Lessons From My Journey
QUESTION - When you hear the word journey what do you think about? What images come into your mind? Homer’s Odyssey? Christopher Columbus? Lewis & Clark? Captain Kirk & the Enterprise? The 1980’s rock band (“when the lights go down in the city” “anytime you want it that’s the way you need it” “the wheel in the sky keeps on turning I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow” “so now I come to you with open arms.”).
Dictionary.com defines the word journey
1. The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip.
2. a process or course likened to traveling; a passage: the journey of life.
Today – I want to share with you some lessons from my journey.
PRAYER…
On September 15th – I woke up about 3 am (showered and packed my car) and then wrote the following journal entry;
3:41 am – “Lord I am about to leave on this 12 day journey. I really don’t know what to expect – protect me from the evil one let me hear your voice. I know I need to change in many different ways…”
AND – then I was off and running… Now, I choose to leave at this time for a couple of reasons, one to save money by not staying in a hotel Saturday night and a second reason was because to wake up in the middle of the night – and head out while everyone was sleeping was like going out to battle. AND in a very real way that is exactly what I was doing…
SO – my journey began Sept 15th at 3:41 am and it ended about 9 am on September 26th. During that time I traveled over 2,600 miles. I worshipped at Southland Christian Church in Lexington Kentucky on the 15th with about 3,000 people in their 11:30 service. Then I spent 5 days at Oakwood Inn in Syracuse Indiana on Lake Wawasee. I left Lake Wawasee September at 6 am to drive to Stl to meet with Ben Merold for lunch at 1 pm. I worshipped at Harvester Christian Church all weekend; Saturday night – Sunday morning and Sunday night. I left Stl at 6 am Monday morning to drive to Chicago to attend a couple of workshops at Willow Creek Community Church. I left Chicago at about 5:15 pm on Wednesday night – and arrived back home 9 o’clock in the morning Thursday. While in Indiana I drove to South Bend and did a QT in the Basilica at the University of Notre Dame and while driving to Chicago I stopped in Springfield Ill, to visit the home of Abraham Lincoln.
Well, that’s kind of the outward stuff that I did on this journey… AND really this outward stuff only served to put me in some places where God was able do His inside work… which is His favorite kind of work – cleaning up the inside so the outside becomes better…
AND – it’s some of that inside stuff – some of the lessons I learned that I want to share with you today… NOW – I’ve divided these lessons into ‘minor’ and ‘major’ lessons. AND just like with the major and minor prophets in the OT – these lessons are called major and minor not because some are more important then others BUT because I will spend more time on some of the lessons…
[oh yeah – let me say this these are lessons that I learned, many of which I am working hard to put in my life…]
Let’s start with a few minor lessons from journey…
I feel the need to pray again…. PRAYER
Minor Lessons From My Journey
Praise Is NOT Meant To Be A Spectator Sport
As most of you know – I had the opportunity to worship at two very large Christian Churches. Southland in Lexington runs about 8,500 on the weekends (it was cool getting in a Christian Church traffic jam) and Harvester in Stl, about 2,200.
They are awesome churches they are doing incredible things for Christ. But as I sat in Southland – during worship – something didn’t feel right. The singers on stage were good, they had all kinds of instruments, the presentation on the screens were crisp and clear… THEN – as I looked around I noticed that most of the people standing with me were not really singing… It was like they were at a concert watching the professionals on stage… AND - it was the same at Harvester in Saint Louis.
NOW – these churches are doing awesome things for Christ. They preach the truth of the gospel, they are saving hundreds each year, changing lives, reaching out into their communities… BUT – they are missing something important during the praise time… That’s why it was so good to be back at Central… YOU SEE – a good praise service is not so much about what happens up here on stage but what happens – out there…
(are we connecting with God, are we praising him with passion – are the words coming not just from our lips but from our hearts)
AND LISTEN - when we really cut loose and praise God from deep down inside… It is really something to behold - AND I can’t help thinking that it has to be awesome to God.
NOW – I don’t know if this is just what happens when you have thousands in worship – that praise moves from the body to the professionals on stage – I don’t know. BUT I do know this - in heaven there is going to be millions & millions of God’s people gathered around the throne of God– and John says in Revelation 19 – that when this great multitude begins to cut loose, it sounds like (and these are John’s own words) It sounds like – “the roar of rushing waters and like the loud peals of thunder, shouting.. Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!”
