Virtual Pew Sermons

The Blood

2010-03-23T11:33:00.015-06:00

Sometimes I don’t think I have much on my mind to write about, then, out of nowhere I see something that moves me, gets me thinking and inspired. I have a dear friend, Mark Hollingsworth of Compassion International who has a way of writing things that get me thinking. There are others like Jim Palmer and various others, who do the same thing, I am grateful for those who remind me of the things I need to be reminded of.

This last weekend was kind of different. I spent time doing my regular weekend homeless outreach and came across a man that reminded me of my own story. Fortunately I have a reminder of where I have come from because I have Jesus. This man I was speaking with has crystal meth and outside of that, he doesn’t have much else. As we spoke he showed me the scars on his legs from shooting up. It was as horrid a needle track scar as I have ever seen. We spoke for close to an hour, I tried to convince him of where I had come from and the answers I had found which could help him. He believed my story but was reluctant to accept my faith because of what he had seen in his life. He had an appreciation of Jesus, but was reluctant to accept him because he saw Christians as self consumed and not really caring about a homeless drug addict. I can’t help but believe that my Lord weeps when he knows that despite what so many Christians may believe, many on the streets, many facing struggles sees Christianity in such a negative way because of the examples of some. We can throw a lot of blame around, but we must accept that many of us, many of our organizations have to start mirroring the concerns and life of Christ to those around us. I know some people are critical of the answers I have heard from people like this gentleman, but I know what I have heard because I have put myself in a place to hear what people have to say. I wish more people who says they follow Jesus would get out of their comfort zone to show the people around them that Jesus tells us to love, that they are in fact, loved.

This man used The Virtual Pew cell phone to call his former landlord several times. He recently had a meth rage and did a lot of damage to his apartment. He was kicked out and worried about his violation of parole. He is looking at another 6 or 7 months of prison for the violation and is on the run. He has been spending the night wherever he can find. As I met with him, he was sober, but I was praying, praying he would get caught, praying he would turn himself in. I suggested that he turn himself in and get some help, but to no avail. We spoke for awhile before I gave him a ride to another part of town, encouraging him to turn himself in, to get into a detox center. I am concerned for this man, he is close to death, I won’t be surprised to get a phone call from someone informing me of his death because I gave him my card. He promised he would contact me if he needed to. I pray he will. Sometimes the answers seem so easy from the comfort of our easy chairs, but on the streets, in the reality of life, those easy answers are not always easy, and not always possible. Then again, we will never know that as long as we choose to live a life that provides ease to us, that provides what we want, as opposed to living a life where we give and become the hands and feet Jesus wants us to be to those who suffer.

I wonder sometimes, for those that say they follow Jesus, why are they not consumed with doing the same things he did? We say we love him, we say we follow him, but Jesus never seemed to care so much about obtaining a comfortable life as he was in serving those who were desperate for love. Many of our churches have become an example of everything that seems to be in direct contrast to the teachings of Jesus, and we wonder why we don’t have the impact on the lives of people any more than we do. We wonder why our lives don’t feel fulfilled. I can’t help but wonder, when meeting God face to face, will some of us be those that say we did all the right things only to hear the Son of God say, ‘Depart from me I never knew you.”

I have the same reminders of those who aren’t much different than me except for one thing. I have and know Jesus, I have accepted the blood that was shed and poured out for me. There is an old adage among many of the old time religious folks that talks a lot about the blood Jesus shed on the cross. They remind me of the adage that there is no forgiveness of sin outside of the blood. I am reminded by old songs like, Nothing but the Blood, or There is Power in the Blood, or even The Old Rugged Cross. There was a price to pay to provide me the forgiveness and life I now have.

The blood Jesus shed on the cross was so valuable. The author of Hebrews in the Bible tells us how important it is:

Hebrews 9:13-15 (Contemporary English Version)

(13) According to the Law of Moses, those people who become unclean are not fit to worship God. Yet they will be considered clean, if they are sprinkled with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a sacrificed calf. (14) But Christ was sinless, and he offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God. That's why his blood is much more powerful and makes our consciences clear. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do things that lead to death. (15) Christ died to rescue those who had sinned and broken the old agreement. Now he brings his chosen ones a new agreement with its guarantee of God's eternal blessings!

In the Old Testament people had to offer sacrifices. In fact, in many cultures around the world, their religions stress the importance of blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. So is the case in the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian traditions, yet in Christianity, we have an answer that solves this problem. We have a solution to the problem because Jesus was perfect, and without sin. He offered his own life up as a sacrifice, not just in a symbolic way, but in a real and literal way. I love the wording in this Hebrews passage here, Jesus rescued us from our mistakes, from the things we did wrong. But he had to shed his blood for us to have this opportunity which this passage says, guarantees us of God’s eternal blessings.

Some often ask me where I get my strength. It is from the wonder working power, the wonderful power of the blood provided by my forgiver and leader also known as my lord and savior, Jesus Christ. I realize there is nothing more powerful I could introduce my dear friends to than the blood provided and poured out in the purest love ever known. The truth is, the blood, the love of Jesus has never failed me. I am confident, if giving him a chance, it won’t fail you either. Is the total surrender to Jesus worth it? It is worth it every day and will be worth it until the day I share an embrace with my Forgiver, my Leader, but not before I spend time on the ground, weeping at his feet, thanking him for all he has done for me.

I am amazed and know I will be weeping for a number of reasons. One of those is I know that Jesus knew what the cost of forgiveness was before he even made the sacrifice. He spoke about this the last day he was with his followers prior to his being taken into custody, beaten, stripped, and ultimately killed and crucified. Read the following here to see his own understanding.

Matthew 26:27-29 (Contemporary English Version)

(27) Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to his disciples and said, "Take this and drink it. (28) This is my blood, and with it God makes his agreement with you. It will be poured out, so that many people will have their sins forgiven. (29) From now on I am not going to drink any wine, until I drink new wine with you in my Father's kingdom."

There are a lot of things we can read into this passage, but can you see where Jesus talks about the shedding of his blood so that people can have their sins forgiven? Again, remember, he is saying this prior to his own sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Jesus didn’t just go there though, he went beyond this, struggling, having difficulty with what was going to occur. We sometimes forget that while Jesus was fully God, he was also at this point a man. A man, who felt pain, knew of the events that lay ahead of him. One of the ways we can see this struggle is by what occurred when he went into the Garden after that last supper with his disciples. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and seek direction from God. Look at what occurred here:

Luke 22:43-45 (Contemporary English Version)

(43) Then an angel from heaven came to help him. (44) Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood. (45) Jesus got up from praying and went over to his disciples. They were asleep and worn out from being so sad.

We need to remember, Luke the author of this was also a physician, he knew of the medical aspects of what was occurring. It was a process that occurs due to there being webbed blood vessels around the sweat glands. Under great stress the vessels constrict and ultimately dilate until they rupture. While rare, this process known as hematohidrosis does naturally occur.

While praying over this message, while spending time in it, I realized that where many of us believe the shedding of blood begins with the cross, I realized that it actually begin with the prayers of Jesus. He was praying, realizing the sacrifice he was making for us. While this created a tremendous amount of stress to cause this phenomenon to occur, it was out of his love for us. While many may choose to not accept that love, it does not negate, or change the reality of the love Jesus offered. I often wonder due to my own weaknesses, have I really contemplated and reflected on that love. A love that was so pure the blood started to flow out of his concern for me and his willingness to put himself through the upcoming events, even prior to the cross, Jesus offered this love.

The following are passages that can help us understand the gift Jesus offered a little better. They can also help us appreciate the importance of the blood Jesus offered.

Romans 3:24-26 (Contemporary English Version)

(24) But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins. (25-26) God sent Christ to be our sacrifice. Christ offered his life's blood, so that by faith in him we could come to God. And God did this to show that in the past he was right to be patient and forgive sinners. This also shows that God is right when he accepts people who have faith in Jesus.

In the above passage, understand that verse 3:24 shows us that God treats us much better than we deserve: The Greek word charis, traditionally rendered “grace," is translated here and other places to express the overwhelming kindness of God. Whether we accept that kindness or not is not a point of question, the reality is it was offered, to not accept it may not be appreciated, but it doesn’t change the heart of the one who offered this tremendous gift. Other verses follow:

Ephesians 1:6-8 (Contemporary English Version)

(6) God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God. (7-8) Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. God has great wisdom and understanding,

Of course on the above, we have to accept that gift if we want to receive the hope, and ultimate freedom offered by Jesus.

Ephesians 2:12-14 (Contemporary English Version)

(12) At that time you did not know about Christ. You were foreigners to the people of Israel, and you had no part in the promises that God had made to them. You were living in this world without hope and without God, (13) and you were far from God. But Christ offered his life's blood as a sacrifice and brought you near God.

(14) Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and he has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us. Christ gave his own body.

We so seldom see the lack of hatred in many who call themselves followers of Christians. It is one reason that living out the message is so important, it becomes evidence that the sacrifice offered by Jesus can provide hope and change in a life where both hope is needed. We have to understand, our actions have an impact that will help others accept the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. So many of us are so much more focused on things like politics that the message of the cross, the message of the blood shed on the cross is lost. I can’t help but wonder, who is doing more damage, those of political tenancies we may disagree with, or those who forget about the purpose of the cross or at the very least, by their words and actions, take the focus of the forgiveness and liberation of the sins of the world away from the true liberating power, the blood shed on that cross? Let’s all keep in our focus, the power of the blood and the eternal consequences of the acceptance or rejection of the one offering his blood.

Hebrews 9:11-13 (Contemporary English Version)

(11) Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are now here. He also went into a much better tent that wasn't made by humans and that doesn't belong to this world. (12) Then Christ went once for all into the most holy place and freed us from sin forever. He did this by offering his own blood instead of the blood of goats and bulls. (13) According to the Law of Moses, those people who become unclean are not fit to worship God. Yet they will be considered clean, if they are sprinkled with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a sacrificed calf.

We can’t look at how good or bad a person is. While we tend to think that people are limited by their situations, by their conditions, the reality is, the power of the blood of Christ has the power to provide more, more of everything. While we may be limited by the situations we live in and face on this earth, we have to be reminded again of that word, hope, hope of eternity provided by the blood of Jesus.

1 Peter 1:18-20 (Contemporary English Version)

(18) You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don't last forever. (19) You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. (20) Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days.

We tend to have so much confidence in the material possession of life. Yet when we look at this verse the Greek word used here often, though not always, means payment of a price to free a slave or prisoner. I am reminded, as a former lifeguard, those that need rescued are destined for doom. In fact, one who thrashes, who fights the rescue normally quickens their doom. They have to submit, surrender to the one doing the rescuing. Jesus was the ultimate lifeguard. He is the one who provides salvation for this life, but more importantly, for all of eternity. Again, salvation provided by what? The blood!

I realize I am no one special, if the Son of God loves and give so much to me, I know he has done it for you. Accept it, receive it, express gratitude for it, in all ways, and in all manners, then once you enter that special place where you can do this gladly, you are at a point of worship that will produce and give more than you ever imagined, not just in the things you receive, but in the glory, honor, and praise you give to the creator of the universe.

I am grateful, that despite my own failures, I have forgiveness and salvation offered by Jesus through his blood and my acceptance of him. I realize I have done wrong, I realize I will do wrong, but I also realize the perfection of the blood shed by Jesus and what that blood has done for me. The one who loved me, and loves you, freely offered that blood that life, so we can all have a relationship with God that will last forever. Not just one day a year, week, or two, like so many seem to observe at Christmas or Easter, but for all of eternity. Think about the following in this regard:

1 John 1:6-8 (Contemporary English Version)

(6) If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. (7) But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away. (8) If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn't in our hearts.

The truth is, all of us need the blood of Christ to wash our sins away, to correct the wrongs we have done. Jesus, even before the cross, offered himself for us, he did this out of love. Yet we sometimes lack showing that love to him. We have to understand, an amazing thing in this; we show our love to Jesus, to God, by loving others. It is a part of what Jesus meant when he said that loving God, loving others is the greatest of all of the commandments. When we have kept these two, we have kept them all. It is a part of what the Bible means when it says we will know who is, and is not followers of Jesus by their love of others.

Now read the piece from Mark Hollingsworth that challenged me today. Mark can be found at MySpace and Facebook, after you read the section from Mark, I challenge you, to watch and listen to the videos in the order they are provided with your eyes closed, in prayer contemplating on what Jesus has done for you. Now the article from Mark:

Ever looking for music that will help you contemplate or pray? Or perhaps even just set the tone for your day? Here is such a piece that has provided tremendous solace and perspective: “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.” It is a continual seventy minute piece of an aging English vagabond’s heartfelt declaration of love and acceptance in the form of an old hymn. He sang it in twenty-eight seconds. But artist Gavin Bryars then took that simple prayer and looped it with tender layers of orchestration that is, at turns, both reassuring and uplifting.

Tom Waits became a fan of the piece, which was circulating as an underground cassette back in the mid-70s. He claims it is his favorite piece of music ever. Tom played his copy so often that he wore the tape out, and through much research, was able to finally track down Bryars to ask for another one. Gavin kept Waits’ enthusiasm for the project in mind, and approached Tom in the early 90s about re-recording the piece with his voice added in to the final 20 minutes…singing as a duet with the elderly homeless man. The result is, to my ears, the most moving Tom Waits singing ever recorded. I’m sure the fact that Waits spent time on the streets and riding the rails as a hobo for a time earlier in his life only added to the pathos.

Here is an edited version to give you a taste:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZVZ5NBkpw

Seventeen years ago, not long after its formal re-release, I was introduced to “Jesus’ Love Never Failed Me Yet.” Part of the liner notes penned by Bryars gives more back-story…

In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song--sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads--and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet." This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.

When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song--13 bars in length--formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.

I was puzzled until I realized that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism.

Taking Bryars’ cue, while I ran my management company back in the 90s, I would often play this over our sound system each morning, and it became a favorite of my staff. It brought a calm and intention to our work. Over the years, it has also served as a great refreshment to me in times of want, as well as a serenade in peaceful devotion. I have loaned it to many, and they have always become fans of the piece, too. We are not alone--as it has quietly sold over a million copies worldwide with no radio airplay, no glitzy marketing ploys, and no recommendations from Oprah.

It is a miraculous treatise that transcends art and becomes something even more rewarding to the soul. “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” is one of those God-breathed creations that are good medicine for any who are in need of its healing. Maybe you will become yet one more who succumbs to the curious affection emanating from this good news.

I want to thank Mark Hollingsworth for letting me share this. Mark recently lost his father, and as mentioned earlier he has been a real friend. This last year he was there for my wife and me when I lost my mother. I only pray that others will be blessed by this message, which was inspired by a dear friend who has been there for me and so many others over the years.

Now for something a little different: I am going to ask you again to watch in a prayerful, meditative state the following videos. You don’t have to watch, you can just sit back, listen and prayerfully ask God’s Holy Spirit to help you understand and contemplate on the meanings of the words to the songs.

To watch the videos just click on them, if they don’t appear, click on the link provided, I ask you to go through each video though, even though the first two may seem like duplicates, listen to them all in order:

Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZVZ5NBkpw

Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet, Longer Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZZPMPPD2cI

There is Power in the Blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVKF7gt3Cak

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhtppff37pY

The Old Rugged Cross
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-JyapQ9Ba4

Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZVZ5NBkpw

Revelation 1:4-6 (Contemporary English Version)

(4) From John to the seven churches in Asia. I pray that you will be blessed with kindness and peace from God, who is and was and is coming.

May you receive kindness and peace from the seven spirits before the throne of God.

(5) May kindness and peace be yours from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. Jesus was the first to conquer death, and he is the ruler of all earthly kings.

Christ loves us, and by his blood he set us free from our sins.

(6) He lets us rule as kings and serve God his Father as priests. To him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

Asia was in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and is present day Turkey.

Revelation 12:10-12 (Contemporary English Version)

(10) Then I heard a voice from heaven shout, "Our God has shown his saving power, and his kingdom has come!

God's own Chosen One has shown his authority.

Satan accused our people in the presence of God day and night. Now he has been thrown out!

(11) Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives.

(12) The heavens should rejoice, together with everyone who lives there. But pity the earth and the sea, because the devil was thrown down to the earth.

He knows his time is short, and he is very angry."

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What Does it Mean To Be Meek?

2009-06-07T16:59:00.008-06:00

I was asked a good question today at church as we looked at and talked about the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. The question had to do with the beatitude in Matthew 5:5 ~ Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

The question came up, what it means to be meek. There was discussion of the meaning of the word and I looked in my Bible and saw that it had been translated humble. After some dicsussion I said that it is what it said in the Greek and that to argue that point would be something that would have to be taken up other places. Well my answer was a little quick, even though my bible translated the word that way, (which I think is a good and appropriate translation) and Vines also translates one of the meanings of the word as humility.

That said, I thought I would do a posting today related to this Beatitude. Let’s think about this saying by Jesus which in some ways was meant to shock the hearer, but to also challenge us, as does the rest of the Sermon on the Mount to take our faith and our walk a little more seriously.

Taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously and applying its content was as difficult for the people hearing it during Jesus time as it is now. It is intended, some would say, to challenge us in our walk with God. Part of the sermon is to challenge us to live out the concepts of the teachings and laws of the Old Testament and to be as much like Jesus as humanly possible. I don’t believe as some theologian’s do that the Sermon on the Mount is not for us, or that it isn’t intended to be taken literally. I believe God inspired both Luke and Matthew to record the sermon, it was placed in the Bible, and the concepts of it, while difficult, are possible to live by, with practice and a submissive spirit. That said, let’s look at the word meek a little more.

The following is taken from Vines Dictionary of the Bible and uses the Strong’s Concordance of the Bible in looking at the Greek definition.

Meek, Meekness: an earlier form, denotes "meekness." In its use in Scripture, in which it has a fuller, deeper significance than in nonscriptural Greek writings, it consists not in a person's "outward behavior only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as little in his mere natural disposition. Rather it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word tapeinophrosune [humility], and follows directly upon it, Eph 4:2; Col 3:12; cp. the adjectives in the Sept. of Zep 3:12, "meek and lowly;" . . . it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect" (Trench, Syn. xlii). In Gal 5:23 it is associated with enkrateia, "self-control."

The meaning of prautes "is not readily expressed in English, for the terms meekness, mildness, commonly used, suggest weakness and pusillanimity to a greater or less extent, whereas prautes does nothing of the kind. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find a rendering less open to objection than 'meekness'; 'gentleness' has been suggested, but as prautes describes a condition of mind and heart, and as 'gentleness' is appropriate rather to actions, this word is no better than that used in both English Versions. It must be clearly understood, therefore, that the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power. The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was 'meek' because he had the infinite resources of God at His command. Described negatively, meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all.

"In 2Cr 10:1 the Apostle appeals to the 'meekness . . . of Christ.' Christians are charged to show 'all meekness toward all men,' Tts 3:2, for meekness becomes 'God's elect,' Col 3:12. To this virtue the 'man of God' is urged; he is to 'follow after meekness' for his own sake, 1Ti 6:11 (the best texts have No. 2 here, however), and in his service, and more especially in his dealings with the 'ignorant and erring,' he is to exhibit 'a spirit of meekness,' 1Cr 4:21; Gal 6:1; even 'they that oppose themselves' are to be corrected in meekness, 2Ti 2:25. James exhorts his 'beloved brethren' to 'receive with the meekness the implanted word,' 1:21. Peter enjoins 'meekness' in setting forth the grounds of the Christian hope, 3:15." *
[* From Notes on Galatians, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 294, 295.]

In some additional study of the word meek I was somewhat surprised at the teachings and beliefs that I came across. For example, this passage is considered by many as the "gateway of nonviolence taught by Jesus." This is especially true when looking at translations outside of the English. The sense of humility, gentleness and more are looked at in some detail here. In Spanish translations we see the translation of “los mansos,” meaning mild, in French we see “doux,” meaning sweetness. Even in German we see various translations such as Luther’s “Sanftmutigen,” which means sweet, and the ecumenical translation of “Einheits Bibel,” which translates to those who do not act with violence and are in fact, non violent. Even the English translation of the word “praius,” which generally translates to “the gentle.”

It is easy to see why some take the position they do regarding the concept of being meek. It is also easy to understand why some struggle with the concepts presented by Jesus, both here and in other areas of The Sermon on the Mount.

As I stated in church this morning, I am not telling people how to think, or what to think, I am just challenging them to think. For those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus, we must take seriously the teachings of Jesus. We cannot, we must not, come to the conclusion we want regarding Jesus’ teachings, in fact, we should, we must, try to understand and accept Jesus’ teachings for what they are.

Dr. Margaret Dorgan states: “’Blessed are the meek.’ In English, the word meek derives from the Anglo-Saxon and carries an aspect of timidity. Actually, the Greek word used by Matthew is meant to convey gentleness, humility, a level of courtesy and considerateness in dealing with others. It does not signify a kind of cowardly or submissive surrender.

We live in a competitive world. We are encouraged to forge ahead even at the cost of wounded relationships. Jesus has a very different message. “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” And where will His lesson lead us? “Your souls will find rest.” (Mt 11:29). The heart of Jesus wants to help us establish our own hearts in a peace that surpasses human understanding. We don't give up responsibility to improve the circumstances in which we find ourselves. No, we forge ahead with energy. But the meekness which Christ urges would keep power under control. “Speak gently and respectfully,” the First Epistle of Peter advises us (3:16).

Anger is easily aroused when we are disappointed in the outcome of events. Sometimes we too readily find a target for our rage by blaming other people. Then we give up what Jesus has promised. We do not inherit the land of Matthew's beatitude. Instead we lose territory as anger grounds us in the boundaries of a self-centered certitude. Alas, blessedness has given way to an unhappy isolation we have brought upon ourselves.

Peter's epistle tells us to leave this imprisonment holding us captive in such a small space. “Be like-minded, sympathetic, loving toward one another, kindly disposed and humble. Do not return insult for insult. Return a blessing instead” (1Pt 3: 8,9).

The meekness Christ helps us develop, results in a calm appraisal of events. We weigh them carefully and see where a gentle spirit might bring about some degree of improvement for everyone involved. Injustice is not condoned; we struggle to help the oppressed. That is how we spread the blessedness Jesus gives us as our inheritance. “May the Lord bless you more and more. May you be blessed by the Lord Who made heaven and earth” (Ps 115:14, 15).”

As I stated earlier, I am not here to tell you what to think, just to think. I don’t have the answers, in fact, the only answer I have is Jesus. I do know this though, God, through His Holy Spirit can challenge each of us as to the truth of his word if we will but open up our hearts and minds, and admit we don’t know it all, and approach it with a spirit and attitude of openness.

When we approach what I call hard passages of the Bible, and the Sermon on the Mount certainly falls into that category, with an attitude of being open to doing what God calls us to, we can, and will receive the blessings God has for us. Those blessings are a free gift, but we have to take seriously the need to change behavior that needs to be changed, even when that behavior challenges us to live and be different than what we are used to. That said, what do you think Jesus meant when he stated, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”?

I think I looked harder for this video than any video I have ever looked for. While it isn't perfect, it still gets the point across. I hope you enjoy it and get something out of it. Just click on the video, if the video don't appear, just click on the link:

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c9ab5567605c1e1ba0da

Click here to follow The Virtual Pew on Twitter

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Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.comYou can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

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Whatever Happened To Love?

