Back before Duck Dynasty ushered in a corporate approval of beards, I had a Pastor I worked with tell me not to let my beard get too long. You see, I was a worship leader, and that made me the face of the church to first time guests. Since then, beards have been all the rage, and it serves the church well to have a trendy bearded guy in front of the congregation. The church has a habit of taking the focus off of Jesus. The church fashions mission statements and visions that seek to reach the lost and be the church of acts in a modern form. However, in doing so they often get focused on giving off the right image instead of being the right image. The church should be a reflection of Jesus.
I once saw a popular faith healer on t.v call out a young couple to that altar. He prayed over them, they accepted Jesus. He then instructed the guy to shave his green mohawk, take the plugs out of his ears, and gave him money to go buy a suit and encouraged him to get a job.
It is sad to see the church get so hung up on image. Jesus never was.. think about the hygiene that he must have encoountered when he healed the sick, cast out demons. There wasn't running water in homes, and showers were not a daily activity. Add sickness to that equation and it had to be pungent. I don't recall ever reading where Jesus said now go, take a shower, get a haircut, change your robes.
Jesus gave sight to a blind man after rubbing mud on his eyes. I'd imagine that the man, who had been begging, was already dirty. Man, he probably had a beard that needed trimming.... Jesus just met his request.
The early church grew by doing what they had seen Jesus doing. Sometimes, we forget to do that. We forget to do what Jesus did. We get hung up on our history and traditions, the things are forefathers did and we forget to do what Jesus did.
Jesus never called anyone to change before they came to him, only after... and yet we are growing more and more close minded in the eyes of those our mission statements claim to want to reach
Tuesday, September 29
Tuesday, June 23
Robbing The Power
"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:7
God did not give us a spirit of fear. Many times, we look fearful in the eyes of the world. We run to social media and post everything we can to prevent the world from being the world. Rarely do we make such strides to keep ourselves from sinning.. It is no secret that as the day draws near people will grow ever more resistant to the word of God. The Bible tells us that ministers will begin to tell people what they want to hear. "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions," 2 Timothy 4:3. We are certainly seeing this unfold today!
It is certainly no coincidence that this warning in second Timothy comes after it is pointed out that God did not give us a spirit of fear. Another thing that social media reveals other than the fear that we have that redefining marriage will usher in the apocalypse is that we may not have a spirit of self-control. I am constantly blown away by comments that I read on social media that are so hateful in the name of Jesus.
Do I want the definition of marriage to change? No. I don't..Do I think that it changes the power of God, his plan for the church, and authority? No, I don't. I have a hard time finding in the scriptures where Jesus addressed every single opposing view. I am easily able to find him washing the feet of sinners, feeding them, teaching them, healing them, loving them, and dying for them. (us)
We shouldn't be afraid. God knows what he is doing! Scripture tells us that the time is coming when people will seek pleasure over truth. We shouldn't be surprised or shocked by the things we are seeing and hearing. We weren't given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control. We have been given the power of the holy spirit working in and through us, the same power that raised Christ from the dead. (Rom. 8:11) We are given the love of Christ to extend to our neighbors. We are given self-control. It is more offensive that Christians do not operate in this Spirit than it is when the world operating like the world.
We should strive to live in his strength instead of our weakness.
God did not give us a spirit of fear. Many times, we look fearful in the eyes of the world. We run to social media and post everything we can to prevent the world from being the world. Rarely do we make such strides to keep ourselves from sinning.. It is no secret that as the day draws near people will grow ever more resistant to the word of God. The Bible tells us that ministers will begin to tell people what they want to hear. "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions," 2 Timothy 4:3. We are certainly seeing this unfold today!
It is certainly no coincidence that this warning in second Timothy comes after it is pointed out that God did not give us a spirit of fear. Another thing that social media reveals other than the fear that we have that redefining marriage will usher in the apocalypse is that we may not have a spirit of self-control. I am constantly blown away by comments that I read on social media that are so hateful in the name of Jesus.
Do I want the definition of marriage to change? No. I don't..Do I think that it changes the power of God, his plan for the church, and authority? No, I don't. I have a hard time finding in the scriptures where Jesus addressed every single opposing view. I am easily able to find him washing the feet of sinners, feeding them, teaching them, healing them, loving them, and dying for them. (us)
We shouldn't be afraid. God knows what he is doing! Scripture tells us that the time is coming when people will seek pleasure over truth. We shouldn't be surprised or shocked by the things we are seeing and hearing. We weren't given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control. We have been given the power of the holy spirit working in and through us, the same power that raised Christ from the dead. (Rom. 8:11) We are given the love of Christ to extend to our neighbors. We are given self-control. It is more offensive that Christians do not operate in this Spirit than it is when the world operating like the world.
We should strive to live in his strength instead of our weakness.
