It seems to me that there are a lot of reasons why this whole idea of doing church different cannot work (i.e. where can it be done? how can it be financed? what about the kids programs? who is going to pastor it? etc). My main question is why not?
What prevents us from doing church the way that the Acts church did church? Living life together. Walking, mentoring, discipling - truly just living life together. Suffering when another brother or sister is suffering, or celebrating when a celebration is called for.
I believe that once we become a Christian, we are not told what to expect. How many people were told once they became a believer that they were now entering into war? Or that we are now going to have problems we never would have had? Please do not misread me. I know that being a Christian is so much more and is so much better than living life apart from Christ. All I am saying is that I believe we the church need to show people how to accept Christ, and then how to live life. Example: We have a new man that joined our Monday Morning Men's group. He said he is a new believer and is struggling on understanding the walk he is on. It is our job to come along beside him and train him out of love. Not give him a list of rules - do's and don'ts, but truly show him how to follow Jesus and to show him that he is going to struggle and suffer. If we do this thing the way God designed it and desires us to, we are going to be noticed by satan and his army. We have to understand how to fight back and understand how to train others.
I believe this is church, and I know this is the kind of church I want to be a part of. If we work together and walk together, Hell will not be able to stand against us. We have hope in Christ! As Rob Bell said; "Ultimately our gift to the world around us is hope. Not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. But the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is. It is what we all need - hope that comes not from going around suffering but from going through it."
Peter in 1 Peter 1:3 said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". We have to share this hope!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I am praying for you & for Jesus' hope to be shared however He chooses to share through you & us. I love you & thank you for walking so sweetly with our Heavenly Father. I want to crave the word like you do; it is the very breath you breathe. Oddly, I can finally say out loud, "Thank you for loving Jesus more than me & our boys." Loving Him more = loving others better, wiser, stronger, sweeter. I pray Jesus will continue keeping your eyes on Him as you, Chewy, run the race of life...
thank you for holding my hand this past weekend as I am truly in the thick of mourning & grief. Strangely, I feel closer to Jesus through this entire experience-perhaps it has something to do with His very presence when life enters & leaves this world. Amazing-Syd & I were rubbing her feet about 45 min's before she died. Wonder what the Heavenlies were like as He was so close to taking her soul home...must be quite beautiful & inexplainable- I just know the very breath of Jesus was right there in the room.
i love seeing what God is doing in you and through you... i will continue to pray that you will see what it is that he has planned for you. i love you bro!!
Post a Comment