2009-01-15T11:33:00.013-06:00

Today, worship will be at the end of the service, but we do want to start out with a new band that has started up here at Mosaic. The name of the new band at Mosaic is Broken Pieces, Mary Jane, Garrett, and Angel will be playing guitar and doing vocals, Chris is on percussion. I will be playing bass and helping with vocals. The name Broken Pieces comes from the concept of a Mosaic is made up of broken pieces. Hopefully we will continue to practice and do more of the worship service in the future, until then, here is a song that is an illustration for todays service, titled, Whatever Happened to Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAOlX2tkTjM

Slam Original © by Mike Furches/Barry De Fleron: Whatever Happened To Love

Whatever happened to love? Whatever happened to caring for each other?
What happened to building up instead of tearing down?
Whatever happened to, whatever happened to love?

You say you love me you say that you care
Come on now punk I got brains beneath my hair
I know what’s a happenin I know what’s real
You talkin at my back with all kinds of zeal.

You say this and you say that,
Expect me to believe you well that’s just phat
Who do I believe? Well you’re not one,
You’re just pretendin to have God’s son.

You say you know me sayin it’s not true
Just answer me this if you dare to.

Whatever happened to love? …. (Repeat 1st Stanza)

Jesus came and then Jesus died
It’s because of him that we won’t be fried.
He don’t ask all that much of us
Just love him and others and not make a fuss.

Sometimes we talk sometimes we pretend
But that won’t hack it in the very end
You say you love me show me that it’s true
Come on now show me by the things you do.

You don’t like a hearin what I say
Well just answer me this rhyme right now today.

Whatever happened to love? …. (Repeat 1st Stanza)

A friend of mine, a pioneer in Jesus Music named Barry DeFleron wrote the original song Whatever Happened to Love. I use the chorus from that song here, but I wrote the verse and bridge as well as did the arrangement. There is a long story there but I will simply say that many times it is easy for us to conveniently quit loving. I don’t know how many times I have heard people say in a variety of situations, I just don’t love you any more. I am grateful that the love of God, the love provided by Jesus don’t quit on us, don’t change for us. But our actions don’t always show and mirror the love of Jesus.

I would ask, what kind of excuses do we make to not show others love? Do we ever say things like: ‘I don’t have the time?’ ‘You don’t understand what they did to me.’ Or, ‘Well brother I love them but you know I can only do so much.’?

Today we are going to do more of an expository message where we are going to look at Scripture, talk about it some and then go on to the next scripture. I want to look at the passage in the Bible 1st John Chapter 3.

1st John 3 makes it clear: A child of God is to love one another in word and in deed. Let’s look at what the passage says in the first three verses.

1 John 3: 1-3
Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world do not know who Christ is, they don’t know who we are. My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is. This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy.

We all need to understand once in Heaven our imperfections will be gone. We will be like Jesus. Here there is an incredible component that I don’t know if most folks understand. You see, God has adopted us as his children. This is an incredible concept that adoptive parents understand, often their children, but others outside of those who have adopted don’t fully understand. Adoption has as a part of its root, a choice, a decision that one makes to accept one as family, as blood.

In my own life, through the adoption of my son I have come to understand this, and I come to understand it more the older I get. Hopefully my son also understands it. I will never forget being told about the reality of getting my son with less than a weeks notice. We had to go do what seemed to be like a test drive to see if we wanted our son. He was less than a month old and we were to meet him and the foster parents at the Adoption Center, Bethany Christian Services in Greenville South Carolina. We went in, held him and in our amazement was told to go talk about it. My wife and I stated we didn’t need to but was encouraged to at least go eat lunch and talk about it.

My wife, Mary Jane and I were across the street at the Burger King for only a few moments and we realized there was nothing to talk about. We knew in our heart of hearts that God was giving us our son. He had been called Jake by the foster parents, and we ended up naming him Nathaniel William Seth, he was ours as much as our daughters was.

It was interesting that during this presentation at church, Nicholas reminded us that in Jewish customs, that a good Jew could denounce their relationship with one of their own children, but once adopting a child, that child was their responsibility for life, no matter what. God has adopted us into his family; we are his no matter what. God has shown us all that much love by taking us, adopting us into his family.

We need to realize that we become like Jesus through life. We will be totally like him once in Heaven. That doesn’t change the fact that we are becoming more and more like Jesus. Heaven and the things that our relationship to God, through adoption, brings us, doesn’t have to wait until we get into Heaven, it in fact can start now.

There is not a lot of insight into what Heaven is like in the Bible. Human language is so limited it can’t even begin to describe Heaven. While that is the case we need to also understand that if we are obedient to Christ and his teachings we will experience glimpses of Heaven.

Now let’s move on and look at the next part of this passage:

Verse 4-8
Everyone who sins breaks God’s law, because sin is the same as breaking God’s law. You know that Christ came to take away sins. He isn’t sinful, and people who stay one in their hearts with him won’t keep on sinning. If they do keep on sinning, they don’t know Christ, and they have never seen him.

Children, don’t be fooled. Anyone who does right is good, just like Christ himself. Anyone who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil. He has sinned from the beginning, but the Son of God came to destroy all that he has done.

We can not continue to practice our sin; we must practice Jesus’ righteousness. This is a part of each of us taking on the nature of Jesus in our relationship and acceptance of him. We must realize that as we become as Jesus that Jesus had no sin, being absent from sin he can advocate on our behalf for our sins. If unwilling to change our practice of sin we must question if we really have relationship and or know God. The truth here is according to that this passage says, if we don’t change, we belong to the devil.

Part of being born again is receipt of the Holy Spirit into our lives. The Holy Spirit will make the desire to continue sinning unacceptable in our lives. Now understand, we continue to sin due to the fact that we are not perfect. The nature of Christ, His seed, His Holy Spirit dwells in us & makes us uncomfortable about it though. We will want to change our behaviors when it comes to doing wrong. If we don’t want to change we again, don’t have a relationship with Jesus.

This is not always easy because it is not in our nature. We have to understand though; the nature of Christ is not the same as ours. There is the story of the scorpion and the frog. A scorpion and a frog needed to cross a body of water, the frog would have no trouble but the scorpion couldn’t swim. It asked the frog to ride on his back across the water, “You’ll sting me and kill me,” the frog replied.

The scorpion emphatically replied, “No I won’t, for to sting you would assure the death of us both.”

Reluctantly the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the water. Halfway across the frog felt the sting of the scorpion. “What have you done?” asked the frog, “now we will both surely die.” The scorpion replied, “I couldn’t help myself, it is in me nature.”

When looking at ones nature we can think about things like the nature of a pig, a dog in heat. Only imagine what characteristics are within our own nature that has to change. Yet, they must change and will change as we take on the nature of Jesus in our life.

When looking at the nature of Christ, we see his nature to hate and abstain from sin. He gives us a new nature where we will take on this same nature, we will not want to sin, we will do our best to abstain from doing the things that displeases God.

Now lets look some more at the passage in 1st John by looking at Verse 9-13,
God’s children cannot keep on being sinful. His life-giving power lives in them and makes them his children, so they cannot keep on sinning. You can tell God’s children from the devil’s children, because those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other.

From the beginning you were told that you must love each other. Don’t be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he was evil. My friends don’t be surprised if the people of this world hate you.

Our actions indicate to others who belongs to God and who don’t. Our unwillingness to change indicates that we aren’t born again, no matter how many times we have raised our hands or prayed a prayer. Going forward at a crusade doesn’t make you a Christian any more than eating a Big Mac makes you a hamburger.

If you don’t struggle with sin and have a desire to change, you don’t belong to God. Christ gave two commandments. Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength love your neighbor as yourself. The world will see followers of Jesus or Christians as a goody two shoes, religious fanatic, Jesus Freaks, and more. When this happens be of good cheer, it is one of the marks that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. I firmly believe that righteous behavior and actions make others feel guilty and ultimately they hate us for making them feel that way.

Lets continue now with this passage by looking at verses 14-16
Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don’t love each other, you are still under the power of death. If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know that murderers do not have eternal life. We know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That’s why we must give our lives for each other.

Loving each other is proof to the world and ourselves that Jesus lives. It is here that many make their mistakes; Christians seem to find reason to justify hate, or to redefine the true meaning of love. On this point, realize, hating is equivalent to murder.

When looking at, and thinking about what love is we need to think about the real example; look at the cross Jesus said, “If you are to be my disciples you must take up your cross and follow me daily.”

This scripture then makes it hard for many. These next verses are among those I call the “Hard Sayings of the Bible.”

Verse 17, 18
If we have all we need and see one of our own people in need, we must have pity on that person, or else we cannot say we love God. Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, not by merely talking about it.

I have a t-shirt I had designed some years ago. It has Furches, Magic with a Message on the front of the t-shirt and on the back it has this passage. I can’t tell you the times I have worn one of those t-shirts and someone would tell me they didn’t know that passage was in the Bible. That says something about the teachings in churches, and the life practices of many who call themselves Christian.

We have to understand, feeling sorry for someone is not love. We can talk the talk, but we have to walk the talk, actions always speak louder than words, and unfortunately on this point, most don’t have the actions to show that they are living out at least this one passage.

How important is it to love, 1st John goes on to give us further instruction in the next set of verses, 19-21
When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God. But even if we don’t feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near him.

What we do will prove what we believe. Our actions indicate the reality of the relationship we have with Jesus. We have to make sure that those actions are not centered on ourselves but directed towards others through service and love.

If we want an example, remember, Jesus ministry was largely to the poor, and needy. He is the ultimate model of who to follow. If we have trouble knowing what to do, remember, sometimes we can’t trust our own hearts; we deceive ourselves, and others. Our actions are the proof God has changed our heart and that he is greater than our sin.

In wrapping up, lets now look at verses 22-24
He will give us whatever we ask, because we obey him and do what pleases him. God wants us to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do. If we obey God’s commandments, we will stay one in our hearts with him, and he will stay one with us. The Spirit that he has given us is proof that we are one with him.

Now in this passage, understand, verse 22 is often taken way out of context. The key to this principal is that we have to obey God and do what pleases him. This passage is about serving & loving others, not loving & serving ourselves & our own desires. It should be noted, that the more we become like Jesus, the more of the things Jesus wants will become the things we want. This isn’t a passage for claiming cars, homes, money and so forth, it is a passage that is encouraging us to become more like Jesus, and wanting the things Jesus wants.

Jesus is talking to his disciples and followers here remember, he also stated, “If you are to be my disciples you must take up your cross and follow me daily. There is also the need to his restatement as well as the apostles and writers of the New Testament of the great commandment, Jesus is our Lord our God, love him, believe in him, love each other just as he has told us to. When we obey God’s word we live in fellowship with Christ and each other. He is with us and we are with him.

We need to look at ways we can show others love in our own life, but we need to do the same as a church. In the wrestling community there are often people looking for locations to host certain events. I recently let the state coaching certification director know they could use Mosaic. One of the things that surprised many is we were willing to let them use the premises without charge.

I have been thinking about other ways can use the facility to facilitate ministry; one idea is ministry to the poor and needy, homeless, and so forth. Free coffee, food on occasion, and a service of some type to this community is one way of letting others know we really love them, how we love them, how we continue that love has a bearing on how they see Jesus.

Let’s pray; Father help us love, help me love. Lord may those we come into contact with see you through our actions.

Right now I am going to have us take a small break. I want to encourage people, a part of worship is giving, if you are a part of Mosaic, you have a responsibility to help the ministry of the church, if you are reading this and participating on line, you have the responsibility to find a ministry that you can support. It could be a ministry like Mosaic, The Virtual Pew, even Compassion International or some other ministry doing important work. If you are a part of a local congregation or group, support those groups.

Now let’s take some time to relax, spend some time with each other, and if at home or at work, then call a friend or family member and let them know you love them. After that then come on back and we will participate in worship together.

Welcome back, now as we enter into worship, you know a lot of the message requires most of us to change our heart. With that said, here is a great worship song to remind us of this need.

Change My Heart O God:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjUvoynGMM

Sometimes we have a hard time letting God change our hearts. More often than not this is because of the pride we have.

Lay Down My Pride:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjnF4sC0eqA

Once we are willing to give up our pride, surrender to the call of God, we realize that we start being with God on a daily basis. Once with God we realize there is no better place to be.

Better is One Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIluG4xUXCU

How does this change come about, it comes about through the Holy Spirit giving us the ability to allow it to happen, we just have to surrender.

Holy Fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW4aCmI_uiw

I know some of this sounds crazy today, but we serve a God who can make all things possible, including the possibility of loving others. You know the word Halleluiah means “Praise God.” While in a fun way, this next song is a reminder of the goodness and the joy of praising God. Let’s all have some fun with this one as we reflect on the joy God can bring in our life.

Cartoons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWFJ_rykyA4

I hope you have all been challenged today to love more, to love The Least, The Lost, and The Last, in fact we are all there, we are all among these population groups in some way or the other.

Father God, thank you for each of the folks who participated in this service in one way or another. I ask with all sincerity your blessings on each of them. Bless their day, bless their life’s, no matter who they are, enemy or friend, may your grace, may your love touch each person. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen!

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

Click to visit with Pastor Mike regarding any of your needs. He will respond to each request personally, and if need be refer you to one of our other pastors.

Click to visit and join the new group The Virtual Pew, at MySpace. Become a part of a different kind of Christian group, check out the page for more information,all welcome, including those who are not followers of Jesus.

Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

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Click to visit Mary Jane Furches' new MySpace Page

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.comYou can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.Here is our contact information

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P.O. Box 17731
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You Can Do It!

2009-01-04T19:35:00.011-06:00

Today I was really blessed that I got to participate with the worship team. I am at heart, a musician and as any other musician will tell you, there is something special about the worship experience when you get to play your instrument. It is for that reason, that I appreciate Brian Hickey and Chris Atherton allowing me to play along today. That said, let’s all think about the words and music in today’s worship time. Join in, sing along, or simply put on the head phones, or turn up the volume and enjoy.

Trading my Sorrows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KsfwvpcQhY

Sometimes I think of how much love I need? I think we are all at that point and we need to realize, I need to realize, that as long as I depend on people I will never have enough, when I depend on God though, my attitude changes.

Enough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI9RIbaa87I

I know when I hear from others, especially in regards to the struggles I have gone through that God uses you to share your love with me. I know that in reality, this is how we show God that we love him. God loves us through the hands and arms of others. Of course his love is far more perfect than we are, but it is a place where God wants us to be, that is, being his arms, feet, voice, and love.

Love is Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3rCB97_lKE

God is an incredible God, we don’t really stop enough to ponder his love for us. Use this song to move you in that direction.

God of Wonders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f76mSbNnFQ4

Let’s pray, Father God, you are enough, you are a God of wonders who has shown each of us how much you love us. Father, let us be instruments of love to show others how much you love them. Thank you for loving us enough to want to use us, let us be satisfied in what you want for us dear God. Thank you for all you have done in my life, in our life, be with us and let us all be grateful for what you have done for us, and what you are going to do through us. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Now let’s take that infamous Virtual Pew Coffee Break. Take some time, get a cookie a cup of coffee, and then do what you ought to be doing anyway, give someone a call, tell them you love them. Take some time to let those around you know that you are different in how you live your life, how you live your faith. Then I also want you to remember the need to support some ministry, whether it is a church you belong to, or a ministry that blesses you in one way or another. Then step back up into your pew seat and enjoy the rest of the service.
Welcome back! I hope that cup of coffee, or beverage of your choice was good. Some have seen the movie The Water Boy with Adam Sandler. While you may or may not like this movie, you can’t deny the contribution it has made to American Language. In fact there is one saying in the movie that is used in virtually every movie made by Sandler since then. The saying is even in the new movie Bedtime Stories. How many can remember the phrase famous from the movie The Water Boy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

There is a little bit of a difference in the new movie Bedtime Stories, instead of You Can Do It! We hear the phrase from Rob Schneider, “I Can Do It.”

As I look at the message today, I am reminded of the making sure I understand the vision of The Virtual Pew and Mosaic. There has to be a difference in the world view which we have in comparison to other churches, for example last weeks message at Mosaic by Nicholas St. John where he asked the question about the church being a church that sees her people as people made in the image of God, loved by God, and once coming to God, as Saints with freedom and liberty given by God. The Church is a church in reality, seen as saints as opposed to being seen as sinners. It is an attitude thing, an attitude in the reality of what God has made those who choose to follow after Christ.

Mosaic and The Virtual Pew muse see itself as a church that realizes the importance of prayer, not just individual but corporate. It is for certain, that all churches, all Christians, all who have a relationship with Christ will want to build on and grow in their relationship with God, that starts and in some ways, ends with prayer.

Mosaic and The Virtual Pew must see themselves as a church that sees value in getting to know, care for, and love each other. So many churches, so many people who say they are Christians do such a wonderful job of talking about their need for love, yet few actually do a good job of showing love. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it when people show me love, not just tell me about it. In fact, I am kind of tired of all of those, Christian or not, who talk about love, who talk about a God type relationship, but in reality, do nothing to live out the concept. We all struggle with this at times, but realizing that we struggle with this, and then taking the step to be better than this and then actually try to love others by our words and actions is an important step for those who say they love Jesus, want to follow him, and then have relationship with one another.

The Virtual Pew and Mosaic must be a church that understands the value of serving the community in areas of service, justice and power of God. This is an area that we seem to neglect, and then wonder why it is that so few want anything to do with this thing we call church. When we show we care about the struggles others are going through, when we care about social justice and serving the “least of these” then they will know we really do care about them. In fact when we do these things, Jesus went so far as to say it was as if we did it directly “unto me,” Jesus speaking of him. When the church goes out of its way to do these things, then the church is doing what it is supposed to be and followers of Jesus are living the way Christ has commanded them to live.

Mosaic and The Virtual Pew must realize we are a church that realizes we are involved in a war with real consequences, victories, and yes losses. The Bible talks about this being a spiritual war we are involved in. We have to see these daily battles, these daily struggles as battles in that war. We have to realize that there are spiritual things going on around us that are having an impact. If we truly realize the implications of the battles we are involved n then we will desire to not loose any of those battles to Satan and instead want to win them all for God.

Now I realize many won’t like what I am going to say now, but I have found it to be truth. When we recognize the above areas, begin to apply them in our life, we will see Satan attacking our individual lives, the church, our families, and trying to tear the church apart. Satan will have issues with us as followers of Jesus, both as individuals and as a corporate body taken on the causes of Christ. He will attack us, there is no doubt about it but we have to remember, war is not easy, war is not fun, but this war is necessary.

How have you been looking at the difficulties in your life, in the local church, or in the larger Universal Church? When life gets tough, when you don’t think you or the church can do it anymore, remember:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

Today I have a long passage from the Bible I want us to look at, it is actually 2 chapters. I want you to take the time to read it, think about the story it is telling and then let’s get ready to move on from there.

Numbers 13, 14
(1) The LORD said to Moses, (2) " Choose a leader from each tribe and send them into Canaan to explore the land I am giving you."
(3) So Moses sent twelve tribal leaders from Israel's camp in the Paran Desert (4 -16) with orders to explore the land of Canaan. And here are their names: Shammua son of Zaccur from Reuben, Shaphat son of Hori from Simeon, Caleb son of Jephunneh from Judah, Igal son of Joseph from Issachar, Joshua son of Nun from Ephraim, Palti son of Raphu from Benjamin, Gaddiel son of Sodi from Zebulun, Gaddi son of Susi from Manasseh, Ammiel son of Gemalli from Dan, Sethur son of Michael from Asher, Nahbi son of Vophsi from Naphtali, and Geuel son of Machi from Gad.
(17) Before Moses sent them into Canaan, he said: After you go through the Southern Desert of Canaan, continue north into the hill country (18) and find out what those regions are like. Be sure to remember how many people live there, how strong they are, (19 -20) and if they live in open towns or walled cities. See if the land is good for growing crops and find out what kinds of trees grow there. It's time for grapes to ripen, so try to bring back some of the fruit that grows there.
(21) The twelve men left to explore Canaan from the Zin Desert in the south all the way to the town of Rehob near Lebo-Hamath in the north. (22) As they went through the Southern Desert, they came to the town of Hebron, which was seven years older than the Egyptian town of Zoan. In Hebron, they saw the three Anakim clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai. (23 -24) When they got to Bunch Valley, they cut off a branch with such a huge bunch of grapes, that it took two men to carry it on a pole. That's why the place was called Bunch Valley. Along with the grapes, they also took back pomegranates and figs.
(25) After exploring the land of Canaan forty days, (26) the twelve men returned to Kadesh in the Paran Desert and told Moses, Aaron, and the people what they had seen. They showed them the fruit (27) and said: Look at this fruit! The land we explored is rich with milk and honey. (28) But the people who live there are strong, and their cities are large and walled. We even saw the three Anakim clans. (29) Besides that, the Amalekites live in the Southern Desert; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites are in the hill country; and the Canaanites live along the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. (30) Caleb calmed down the crowd and said, “Let’s go and take the land. I know we can do it!"
(31) But the other men replied, “Those people are much too strong for us." (32) Then they started spreading rumors and saying, “We won't be able to grow anything in that soil. And the people are like giants. (33) In fact, we saw the Nephilim who are the ancestors of the Anakim. They were so big that we felt as small as grasshoppers."

Numbers 14

(1) After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night (2) and complained to Moses and Aaron, “We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out here in the desert! (3) Is the LORD leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed and our women and children captured? We'd be better off in Egypt." (4) Then they said to one another, “Let’s choose our own leader and go back."
(5) Moses and Aaron bowed down to pray in front of the crowd. (6) Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in sorrow (7) and said: We saw the land ourselves, and it's very good. (8) If we obey the LORD, he will surely give us that land rich with milk and honey. (9) So don't rebel. We have no reason to be afraid of the people who live there. The LORD is on our side, and they won't stand a chance against us!
(10) The crowd threatened to stone Moses and Aaron to death. But just then, the LORD appeared in a cloud at the sacred tent.
(11) The LORD said to Moses, “I have done great things for these people, and they still reject me by refusing to believe in my power. (12) So they will no longer be my people. I will destroy them, but I will make you the ancestor of a nation even stronger than theirs."
(13 -16) Moses replied: With your mighty power you rescued your people from Egypt, so please don't destroy us here in the desert. If you do, the Egyptians will hear about it and tell the people of Canaan. Those Canaanites already know that we are your people, and that we see you face to face. And they have heard how you lead us with a thick cloud during the day and flaming fire at night. But if you kill us, they will claim it was because you weren't powerful enough to lead us into Canaan as you promised.
(17) Show us your great power, LORD. You promised (18) that you love to show mercy and kindness. And you said that you are very patient, but that you will punish everyone guilty of doing wrong--not only them but their children and grandchildren as well.
(19) You are merciful, and you treat people better than they deserve. So please forgive these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.
(20) Then the LORD said to Moses: In answer to your prayer, I do forgive them. (21) But as surely as I live and my power has no limit, (22 -23) I swear that not one of these Israelites will enter the land I promised to give their ancestors. These people have seen my power in Egypt and in the desert, but they will never see Canaan. They have disobeyed and tested me too many times.
(24) But my servant Caleb isn't like the others. So because he has faith in me, I will allow him to cross into Canaan, and his descendants will settle there.
(25) Now listen, Moses! The Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys of Canaan. And tomorrow morning, you'll need to turn around and head back into the desert toward the Red Sea.
(26) The LORD told Moses and Aaron (27 -28) to give this message to the people of Israel: You sinful people have complained against me too many times! Now I swear by my own life that I will give you exactly what you wanted. (29) You will die right here in the desert, and your dead bodies will cover the ground. You have insulted me, and none of you men who are over twenty years old (30) will enter the land that I solemnly promised to give you as your own--only Caleb and Joshua will go in. (31) You were worried that your own children would be captured. But I, the LORD, will let them enter the land you have rejected. (32) You will die here in the desert! (33) Your children will wander around in this desert forty years, suffering because of your sins, until all of you are dead. (34) I will cruelly punish you every day for the next forty years--one year for each day that the land was explored. (35) You sinful people who ganged up against me will die here in the desert.
(36) Ten of the men sent to explore the land had brought back bad news and had made the people complain against the LORD. (37) So he sent a deadly disease that killed those men, (38) but he let Joshua and Caleb live.
(39) The people of Israel were very sad after Moses gave them the Lord’s message. (40) So they got up early the next morning and got ready to head toward the hill country of Canaan. They said, “We were wrong to complain about the LORD. Let's go into the land that he promised us."
(41) But Moses replied, “You’re disobeying the LORD! Your plan won't work, (42 -43) so don't even try it. The LORD refuses to help you, because you turned your backs on him. The Amalekites and the Canaanites are your enemies, and they will attack and defeat you."
(44) But the Israelites ignored Moses and marched toward the hill country, even though the sacred chest and Moses did not go with them. (45) The Amalekites and the Canaanites came down from the hill country, defeated the Israelites, and chased them as far as the town of Hormah.

