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You’re Not That Impressive

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us!

SYNOPSIS: Your biggest worry today is not the economy, inflation, the threat of another world war, climate change, or an enemy. It is you! But if in things big and small you will run to God and run from evil, you will be on the way to a life of success, satisfaction, and significance.

Be on your way to a satisfying life.

Moments With God // Proverbs 3:7

Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

“We have met the enemy, and he is us!” That’s the famous line from the long-running Pogo comic strip. And that is pretty much the truth about us, isn’t it? We’re our own worst enemy. And the sooner we come to grips with that, the sooner we can get on the road to a satisfying and successful experience of life.

For that very reason, King Solomon said that we shouldn’t “assume that we know it all” (Proverbs 3:7, MSG) because you know the old saying about what happens when we “assume”. Rather, Solomon says we are to do two things:

  1. We are to run to God—that’s what it means to fear the Lord, which is a recurring theme in these early chapters of Proverbs.
  2. We are to run from evil—that’s a big part of what the Bible calls wisdom. As Paul exhorted Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

There it is: run to God and everything that is good and run from anything that would steer you into the ditch of foolish and immoral living.

The more famous verses that go before and come after Proverbs 3:7 are important to note here. Proverbs 3:5-6 instruct us as to how we can “run to God”: We are not to rely on our own smarts—we’re not that impressive anyway—we are to make God the first, continual and final source of authority in our lives. If we do that, God himself guarantees to direct our decisions.

When God directs the daily decisions of our lives, then he also takes responsibility for the outcome. Proverbs 3:8-10 tells us that a God-directed life will produce a body that is lean and mean with a healthy sheen and a wallet that is fat. For real, just take a look at verses 8 and 10 from The Message

Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life … [and] your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.

That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it! If that is the outcome of running to God and running from evil, I’ll take that God-directed life over the me-directed life any day. How about you?

So, my friend, your biggest worry today is not the economy, inflation, the threat of another world war, climate change, or some enemy. It is you! But if in things big and small you will run to God and run from evil, you will be on the way to a life of success, satisfaction, and significance.

Take A Moment: Practice stopping throughout the day to talk to God. Before you make a decision, for sure, but even when you are in a quiet moment of contemplation, when you are watching a television show or listening to talk radio on the way to work, or after you have had a conversation, be sure to include God. Ask him what he thinks, what he wants, and if he will help.

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Why Plant Churches

The Church is the Only Hope of the World

Why do we plant churches? Simply because the Church is the only hope of the world. For this reason, Petros Network is passionately committed to planting local churches among those who have no access to a gospel witness.

The Church - The most compelling expression of Jesus a village will ever see.

You see, the Church—the spiritual community of Christ-followers in a particular place—is the most compelling expression of Jesus a village will ever witness. I further explain this in the video below.

That is why the Apostle Paul said that through the church, “God has chosen to make known among the lost the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you [that is, Christ in the church], the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) Yes, the church planted in a village is its only hope.

So, we invite you to join us in the mission of planting churches within walking distance of every unreached village on Planet Earth. Let’s join Jesus, who proclaimed, “I will build my church, and not even the gates of hell can keep it out.” (Matthew 16:18) Let’s plant the church.

It costs $3600 to engage, equip and empower an indigenous missionary to plant a reproducing church in an unreached village. See how you can get involved at petrosnetwork.org.

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Core Curriculum in the School of Resurrection

Everybody Gets Cave Time

SYNOPSIS: Easter has come and gone, and Christ is still risen! But perhaps you’re in a tomb-like experience — you’re in ‘the cave” — and you’re wondering where his resurrection power is for your life. Perhaps you’re complaining to everyone else but God about your cave. If you are, you’re missing a great opportunity to pour out your heart to the only one who can do something about it—the One who conquered death and rose from His cave. So, try talking to the Resurrected One — and be patient, He does His greatest work in caves.

Moments With God // Psalm 142:1

A maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer. I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.

We all prefer to live in the sunshine of God’s grace, but from time to time we get the “cave” instead. “Cave time” is just core curriculum in the school of spirituality maturity. Call it whatever you want: the pit, the prison, the desert, the wilderness—the cave is basic training for believers.

Joseph had a prison; Moses had the desert; Jeremiah had a pit, Daniel had a den, Paul was in and out of jail so many times, like Motel Six, they “kept the light on for him.” Even Jesus had a wilderness. Oh, he got a cave, too. He once spent three days in one. If Jesus had “cave-time,” the cave won’t be optional for you. Every believer gets “the cave.”

What is the cave? The cave is a place of death, it’s where you die to self. The cave is the place of testing; it’s the blast furnace for moral fiber. The cave is where your mettle gets tested, your maturity gets revealed, and your heart gets exposed! Put a person in the cave of distress, discouragement, or doubt, and true character will show up. And if you are brave enough to open up to the truth about yourself, the cave will reveal just how much work God still has to do to get you ready for great things.

