I hope that today is different for you. Today you choose to "step off the bank" and witness how an amazing God can put you on dry ground in the middle of a flood swollen river we call "the American way". It will be the most difficult step you will ever take, but with trust, comes reward. Put your words into action....
uDid you ever notice that people get different during the holidays? They become part of two distinct groups. Group number one starts posting all sorts of warm fuzzy pictures and comments and encouraging everyone to be nice to each other. Group number two complains and grumbles about how tired they are and how put out they are by the stress of the holidays. It's all about perspective. How we as individuals "see" the world around us. It's very tempting to be influenced by the negative words we are fed each day. Sometimes they come from our own house. A spouse who spends hours telling their partner, the woes and pitfalls of being an active follower of God. Its so much easier to just use words instead of action. We can go to a church service for an hour a week and talk about all the things God calls us to do and we sing and praise the Lord then we get in our car and begin the journey back to a lifestyle that doesnt cost us anything. There are a few select people out there that say "I am going to live a life that reflects Jesus". It's a crazy different life than the America that surrounds us. We choose to actually live out what Jesus calls us to do. Radical thought isn't it?
I hope that today is different for you. Today you choose to "step off the bank" and witness how an amazing God can put you on dry ground in the middle of a flood swollen river we call "the American way". It will be the most difficult step you will ever take, but with trust, comes reward. Put your words into action....
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I just returned from the Dominican Republic. Mission trips always cause me to stop and look around when I return to America. I had the joy of speaking at a couple of different churches while I was there. The interpreter was essential and yet it caused me to pause after each sentence. For a guy that is wired like me, that was extremely difficult. I was bound by the conditions that surrounded me . If I had taken the time to learn Spanish and really invested in that language I would've felt pretty good about speaking in those churches. Once I return to the USA, I get the usual questions..how was your trip?...How was the mission?....then someone usually says to me, "I wish I could go on one of your trips". It causes an internal cringe because I know where this conversation is headed. I will respond with "o.k., let's go"..they will say "Well I have too much going on, job, kids, sports, the house, the yard, the family, the pets, the weather, their age, their health, their whatever...Which I gently try to say,"none of that matters if you really want to go". It gets down to choices. A person chooses to buy more and more stuff (with payments of course) and this cause them to be a prisoner to their job. "I have to work to pay for my stuff". I get that. I really do. Yet somewhere in all of the excuses we find for NOT serving on a mission or getting involved in a local ministry, there is also the truth of choice. Here is a great example. If a person hears that their favorite band is going to be coming to town, they get excited, they work extra to pay the ticket, they work overtime so that they can take time off on the day of the event, they do without something so that they have the money to go. Football, NASCAR, Movies, VACATIONS, you pick it and you will ultimately find what is truly being worshiped. We find a way for that which we love the most. Not easy to hear , not easy to change but if we are honest with ourselves, really honest, we are prisoners of the life we live....
Did you ever stop to think about the reason that the American church is encountering a downward spiral? I mean if the people who go there are supposed to represent the savior of the entire world then why is it openly shunned like an Amway get together at your boss's house? It should be a crowded place, where people are pushing in and bringing their hurting friends. A safe place to heal. There is so much irony in the way that church has evolved. At the height of Jesus' ministry, he could've walked into any temple and picked his disciples. The problem was, those inside the temple were doing religion. Not reflecting Jesus. They were all caught up in what you wear to worship, what songs need to be sung, how much money you need to tithe, and how well you could recite the bible. Jesus recognized it for what it was. He gave them a piece of his mind and called them a "den of snakes". wow. At that time the religious leaders had the choice to keep doing religion or turn the church on it's ear and begin loving people and caring for them. It would've been complicated, messy and time consuming, It would not have made any money and they would have to love people just like they were. guess which way they decided to go? Yep and the rest is history. So September 7th at 10:30 another church opens in Vincennes, IN A group of people with the heart and intentions of "being the church", building disciples and loving people right where they are. messy, messy, messy. The message of the average church in America has been, "clean up your act and we would love to have you be a member". If we open the doors of this new church and we perpetuate that message, then it's our fault when it fails. We don't need another church that emulates the religion of Jesus' time. We need a church that reflects Jesus.
