Monthly Archives: August 2009
I’m Not Who I Was
This song title hits me. Over the course of my life I have had relationships with people whether good or bad that have left a taste in my mouth. I can’t describe it but I have this wish that people who knew me way back one way back when could see the difference in me now. I wish people who knew me now could know how really far I have come. It isn’t possible in this small a space to even describe the transforamtion I have percieved. But I know this I’m not who i was and that is a good thing
What if Part 3
WHAT IF the early church had decided to yell and scream at the Romans for acting like Romans?
As a youth pastor this is a never ending issue. There is always some person in the church banging their drum condemning the youth or children for acting badly in the church. I hear daily about the lack of respect that some of the kids we have come show the church building or leaders. To which I always explain that kids that don’t have Christ in their lives or in their homes have no reason to respect the church or anything else and it is up to us to help nurture that in their lives. But it goes further than that doesn’t it. How many times have church people expected visitors to be presentable in a Sudnay morning worship service? How many times have we expected a drunk to sober up before he comes to our church or a man and woman who are shacking up to find seperate residences before they become regular attenders? How would YOUR church react if a homosexual couple started attending and sitting on the front row?
We must come to a place where we can realize that the fixing is God’s job and that we cannot force any change nor can anyone bring about change in their own lives. Mark Batterson identifies the problem in his book “Wild Goose Chase”. We have tried to take the place of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives condemning them and convicting them instead of what Christ has asked us to do….loving them.
Lets remember the idea of the speck and the mote. We have enough to worry about on our own and despite what we think we don’t have God all figured out. When we see people acting like they don’t know Jesus let’s show them what he was all about.
My kids started the First grade!!
What The HECK!!! Where did the time go. Not only did summer blaze by but I get up turn around and my kids are in the 1st grade? Crazy I know and countless parents around the couintry are saying the same thing. But here we are the first day of school and it is surreal for me to send my kids off. They both look so old and I know it is only a matter of time before I have teenagers running around the house. I don’t even want to think about that. We already had a break down this morning over what pants my daughter was going to wear. She must have pouted for almost half an hour. But she got over it and off they went. Here is a pic
What if? Part 2
- WHAT IF the early church had decided their primary responsibility was to be political, thus organizing protests against the Roman government for occupying their land?
- Thank You! Thank you! Thank you! One of my pet peeves this past year has been Christians whining about the government and talking about how bad Obama is and how we need good Christian men in power. The problem is power always corrupts and there is no one on this planet that will right the government. Abortion, prostitution, alcoholism, homosexuality and pornography will not be stopped by laws. It will be stopped when the people of God look beyond the walls of the church and begin teaching and reaching people with the message of Christ. (and I dn’t mean the “get out of HELL free card” message) I mean the message that Christ is this radical life changing experience that turns you inside out and you are never the same. This country was founded on Christian principles but it happened because there were enough people that said you know we need to live differently and those people were motivated by it. We can’t get people motivatd to show up on Sunday morning in our church why are we surprised when they don’t care about moral decay. We have been in a fight to change the world politically for decades and all we have accomplished is losing more and more ground. An example of this is played out locally, I have seen a couple who spend their days protesting abortion at a busy intersection. They cary signs that say “Stop Abortion Now” and carry baby dolls in a stroller and strapped to their chests. But I have to wonder how much change they are bringing about. It is hard for me to believe that some pro- choicer riding down the road sees them there and say to themselves ” Their right”. What if the time taken to protest was used to love on people by taking care of them, helping them sharing with them. And I don’t mean knocking on doors telling them they are going to hell but living a life that is filled with the fruits of the Spirit ( yet another coming blog post) that showed people that there was more to this world and this thing called Christianity. Then maybe people would begin to turn back to God and when we are in line with God everything else will fall into place.
What if? Part 1
Perry Noble blogged this the other day.. It hit home. So I thought it migh be good to look at these and give you my thoughts. Over the next few days I will cover each one in detail
- WHAT IF the early church had decided to simply study what Jesus said but not apply it?
- Wow what a statement can anyone say Sunday School and Discipleship Training? Heck even small groups and worship services fit this. When did we go from active proclaimers of the faith to lazy pew fillers? I heard Steven Furtick say one time that the church was full of spiritually fat Christians. That we all gatehred to consume spiritual food and gorged ourselves on God’s word when there were people all around us starving and dying of starvation. And he was right. We get so worked up about getting to know deeper theological truths and that is great if the motivation is to get closer to God but I can’t help but to believe that being closer to God means being more like God and if we are going to be more like God we are going to have a heart like God and his heart is for the Lost. That was probably a run-on sentence but I do not care. For at least a generation the church has turned a blind eye to this phenomenon and we are suffering the consequences now. Sunday morning I turned around from our front row seat with the youth and looked back and counted the empty rows. I then added all the rows with three or less people. I couldn’t see all the rows but I counted 30 rows. 30 ROWS!!! And what really gets me is not that it is our church but so MANY churches across the land that are empty on the day that we are to be rejoicing about what God has done. We have to take a LoNG look at what we are doing as churches and decide if it is for God’s glory or for something else
Uhhhh….Let me …….Pray About It.
