baylight church community

The five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4:11

Hi BayLight.  I’m back from India and looking forward to journeying through the above with you.  Just to recap from the last time when I introduced the subject, I thought I would summarize and post my slide from then.  

The King [Jesus] conquered the enemy and passed out gifts strategically and purposefully to the church. Jesus gave gifts to each and every person.  What are these gifs/giftings?  This is how Paul put it in Ephesians 4:11-12:

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.   

What do these gifts do?  

12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 

Notice how the church is not an organization or institution.  Building or no building, denomination or no denomination, if it lacks life and lack connection to the head, it is not the body of Christ.   The church here  is a living, growing entity in connection with its leader (literally “head”), Jesus.   Listen to the relational and organic language here in v.16: 

16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.   

Everything is connected.  Everything is working well and properly.  Life is active.  This is a sign of maturity for the apostle Paul.   And the key to this is the equipping of the church through the five-fold ministry giftings. 

Here’s my summary of them that we will explore over the next month.

 – apostles - those who connect us to the mission of Jesus in all its scope.  

        For those gifted in this way, it’s about multiplication and new foundations.

 – prophets - those who connect us to the voice of the Spirit in all its authority.

         For those gifted in this way, it’s about hearing and obeying

 – evangelists – those who connect us to the heart of God for his lost children in all its urgency. 

         For those gifted in this way, it’s about people: lost people coming to Jesus.

 – shepherds – those who connect us to the heart of God for all his children in all its strength.

         For those gifted in this way, it’s about people period: loving them with the love of Jesus.

 – teachers – those who connect us to the word of God in all its richness.  

Tenderloin Coffee Outing THIS Saturday

Hey all, a group of us are heading out to the Tenderloin this Saturday morning to offer prayer, a cup of coffee, and some warm clothes to people on the streets.  Just another way of following Jesus and participating in God’s mission to bring a small token to bless others.  We’re meeting at my place at 8am.  If you’re interested, zap me an email.  Shalom!

Appearance or Essence?

This Sunday we walked through a powerful section of the Scriptures in Isaiah 43 that spoke to the idea of living based out of our essence rather than for appearance.

Appearance - “external show”

Essence - “the most significant aspect or quality of a person”

Even just looking at those two dictionary definitions, doesn’t it make sense to live out of our essence, who we are as people, rather than just for an external show?  Here’s another example: When you go to a party or social gathering and meet someone new, how does the conversation usually go?

“Hi, my name is Jason, what’s yours?”

“John.”

“Nice to meet you John.  What do you do?”

You know what I’m talking about.  All too often we equate what a person is with what a person does.  Or, instead of that, we evaluate someone based on who they know.  Isn’t that so much of what election or product endorsements are all about?  So and so has spoken his blessing on this person or this product, and therefore it must be good.  Or, to use another example, isn’t it nice to see how many friends you have on facebook or myspace?  

Friends, while our job function and our relationships are extremely important, and deserve our best efforts, they do not form the essence of who we are.  God tells us otherwise.

Isaiah 43:4, the center part of the passage we walked through on Sunday says this:

4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,

and because I love you,

I will give men in exchange for you,

and people in exchange for your life.

Regardless of our position or accomplishments or any other characteristic we would attach externally to us, that does not constitute who we are intrinsically.  In our pursuit to live as kingdom people, we must always remember who’s in charge - the King, and His name is Jesus.  He’s who we follow, He’s who we derive our fundamental worth from, because He is the King.

Everything else flows out of our relationship with the King, and that enables us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, when we seek Jesus.

Isaiah 43:7 depicts a beautiful illustration of the King seeking us out, drawing us to Himself, and then reminding us of this fact: We were created for His glory.  And the beauty of it is that followers of Christ are supernaturally reenabled to fulfill this purpose through the promised Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 1:13-14 says:

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Regardless of where you’ve been or how you value yourself now, you are of tremendous worth to God.  No matter how far away you think you are from Him, if you’ve turned your back on Him, or walked away from what He wanted you to do, He is not far away.  God, the King, loves you because He created you, and you are precious in His sight by no consequence of your own doing, but because of your inherent worth as a child of God.

