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You’re not a Bad Person

Posted on September 21, 2015 by johnmarkum

This past Sunday, I preached a message as part of a new series called, Made New. You can check out the message below. One of the main thoughts I shared was this:

You’re not a bad person.

We tend to judge ourselves as “bad” or “good” based on our perception of ourselves in comparison to our perception of others. This gets tricky on several levels. Because I know my faults far better than anyone else, I can be far more critical of myself. We all do this… we compared our “behind the scenes” to everyone else’s “highlight reel”. You’re not a bad person. That’s not your greatest problem. Your greatest problem is – outside of Christ – you’re a dead person.

Ouch. That was direct! Maybe even abrasive, huh? Well please don’t be offended at me. I’m not even the one pointing it out. In Ephesians 2:5 the Apostle Paul writes, “even though we were dead in transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!”

The bad news is – you’re not bad – you’re dead apart from Christ. If you were just bad, you could do something about your condition. You could work harder, get your life cleaned up, cut some bad habits, start some better ones, get all “religious”, and help yourself get right with God. A bad person could get better…

But a dead person is pretty helpless. You’ve never seen a dead person perform CPR on themselves, or warm up a defibrillator to shock their heart back to life. No, because dead people need outside help – they need a Savior. Someone who is not dead themselves, who can breathe life back into the lifeless, change their heart, and restore them to new life.

And that’s exactly what Jesus does for us. He squared off with death and dragged it kicking and screaming into it’s own grave… but He walked out victorious over death on the third day. Now, the One who came back from death offers to breathe His new life into our tired, broken, dead souls.

Have you experienced a new life in Christ? Have you placed your faith and trust into the only one who can bring a dead soul back to life? I invite you to do so today.

Blessings,
Pastor John

https://vimeo.com/139879206

When “stuff” hits the fan

Posted on September 8, 2015 by johnmarkum

It never, ever, ever fails. My wife and I have practically learned to set our schedules to it. Every time – and I do mean every time – that we start praying audacious prayers and asking God to do something in proportion to the glory He is worthy of through our lives, church, community, etc. something or someone breaks down, gets sick, loses a job, or gets some bad news from the doctor. And when there are many of us joining in prayer and seeking God’s favor and blessing and leadership? Let’s just say it gets ugly. Which is what brings me to this past week…

Last Thursday I had several of our leaders come over to the house to pray together for our fall kickoff for LifeCity Church. We prayed for dozens of people by name to come to faith in Christ. We took communion together in my living room. We shed tears over those we love that are in need of life in Christ. We confessed our own brokenness before God and our complete dependence on Him to do what we could never do on our own – change people’s hearts and lives. We even broke out in song together. It was one of the most meaningful, authentic expressions of my faith walk to date. And we all walked out with a strong confidence that God was about to show up in our church in phenomenal ways over the next month. And then the real battle began.

That same night, both my boys woke up puking all over their room. One of our leader’s car broke down with a $1,000 repair bill. There have been massive family issues affecting various leaders and volunteers. Loved ones have been in and out of the hospital. After the boys, my two girls woke up puking Saturday night before church… Then today I get news that a sweet family in our church who has already been through a lot just lost their home to a fire. When it rains it really pours, doesn’t it?! And I suspect we haven’t seen the end of this.

Here are a few thoughts I have about the “stuff” hitting the fan:

Expect the “stuff” to come. We linked arms and prayed for God to shine the light of His love into the spiritual darkness of our Silicon Valley community. We picked a fight with our spiritual enemy who rather enjoys his grip on the people God wants to set free in Christ. And no one steps into a boxing ring expecting to not get hit. The Bible tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, “but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness…” (Eph. 6:12). We’re in a fight, people.
There will be pain. Jesus Himself warns us, “In this world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have already overcome the world.” (John 16:33). The Apostle Paul adds in 2 Corinthians 4, “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body…”
It’s not a fair fight. And by that, I mean for our spiritual adversary, Satan. We’re encouraged by the words of Scripture that remind us, “Greater is He that is in you [Christ], than he who is in the world [Satan].” (1 John 4:4) Those of us who trust in Christ have a source of strength that far exceeds any of the powers hurled at us. This is not even remotely close to an even match. Which brings me to…
Victory is secure in Christ. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” (2 Cor. 2:14). Triumph may take a variety of forms, but the promise is clear: In Christ, we win. Period. Rest in the strength and assured victory provided by the only Man who stared death in the face and made death flinch. At the end, I rest with confidence by His words that He has already overcome the world and proved it with an empty tomb.

