To Church with Being Blunt

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m really thinking not…I hate religion being forced down anyone’s throat. What in the world would make a person want to listen to you when you are sitting there preaching at them, not even letting them talk so you can see the way they think, all in the name of “presenting the Gospel?” If the Gospel means good news, it sure doesn’t sound all that good to the person on the other end of your speech. What would be better news for that person is for you to actually care enough about them to get to know their life, their passions and struggles. What would be even better news is if that person saw you cared enough to give them your time to listen to them, and not just barely fit them in with enough time to present the Roman’s Road to Salvation, say a prayer with them and then run off to put another tally score down on your conversion list.

You probably already know I’ve just finished reading a.k.a. “LOST” by Jim Henderson, huh? If you didn’t know that, you need to read the book. It will go against all the training you have ever received on evangelism, and I can guarantee you right now you will begin to have more unforced and relaxed spiritual conversations with strangers than you have ever had using the “old” method of just presenting some memorized points and scriptures. How can I guarantee this? I can because I have already seen it in my own life. I’ve been asking more questions to people and then actually listening for their response, not just waiting for my next turn to talk so I can get them “saved.”

The subtitle of the book is “Discovering ways to connect with the people Jesus misses most.” Jesus misses people who don’t know Him yet. He misses them so much and His way of reaching out to them is by us, His body. If we don’t reach out, no one will. They will never experience the love of God through Christ. Ever. And this love is not about ruling the world or presenting some points with memorized scripture. It’s just about love. For Heaven’s sake where did we get so turned around into thinking that a little outline we memorized in some “evangelism training” class was actually going to cause people to truly come to know Christ and His love? And why do we train for “evangelism” in a classroom while basketball players and golfers actually go out and do it for their training?

My pastor, a man I truly do respect and admire for his faithfulness to and the study of God’s Word, said recently that we should be like Jesus in the sense that He was blunt, that we should no longer beat around the bush because Jesus Himself did not. I respectfully dare to differ, however. He used the meeting with Nicodemus to satisfy his point: Jesus simply said, “A man must be born again…” (John 3:3.) This is being blunt, I guess. But I think the reason Jesus answered so bluntly was because Nick himself had come to Jesus looking for answers. Nick was beyond the point of a seeker, really; he was almost to the point of finding. It’s one thing to be bluntly honest with those who want to hear it; it is completely another thing with people who are not yet ready and who do not yet trust you or feel as though you truly love them. Obviously, Nicodemus felt as if he could trust Jesus or else he would not have come. Nick was ready to hear this truth, but not everyone we meet is.

It is not necessary for us to memorize some points and scriptures in order to effectively be able to present the “Gospel” to someone. All that is necessary is for us to love people and be willing to give away some free attention. This will open up doors you have never seen before. The person will see you respect their thoughts and opinions, that you love them and truly want the best for them, and then, after they have seen your faithfulness in simply being like Christ, they will want what you have and be much more willing to hear anything you may say. But sometimes a presentation of the good news of Christ is not even necessary, some people just catch on and start living it and believing it without ever sitting down and saying, “The Sinner’s Prayer.”

So today, be yourself. Do what is doable. Live out your faith in Christ and following after Him. Tell your non-religious friend you’ll pray for them in a hard time. Ask your waitress how life outside of her work is. Ask the people next to you in Starbucks a few questions like: What do you think the difference between religion and spirituality is? Is there a spiritual person you admire? Do you know what the term ‘born again’ means? Has anyone ever tried to ‘save’ you? And then just leave it at that, don’t say anything or preach. If they ask you a question, feel free to answer it. But from now on, let’s “evangelize” by just being ourselves, not forcing ourselves to be people we’re just not. More people will respond to your being real than ever would by your being fake, ‘memorized,’ and religious.

Day and Night...and Hypocrisy

I just bought Charlie Hall’s new album, Flying Into Daybreak. What a name. It’s truly amazing. And tonight, I got some great pictures of the sunset, and I got to thinking that at the same time the sun is setting in my part of the world, it is rising in another.

Cool thought.

But here’s what I was going to write about: Mark 7:6-7

These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.

