Life is Christ

Wow, my heart has been overwhelmed lately with conviction. Conviction for myself and others. Things have just been knocking on my heart lately at just how complacent and mediocre we as the Church have become. If you are offended by that I'm sorry you feel that way, but regardless of us getting offended we, as the Church, are not living up to our potential as believers in Christ. And we seem okay with it. Well, I'm taking a stand and saying right here, right now that I'm not okay with it.

I'm not okay with us pouring our time and energy into things that don't serve a purpose. I remember when I accepted Jesus as my Savior and committed my life to serving Him all I wanted to do was share Him with others because I cared. I truly wanted others to know Him regardless of the costs to my reputation. It was exciting to me to share God's love and that was all that mattered. Somewhere along the way I lost that zeal and in it's place stepped in the church. When I use church here, I'm talking about the little church, not the big Church(God's people). I'm talking about the building, the politics, the programming. I traded my excitement for God, for meaningless things that we try to justify and make excuses for as important.

If I have learned anything it is that we do not need "stuff" to proclaim God. We don't need to curriculum that has been Saddleback tested with a stamp of approval(btw, that is not a dig at Saddleback because I believe the do good things), flashy lights, nicely painted walls, beautiful sanctuaries, and pews with pads to proclaim God. Guess what, God is already time tested. Our curriculum was tested thousands of years ago.

And at this point I would guess you have done the same. I think we have developed a culture within our churches that at some point sucks something out of believers and pushes them to just play church and not live Church. When I look at Scripture and I see Paul and what he accomplished without all the stuff, it convicts me. For goodness sake, Paul sat in a prison and was excited about it because it still gave him the opportunity to share Jesus. What have we become Church? What have I become?

A verse that has been literally knocking down the walls of my heart today is this:

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." - Philippians 1:21

This verse was an eye opener. I have read it literally hundreds of times, but it hadn't impacted me because I was still playing church, instead of living Church.

I had to get real honest with myself and ask the question, "Do I feel to live is Christ and die is gain?" or am I poser? Someone who preaches and teaches that but doesn't actually live that. And I'm not big enough to say that I feel I fell more into the poser category than the life is Christ category.

I feel for me that church drags us down and we become jaded to Jesus. I'm not saying we don't believe and we don't love Him. That is absolutely not what I'm saying. I am saying that because we are so busy doing menial things and tasks we forget and forgo the true joys of living for Jesus.

Think about it! Paul is in prison and all He can think about is how his life still has to be a representation of Christ. That his life is Christ. For crying out loud, we can barely do that on Sundays. I challenge you to read Philippians 1:12-30 to get an even better picture of what I'm talking about.
 
We have to change something Church. Something has to give. I feel we have to stop making excuses for our actions and behaviors. I hear things like, "Well, having a contemporary looking sanctuary shouldn't be the reason people come to church, but we need one because we have to keep up with the times." WHAT?!! How ridiculous! God is not a matter of the times. He does not go in and out of style. I will say that putting lights up and painting the walls and so on is not a sin but what we have made it is. God is where our focus has to be. I'll be the first to admit, I have said things similar to that statement. I have let trivial things become more important than the message of God. This is not living for Christ. Do you think Jesus walked around and went into places of worship and said, "Oh, this light is just not going to do?" NO, because Jesus cared about two things, JUST TWO! Loving the Father and loving people. That's it!

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” - Luke 10:27

Read it and weep folks! It's just that simple. When we have a genuine love for the Father and love for people we are letting Christ live through us. Trust me, people will take notice. What would you rather have, someone come up to you who has this programmed, rehearsed speal talking about this guy named Jesus or someone who you can tell is genuinely sold out for what they are saying and you can tell cares deeply about you. That's a no brainer.

Church, we have to stop with the world's way of doing things. We have to stop trying to be "relevant". Like, "the message never changes, but we have to change the way we give it". NONSENSE!!! When did showing love and care for someone change? Oh, thats right! IT DIDN'T!!! If we are to be reflections of Christ than how can we say that we are not relevant. Did I miss something and all of sudden Jesus became irrelevant? Likely not.

 Now, there will be people who read this that will continue to argue against what I'm saying. That's fine. Continue to be blinded by the world mainly because you want to hold on to something that is not nearly as important as Life is Christ. But if you are open to what I have been saying, I challenge you to remove mediocrity and little church from your life. I challenge you to reflect long and heartfeltly on these verses and pray for God to remove the barriers that have been created from years of doing church and not living Church. I pray that God's Spirit moves in your life that you forsake all the meaningless things in your life and realize that their is only one important thing and that is Jesus. And with that realization that you do not let a church culture to influence how you carry out His message, but you allow Him to dictate that through His Word and His Spirit guiding you. This is my prayer for all of us. Life is Christ and to Die is Gain because we will be with Him.

Stop With All the Biblical Movies

Not to overshadow my post from yesterday because I believe it to be way more important than this one. With that said, I'm sure to get some opposing views from this post, but I'm over the need to have Biblical stories made into full-length motion pictures. I honestly do not feel it helps Christians to spread Christ and I actually feel it does more harm than good. Let me explain.