Saw this vid on Gman’s blog
There is a line in the skit that got me because I hear it so often and it drives me up the wall. It goes a little something like this
Leader: ” Mr Smith we would like you to use the talents that we see in you to serve God”
Mr Smith: ” Hmmmm I don’t know let me pray about it”
Now certainly I want someone to seek God’s face in the course of a decision but too many times I hear this as a way to say “no” without actually saying “no”. What really gets me though is how we try to put God off. At what point in time did we decide that God didn’t have immediate answers for us? I am not saying we should rush into decisions by no means but if we are obedient followers of Christ we should
- Be in tune with the will of God
- Be willing to seize opportunities that God puts before us
- Understand our own personal limitations
If we are earnestly seeking God’s will and are honest with ourselves there is really no need to put God off. We know if we have the time to be serving or not we know if God has placed something on our heart or not. We should be willing to be honest with ourself, others and God and stop hiding behind fluff clichès.
If you are serving God and an opportunity arises and you know He is moving you towards that then the issue is not whether or not to take up the opportunity but what other role you need to give up. Many times we cling to familiarity and pet projects that God is no longer using us in and we just don’t wnat to admit it.
What is God calling you to do?
The Worship Battle
Many times I am asked my view on Worship in the church. Which style do I prefer? Why is one better than the other? so on and so forth. Honestly my position on worship will offend both sides of the traditional versus modern/ contemporary aisle. I think both have it wrong. I think worship in most churches today is so screwed that very little honor and praise comes from it. here are the issues I see
rings true in the hearts of many
- We have put style over substance
- Whenever we pick a style we often eliminate an aspect of our culture. The great music of years gone by still has relevance and still rings true in the hearts of many. If we are going to eliminate such large portions of our history and culture then we will feel shortcomings in our time together and our worship.
- We have put preference over reverence
- How many churches have pitted generations against each other over this issue? At any time do you think God was honored? No The fact of the matter is when we pick what we prefer over what is reverent and unifying is disrespectful to the very God we claim to serve.
- We have put performance over relevance
- This is the thing that bothers me the most. For years we have hired MUSIC directors in church. The number one qualifier for these men or women were that they had a degree in MUSIC we have been so concerned with the timing and the pitch and the tempo. We have become so concerned with perfection of the music that we have overlooked the perfection of the WORSHIP. Music and worship have to be understood as two different things some of the best worship leaders I know knew nothing about music beyond singing and reading a few notes. they couldn’t play and instrument well and they weren’t going to be asked to sing on a lot of albums but when they were there before the people they opened there hearts and led the people to the throne of the Father with such passion it blew me away.
The main thing the I seek, whenever I lead worship or am in worship is that in the course of the singing and the playing that the people being led get lost in the experience and connect with God in such a way that they forget there is anyone else in the room. It is in that that we should be focused and tied to.
“Our People”
Matthew 25:14-20 tells a story of the talents a king distributed the talents and when he came back he demanded an account. Those who multiplied the talents were rewarded the one who sat on the talent and did nothing was punished. Today in the church we use this story to point to what good stewardship is about. Unfortunately when most church people talk about stewardship they are referring to material things such as money and property. We aren’t good stewards if we spend to much money on an air conditioner or by state of the art equipment or if we let children drink on the new carpet. We have business meetings and deacons meetings and all kinds of uproar over every little thing we possess as a church. We then fuss at people about their tithes and offerings.
Occasionally we will use this passage as a way to guilt people into serving. By taking a monetary talent and relating it to the God given ability we call a “talent” today. We shame people into service and threatening them with God’s wrath if they do not fall in line.
But what about the heart of this passage? What is the meaning?
The heart of the passage is trust what has God has entrusted us with. Sure money and possessions are a part but what about people, community, relationships, reputation and duty? I get stirred up by comments I hear in churches like “we take care of our people first” or ” we have a lot of outsiders coming here” or “how many of those are our kids. See the premise there is that as a church we are inside and everyone else is outside but the problem with that is that Jesus never lived or taught that way. He was always one of the people. And beyond that he has entrusted us with the people that cross our path. Understand that your churc is in a community and that is your missionfield that is what God has entrusted you with. What is your church’s reputation what has it done for the community? Is your church giving on a deserved basis or is your church ministering when there is a need no matter the cost.
Simply put your church’s “people” are all the people around you….anyone that encounters a church member or comes by your church or that your church can reach out to is a person you are entrusted with. So the question is are you growing that or are you sitting on it waiting for the Master to return
