The Most Selfish Place in America

Yesterday we talked about the changes that lay ahead for Eastside Assembly of God. Since 2002 we have been in this large building sitting in the middle of corn and bean fields. Now construction has started on a new Elementary school right next to us that will be completed in the summer of 2011. There will also be a new high school to follow two years later. The landscape around us is going to be dramatically changed. And with that change more people will discover our church. As new people come to check us out and hopefully decide to make Eastside their home, the church will change. In my last church when we experienced rapid growth we looked nothing like the church that was their before. But if there is one thing I have learned it is that church people, especially established church people, (notice I didn’t say Christians or believers) resist those changes. They have expectations that the church will be to their liking and if it isn’t then they are gone.

I am just asking this for my own examination – How selfish do I have to be to expect everyone in the church I attend to do things my way? What level of narcissistic thought has to be in place for me to insist that hundreds of other people’s opinions are not more valid than mine? There is no other organization, other than the church, that would tolerate or try to address such thinking. One of the things I talked about yesterday was that many of the things that are the root of conflict in our churches are not addressed in the Scripture – the reason is – God simply doesn’t care about those things. He doesn’t care that we sing hymns or choruses, He doesn’t care what color the church is, He doesn’t care if we have Sunday night or small group meetings, He doesn’t care whether we dress up or are casual, He just doesn’t care about those things, but we do! So because God doesn’t care we have to over compensate for that so we care even more. I wonder what our churches would look like if we just cared about the things God cared about. Because sadly, most church are so busy trying to maintain the unity that they are forced to let the important things that God cares about slide.

So at Eastside Assembly of God we are looking at four areas where God may need to change us:

1. We must change our lifestyle to reflect our faith.
2. We must change so that our desires give way to the Holy Spirit.
3. We must change so that we look to the future instead of the past.
4. We must change so that we see need instead of inconvenience.

If we can change these things in us God will be able to use us for some remarkable things in 2010!

Should We Celebrate Christmas?

Every year there is the debate about the real reason for Christmas. The Church does all that it can to remind us that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Yet, nothing seems to have an effect.

We tell ourselves that this year, things will be different. No more going into debt to buy gifts for everyone on our list. But soon enough we are standing in a long line with credit card in hand, waiting for the slowest cashier to ever operate a register, to check us out. We are frustrated because the item that would have been the perfect gift for a hard to please relative is not available. We find ourselves running out of time, with too many parties to attend. And don’t even mention the activities the church has planned.

How often do we hear someone speak of Christmas with dread and even find ourselves in agreement? Think of it, believers in Christ, people who claim to love Him, looking to the celebration of His birth with dread! I just celebrated my birthday and I have to be honest, the older I get, the more I dread that day! But I am grateful that my family and friends still celebrate my birthday. They do so not because I am getting older, although there are some who find great pleasure in that, but because they are glad that I was born! Shouldn’t we, as believers, be enthusiastic about Jesus’ birth? After all, we would be lost in our sin without His birth.

Christmas is supposed to be a celebration! When believers reflect on the birth of Jesus, it is supposed to bring joy. And if you don’t think Christ’s birth should be celebrated then why did God Himself make a big deal about it? Shepherds saw the skies explode as Angels rejoiced that Jesus was born. They were told to leave their flocks and find the baby and then they went to tell everything that they saw. Foreign dignitaries traveled a great distance to bring gifts. So it is expected that Christmas should be a time of rejoicing.

Everyone reading this probably would agree that Christmas should be celebrated, but in your heart are you really anticipating the holidays with good thoughts? And consider the power of Jesus’ birth. 2,000 years later traffic is backed up entering the mall. The economy grows; some retailers do a majority of their business during the Christmas season. Families travel great distances to be home. Cities, towns, houses, churches are all decorated with lights, pine, and ornaments. Children can hardly sleep Christmas Eve. Churches are filled, often seeing their highest attendance during the holidays. They may not acknowledge it, they may not even know why they are doing these things, and may not care. But whether they know it or not the world celebrates a birth that took place 2,000 years ago.

An Instant Re-play

Yesterday was a very different experience for me. Having the Church repeat the Worship service was something I have never done before, but I just couldn't get past the idea that God had something more for us! And judging by the emails I have received I believe God did have more!. I am writing about this because I am so very thankful that God has put me in a Church that is willing to do whatever is necessary to see God move, even if it seems silly at the moment. I think we will hear of some things happening as a result of that service in the weeks to come!

I am Willing (Jesus said it)

Mark 1:40-41 (NKJV) Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."

Yesterday, I spoke about the leper coming to Jesus and how He touched him. I was going to explain an idea about this when I stopped to pray for people. So I want to further explore what I was getting at.

This leper says to Jesus, “if you are willing…”. Isn’t that an unusual thing to say to a man who is known for healing people? But we need to remember that up until this point, no one has been healed of leprosy. (I didn’t forget about Naaman from the Old Testament…this is the first leper healed by Jesus). And I think it is safe to assume that Jesus touched everyone He had healed. But for a leper, this is an issue on its own. Because once a leper is touched that person becomes unclean too.

So here is what I want you to see from this – Jesus responds by saying…”I am willing”. Jesus is willing to become a leper or at least as unclean as one so that this guy can be clean. This is important to us because it is a foreshadowing of what Jesus does for us when we are forgiven of sin. The scripture says He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). Think of it! Here we are in need, just like the leper, maybe even to the point where we are isolated in our need. Thinking no one understands, no gets where I am, no one cares. And here is Jesus saying, “I am willing…” He is willing to become just as we are in order to make us clean. He totally gets it…He understands what you and I are going through and He cares enough to take action even to His own sacrifice.