The reason I even got on this today is because I read an article that Paramount, who is releasing the movie Noah next month, decided to put a disclaimer at the start of the film. This was after some dialogue with the National Religious Broadcasters. The statement was:

"The film is inspired by the story of Noah.
While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide.
The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis."

Now, I'm giving mad props to Paramount for this because I feel it is a classy move on there part albeit not to upset Christian groups. They could have not and still made millions of dollars, but they chose to be sensitive to something very important which is Biblical accuracy. Now, with an array of Christian based movies coming out, such as Son of God and Gods Not Dead(which is not a biblical retelling but a modern day challenge type movie) we need to understand a fine line we are walking. That is why I feel these movies do more harm than good. They are not true representations of the Word of God and sadly most people watch them thinking they are or they pull their knowledge of said event from that movie.

I'm not saying that watching them is bad. I for one own several of these movies, but only allowing them to speak to you instead of personally digging into the Scriptures is wrong. I'll say this once, MOVIES ARE NOT SCRIPTURE. ONLY SCRIPTURE IS SCRIPTURE.

People can disagree with me all they want, but I have encountered too many that have gained there Biblical knowledge from movies, TV programs or poorly crafted teaching materials. Don't even get me going on the last one but I digress. These mediums are not a substitute for God's Word, Period.

I will say this. It is not a sin to see them. It's not a sin to own them. They can speak to you, but when they trump what they are trying to accentuate, that's a problem. Whether you want to admit it, I think to a degree they are making us lazy when it comes to Bible reading. It's much easier to pop a movie in than to sit down and read God's Word. There are cliff notes for many things in this world, but cliff notes for the Bible is the Bible!

I'll end with this. Feel free to watch them for the entertainment they are. That's what movies are supposed to be and I know a little about movies. But when it comes to knowing God and knowing His Word, that only comes from the Bible and prayer. End of Story!

Letter to my Daughters Future Boyfriends

As a Dad, it is my God given duty to watch over my daughter. I have been blessed to teach, guide and equip her for life. This is a job I take very seriously. I have been trying my best since the day she was born. As she has become a teenager, she is now becoming more independent. Which is alright, but it is still my duty to continue protecting and teaching her with all my heart. So, I'm asking you to help me.

Help me with what you might ask. Let me explain. I'm sure she spends a great amount of time with you and talks with you often. You might even be going on dates. Understand that my daughter deserves to be respected. She has been brought up to understand that. Let me fill you in on what I feel that respect looks like.

Respect for my daughter means you respect her mother and I and our faith. This means you help us enforce rules and boundaries. My daughter is not perfect nor are you, but I ask that in those moments where breaking the rules might seem like the best option, you become the voice of reason. Uphold her beliefs and make her accountable to what she has been taught.

You may not believe what we believe. At this point it's ok. I hope though that you respect our faith and that it is an example to you of what is important. I pray that I and my family can show you the love of Christ so that you will follow after Him one day. As a side note, if you ever plan to marry my daughter, knowing Jesus is a prerequisite. I want you to know that up front.

Also, understand that being with my daughter is a privilege. I'm not the kinda dad that will say my daughter can't date but understand I have the ability to allow and revoke that privilege. Don't put me in a situation that I have to take it away because of poor judgement on your part or disrespect of my daughter. Within this, understand that I expect you to show the proper affections for her by coming to the door to pick her up, opening doors, pulling out chairs, etc.

Be prepared to be questioned by me. I want to know all about you and I want to see what my daughter is interested in in you. Trust me, her and I have already spoken about you. Also, we will talk about boundaries when it comes to interacting with her. I'm not naive to the fact that you are young and a teenager. I was once one myself and that is exactly why boundaries are needed.

While we are talking about boundaries let me say that my daughters sexual purity is extremely important. One day she will get married to the person God sees fit, that might be you, who knows. On that day I want her to be able to give the greatest gift to her husband she can give. Not just her virginity but her complete purity. You need to respect her enough that you protect that on her behalf as I pray that she will be protecting it herself.

Since you have decided to enter into a relationship with my daughter that means you have entered into a relationship with our whole family. When you come to my home you will be treated like part of our family. We expect both of you to be around the family, not off and alone. This also means we will hold you accountable to your actions. Not because we are wanting to enact power, but because we care about you. 

I also want to know your parents. I want to be able to talk with them in friendship and when something needs to be addressed concerning you and my daughter. I will let them know what boundaries I have set and that I expect them to be respected at your home.

My daughter is my world. God blessed me with her and I will do everything that I can to protect her. I love her with all my heart. One day you will understand what it means to be dad. When that happens I pray that my example to you is evident in how you teach and guide your children, especially your daughter. I hope you have read this with love and understanding from a Dad who loves his daughter with all his heart and hopes that you will have integrity enough to help him keep his little girl on the right path.

In Him,

A loving Father