What do you think of Pastor Mike’s video blogs?
Fasting Day 2 – with Ps Todd McIntyre
Fasting Day 3 – with Dr. Frank Seekins
Fasting Day 4 – with Pastor Mornay Johnson
Fasting Day 5
Fasting Day 6
We want to hear what you have to say. Post your comments here!
By: Eric Falkner (Technology Director) inspired by Ps Mike Gowans staff teaching
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. - Hebrews 11:6
In recent time it seems the Christians are more and more believing that expecting rewards from God is somehow wrong or sinful. Heb 11:6 is clear that God rewards those who seek him so where does this come from? Is it because we’ve been burned by television evangelists? Is it our pride? Is it from a fear of failure?
While many of the reasons are viable and are a part of our resistance to being blessed, I think it’s much greater. In my life I have seen the guys who promise if you give them $10 God will give you $1000 and I’ve been afraid to tithe for fear I wouldn’t be able to pay the bills but through it I’ve learned something about God’s blessing.
Our society tells us that success is defined as money, a big house, a fancy car or a fat salary. By this standard the fathers of the Christian faith were all failures. Paul spent much of his life poor and in jail. John was banished to the island of Patmos. Look at these great men from today’s standards and they were losers. Look at them through God’s view and they were heroes. Why? Look to Isaiah:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD. – Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)
God’s view of success is very different from ours and his ways of blessing us is different. Because Paul and John sought God, their writings are forever influencing man (and I’m pretty sure they got a killer pad in Heaven). Their success has generational impact. God always provided their needs and took care of them when they needed it. Isn’t that blessing enough? God had to show me that it is for me.
I had a mechanic friend who was looking at my car one day because I was having engine issues. He popped the hood, looked around, fixed my problem and closed up the car. Before I left he asked me, “you’re a tithing man aren’t you?”. I said, “yes, why do you ask”. He answered, “because an engine with that many miles doesn’t ever look that good. You must tithe because God has blessed your car”. This hit me huge. I have never thought about the blessing that reliable transportation really is. I don’t have to worry if I’m getting to a gig or pick up the kids. 187,000 miles later, I still have the original starter, alternator and engine. It isn’t a Bently, but it’s never left me stranded.
I’ve never not had a bill covered (whether through a miracle, income or other means) and my family has never missed a meal. I’m still very happily married with 2 great kids who love us (and obey) and we have a great house that God dropped in our lap miraculously. I’m not rich, don’t drive a big car and don’t have much money in the bank but looking at the real blessings of God, I don’t need those things.
An interesting debate arose among the staff recently about Is 11:2-3:
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
The debate revolved around the words “understanding” and “knowledge” and how they apply in this verse. Some felt understanding and knowledge are basically the same word so this verse is redundant. Some thought that knowledge is just knowing the facts about something while others thought that it meant understanding skillfully applied (ie you know how to do it and you do it). This is a very important distinction because the progression of the Holy Spirit is:
1) Receive the Spirit
2) Receive Wisdom (what to do)
3) Receive Understanding (why do it)
4) Receive Counsel (how to do it)
5) Recieve Power/Might. (the power/ability to do it)
6) Recieve Knowledge (the skill that you can teach others)
7) Receive the Fear of the Lord (the desire to do it)
If knowledge is the same as understanding then we can’t receive the skill to do whatever the spirit has us to do. Dr. Frank Seekins who is a Hebrew scholar loves to say, “if there’s a problem with the English translation of the bible, the problem is never the bible, it’s always the English.” This verse is great proof of this.
The Hebrew word translated as understanding is binah and the Hebrew word translated at knowledge is daath. Binah means “knowledge and discernment” and daath means “skill and understanding”. So the first thing we notice is the words are flipped (the word for knowledge is translated as understanding and vice-versa). Second thing we notice is the word skill isn’t in the translation at all. Why would this be? If you look at the modern English translation of knowledge (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knowledge), none have skill in the definition. So have we misinterpreted the meaning of this verse? Not at all. If you look at the original definition of knowledge (from Websters 1828 dictionary) the third definition is skill! The degredation of our language from the original English translation of the bible has actually changed this verse’s meaning to us.
