The Not Interesting or Flashy Post

Solely Things on My Mind

This post has nothing to do with moving or Ecuador. I just wanted to type out what I am going through mentally with my faith. If you don't care about spiritual things or philosophy, you probably will not enjoy reading this. If you do, you still probably won't enjoy reading this hahaha.

      The world's concept of Christianity has lost most of its face because we, as a people, have tried to take matters into our own hands. Bear with me as I explain. Christians have apathetically handed the responsibility of being God's hands and feet solely over to the church. They do not view themselves as hands and feet outside of church. "The church is where people get saved so I'll just bring my family, friends, and strangers." This mentality has placed a certain passive aggressive pressure on the church. So that over the last 20 years or more, they (the church) feel the need to spice things up a bit.

     As if the God of the Universe, the Alpha and Omega, and maker of all things isn't interesting enough to captivate the minds of His people. On top of that, preaching and teaching is geared now to dumb down to a child's wording so that ALL might understand. When I say "all," I do not mean for every age, I mean for people that believe and people that don't. Again, bear with me. Christians think that it's the church's job to save. Pastors now gear sermons only to save, and in the attempt to save the lost, they water down complex scripture to a single point and relay that as a topic for the lost to leave and ponder. That has to be a run-on sentence. In this ridiculous attempt of culturization of the church (commonly called seeker-friendly), we have created a diminished view of church membership, created church hoppers, and a child care organization throughout the year that has little impact on the family as a whole in a spiritual nature.

   "The preaching is okay, and the music is cool, but I want a closer church," or ,"I want a church that has more events and things, to impact the community." Like God ONLY uses church functions to draw His people to Himself. Is that written in 2 opinions? And for a lot of church goers," If I don't like this church we'll just go to another." The church is viewed as what a person can receive from it. Instead of the important difference... How can I serve the church? A message and ideology that is inescapable if the Gospel of Christ is being preached.

   People are not ignorant to the fact that worship services are being designed to captivate your attention with loud music, and lights, and a comedy routine. SO many things have been added in, that people leave the church service talking more about personal opinions than God's inerrant Word! May it never be! People also have the mindset that if I feel too much pressure or if I have a confrontation with someone, I can just go somewhere else. Other churches wont ask me any questions about what church I came from. They will only try to be as inviting as they can be because I'm a guest. On a side note, if the pastor says a big word like doctrine or theology don't get scared or tune out. Your job, Mr./Mrs. Christian, is to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. You NEED foundational biblical doctrine and theology to help fight the schemes and darts of the devil!

   My contention is not to deter you from going to church, but to encourage you to seek what scripture says about what a church is, and how it is supposed to function. Check out the Timothys and Titus for starters. Recognize the difference between Church and church. Look up what it means when scripture says it has been built upon the the foundation of the prophets and apostles with Christ being the cornerstone. Important things to know if you are wanting to be a part of a church. Saying "I go to church" means nothing. Being able to articulate why you are a part of a church is a necessity for a Christian. Vic hates it when I say this cause it's super cheesy but: You can spell religion without Christ but you can't spell Christian without Him. It's cheesy, I know.

Secondly, are you worried that when you go to church you'll be viewed as a sinner? I pray that you ARE viewed that way! If you weren't a sinner then you wouldn't have a need for a Savior would you...? Don't let that stop you from going to church! Which brings me to my next point:

God's Word is confrontational. The Law shows you you have sin. There is nothing you can do to pay for the wages of your sin, which is death. And then comes the question," Well then what is my purpose in life, to die?" To a person who is asking this question, what would you say? Go to church? Jesus? If you're a good person God will love you? Come with me this Sunday and I'll introduce you to my pastor? Yeesh!! 

Always be ready to give an account for the hope that you have. That is YOUR command and YOUR responsibility. If you cannot articulate what you believe, then why do you believe it? Postmodern thought is running rampant as is has been for a long time now. "To each his own" might as well be written on our currency, because the only thing that talks is money now anyway, right? It's definitely not Christians talking and shedding light into darkness. It's very easy to be apathetic to Postmodernism. Because most can't articulate their faith and God is only love and doesn't like confrontation. May it never be! Let's draw a mental picture:

God, the maker of everything, is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. He owns you! And every person everywhere in the whole world has sinned against Him. You are now on His Wrath list. What does His wrath look like? Burning in a lake of fire with the weeping and gnashing of teeth in a state of perpetual dying without the release of death. And that's not even explaining it with full gravity. You cannot be with God because you have sin, therefore you will be WITHOUT God. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. There is not a thing you can do to break the chain of sin that holds you. You can give to the homeless, feed the starving, create a cure for cancer, save a country from being nuked, find Waldo, and raise 15 children while working 5 jobs, and you will not come close to even lightening the color of the stain of sin on you. You are under sin, you are chained by it, it has you by the soul! 

That is your condition apart from Christ.

For it is by Christ Jesus alone, received by faith alone, given by grace alone that you can be saved from God's wrath. Read that carefully. Christ paid the debt that I owed. He purchased life for me with His own blood. He has already died the death that belonged to me. And to take that a step further, He gave me the righteousness that was His! So now, when I stand before God, He will see Jesus' righteousness. And what a glorious day it will be indeed. 

I only felt the need to type this because of current events in my life. I did not take the time to post scripture references, please forgive me, this was meant to be informal. If you want to turn this post into a key word search and find the references... by all means hahaha. Thank you to all that has invested time in both my wife and I. We love you.