Tuesday, September 28, 2010

God Doesn't Want to See Your But...

Once and a while Perry Noble writes something in his blog that just needs to be share word for word......the following is one of those posts....love it!!


Taken from www.perrynoble.com

God doesn’t want to see your “but!”

Your “but” is nasty…it is gross…it should be covered up and never shown…

Yet so often times we want to “moon God” and show Him our “but” when God’s Word is declared…

  • “I know I need to plant a church…”BUT” I don’t have enough money.”
  • “I know I need to take that step of faith…”BUT” I don’t know how things will turn out.”
  • “I know I need to admit that I am struggling with sin…”BUT” I am afraid of what people will think of me.”
  • “I know I need to share Christ with my friend…”BUT” they may label me and I may lose a friend.”
  • “I know I need to put Jesus first in my finances…”BUT” I don’t think I can afford to.”
  • “I know I need to end this dating relationship…”BUT” if I do then I may be single for the rest of my life.”
  • “I know that God wants me to fight FOR my marriage…”BUT” the easiest thing to do is walk away and start over.”
  • “I know the decision I need to make…”BUT” if I do what I know I need to do it is going to cause me to have to embrace the unknown.”

See what I mean…we always want God to see our “BUT!”…and yet He isn’t interested…because…

He sent Jesus to the earth for your “BUT!”

Jesus died on the cross for your “BUT!”

Jesus rose from the grave for your “BUT!”

And Jesus reigns OVER YOUR “BUT!”

So stop telling Him about your “BUT” – get off of your “BUT” and get on with what He has said to get on with!!!

No one ever accomplished anything great for God by showing Him their “BUT!”

He is able to handle your “BUT!”

So do whatever He’s telling you to do…and stop worrying about your “BUT!”

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Sunday Mind Dump

Just a great day at 242. I just know that people needed the message today.

So, let's dump:
  • Spoke about loss and grieving loss today. We never loose the scars but God does heal us. Time doesn't heal anything...The holy spirit does.
  • It was and is an honor to step in for my friend Scott. We'll miss him dearly.
  • Would encourage everyone to pray for the leadership at 242 as they are trying to hear from God about the long term direction of the church. I love being there but April and I don't feel like God is calling us to be at 242 permanently. We believe God sent us there to help build up the ministry and we'll be there as long as that takes.
  • In the mean time, I'll be filling in as the pastor and making sure the church and kingdom is moving forward.
  • Good things are in the works.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Legalism Raises it's Ugly Head Again

It's pretty regular that I hear about people struggling with Christianity and I completely get it. Today was no exception. The problem most people have isn't with Jesus....People like Jesus. He loved people, spent his time with the sick and outcasts, challenged the hypocrisy in the church. The problem most people have is with those in the church.

If you could take the majority of the complaints and put them into a single one it's this. Many churches have a legalistic air about them. Sometimes that comes off as hypocrisy....but at it's heart it's legalism. Here is my definition of legalism...When we believe there is something we can DO to please God....You have to understand for many people there is a goodness that seems right to men....and then there is a goodness that seems right to God....and they are usually very different things....Believing in the goodness that seems right to men is what leads to legalism and the very thing that moves people farther from God and his church.

Here's how legalism in churches works. People in their attempt to please God will adopt standards that God never intended for us to have. For example: They wrongly believe bringing your best to God means getting up extra early on Sunday and putting on your best suit. Or, they might believe that when God says not to defile your body he's talking about not getting piercings or a tattoo. Or, maybe they believe that not drinking alcohol is they way they are going to get closer to God.....all of these things are man's way of trying to please God and to be honest they are a waist of time and energy.

God looks at the inside of us...he looks at our hearts. Jesus gave us two commands that we were and are to follow...These measure the heart of a person and that is what God looks at. Jesus said in Luke 10:27 that we should "love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and then we should love our neighbors as ourselves." (Renner Paraphrase) Seems pretty simple and straightforward.

I am not sure why anyone or church would want to put any more standards on us than those....I am not sure in a lifetime we'd ever be able to truly measure up to that standard....which is why God loved us enough to accept us through his son anyway.

Understand this: There is nothing you can do to please God by looking a certain way, dressing a certain way, or acting a certain way....That stuff is shallow and temporary. God cares about what's on the inside of us.....he cares about the condition of our hearts....are we serving and loving him or ourselves....our we serving those in our lives or are we concerned with how many toys we can acquire? Don't allow legalism to raise it's ugly head in your life or in your church....it doesn't help anyone....

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sunday Mind Dump

So many things going on in my mind and life it's hard to put them all into a single mind dump. I'll throw a few things out here and some I'll save for just me :)

So let's dump:
  • Seems like every Sunday there is something wrong. Some type of problem that wants to get itself in the way of what we are doing. For better or worse, it is probably just an attack that we need to fight back against.
  • Working on a few new musicians for church. Hopefully we can get them on stage next week. That would be cool!
  • God is putting a passion back in me for some things that hasn't been there in a long time. I am honestly afraid of what that means. Leading worship is easy. The other stuff is very difficult.
  • Took a 2 hour nap today. That has only happened a few times over the last few years. WOW!
  • Football season starts next weekend. Excited about that!
Better get off this computer.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Modern Worship

Recently, we've endured some conflict over the notion of modern worship being performance based and more traditional worship being congregation centered. I certainly understand the discussion and the reasons behind it. Most traditional church music was written out of revelation with the church in mind. It was written for congregational singing. Modern worship shares some of those traits but it also ads the added element of commercial appeal. Many modern worship artists are very talented and have a commercial sound that is radio friendly.

The argument I think can best be understood and appreciated within the context of what God is doing in the midst of a generation of worshipers. In today's society, its acceptable for worship leaders to journal their personal experiences and quite often those experiences end up as songs that we sing today. Sometimes they are personal prayers that just can't be shaken. Sometimes the song stems from a message that stirs the heart of the worship leader. Sometimes the songs come from life in general and reflecting on God's goodness.

Is there a performance aspect of modern worship ABSOLUTELY. We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking there isn't. Totally removing the performance aspect of music would place us in the position of being ineffective because the music would be so bad it would actually become a turn off. We can move past the performance aspect of worship by having our hearts right during the week. Spending time in prayer, seeking God in humility, and listening to his voice. We can also eliminate some of the performance aspect of modern worship if we are well prepared. When you are so prepared you don't have to think about singing or playing your instrument you are free do what comes naturally and just worship God.

We wouldn't allow a pastor to come on stage and be a complete dud, have zero personality, and not be able to teach. Likewise, we shouldn't allow people to come on stage that God hasn't blessed to do music. With that comes a certain element of performance no doubt. But preparation and having a right heart can outweigh most of that. God has raised up some great worship leaders over the last 10 years that are not only incredible musicians but sold out to worshiping Him. Don't write that off because you see it as a performance. Think about the time and commitment to Christ these people make. Many of of the people volunteering their time to sing and play an instrument for God in our churches today could easily be making money playing and singing in clubs and bars on the weekends. Instead, they are using their talents for God. That's a great thing!

All music that is written with a humble heart and lifts up God honors him. I love having the freedom to express it. Makes me feel like writing some more songs!