In these times when we’re looking to God to come through, and the “stuff” keeps coming, my wife and I have learned to embrace the mess because it means that God is about to come through in a big way – and our spiritual enemy hates it. So don’t be discouraged by all the “stuff”. Be encouraged. Victory is coming. You’re in a battle that matters.

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. But nothing is too hard for God.

Stand strong and confident in your God, and keep doing what you’re doing. And celebrate like crazy when God does come though. LifeCity peeps, we’re going to have some great stories to tell after we see God come through. And I can’t wait!

Blessings,
Pastor John

The Benefits of a Young Pastor

Posted on August 19, 2015 by johnmarkum

I was 14 years old when I committed my life to vocational ministry and preached my first message. I graduated Bible college at 22, and at 24 was ordained.

Now, at 33, I’m the lead pastor of a church plant. I regularly get told, “You don’t look like a pastor?!” I actually enjoy this comment. Most people apparently think that a pastor has to be a certain age (50’s +), and dress with a weird white collar, or at least a suit and tie. I play Xbox, preach in jeans and a V-neck, and recognize most of the artists on your teens playlist. Not exactly the typical “clergy” persona, I guess.

Most churches looking to hire a pastor, want a man who is at least 50, has a Masters of Divinity, and 20 years experience. It’s obvious to me that a young pastor has always received significant criticism for their youth. Even the apostle Paul gave his young protege, Timothy (a young pastor) some important instruction: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)

So here are a few benefits I see to having a young, lead pastor:

Tenure. A young lead pastor has the potential to serve one church for 30+ years. LifeCity’s sending church saw it’s best years under the 44 year ministry of a personal friend and mentor, Mel Brown. The church was running about 120 people when he became “pastor” back in 1968. At the point he retired, the church was running over 800 every week. You could count on one hand the number of people who were there before him at that point. Which means he had been pastor to them, their kids, grand kids, and even many great grandkids to some of those “original” members. He was 25 when he started.
Multi-generational. In their late 20s – early 30s, young pastors can relate equally well to teens as they can to their parents. We’ve seen the challenges of our parents’ generation, our own, and the one coming behind us with nearly equal contact. A church generally attracts people in the community who are in the same stage of life as them. Having a younger pastor makes a church feel more welcoming to a family his age.
Passion. One of the greatest assets a young church leaders has is an unbroken spirit. Many seasoned veterans in ministry have taken massive emotional and relational wounds over the years. You can’t live through the gut-wrenching experiences many pastors have had to lead families and churches through without losing some of your zeal and drive along the way. And to be perfectly clear, young pastors will get theirs also, given just a little more time… But beforehand, these early years of our pastoral ministry are limited and precious for what they have to offer the church in terms of vision, leadership, passion, and faith for God to do the unimaginable. This should be leveraged by those they lead, not scorned.
Outreach. When young pastors talk about reaching people far from God to fully experience life in Christ, we’re not talking theory – we’re talking about our own current relationships. We almost all have friends that we’re trying to live Jesus toward and show the love of God. At some point in pastoring over decades in the same place, the overwhelming majority of your friendships consist largely of people within the church. It takes much greater effort at that point to befriend those outside the church and remember what it’s like to live your faith to someone who doesn’t have the same starting point as you. For young leaders, it’s quite fresh – and urgent.

And as I’ve already mentioned one mentor from an older era, let me also be quick to say – my ministry, and everything I’ve learned is indebted to those who have faithfully lead by example before me. I could write countless posts about each of the great men who have influenced my life, family, and ministry. I hope to pass the torch of leadership to the next generation, just as many of them have to mine.

Blessings,
Pastor John