Popularity: 10% [?]
Archive for December, 2006
If you have been saved more than six months it is more than likely that church is no longer what it is supposed to be. For far to many saints,church is no longer a place to be equipped for the working of the ministry and is instead the place of always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
Somehow, church becomes our world. Sure, we venture out of it from time to time. We go to work. We go to the store. But we rush back into our safe house so we can get away from “them.” We kneel at the altar and ask God to deliver us from our jobs that have us in to much contact with “them.” We pray for schools so our kids won’t be influenced by “them.” Some go so far as to arrange church activities on holidays so our Christian festivities won’t be spoiled by “them.”
The big problem is that Jesus sent us to share the Gospel with “them” and that’s hard to do when we have no contact.
I have been here. When the center of our Christianity is church we surely know that we are missing the mark. As leaders, when we gauge believers by their faithfulness in listening to someone teach we have wandered off course.
Some believe that the problem is the structure of church all together. Many ascended to leadership in a church and saw major flaws with the leadership. Their hurts cause them to stay withdrawn because of perceived hypocrisies. Others have come out of the conventional church because of their belief in a better structure. They believe that the church is not an institution but an organic creature that is to be small and without ordained leaders. I am ok with that but many often leave the conventional church and don’t join anything else. As with the hyperchurched, these groups allow their church experiences to distract them from the Gospel as well.
I was once in the place that all of my prayer life was consumed with the horribly dysfunctional church that I was a part of. It seemed that all of my Christian life had to pass through that church mostly because of a controlling spirit that was channeled by the leaders. When I broke free, I almost was affected by it enough to quit church all together.
After one week of this my wife declared that this is not who we are. We are Christians and we go to church. I got plugged into a fellowship that is preaching the Gospel and reaching and teaching the lost. As I look around my current fellowship I see people who are both hyperchurched and hypercritical. The good news is that I am of neither group.
I refused to be distracted again, and so should you.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Here is the second part of my series titled Distractions from the Gospel. Find part one here.
Read the following list and try to guess what they have in common: Closed cannon, Cessationism, Transubstantiation, Third Wave theology, Asceticism, Dispensationalism, Sabbatarianism.
The common thread? People who are consumed with the lost spend almost no time contemplating them. I teach my students that the Gospel is the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection and the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
A complete and full understanding on substitutionary atonement is not going to save anyone. A position piece on the requirements for eldership will not gain anyone entrance to heaven. Even a proper stance on homosexuality will not help you with the second birth.
As false teachings crept into the body of believers, some falsely believed that more proper teaching would rid the problem. As more leaders chased after proper teaching, the hairs that were being split got finer and finer. Thanks to the blogsphere it is now possible to witness doctrinal debates over the context of a single Greek word in one of Paul’s pastoral writings (as if that matters).
There is no theology based on a single Greek word that is of any significance. And even if there was, it still would not get anyone saved.
Salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting the lost of their need for Jesus. Sometimes He convicts their conscience of their sin. Sometimes He offers the hurting a greater hope. sometimes He meets a physical need with healing. Whatever the gateway, He brings the reality of Jesus to the heart by the spirit.
I laid hands on a 13 year old boy this past Friday night. He was a good kid and a regular church attendee. He is part of a discipleship class that was doing Bible study and leadership training. During worship I felt lead to pray for him. While we were standing there I asked him what was happening. In an ongoing play by play he told me of an increasing bright light that he saw. Out of the light stretched a set of hands. Eventually Jesus came out of the light and called the boy to Him. As this boy began to feel the embrace of his Savior he wept openly. As the vision unfolded the boy was shown the lost all over the globe getting saved. The boy knew this was his call. You can’t get that at of a lexicon.
You cannot teach someone into an encounter with Jesus. It requires faith. Which is precisely the element that is not needed to promote your doctrinal position.
Popularity: 15% [?]
I am not sure I have ever successfully blogged a series nor am I sure that enough people read my blog to warrant a series since most visitors come, look, and leave. Nevertheless, this has been something that I have given great thought to over the last couple months and since I am almost the only person who reads this blog, it might as well have writings that I enjoy reading! I plan to touch a plethera of third rails but since I do not rely on donations to keep this blog active I can do that.
Note: I am not Adrain Warnock. The majority of my postings are stream of thought type. I am not putting forth a systematic theology though I think I am right on these issues. Chew the meat, spit out the bones.
So I will post a series on modern distractions from the Gospel. These are the little foxes that eat at the vine. They seem well and good but neuter Christians from our mission.
I went to a meeting for an internationally known minister. It was held in an arena and it was all I thought it would be. The worship was incredible and the miracles were real. I had never seen that many people crying out for the real presence of God in one place before and it was awesome. Unfortunately, I had another first in that meeting.When the time for the “offering” came I got my first real offering shakedown. The man doing the
There is someone over on the right. And you say, “I only have enough for my mortgage.” God is telling you that if you give what you have, I will bless you. And someone over on the left is thinking that they only have $1,000 to your name. If you give like the widow . . .
