Pressence vs hype

As I have grown older, and I understand I am still young, I have begun to find myself disgusted with the same things most of us have become so accustomed to.

I do not think of myself as being anything special or unique.  I grew up in an average home with normal parents and an ethnic background leaning heavily on the Italian roots from my father.  I didn't grow up rich and I didn't grow up so poor that I would be destined for a "rags to riches" life story.  I graduated high school, I played sports but was not the star on any team, I never went through a goth phase growing up, my parents never forced me to go to sleep with my bible in hand nor did they force me to memorize entire books of the bible at a time, and my favorite food was jello.  In other words, I am rather ordinary, nothing special about me.  Yet I have this burning desire inside of me that tells me I cannot accept the ordinary and the normal and the traditional things of Christ, of the Christian life.

Jesus was a lot of things but ordinary was not one of them.  I'd imagine when people asked their neighbors, "Have you of that Jesus guy going around?" the answer was never "You mean that normal dude?" or "that plain looking fellow?  The one who sits in the back of the church and doesn't say much?"  For example, at one point Jesus told His disciples to eat His body and drink His blood....That's not normal.

So, when Jesus says in the Bible "These same works I have done, you will do also and greater works than these." I have to take Him at His word.  When He tells me (and you) to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel, heal the sick, and cast out the demons..." I assume that means I am not only able to do those things but I am SUPPOSED to do those things.

When did it become okay for Christians to not heal people?  When did it become okay for Christians to work a normal job, live in a normal apartment, and attend a normal church for their entire lives without ever experiencing a real Jesus?  When did it become okay to forget about the power and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit?  When did the extent of God's power become limited to our checking accounts?  When did the most powerful thing we see in church become the book club?  Since when did preachers become known as the most popular because of what they said and not because of the manifestation of the miraculous in their lives?

We sing songs talking about healing, freedom, grace, peace, love, mercy, and all these other powerful words but I am not entirely sure we understand what any of those words actually mean.

I think we have been focussed on hype for far too long in churches.  Everything we do has become about the next big event or the next catchy title of the sermon series.  We rely on hype and advertising to bring the people into our churches and hope they enjoy themselves so much that they choose to stick around.  But hype will never sustain a church.  The only thing to sustain a church over a long period of time is the power and the presence of God.

I am begging you, whomever is reading this, please stop,  Stop the nonsense, stop the regurgitating the same thing everyone else is saying, please stop the same boring life.  Let's do something, let's be used by the Holy Spirit and actually see the power of God move through our lives into our cities.  

In the book of Acts it says that 5,000 were lead to the way in a single day.  The city I live in has a population of around 125,000.  That means we should be able to transform this city for the kingdom of God in 25 days.  But we won't do it by inviting them to bible study and by holding a book club.  We will transform it by getting in the streets, loving the people, and allowing God to actually move through us in ways of His manifest power and love.

Join the movement, join the revolution.  Don't be satisfied with what you have or where you are.  Pray and tell God you are open to Him, tell Him you want to be used for His kingdom in a very real and powerful way.

Flight Zone & Escape Behavior

So let's talk about a Flight Zone.  What is a Flight Zone?  Well, it doesn't have anything to do with aircraft.  I had been studying for a presentation I am giving in my class for bible school on the topic "what is a pastor?"  I decided to begin studying out the behaviors of sheep.  Why would I do that? you may ask.  Because a pastor is often referred to as a shepherd and we christians and church members are often referred to as sheep.  I know, very flattering.  Anyways, I figured I would study the behaviors of actual sheep and maybe that would give me some clarity on the life of a shepherd which would give me some more clarity on the roles of a pastor.

While I was studying behaviors of sheep I learned that sheep, like most animals, have what is known as a "Flight Zone."  A Flight Zone is an area surrounding the animal that if encroached upon by a potential predator or threat will cause alarm and escape behavior.  Escape behavior is essentially what the animal will do immediately following the encroachment of a possible enemy.  An animals escape behavior will vary from animal to animal.  Some animals may run for their lives, others may take a defensive position, and others will run for any form of protection they may find.

While reading about sheep and their behaviors and flight zones I can't help but wonder what my flight zone is and what my escape behavior is like once my flight zone has been breached.  

