Where Do We Get Our Ideas About Maturity?

You know, I am beginning to see more clearly something that has been happening in the Church for a while. And that is that the people that don't believe in the Lord, the way we do as Christians, are beginning to shape the way the Church thinks. I have heard over the years that people just need to "grow up". But I have begun to wonder about what exactly that should mean to us as Christians. Now a-days it seems like what "growing up" means is that you are financially stable and you don't take a lot of risks! I'm sorry but I just don't see that in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I am tired of seeing "spiritual leaders" look at budget numbers and comfort levels as some of the biggest factors of "discerning" if God wants something to happen! When you look at a lot of the leadership books that are out now a-days and what they say the perfect leader looks like it seems a little weird to me. I say that because when I look through these books or hear the ideas contained within them I don't usually see Jesus in the book very much. Many times the books that tell us how to lead well, if you take an honest look, pretty much say that Jesus was the worst leader and discipler of all time. And now a-days we would probably say that He has no idea how to lead an affective ministry, and that He doesn't have any idea how to keep people safe when they are young in the faith!

Let’s look at a story from the Bible really quick. It is the story of the demoniac, the guy who had a boat-load of demons in him. Jesus comes up to shore and after he takes a few steps onto land this demon possessed guy runs up to Him and the demons start talking and then Jesus casts them out and delivers the guy. This dude was running around naked, breaking things, screaming like crazy, simply put he was out of his mind and had a lot of issues. So Jesus helps this guy by telling the demons to leave, they do, and then this guy gets saved and they get some clothes on him and then just a little bit later Jesus makes him the head evangelist for the whole region...I can honestly say that I don't know a single pastor who would agree with that kind of "discipling" experience if it happened today. In fact if someone did that, they would probably be considered dangerous and immature.

Now as you are reading this I don't want you to think that I am saying that we shouldn't use our minds or that we should neglect wisdom but I do want you to take a look at what you think 'wisdom' and 'maturity' really are. If you took your definitions of what 'maturity' and 'wisdom' should be, would you be able to find your definitions in the life of Jesus? Or have you possibly had your thoughts twisted into a perversion (perversion means the wrong version) of what Jesus said these things look like?

The Bible says that the wisdom of God looks like foolishness to the world...if that is the case why is one of our biggest concerns to meet the standards of the world? Jesus is the one who said that to become great in the Kingdom of God you must become the servant of all. Jesus is the one who said that when you think you are better than other people and that you have everything figured out you are the one who is the most deceived. True wisdom won't fit into the worlds model for success and greatness.

Jesus said that if we are really going to get what He and His Kingdom are all about, then we need to become like children. This doesn't mean that we stop using our minds and just believe whatever anyone says. What it does mean though is that our Father in Heaven is always right...even if we don't understand at the moment. Whatever faults the leaders in your life have had, your Father in Heaven doesn't have any of those...He is perfect in every way and always does what is best for you.

Let us not be filled with pride and think that the newest book or teaching on how to lead, or make great leaders, or be a great person or gain maturity could ever be greater than what we find in the life of Jesus Christ. If your principles of how things should work cannot be found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ then it is you who need to readjust...not Jesus.

Take a look at what you believe and see if what you believe matches up with what Jesus says is true.

Thoughts On Storms and Standing:

Times come in life when you really begin to wonder what the heck is going on. You don't always know what is going on, why it is going on, or how long things will last, good or bad. But as we look at life i think there are some ways to look at life that may be helpful.

First, we need to realize that there are times to advance and there are times to do your best to stand firm where you are. It would be nice if we could always advance but the fact is that storms do come and bad things do happen. Every day may not be a warm sunny day where everything goes perfect, i think everyone knows that by now. This is not to say that there has to be more bad days than good, in fact i would say that i have more good days than bad but there are bad days and hard seasons in life. And when those seasons do come i do my best to stand my ground, to hold on, and to last through the storm.

A picture popped into my head as i was thinking about this idea of standing your ground in hard times. I got a picture of a tornado blasting through a country side and a guy was holding on to a rope that was tied down to a stake in the ground. He was being tossed around and banged up a bit and i realized that if he tried to do anything else besides hang on it would not be helpful. If he tried to advance move somewhere else he would probably be sucked into the storm and hurt even more if he survived. I know this may sound intense but i thought about how stupid it is sometimes when in the middle of the storms in my life i try to move forward and do a bunch of different things to try and fight the storm instead of letting the storm pass naturally.

This blog isn't to get people down and say when a storm comes don't try because you can't win. It's not to say you should give up. I wanted to put these thoughts down for people to take the pressure off of having to solve the storms that come in your life. Trust that storms will pass, you will make it through, and in the end you will begin to advance once again. Storms come and go, but you will stay and advance.

Never give up because in the end you will win!

Awkward In Church...

Here are some awkward situations that are created in Church.

1.) Holding hands during prayer:

Okay I know that holding hands during prayer or whatever is supposed to be good for helping people join together in unity or whatever, but it just makes me feel weird. I mean if we are honest you're never really comfortable with holding hands with someone you know, much less holding some strangers hand! And i don't know if it is just me but i always seem to get stuck with the person who has the special ability to sweat profusely whether it is hot, cold or just right in the room. I know I am not alone as I have confirmed that this scenario has played itself out many times among different people! And when it boils down to it, holding hands during prayer does not bring me closer to the guy standing next to me. All I am thinking about is how this seems to be the longest prayer that I have ever heard!

