Avoiding Heresy in the next big movement.

Ever hear some religious teacher say, “God is doing a new thing”? They talk about the new revelation that they just received that will change the church forever and make everything better. Well, most of the time these kinds of new ideas, especially when expressed by popular leaders, get all kinds of press, books are written and conferences are held to promote them, then they fade away into obscurity. Sounds familiar? These movements will garner support by many other well know leaders and then thousands will begin to follow them, then they begin to fall apart…one misinterpretation after the other…one over emphasis after the other…one subtle heretical idea after the other. People are left reeling with confusion and lose their faith in leadership and many drop out altogether. How do we avoid falling headlong into these traps? Read on.

1. Stay in the Word! The Bible is the source of truth and the soul authority in matters of doctrine and church matters. The Word will never let you down, lead you astray or confuse the issues. The problem is when people have a “private or personal” interpretation of scripture things go awry and heresy triumphs. Be careful of these interpretations that are extra-scriptural (can’t be found there) or lead to one extreme or the other.

2. Stay connected to the “Body of Christ.” Most movements that embrace a heretical private revelation also move away from the established church. Granted, the established church in many cases has moved away from scripture and biblical authority…BUT MOST HAVE NOT. So we can’t discount the whole church for the wanderings and failure of some. Heresy gets rooted and grounded in smaller groups that become fanatical and obsessed with the “heavy revvy” of it all. Stay connected to the established church. It is absolutely necessary to HEAR OTHER VOICES besides the one with a new interpretation or revelation.

3. Stay close to Jesus. If we stay intimately yoked with Christ, He can speak into our lives. The Holy Spirit still speaks to the hearts of men and women to help us discern the words we hear whether they are truth or lies. If you sense that what you are hearing, no matter how intriguing, is a “little off,” it probably is. Go to Jesus and ask Him…ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you in scripture and in your heart. Can’t go wrong here.

4. Stay humble. When you think that you are to sole possessor of “this new truth” and close your heart to learn or be corrected by others, you will fall into the trap of heresy. Lone rangers with so called “new and great revelations” that are extra-biblical are sure to hurt themselves and all that follow. IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. Humble yourself and let older wiser leaders speak into your heart….and listen.

There’s probably more to say about this….so chime in…give me your thoughts and wisdom on this.

People Wise

On a flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma in September, 2008 I met a distinguished looking man that had an interesting perspective of what the church should be. He was dressed up in a suit, 79 years old and looked to be highly educated…he was. He had spent over 40 years of his life in a Christian University first as a teacher then as an administrator. As we began to talk I found out what church he was a part of. He insisted that they were not a denomination, had no headquarters, and that each church, over 8000 of them nationwide, were totally independent of any organization. This interested me.

I shared that I was also in the “church” business and that our group, I avoided using the “O” (organization) word, planted churches around the USA. I also mentioned that one of our churches was listed as the fastest growing church in the USA. Immediately he said, “We are not charismatic!” He went on to explain that charismatic style churches were very fast growing with their style but that they, his group of churches, were fine with the smaller congregations that made up the many independent churches that he associated with.

Then he made a statement to me that sums up the kind of church that most people today have quit going to. He said, “We are not charismatic, we do not entertain people, and we don’t do community service. We just teach the Bible and that’s all we do.”

Let me interpret that for you. From further discussion I understood these four distinctions about his church.

1. They did not believe that spiritual gifts were for today.

2. They did not have a live band that provided music.

3. They did not try to grow their churches by reaching out to the needs of the people in the community.

4. They only preached the Bible…that’s it.

This would be the antithesis of people-wise. This is not understanding a modern culture that thrives on entertainment, desires that someone understand their felt needs and wants an encounter with a real God and His spirit. This culture wants a church that “lives” the Bible.

Relevant?

We often use the words “relevant” and “authentic” to describe our approach to ministry. They are good words…howbeit a little overused. What I think we are trying to say is, we are “people-wise.” People-wise in the sense that we understand that people have had a problem relating to the old school church. The church of pews and hymnals, religion and tradition and same ole same ole just isn’t drawing new people or holding members anymore. Church just doesn’t seem to fit into the cultural needs of modern people so they just stop coming. They stop coming by the millions.

On Sunday mornings over 13 million Christians who use to attend services are now absent. They are saying “yes” to Jesus but “no” to church.

How does this fare with Great Commission? The local church, with its Sunday services, has been the great evangelistic arm of the church for centuries. Small groups are also a great part of that effort. But most successful small group ministries are a result of the harvest on Sunday mornings. If Christians quit church, who will bring the lost to hear the Gospel? A bigger question is, “How can we make the church more people-wise so that Christians will come back?”