The other confusion arose from 1 Cor 12:8 where the word of knowledge is given. We know this to be the Holy Spirit giving us information about someone we didn’t previously know or could have known. Well isn’t the definition of knowledge to have skill? Here again is an interesting loss of translation. The word used for knowledge is the Greek word gnosis which derives from ginosko which means “to come to know” and “recognize, perceive”. If you look at the first part of the verse, we can receive a word of wisdom. That word in the Greek is sophia which means “skill, wisdom”. When you dig into the original language you see that it could be better translated as words of knowlege and understanding which would actually confirm the verse from Is 11.
What does this all mean? What is important is to always look at the original languages that the bible was written in. The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew (with some Aramaic) and the New Testament in Greek. Most English translations come from well before the 20th century so you have to look at the original English meanings for many of the passages rather than rely on our current usages to fully understand what the Bible is really saying.
In our previous blog we looked at problem solving and the influence it creates. What if the church was based in problem solving? How much influence would it exert in our world?
In the early days of the Christian church, the focus was on fellowship and caring for the needy and the orphans. The early church had great influence on the common person because they solved these issues. Their focus was on people and solving problems. They exerted so much influence that the Roman Empire executed many of the early Christians. They persevered and continued to solve problems and eventually they took over the government and spread their influence to all of Europe. This is where they lost their focus.
The rise of the Holy Roman Empire brought what many felt was God’s Kingdom on Earth. The problem was it’s influence became based in military force and not problem solving. During the Crusades, the Church attacked Muslims to convert them and ultimately lost. The dark ages became about paying money for absolution of sins rather than relationship with God and each other. Two great problems were created by the Church because people again were separated from their God only this time it was by an institution and not sin and they were not allowed to read the Word to know this was a problem.
Enter Johannes Gutenberg. He believed that the Word of God was for all to read, not just monks and priests. He lived in the 1400’s and created the movable type printing press. The problem he sought to solve was a lack of an efficient method to print books. Up to that point, books were hand copied, including the bible. Monks spent most of their days hand copying the bible so additional copies existed. In 1455 he used this invention to print a bible. This allowed for the common man to have a bible because it was faster and more efficient. His influence lives to this day because there are still copies of his original bible in museums and the bible is now the most printed book in the history of man.
About 60 years later, along comes Martin Luther. In his monastic studies he began to struggle with the Church’s requirement of indulgences (payment for absolution of sin). As he read it, God requires faith alone to be saved and released from sin. The method of the day to start a public debate was the doorpost of the church so Luther thought he’d post his 95 reason why faith alone was the way. He wanted to solve the problem of Church corruption and misinterpretation of the bible. His solution sent ripples throughout the world and ultimately broke the practice of indulgences. His attempt to solve a problem created generational influence and revitalized the church.
Another great man of faith who saw a problem to tackle was Englishman William Wilberforce. He was the son of a wealthy merchant who became a very powerful player in the English Parliament. In 1785 he really began to seek God and even debated whether to stay in Parliament or not but a pastor encouraged him to stay. This was the right decision for William. England had become a huge player in the slave trade to the new world. He felt that “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.” He began his fight to abolish slave trading in the 1780’s and despite many defeats, he finally saw it abolished in March of 1807 he saw it completely abolished.
What problems do we see today? What issue has God put on your heart to change and fix? In our next posts we’ll look at some of the current issues facing our world and how the church can get active to affect real change.
Most Christians agree that all living things (both Heavenly and on Earth) were created to love God and to worship Him. The question then arises, what is our purpose? Romans 12:4 says “For we have many parts in one body, but these parts do not all have the same function.” The body is made for worship but what are the different functions mentioned in this verse?
Simply, problem solving. Because of sin and the fall of man and because we have an enemy who is out to steal, kill and destroy, the world has an infinite number of problems to be solved. God has placed each of us on this earth to find the problems we were created to solve. Jesus came to solve the problem of the separation between us and God. He accomplished this by dying for our sins and rising from the grave to overcome death.