I know the Bible says "we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and rulers of darkness." and I also know that the Bible says "the enemy is roaming about seeking whom he may devour."  Based on those scriptures I understand that I have only one enemy in this life, only one substance that could possibly violate my flight zone, only one threat that could make me switch to my escape behavior and that is the devil.

This leads me to asking myself, what is my flight zone and what is my escape behavior?  Have I given the enemy so much ground in my life that my flight zone has become very small?  How much of an attack will I tolerate from the devil and his forces before I go into escape behavior?  Will I allow negative thoughts?  Will I allow sickness?  Will I allow lack?  Will I allow poverty?  Will I allow my family to live their lives not knowing Jesus?  How much will I take?  How much will I allow the enemy to encroach on me and my territory before I finally move into escape behavior?

And what exactly is my escape behavior?  Do I turn and just begin running away from the threat of my enemy?  Do I run and run hoping that I will be strong enough to out last and out run the one seeking to kill and destroy my life?  Do I turn and try to fight back?  Do I try to fight my enemy leaning on my own understanding and my own ability?  Or maybe I do what sheep do, maybe I turn towards my Shepherd, maybe I go and stand next to Him and I lean on His strength and His power.

See, as Christians we have to know that the devil and his forces have already been defeated.  We have to know that they hold no power over our lives besides what we allow them to have.  If we allow the enemy to encroach on our territory, if we allow the enemy to get close to us and take what is ours before we transition into escape mode, then we are saying we don't fully trust in what Jesus already did for our lives.  The word of God says that He came to give us life and life more abundantly!  That abundant life is within our flight zone and we shouldn't allow the enemy to come in and take what's rightfully ours through Christ.

Animals have four varying degrees of flight zones and the zones get closer and closer depending upon the threat the animal perceives in the object encroaching on their territory.  The closest zone is the social zone, where the animal feels no threat and therefore allows the closest distance without going into escape mode.  As I read this I wonder if I have allowed the enemy to come into my social zone.  Have I allowed him to get so close to me that I am unaware I should be in escape mode and standing next to my Shepherd leaning on His power and His promises to protect and defend me.

I think it's time I reevaluate my flight zone and I begin to take back my territory that was promised to me and made available to me through my Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  When times get tough, when seasons get hard, when threats come, I should go into escape behavior and run to my Savior before I get too comfortable with having the enemy in my territory. 

Turning your back on the world

There is a worship song that my church has been singing lately.  A portion of the song says “The cross before me, the world behind me.  No turning back.”

This morning while making my coffee that part of the song was stuck in my head for some reason.  I don’t even like the song so it was odd that it would be stuck in my head.  I sung that part of the song out and then thought “that’s wrong.”

I think there are a lot of songs with a similar message.  Stay with God, turn towards the cross, look to Jesus, but stay away from, out of, don’t go near, turn your back on the world.

While the songwriter is not present to define what they meant by “the world”, I will judge them strictly for the sake of this blog.

Why are Christians so afraid of the world?  You know we live in the world, right?  It’s like there is some evil force that we have no power of, but apparently the world has something enticing to offer most Christians because they keep having to remind themselves to look at the cross and not to turn their eyes to left or the right for fear of embracing the world.

I cannot see Peter, Paul, John, Luke, Timothy, or any of the other disciples, apostles, teacher, preachers, or prophets of the New Testament holding the same opinion.

See, most Christians today are afraid that of they spend more of their time in “the world” than they do in the Church they will somehow morph into sinners.  I would imagine if Paul or Peter spent more time inside the church than they did outside, in the world, ministering to the needy and the hurt and the confused and the politician, they would feel guilty.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying.  Obviously I understand the importance of keeping our focus on Jesus and having the relationship that we do with Him.  But if we are so ignorant as to assume we should turn our backs to the world we may have some serious issues.

How can we fulfill the great commission if all we do is keep our eyes on the cross and our back continually to the world?  Should we just wait for the lost and hurting to walk in front of our path in order for us to see them and reach them?

No, we should turn towards the world and forge forward towards a goal of bringing love and healing to a lost and dying world.

So please, enough with the songs and sermons about how bad the world is.  Enough with turning your backs on the world that needs you more than the church does. 

- Cheers.