Colossians 4:12 says this: Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. What an interesting phrase: wrestling in prayer. We usually limit our notions of biblical wrestling to the story of Jacob in Genesis 32. But the practice evidently did not end with the patriarchs. Epaphras struggled in prayer. He anguished in his prayers. Like Jacob, I sense that he would not let go of God “unless you bless me.” (Genesis 32:26) Yet as interesting as “wrestling in prayer” is to us, the purpose behind the smackdown is even moreso: “for you.” Epaphras struggles in prayer for the sake of the Colossian church. To the extent I wrestle in prayer, it is usually for myself and my needs. But not so with Epaphras. The maturity and assurance of the Colossian church merits his most fervent, difficult prayers. For whom will you wrestle in prayer today? (By the way, I noticed these words especially because I was reading in Colossians . . . out loud.)

I saw this picture and fell in love with it.     It's some of our Good Shepherd students praying over the seats in the moments before Sunday night Connect.  They touch and pray over every seat in the house, asking God to fill the teenagers who sit in the seats with his love, his wisdom, and his power. Just like people do over the Worship Center on Moss Road on Sunday mornings.  And just like they do over the seats for our Latino Ministry.  And just like they'll do at our Zoar Road campus when it opens publicly on March 27. One church, two languages, two locations . . . and one unified mission of invited all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ.  And all people most definitely includes teenage people.

A lot of you know this, but here goes:  I am the eighth of eight children.  No blending.  All biological.  All Davis, all the time. I am also quite a bit younger than the rest, as #1 was 23 when I was born and #7 was seven.  He (#7) went off to college when I was 12, which means that for the bulk of my adolescence I was . . . wait for it . . . an only child with seven brothers and sisters. And many of you are now thinking, "well, THAT explains EVERYTHING!" So: what are the ways my odd birth order still influences me today at age 54?  Here are five. 1.  I always have been and always will be THE BABY.  Can't get away from it, can't avoid it, can't fight it.  In fact, some of them still refer to me by nicknames I was given as a toddler.  Which I sure as #*$! am not going to share with you here. 2.  In a family of that size spanning that many years, we were raised by "different" parents.  My oldest sisters were raised by a dad who was just getting started in his academic career and a mom who was a 1940s-50s era housewife.  I was raised by a dad eagerly nearing retirement and a mom just as eagerly earning her Master's degree and entering the work force. 3.  The joy of one is the joy of all.  These days my brothers and sisters and I celebrate grandparenthood, career changes, book publishing, and marrying children off.  Technology is an enormous help -- I don't know how we'd do it if we had to write letters and make phone calls! 4.  The sadness of one is the sadness of all.  We haven't been immune to the inexplicable, as my oldest sister died suddenly in 1984 when she was 45.  And her death was only three days after one brother and his wife gave birth, a week before another brother got married and three weeks before Julie and I did.  That month-long circle of life remains the most vivid time in what it means to be a Davis. 5.  Relationships work when you work on them.  Eight siblings, eight spouses (Ok, including a few ex-es as well as some new ones), two political parties (at least), various religious expressions, differing professions . . . well, you get it.  A lot of personal quirks (not that I have any, of course) and even more opinions.  It's easy to let that stuff get in the way . . . until you don't.  I think I can say that in part because of technology (see #3) but more because of tenacity, we are better connected today than ever.

What a day. The soft launch of our Zoar Campus.  Meaning, the first day that a sermon of mine would be broadcast to a video venue of Good Shepherd. So I was extra nervous at 8:30, because that's the sermon Zoar will use. But . . . it was also Spring Forward Sunday, which, as preachers around the country can tell you, should also be called Church Evacuation Sunday. Yet we hung in there.  More importantly, the lauch team at Zoar (107 people yesterday) ran through their steps with only a few hiccups.  Next Sunday (March 20) is the second "soft launch," all in preparation for the public Grand Opening on Easter Sunday, March 27. Here's yesterday's message, originally titled "When Jesus Was Gross" and then re-titled "The Saliva Miracle."  You'll see why below. And you'll also see how the bottom line fits:  God uses what disgusts you to deliver you.     ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You know, most of us here agree that Jesus is good. And you’d agree that he is gracious. And you’d agree that he is glorious. But I am super excited today because I get to tell you about one more G word describing him: GROSS. Yep, we’re going to look at a jaw dropping story in which Jesus does something that by our standards is so gross, so vile, so disgusting, so socially inappropriate, that if he were to do it here, we’d escort him out. You know that old WWJD? Well, today, if you did what Jesus did, more than likely you’d be a) arrested; b) beaten up; or c) BOTH. And what is this uniquely disgusting thing? Well I’m not gonna tell you yet! I AM going to tell you, though, that it comes in another one of his jaw dropping miracles, and one we find in Mark 8. Now as we start this story, you need to know the backstory to the story. And the backstory is that Jesus has just fed 4k ppl with seven loaves of bread – and yet in the aftermath of that Jaw Dropper, his inner, inner circle still doesn’t comprehend him well. He has to chastise them; look at Mark 8:17-18:   ¹⁷ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?   