Jesus was sent on mission into our world. God the Father sent Jesus into this world to “seek and save the lost.”[i] As we are made into the image of Christ we are sent too. From the beginning, Jesus’ desire wasn’t for us to receive his gift of salvation and then be whisked off to heaven. Jesus’ prayer for us as his disciples was clear and simple.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.[ii]
As Christ followers, we have been blessed with a great gift. Jesus has trusted us to share his good news with those around us. This is a beautiful and simple task, but it isn’t easy. Just as the world was against Jesus, it will be against us. Jesus didn’t send us into the world alone though.
When Jesus told his disciple to love one another in John 13:34-35, he wasn’t telling them to live in loving community for the benefit of each other (although there are benefits to living in loving community). It was for the benefit of those around them. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[iii] We are called to share the good news of Jesus through the instrument of community.
There are two areas that can hurt our mission to image Jesus to the world that are found in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:14-18. The first is if we are part of the world. Jesus was not of this world. He lived differently than everyone around him. He handled money differently. He handled relationships differently. He handled work differently. He handled family differently. He handled love differently. Jesus lived a life different from the world around him. We are called to do the same thing. By living differently than the world around us, we bring the focus to Jesus who is the instrument of salvation.
The second area that can hinder our mission is if we separate ourselves from the world. Jesus was different as he was in the world. He didn’t escape the dirt and evil of this world, but instead dived deep into it to shine His light into the darkness. He ate and drank with alcoholics, corrupt city officials, prostitutes, self-righteous religious leaders, disease- infested street dwellers, and blue-collar workers. Who cares if we have the hope of Jesus if it doesn’t make a difference in the world around us? Like Jesus, we are sent into the world and share that hope. We glorify Jesus when we are in the world but not of the world. Spend this week focusing on how you are sent to be a light in this dark and dying world.
Martin Luther began his 95 Theses with the primary thought of, “the whole life of believers should be repentance.”[i] Repentance of our sins doesn’t end when we become a Christian. It continues until we are received into heaven.
Unfortunately most Christians slowly begin to forget that it is Jesus’ righteousness that puts us in relationship with God. Over time they begin to trust in their own righteousness. This leads to either despair or pride, neither of which Jesus wanted for his disciples.
Therefore, it is a necessity to continuously seek God to expose our sins to us through the power of the Holy Spirit, repent of those sins, and confess them to loving brothers and sisters in Christ. Through repentance and confession we are able to experience true community and love. We are able to see each other as we truly are and love each other despite our sins because of the blood of Jesus. Here are some simple tips and steps for developing a habit of repentance and confession.
Tip #1 – Keep a short list of sins. One of the worst things you can do is to hide your sin. Sin holds you captive and steals the joy that is yours in Christ. It separates you from those around you. Don’t build up a list of sins before you confess and repent. The instant that God reveals a sin in your life to you, immediately confess and repent of your sin.
Tip #2 – Find a righteous person. When James says that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,”[ii] he isn’t saying that there are people who are actually righteous on their own merit. He is talking about those who trust in the righteousness of Jesus. This is the type of person that you need to find to confess your sins to. You need to find a person that will help you see your sin in light of Jesus. Many times when ours sins are made real to us, we tend to focus on ourselves. A righteous person helps you see that there is forgiveness found in Jesus.
Tip #3 – Keep a journal. As Jesus reveals the sins in your life to you, keep track of them in your journal. Make note of your sin, how it made you feel, the consequences of it, and the work of Jesus in your life to remove it. Later you can look back on your journal to see how God has been working in your life.
Tip #4 – Don’t get discouraged. You might think that as you grow as a Christian, you will begin to feel like less of a sinner. The reality is quite the opposite. When you look at the writings of Paul the Apostle, you see a progression in his understanding of his sinfulness. Early in his writings, Paul simply called himself a sinner. Then he called himself a chief sinner. Towards the end of his life here on earth, he called himself the greatest of all sinners. This isn’t because he began to sin more. Instead, it is because as you walk with Jesus, your understanding of the glory of Jesus deepens. As your understanding of his glory deepens, your understanding of your sinfulness grows in light of his glory.
The beauty is that you are a work in progress. The Holy Spirit is continuously working on conforming you into the image of Jesus. This is a project that won’t finish in your lifetime. Therefore, trust in Jesus and his work in your life.
Tip #5 – Focus on Jesus. The ultimate purpose of repentance and confession isn’t to focus on your sin but to focus on Jesus. True repentance and confession turns you back to finding your identity in Jesus. It’s only when we find our identity in Jesus that we have truly repented of our sins. Anything less is simply pointing out your flaws with no ultimate power to have change in your life.
