You probably read the title and might be wondering what in the world I am talking about.  Atheism was not as hard as what?  The answer is atheism was not as hard as Christianity.  At this point some of you are probably thinking I am crazy, but hold on.  Am I?  Do you find Christianity easy?  If you do then I simply have to ask which Jesus you are following.

I know, before some of you even say it, loving a wonderful, merciful, savior is easy.  Loving God as Father is easy also.  He is so very easy to love when you get a taste of His incomprehensible mercy, amazing grace, and unsurpassable peace.  The very real fact that He rescued me from the jaws of death, literally, and an eternal destination far from Him, and even from enslavement by sin and service to the enemy makes it easy for me to love Him.

But is that all Christianity is?

No, it is not.  Christianity, no matter how a postmodern society and church defines it, is really about or should be about, following, serving, and doing as that easy to love Savior-King, Jesus, commanded us.  And He commanded us not only to love Him but to love everybody else too.  We must love our spouses as He loves the church-His body and bride.  We must love our families by obeying our parents and caring and instructing our children.  We must love our brothers in the family of God because anyone that hates his brother is a murderer.  We must love our neighbors even as we love ourselves and we know that we love ourselves very dearly.  We must even love our enemies and show it by turning the other cheek and giving them our coat when they steal our shirt.

This is a love that goes against our very natures.  When someone does not love us like we love them we tend to draw away, to hold back.  But this is in direct opposition to our instructions.  When I am faced by someone that does not reciprocate the love I try to develop I must try even harder.  When I am faced with bitter words coming from a loved one I am to keep quiet instead of retaliating.  When I am faced by ridicule, slander, or hurtful invective I am supposed to pray blessing upon that person.  None of this is easy.  But it is necessary.

It is necessary if we are going to be effective in our mission.  It is necessary if we are going to help win some to the cause of the Kingdom.  It is necessary if we are going to achieve unity in the Body.  It is necessary if we are going to be like our King.

Yes, atheism was easy in comparison.  All I had to do was be self-centered and admit it instead of deny it like we seem to do when we are born again.  Joining Christ’s cause did not automatically take away my self-centeredness.  I also recognized that I pretty much hated everyone and cared little about anyone except sometimes in a self-centered way.  Hate is easy but the eventual destination is not anything I would wish on my worst enemy.  And that is what love is all about.  It is about being truly concerned for the eventual eternal destination of everyone we know or meet.  But loving everyone in a magnanimous, sacrificial way is so very hard at times.

Atheism was not this hard.  But where was the challenge in it.

Love you all

Tags: amazing grace, Atheism, Christian, Christianity, Church, Death, Enemy, Father, God, Grace, jesus, Kingdom, Lie, Mercy, mission, Murder, neighbor, Self, Service

I don’t feel like I am doing much of anything.

I asked some questions on Tuesday that hit close to home.  I believe that we all have problems fulfilling the great commission.  If we think we don’t we are probably deceiving ourselves.  I have been serving Jesus for seven years now and I have personally not had one person that I have asked actually come to my church.  I have not personally led anyone to accept Christ as Lord of their lives.  I can’t even convince my kids that God is worth serving.

With my limited ability I do my best to teach two classes a week at church.  I read the bible a lot, read all sorts of forums and blogs and try to interact with both Christian and non Christian to a degree.  I pray.  I will discuss God and the Kingdom with anybody at anytime.  I write these blog articles and try to promote it and my brother’s blogs also.  I pray before meals in restaurants and in hospitals while visiting family.  I try my best not to even make a promise that I am not sure I cannot keep, much less lie.  I am not ashamed of the gospel or my Savior in any way.

But is any of this in any way really going out and making disciples?  Is it still possible to even do that in the hustle and bustle of life in the good ole USA?  (Read Mikes comment on the previous post.)

To answer my own last two questions from Tuesday is inextricably tied into my own personal mission.  If I am not doing it then to some degree my church is not and if it is not then we are not seeing the growth we should.  We will knock the seeker sensitive churches, and rightly so in a lot of ways, but if they are growing by the thousands and our growth is in single digits, what is really so bad if only ten percent of their growth is real. Ten percent of thousands is much more than 100 percent of nothing or even ten.

We live in a world and at a time that is way too busy.  But Jesus did not say “go when you have the time.” He said leave it all and follow Him before we are told to go.  Have we and are we willing to strip down to the necessities and fulfill our mission?  Are we really ready to forego some traditions and styles if it will keep the few visitors we have long enough to start the discipleship program?  I just don’t know.