We Have To Be Stretched In Order To Grow
NOW - That’s how it is with our muscles right? LISTEN – if you don’t ever stretch yourself – if you don’t ever step out of your comfort zone and do something uncomfortable you just are not going to grow spiritually…
LET ME ILLUSTRATE – This journey I took was not something I really wanted to do… In fact, if Laurie (my wife) hadn’t pushed me, I probably would not have went… BUT – she pushes hard…
SO - I left Sunday at 4 am all pumped up, went to church in Kentucky and was even more pumped… Drove to southern Indiana and checked into a Comfort Inn, and all of a sudden I wasn’t so pumped… I wrote the following in my journal at 4:30 pm.
“Lord, I am in S. Indiana in a Comfort Inn and I am kind of freaking out. I don’t know what to do. I’m bored. I feel alone in this room and I have 10 days of this. Is this really a good idea Lord? I kind of have my doubts right now…I am very uncomfortable right now… This whole thing is totally outside my comfort zone… I felt the urge to run back home to the familiar. But I know that I can’t”
God stretched me during this journey)
QUESTION – where are you allowing God to stretch you? Are you doing anything new for him?
Are you doing things that may feel a little uncomfortable, maybe even a little risky…?
OR – are you kind of stuck in a rut… Doing the same old things the same way and not really liking the results all that much?
LISTEN – maybe God is telling you today to step out of your comfort zone – Maybe He is asking you to do a new thing for him… something risky, uncomfortable – you may even know what it is…
We have to be stretched in order to grow…
A 3rd minor lesson is….
I am Not An Island
LISTEN – I found something out during this 12 day journey – it kind of surprised me and God taught me this lesson the very first day…. I found out - that the thing that sometimes frustrates me the most in life and in ministry, is what I need the most… QUESTION - do you know what that one thing is? People.
AND – like I said it didn’t take me long to figure this out. Remember the little freaking out episode I had in the Comfort Inn (I want to go home…). Well, about 5 pm I felt really desperate to go to church, why? To encounter of all things - some people (go figure).
YOU SEE - though I went to church in Kentucky (and had a great time) among the thousands, I really had no meaningful interaction. Just I few minor exchanges when I picked up some pamphlets and when I went to the book store.
SO - there I was in my room thumbing through a pretty lame phone book looking for a church to go to. So I went to the 7pm service at Sellerburg Church of Christ. There were about 60 people there. They were most elderly people, they sang without instruments, the message wasn’t the greatest (it was a lot different than the worship I was at earlier that day).
BUT – I can’t tell you how many people came up to introduce themselves to me. Hey, I’m Bill, I’m Bernice this is my husband, Hey I Larry… They invited me for some food afterward. It was awesome!!! I Hung out there for about an hour or more - meeting all kinds of new people. It was the highlight of my day.
LISTEN - I am most definitely not an island - I really need the church – I really need relationships with people… The church is so incredible. People I had never met, in Southern Indiana BECAUSE of their love for Jesus Christ, treated me as though they have known me all their lives… Told me to be sure to come back again – if I ever passed by that way again… (hospitality – lover of strangers)
Before we leave The Sellersburg Church of Christ, I need to tell you about Brotherly Freely. He had to be about 80 years old. AND he came up during the service in a brown suit. Kind of limped onto the stage. And he sang the song He Lives – he was so excited singing that I thought he was going to burst….
No I am not island, and neither are you…. We need relationships with people.
A 4th minor lesson kind of dovetails with this last one -
The Church Is So Awesome
And it’s so varied… It’s like a diamond – it so many facets that all sparkle with incredible beauty as they reflect the light of the Christ… I worshipped with thousands in Kentucky in a huge building with all kinds of stuff and I worshipped in Southern Indiana – with about 60 people in an old building with no stuff at all… AND – do you know what hit me as Brother Freely was singing – they all love, serve, worship and have put their hope in the same Christ.
The church is awesome!!!
AND – it can’t help it – Why? Because of what Col 1:18 says; “Christ is the head of the church which is His body…”
The 5th minor lesson is;
Life With God is An Adventure Saddle Up
REMEMBER - Our Father is in the heavens (he sits enthroned above the circle of the earth – but is close)…
I woke up everyday on this journey expecting God to do something; to show up – How, when and where he would I wasn’t sure – I just knew he wanted to be a part of this journey. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT – he showed up… in the people I met
In the things I saw
In the songs of praise I listened to
In the scriptures I reflected on
In the books I choose to read…
I can’t tell you how many times - I was just blown away… How many times I knew that God showed up to be with me – to guide me to speak to me to love me… How many times I stared my day saying, “Ok God what are you going to do today…”
LISTEN - a lesson I am really trying to hold on to is that life with God is an adventure and I need to saddle up… BECAUSE - My God is not a distant deity but an up close and personal God who wants to show up in my life everyday…
NOT just for a 12 day journey but each & every day of my life… Every day, every moment, everything I do, Every where I am, every place I go, every person I meet, evry book I read, every song I listen too, every sunrise and sunset IS an opportunity to; encounter, experience and learn more about my God…
I just have to be looking and stop when I see him…
Elizabeth Barrett Browning writes;
“Earth is crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God
BUT only he who sees, takes off his shoes
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.”
