Life Pruning

I've decided that I am an addict.

A person who recovers from an addiction doesn't try to maintain a healthy dose of the addictive substance. They cut it out of their lives. Victory comes with giving up.

I can't seem to maintain a healthy level of entertainment media - chiefly movies and TV shows on the internet - thus, I am cutting these things out of my life. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes movies; they are all blocked now, thanks to a friend who has agreed to administrate a web filtering program on my computer.

On one level this is a humiliating experience. The fact that I can't manage my own time effectively without outside intervention makes me feel weak. On the other hand, I feel freedom blossoming; it feels like dead branches are being pruned out of the way to make room for some new fruit.

I'm excited to see what will happen :D

The Power of the Lord's Supper

I was recently blown away by the Apostle Paul's instructions regarding the Lord's Supper in 1 Cor 11. Paul told the Corinthian Church that it wasn't really the Lord's Supper that they celebrated when they gathered together to eat.

When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Should I praise you for this? Certainly not! (1 cor 11:20-22)

In fact, there were some significant problems that arose when this gathering occurred. This remembrance instructed by Jesus should have served to unite Christians in reverent thanksgiving for God's gift of His son. Instead, these folks seemed to focus on their own flesh, consuming wine and bread without consideration of each other. This is in direct opposition of the hearts of the apostle Paul, who on multiple occasions exhorted Christians to act in unity. For example, he wrote to the church of Phillipi, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but out of humility consider others better than yourselves" (Phil 2:3). Of course, this vision of Christian unity came from Jesus Christ, who prayed that his future followers would "be brought to complete unity" to let the world know that he was sent by the Father (John 17:23). Instead, these distortions of the Lord's Supper did more harm than good, creating division in the church of Corinth (1 cor 11:17-18).

That part isn't terribly shocking. Unity in the Church is, was, and will be important to Jesus' heart. The part that surprised me followed shortly afterward when Paul wrote...

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body and the blood of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

Whoh! Paul said that abuse of the Lord's Supper resulted in sickness and death among the Corinthian church. There is something very powerful about this rememberance of Jesus Christ's body and blood. I'm not talking about trans-substantiation here - whether or not the bread wine actually become flesh and blood. What I am saying is that there is something very powerful about the Lord's Supper. Beyond the symbolism of the elements, there is something spiritual and something physical about the act. It actually carries weight, and it actually affects you!

Christian Entertainment & "Socialtainment"
If Jesus had come in a more technicalogically privileged context, do you think that he would ever sit at home alone watching a TV show? I can't imagine this happening. Might he go to the theater with the disciples once in a while? Perhaps. Would he be on Facebook or MySpace? Probably not. Would Jesus 12 closest disciples be into social networking? Probably. I could see Peter tweeting about the latest thing that blew his mind while following Jesus.

It's fun to imagine this scenario of Jesus in a tech-savvy world, but God sent his Son when and where He did on purpose. It doesn't make sense whatsoever to think of Jesus coming for the first time in today's context - because today's context and the way we think today were deeply shaped by Jesus' first coming.

There's a point to these ramblings though. Our generation (teens, single 20-somethings and 30-somethings) has greater opportunity for entertainment in more convenient ways than ever before. At the same time, God's kingdom and Satan's earthly dominion are simultaneously growing more powerful every day. I fear that much of the Church in the USA and other wealthy, western countries will be left in the dust as the tension between these kingdoms grows.

God's heart is for those who are desperate. Jesus listed as "blessed" those who are poor in spirit, those mourning, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted. WHY? These are the ones who either ARE desperate for God's help or ARE HELPING those who are desperate for God's help. These are the ones who take part in Christs revolutionary kingdom, the ones who have the greatest inheritence.

He or she with the largest church doesn't win.

Of course, poor people aren't necessarily close to God, and rich people aren't evil, but "it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven," and it is the one who is desperate for Jesus who gets Jesus in the greatest measure. I, David Carl Enders, can testify from my personal experience that it is when I am most entertained that I am the least hungry / thirsty / desperate for Jesus.

Maybe we Christian young adults should be less concerned about entertaining ourselves and each other, and more concerned about hunger for Jesus. More concerned about having His heart for those in desperation.

If you are reading this post, you are probably rich. You are probably one of my friends, you probably have enough food, clean water, clothes and transportation. I do too. That puts us in the top 15% of the world's wealthiest - automatically (Radical, David Platt 115). If you're reading this you are literate and have access to the internet too. You and I are the upper crust whether we like it or not.

