Do you have preferences? I mean when you think about how the bed should be made, or how clothes should be folded, or how someone should drive, do you think to yourself, “I know a better way.” What about when it comes to church? Do you think about our weekly Saturday morning gathering from the mindset of “If I were in charge things would be done differently… AND better!”
About 20 years ago the Christian Church in North America took a turn. With leaders such as Bill Hybels (Willow Creek Church) and Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) leading the charge, mega-churches started growing all across the country. Why did these churches grow? Because the lay people and leaders asked themselves an important question: What could we do at our church that would be attractive to the unchurched? This is a great question and we too must remain cognizant that there are visitors coming to our church, but there is a fundamental flaw in this line of thought.
When you look at the life of Jesus, you find a guy who was out with the unchurched. He rubbed shoulders with them on the daily basis. I cannot recall one time where Jesus invited someone to the temple the following Sabbath. Rather, He invited every individual into a transformational relationship. Granted we are not Jesus so we don’t have the power to transform people, but we can introduce others to the greatest Transformer of all time!
Jesus did more teaching, preaching and healing outside of the four walls in a temple. Jesus wasn’t concerned with bringing people to church, rather bringing the church to the people. What was the end result? Ultimately the end result is that the church grew! Could it be that if we get our minds off of being consumers at church and start looking for ways to bring the church to the people that we will not only experience continued spiritual renewal in our own lives, but that the church would grow as well? I am eager to try Jesus’ method!
Campmeeting just ended this past Saturday. As a pastor, campmeeting is somewhat of a “thorn-in-my-flesh” situation that occurs every year. You get together to do some planning in preparation for the 10 day event a few times with the other pastors who have been assigned in the same area as you are. Then the week before campmeeting all the pastors meet in Auburn at Auburn Adventist Academy (the site of our annual campmeeting) to set up tents, put up thousands of chairs, and do whatever else needs to be done to prepare for the thousands of people that will be coming from all over western Washington for this event. After “camp pitch” is done (generally by Tuesday) we come back on Thursday for the festivities to begin.
Throughout the week I found myself complaining quite a bit (as I do every year). I commute from Seattle and it just wipes me out going down to Auburn every day to do this thing. But then this year I was challenged by a good friend of mine to start thinking about the positive. He told me that every day that he wakes up that he thanks God for the things that he is thankful for.
The next day I tried it. And I limited myself to thanking God for the things that I am thankful for at campmeeting. The night before I heard about a girl who surrendered her life to Jesus and I was thankful for that. I was thankful for the opportunity to work with new people. I was thankful for all the lives that were being impacted by God throughout the course of the week (including my own). I was thankful for the opportunity to see old friends and I was thankful for the cool weather. When I was done I was thankful and not bitter. That you Greg for the tip!
My friends over at the Center for Secular & Postmodern Studies (CSPS) would like your input. Cast your vote below to contribute your opinion. This poll will help decide the format of a new international Christian television series being produced in the United Kingdom next year by CSPS. Email ask@reframe.info to find out more.
Have you ever looked at porn? I have. I hate to admit it, but it has plagued me since I was 7 years old. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, and the problem is that my worst enemy is making it so readily available to anyone and everyone that it is destroying the very fabric of our society and world. Statistics show that the annual revenue in the porn industry in the US alone has bypassed that of the NFL, NBA, and MBL combined. The average age that a person first sees a pornographic image has been reported to be as low as 5-7 years of age. With the onslaught of porn all over the internet it is no wonder.
In this documentary, Adult Entertainment: Disrobing an American Idol, director Lance Tracy, who apparently used to use porn, creates an experiment that involves one married couple and one single man who will be exposed to pornography as well as strip clubs for 30 days. During that time they will fill out surveys to monitor the effect that this “controlled exposure” will have on them. At the end of the 30 days they will have the porn removed and be asked not to attend the strip clubs for 30 to see the impact that that has on them, again filling out surveys this entire time.
Throughout the documentary are found interviews with leading experts in the field of pornography arguing both sides of the fence. From porn star Ron Jeremy to Christian counselor Joe Dallas, who’s conference on sex addiction I have attended, was interviewed.
