Where Are You?

 "Where Are       You?"

I'm not even looking for a person, per se. My question is, where are the opportunities that God places in your path? Let's look at a few. 

1. Your Server. This one gets mentioned a  lot and is pretty obvious. I've never had a server turn me down when asked, "How can I pray for you?" Make a note in your phone and next time you go to that restaurant, ask for her / him by name and remind them that you have been praying for ______. They appreciate it. 
   
   
2. Your Neighbor. How many times do you see them in the yard, at the mailbox, even inside their home or yours? Do you know if they are saved? Where or do they go to church? Do they have prayer concerns? You don't know if you don't ask. 
   
   
3. Your Co-Workers. I realize that you have a job to do and some jobs are not easy to make conversation, but small talk happens. Lunch. Breaks. Walking in and out. What do you talk about? Talk about church. Talk about your faith. 
   
   
4. Your Fellow Shoppers in the checkout line. This one makes people the most uncomfortable. Deep theology is not the point, but talking about faith or church can happen easier than you think. They say, "The weather is getting nasty." Your response, "I've been through some storms but God has always been there with me." 

I'm sure we could keep going with opportunities. The point is, we need to be LOOKING for the opportunity that God has placed in your path, your life. I have heard people say that God has no surprises. Of course He doesn't! He made the day and everything in it. He can do whatever He pleases with a spoken word (creation), but He chooses to use us in His work that we might share in the blessing. 

Join Him on a journey called life; and see how He will use you for His Glory!

1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

What Can I Do?

What can I do to help the church I attend to grow numerically as well as spiritually?

 In a perfect world, every church member should ask themselves that question every day. Obviously, we do not live in a perfect world, however I do believe we should pose the thought to ourselves. 

So, here we go...As an individual church member, what can I do to make a positive impact for the Kingdom as I am a part of a local church? 

I.   Pray for God to purify your heart. Come before a Holy God and ask Him to equip you and prepare you for this task. 

II.  Pray for your church staff. That they may provide wise counsel in teaching and preaching as well as proper resources. 

III  Pray for God to place people in your path to share His love with. Be attentive to those "Coincidences" that God orchestrates for you to be at the right place at the right time. 

IV. Pray for God to give you discernment as to how to share His love. We are all different and one approach does not fit all. However, YOU do not save people. You expose people. 

V.  Pray for your efforts to be overshadowed by God's glory. If you seek recognition for your evangelical efforts, question your motivation. It's not about you. It's about Him.

When asked if he would rather produce more Christians or better Christians, the seasoned pastor replied, "That's easy. If we produce better Christians, they will produce more Christians."

Church Growth starts with individuals. If the people in the church aren't growing spiritually, it is going to be hard for them to include others in the journey. 

So, I pray that you are on a journey with God. I also pray that you are burdened to have others on the journey with you. I pray that you will be bold in sharing His love with those you meet. 

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
¹⁹  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

One Bite at a Time

As the old saying goes...

"How do you eat an elephant?  

One bite at a time."

This saying can apply to a lot of situations, but today I want to apply it to church growth. OK, that may be the one area that this saying has not been applied. Where I am going with this is, one person, one staff member, can't be responsible to "GROW A CHURCH". Some would like to let the pastor or staff have all of that responsibility. That is not feasible, nor biblical. So, how do you grow a church? You enlist everybody to take a bite! Yep. Everybody. Trust me. That excuse you have in your head right now...I've heard it. That justification that you are toying with as to why YOU should not be   involved in church growth...Hogwash! I plan to have a series of posts that address different ways t be a part of church growth. Are you gonna check back and see what they are, or are you gonna dismiss them like the other nudges God has put in your path?God wants all of us to be a part of growing His Kingdom! What? you said grow a church! Now you're talking about God's Kingdom. It should be the same emphasis. I will definitely step on some toes, but hopefully not yours. For now, Happy Thanksgiving!I'll check back in Monday. 

WELCOME?

 

It amazes me how many articles and books are written about how to make church guest feel welcome. Almost everyday I am reading about how churches, or better yet church members, are not making their guest feel welcome. Scripture teaches us to love our neighbor. For that matter, Scripture teaches us to love our enemy. 

Why is so hard to love a church guest? 

Here are a few common denominators. 

1. I am comfortable, so they must be. We are creatures of habit. We know where everything is; How to get there; Who teaches what class, etc. However, our guest do not. They don't even know where the bathroom is! 

2. They don't look like they fit in. REALLY?! How do you know what this person is like? They may be a great   person.They may be your next best friend. If someone doesn't engage this guest, you can bet they won't fit in...'cause they won't be back. 

3. The Holy - Huddle Syndrome. I admit, I borrowed this term from Thom Rainer. Thanks Thom! You can picture this. We are so engaged in our "Inner Circle" that we don't notice, much less engage the visitor standing right next to us.

4. I'm not a greeter. / It's not my job. I hate to break it to you, but we're all greeters, or we should be. Newcomers MUST be treated special. If you don't have new faces coming to church, how do you grow? You don't. So meet and greet every new face as if your church's life depended on it. 

So... You get the idea? Churches across this nation and around the world can start greeting with a new passion, or see their congregation dwindle. I believe that there is a place for the official greeter at the door. But, we all need to be a greeter. In the hall, in our classes, in our break time...Research, polls and study's have all found the most common answer to the question, "Why did you not go back to that church?" The answer to that question is ...

Drum Roll Please!!

"They weren't friendly." 

With that being said, meet that guest with a smile and make them feel special. 

John 15:12 

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 

 

Where's My Bike?

WOW! I have been away for a long time. 
Well, I won't bore with all the whys, but it is good to be back in a position to write again. 

