Passion Burns Within » Christians

Down from the Mountain

Passionburnswithin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:10:14 +0000

Having just come back from an amazing weekend with our youth group it is an easy thing to get down. After all we experienced coming back down to reality is a little depressing. Most of us in the ministry recognize this as a mountaintop experience and understand the brutality of the realization that we have to exist in the real world where it seems we are in a losing battle at times.

We need to understand though that this is not unique to our time or our place. In fact we are provided with a number of instances of this very problem in the Scriptures.

Moses- Ex 32

After being on the Mount with the Lord. Moses had to return to reality and the reality was that the people of Israel were already turning their hearts away from the God that had delivered them. Can you imagine how Moses must have felt? Here he was meeting with the Lord of Lords and his people that he had sacrificed so much for were worshiping a golden calf! Talk about depressing! So then Moses has to go into leader mode and rebuke the people. Not what I would want to be doing after meeting with God.

As a minister I can relate. It seems that the moment i walk in the door after coming back from a trip I am confronted with the fact that there are people even in my own church that are more concerned with worldly matters and there own self satisfaction than the movement of God.

Elijah- 1 Kings 19

In 1 Kings 18 Elijah has this amazing victory over the evil prophets of Baal. God worked a miracle beyond anyone’s belief and Elijah was left standing as His victorious prophet. Fast forward to chapter 19 and Jezebel has threatened his life. Elijah must have been wondering why God would give him such a victory only to allow him to be killed by the same evil that he had been trying to overthrow.

Sound familiar? I think we all know of someone that has come home from a mountaintop experience to be confronted with a life crisis. Whether it be an issue with work or home, personal, material or emotional we all know of someone that has had to face a crisis.

Jesus- Lk 9:41

Yes!! Even Jesus had to face this problem. Jesus goes up and is transfigured and discusses what His death will mean. I imagine that this was an exciting conversation. To be talking about the salvation of the people He had created surely got Christ pumped. But as He came down off the mountain the first thing He was confronted with was a complaint about His disciples. His response clearly shows His concern.

Don’t you just love to have to deal with complaint’s? They are bad enough when you are not coming off a mountaintop experience but having to be dragged down when you are focused on things much higher and nobler is quite rude.

The point is the world is going to be ready to destroy our optimism and excitement but we cannot let that divert us from the course that we must take. The closeness with God always reveals to us what we need to do so we need to do it!! Now go do it…..NOW!!

What if? Part 2

Passionburnswithin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:40:35 +0000

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

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:33:59 +0000

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.

Passionburnswithin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:59:35 +0000

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

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:09:10 +0000

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”

Passionburnswithin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:06:08 +0000

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

Deserved

Passionburnswithin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:16:35 +0000

What do you deserve?

Our church for the last two weeks has been feeding the local high school band. The comment has been made to me that there are not enough band kids attending our church to warrant the money we are sinking into the meals. In other words because they are not our kids they do not deserve our money. I will go into the whole “our kids” later but lets look at the deserve part.

According to Romans 5:8 the very essence of salvation is based on getting something we do not deserve. We did not have to join an elite club or go through a process of earning our salvation. No, in spite of the fact that we were miserable worthless vile sinners God still gave us this incredible gift of salvationas an ultimate demonstartion of love. As a result our desire should be to pour out love on anyone and everyone that we can. The fact that they do not deserve it makes it all the more important that we do it.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:48:37 +0000

I never have liked that phrase. It seems to me lately that I see it more and more. Unfortunately those people who seem to use it are on a self-destructive path. When they are cornered or confronted they lash out blast you with the “mindya”. As if that justifies their behavior. If you live a life that is glorifying to Christ and is respectable then you should not be scared of people knowing your secrets or offering their opinions or concerns.

Ultimately it is a lame defense and screams of a deeper problem.

Way to Pray!!!

Passionburnswithin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:00:04 +0000

Have you ever been called on to pray publicly and had someone compliment you on your prayer afterwards? They might say that you “did a good job” “said a lovely prayer” or “that was great”. Am I the only one to find that strange? I mean you do not walk up to someone after hearing their conversation and say “Way to Talk!!!” “way to put those words into….ummmm.. sentences and…..ummm paragraphs to complete ideas and way to use your…. errrr…..mouth to say it.

I know. I am being silly but the point is that when we pray instead of being focused on God we have the habit of trying to sound prestigious. In the church we have found that if we string a bunch of over used cliches together and throw in some King’s English people will compliment us and call on us to pray more.

I have been trying very hard to break that pattern. I have focused on praying conversationally with God as if I were talking with a person face to face. I want to be honest and transparent before God and I don’t care if I sound eloquent or not that isn’t the purpose of prayer anyway and if we practice these habits we accomplish nothing and get nowhere in our realtionship with God.

Leadership dilema

Passionburnswithin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:47:47 +0000

We have just returend from a great week of camp. There were many decisions and discussions that arose from what the staff at the camp prepared and presented.

But with everything there is always a negative side. This week was no different. This week I saw the worst example of leadership I have ever been exposed to and it saddened me but also angered me.

There was a church in attendance who had just brought on a new youth pastor. This new guy was not interested in attending this week but since it was already planned an payed for he was stuck. And even though his group wanted to be there very much he was not willing to accept it. So rather than make the best of it he set out to ruin the whole week for everyone. He started by bad mouthing everything and criticizing the staff and content. He then started skipping out on the sessions and adult Bible study times. Then he tried to take his group away and have them miss out on some important content . He didn’t do it discreetly either. His own students knew exactly what was going on and asked thstaff to intervene.

This bothered me so much. This is a man who is supposed to be a leader and it is actions and decisions like these that give Youth Pastors a bad name.

This is what should have happened

1. Take advantage of the opportunity

You do not always get your way but when that happens you have to allow God to use it to His glory.

2. Submit yourself

When there are rules to be followed you should submit yourself to that authority. That is your chance to be an example

3. Be humble

There is no need for I told you so’s and malicious talk. Keep it to yourself or take it up with the camp leadership.

I know I am not perfect and I make lots of mistakes but being a baby about things is just ridiculous