Do you remember how the Lord led you through the wilderness for all those forty years, humbling you and testing you to find out how you would respond, and whether or not you would really obey him? (Deuteronomy 8:2)

Likewise, the cave is a place of separation. Not only does God reveal the true you in the cave, but he also strips you of every misplaced dependency. In the cave, God separated David from everything he had once depended on, and all that was left for David was God himself.

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to both you and your ancestors. He did it to help you realize that food isn’t everything and that real life comes by obeying every command of God. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

The cave was perhaps the most frustrating period in David’s life—but in hindsight, it turned out to be the most fruitful. That’s because the cave is also the place of forging. The cave is where God breaks you down in order to build you up.

For all these forty years your clothes haven’t grown old, and your feet haven’t been blistered or swollen. So, you should realize that, as a man punishes his son, the Lord punishes you to help you. (Deuteronomy 8:4-5)

That’s what God does in the cave. And by the way, God does some of his best work in caves. It was there in the cave of Adullam that David wrote three of his most moving psalms—Psalms 34, 57, and 142, including our key verse:

I cry aloud to the Lord…I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.

If you are in a cave and you are complaining to everyone else but God, you are missing a great opportunity to pour out your heart to the only one who can do something about it. Good things always happen when you get honest with God. So, try talking to him—and be patient, God does great work in caves.

If you doubt that, just remember that empty cave on the outskirts of Jerusalem. For three days, it held a crucified body. But God does great work in caves—the best of which is resurrection. Perhaps that will change your mind about caves.

Take A Moment: If you are in a cave experience, I would encourage you to pray the prayer of Scottish hymn-writer George Matheson, “My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross: but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross: teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.”

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(Un)Common Sense

How To Develop Your EQ

SYNOPSIS: There are plenty of people in every age, including this one, who don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain. They’re not stupid, mind you. Some are even very intelligent, well educated, and in some respects, quite successful people. IQ is not the problem; it’s EQ—they lack emotional intelligence: They don’t do very well in relationships, mismanage emotions, lack impulse control, fail to master delayed gratification, and habitually steer into the ditch with decision-making. But you don’t have to be one of those, because the Bible promises that God grants a treasure of common sense to those who are honest, live out integrity, display fairness, and are faithful to him.

Article: Uncommon Sense

Moments With God // Proverbs 2:7

Lord grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.

The 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire wrote, “Common sense is not so common.” I wonder if he was thinking of our age when he offered that social critique. Probably not! My guess is that every age could claim that title.

Unfortunately, common sense has rarely been all that common.

The thing is, there are people aplenty in every age, including ours, who don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain. They’re not stupid, mind you. Some are even very intelligent, well educated, and in some respects, quite successful people. IQ is not the problem; it’s EQ—they lack emotional intelligence.

These are people who don’t do very well in their relationships, mismanage their emotions, lack impulse control, have not mastered delayed gratification, and habitually steer right into the ditch in their decision-making. Again, they lack common sense.

Do you know anyone like that? I’m sure you do; images are probably flooding your mind right now! So how about you? How’s your EQ? In reality, there’s not a whole lot you can do about how others do life, but you can work on your own emotional intelligence. How? Go to God. That’s what Proverbs 2:6 says:

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

That’s where you start. The Bible says God is quite liberal in doling out wisdom to those who lack it and are willing to ask him for it. James 1:5-8,

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

Now, asking alone doesn’t guarantee a continual supply of Divine wisdom. God expects your cooperation in the attainment of emotional intelligence. The very next verse, Proverbs 2:7 says,

Lord grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.

That means the spigot to God’s wisdom will stay fully open to you if you will walk in honesty—with others, with yourself, and with the Lord, and if you will walk in integrity—the congruence of what you believe and how you behave. Furthermore, Proverbs 2:8 adds that God expects you to treat others fairly and to walk faithfully before him,

He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.

As those conditions are met—honesty, integrity, fairness, faithfulness—the Lord himself has promised to not only give you wisdom but to wrap you protectively in that wisdom. Among other things, and most importantly, that means his wisdom displayed in you will protect you even from yourself.

I like what George Barnard Shaw said: “Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.” When enough of God’s wisdom gets absorbed in your core to where common sense becomes your natural response to all of life, you will be known on earth and celebrated in heaven for the best kind of genius—your uncommon sense.

Take A Moment: For the next seven days, discipline yourself to stop before every decision, every response to people, and every emotional reaction to first ask, “what would wisdom have me to do?” Then do it. It might be clumsy at first but stick with it until good sense becomes common for you.