The final minor lesson is;
Fight For Oneness, For Community
CHECKOUT – these scriptures;
ü John 17:20-23 (can’t fulfill our mission unless one)
ü Ephesians 4:1-6
I attended an all day workshop in Chicago called, “Unleashing the Power Of the Church Through Biblical Community.”
LISTEN – Jesus came to restore ‘our’ oneness with the Father and ‘our’ oneness with each other… Dr B “to view church as community is not a fad, it is not an invention of man, it is not slick marketing – Community is grounded in the every being of God. Doing church as community is not an option it is a mandate.
AND – community happens best in small groups where this is closeness. The original small group is in Genesis chapter one (father-son-holy spirit). QUESTION – what did Jesus do when he began his ministry formed a small group.
LISTEN - we are going to be much more intentional about community/and oneness at Central… The reasons why are obvious to accomplish our mission to unleash the power of the church and because we need community/oneness in order to grow, in order to really live. …
242 d –groups
Major Lessons From My Journey
We Need To Live As A Freeman
On September 15th at about 9 am I pulled over at the Welcome Center in Kentucky. I was kind of struggling wondering what book in the bible I was supposed to read. NOW - Before the trip I had such noble ideas of reading the whole NT – or the 4 Gospels 2 times. As I sat there in Kentucky I was convinced that my God had something in mind. After much prayer I felt led by God to begin in the book of Galatians. It was the exact place to start – in fact God kept me there in Galatians almost the entire time…
AND – it was in this book that the concept of living as a free man began to burn in my heart…. And it still burns to this day. LISTEN – this is a truth that God wants so desperately for each of those who are in Christ to fully understand. After all Gal 5:1; says; “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free…”
I think that the best way to share this with you is to take you through some of the journey that I took in this awesome book from God… Open your bible to Galatians…
PRAYER…..
Read Galatians 2:16-21
LISTEN – you are right with God – because of Christ alone! Right where you sit, with all your failures and short comings you are right with God.
SAY IT – “I am right with God”
HEAR – those words again – “Yet we know, a person is made right with God not by following the law but by trusting in Jesus Christ.” (2:16)
QUESTION – How are you made right with God; by doing stuff? By not doing stuff…? NO by trusting in Jesus.
UNDERSTAND – you need to give up trying to measure up to God. You need to give up trying to make yourself worthy. WHY? Because Christ has already made you worthy!!!
GET IT?
ON September 17th – I was sitting in the Basilica at Notre Dame – It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and I read the following passage from Galatians.
Read Galatians 3:3-9
“You began your life in Christ Jesus by the Spirit. NOW are you trying to make it complete by your own power.” (3:3)
WOW – that is an awesome question isn’t it? SO - are you trying to make you life in Christ complete, by your own power? Well, are you? If so how is it working for you? As I sat in that Basilica in South Bend - I concluded that in many ways that this is exactly what I was trying to do… AND – I also concluded that this is why I was feeling kind of stuck in my life with Christ.
I prayed at that very moment, for the Spirit’s to help – to continue and complete God’s work in me…
Read Galatians 3:10
“But those who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse…”
“Lord, in a way I’ve been trying to make myself right with you, by what I do and what I don’t do. AND – it really is a curse BECAUSE, I always fall short on both accounts. It is draining, so debilitating to live like this spiritually. I truly need to grasp in a real, powerful way that right NOW, right at this VERY moment regardless of my past failures I am right with you…”
Read Galatians 3:11
“Those who are right with God will live by trusting in Him.”
“Lord, I feel that this trusting in YOU fully, completely, totally to be right with you, is something I really must embrace, OR else I will never live as a free man…”
SEPTEMBER 18th – I went down by the lake to meet God at about 5:30 am. I want to read to you from my journal…
[beginning journal entry]
‘Good morning Lord. It’s 5:30 am. I am outside looking at the lake. It is still dark, it is raining slightly (I’m undercover), there is a gentle breeze blowing, little waves are lapping against the sea wall, there is the steady hum of crickets - I heard the sound of cars in the distance, and an occasional honk of a goose…It’s so quiet, so peaceful. I started listening to a CD with headphones but turned it off within seconds. I didn’t want to miss this. Lord you are here in the stillness. You are here as the wind rustles through the leaves in the oaks. It is so awesome to watch your wind blow the leaves- though I can’t see your wind, I see it’s effects’.
