The church is not confined to the walls of a building or to a specific "clique" of people. The church extends beyond ourselves. The church is the "bride of Christ." We need to start thinking that way. If you can't, start reading the bible more and find out for yourself. Life in Christ is not about you or me. Life in Christ is about bringing people into relationship with Him. Life in Christ is about service, not to you but to Him and others. Did Jesus not say that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and strength? Oh wait, and He also said the second was to love your neighbor as yourself?
(For those who think this is not loving my neighbor, think again. Because if we went around not wanting to offend someone, that's not loving someone. That's catering to and God doesn't cater to people, He pushes them to their limits and makes them re-think their decisions. Scripture is full of examples, say Jonah).
So stop hacking down one another when a church decides to do something different. If someone doesn't want to follow the leaders appointed and led by our great Creator, let them go. Either God has led them in a different direction or they aren't following Christ in the first place. Stop being a naysayer and stop being a gossiper and stop threatening. LET IT GO! You are ripping apart the bride of Christ and it pains God to see that happen. It's like watching a family destroy itself.
We have to trust that the leaders of every "part" of Christ's church are doing as they feel God has led them. It doesn't take committees to run a church. It takes people after God's own heart. It doesn't take votes to run a church, it takes the vote of one person: Christ and that's it. Done. Over. Finished. If something is biblically wrong with a church, (i.e. the pastor preaches that it's okay to live together and not be married because marriage is a heart commitment), by all means speak out, and loud. But just because a leader decides to move the church, or change the wall color, or decides on a certain message series that we don't agree with, it's time to search ourselves for the real reasons why we follow Christ. Is it for us or for Him? And for those who want to question the motives of those who might decide to leave, search yourselves too..........and hard.
When we focus on the wrong things, we take our focus off the real things: if you can't figure out what the real things are, you are not following after Christ. And I ask that you search your soul deeply.
Please do not respond or comment on this entry. Just think about it.
Something like Jesus in the Temple right now,
Jesus Freak Out!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
True Love (this will test your soul)
I will do this for me, but now, insert your name and do it for you:
"[Jeremiah] is patient and kind; [Jeremiah] does not envy or boast; [Jeremiah] is not arrogant or rude. [Jeremiah] does not insist on [his] own way; [Jeremiah] is not irritable or resentful; [Jeremiah] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [Jeremiah] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.......faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 ESV
Thank you F. Chan for making me do this. Now it's your turn. So what is your perspective on how you love now? I hope your heart will be changed forever as mine has.
Learning to truly love again,
Jesus Freak Out!
After thought:
Love is a mirror. How you love reflects how you live.
"[Jeremiah] is patient and kind; [Jeremiah] does not envy or boast; [Jeremiah] is not arrogant or rude. [Jeremiah] does not insist on [his] own way; [Jeremiah] is not irritable or resentful; [Jeremiah] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [Jeremiah] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.......faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 ESV
Thank you F. Chan for making me do this. Now it's your turn. So what is your perspective on how you love now? I hope your heart will be changed forever as mine has.
Learning to truly love again,
Jesus Freak Out!
After thought:
Love is a mirror. How you love reflects how you live.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
My Journey's Beginning
Recently, I have been meeting with a group of guys one morning a week to just study God's word and talk about the role we play as men in our families, marriages, relationships, churches, careers, etc. One of our take-aways this week was to write down our story. So I have decided to write mine down for everyone to read. This is where my journey with Christ began.
First off, I was raised Roman Catholic. I went to the private school at our church from kindergarten through 8th grade. I was an alter boy from the 3rd grade and I was a member of our high school youth group. I did everything I was supposed to do. I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I tried to do everything I was supposed to in order to be known as a "good person." But there was always something missing.
I went off to college and embarked on sewing my wild oats. Thank God none of them took root anywhere. I found the woman of my dreams about 6 months before graduation in June of 2000. By August, I was on my way to Arizona to start my career in the US Air Force. In January of 2002, I married that same woman of my dreams and 7 months later, our lives were changed. With family 1800 miles away, I left my wife in Tucson while I went on deployment to Kuwait and Afghanistan. At the time I left, I was happy to leave. We were having trouble as a newlywed couple and the time away was going to be good. I never knew how good for us it would be.
