Tag Archives: jesus

It’s a People Issue

29 Apr

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the D6 Southeast Conference in Florida. D6 is an organization dedicated to a return to biblical discipleship within the church… But hold on sec: That might not mean what you think it means. In fact, you’ll need to listen to my next few sermons to get the gist of THAT part.

One of the speakers shared a statistic that is haunting the American church right now. And, if it doesn’t haunt you, you need to check your heart. While I do not have his source, our speaker shared that 67% of American parents identify as “Christian.” But only 2% hold what is known as a Biblical worldview. In simpler terms, AI says this: “A Biblical worldview is a way of interpreting and responding to life based on the teachings of the Bible. It’s a comprehensive framework for understanding God, creation, humanity, morality, and purpose, all derived from God’s revealed truth.”

So, this is saying that only 2% of parents in America believe in living by the Book. Why would this be??

It is CLEARLY a PEOPLE ISSUE. Let.s explore that more…

In recent communiques as a pastor, I was reading about how pastors struggle now with the fact that the general public has a mistrust of pastors. Certainly Jim Bakker and televangelists of years gone by have contributed to this. Countless news articles about pastors who’ve stolen money from churches, pastors caught in abusive situations, pastors who have been caught in affairs, and every other mistake that is deemed newsworthy, all of these have made local pastors harder and harder to trust in the eyes of the general public. Then you can add in disgruntled church members who take great pleasure and find fertile soil on which to trash a pastor for a mistake or a mis-queue, and tongues that wag to hear and share the latest gossip. When you mix all of this up with the post-Covid angry world that we live in, the general public that does not know a pastor will have a very hard time trusting that pastor.

Then, you have churches. Churches are not buildings or addresses. Churches are made up of people. Some of those people live the Bible and try their best, and even they make mistakes. Then others will attend the church, serve on the committees, serve as a usher or in a public view, and then live lives that are absolutely contrary to God’s Word. And they are out every day working with, talking with, playing with, and among people who do not know Christ. When THOSE people see us (the church) talking like Heaven and living like Hell, they naturally WON’T believe God’s Word because they don’t even think that WE, the CHURCH, believe it.

So, as you can tell, what we have here is a failure to communicate …….. We have a PEOPLE PROBLEM. WE, the CHURCH, have a problem. And the problem is US!!

We can remedy this problem by starting small and LIVING God’s Word. Believing God’s Word. Start this small:

LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART

LOVE OTHERS

Read the Bible and allow it to make a difference in our lives

I dare you to do that and see what happens!!!!!

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Was that a THREAT??

15 Oct

Seriously … Are you threatening me?? Did you say that to take a shot at ME or to crumble my foundation?

(Okay, relax … Think about this …)

Carey Nieuwhof shared a thought yesterday that I cannot get out of my mind. A couple of years ago, I joined his “Art of Leadership Academy,” which allows me to interact with pastors and leaders across the globe. It has been a life-changer for me!! If you are interested, check it out at The Art of Leadership

Each Monday, Carey posts a question and we members get a chance to talk back and forth about it. This week, he hit a homerun for sure… The thought basically is that our culture has become such that we tie our individual identities to our beliefs to a point that “I am what I think.” “I am how I vote.” “I am what I support.”

THEREFORE, if someone doesn’t think the same way that I think, or vote the same way I vote, or support the same things I support, THEY ARE ATTACKING ME. THREATENING ME. DAMAGING MY VERY FOUNDATION. And, I am ready to FIGHT and DIE to protect ME.

Can you see the problem in this for a true disciple of Christ? In Philippians 1 when Paul wrote “to live is Christ,” do you think this cultural pattern would fit? Are we living as Christ if we are ready to fight and die over a candidate?? Or a sports team? Or a current issue?

I don’t think Paul would tell us NOT to have personal beliefs about politics and about life. But wouldn’t he remind us to show them Christ, even if we disagree? There will always be points on which we disagree… That is a fact of life. That is just a fact that we are different people. I think this even applies to people who make life choices that are clearly unbiblical, clearly against the word of God. Clearly sinful. Again, Paul is not telling us to embrace or normalize the sin. But he would remind us to love those who sin. By the way … He also wrote that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)

This is not easy. We will disagree. People will disappoint us. But we are still called to LOVE.

Think about it.

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