I have been to Walmart ..umm I dunno, maybe a couple thousand times. The mood never changes. I hear people say "I need that...I need that..I need that. and kids, well that's pretty much all they say. But if we are really honest, it's not a need, it's a want. I mean really, if you step back and evaluate this situation, we did it to ourselves. We (America) has now become the greediest, most obese, me-focused group on the planet. It makes me sad. I remember the old TV commercial of the American Indian standing on the side of the road and watching as cars drove by throwing their trash at his feet. Now substitute Jesus into that commercial. it must really break His heart to watch America go about it's daily life. He was so simple in his message and his living with the disciples. People tell me all the time, "I don't know how to spread the Gospel. I don't know how to reach people". Jesus gave us great examples of being like him. Love people where they are at. Feed and clothe and house the needy. Forgive others. Be last, not first. Unfortunately when you propose that last one at Walmart, people really bristle up. "I'm not giving up my spot in the line!" yep We have more food and money and belongings than 90% of the world but we still want more. People in Haiti live in homes that are 10 x 20' (200 sq ft) Our homes have kitchens bigger than that. Not that we need all that space but we tell ourselves, "I need that"....As a leader of Christ followers, I have to tell you, we don't need that..we want that. big difference. If you have storage lockers and extra buildings to hold all your stuff, it's time to re evaluate.... RICHARD PETTY'S BIG ENGINE - Richard Petty's 198th NASCAR Sprint Cup race victory came amidst great controversy. It was October 1983 at the Miller High Life 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Petty won that race with left-side tires on the right-side of the car, and an engine that measured 381.983 cubic inches against a maximum allowable limit of 358 c.i. Petty was docked 104 points, but the victory was allowed to stand, amidst great complaints from his rivals. The Junior Johnson-owned second-place car driven by Darrell Waltrip was whisked away from the track before it could be inspected. To name just a few who have been caught, AJ Foyt, Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Johnson,Michael Waltrip, Richard Childress Racing, Penske Racing brings to light the bendable rules. NASCAR seems to have a double standard in the realms of cheating and racing. As did the NFL when the Patriots were caught. Pro baseball is littered with steroid users who set records and registered great statistics and the powers-that-be allow those records to stand. All of our idols get pardoned by the justification of "well, he's a good guy" or "he has lots of fans and we don't want to upset everybody" So is it any surprise that all of this overlooking of truth would eventually trickle into the American church? Jen Hatmaker, author of the book 7, has hit it on the head with this statement, "We've invented a thousand shades of gray, devising a comfortable Christian existence we can all live with- super awesome, except the Bible doesn't support it." So why do the leaders of churches all across America allow it to continue? Imagine a preacher who only preaches the bible, "take up your cross daily", store up treasures in heaven not on earth", "love the least of these", Jesus tells his followers, you will be persecuted, you will be different than the world around you, the widow's two coins was ALL she had, her savings account, her 401K, it was a major sacrifice, "easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into heaven" No preacher who builds his life around the approval of his congregation would ever have the courage to say that in a message, without padding it or making it a "shade of gray". It might cost him his job or home or reputation, his fans. And unfortunately in the USA all of those things are valued more highly than truth and integrity. Jen Hatmaker, you give me a glimmer of hope, keep blogging sister! During one of the most chaotic days in the disaster field, a tall, soft spoken man approached me. He waited patiently as I took 20 calls and 20 more face to face confrontations, questions, etc..He carried a duffle bag. He said, "I heard you are helping people out and you do it for free?" I said "yeah, kinda weird, I know" He said, "Well I brought you a pair of work boots to give out to somebody who needs them" I took the dusty boots and looked into his eyes as he held onto them for just a second longer. I realized that these were his personal combat boots and that he was a soldier who had just returned home. I said to him, "You are a true hero, doing amazing things for people who will never know your name, thank you for just doing the right thing even when others tear