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You’re Worth It

For the Joy Set Before Him

SYNOPSIS: Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before him Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame.” What was the “joy” that so motivated him to go through such a humiliating, torturous death? It was you! As he hung between heaven and earth, he saw that one day you would stand with him as one of the redeemed before his Father’s throne. Yes, the cross, with all its suffering and shame, was worth it to Jesus because you’re worth it to Jesus!

Moments With God // Mark 15:24

Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross.

Mark’s account of the betrayal, arrest, trial, suffering, and crucifixion of Jesus is moving beyond words. As you read in the paragraph below his description of what Jesus went through, I would encourage you to remember that Jesus didn’t have to go through pain, shame, and suffering of the cross.

But he did—and the reason was you.

The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (Mark 15:16-20)

Trumped up charges, the mockery of a trial, public humiliation, mental and physical torture and rejection — the Second Person of the Trinity, the Agent of Creation, the Messiah of God’s chosen people — suffered beyond description at the hands of the people he loved. Yet he chose to endure it. Why? He did it for you! Hebrews 12:2 says,

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.

What was the “joy” that so motivated Jesus to go through such a humiliating, torturous death? I am convinced, my friend, that you were the joy Jesus saw as he hung there on the cross. And when he saw that you would one day stand with him as one of the redeemed before his Father’s throne, his heart swelled even as the life drained from his body, and he said, “it’s worth it!”

All the suffering and humiliation of the cross was worth it to Jesus, because you’re worth it!

Take A Moment: Just take a minute before you do anything else today and offer your heartfelt thanks to God yet again for what he did by placing Jesus on the cross in your stead.

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Doing Life Well

Make the “Fear of the Lord” the Center and the Circumference of Your Life

SYNOPSIS: Whether you are doing life as a parent, or you are simply doing life as a child of God, remember that holiness is a far better attribute than happiness and the fear of God outshines feeling good every time. So, learn to lean into the Lord’s discipline, and help your children to embrace it, too. Put wisdom at the top of your wish list—for you and them. And if you desire for you and yours to do life well, make “the fear of the Lord” the center and the circumference of your home.

Make “The Fear of the Lord” The Center and the Circumference of Your Life

Moments With God // Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

“You ignorant outfit!” If I heard that scathing remark from my red-faced-vein-in-the-forehead-about-to-explode father once when I was growing up, I heard it a couple dozen times. Obviously, my childhood home wasn’t one of those touchy-feely places where mom and dad gave a whole lot of thought to my self-esteem. They were determined not to produce an offspring who turned out to be a fool—someone who is, as the Bible defines it, morally deficient.

The older I get, the more I appreciate their old-school approach. As columnist George Will writes,

“Modern parents want to nurture so skillfully that Mother Nature will gasp in admiration at the marvels their parenting produces from the soft clay of children.”

Not my parents; they were more concerned that one day I would stand before God, at which point all three of us—dad, mom, and child—would hear, “well done, good and faithful servants.”

Whether you are doing life as a parent, or you are simply doing life as a child of God, remember that holiness is a far better attribute than happiness and the fear of God outshines feeling good every time. So, learn to lean into the Lord’s discipline, and help your children to embrace it, too. Put wisdom at the top of your wish list—for you and them. And if you desire for you and yours to do life well, make “the fear of the Lord” the center and the circumference of your home. Solomon said it this way in Proverbs 1:7,

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

My friend, the fear of the Lord is what enables us to do life courageously, confidently and flourishingly well—and by the way, it’s the only way that produces the kind of esteem worth having: Not self-esteem but God’s esteem!

Take A Moment: Find an opportunity as soon as possible to talk with your children about 1), what the fear of the Lord really is, and 2) the important distinction between eternal holiness and temporal happiness.

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Reaching the “Ethne”

A Clear and Compelling Mission to Reach the Unreached

Missiologist Christopher J. H. Wright states, “It is not that God has a mission for his church in the world but that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission.”

Reaching the Ethne

That is a clear and compelling call to get on mission with God.

And just what is God’s mission? It is the establishment of God’s glorious rule over a redeemed creation. Therefore, that is your mission, your church’s mission, and the mission of Petros Network, too. That is why we exist.

Now, God has called Petros Network to particularly focus its mission on reaching the 3.2 billion people on the planet who have never heard the gospel before. Our vision is to plant gospel preaching churches within walking distance of every unreached person in the world. For sure, that is a lofty, if not impossible goal, but it is our goal, nonetheless.

You see, we passionately believe that where a person is born should not limit their access to Jesus and the blessings of his kingdom. For that reason, we have established our missiology upon taking the gospel of the kingdom to each of the world’s 7,200 unreached ethnic groups.

In fact, we believe it is these unreached people groups to which Jesus is referring when he said,

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations [Greek: panta ta Ethne], and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14).

In this series of video blogs, we want to lay out that missiology in such a compelling way that you and your church will embrace it as your own as well.  Thank you for taking a moment to watch this brief introductory video that makes the case for reaching the unreached.