I Believe

Today was the graduation services for our local high school students. I am sure they are excited about getting out of school and many will be heading off to college in the fall.

I there are any young people who are reading this I encourage you to listen to the song below by Brooks and Dunn. Each of us could take a few moments and consider what the messages that comes to us through this song.

 

I believe that each of us has been allowed to live up to this moment for a purpose. We each are valuable to God and to those He wants to bring into our lives. I believe we can either choose to make a positive impact or negative impact on the lives of others. I believe our purpose to to bring glory to our Creator and to worship Him by and through our lives.

Consider the words of the song and then decide what you believe. Your beliefs will flow from your life experiences and if those have been negative I Believe that you do not have to stay where you are today. I believe that God wants to being healing to the broken hearted and use the healed heart to touch other lives. I believe this because I have experienced it and am living it.

Almost Bankrupted

I recently commented about a post about the movie “The Blind Side” on facebook: When Kat and I saw this movie I cried because what the mom did the church should be doing. Good question for the church, "What is your business?" "How's business?" I would expect most churches if they answered honestly would have to say they were almost bankrupt.

I received a response from an individual who agreed that the church should be doing what the movie was about but they disagreed with the rest of my statement. With this post I want to show why I made that statement and I will use several different resources to prove my case.

Christianity Is No Longer Americans’ Default Faith – The Barna Group

According to Tom Ambrose THE CHURCH IN AMERICA: IMPOTENT & IRRELEVENT

Observations on the State of the Church in America by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

The sad state of today’s church in America By thefallenworld

The Blind Beggar exploring the missional paradigm

Church attendance

Christian hurt by church by The Barna Group

What is the business of the church? I am not talking about pastors and teachers but the church (people). Let’s look at what Jesus instructed us to do through His teachings.

Matthew 28: 16-20 Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally. 

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Matthew 25: 34- 40 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why: 

  I was hungry and you fed me, 
  I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, 
  I was homeless and you gave me a room, 
  I was shivering and you gave me clothes, 
  I was sick and you stopped to visit, 
  I was in prison and you came to me.' 

"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

Just from these two passages we see that the commission of the church is to make disciples and to care for those who are hungry, thirsty, homeless, in need, sick and in prison. I could list more scriptures that include other responsibilities but let’s just focus on these in explaining how most of the church is almost bankrupt.

If you read the supporting material you will find that the church in America is on the decline not the increase. If your finances were in decline you would say you were drawing close to being bankrupt.

According to another Barna survey Survey Reveals the Life Christians Desire

Adults who define themselves as Christian but are not born again constitute about half of the population that embraces the "Christian" label. This group, known as Notional Christians, had different interests compared to their evangelical and non-evangelical born again counterparts, especially in relation to faith. Notional Christians were less than half as likely to say that being active in a church was very desirable (32%), were one-third less likely to list having a close personal relationship with God as very desirable (65%), and were only half as likely to portray being deeply committed to the Christian faith as very desirable (46%).

Notional adults were also less likely to include living with a high degree of integrity (81%), having one marriage partner for life (75%) and having a clear purpose for life (72%) among their most desirable future conditions. They were slightly less likely to identify making a difference in the world as personally compelling (54%). The only outcome that Notionals deemed to be more highly desirable than did the two born again segments was owning the latest household technology and equipment.

This is why I say the American church on the most part is failing in it’s calling and has gotten off track trying to please people instead of lead people. I know that most pastors would disagree with this because it implicates they have failed to do their duties. It is time pastors lay down their pride and admit the church is in need of being lead back to doing what Jesus instructed the church to do.

From the material I have read and the experiences I have had I stand by my original comment.

“Good question for the church, "What is your business?" "How's business?" I would expect most churches if they answered honestly would have to say they were almost bankrupt.”

44% of Americans attend church. In the United States, 83% of all adults label themselves “Christian. If 83% of Americans consider themselves Christian but only 44% of Americans attend church each week what does that tell us about the state of the church in America? In my mind it tells me that business is not good and the church is not fulfilling its mission.

Leadership

I believe that a leader is one who is not afraid to help someone else become bigger than they are. In ministry I believe I will have a greater ministry by helping others have a bigger ministry than I have.

It Is Not About Us!

   Several years ago I went through some training in Theophostic Ministry. Theo which means God and Phos which means light is a divinely powerful and thoroughly biblical approach in ministry. Emotionally hurting people from all walks of life, with all manner of emotional woundedness have experienced accelerated healing as truth replaces lies, freeing them from life long emotional pain. 

   What I like about this ministry is the fact that it relies entirely on the Holy Spirit revealing the lies that caused the woundedness and revealing the truth that replaces the lie thus leading to healing of the wound.

   To be honest I only went through the beginning training of this ministry and used the technique only once but with amazing results. With this post I want to share that experience. One day I received a call from a friend who had a friend who they knew was wounded and controlled by something from the past. I called the person (Art - not his real name) and arranged to meet with them. I also called a friend of mine (Zach - not his real name) who I was going through the Vineyard Leadership Institute classes with. Zach had hot gone through the training but I needed someone to take notes during the session which we would give to Art and also to witness whatever took place.