[i] Martin Luther, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, 2008, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/274.
After understanding that everything we do is worship, you will begin to see that one of the biggest idols in your life is stuff. More than likely, you are a worshipper of stuff. Your car, house, computer, iPod, phone, television, paycheck, books, yard, clothes, furniture, bike, music instrument, and movie collection all hold a higher place in your life than God. You spend more time focusing on them than Him.
At heart, we are very selfish and greedy. This is in direct contrast to God the Father who gave us His Son and the Son who gave up His life for us. If we want to grow closer in our understanding of God, we need to become generous people. We need to have the mindset that God is more important than stuff.
Here is the amazing thing. You can use your stuff to worship God. Your stuff is really God’s stuff and He can do with it whatever He wants. When you invest your stuff in the kingdom of God, you start to put God before your stuff. By being generous with your stuff, you are aligning your heart with the heart of God. Here are some simple tips and steps for developing a discipline of being generous with God’s stuff.
Tip #1: Make it a priority. You’re not going to be generous until you make it a priority. For example, when I was in college, I had a moment of enlightenment. I was a poor college student, and I went out to eat with a group guys. At the end of the meal, an older gentleman in the group paid for the meal. I remember telling him how I wish I could do the same thing. He responded with the kindest of words: “If you aren’t generous when you have nothing, then you won’t be generous when you have everything.” You have to make being generous a priority in your life. There are too many other shiny things that will take center stage if you don’t. Make it a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly task to look for ways to be more generous in your life.
Tip #2: Have a budget. You won’t know what to give until you know what you have. This works for both your money and your time. For your money, you should have a budget for every month. This takes away the excuse of saying, “I just don’t have any money to give.” You don’t have money to be generous with because you don’t plan. Most people will tell you that when you first started budgeting, it was like you get a raise. When you start budgeting, you are finally able to plan. You are able to make your money work for you instead of the opposite. You also need to budget your time. Some of us don’t serve others because we never have any extra time. Here is a tip…there is no such thing as “extra” time. There are 24 hours in a day and that is all you have. Just like your paycheck only has a set amount of money, your life only has a set amount of time. You have to budget your time wisely so you’re able to serve those around you.
Tip #3: Give first. This has two implications. You can take the idea of biblical “first fruits.” This was the commandment given by God that you should give the first of everything that you receive (animals, harvest, children, etc.) to God. The top line of your budget should have a line for a certain percentage of your money that you want to give away. When you get paid you should automatically take that percentage of money out of your check to give away. If you’re a member of a church, it should go to your church. No questions. No ifs, ands, or buts. Just do it. Then budget the rest to live off of. If you don’t do this, you’ll just make excuses and never be generous with the money you have. This will teach you to be generous. The other implication is if you have the option to serve someone or to do something else with the “free” time in your life, serve. Give of yourself first. Generosity now has the priority. So skip watching TV and go do a generous act.
Tip #4: Have a separate checking account. This is a little trick that my wife and I learned when we weren’t part of a local church for a while. We didn’t have a place that we could write a check to for a weekly tithe. So we opened up another checking account and we transferred a percentage of our paychecks into the account every time we got paid. Then we knew we could use this account to be generous whenever the opportunity presented itself without having to worry about whether we were using money that was needed to pay the bills. When we became members of a church, we started giving our tithe to them. We still transfer the money into the account so we don’t get it mixed up with the rest of the money we have, but we enjoyed having the freedom of the extra checking account so much that we transfer an additional amount of money into it every month so we can be generous when the Holy Spirit presents us with opportunities.
Tip #5: Give first and ask questions later. Now this might sound like you’re to give money to anyone on the street who asks you for it, but this is different. What this means is that we have the tendency to ask the question “Why?” Why should I be generous with my time and money? The reality of it is that you can’t understand the answer to that question until you start being generous. You could read scripture. You could hear stories from other people’s lives. You could see a vision of heaven coming to earth. But you won’t get it. You won’t get it until you take a homeless guy across the street to Arby’s for lunch. You won’t get it until you mow your elderly neighbor’s yard without them asking or paying you. You won’t get it until you help your wife’s single-mother-coworker pay her rent. You won’t get it until you pay for lunch for you and your friends, knowing that you might not be able to eat dinner. If you decide that you aren’t going to be generous until you understand why, you’ll never be generous. The reality is you need to give first and then ask questions, because by giving you’ll find a lot of the answers.
