Hey Joseph! I'm pregnant!

Tonight is Christmas Eve and it is the time we celebrate Christ's birth.  Not to mention, it's the largest sales season for the retail market thanks to all of us for buying stuff.  But let's talk about the real reason for the season, and consider some things we often overlook.

Now the Bible tells us that an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become conceive and give birth to a son, whom she was to name, "Jesus".  Then, an angel appeared to Joseph, Mary's fiancee, to tell him that Mary had conceived and that they were to be married.  Now let's be serious for a minute.  Guys, can you imagine having your girlfriend tell you they were expecting and that the baby was going to be the Son of God?  Better yet, can you imagine telling all of your family and friends that your girlfriend was pregnant, but you swear the two of you haven't been doing the, "The Wild Thang"?  "Really, I swear, it's not my baby!"  Kind of give new meaning to the phrase, "My baby's mamma"

During Mary and Joseph's time, the reality is that Joseph could have denied Mary, accused her of having sex with another man, and Mary would have been stoned to death.  And Joseph, well he could have just found him another girl and moved on.  But we all know that's not what happened.  I think it's really easy for all of us to comfort ourselves and say that it was easier for them back then.  I submit that it was much harder and that the people that God chose to use, were people of extreme faith in him. I also think they faced serious persecution and the threat of persecution.  Let's face it, Mary knew she could've been stoned but trusted God to deliver her.

As you hang out with your family this year, let's consider the cost of why we celebrate and remember to honor God in a way that give him all of the credit!!  Merry Christmas!!

Encouragement?

"Edify stupid!! Edify!" When I was in college at North Greenville (at that time it was a College) University, I had a group of friends with whom we used to jokingly use the above statement.  The word "Edify" means to uplift, enlighten, and inform.  For those of you that know me, you can already sense the sarcasm in the phrase.  However, our aim was at, "Church People" and how "Church People" were almost always the first people to kick a brother while he was down!  For the record, there is a huge difference between "Church People" and "Christians" (or as my Pastor Dean Herman calls it, Radical Followers of Christ) which has been explained in previous blogs.

When Paul wrote the first letter to the Church of Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians), we see Paul's heart and passion for encouraging others.  The Church of Thessalonica, was a very young Church and was experiencing sever persecution, confusion about Jesus' return, and many people returning to an evil way of life.  To put it in today's terms, they were victim of politics, rumors, and peer pressure.  The difference between now and then is that Paul chose to encourage and uplift, "Edify", his young brothers and sisters in Christ instead of brow beating them from the pulpit of another Church.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul writes, "So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind.  I know you're already doing this; just keep doing it. (The Message Translation)" 

Many times I find myself wanting to smack somebody in the back of the head and ask, "Do you know how to use your head from more than a helmet rest?!"  But the reality is, if we truely want to reach our community for Christ, we must learn to love like Christ!  And one of the ways Christ loved, was through encouragement.  We must, no I must, learn to encourage others if I am to reach my community!  My challenge to you is that you will make a special effort to encourage somebody today!

"You're Going to Hell if...."

"You're going to hell if....."  Now how many of us have heard that statement before?  If you live in the South, no doubt you've heard that statement many times.  "You're going to hell if you don't quit smoking", "You're going to hell if you don't quit drinking.", and "You're going to hell if you don't go to church on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night." rank among my favorites.  If you've read my posts prior to this one, you've no doubt read my comments about the differences between "church people" and "Christians".  My Pastor, Dean Herman, speaks of this difference on nearly every service.  There is such a difference, the main stream media even had fun with "Church People" back in the 1990's with the Saturday Night Live sketch, "The Church Lady".  What most Church People choose not to see, is that in God's eyes, sin is sin.  Now don't freak out, because the same God that recognizes that sin is sin, is the same God that loved us enough to send his Son to die for us. 

God isn't some all powerful Greek God-like being that is sitting on the high throne with a baseball bat waiting to whack us in the head every time we mess up.  God does have a plan for each us that is designed to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11).  I know I do my share of messing up; makes me wonder if God looks on me and shakes his head from time to time as if to say, "Dang boy, you really thought that one through didn't you?  But remember, sin is sin.  Any sin in our lives separate us from communication with God since God cannot look on sin (which by the way is why he sent his son to die on the cross for OUR sins).  There is no such thing as big or little sins.  God DOES NOT have a grading scale for sin; it is what it is.  The fact of the matter is, the only thing that will send us straight to Hell, is not accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior (This is what Church people call, "Being Saved"). Everything else are things that, in my words, hurt God's feelings.  Romans 6:23 says, (I like the New Life Translation for this one) "You get what is coming to you when you sin. It is death! But God’s free gift is life that lasts forever. It is given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ."  The God that has so richly blessed us with so many things, only wants to have a relationship with each of us.  And when we sin, WAIT! Let me tell you what sin really is!  Sin is things like lying, cheating, stealing, overeating, overworking, neglect, disrespect, being a dead beat dad or mom, gossip, lust, hate, bad attitudes, and many more! Did I mention GOSSIP?  Anyway, when we sin, it's like slapping God in the face and saying, "Thanks God for letting your son be starved, tortured, and then murdered on public display, but I've got an image to keep..."  I mean, how long would it take us to dump a friend or spouse if they treated us the way we treat God?  Good thing he doesn't measure us with expectation the way we measure others.

