as my heart for the Church grows; my heart for the church grows.

have you ever experienced change in your life? the changing of a thought process? something that you thought you had figured out but something comes along and changes that? i feel i'm going through that. ever since God revealed His grace to me and gave me the right to be called His son i have had a view of how the church was supposed to work. it was a place where the Church met on a weekly basis to gather for corporate worship. simple as that. if i missed church, no big deal, it didn't make me a believer, just something i was supposed to do every sunday. i was contempt with this idea. until recently. God seems to be changing my heart on the idea of the church. some of you may be wondering why in the heck i am using 2 different capitalizations when i say "church." i'm working from the presupposition that "church" means the building that we gather and "Church" is the body of believers. track with me.

i don't know if many of you know but the church is in a bad place right now. there are things going on inside of her that are destroying her. now this isn't to say that every church in the world, america, your hometown, etc is falling apart. i am saying however that the church as we know it is under attack. i'm thoroughly convinced that any person in america can walk out of their front door on a saturday night or sunday morning and find a church that teaches exactly what they believe. Truth, heresy, it doesn't matter. make up something in your mind about Christianity and if you do enough research you will find a "church" that teaches what you want to hear. or at least that whatever you believe is ok and can mess right up with what they are teaching. the Apostle paul says:

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, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
2 Timothy 4:3-4

we were warned about this. this idea that no longer will people follow the Truth but will follow myths and false teachings.

³ As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, ⁴nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. ⁵The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, ⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
1 Timothy 1:3-7

so the question becomes, how does this manifest itself? what does this look like from a pulpit? i must apologize in advance for what is about to come from my brain and through my fingers to your eyes. i normally wouldn't speak like this, especially about something so precious to me but i believe it gives the perfect illustration to what you find in the church today. the Bible has taken on the role of a whore. in a sense it has become "whored" out. scripture, that is the Bible, is able to stand on its own. it doesn't need anything else. it is the written ideas and eyewitness testimony of the Christian faith. ok, back to my illustration, i believe it is this way because the Bible is no longer the dominate driving force in a sermon anymore in most churches. it only makes a cameo appearance. "pastors" think of a topic to "preach" on and then will go into the Bible and pull a verse from here, and a verse from there, to support whatever idea they're trying to relay to us. this is the cause of the false doctrines that we see floating around today. there are to many to name, but i will name a few.
1)"your best life now" as made famous by joel osteen and the like
2)"how to better your sex life" like the pastors now adays are the first people to discuss sex
3)"church for the unbelievers" if your pastor says this, please run. you can't do church for unbelievers. they don't understand that purpose of church. they count all spiritual things foolish. the spiritual gifts given to the Church were for the building up of the church.
4)"works rightousness religion" and "social justice Jesus" i feel these 2 go hand in hand. these are the popular themes going through the church now. it's all about forgetting what Jesus's life, death, and resurrection accomplished for us, and going out and doing the works of Jesus. feeding the poor, clothing the naked, etc. the problem with this though is that any pagan can do that and it won't save them from hell. the reason these are the most popular is because we are in a day and age when people want to help, people want to matter and make a difference for the community. and these works aren't bad things but they aren't the Gospel. only after God revealed himself to you and you believe and repent for the forgiveness of your sins can you do "good works"

so Church, where does that leave us. what should we look for in this search for a church. not that i have looked for many churches, although i am in the process right now, but i feel sound Biblical doctrine is first and foremost. more so than music, size, denomination, or anything else. if they don't preach Christ and his death on the cross for your sins, you have no business there.

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

this is essential. this is the message that we take out into the world and proclaim. that message is how we accomplish the Great Commision. but it isn't only for the unbeliever, it's for the believer as well. even though we are bound up in Christ we still sin. we still war against our flesh day in and day out. the Gospel still has power of us. it is the very way that we are claimed righteous. we can't lose sight of that. that's why it is so important that we hear it not only weekly at church, but daily in our lives.

i hope that i have opened your eyes a little. i hope that you will sit in church this saturday night or sunday morning and be a little more astute to what is being preached from your pulpit. i used to sit in church and listen to a pastor say whatever it was that he was saying and take it in word for word, no questions asked. as i fall more in love with the scriptures though, my heart breaks for the way that they are mistreated. if you kick the knees out of Christianity, like a lot of pastors are doing, the religion has nothing to stand on. the unbeliever has to hear in order to believe. they should be able to hear in church. we have to fight and take the pulpit back. you ask how? i have no idea. it's something i'm praying and thinking a lot about. join me in that. i leave you with 2 passages that speak to the importance of this:

¹⁰For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. ¹¹They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
Titus 1:10-11

⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Galations 1:8

may God bless you throughout the rest of your week, God speed,

a simple mind

This is that something...

That something that I spoke of in my last entry...this is it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr7w-8Bq3mk&feature=related

Please take 4 minutes of your life and watch this. I hope that it brings tears to your eyes as it does mine.

What can wash away my sin? NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.

Something so controversial.

