How dedicated are you to your church?

I have talked to a lot of people who love their church. no one would say there is anything wrong with that, but at what point does loving your church become more powerful than loving God? If God told you to leave your church and go somewhere else would you? If someone showed you a major problem with your church, if your church was behaving unbiblically, would you seek out righteousness by either attempting to change it or by leaving it, or would you just go with the flow that is laid out? I think it comes down to this...why are you in church. If you are there for the environment, then nothing is going to move you unless it is a better environment. If you are there to make a difference, then perhaps your motives will be different.

Serving

I know someone who feels they are not very good at serving others. Particularity the person this person is spending their life with. One of my giftings is servant. What can someone do to build serving in their own life? What makes someone a better servant?

Guns to babes

A while back when I used to fix people's computers, after I would fix one of them, I would make it the most powerful computer around. I would give it everything. The ability to download large files quickly, burn CD's DVD's ISO's the ability to edit music and sound and incorporate it into video. They could transfer files, browse the web without ads, etc. The problem arose though, that now I gave them something that they had no idea how to maintain or use. I would then constantly get questions about what they are doing. I love helping people, but it would become like many many people every day. I realized, that if they didn't even know of the programs, just dumping more on their computer doesn't really help them. Now, I may give them one program, but not everything all at once. How many times do people do that with Christianity? How many times are new Christians taught deep theological concepts when they have done nothing since salvation to strengthen their real understanding of the faith? A person being taught difficult things about the faith that has no works is like a computer being filled with a multitude of useful programs without anyone who knows what they are doing enough to utilize them, and filling that person will just make that person always reliant on you instead of Christ.

Go Master

Christianity is a lot like the game of Go. Okay, that is a strange statement I know, but let me explain. In the game of Go, you have two types of stones, black stones and white stones. No stone is better or more powerful than any other stone. Each stone, by itself has no power at all. It takes at LEAST four stones to capture another stone. So, lets think about it. In Christ, none of us is more important in the body of Christ than anyone else. We all work together under the direction of the Master. In Go, a stones placement matters more than anything. A master Go player can place the stones exactly where they need to be to accomplish the most. Too many people look at Christianity as chess. Powerful people who have a purpose and weaker Christians like pawns who are less important and a lot of people who just watch and contribute nothing to the game, but are still on white's side and still believe they are "Christians" If we are to be on the side of light as opposed to darkness, we need to be in the game. We also need to stop looking at people as king, queen, knight, bishop, rook and pawn and start looking at each stone as equally important. So, are we letting God place us as He will, or are we rebellious stones that can cause the loss of many other stones in the game.

God Moves

It is amazing to see how God can move so quickly. It is even more amazing to see how easily God can show us what He wants of us, and how much we do not listen until long after the issue. We only see God move when we get out of the way. The more we play defense against God, the more we will NOT see God move.
Reasons we do not see God move

1. Not believing it can happen because of something we have control over. i.e. too sinful, too weak, not the right person etc. (Not to say we still don't need to clear the sin out of our life.)

2. Seeing God leading one way, and doing the opposite because of; tradition, planning, time, money, habit, sin, etc.

3. Saying you are not sure about God's will when you are. Sticking the fingers in the ears, naaaaanaaaanaaaa I can't hear you God etc.

4. Watching God move and not attributing it to God. Like, 'I am so glad that person is well, now we don't need to keep praying for God to do it."

Then after the fact, we tend to tell God that he didn't move. Wow, I am glad God shows so much mercy to us.