   The evening of the session I dropped by Zach's house and on the drive over to the house we were going to meet in I filled him in on what to expect. When we walked into the house and met Art we were sort of taken back because he was wheelchair bounded, bent over and barely looked at us. Zach had met Art before at the place Art worked but I had not met Art although I had seen him from a distance once or twice.

   The following is how the session went.

   The three of us sat facing each other. I began by telling Art that this would be a simple session and that I expected that the Holy Spirit would reveal truth and begin the process of healing.

   My first question was: "Art what brings us together this evening?" "Why are we here?"

Art responded that he wanted to find out why he seemed angry most of the time.

   My next question was: "Are you willing to turn over to God whatever we discover and let Him carry it?" Art answered hesitantly, yes.

   I explained to Art that what we would do three things: 1. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the source of his anger, 2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth and 3. Ask the Holy Spirit to begin healing the wound.

   Then I asked Art and Zach to bow their heads as I prayed. My prayer went something like this: "Father, we come before you to ask you to reveal to Art the root of his anger. In Jesus name amen" I then just let Art hear from the Holy Spirit and after about five minutes Art asked if he could speak and I said yes. He bent his head to one side looking at us and said he knew exactly when he first got angry and what the source of his anger is. He then shared that with us.

   After he was done I asked him if he was willing to give that day over to God and forgive the person who caused him the wound? He answered yes.

   I asked him to bow his head and I said this prayer, "Father, we asked you to take this off of Art's shoulders and reveal to him the truth. In Jesus name amen."

   I again sat there silently letting the Holy Spirit speak to Art. This time the answer came almost immediately. Art began to weap and Zach and I were stunned as he straightened up in his wheelchair and looked us straight in the eyes and told us that the Holy Spirit revealed how much the Father loves him just as he is.

   Except for some passing comments that was our session. Today Art is still bound to a wheelchair but he sits up straighter and looks people in the eyes. He still gets angry at times but not like he use to and he has found purpose in the life that he has.

   Here is what I learned from this event:

   1. Bringing healing into another's life is not about me, it is about the Holy Spirit being involved          in their life.

   2. I do not reveal truth to others, the Holy Spirit does.

   3. We do not have to live by the lies that others have planted in our lives and if we are willing to        turn them over to God He will remove them from us.

   Are you being held captive by lies others have told you?

   Are you wounded from the events in your life?

   Would you like to be set free and have those lies replaced with the truth?

   If so the Holy Spirit is waiting to get involved with you and replace those lies with the truth and heal your wounds. Here is the good news: "It is not about you or some specialist working it out." It is all about God. He reveals the source of your woundedness, He reveals truth to you and He brings the healing. 

   God often uses another person in this process but He is not required to do that. The reason He uses other people is for relationships to be built. Although He already knows your wound the beginning of the process is to share it with Him. He will then either lead you to the person He wants you to build a relationship with or He will begin the process of healing. 

   It is all about God not us! 

Going on a Treasure Hunt

Do you have a desire to be challenged and inspired to take risks and realize the Great Commission in an exciting way? Over the next few posts I will share with you some ideas on how to go on "The Ultimate Treasure Hunt." I will be sharing from a book with the same name written by Kevin Dedmon. Hopefully in the next few weeks you will be sharing with me stories of how the Holy Spirit led you to a specific person who He wanted to have an encounter with. If you take up this challenge you will not only be a part of life changing experiences but have fun doing so.

I encourage you to purchase your own copy of the book, "The Ultimate Treasure Hunt."

It is a guide to Supernatural Evangelism through Supernatural encounters. The Ultimate Treasure Hunt is about supernatural encounters. It is about learning to live a naturally supernatural Kingdom lifestyle, in which miracles, physical healing, the prophetic, and setting people free are normal occurrences, as we release the presence and power of the Kingdom of God to the people we know and meet every day.

As a pastor one of my key jobs is to equip, empower, and releasing believers to live a naturally supernatural lifestyle using their gifts in service to others. I will be using this book to share with you how you can engage the Holy Spirit in your life and touch the lives of people He wants to through you.

This book is not about arguing someone into confessing Jesus. It is not about coming up with the right answers to convince someone to agree with your particular doctrine. It is simple a tool to be used in helping you be the hands and feet of Jesus as He draws someone to the Father.

Skeptical?  You should be! If you are like me you have watched men and women stand on stages proclaiming that they are God's insturments of healing. This is not what we will be doing. We are going to simply ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us key things to look for in searching for the person (the Treasure) He wants to encounter. The important thing to remember is searching for the Treasure is not about you but about God and what He wants to do in someone else's life. If you have accepted Jesus as your savior and King then He wants to use you in touching the lives of others. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU! IT IS ABOUT HIM!