I started my deployment in Kuwait in September of 2002, but in October, I was forward deployed to an air base in Afghanistan. After about 4 weeks of deployment, I began to miss home. I began to realize what I had left behind. I began to long for something more in my life than my work. I had taken a small library of books along with me when I left. Among those books was a devotional by Oswald Chambers titled "My Utmost for His Highest." A friend of mine had given it to me before I graduated 2 years earlier. I had never picked it up until that time.
I started reading it every night before I drifted off to sleep in my single bed next to the hand made wooden bookcase that served as my home away from home. I went to sleep with the roar of jet engines, the occasional attack alarm sound, explosions in the background, and my thoughts of life without my wife and Christ. During this time, my beautiful wife also sent me Gary Chapman's "The Five Love Languages." I began reading that as well and I realized what I had left behind. I realized what was missing in my life besides my wife. One night, I found my way to Christ.
After so many years of playing the part and thinking that I was a "good person," I finally found the greatest gift available: God's amazing grace. And thus began my journey with Christ. My life has never been the same since.
From the beginning,
Jesus Freak Out!
First off, I was raised Roman Catholic. I went to the private school at our church from kindergarten through 8th grade. I was an alter boy from the 3rd grade and I was a member of our high school youth group. I did everything I was supposed to do. I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I tried to do everything I was supposed to in order to be known as a "good person." But there was always something missing.
I went off to college and embarked on sewing my wild oats. Thank God none of them took root anywhere. I found the woman of my dreams about 6 months before graduation in June of 2000. By August, I was on my way to Arizona to start my career in the US Air Force. In January of 2002, I married that same woman of my dreams and 7 months later, our lives were changed. With family 1800 miles away, I left my wife in Tucson while I went on deployment to Kuwait and Afghanistan. At the time I left, I was happy to leave. We were having trouble as a newlywed couple and the time away was going to be good. I never knew how good for us it would be.
I started my deployment in Kuwait in September of 2002, but in October, I was forward deployed to an air base in Afghanistan. After about 4 weeks of deployment, I began to miss home. I began to realize what I had left behind. I began to long for something more in my life than my work. I had taken a small library of books along with me when I left. Among those books was a devotional by Oswald Chambers titled "My Utmost for His Highest." A friend of mine had given it to me before I graduated 2 years earlier. I had never picked it up until that time.
I started reading it every night before I drifted off to sleep in my single bed next to the hand made wooden bookcase that served as my home away from home. I went to sleep with the roar of jet engines, the occasional attack alarm sound, explosions in the background, and my thoughts of life without my wife and Christ. During this time, my beautiful wife also sent me Gary Chapman's "The Five Love Languages." I began reading that as well and I realized what I had left behind. I realized what was missing in my life besides my wife. One night, I found my way to Christ.
After so many years of playing the part and thinking that I was a "good person," I finally found the greatest gift available: God's amazing grace. And thus began my journey with Christ. My life has never been the same since.
From the beginning,
Jesus Freak Out!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Ten Things to Remember When Reading the Bible
1) Do not put into the Word what is not there
2) Let the Spirit speak to your heart and soul
3) When reading, cast aside preconceived notions of what you think it says
4) Read for quality, not quantity
5) Read both Testaments because it's all relevant
6) If you're gonna do the 1 Year Bible, take the time to do it (see #4)
7) It's not a novel, or story book, or history book; it's way more than that
8) Blessed are those who can read the Bible; some people in the world are killed b/c they own a copy
9) Take notes b/c we all forget
10) Pass the Word along..........
Focusing my mind on the Word,
Jesus Freak Out!
2) Let the Spirit speak to your heart and soul
3) When reading, cast aside preconceived notions of what you think it says
4) Read for quality, not quantity
5) Read both Testaments because it's all relevant
6) If you're gonna do the 1 Year Bible, take the time to do it (see #4)
7) It's not a novel, or story book, or history book; it's way more than that
8) Blessed are those who can read the Bible; some people in the world are killed b/c they own a copy
9) Take notes b/c we all forget
10) Pass the Word along..........
Focusing my mind on the Word,
Jesus Freak Out!
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