Below is a news article that I came across.....
Church Will Give Away $1,000 on Easter
An Ohio church will draw names to receive $1,000 to encourage attendance at their Easter service.
According to the Denver Post, Lindenwald Baptist Church in Hamilton, Ohio will give away $1,000 on Easter Sunday to encourage members and visitors to attend the service. The church will draw names and award $500 to a member and $500 to a guest. The church sponsored the giveaway last year and more than doubled their typical Sunday attendance as a result. The pastor says he is continuing the cash giveaway to be a financial and spiritual blessing to someone at Easter.
What do you think? Is this an effective way to draw in Easter visitors? Why or why not?
If a church has too offer money to get people in the door then they are in trouble. Hey Lindenwald Baptist why dont you just be Jesus to the community instead if you want to spread the gospel and grow your church. I think stuff like this makes a mockery of the church and does nothing but make the body of Christ look plain ridiculos.. I better just stop typing now..
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Some thoughts as I read through Philippians 1
I am going through the book of Philippians and I am amazed how hardcore Paul was. I mean this person was incredible. He had a passion for Christ that was unique. He found opportunities in every situation to share Jesus with others. It did not matter where he was; in fact, he states in Philippians 1 that by being thrown in prison he was able to talk to the guards and prisoners about Jesus. He did not view prison as a bad thing, he was actually glad he was able to get into prison because he normally would not have been able to get in and share Jesus in that environment. Paul was torn because he wanted to die and be with Jesus but he knew that there so much work to be done on earth. As I look at what Paul was doing and those who were apart of the early church. I could not help but think of what it would be like if the church still functioned like that today. Could you imagine how impactful the church would be if they would have continued to act like the early churches. Imagine a church that would not be afraid to jump on opportunities to share Jesus with someone. Imagine a selfless body of people who are willing to go out of their way to help the needy, not just with in the body but outside of the body. Imagine a church that would allow the Spirit to lead.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Something I read today..
Read this today and thought to pass it on to you for whatever its worth...
"Another shift that Jesus invites us to make is from producing to growing. A producers puts parts together and makes something new happen. you produce a veggie lasagna from cheese, asparagus, tomato sauce, and pasta. Throw in some eggplant if you like. You produce a BMW from auto parts. But everything you produce is already dead. Its just a thing. One day it will get old and rot or rust and waste away. Compare a producer to a grower. A grower stand in his garden. He leans over growing things to tend them with water and fertilizer and loving care. He watches with pleasure and expectations as his plants accomplish the one thing he can't make happen. They Grow. The Kingdom of Jesus is alive and growing, but not because we make it grow. We plant seeds of life. We water and weed. We sweat and hope and pray. but the dynamic of life in the garden is the kingdom at work . it is the life of god springing up around us. In the kingdom, the places we put our heart into and work at are places where we are collaborating with kingdom life. We don't collaborate with programs or buildings or technologies, although God can use those for important ends. Rather we notice and invite and affirm the kingdom people:
In the nervous young mom next to us in the bus
In the migrant farm worker waiting in line ahead of us at the 7-Eleven
In the man next door who's ducking it out with old age and chemo
In the child in our won household who's crossing the threshold from playground to pimple hell
The kingdom is. We are witnesses. Kingdom life is found when we articulate the Good news of Jesus Christ to those who not yet heard. Jesus is the doorway into the kingdom. But kingdom life thrives also in the beautiful ordinary, not just when we're doing ministry or working at a church."--Rick Mckinley, This Beautiful Mess.