What does problem solving accomplish? Jesus prayed in Matt 6:10 “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Earthly Kingdoms are based in influence (some positive, some negative). The king exerts his influence over his people, sometimes through force and sometimes through acts of kindness. God’s kingdom only operates in the latter. 1 John 4:19 says “We love, because He first loved us”. God’s influence in His Kingdom is solely based in His love for His creation. He proved this by giving His son for us and solving our problem of not being able to enter into the holy of holies which allows us to actually have a relationship with the God who created us. (This is the greatest problem of all mankind)
So what does this have to do with problem solving? Influence. When you solve a problem, you garner influence. The level of the problem, the greater the influence. A heart surgeon has a greater level of influence than a medical student because he or she has saved lives. Once leaving medical school, those students will solve people’s problems and gain their own influence. A teacher solves the problem of a lack of knowledge. A manager solves the problem of direction. A good musician solves the problem of our need for soothing music. What problem can you solve?
What if the church based itself in problem solving? What if a person brought a problem and the church found the answer to the problem (through Godly wisdom) and found someone else to solve that problem. How much influence would we have? In part 2 of this blog series, we’ll delve into the church’s influence through the years and how it has directly related to it’s level of problem solving.
Over the last month we have been rolling out Gateway 2.0. What is 2.0? Is it a new church? A new philosophy or just new graphics? The answer to all of these is yes and no.
In the software world, a major upgrade is notated by the next number (ie. version 2 is a major upgrade from version 1). It is still the same basic program structure, just with improvements and upgrades for a better user experience. This is exactly why we chose the name, Gateway 2.0.
We are the same church we’ve been since the beginning, we are just clarifying and focusing our direction for the future. Most churches never make it past 2 years and we feel blessed of God to be moving strongly into our 3rd year. As we press on into our new year, God has been expanding our vision for our church and for how to reach the world. He has challenged us to focus on making disciples and growing our leadership. Our modified mission reflects this. We will always love God and put him first as is the first commandment. We changed loving His people to love people because we are called to love all of God’s creation and not just those in the church. Lastly, we reach the world through disciples as Jesus commanded when He told us to go into all the world and make disciples.
The new logo and website are designed to be simpler and to reach out to the world as well as provide a more robust experience. God calls all of us to excellence and we felt it was time to take our online presence to the next level. Over the next 6 months you will see gradual changes and improvements. We are adding a members only section which will have many features to help our members better connect and serve. We have created a Facebook fan page and group to better reach out to others using this fast growing social network. We are making our staff more accessable by sharing their Twitter, Facebook and other online medias to allow you to connect.
Stay tuned as more exciting things are rolled out in the coming months.
Our common belief (especially in America) is that the greatest leaders are extroverted, boisterous, and charismatic. When we think of great leaders, people like motivational speakers like Tony Robbins or outspoken businessmen like Donald Trump come to mind. What about the quiet giants of industry who are running great companies we never heard of? Have you heard of Steve Balmer or Brad Anderson?
In his new book Strengths Based Leadership, Tom Rath takes a new look at how leaders operate and interestingly, they correspond to the 4 temperaments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Temperaments). He breaks them into leaders who do 4 things: Executing, Influencing, Strategic Thinking, and Relationship Building. We easily see how the great leaders who Execute (Choleric temperament) or Influence (Sanguine temperament) are great leaders because their fruits are obvious. What about the leaders who Think Strategically (Melancholy temperament) or Build Relationships (Phlegmatic temperament)? Often we don’t view these people as leaders, while not realizing they are the backbones of our organizations. While many of the front line leaders are pressing forward, these quiet giants are building the teams and creating the plans needed to execute the plans set forth by the front line leaders.
A classic example of this is NASA. President Kennedy announces we’re going to put a man on the moon and gets all of America excited. Problem was, no one knew HOW to put a man on the moon. It took the planners and team leaders at NASA to get the rocket scientists to put a man on the moon within a decade after the announcement. Without those Strategic Thinkers and Relationship Builders, Kennedy would have looked like a fool and we would never have gotten to the moon.
Earlier I mentioned two great leaders who you’ve probably not heard of. Everyone knows who Bill Gates is. He is the richest and most influential software developer in history. Most people don’t know about his right hand man Steve Ballmer. While Gates was dreaming up new software and selling it to the world, Ballmer was quietly running a company of over 30,000 employees. He is a very strategically minded person who has very effectively supported and built the infrastructure that is fulfilling Gates’ vision.
