So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

"So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore". I saw this book title and thought I have to get this. How many of us have not wanted to go to church anymore? I have quit in my past and some days I just want to quit. Dan Kimball wrote a book "They Love Jesus not the Church" I feel like that sometimes. So I buy the book off of Amazon, get the book, and discover it is a book about a minister. Wow! So I am hooked and begin to read and it is messing with me. It is a thought provoking book and sometimes hits a little too close to home. It is provocative and almost hyperbolic or maybe he is just that radical but it is about a minister who is struggling with his faith and he meets the apostle John. It is based off of Jesus saying "If I want this one to remain alive until I return then what is it to you." So John is trying to help him find God but in the meantime causes nothing but turmoil in his life. Here is a little of my favorite section so far (only on chapter 5).

"You are so caught up in a system of reward and punishment that you're missing the simple relationship he (God) wants to have with you."

"How are we going to know how God feels about us if we don't live up to his standards?"

"That is where you have it backwards. We don't get his love by living up to his standards. We find his love in the most broken place of our lives. As we let him love us there and discover how to love in return, we'll find our lives changing in that relationship."

"How can that be? Don't we have to walk away from sin to know him?"

"Walking toward him is walking away from sin. The better you know him the freeer from it you will be. But you can't walk away from sin. Not on your own strength! Everything he wants to do in you will get done as your learn to live in his love. Every act of sin results from your mistrust of his love and intentions for you. We sin to fill up broken places, to try to fight for what we think is best for us, or by reacting to our guilt and shame. Once you discover how much he loves you, all that changes. As you grow in trusting him, you will find yourself increasingly free from sin."

"It sounds so easy when you say it. But learning to live that way would be the opposite of everything I've been taught."

"That's why it is called good news."

The Shack

I bought The Shack a few weeks ago because everyone seems to be reading it. It takes a while to get into this book. The first four chapters lay the backdrop and most everyone I talk to agree these are not the best reading. The rest of the book will have you hooked and you will not want to put it down.

The Shack is about a man (Mack) whose daughter was abducted and murdered. They were able to track him down to a little shack where they recovered his daughter's dress and could see her blood. They never recovered her body and Mack and his family never recovered from this tragedy. Four years later Mack receives a letter inviting him to the shack signed Papa or his wife's favorite name for God. Mack decides to go while his wife and kids are away for the weekend. He arrived at the shack and there he meets and spends the weekend with God.

The conversations he has with God are amazing and the author blends theological concepts into the story. A few things that he discusses in the book is: the role of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the problem of pain and suffering; forgiveness; our relationship with God and his with us; and the need and role of relationships.

The book is about one man's journey to be healed from the pain he has lived through the death of his daughter and a bad childhood. His conversations with God will stimulate your mind and you will want to discuss it with others and pass the book on to others.

You can get the book on Amazon for $9 or at any bookstore. This is a good read and I would recommend it to anyone. Just be patient through the first 4 chapters.

Preaching

Every week I listen or sit through 2 to 4 sermons a week. I hear two at church and then listen to a couple more via the internet. I like to listen to different people to learn how to be a better speaker. I love listening to Andy Stanley. He is the only speaker that I think is consistent in delivering a powerful message week after week. I listen to a wide variety of other guys on i-tunes: Rob Bell, John Piper, Tim Spivey, Kieth Davis, Matt Chandler, Don McLaughlin, Joel Olsteen ( I need encouragement), and others. Sometimes I just listen to a random person to see what I discover. I have been trying to break down what makes some guys good, others OK, and some just terrible.

Application. This is what separates the good from the bad. They all have different ways and styles of conveying the gospel but the one common thread is application. The best spend at least 30% of their lesson telling you how God's word applies to your life. They help you see how God's word looks when it is lived out in everyday life. They illustrate it and walk you through common situations that you will face this week.

Too many speakers give a 3 minute application at the end of the lesson and the average person has to go home and try to figure out what to do with the lesson. The best tell you what to do with the lesson. When you leave, you know how to apply God's word to your life and when you will need to use this information.

The amazing this is the more I read Paul the more I see that this is what he did. He addressed a problem and then illustrated it to give the readers insight into what this looked like in their life. You can read Paul and know exactly what he wanted the readers to do and how it looked in their world.