Shannon talks about relationships more than anyone I ever met before.  He has it right.  In his last comment on my site he brought up the thoughts about being the church instead of doing church.  This the biblical approach.  I think I had a post in the past also about this but you will have to search the archives.  Being the church is relational at the very core.  Going out to make disciples is relational.

So I do know that it starts with relationships.  We absolutely must start new ones and grow deeper in the relationships we have.  And since we must do everything on the go, we must figure out how to do relationships on the go.  How and what would that look like?  Here is some food for thought.

The most obvious is right here.  The internet.  Reach out with blogs and forums.  There are loads of free resources out there.  Satan definitely uses the internet in a number of ways but why can’t we use it to reach out all over the world and talk about the fact that Jesus is King.  That is the heart of the gospel.  Satan has no control except when we let him.

Look at all the ways we stay in touch with everybody, all the time.  Are you texting, tweeting, IMing, emailing, etc.?  Are any of those instant communications about Jesus’ love?  Could they be?  We must engage the communications mediums of the day and learn to use them effectively.

When you go in a store or a restaurant, do you greet the cashier or waitress or do you sort of just ignore them?  These are relationships even if they are only momentary and temporary.  Being a witness, the traditional understanding of what we are to be, is much more than just praying before that meal while eating out.  Being a witness is also relational.  Letting someone know that you notice them and appreciate them is one way to impact the world even if it seems so small.  But add them all up.

Does anybody even know their neighbors name anymore?  Do we care?  There are relationship opportunities all around us.  At the mailbox, at the gas pump, at the dry cleaners, at the ball parks.

We have to develop strategic approaches to create relationships in the world of today.

Going and making disciples in our busy world will not look like it did a hundred years ago.  Life is tremendously full and busy and time still passes by at the same pace it did thousands of years ago.  I, for one, wish I had more even though I have a lot at the moment.  We have to get creative in our methods of fulfilling our mission.  We cannot afford to just let it go as we have been.

And I must start, myself.

Love you all

Thanks to Shannon and Mike for much of this post.

Tags: blog, Christ, Christian, Church, great commission, King, Kingdom, Lie, Life, Love, mission, neighbor, Personal, Relationships, traditions, USA

“It’s a sanctuary where they don’t get shot, they don’t get stabbed, they don’t have to worry about somebody trying to sell them drugs.”

Can you guess who made this statement?  The man who said this and is the one behind the “school of rock” that it references also wrote and sang the following lyrics:

Welcome to my nightmare
I think you’re gonna like it
I think you’re gonna feel that you belong…

He is also known for his horrific theatrics in the performance of his shock rock shows.  Songs about necrophilia and tearing apart baby dolls, snakes and spiders, lots of fake blood and torture; all of these made many parents pray their kids would not listen or see this man perform in the seventies.

But now that man is praying with us.  He is a brother in Christ and has been since the eighties.  I remember hearing about it back then and thinking he had sold out.  His music changed a little (most of you would not recognize it but promiscuous sex, alcohol, satanic glorification, and others are not a part of his show or songs) and he started performing less.

Alice Cooper, yes that is who I said, Alice Cooper teaches a Wednesday night class at his church, has never cheated on his wife of 32 years, has three children, loves golf and is pretty good at winning for charity, and in 1995 started the Solid Rock Foundation which provides money for children’s causes and Christian student scholarships.  He also conceived and initiated The Rock which is a 20,000-square-foot recreational hall on the urban campus of Grand Canyon University. It will be open to children 12 to 18 at no charge; the prime target is at-risk teens, whose parents may be in jail or on drugs, and whose brothers are thugs.

Cooper says alcohol and tobacco will be banned at The Rock. There won’t be a chapel, but counselors will proselytize by example and offer religious guidance to kids who want to learn about the faith.  He says, “We are overtly Christian, but we’re not going to beat you over the head with a Bible.”

Praise God for using any and all of us who are willing.  I so wish that we would learn to stop judging and leaping to conclusions about people because of what they look like or do.  Coopers shows are still bloody, ghoulish and sometimes shocking.  But read some Shakespeare if you think this is new.  He is not a “Christian celebrity” but is open about his faith and wants the focus to be on Christ and not on Alice.

If Alice Cooper had cut his hair, quit performing and singing, and had started a church like a lot of us would have wanted and a lot did, in the eighties, he probably would not be relevant at all today.

Serve where you are.  Be who you are.  God wants you for these very reasons.

Love you all

Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock

Tags: alice cooper, brother in christ, Christian, ghoulish, God, grand canyon university, Praise, proselytize, Relevant, risk teens, school of rock, shock rock, solid rock foundation, welcome to my nightmare