you down." He shook my hand and said "I should be telling you the same thing...sorry about the blood on them...." I watched him walk away through the crowd of volunteers and survivors and have never forgotten that moment. It made me think of Jesus. He gave these very simple sounding instructions to his followers. Carry your cross DAILY. sounds easy but eventually you realize that you are going to take a real pounding by the world, stones and words and all kinds of hate. Jesus carried it anyway and he asked us to do the same thing. Some days I envision him coming through the crowd and handing it to us...and saying.."sorry about the blood". Every Sunday God's armies gather in training rooms, hear the general's orders, roar and sing in agreement, make stronger battle plans and dismiss...only to retreat to the comfort of their own home..far from any real battle..... A true soldier fights for what he has sworn his oath to. He will grieve like no other, he will fight like no other, his heart will break when wrongs are done and lastly his loss will leave others half of what they were.... The American church is collapsing because everyone who enlisted really just wanted the benefits of membership, never expecting to actually be deployed to battle...it's Christianity's version of the GI bill..... Problem is, the new testament is the "fine print" and suddenly everyone wants to be a deserter. So as leaders of the followers of Christ, we must lead like warriors, unafraid of what the rest says about us......check this quote out..."There is no way I'm going to be able to say these words to these people. God says, "Here we go," and you say them. You feel alone in the moment, and you have to die to audience response, realizing they are probably not going to carry your picture in their wallet anymore. But you know, This is precisely what God wants me to say. That's a refining, character-building, intensely spiritual process. — Bill Hybels...
Largest funeral in America…
I must’ve read this passage a hundred times but I didn’t truly grasp the gravity of the orders given by Jesus. He is telling them, “Hey, don’t keep wasting your breath, move on….they are already dead” Wow. If we take that to heart it is both consoling and disconcerting. On one hand, it gives us permission to move on and not feel bad about the unchanged hearts. On the other hand, the human side of us, our compassion says, “I can’t just let them die..I have to try again…and again.. I stumbled onto this writing about the verse and felt it was worthwhile to add it in here. Middle East travellers would often arrive with their feet caked in dust and hence foot washing was quite traditional. The Jews made this a theological and sacred issue though. Jewish customs and traditional teaching believed that any land outside of Israel was defiling, or at least its dirt was. This presumably caused some questions of conscience and consternation for those Diaspora Jews living outside of first century Palestine. Jews were to "shake off" any dust or dirt from outside lands when returning to Israel, or even off any imported fruit and food. The dust of a gentile land was equivalent to the defiling brought about by coming into contact with a corpse. F1 "The very dust of a heathen country was unclean, and it defiled by contact. It was regarded like a grave, or like the putrescence of death. If a spot of heathen dust had touched an offering, it must at once be burnt. More than that, if by mischance any heathen dust had been brought into Palestine, it did not and could not mingle with that of 'the land,' but remained to the end what it had been - unclean, defiled, and defiling everything to which it adhered. This will cast light upon the meaning conveyed by the symbolical directions of our Lord to His disciples (Matthew 10:14), when He sent them forth to mark out the boundary lines of the true Israel - 'the kingdom of heaven,' that was at hand: 'Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.' In other words, they were not only to leave such a city or household, but it was to be considered and treated as if it were heathen, just as in the similar case mentioned in Matthew 18:17." (Edersheim, Sketches In Jewish Social Life, ch.2; cf. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol.1, pp.643-44) By treating them as dust or judged like Sodom, according to contemporary Jewish teaching, his disciples were to treat the towns' people as corpses, already dead, with respect to the Kingdom. Shocking! No hanging around to win them over by love and good works over a long period of time, just move on. Moreover, it was a far cry from the restoration promise offered in Isaiah 49:23: "They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD". Instead of Israel's enemies licking the dust from her feet her own dust was being shaken off by Jesus' Jewish disciples and the towns treated as heathen. So what if we apply this to the churches who refuse to comply with the very commandments of Jesus? There is this air of heated passion and frustration moving across America. 