What does a healthy Living Church look like?

I used to think Living Church or a Church on Fire (as Charasmatics would call it in the 90's) was a busy local church. My church would have Cell Groups, Prayer meetings, Worship workshops, Sunday School training programs, Soaking Sessions, Friday Outreach, Youth Meetings, Youth Rallys, Feed the Poor outreach, Hospital Visitation Groups, Word Equipping Meetings and Staff Meetings happening all the time. (Eish - that is quite a mouthful!) "Wow! Things are happening here all right!" and "God's moving and we're just facilitating what He's doing in the city" were the mantras from our pastors.

 

Besides the Sunday morning and Sunday evening gatherings, there was a constant buzz amongst all of us...we were alive and kicking, but barely. What I didn't care to admit to myself (or anyone else for that matter) was that many of us were exhausted. "Come to Jesus and you can be free, just like us," we'd tell our unsaved audiences....except we weren't that free. Or happy. Physically and mentally, we were finished. It flipping was hard work. And I didn't even have kids at that stage...I can only imagine what my friends with children were going through with all the demands parenting come with.

 

The problem was that the local church I was part of was so busy organizing itself so it can run itself so it can be successful at living by itself was doing anything at reaching anyone else....it was servicing just US - the local church!!! By the time we were finished making each other better singers or Sunday School teachers...we had very little time and energy left for our own families. Let alone the lost and dying souls in our city? (and sport!)

 

I now believe a healthy living local church is one where each one who belongs to that local church is OUT doing what he or she has been given by the Lord to do. If someone in my local church has a desire to build up strong marriages and has a kick-ass marriage course....then he/she must take that OUTside the local church. If some in the local church feel they'd like to be part or join in...then so be it. But surely it can't just be the same 12 couples from that same local church that came last year. Do you get my point?

 

A living church might seem quiet - hardly any buzz - because the people are not bringing their energy and effort IN, but rather they are using it OUTside; each one doing what they believe God has put on their hearts to do....whether it involves cooking classes, piano training, marriage enrichment, dance and theatre...He has given us gifts and talents - not for us (or even just the local church) - it's not for you - it's for the glory of God - to make Him famous amongst those who don't know Him yet.

 

Happy living!!

(Disclaimer: I'm certainly not against staff meetings or theological Bible studies - but get the point. We can't just be about servicing ourselves. We have to be on about how to reach those outside of the local church with what God has put inside of us!)

An un-deferred Heart

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” - Proverbs 13:12

Any part of your life in which you have no hope for, is under the influence of the devil.  The devil’s influence can’t exist in a space where there is faith and hope. Hope is a sure-footed, firm-rooted-standing on the concrete of what God has said and on what you are trusting for God to do in an area of your life.

There is nothing worse than a hopeless Christian. It stinks of unbelief. And it’s the opposite of the way He’s designed us and designed His Kingdom. He has created us to breathe the oxygen of hope and faith. It’s what fuels us.

A sick heart is a heart depressed; it’s a heart under a dark cloud of misery, pain and defeat. The greatest enemy to a believer is unbelief. When unbelief leaches onto the heart of a believer, it sucks out all hope and faith.

So I say again: Any part of your life in which you have no hope for, is under the influence of the devil.

What’s the opposite: Any part of your life in which you have dreams, hope and faith for, is not under the influence of the devil.

So, whether it be with your health or your finances or your marriage or your children or your job situation or your ministry or your purpose in life – every area of your life – ask yourself: Have you lost hope in what God can do in that area of your life?

So let me throw some faith and hope your way:

The Bible says that:

·         “We are hidden with Christ in God.” Eternally secure, forever safe and forever His. Our safety is ultimately due to His grip on us rather than our grip on Him. We are in His hands and nothing is able to snatch us out.

·         “Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” We have an enemy on the outside; but we have an all-powerful King on the inside and there is nothing that can take Him by surprise.

·         “You are all sons of God, through faith.” By design, He has made me in His image. New creation, righteous heart, godly desires, kingdom dreams – this is who we are! We are like our Daddy in Heaven.

Transformation comes when the mind is renewed to God’s truth. The heart will become healthy again and lose all of the enemy’s influence when we deposit faith and hope into it. “No mind has seen or eye heard or mind conceived what God has planned for those who love Him.” As sons, we are His beloved and He has dreams and purposes for us! Let not your heart grow sick with fear and unbelief. Rise up. Shake of the dust. And stand firm in your God.

