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) 

A Word of Caution About Forgiveness

Yesterday I said the only way to avoid bitterness is to forgive. Let me give you a warning about forgiving people. It is important to remember that the way bitterness works is through the seed of offense. We are offended by something someone does and then it turns into bitterness. But it is very important to remember that just because you are offended doesn’t mean you are right. So if you judged a person wrong and then you go to them and forgive they may reject your offer of forgiveness because they did nothing wrong.

Forgiveness, more often than not, isn’t something that you have to proclaim; it is something you must do in your own heart. Many times the person you forgive doesn’t need to be a part of the process. By going to them and forgiving you may offend and start them down the road to bitterness. Forgiveness is something YOU do. It is a choice YOU make. And be careful that you don’t become offended because someone doesn’t come to you asking for forgiveness. After all they might not have done anything wrong.

So make sure before you go to someone and express forgiveness that you examine your motives for doing so. Is it possible that you are telling them you forgive them in order to extract some kind of apology? If so them you aren’t really forgiving and the bitterness will continue to grow, especially if they don’t apologize.

The reason we forgive is to be in a place where God can forgive us. Remember the goal of forgiveness should always be restoration not accusation. So forgive but be careful that your act of forgiveness doesn’t birth a new seed of bitterness. Refuse to be bitter.

Next Sunday I will be talking about the next step after refusing bitterness. See you then!

Your Plan B Won't Work

Yesterday, the Holy Spirit prompted me to move away from the sermon I had prepared. (I wonder when this happens if I wasn’t listening when I wrote that sermon or if God just wants to see if I will surrender to Him in front of you. I’d rather listen better!) Anyway, I spoke about one of my biggest concerns as a Pastor…that there are people who believe that if they miss the rapture they will just get “saved” during the Tribulation. After all, the Bible says that many millions of people will become believers after the rapture. So a number of people who would otherwise be a Christian now choose to wait and see, and then if they run out of time they will simply go to “Plan B”. After the rapture, they will know for sure that this “God stuff” is for real and that yes, indeed, Jesus really is coming. But there is a problem with this that I want to point out to you who are thinking this way.

If getting saved during the Tribulation was such a viable plan why does Jesus tell us seven times to “watch”? Why does He keep warning us that He will come like a thief in the night? Why does He tell us that He is coming quickly? The only reason He would keep warning us to watch is because there are serious consequences to missing Him, namely that it will be too late!

I touched on this a little yesterday, but since now I have access to a searchable Bible let me give you some scripture passages that give us clear warning…

Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:18)

I spent a lot of time on this verse but here it is for you. We will get into heaven humbly, realizing that without Jesus we couldn’t have done it. Heaven is not the destination of arrogant people!

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)

Here we are being told how difficult it is to come back to the Lord once we have been saved and then fallen away. Think about it, and I know that your experience is the same as mine…some of the hardest people to lead to Christ are former believers. These are often people full of hurt, bitterness, and most of all pride. Or even worse they have convinced themselves that they are still saved even though they have rejected Him. Stay with your Christian life. Jesus said that the way to make it is to endure. Don’t give up!

Let me give you one more reason your “Plan b” won’t work…if you can’t love and serve Jesus now when it is pretty easy to do so, how will you do it when it literally means giving up your life? After the service yesterday, my friend Michael shared a passage I hadn’t remembered. (boy, I wish I had!)…

If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)

The bottom line is you can’t afford to wait. You’ll either miss it, you’ll be too hard hearted, or the cost will be too high. If what I spoke about yesterday or have written about today touches you, please email, text or call me I want to pray for you!

Someday, He will come! I want you to be with me in heaven!