Temptation and Sin Part 1

We just completed a church-wide survey of everyone who attended Frontline this past Sunday. We do this about once every five years to get a clearer picture of who we are as a community of faith and how we can better impact our generation in Washington D.C. (and around the world) with the message of Jesus. I’ve only been involved in this kind of broad study a few times before. I’ve learned though that you will invariably miss some huge area of interest by not including some vitally important question in the survey. This time was no different.

So, although what we’re about to do together with this blog may not be “statistically sound” I’d like to ask my loyal readers some questions over the next few posts. This first one is a big one so I’m going to give you a few options on how to respond. The question is this:

What are the top three temptations/sins in your life or in the lives of your co-workers or friends...and, how do these temptations/sins manifest themselves? (Notice how I’ve given everybody an “out” for everyone who would never put their dirty laundry in print).

It’s often said that most sin is some distortion of God’s plan for money, sex, and power. I’d like to get more practical answers than these. For example, one of my greatest sins is anger but only in certain environments. It manifests itself to the greatest degree when I’m driving. This may seem silly to some but driving is a daily struggle for me and, although God has done a great deal to lessen my frustration on the road, I still pray every day for His strength to honor those on the road with me and keep us all safe. I believe this issue in my life is a struggle for power in its purest sense. So, it does fit one of the “money, sex, power categories, but it manifests itself primarily in one particular activity.

I’m fully aware that some of you are thinking, “Woe, Todd….how brave and open can you get! You really opened yourself up there with your driving problems. I thought we were getting down to the big, hairy stuff in our lives that no one likes to talk about and you offered up driving?!” Please remember a sin or temptation that seems trivial to one person can be debilitating to another. I’ll go more into how God has used the issue of my anger and impatience on the road to mold me and refine me, but for now let’s get the ball rolling on the question itself. So, what are they? What are those temptations/sins in your life or the lives of your friends and how do they manifest themselves?
If you aren’t comfortable writing about your own issues or even about issues that other anonymous people in your life deal with via the blog then please message me directly here on my space. But, please consider leaving a post on this blog so we can create some dialogue about the subjects. Remember – “No temptation has seized you except that which is common to man.” (1 Corinthians 10:13a) God reminds us here that none of us have invented a terrible new sin. Sin has been with us since the fall and those around you wherever you are reading this right now all struggle with sin – maybe even the same ones you struggle with. But God encourages us when he says, “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13b)
We’ll get to God’s faithfulness and provision as we work through this subject of sin together but let’s start with looking at our lives and the lives of those around us and identifying the struggles that are common to all men.

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net

Another Powerful Move of God Part 2

More on Frontline Arlington…

I read from Matthew 9:36-38 at the beginning of my message Monday night in Arlington at our first worship service in our new campus. Matthew tells us that Jesus is looking at the crowd around him and “[Jesus] had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord or the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field.” I explained that the harvest is huge in Arlington and that the workers are few, but he has now called 400 of his workers into the harvest field to work the harvest that is to come. God has brought is together for such a time as this.

The only thing standing between the harvesters and the harvest is a word that gets very little use in our culture today – compassion. Jesus had compassion on the crowd. We tend to feel frustration, anger, and apathy toward the masses around us in our busy lives rather than compassion. Compassion is the seed of evangelism. Compassion is the seed of hope. We must pray that God give us compassion for those around us, especially those who bring out more negative emotions in us. What might happen if thousands of young adults who regularly attend Frontline on Sunday and Monday nights were to start each day with prayer to God for the vary same compassion Jesus possessed for the world around Him? How great would our impact be?

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net

Another Powerful Move of God!

There are few times in my Christian life that I have experienced a move of God in ministry that changed me at my core as a man of God. I liken what I’m about to describe to the birth of a child or marriage or being surprised as my all of my senses are brought to a point of pure delight as I stand outside on the perfect autumn day. In a spiritual sense, I have only experienced this kind of overt move of God in ministry on a few special occasions. My first experience in ministry was standing before a crowd of fifty three young people when I began an evangelistic outreach in Austin, Texas called Austin Metro. The sense of God’s presence that evening was palpable, inescapable. This experienced was however eclipsed four years later when I and a team of twelve young adults completed an eight month prayer vigil. Our vigil ended by opening the first evangelistic event in San Antonio, Texas called San Antonio Metro. Nearly three hundred people crowded into a chapel with no more than two hundred seats. People stood twelve deep at the doors and dozens sat on the stage itself as I taught. God moved in that ministry purely as a result of the prayer of twelve faithful Christ followers. Both ministries grew to a weekly attendance of over a thousand and when all was said and done God used these ministries to share the Gospel to over ten thousand young adults. But, it was the sense of God’s presence on that first day that can never be duplicated. It was as though God was blessing each believer in the room with an extra measure of joy for trusting Him enough to leap into the unknown, to take risks for God.

This same kind of God-given experience of all-encompassing joy manifested itself for a third time in my own life just two days ago on Monday Night, September 18th, 2006. The entire staff of Frontline and over sixty volunteers took a monumental leap of faith to start a new Frontline campus new campus right in the middle of Arlington. We rented out the Rosslyn Spectrum, a theater owned by the county just two blocks from the busiest Metro station in D.C., the Rosslyn Station. I knew from experience that these first events are special beyond description and that God also tends to make Himself manifest in these places of faithful action – he did not disappoint us. The feeling of God’s presence was thick in the air. There was a sense of expectation in each of the more than four hundred who attended the worship event. The four hundred seats were filled and many were in overflow. Cries of “Amen” rose from the crowd during the time of worship. Every voice sang with boldness and unity to God. The fellowship that I experienced could only be attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit. Everyone there experienced the birth of a new work of God and I believe each will remember being a witness to that special move of God for years to come.