One of the sad things about this story, is the people didn’t remember that when it came to God, their response should have been:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

Many, estimate that millions had gone on the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. They all had the chance to see the Promised Land, however, only 2 got to go into the land to live. Imagine going on the greatest vacation ever and you only get to look in through the gates. You don’t spend time there, you don’t realize what lays ahead for you, you only take a quick glance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33HUjLT5zVU

There were respected leaders selected to scout out the territory in the Bible story above, 12 in all. All of the leaders, plus Moses got to see the Promised Land but didn’t get to go in. Only two, Joshua and Caleb got to go into the Promised Land. They all saw the potential harvest, and the large amount of fruit, but most focused on the obstacles more than they did the potential. Are we like that? I know that I often am, I have to remind myself of the very thing Joshua and Caleb knew:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

How do we see things, do we see the positive and potential or do we see the negative and hazards? We have to realize that with God living within us, all things are possible, we have to remember, that greater is he who is in us, than he who is in the world. We have to also remember, that with God, all things are possible. Are we taking what we should know from what the Bible tells us and applying it in our lives? Or are we living in the same ol defeated, making excuses life that provides nothing but misery and heartache? If we want things to be different, we have to act different, a good place to start for those that love Jesus is to realize that because of God living in us, “We can do it!”

Often: when we see or experience the negative we blame people. Remember Satan is our enemy, not people. We tend to get angry, become upset at people, I know it is easy to do, but while those people are responsible for their actions, Satan is enemy, not them, in fact, they are people Jesus loves and wants to provide hope and salvation for.

In the above story out of the Bible notice how Moses, Joshua and Caleb call the people to prayer and then they pray. It was easy to be repentant at the time, but did you notice how the people responded initially when called to prayer? They wanted to stone Moses, Joshua and Caleb. They were not receptive to what these three men of God had to say.

In the process we can see that the Lord honored those who honored him, those who had confidence in him, those who trusted him, despite the difficulties that lay ahead at the time. The nature of God doesn’t change. God wants people to quit making excuses, he wants people to follow through with the vision and purpose he has, that is true for Mosaic, and The Virtual Pew. It is even more importantly true in the lives of the people hearing this, or reading this. God don’t want you giving up on him! He doesn’t want you making excuses, finding fault, quitting on the very thing he has brought into existence. The truth is, sometimes we try to make spiritual excuses to quit the things God has lead us to, we have all been taken to the place God wanted us in a church, in a fellowship or in the life of another, and then backed out, quit at times not realizing the full potential of what God was going to do, we have even been critical of those who led us on the journey, the ones God has given vision and hope to.

Remember as I stated above, the nature of God don’t change. The Lord becomes angry at those that have forgotten what he has done for them. I don’t think God appreciates quitters because quitting shows that there is a lack of faith in the ability of God to do exactly what he said he was going to do. Too many of us quit on loving people, we quit on churches that we think we need to move from, we quit on the heart of being different than the institutional church because we find it easier to join a bigger mega church where we can hide, we can go on and on why we haven’t fulfilled the mission and calling God has on us, but the nature of God don’t change. We should never forget what God has done for us, and what he wants to do through us. Any church, any group that allows one to hide behind the numbers in the sanctuary has forgotten about the fact that God chooses to use people go grow churches, to grow people in their faith. On this point, I don’t hold that God always gets what he wants here, it is a theology that can be quite dangerous, to assume that theology is correct would be to assume that God desires abortions to take place, that God desires for innocent children to be killed by drunk drivers, or deranged husbands. It has to simply be understood, things happen that God don’t desire, we are the instruments of that in that he has given us a free-will to make stupid decisions. Just like those in the story above. There were 12 who went in, 10 who lacked faith in the ability of God to deliver, although they had seen God deliver them time, and time again.

God wants us to know this about him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

We need to get rid of Murphy’s Law, you know where we are told that something will inevitably go wrong. The law should be for the person who professes faith in Jesus Christ that there is nothing too difficult with Christ.

One of the things to realize is that how we ask a question makes a difference in the results we see, are we asking negatively or positively. Not just in the questions related to what God can do through us, but in the things God wants to do for us. A Recent Army kitchen survey showed that when serving apricots in the military mess hall, that when asking: Wouldn’t want a bowl of apricots would you? 40% said yes. Then when asking the question: Would you like a bowl of apricots? 50% said yes. Notice the improvement with the slightest of change, but then notice that when asked the question: Would you like 1 bowl or 2 bowls of apricots? 50% said 1 bowl, 40% stated 2 bowls only 10% with none. It’s how we ask the question, see the issue. Our attitude, and heart makes a difference. Not only do we have to ask things differently of others, we have to live differently. Some think this is not possible, I say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

We are the ones that determine how we look at things; no one can make us look at things in a negative light if we realize that Christ is the one that can do all things, or even yet, that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. When we quit, when we lack faith in God’s ability, we don’t look like we believe these things, our lives show it, and those that are looking to us for answers see it. What is really sad is the actions we take when we do realize it, it isn’t that much different than those in the story involving Joshua and Caleb. We don’t have the attitude of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

Asking the right questions and responding to what we think is the right answer has to still be done God’s way. I remember a guy who moved into my house in Oklahoma. He was one of three Christians that forgot about Christian obligation while living in that house. He signed a one year lease, and after being there for a short period of time contacted me to tell me that God had called him to another ministry location so would I let him out of the lease agreement. I reminded him, in a loving way of course, that if God had called him to his present job, had moved him to sign a one-year-lease and then called him to another church, that God would provide a way to maintain his financial obligation to pay the rent on the house until the house was rented out to someone else. He didn’t like it, but the truth is, God don’t call people to churches, don’t call them to ministry, don’t call them to be involved with people he loves so much, and then suddenly change his mind and call people someplace else. God delivers, he takes to the place he wants, it is up to us and our response if we enter into the Promised Land.

Notice the people’s response in this story though. After they were confronted in their sin, they want to jump up and do things their way instead of God’s way. They still held on to their selfish desire without listening to and doing the very things God told them. They decided to not listen to Moses in his directives here. We as well have to realize that a good heart, good intent, don’t make things right. We still have to listen to God and a part of listening to God is doing things God’s way. When we make mistakes, we are often given the opportunity to go back and make things right. It has amazed me for a number of years at the churches and people who say they love Jesus are so filled with pride that they won’t do this. They keep on doing things their way and then wonder why it is that it appears as if God is an angry God. God allows us to make mistakes, what ticks him off though is that when we go on in life doing things our way instead of God’s way. On this point, Frank Sinatra was a wonderful singer, but the truth is, the song “I Did It My Way,” is horrible teaching. God only wants us to do it our way, when our way is his way. Being disobedient, not having the faith God wants us to have is not doing it God’s way. When times get tough, when we don’t think we can, when we are having issue we have to address our problems with the attitude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rAHnwWfsaY

Now is the place where continued teachings and discussion can take place. Express your thoughts, make your comments, and post your questions and concerns. It was wonderful to hear all of the questions and comments that came about from this, there was a lot of insight from those in the congregation discussion.

I encourage you to really bless God for what he has done with your praise and with your life. Remember that how we live our lives are an ultimate act of worship.

Blessed Be Your Name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du0il6d-DAk

Today in closing, I joy in the opportunity to pray for you.

Dear Lord, thank you for being patient with me. I ask that I can be more faithful, that I will realize I need to stick it out in the things you have called me to. Father forgive me when I fail you, forgive me when I quit or give up, help me, help us all in this area. Now Father God, Creator of the universe, I ask you to bless each of those who have participated in this message. May your Spirit bless and protect them. May your Spirit cause them to ponder this message, apply it and live it. Then God, I also ask that where we have failed, where I have failed, help me get back on track and do the things you would have me do in my walk to serve you. Thank you God, thank you for your love, now be with each of us for the duration of this week, for it is in the name of Jesus I pray, Amen!

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The Story of Jesus, Merry Christmas!

2008-12-15T20:17:00.009-06:00

Today’s message is one that I realize is being posted during the Christmas Season. I am also aware that people read these posts all year through. To that I say, if reading in July for example, what a fun thing to listen to some “Christmas” music at some other time than Christmas. Of course, if you are reading this during the Holiday Season, then you will be right up for the songs. With that said, let us enjoy some worship time together.

There are a lot of songs that describe the night that Jesus was born. I can personally think of few that I enjoy as much as the following:

O’ Holy Night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWfuoAmBgEs

We have this nice word for the place they lay Jesus after he was born, we say manger. The reality of it is that a manger is a feeding troth. It was a place where they lay the food for the sheep, cattle and other animals. It wasn’t this nice comfortable place we sometimes think of. Yet, the King of Kings, the one who had just left Heaven, came to earth as a baby, to be put in the lowest of the low places. With a feeding troth for a bed, the King that would change the world would be lay.

Away in a Manger:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA-WQ2KiYmY

Can you imagine being out in the dark, taking care of some business, maybe working on a third shift when suddenly some angels appear to tell you about some good news. I think I would have been like the shepherds, a little scared, heck, forget that, I would have been really scared.

Angels We Have Heard On High:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTzotMPpY60

It would later on become clear, the birth of Jesus was to be a joyous celebration. It would mean joy to the world.

Joy To The World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpgaWm2pnNs

The following song is a song that is played throughout the year in many churches. That is okay, it is still in many ways a Christmas song. It recognizes the Son of God for what he is, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKmTdskCWPg

Let’s take part in one more song this morning for worship. It is an old tune with a new style. Some may say it is the most popular Christmas Carol of all time.

Silent Night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30o_QZnVBjA

This morning prior to taking a break, I want you to reflect on Christmas in the past. I can think of a variety of Christmas seasons as I was older that were special. A few years ago after leaving employment at Crossroads Clubhouse in Tulsa Oklahoma I was volunteering at my church as a pastor of Evangelism and Outreach. I had put money back to live on for about a year and a half, knowing it would take some time to find a paying job in the ministry. After a few months we had the terrible tragedy of September 11, 2001. It was during this time that I lost about two thirds of my investments.

As a young child I don’t really recall Christmas, there was just a lot of heartbreak and there were never many gifts. As a result I had decided that if I ever had children they would experience good Christmas times.

During the time at Westport Church as a volunteer it was during the Christmas season that I didn’t have anything to provide for my children. It hurt; it reminded me of my times as a youth. A few weeks prior to Christmas there was a service one Sunday morning where the pastors were presented with various gifts and Christmas bonuses. I have to admit, I was a little hurt when I was looked over. I saw pastors with good salaries getting gifts and bonuses to provide more for their families. This particular Christmas I had nothing. I wasn’t mad at anyone; I was just hurting for my family.

The next week was one of the best blessings of my life. I was at church again, and prior to the start of the sermon the pastor made mention that the church had made a terrible mistake. They had recognized all of their pastors but had failed to recognize another, me. It had taken several members of the congregation to remind the church of this. As a result of this they would take up an offering at the end of the service to give to me for my contributions to the church. There was also another dear lady of the church who is now deceased that came up to me and told me. “Mike we really appreciate all you have done for our church. I normally give my tithe to the church, but our church has more money than we know what to do with and we want to give you our tithe this month so that you can go out and buy your kids Christmas.” This dear lady who was on a social security income blessed me and helped me realize how God can provide, and how he can use people to accomplish his will. It was a Christmas that I thought my family would have nothing, and in reality, I learned a lot more about Christmas than I thought possible.

This morning, during our break, share some stories with each other. If you are at home reading this, call a family member, call a loved one and share some old Christmas stories with each other. After you are done sharing those memories, come back, sit down, read, think about, and enjoy the rest of today’s message.

This morning prior to the start of the service, I want you to watch a video, listen to the words, look at the images.

Mary Did You Know:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejzynSKdNDs

When we think of Christmas, Do you ever think of what it cost? I’m not speaking about what it costs regarding the purchase of presents, I am speaking about what it costs in regards to the birth of the Christ child?

Many may not realize but today we are concluding a series that has taken us over 25 weeks, almost half a year. In the Back to the Basics Series we must remember that when looking at the basics of our faith, it starts and finishes with Jesus. Everything else regarding our faith is between the bookends of Jesus. There is a great deal of important things to be aware of, from prayer to sharing our faith, and from giving and tithing to reading our Bible, but it is all about Jesus and the dedication of our lives to him.

There is a particular passage I would like to look at today. While many will look at the text for today’s message and think of condemnation, I want to remind everyone that during this Christmas Season, the gift of God’s son was a gift out of love, a gift that sought relationship.

The text that many unfortunately use for condemnation messages is John 3:16. It is unfortunate because this text is in reality a text of love for the very creation God loves and seeks relationship with, humanity. Let’s look at that passage:

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (NASB)

When looking at this passage, we must realize that the message of Christmas starts before even the manger. We can see this from looking at another passage from the Bible.

John 1:1
In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God.

We have to realize, Jesus was from the beginning of time, with God, he started his journey in Heaven. While we think that the journey may have started as a little babe born in a manger it isn’t so, he was in the beginning of time, with God.

When thinking of Jesus from the beginning, we should realize, there are angels who do nothing but worship him. In Heaven we read there are streets of gold. Imagine that in the current economy with Gold at around $1,000 an ounce, gold is used for asphalt in Heaven. Heaven is a place where there is everlasting Joy. We see other passages that refer to Jesus as he really is, the King of Kings. Despite the fact that Jesus was with God from the start, we have to also understand God loved his creation.

He loved despite the failures of his creation after sin entered the equation. In thinking about the creation we should remember God and able to create with a single word, possibly even with a single whisper. God saw all of his creation as good but He created us in his image and saw us as very good.

We tend to blame Adam and Eve for the messed up world we live in. Some may even blame them for the fact that Jesus had to come to earth but the reality is we still sin and rebel against God. We are just as guilty of rebellion against God as they. We need to realize, any and all sin condemns us to the need of salvation. All of us have sinned, we are all like Adam, and none are perfect.

God loves the world, His creation, but especially the people in the creation. So many churches get it wrong in the aspect of judgment. While there is judgment we must remember, the jest of Jesus birth, God’s gift was out of love. How so many who call themselves Christians can be so critical of the concept of love from God is astounding to me.

John 3:16 in part, in a agreement with the context of the entire Bible shows that Jesus birth, him leaving heaven to be born in a feeding troth among the poorest of the poor was a sacrifice of love for the people of the world. That’s right a feeding troth. We have put this nice word, manger on the title of the place Mary and Joseph lay Jesus, but in reality, it was a feeding troth in a place where animals eat, drank, and did every other thing you can imagine.

This does not change the fact that Jesus chose to identify, even from the point of birth with the poor, outcast, downtrodden, hurting, drug effected, abused, and this association showed how important they were. Christ being born in a condition they could relate to.

There are many passages in the Old Testament that talked about Jesus upcoming birth, as well as many passages in the New Testament such as Mary’s Magnificat, that illustrates how Jesus came especially for the poor, the needy, hurting, down and out. If Jesus would identify with, show love and opportunity for the lowest of what was considered to be the low, it was indication that his love was for the all of humanity. It was out of Love that Christ came to that manger.

At Christmas time we tend to think of the Christ child and the manger scenes, but I want to assure you, God knew when he gave his son what awaited his son. Jesus also knew when he was in the manger, what awaited him later on in life.

There was a reason God offered his Son Jesus up for a sacrifice and a reason Jesus accepted and stepped up to the challenge. It was in part because God has more for us. There is his love, a better life, hope and eternity, if we just believe.

On this concept of belief, please understand, belief is more than just belief. The Bible makes it clear even the devil believes, but he has no hope, won’t experience joy, and will certainly not be allowed into Heaven. We have to believe in such a way that we recognize and accept who Jesus is, recognizing who Jesus is, is in part, recognizing what he did.

We must recognize, Jesus lived a life without sin. He gave himself up to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus in essence became a substitute for us and accepted what we really deserved. He faced, challenged and conquered the cross when he resurrected from the dead which is what we celebrate at Easter.

We must realize that belief means asking Jesus to be our leader our forgiver, or as some state, our Lord and Savior. We have to be willing to publicly confess Jesus as the one and only son of God. We must recognize that we have sinned, done wrong. Now on this point, we need to understand, the 10 Commandments are still the 10 Commandments, not suggestions, not ideas, not concepts, but commandments. If we want to get detailed here we will also realize that Jesus actually complicated things.

Jesus in essence gave an extra 2 commandments; to love our Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. But beyond these two additional commandments, Jesus even complicated the 10; we are told here, that if we look at someone and desire sex with them then we have committed adultery. If we become angry at someone, then it is the same as committing adultery. Then if we think we have it made here, we read in the book of Romans, we must obey the laws of man, and government, if they don’t have us go against God’s law. At that point, we are in trouble, because if we violate something as simple as speeding, then we are guilty of sin, or wrong doing before God.

There is a concept here that we have to understand, and that is God’s Holiness. So many ask the question, why would God send us to hell? Or they may ask, Why would God create us in such a way that we don’t have a chance. The answer to me is actually quite simple. God is so good, so full of love, so perfect so holy that by the very nature of his being, he can’t stand to be in the presence of sin. Imagine if you will a perfect glass of pure clean water. How much sewage or human excrement would you have to put in that water before you wouldn’t drink it, especially if another pure glass of water was next to you? I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t drink the contaminated water. Our sin, in the presence of God, contaminates the holiness and perfection of God. At this point, it would appear as if there is no hope.

There is no hiding from the fact that we need forgiveness for our sins. We can’t be good enough; there is nothing we can do on our own to make us deserving of being in the presence of God. It is at this point we need to realize that Jesus is the only way God can forgive us our sins. When we stand before God, when we have a relationship with God, he won’t see us, he will see his son and the relationship we have with his son. It will be Jesus who will advocate for us, who will ask God to forgive us our sins. Of course this comes at a cost to us, a minimal cost when all things are considered but our first step is in recognizing that we need forgiveness of sin. We ask God to forgive us, and then we ask Christ to come into our life. At this point, the Holy Spirit of God comes into our life. We then have the obligation to allow the Spirit to lead us and guide us. Once we receive Christ into our life, we are given a new life, one that provides the hope of eternity of being in Heaven plus so much more.

Now at this point, I could and some have rightly focused on the judgment and consequences of sin. Those things are all true, and not worth taking a chance on. Don’t get me wrong, there is a real hell, a real tormenting condition for all of eternity. While those things are real: we need to remember, that turning from our past, starting life over, serving and seeking leadership from Jesus is a love thing, not a hate thing.

Today, prior to the start of Christmas I want to provide opportunity for each of you to live in the fullness, not partiality, not in neglect, not less than, but in the fullness of what God has for you. Of all of those things, most importantly, is a relationship with Jesus, Do you know him? Are you confident in your relationship with him? Are you certain of Heaven and the hope provided through the forgiveness of sin offered by Christ?

If you want to experience this, you simply offer a prayer, and then state you are sorry, some call this repentance which is a 180 degree turn from sin and past bad behaviors and practices that go against Gods desire for you. Realize that while mistakes may be made, effort and a sincere heart to change have to be present.

Some of you reading this may already have experienced this at one point in your life. You may know Jesus, but somehow along the way forgotten or put on the backburner your relationship with Jesus? Are you willing to tell him you’re sorry, that you are willing to start over?

For some it may be your need to show others of your seriousness to the body of Christ, often called the church. Maybe you are willing to out of obedience make the commitment to do so by being baptized.

Baptism is a lot of things, one is an obvious outward showing to the world around you that you are now following Jesus and are taking your commitment to ministry seriously. You are willing to show of your willingness to commit your life, whether as a plumber, teacher, factory worker, or student, whatever to being as much like Jesus as possible to the world around you.

There is likely some this Christmas season that need to release the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God that is available to us to help us trying to be like Jesus to the world around us as much as possible. We all receive the Holy Spirit in our lives at the point where we ask Christ into our life or as some call the point of salvation, but there is a time some call the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit, where we release the power of the Holy Spirit in our life. Realize here, we receive God’s Spirit in our life once we ask Jesus to come in and forgive us, but there is a time where we realize the Holy Spirit is there and a time for us to release that power. Here, we simply seek to do as the Holy Spirit guides. There is many views of the Holy Spirit, a lot of theology, for some there may be an indication of speaking in tongues or an unknown language, for others it may be something else, for all it will involve an effort and commitment to do as the Holy Spirit leads, understanding that it never contradicts the word of God, the Bible.

There may be others during this Christmas season that needs prayer; you may need someone to pray for illness, family difficulty, finances, or any other specific. For those the gift of Christ is also available for you.

For any of the needs above, you can always contact me either through the source of this article, or by emailing me at mike@thevirtualpew.com or via phone call to 316-258-3952. As a ministry, we really want to help and be there for you. For those in the Wichita Kansas area, there is Mosaic Church. If in another location around the United States or even around the world, there is The Virtual Pew at www.thevirtualpew.com which will help, but we want to when possible and if possible, plug you into a good church in your community. We will investigate those churches, do follow up with them to make sure they are doing there job and much more. The truth is, one of the things that distinguish this ministry from many others, is that we actually follow up with people where we can; we realize the value of each person to the Kingdom of God. It is a part of the commitment to ministry that we are involved in.

For each of us, no matter where we are at, whether in some need, or in good relationship with God, we should never forget, from the manger to the cross, The Blood and love of God for us, as shown through his son Jesus, is enough. The question is, if it is enough, do we avail ourselves to the thing in life we need the most, a relationship with the savior who was born in a manger, grew up without sin, died on a cross for our sins, and three days later rose from the dead and now sits with God in Heaven.

This year, may we all realize the ultimate gift, the gift of God’s son, Jesus Christ.

Father, help me, help us, keep our focus on your son, Jesus. Father, I ask that I can be more and more like Jesus each day. I pray that your Holy Spirit will use this message to speak to others about their life, and their relationship with you. I ask that each person will do as they need, whether continuing in their walk with you, or in their need to make a decision for you. I thank you and praise you for being the ultimate giver. In the name of Jesus I pray, and ask these things, Amen!

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

Click to visit with Pastor Mike regarding any of your needs. He will respond to each request personally, and if need be refer you to one of our other pastors.

Click to visit and join the new group The Virtual Pew, at MySpace. Become a part of a different kind of Christian group, check out the page for more information,all welcome, including those who are not followers of Jesus.

Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

Click to subscribe to my blog

Click to visit and join our sister group at MySpace Hollywood Jesus.