I thought that the movie was interesting, but could have made the conclusion a lot sooner than it did (the movie lasted almost two hours). Additionally I didn’t appreciate the unnecessary, what I would deem explicit, images that were in the film. I feel that for the viewer who is needing help in this area of their lives that some of the material would be seen as a trigger. However, I do think that it you are struggling with porn that this would be worth while to watch.
If you know of anyone who is struggling with porn, please direct them to my own website that is set up to tackle this difficult issue: www.pureintegrity.org. Additionally if you know of any groups or actions that are taking place to fight pornography, let me know!
The other day while I was pumping gas I had a random guy come up to me and ask me if I shave my head every day. The answer is yes (and today I nicked the daylights out of it). The next question was, “What do you use to shave it with?” The answer is the HeadBlade. I absolutely love the product. I picked the thing up a few months ago and haven’t put it down since.
I was just on the website and wrote to see if they would ever consider having a pastor on the docket as a proud spokesperson for their product (please pray for me!). I figured that I tell enough people about the product that I may as well. Then I came across this comment from Sensei Tony:
Shaving my head is an existential experience. I shave daily as a special ritual meditation. As a Buddhist Teacher, shaving is a rite of letting go of appearances and entering more deeply into the ground of my being. It is a physical metaphor of my willingness to open up to my True Self and move beyond the limitations of my ego conditioning. The cleanly shaven head is a symbol of a clear mind. A mind that lives fully, loves freely and gives completely.
While I don’t feel that I always have the clearest mind, I do feel that I live fully and love freely. Thank you Sensei Tony!
Do you ever feel like you are running way too fast for God? I often feel that way. Even though I may not have a full schedule for that particular day, I am still feeling like there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. The irony is that I have so much to do that without God’s help I am lost! Furthermore, if I had God leading me, I would get the things accomplished that He wants me to as opposed to doing what I want to.
The other thing that I am reminded about is that I just need to slow down when I am driving!
Have you ever wondered if someone can be saved who has never heard about Jesus? For whatever reasons, I seem to get that question a lot. Just this last week my mother asked me about this. What would you say? I mean the Bible teaches that we are all saved by the gift of life that Jesus makes possible for each of us when he defeated death after dying on the cross. But again, what about the person who’s never heard about what Jesus did for them.
The apostle Paul in the book of Romans makes an interesting statement pertaining to this question. He states that: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20 TNIV) So that people are without excuse… Why? Because God’s nature is revealed in nature. And really, when you break down salvation, what it all comes down to is embracing the character of God as your own. Walking so closely with him that He is seen in us. What’s your excuse?
Do you ever feel anxious? I do. It can be with relationships, my career, the future, finances… shoot just this morning my dog woke up in a panic and I was even anxious about my dog because I didn’t know what was going on.
Yesterday while reading a compilation of works by theologian Paul Tillich I came across this quote that I want to share with you:
“We are concerned about ourselves. We feel responsible for our development towards maturity, toward strength in life, wisdom in mind, and perfection in spirit. At the same time, we are striving for happiness, we are concerned about our pleasures and about ‘having a good time,’ a concern which ranks very high with us. But our anxiety strikes us when we look at ourselves in the mirror of self-scrutiny or of the judgments of others. We feel that we have made the wrong decision, that we have started on the wrong road, that we are failing before men and before ourselves. We compare ourselves with others and feel inferior to them, and we are depressed and frustrated. We believe that we have wasted our happiness either by pursuing it too eagerly and confusing happiness with pleasure or by not being courageous enough to grasp the right moment for a decision which might have brought us happiness.”
--Paul Tillich, The New Being
Can you relate? I certainly can. Life sometimes seems to be a constant chasing after the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick. But then Jesus comes along and whispers gently in your ear:
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus I turn to you… help me to replace my worry with faith and trust in you!
After my sermon this past week, one of the members at 24-Seven sent me a very powerful email that included a lot of Bible promises. The first line, however, was a quote from a gentlemen by the name of Louis Cassels, author of The Reality of God, which read:
“If God wants you to do something, He’ll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace He provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of this fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in a crisis.”
It seems to me that there is great wisdom in this statement, but do I believe it?