Full but not Fulfilled

These days it is not too hard to find great life-giving churches. I speak at one nearly every week of my life. They are exciting, engaging and full of the life of God. What God is doing is amazing in these days and we should thank Him daily for providing the world with real God-life opportunities.

But the perception of church is not what I am experiencing at all in the minds of the majority of Americans. Many think that church is still the boring, uninteresting and non-engaging “service” of their parents and grandparents. And there are reason why they perceive church to be this way. Look at the seven reasons they come to church but are disappointed when they leave.

Seven reasons why Christians and others go to church and are not fulfilled.

1. They only go out of Duty – “We were raised in church and we just do it because you are supposed to.” Though not bad to go out of duty, if there is the lack of desire to find fulfillment it can grow old really fast. Duty will only do so much to keep you in church.

2. They only go out of Habit – “It is what I have always done. Sundays are for church, I have done it so long I guess it is just a habit” Habits can be changed and people change their church going habits on a regular basis these days.

3. Friendship – “Church is where my friends gather each week. I love the relationships.” Now this is a great reason to come to church. However, if this is the only time you get to see your friends, you will focus on the friendships more than what you can get from God on Sunday. (hence the need for small groups.)

4. Hope – “I guess I am looking for something that will make my life better and give me hope in these difficult times.” If I am coming for this reason, i better find that something. Church is the last resort where people go sometimes to find answers to life’s toughest challenges.

5. Understanding – “My motivation is to try to find some understanding of my life and what it all means.” Living a meaningful life is absolutely vital to happiness and fulfillment. Let the church be where is all starts!

6. Purpose – “My main reason is to find purpose for living. There has to be more to life than just working and recreation.” Many people have found success in business and other pursuits yet feel they have no purpose. What could be a greater purpose than the cause of Christ.

7. God – “Church is my weekly connection to God. I look forward to the chance to disconnect from the world and enter into the spiritual realm.” This is a great goal for attending church. It is the church’s responsibility to help people connect with God through worship, the Word, prayer and fellowship.

Life is full of good and bad stuff. It’s like eating pasta, you can sure fill up on a bowl of pasta yet in a couple of hours you start getting hungry again (at least I do….same with Chinese food). The stuff in life that fills us up, many times, is not fulfilling. It does not have the “spiritual nutrition” that we need to really make us feel that our lives are significant.

People are looking for fulfillment in their “church” and God experience. Too often they get full of sermons, full of religion, full of activities and are still empty… still hungry…. amazing.

I believe the answer can be found in Life-Giving churches…I believe every church ought to be a place that creates and gives life to all that come. I have dedicated the rest of my life to starting life-giving churches that can bring people to a place of fulfillment in their hopes and dreams, walk with God and family, and everyday life and existence. Let’s join together to see this become a reality.

What’s in Your Wallet?

What’s in your wallet?

What’s in your message? How do you as a Christian portray the God of Heaven? How is the Good News shared where you go to church? Is your God waiting to punish you or bless your socks off? This will make a difference in those that you talk with about God’s nature.

As in the Capital One Visa Card commercial, do you feel as if God is like a band of Viking looking barbarians pressing down on you about to take off your head if you don’t have His credit card? Or do you see God as a loving and forgiving God who wants to rescue you from a tormented or unfulfilled life? Do you carry His card?

For the life of me I can’t understand the legalistic message of so many churches today. Yes, God hates sin, He wants to eradicate it from the face of the earth. God is opposed to Satan and wants to take back for Himself all that the devil has stolen. And He has a plan to do so. That plan is for His church to tell the Good News about His redeeming grace to as many as will listen. A message that speaks only of all that is wrong and the subsequent penalty for that wrongdoing is not the Good News. It leaves the hearer with the wrong perspective of God.

It is equally erroneous not to warn the sinner of his way. The Bible is clear about the hopelessness of the unrepentant soul. But forgiveness and God’s desire for mankind to escape the consequences of their sins is the message. Christ alone offers this escape through the blood of His cross…nothing else. Not condemning, guilt casting, blame laying nor “hell if you don’t change before you leave this building,” is able to convert the wayward sinner to Christ.

Christ is the Hope!

People need hope. They need hope for finances, family, friendships, and forgiveness. They need hope and they need it now. Thank God for the Gospel of Hope!

We preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead for the hope of the world. Every need is met through the sacrifice of Christ and every issue that mankind faces is addressed and relieved in God’s word.