What if something came along that was so controversial that it was fought and warred over for thousands of years? Something that required you to love, serve, and obey. Something that asked you to flee from a "me focused" society?
What if this something was so controversial that it had opposition from the very beginning? That, not only was it mocked, but it was fought against with the intent of destruction. Yet it survived, scarred, but alive. Alive, yet not as it was intended. Many people lived and died for this something. Some viewed them as foolish, while others desired to follow in their footsteps. This something was something special. Something that could not be swept under the rug or pushed into a corner and forgotten. No this something could not be ignored. Is that something that should be looked into?
What if this something called us to love? Is that something you would be interested in? Don't we all desire to love, and be loved? What if this something was love and this love was so strong that once it had you it never let go? Unconditional love, isn't that something worth seeking out? What if it was so radical that it asked us to love our enemy? To turn our cheek to those who wrong us and forgive and love. Could you do that?
But what if this love also claimed to be Truth? Would that turn you away? Can there be absolute Truth? What if these two, love and Truth, went hand in hand? What if this Truth had no choice but to be selective because of something we did, but also paved the way for it to be all inclusive? One command, love, that's all. Would you do it? Can you love? Can you turn away from your "lifeline" of lies to grab hold of Truth? All it asks for is love, are you capable of that?

The art of losing myself...

I love music. I think I said that in the other post also, but it's the truth. I love the way that there are all types for all different situations/emotions/etc. I was listening to Hillsong the other day at work and the words "...my purpose remains, the art of losing myself in bringing you praise" hit me differently then words that just come out of my mouth when I hear the song. I thought, "what does it look like to lose yourself in praise?" So naturally as I always do I have been pondering what that would look like. Or if it is even possible. How can someone go day in and day out praising God? Not that He isn't worthy of that, but can it be done by a human.
The next thing I thought about is why is it important that we praise God all day, everyday? Is it because I call myself a Christian and I feel that is what I am supposed to do? Sometimes, yes. Sad to say it but it's the truth. Sometimes I don't feel worthy enough to praise the God who created me and who saved me from death. Sometimes I just cloud myself with things that don't matter and waste my time and I just forget to praise God. Once again, it sounds rough, but the truth isn't always pretty. That comes from a lack of focusing on Christ and the Cross and that is the most fundamental element of the Gospel. Focus on Christ, stay on the "straight and narrow," lose site of Christ, sink in the water like Peter. (Matt. 14 22-36)
No matter how I feel from day in to day out, I must stay focused on Christ. Not holding onto that principle takes me places that I don't need to be and allows Satan to attack and take hold of me. I was bought. Brought out of death. Placed into life. I didn't deserve it. Nobody does. The point isn't whether or not we deserve it...the point is that it was done. God loved me so much that He sent His one and only son to this earth and had Him die in my place so that I could be alive in Him. If that isn't worthy of praise then I don't know what is.
That was a bit of a rabbit trail. My purpose in life should be to praise God throughout the day. Not because I am supposed to but because of what He has done for me. Not only does praising Him throughout the day keep me focused on the Gospel, but it is also an outward testimony to others who don't know about the victory that is in Christ. Both are equally important because we weren't commanded to come to Him and then keep it to ourselves. So our outward praise is a witness to others. People watch us whether we like it or not. Here recently I haven't done the best job at showing my testimony to others. It's because of this. I don't do this, but my heart desires to. So I'm working on it.
I'm really blessed to be where I am at in life. I have friends who are there for me whenever I feel unworthy to be called a child of God. They are there to encourage me and remind me that no matter what I do, it doesn't push me closer to God, or if I do something that isn't pleasing to Him that it doesn't push me away.

"I'll lay my trophies down, all down at Jesus' feet"

How many times have I heard that song. "Jesus Paid it All" I've always thought it a powerful song. I mean Jesus, the firstborn among all creation, the author and perfecter of our faith, paid every debt that we have ever piled up. Our own ignorance, and desire to be a god threw us into a downward spiral or disobedience, sin, and ultimately death.
The band played this song Thursday night (9-25-08) at Crusade and I have to say that it hit me differently this week. The words "I will lay my trophies down, all down at Jesus' feet" really hit me hard. I guess it just made me think about how the things that we do in the life on Earth aren't for us and they aren't for our friends or our family.

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Plain and simple. Whatever we do, no matter how big or how small it is, it is to be done for God. To bring glory to his name. How many times have I done things that I wanted to do and then seek out the praise, not that I put on like I was doing it for that reason, but deep down I knew the truth. I did it for the purpose of praise from others. "Look at what I did" is always the mindset. Yes some people may give you that while you are here on Earth but you will have to give an account of that when you are in Heaven. So why not just do what you do for God's glory instead of your own selfish reasoning. In the end you are going to have to come face to face with your creator and you aren't going to want to seek out praise from in but we will forever be in constant unending praise to Him. We will not care about the things that we did on Earth, all of the trophies and stuff that "we" have collected will be placed at His feet while we are face down in adoration.
I really like song lyrics. Sometimes that can be good, sometimes that can be bad. I understand that they are from frail humans but I feel like sometimes they explain exactly the way that I feel. This one is from a band called Project 86:

"So many times we smile in pride, putting such faith in what we've accomplished, when minutes ago we were, minutes ago we were slitting our wrist running for sympathy."

That holds a lot of weight in my life. So many times I tell God to sit this one out because I can handle it, sometimes it works out, but more times than not it falls through. When I do complete something on my own, I have a great sense of accomplishment and it encourages a habit to continue to do on my own. It makes me feel good to know that I can do something on my own. On the flip side, the minute something that I can't do crumbles I run back to God angry and upset that I couldn't do it on my own and begging forgiveness. How weak I am. How sinful I am.
God make me rest and trust in You to do the things that You will. Help me understand that I can't do it on my own and that my ways are far inferior to Yours. This is going to take some tearing down of my own mindset and that is going to be painful, but I am ready.