Disaster Preparedness Event Deadline and Updates

Hey church,

Just a reminder to respond to the Disaster Preparedness Event Evite by next week, October 19th (Sunday) so that the appropriate number of kit contents can be ordered.   The Evite is open so that you can also extend the invitation to people in your oikoses.  If you’d like to be put on the Evite, contact Hanah (msjoo2@yahoo.com).

You’ll find an updated list of kit contents complete with quantities here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc3c3pp8_255vvnrzgb

And so that you can make an educated choice, you’ll find a spreadsheet comparing the Baylight kits to comparable Costco kits here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHw6yYzEIRDnDcWsuHFyjGQ

If you’d like paper copies of either document, feel free to email Alinna (alinna@gmail.com) or me (hideyo@gmail.com).

Emergency Preparedness Kits

A month ago when we fielded questions about the prophetic word, a few
of you asked, “What are we to do with this word?” and others asked,
“How do I talk to not-yet Christians about this word?”

Last Sunday, after morning worship, some of us gathered together to
talk about what we could do to be physically prepared for an
earthquake. Out of that meeting came a document that you can find at
this link:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc3c3pp8_24hb5mvm64

What we would particularly like to note from the list is the bottom
half of the document. In the bottom half, you’ll see sections titled
“Evac. Backpack - To Give Away” and “Emergency Kit (Home)”. As you’ll
infer, the evacuation backpacks are intended for us to distribute out
to our oikoses (our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, our
family, etc.) while the home emergency kits, because they’re more
extensive and costly, are intended for us to keep in our homes. It is
our hope that the evacuation backpacks would provide a great
opportunity to get to know the people in your oikoses more and show
genuine care and concern for them. You can talk about it in the
context of the prophetic word or just earthquake preparedness. I’d
encourage us to pray, asking the Lord to be the one to guide our words
as we talk to our oikoses.

In the near future, we hope that as a church, we could assemble both
the evacuation backpacks and home emergency kits. The items listed as
“optional” on the list will not be included.

The home emergency kits will roughly cost $80 while the evacuation
backpacks will roughly cost $41. If the evacuation backpacks are
bought for oikos people, the church will subsidize half of the cost of
the evacuation backpacks, making them roughly $20 each.

If you’re interested in purchasing them or have any questions, talk to
Alinna or me or email either of us.

Thoughts on NT study on prophecy

So, I just wanted to say I appreciated what we studied today on prophecy in the NT today.  I thought it was very clear and well done, but it was also challenging to me and I’ll even admit I was rebuked about the amount of time in my life spent seeking the Lord through my own personal time in the Word and in prayer.  I want to clarify though that it’s not that I feel guilty or accused, but that it was the Word speaking clearly to me about the fact that I just need to spend time in His Word again, getting to know what He said and how it applies to my life.  It’s what would serve as the proper lens through which I would be able to view things like this prophecy about California that’s on the table right now, but also something that would serve to connect me more deeply with God.  So, I’m really thankful for what we learned at church today and that the Lord spoke to me.  Did anyone else feel blessed at church today?

Moving forward from our last gathering

Well, this past Sunday some GREAT stuff happened.  All of us together wrestled with foundational questions about the nature of God (judgment and wrath?  does he speak today and how?), the veracity of Scripture in regard to hearing from God and sharing prophetic words, and about the nature of being in relationship with this God.   Whether we knew it or not, some of our core assumptions and outlooks on the Christian life are being exposed and purposefully examined.    That is why this past Sunday was FANTASTIC. Already, the fruit of this prophetic word in the life of the church is top-notch.    I believe we are closer to the heart of God than a month ago, and that the best lies ahead.

Over the next few weeks, you’re going to see many of the questions raised this past Sunday addressed in a series of blog posts here as well as some more formal and informal discussions/teaching on Sunday mornings.  In two Sundays, we will get a chance to look directly at New Testament passages on prophecy, but before that happens, we want to make room for many of you to comment: what’s your experience with prophecy, and what has the Lord taught you to date?   Feel free to go ahead and post a comment anonymously or with your name.   

