Letter to Duluth's The Reader Weekly on October 19, 2010

As a pastor of a local church, I want to say how much I appreciated Gary Kohls' piece in the October 7 Weekly Reader titled "In Defense of Christian Nonviolence - The Peace Plan of God." It was a refreshing and helpful presentation of Jesus' message in a generation (rightfully, in most cases) marked by cynicism and anger toward Christianity and "the Church". Kohls' article, contrasted with the one written on the previous two pages ("The Planet Glise 581g May Be The Second Bible Earth" by Ed Raymonds), points out that the trouble with faith is not faith itself but when faith is not lived out in genuine and loving ways. The answer is not to throw out Jesus or faith or the Bible as some would contend; it is, rather, to recapture the purity of the message and live a more authentic faith.

As a local church community we just worked through a series of messages titled NotChristian where we explored some of the the dissonance between modern Christians' actions and Jesus' teachings in order to recapture a more authentic and kinder faith (listen at www.hillsidealive.com). In a 2007 nationwide Barna research poll, people who self-identified as being "outside the church" labeled Christians as "sheltered, hypocritical, judgmental, anti-homosexual, too political and pushing their beliefs on others." Christians have a sizable stigma in society today and we wanted to be profoundly honest about where we may have gotten off track so we could take responsibility, change our ways and live rightly.

As Kohls pointed out, this dissonance between Jesus' teachings and modern Christianity causes many evils in our world, as pure Christianity has been continually hijacked by advocates for agendas of war, oppression, political power, economics, slavery, etc. Some Christians have errantly tried to conform the Message to meet their needs and fit their agendas which only pollutes the message and harms others. For those of us who may have been hurt by the church or are tired of religion and / or Christianity, and yet have a hunger for vibrant spirituality, let's rediscover Jesus and his teachings in the manner Kohls aptly invites us to. As we do this, we'll find that the "real" Jesus is actually pretty amazing and can lead us to some spiritually powerful ideas that will prove helpful to our own lives and help to repair and revolutionize the wider world as we know it.

Sincerely,
Rev. Ryan Bauers
Lead Pastor
Hillside Church
Downtown Duluth
www.hillsidealive.com

Riding the Wave of His Spirit

I believe that we are in the beginning stages of a greater move of God’s Spirit at Hillside Church, in our lives and this city. Like a wave beginning to form off the sandy, ocean bottom, I feel the living Spirit beginning to gather momentum and strength for a deluge of his Presence, Freedom & Power.

Into the deep end

I hear his voice calling to the deep places of our heart, soul and spirit, “Come from your safe and shallow kiddy pool Christianity, into the deep places of my Spirit.” He is beckoning us to deep relationship with his Spirit beyond anything that we have ever experienced before – coming close to his heart, knowing true intimacy with Father and receiving his complete love and profound peace. Once we’ve tasted life in the “deep end” we will never be the same and, to be sure, we will never go back.

The cutting-edge

This is not the safe, comfortable Christianity we’ve always known. It is a fresh, alive, cutting-edge, frontier, “leave everything and follow him” version, where we actually have to pay a price. This can seem scary at first until we recognize the power he longs to unleash through us – the miracles he wants to do, the people he wants to touch, the way he wants to use us. So, we live with the choice to live our small, selfish lives or to surrender all and see him come in real power. I can tell you that it’s much more fun to ride the wave, than to stand on the shore watching and wishing.

Infused with the Spirit

The same Spirit the raised Jesus’ lifeless body from the grave (Romans 8:11) is roaring forth to infuse our lives with miracle-working power and unceasing passion to send us into a world that is dry, cracked and desperate. It’s no longer enough for us to peddle plastic, anesthetized Christianity. What the world needs through us, as the people of God, the living body of Christ in the world, is the raw, authentic power of the God of Freedom and Love working through us. Let us not give them any less!

As we move into the fall, this is our cry as a church,” God, take all of me. I hold nothing back. Come, unleash your power and use me and us according to the dreams in your heart.” It’s time to grab our surfboards and get ready! It’s going to be an awesome ride!