Galatians 3:12-29 (NCV)
“Before faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law…” (3:23)
‘and in a way I still am. Lord, I even now give the law more power than I give your grace in my life …When I really think about it- the truth is- that I feel bound, guilty more often than I feel free and clean.’
“…we had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming…” (23)
‘I still need that freedom and until I really understand that it is only faith that has set me free I will be hindered, held back, tripped up by the law. This failing to measure up is always there hounding me, distracting me…’
LORD SHOW ME THE WAY OF FAITH!!!!!!!!
‘I am correct in your eyes right now because of Christ, and Christ alone. You would think that the way of faith would almost cause me to do less because I am right with You but, actually it causes me to do more… A free man lives a different kind of life…’
LORD SHOW ME THE WAY OF FAITH!!!!!!!!!
(Lord I see where this is heading, Galatians 3:27, and I can hardly wait!)
“Now the way of faith has come and I (Steve Malone) no longer live under the law!”
‘Lord, the way of faith is here for me. Why do I then keep putting myself back under the law? And Lord I do that…
I (Steve Malone) was clothed in Christ when I was baptized into Christ…
“In Christ there is no difference”
“You are all the same…”
“You belong to Christ…”
“You are Abraham’s descendants…”
“You will inherit all of God’s blessings”
Through faith
‘Lord, sometimes I think that if we talk about faith/grace it will cause us to not live for you... But the opposite is true. That’s the awesome power and might of Grace and Faith. Now from a human perspective, it might seem like just the opposite but the wisdom of grace, the power of grace, and the wonder of grace is that we live better. We live as free men!! It’s natural; it’s a divine law. It’s just the way it’s going to be. That’s the way James said that real faith deeply and profoundly affects the way we live.’
LORD SHOW ME THE WAY OF FAITH!!!!!!!!!
[end of journal entry]
QUESTION – Do you feel free?
Do you really trust in Christ and Him alone to make you right with God?
OR do you somehow think that the good you do or the wrong you don’t do – is what matters – UNDERSTAND this kind of thinking is from the evil one…
CHECKOUT – Galatians 5:1-4
[Beginning of Journal entry]
Galatians 5:1-4 (NCV)
The heading of this chapter is my bible is
“Keep Your Freedom”
Lord I think this freedom thing is something you want me to get down.
“We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not change and go back into the slavery of the law…”
it is not what I do or don’t do that makes me right before God.
“If you try to be made right with God through the law, your life with Christ is over—you have left God’s grace.”
Again, it is not what I do…
People who leave grace and return to the law, return to doing and not doing things to be right with God—They are mean or get mean and they fight. Why? Because they never really feel right with God—because they never do or do not do enough…
To live the Christian life for years and not really feel God deep in our souls is both frustrating and draining…it wears us down, so we fight and pick at each other.
“The important thing is faith…”
[It is with faith that Jesus makes us right with God]
Galatians 5:7-9
“You were running a good race. Who stopped you from following the true way? His change did not come from the ONE who chose you. Be careful!! “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise…”
Once I let the law back in, even just a little, it spreads and takes over. If I see the good that I do when I study Your word, when I am in prayer, ect… as making me more right with God/ as improving my standing with Him, I have let the law in. AND the law will then tell me that what I do wrong and the right I don’t do enough of has made me less right with God… Therefore I cannot feel free. I am a slave and slaves will be mean and resentful. We especially will resent those who live, act, and feel free.
Galatians 5:13
“My brothers and sisters, God called you to be free, but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self.”
The crazy thing is this *A natural progression* once you return the way of the law-- you sin more. Why?…Because you can’t measure up anyway. And then you attempt to excuse that sin by saying you are free, you are under grace…BUT you don’t really believe it because if you did, your freedom would result in a different kind of life.
[end of journal entry]
LISTEN – God wants you and I to be free….
He wants us to trust in Christ to make us right with Him…
He wants us to live as free man…
FORGET ABOUT – trying to be right with God – Jesus took care of that on the cross – you are right with God – NOW GO & live like it for Him
Major lesson #2;
We Really Need God
Late one night while I was channeling surfing I came across the conclusion of an interview that Larry Crabb (one of my favorite Christian writers) was giving. NOW – I only got to hear him make one statement, but it was one of the most profound statements I have ever heard.
