If You Have Ever Been Wounded By The Church?

Have you ever been hurt by a Church, Pastor, or other Christian? I bet you have! If you have been in Christian circles for any length of time something unpleasant has most likely happened to you. The really difficult thing about this is that these are the places and people who are supposed to lift us up; the Church is where we should go to receive strength and encouragement. So that makes the betrayal all the more painful. Over the years I have ministered in some very fine churches to wonderful people, but in every one of those places I have been wounded. I am not writing this as an indictment against the Church or Christians, but to help guide you towards a proper and healthy response.

Way too many people who have experienced this kind of pain respond in a way that actually hinders the healing and furthers the hurt. There are a couple of things I want you to remember...

1.   Jesus was also wounded by the religious people of His day. After all we were told that the things that happened to Jesus would happen to us too. So if you have been hurt by the Church or Christians you are in good company. Some of them may have actually been well meaning, thinking that He was a threat to the faith. This brings us to the next point.

2.     Sometimes we are hurt by those who think they are doing the right thing. The case could be made that Saul thought he was doing the right thing by persecuting the Church. The Bible says that Jesus said this to Saul...it is hard to kick against the goads. The short story on this statement is that God had been working on Saul for a long time. He wanted to serve God but he did it all wrong.

3.    Christians are saved from sin but still not perfect. I could go on and on about this one! What I am about to write will maybe shock you...just because someone is a Christian doesn’t mean they have acquired grace. Every hurt I have experienced at the hands of Christians could have been avoided if there are had been grace. Grace is the missing ingredient to perfect Christian living. (During this time of transition this is what God is teaching me, I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn about this!) I have to pray every day that God would help me extend grace, it’s hard!

4.   What happens in Church isn’t always blessed by God. I want to be very clear on this...it is never God’s plan for anyone to be hurt in the Church or by other believers. I know firsthand that many, many times things happened under my leadership that was not of God’s making. Even some things I have done! We will get to that later. What I want to say here is, don’t blame God for the hurt that you experience in the Church!

5.      Often the Pastor or leader of the Church isn’t aware of the hurt that is being caused. When I left one of the previous churches I pastored I started hearing some things that shocked me about how some members of the congregation were treating others. In one case a couple was actually telling people they didn’t belong and should leave. I was mortified by this, but what made it worse was that these people thought it was coming from me. I know this is hard to do sometimes but take it your Pastor, believe me he needs to know, he wants to know!

6.  This is the hard one, it is possible that you too have hurt someone. This is where self-examination is needed. You would think that someone who has been hurt would be more sensitive, often that isn’t the case. If fact, show me a hurt person and I will show you a person who is predisposed to hurt others. Take a hard and honest look at yourself and let God change you.

7.  This is spiritual! One of the things I am coming to recognize is that everything and I mean everything has an element of the spiritual attached to it. Over the years I have noticed that I have been hurt more in my Christian relationships than the others. Why? Because the evil one is working against us. He wants to discourage us and make us feel like we are alone. He will take every advantage to disrupt our walk with Jesus. That hurt is really a spiritual attack from the enemy. See it for what it is...an attempt not only to destroy your relationships with the Church and other believers, but ultimately to destroy your relationship with God. Don’t you dare let him win!

Let me encourage you with something God is showing me...He wants me to use my hurts to help the hurting.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

I don’t know about you but I’m fine with that!

What if I’m a racist?

Lately, America has been forced to deal with the issue of racism. As a white man I can honestly say I haven’t really given it much thought. Oh, every once in a while, when something happened in the news I would give it a thought or two, but then quickly retreat back into my own world. I was even naïve enough to think that once a black man had been elected as president that the issue was put to rest once and for all. I believed that America had finally come to the place where race didn’t matter. But honestly, it never has mattered much to me, maybe because I am white. I have never been touched by discrimination. I have never been followed around a store by security because of the color of my skin. I have never had someone avoid me on the street because I am white. Never have I been insulted because of my race. No one has ever passed judgment on my character due to my race. I have never been considered a threat to anyone’s safety because of my appearance. I have never been stopped by the police simply for driving in the wrong part of town. And the list could go on. And guess what? I don’t even think about being white, because it simply has never been an issue.

After all that has happened lately, it just seems wrong not to think about these things. I hear a lot about “white privilege” Are there benefits for being white? I don’t know because I have never considered it. Would I even know since I have never thought about it? But the question that haunts me right now is personal…

Am I a racist…?