If you've managed to read this far, I hope you find my blog useful.and encouraging.  My challenge to myself and all of you, is to work on forgiveness and compassion for the coming year.  My goal is to love everyone around me just as Christ has loved me!  After all, how can we ask God to love and bless us, if we're not willing to do the same?

Revival What?!

I grew up in a culture where Revival was something that happened at least once a year.  Revival is was what the culture we were around called a full week of church services that lasted sometimes two hours a night.  Sometimes they would have guest speakers and music.  As a child, I hated revival because we were expected to sit in the service quietly and listen to what God had to say to us.  Now let's be realistic for a minute...How well do you think that worked out for an ADHD child like me?!?!  "Not too good" is how.  I mean even Jesus had a special way of dealing with children, but the Church of my time didn't see it that way.  As the years went on, the revival sessions became shorter and shorter.  In fairness, the most memorable revival times I remember were the old fashion tent revivals.  In my memory, there were more salvations in those tents than there ever were inside the Church.  Now don't get me wrong, my life changing experience came from a Revival service on February 6th, 2008.  My main point here is that Revival is SO MUCH MORE than a ritual series of services.

So what is Revival?  Our Church, 5Point Church in Easley, SC (http://www.5ptchurch.us/) is currently experiencing "Revival".  Our Pastor, Dean Herman (deanhermanonline.com) is leading the charge for Revival in our area.  Last Sunday, there were 46 Salvations and five salvations this morning during the first service alone!!  God is moving, simply because hearts are broken for the lost.  So what do I mean by Revival?  The "Free Dictionary Online" lists the word "revival" as,
re·viv·al  (r-vvl)

n.

1.

a. The act or an instance of reviving.

b. The condition of being revived.

2. A restoration to use, acceptance, activity, or vigor after a period of obscurity or quiescence.

3. A new presentation of an old play, movie, opera, ballet, or similar vehicle.

4.

a. A time of reawakened interest in religion.

b. A meeting or series of meetings for the purpose of reawakening religious faith, often characterized by impassioned preaching and public testimony.

5. Law Renewal of validity or effect, as of a contract or judicial decision.

I think number two would be most applicable to us.  You see, Revival, in my opinion, is the next closest thing to Salvation.  Revival is a life changing experience that should shaken our very foundation.  It should remind us of how comfortable we've become and how awesome of a God we serve!  It should remind us of the love God has for us and cause us to want to share him with everybody!  Revival should remind us of how blessed we are, how much God has given us, and how much we owe him.  Pastor Dean spent a lot of time this morning talking about Saul's (you may know him better as Paul) salvation and everything leading up to that salvation.  Dean reminded all of us that today is the day we should share Christ with others.  He took it a step further and taught the church how to develop and share your testimony.

I wonder, do people see a good reflection of Christ in me?  I think that is the heart of revival; change my heart o God!!!!

"The Love of God, is greater far..."

Today we visted a new church in our area and had a great time.  The kids immediately asked once in the car leaving church, "Can we move to this church?!"  They were excited to be there and wanted to go back.  Traci and I had a great time as well.  It was great to be around old friends again, even though we are the eldest of our friends.

The Pastor preached from Matthew 21:12-16 where Jesus ran the gamblers and money hounds out of the temple and he specifically related the passage to the "passion" that Jesus had for the Church.  In the message, the pastor encouraged all of us to want to attend church every time the doors were open as this was the passion of Jesus.  I'm not sure that was the point of the passage though.  I think that God was sending a greater message. 

If you look at verse 14, the bible tells us that once he had run the thieves out of the temple, the blind and the lame came to him and he healed them.  But, the "Religious Leaders" (according to The Message translation; the King James calls them, "Chief Priests") were upset when the children began running around shouting about the great things Jesus had done for those blind and lame.  In fact, the bible says, "they were indignant", or they were "Feeling or showing anger or annoyance" (according to a google search).  Now, why didn't the religious leaders get upset about the gambling and other deeds going on in the temple?  Why did they feel it was ok to "defile the temple" but not ok for Jesus to heal people?  Did you know that the Jewish culture of that day beleived that if you were blind, cripple, or had any other disability that you or your family had obviously committed a major sin against God and that was your punishment?  The blind and cripple were outcasts!  They did not meet the standard of the Jewish Church of that day!  How fat have we come in today's church following the example of Christ?  Or, are we leaning more toward the example of the Jewish culture of Christ's day?

I think the real message of that passage was the love of God!  "How rich and pure!  How measureless, and Strong!!!!"  Such a love that God would send his son to heal the crippled, give the blind their sight, and heal our broken hearts!  Jesus didn't care about what the Church of that day thought, rather he was much more concerned about sharing God's love anyway he could.  Are we sending the same message?  Are we helping people heal, or are we adding to the wounds?