"Another shift that Jesus invites us to make is from producing to growing. A producers puts parts together and makes something new happen. you produce a veggie lasagna from cheese, asparagus, tomato sauce, and pasta. Throw in some eggplant if you like. You produce a BMW from auto parts. But everything you produce is already dead. Its just a thing. One day it will get old and rot or rust and waste away. Compare a producer to a grower. A grower stand in his garden. He leans over growing things to tend them with water and fertilizer and loving care. He watches with pleasure and expectations as his plants accomplish the one thing he can't make happen. They Grow. The Kingdom of Jesus is alive and growing, but not because we make it grow. We plant seeds of life. We water and weed. We sweat and hope and pray. but the dynamic of life in the garden is the kingdom at work . it is the life of god springing up around us. In the kingdom, the places we put our heart into and work at are places where we are collaborating with kingdom life. We don't collaborate with programs or buildings or technologies, although God can use those for important ends. Rather we notice and invite and affirm the kingdom people:
In the nervous young mom next to us in the bus
In the migrant farm worker waiting in line ahead of us at the 7-Eleven
In the man next door who's ducking it out with old age and chemo
In the child in our won household who's crossing the threshold from playground to pimple hell
The kingdom is. We are witnesses. Kingdom life is found when we articulate the Good news of Jesus Christ to those who not yet heard. Jesus is the doorway into the kingdom. But kingdom life thrives also in the beautiful ordinary, not just when we're doing ministry or working at a church."--Rick Mckinley, This Beautiful Mess.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Preparation is key.....
Below is a good read about preparing for worship taken from Christian Challenge website..
Preparation For Worship
Before and as we enter into worship we need to prepare our hearts. Here are a few things to consider in preparation for worship:
1. Make sure you are right with God. Matthew 5:8 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.1 Psalm 66:18 18If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.2 1John 1:9 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.3 While we are right with God because of Jesus' death on the cross we still need to keep our lives free from sin and confess our sin when we do sin. Sin hinders our relationship with God. Confession clears the air and keeps our relationship with God healthy.
2. Quiet your heart. Luke 10:38-42 38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" 41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."4 As we enter into worship we need to leave the cares, worries, and demands upon our lives behind and focus upon the Lord.
3. Surrender your heart to God. Matthew 15:7-9 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men."5 Our hearts need to be committed to God. We can go through the motions of worship but it will be meaningless unless are hearts are right with Him.
4. Come with a humble heart. 2Chronicles 7:14 14If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.6
Preparation For Worship
Before and as we enter into worship we need to prepare our hearts. Here are a few things to consider in preparation for worship:
1. Make sure you are right with God. Matthew 5:8 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.1 Psalm 66:18 18If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.2 1John 1:9 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.3 While we are right with God because of Jesus' death on the cross we still need to keep our lives free from sin and confess our sin when we do sin. Sin hinders our relationship with God. Confession clears the air and keeps our relationship with God healthy.
2. Quiet your heart. Luke 10:38-42 38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" 41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."4 As we enter into worship we need to leave the cares, worries, and demands upon our lives behind and focus upon the Lord.
3. Surrender your heart to God. Matthew 15:7-9 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men."5 Our hearts need to be committed to God. We can go through the motions of worship but it will be meaningless unless are hearts are right with Him.
4. Come with a humble heart. 2Chronicles 7:14 14If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.6
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
No Music, No Problem
What if you walked into 909 or any church building and during the praise time and there was no music? What would your reaction be? It would be uncomfortable and strange but why would it? Is it because we are so used to music being the main worship style? Is it because we are creatures of habit? Is it that people just like the norm?
I have been tossing around, in my head, the idea of telling the band to take a week off and during the praise time, stand up and say “today we have no band, I have nothing in mind, lets just praise God in an authentic way. The goal would be to get people involved as a family, to hear praises coming from the heart, not by singing words off a power point. To hear scripture read, hear prayers, writing poems, creating art, singing or just setting reflecting internally the awesomeness of God. I think there could be so much more to the worship aspect side of a church service than limiting ourselves to the same routine. I am sure if I did do this it would be a very quite night with a lot of cricket noise. I hope I am wrong in my prediction. Do not get me wrong, I love music and it has a huge effect with the body and I am in no way say the way we do things is not right. I would just like to challenge the body to offer more than just a song and experience something that is authentic, transparent and something that will cultivate the body.
Maybe its less music and more response time during our time together. Let me know your thoughts on this..
