Archive for February, 2008
Sick….of the flu!!!
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Please pray for my son Aaron today. He has had the flu all week and is feeling miserable. His mother has had to take the week off of daytime ministry to be with him and take him to Dr. Appointments and the such. But today I am home from work to try to take care of him and get him to eat and regain his strength. Hopefully he will be back to his silly self as in the picture, soon…
New Pew Forum Report
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
As many of you have probably seen already, the Pew Forum has released a report on the major religions in the U.S. They surveyed 35000 Americans age 18 and up. And released their findings in a graph that you can find here. It is a pretty lengthy article, but I also found it fairly interesting. A couple things disturbed me, however. One of those things was this comment and I quote…
44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.
Praise God for the unaffiliated that is searching for spiritual hope, which by the way is 3-1 against those who are already affiliated, but if you read the article it is as if most of them that are already affiliated are just switching religious affiliation.
What are they searching for? Why is this happening? Are we as believers not encouraging others to stay faithful, and when one moves on just saying “Oh, well this person left but another will fill their seat?” Or are we doing something wrong and trying to make it harder than it is? This is disheartening to me.
Another part of the article was headed with A Very Competitive Religious Marketplace
What???
What are we competing for? Fast Food is competitive…not the traditions of our churches.
I know that some of this switching is for the good(as in converts from a false religion to the Truth), but a large majority of these are from one denomination to another.
Jesus told us “I (Jesus) tell you the truth, whoever hears my Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death (destruction and an eternity in Hell) to life (Eternal life in Heaven with Jesus). John 5:24
Whoever…That’s all of us…whatever denomination you are worshiping with, be it Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Joe at the gas station, etc… Plain and simple. So why when we should be concerned about telling others who may not know this, we are more concerned with who we have coming to join us on Sunday morning for fellowship? Isn’t this just our own selfish self gratification in who can have the biggest church, or who can build the biggest buildings, or have the coolest worship band, our own tradition etc…
I just thought this was a very interesting report, and I think we can all learn something from it if we search our hearts. I know I am.
Where is our Worship?
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I have been out of town the last couple of weeks on business. And I’m sure you all have missed this terribly. 
As I was listening to my Interim Pastor Paul this morning he made a point that really stuck with me today.
He was teaching from John 9 about Jesus healing the blind man. Verse 16 is what caught my attention.
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.
What the Pharisees are really saying is that this is the day that we are to worship God, and therefore, cannot be doing anything else that may hinder us from that. Because that may distract us from Him.
Still others were saying that if this is just a regular Joe, how could he do these things? And why in the world would he do it on “The Sabbath?”
Thank goodness this is not the way we respond or think today…right?
I certainly hope that we are not “saving” our time for God for Sunday, Jesus certainly didn’t. If this was the case, how would others have the opportunity to know Christ? I am a firm believer that you can tell others all day long about Jesus, but if they can’t see Him in us, they would not see what He has to offer. We must look different than what the world has to offer. Or why would they, or Us for that matter, even want that. If we saved our Worship for Church, I wonder what we look like at work, home, school, or at the grocery store? Probably not the same way we look at church, huh?
Do we Love Jesus because someone told us about Him? Or because we saw Him in someone else?
Was it at Church?
Is the Sabbath your day of Worship? Or is it a day of relaxation and reflection?
Change?
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
As I am listening to all these politicians promote change in the world, I wonder what change they are talking about. Of course, they never really tell us what that change is(which is, of course, customary with politicians).
Is this change something that we need because we are not happy with the way things are unfolding around us?
What is it that we are searching for?
Isn’t it enough to know that God is in control?
Why is it that we would yearn for this change, but when it comes to change in the church we are so reluctant?
Are we open to change in the church? Or is everything just fine the way it is?
I wonder if we are pleasing God the way we are handling ourselves in His midst…Are we advancing His word, the way that it is now?
These are just some random thought provoking questions I have…
Any thoughts?
What’s Important?
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Ever wonder what’s important in your church?
Is it that we all agree on the debatable philosophies of the theologians?
Or that our ministry is presented in a certain matter or by the book, per say?
Is this or that the proper way to lead someone to Christ?
I don’t know about you, but I have never talked to 2 people that share the same testamony. That just leads me to believe that in most ways our “strategy” of “saving souls” or feeding the flock doesn’t have any bearing or for that matter timing on personal conviction of the Spirit. That is not to say that there shouldn’t be a model in our churches to lead, teach or otherwise present Christ to others (that is our responsibility in Christ). It’s just that the more I listen to these things going on, the more I see this causing division among believers and drifting focus on what is important in the life of the believer.
I have a long way to go in this also. But it seems to me that if we concentrated on the importance of our personal relationship with God and not so much on whether someone else is doing something the way that we think they should be handling it, wouldn’t that encourage others to focus correctly? How are we supposed to disciple others that see this going on? Aren’t we supposed to model ourselves after Christ? This is the same bickering that went on in the early church. And the same bickering that Christ warned us about.
I know that these are things that are present in our churches today, and many of these things cause division among not only the congregation, but also the leadership. We will never agree with everything that another believer thinks is right or wrong. As we will never be convicted of our sins in the same matter or timing as another follower. I believe that God works in every believer in his own timing and molds everyones heart differently than another. That is where the personal relationship that we talk about comes from, and our personal maturity in Christ.
My point is that it’s OK to disagree with what I call the fringe of church life as long as the gospel stays intact and we are able to disciple properly. And we should embrace those differences rather than rebuke them, as I think that is how we become stronger. If we were all the same what would we ever get done?
What are your thoughts? Do you see this as an issue that may be hindering our walk? Or am I way off?
Is This What We Look Like?
Friday, February 1st, 2008
I was reading an article today in which Former President Jimmy Carter was speaking to about 9000 people at the “New Baptist Convent Celebration” in Atlanta. He was speaking in reference to Baptist’s letting their differences go, over what I call “silly” theological differences. He makes a very strong statement, and something I am very passionate about. This is a quote from his speech…
“My wife Rosalynn and I have visited more than 125 different nations since we left the White House, and we and our hosts have had many discussions about religion,” Carter said. “Among the unsaved people on earth, what is the prevailing image of Christians today?
“It’s not the dedicated and inspired work of our missionaries. It’s not the great preaching of Billy Graham or others who inspire people. It’s the image of divisions among brothers and sisters in Christ as we struggle for authority or argue about the interpretation of individual verses in the Holy Scriptures.”
Ouch!…Unfortunately this is the world view of the “Church”. Aren’t we supposed to be different than the world? This reality seems to show that we are no different than the unsaved.
He goes on with these questions…
“How many believe that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ?” Carter asked. “How many believe that like the early Christians we should put aside our deeply felt personal differences and work in unity to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ? You see the distinction between those kinds of questions. We should remember which are the most important.”
Isn’t this what it’s all about? I think if we truly believe that we are saved by grace, and really realize the love that this gigantic God that we serve has for us, we would be so humbled that these differences over selfish opinions and ego building rif-raf would fade away. And at that point we could not help but to love others. And in loving others not only would we be less likely to argue over these differences in opinion on theology or what ever the issue may be. People would really be able to differentiate between what they have and what we have in Christ. After all, What is appealing about this bickering that is going on in our churches? How are we going to be able to show people who Christ is, if this is what they see? They can get that at home! They already have that! The only way people are going to come to know Christ, is to see it, firsthand. This starts with us, the “Church”.
What can we do to encourage this Christlike attitude? Can it be done? Or has it gone to far?