Pastor Gary Curry (one of the pastors on staff here at 24-Seven) asked me the other day if I had allowed my dreams to die so that God’s dreams for me could truly live. While my initial response was that I had, I think that God may have had a different perspective. You see the next few days after that I found myself on my knees begging God to allow my dreams to die so that His could live fully in me. Talk about the junk hitting the fan, next thing I know my entire world is falling apart. My foundation is rocked. Before my life was full of roses, but now I can’t seem to smell or see anything pleasant. And that is when God shows up to ask me, “Matthew can you trust Me by praising me even in the tough times?”
I honestly feel that I am learning a deeper lesson of walking by faith, like Joshua did.
I hope to see you again this coming Saturday as we will tackle chapter 2 of Joshua in a sermon called God’s Prostitute.
PS - I want to wish my lovely wife Susan a very Happy Birthday today!
In the song When It Comes off their Make Yourself album the lyrics artistically express what its like when temptation is really pulling at you. You know how you start to feel like you are about to fall into sin. “It feels like trading brains with an imbecile” does it not. It’s like your brain goes out the door and you are left with a one track mind set on doing the very thing that you know you shouldn’t! Incubus calls this mental piracy! I think they are right on.
Also in the song is found the line that says: “To know,what I’m looking for, cannot be sold to me. I wish they all would stop trying cause’ what I want and what I need, is and will always be free.” Sounds like the Gospel to me!
Check out the entire song below:
It’s comin’ around again
they’re letting it out again, again.
It’s comin’ around again
they’re letting it out again, again.
When it comes,
it comes abrupt.
When it feels, it feels like trading brains with an imbecile… for real.
Yes I feel emphatic about not being static
and not buying philosophies that are sold to me, at a steal.
Just when you thought it was safe to think,
in comes mental piracy!
To know,what I’m looking for,
cannot be sold to me.
I wish they all would stop trying
cause’ what I want and what I need,
is and will always be free.
It’s comin’ around again
they’re letting it out again, again.
It’s comin’ around again
they’re letting it out again.
When it comes,
it comes unannounced.
And it feels like a matador is taunting me with his reddest red cloth and I am the bull.
Yes I feel emphatic about not being static
and not eating the bull____ that’s being fed to me no more…
cause’ now I’m full.
Just when you thought it was safe to think
in comes mental piracy!
What I’m looking for cannot be sold to me.
I wish they all would stop trying,
cause’ what I want and what I need
is and will always be free.
Have you ever looked at porn? I have. I hate to admit it, but it has plagued me since I was 7 years old. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, and the problem is that my worst enemy is making it so readily available to anyone and everyone that it is destroying the very fabric of our society and world. Statistics show that the annual revenue in the porn industry in the US alone has bypassed that of the NFL, NBA, and MBL combined. The average age that a person first sees a pornographic image has been reported to be as low as 5-7 years of age. With the onslaught of porn all over the internet it is no wonder.
The other day while I was pumping gas I had a random guy come up to me and ask me if I shave my head every day. The answer is yes (and today I nicked the daylights out of it). The next question was, “What do you use to shave it with?” The answer is the 
Do you ever feel like you are running way too fast for God? I often feel that way. Even though I may not have a full schedule for that particular day, I am still feeling like there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. The irony is that I have so much to do that without God’s help I am lost! Furthermore, if I had God leading me, I would get the things accomplished that He wants me to as opposed to doing what I want to.
Have you ever wondered if someone can be saved who has never heard about Jesus? For whatever reasons, I seem to get that question a lot. Just this last week my mother asked me about this. What would you say? I mean the Bible teaches that we are all saved by the gift of life that Jesus makes possible for each of us when he defeated death after dying on the cross. But again, what about the person who’s never heard about what Jesus did for them.
Do you ever feel anxious? I do. It can be with relationships, my career, the future, finances… shoot just this morning my dog woke up in a panic and I was even anxious about my dog because I didn’t know what was going on.
After my sermon this past week, one of the members at 24-Seven sent me a very powerful email that included a lot of Bible promises. The first line, however, was a quote from a gentlemen by the name of Louis Cassels, author of The Reality of God, which read:
So I am loving 