6,000 churches closing each year. And yet a handful have changed the way they worship by tearing down the walls, going head first into their community , led by pastors who know it’s not about saving their job, it’s about saving the souls of the misguided. These are the true warriors of our time. Unafraid of pews filled with frumpy hypocrites who might carry a large check book right out the door. The strongest of leaders simply says, “let them go, we have kingdom work to do and they were slowing us down”. The knowledge of standing before God and hearing ourselves say “ I made everybody feel good about their inaction and I altered my message to shield them from the truth”, doesn't feel right. That will not sit well. If Jesus was pressed to speak of the most important commandment to follow, and he chose to say what he did, then we should accept it and get busy doing it. Wipe the dust off our feet and move on…. Over the years I have been asked to speak at all kinds of churches. big, small, fancy, primitive, traditional and modern, denominational and non denominational. I love going a lil bit early and wearing something less than what they would expect in terms of nice clothing. I sit in the middle of the sanctuary and listen, I listen to the people coming in to visit with each other. It is beyond entertaining, and sometimes it's heartbreaking. The amount of tearing down of people is staggering. They smile when they say it but it's still a wounding comment. Everything from "old so and so is off his rocker to "she always wears something that isn't acceptable for church" I think back to a pastor who was getting ready to deliver his message one Sunday and it was at a rapidly growing church. So it was crowded and the parking lot was a nightmare. He simply said " I keep hearing comments about people using road rage in the parking lot, honking, flipping others off, crowding into the building to get "their seat" and lots of other in fighting and division. So today I'm going to ask you one simple thing. Please don't tell others in this town that you are a Christian, because you're making it harder for those of us who are trying to live out that title" "Those people" are coming to our church? "Did you see what they were wearing?" "well why can't they pay their bills?" "Change our worship music?" "this is the way we've done it for as long as I can remember" Over 75% of Americans claim to be Christians. roughly 230 million people It would seem that if that many people were truly Christ followers, the world would be a much different place Why, you ask? simple. If 7 out of 10 people made sure that the homeless were housed, the hungry fed and dedicated their lives to glorifying God, there wouldn't be gossip or envy or pride or anger or greed or all of the other traits that make America what it is today. Pastors would be compelled to lead their congregations to love and care and forgive and to be the hands and feet of Jesus. There wouldn't be time to sit in stale environments wondering about the next pot luck dinner. they would have dirty hands and well worn boots because all of their time would be spent helping others, leading by example. When God expressed his unhappiness in Malachi 1, it was very obvious what he thought of the church and it's leaders. check this out.."Why doesn't one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is not pleased. And I don't want any more of this so-called worship! Offering God Something Hand-Me-Down, Broken, or Useless WOW! our churches are becoming valleys of dry bones. afraid to engage the communities around us, afraid to offend the financial supporters of our ministry, When will we recognize that God is bigger than all of that. We build these house of cards and sooner or later, they come tumbling down and another church closes in America. It doesn't have to be that way. Jesus was so different than the religion of his time that they were all offended by his actions, loving and forgiving and shunning the building of wealth. It went against the rest of society. That's where we are today. going against the rest of society. I refuse to change the bible interpretation to accommodate the approval of the religious powers that be. The homeless who sleep on my couch, the hungry who sit at my table, the jail inmates who I sit beside and pray with, is all the approval I need. Jesus led by example and it's time for the church leaders to do the same. I will not go quietly. |
AuthorAuthor of Ashes to Ashes:9/11 and soon to be completed "Compelled". An ordinary guy who likes to live life out of the comfort zone. Archives
December 2016
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