And we have to also ask ourselves, “Are we willing?” What about the person sitting in church with me? Or the one in the next cubicle at work, or the people I meet each and every day…am I willing? Jesus is…

Wooing My Pneuma

Still doing a lot of thinking about the Holy Spirit and what He brings to my life. I am becoming more and more convinced just how important it is to seek for and receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I really believe that the same efforts we put into helping people seek salvation, we should also devote towards them seeking the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It seems to me we try to win people to the Lord and then when they do, we leave them on their own. But God has so much more that He can offer! He offers Himself to everyone who will believe. I know that this is cliché, but I am going to say t anyway! Just as the saying, you can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach him to fish and feed him for life. The same can be said about leading people towards the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

When someone is saved, they begin this journey towards eternal life, but there are huge obstacles in the way. (read the parable of the sower, Mark 4). However, if we will show people that there is still another ongoing experience after salvation, that will give them the ability to live the christian life successfully, we have guaranteed they will make it.

All of that to get us where I am thinking today! Sunday, I spoke about the wooing of the Holy Spirit, and how He works to draw our attention to Jesus and to convince us of our need for Him. In response to this our pneuma, that deeper component of our inner man, comes to life. This gives us a conduit that leads right to God. And our senses and awareness of the things of God become heightened. So I am determined to put a lot of effort into not only leading people to the place where they find salvation but also to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. And here's the real kicker here, because the Spirit, Himself is wooing, (I don't know why but I am enjoying this term) how hard should it really be?

Baptized By Jesus!

So lately we have talking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. While putting together last week’s message a scripture that I had read many times spoke to me in a new way.

“John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” --Luke 3:16 (NKJV)

It occurred to me that the Bible is saying that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a baptism that Jesus gives us. That is, for me, another reason to believe how necessary it is for us to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Who would turn down being baptized by Jesus?

Over and over again we see Jesus making the point about the importance of Holy Spirit baptism. Too many Christians believe that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an optional accessory to their Christian walk, however, from every reading in Scripture about the early church it was expected that when someone was saved they then asked for and received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I know from my own experience how desperately I need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to defend myself against the pressure to bow to the values of the world around me. But the Spirit gives me the strength and more importantly the insight to avoid making the choices that would cause me to fail in my walk.

Every day I am discovering reasons why we need to be filled with the Spirit. I hope that you are seeking Him too!

This May Not Be New, But It is Cool!

If you are part of Eastside Assembly of God you may be getting tired of me talking about this notion, but I have this unexplained inclination to keep talking about it. And I have to tell you that I sometimes feel like I am the only one excited about this idea. (Possibly because everyone else figured this out a long time ago!).

In studying the book of Romans for our Wednesday Bible class I stumbled on one of those life changing discoveries that we occasionally get from the Bible. As believers we can live sinless lives! Okay, I know it is simple and nothing really new. But try this little experiment; ask your believing friends if they think they could live the rest of their lives without committing another sin. Most, if not all, will tell you that it is an impossible feat. I have even said this in my teaching and preaching before and not once has anyone challenged me on it. NOT ONCE! In over 17 years of pastoring two congregations, no one has even hinted that they disagreed with me on this. That is why for me this concept seems so new.

Let me give some background so you can see where I am coming from. Now what I am about to write makes me sound strange, but hey, don’t all of us have some kind of quirkiness just under the surface waiting to get out? I loathe rules, policies, mission statements, vision statements, laws, regulations, commandments, yes I said it, commandments, even the most famous ten! Not because I am rebellious, but because when faced with these things I feel intense pressure to comply. And sometimes I feel overwhelmed with trying to live up to them, much less even remember them. Anyway, when I look at Christianity much of the way it is presented is with the idea of living your life a certain way. We are told all the things we can’t do. (We used to list them on our membership cards.) You can’t use alcohol, you can’t smoke, you can’t dance, can’t gamble, can’t cuss, can’t eat Twinkies and certainly not White Castles, and all the other rules the church has invented. Ok, I made those last two up because my doctor won’t let me eat them and frankly I am a little resentful about it. Why couldn’t she tell me not eat peas, which I detest more than rules! What God desires most is an intimate relationship with us. The point being, trying to live a sinless life seems impossible, even exasperating, yet, the Scriptures give a completely different picture.

If living a sinless life is so impossible, then why did Jesus tell two people under different circumstances to go and sin “NO MORE”? (John 5:14; 8:11). Why would Jesus tell these people, both relatively new believers to never sin again? If He told them to do something impossible then He was purposely setting them up for failure. He wouldn’t do that. The reason we can live without committing another sin has nothing to do with our own ability but with the power of God being demonstrated in us! Romans 7 concludes with the futility of living the way we should. And then right at the end we are told that the way to overcome this predicament is found in Jesus. (Romans 7:24-25).

What we may not realize is the enormous power we have at our disposal to overcome and avoid sin. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead DWELLS IN YOU, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 NKJV) The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that we have in our lives. If there was ever anyone death had a firm grip on it was Jesus, because if death can’t keep Him in the grave then it is game over. So it took substantial power to raise Him. So when I am tempted to sin the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will see me through!

So can we live the rest of our lives without committing another sin? YES! By the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.