So where does our journey begin? Jesus. It all starts with Jesus. He is the creator of all things. He is ruler over everything. He holds everything together by His power. He came to earth; humbly born of a teenage virgin girl in a dirty barn in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago. He lived a perfect life by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was betrayed by one of His closest pupils. He was beaten to a bloody pulp and died a brutal death on a wooden cross for our sins.
It is in the work of Jesus on the cross that our relationship with God the Father is reconciled. Because of the sin of our father Adam, we were separated from God. In our sin, we ran as far away from God as possible. Before Jesus, we were viewed as sick-wicked-evil-despicable-depraved-sinful people. God the Father was ready to pour His wrath out on us.
But God, in His grace, came after us. He pulled us out of our sin and placed us in Christ Jesus. For those whom God has called to Himself we are now viewed “in Christ.” We are now “holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”[i] God the Father no longer sees us. Instead he sees his Son Jesus Christ.
This happens in what Martin Luther called the great exchange. On the cross, Jesus took our sin upon himself, and in exchange he gave us his righteousness. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”[ii] In Jesus, our sin has been exchanged for His righteousness.
But it’s not just about the removal of our sins; everything we do as Christians is “in Christ.” We are sanctified in Christ.[iii] We serve in Christ.[iv] We are redeemed in Christ.[v] We are made alive in Christ.[vi] We are no longer condemned in Christ.[vii] We are one body of believers in Christ.[viii] We are a new creation in Christ.[ix] We are reconciled to God in Christ.[x] We have freedom in Christ.[xi] We are spiritually blessed in Christ.[xii] We are created for good works in Christ.[xiii] We are encouraged in Christ.[xiv] We become mature in Christ.[xv] We are strengthened by grace in Christ.[xvi] Even our physical death is in Christ[xvii] (and this is just the short list).
If you have put your faith in Him, you are now in Christ. We no longer have our old sinful identity. We have His! We have received His righteousness as our own. We now have a loving relationship with God the Father by the blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Spend this week focusing on your new identity in Christ Jesus.
For those of you that don’t know, I started working on my masters degree a few months ago through the Resurgence Training Center (Re:Train). Due to the heavy work load, I haven’t had much of a chance to update you on my progress (except through Twitter). I thought I would give you a short update, and then start sharing with you more about what I’ve been learning through some blog posts (I’m writing a lot for school, so it doesn’t hurt to share it with you here). I hope that it will be helpful to you as much as it has been to me.
The easiest way I’ve been able to explain my experience at Re:Train is like going from Pre-Algebra to Algebra II. While the basic concepts are the same (Jesus is God, Jesus is human, humans suck, worship God only, etc.), I have to think about them in ways that I didn’t even know existed before this class. I feel like I have grown more in the last two months in my knowledge of Jesus and how I interact with Him than I have in the past three years. It has been amazing.
The classes have been (and are going to be) taught by the best of the best in their fields. You know you’re dealing with someone really smart when the text book for the class is written by them and they have more degrees than a small Mormon family has children. I have consistently been in awe these men…but more importantly I have been in awe of Jesus’ work in their lives. I’m truly blest to sit under their teaching.
Like I said, I hope to share with you what I have learned over the next few weeks what I have been learning in my classes. My first class I took was Spiritual Formations by Bill Clem. As part of the homework we had to write a discipleship curriculum for a new believer. I’ll share this with you through several posts over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy them.
Lastly, I want to thank you for your prayers as I’ve been going through Re:Train. I have had many late nights, drank several gallons of coffee, and typed and read more words than I would like to admit. It is through your prayers that I have been sustained by the Holy Spirt, and I thank you.
I’m going to come out and say this…I have a man crush on Moses. Of all the men in the Bible, I have always found myself drawn to Moses. I truly think this is a God thing. Because of all the men in the Bible, I relate to Moses the most.
We’re both miracle babies (my mom wasn’t suppose to physically be able to have children). We’re both overly ambitious (although I haven’t killed anybody…yet). We’re not the “bestest” of speakers. God has used trials, tribulations, and time to prepare us for our callings. Most importantly, I feel like God has given me the same clarification on my calling that He gave Moses.
In Exodus 3, God tells Moses that He is going to use him to deliver His people out of Egypt. Moses’ response is the same as any person who has a great calling put before them, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Moses is scared, perplexed, shaken and lacking confidence. How could a screwed up man like him complete such a large task after he had failed so many years before? He has been hiding in the desert for 40 years, and he is looking to God for a sign to give him confidence in his calling.