I saw this picture and was reminded that even when you stand still, life goes on around you. I also was reminded that if we choose to do nothing; after a while, we become useless. At best you become an example for someone else to use of what NOT to do. 

Someone knew that the bike was a fun mode of transportation at one time. However it was neglected and left to be overtaken by another life form. So, where am I going with this? Well, I am glad you asked!

If we never use our God given talents, or acknowledge His guidance in our life, we become stagnant or indifferent. God has blessed each of us with abilities to benefit ourselves as well as others. I really believe that. We are all given unique gifts according to Scripture. 

Ephesians 4:10-12  ¹⁰  He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. ¹¹  It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²  to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 

With that being said, no where in God's Word will you find it said that some of us get a pass on sharing the love of Christ with our fellowman. We are commanded to tell other about the Good News. 

Matthew 28:18-20  ¹⁸  Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

So, Jesus, the Son of God tells us to GO and MAKE disciples. That means tell others about how good God is and what He has done in your life and how Jesus is the only way to spend eternity in heaven with the Almighty God, Creator of the Universe. 

What if we choose to be complacent in life? What if we choose to sit back and wait for someone else to tell our neighbor about Jesus? What if we don't tell our children or grandchildren about Jesus?

Then...SATAN wins that battle. No doubt, God wins the war, but spiritual warfare is rampant and the way we wage war on Satan is to pray and tell others about the wonderful, saving grace of Jesus.

Be careful to not confuse church membership or church attendance or quoting a prayer as being the same as have a life changing relationship with God's Son, Jesus.  

Don't be complacent and let the rust accumulate and the tree choke the life out of you. Be alive! Appreciate the life you have. Appreciate the eternal life you have if you in fact have a relationship with Christ. 

James 1:22   Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are to be about growing the Kingdom. 

GET UP!!

Are you comfortable?

Well, are you comfortable?

We ask our guest, our children, our spouse this question. We want others to be comfortable around us as a general rule. This brings me the question, "Are you comfortable?" 

I'm not talking about the room temperature, or the type of your clothes...

Are you comfortable in your walk with the Lord?

If you said yes, then I would suggest that you are missing something. I have found myself too comfortable lately and I am working n changing that. God wants us to serve Him and to Worship Him with all we have. I have not been doing that. Have you? 

If you have not read Radical by David Platt, then you should read it soon. When you get through with Radical then you need to read Crazy Love by Francis Chan. These two books have made me realize that there is more to life than being comfortable. When we read the Bible, it should not be recreational reading. There are instructional passages, chastising passages, uplifting passages..my point is that God has preserved these Holy Scriptures that we might benefit from it. He wants us to read it and long to be closer to Him. He wants us to read it and be driven to serve others in His name. He wants us to read it and Worship Him and Praise Him! 

To serve God in an awesome and amazing way does not require that you sell everything and move to Africa. It might. Are you willing to serve Him with an open heart as well as open mind? 

Serving Him like YOU should may look different from how I am to serve Him on the outside. However, at the heart, we should both be sold out to do WHATEVER He call us to do. 

 The "Prosperity Gospel" proclaimers want you to believe that all you need to do is just ask God for all the good things and He will make sure you get them. NOT SO! 

Why would Paul have prayed repeatedly for the "thorn of his flesh" be removed and it  was not? I'm sure Paul would have "Become A Better You" if that thorn would have went away. Apparently God had a plan that included the thorn. 

I am a sinner! By the way so are you.  We deserve to go to hell and be eternally separated from God. But God loved you SO much that He allowed His Son Jesus to die and be resurrected to provide you and me a way to spend our eternity in Heaven with Him. 

How can that be!?

It's called love. 

If you are reading this, then you have access to a computer. By that simple fact, you are considered "RICH" by most of the world standards. I can easily say with confidence that 90%, maybe 95% of the world have less than you do. Of course, that is talking material wealth. If you can truly say that Jesus is your Savior, then you  have abundant riches. 

I could go on and on, but it boils down to this...

You need to sincerely pray (not just mouth some words) and ask God to show you what He has for you to do. The next step may be the hardest thing to do and that is do what God has called you to do no matter what it is. Pray that prayer, read this verse out loud. Then...get to work. 

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)
¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

He gave His all for you. Give your all for Him. 

Wave the Banner

Maybe it's just me. I notice in all of social media that there is always a "cause" being promoted; a banner being waved if you will. Now, I am not "blanket statement" against any nor all of the causes represented. Recently many people got ice water dumped on themselves and raised money for ALS. Good for ALS! But I wonder how many did it to truly raise money and awareness for ALS research and how many did it for their 15 minutes of fame on FaceBook? Just sayin'! 

The animal rights and activist are always pushing one cause or another (Yes, I am an animal lover. Save the emails.) The LGBT is ALWAYS in your face! This political party or that political party or this product promotion or that product boycott. Jumpin Jeminy! 

Here is my point:

What if we made Christianity a "Cause"? 

• "Cause" He created you. 
• "Cause" He protects you. 
• "Cause" He saves you. 
• "Cause" He delivers you. 
• "Cause" He is with you. 
• "Cause" He lives. 
• "Cause" He is!

If we are willing to get humiliated in front of the World Wide Web to promote research of a disease, what are we willing to do for our Lord and Savior?

Now, I am going to say...I re-posted one particular "share" and I am still broke.  

I am not into re-posting everything I see, but it does make you stop and think about what we are spending our time and energy on. Does it not?

I am not suggesting this to create a Face Book, Twitter, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn fad. I am praying that someone will read this and make a change in their habits and make God and His Son a priority. Wave His banner! Talk about what He has done in your life! 

Tell someone, IN PERSON, about Jesus! 

Onward, Christian Soldiers

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus going on before.

Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;

Forward into battle see His banners go! 

Refrain:

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus going on before.