Being relevant means the church ministers at the level of people in their daily experience and lifts them up to the place where Christ sits…at the right hand of the Father on our behalf. He is our mediator, reconciling the world to God.

Hungry people need food, the depressed need a reason to live, the lonely need a friend. The destitute need a place and provision, and the tormented need deliverance. The unfulfilled need fulfillment and the insignificant need significance. This is where the people that Christ died for live. We focus on the place where people live and the place where the knowledge of Christ can bring them. Then we share the Gospel from this perspective and all that hear are helped.

The Christian needs a place to be built up, a place to bring family and friends to find fellowship and godly relationships, a place where grace and truth is offered and hope is lavishly dispensed every time the Word is brought. This is relevance…this is knowing people and what they need…this is giving it to them when they need it in a spirit of love and compassion.

What’s in your wallet? The Word of God that brings to light the plight of the sinner and the hope of forgiveness though the Cross of Christ…it is the answer to everything.

An Atheist Led me to Christ!

No kidding! This really happened…an atheist let me to Christ! I gave my life to Christ when I was 24 years old. But the journey started when I was a small kid.

At 10 years old I was standing at the ironing board pressing out the shirt I would wear that day. With six kids in the family it was difficult for Mama to get around to meeting all our individual needs. So, I was ironing my own clothes.

 The ironing board was chest high and, not being proficient in ironing, the hot iron slipped off the board and fried my chest. I screamed and ran around the kitchen looking for some relief. I ran to the freezer and scraped some of the ice that had collected around the Freon coils. In the midst of my pain and agony, Mama said, “See, God punished you!”

God punished me? That’s right, that’s what I had been told all my life. “There is a God in Heaven that sees everything that you do wrong, and He will punish you for it.” It was the Gospel according to Mama, who by the way, was the most precious little Cajun Catholic woman that ever lived. Mama wasn’t a theologian, but she was a loving and devoted mother. As a matter of fact, Mama was the greatest influence in my life. But her theology wasn’t actually biblical, and as a result, neither was mine.

 I spent the first 24 years of my life believing that the only reason that God existed was to look down from Heaven and take every opportunity availed to Him to punish me. He must have seen an opportunity when I was ironing my shirt. He zapped me! If Mama was trying to win me to the Lord, it didn’t work. However, I did have a healthy fear of God.

Growing up like I did, under Mama’s “God in Heaven” theology, kept me in Sunday Mass and helped me in some ways that I look back on and appreciate now, but it did not lead me to Christ. As a Catholic, I never found Christ. I prayed constantly, never missed Mass, didn’t curse and tried to be good. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t seem to please God. He kept on punishing me…according to Mama.

Then one day, many years later, as a Louisiana State Trooper, I met a man that claimed to be an atheist. This really messed me up. I got mad at the things he told me and the very thought that someone would not believe in God…even though my idea of God was wrong. He said he tried being a Baptist, a Catholic and even read the Bible and came to the conclusion that there was no God. Well, this made me mad. I knew there was a God in Heaven because how else could you explain all the times He punished me? So, I went on a quest to find God and prove Him to this atheist.

I did not own a Bible. However, My next door neighbor Barney did own one. And a Bible it was! He had this huge 20 pound Masonic Family Bible on his coffee table; I asked him if I could borrow it; he said yes; and I took it home and starting reading it…I was going to find out about God and convince this atheist of just how wrong he was.

While reading this huge bible I came across the following passages of scripture:

Deut: 1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

What? I couldn’t believe what I had just read. Blessed? God wanted to bless me? I knew He wanted to punish me but never that He wanted to bless me. Now, for the first time in my life I had the motivation to want to not only please God but to serve Him. To know a god that wants to bless me had to be the greatest experience mankind could have.

The impact of this truth drove me to my knees. I went to my bedroom fell to my knees and told God I was sorry for my sins and lifestyle and asked Him to forgive me. He did, and I left that room a new person. It was like 100 pounds of weight had just fallen from my shoulders.

Immediately I went to the Christian bookstore and bought my first bible. It was much later that I read in Romans 4:2, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” KJV The goodness of God had led me to repentance and salvation.

After this incredible experience with the Living God, I went back to the State Police Training Academy and begin to witness to my atheist friend. I don’t know if he came to Christ, but over the years I have led many policeman to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Simply reading my neighbor’s bible had produced faith in me…a faith that has carried me for over 35 years to serve Jesus Christ with a glad heart. This Word had guided my family and me for the majority of my life into fulfillment and significance. It still works today for anyone that will believe and obey it…even for an atheist.