The Scandal continues...

When sharing Christ one-on-one with people, I invariably share what he's done for me and I share what He's made available for anyone who would just believe. Admittedly, the most common response is "Yes, I believe in Jesus. But I need to sort myself out first, get my mind right and then start going to church." #confusedlookonmyface

 

Did they not hear what I was saying? Or maybe it's their way of trying to end the awkward conversation?

 

Even after sharing the GOOD news of the FREE gift for those who would JUST believe, the default response is about their need to sort themselves out and turn their life around - almost as if they've been pre-conditioned to the stereotypical belief that before they come to Jesus asking for forgiveness, they need to stop sinning to some degree. I mean, lest we forget the old adage: God helps those who help themselves! (Still haven't found that one in the Bible.)

 

What makes the good news so good, is that actually God helps those who CAN'T help themselves. That's why it's called good News and not good Advice.

 

Let me tell you a story of how good this is: Suppose your life is represented by a white carpet in a bedroom. As time goes by, you spill all sorts of things on this white carpet. Over time the messy food and drinks, the red tomato sauce and the black shoe marks make this carpet shine like a Vegas neon light show! It's becomes anything but white. The problem, is that God expects white. And I mean really white; it must be a clear shining sparkling diamond pristine white!

So you and I resort to our default: A boer maak a plan! We get down on our knees with some good old fashioned Preen and carpet soap and we shampoo the hell out of that carpet. We scrub till our knees and elbows are purple. But alas, no clean shining sparkling diamond pristine white carpet. It's still a mess. Nothing you can do can make your carpet clean.

 

When the good news is believed and we surrender ourselves to trying to help ourselves in order for God to help us, He rocks up and doesn't whip out a special formula carpet shampoo folks. Not on your life!! You know what He does? He takes that carpet with his bare hands and rips it out of place and tosses it in the dump bin. He replaces your carpet with a brand new, never been seen before, ultra thick woolly clear shining sparkling diamond pristine white carpet. He gives you a brand new carpet! PLUS...this carpet is mess and stain resistant. No matter what falls on this thing, it can never be stained again. Wow!! (And I guarantee it's not made in China.)

 

We are unable to clean ourselves. And we're equally unable to keep ourselves clean. The good news is that God doesn't expect us too either. In Jesus, He has provided the perfect solution  to cleaning us up. He makes us brand new. He perfects us forever. He gives us a clean heart. He makes us righteous and even calls us righteous. He gives us the very righteousness of Jesus as a gift. And nothing can stain Jesus' righteousness; not even you! He doesn't do this for those who sort themselves out. He does this for those who realise they can't sort themselves out and that they desperately need HIM to do the sorting. This is the Gospel. This is Good News!

In my own experience, I have found the best way of sharing the Gospel is by using as little Christian-ese as possible and instead, tell a story (like I have above) to illustrate the Gospel of God's work on behalf of those who would believe.

 

So whether it's my hair dresser, customer or work mate; I've found that stories work best. I mean, after reading the above story - didn't it work better for you too?

Christ usurped

It's very easy for something to usurp Christ in one's heart. 

When one gets saved, the heart encounters Him. The journey of discovery, the singing of the worship songs, the reading of the scriptures, the unveiling of truths, the adventure in prayer....He becomes your everything. It's terrific. He's terrific. He truly does become your everything, your heart beat. Ask any Christian.

Then time goes by. The period is different for everyone. But after some time and many church meetings and cell groups and youth rallies and conferences and cd preaching and Christian television shows and and and...our Christianity can begin to revolve around something, anything, other than Him. It looks like Him. It points to Him. It extols Him. It's about Him. But...it's not Him. Ask Matt Redman about the time when "the singing about Jesus" usurped the person of Jesus. Worship had slowly turned to performance. Ask the guy who found more satisfaction in uncovering truths in the written Word in study than he did in encountering the living Word in intimacy. 

Something usurps the preeminence of Jesus in the heart. And it happens subtley too, not on purpose. I heard a preacher say the other day that a day came when he realized the he actually got to a point when he started to worship the worship more than he did worship the Lord. The actual music, the action, the time of singing to Him became of more importance and satisfaction to his soul that God himself. 

It takes humility to admit it. It takes an open heart to see it. 

"I'm coming back to the heart of worship, it's all about you, it's all about you JESUS." - Matt Redman, Heart of Worship (song)

Has a "Jesus" something usurped Jesus in your heart?