I love people! I have no one that I can say is my enemy. (Ok, I admit some people annoy me and there are plenty of people I annoy!) I love talking to people especially people who are different than me; there are all kinds of interesting things to talk about with people of different backgrounds, life experiences, and cultures. I can honestly say that I am not intimidated because of someone’s race; in fact my curiosity creates a strong desire to interact with people different than me. By the way, this doesn’t just go for race but religion, politics, and a whole host of other differences. But I will have to concede I sometimes get nervous because I don’t want to offend, since often I am unfamiliar with what is offensive I say things and do things that offend.

But that isn’t my heart...

And that is my point! My mouth may say something considered racist but I truly don’t know that it is… So in writing this I’m asking that there be a path to forgiveness without labeling me something I do not want to be. I also realize that it is my job to learn these things; it isn’t the responsibility of others to teach me. So I am willing to learn how to be a better man, a better white man, a man who sees the struggles of others and is ready to do something about it!

**I wrote this some time ago but have purposely waited for a time when emotions aren’t running high.

Why I am Religious…

For some reason several years ago someone decided that practicing religion was wrong. In 2012 a young man named Jeff Bethke wrote a poem called, Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus. It has been viewed close to 20 million times on YouTube. The idea that religion is wrong is really not something new. I have heard this kind of thinking for decades, and I am ashamed to say I even bought into it. But I have changed my mind, which at my age is getting hard to do. I have decided that practicing religion is not only right but also that the rejection of religion is responsible for most of the turmoil and opposition the Church is facing.

In my view practicing religion means that I actually live out my beliefs. I believe in God. And because of that belief my life has to be lived accordingly. If there is in fact a real God who created everything and controls everything then I had better find out if that God has expectations of me. And guess what? He does! I know this because I read, study, and teach His Word (the Bible).

I live and work off of lists. In my position as pastor I have to be self-disciplined in order to get everything done that I need to do. So every Monday I make a list of the things I must do. As I have read and studied the Bible I have found dozens of lists many of which contain God’s expectations of me. Many of those lists actually tell me how I should live. I follow those lists as best I can…wait for it…RELIGIOUSLY! That’s right the Bible it has led me into a religious life style! The Bible makes me a religious person.

Religion actually conveys the idea of consistency, devotion, faithfulness, and Godliness. Those actually sound like positive traits to me. So I not only believe being religious is good, I also believe it is necessary. By being religious I try to live out my beliefs. I use the word try because often I am not successful, but I have a helper, the Holy Spirit who guides me into living a consistent, devoted, faithful, and Godly life, hey wait a minute that’s the very definition of being religious! Get It?

Here’s where we have gone wrong. Not only does our salvation rely on belief but also practice. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) The Bible is very clear that the acceptance of salvation requires two steps. First I must confess with my mouth Jesus is Lord. As I say to my congregation all the time if Jesus is Lord, than He is the boss. That means He gets to tell me what to do! That sounds religious to me! Secondly, I must believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Notice the first is something I must say with my mouth. If I say with my mouth that Jesus is my boss now I am going to be held accountable to everyone who heard me say it. That means as a believer I have to back up my beliefs with what I have said. Which in turn means I have to live a life of consistency, devotion, faithfulness, and Godliness. There it is again, Religion! If you think you can live without being religious, instead following your own way you are dead wrong. Way too many believers think they can follow their own opinion…ignoring the Bible and those genuinely teaching the Bible. If you reject religious living then you are rebelling against Jesus. (Wow, I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh)

One more thing, Most of the time the believers that have this attitude are really those who are rejecting the Church, they says things like, “I don’t believe in organized religion.” They are speaking of the Church. Where else do you find organized religion except in the Church? The problem with this is that if you try to live without religion than you are trying live without the power of the Holy Spirit. Like it or not the power of the Holy Spirit is given to believers for the benefit of the Church. You cannot have the genuine power of the Holy Spirit operating in you unless it can benefit the Church. If you reject the Church than you are rejecting the very Jesus is doing. He told the Disciples He would build His Church. He is building the Church right now through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. When we reject religion we are rejecting the very power we need to live in these last days. Jesus said the gate of hell will not prevail against it, the Church. Therefore the Church is literally the only thing standing between the gates of hell and the world.

So I invite you to stand with me between the world and hell. Let’s block the gates of hell by becoming religious again!

For All of My Friends...

So I have a confession to make…sometimes I have an overwhelming sense of loneliness. Not the kind that comes from actually being alone but the kind that in a crowd of people I still feel. In thinking back I realize it started in the summer of 2013 when I was in the hospital. In the time I was very sick and believed I might not survive I realized that if I was to die I was going to go through it alone. Even with my family and medical people around my bed it was only me facing my sickness. No one could do it for me and no one could actually know how I was feeling. For a brief moment in time I experienced such intense loneliness that I am at a loss of words to describe it…It would not surprise me to find out that these feelings were similar to what Jesus felt on the cross when He cried out asking His Father why He had forsaken Him. And since that experience from time to time those feelings come back to me.

