Archive for the ‘Church Life’ Category
Giving an Account
Monday, September 29th, 2008
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. Mathew 12:36
This is one of the verses that our pastor had referenced last Sunday during his sermon on disciplined stewardship. One thing that has really stuck in my head all week was one of the questions that he asked and that was this…
“What if we had to come home every night and give God an account for what we have done everyday?”
Jesus tells us that an account must be given by “all”. Man and Woman. Pastor and layman. Saved and unsaved. I don’t know about you, but thats a pretty scary thought to me! I am embarrassed to admit some of the things that go through my head, and even some of the things that come out of my mouth, and in some instances, some things that don’t come out of my mouth. Most of those things I would not even share with my closest friends. But, I’m not hiding them from Him.
We are not promised any certain amount of days on earth. Nobody knows when our time is. Could be 40 years, could be 20 years, could be tomorrow on my way to work. And I am positive that many of the things that we do or say here on earth, we would never attempt to do or say in heaven!
For me, thinking about having to give an account to God on an everyday basis gives me a whole new look at the importance of my purpose here on earth. It helps keep me focused on Him, and certainly makes me think about the things that I am saying.
How about you? If we had to give an account of the things we did everyday to God, would that make a difference in the way we were living?
Jesus VS Religion
Friday, August 15th, 2008
I just ran across this video from Mark Driscoll about his disgust over religion. I think he makes some great points! I encourage you to take a look…
Tough Questions…
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
I’ve been reading a fantastic book by Dan Kimball entitled ‘They Like Jesus But Not The Church‘. Which is based on some investigation and relationships in which Dan has made with non-believers to see what their reaction to the church really is. Anyway, in my reading tonight I ran across a section that I find myself saying “Amen” on one side of the lip and “Ouch” on the other side.
Here’s the excerpt…
Though I stress that the church should be a positive agent of change, I know that it’s the Spirit of God in the church who does the changing. I also fully recognize that loving others as Jesus would may mean talking about sin, repentance, and judgment, so I’m not suggesting that we only “love” people. But love involves relationship. Love involves time. Love involves telling people about God’s abundant goodness and his “awesome works”(Ps. 145:6-8), and not just about his wrath and judgment. Love involves holding our tongues and being wise in the way we act toward those outside the church, having our conversations be “full of grace” and “seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:5-6). Love is more than passing out a tract or holding up a sign and feeling that our job is done because we’ve let others know about Jesus.
Now, I know that many churches, including mine has and is out amongst our communities with the Good News of our Saviour. Which is great. My question is… are we doing this because of a feeling of obligation? Or is it because we have a burning desire to let others know of the Grace and Love in which we have been given in Christ by building relationships with them? The non-believer has an impression of what Christians act like and look like. Ever wonder what they think of us?
Do we look like Christ, or do we look like a bunch of people that meet in a building and surround ourselves with other building goers, and one of the things that we do is to try to get other people to see things our way and come to our buildings? Because really, that is not much different than any other organization in our communities. I wonder what my motivation is in sharing my faith. Is it because I am so excited about the things of God that I just can’t contain them to myself? Or is it because I feel like I have to?
Is the church out in the community because we have a burning passion to share the Love of Christ with other people through relationship building? Or, are we just handing them a tract, and telling them to have a good day and Jesus loves you?
He also follows this chapter up with some pretty tough questions.
How is your church known in your community?
How do you think people in your town would describe your church and the people of the church?
Do they even know you exist?
What are you known for?
Would your church be missed in your community if it went away?
How would it be missed?
Makes ya think, huh? I know it does me…
What would He do?
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Imagine you were sitting at home watching television with your family in your living room. Surrounded by your wife and your 9 children just enjoying family time, minding your own business, enjoying your time together in the confines of probably what most of us would consider the safest place that we have (our home).
Suddenly your home is lifted off of its foundation and thrown to the ground sending You and the rest of your family plummeting to the ground floor, since you were all on the second floor of the building. It happened in the matter of seconds. You can’t find your children. You yell for them to scream their names, so that to know that they are still alive and not crushed by the debris that has overtaken the immediate area. Thankfully they are all safe other than some basically small injuries.
Now, you have no home and everything that you own has suddenly, in the matter of seconds, been destroyed.
You wonder what happened? Why Me? What am I going to do Now?
This is what has happened to the Pesina family here in our community. As many of you have probably already seen flinging itself around the blog world.
Some of the children in this family have been attending our church recently. They are at the beginning of their understanding of who God is and what God means to their life.
It is nothing less than a miracle that this family did not perish in this horrific weather event.
And I believe this is the time when we as followers of Christ need to be His feet and hands. Allowing not only the Pesina family to see Christ through His Church, but all of Samaria!
Jesus told us that “What we do for the least of these, we have done for Him.” And that is what we are about to do.
Jesus’ church is going to get them a home! This is what we are commanded to do, and we believe that God has placed this family in front of this community so that all people can see His power and His face shown throughout all of St. Joseph.
We need your help…
My wife (who by the way has faith that could move mountains, or build houses in this instance) is extremely passionate about this commitment to see that Gods Will is done here. And that Christ is seen through this opportunity that we have, as His church, to show the world His face.
Many people have stepped up to see that God is glorified through this commitment of faith of helping the Pesina’s move on with their life, and truly see what Christianity is supposed to look like.
My good friend John has put together a website to keep everyone up to date on progress and the needs that will surround this project.
There has also been a letter sent to all area churches with a powerpoint to be presented to the congregations of these churches also.
If you are a believer in Christ, and believe that He is still alive and well, and he still answers prayer, please consider what role He may have in store for you.
May God be Glorified in His Giving Hope to the World!
Age Discrimination in Church?
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
Have you ever heard the phrase “These young people are the next generation of the Church?” I’m curious…at what age does a person become a part of the Church? This just seems to be a completely ignorant statement to me. Is it that we don’t think that these younger people are capable of understanding the Grace that God has given us, to those that have faith in Him and see Him as Truth? Or are they just not far enough along in their walk with Christ to be considered a part of “The Church?” If that’s the case I’m in trouble, because I am so far from understanding the person of God.
Maybe I just missed the part in His Word that God says “I love you, and always have. I created you to be who you are for My Glory and I have given my only Son to die a gruesome death on the cross to save you from your sin and eternal damnation. And the great part is that your complete Faith in Me will be accepted someday when you’re old enough to be a part of “My Church.”
I think we need to wake up and realize that these young people are NOT the next generation of the church—They ARE the Church!
These types of Pharisaical statements really bother me.
Have you ever heard these types of comments or comments like them?
Any thoughts?
New Sins…?
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Did you know that we have new sins? Apparently, we really haven’t thought of everything…
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, has announced the NEW, so called, “7 deadly sins” and had this to say about them…
He said that priests must take account of “new sins which have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation”. Whereas sin in the past was thought of as being an individual matter, it now had “social resonance”.
“You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor’s wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos,” he said.
I guess they’re on the same page with the Southern Baptist Environment & Climate Initiative…I probably should turn off my computer… 
But, seriously have we really figured out a new way to sin?
Is God not convicting us in the same manner that He did in the beginning?
I mean, he gave us the Ten Commandments as a guide. Is that not enough anymore? And, what about His Spirit? Where is He in our lives? Shouldn’t we be entrusting our personal convictions to Him and the Word?
Apparently our sins have gone from a personal matter to “now” a social matter…
Any thoughts?
Thank you Jesus for dying for my sins…ALL of them…the OLD ones and the NEW ones…
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?
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?
