Merry Christmas.

There are only two days until Christmas day arrives.  Some in this country will celebrate the birth of our Savior on December 25th while all the rest will just enjoy another day off work.  Whether you are a servant of Christ or not, there has to be something that you enjoy about this holiday, this season.

This is what my Tuesday question is about.  I want to keep it simple and not try to take up much of your time.  I actually expect less traffic for the rest of this week.  Many of you will be tied up in various holiday fellowship gatherings, as you should.  Family, friends and such find special places in most of our schedules at this time.

So, as promised, simple and to the point, here it is.

I just want to know, if you will share, what do you find the most enjoyable part of Christmas?

What makes you look forward to this holiday?

What makes Christmas special to you?

And, by the way, I want to thank all of you who read this blog, and especially those who take the time to respond, once again.  You really do not know what the fellowship, even through the internet, means to me.

Have a very, merry Christmas.

Love you all.

Tags: blog, Christ, Christmas, Fellowship, Love, Merry Christmas, Townhall

This is the last installment in what I labeled the Combat Readiness series.  It originally started in a post entitled A Tactical Reassessment and was followed by Enemy Tactics.  Then I divided it up into seven entries called Combat Readiness.  All this started with a random thought I wasn’t even sure would fill a page.

I am sorry that this final entry comes so long after the others.  If you need to catch up, they are listed in the archives.

The thought that started it all was about how our enemy has used some things that otherwise might be good for the Kingdom and through his clever ways of deception has caused us to actually corrupt some good ideas.  And I believe it was all to do with the endgame of taking our eyes, us Pentecostals, away from a pursuit of holiness.  This was the beginning of this series.

The last area I defined to a small degree was relevance.  There is a definite need to be relevant to the culture we minister in.  So many in the past have tried to go into a culture and forcefully try to change the very way they live into something we deem more appropriate for Christians.
Paul had some things to say about this:

1Co 9:19-22  For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.  To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.  To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.  To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

Paul says to go to them, whoever we have been sent to, and be one among them so we might reach them.  He did not say to go to them and seek to change them first into something more recognizable.  Jesus never asked anyone to change either.  Instead, He simply said, “Follow Me”, and they did change, but it was from the close association with Him.

So we have some taking all of this to heart in the Kingdom today.  They call it being culturally relevant.

We now have ministers that use profanity from the pulpit, some for the shock value like Rod Parsley, and others because they think it is the best way to reach the younger crowd.  We have some ministers who seem to never speak of anything but Jesus as a friend.  They paint such a one-sided view of our King that it is no wonder why no one is serving Him.  Most of the younger generations just hang out with their friends, they sure don’t serve them.

The truth of Gods standards, of His Holiness, are nowhere to be found in the churches that are considered the most culturally relevant.  This is not the case in all churches, but it has spread far enough to be alarming.

This whole concept about relevance seems to miss the mark in one major way.  There seems to be no attempts at winning those some of us are being relevant to.  Paul said he would become all things to all people for one reason, to win them over; to lovingly, persuasively, bring them to the truth of Christ.  Our attempts have mostly only taken some of our own over to the worlds side.

By portraying the idea that profanity is no big deal, for instance, some of us have not brought about a change in those we attempt to reach, but instead has lowered us to their level.  If there is one thing I know for a fact about meeting the risen Lord it is that I change, not Him.

Relevance is about meeting them at their level.  Jesus was the master of this.  But then it is about the slow, steady change to Christlikeness.  Not the other way around.

We must reach out to a lost and dying world, not in condemnation, but in love.  Maybe stooping to their level, getting down in the dirt beside them, but never with them, and letting the light of the truth and the love of God convince them of the need for change.  Holiness is the goal and the proper explanation to a lost soul is that holiness is being set apart.  It means joining the gang.  The Holy, wonderful, life giving and love filled Kingdom gang.

And most of the younger generation would just love to be in a gang.

And that might just be true Kingdom relevance.

Love you all

Tags: Christ, Christians, Christlike, Church, Combat Readiness, Enemy, Holiness, Kingdom, Love, Pentecost, Pentecostal, profanity, Relevance, Relevant, Truth

I can imagine it now.

I have been in line for a while now and have heard many wonderful things said about those in front of me.  One by one they present themselves before the throne.  The King of Glory looks down on one of them with a smile on His face and declares, “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully served me by giving your time, your labor, and your financial aid to spread the gospel to what used to be third world countries.”  There are many cheers from those gathered to witness the proceedings.

Then another moves forward and Jesus says, , “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully attended many in the hospitals and nursing homes, giving them a lot of love, joy and happiness in their pain and suffering.” Again, a loud procession of cheers and applause occurs.

The person directly in front of me moves forward and the Savior of the world again declares, , “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully ministered to and fed the homeless, the addicted, and the abandoned in my Name for many years while you lived in that previous world.”  The cheers are as expected.

Then it is my turn.  I move forward, not really ready because I have heard a lot of things that I never did.  Feeding people, visiting people, loving people, these seem to be the things that have gotten the accolades so far.  I stand and look on the awesome visage of the Creator of all things and He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully fought to keep the Ten Commandments in the courthouse.”

