Please Stop!

If You Are A Christian, Please Stop Doing These Five Things by Jarrid Wilson (at ChurchLeaders.com)

Here is some stuff Christians should stop doing.

1. Telling people “I’ll pray for you” without actually praying for them.

Guilty as charged. I can’t think of anybody who hasn’t done this at one time or another. And while most of us don’t actually mean to forget, it’s probably best that we just set aside time on the spot to pray for people. Are we really so busy that we can’t stop and pray for someone’s needs? We need to make sure we are fulfilling our duties as Christians and actually follow through with them. One prayer could be the tipping point to someone coming to know the love of God. Don’t miss the opportunity to speak life into someone because you don’t think you have time.

2. Attending Church on Sunday, but ignoring God’s voice the rest of the week.

Ouch! This one stings a little. Many of us get in the habit of making God just another addition to our weekly check-list, but the reality is that our entire lives should revolve around him. God deserves #1 priority in each of our lives, and to treat him any differently would go against the foundations of the Christian faith. Evaluate the way you are spending your time, money and energy. If you want to see a change in your life then you need to begin giving God the place of honor he deserves. Stop treating God like the last kid picked in doge-ball.

3. Praying for God’s provision when we have yet to use what he has already provided.

Way too many of us tend to treat God like a personal genie. Prayer was given to us as an open line of communication between us and God, but the harsh reality is that way too many of try to use it like a drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant. You don’t get to pick and choose the way God provides, but you do get the opportunity to trust his plan and have faith in his promises. I can’t begin to explain how many times I’ve ignored God’s provision because it wasn’t wrapped the way I intended it to be. Every time we purposely ignore God’s provision, we are indirectly telling him, “I don’t trust your plan.”

4. Trying to be so relevant that we actually hurt the message of Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with trying to be relevant, but we need to understand that there is a BOLD line between being trendy, and then completely disfiguring the message of Jesus. We can’t expect to bring any change to the world when we don’t look any different from it. I’m a firm believer that Jesus came to reclaim culture and not abolish it, but this doesn’t mean we need to water down His message so that it’s easier to swallow.

5. Telling people that “God will never give you anything you can’t handle.”
Why should we stop saying this? Because it’s a lie. … We’ve completely twisted 1 Corinthians 10:13, as this verse is pointing toward temptation, and even then it states God will be there if things get too tough. The reality is that God just might give us things we can’t handle so that we will gaze toward him for the extra help. Mind blowing right? Realize that not everything is going to go the way you plan, think or hope. Sometimes stuff is going to hit the fan, and in order for you to get through it, you are going to NEED to rely on God’s comfort, peace and understanding. We weren’t meant to do life alone.

From A Pastor Who Loves Pew Sleepers

Wake Up, O Sleeper! - an appreciation of pew sleepers (like "Mr. Bean" in the photo) by Bart Barber at SBC Voices:

Second only to baptisms in frequency and hilarity, funny church stories often concern people who fell asleep in church. A man I knew from little Bethabara Baptist Church of my childhood went to church one winter morning. More than the real estate market, wintertime seating in that church building was all about location, location, and location. Too close to one of the Dearborn heaters meant you would roast; too far away meant you would freeze. Crook Hurdle (I grew up there, and the nicknames don’t seem strange to me at all) had chosen wisely—optimum range. He sat on the outside seat of the pew, just three rows forward from the heater on that blustery day. Time came for prayer. All stood. Crook leaned up against the wall, basking in perfect warmth. The prayer overflowed, and then overflowed some more. After the lengthy oration was complete (no, it wasn’t me!), everyone sat back down. Everyone, that is, except for Crook Hurdle. He, leaning up against the wall, was sound asleep standing up.

I’ve been in churches where there were some people who reliably fell asleep every week during the sermon. We all knew who they were. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would joke about them sometimes.

Now I’m no longer a teenager; I’m a pastor. For many years, this has been my approach to the sleeping saints:

1.) I show appreciation toward those who fall asleep during the service. From time to time I’ll say, “If you’ve been around here for very long you already know this, but I love people who fall asleep during church.” The first time people hear this, I get the strangest looks. Nobody expects the pastor to say this. I continue, “You see, most people who are that tired are at home. They didn’t come today. But you, in spite of being so fatigued, came to church anyway. You’re my hero. I love people who fall asleep in church.” 

2.) I do not take anyone’s lapse into slumber as commentary about the quality of my sermon. I once fell asleep during a Peter Jackson film. That didn’t mean ANYTHING about how much I liked or did not like “The Desolation of Smaug.” It just meant that I was tired. Period. A great many people are sleep-deprived. Don’t take it personally

3.) Falling asleep during a church meeting is biblical. Eutychus did it in Acts 20. If you find in that passage any disdain toward him for his somnolence, then you’re reading it differently than I do. In fact, it was only because of his fall and his need for healing that the incident is mentioned at all, not because he was asleep. The early church did not, as far as we know, have nurseries. I imagine Pauline worship services as gatherings in which mothers were rocking babies, people were shifting about in makeshift seating or on the floor, etc. I’m guessing that people fell asleep quite a bit, especially in gatherings that lasted all day or into the night.

So, give a break to the poor guy who’s snoring on the fourth pew. And give a break to yourself if there are a few people nodding during your hard-fought exposition of Colossians 1. Sleep happens. We’re a family. Love one another and move on.