Wow…Jesus pretty much says this is the definition of hypocrites. And how many of us know people (or hey, lets look at ourselves) do this exact thing. We love to talk “the talk.” Y’know? We have no problem honoring God with our lips. We can say all the right stuff, talk all the right scriptures. But all of that is pointless if there is no heart that is close to the Lord.

This passage is Jesus repeating a prophesy that Isaiah spoke (found in Isaiah 29:13.) “Their hearts are far from me.” How sad! Let’s make sure our hearts are close to God today and everyday. Be close to Him. He wants your heart. He wants your heart. He wants your HEART! So give it to him and keep it close to His heart as well. Let your heart ache for what His aches for. Let is be moved by what moves His heart. Let your heart be filled with the joy His heart is. Keep your heart close to Him. Be not far from Him…

I love to worship. I love it. I love cool praise and worship songs. I love finding words to sing to God that I haven’t thought of before but have always felt with my whole heart. I love it. =) But in this passage, God says that those whose hearts are far from Him worship in vain. There is no obedience. No real heart behind it. It’s worship in vain. It means nothing to Him and His presence is not manifested in our praises when they are praises in vain. The way we make sure our worship is not in vain is to make sure our hearts are close to the Lord and we are not only worshiping but also obeying Him in all areas of life.

Keep your heart close to God today.

what to do with zeal

I stepped over the line with my zeal yesterday. And last night was a changing point in my life. You know, I'm always talking about change and wanting it, but honestly, I see very little big change in my life. But yesterday was one of those times.

I was a "little" frustrated with church and took it over the line in the name of zeal and passion. I expressed all of these thoughts and feelings to my best friend who supported my ideas, but also corrected me where I needed it (and I did need it.) But I knew I had to do something about all of that stuff, so I took it to God (the one thing I'd been somewhat avoiding for awhile) and laid it at His feet, crawled up in His lap and cried and told Him I wasn't sure what to do with that box at His feet and I needed help. At the moment, I think that box is still at His feet, and I'm still in His lap. But He's telling me some things I need to know before picking that box back up (and probably taking some things out and putting some things in.)

That may make no sense, but that's fine.

I want to fly. I want to travel the world. Head off to any other country than the United States. Everytime I see a plane in the sky, I get this feeling that I can't stay on US soil much longer. haha. Sounds crazy, perhaps, but I really do feel that way. I am believing God for open doors in every aspect of my life (at the moment, my top priorities are a car and a job.) And sooner or later, I will be traveling the world. Telling everyone I see about God's amazing love and grace.



This is outside my house yesterday morning when the sun was coming up.

I am falling more and more in love with the outdoors. It is just great to spend with God and just relax and pray and whatever else you want. I like to take pictures. =) So, spend some time outside today and enjoy life.

Today's Pledge

I went on a mission trip to New Zealand for a month back in the summer with an organization called Global Expeditions. It is a branch off of a national youth ministry Teen Mania. Teen Mania has a pledge called the Declaration of a World Changer. While I was at the Teen Mania campus and while in New Zealand I memorized this declaration and have said it quite often ever sense. It is a quick summary of how we should truly live like Christ.

Declaration of a World Changer

Today, I will live honorably through my thoughts, actions, and speech. I choose to be full of faith. I will not only be a hearer, but a doer of the Word of God. I will serve before I demand. I will love and not hate, and I will give before I take. Today I commit my life to prayer and ask God for His miraculous power and the strength to do the impossible. I will make godly relationships a priority in my life as I esteem others higher than myself. Today I will live my life in such a way that I will change the world.

Psalm 25

I really do want to get in the habit of writing again. I go through spurts of wanting to write and not wanting to write. But it’s honestly a good discipline for me to have. So here’s what’s up for today…

Psalm 25

This is by far one of my favorite psalms of David. He expresses so much I try to express but can’t find the words to in not only this psalm but also so many others. He starts it off with a dedication, surrender to God:

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul,

Every single morning these need to be the first words out of our mouth. To God and to God alone we lift up our soul—our mind, our will, our emotions, our entire being to Him. Check out verses 4 and 5:

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

If there is any way we need to walk in everyday, it is God’s way. His way leads to an abundant, full, blessed, meaningful life. And yes, our hope should be in Him all day long. No matter what goes on around us, we stand firm because our hope is in Him and Him alone. Not in ourselves or our own ability or our circumstances, simply in Him and His unconditional, never-failing love. There is a prerequisite for us to fully walk in His way, however. This is seen in verse 9:

He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.