Suddenly the throne room erupts.  There is so much noise and cheering that it is deafening.  It is much louder than I had heard before and seems to go on and on.  Then, I simply cannot contain myself any longer and start jumping up and down, shouting and crying at the same time.

This goes on for a while and finally the Judge of all creation raises His hand, a huge smile still on His face, and the room starts to quiet down.  Finally He beams down at me once again and asks, ” How, exactly did you realize what was really the most important thing I left you to do, when so many did not see it?”

I’ll stop here.  If you are reading this, I guess it shows what a glutton for punishment I am.  It means I actually posted it, knowing that some will disagree and maybe take it as a belittling of their convictions.  This is not what this is about.

I was just reflecting on all the thoughts and commentaries out there that I have been reading about Christian political activism on many sites and the current hot topics on my own site about duty and I had this vision.  But I am pretty sure, no, I am certain; it did not come from God.

Again, this is not a slam on anyone’s personal convictions.  I just realize that I need to look deep inside myself and actually determine if my convictions, and where I put all my strengths and focus my efforts, really do honor our Lord.  And do they mean anything at all in the eternal scheme of things?

Merry Christmas and I

Love you all

Tags: Christ, Christmas, Creation, Creator, Faith, Giving, God, King, Love, Pain, Personal, Self, Servant, throne room, War, witness

Yesterday was a very good day.  It was my birthday and the day ended up having my wife orchestrate a small surprise gathering of friends at a local restaurant before church.  Then she brought a cake, baked and decorated to look like an open bible,  to share with my Wednesday class, which was also twice as large because of a Christmas displacement issue in our church so that another class needed to attend my own.  And anybody who knows me knows how much I like to talk about God and His Kingdom.

Yes, it was a very good day.  But it was not that many years ago that the things that went on today would just not have moved me, especially the gathering of that many people around me.  I know I have probably stated it here already, maybe even a couple of times, but I just didn’t use to like people.  Now it seems, I almost can’t get enough of the fellowship of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is also sort of what I taught and what I had in mind when I posted about the house church issue Tuesday.  It seems from reading the comments that not very many of you really knew what I was asking about.  I am no expert either, but from what I have read, the house church concept is about more than just a small amount of believers gathering together.  So while very small churches may find they practice what the concept is calling for, they have not set it up on purpose.  Most small churches would love to get larger.

It seems to be about some Christ followers not seeing a way to find authentic relationships within the structure of the modern church.  Instead, they find it necessary to stop “doing” church and start “being” the Church, at least to a few like minded believers.

When I first heard about it I thought it was probably just a new movement among the younger crowd to find a way to feel good about going to church, without having to go to church.  But now I don’t think so.  Sure, there are probably a few of these around, but from some of the things I am reading, it seems this movement is being fueled by those that are feeling disillusioned about the reality of any love being found in a lot of churches.  And the way the churches are set up, they do not push the great commission because it would hurt their model.

It seems the church model has become based mostly on a business model.  Growth is based on selling a product instead of training an army.  And the product is the church itself.  They want members, and they do not want these members to leave.  They want the amount of members to increase more than anything else and are willing to do most anything to achieve this, including obscuring the Truth, sometimes even denying it.  The modern church does not truly foster real, meaningful fellowship either.

When soldiers are in training together they know that someday they will be sent orders.  These orders will move them out of training and into the actual war.  Our churches do not want too many to leave and enter the war.  We want to build up the numbers, not the body.

True soldiers also develop a sense of camaraderie that we should also strive for.  If you’ve ever seen a group of veterans get together years after they served together you realize how truly close these guys are.  They were there for each other in a way most of us can’t imagine.

We should be the same.  We also are in a battle, not for lives in a temporary sense but in an eternal one.  We may not see torn limbs and bloody wounds, but one day we will know of the weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And even here, we all know someone, maybe even our own selves, that need the comfort of knowing someone “has our back.”

The house church model seems to be about these very things; a smaller group of believers that want to reach out and minister to each other in real loving relationships.  But with the goal of building each other up for promotion and advancement to actually leave and spread outward; taking the battle to other places by starting new fellowships and doing it all again.  Imagine that, advancing the Kingdom, instead of growing a “business”.

The reason I believe the ones espousing this model are real about their desire to love and disciple each other, and then send each other out to really advance the Kingdom, is that it seems to be a model that is focused on relationship rather than numbers and money.  It seems most of the people involved are not paid staff.  They are just Christ lovers that take the mission seriously.

It all boils down to the fact that we need each other.  Christ even prayed that we become “one” as He and the Father are “one”.  (John 17:11)  And it was because He was sending the out into the world; to conquer and destroy the works of the enemy.

I know Heath has a lot more knowledge about this.   He is actually a part of a house church.  Go to his sites here and here for more.

It does seem that a lot of us tend to “do” church when we are supposed to “be” the church, as I noted earlier.  The house church model seems to about this whole concept, this being the church.   I may be wrong and if I am, please let me know.  I am not saying that the churches out there can’t fulfill the mission either.  But we are letting a lot of souls fall through the cracks.

In smaller settings, the cracks would be fewer.

Love you all

Tags: Christ, Church, Enemy, Fellowship, God, Kingdom, Love, mission, relationship, Relationships, Truth, War, Work