“Life is not in the blessings of God but in the presence of God”
Man, that is SUCH a rich statement… “Life is not in the blessings of God but in the presence of God”
NOW – to be honest before this 12 day journey I felt I was doing pretty good with this relationship with God thing. I’ve been doing QT’s for years. I’ve even been journaling for about 7 or 8 years… AND – I thought that the 15-20 minutes I had 5 or 6 times a week were pretty good… (AND – even at those times I treated God like I treated my bus driver when I was a kid at school - okay I showed up but where were you…I’m going home)
BUT – I can tell you that in nearly 23 years of being a Christian I have never encounter God like I did on this journey… NEVER!
I’ll never forget one Wednesday morning – it was still dark… I sat by the lake and had an incredible time with God… His word spoke to me – it sang to me… THEN – I put on some headphones and went for a walk… It was unbelievable. Every single song spoke to my heart… The words so clearly expressed where I’ve been, were I was and where I wanted to be…
“You are changing me Lord giving me a heart that seeks you…”
“Now that I am hear with you there’s no place I’d rather be…”
I wrote these words in my journal;
“Lord you are flooding my spirit & mind right now with so much that is good – I have never drank from you so deeply. I have never felt so peaceful, content so free… Lord SHOW ME the way of faith.”
NOW let me again read from my journal – I hope it’s okay – I hope I am not reading too much stuff by I as much a possible, I want you all to journey with me…
[beginning of journal entry]
September 19, 2002
Lord, it’s about 9:30am. I’m outside and it is extremely windy. I’m getting the flu right now…I feel a little out of it. I moved my chair a bit to get out of the wind. The sun is warm.
I think I’ll begin my quiet time with music…Just gonna lay back and feel the wind and sun, just feel your handy work against my body…You are so awesome God- they say this Lake Wawasee is a natural lake—But is isn’t, it is a supernatural lake—you spoke and it became.
Help me Lord, to become …
~~
Lord, I’ve been worshiping you with songs of praise. It was awesome to see, to feel, to hear your creation all around me and to also hear songs of praise. The song or phrase that I really want to grasp onto is from track 14- a song I know well and almost skipped-“I WILL NOT FORGET YOU..”
Another phrase I really want to hold on to is, “ A LIFE OF PRAISE I LIVE BEFORE YOU…”
Lord every day my life is lived before you…I want my life to be a life of praise- as the heavens declare your glory (all these chairs are turned not towards this beautiful Inn BUT towards your creation.)
Lord, I want my life to declare your glory-AND the only way that it ever will is by me living in your presence-is by me feeling the warmth of your love, mercy, and grace.
When I came down here I felt out of it, I felt dull, BLAAH- I knew it was such a different feeling then I had before (like QT yesterday) BUT all that changed when I hung out with you and focused on you.
As I write this Lord, words from an old Hymn echo in my spirit, “ I need thee, Oh I need thee, every hour I need you…”
Lord, I can say I am beginning to understand why it is said that we must practice your presence. I will never live a life of praise, I will never become until I practice and I stay in your presence. Every morning I must give you the first fruits of my time… Throughout the day I must pull away to remember, reflect, and embrace the reality of your presence.
As that song says (once again Lord, you stir my spirit) “ I WILL NOT FORGET YOU…”
Well, how do I do that by practicing your presence- deliberately reminding myself that you have never left, never forsaken me.
[end of journal entry]
LISTEN – for a long time I’ve played around with hanging out with God. BUT – on this journey I experienced God’s presence more than I have anytime in my life…. And I concluded
I can’t, do life without Him…
I am not, doing life without him…
I will never become who God wants me to be without him
AND – the awesome thing is God never intended for me to do life without Him…
Starting this week – I’ve been getting to the church by 6 am so I can hang with God… It’s been awesome! Now I hesitate to say anything since I am only a week into it…. BUT – I never want to go back to the old way… Like David this is becoming the cry of my heart….
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
JUST – one final thought before I wrap this thing up…
There is more
So much more to the Christian LIFE – then we are experiencing…
(Next week we begin a New series called, The Life”)
Let me close off with a baptism I was able to witness in Lexington. A man after the service was baptized, he was in a wheel chair, he had MS. Before he was baptized into Christ, he shared this story. He said that he was so pumped about being baptized that he woke up at 4 in the morning. And when he woke up he had a thought – he said it was like a dream – the thought was of someone coming up to him, standing over him as he sat in his wheel chair and asking him this question; “Bob if you had one wish and it would be given to you what would it be?”
He said it was obvious that the person quickly assumed that he would say that his greatest wish would be to get up out of that wheel chair and walk. BUT – Bob told the one who asked him the question… “I already have the answer to my greatest wish – Jesus Christ and today I am being baptized into His name.”
Has your greatest wish been answered yet?