And like Pastor Steve says, can the lame excuses :)

I want to be part of a revolutionary community that lives out. Let's set social trends in our sphere of influence that emphasize the Word, service, giving, and the supernatural over hanging out, eating, watching movies and playing games? I really enjoy celebration and having fun - but it's like dessert, and I'm kind of in sugar shock. I need a real meal. Jesus said that his food was to do the will of the One who sent him and to finish his work (John 4:34). Jesus finished his part, but there is much left to be done. We, disciples of disciples, were sent out by Jesus 2000 years ago to make disciples (Matt 28:19), to be united (John 17:23), to love God and to love people. We the Church of the USA do not love people if we ignore the suffering of the masses while we enjoy comfort and entertainment. "'Everything is permissible for me' but not everything is beneficial" (1Cor 6:12). Enjoy a movie, some games, and some hanging out here and there. Don't be legalistic. But do not be mastered by anything.

To those who have much, much will be required (luke 12:48). A life that prioritizes entertainment is not what the Lord requires - instead let's embrace just action, a love for mercy, a humble walk (Micah 6:8).

I say all of this for my own benefit more than anyone else's.
I have not yet perfected any of it.
Thanks for reading :)

Drinking from a firehose... and loving it.

Good afternoon!... and a good afternoon it is. The snow on Market was absolutely beautiful a few moments ago. Picturesque, fluffy giant flakes all over the place. I love it :)

IHOP ONETHING was the last week of 2010. What a lifechanging experience! There was a lot of inspiring and challenging teaching to absorb, but here's a quick bullet-point run-down of the teaching and my experience - perrrrhaps I'll expound later?

(BTW... you can watch videos from the OneThing conference HERE)

1. Time management and God's priority - Corey Russel. Spoke against spirit of laziness, flippancy; REPENT and REORIENT. Immediately.
2. God's personality - Mike Bickle, Misty Edwards, etc. Christ is KING (power), BRIDEGROOM (desire), and JUDGE (zealous love).
3. Unity is not ignorance of distinctives - Stuart Greaves. "Come out of the caves"
4. Mind -> Mouth -> Heart - Shelly Hundley. WOW. What an incredible testimony. God is just amazing.
5. Bring it back to the 1st commandment - Mike Bickle. The exchange rate will never be higher... trade in temporary riches and recognition now for ETERNAL reward :) SO many testimonies of God's generosity and provision. SO COOL!
6. Ekklesia - Louie Engle. The "church" is not meant to be a building, but a local assembly of intercessory, spiritual government!
7. 7 commitments of a "forerunner" - Mike Bickle. God is calling forth people to consecrate themselves and declare Christ's 1st and 2nd coming.
8. Fasting - Wes Martin, etc. I didn't actually hear Wes' talk yet, but fasting was addressed by Mike Bickle as well. It should be a common practice in the Church as we soften our hearts toward God.

I still have a lot of digesting and application to do. I am just so thankful for God's stirring in my heart. A lot of the teaching just made sense according to scripture. I have to react to this.

The Fellowship of Suffering

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death - phil 3:10

I find this verse intriguing right now. I guess I'm at a point where I want to want this. I hate suffering. I don't like pain. I don't even like inconvenience. I want to be entertained all the time, and yet entertainment is precisely and consistently what tortures me - because I know that there is so much more to the Gospel than going to Heaven after I die. There is God's kingdom in the here and now; I can't contribute if I busy myself with movies and video games.

Christians are called to a life of suffering, as demonstrated by the apostles. I don't think they lived the life they lived so that I could be rich, fat, and ignorant about the people around me. I have been given access to eternal relationship with God, but also immediate freedom from the twisted nature of the fallen world, and a viral ministry of reconciliation. This thing is still active; God is still in the business of breaking people free and waking up souls. I so want to partner with him in that business, but I feel like a failure so often.

Bring it back to GRACE. I've got to live in that grace. I don't have to perform for God, because when he sees me, he sees the perfection of his son. I can't earn anything, but still I want to be better, more effective. I want to be willing to give of myself completely, and experience that fellowship of suffering with Christ.

A sunday in the life

Sundays are always so up-and-down.

This morning I played sax with worship team. I was up late watching The Blind Side. What an excellent movie! Thing is, I woke up terrible groggy in the morning. It didn't help that I was short on sleep the previous day (the big move for gramps and grams). I practically fell asleep in the shower, and was surprised when I emerged to discover that I was already late for WT warmup practice! Arrrgh....