Click to visit Mary Jane Furches' new MySpace Page

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.comYou can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.Here is our contact information

The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Click on the following links to learn more about The Virtual Pew

Donations to The Virtual Pew

http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

The Virtual Pew

The Virtual Pew Blog

Personal Furches Web Site

Mary Jane Furches MySpace Page

Mike Furches MySpace Page

Mike Furches MySpace Blog

Hollywood Jesus

Reviews With Mike

The Virtual Pew Sermons

The Virtual Pew News

MySpace Hollywood Jesus Group

MySpace The Virtual Pew Group

The Virtual Pew Live Radio Web Page

To Subscribe to The Virtual Pew Live Feed

Phone Number to Call During The Virtual Pew Live Show, (Please never call prior to the start of the show) - (646) 716-8587

Phone Number to Call During The HJ Live Show, (Please never call prior to the start of the show) - (646) 716-8853

To Subscribe to The Virtual Pew Live Feed -http://www.blogtalkradio.com/feeds/thevirtualpew

To Subscribe to HJ Live Live Feed –http://www.blogtalkradio.com/feeds/hollywoodjesus

God's Ultimate Love Letter and Instruction Manual

2008-12-08T12:03:00.015-06:00

Thanks for coming to be a part of the worship and teaching series with The Virtual Pew and Mosaic Church today. It is always an honor knowing that people are choosing to get some of their teaching here. I am blessed and God is good. Let’s start off with worship this morning where we can be reminded of the time of year and the Savior we honor. While this is originally being written during the Christmas season, we need to all be reminded that the celebration of Christ birth can be celebrated all year through. Now let’s enter into worship, but first let me pray.

Father, thank you for all you have given us. I ask that your Holy Spirit Come, and that your Holy Spirit move as we worship you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

The following is not typically known as a worship song, but if we think about what it says, it easily becomes one.

Mary Did You Know
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtsMYErtYBk

While the next two follow a little bit of a different format, they are both focusing on a theme that even the angels in Heaven understood and valued the ultimate gift that God was going to give us.

Angels We Have Heard on High
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTzotMPpY60

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Sing-Along
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x17bT4Oy5z4

I am reminded of a man by the name of John Newton who understood the amazing grace offered by God through the gift of his son Jesus Christ. The following takes an old traditional hymn, and gives it new life. It is a tribute to a wonderful man, used by God to bring about a great deal of change in our world. God can use any of us if we allow him. Join in now in this wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone.

Amazing Grace My Chains are Gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZfnQxUhzQ

Dear God, you are such a wonderful God. You have given us so much. We see during this time of the year, the change of seasons. The Winter reminds me of death, the death that we all faced, yet in the middle of that death, we were given the hope of a savior, the hope of your son Jesus. What an amazing gift, the ultimate, perfect gift. Dear God, help me, help us, bring honor to that gift. When people want to look at me or we for an example, dear God, may they see the only true, the only perfect savior, may they see your son Jesus and only Jesus. It is in the perfect and holy name of Jesus I pray. Amen!

I would encourage others listening in today, or even those reading the message on line, take the time you need to honor God, to thank his Son, and ask for direction from his Holy Spirit. Take the time to praise God almighty, because God almighty deserves all of our praise. You may want to go back, play a particular song, and listen in silence to what God would have for you. Just listen to your heart and experience the goodness of God.

Now is the time to take a short break. You may want to get a cup of coffee, make a phone call to a friend or send an email to a family member, tell them you love them, tell them that you were thinking of them. Also remember that giving is an act of worship and there are many wonderful ministries seeking help to carry out their ministry. I encourage you that if you are a part of a local community church, support that church. If not or if God leads you to help another ministry, then seek out to bless those that have blessed you. Enjoy a break, then come back to enjoy todays message which will look at The Ultimate Love Letter of all Time.

There is a passage of scripture that I would like you to look at today.

2 Timothy 2:15
(15) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (NASB)

There are all kinds of ways we can look at this passage, but I want to look at it in regards to the responsibility we all have in regards to what we call The Bible, and what I call, the Ultimate Love Letter and Instruction Manuel. There are several things that we are going to do today, and in order to do that I am going to ask you to go get a Bible, that’s right an old fashioned Bible and bring that back to the computer screen with you.

Hopefully you now have your Bible. The Bible is an incredible book it is a book that has so much more in it than many, even many within the religious community give it credit for. I will assure you there is intent behind looking up some of these verses but here is what I want you to do. I want you to go from one verse to the next, and find that verse as fast as you can. Once you find it, read the verse out loud. Ready to go, let’s do it!

John 3:16
Malachi 2: 1-4
Isaiah 36:12
Matthew 5:9
James 3:6
Ecclesiastes 8:5
1 Peter 2:11
Deuteronomy 28:27

Did you find each of those passages quickly? Were you surprised at what some of those passages spoke about? I will assure you, there are these stories and much more in Scripture that we don’t often think about. My point in part was to show and assure you that there is far more in the Bible than we give it credit for. There is a prescription for hemorrhoids, intrigue, murder, sex, horror, crime drama, csi stories and on and on. The Bible is filled with things that we can only imagine. It is sad how so many don’t know what is in the Bible, and how so many others don’t know the context of what is in the Bible.

I want to take a little different twist here and talk some about love stories. How many of you have ever been in love? Obviously I have been have been married to the same woman for going on 30 years now. There was a time when I was in love with others prior to our marriage, and there was a time I was in love with my wife long before we got married. For many of those you will recall aspects of the times you have been in love.

I remember the love letters, and tapes we would send back and forth when I was in college in Kansas and my then girlfriend was living in Tennessee. I remember on one occasion going out of the way and getting a cherry pie wrapper from McDonalds. In those days those wrappers had an opening on the front of the package. You could address the letter in such a way that you could use the package the pie came in for an envelope. I still have a lot of the letters and tapes my now wife sent me, and she has copies of tapes and letters that I sent her.

There are all kinds of things about love letters, they express your heart, there is an openness about them, there is a longing to be together, there is so much that is good. Most of you can likely think of many other things that are true about what is contained in love letters, now I want you to think of this. As a love letter to humanity, the Bible also has those types of things, and the ability to bring about those types of emotions, if we will but open it and read it. It is unfortunate but many of us say we love God, yet we are not excited about reading his love letter to us.

It is sad that we seldom think about what the Bible says, in fact, sometimes we hear things that we believe to be in the Bible but in reality they are not. Think about the following for example:

The Bible does not say, “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” neither does it say the following, “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” “God helps those who help themselves,” “There is none so blind as he who will not see,” “An idle mind is the devil's workshop” or that, “Money is the root of all evil.” As an example, the Bible does say that, “The Love of Money is the root of all evil.” There is a difference, and unless we read and know the Bible, we will get things wrong.

It isn’t only on the things we hear though; we need to have an understanding of what the Bible does say, for example, the Bible does say these things, but we have to know the context of what is said; "And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son." – 2 Kings 6: 28, 29, “Am I my brothers keeper?” – Gen. 4:9, “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.”– Exodus 35:2, “Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." – 1 Corinthians 15:33

Now it is a fact, that on the above, the Bible does in fact say each of those things, but to understand again, the context, the meaning and more is important.

I would personally encourage each person hearing this, or reading this to be involved in personal Bible study. In becoming involved in personal Bible study there are some things to take into consideration. For example, what time of day is best for you? Identify what that time is, for me it is normally earlier in the morning. Are you willing to be involved in your study on a daily basis? You should try, but if you fail, no big deal, start over the next day. One may ask how much one should study the Bible. As much as you have time to commit to. Remember though, if this is a love letter, treat it as something you in fact love.

There are other questions though, should you use various study helps? That depends; I prefer to personally do a part of my study with helps, others without. Sometimes it depends on where I am at. Sometimes the helps allow me to focus, sometimes they help direct me, I am reminded though, the helps are not the Bible, the Bible is the Bible, but the helps are simply what they state, helps.

There is another area to look at when reading or studying the Bible. Many will ask which translation or version to use. On this point, I will use as a resource an old time preacher that I still really like. J. Vernon McGee is dead now but his radio broadcasts can still be heard everyday on the radio. I recall him being asked this question when he was alive and I will never forget his response, it was simply, “The one you will read.”

Dr. McGee implied that the Holy Spirit, the helper that God has provided each of us, is certainly capable to help us all understand God’s word. While there are good and bad translations, the Holy Spirit has an ability to lead us all in the right direction. There are of course certainly translations or paraphrases I wouldn’t recommend, then again, there are paraphrases I certainly would recommend. Just this last week I went out and purchased a copy of The Message for a teen that needs a basic understanding of Scripture. I could go on here, and am certainly open to giving my views in more detail as to this specific question. For those wanting more information on my views here feel free to email me at the provided email address.

Now I want to also make clear, there are many reasons to read the bible including the following. The Bible is the world's best selling book, it is, has been, and will continue to be for a reason, once you open it, start reading it in a way you can understand, you will quickly find out why the Bible is the best selling book of all time.

As we start reading the Bible we will discover that Biblical faith is based on a historical event. From Sodom and Gomorrah to the destruction of Jericho, archeologists have simply proven history time and time again.

We can discover and will quickly realize that Jesus was a real person. It is good to look at the texts of his faith, and the teachings of Jesus. Once discovering what the Bible really says, it is hard to dispute its writings from a logical, and/or intelligent perspective.

After reading the Bible, and looking at its impact one will quickly see that the Bible message changes lives. From Chuck Colson to CS Lewis and from Michelangelo to Galileo lives have been changed. We will also see that the Bible is filled with real people and has real places. I think of the movie 300 as an example here. Xerxes for example was the evil ruler in that movie. Yet, when we read the book of Esther and the story of one night with the King, we realize, the movie got a huge part of Xerxes wrong.

We also should realize that the person of Jesus has dramatically affected history. Don’t believe it, write a check today, think about what it means when you write the date down for that check.

I have also come to realize that brilliant people believe the Bible to be true, this includes scientists and composers, educators and students. While many attempt to dumb down those who believe in the Bible, any effort at research will show that many intelligent and brilliant people have believed in and placed their life into God’s hands from what they came to understand from reading the Bible.

The Bible will also fulfill our deepest needs. I can’t begin to express the number of times that reading the Bible has helped me in a crises or particular difficult situation I am in.

The Bible is not only the worlds best selling book it is the world's most widely distributed book. It has been distributed to more countries, in more languages than any other book in history. It is also packed with the most exciting events. From great wars, to great examples of love, there are many stories of all types in the Bible.

I have come to also understand that what the Bible says makes sense. Despite what may will do to confuse the issue, to confuse the message of Christianity, the Bible makes sense. While many will look to those who practice what the Bible says to try and bring about discord, the Bible itself is actually very reliable, and does make sense if you read it contextually and with an understanding for what it is,” God’s Ultimate Love Letter and Instruction Manual.”

It is important to read the Bible because many people have died for their faith. Wouldn’t it only make some level of sense that if people are willing to die for their faith that we have some understanding as to why? I have learned that the worst part of knowledge surpasses the best part of ignorance any day. I want to be knowledgeable about any belief system that is so strong that people are willing to die for it.

The Bible has also survived the most sustained attacks in history. Despite those attacks, all of the above is still true, still sells a ton of copies, still has people dying for their beliefs related to the Bible, it is the Holy Book for two major religious groups, some would say three, and despite the attacks, it has survived.

I believe it also becomes clear from reading the Bible that we can see it is historically reliable. As mentioned above, many archeological truths have been proven as have other things from the Bible. While there are some things we don’t know about yet, that can also be said about many of the things that have been proven to be consistent with the teachings in the Bible in the last 100 years.

In closing today I would has, how has God used the Bible to help illustrate to you that it is his ultimate love letter, and instruction manual? Maybe you don’t know that to be the case, if not, open up the book. To quote another popular movie during the Christmas season, I triple dog dare you! If you do you will find out quickly that the Bible is in fact, all it is cracked up to be.

As we close out today, I want you to think about how awesome our God is. A popular Wichitan wrote the song Awesome God. Rich Mullins got it. We do serve an awesome God.

Awesome God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAHZwzXtXEQ

I want to thank each of you for taking part in today’s service, whether in person or on line. Dear God, thank you for each of these people whom you love so much. Lord, may each of us fall more in love with you today than we ever thought possible. May we fall in love with you so much that we want to read your love letter to us over, and over again? I know your Holy Spirit will be there to help us understand it, I thank you for that. Lord, bless each of these people have taken part in this service. May they go through their week with strength and with power? Protect us; use us in Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

Click to visit with Pastor Mike regarding any of your needs. He will respond to each request personally, and if need be refer you to one of our other pastors.

Click to visit and join the new group The Virtual Pew, at MySpace. Become a part of a different kind of Christian group, check out the page for more information,all welcome, including those who are not followers of Jesus.

Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

Click to subscribe to my blog

Click to visit and join our sister group at MySpace Hollywood Jesus.

Click to visit Mary Jane Furches' new MySpace Page

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.comYou can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.Here is our contact information

The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Click on the following links to learn more about The Virtual Pew

Donations to The Virtual Pew

http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

The Virtual Pew

The Virtual Pew Blog

Personal Furches Web Site

Mary Jane Furches MySpace Page

Mike Furches MySpace Page

Mike Furches MySpace Blog

Hollywood Jesus

Reviews With Mike

The Virtual Pew Sermons

The Virtual Pew News

MySpace Hollywood Jesus Group

MySpace The Virtual Pew Group

The Virtual Pew Live Radio Web Page

To Subscribe to The Virtual Pew Live Feed

Phone Number to Call During The Virtual Pew Live Show, (Please never call prior to the start of the show) - (646) 716-8587

Phone Number to Call During The HJ Live Show, (Please never call prior to the start of the show) - (646) 716-8853

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Worship in Life Online Church Service

2008-12-02T09:30:00.011-06:00

Today I want to do something a little different, today, we are going to have the message first, then we will have worship. For those looking at this at various times of the year, I will remind you this message was presented the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

One of the great film producers of all time is Stephen Spielberg. Spielberg has presented films laced with spiritual truth. The following is a clip from one of my favorite Spielberg films.

The Film is Schindler’s List

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgPSquZfI0

When I watch the above clip I can’t help but think of the following passage of scripture.

Matthew 10:7-8
(7) As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Oscar Schindler literally bought these people so they could be saved from their oppressors. He did so at a great cost, and yet as the movie portrays, he didn’t think he had done enough. At the end of the movie, we see Schindler going to get into his car and he realizes he could have sold his car, and liberated and freed several more Jewish families. That seems to be the way it is with those who love to give, they feel as if they have never given enough.

We who have this amazing gift of life should worship the one who gave it to us and then share it. It is a gift we should want to give to others because it is the most valuable of all gifts. Do you live life in such a way people can see that you follow and serve a God bigger than you?

Let’s look at one of the ways we are to use our lives with others.

Matthew 5:16
Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.

All of us who follow Jesus need to realize that our life is a light, but only a reflection of the ultimate light, Jesus. As an example here we can look at our solar system. The sun is the one which gives light. No other aspect of our solar system allows us to see light except through the reflection of the sun. Of course there are other stars at night which have some measure of light but let’s look at the closest entity to our planet, the moon.

How much light does the moon produce on its own? The answer should be obvious, the moon produces no light, but during the night, it appears at time bright because it reflects the light of the sun. We need to realize our lives should also be a reflection, but not of the sun, but the son.

Others observe our actions, our words. Have you ever stopped to think about what they hear or see? This does not mean they will agree with everything they will hear or see, but there will be consistency with the truth of Jesus as we can see from the Bible.

Let’s look at another passage that can help illustrate this point.

Psalm 43:2-4 –
(2) I run to you for protection. Why have you turned me away? Why must enemies mistreat me and make me sad? (3) Send your light and your truth to guide me. Let them lead me to your house on your sacred mountain. (4) Then I will worship at your altar because you make me joyful.
You are my God, and I will praise you. Yes, I will praise you as I play my harp.

From this I can see that for each of us, the light of God in our life, leads us to worship, which then produces joy.

This concept of running to someone or something is illustrated in other places in the Bible. Can anyone think of another illustration of running to? The one I think of right off the bat is the story of the prodigal son. In this story we see an indication of a willingness to change, recognition of mistakes made, we see in essence, repentance.

In the story of the prodigal son we see a good Jew who takes the inheritance from his father, goes out on his own and squanders everything away. It is only when doing the most disposable job possible for a Jew, feeding and taking care of pigs that he realizes his father provided more for his servants than he was getting. It was then he decides to return home, ask for forgiveness, and ask his father if he can become one of his servants. A wonderful contemporary telling of this is in the movie The Gospel. The need to realize our mistakes is something we all have to experience at one time or another in our life.

As I look at the above passage, I am challenged, is there is honesty in our relationship with God. Notice the author shares the bad he is not afraid to question his reality and life experiences at the moment, yet in the honesty, is recognition that God is the one who guides us. Out of honesty we see a willingness to run towards God, and then come worship, and as a result joy. I would also note here that musical instruments were a part of the experience, as is praise.

Now another passage.

2 Corinthians 4:5-7
(5) We are not preaching about ourselves. Our message is that Jesus Christ is Lord. He also sent us to be your servants. (6) The Scriptures say, "God commanded light to shine in the dark." Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.

(7) We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us.

Again, for all of us following Jesus, we need to realize that our life is not ours; our life is for Jesus and is to be a reflection of him. Our lives are an act of worship in the way we serve others. I am reminded by Jesus own words, “when we serve the least of these, it is as if we have served Jesus.” I am also reminded that Jesus said that of all of the commandments the greatest was to love God with all of our hearts, soul, mind and spirit, and our neighbor as ourselves. The concept of loving others is directly correlated to loving God.

When we live to share Jesus with others, we represent Jesus, when we represent Jesus, we shed light in dark places, and this is an act of worship. The concept of our life, our message was taught by Jesus, we serve others. We are not better than Jesus in any way, and yet, he took up the towel, became as a servant and served those he came into contact with.

There are two points here I would like to point out. First, our light is to shine in dark places. Those are places where it is godless if you will, or with people who don’t know Jesus. While this is a challenge for many, it is also reality. Jesus and the New Testament use a lot of allegory in this area. The bottom line, is that light is of little or no value unless it is penetrating dark places, including the dark places of life. Our lives are light because God is in our life, and our life should represent Jesus.

The second area I get from the above passage is we have to be willing to let our lives be broken and molded like clay jars. Today, likely only potters get this concept. In the days the above words were written, the concept of pottery being broken and reformed was something that was a common practice. Our lives, may at times get cracks, we may be in need of being remolded, at those times, life is broken like the clay of a pot. It is then reformed into something beautiful, something useful. I love the concept that our lives are like a vessel where God can store treasure. God has the power to fill our lives with valuable treasure, treasure that can have an impact on reaching others.

Now please understand on this concept of living our lives as a servant, as if we were a reflection of the light of the son to the rest of the world. No one said this was easy, but it is again, an act of worship that the more we practice it, becomes easier. Giving of our lives to serve, to be light in dark places is an act of worship because it is something God appreciates and values. Being light in a dark world is a reflection of taking God to the very people he came and died for. He longs for, desires eternal relationships with people. He can only do that if we as his people, are willing to take that message to the people who need to hear it.

Now at this time we are going to take a short break. Get a cup of coffee, call someone, tell them you love them, maybe send an email. Then I also want you thinking of how you can be a light to someone who don’t have a relationship with Jesus. When you come back, we will enter into worship, but I also want you thinking about how you can give of your time and money. It is a joy to worship God with what are called tithes and offerings. Essentially, if you are a part of another church, give to that church, if not, find a ministry that has touched you, and is sharing Jesus with others, then find a way to support that ministry with both time and money as it is time and money that allow these ministries to operate.

Let’s pray, Father, thank you for the fact that some people are reading this, thank you that it has challenged some to use their life as a act of worship. Lord I ask that as people give of their time and money that you will bless them, and bless the ministry they are supporting. I also ask your blessings on them. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Now after your short break, let’s enter into some worship with some great videos. Now another short prayer, Holy Spirit Come, Holy Spirit Move, Amen!

It is the time of year that we need to think about the willingness of God to come to earth to give us the ultimate gift, it was a sacrifice for our sin, our wrongs, it is a reminder of the sacrifices we can make. As opposed to focusing on the sacrifice though, we can also focus on the joy.

Joy To The World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpgaWm2pnNs

We serve a powerful God. He is one that formed the mountains, but there is a tremendous analogy there.

Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3oIJCsRos8

I realize that for many, it is hard to think of this concept of becoming a servant, or being a light in dark places. We maybe don’t have an attitude of worship in the way we live our lives. I always appreciated this next song for that reason.

Change My Heart Oh God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjUvoynGMM

Jesus did so much for us, we see that at best when he left the awesomeness of Heaven and came to earth, to be born in a feeding troth, as a poor man to a poor family. Jesus in many ways, even in the way he was born showed his love for the common person. Let’s think about that as we participate in the next couple of songs.

O Holy Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWfuoAmBgEs

Silent Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30o_QZnVBjA

One of my favorite reformers was St. Francis of Assisi. One of the things he said was to preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words. Sometimes we get so preoccupied with words that we really don’t think of the importance of our lives. Today, as we close let’s think of the words of this next tune as we sing along.

Let My Words Be Few
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12z4dvc2kjo

Now my prayer for each of you, Dear Father God, thank you for what you have done for me in my life. Lord, I ask that your Holy Spirit will constantly remind me of my own need to be a reflection of your light to the world around me. Lord, may my life be an act of worship for you that shows the gentleness and love from the Son. Lord God, I ask that you will be blessed, and I ask your blessings on each person reading and participating in this posting today. I ask your blessings on them because I know how much you love them. Thank you for that love you gave me, I am grateful. In Jesus most holy and perfect name I ask these things, Amen!

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

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Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

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Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.comYou can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.Here is our contact information

The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Click on the following links to learn more about The Virtual Pew

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The Virtual Pew

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Worship in Song

2008-11-23T07:26:00.007-06:00

Today’s worship order was largely selected by Jason Hendry from the band Jeremiah Foundation. Thanks to Jason and his wife Katie who have contributed and been a part of helping with worship at Mosaic.

Today is a good day! I am so grateful I experienced the day where I saw the light of Jesus in my life. Let’s all think about the light of Jesus as we watch and sing with the song by old time great, Hank Williams Sr. As a reminder, just click on the videos below, if the video don’t appear, just click on the link.

I Saw The Light

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL3Dp0CBJwE

I love that old song. I remember living in Tulsa and going to the Caines Ballroom where many greats like Hank Williams used to play. I don’t know if he ever had any idea of the longevity of that song when he wrote it and performed it.

There are other wonderful new artists that are searching for spiritual truth, despite what we think of them. One of the most recent is Sinead O’Conner with the following song.

Thank You For Hearing Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPH4_DDDz8Q

I am so grateful that the creator of the universe chose to have a relationship with me through his son Jesus. We truly do serve a great God.

How Great Thou Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhLgOLGVG0U

God is an incredible God. We often think we have to say so much, but the truth is, sometimes just to silently pray, just to contemplate the goodness and reality of God is enough. The times just between God and you can be an incredible time. Let’s each of us make the following tune a tune where we contemplate the goodness of God.

Let My Words Be Few

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12z4dvc2kjo

Father thank you for all you have done for us, you deserve all of our worship, all of our praise. In Jesus name, Amen!

We are going to take a break right now, use this few moments to stretch, call someone, tell them you love them and appreciate them, maybe even send an email. Get a nice beverage of your choice come back and enjoys the rest of the message. I would like to remind you though, if a part of a church or ministry, you have a responsibility to joyfully give in worship both in time and finance to that ministry. If you are not a part of a larger ministry or church, pray and consider who God would have you help and support. God don’t have to, but he chooses to use you and your willingness to help others as a way for you to show him how much you love him. Give of your time and money with a joyful heart in this act and means of worship.

Father I ask that as we look at today’s message that you will give us ears to hear what you would have us hear. Father may your Holy Spirit come, may your Holy Spirit move, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

For the folks that know me, they know how much I love music, but not just a particular style but virtually all styles. I can actually think o very few styles of music that I don’t like. Today we are going to look at music in the area of worship. But I would like to look first at music, and in particular my own musical taste over the years.