If you are interested in being involved in finding lost treasure you will be involved in what Luke describes in Luke 15: 8-10 Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."

I encourage you to pray about this and ask the Holy Spirit to first show you if you should try this. I believe He will give you a supernatural answer through some form of encouragement. Come back several times this week and I will have new posts on getting started.

I am expecting God to move in a mighty way in your community because you risked being involved in the Great Commission. A Treasure is waiting for you to find it.

One Christian’s Perspective of the Arizona Immigration Law

The state of Arizona has passed and the governor has signed into law a strict immigration law aimed at combating the influx of illegal aliens into the state. The law seems to be written in such a way to stand up to the legal standards of the United States Constitution.

Whether it stands up to those standards is important but more importantly how does the law stand up to the higher law set by God. God has always set high standards in how aliens are treated and so we will look at those laws and then at how Jesus interrupted those laws. Finally, we will apply those standards to this law and see if it passes what God would expect His people to do as well as the standards of the US Constitution. The bottom line is if it does not pass God’s standard it fails no matter what.

First, we will look at the United States Constitution. 

Preamble 
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We find nothing in the Preamble, the Seven Articles or and the only Amendments that would apply to this law would be the Fourth so if the law does not meet the standards of the Fourth Amendment it should be discarded.

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. 
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

According to the Arizona law a person cannot be stopped purely because of suspicion of being an illegal alien but must have broken the law in another area so there is no violation of the fourth amendment.

Now let’s look at God’s standards on how His people should treat the alien to see if the law meets that standard.

Leviticus 19: 33-34 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.

Deuteronomy 27: 18 God's curse on anyone who interferes with justice due the foreigner, orphan, or widow.

Zechariah 7: 9-12 "'Treat one another justly. Love your neighbors. Be compassionate with each other. Don't take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor. Don't plot and scheme against one another—that's evil.'

Titus 3: 1-2 Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous.

Jesus in Matthew 22: 37-40 gave the two commandments that the whole law is based on. Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

The Arizona law does not appear to violate either the United States Constitution or the standards God set in place considering aliens. If any thing the illegal alien is in violation not only of the laws of the United States of America but also in violation of God’s standards. 

The concern then and rightly so is how man applies the law. If a person has evil in their heart towards the alien then they will apply the law with that influence. If they have the compassion that flows from the Father they will apply the law according to how it was written. The conclusion, as it is in most cases, lies in the heart of the person applying the law. The heart of the one applying the law will determine if the law is used in such a way as to violate the rights of an illegal alien in our country. 

What if God built a church?

This past weekend our little town of Louisburg, Kansas had the annual auto and bike shows.

As I walked around looking at the old trucks, cars and then motor cycles I wondered what would Jesus be doing on this beautiful Sunday. We had heard a sermon earlier in the day by Rick Olmstead, lead pastor of the Vineyard in Fort Collins, Colorado titled, "What if God built a church? The sermon was centered around Jesus speaking to the disciples at Caesarea Philippi, which was a place Jews did not go to because of  its association with ancient Syrian Baal worship and a cave that was known as the "Gate to Hell".

Matthew 16: 13 When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." 15 He pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 

 17-18 Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.

First, we need to know that "If God Built a Church" it would not be subject to death and decay.

Second, it would be a Biblical church. It would be based on and doing the meat (Word of God) of in the streets. 

Third, It would be a Loving church. It would be a church that knew that each of us need all of the rest of the church.

Forth, It would be a Worshipping church. It would be a church that had its worship focused on God not on itself. Everything it did concerning worship, which is found in living, would bring glory to God.

Fifth, It would be Devoted to Prayer.

Sixth, It would be a church Engaged a Naturally Supernatural way. 

Seventh, It would be a generous church. 

It would be a church that uses each of the above to impact those outside. The church that God wants begins with the lives of each person that makes up the church.

I believe if Jesus was walking the streets of Louisburg this past Sunday He would have skipped most services in our community and headed down to the American Legion park to mingle with the bikers and then walked the 7 blocks to downtown to look at the old cars and trucks. He would have taken time to talk to the person who looked the most out of place or lonely. He would have talked to the biker who was struggling with drug or alcohol abuse. He would have shared the hope of life tha tis found in Him. He would have takent he time to touched the hurting, the addicited, the rejected and the sick. 

As I walked our streets that day with my wife, my daughter and my grandkids I wondered why the churches of Louisburg were not there doing what Jesus did.

I long for and believe that Jesus will raise up a church that is biblically founded, that loves everyone within and without, that worships Him through their lives, that is devoted to praying for everyone in our community, that is engaged in the supernatural in a naturally supernatural way, that is generous with its time, gifts and money. I believe Jesus is going to raise up a church that makes a long lasting positive impact in the area around Louisburg, KS.

1 Peter 2: 4-5 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you'll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. 

Acts 2: 42-47 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.  Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met. They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

The question for you and me is: "Are we made of the right stuff and are we being the church that does what Jesus did?"