As services progressed, I found myself more and more worshipful. God is good! I started out completely out of it, but was drawn closer. After third service I went to Applebees with a few friends. As I left I saw a guy standing on a corner, in the freezing rain, flashing a sign asking for a job so that he could make Christmas happen for his family. I just went on my way, but soon sensed a tug to turn around. Thus, I turned around in Riverside and headed back to G-millz, parked, and walked up to the guy. Just as I approached, Dan Mori and Sara Strong came right up behind me!

This was so cool. Praise God! I approached the man to pray for him, while Dan and Sara approached to give to him; they had money and a gift card. What if he just got the money, or what if he just got the prayer. These are both significant... but incomplete! Afterwards, I wondered if I was like the hypocrite who says, Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well-fed and yet does nothing to meet the person's practical need. I totally felt like that was a God-moment, bringing together the practical gift and the prayer gift.

Next I went to Soul Full, chatted with Spencer (always a good decision), did a bit of reading, and talked about ministry with Jess. I enjoy talking to her, but it's time to bring somme meat to the convo. It seems I talk a lot more about religion than faith.

Still later, I went to Wegmans to do some reading. I started talking to another dude who was sitting in the cafe and playing cards on his computer. Ron Christiansen is a Vietnam veteran, and retired after working for Corning for 40 years. He's part Cherokee(?) and has adopted some of the religion and worldview from his Native American heritage. We had some pretty interesting conversation. He's big on talking about "common sense", which kind of involves a lot of worldly wisdom. We talked about ideas of what happens after death / Heaven and Hell. I layed out my perception of God who is relationship-focused, and basically laid out the Gospel; Jesus was sacrificed so that we can relate with a perfect God. We spend eternity either in relationship with Him or separated from Him, and if we are in relationship with Him, then we as the Church are to be change agents, transforming the world into the place God wants it to be.

I am very thankful that God is building in me the ability to express the Gospel. I have had so much fear in this area in the past! I want to express this freely, only hesitating when the Holy Spirit prompts me to hesitate. May it be so! Amen.

Title Track

Let's start with the start. Why am I starting a blog?

The world was already crazy and small, but I think it's gotten both crazier and smaller over the course of my youth and young adulthood. We have some remarkable technology to thank for this. The telegraph machine evolved into the telephone, which became cordless, car-portable and finally cellular. Computers have been around forever (you know, since before I was born). My dad used to punch holes in cards and run his programs at the lab for hours, then repunch the cards to fix mistakes. Then computers got smaller... crazy smaller. They connected to each other, shared their data to servers. Ultimately... Voila! The internets were born!

It was in my youth when the internet became available to the common man. My dad got Prodigy when I was pretty young. All I can remember about it was playing a maze game called Insanity. I know how old I was when my parents first got AOL because of my first screen name, YODA1010. This is when I first discovered the magical world of electronic communication. Email! Chat! Blogs! Oh my!

Something about blogging has always left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Isn't it kind of self-centered? Why display your thoughts for everyone else to see? I mean, people post some pretty deep, vulnerable thought on the internet. It's like they write in a private journal and proceed to make photocopies and staple them to power lines.

I've long since accustomed myself to the generational narcissism of Facebook. I was "one of those guys" who completely dismissed FB at first, but before I could ask, "so wait, what does poking actually do?" the event horizon was behind me and I was stretched 0ut like spaghetti as I conformed to the Faceblackhole. I'm getting a little carried away here, but the point is that facebook changed me.

Facebook has proven itself a powerful tool for event organization, photo sharing, networking, and completely wasting your life. It is a tool. It is both used and abused. One will use facebook to masterfully craft a beautiful oak table. Another will only injure their self and others.

The Blog is another instrument that can be used for both good and evil depending on the hands. Lately I've been profoundly inspired by a few friends' blogs that I actually read (past tense). Thus, I've decided to try my hand at it. I hope to use it as a tool to clarify my own thought. If it's for my own use, why post it on the internet? I suppose that I want to share thoughts with others. Not everything; there are some thoughts that are simply private and not postworthy, and these I will scribe in a personal journal when I sense the need. I am one, however, who tends to keep my thoughts to myself, listening to and processing conversation while others are vocal. Perhaps by sharing my thoughts publicly I'll provide more material for conversation with friends. Maybe I'll discover that I want to be a journalist. Ultimately, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and I need to go to work now :)