I think most of us have a real appreciation of music that is based in part on our youth. Depending on your age, you may have an appreciation for Elvis Pressley, maybe Madonna, possibly Jefferson Airplane or a country fan who likes the likes of Garth Brooks or even a George Jones. As for me, I have a great appreciation of those I grew up listening to.

Among those were many of the classic artists, artists such as, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, The Who, Led Zeppelin, BTO, Nazareth, AC/DC, and many others. I figure they call that music classic for a reason, because it was and still is.

In enjoying the music of your youth, have you ever felt like Christians would you have to listen to “their” music and forget the styles that you appreciate?

I grew up listening to some great songs as I said earlier, I would like to rekindle some of those memories. There was Nazareth, see if you remember this song?

Love Hurts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2BjJbKQkgc

I appreciated that song because sure enough, love did hurt, I was looking for love and few expressed the concept of love hurting more than Nazareth did with that song.

I of course was always a Rock N Roller. Few songs expressed the concept of Rock N Roll as well as the classic Rock N Roll band of all time, Led Zeppelin.

Rock N Roll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS-JtX-v33Q

As I mentioned earlier, there was some of those songs from some of those bands that were not only putting out classic songs, but were being put out by classic bands that have endured the test of time. This following song is a song that was like a lot of songs in the style, it had as a point of focus things that many Christians had issues with, but they still found a way to reach out, grab and entertain those listening to the music. The following is one such song by the band Aerosmith.
Walk This Way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0DTPHql_18

As much as I enjoyed the music, bands and time of my youth. I never imagined that I would one day get to do some limited work with one of the bands I grew up with. This is a classic band I was blessed to spend some time with when I worked with The Rob Cassels Band. A song I know many old Rock N Rollers still enjoy. Steppenwolf and John Kay is still playing music, still playing in fact not only new songs but the following anthem.

Born To Be Wild

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbATaj7Il8

There were many other bands I enjoyed, another fellow I got to work with now plays one of the most famous guitar riffs in the history of music. Steve Morse now plays with Deep Purple, and while this is the older version of this song. I have seen Steve now play this several times, and while I haven’t had the joy of playing it with him. I have played this on my bass guitar many times.

Smoke on the Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG47FWl94yQ

This gives a good idea of what I grew up with. It is likely now that some Christians are blasting away because I shouldn’t even dare to post music like this. Well there was a reason I had issue with Christianity, to not allow me to enjoy the musical style I grew up with was a very difficult thing for me to endure, but you know what, it is a difficult thing for most new Christians to endure.

I’ll never forget getting saved, coming to call Jesus my Leader and Forgiver, my Lord my Savior, then I got to the point where I come to understand that my style of music would have to change. No longer would I be allowed to listen to, enjoy music like that above, but now I would have to go through my life listening to the music of the church. Instead of a Rock N Roller, I would be expected to become a Holy Roller and listen to the likes of the following:

Shall We Gather At The River

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8-zq96niqs

To say the least, I was hurting. From Aerosmith, Janis Joplin, music with class to a musical style like this. I didn’t know if I would make it. Then, after a few encounters of really struggling, even attempting suicide, I had a youth pastor that showed me something else. It wouldn’t take long before I realized there was a style of Christian music that would touch me, give me hope. Thankfully God Gave me music that touched my soul. The following was the first song that I heard that gave me this hope. It was on an album titled In Another Land by an artist named Larry Norman.

Rock That Doesn’t Roll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAuvq5eduJQ

Over the years, as I have grown older I come to understand the style of music I listen to is not as important as the attitude of my heart when I am listening to it. In this process of growing however, I learned that the style that touches our heart, can, and will touch God’s heart because it is coming from our heart. In other words, God would allow, even encourage the use of certain styles that had touched me.

We all need to remember; that when it comes to music, one person’s style may not be ours, but it does not change its validity. I firmly believe that God loves everything from Bach to BTO, and from Loretta Lynn to Led Zeppelin. Some of us need to accept this also includes styles from Taylor Swift to Snoop Dog. That isn’t to say necessarily the bands or artists like those mentioned above, but stylistically, God don’t have favorites. He loves it all if it gives glory and praise to him.
As we begin to explore the use of music in worship, let’s look at several passages from the Bible.

Nehemiah 9:6
You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

1 Kings 22:19
This host or mass of persons are the angels: "Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left

Revelation 5:8
After he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders knelt down before him. Each of them had a harp and a gold bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people.

Luke 2:8-14
That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, "Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay."
Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said: "Praise God in heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God."

When looking at the above passages, I have come in part to the conclusion that music has been touching God since before the creation of Adam.

Angels were created prior to creation of humans and the earth. While we don’t know how long they were around prior to the creation of humanity we know they were from various books in the Bible like Job. We have to understand, God created the angels and many of them, prior to humans, to worship him through, music and song.

On this point of creation, we as followers of Jesus have to remember, God is the creator and the truth of it is Satan never created anything. Regarding the styles of music, we have to get over the style issues. While styles have changed over the years, nothing touches God more than the attitude of the heart! The things that touch our heart in regards to music, if coming from real emotion, and from deep within our souls, will touch and bless God as it is an indication of our love.

We clearly know and can see how much God appreciates music by his creation. This is true not just in music, but also in voice. In this process there are some things we can understand from looking at the Bible.

Psalm 95:1, 2
O COME, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation! Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!

Psalm 98:4
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!

One of the things that should be clear here is we don’t have to be talented to sing songs or play music. God accepts a joyful noise. Now don’t get me wrong, God appreciates talent and ability. We see that in his directives, and instruction regarding craftsmanship and desire that the best be offered as a sacrifice. While that is clear through several passages in the Bible, we can also see that God also enjoys the gift of noise that comes out of joy.

There is another area that can be addressed in regards to our style of worship, whether through the playing of music or our singing. We need to look at the area of silence, because the truth is, many will find ways to be silent in worship, they won’t sing, they won’t participate. It is here that I want to challenge you on something; nowhere in scripture do we see that God enjoys our silence when it comes to worship, other than in issues of prayer, and meditation. It is clear, in areas of music and worship, God prefers noise over silence.

Everyone is encouraged to sing songs and participate in the worship experience, no matter what style you prefer. While some will pretend to know God’s favorite style, I will assure you, few on this planet sing or participate in any worship style that existed in the early days of creation. There are no exceptions to the wishes of God, everyone is encouraged to sing songs, and make a joyful noise, no matter what the style. God enjoys all kinds of music as long as it comes from the heart. This includes both vocal and instrumental.

Many Christians have assumed that any music that is not vocal in origin is not appropriate worship to God. This is simply not true since even in the early days of the prophets and patriarchs, as well as indication from scripture with the angels, there are times of strictly instrumental music. God enjoys the gifts of the heart, even gifts that are used just to give praise. While not everyone can understand this, a musician can certainly understand that the playing of music can be an act of worship. While it may not seem like an appropriate comparison, I think it is, think of the story contained in the Christmas cartoon and song, Little Drummer Boy. The little drummer boys desire to play for the new born king was in fact an act of worship.

As a struggling musician, I have learned that the playing of my instrument can be an act of worship. Because I also value music, I have learned to worship with not just vocal music, but instrumental music. This opens up my worship experience to not just being encouraged to worship by Christians, but everyone God has gifted. True Worship moves us towards God, not focused on ourselves.

We worship God for various reasons. One is because he deserves it, he is God. Another is so we can give him the praise for all he has done. When we give God what he deserves, it improves the relationship between us.

We know God loves music, both vocally, and musically, so we learn to give out of our own love. As we give, it blesses and pleases God, as we bless and please him he respond to us by blessing and giving back.

Now on a closing note, I think one last thing to understand, is that today the aspect was specific to music, there is more than just music involved in the worship of God, there is prayer, becoming as a child, and the way we live. As to how the way we live being an act of worship? More on that subject next time.

In closing today, let’s close with another worship song. Feel free to join in.

Never Let Go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHrbXEcee8

Thank you God, I thank you for those who have joined in today. May we all be reminded of our need to worship through music. I ask you to bless all of those who have participated with this message. I ask you to continue to help me in this area, let my life, let my music and my song be an act of worship that is pleasing to you. Bless us all now as we go from here. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

Click to visit with Pastor Mike regarding any of your needs. He will respond to each request personally, and if need be refer you to one of our other pastors.

Click to visit and join the new group The Virtual Pew, at MySpace. Become a part of a different kind of Christian group, check out the page for more information,all welcome, including those who are not followers of Jesus.

Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

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Click to visit and join our sister group at MySpace Hollywood Jesus.

Click to visit Mary Jane Furches' new MySpace Page

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.comYou can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.Here is our contact information

The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Click on the following links to learn more about The Virtual Pew

Donations to The Virtual Pew

http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

The Virtual Pew

The Virtual Pew Blog

Personal Furches Web Site

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Mike Furches MySpace Blog

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Will You Become Like a Small Child?

2008-11-14T13:32:00.022-06:00

I want to first of all thank all of you who either pm’d, emailed, or personally told me of your appreciation of the last worship article. Here is the next in the series and I hope you can help others know about the worship services by passing along the opportunity to others you know. You can be anyplace on the planet, and worship with The Virtual Pew from the services provided at Mosaic Church in Wichita Kansas. It is a reminder of how big our God is, and how big our family is. Of course for those searching, for those looking at trying to get spiritual answers, you are always welcome to The Virtual Pew. I realize it isn’t always easy to go a church building. While we would encourage you to find a good church home, if you don’t have one, I would state, The Virtual Pew Virtual Sermon is a place to start. I would also remind you, we can work with you to make recommendations for church homes in your area. We have helped place people in homes all across the United States and a few in Europe and Australia.

God is good, as a result of his goodness; let’s enjoy some worship time in song. You are welcome to sing along, even in an office listening in on the headphones. Just don’t be too freaked out if at work and it freaks out those in the cubicle next to you.

It is my desire, at Mosaic Church, The Virtual Pew, and in my life, that Jesus is lifted up. Hopefully we all recognize that while we fail, Jesus is the way, he is perfect.

We Want To See Jesus Lifted High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ9Tu9hFLOc

One of my favorite worship songs is the Days of Elijah, I love the beat, the rhythms, and as my dear friend Keltic Ken would appreciate, I love the Celtic influence. While life seems to suck at times, the truth is, the day will come when Jesus takes his followers to Heaven. What a day that will be. As you sing along, or worship in silence, think of all of the trials in your life that will one day be gone, all the difficulty will be over. For those who know and have a relationship with Jesus, there is a hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

Days of Elijah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Be0qJw9ZE

When I think of how good my Jehovah (Provider) God is. I am reminded of how I will one day be with him in heaven forever. I don’t know how many have ever seen the movie, The Polar Express, but there is a scene towards the end of the movie where you see all of the kids and all of the elves gathered together at the North Pole worshiping Santa. I think that is an illustration of what Heaven will one day be like, all of us who call Jesus Forgiver and Leader or Lord and Savior, alongside the angels, singing praise to the King of King’s the one who showed his love for us by offering his life up for us and giving us eternal life.

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNVmpLQhK7Q

One of the things I am pleased about is that at Mosaic Church here in Wichita we don’t pass an offering plate, at The Virtual Pew we seldom talk about our monetary needs. That don’t mean we shouldn’t be encouraged to give. I realize this sounds a lot like my dear friend Jesse who also does a cyber church, but I appreciate his spirit on this point. It is a joy, an act of worship to give of our time and finances to the work of God. If you are a part of a church, support that church. If not a part of a church, find a ministry that helps you, support them, if the Virtual Pew, fine, if someone else, fine, but realize, your gifts allow others to touch those in need. It also allows ministry to take place. I see the giving of my time and money as an act of worship, I actually enjoy it, go figure? Hopefully you do as well.

My prayer, Father you are such a wonderful God who has given so much. Let us show a little of our gratitude in the way we are willing to give to others whether it be our time, or our money. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

There is an older song I love as I am awed at the goodness of God. Stand with outstretched arms if you want. Realize the goodness of God. During the end of this song there is a period of instrumental music, use that time to pray, thanking God for all he is.

I Stand in Awe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMXNyts5isg

You know, kids are often left out in the worship experience; it can be a dull experience if we aren’t careful, it doesn’t have to be that way. This next song is a great song that shows how much fun worship can be. As we get ready to go to today’s message, it is more than appropriate. Don’t be afraid to be as a small child. Find the guts to become as a child, even in worship. Have you done that; let’s see as I want to hear you sing out loud this next song.

Cartoons Praise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWzKdSaSEVA

Now that was fun, if you really did get into it, you may have been up dancing around, maybe even dancing with your kids who could see that you aren’t afraid to be a big kid yourself. Now is the time to take a break, get a snack, make a phone call, and go to the bathroom, then come back, sit down, and read the rest of the sermon.

Did you have a nice break? Are you ready for the message, let’s pray. Holy Spirit Come, Holy Spirit Move, Father give us ears to hear what you would have us hear today. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Today’s message is called, Becoming as Child. It is another part of the worship series we are doing, and is a continuation of the series from the Back to the Basics series.

There is a video I want love you to watch prior to the start of the message. Take the time, watch, and learn.

Become Like A Child

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy-okLeIVLI

You know, one of the things I try to do is read the Bible and apply it in a practical, real way. One of the things that always amazed me is how some people make the concepts of the Bible so super spiritual, yet leave out the simple basic concepts. One of those concepts is what it means to become as a child. The above video touched on various subjects that I want to touch on as well. The question I am going to ask, is have you ever thought of the benefits of becoming like a child again? What does it mean when Jesus makes the point of becoming as a child?

One of the things I am impressed with as I read the Bible is God’s use of metaphor. The use of metaphor and allegory takes place from Genesis to Revelation. One of the things you see especially in the New Testament is the use of children as an illustration.

In the metaphor of children there are things for each of us to think about. One is that Jesus is speaking of children, in various ways related to age. Now in looking at age, or thinking about age when thinking of children we need to realize that Children have always been children. When you see a kid playing, having fun, sneaking around, doing all of the things we are accustomed to, that is typical behavior for kids and has been for thousands of years.

Psychologist Sigmund Freud’s view of Child development is largely consistent and not restrained by time. In other words, his theory on the development of children is something that has withstood the evaluation of many others. Despite what some issues some may have with Freud on various points, his views on child development is widely accepted. Even contemporary Christian Psychologists Dr. James Dobson borrows on this concept in his writings and presentations. We can see various stages in the development of a child and those of us with children have experienced some of this, whether through the terrible twos, or the sweet teens. We know there are developmental stages to a child’s life.

When Jesus is speaking in many places he is speaking and using children as metaphor, but the concepts are the same, anyone, at any age, can become as a child. Obviously Jesus is seeking to bring people into the kingdom with some of the illustrations he uses. He wants people to experience the best of life, not just the minimal. In that experience, he often uses children as an illustration.

We have to think about some of the illustrations Jesus uses; it is easy to overlook their meaning. The following is such a passage.

Matthew 18: 1-5
About this time the disciples came to Jesus and asked him who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus called a child over and had the child stand near him. Then he said:
I promise you this. If you don’t change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. But if you are as humble as this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And when you welcome one of these children because of me, you welcome me.

Notice that Jesus was responding to a question from his disciples about heaven. Can anyone tell me what the primary purpose of heaven is for kazillions of years? It is to worship. I challenge the concept or component of worship, Jesus is in part illustrating, starts now and with the attitude of a child which we must take on in our life experiences. Note the concept of change, metamorphous that has to take place. We must become as a child. Becoming as a child is critical to getting into heaven. We must welcome the behavior of a child into our own lives.

While we glimpse over this passage, we have take the time to get to the place where we try understand some of the basics of what it means to be like a little child. We must learn to apply these concepts into all areas of life. This is something to apply in our lives if we are to get into heaven. It is the start of what will eventually lead to a heavenly worship experience.

When looking at this as a command, we need to ask ourselves, what does it mean to be like a little child? In part it means to trust God like a small child trusts their parents. Children trust parents in all kinds of ways. Or at least they should. In understanding the relationship between parents and children it has become difficult because of the poor role models we see in society. Unfortunately, the family desired by God is not the model we often see. We don’t see it because we live in a broken world.

Remember Christ and his Spirit are mighty counselors, they are the great physicians. There are no deductibles and the premiums are paid. The coverage is full and you don’t have to wait for it. The insurance policy provided by God is perfect and pays complete dividends.

I love the illustration of children reaching up to their parents when they want something. It is one of the reasons I believe we are encouraged to raise our hands during worship. Let me ask the question, why does a child reach up to their parents? I think it is for various reasons, they trust their parents, they love them, they want to be held, they know their parents will protect them, it is fun, and there are many more reasons. You can even insert some of your own reasons here, they are all appropriate.

When looking at what it means to become as a child, we need to think of the concept where we need to love unconditionally: We can’t attach strings to our love for God or others. This one is tough, we know God’s example, it is hard to be like God, but remember we are applying this to worship, and we can’t let our feelings at the moment, be a condition of how we worship God in the moment. One of the things we find out, is when we worship God, even in the hard times, God finds a way to reach down, and pick us up.

We need to find joy in God’s creation, no matter where we are in our lives. We tend to focus on the bad instead of focusing on what God can and has done. Some churches say or imply that we are stagnate, aren’t moving, aren’t doing what we want God to do, and so forth. This is generally true no matter where one may go to church. We have this attitude despite the need to work on our relationship with God and learning to love each other. It is as if some see little or no value in relationship with God and each other. We can talk about being different, but there comes a time we have to be different.

One of the ways to be different is to look at what has God done for us. For many, you may be able to look at the number of visitors God continues to provide. You may look at the space you have. It is easy to overlook your facility if you have one. Look at the things your church is working on. Are there positives? Look at the positives not just with the church, but look at the positives in your life. There are these things and many others that we should focus on. Another point, remember God isn’t just a congregational God, he is a personal God. Don’t just look at what he is doing in the life of the church, but look at what he is doing in our life. Odds are, if we don’t see him working in our life, we won’t see him working in the life of the church because we are the church.

When we get to the place where we are stagnating in our worship and in our lives, we need to ask God for help. We all need it sometimes; there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Remember the examples of children. We seem to get so caught up in pride, we often forget we have a God who owns it all and can hear our prayers, knows our hurts, knows our desires before we even ask. We need to remember that requests and sharing our hearts is a part of worship. In this, realize while prayer is the prelude to revival, it is also a huge part of worship. It is critical for each of us to hear, if there is a problem in our life, we will never be satisfied with any church. While churches may have issue at times, the overwhelming majority of time the problem is with the individuals who make up the church. While we often place the blame on our church for our inability to worship, or grow, it is the person in the mirror that is the problem most of the time.

Sometimes we get caught up in tradition, when we do, we should try new things, listen to what God may ask us to try that is different. We get so caught up in old traditions we forget there may be more for us than we realize. I think of kids at Christmas time here. All of those Christmas presents, how long does a child stay focused on a single thing? It is through many experiences that we learn to appreciate various things, and ultimately find our niche. If you don’t normally raise hands during worship, try it. If you normally clap, be reflective in worship. If you normally raise hands, try something different. Remember worship isn’t about us, it is about us giving to God, find a way to make it the most meaningful gift you an offer, after all, God deserves it. Part of trying new things is so God can give us new things. It isn’t why we do it, but one of the benefits.

In the long run we need to ultimately believe God can do anything, because he can, because he does. We have to have big hearts, and big areas of belief, just like children. Why? Because God demands it from us, not because he wants to horde over us, but because he wants to show us that he is God.

One of the things I want to illustrate as a final point is that in becoming like a child, we often have to undo what we have become. Society tells us how to behave, what to do, we have our images of life we have been told how to paint, and despite that we should have our own dreams God has given us. We all have our own talents God has given us. We have our own way to worship, we have our own individual relationship with God, yet many tell us what their expectations are of us. We are told that these other views, these other practices are the mature things to do, but are they really the things God wants us to be, or become?

In closing, this is one of my favorite songs written by one of my favorite performers Harry Chapin. While this is a different version, the message is still there. Watch the video and think if you have allowed others to tell you how to paint your life?

Flowers are Red

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_AvXnBv8OI

As we get ready to dismiss today, I want you to realize, God still moves mountains. Let those mountains of struggle be moved in your heart. May the traditions of the past that deserve to stick around stay, let the new traditions that God has for you, start. May you become just like the child Jesus wants you to become.

Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3oIJCsRos8

Father, bless each soul that took part in this message, be with them today and through the week, let them become as excited to serve and worship you as a child is on Christmas Eve. Bless them, bless us all. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

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Your Pocketbook and Calendar

2008-11-08T06:48:00.011-06:00

Today I am going to try something different, I am going to take a sermon from Mosaic, and put that into narrative form for visitors to The Virtual Pew. It will of course be done in my unique style of using multimedia, and some street level insights.

Let’s first enter into an attitude of worship, but let’s pray first. Father, I realize there may be folks unable to attend a service today, I ask your blessings on them. I ask that your Holy Spirit would use this to reach out and touch those that need touching today. Holy Spirit Come, Holy Spirit Move, In Jesus Name I pray and ask your blessings on this service.

The first song is a song titled; Come Now is the Time to Worship. Let’s get off on the right foot, coming together to worship our Creator, our God.

Come Now Is the Time to Worship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivesRYcIPsQ

Let’s continue in the attitude of worship, here is another wonderful song I would encourage you to sing along with and reflect on the words.

Here I Am To Worship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoxopsRSfdU

You know a lot of folks think worship is about them, it isn’t it is about honoring God. It is about honoring his son Jesus of Nazareth. May we truly lift up the name of the Savior in all we do.

Lord I lift Your Name on High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WNVRDPKjhY

As we develop a relationship with Jesus, we realize that we develop more love, as we develop more love, the Holy Spirit gives us more power.

More Love More Power

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj0QzV6Zmpo

I would encourage you to take a short break now, go get a cup of coffee or a drink. Maybe even give someone a telephone call to tell them you love them, then come right back for the rest of the service:

I hope you took that short break, now before getting to the message today, I want you to sing along and ask the Lord to open your eyes and ears today to hear what he would have you hear and see from today’s message.

Open My Eyes Lord

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Fz1rviXFU

Today’s message is titled Pocketbooks and Calendars. It has to do with recognizing and seeing that our tithes and offerings are an act of worship. Hopefully God speaks to you through the message today.

Let’s get your attention to start off with. I know how most folks look at tithing, let’s take a look:

Badd Tithing Tricks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVKPtDdjR4

A few years ago I heard a story while visiting Willow Creek in the Chicago area. The truth of it is most of us say we don’t have time to give, we don’t have the resources to give, but in reality when confronted with certain things we can quickly see and know these things aren’t always true. If for example someone loves the game of basketball and there is a game in your area featuring LeBron James, it is likely that one will come up with the money, and make the time to go see the game. There are special events where we all do this. I will admit I fall into that category as well. Manheim Steamroller is coming to town to do a Christmas concert this year, and I made sure to put money back to take my wife. It was the most I have ever paid for a concert, but I wanted to see them and was willing to make the sacrifice with my calendar and with my checkbook.

A question I would have for you today, is, can you tell what your priorities are?

It is unfortunate that many will have no idea that today’s message on tithes and offerings is really about worship, but if a part of worship is expressing our all to God, then the aspects of worship we speak about today are among the most important, it is usually one of the most important things that helps prove what we really think about God and the Church.

I would challenge each person reading today, the most obvious sign of what is important to us is usually indicated by what is on our calendar and written from our checkbook.