The other person you’ve probably never heard of is Brad Anderson (I hadn’t until reading Rath’s book). Have you ever bought a TV at that box store with the big yellow price tag? If you have then you have been influenced by Anderson. He is the CEO of Best Buy. Surprisingly it is the only company he has ever really worked for. Dick Schultze (the founder) was the visionary who started Sound of Music (later renamed to Best Buy) but it was Anderson and his team who strategically changed the mind set of commission-based electronics sales. They quietly built a strategy and company that got rid of the pushy electronics salesman and went to the more browse and buy strategy. This innovative thinking has created a company of over 100,000 employees and has all but made electronics salesmen extinct.
The lesson to be learned is to not count out your introverted collegues. They may be quiet, difficult to win over or please and seemingly uninterested but if you really take the time to pour into them and realize they operate differently and are potentially the key to your future success. Strength does not come when we are balanced personally, it only comes when we are balanced organizationally.
We just wrapped up our Catch the Mission Series and it transitions great into our next series: Reach. The fundamental truth we need to understand is that we all need a mission and purpose. Proverbs 29:18 tells us “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint”. In the King James version is says “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. The exciting thing or us is we have already been given a mission by Jesus, the Great Commission. At Gateway Life Church we have summarized it with our Mission: Love God, Love People and Love the World He Died For.
Where we can tend to fall short is when we forget that the great commission is non-negotiable for Christians. Christians tend to forget how short a time we are on this Earth and how much work there is yet to be done. The world is living for this life and the now. It ignores eternity and the mission Jesus gave to all mankind. We’re trying to build the Kingdom here and now and have to ignore the distractions of this world.
The early church heard this mission and they immediately went out, sold everything and were all in. They were exiled from their communities and kicked out of their families. They were serious about the commission and reaching the world for Jesus. Why is it that we have a hard time giving 10% to the church? (Note: according to Barna Research, in 2004 only 9% of Christians tithed 10% to their local church)
The underlying problem is we, in our flesh, see our lives as our own and that we choose what time and money we give to God. What the early church understood was our lives are not our own. We need to understand what it means to live in light of eternity. Everything we do and buy should be for the Kingdom. You should work your job with the mentality that them money you make can help fund the Kingdom by tithes and offerings. The furniture, electronics, outdoor grill, etc. should be purchased with a mentality of how you can use them to reach out to people and impact their lives for the Kingdom. We need to create an atmosphere of what God’s Kingdom really looks like and everything we do should be filtered through the Great Commission.
The last aspect of this (at least for this blog entry) is the requirement to actively pursue this Kingdom mentality. If we are not continually pursuing Jesus and the Great Commission, we will fall back into the here and now mentality. Daniel 1:8-9 tells us:
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
9 Now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
(emphasis added)
By resolving himself to live in purity, God brought Daniel favor with the Prince as well as a tender heart. The Devil doesn’t want to capture us but to take us back to the here and now mentality. He stands in our way when we pursue God.
In closing, Rick Warren says that life is a test, a trust, and an assignment. Are you committed to be faithful with the little things and the tests for God to give you the bigger assignments? Through the tests and struggles, God promises if we are faithful we will be honored and gain favor just as Daniel gained favor. We will explore reaching others in our next series Reach which starts this Sunday, September 7.
Mark Molzen who has been a member of our staff who has volunteered endlessly for us has just gotten an amazing job and we wanted to share his testimony with everyone:
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God has been doing some incredible things in my life in the last seven days or so. I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support.
A call out of the blue from an old co-worker led to a breakfast interview with the President of Qwest Arizona and an invite to interview at Qwest Corporate in Denver.
As I wrapped up my interview in Denver, I was told they would make a decision in about a week and a half. God had other plans in mind. I received a call the next morning at 6:30am – about 10 hours after I left Denver – telling me I had the job!
As I thanked God for his favor and blessing, a few things came to mind, which I wanted to share.
I have told many of you that I have been praying Isaiah 22:22 – what He opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open – since I started my company (High Impact Marketing). I have tried to open plenty of doors myself (using strong contacts, personal references and my own interview abilities). Results were confusing. I was often told I was the “most professional, well spoken and qualified candidate,” and yet no job offer.