Below is a good article from Saddleback Church on ways you can worship with out music. It’s a good read so check it out..
10 WAYS TO WORSHIP WITHOUT MUSIC
Worship isn't just a part of your life -- it's everything you do!
As you’ll discover as you read through Pastor Rick’s section in The Purpose Driven Life on "You Were Made for God’s Pleasure," worship through music is only a small portion of what true, biblical worship is all about. Worship is the process of surrendering our entire life into God’s hands. Everything we do can – and should -- be an act of worship.
How do we apply that to our life? God designed us to worship Him with our whole lives. Are there actually spiritual habits that we can build into our lives that help us to worship God more deeply? YES! Here are ten habits than can help build worship into your life on a daily basis.
1. Worship through prayer. We often miss this important component of our prayer life. Think about the issues you usually pray about. How much of our prayer life is about us and how much of it is about God? Without a doubt God wants us to be able to share everything that is going on in our life. He wants us to get to know Him better.
But he also wants us to get to know Him better. When we affirm who God is through our prayers, we put our prayer life in proper perspective. That’s exactly how Jesus taught us to pray. Look at the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Mathew (6: 9-13), Jesus starts the prayer off by saying “Our Father who is in Heaven, May Your name be honored.” (NLT) Jesus teaches us an important lesson with this prayer. Prayer starts with God. Consider including in your prayers a time of focused attention on who God is.
2. Get in a regular habit of reading the Bible. The Bible says that we worship God in “spirit and in truth.” How can we ever worship God without a clear understanding of who He is? The truth about God is essential to worship. Pay special attention to the books of Psalms. No book in the Bible spends as much time carefully describing who God is.
3. Obey God. Pastor Rick mentions in The Purpose Driven Life that we worship God when we obey Him. We all need to build the habit of obedience into our lives. Take practical steps to see that this is a part of your life. Whenever you sense God is speaking to you, make it a regular practice to do it immediately. Don’t let procrastination weigh you down. If you can’t do it immediately, write down whatever God has been putting on your heart, so that you can do it SOON!
4. Tithe. If you want to know what in your life you worship, look at your checkbook register. The Bible teaches us this important lesson: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mathew 6:21 NIV) God wants us to surrender our entire being to Him. One way to show that is by making Him Lord of our pocketbook. If you are already a committed tither, consider raising the percentage you are willing to give.
5. Build deep relationships with other Christians. During the third section of 40 Days of Purpose, Pastor Rick will be explaining how you are “Formed for God’s Family.” The Bible teaches that God designed us to live in community with other Christians. We bring God pleasure by getting to know others and being known by them. Here at Saddleback, the primary way we do this is through small groups. Click here to find a 40 Days small group near you.
6. Share your faith. John Piper made many of us re-look at why we share our faith when he wrote a few years ago: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” God wants every person on the planet to worship him, not because He is an egomaniac who needs our praise, but because worship is how we are designed by God. He wants the best for us.
Take time this week to share your spiritual journey with someone else. Tell them how you came to faith in Christ. Don’t worry about their response. Relax in the knowledge that you are playing a part in expanding God’s world-wide worship.
7. Serve others. Jesus tells us that “when you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did to me!” (Matt. 25:40 NLT) When we serve one another, Jesus tells us we are really serving Him. If you don’t think you have any gifts that are useful to serve, you are wrong. God made you with talents and gifts that He specifically gave you to serve others. At Saddleback you can find out more about how God SHAPED you through our CLASS 301. If you have taken CLASS 101 and 201, click here to register for the next CLASS 301. Or click here to look through a list of ministry opportunities here at Saddleback.
8. Build into your life the attitude of thankfulness. This requires looking at the world through a different set of eyes. When we look through the lens of thankfulness, we see our lives – and everything in it – as all gifts from God. Develop your own spiritual exercise each morning that demonstrates that you are putting on your lens of thankfulness. Then begin to thank God for all of the good things in your life.