Many of us hold this thing called money in high esteem. The following video tells you just a little about money:

In God We Trust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dCgGsabOxU

Before I look at some Scripture I want to share some of my thoughts regarding the tithe and offering. In doing this I want to look at some of the Old Testament verses New Testament concepts on tithing. It should be noted here, I am not presenting a straight forward approach as to what is the right definition of Tithing, there is a lot of debate on that subject, even some who would say we should maintain a strict 10% code, and others who say it was done away with in the New Testament. I am merely trying to point out some universal truths, and folks can take with them what they will.

First, it should be noted that in the Old Testament the concept was a strict 10% of all income and property was to be given as a tithe and offering to God. I believe the concept changed in the New Testament and now God requires for those who follow Christ 100%. That don’t mean we have to give every dollar to the church, charity, or ministry. I think it does mean we have to search and consider what God would have us give in regards to our time and our money.

Today, how much we give is a personal decision between each person and God. In this process we have to decide who gets the money and time we give. I do believe that in this process your church should always be the primary recipient. If not in a church then a ministry that you can support should be the primary recipient. That could be a ministry like The Virtual Pew, or another church like Mosaic Wichita, or even a church or ministry in your area. There are many deserving ministries, but I believe being committed to a particular ministry has benefits for you and that ministry. Again, realize on this point that other ministries are acceptable, you can also divide your gifts as you see fit and led to do so. This don’t change the fact though, recognize a ministry, or your church as the primary place to give your gifts of time and money.

Some would ask, how much do I give? I think each person has to pray about an amount regarding both money and time. Then, be faithful to that amount with each agency God leads you to support. Let me give some reasoning as to my thoughts here.

First, please understand, that in a contemporary definition as has been adopted by many, I am not a “Seed Faith” person, at least in the way of prosperity teaching. I have a serious issue with the way prosperity teaching is taught in many circles. God will bless the gift, but is not always in the way people think. It must also be stated, that having financial trouble does not mean you are in trouble with God. There are many examples in the Bible to give illustration to this point.

God uses our giving to bless others, and it allows us to see him work, whether through the church, individuals, or other ministries. I know for The Virtual Pew, and Mosaic Church that the work that is done is largely dependent on the gifts and time of others. I also know firsthand that peoples’ lives have been changed, touched, and even saved, in both a spiritual and physical way.

We need to also understand that the tithe and offering is about more than money. Although money is a part of the tithe and offering, so is our time. There is that reminder for each person as was stated earlier, our time in ministry and our tithes and offerings are an act of worship.

Many people are reluctant to give of their time and money for various reasons. There are many excuses, it is as if we are afraid of something, some kind of pressure, like someone is watching over our shoulder. The following video gives a good example of what this is like for some:

Tithing linebacker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWppyqt-Jdc

In the teachings of the Old Testament, we see a concept of people who would rob God. Let’s look at a passage in the Old Testament that refers to this concept. A note here, is that unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Contemporary English Version.

Malachi 3:6-12

(6) Descendants of Jacob, I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I never change. That’s why you haven’t been wiped out, (7) even though you have ignored and disobeyed my laws ever since the time of your ancestors. But if you return to me, I will return to you.

And yet you ask, “How can we return?”

(8) You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, “How are we robbing you?”

You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me. (9) That’s why your whole nation is under a curse. (10) I am the LORD All-Powerful, and I challenge you to put me to the test. Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing. (11) I will also stop locusts from destroying your crops and keeping your vineyards from producing. (12) Everyone of every nation will talk about how I have blessed you and about your wonderful land. I, the LORD All-Powerful, have spoken!

How do we rob God? We rob God by withholding our tithes and offerings. In the Old Testament, this was ten percent of all income, plus time, energy and effort. The money is easy to figure out, we all can think of how much we should give as an act of worship. I again believe God will make that clear to each person who clearly asks. The time is something else, how are you using your gifts for the Kingdom of God. While many churches have people become involved in areas they don’t enjoy, or are not gifted, the church benefits most when a person’s gifts are matched with their areas of giftedness. I think it is best to give to the church or ministries in ways that are best suited to your gifts and talents.

From the above passage, there are several key points to remember. God never changes, if we return to the ways of God, he will bless us, we return to God, as is indicated by our pocketbooks and time, the church that helps take care of others is blessed by God, and the blessings of God, as a result of the actions of the church, is noticed by those on the outside looking in.

It is sad but many often make excuses as to why they can’t give. They have bills to pay, they don’t make as much money as they would like, they work long hours, they have extra jobs, and in the words from the play The King and I, “Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera.” We must ask ourselves the question though, is shortcutting the time requests of God, and the monetary needs of ministry, robbing God?

The bible also provides an example of how one with little time, with little money can still impress God, and display a real act of worship.

Mark 12:41-44

(41) Jesus was sitting in the temple near the offering box and watching people put in their gifts. He noticed that many rich people were giving a lot of money. (42) Finally, a poor widow came up and put in two coins that were worth only a few pennies. (43) Jesus told his disciples to gather around him. Then he said:
I tell you that this poor widow has put in more than all the others. (44) Everyone else gave what they didn't need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had. Now she doesn't have a cent to live on.

Notice in the above passage, it was the poor woman’s willingness to sacrifice that impressed Jesus. Are we willing to make a sacrifice that will please Christ, both in time and money? Notice, how much she gave, she gave everything she had. This is a difficult concept for any of us, but here this poor woman did just that. She had the faith to know God would provide her needs.

In my own personal story I have found that when I give, God finds a way to bless me whether through finance or the gifts of others. Those gifts often include meals, concert tickets, whatever. I have even found myself during tough times winning tickets on the radio to Broadway Touring Shows, concerts with the likes of Joe Cocker, and more. I have even won my wife great Christmas presents. God finds a way to provide when one is faithful; they are quickly reminded that God is also known as Jehovah Jireh, my provider.

On the amount a person gives, I believe it is a personal decision, whether you is not, giving is a command, again, an act of worship, how much you give is the option, at least according to some. My personal belief, and I use this as an example, is that if 10% was good enough for the people of old, it is good enough as a minimum for me. Each follower of Jesus has to remember our limitations are not an excuse to take away from God. He honors the smallest of gifts.

Many of us seem to have a phobia of giving. The following is a video that puts this into perspective.

Tithe Phobia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PyMFZV0nwQ

While many of us may seem to have a phobia about giving time and money, we need to realize; what we do has an impact on others around us, and actually on us, it does this in a number of ways. One of the most glaring is we see God work. There are several passages to look at here, I want everyone read these, and think about what they perceive as being some of the benefits of giving.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2

(1) When you collect money for God's people, I want you to do exactly what I told the churches in Galatia to do. (2) That is, each Sunday each of you must put aside part of what you have earned. If you do this, you won't have to take up a collection when I come. (3) Choose some followers to take the money to Jerusalem. I will send them on with the money and with letters which show that you approve of them. (4) If you think I should go along, they can go with me.

2 Corinthians 9:5-15

(5) So I have decided to ask Titus and the others to spend some time with you before I arrive. This way they can arrange to collect the money you have promised. Then you will have the chance to give because you want to, and not because you feel forced to.

(6) Remember this saying, "A few seeds make a small harvest, but a lot of seeds make a big harvest."

(7) Each of you must make up your own mind about how much to give. But don't feel sorry that you must give and don't feel that you are forced to give. God loves people who love to give. (8) God can bless you with everything you need, and you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others. (9) The Scriptures say,

"God freely gives his gifts to the poor, and always does right."

(10) God gives seed to farmers and provides everyone with food. He will increase what you have, so that you can give even more to those in need. (11) You will be blessed in every way, and you will be able to keep on being generous. Then many people will thank God when we deliver your gift.

(12) What you are doing is much more than a service that supplies God's people with what they need. It is something that will make many others thank God. (13) The way in which you have proved yourselves by this service will bring honor and praise to God. You believed the message about Christ, and you obeyed it by sharing generously with God's people and with everyone else. (14) Now they are praying for you and want to see you, because God used you to bless them so very much. (15) Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words!

Acts 2:44-47

(44) All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. (45) They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. (46) Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, (47) while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.

Acts 4:32-35

(32) The group of followers all felt the same way about everything. None of them claimed that their possessions were their own, and they shared everything they had with each other. (33) In a powerful way the apostles told everyone that the Lord Jesus was now alive. God greatly blessed his followers, (34) and no one went in need of anything. Everyone who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money (35) to the apostles. Then they would give the money to anyone who needed it.

We should give because we want to, thus our giving becomes an act or worship. We can tell a number of things from the above passages. We see being able to help others from an individual to a congregational perspective. When giving appropriately, the church can take care of its responsibility of helping others within the body. There is the example and gifts of God to us. There is a great deal that could be discussed here, but my challenge is for you to think about and read these passages, think about the benefits of you stepping up and worshiping God by giving your time, your designated finances to the cause of ministry that he leads you to. If you are active in a church, or involved with a ministry, you have an obligation to support that church or ministry with your finance and time. Make sure that your checkbook has the name of those ministries written on a number of checks. You can also check your calendar, if there aren’t a number of scheduled events inked in that you have been participating on, you have to ask yourself, have I really worshiped God with my time and money? If not it is time to start.

In closing today I want us to spend a little time in praise to our King.

I Love You Lord

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How Strong are You, Joy Part 1

2008-06-10T03:15:00.014-06:00

The following is a continuation of the sermon series from Mosaic Church. This is an adaptation in narrative form, with some modifications and changes from the sermon series I am teaching on. It is the first of a 3 part series that has as a focus, joy. Hopefully you get something out of it and it should be noted, while much of the thought is my own, I have had many from various ministry sources, as well as friends and even some from MySpace that have contributed to my thought. Enjoy and if there are questions or comments, don’t hesitate commenting on the particular web site you are seeing this, or to email me at mike@thevirtualpew.com

I guess the first thing I would ask is; how strong are you? Not just in a physical way, but a spiritual way. What I would like to do is challenge you to start a new Spiritual exercise program. In doing so there are several passages from The Bible that I will encourage you to bookmark and take a look at as time permits, those passages include; Ecclesiastes 2: 1-11, Psalm 118:24, Philippians 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 5: 12-18, Nehemiah 8:10, Luke 15:7

Now before we get started, here is what I want you to do, of course in your own private setting, but be honest with yourself and do it. Go to your bathroom or bedroom which ever room you have a large mirror, take off your clothes, and look at yourself. Now let me ask you the question, are you in good physical shape?

I have to admit, I am far from being in the best of physical shape, and have to say, I am far from the shape I used to be in. One of the reasons is I don’t exercise like I should. I see my son; see the hard work he puts in for his wrestling and activities, and kind of marvel at the physical shape he is in. That said, I also realize that it takes work to get in pristine condition. Exercise, dedication, and commitment among other things are involved. While it takes these things to get into great physical shape, we must also recognize, it takes these kinds of effort to get into great spiritual shape.

One of the things that is lacking among many who call themselves Christians, or who are followers of Jesus, is that we aren’t in the best spiritual shape. In fact, often times, people seem depressed and not very happy. One of the things that is lacking, that we all need, that is important to share the value of our faith, if Christian, is the aspect of joy. I know of very few people who don’t want to be more joyful. Those that I do know aren’t very fun to be around; most of us know some of those people. Would you like to have more joy? Would you like to be happier in all things, not just a few? If the answer to those questions is yes, then are you willing to start a new exercise program?

One of the first things I would want you to understand. Joy is not necessarily happiness. In fact, I recently read a statement I strongly agree with, it read; “Happiness depends on happenings, Joy depends on Jesus."

I think the above statement is very true, or at the very least has been true from my own experiences and spiritual journey. It is important to realize, there is a tremendous difference between happiness and joy. One does not require the other, although one can benefit the other.

Mosaic is a church that has as a part of it’s affiliation an association with the Church of God in Anderson. A part of their statement of faith states from their web site:

In a miraculous way, that commitment to Christ is rewarded in the believer with a deep feeling of peace that C. S. Lewis has described as "surprised by joy!" The joy of the Lord is not one of temporary hilarity; rather it is the peaceful inner assurance that God is with me and I am with God—because of Christ. The experience of God working in our lives to forgive and redeem us begins as you and I confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The experience is described well by Bill and Gloria Gaither: He touched me, O He touched me, And O the joy that floods my soul; Something happened, and now I know, He touched me and made me whole.

As I read this statement for the first time, I begin to wonder, Joy - What is it? As I processed that thought I came to the following conclusions.

First let’s understand what joy is not. It is not a superficial happiness. In other words, joy and happiness are not synonymous with each other. We can all experience aspects of happiness and joy, but joy is not contingent on one being happy.

Next, understand, joy is not to be faked. Many put on a happy face, a happy face even when they aren’t happy. We see it all of the time, an example is we when often see a pat answer and smile when someone asks how another is doing. The seemingly consistent answer, even when we know it is not true, is “I’m doing fine, how are you?”

Joy is not a fleeting expression that comes and goes. It isn’t turned on or off by the whimsical experiences we face from day to day. While there may be moments where it is hard to be joyful, joy is an attitude that is more constant than not, a part of our nature more than not.

In the above process, one must realize, joy is not feeling that is dependent on pleasure and decadence. As mentioned in the earlier statement, at least as I have experienced it, my joy comes from Jesus, not happenings. There is again, a huge difference. My joy is not contingent on the things that are happening around me.

Joy is not the absence of suffering; it is the presence of God. This is a serious mistake many who follow Jesus make, it is also a serious mistake many make when looking at and contemplating the spiritual aspects of Christianity. When considering that joy comes from a place much deeper than the things we posses, or the dreams so many of us aspire for, we can take into consideration the words from Ecclesiastes 2: 1-11 which helps illustrate from a Biblical perspective what joy is not.

Ecclesiastes 2: 1-11
(1) I said to myself, "Have fun and enjoy yourself!" But this didn't make sense. (2) Laughing and having fun is crazy. What good does it do? (3) I wanted to find out what was best for us during the short time we have on this earth. So I decided to make myself happy with wine and find out what it means to be foolish, without really being foolish myself.

(4) I did some great things. I built houses and planted vineyards. (5) I had flower gardens and orchards full of fruit trees. (6) And I had pools where I could get water for the trees. (7) I owned slaves, and their sons and daughters became my slaves. I had more sheep and goats than anyone who had ever lived in Jerusalem. (8) Foreign rulers brought me silver, gold, and precious treasures. Men and women sang for me, and I had many wives who gave me great pleasure. (9) I was the most famous person who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and I was very wise. (10) I got whatever I wanted and did whatever made me happy. But most of all, I enjoyed my work. (11) Then I thought about everything I had done, including the hard work, and it was simply chasing the wind. Nothing on earth is worth the trouble.

In the above passage from Ecclesiastes we can see, that according to the author, he had virtually everything, yet that didn’t satisfy. How different is the above passage from those we know and see in our society today, especially in the West. It seems as if we have daily examples of how wealthy people, people with all of the trappings of, “nice things” don’t find happiness in those things. The author in fact, indicates that the things really aren’t worth the trouble. Nothing can replace the joy that comes from Christ.

Author Walter Wangerin Jr. wrote: "The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope, and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend upon it) disappoint us."

Joy is an attitude of the heart and for those of us who are followers of Jesus we will find it as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Joy is not merely happiness but much more.

Joy, for those who follow after Jesus, and who have committed themselves to his leadership and teachings is a lasting truth written on our hearts, hearts which are grounded in gratitude, thanksgiving, and hope. Joy is the deepest form of happiness, because it is a celebration, an eternal song. It is evidence of the hope we have that is beyond this world.

CS Lewis wrote: “All joy emphasizes our pilgrim status, always reminds, beckons, and awakens desire.”

This can help us start to move to the point where we better understand what joy is. It is in large, our longing, our desire for eternity. We have to be mindful of the things God ultimately has for us. There is no shame in contemplating, thinking about Heaven. While I may have financial issues now, I won’t in Heaven. While I may have relational problems now, I won’t in Heaven. While I may be tired, broken down and sorrowful now, I won’t in Heaven. While I may have difficulties paying the bills, high gas prices, or mortgage payment now, I won’t in Heaven. Heaven is the ultimate thing that God has for us who choose to follow him and accept his son Jesus Christ. While I realize that things on planet earth may stink for the moment, Heaven awaits me.

Joy is a deep thanksgiving and happiness for all God has for me, but it is also a commandment. In other words, God wants us to experience joy. The joy we experience helps us bare and deal with all of the difficulties we face now. It also helps to display the ultimate goodness of God to a people who are searching for an escape to all of the difficulties and curve balls life throws us.

We must all understand, whether followers of Jesus or not, joy is also God's will for each of us. God does not want people to live in tough times. He wants us to know that he loves us so much that he wants us to focus on what we will have, the ultimate gifts he will provide.

Joy is also a fruit of the spirit. In other words, when we give our lives to Christ, His Holy Spirit comes into our life and we experience joy. Joy is one of the proofs that God is real, and one of the proofs that Jesus still lives. Despite the tough and difficult times, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to find and recognize joy.

Joy must always be grounded in truth, gratitude/thanksgiving & hope. When we do this, we make the expression of praise towards God and others complete.

I love the following expression, it states: “Joy is peace dancing, and peace is joy at rest.” When we experience joy in our lives, it is as if we have found peace and as if our spirits dance. A celebration of happiness that we can all experience with the joy that comes from God.

Some things never change, it seems as if we focus and strive after the things we think will give us pleasure and joy. We chase pleasure, and pursue happiness, but as Christians we have a deeper, more beautiful calling, we are called to JOY!

There are several passages that help illustrate the journey and attitude toward joy we are taught in the Bible. Some of those follow.

Psalm 118:24
This day belongs to the LORD! Let's celebrate and be glad today.
Philippians 4:4
Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad.

Now while we strive for joy; the deepest happiness of all is also found in suffering. In other words, it is sometimes from our suffering that we really come to a complete understanding and appreciation of the joy God provides.

Paul wrote many letters while in prison. Philippians uses the words rejoice and joy more than any other. These words were written while Paul waiting to be executed and in chains! Paul uses the words rejoice over and over again, empathetically expressing his joy despite the conditions he was in, and the future that seemingly awaited him. We can use Paul as an example to encourage us that rejoicing, even in tough times, is a way to exercise our joy experience. As we exercise our experiences, then we have more joy, it is more evident, and when looking into the mirror, we will realize that God is with us, building us and molding us into the people he wants us to be, and ultimately the person that will experience more joy than ever before.

I could ask you, was Paul delusional? No I think he just understood God's will for us. He knew from his own personal experiences what God could ultimately do if we allowed him. In fact, if looking carefully at Paul’s words we can easily see, we are commanded to joy.

Our cultural understanding of repetition in language is different than that of the world which Paul initially wrote his letters. The repetitions of the word rejoice is like adding three exclamation marks to the end of the sentence. Paul means to quite seriously REJOICE! And to rejoice is to take joy in whatever experiences we are facing.

Some may ask what are some additional ways to exercise joy? We can see some of those from looking at the Bible and various life situations.

1 Thessalonians 5: 12-18
(12) My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. (13) Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other. (14) My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn't living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. (15) Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.
(16) Always be joyful (17) and never stop praying. (18) Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.

When we become Christians we spend hours searching for God's will in our lives. One of the few times the phrase' for this is God's will for you' is used is in reference to joy! It is GOD'S will for us to have joy. Did you hear that? This is one of those few times where God’s will for our life is clear!

There are several key points to being able to do this that we can get from this passage, some of those points includes: We need to be thoughtful to our leaders. Note here, from this passage we should also show our leaders respect and love. Then there is the need for all of us to try to get along with each other, but when need be, to confront each other when we do wrong, in love. In that we should encourage each other, especially those who feel left out. We should help the weak, be patient, and make the effort to not be hateful to anyone, even those who are hateful to us. The lessons don’t stop there though, we read, we should be good to each other, always be joyful, never stop praying, and no matter what, no matter how bad or how good life seems to be, thank God!

Nehemiah 8:10
Nehemiah told the people, “Enjoy your good food and wine and share some with those who didn't have anything to bring. Don't be sad! This is a special day for the LORD, and he will make you happy and strong."

Here in the above passage we see additional ways to practice joy. I love the first example, it is one a lot of people enjoy and appreciate, we should eat together, share with one another, celebrate together, and last but not least from this passage, share and give to those less fortunate.

On this passage I must state, it is hard to find joy in today’s world, especially with the rising costs of gas and the overall implications of that in rising costs across the board. I firmly believe, if followers of Jesus were to put the above practices into practice, not just with each other, but with a struggling world, searching for spiritual truths, our message about the love of Jesus would be a lot more receptive to people. What a wonderful world it would be if those who don’t know God, don’t believe in the salvation offered by Jesus would see us as a people who cared for, loved, and served even those who don’t hold to the same beliefs. Instead, many see those who say they follow Jesus as a bunch of judgmental, hypocritical jerks who could really care less for those who have difficulty. While we get passionate about speaking up against homosexuals, whatever political party we disagree with, or those lazy poor people, the truth is, we forget about the mission and message of Jesus. How sad is that, no wonder we don’t show that we are a people of joy, we are too busy being a people of judgment.

Luke 15:7
Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to."

From the above passage we can see another joy exercise. We need to share Jesus with those who don’t know him. We need to cause Heaven to throw parties. We can find true joy when we implement the message and mission of Jesus into our own lives. I love the concept presented by Mother Teresa here. She stated: “Joy is a net of love by which you catch souls.” How involved are we who call ourselves followers of Jesus, or Christians at casting nets of love in order that we can help introduce the souls of all people to the love and hope provided by Jesus.

There is an old Sunday school song that says: Joy is a flag flown high from the castle of my heart, for the king is in residence there. Let it fly in the sky let the whole world know, that the king is in residence there. A question I have, is, how many of us are letting that joy flag fly high from our heart? If we aren’t doing it, if we aren’t practicing the things God has told us to from the Bible, is it any wonder that we may not be experiencing joy?

The following is a letter written by Mehdi Dibaj who was an Iranian man who was first imprisoned, then released and later murdered for his faith in Jesus Christ. He exemplifies the joy each of us can find if we exercise our faith in Jesus, put into practice, and then move on from there. In a letter to his son, he wrote:

These days there are celebrations everywhere. People outside celebrate the day of Revolution and you, my son, are celebrating your birthday today (17 years old).

Inside my prison cell I am celebrating my forty-third year of becoming a Christian and today I am celebrating the entering of the eighth year of the test of my faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

There is a celebration and joy within my heart. I thank my loving God ever so much that He accounted me worthy to be here in prison for more than seven years now because of my love and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my Christian brothers and sisters who have supported me with their prayers and love, so that the victory should belong to the Lord.

Victory is yours, risen Jesus, Son of the Creator, our Redeemer.

Are you willing to exercise in the things you need to in order to be the joyful person God wants you to be? Or are you going to keep on being miserable? In closing I am going to use a poem by W. Roger Lee. He contributes on a regular basis to our web site, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ I appreciate these words from one of those contributions.

Look To Christ for Joy

Don’t wait until tomorrow to be happy,
As if happiness were a land far away,
For it can be found in this moment,
If your heart is grateful for today.

For happiness is not a place or thing,
Rather it’s a content state of mind,
And for all who look to Christ for joy,
His happiness they are sure to find.

A Reminder, you can also find our more about Mosaic Church by visiting, http://www.mosaicwichita.org/ or by visiting the MySpace page at, www.myspace.com/mosaicwichita

Here is a video of a wonderful song with a focus on Joy. If you see the video double click on it, if not, just click the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4lH1ovMgTc

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Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.com

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Toe Jam Christians

2008-05-17T00:27:00.006-06:00

The following is from a message presented at Mosaic Church on Sunday May 4, 2008. Additional messages will appear at various links including The Virtual Pew Sermon links available either from this article or from visiting http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ web site. Please feel free to pass along the links to these messages or to post on various message boards. Hoopefully they can be of benefit to those needing them, and as always, thanks so much for visiting The Virtual Pew.

