Acheiving REAL Breakthrough… August 18, 2007

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.” -Colossians 2:2-4

Last time I blogged, we were reminded by Paul to not over-complicate the message of Christ.  Today, Paul explains this a little more and I believe alerts us to a trap that seems VERY prevalent in certain parts of the church today.  There is this feeling, that if we can just “press into the presence of the lord” then we will have “breakthrough”.  It becomes, as The Message puts it, “a wild goose chase after other so-called mysteries”.  For me, this just makes God seem unreachable to people.  You don’t see Paul doing this, spending hours soaking in the presence of the Lord so that one day he might have the spiritual anointing to do something for God!  How ridiculous!  Listen to what Paul says:

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. -Colossians 2:6-7

I think, in part, Paul has answered why some do this.  Have you ever known someone who seems to be a forever student?  I am not talking about someone who keeps going back to school to brush up, but rather the person that never really leaves school and starts to live life.  That is kind of what Paul is talking about here.  I think that sometimes we subconsciously feel that we can postpone really getting out there and living the life God has called us to by locking ourselves in the church building and trying to find the next big “breakthrough”.

I believe this:  If you want to experience REAL breakthrough in God, you will have to take a step of faith.  You will have to leave your comfort zone.  You will have to serve him in a tangible way.  You will have to do something that you truly need Him for.  So what is it for you?  Please don’t waste you life in Christ seeking after some mystical experience in Christ.  If you are born again, the real Christ lives in you today!  You have all that you need to walk and live in His power and Glory today!  Just take that step.

be blessed…
-pastorj

Keep It Simple Stupid… August 12, 2007

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. -Colossians 1:26ff

The message of Jesus is so powerful, so impacting, so life changing and believe it or not – so simple. You may be like me and have experienced the over complication of the message of Jesus one too many times. I think it makes some bible teachers feel good about themselves to think they have unraveled some complex layer of understanding… So much so, the just MUST share it with everyone. Yet there isn’t a bible teacher alive today that I respect more than the Apostle Paul, and look at how he takes what could be a complicated truth and puts it in reach for everyone.

If we put the Message out of reach and out of understanding from the people around us we should not be surprised when we go years and years with almost no response, no salvations, no real life changes. I don’t know about you, but I am challenged by what Paul says. I want to preach Christ, not adding to the Message.

Lord, help me to speak the message of Christ with “profound common sense” so that many will come to a knowledge of you!

be blessed…
-pastorj

Doing Our Part… August 11, 2007

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. -Philippians’s 4:8-9

I have seen this scripture and ones like it taken out of context more times than I care to remember. It seems that some people like to highlight the part of God working things together while neglecting the fact that we have a part to play in this all. You hear this sentiment reflected in comments like, “If God wants it to happen it will”. That is just outright wrong! God is patient, not wanting any to perish without the knowledge of his Son, but it happens every day. Every day, people around us die and go to hell without accepting Jesus as Lord! Does that mean that God didn’t want them to have eternal life in the Son? Of course not, but they had a part to this equation that they did not fulfill.

Not all the work of our hands can be characterized as striving. God has called us to stand up and be counted as those that fill our minds with the best, not the worst, with the beautiful not the ugly. He has asked us to put into practice what we have learned! Why? Because it gives him the opportunity to then come along side and make all these things work together for the good. Don’t think for a moment that we can just sit around like slugs, living our lives without giving Him his due and still expect to be blessed and increased!

Father God, I want ALL that you have for me. Yet I realize there are things you have called me to do so that you can come along side. Help me to choose the noble and reject the ugly. I need you and the strength you provide for all this to come to pass… AMEN

be blessed…
-pastorj