9. Begin turning over to God areas of your life that you have never committed to Him. This is the heart of worship – surrender. God won’t settle for 90 percent of your life; He wants all of it. You might have been a follower of Jesus for years, but you still have areas of your life that you are holding back from Him. What are those areas? Only you know that. Two good places to look are your checkbook and your planner. Look at the areas of your life where you spend the most money and the most time. Do they honor God?
If you are human, you have sin in your life that you need to surrender. Think back over the past month and write down all of the times you remember disobeying clear teaching from God. Then look for patterns. If you find patters of sin in your life, these are areas of your life you need to surrender to God. Right at the moment start praying for God to help you overcome that sin. Ask your small group to pray for you. If you think this chronic sin might be something you can’t stop doing, check out our Celebrate Recovery program. Click here to go their Web site.
10. Live a life of purpose. God has a reason for your existence. In fact, He has five: fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism and worship. You please God when you live in step with His purposes. God doesn’t want you to waste your life. To continue to grow in God’s five purposes, join one of our 40 Days of Purpose small groups. Click here to find a 40 Days of Purpose group near you.
You were designed for God’s pleasure. The purpose of worship is the foundation of the other four purposes. Fellowship without the spirit of worship is just “hanging out.” Discipleship without worship is nothing but a fruitless mental exercise. Ministry without worship is called “spinning your wheels.” Evangelism without worship is a misplaced sales pitch.
Worship isn’t simply one area of your life; it is your life. Start right this moment by surrendering your life to God. Then spend the rest of your life learning to worship Him more fully.
1 Saddleback Parkway Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 609-8000 Email Us Giving at Saddleback
I have been tossing around, in my head, the idea of telling the band to take a week off and during the praise time, stand up and say “today we have no band, I have nothing in mind, lets just praise God in an authentic way. The goal would be to get people involved as a family, to hear praises coming from the heart, not by singing words off a power point. To hear scripture read, hear prayers, writing poems, creating art, singing or just setting reflecting internally the awesomeness of God. I think there could be so much more to the worship aspect side of a church service than limiting ourselves to the same routine. I am sure if I did do this it would be a very quite night with a lot of cricket noise. I hope I am wrong in my prediction. Do not get me wrong, I love music and it has a huge effect with the body and I am in no way say the way we do things is not right. I would just like to challenge the body to offer more than just a song and experience something that is authentic, transparent and something that will cultivate the body.
Maybe its less music and more response time during our time together. Let me know your thoughts on this..
Below is a good article from Saddleback Church on ways you can worship with out music. It’s a good read so check it out..
10 WAYS TO WORSHIP WITHOUT MUSIC
Worship isn't just a part of your life -- it's everything you do!
As you’ll discover as you read through Pastor Rick’s section in The Purpose Driven Life on "You Were Made for God’s Pleasure," worship through music is only a small portion of what true, biblical worship is all about. Worship is the process of surrendering our entire life into God’s hands. Everything we do can – and should -- be an act of worship.
How do we apply that to our life? God designed us to worship Him with our whole lives. Are there actually spiritual habits that we can build into our lives that help us to worship God more deeply? YES! Here are ten habits than can help build worship into your life on a daily basis.
1. Worship through prayer. We often miss this important component of our prayer life. Think about the issues you usually pray about. How much of our prayer life is about us and how much of it is about God? Without a doubt God wants us to be able to share everything that is going on in our life. He wants us to get to know Him better.
But he also wants us to get to know Him better. When we affirm who God is through our prayers, we put our prayer life in proper perspective. That’s exactly how Jesus taught us to pray. Look at the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Mathew (6: 9-13), Jesus starts the prayer off by saying “Our Father who is in Heaven, May Your name be honored.” (NLT) Jesus teaches us an important lesson with this prayer. Prayer starts with God. Consider including in your prayers a time of focused attention on who God is.
2. Get in a regular habit of reading the Bible. The Bible says that we worship God in “spirit and in truth.” How can we ever worship God without a clear understanding of who He is? The truth about God is essential to worship. Pay special attention to the books of Psalms. No book in the Bible spends as much time carefully describing who God is.