God wants to lead us in His way so that we fulfill all the plans He has for us but we cannot do this until we give up our own way and stop being prideful in the least bit. He desires for us to be humble and know that we can’t do this on our own. He desires us to be completely and wholly dependent on Him. When we are broken and humble at His feet, He will teach us His way of doing things. This leads to one other thing in verse 14:

The Lord confides in those who fear him…

God tells secrets. But only to those are totally dedicated and surrendered to Him—the humble, those who fear, love, adore and serve Him. Want to know some of the deeper things of God and His Word? Start living in His way and fearing Him. And one last thing that doesn’t really go along with the other stuff…

My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

This is a great thought for me! I love it so much. My eyes are on Him and my eyes aren’t moving off of Him! Because He is the only one who can set me free. My friends can’t, all my Bible studying can’t, and all my attendances at church events or services can’t set me free. Jesus is the only one who can set me free and because of that, my eyes are on Him!

Like Little Children

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
-Jesus (Mt. 19:14)

You must be like a little child to possess the kingdom of heaven.

I’ll be honest; when someone mentions the word “kid” or “child” I cringe. I’m just not a big fan. My first thought is always a negative one, unfortunately. Of course, when Jesus said this, he wasn’t talking about us being annoying, rude, gross, disobedient or any of the other negative things we think of when we think of children. In fact, Paul warns against us being like children in this sense (1 Cor. 13:11.) But here, Jesus is mentioning something much deeper than meets the eye.

There are many characteristics children display that we tend to lose, as we get older. These concepts are what Jesus was saying we should have so we could be in and possess the kingdom.

Children are very imaginative. I remember growing up; playing outside by myself I always had a story going on that I was apart of. I wouldn’t just jump on trampoline (how boring!) I pretended I was in the Olympics, participating for the gold medal in trampoline acrobatics. I was always dreaming of something.
We need to always be dreaming and imagining of what we can do next with our life. Just because we are in one certain spot in our life does not mean it cannot be exciting or we cannot move on to something even better. Maybe the thought of dreaming of something more than what you’re live now brings discomfort. Great! I firmly believe for my own life that I will not be in the same spot for very long. I get much too apathetic when that happens. So dream, my friend!

You’ve probably noticed that kids are always willing to help with something. I know my little sister always wants to help me bake cookies. If everyone in the body of Christ was like little children in this way, there would never be a shortage of people to help in any ministry area, and I do believe many more people would be apart of the kingdom of God because they would take the initiative to witness instead of standing idly by.

Another thing about children are they normally trust very easily. Especially when it comes to one of their parents. If a child is told that if they do something, their parents will do something special for them, they totally believe it! (Unless, of course, that trust has been broken on account of the parent not keeping his or her word.) But God will never take back His Word. You may have heard it before but, “If God said it, that settles it!” His Word will always stand true and faithful and one of the things God cannot do is go back on His Word.
Let’s trust God like little children. Take Him at His Word and simply believe. He says He will never forsake the righteous and the righteous’ children will never go begging for bread (see Ps. 37:25), and if you’ve been washed by Jesus’ blood, you are righteous! There are so many promises in God’s Word that we don’t possess because we don’t take them and believe, instead we doubt and do not have what He says we can have.

In the coming week, find a way to remind yourself that you need to be like a child. God appreciates and expects us to dream our hearts out, always be willing to do things and obey Him and to trust Him with our whole heart.  

Not Just for Pastors

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” –Col. 3:16

Teach and admonish one another. But FIRST, let the word of Christ dwell in you. This is a great concept that we do not think about or live out all that much.

If you and I have the Word in us (the written Word and the living Word, Jesus) we have all we need to teach others. We do not always have to wait on a “minister” (ordained or not), a pastor, or any kind of “positional” leader in the church to teach us. We can start right away teaching others, encouraging others and growing together.

I think this is one of the ideas that has started the somewhat new, “small group” ministries in mid to large size churches. At least in the small group I attend, we do have a “leader” but she is not the one who runs the whole thing or speaks the whole time. It is discussion and interaction; us common folk (well, common in the sense we do not have a title per se) teach each other.

So today…YOU teach and admonish someone else!