Watch and enjoy this short video. If you can’t get the video to work just click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT2FWfetWhQ

Washing feet can be a fun thing as illustrated in the video above, but are you willing to clean out the toe jam from someone else?

In my last message you heard about the story of Anthony, my story. Today I want you to know what you should expect of me as a pastor, or any pastor for that matter. I know it will be different than what some are used to but I believe the concept is appropriate.

First, understand this; many have a misperception of what a pastor is. A pastor can also be compared to a teacher, a helper or even a coach. I personally like the concept of the pastor as a coach. In the Greek, the language used to write most of the New Testament, the word for Pastor, Elder, and Leaders is essentially the same word. This word does not generally apply to the majority of people in the congregation, often the word most associated with them is Disciples, or Ministers. This said though, I want to keep the focus on the pastor, elders, and other leaders in the church. For all practical purposes, consider them essentially the same as a coach. On this point I also want to mention, that when leading, we should learn from the ultimate leader, Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:5 states; Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

When looking at the mind of Jesus, or the person of Jesus, we must consider who Jesus was. All through out the New Testament we see that Jesus is given different names, and has different associations. Many of those include; Advocate, Almighty, Alpha and Omega, Author of Life, Author and Perfecter of our Faith, Author of Salvation, Beginning and End, Blessed and only Ruler, Chief Cornerstone, Chief Shepherd, Christ, Creator, Deliverer, Faithful Witness, First and Last, Good Shepherd, Great Shepherd, Head of the Church, Lord of All, Savior, Son of God, plus over 100 other titles all giving respect to the person and role of Jesus.

One of the concepts of Jesus we hear often about is the roles associated with being a shepherd. In this understanding we must realize that Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, and the elders, leaders and pastors within a church are the Under Shepherd. The role model to follow is in fact, Jesus.

Let’s look at the following passage from the Bible, it is one some call the last supper. While there are different variations of this passage in different books of the Bible, we want to look at one that shows the person of Jesus like few others.

John 13: 1-17
(1) It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

(2)The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. (3) Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; (4) so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. (5) After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
(6) He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

(7) Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

(8) "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

(9) "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

(10) Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." (11) For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

(12) When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. (13) "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. (14) Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. (15) I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. (16) I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (17) Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

In vs. 1 Jesus is going to show his followers the “Full Extent of His Love.” This was a lasting impression Jesus wanted to leave for all of his followers.

We need to realize that in vs. 2, that through this experience Judas Iscariot, the one who would ultimately betray Jesus was present. From this perspective we should understand, Christ does not put conditions on those he serves.

In vs. 3-5, Jesus takes on a role normally reserved for slaves. It is as if he becomes a slave and serves those at the table, even Judas.

In vs. 6 – 10, we see one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, we see the exchange with Peter were he says, “not just feet, but all of me.” As we look at this passage, as we think of Peter, are we willing to offer our all? Are we willing to serve all of the needs of those we come into contact with?

Many have felt abandoned by the church because the church has forgotten about serving all of those needing served. The Virtual Pew, and Mosaic are churches built on a concept of being for all people, even those who have given up on church. Are we willing to serve all? Including the dirtiest of the dirty?

In vs. 12 – 16, Jesus gives clarity; he lets his disciples know he is their “teacher” and their “Lord.” Jesus has expectations, but he is willing to set the standard, he has done what he is telling his leaders to do. Those of us, who are leaders must be willing to do what Jesus commanded his disciples to do, serve, and become slaves to those we lead. Anything else is putting us above Jesus.

In vs. 17 we see that when leaders are willing to serve the congregation, and the congregation is willing to serve their communities, the church and individuals will be blessed. Jesus illustrates this point again, in: Mark 10: 44, 45

(44) And if you want to be first, you must be everyone's slave. (45) The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.

A Question I have is, is the Leadership, congregation, willing to wash the feet of those we come into contact with by serving them, even those who would betray us and do us wrong?

In closing look at the following video, check out how one man made a decision to serve someone else, then notice the impact his willingness to serve has had on others. Just double click on the video, if the video don’t work, click on the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfaEPWLmLzo

In closing today, tell someone of your willingness to serve. Consider being a servant, and then pray while listening to the words from the following video. Again, if the video don’t work, just click on the link provided.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHBV0O_Q90c

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

Click to visit with Pastor Mike regarding any of your needs. He will respond to each request personally, and if need be refer you to one of our other pastors.

Click to visit and join the new group The Virtual Pew, at MySpace. Become a part of a different kind of Christian group, check out the page for more information,all welcome, including those who are not followers of Jesus.

Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

Click to subscribe to my blog

Click to visit and join our sister group at MySpace Hollywood Jesus.

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.com

You can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.

Here is our contact information

The Virtual Pew

P.O. Box 17731

Wichita, KS 67217

Click on the following links to learn more about The Virtual Pew

Donations to The Virtual Pew
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Phone Number to Call During The Virtual Pew Live Show, (Please never call prior to the start of the show) - (646) 716-8587

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Lessons from a Dumb, Poor, Street Kid

2008-04-28T23:48:00.009-06:00

Today’s article is going to be a little different. I am going to be showing a video that some may have taken the time to watch in the past, and others, maybe not. This is actually based on my first message at Mosaic and was an attempt to not only let the congregation get to know me, where I come from, and my personal make up, but also a challenge that if God can change the life of someone like Anthony, He can change individual lives within a community, within a home, and within a church. I will post the video from my presentation at Third Day in Fresno California, and then some objective lessons for folks to consider. It is best to watch the video first, then read the commentary after the video.

Please, if you have not seen the video on The Story of Anthony, take the time to watch. Simply double click on the video, and if the video don’t appear, just click on the link. After watching the video and listening to the story come back and read my thoughts as presented to Mosaic. While this will take some time, I am confident it will be worth while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpZbGbNWU10

One of the first things I want people to become aware of from a Biblical perspective, after listening to the story of Anthony, is that according to Galatians 2:20 that once we come to have a relationship with Jesus, we become new people. I still have the name Michael Anthony Furches but I am no longer the same person. I have become completely new. It is just like the verse says:

Galatians 2:20 - I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. (Contemporary English Version)

The person I was has realized that Jesus is bigger than my problems. He is with me every day and the problems I had as Anthony no longer exist in the way they did before. I have realized something else from this passage though, something what we can all learn, whether individuals, organizations, or churches. These are what I believe to be lessons we can learn from the story of Anthony.

First, God loves the undesirable. You may think you have done things that prevent God from loving you. That just isn’t true; God loves you no matter what you have done. There may be things you have done that he don’t appreciate or like, but as a person, he loves you and wants to change you, no matter if rich or poor, black or white, abused or an abuser, a saint or a criminal, or any other number of conditions you want to place on your life. It is one of the things I think the church needs to do a better job of, that is letting those who society considers undesirable know that Christ loves them and wants to have a relationship with them that will ultimately provide love and compassion to those needing it and wanting it most. I also understand that sometimes the hardest person to love us is ourselves. God can, and wants to change that. We can become people who are lovable, even in our own minds.

Second, God changes things whether situations, people, or churches. God wants your situation to see new light, to see and have hope. In my life, I experienced this; it has changed everything about me, no matter where I am, or what I am doing. I know for a fact, that God still works miracles.

Third, people change when they allow God to change them. I had to make the decision to let God change my life. I was sick of the things I had experienced in life; even after becoming a Christian I didn’t realize my need to let God change me. It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t know, but ultimately I had to experience the consequences of my actions. I believe that when individuals, organizations, families and yes, churches allow God to work in them, they will see and experience change like Anthony. The bottom line is they have to want it. If you don’t want it, you won’t experience it.

Fourth, when one gets back to the basics God Works. It is like sports, the basics, the fundamentals are key to the development of a team and the skills and talents of an individual. I learned the basics and fundamentals are the keys to spiritual growth, not just for me, but any individual, group, organization, or church. Those basics include the following.

Bible Study: The Bible to be the ultimate love letter and instruction manual from the creator of the universe. It is designed to help one understand God, fall in love with the person of Jesus Christ, seek the forgiveness of the things we have done wrong and at the same time, give us instructions on how to live meaningful and productive lives.

We have to allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us. We all receive the Holy Spirit in our lives at the point we come into relationship with Jesus. The problem is we don’t understand what the purpose of the Holy Spirit is. He is there to guide us, help us in our decisions, helps us decipher right from wrong, help us understand the Bible, and much more. We are told in the Bible that the Holy Spirit gives us power. Unfortunately we don’t understand how to realize that power.

We have to be willing to share our faith with others. I know that when this happens, people often say things about us or criticize us, even calling us hypocrites. I believe that sharing our faith is good for at least 2 reasons. One it allows us the opportunity to share our faith with others in a way we may see them come to faith. Secondly, it has others hold us accountable. I write in my book The Keystone Kid a story about a friend confronting me about my faith after I had been saved a short time. He confronted me about smoking dope in his room with several others. I’ll never forget Darrell telling me that if being a Christian was about being able to smoke dope he was good with becoming a Christian. If I hadn’t told Darrell that I was a Christian, he would have never been able to say something to me. That confrontation helped open my eyes that I needed to stop smoking dope. No church was there to help me with this, but God used my willingness to share my faith, to have non Christians confront me about areas that I knew wasn’t quite right in my life.

Prayer is another basic of the faith. Simply put, prayer is talking with God in the way we would talk to friends. We can talk to God about the person giving us a hard time in traffic, or about our bills, disagreements with our spouse, a test in school, a disagreement on a message board, or anything. We don’t have to use special language or anything like that when speaking with God. I compare this to a husband and wife talking with each other. Unless they are willing to spend time talking together, they simply won’t get to know each other. God wants to spend time talking to us, and listening to us.

Another basic to our faith is the need to spend time with other followers of Jesus. I realize many associated with The Virtual Pew may not be involved in a church for whatever reason. That does not negate the need to spend time with other believers though, whether that be finding a local church to be a part of, or attending Christian events. Many towns may have a coffeehouse where you can go listen to bands. There may be speakers or worship events in your community. I personally love small groups or small gatherings in homes where you can talk about faith and at the same time worship God. I have a deep passion and love for the church, but we need to remember, the church isn’t a building but a people, to experience church with a people is ultimately important, and while it is great if you can ultimately plug into a gathering of people which meets in a building, the relationships with each other is the thing I am talking about. I have found that a single person in a large gathering of Christians can get lost if they want. Meaningful relationships with friends, where you can hold each other accountable to right wrong, love, and so forth, is something we all need and can find, even in small settings.

The above are ingredients of getting back to the basics. There are other things to learn from the story of Anthony though. Another is people and Churches can come back to a place where God will work in their lives. The truth is, all people, individuals, groups, organizations and yes, even churches get to the place were we become the focus instead of God. God, his worship, his love for humanity, his love for us, has to always be the primary message. That message of love and salvation through Jesus Christ is critical. While we may stray from that at times, we can always go back home. God is a loving father who will receive us back with wide open, loving arms. We can keep on the same path, going the same direction, seeing little or no effectiveness in our spiritual lives. We don’t have to though; we can experience the power, love and life offered by God through his son Jesus if we just go back home.

While we can learn more with the story of Anthony, I want to close with the concept that with God all things are possible. We read about this in the Bible in the book of Philippians.

Philippians 4:13 - Christ gives me the strength to face anything. (CEV)

I have learned in my experiences that this is true. I realize my strength is in the person of Jesus Christ. I can face difficulties, hard times, yet I can also joy and find myself doing things I can only do because Christ has blessed me.

I still consider myself a dumb ol’ street kid from Tennessee. I should have never experienced the things in life I have, from working with many of the top bands in the world, to calling certain great Christian leaders friends, and having the blessing to meet many individuals some consider stars. There has been more though, nothing compares to performing a wedding ceremony for your daughter or baptizing your son. Nothing compares to having a wonderful wife, or a ministry that has touched the lives of thousands. Those things should have never happened to me, yet they did. I am confident that my God is so big that they can happen with you as well. That is whether you are an individual, a part of an organization, or a part of a church in need of change. The question isn’t what God will do, but will you allow him to do what he wants to? If so, you will learn that the hopes and changes that occurred in my life, can also occur in yours, and for me, that would be a incredible miracle to see happen. Anything I can do to help in the process, don’t hesitate letting me know.

Click Here to Go to The Virtual Pew Daily Verse and Read The Bible in a Year Passages

Click here for booking information to have Pastor Mike come speak or perform, from speaking to music or magic, something for all groups.

Click to visit with Pastor Mike regarding any of your needs. He will respond to each request personally, and if need be refer you to one of our other pastors.

Click to visit and join the new group The Virtual Pew, at MySpace. Become a part of a different kind of Christian group, check out the page for more information,all welcome, including those who are not followers of Jesus.

Click to visit the Virtual Pew Website and become a part of that ministry.

Click to subscribe to my blog

Click to visit and join our sister group at MySpace Hollywood Jesus.

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.com

You can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

Now I get asked this quite often, Can we repost your blogs or articles? The short answer to that is, what an honor that you would ask, and by all means, spread the word.

Here is our contact information

The Virtual Pew

P.O. Box 17731

Wichita, KS 67217

Click on the following links to learn more about The Virtual Pew

God May Just Bust You In The Mouth / The Power of Love

2008-01-06T14:51:00.001-06:00

One of the things I hear about on occasion is how some people think I am critical of the Church. I try to be careful about this, why may you ask? Simple, where I come from, you talk about a man’s wife or girlfriend, you are libel to get your nose busted. The Church, according to the Bible, is called the Bride of Jesus. When talking about the bride of the son of God I think you have to be careful.

It is annoying at times; people confuse the church, those who love and follow after Jesus, with an organization, denomination, or building we call church. The truth is, like it or not, what we call church is nothing like the church we see in the New Testament. Unfortunately many Christians have become so involved with politics they end up spinning everything to support their positions, even when those positions are wrong.

It is sad when a ministry like The Virtual Pew tries to hold the church accountable to be the church we see in Acts and ends up getting criticized by some who call themselves Christians, and even beyond that, some which call themselves, The Church. It is sad for a variety of reasons, let me touch on a few of those.

One of the concerns I have is that those who call themselves Christians find excuses to not do what the Bible tells them, and even finds excuses to keep on having what they call church, not resemble, follow, or be anything like the church in the New Testament. Some will say the culture is much different, or the early church did things because of persecution, or any number of issues. While there are certainly cultural issues we should take into account, we have to be careful when picking and choosing.

In the book of Acts we see the church described in specific ways. We see those ways being supported from a historical position. They pretty much existed this way until Constantine, around 270 AD provided a mixed political, and religious culture that changed the way the world viewed Christianity. I challenge, Constantine, his decisions, and the marriage of the geopolitical religious system, may have done more harm to the church as Christ desired, than many give credit to.

There are many passages we can look at in the Bible regarding the early church, I like looking specifically at Acts 2:43-47:

(43) Everyone was amazed by the many miracles and wonders that the apostles worked. (44) All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. (45) They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. (46) Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, (47) while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved.

I could go into a great deal of detail here. Many make the association that the early followers of Jesus, the Church, were communal. While there is some truth to this, notice in verse 44, there was certainly a level of individualism, and certainly a concept that some did not live together in the sense we may think. We also see this in other passages. There are other things to notice though. Notice their unconditional love for each other, their view and concept of ownership, possessions and so forth. There was a genuine concern and measure of love to the point they went out of their way to help and show love to each other. In fact, they wanted to be together, each day, unlike our desire in churches to see each other once a week, if that.

It is sad, my experience, even recent experience, continues to show me, that most of the time, many in the church have forgotten about this concept of sharing in each others lives. For example, my family is in the process of again looking for a church. Several people are encouraging me to start a new church and we are contemplating that option. Recently, we decided the church we were attending was not meeting our needs. There was a need for more relationship building and it just wasn’t happening. We also felt strongly about finding something for my wife and son to become involved in. To be honest, I could care less about going to church; I want my family to be a part of a church that encourages us to be the church, at the same time, showing that love, that passion, that vision as explained in Acts and other places.

Now I have to be careful, I am not intending to slam a church, either the one we attended or the ones we are looking at. Yet the facts are the facts, we have not heard a single word from the churches we have attended and are searching out, or the one we just left. Sharing in each others life is still lacking in my opinion with what I call “the modern” church. I could go into detail here, but that is not the intent of this piece. Let me ask, if we who read our bibles daily, pray daily, spend time in service, and make the commitment to try and be as much like Jesus as possible experience this, have difficulty with this, how much more difficulty does one face who is weak in these areas? Let me make it clear, the early church was about relationship, and love towards one another, why do churches today talk about this, but not do it? I am even disheartened, that those churches who are trying to be different, have become the very things they hated. I challenge that most churches have failed. Attendance don’t increase, and there are far more churches dying than there are being born, and far more followers of Jesus, otherwise known as Christians, who are not attending church than there are who are. Studies show that within 10 years, as many as 75% of those who read their bibles, see it as Gods’ word, believe in and have made Jesus their Lord and Savior or as I like to call it their Forgiver and Leader, who believe they should live their faith out on a daily bases, pray on a regular basis and so forth, will not be attending a church service on a regular basis, and will in fact, not be involved with what we call an organized church. Today it is estimated that 55% of all Christians fall into this category.

Many times, when I say what I say above, there are those (facts supported by the Barna Research Group, and by Gallup) who are inclined to put those Christians not in church down, stating that they are immature, can’t be Christians or followers of Jesus, or they aren’t Christians. The sad thing is studies also show, these individuals are practicing their faith, doing more, than many who are in church. Often time, Christians who are critical, do nothing about trying to reach these people.

The great mistake many make when they hear me comment on this, or read my words is they assume I am tearing down the church. It is not my intent to tear down the church, but to challenge her to be the bride that Jesus desires. The unfortunate truth is, often times the church resembles the whore of Hosea in the Old Testament, as opposed to the Bride of Christ in the New Testament. While God is calling out people to confront the church with truth, many times, just as in the Old Testament and New Testament, the religious leaders, and religious practitioners are so caught up in their individual beliefs and pride they don’t see the reality of what they are being confronted with. The end result is the church is dying and followers of Jesus are leaving what could be a wonderful and good thing, not the building, but the fellowship that could exist if what we call the church chooses to practice church as we are given directions to in the Bible. While there are numerous passages, I strongly encourage a study of the book of Acts, and Ephesians to start off with.

It is the hope, and the desire of The Virtual Pew, that we help those who can, to plug into a local body of believers, but we want to make sure those churches are being Christ to their communities, but even more importantly, to the individuals who are needing the love. We want to see a passion, love, concern, and objective to share the love of Jesus with those needing it, at all costs, becoming all things to all people, in order that they may win some. We want to see people also become disciples, dedicated followers of Jesus, not just “Christians.”

Here are a few tips to help churches that I have learned and am convinced of.

Love each other first. I don’t want to imply that you pretend to love each other, but really love each other. It becomes obvious to outsiders when you do. But this means doing what it says in Acts 2. If you can’t do that, don’t expect to be effective. Loving and caring for each other in fact should be the first responsibility to each other. I will share a brief story of a lady I was speaking to who lived in the projects who did not attend church. She indicated to me that she had gone to a popular church in Wichita and when it was her husbands’ birthday, who had not been in church, the church said it would take too much time to recognize his birthday in any way. How does this show love? At United at the Cross, we always sang happy birthday or happy anniversary to everyone who was celebrating one of these two days. I can honestly say, it never took that much time, and was always worth it. Loving in each others life, means sharing in each others life, the good, the bad, the sad, and the happy, without excuse.

Churches should see the souls you are trying to reach as people loved deeply by Christ, don’t view them as projects. I know of no one who likes being a project. I have made this mistake and am doing my best to not replicate it. The last time I did this was in the year 2000. I still regret it and wonder if me doing that has anything to do with that person still not accepting Christ. Luke 15 is clear, when that which was lost is found, all of the angels in Heaven above rejoice. We should join in the celebration not because we want to party, or pat ourselves on the back, but because we love the people we know and come into contact with. Relationships are always more important than projects. Churches talk about how important people are, but have so many projects the people, their needs, their hurts, wants and desires are never addressed.

Understand the value of reaching out to the non churched. I love Spurgeons’ quote, “God forbid that one would die within the shadow of the steeple of the church not knowing the love of Christ.” On this I love the Catholic Parish concept. Start in your neighborhood. I really think we have made a terrible mistake in developing commuter churches where we never get to know our neighbors and never serve our communities. Thankfully we now have the means to communicate better; things like blogs, email, and so forth have helped. As much as they have helped though, there is still no replacement for a hug, a real conversation, and a face to go with the person you are sharing in life with.

Don’t compromise the integrity of the Gospel, or the salvation provided through Jesus Christ. In this process neither should we ignore the sin nature, and the need for forgiveness. While I believe it in the concept of grace, I receive grace, even though it is my sin which separates me from God. The mistake some make is they assume that just because one may focus on grace, they forget about sin. This is a serious mistake, just as serious as a constant focus on sin without ever explaining the grace provided by Christ.

On the above point I realize many read this not knowing the “Christian” lingo. Essentially what I am speaking of is we all do wrong, have done wrong, and will do wrong, that is the sin nature. God is so perfect, loving, holy, and good, that he can’t stand to be in the presence of sin. Grace is simply getting something good that we don’t deserve. None of us deserve the salvation offered by Jesus, yet God, when we were still doing wrong, loved us so much that he made this gift available to each us. Don’t let the religious zealots convince you that you have to be perfect and holy to come to God. We come as we are, and Christ provides salvation when we believe and follow him.

I could go on and say there are other critical things to understand but these are the places for the church to start if it wants to break the cycle. Unfortunately, I don’t see much hope for the “church”. Many in the church have forgotten the church is not, never was, and never will be a building, it is a people. Most all followers of Jesus say so; they just don’t act like it. Then again, they keep loosing people and don’t understand why. There is a wonderful line spoken by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie The Fighting Temptations. His character is changing the choir of the local church, people are coming to church for the first time, the church is growing, but one of the older choir members challenges that things are changing in the church. The character played by Gooding Jr. responds essentially, “yes the church will change when there is change.” If the church wants to see change, it has to change. Let me challenge you, if you church is dying what do you have to loose. It is for this reason that I do consultation to churches on growth and evangelism. I have learned from experience. Between providing consultations to programs in the real world that resembled churches, and then doing that with churches for over 20 years now, I am confident that I know what works; it is why I challenge people to compare fruit with me when they doubt the reality of this. Now on this point, also realize, Mega Churches are another breed. While some of those churches are growing, there is no doubt; most of them (not all) are doing so at the expense and deaths of smaller churches where those churches are “stealing the sheep of smaller churches.” The research is conclusive, while mega churches may be growing, there is less Christians involved in church, and more Christians or followers of Jesus leaving the church. This can not, nor should it ever be acceptable. Any church, who is satisfied with growing their congregations on the backs of small churches, will have to answer to God for that. I know hard words, but I believe totally true. It is time to be a part of the solution, as opposed to a part of the problem.

In closing, I always get tons of email on articles like this. It usually comes from two groups, those in churches, denominations, buildings and so forth, who blast away and try to argue every point. They are critical, and in return don’t do much to go out of their way to change the status quo. To those, keep on killing the bride of Christ, because the truth is, either you are the church Christ desires, or you are not! Continue being effective at doing nothing, and reaching no one, you will die, if you aren’t already, and you will keep on getting what you are likely getting now, nothing. Then there are those who understand exactly what I am saying because they have been hurt, abandoned, left out, not understood and so much more. It is to those people that I say, you are the reason The Virtual Pew exists. Anything I can do to help out, let me know. Thankfully I have some friends who agree with the process, and between them and me, we will do what we can to be different. Heck, if living in the Wichita area, we are even open to exploring the possibility of starting a group that will do and become exactly what I am talking about. We are real and I promise, thankfully at this point, haven’t become the very thing that kept us out of church. I promise, we will eat with you, share in your difficulties, share in all things, and you will never have to ask first because I realize our responsibility to be there for you. I think we all want that, I just pray we all get there. If in another part of the country, we will do what we can on line, and if possible, at least recommend you to other churches we know about. While I can’t guarantee any church, I can guarantee that we will try to show love, not just talk about it, even if that means putting you in touch with people who will love, care, and be as much like the church in Acts as possible.