So, what’s next for Frontline Arlington? This recent event was the first of three monthly events that we will host before the official kickoff of the campus on Monday, January 22nd, 2007. The next event is October 16th at 7:30, again at the Rosslyn Spectrum. Answers to any questions you may have are available at www.frontlinearlington.com. If you were unable to make the first event and you live in the Arlington area or close to a Metro station, consider joining us for the October 16th event. Above all, pray. Pray for God to continue to use us to impact our generation in secular Washington with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that everyone in the Arlington area would come into a saving relationship with Jesus. Remember, we the church have been called by God Himself to be the agents of change for the world. May we rise to the occasion.

Question for the day - What kind of experiences have you had in ministry where God made Himself known at an unprecidented level in your life?


Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net

The Astonishing Significance of Baptism

I baptized my son, Parker, this past Sunday at Frontline (www.frontloine.to)! It was a surreal experience. Everything happened so fast...I remember it all...but I even remember it in fast forward. So, many emotions have flooded me over the past several days - joy, peace, astonishment, wonder, gratitude - all because my oldest child has taken his first step of obedience to God's command and made a conscious choice to be baptized as a Christ-follower.
He became a believer in February of 2005. My wife and I had the privilege of leading him to Christ right before bedtime the night of February 9th. He has grown in profound ways over the past year and I thank God daily for saving my son. I find it unimaginable that my only son, who is becoming such a good friend to me as he grows, is also my brother-in-Christ!
When I got home from Frontline last Sunday night Parker was still awake. My wife, Julie, said that he didn't want to go to bed until he and I could talk. So, just a few hours after he was baptized, I walked up to his room opened the door and climbed into bed with him. He was wide awake and he was truly giddy with joy. He couldn't stop smiling and his cheeks were red. I said with a smile, "Parker, what's up?" He looked at me and gave me a big hug and said, “You baptized me! I feel clean.” “Son, you understand that baptism is a symbol…” He interrupted, “Yeah, Dad, I know it’s a symbol of what God has already done in my heart through Jesus. But, I still feel clean!” We talked for a few more minutes, prayed, and I tucked him in for the night.
I thought a lot about my son’s words and the incredibly powerful symbol baptism is for us who believe. I am convinced that it wasn’t until a few months ago when Parker and I began to talk about the meaning of baptism and exactly what it symbolizes that Parker began to truly understand the concept that “the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) The act of being baptized gave Parker a concrete picture of the death of his old self and his birth as a new creation in Christ.
Not only has he come to understand to a much greater degree the significance of his new life in Christ through the act of baptism, he has also become much more aware of his opportunity and his ability to share his faith with others through this same symbol of baptism. I explained to him weeks before that one of the greatest opportunities any believer has to proclaim his faith is through the very public celebration of baptism. I explained that there would likely be dozens if not hundreds of people who don’t know Jesus in the crowd watching him be baptized. I told him that God may even use his baptism to lead other people to faith in Jesus. For Parker, I believe the potential for others to know God through something he was doing was as much a catalyst for his decision to be baptized as was the opportunity to obey Jesus’ command. All of this growth, wisdom, and joy from the symbol of baptism!
After all of this, would you believe that my middle daughter, Katherine, came up to Parker and I just as we sat down after his baptism and asked, “Can I meet Jesus and be baptized?” Parker experienced right then and there the evangelistic potential of baptism in the request of his own sister. He has since then explained to Katherine (numerous times) what it means to be forgiven by Jesus and ask him to lead her life. So, Parker at the age of seven may very well have his first opportunity to lead someone to Christ – his own sister.
Filled with joy –
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net

Pride Comes Before a Fall!

I’m back! You’re probably thinking… “Where’d you go, Todd?” or “I didn’t know you were gone.” Well, I was gone. I was on a two and a half week vacation in Austin, Texas and I loved every minute of it. Some of you will be happy to know that I actually got some sun while I was in Austin. So, now I’ve gone from a pasty white color to more of a slightly less than pasty white color! Exciting, I know.

My brother-in-law, Grant, and I were talking one evening while watching Jeopardy. On the final Jeopardy question the answer was, “What is the “Arctic Circle?”?” Grant laughed out loud at one of the contestants because the contestant spelled “Arctic” wrong. The contestant spelled it “Artic.” Grant, said, “Can you believe that this guy’s on Jeopardy and he can’t even spell “Arctic?” I responded, “Grant, maybe he’s nervous…maybe he just didn’t think through it.” Grant kept pushing the point, “Todd, come on. The guy’s on a show for really smart people and he left the “C-H” out of “Archtic!” How embarrassing is that?”

That particular moment had to be one of the greatest examples of irony and misplaced pride I could remember. I looked at Grant, “Grant, are you kidding?” “What?” he asked. “Grant, spell “Arctic” for me.” ““A-R-C-H-T-I-C.”” “Grant, “Arctic” is spelled “A-R-C-T-I-C.” There’s no “H” in the word.” Undaunted, Grant, refused to feel the full weight of his imminent embarrassment, headed straight for the computer and said, “We’ll see who’s right.” He proceeded to look up the word on dictionary.com. He turned around with a big smile revealing his embarrassment. “Well, nothing like a humiliating experience to put me in my place.”

I thought a while about the whole episode. Only one thing came to me after my reflection - pride certainly comes before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18). Simple enough.

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)

Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net