Before I close this posting off, I wanted to embed the discussion of prophecy a bit more in larger context. Most of us react to the word “prophecy” or “prophet” with a measure of fear either because of our experiences of abuses [false prophets] or because of our Western discomfort with the supernatural in general (I’ll share my experience in a comment below).   But despite our confusion, discomfort or even skepticism, prophecy remains something that is of critical importance in our relationship with God and the Scriptures.   If you did a word search for prophet[s], prophecy, prophesy, or prophetess, how many times do you believe they would come up?   My latest search found a variation of the word used in 583 passages of Scripture, 190 of them in the New Testament alone.  What does this tell us?   If nothing else, that prophecy is a big piece of Scripture itself as far as content or mode of communication.   This should come as no surprise to us given that there are books of the bible and an entire genre of Scripture called prophecy: all the Old Testament books from Isaiah to Malachi.   The Hebrews [back then and today] actually demarcate all of the Old Testament outside of the first five books of Moses [Genesis to Deuteronomy called the Pentateuch or Torah] as “the prophets,” so included in their estimation of what is called prophecy is everything from Joshua to Malachi.   So their   phrase “the Law and the Prophets” covers ALL Old Testament Scripture.     All this to say that  prophecy comprises a large portion of biblical revelation in which we need to have some level of trust, comfort and understanding as followers of Jesus Christ.    

This is why it’s VERY GOOD for us to be asking these questions about  how God spoke to His people in the Old Testament and how He continues to speak to His people in our period called the New Testament as well.    May I offer an action point that will help the curious journeyman or woman?  Try reading one of the Old Testament prophetic letters — I’m reading Isaiah 1-20 now in my G3.   And as you read it, ask the Lord some of your questions about His character, His judgment-mercy, His redemptive heart for the world, and about the place of our intercession and obedience in all of it.  Ask Him to show Himself to you, and ask for an open mind.  Many actually find a different picture of God than the caricatured wrathful and judgmental God.  And in fact, many view the prophetic genre as rival to the poetic genre in containing some of the most beautiful and magnificent pictures of God in the entire bible.    I imagine that this exercise of reading the prophets in such a way, repeated over time, may be more illuminating than listening to some long-winded guy talk for an hour about it at BayLight on Sunday morning : ).

Our initial journey and searching may take on the form of “research” or desire for “proof” or “validation,” but I believe at journey’s end awaits a God who is THRILLED to meet His children in a deepening and life-transforming way.  Thrilled, to be journeying with you all.   Mike.

Soliciting questions for this Sunday

 This Sunday, we will carve out some time to openly discuss questions that you may have in response to the prophetic word about the Bay area . It is important that we process this together as many of us have different feelings, questions and perspectives on the matter.  Some of you may agree and be ready to start doing stuff about it.  Some of you may not be sure and may need to hear more from God and others about it.  Some of you may not agree and may need to know if you’re still a community member in good standing if you don’t agree with the word.  This discussion forum will be a safe place for us to talk about it.

     To help facilitate this discussion time, we have been and will be gathering more questions in LTG’s this week.  And in the event that you have other questions, feel free to email them to your small group leader, to a COT or staff member by Saturday morning.    

   Another avenue you can use to submit questions you have is by commenting on this entry.   We have turned off the need to log-in for now if you desire not to be associated with your question.  Chances are that many share the same questions you have, so please know that EVERY question is a good question.
   We also want to ask for all of you to pray for this time together.   Above all, we want to stay close to what we know God is asking of us.  Would you pray for protection from fear and confusion and also pray for a spirit of clarity and unity among us?   This represents a great opportunity for us to grow together as the body of Jesus.

Thank you everyone, and we look forward to journeying deeper into the heart of God and into the lives of people with you.

A Praying people… and the 30/30 journey

Not long ago, Jason shared the resounding question from Peter’s letter to the scattered church: in light of the reality of Jesus’ present and coming reign, what kind of people ought we to be?  This past Sunday gathering we practiced being a PRAYING PEOPLE.  As I’ve had discussions with people at BCC, it seems like many among us feel Jesus leading us to be a praying people.  

One of the dangers that the Thessalonian church faced when confronting the nearness of Jesus’ return was idleness.    Some stopped life as they knew it and lost focus.   As we consider the prophetic word for the Bay Area, this is a danger we could run into as well.   Do we stop working?  Should I not go on vacation this year?   Travel out of town or out of country this year?  How about some of the current ministry doors we’re walking through — Castro elementary, the Tenderloin, sowing seeds in other oikos groups?   As I consider a trip to Europe, India and possibly Africa in two months, I face these real questions as well.   

