Power Over

Do we really believe God is as powerful as He says He is?  That He is as holy..... as mighty ...... as loving and caring as He says He is?  That He will fulfill all the promises He has made to us?  If we do believe these things, then why are we always trying to handle everything on our own?  Why do we think we know the better way of solving problems, the better way of being the salt and the light, the better way of convincing others how to live? 

 

You might wonder where this is going, so I'll just come out and tell you.  I have a problem with Christians and Christian organizations boycotting and signing petitions like the AFA is constantly doing.  Not only do I feel it's not really accomplishing anything, I feel it's downright destructive to the Christian mission - that is to spread the Gospel and make disciples out of the nations.  When we use our collective power to force an outcome in this country, it doesn't do anything to promote true Christianity nor does it help to bring the lost to the Kingdom.  In fact, it may very well do the opposite by driving people away in anger and disgust.  We may think we've done a good thing to shut down a company that supports homosexuality, but what do the thousands of people that work for that company and now have lost their job feel about Christians?  How about the vendors that sell their goods through that company? How do you think they will view our efforts?  Perhaps they will feel that once again the Christian community has flexed it's mighty muscles and forced their own belief system on the rest of the country.   Do you think any of these people or their families are going to want to join a community that wields power over others while all the while making claims of being loving?

 

Instead, what if all Christians got on their knees and asked their Heavenly Father to deal with the problem.  What if we collectively pleaded with the only One who has all the answers, who knows how to solve all problems and loves us enough to grant our desires?  Do we think we know better than Him?  Do we think the only way to solve the problem is with a petition or a boycott?  God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) so we cannot begin to know how He could and would deal with the situation.  Perhaps He would convict all the Christians who work for the company to voice their concerns.  Or convict the CEO of the company to have a change of heart.  We don't know, that's the point.  So we take things into our own hands and we usually make a bigger mess of it.  Yes we are called to be the salt and the light (Matthew 5:13-16) however that doesn't mean we do it by strong-arming the rest of the world.  I believe we are to be the salt and the light through example - by living not a perfect life, but a Christian life.  Which means we allow the love of Jesus to come through us and shine onto others and that we repent not IF we sin, but WHEN we sin. 

 

A couple of good books to read on this very subject are by Gregory Boyd - Myth of a Christian Nation and Myth of a Christian Faith.  In them he explains the premise of 'power over' versus 'serving under' and why Christians and the Church have gotten it all wrong in this country.  We may have good intentions, but our intentions aren't what matters - only God's intentions are pure and righteous.  We, as humans, want to solve problems overnight and in a big way.  We love to take credit but not blame.  We aren't satisfied with small victories for the Kingdom, we want to make a big splash and see our name up in lights.   The enemy loves that.  He is waiting for the next Christian outrage so he can convince us it's a worthy cause and something we need to spin our wheels trying to solve.  To convince us our heavenly Father would be pleased with us if we could just defeat the enemy at his own game.  Oh what a game it is! 

 

It's like that game where you hit the head that pops up and then it pops up somewhere else so you hit that one and then it pops up somewhere else - you end up spending all your time and energy trying to hit all the heads but they just keep popping up somewhere else and then you are exhausted.  And what have you accomplished?  Nothing.  The "game" will always win.  We are being duped by the enemy to spin our wheels, exhaust ourselves and then collapse because we can't win the game.  The enemy then wins because he has succeeded in keeping us from our true mission.  WAKE UP PEOPLE!  The war has already been won!!!  Hallelujah!  We need to stop worrying about each and every battle - ask the Lord to take care of those.  All we need to do is what our assignment is - to spread the Good News!   Amen. 

Rock Concert

 I don't know if you are familiar with HALO - it's a local Christian ministry for the homeless.  They do great work - serving meals 365 days a year, offering shelter for homeless women and children and even taking meals to homeless on the streets.  Our church, Harvest Baptist, is organizing a Christian concert on June 11 to benefit HALO and we're looking for sponsors to help with the cost.  We have booked a Christian rock band - JJ Weeks -  from Georgia who has opened for groups like Mercy Me and are really good.  Our goal is to get sponsors to completely pay for the concert so ALL the proceeds and donations can go directly to HALO. If you are interested in being a sponsor or just coming to enjoy a good concert (there will be food, face painting, bake sale), check out Becky's blog:

Concert of Hope: A Hand Up For Homelessness

Thanks and God bless!!

Colossians 2:6-23

I don't very often read from the Message, but occasionally find it to be a helpful aid.  Colossians 2: 6-23 is one of those examples.  Read it below and see if it doesn't stop you in your tracks and make you think. Such a good message at this particular time of year.  Jesus has done the necessary work for us to be admitted into the Kingdom.  We don't need fancy degrees or titles to spread the Gospel.  We only need the faith He has given us.  We can study His Word our entire lives (and should) but at some point we need to share what we've been given.  Trust Him to supply the words in each and every situation.

 Below the Message version is the ESV version.  God bless you!

 ^6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
 ^8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
 ^11-15Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
 ^16-17So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
 ^18-19Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.
 ^20-23So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

^6(K) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ^7(L) rooted and^(M) built up in him and^(N) established in the faith, just^(O) as you were taught, abounding^(P) in thanksgiving.
 ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by^(Q) philosophy and^(R) empty deceit, according to^(S) human tradition, according to the^(T) elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For^(U) in him the whole fullness of deity dwells^(V) bodily, ¹⁰and^(W) you have been filled in him, who is^(X) the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also^(Y) you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by^(Z) putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12(AA) having been buried with him in baptism, in which^(AB) you were also raised with him through faith in^(AC) the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ^13(AD) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^(AE) made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by^(AF) canceling^(AG) the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ^15(AH) He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and^(AI) put them to open shame, by^(AJ) triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

 ¹⁶Therefore let no one^(AK) pass judgment on you^(AL) in questions of food and drink, or with regard to^(AM) a festival or^(AN) a new moon or a Sabbath. ^17(AO) These are a shadow of the things to come, but^(AP) the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one^(AQ) disqualify you,^(AR) insisting on asceticism and worship of angels,^(AS) going on in detail about visions,^[d](AT) puffed up without reason by^(AU) his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and^(AV) not^(AW) holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
 ²⁰If with Christ^(AX) you died to the^(AY) elemental spirits of the world,^(AZ) why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21(BA) "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" ²²(^(BB) referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to^(BC) human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in^(BD) promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are^(BE) of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.