3. Obey God. Pastor Rick mentions in The Purpose Driven Life that we worship God when we obey Him. We all need to build the habit of obedience into our lives. Take practical steps to see that this is a part of your life. Whenever you sense God is speaking to you, make it a regular practice to do it immediately. Don’t let procrastination weigh you down. If you can’t do it immediately, write down whatever God has been putting on your heart, so that you can do it SOON!
4. Tithe. If you want to know what in your life you worship, look at your checkbook register. The Bible teaches us this important lesson: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mathew 6:21 NIV) God wants us to surrender our entire being to Him. One way to show that is by making Him Lord of our pocketbook. If you are already a committed tither, consider raising the percentage you are willing to give.
5. Build deep relationships with other Christians. During the third section of 40 Days of Purpose, Pastor Rick will be explaining how you are “Formed for God’s Family.” The Bible teaches that God designed us to live in community with other Christians. We bring God pleasure by getting to know others and being known by them. Here at Saddleback, the primary way we do this is through small groups. Click here to find a 40 Days small group near you.
6. Share your faith. John Piper made many of us re-look at why we share our faith when he wrote a few years ago: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” God wants every person on the planet to worship him, not because He is an egomaniac who needs our praise, but because worship is how we are designed by God. He wants the best for us.
Take time this week to share your spiritual journey with someone else. Tell them how you came to faith in Christ. Don’t worry about their response. Relax in the knowledge that you are playing a part in expanding God’s world-wide worship.
7. Serve others. Jesus tells us that “when you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did to me!” (Matt. 25:40 NLT) When we serve one another, Jesus tells us we are really serving Him. If you don’t think you have any gifts that are useful to serve, you are wrong. God made you with talents and gifts that He specifically gave you to serve others. At Saddleback you can find out more about how God SHAPED you through our CLASS 301. If you have taken CLASS 101 and 201, click here to register for the next CLASS 301. Or click here to look through a list of ministry opportunities here at Saddleback.
8. Build into your life the attitude of thankfulness. This requires looking at the world through a different set of eyes. When we look through the lens of thankfulness, we see our lives – and everything in it – as all gifts from God. Develop your own spiritual exercise each morning that demonstrates that you are putting on your lens of thankfulness. Then begin to thank God for all of the good things in your life.
9. Begin turning over to God areas of your life that you have never committed to Him. This is the heart of worship – surrender. God won’t settle for 90 percent of your life; He wants all of it. You might have been a follower of Jesus for years, but you still have areas of your life that you are holding back from Him. What are those areas? Only you know that. Two good places to look are your checkbook and your planner. Look at the areas of your life where you spend the most money and the most time. Do they honor God?
If you are human, you have sin in your life that you need to surrender. Think back over the past month and write down all of the times you remember disobeying clear teaching from God. Then look for patterns. If you find patters of sin in your life, these are areas of your life you need to surrender to God. Right at the moment start praying for God to help you overcome that sin. Ask your small group to pray for you. If you think this chronic sin might be something you can’t stop doing, check out our Celebrate Recovery program. Click here to go their Web site.
10. Live a life of purpose. God has a reason for your existence. In fact, He has five: fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism and worship. You please God when you live in step with His purposes. God doesn’t want you to waste your life. To continue to grow in God’s five purposes, join one of our 40 Days of Purpose small groups. Click here to find a 40 Days of Purpose group near you.
You were designed for God’s pleasure. The purpose of worship is the foundation of the other four purposes. Fellowship without the spirit of worship is just “hanging out.” Discipleship without worship is nothing but a fruitless mental exercise. Ministry without worship is called “spinning your wheels.” Evangelism without worship is a misplaced sales pitch.
Worship isn’t simply one area of your life; it is your life. Start right this moment by surrendering your life to God. Then spend the rest of your life learning to worship Him more fully.