One of the things the Lord has shown me in my conversations with some godly people at BayLight as well as my G3 readings through 1 and 2 Thessalonians is that what I need now is focus and redemptive purpose in the everyday, ordinary things I do.  And the one thing I can immediately add to my life to help that is prayer.   Prayer connects me with God, connects me with my supernatural design for which I was created, and connects me to a world in which God has strategically and purposefully placed me.   In a sense, I am most fully human when I pray.   And though prayer has never come naturally in my spirituality (It has always been work —  a labor of love, sweat and tears), I have noticed that I feel most alive when I pray.  Maybe your experience is the same?   I know the experience of other godly people I’ve met or whose biographies I have read are also in agreement.  

So how do we navigate the chaos of weighing a prophetic word and living life with love and urgency?   Prayer.  We not only NEED it, but the Lord is stirring something among us so that so many of us now WANT it. 

One thing the Lord led me to try and to invite all of you to join me in is the 30/30 journey.   For the next 30 days, I will be devoting 30 minutes a day to specifically praying for my not-yet-Christian friends, family, neighbors, fellow patrons, service-reps, school parents, and so on.   It’s not a lot of time but enough of a regular discipline to help focus my eyes and my prayers beyond myself.  I’m also hoping the Lord will give me insights into how I can pray for, love, serve, and make disciples of all these people God cares for.   I’m trusting that God will give me and any of you who join me some stories to share about the power of prayer and the power of a God who delights to do a lot with even the little we offer.   

So September 1 has started.   Come join me in experiencing God in a new and powerful way!  I want to encourage all of you to give it a try.  There’s no harm or risk in trying.   And if you go only four days, that’s totally cool too.  Four days of prayer is better than none, and God will be pleased with whatever we bring to the table.  In fact [for all perfectionists out there], He already knows the outcome of our attempts!   If you want to give it a shake, shoot me an email; I’ll pray for you in this time, and we can swap stories afterwards.

Lord, make us a praying church.

The back story to what God is telling so many people all over the world about the San Francisco Bay Area

This past Sunday we talked openly about a word that God has revealed to many at BayLight, in the Bay Area and around the world. If I can summarize:

- What?  A coming disaster or series of disasters (tsunami and/or earthquake?) hitting the Bay Area on the level of 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.

- When?  We don’t know but some have heard as soon as this Fall.

- Where?  California, but the San Francisco Bay Area especially.

- Who?  The Lord has revealed this to the prophetically gifted individuals in our church community, to many churches and leaders throughout the Bay area across denominations and also to people all over the world in the house church planting movement around the world and those involved with the International House of Prayer Movement based out of Kansas City [There were IHOP intercessors in 214 countries praying on 08/08/08 for us along with over 600 of us in the city that day].    At the front edge of it all is Sean Malone of Crisis Response International who heard from God about 9/11 six months beforehand and was there on the ground when it happened, who heard from God about Hurricane Katrina and was there on the ground five days before it hit.  Now Malone and company have heard of a third disaster that would hit the Bay Area on the same magnitude as the previous two.   Malone and friends gathered together here in May of 2008 to plan and pray.

- Why?  Because the Lord wants to wake up the church (in a way that didn’t happen after the previous two disasters) to be ready to bring in the great harvest of people who will come to Him when it happens.   As we see consistently in the O.T., God is bringing a “severe mercy” upon the land and asking His people to seek Him for the sins of their land that we did nothing about.

 
Because we are a community that is open to the Spirit and wants to follow Jesus wherever He is going, we have brought this topic out in the open.  It will shape a lot of what we do and train for this year — providing us the kind of urgency that all Jesus-followers need to possess in the “last days” as we seek to obey the three overarching commandments Jesus gave us: to love God, to love our neighbors and to make disciples of all nations.   

Many of you in your Life Transformation Groups have already begun to process this word together; wonderful.  You will need the encouragement and support of your community as equally as they will need yours.  And the greater church body will need some of the gifting and passion that you will collectively bring to this discussion.

Many are asking the “What now?” questions.   There are a myriad of ways we can and will go on this. But for now, we wanted to encourage everyone to pray.  The call of the hour is intercession — pray for yourselves: that God would help you get ready to be His Kingdom witnesses.   And pray for our cities: that God would delay until His people on the ground are ready.      This is a time to pray like we’ve never before prayed.

I close with the apostle Paul’s words to the Thessalonian church:

5: 16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 19Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil.

 23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.