God’s response is classic. He doesn’t give him some pep talk about how awesome Moses is and how God has been preparing him 40 years for this very moment. Instead God tells him, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
This one verse has been the summation of my entire calling. October 27 of this last year marked the 10 year anniversary of God calling me to vocational ministry. I have known since then that God is calling me to serve Him as my full-time job. And as I have sought Him for clarification of the years, His sign has always been the same. It’s not a pillar of smoke or fire, or a damp towel on my front porch, or a star in the east. Instead God has quietly told me He will be with me, and I’ll know I’ve fulfilled my calling when I look back and see that I’ve fulfilled my calling.
For this reason, I have never really looked forward to try and figure out what God wants me to do. Instead I’ve looked backwards to see what Jesus has done in my life to determine where He wants me to go next.
By looking at the last 10 years of my life, I can see that Jesus has been moving me towards pinnacle moment in my life. In college, I went on a mission trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for two-and-a-half months. My main point of contact there was the head of the Purpose Driven Church Planting movement in Rio. Him and others spoke into my life saying they saw in me great potential to plant churches in my future. I filed the information deep in the recesses of my brain and went on with my life.
I came back to Eastern New Mexico University, started a interdenominational Bible study with my best friend, married the most beautiful woman in the world, graduated, and got a job as a youth minister in a small town in the panhandle of Texas. It was during my time as a youth minister that God stirred the memories of Brazil in my head and moved in my heart.
I don’t remember the day or the time, but I remember the intense emotions and distinct clarity. I knew that God wanted me to plant a church. So I did what any young ambitious newly married kid does only a year-and-a-half out of college, I turned in my two week notice and made plans to move to Portland, OR (motivated by the book Blue Like Jazz).
When reality snapped to, we figured out that we had no jobs, no place to live, and no friends in Portland. Therefore we did what every young ambitious church planter does, we packed up all our stuff and temporarily moved into my mother-in-law’s house in Albuquerque, NM. It was going to be our half-way point on the way to Portland
We tried our best to find a way to get to Portland, but God kept shutting the doors. And the longer that we stayed in Albuquerque, the more Jesus opened my eyes to the beauty of this city and broke my heart with the sin of its people. In the quiet of our hearts, God showed us that He had other men for Portland, but He wanted us to stay here in Albuquerque.
As Shannon and I began to settle into Albuquerque, getting jobs and a home of our own, we started looking for a church that we call home while we prepared to plant. We scoured hundreds of church websites and visited numerous in person. We began to get so discouraged by what we found. And as time went on, we began to see why God wanted us to plant a church in Albuquerque.
But like a diamond in the rough, we came across a small church that was meeting in a run down theater on Central Ave, City on a Hill (now Mars Hill Church Albuquerque). The church was a place of love, grace, and mercy as you would see the rich rub elbows with homeless and the messed up mingle with the self-righteous. The pastor, Dave Bruskas, had planted the church only a few years earlier and had a heart to help young men plant churches in Albuquerque. He had a deep love for the city and an even deeper love for Jesus. His passion was infectious (and still is to this day).
It was during this time that a few things happened. First, I felt like God told me to wait. I had some growing up to do, and like the disciples, I needed to go up to my room and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. Second, I learned about Acts 29, Mars Hill, and Mark Driscoll. Through them I learned what it means to be a church planter and more importantly a husband and father. Third, I got a job with UPS doing sales. By working for UPS, I have traveled all over Albuquerque (and half the state of NM). I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of this city.
But one area has always stood out to me as I make my daily visits to customers. Uptown has to be one of the more unique areas of Albuquerque. If Nob Hill is the cultural hub of Albuquerque, I would say that Uptown is the socio-economic center. You have the wealthy and affluent who come to work in the high rises and play at Q Mall, but there are also the gang-bangers who come from the War Zone to roam the Coronado Mall. You won’t find another place in Albquerque where more diverse group of people live, work, and play. It has captured my heart (but more on this later).
The last thing that happened was I listened to a podcast that would change my thoughts on church planting for the rest of my life. Up until this point I had planned on flying solo. I was going to gather a small group of people and start our own church named after a weird latin term or vague Harry Potter incantation. But God had other plans. As I listened to Doug Swagerty from Harbor Church in San Diego talk about why and how they do multi-site churches, God made it clear to me that this was His plan for me.
The organization, efficiency, and team-work that went into planting a campus as opposed to a new church spoke to the core of who God made me as a person. It was then that I had determined that God didn’t want me to plant a church, but to plant another campus for City on a Hill in the Uptown area. He wanted me to carry the vision and mission to another part of our beautiful city.