During this interview process, I prayed Isaiah 22:22 and asked God to go before me to prepare good works, to abide within me and to give me his favor in each interview.
The interview process, despite being ushered into four executive offices on the 50th floor, was so natural and comfortable. God clearly went before me as I entered each office.
I wanted to share the time line as evidence of what happens when God moves. After looking at this, I had to ask myself why I even try to do anything not in God’s will…
TIMELINE
Aug. 11: Received a random call from Tom McMahon (former coworker at Brodeur Worldwide – I had very little interaction with him as he was a senior executive and…I was not). Tom asked if I was interested in a position at Qwest.
What if I’d taken one of those other jobs I tried, under my own power, to get… I wouldn’t have connected with Tom at all…
Aug. 12: Call from Qwest Corporate Director of Media Relations saying Tom had “highly” recommended me. He wanted to set up an interview despite the process being wrapped up.
Aug. 13 (FIRST MEETING): Met with local Qwest PR person andthe Qwest AZ President over breakfast. Before the meeting was over, the President said he recommended I go to Denver for an
interview ASAP. The PR person said not only that but that he would recommend they ultimately hire me!
Aug. 19: Met with four executives in Denver, Co. and Qwest’s corporate headquarters. I was told they had reviewed 40 resumes but interviewed only five and that a decision would
be made in a week and a half.
Aug. 20: Received a call this morning at 6:30am – about 10 hours after I left Denver – telling me I had the job! This call came despite Qwest releasing a major announcement today.
Aug. 27: The call from HR came in today to make it official. After a brief conversation, and a minor counter offer, I officially accepted the job. The final offer, after my counter and theirs, was EXACTLY the number I had prayed for – to the penny. God is GOOD.
I hope this testimony is encouraging! I am truly humbled by the difference between God’s efforts and my own. He has shown me – over the course of the last year and a half – that His timing is perfect.
God Bless, Mark
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After His resurrection, Jesus’ message was simple, “Go”. In Matthew 28:10 Jesus tells the women “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” In verse 19 He tells us all to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Mark 16:15 He told his disciples “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” and in Luke 24:49 He told them “I am going to send you what my Father has promised”.
There are two key aspects of Jesus’ life we need to understand. First is that while he helped thousands, he discipled 12. Why? He was showing us His model for ministry, the principle of multiplication. Multiplication means that if we disciple 1 person for a year and then you and that person disciple a person for a year, and so on, in 30 years every person on Earth would be being saved. Out of those original 12 disciples, there are now millions of Christians in the world.
Second, at the end of Mark, we are told that Jesus sat down at the Father’s right and and that His work is finished. The real power in it is that the Old Testament priests (which Jesus was called Rabbi) never sat as their work was never completed and, even more amazing, is that the right hand seat was always reserved for the most important guest or person. What this really means to us in our lives is that Jesus completed His work and has trained us with all we need to GO! He has given us the example of His life and ministry and supplemented that example with the writings of Paul and others. He completed his work of salvation and substitutionary atonement on the cross and has given us the incredible commission to “go and make disciples of all nations”.
So what does this mean practically? First, we believe at Gateway Life Church that the true sign of a life-giving Christian is that we are going (doing) the work of the ministry. We are always pursuing growth in our own lives by doing ministry and spending time with God. He gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us to preach His message with power to the world (Acts 1:8). This power is not just reserved for the full time ministers but for everyone. Every day you are a minister, when you’re getting your hair cut, getting groceries, going to Starbucks®, etc you have the chance to minister and live out His mission. As we walk in His ways, we are to exhibit a growing level of character. His amazing design is that the more the Holy Spirit is in our lives, the more character we will have because sin is pushed out.
Pastor Harry Gomes exhibited this amazing truth in his recent visit with us. As was observed in a recent staff meeting, “I know he [Pastor Gomes] is a sinner but he probably only sins like once a year”. Are we saying he’s perfect? Of course not as we have all fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), but he spends 8 hours a day in prayer and as he continues to draw closer to God through His Holy Spirit, sin is continually pushed out of him and he becomes more like Christ. His example has challenged all of us on staff to live out Jesus’ great commission to us.