Wednesday, April 29
Bank Illustration
I love direct deposit, especially when it drops early! Its a good feeling to look into my account to find that the deposit has been made on time. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of direct withdraw. Sometimes, it gets taken out earlier than it is supposed to, and that is not good, especially when you're waiting on the direct deposit. Our spiritual experience can be like this. We love it when someone pours into us, when they minister to us in a direct way. We love to be on the receiving end of a blessing. ON the other hand, when it is time to give of ourselves, we may not be ready. We may not know what to say because our "bank" is running low. 2 Timothy 4:2 says to "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct,rebuke, and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." In order to be prepared, we have to be actively seeking to grow in relationship with Christ. When we put in the work, the Spirit deposits what we need in order to be prepared. He gives us the things that we need in order to be ready for the withdrawal so that we can deposit into others with patience and careful instruction for the glory of God.
Thursday, April 16
The Right Side
John 21:6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish."
Too often, we feel stuck. We want to see results but, they're just not showing up. We have our nets in the water, and we wait.
Whether it be church growth, personal growth, relationships. Maybe our nets are on the wrong side of the boat. Maybe we have our energy invested in the wrong things.
Notice that Jesus tells them to cast their nets on the RIGHT side... That implies so much doesn't it? Once they did, there were so many fish!
Maybe you're tired of the same tired argument. Maybe it's tradition, maybe it's some type of expectations that aren't being met in some area of your life. Maybe the problem isn't the water, maybe the problem is where you're fishing.
The fishermen were tired, ready to quit for the day, discouraged. Another wasted day! Jesus told them to keep at it but to change their approach!
What a word!!
Keep it up! Persevere! There is reward on the RIGHT side!
Have Faith and Wait!
Too often, we feel stuck. We want to see results but, they're just not showing up. We have our nets in the water, and we wait.
Whether it be church growth, personal growth, relationships. Maybe our nets are on the wrong side of the boat. Maybe we have our energy invested in the wrong things.
Notice that Jesus tells them to cast their nets on the RIGHT side... That implies so much doesn't it? Once they did, there were so many fish!
Maybe you're tired of the same tired argument. Maybe it's tradition, maybe it's some type of expectations that aren't being met in some area of your life. Maybe the problem isn't the water, maybe the problem is where you're fishing.
The fishermen were tired, ready to quit for the day, discouraged. Another wasted day! Jesus told them to keep at it but to change their approach!
What a word!!
Keep it up! Persevere! There is reward on the RIGHT side!
Have Faith and Wait!
Thursday, April 9
Giving Up
Giving up- it seems to be a common theme in the world around me. I have certainly felt like throwing in the towel with some aspects of my life lately. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes back in December and have drastically changed my approach to eating. My life has changed in terms of routine and I have had to begin some annoying rituals that sting and leave my fingers sore. For the first time in my life, I am on a medicine regiment and it is annoying to have to remember each dose. Man, it sure would be easy to give up and eat what I want and forget the blood checking and pills. Wouldn't that be convenient and serve my desires?
Community is tough. Getting a handful of people to agree on something and see the significance of something is like pulling teeth sometime. It would just be easy to give up when there is tension and disagreement. When things don't fit into my square, it would be easy to walk away. I have certainly felt/thought that lately.
When the world puts Christians under the microscope, it is easy to feel insecure about our beliefs. The enemy wants us to give up.
When things are difficult and what was once fun has become mundane and routine, it's easy to just seek out something else. This is when we start to neglect commitments, promises, and just give up. We started up the mountain but the climb just gets more strenuous and it is certainly easier to repel down than it is to climb upward.
I am baffled at how easy it seems to just abort mission these days. It all seems to point to selfishness. I'm not happy, I want adventure, I want freedom. The focus becomes on getting out of circumstances instead of persevering and seeing the work God is doing in the season. The problem is, if our lives are built on how we feel, we will just leave people, projects, communities in our wake as we pursue happy feeling after happy feeling.
Giving up. It's so easy but, it's not rewarding. It is self serving, which isn't loving (1 Cor. 13)
Dying to ourselves is one of the largest barriers between us and God and one of the biggest things that prevents perseverance.
Community is tough. Getting a handful of people to agree on something and see the significance of something is like pulling teeth sometime. It would just be easy to give up when there is tension and disagreement. When things don't fit into my square, it would be easy to walk away. I have certainly felt/thought that lately.
When the world puts Christians under the microscope, it is easy to feel insecure about our beliefs. The enemy wants us to give up.
When things are difficult and what was once fun has become mundane and routine, it's easy to just seek out something else. This is when we start to neglect commitments, promises, and just give up. We started up the mountain but the climb just gets more strenuous and it is certainly easier to repel down than it is to climb upward.
I am baffled at how easy it seems to just abort mission these days. It all seems to point to selfishness. I'm not happy, I want adventure, I want freedom. The focus becomes on getting out of circumstances instead of persevering and seeing the work God is doing in the season. The problem is, if our lives are built on how we feel, we will just leave people, projects, communities in our wake as we pursue happy feeling after happy feeling.
Giving up. It's so easy but, it's not rewarding. It is self serving, which isn't loving (1 Cor. 13)
Dying to ourselves is one of the largest barriers between us and God and one of the biggest things that prevents perseverance.
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