Don't Go To Church?!?!

Starting in March, I am beginning a new sermon series that God has laid upon my heart. I have entitled it, "Don't GO To Church - BE The Church!" My intention is to take six weeks and discover what Church is and what it means to BE the Church.

I will attempt to give a snapshot of the thoughts here on my blog...so check back!

"One of the marks of true greatness

is the ability to develop greatness in others."

-J. C. Macaulay (1889-1977), writer and theologian

The greatest of all are servants!

Jesus is our greatest example of servant-leadership that we will ever find. I love to think of Him with the towel wrapped around his waist and washing the disciple's feet. It is a good reminder for me of how I should be.

Well, I ran into this great story on the web and I thought I would share it here. Another example of servant-leadership...

A noncommissioned officer was directing the repairs of a military building during the American Revolution. He was barking orders to the soldiers under his command, trying to get them to raise a heavy wooden beam.
As the men struggled in vain to lift the beam into place, a man who was passing by stopped to ask the one in charge why he wasn’t helping the men. With all the pomp of an emperor, the soldier responded, “Sir, I am a corporal!”
“You are, are you?” replied the passerby, “I was not aware of that.” Then, taking off his hat and bowing, he said, “I ask your pardon, Corporal.” Then the stranger walked over and strained with the soldiers to lift the heavy beam. After the job was finished, he turned and said, “Mr. Corporal, when you have another such job, and have not enough men, send for your Commander in Chief, and I will come and help you a second time.” The corporal was thunderstruck. The man’s name was General George Washington.

Isn't it true that we all want to be honored, respected and appreciated? So badly, sometimes, that we almost demand it. However, the fact is, that these things cannot be demanded or even requested, because true honor, respect and appreciation only come one way. When we become servants.

Keep these passages in mind when you are thinking of the need to be humble and lowly...when you need to be reminded that we have to serve others, and chafe at the thought...

Matthew 19:30 - But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
Mark 10:44-45 - ...and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. [45] "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Again, Jesus was the greatest example...especially when He laid down His life for our salvation.

Why should I go to Church???

This is the general jist of a question that I am giving some thought to this morning. Is going to Church imporant for a person to do in order to be "saved?" And if one is a Christian, should attending Church be a priority or not?

Now, for me, I have already answered this question. I have already made the decision for myself. However, I know that there are numbers of people in our modern world that really question the significance of Church, and it services; even deeming them un-necessary any longer. Well, as I have been digging around for some imput, I have come across a few reasons why Church and attendance is important, which I will paste below from clarifyingchristianity.com The obvious is the first one, with the Hebrews verse about "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." But, I thought the others were valid as well. Please leave a comment yourself!

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Can a person be a Christian and not attend church?
This is a valid question, since going to church does not save people. They are saved (and get to go to heaven) by getting right with God. Still, getting right with God is only the start of being a Christian, as a birth is only the start of having a life.
We understand that some people may find themselves in a position where they do not attend church for a short time. (Perhaps they just moved to a new city and have not found a church, or are in the hospital and can not physically go to church.) That is not what we are referring to in this section. This section is about people who can not be bothered with going to church and purposefully and consistently stay away from church. We believe that such people can not remain Christians for at least three reasons:
1 - The Bible has no examples of anyone who was right with God but also stood alone and did not spend time with other believers. Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us clearly that we should gather together and encourage and spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
2 - In Ephesians 5:21-33, Paul tells us how husbands and wives ought to relate to one another. There, he teaches that Christ relates to the church as if it were His “bride.” He always wants the best for her and loves the church so much that He gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). If you told someone, “I love you and I want to have a close relationship with you, but I can’t stand being around your spouse at all,” you might get a punch in the nose! In the same way, people who say “I love Jesus, but I do not want to have anything to do with the church,” are putting up a wall between themselves and Jesus.
3 - Using figures of speech, Ephesians 5:23 and Colossians 1:18 refer to Christ as the “head” and the church as the “body.” 1 Corinthians chapter 12 further explains how the church (the body) is made up of individuals who work together, pooling their talents, skills, and strengths—all for the purpose of helping as many people as possible get right with God and grow closer to Him. To refuse to be a part of the body is to say that we do not want to follow God’s plan. In a sense, such people believe that by acting on their own that they have a better plan than God does. There is a lot of arrogance in such thinking.

Wedding Wisdom

I was priviledged to perform a wedding this weekend for a young man from our Church, and at the reception his brother shared this clever quote that I thought was good advice for all of us who are married. Hope you get a kick out of it...

"To keep your marriage brimming,

with love in the wedding cup,

whenever you're wrong, admit it;

whenever you're right, shut up."

-Ogden Nash

Recycling at its finest...

I was watching Fox News this morning and they did a story on these booths that are scattered across NYC. Remember the days before you had a cell phone...go back a couple years, and you will remember that we used to occasionally use a pay phone. Right? Yeah... Well, those booths still linger around that city, and someone has come up with a way to use the bones of the booth, and "converted" it into a prayer booth. I don't know if it is wrong for me to think this to be a bit comical, but it is to me.

Anyhow, as I was checking this out on the web, I saw a comment by someone who said this couldn't be from the Church because there is no place to give an offering! Maybe they should have left the slot for the quarter??? :)

Hey, as I think about it...it seems that there is some prejudice here... It seems to me that this is taylored more for the catholic that us Pentecostals! ;)

The Paradox of our Age

I was sent an e-mail today about "The Paradox of our Day" and it seemed to be something that we all need to hear so as to re-prioritize our lives because so much of it is true. And in researching this essay, I came to find out that it was written by a pastor, who unfortuantely later was found to be lacking himself... Nonetheless, the essay is worth the read today still...

The Paradox Of Our Age

by: Dr. Bob Moorehead

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less common sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more more medicine, but less wellness. We spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom and lie too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've done larger things, but not better things; we've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice; we write more, but learn less; plan more, but accomplish less.We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; more food but less appeasement; more acquaintances, but fewer friends; more effort but less success. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men and short character; steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure and less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window, and nothing in the stockroom.

I am sure that this is a variation on the original because there are so many of these out there...even under different authorship.