course I suppose this all depends on to what degree you take predestination to).  I have seen so many people that have prayed about something and then still turn around and make a totally ignorant decision.  Of course it is because people pray out of Gods will all the time.  

Might I suggest the next time you go to say this statement maybe stop and think about it.  Why are you saying it?

I want to address one other thing I know this is a long blog.  It drives me absolutely crazy when someone prays and tells you what Gods will is for your life.  For whatever reason God has revealed all of this about your life to another person rather than to you.  I know that this can happen but if someone is walking with the Lord and praying and taking with the Lord don’t you think the Lord would speak to them.  It is so arrogant to tell someone that God has revealed something to you about their life.  Here could be a statement “well I bathed this in prayer and asked God what He wanted to show you and this is what He said”.  Wow what an ignorant and arrogant thing to say.  God for some reason told me what He wanted you to learn?  So now I am assuming that you are not walking close enough to God to hear his voice so I will tell you what He wants to say.  Do I think you call someone in sin?  Yes, do I pray for others and intercede for them?  yes 

Its like going up to someone and saying God told me that you were supposed to start a prison ministry.  Well why wouldn’t God tell that person?  Or God told me that you needed to do this well why would God tell that person.  Especially if they are growing in the Lord.  Some of the things we do in the name of prayer and in the name of Christ blow me away.  I am sure I do worse this is it for now.