This brings us to this moment in time. For the past three years, I feel like have been metaphorically sitting on the bench waiting for God to call me into the game. Like Moses wandered in the dessert shepherding sheep for 40 years, God has been having me wander in the dessert waiting for His timing. But as City on a Hill has made the transition to becoming Mars Hill Church Albuquerque, I feel like God has been calling my number. The Holy Spirit has began to move fresh my heart, and I hear God saying, “Qualls…get in the game.” I feel like God is calling me to be on mission with Jesus in Albuquerque as He reaches our city to impact a region to influence the world.
Working along side Dave Bruskas, we are looking to start a Mars Hill Church campus in the Albuquerque Uptown area. Through Mars Hill’s campus model we hope to reach hundreds of thousands of people through preaching the gospel, planting Acts 29 Churches, and hosting Resurgence and Acts 29 events.
In preparation for this, I will be going to Re:Train starting on August 16th of this year. Re:Train is a one year training center that trains “missional leaders to live for Jesus and lead their churches to effectively reach their cultures with the gospel by staying culturally accessible and biblically faithful.” I see God using this training as a final step to prepare me for the mission put before me.
Looking back on the past ten years of my life, I can see how Jesus has been leading to this moment. Each trial and tribulation has been there to bring me to this point in time. He has led me here, and now He is telling me once again, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” I don’t know exactly what the next few years entail. But I know this, years from know there will be a Mars Hill Church in Uptown Albuquerque, and we will worship and serve our Lord Jesus on that mountain.
Here’s the deal though, I know I can’t do this alone. And I know that I’m not the only person that God has called to do this. I need all the help I can get. More importantly, I need your help. I completely believe in the sovereignty of God. So if you have gotten through the 1841 words of this post to this point, I believe that God has a part for you in this. I ultimately don’t know what that is for you (that’s between you and God), but I have a few suggestions.
1. Pray
I have seen God move in amazing ways through prayer. I know that God chooses to work through the prayers of His people. Therefore, I desperately ask for your prayers as I move forward with this endeavor. Pray for me as I go through Re:Train. Pray for God to bring laborers. Pray for my family. Pray for provision (finances, locations, volunteers, ect.). Pray for a pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Albuquerque.
2. Join
Join in on the mission in Albuquerque. As we get closer towards starting this, I will be getting out more information. For now this would simply mean joining the Mars Hill Church campus in Albuquerque. Join a community group and start serving. If you are interested in joining, email me, and we can start a conversation.
3. Give
Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. – Ecclesiastes 10:19
Unfortunately, it is going to take money to do this. Fortunately, I know that God will provide. He will use His people (you) to provide for the tasks that are ahead. The biggest financial burden at the moment is Re:Train. I need to raise $2,000 in the next five weeks. This will pay for my first month of training, travel, lodging, and a basic laptop. Please pray if God would have you support this task financially. If you feel moved by God, you can use the ChipIn Widget below or email me and I will send you my mailing address.
I am excited to see what God is going to do in the next few years. I look forward to sharing with you what God is doing as we go through this journey together.
Posted by GregQualls | Posted in Baby, Life, Videos | Posted on 21-04-2009
For those of you that didn’t catch the live feed yesterday, I thought I would post the video on here. At about 5 pm yesterday, Asa finally figured out how to work his hands into the crawling equation and started crawling. The video below is literally minutes after Asa started crawling for the first time (thanks to my jail broken iphone).
Posted by GregQualls | Posted in Life, Tip and Tricks | Posted on 29-03-2009
So I’m writing this post in an effort to get my butt in gear. I’m running my first triathlon ever in two weeks (April 11th to be exact). I ran long distance in High School and haven’t really done much since. Luckily I have my grandfathers metabolism. So I’m not really overweight, but I’m definitely not in shape.
So to get myself motivated to be more healthy and be able to be around to be grandfather myself some day, I decided I needed something to motivate myself to work out. So when several friends announced a few months ago that they were deciding to run a triathlon, I decided to sign up. I determined that the competition and the distance wold require me to work out.
Now the past several months have been the most active in recent years. From running long distance in high school, I have a natural level of conditioning built in already. But I haven’t been training as much as I need to be for this triathlon. For example, the total amount of training I did for last week was running 4 miles. I say this as a sort of confession and hope for accountability and motivation.
So with two weeks left before the tri, I’m throwing out a life line. What suggestions do you guys have for me? Have you been in this situation before? Any tips from you athletes out there? What goals should I set for the next two weeks? Should wear business socks and put tassels on my handlebars? Does my swimming suit make me look fat?