1 Saddleback Parkway Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 609-8000 Email Us Giving at Saddleback
Monday, March 14, 2011
Confession Booth..
So I am trying to finish the book Blue Like Jazz, which I started last Summer, along with other books that I started that are waiting to be picked up and completed. Thank God for Intuniv! Anyways, I was a reading chapter 11 and what had happened really got me thinking more about the church and how it is viewed. In a nutshell, the author Don Miller and his friend Tony were attending a college in Portland, Oregon. The college was known to be a pretty immoral and godless campus. Each year they have a festival called “Ren Fayre” and during this time the whole campus shuts down, while the students got high and drunk, some of them would run around naked. I imagine it to be like a Sodom and Gomorrah type atmosphere. Don and Tony were talking about how they as Christians can reach out to this campus and build relationships. Don came up with an out of the box idea of making a confession booth and putting it in the middle of campus. Tony and this small group of Christians decided to make the booth but instead of people coming in and confessing there sins it would be them confessing. They would ask forgiveness for all of the things that Christians have been apart of that hurt so many people and given them such a bad name, such as the crusades, slavery, racism, social injustices, not reaching out and providing and being who Jesus really called them to be. The response was amazing, many of the students said, "I needed to hear that" and even forgave them. I believe that this went on for hours and lives were changed. These guys came up with an idea, which was obvious from the Spirit and followed through with it. The idea sounded crazy and even some of them were a little apprehensive, but they followed the Spirits lead.
Imagine if we followed the Spirit lead no matter how crazy it seems in our minds. I think the church today does not follow those nudges, as they should. Too many people worry about what others think, do not want to make a fool of the themselves, maybe time is an issue or just fear. We all have been there and we have decided not to follow those nudges from the Spirit. How can this be a good thing? How can God bless the church if we do not obey and follow the direction that He wants us to go? Too many times the Church gets stuck in its normal routine and makes sure that nothing out of the ordinary will happen.
I think this is an example of quenching the Holy Spirit. It says in 1Thess 5:16-21 “rejoice always; pray with out ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. However, examine everything carefully, holding fast to what which is good. “How do we quench the Spirit? We quench the Spirit by not doing the things that give him access to control our lives. God sent the Holy Spirit into our lives that He might lead and direct us and when we say “No” or not follow His lead then we are quenching, which means to put out, suppressing, or extinguish. The problem with the Church is can be self-directed and not God directed. Nothing could be more misdirected than a self-directed life. When a Church or a believer starts to self-direct things can go wrong real quick but if we rely and ask for His lead in our lives and actually follow, the journey can be amazing. As the above story illustrates, amazing things can happen if we are willing to just go with what the Spirit wants and lives can be change and relationships can be built.
Imagine if we followed the Spirit lead no matter how crazy it seems in our minds. I think the church today does not follow those nudges, as they should. Too many people worry about what others think, do not want to make a fool of the themselves, maybe time is an issue or just fear. We all have been there and we have decided not to follow those nudges from the Spirit. How can this be a good thing? How can God bless the church if we do not obey and follow the direction that He wants us to go? Too many times the Church gets stuck in its normal routine and makes sure that nothing out of the ordinary will happen.
I think this is an example of quenching the Holy Spirit. It says in 1Thess 5:16-21 “rejoice always; pray with out ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. However, examine everything carefully, holding fast to what which is good. “How do we quench the Spirit? We quench the Spirit by not doing the things that give him access to control our lives. God sent the Holy Spirit into our lives that He might lead and direct us and when we say “No” or not follow His lead then we are quenching, which means to put out, suppressing, or extinguish. The problem with the Church is can be self-directed and not God directed. Nothing could be more misdirected than a self-directed life. When a Church or a believer starts to self-direct things can go wrong real quick but if we rely and ask for His lead in our lives and actually follow, the journey can be amazing. As the above story illustrates, amazing things can happen if we are willing to just go with what the Spirit wants and lives can be change and relationships can be built.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Got Gifts?