So what do you think the best do?

I'm Bringing Serving Back

It has been a while since I have blogged but you will not be disappointed with this video. We have all seen how people take a popular song and turn it into a "Christian" song. You know "You down with OPP" turns into "You down with GOD". Or baby got back to baby got bible. Well give it to these guys for "Serving Back" a spin off JT's "Sexy Back".

Song Leader Guidelines

Chances are you have been setting in church when you are asked to sing a song that you have no idea what it means or it uses old english language. Why do we sing songs in old english or holy king james language? Doest thou thinkest this to be quiet atypical?

What is a night with ebon pinion and why is it brooded o’er the vale?

The other day we sang a song about how in heaven the polish on the door knobs will never fade.

I think there needs to be guidelines for song leaders to know if they can lead this song.

1. There can’t be more than 5 old english words. I know it is unrealistic to cut them out all together and sometimes we need a Thou to rhyme with how but there has to be a limit.

2. If you have to explain it or you don’t understand the words then you can’t sing it. I asked a song leader one day what a phrase in the song meant and he had no clue. This is just wrong to make us sing these songs.

3. It has to have a good melody. We are not some monks in a secluded space so we shouldn’t be chanting or singing some song that has a choppy melody.

4. You can never lead all the verses of the song. If you have to sing all the verses to get the meaning of the song then don’t lead it. Let’s face it many of the songs are weird and there is nothing worse than having to sing that awkward chorus 4 times.

5. Invitation songs can’t be about sinners coming. There is nothing worse than hearing a sermon wanting to come forward and then the song is “come sinner come” or “sinners God will receive” or “though your sins be like scarlet”. You already know you’re a sinner, if you come forward everyone else knows you’re a sinner (chances are they are trying to figure out what you did) the last thing you want is to come forward while the church tells you that you are a sinner.

Prince Caspian (Part 2)

Lucy is the first to see Aslan. She is asked why they couldn't see him and she could. Lucy replies, "Maybe you weren't looking for him."

Later this conversation takes place:
Susan "Why do you think I didn't see Aslan?"
Lucy "I don't know. Maybe you didn't really want to."
Susan "You always knew you'd be coming back here, didn't you?"
Lucy "I hoped so."
Susan "I'd finally just got used to the idea of being in England."

Are you looking for God? Can others see Him in places that you can't?

How do you see God? How do we become like Lucy and see what others can't?

Paul tells us to anticipate the day that we see Jesus and remember that heaven is our home and not this world (Phil 3:20).

When we are anticipating a reunion with God and we are looking for him was are more likely to see him everyday in our world and not get used to living here but looking forward to living with Jesus.

Prince Caspian

I just got through watching Prince Caspian and it was a great movie! There was so much action and my heart raced through so much of the movie. It also had so many biblical themes and I am going to take the next few blogs to write about the ones that impacted me.

When Prince Caspian first meets King Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy he is shocked that they are children and says that he was expecting grown up kings and queens. How many times do we find that God uses the unexpected to do great things. Think about all the people of the Bible who were young when God did great things with them (David, Jeremiah, John, Mark, ..).

At the end of the movie Lucy says that she wished she was able to be more like the older one and have more courage and fight. She has a little dagger as her weapon while the others have swords and a bow and arrow. But she is the only one who sees Aslan and has faith that he is there and can help them.

God constantly reminds us that age is not a factor in serving him and age is not a factor in him using you to do great and powerful things. Many times we let our own doubts and logic get in the way of letting God use us and sometimes as an excuse not to do things for God.

1 Timothy 4:12 was one of those verses I hated growing up I think it was because it was theme of every camp and youth rally or any speaker who thought he would dedicate a sermon to the youth. But I have gotten over my bitterness for it and grown to appreciate the fact that Paul is telling Timothy two great messages.

1. God has given him a great gift and is ready to use him to do great things. He is to live up to God's standards and lead people who are much older than he is.

2. He can't use age as an excuse or a fear not to do what God is calling him to do.

If God's kingdom (Narnia) is to survive and thrive it needs young people (another term I hate but don't know a better way to say it) to step up and use the gifts that God has given them. We can't let age hold us back, back us fearful, or use as an excuse to wait.