When our lives are squeezed, what comes out?  In a fallen world, we’ll be stretched and pressed from all sides.  We’re sufferers, all of us; none of us can escape the effects of moral and natural evil.  But we’re also sinners; as broken people, we’ll be tempted to respond to that suffering with angry hearts and violent deeds.  But God’s word calls us to live as saints, or “holy ones”, responding to suffering, despite our sin, with joy.  In other words, we’re to look alien, as if we’re from another world.

This fall at Karis, we’ll begin a detailed look at the book of 1 Peter.  There the apostle uses that word, “alien,” to describe how He intends Christians, particularly as they suffer, to look.  If we’re obedient to our Lord, if we’re submitting to His Spirit, we’ll maintain faith, we’ll extend love, and we’ll even experience joy, in the midst of much trial and affliction.  And then, we’ll indeed look like aliens.  We’ll appear as foreigners and strangers with our own, distinctive way of thinking, feeling, and acting that will result in additional suffering through persecution, yet will simultaneously result in attraction, as people are drawn to a different manner of life.  When squeezed, loving service will come out.  When pressed, songs of joy will burst forth.  We’ll look like our Lord Jesus, our Creator, who lovingly invaded His creation, trusting His Father and serving us, even to the point of death on a cross.  Join us this fall for “Alien” at Karis Community Church.

Right now, If there’s one word to describe our experience in Brazil, it’s contrast. In this country, you’ll find trees growing out of the roofs of buildings, beauty in the dirtiest places, mountains that run into sandy beaches, and desperate neighborhoods with the most impossibly beautiful views of the city.

On Thursday, we had our second day of VBS and, honestly, it was a little chaotic. We had about a hundred and fifty kids, almost double the number of kids who attended our first day. It doubled both our opportunities to see God’s grace at work, but it also seemed to double our temptation to react to chaos with frustration or despair. It was a hard day, but a lot of adults from the community came out and listened while we told these kids about how God is great.

That evening we had another worship service, this time at the church we’re working with. It was their normal Thursday evening service, but it was anything but typical for us. There’s something uniquely powerful that happens during worship when you don’t understand the words to the songs you are singing, but know that God is being praised regardless of you.

Tyler and Ryan gave their testimonies, and both of them we’re just willing to be so broken and open about the wounds and the hurt that God used to bring them to Him and bring glory to His name. After the testimonies, Kevin preached from the book of Luke, making a foreign worship service seem a little more familiar to us.

We went to bed totally exhuasted, from physical exhaustion, from trying to understand children in portuguese, from facing chaos and organization that is totally different from our plans. But we also went to bed knowing that our God is great and he is doing great things here in Brazil.

Friday was another day of contrasts for us. We got up pretty early and started the day by taking cable lifts up Sugar Loaf Mountain. Sugar Loaf is a tall mountain here with a spectacular view of all of Rio and Niteroi, the city we’re working in. It was a great way to start the day marveling at God’s imagination and playfulness in his creation.

Friday afternoon, we found ourselves experiencing a completely different aspect of God’s creation. We visited an area called Fonseca where the church we’re working with, Igreja Crista da Alianca, is planting a new church. This is one of the areas that was affected by the mudslides that occurred a couple months ago.

Part of our group walked up the steep hill into the favela in the area. One of the smaller mudslides occurred in this area and about four people were killed. There was a two story church at the top of the mudslide that was completely destroyed. At the top of the area just before the mudslide, we stopped and talked with a woman who was telling us just how overjoyed she was that we were there to share the name of Jesus, yet all the earth next to her house had just fallen away.

A little further into the favela, we met a family whose dogs had just had a littler of puppies. The children were so happy to see us and to share the joy of their puppies with us, yet just outside their house there was a concrete wall that the community had built because the police will sometimes shoot up into the favela. And at the top of Fonseca, there is a house with maybe one of the best views of Rio out of the whole city. You can see all across the city, all the way out to the water. But, the house is empty because the woman who built it was badly beaten and removed by drug traffickers who wanted the house for themselves.

After we spent some time up in the community, we came down and had an informal VBS at a little soccer and basketball court in the community. It was a little less structured than what we’re used to, but we got to love on some kids who really needed it. We played and sang and taught them about Jesus, whom God sent, so that they might have eternal life with Him.

It’s a little hard to reconcile the desperation of Fonseca with a bunch of children who are just enamored by sidewalk chalk, who like to sing about Jesus, who are at their hearts just children. But maybe we see the scars, in the way they play a little rougher than we expected, or don’t listen quite the way we’d like. But in an area where, especially for us who are so materially blessed, there seems like there’s little reason for hope, we saw that God’s glory is revealed in suffering and in the joy of little children who shout praise in the midst of brokenness.