Living The Kingdom - Sermon Follow Up

So the question then becomes, “How do we live out this unique, radical, holy and powerful distinct Kingdom?” To begin to walk this out, we must first understand the idea of what a kingdom is. A kingdom is a “dome where a king rules”; a king’s influence, authority and power. Jesus came to usher in his radical, unique kingdom that was totally different than the kingdom of the world. Wherever Jesus was present, so was his Kingdom (Matthew 12:28).

As human beings we have spheres of power and authority that we control. As followers of Jesus, our perspective begins to change; namely, who we allow to control this sphere, God or us. When we submit our will and actions to God’s ultimate will in our own spheres of influence (see Jesus’ prayer in Mathew 6:10), God’s Kingdom comes and his will can be literally worked out through our every day lives. (Read further in: I John 2:6; Romans 12:2; John 13:14,15)

The Kingdom of Love - Sermon Follow up

It almost seems foolish, the way that Jesus set up his Kingdom and told us to live. Yet, the foolishness of God confounds the wisdom of men (I Corinthians 1:27) and shows us a better, more accurate way to live. We see the example of Jesus who performed the most awesome display of power when he chose to use his power to die on the cross for those who crucified him.
As we humble ourselves to this radical, distinct way of loving and allow God’s Spirit to work in us to purge us of all of the ways we are not like this (Ephesians 4:31; Romans 12:2), we begin to manifest the true love of the Kingdom of God to those around us. People are not ultimately won to Jesus by our crafty arguments, slick programs or scare tactics. People are won over when they experience the unique and beautiful Kingdom love; the love of Jesus made real in our lives. They experience Jesus by the way we serve, the way we give, the way we surrender and the way we love sacrificially.

Challenge to Pray

I am reading an awesome book on prayer right now "Prayer That Brings Revival" by David Yonggi Cho. It's really challenging me, my view of prayer and my priority to pray. I love to pray and have regulary, quality prayer time, but I am really being challenged to take prayer, my belief in God's power and my commitment to pray to the next level.

I honestly believe that the way to where God has called me and us in the future will be paved in prayer. Prayer will unlock the power of God, give us divine insight and crush the enemy. It will enable us to see all of the things that we have dreamed about. It will infuse the every day reality with the tangible power of God to transform people from the inside out.

I am calling all Kingdom People to prayer. Let us advance in the power of his Spirit on our knees to truly see his "kingdom come and will be done."

The Father's Love

Reading Luke 15:11-32 this morning, I was again struck with the amazing love of the Father for us. The son takes his inheritance, leaves his father's home, blows everything he has on indulging in the world and hits rock bottom. He returns home, hoping only to be received as a hired hand; to be forever forsaken as a son because of his actions. However, this is not the case and two things strike my heart:

First, we discover that the father sees his son while still a long way off. I can just see the father, day after day, walking to the end of his property as the sun begins to set, hoping for a glimpse of his son returning home. The father was desperately anticipating the son's return. How amazing especially in the light of the sons deliberate action to forsake the father.

Second, instead of just receiving him as a servant - as would be the 'just' thing to do - he calls his servants to bring some fine clothes, prepare a huge, gourmet meal, because they are going to celebrate. The father treats this son with such honor and lavishly pours out his expression of love for him. I imagine what the son must have felt. Or I think back to the way I felt and how the Father treated me when I returned home.

The Crucified Life

It's amazing how self-centered I am. I mean really, when I step back and look at my thoughts and actions, how many times it comes back to me thinking about myself, doing what pleases me, what makes me happy. Jesus words in Luke 9:23 cut to the heart, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." DENY. That's tough.

My prayer for the past few weeks has been, "God, crucify more and more of me so you can impart your life to me and display your self-sacrificial love through me to others." Every morning I look at the previous day and realize all of the ways I failed to sacrifice for others; all of the ways I lived for me. And yet, in the most encouraging voice, the Holy Spirit reminds me of one or two places where I actually denied myself and really did live out the kind of love that Jesus displayed at the cross. It's all about the journey to the crucified life.