2.) Not being able to call someone out for farting during worship:

I don't know who else has been sing during worship and out of nowhere got blindsided by someones taco special they had the night before. It seems like in church you are supposed to just act like there is no fart. You know what though maybe you can use this situation to your advantage...let me explain. Say you are in service worshiping and then a fart hits you from out of the blue, I say maybe you should just breath deep because if it is bad enough maybe you will tear up and people will be thinking "wow look how powerful a time that person is having right now". And who can't use a few extra church service points? You don't become head usher just for smelling great...though that does help. ;-)

3.) Saying or talking about the "S" word:

So, I don't know when this happened but somewhere along the way it became taboo to say or really even talk about the "S"word...and no not "sanctification". I am talking about sex. You think I'm joking? Just tell someone you are going to start a study on Song of Solomon and watch for the sweat to start dripping from the forehead of you brother or sister. It seems funny to me that, especially in youth groups, that talking about pornography and sex is radical. Here is a news flash for the youth group leaders...most of your students probably talked about stuff more in-depth before they came to youth group. Now a days all you gotta do is turn the TV on for 10 mins and you will know more about sex than you will ever learn your entire life in church. All I gotta say is that there is a whole book about passion, sex, and love in the Bible and God sure as heck isn't embarrassed about it! I mean God put stuff in the Bible that would make some of the romance novels out there look tame.

4.) Being the only person to shout or clap:

Now I know that this does not only happen in Church but I thought i would add this in. Have you ever been the person or heard the person that was the only one to clap or shout after the pastor said something in church? I know I have been that person and have heard that person. Now if you were the one who clapped or shouted you may feel like you were a little to excited when you shouldn't have been...I mean no one else did ANYTHING. Or you may be worried about being labeled the crazy person in the church who shouts for the sake of making noise. But let tell you what the other people are really thinking. After you shout or clap everyone else is thinking that maybe they missed something. Oh, sure there may be that initial thought of "oh, that person is crazy" but just wait and it will start to gnaw at the subconscious and they will start thinking about how they missed something during the teaching. Now here is the important part...if you end up being the one who claps or shouts at the wrong time just start making a habit of it. Start clapping and shouting at random times and act very confident and interested in what the pastor is saying and people will start to think they are missing great insights. If you want to add a little flare to this technique scribble a few notes after shouting or clapping, it can say anything it's not like there going to see your notes. And if you fail at doing this well what have you got to lose? I mean you are already the weird shouter-clapper person anyway!

Power and Hardship

So here we are at the kick off of my Blog for those who are interested! This Blog is not meant to tell you what to think, it is meant to get you started. My desire is that through my writings I may be a help and an encouragement to you and others. I don't claim to have all the answers, I do claim to hear from God and have a passion to figure out as much as I can. I am on a journey and I do not plan to ever stop growing on this adventure. I write not to simply tell you about me, but I write so that we may be able to walk together. So that we may have this adventure as a team, as a family. Are you ready to start...if not I'm goin anyway! :-)

I would like to look at 2 different verses from the Bible today, they can be found in the book of Acts, in chapter 14. The First verse is verse 3 and it says:

"But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly

about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their

message was true by giving them power to do miraculous

signs and wonders."

First, I think that we should see that God gave the apostles power to 'back up' the message of Jesus Christ! The good news is just a story without power! I mean it would be a little weird to tell people that Jesus has the power to heal and free you from your bondages and addictions, but He doesn't actually do it anymore...that sound even more crazy after I wrote it down, I mean did He just get bored of healing and helping people and said something like, "sorry but the rest of you people will just have to wait till I come back to get everyone"?! No He didn't. But lets look at the second verse now.

The second verse i want to talk about is also found in Acts chapter 14, verse 22. It says:

"...They encouraged them to continue in the faith,

reminding them that we must suffer many hardships

to enter the Kingdom of God."

I find this very interesting because it says that "we MUST suffer MANY hardships". Many times I find that people focus very much on the negative side of things and even, in a sense, bless sicknesses and poverty and suffering. But here are some questions to ask, how many sicknesses did Jesus ever bless? How many poor people did he ever say we shouldn't help to get into a better economic state (that means get more money!)?! How often did Jesus or the apostles rejoice about being tortured, killed, and falsely accused? Even when people were rejoicing after being beaten it was not because they suffered, it was because they were living for Christ! The reason people were and are tortured for Christ is because the Spirit of God is moving powerfully enough in those people to have an effect on the world around them. The would rejoice because God was using them not because they got to feel pain. A lot of Christians have a sado-masochistic (self-destructive) Christianity! That is not what Jesus had in mind. We rejoice for the joy set before us, we endure not enjoy our torture, just as Jesus did with the cross.

Looking at both of these verses makes me think about how even in the midst of powerful and miraculous signs and wonders that give life to our Message of Christ, we can be in hardship. In fact I would say it may be because of the powerful life in Christ that suffering can come to you. Think of it like this, if you are no trouble to the demonic realm then why waist time with you? It is when you are doing good that the attacks come. But let me end with this. We encounter hardship when we have a powerful walk with Christ but we should not seek out to suffer. We can rejoice because our God is always bigger than any hardship! And remember this that hardship and trials and suffering are not supposed to be a lifestyle, they are meant to show you how strong God has made you. Any evil that comes to you you are meant to overcome.

Romans 12:21 says:

"Don't let evil conquer you,

but conquer evil by doing good."

We are Built for Victory.

We are Empowered to Overcome.

We are Adopted into Blessings.