Karis and friends and family, thank you for helping to send us here. Please continue to pray for the rest of our time here. Please pray for our exhaustion as we continue to have packed days and not much sleep. Pray for the children and the neighborhoods we’re interacting with. Pray that the seeds we’re sowing here would turn into deeply rooted plants. Pray for the churches here, Igreja Crista da Alianca and their church plant in Fonseca. Pray for Jay and Restore Brazil and their mission here. Pray that we would be able to give the members of our team grace as our brokenness comes out. Above all, pray that God would continue to do great things in Brazil and that his name is praised here.

Obrigado Karis.

Oí, Oí from Brazil, Karis! (For those of you who aren’t keeping up on your portuguese, that basically means “Hi.”)

Most of the Brazil team would probably agree with Rob that our first two days in Brazil felt like one very long day.

We left Columbia at nine in the morning to catch our flight from Kansas City to Charlotte, NC. We had a five-hour layover in Charlotte where we got to spend some time studying the word together and grabbed some dinner before we boarded our plane for the nine-hour flight to Rio. We ate a late, late dinner and then most of us tried to get as much sleep on the flight as possible.

The next morning, we awoke and found ourselves in the southern hemisphere. We all piled in a twelve-passenger van spent a long, long time driving to the pousada we’re staying at. (The first thing we learned about Rio is that it takes a very long time to get anywhere.) The pousada is sort of a small Brazillian inn. Our pousada has a beautiful view of the beaches  around us and the entire city of Rio.

After we got a little settled in at the pousada, Jay and his wife Lucianne, took us out to experience a Brazillian steak house. At a Brazillian steak house, they bring around large plates of different types and cuts of meat and you choose what you’d like to eat. Most of the time, we didn’t really know what we were eating, but most of it was delicious. Some of us even got brave and decided to try some chicken hearts which were much better than they sound. In addition to some amazing meat, Brazil has fresh-squeezed juice at most restaurants and Tyler claims the orange juice at the steakhouse tasted like liquid sunshine.

When we were totally stuffed with meat, we got back into the van and headed out on the town. We stopped at the Rio museum of contemporary art, which in addition to contemporary art, offers some beautiful views of the sea and Rio and the surrounding cities.

Afterwards, we went to visit the church of one of the Brazillian pastors we are working with. We thought we were just stopping by to see what the church was like, but they surprised us with a welcome reception. A group from the church also performed a couple of street dances that they use as part of their evangelism. Then we got to eat some more delicious Brazillian food and spend some time with the church members.

All in all, it was such a humbling day for us as a team. We came from so far away with the idea that we were going to be the ones serving this Brazillian church, only to find ourselves blown away by how much they wanted to serve us. What a great welcome they gave us to Brazil.

Please, keep praying for our team in Brazil. We had our first day of Vacation Bible School (which we tell you more about soon) and we had a great turn out. Tomorrow is a holiday in Brazil so we’re expecting even more kids. Please pray that in the midst of a little bit of chaos, and a difficult language barrier, that we can teach these kids about Christ and the love and sacrifice he made for all of us.

Boa noite.

Here is the third and final installment from my interview with our elder candidate, Aarik Danielsen. This clip shows so well the wisdom and pastoral heart of this man. We’re looking forward to commissioning him in his calling this Sunday, Feb. 21!

See part I here, as well as part II here.

Here’s the second installment from my interview with Karis Elder Candidate Aarik Danielsen. Enjoy!

See part I of our interview here

We don’t often stop to think about how strange it might seem in our culture that Christians talk about blood so much. To many, it must seem so primitive, so superstitious, to talk about blood cleansing us from our sin. We can’t seriously believe in that kind of mythical mumbo-jumbo, can we?

Yet, Scripture again and again talks about blood being the only sufficient offering for sin. In the Old Testament, when God first brought Israel ought of slavery, he ordered that a unblemished lamb be slain and the blood of that lamb be put on the doorposts in order to protect them from the plague he was about to bring on all the Egyptian firstborn. He then ordained a sacrificial system for Israel in which they could make atonement, or be made one with God again, through offering goats, bulls and such, spilling their blood on the altar. Why the blood, though? In Scripture, blood is equated with the life of a creature. The imagery of blood sacrifice means that a life has been taken in order to pay a penalty. The blood isn’t magical. Rather, it conveys the seriousness of sin. When the infinite God’s glory is dishonored by His image-bearers, the offense is infinite. The cost is death, as God promised Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. Sin equals separation from God, which is, eternally, death. There is no way around this reality. Yet, God, in his great mercy, went to great lengths to undo the separation brought on by our sin. The Old Testament sacrifices served as a consistent reminder to Israel that their sin must be dealt with. God could not merely overlook it. But it was also clear that the life-exchange of animals for the sin of man was not sufficient to deal with the stain of sin. As the writer of Hebrews unpacks for us, these sacrifices were not sufficient to “purify the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Heb. 9:14)

The Old Testament sacrifices instead pointed to the greater reality: the sacrifice of Christ himself on the cross. The perfect, infinite sacrifice of Jesus - fully man and fully God - was the only sacrifice able to truly deal with the penalty and power of sin. Again, as the writer of Hebrews says, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). With Christ, on the other hand, “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (10:14). With the shedding of Jesus’ blood, the perfect, infinitive life was given to atone for our sins. His life for ours. God’s justice was satisfied, so that he could see us and make us pure and clean. This is our only hope.