I was really aghast. I thought that this only happened in church parodies. I had no idea that people would put up with this. When the usher handed an envelope to me I kindly refused. I did not want my money mingled with any of this.
I am a little older now. I have seen more of modern Christianity since that day and unfortunately this is not as uncommon as I thought.
For in the ensuing years I have seen a theology that puts men in control of God. No longer is He the author but we are. He is not the potter, we are. For, no matter God’s will, if we do not tithe then God is unable to bless our finances this new theology teaches. Likewise, if we sprinkle the offering plate with our magical fairy dust tithe check, all our wishes will come true regardless of God’s plan. Whether it be in ignorance or deceitful gain does not matter. This is false teaching.
But more than the sin of the minister who manipulates the congregant to give, is the sin of the congregant who allows their faith to shift from Jehovah Jireh, the God who Provides, to their own ability to tithe. It now seems that whatever we need is accessible in the offering plate. Whether it be greater finances or a mate, all that is needed is to be faithful in giving money to the church and God will do it.
Is there any more clear definition of an idol?
This is how the before mentioned preacher was not hissed off the stage. The idol of the tithe sanctifies greed. The idol of the tithe tells us that we never have to go without and never have to trust God. The idol of the tithe tells us that it is in our own power have our desires fulfilled.
Right now my wife and I are crying out to God that He bring a buyer for our house. It is all that is standing in the way of our going into full time ministry. A well meaning relative told us about some people that they knew who buried statues of Saint somebody in the yard and then the house sold within a week. One person was Jewish, another was an atheist and it worked. I told my relative that I would rather never sell my house then gain by the power of witchcraft. God is my supplier and in Him alone will I trust. How different is the popular tithing message these days? Is it much different than appeasing saints?
For the record I tithe. My wife and I always have. As far as I can predict, we always will. Why? God told us to. That ended the conversation for us. But we don’t do it to leverage favor with God.
The point of tithing is to be a blessing, not to get a blessing. This is the Gospel.
I wonder how much more the finances of the church would increase if we would simply put our trust in Him? Surely the giving would not be as predictable, but it would be cleaner and more toward His purposes.
Galatians 6:7-8 (Listen)Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Thanks to those of you who have inquired about us. Here is the latest.
We were offered a position in Georgia which we accepted with some small conditions. All looks good and we are eager to go through what we believe is an open door from God. Here is the big problem hurdle challenge holdup opportunity, we need to sell our house. I have read I don’t know how many blog posts from people who had trouble selling their houses and I did not understand the issue. Well, the issue is here.
We need it to sell . . . quickly! Please pray.
I have been making a (very) little money doing some online marketing. That has taken quite a bit of time. It is cool to have a residual income stream other than ministry but it takes some work to get going.
I just got my own server and I am quite excited! Ok, its a VPS but to me its a big step. I have done reseller hosting but this is a whole ‘nother beast. I am a little over my head and am trying to get all my sites transferred over. If this blog gets on the blink, you know why.
Also, if you read this blog and decide you want to do something similar, give me a hollar! I will be able to set you up for cheap!
I will post a very detailed report on how this has all played out on the other side. God is still building my testimony but I can’t wait to share it when it is done!
Popularity: 9% [?]
I preached this last week on impartation. It is a subject that is addressed far to infrequently. Hebrews 6:2 and 2 Timothy 1:6 were my main Scriptures.
But I mainly told the story of Lonnie Frisbee. This guy got wacked by the Holy Ghost. After being radically saved, he got hooked up with Chuck Smith, who at the time had a nice church called Calvary Chapel and was curious about the hippie movement. Lonnie Frisbee came in and set the world on fire. Today the map of Calvary Chapel locations looks like this: 
Lonnie’s idea of church was a little too New Testament and not quite Greek enough for Calvary so he got the heave hoe. He wound up with John Wimber near the beginning of the Vineyard movement and now there are 800 of those.
Time went on and about 20 years later John Arnott’s Vineyard church began to have an outpouring when Randy Clark, another Vineyard pastor from St. Louis ministered. A few years after that 
a missionary couple from Mozambique visited. God turned their world upside down and since that day their ministry has planted 8,000+ churches in southeastern Africa.
Lonnie Frisbee was booted from Calvary. The Arnotts were given the left foot of fellowship by the Vineyard. The Bakers were unsupported from TSC.
See a pattern? If you really want revival you must decide in your heart that you want to be as popular as Jesus in Jerusalem, or Paul in Ephesus. If that is too abstract, become as popular as these folks.
Popularity: 22% [?]
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