Got Gifts? Ok, that sounds lame and yes, it is a knock off a marketing slogan that we all should be familiar with, if not then your living under a rock, yes that was a quote from a geico commercial. Anyways, I am asking if you got gifts because they are needed. I have been leading The Crossing Praise team for a while and over the years, I have been able to scrape by and piece a band together with some singers and call it a night. I am a little tire of doing it this way and need your help. If you are interested in being apart of the team or even felt a nudge from the Spirit to get involved just let me know. Leave me a comment or email me if you are interested.
jmlour1@comcast.net
jmlour1@comcast.net
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Seek and Cultivate
Have you ever tried to look at Christianity through the eyes of a non-believer? The concept of Christianity and the Bible from their perspective can look pretty far fetched and at times delusional. The belief of a God that we can not physically touch or see, while altering our lives to live a life to please God, can be pretty crazy for many. I have been around the Christian culture most of my life, in fact 33 years, and have been apart different trends and ideologies of how the church is to function. Most of them, well nearly all of them were man made strategies (with good intentions) on how to reach the lost and many times those strategies failed. Program after program, new up to date buildings with a Starbucks, edgy music, taking the cross out of the building, sitting on couches and comfortable chairs, high tech lights and sound equipment, the list goes on. The church has tried all these things and more, to lure the lost and clueless person into their building, some churches even changed the message so it would not offend someone new. I know of some para-churches youth organizations that will not use the name of Jesus or share the gospel freely during their meetings, instead they have certain times throughout the year to share the gospel (this is another topic for another day). As long as the church continues to morph into whatever the next trend is or what the new ideology may be at the moment , it will continue to fall short. I wrote earlier about looking at Christianity through the eyes of a non-believer. How are the trends and ideology of the day addressing how we are looked at? The church can do all those things above but it does not promote or help them to see what we believe. Here is where I feel the church has fallen short. The above list is a good start but the main thing is “Relationships.” Luring someone into the church with all the flashy trends does no good if there is no way to cultivate a relationship. Jesus, to start his ministry, reached out and cultivated relationships with his disciples and he continued to build relationships throughout His ministry, and even to this day He continues. Look throughout the gospels if you don’t believe me (the gospels being Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
Ephesians 5 talks about being imitators of Christ but how many of us are? What relationships are you choosing not to get involved with because it would be uncomfortable or time seems to be a factor? How many potential relationships did you allow slip through your hands because you assume someone else will do it? Are you making the most of every opportunity to seek and cultivate? I believe that the non-believers will be able to see and start to understand Jesus, by the way we imitate Him through his example of building relationships. As long as the church continues to wait for the next big thing to arrive then things will remain. Relationship is a big key in furthering the Kingdom and in helping change the godless culture we are living in today. In examining my life, I know I need to do better. I have missed opportunities and even recognized opportunities and did nothing, how about you? I think its time to put all our trends and ideas on the shelf and be real. We need to be who we are in Christ, drop our guard and pray for opportunities for us to get into the community and serve like Jesus and love like Jesus. By doing this, those looking from the outside in, will see this God that we love and serve.
Ephesians 5 talks about being imitators of Christ but how many of us are? What relationships are you choosing not to get involved with because it would be uncomfortable or time seems to be a factor? How many potential relationships did you allow slip through your hands because you assume someone else will do it? Are you making the most of every opportunity to seek and cultivate? I believe that the non-believers will be able to see and start to understand Jesus, by the way we imitate Him through his example of building relationships. As long as the church continues to wait for the next big thing to arrive then things will remain. Relationship is a big key in furthering the Kingdom and in helping change the godless culture we are living in today. In examining my life, I know I need to do better. I have missed opportunities and even recognized opportunities and did nothing, how about you? I think its time to put all our trends and ideas on the shelf and be real. We need to be who we are in Christ, drop our guard and pray for opportunities for us to get into the community and serve like Jesus and love like Jesus. By doing this, those looking from the outside in, will see this God that we love and serve.
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