So we are a people “washed in the blood of the lamb.” We need to rejoice in this truth, celebrate it, and remind each other of it. Because ultimately, we attempt to cover our sin in countless other ways. Adam and Eve took fig leaves for themselves in the garden, and we have repeated this behavior ever since. Instead, we need to remind each other that it is only the sacrifice of Christ that makes us able to stand before God. And that sacrifice removes all shame and enables us to stand boldly before him, clothed in righteousness. The more we understand the sufficiency of Christ’s blood, the less we will give in to the temptation to perform for God and each other. We will rest, knowing that our penalty is paid and our new life is bought by Jesus’s blood. So, Karis, let’s never shy away from singing about that blood. It is the only thing that will cover us when we stand before God.

This week, we’ll be teaching a new song, one that is a rework of an old Isaac Watts text from our friends at Sojourn Community Church. It’s called “Only Your Blood Is Enough.” I’m incredibly excited to sing this together. The lyrics capture well how deep our sin is rooted. We can’t understand why only Jesus’ blood can cleanse us unless we see how deep the stain really is. As the lyrics proclaim, the seed of death is in us from the moment we begin our lives. We need the perfect sacrifice to deal with the sin that is woven in to the fabric of our being. Here are the lyrics below. You can find a sample of the song at sojournmusic.com (scroll through the player at the bottom to find it). Let’s ready our hearts to proclaim this to one another as we walk through the story of Jesus’ trial and death together.

Only Your Blood Is Enough

Words & Music by Neil Robins (Words based on “Psalm 51, Pt. II” by Isaac Watts)

Verse 1:

I am ashamed, conceived in sin, I’ve always been

Born in a world where Adam’s fall corrupts us

Rooted is the seed of death in life’s first breath

The law demands a perfect heart, but I’m defiled in every part

Chorus:

For only your blood is enough to cover my sin

Only your blood is enough to cover me

Verse 2:

All this guilt disturbs my peace, I find no release

Who will save me from this crime, I’m helpless

Behold I fall before your face in need of grace

So speak to me in a gentle voice, for in your mercies I rejoice

Chorus

Bridge:

Lord, create my heart anew (Father come and make us wise)

Only you are pure and true (Lead us away from our demise)

Lord, you are the remedy (For only your blood can set us free)

Only your blood can set us free, only your blood can set us free

Verse 3:

No bleeding bird, no bleeding beast

No hyssop branch, no priest

No running brook, no flood, no sea

Can wash away this stain from me

Chorus

As we prepare to dive into our new sermon series, which we’ve entitled Wounded, I’ve tried to set aside much time to reflect on what God may have for us in the coming months. After walking through the Gospel of Luke for over 2 years together, we have come to the final three chapters, which slow down to zoom in on the events of Jesus’ trial, suffering, death and resurrection. We chose the title “Wounded” to reflect the meaning of Isaiah 53:4-6, which speaks of us as a people wounded by our sins and sorrows. Jesus, though he was perfect and in no need of healing himself, willingly took on our griefs and transgressions - their full weight - in order to heal us. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa. 53:6) May God reveal more deeply to us the wounds of our sin and the great healing that is offered to us “by His wounds.”

With this in mind, I wanted to share some hymn lyrics that greatly encouraged me recently. This text, by Charles Wesley (set to great new music by the folks at Red Mountain Church), captures well how the Gospel ought to deeply pierce us to the heart. It’s a prayer that in looking at Jesus, willingly wounded for us in His great love, God would grant us broken hearts that are no longer cold and stone-like toward him. Many of the songs I have been listening to and considering teaching during this series focus on this idea of setting our eyes intently on the cross, that God there might do his mighty, heart-changing work. This is our hope. No new set of rules and morals or trying harder will bring about true heart change. Pondering deeply the work of Jesus on the cross is the only thing that can do that. I pray these words encourage you this morning. Take time to unpack them and reflect on what it would mean for you to truly make this your prayer.

Jesus let thy pitying eye

Call back a wandering sheep.

False to Thee like Peter, I

Would fain, like Peter, weep.

Let me be by grace restored;

On me be all it’s freeness shown

Turn and look upon me Lord;

And break my heart of stone

And break my heart of stone.

Savior, Prince, enthroned above,

Repentance to impart,

Give me, through Thy dying love,

The humble, contrite heart;

Give what I have long implored,

A portion of Thy love unknown;

Turn, and look upon me, Lord,

And break my heart of stone.