You HAVE eyes; you just FAIL to see with them. So his peeps, his tight knit circle in the middle of this cascade of jaw droppers, still has, at best, partial vision. So now that we’ve seen the backstory to the story, let’s take a look at the story itself, OK? Look at 8:22-23a:   ²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. ²³ He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.    I love that. People bring the man to Jesus. It works that way, doesn’t it? Even today? People rarely have Jesus leaning insight apart from other people. Someone ALWAYS brings someone else to Jesus. It probably worked that way with you, even here – friend, a parent, a co-worker, even a pastor. And then it’s so interesting what Jesus does next: he leads the man OUTSIDE the village of Bethsaida. Very deliberate in that detail. And you may wonder why? And that’s where Matthew fills in the gaps in 11:21: READ. Oh! It’s a place full of unbelief. So it’s almost like Jesus fells he needs to get this guy out of the atmosphere of opposition and skepticism before he can do anything at all about his vision. Wonder if he is doing that for his inner circle as well!   So here they are: outside the perimeter of the village, Jesus, the blind man, and I assume at least a few of his 12. Why? Because one of them had to see it to record it and later share it with author Mark! And what happens next is one of those “Did you have to do that, Jesus” One of those moments, one of those incidents when you feel like you have to apologize for the bible, when you hope Bill Maher doesn’t get hold of it. Take a look at 8:23b:   When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”   Spit on the man’s eyes. Not even on his hands first and THEN put that on his eyes; it looks as if there is a direct hit of saliva on iris.   Now: we know that eye ailments were common in the ancient world – neither glasses nor contacts had been invented yet! – and we know that saliva was thought to be an agent of healing. BUT STILL. Jesus spits. Jesus disgusts. Jesus is gross. No wonder this little story doesn’t make it into our illustrated children’s bibles! Barely makes it into the movies about his life! And then, with his hands still on the poor spit-victim, Jesus asks, “Do you see anything?” Remember: he has just said that his disciples have eyes but don’t see! AND in the next story, he asks them the super penetrating question that governs all of Mark – who do YOU say that I am? Nothing is here by accident and I love Mark’s genius in layering the story together. The answer comes back in 8:24:   ²⁴ He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”   Oh, I don’t know, but if it was me and a guy had just spit in my eye, I’d have probably been like, “Oh yeah! Perfect vision! 20/20 at least! No need for a repeat! Whatever it takes to keep your saliva outta my iris!” But I’m not this man in Mark 8. His answer his honest; his perspective is partial. He’s been sort of healed. Even taking the spit out of the equation, that’s where a lot of us are, right? Wondering if we should settle. Things are improved, they’re good enough, but they’re still not all there. Maybe that’s how it is with YOUR health, with YOUR marriage, with YOUR living relationship with Jesus Christ. Pretty good, partially clear, but ultimately kind of blurry. And like the guy in the story you have to decide and declare: is good enough good enough? Apparently for Jesus it’s not. Look at 8:25:   ²⁵ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.   Restored suggests he’d been a sighted person before and now sees clearly AGAIN. But do you know what is so cool? We’re gonna stop using vials of oil in our healing services and start using containers of saliva! On, and in addition to that, this is the ONLY Jaw Dropper in which there is a two stage miracle. Every other one takes ONE word, ONE prayer, ONE touch and BOOM! But not here. I love 8:25’s first three words: once more Jesus. Because isn’t that so much like life?! Now: we’re not exactly sure WHY this miracle takes two steps. (Lynyrd Skynyrd took three.) Maybe it would have been too painful to go from blindness to full sightedness instantly. Or, more likely, Mark is showing us the parallels between this guy and the disciples whose story sandwiches this one. He sees partially just as they see partially. Ultimately, Mark doesn’t tell us WHY; he just tells us what happened. I do know, however, that that gradual, two step healing is so much like life & the once more Jesus is so much what it means to be connected to him. But what I can’t really get away from is that disgusting, raw, earthy, offensive act of the spit. And as I recoiled from it, entered back into it, was embarrassed by it, pondered it, and ultimately fell in love with it, here’s what I realized: isn’t that just like God? To take what at first glance looks disgusting and use it to deliver? To take what is offensive and use that to liberate? To shock us before he saves us? To bother us before he blesses us? The very thing which probably startled this poor guy in Mark 8, which no doubt bothered him, is the very thing that was essential to his healing & his vision. It’s almost that pain & discomfort is preparatory to healing & peace! Here is it: God uses what disgusts you to deliver you. Yep.     