I write about this not to be a victim of those feelings but to share with you some things I have discovered and a personal mission I have decided to undertake. Very simply I don’t want any of my friends to feel like nobody cares about them. So I am making it my goal that all the people I love, know it…then in the dark of night when they may think no one cares they might remember that I do. For all we know on any given day we might be the only person who has told someone they are loved. For me even knowing that one person cares would be enough. And I am determined to take the opportunity when it comes to maybe be that one.

So to all of my family and friends…that’s a lot of people! You are loved by me…you cannot say nobody cares!

Our Prayer for 2015

Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. (Acts 4:29)

In Acts chapter four we find the first prayer the Church prayed together. Peter and John had been held overnight and put on trial because they were teaching that the lame man had been healed by the resurrected Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John very ably defended themselves. In fact the religious scholars of the day marveled at their boldness. Having been told to quit teaching about the resurrected Jesus, Peter and John returned to the Church.

When told what had happened to them the response of the Church was to pray. I have heard this story many times over the years, but I failed to pay close attention to the words of the prayer they prayed. I want to point out a couple of things about this prayer…

“Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word…”

When told that Peter and John were taken into custody and put on trial before the highest court in Israel the Church responded by praying for more boldness to do what they had been told not to do. They wanted courage to keep preaching about Jesus. I can’t help but feel that this is a prayer that we should be praying in this day and age. We are living in a world that is increasingly hostile towards the Church, especially those who see the Bible as a standard to live by. Now we can sit around and complain about how difficult it is or we can let ourselves become discouraged because of the opposition. But the Church of the New Testament decided to pray and ask God for more boldness. I believe Eastside Assembly of God should be asking God for the same thing…More boldness!

Now the next part of their prayer really interests me because it sets the course for the rest of the book of Acts and for the Church…they prayed for boldness and then they told God what He could do to help them gain the courage they would need.

“by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

They told God if He would heal people, work signs and wonders, then they would have the courage they needed. And one more thing, they wanted it done in a way that Jesus would get the credit. They wanted healings, signs, and wonders through Jesus’ name.

Eastsiders this is a prayer for us! This should be our prayer! “Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” Will you pray this prayer with me as we enter a new year?

2014 Pastor’s Report

Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul… (Acts 4:29-32)

The mission statement of our Church goes like this…

Eastside Assembly of God is a Spirit filled body called to worship God and connect our community to Him and other believers.

We believe that when we are filled with the Spirit there will be physical evidence…(speaking in tongues). In this day and age when Christianity is being attacked from the culture it takes courage to speak the gospel message. So like the early Church we too need to witness and experience the manifest presence of God through healing and signs and wonders. It is my intention to purposely lead Eastside Assembly of God in such a way that we will experience Holy Spirit power. We need it for the courage it brings us to be witnesses and we need it to give us the power to overcome sin!

So I’m asking that every member of our Church commit themselves in 2015 to do three things…

1. Pray daily for Eastside to see miracles, healings, signs, and wonders.
2. Be an open vessel for the Spirit to use spiritual gifts.
3. Be ready to give a good report about how God is moving in your Church…if we see these  miracles and healing then our response has to be to share what God is doing!

I want to thank every leader in our Church for their tireless efforts to minister to other. I also want to thank my family…Gloria and Aaron are always willing to help me be pastor this body.

Here are some goals for 2015…

1. Continue outreach efforts through Valentines Dessert and Vacation Bible School, while looking for other opportunities to reach out to our community.
2. Expand Mission’s Services by inviting missionaries to minister Sunday and Wednesday nights.
3.  Find ways to increase participation in Sunday night and Wednesday nights.
4.  Increase social opportunities within the Church body.
5. Christmas light display.

Making a Disciple...

Yesterday, we discovered that in the Great Commission Jesus called us to make disciples, not converts. What is the difference? A convert is the person gets saved and is now in position to receive eternal life. A disciple lives the life Jesus wants us to live. The convert knows Jesus as savior. The disciples knows Jesus as Lord. Yes, God is looking for converts, but disciples are needed to do the work of the sharing the Gospel message.

So here are the five things Jesus said over the course of His ministry about the expectations of being a disciple…

1. A disciple must serve and love God first…

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”  (Luke 14:26) 

2. A disciple must bear his cross…

“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”  (Luke 14:27) 

3. A disciple must forsake all…

“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”  (Luke 14:33) 

4. A disciple must live in the Word…

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”  (John 8:31) 

5. A disciple must love other disciples…

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  (John 13:35)