This is a very brief post for me, but I don’t want you to get bored and…

Avoid the Horror

From the Buckle of the Bible Belt

This survey confirms what I already knew - That I live in the "Buckle of the Bible Belt." From Which U.S. States Are the Most Religious? by Joe Carter

The Story: A new Gallup survey finds that Mississippi is the most religious U.S. state, and is one of eight states where at least half of the residents are "very religious." At the other end of the spectrum, Vermont and New Hampshire are the least religious states, and are two of the five states---along with Maine, Massachusetts, and Alaska---where less than 30 percent of all residents are very religious.

The Background: Gallup classifies 40 percent of Americans nationwide as "very religious" based on their statement that religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. Another 32 percent of Americans are nonreligious, based on their statement that religion is not an important part of their daily life and that they seldom or never attend religious services. The remaining 28 percent of Americans are moderately religious, because they say religion is important but that they do not attend services regularly or because they say religion is not important but still attend services.

The research by Gallup appears to show that the differences in religious conviction are part of a "state culture" phenomenon, and are not the result of differences in the underlying demographics or religious identities in the states. As Gallup says in its report, "it appears there is something about the culture and normative structure of a state, no doubt based partly on that state's history, that affects its residents' propensity to attend religious services and to declare that religion is important in their daily lives."

Why It Matters: While America remains, as Gallup notes, a "generally religious nation" the national averages conceal the "dramatic regional differences in religiosity." Americans in the "Bible Belt" and Utah tend to be more religious while New England and the Western states tend to be the least religious.

Such surveys are admittedly crude tools for discerning trends. But when so many "state cultures" are nonreligious it's likely a sign that there is a need for broader efforts at evangelization here in the United States.

One problem with living in a heavily "churched" area is that so many people have just enough religious to be inoculated against the gospel.  On any given Sunday, 60% of the population in and around Jackson, MS are not  in church.  We still need more gospel preaching churches, and gospel sharing Christians,

Church Shopping

Looking for a new church? Check out What to Look for in a Church? Refining Your Checklist at The Chief End of Man

All the Mega-Churches in the USA

C. Michael Patton's site has a Complete List of Mega-Churches in America

A Mega Church is defined as 2,000 or more members. Only one in my area - and it's a good one!

(Correction:  I only found 1 church over 3,000 members in Mississippi, but around 8 more in the 2,000 -3,000 range. )
 

Love the Church - For the Right Reasons

Do you love your church? If so, do you love it for the right reasons?

Here's Joshua Harris on Wrong Reasons to Love the Church:

Acts 20:28 tells us that Jesus obtained the church with his own blood. Is this what your love for the church is based on? If it's anything less, it won't last long.

• Don't love the church because of what it does for you. Because sooner or later it won't do enough.
• Don't love the church because of a leader. Because human leaders are fallible and will let you down.
• Don't love the church because of a program or a building or activities because all those things get old.
• Don't love the church because of a certain group of friends because friendships change and people move.

Love the church because of who shed his blood to obtain the church. Love the church because of who the church belongs to. Love the church because of who the church worships. Love the church because you love Jesus Christ and his glory. Love the church because Jesus is worthy and faithful and true. Love the church because Jesus loves the church.

How to Be a Diligent Listener

As you are off to church this morning, most probably expecting to hear a sermon from your pastor, have you thought about Being a Diligent Listener?. Tim Challies wrote the following last Tuesday to challenge us to do so, and to explain how:

"...while a pastor bears great responsibility in preparing for and delivering the Word of God each Sunday, the listener shares in the responsibility. The church has no place for an audience. We are all to be involved in the preaching, even as listeners. We may drive home on Sunday muttering about the pastor’s lack of preparation after a less-than-engaging sermon, but how often do we drive away reflecting on our own lack of preparation? How often should we trace our lack of learning or our lack of engagement right back to our own lack of preparation?"

He concludes:

"While the responsibility of the preacher cannot be underestimated, the listener is also responsible before God. We, as those who sit under the preaching of the Word, are to prepare ourselves even during the week. And on the Lord’s Day we are to listen attentively, to search the Scriptures and to apply what we have learned to our lives. I fear that far too often we expect the pastor to do the work and while we coast along as the beneficiaries of his hard labor. It is time for us to take seriously our role in the preaching of the Word of God. I post this article on a Tuesday. Perhaps it is worth asking: what are you doing today to gain the greatest benefit from the sermon you heard just two days ago? And what are you doing today to prepare yourself for the sermon you will hear just five short days from now?"

First Day or Last Day?

Here's an interesting question from Thabiti Anyabwile at "Pure Church": Is Sunday Your First Day or Your Last?

"...Far too often we approach Sunday as the day we rest from the week gone by rather than the day of first fruits, of beginning with the Lord and shaping our hearts and souls for the week ahead. When that happens, God gets the leftovers and the world gets the best part of us.

On Sunday nights, most of us will begin routines designed to help us get off to a good start for the week. We'll select the children's clothes for school. We'll perhaps pack lunches. Spouses will coordinate schedules, being sure important meetings and outings are highlighted. Thoughts will turn to work: tasks to get done, meetings to attend, and so on. In short, we prepare for the week now that Sunday is over.

How would it affect our souls and our weeks to simply back the preparation up one day so that Sunday is the first day of the week and the Saturday the night of our preparation for all that's ahead? What if we invested considerable energy planning to get off to a good start with the Lord and His people, and planning to give the leftovers to lesser lords? How would we benefit if we lived for the Lord's Day rather than living for the weekend? I think the effect would be noticeable and almost immediate."

What do you think?

In Our Midst

From: “midst” | nakedpastor