Just think of how true this is in life, people. You’ve got a pet, they’re sick, what do you have to do? Put them in a crate – never! – and cart them to the vet. The whole time, if it’s a cat, that cat is hating you. Or a child. They need a shot to make sure they don’t get lethally sick and every parent here KNOWS what an ordeal that is! Even when you get older, it’s uncanny how the medicine you take – literally & figuratively – is offensive but so essential. I have come to the conclusion that God specializes in take that which we find objectionable and using it for our blessing. .God uses what disgusts you to deliver you.   But it’s not just the pattern of life; it’s the pattern in Scripture. Some of you may know that midway through the OT the Jews, God’s chosen ones, find themselves exiled from home and enslaved in Babylon. For 70 years they sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept. And do you know how they got out? A man named Cyrus, the king of Persia defeats the Babylonians and as a favor to the Jews lets them return home. Persia is what? Iran! The enemy then; bigger enemy now. But all in all – in those days – people with whom Jews would have no contact because they were unclean. They were Gentiles and therefore disgusting. And that’s who God chooses and uses to restore Israel to its home. Or in the NT, Jesus tells the story of the Good _____ what? Right! The Good Samaritan. Do you know how that sounded to ancient ears? Like The Good Taliban. The Good ISIS. If you’re a D, it sounded like The Good Repub; if you’re an R, it sounded like The Good Dem. And by telling that story, Jesus says to all those myopic, bigoted people: it’s an untouchable Samaritan who saves! Why? It’s just the way of God: God uses what disgusts you to deliver you. My gosh, I’ve seen this in my life. Third grade, little boys room, washing hands, I grab the hands of a classmate and make him hit hisself. I’m a brute! He runs out crying, I get sent to the principal, and it all breaks loose. A tattletale and not a friend. He didn’t even like tennis! Bothers me. Why do I tell you that? Fast forward seven years and whose the guy laying some serious Gospel truth on me so that I become a Xn? Same guy. God uses what disgusts you to deliver you. . Even in the realm of healing. Eighteen months after conversion I scramble off to college and in the early days there, looking for some fellow Xns, I wander into a place called Alpha Omega Fellowship. Oh Lord, Hand raising. Long praying. Tongue talking. Everything but the snakes. So emotional. And remember: I’ve never met an emotion I couldn’t avoid! I just thought they were kind of looney & so I never went back thank you very much. Three years later when my shoulder is injured & inexplicably resistant to treatment, who did I call. I guy from that group. And how did he pray. With the laying on of hands and in tongues. And the result? Shoulder healed. God uses what disgusts you to deliver you. You know what else about my shoulder there? We prayed more than once. Repeatedly. Same with my back 20 years later. In both instances, hands got laid on, partial improvement came, kind of like Walking People Trees, all as a prelude to total freedom. That’s why that pattern is in the story; that’s why two phase healing. Sometimes Jesus has to grow your faith before he will drop your jaw. And that is so true about your life in faith – even beyond healing. There are so many things in the library; truths vital to understanding the jaw dropping Jesus, and a lot of them are initially offensive. Hell. Well, yeah. It’s real. And only when you embrace its disconcerting reality do you receive the corresponding liberation of heaven! Tithing. Gulp. Who wants to give 10+% Now that’s disgusting. And then you do it, and it DOES deliver you. Delivers you from greed, from self, and from dumb financial planning. And then maybe worst of all, in Scripture you discover that Jesus did not come to make you nice. He came to make you dead! Dead so you might be “made alive” in Christ. He doesn’t want a better you; he wants a brand new you. And that’s a hard, offensive truth for all us who think we have things pulled together and then we realize it’s the best news ever.  God uses what disgusts you to deliver you. So where is it with you? Where and who are the people you find offensive that you now know are probably the key to your own liberation? What are the truths or habits or practices in Scripture that at first glance seems so annoying but now you know they are anointed? What used to make your skin crawl and now you know it’s really just the spittle of heaven. Kind of like happened with my friend . . .   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMaFb54viCg

Solve:  Finding God's Solutions In A World Of Problems is coming soon. I know it's coming soon because just yesterday I sent the final edits to Abingdon Press who will then zip them into production and . . . PRESTO!  The book itself will be available on May 17, 2016. The book finds its origin in the 2015 sermon series Solutionists.  The series and the book that comes from it are both based on Nehemiah, one of Scripture's neglected superstars. Nehemiah was not one to point out problems.  He pinpointed solutions. As I was reading through and editing the material, I became excited at the possibility of churches using it for a congregation-wide study.  I say that because the series and the book both pave the way for what we at Good Shepherd call a Radical Impact Project -- an act of collective generosity that has a major effect on a community. A sermon series that becomes more than a series of sermons. In our case, it was a record-setting food drive in support of Loaves & Fishes ministry.  If Solve is well implemented, churches can replicate our food drive -- or they can engage in a project tailored to the needs of their immediate neighborhoods.  Whatever the project, Solve helps to mobilize preacher and congregation to "just do this." Pre-orders for Solve are available here.