And break my heart of stone.

Look, as when Thy pitying eye

Was closed that we might live;

“Father,” at the point to die

My Savior cryed, “forgive!”

Surely, with that dying word,

He turns, and looks, and cries, “’Tis done!”

O my bleeding, loving Lord,

This breaks my heart of stone!

This breaks my heart of stone!

I have felt eager this week to share some overall encouragement regarding our summer community group series, Awakening. Both our leaders’ meeting on Sunday night, along with my own community group discussion last night, greatly increased my excitement for this series and have strengthened my desire to see God move here at Karis.

First off, I am encouraged by the shift in perspective that I have seen in many among us upon really taking time to consider this subject. It’s no secret that words like “revival” stir up some pretty strange associations in our minds. Living as we do on the heels of 2 centuries of some bizarre movements within the American church, we all (understanably) bring some pretty major baggage to this topic. To top it off, many of us probably grew up experiencing some of the stranger and less biblical manifestations and pursuits of “revival.” But in the past week, I have heard numerous people say things along these lines: “I was not excited when I heard what we were going to study this summer. I had no idea what this could really be about. But after reading the article I have gotten really eager to dive into this.” I even witnessed a few folks in my c-group have a complete change of attitude toward the study as we discussed it last night. This is very encouraging to me, and gives me hope that we are coming into it with soft, humble hearts that are ready to seek God in this.

Secondly, I am encouraged by the immediate deep level of engagement that I have seen thus far. At both the leaders meeting and my own group, people were clearly pondering serious issues related to the concept of revival. The questions of God’s role and our own place in making it happen were really hitting people’s hearts and minds and causing them to think creatively about what this could look like. I had trouble keeping our discussion at any sort of reasonable length! May God keep our hearts so engaged in this.

Thirdly, I have been encouraged as we’ve discussed this idea of creating a church ready for revival, or as Ortlund puts it, one with “revival potentialities.” We had some fruitful discussion in my group last night where I could see that my people were thinkng on all levels in terms of how we as individuals and as a body could prepare for revival, and what it might look like if it happens. One of the biggest things that stood out to us from our first lesson was this idea that revival is really just an intense season of blessing on normal New Testament Christianity (Armstrong). So, we spent a lot of time talking about how this isn’t about creating a bunch of new Christian fads or special revival tricks, but rather, getting down to gospel-centered, biblical Christian living. This was an important thing to clarify. And in relationship to that, I am encouraged as I look back over the past year at Karis. We spent 8 months unfolding every aspect of the gospel both in doctrine and practice in our community groups. We spent 6 months looking at all of God’s attributes, both on some Sunday mornings and in our Katalyst meetings. We’re walking slowly and sweetly through Luke’s gospel, seeing who Jesus is and what he demands of us. We’re diving into the gospel and celebrating God for who he is. And we’re seeing these things impacting the way we think and live. I think we’re already, by God’s grace, creating the fertile group for revival. May he keep propelling us forward in this!

And lastly, I want to reiterate what I said to the leaders and to our community group last night. Ultimately, the pursuit of revival has to be about pursuing God. If we get too wrapped up in defining every detail of what we’re looking for, we can easily sight of the point. To be sure, there are things we see in Scripture to help us better understand key aspects of revival. There are things we can learn from history. But ultimately revival is about a hunger for God. It’s come to the end of ourselves and our idols, realizing they don’t satisfy, and thus looking to Christ alone and pleading with him to be the all-satisfying water of life that he is. And even more, it’s a hunger for others to make him their treasure as well, and ultimately, for his glory to shine on the earth. God is the end goal here. We want to feast on him, and lead others to that feast. Let’s not forget that as we dive into this study. May God hear our prayers and meet us with his power and grace, in his timing.

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

-Isaiah 64:1-2

We had a great Gathering this past Sunday.  I preached from Luke 11:24-36, encouraging us to see the glory of “Jesus, Our Prophet, Our Sage.”  I looked at four key questions we all have as human beings.  They are the following, with my conclusions in italics:

1. How should I live? in obedience to Jesus
2. Will I have regrets? not if we embrace Him
3. How will I know for sure? He is risen
4. How can I find purpose and joy? Look at Him

The band rocked it out on the following songs:

1. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
2. “To Christ the Lord” (Indelible Grace; my personal favorite)
3. “Jesus Whispers” (Red Mountain)
4. “We Are Listening” (Sojourn)
5. “There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood”
6. “Wholly Yours” (Crowder)
7. “This Low” (The Swell Season)

As usual, they did amazingly well.  I’m so incredibly grateful for them!  Join us next week for another Karis Gathering.

Today at Karis, due to the True/False Film Festival, we met at the Upper Crust downtown.  Here are a couple of videos shot from today’s worship Gathering.