Events R us

I think back about a time I visited my parents church and they were having a big event; some type of strong man event. I noticed some things as soon as I walked to the door. First thing, at the door they had "Recomended Donations" for tickets in. I always had a problem with people charging to get into church. They weren't really charging this time, but it seemed to be pretty much the same thing. What is the difference between charging and saying if you don't have the money you can get in free? On one hand they are charging people on the other hand they are embarrassing people into actually giving the fee. Anyway, lets get past that for a moment. I get in there the church is crowded. Almost, but not quite, standing room only. Probably 500 or more people that night alone were there. When we get in there, they tell us, hold on to your ticket we will have a drawing at the end of the night. Okay, well, I have no problems with raffles, but my parents' church is southern baptist and they are against raffles. This, however, was not a raffle, but a drawing because people were not paying for a chance to win. They just get a chance to win by entering into the place after most of them paid. (huh?) The evening goes on. They do a lot of stunts such as breaking bricks, bending frying pans etc. After that, they pass out donation cards to everyone and give a speech about how much they need money. Back to the event of the evening. Lots of fire breaks and tricks and then another donation card and another speech on how much they need money. Next short (under 15 minutes) of testimonies (amazing testimonies) then another plea for money followed by another short testimony session and then something interesting..... "Alright everyone we all gave our life to Christ do any of you want to do the same, close your eyes and say this prayer if you have not". "Okay, if you haven't said the prayer come on up." (Some come up.) (Apparently not enough.) "Okay, I want everyone to say the prayer out loud whether you have said it before or not". "Everyone say this...." (Most do.) "Now, I want everyone to turn to the person to the left and to the right of you. Ask that person standing to the left and to the right if they have said that prayer for the first time and if they say they have help them down." (Many do.) HUGE crowd down at the front now. Everyone is applauding. That weekend, there were over 200 people who "came to the Lord" I talked to the pastor a while later. Anyone want to guess how many people went through with their decision? A couple months later, they had NO changed lives. No new members. No one showing any signs anything has happened! Why would that be? Over 200 came forward. What was missing? Anything of God was missing. I am reading a book called, "The Cost of Discipleship." It is an amazing book. Some many times today we offer people "Cheap Grace." We tell them they do not need anything to come to Christ. They can continue their lives just as they were before. They need to do nothing but walk up to the front of the church. NO COST! Lets add all this stuff to get people to say they love Christ. Then our job is done. NO! Following Christ does NOT come without cost. We need to stop telling people they can get the "Free Gift" of salvation. It is true, they can, but that is something that only makes since if you are already a follower. Martin Luther said something along the lines of "I sin boldly." Does that mean we should sin? No. After accepting Christ, he has cleaned sin out of his life a much as he could and he continued to seek God to take sin out of his life. He meant that, knowing he would fail again, he could be bold in the knowledge that he is forgiven. If you told an unsaved person to "Sin boldly" they would just sin all they want and continue in their rebellion against God. Things mean different things when someone knows Christ than it does when they do not know Christ. We need to stop telling people Christ's sacrifice is a "Free Gift" because to the unsaved, a "Free Gift" requires no sacrifice. If someone gave me a gift for my birthday, I would expect to have to do NOTHING AT ALL after receiving it. I would take the birthday gift and not change my life because of it at all. This is how we are presenting the gospel to the unsaved when we tell them that. Is that salvation at all? Is that how God works? If it is not, how dare we make people think that and give them the false impression that they are fine now and need nothing more.

What God is doing in your life/in person out of sight

So, the other week I found an Emergent Church group. I read the description and it said they focus on something like "politics and activism". I emailed the owner of the group to see how that was considered a church. He said it was not considered a church but like a program of a church. I didn't know that so I asked what God was doing in the Emergent Church from what he observed. If someone asked you what was happening in your own church what would you say? This leader asked me why I was asking him. For over 1,000 words of his later and 3,000 words of mine, he still would not tell me. Now he says he is going to tell me by phone.


That brings me to a second point, people are different when they are online than they are in person. I love the internet, but I can't imagine someone speaking 1,000 words refusing to tell what God is doing. The conversation in real life would end before that or the person would be compelled to say something. I find for myself, it is easy to say something online boldly than it is to do it in person with someone you know. This is very valuable, but at the same time, we have to be careful. It is too easy to think the same with people you already know and divide friendships and relationships through things typed.

Questions;

What if someone asked you what God was doing in your life/church? What would you tell them? Is there any fear for you in answering that question?

How are you different online than you are in person? Can you not imagine saying something to someones face that you have no problem typing? Is that freedom a good thing or a bad thing for you and your personality?