I would like to say one last thing, to those like myself, who either have, or still do fall into the category of what I call, The Last, The Lost and The Least. I know what it is like to be an outcast, to feel that no one understands or cares. This can be because of being homeless, having family issues, drugs, broken homes, abuse and so much more. I am tired of people talking about showing us love, and in reality backhanding us on their way to their social clubs they often call church. There is no excuse for people to say they follow Jesus and act like this. The truth is, some of us know that many do act like this, and in fact, our experience tells us that most act like this. To you I say come on along with The Virtual Pew and be an instrument of change, an instrument of change to do things the way we are called to, but more importantly, be ultimately, when we can, an instrument of change to those organizations who call themselves church but in reality look nothing like the Bride of Christ. We have access to a world wide web now where you don’t have to be alone. Whether in Australia or the backwoods of Kentucky, we can come together, help each other, love each other. I say this, not because you need it, although you may, but because I know I need it and we can share in life together.

I am convinced there are many great churches, that are doing all they can to follow the process and be a loving bride, we just don’t hear about them. They exist within many denominations and many non denominational churches. They realize it is Christ who is a loving husband, a loving forgiver of sins and a loving leader who is there for us, to love us, hold us, and comfort us. We are always looking for those types of churches as well to refer people to. To those of you who are trying to be the church we read about in Acts and other parts of the New Testament, I say congratulations and may God’s Spirit bless you. If there is anything we can do to help, let me know as well. I would love to know enough about you to use you as a reference to the people who come to The Virtual Pew and are looking for a local body of believers to worship with. Whether a small home church or a large mega church who attempts to grow based on new followers of Jesus or reaching out to others I call The Lost, The Last, or The Least, we desire communication with you as well. Visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ to learn more about our ministry, or feel free to contact me via email at mike@thevirtualpew.com I can think of nothing I would love doing more, than growing, and assisting the Church as Christ desired the church to be.

When the Church loves, and is the church Christ desires, we can see the power of love. Check out the video below for an old classic with a ton of metaphor and allegory, listen to the words. Just double click on the video below, if that don't work, just try the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NMph943tsw

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Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are hundreds of postings so make sure to check out the archives. You can also contact me for a free e-book pre edit version of The Keystone Kid at mike@thevirtualpew.com

You can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page down on the left side you sill see our store. Your purchase provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something to purchase you can click on the search engine, (do not put anything in the search box at this time). You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew.

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Wichita, KS 67217

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The Dr. Phil Of The Jerry Springer Crowd

2007-02-20T08:47:00.000-06:00

Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil in the same title, tell me it can't be true. Well it is true, and I am sure the contribution today will raise more than a few eyebrows.

I have a confession that runs the risk of gaining a few friends, and losing a few others. I have to admit, on occasion when flipping through the television channels, I stop and watch what some call the worst show in the history of television, The Jerry Springer Show. I could take it a step further, I have actually studied The Jerry Springer Show and while I often have serious issues with the program, I have come to really appreciate Jerry Springer's mastery of how to control an audience, and his ability to interview and create situations that at the very least, in a controversial way, creates riveting television.

On the other hand, I have on occasion also watched Dr. Phil. I have to admit, I am not a big fan of what I call "Junk Psychology" but Dr. Phil is a master at being able to give some resemblance of help to people who need it in varying situations in a short period of time. I actually appreciate what I consider his Gestalt techniques at times and know that for many a viewer and many a guest, he has indeed been responsible in helping make a difference in their lives. Having been a student of psychology and counseling, and a counselor myself, I have also studied the approach of Dr. Phil.

I have often wondered, how in the world would you take an approach like Dr. Phil and address the people who are more in tune with Jerry Springer, after all, it is no secret these are two distinctively different audiences. Recently while flipping through the channels I found myself stopped at a particular program, impressed with someone offering sound, solid, and appropriate advice to the Jerry Springer Crowd. Someone who I felt was filling a niche that hadn't been met.

Steve Wilkos, a former marine and beat police officer stands 6' 3" tall and has a talent that causes him to be what I consider the Dr. Phil of the Jerry Springer Crowd. For fans of the Springer crowd you will simply know him as Steve, the bald headed chief of security for the Springer show. As of recent he has been hosting various shows ranging on various topics. I have to admit, Steve's approach is one I really appreciate, and one completely different than Jerry Springer. In fact, when Steve is hosting a show, one might say it doesn't resemble The Jerry Springer Show, it is totally different, with a different focus and a different approach. Sure there are some of the overt Springer events, the handing out of the Jerry Beads, pole dancers and those types of things, but it is obvious this don't fit so much into the personality of Steve as it does the producers of the television show. In fact, at times, it is obvious Steve is not comfortable with this direction of the show when hosting it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not endorsing The Jerry Springer Show, even when Steve is hosting, I am saying I find value in Steve's approach and I believe he is helping people, both on screen and off screen who are members of the Springer fan club. Steve in essence, with his background as a police officer, and years of observing Jerry Springer work a room, may have found his true gift in life, being the Dr. Phil of the Springer Crowd.

I am amazed at how people are different. There is the white collar crowd, the ones working Wall Street, involved in investments, living in the suburbs, drinking Heineken and on and on. Then there is the blue collar crowd, the ones working in the factory, living in panel houses or housing projects, those who drive cars more than 10 years old and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon. The sad thing is it seems as if society places a higher value on one group of people over another, which is a shame; it is a shame because in the eyes of God, both groups are of equal value.

The truth is, it is just as important for the fans of Jerry Springer to have sound advice, in their language, and in their world that can offer a glimmer of hope. While ultimately that hope comes from God, it is nice to know that some folks like Steve Wilkos is there at least making some level of progress. Whether he is helping a hooker get off the streets, or offering advice to a pregnant daughter to develop a more appropriate relationship with her mother, the advice can be solid and of benefit. Again, not just to the person on the screen, but to the viewer at home who is attracted to this type of program.

In the Bible, we often read analogies of how Christians are like a family, brothers, sisters, that type of thing. We also hear of an analogy of growing up, being like a baby, drinking milk, and then becoming more mature where you can eat more adult types of food. There is another analogy that fits here though, that is the Church, or people of God being like a body. Here you have a body that has hands and feet, fingers and toes, arm pits and, well you can imagine. All are important parts of the body, all are needed, all are essential to helping the other parts do their jobs. Sometimes that body is dirty from working dirty, difficult jobs, sometimes that body is clean but mentally drained from working on detailed, organizational jobs, but, they all serve each other, and all are needed to truly bring about a complete and perfect body. I find it sad, that often times people ignore the dirty, the so called insignificant, and in return there is little respect for the one who never seems to get their hands dirty. The truth is we need each other.

There are numerous passages in the Bible that help illustrate this, today, I want to close with looking at the entirety of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12. After reading it, ask yourself, what kind of gifts can I give? What kinds of things can I do to help others? How can I do it in a way that allows me to be who I am? Then after answering those questions, apply and start work towards your answers. I'll tell you right now, if God can use the Dr. Phil of the Springer Crowd he can certainly use you. I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that even Steve Wilkos, Jerry Springer, and Dr. Phil would agree on that point. Here is the chapter to read, think about, and apply.

1 Corinthians 12
Spiritual Gifts
(1) My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. (2) I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. (3) Now I want you to know that if you are led by God's Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.
(4) There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. (5) There are different ways to serve the same Lord, (6) and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.

(7) The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. (8 ) Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. (9) To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick (10) or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. (11) But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

One Body with Many Parts
(12) The body of Christ has many different parts, just as any other body does. (13) Some of us are Jews, and others are Gentiles. Some of us are slaves, and others are free. But God's Spirit baptized each of us and made us part of the body of Christ. Now we each drink from that same Spirit. (14) Our bodies don't have just one part. They have many parts. (15) Suppose a foot says, "I'm not a hand, and so I'm not part of the body." Wouldn't the foot still belong to the body? (16) Or suppose an ear says, "I'm not an eye, and so I'm not part of the body." Wouldn't the ear still belong to the body? (17) If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn't hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn't smell a thing. (18 ) But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best.
(19) A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. (20) It takes many parts to make a single body. (21) That's why the eyes cannot say they don't need the hands. That's also why the head cannot say it doesn't need the feet. (22) In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest. (23) We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts, (24) but we don't have to be modest about other parts.

God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. (25) He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. (26) If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.

(27) Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body. (28 )First, God chose some people to be apostles and prophets and teachers for the church. But he also chose some to work miracles or heal the sick or help others or be leaders or speak different kinds of languages. (29) Not everyone is an apostle. Not everyone is a prophet. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can work miracles. (30) Not everyone can heal the sick. Not everyone can speak different kinds of languages. Not everyone can tell what these languages mean. (31) I want you to desire the best gifts. So I will show you a much better way.

Footnotes:

1 Corinthians 12:10 and some of us. . . present: Or "and some of us recognize the difference between God's Spirit and other spirits."
1 Corinthians 12:13 Some of us are Jews. . . that same Spirit: Verse 13 may also be translated, "God's Spirit is inside each of us, and all around us as well. So it doesn't matter that some of us are Jews and others are Gentiles and that some are slaves and others are free. Together we are one body."
1 Corinthians 12:31 I want you to desire the best gifts: Or "You desire the best gifts."

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are numerous postings, and you will have to go into the archives to see the 100 plus postings over the last months.

Now I also want to remind you that you can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page scroll down to the left hand side of the page where you sill see our store. Your purchases through our Amazon store provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something on the page to buy, you can click on the search engine for the store, (do not put anything in the search box at this time) and you will then be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew and/or at the very least shop our store. The items on the store page are highly recommended.

Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.
The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Or you van give on line via Pay Pal at: http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can also subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ or see the newsletter on line at http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can also sign up for the free newsletter from The Virtual Pew by visiting the main page for The Virtual Pew, or you can see the newsletters online by visiting this web site: http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.

Oh Yea! Porn Baby!

2007-02-08T08:55:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I have writers block as was the case yesterday but today, the juices are flowing. I read a friends blog this morning, and checked out a video he had posted from YouTube. The video features a ministry I have respected for some time now, xxxchurch.com. xxxchurch.com simply put, gets it. They get the fact that Christians are to develop relationships with those in the world and love them in then name of Jesus. Unlike so many other Christians, they have decided to get their hands dirty. The truth of it is that getting your hands dirty while doing the work of Jesus shouldn't be something new, in fact, it should be expected.

For far too long many Christians have assumed that being a Christian means you go to church, hear a few songs, maybe, if you’re a really good Christian go to Sunday School, listen to the teacher or preacher, then go about doing your regular thing, whatever that is for the remainder of the week. How unfortunate and how sad that is the perception of many, if not most Christians. Somewhere along the way, the message of loving Him and loving them got lost. Somewhere along the way, the concept of showing love to others unconditionally was lost. While there is the, "You are going to Hell" crowd,that loves to justify their own holiness, I have to wonder if their actions aren't more like the Pharisees than they are the acts and methods of Jesus. While watching the video this morning, I was moved and compelled by the pastors of xxxchurc.com Craig Gross and Mike Foster as they described the need for Ron Jeremy, who they have a friendship and professional relationship with to know Jesus. These two are seen as ones who won't deny the existence of Hell but they also demonstrate the fact that Ron Jeremy can be forgiven for all of the wrongs he has done, and ultimately find salvation through Jesus Christ. The amazing thing about the interview is that while some may take offense to the methods and efforts of xxxchurch.com Jeremy seems to be supportive of it, even saying the Porn industry needs them.

There is a lot that one could get into but there are three basic Biblical principles that I will touch on today. Jesus says in Matthew 16, verse 18 to Peter, "……upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." There is a concept here that I would touch on, that is, the church is on the attack. It is not sitting back waiting for the evils of the world to attack it, it is instead, attacking the gates of Hell. Hell as exemplified in the city gates of Jerusalem was also referred to as Hades. Hades, interestingly enough wasn’t just a spiritual place. Outside the city gates of Jerusalem it was a real place, a place where the extreme poor, the prostitutes, the lepers and all others were at work. It was in fact, a dirty disgusting place, yet many theologians and archeologists like Ray Vanderlaun believes that these are the very places we saw Jesus and the early church, on the offensive, going to disgusting dirty places, taking the message of love. Christians met together on a regular basis, sharing in each others lives, but they also went out into the deepest, darkest places of their community, sharing the love of Jesus with the very people many found disgusting. What ever happened to the churches efforts to do those things? I wonder about this when realizing that xxxchurch.com's greatest critics are those within the church.

Another Biblical concept is that Christ made clear; the greatest of all commandments was given in Luke 10:27, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF" Jesus goes on in verse 28 and says, that of all of the commandments none are more important or greater than these two, for when we keep these two, we have kept all of the commandments. Now think about that, part of loving God is loving others, we are to love Him, we are to love them! Isn't it sad that so many churches, so many Christians find ways to not love others? We talk about all of their sin, all of their wrongs, all of their dirt, all of their filth, but we can't find the time or ability to love others. Thank God that some like xxxchurch.com get it. They get it and are taking the love to Jesus to places where many Christians don't accept or tolerate. I have to wonder, how big you think that smile is on the face of Jesus regarding the obedience these people display. I can't imagine, the smile for the joy of obedience, but at the same time the sadness knowing that these are people he loves, yet few go out of their way to show that love. Jesus obviously went out of the way to show prostitutes and those involved in sexual wrongs that he loved them, yet we find excuses not to.

There is a third Biblical concept I will conclude with. There is a passage I love that is one of what I call the hard sayings of Jesus. Luke 9:23 is one of the hardest sayings in the entire Bible, but Jesus gives some very clear instruction here. He says; "If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me." All too often we hear about how hard it is to be a Christian like Jesus wants us to be. It is easy for many Christians to stay in their little cubby holes, having nothing to do with anyone but their friends, and not take the work that Christ has called us to seriously. That is a shame, and I believe a sin. Jesus never promised that it would be easy; he even compares the work here to taking up the cross. I will challenge, Jesus knew full well what it meant to take up the cross. He knew his own future in this regard but it didn't change the work he did. Neither should it change the work we are expected to do. We are commanded to reach our friends, neighbors, family and acquaintances with the message of Jesus love. It is the one and only thing that we can't do once we get into Heaven. In fact, Jesus stated himself that he came to this earth to seek and save the lost, which are those that have not experienced his love. We are told Jesus is the only way to experience that love, he went so far as to say that no one would know the Father in Heaven unless they first knew the son, or himself. Jesus knew these things, the Bible is very clear; we are to love the lost, the last, and the least. Jesus even tells us in Matthew that when we love the least of them, it is as if we have loved him.

I personally get excited when I watch someone like xxxchurch.com fulfilling the message and work of Jesus. Taking the love of Jesus to people caught up in unbelievable wrongs, while at the same time, realizing they must go through a great level of sacrifice and criticism when doing it. They are attacking an area and life where many people get hurt, and often ruined, with the message of love and change that Jesus provides. Who in our communities are we reaching? I’m not talking about those in the porn industry; maybe God hasn't given you that burden. But to the Christians, have you prayed asking God to give you a burden for someone who doesn't know him. Have you been willing to develop not relationships of judgment, but relationships of love for those people God has given you? The truth of it is, I know many hasn't done that, many don't care about sharing the love of God with others. Then there are those who want to share the love of God, but for whatever reason you don't know how or are afraid to do it. To those, who don't know how or are afraid, learn, I'll be glad to teach you. I'll share with you a way to share the love of Christ that won't be difficult; in fact it will be natural. For those that know me, you know that while I may on occasion be slow due to the large number of responses that are required, I do follow through with responding to each pm, each email, each phone call. There is nothing better you can do than love God with all of your heart, while at the same time, realizing that one of the best ways to love God is to love others. I would be glad to help you with that if need be. Find your niche; find the people just on the other side of the gates of hell to go after. They need you, and God expects it, now let's get ready to attack.

Here are some great videos featuring the work of xxxchurch.com. Watch them; listen to the innovative ways they are reaching this community with the message of Jesus. From debates at institutions of higher learning to pancakes and porn breakfast meetings they have found their niche.

Feature on Nightline

Feature on CNN

Music Video

Porn & Pancakes

Porn Confessions

For more videos from xxxchurch.com click here.

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are numerous postings, and you will have to go into the archives to see the 100 plus postings over the last months.

Now I also want to remind you that you can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page scroll down to the left hand side of the page where you sill see our store. Your purchases through our Amazon store provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something on the page to buy, you can click on the search engine for the store, (do not put anything in the search box at this time) and you will then be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew and/or at the very least shop our store. The items on the store page are highly recommended.

Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.
The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Or you van give on line via Pay Pal at: http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can also subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ or see the newsletter on line at http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can also sign up for the free newsletter from The Virtual Pew by visiting the main page for The Virtual Pew, or you can see the newsletters online by visiting this web site: http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.

Ephesians 4 Gifts

2007-01-11T11:43:00.000-06:00

Prior to starting the study of Ephesians Chapter 4 I feel compelled to mention an important aspect. Often times, Christians take principles and concepts out of context. The following chapter is a perfect example of that. I have held and still do, that the way we treat non Christians, as opposed to Christians is different. In fact, that is not only the case in tone, but in attitude and expectations. I truly believe that Jesus was the ultimate example of this, he responded totally different to non religious people than he did religious people.

If looking at the life of Jesus, it is easy to see him confronting religious people, even his own followers, but often times, if not most all of the time, loving of the non religious people, whether a tax collector, a prostitute, or whoever else he came into contact with outside of religious beliefs different than his own. Yet, we as Christians, often times seem to take the confront all, speak against all, that is different than what we believe in a harsh directive tone and manner. The following chapter of Ephesians is one in particular that some often use as an example of the right to do this. Here is my challenge, Ephesians, as you can tell from looking at past studies, was a letter of Paul to the Church. Paul is in fact telling the church at Ephesus how they are to treat each other. There is no indication that this is the way we are supposed to treat people outside of our faith.

I have been criticized quite often because of the fact I try to be loving and considerate of people outside of our faith. I am slow to judge, and even slower to condemn. I simply believe it is not my job. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to do his work with those who are not of the same belief. In fact, in all honesty, I will say, that it does not matter what I say, or what I do, other than the fact that the Holy Spirit of God, may, or may not choose to use my words and/or actions. Of course at that point, I also understand that the person has the choice to listen or not. Bottom line though, I have the right, and even obligation to confront my fellow believer of where they may be wrong, even then though, it is to be in love, and with the intent of making right and good with God. When it comes to one who don’t believe though, I am to love, share what I believe after relationship is developed, and then let the Holy Spirit do his job.

Now with all of that said, remember, the words we will study today, were words directed towards the church at Ephesus, thus to Christians.

Ephesians Chapter 4

Unity with Christ
(1) As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own. (2) Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other. (3) Try your best to let God's Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace. (4) All of you are part of the same body. There is only one Spirit of God, just as you were given one hope when you were chosen to be God's people. (5) We have only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. (6) There is one God who is the Father of all people. Not only is God above all others, but he works by using all of us, and he lives in all of us.

Paul is again letting it be known that he sees Jesus Christ not just as his Savior but as his Lord. He owes him everything, Jesus is seen as a master, and Paul gladly sees himself as a slave. Paul in his own humility is openly willing to beg for the points he is about to present. He cares about the people he is writing, but he also cares that they present themselves as living in a way that illustrates them as displaying God’s love for them and their need to live up to God’s expectations for them.

Paul starts hitting the message right off the bat with this church in this passage. Telling them to be humble, gentle, patient and loving of each other. One can’t help but think of how often those who call themselves Christian don’t act this way towards each other. It is important to remember this point a little later on, while there may be times of controversy within the church, among Christians, the way we treat each other should still be following these directives here. Believe me, I know how difficult this is, I know how often I fail, but I also know what I see among others who call themselves Christian. Unfortunately not only are we not these things with each other, we aren’t these things with the very ones that God loved so much to send his son to die on a cross for. We confront them, their wrongs, and expect that for some reason we are better than others, again, even Paul, uses these words carefully.

One of the things that I often have difficulty with is the elitism among some denominations. They tend to think they are right and everyone else is wrong. Yet, within this church, and even for all Churches, Paul is asking to find ways to be united and to live in peace. In other words, get along with each other. I can tell you from past experience as a pastor of a church. The reality is that more churches and denominations approach each other from a competitive perspective than they do a loving unified perspective. It is unfortunate, but that is the way it is. All churches, have to make the effort to get along, to help each other in the building of the Kingdom of God, instead of the competition and tearing down of each other. It is one of the things that in my opinion gives validity to the need that The Virtual Pew is a organization and group that works with churches of various denominations. While each church has to be a church that recognizes the basics of the faith in the person of Jesus Christ, we need to be able to make recommendations to the Methodists, Mennonites, Baptists, and Non Denominational among others. The truth of it is we serve the one God. We are a part of the same body and the Holy Spirit has the ability to bring us together.

These verses also display the nature of what many Christians call The Trinity. Notice there is a distinct purpose of God, The Son, (Jesus Christ), and The Holy Spirit. Involved with all of that is the closing comment that all will work with those who call Jesus Leader and Forgiver. The concept that God works, while using us, is a concept I still marvel at. To think that God would choose to use me is unimaginable. Yet, that is exactly what God does, not just for me, but for all who have a relationship with his son Jesus Christ.

Questions:
1. How does Paul see himself in this passage?
2. How should we see ourselves?
3. What does it mean to be humble, gentle, and patient?
4. When Paul says be united and live in peace, what is he talking about?
5. What happens if we don’t allow God to use us?

(7) Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us. (8) As the Scriptures say,

"When he went up

to the highest place,

he led away many prisoners

and gave gifts to people."

This is an amazing passage of scripture that would be easy to loose sight of if we are not careful. There is the powerful concept that Jesus has given gifts to his followers. I often strongly encourage followers of Christ to take a gifts assessment test to see where their gifts are at. I actually have a couple of assessment tests that I strongly believe in but know others exist. For Christians who have not done this, I strongly encourage you to give it a shot. It will help let you know where your gifts are at from a Biblical perspective, but they will also give clarity as to why you are the way you are. I would encourage you taking one of these tests, then getting with your pastor, and or ministry leader and have them help you explore how you can use those gifts. For those that depend on The Virtual Pew, get with me, email me at mike@thevirtualpew.com and I will get you an assessment, go over the tests with you, and help you explore the best ways to use those Christ given gifts to help where you are, and to help with The Virtual Pew if that is the place God is calling you.

I have several Christmas gifts that are still in their packaging. I opened them from their Christmas wrapping but haven’t opened their other packaging yet and put them to use. I will assure you, until I do so I won’t experience the full benefit of those gifts. The same can be said with the gifts that Christ has given you if you are a follower of Jesus. It is time to open up all of the wrapping, and put the gifts to use.

Questions:
1. Have you taken a gifts assessment?
2. What are your gifts?
3. How are you using the gifts God gave you?
4. How do your gifts help others?
5. Would you like to be used by God?
6. What are you doing to be used by God?

(9) When it says, "he went up," it means that Christ had been deep in the earth. (10) This also means that the one who went deep into the earth is the same one who went into the highest heaven, so that he would fill the whole universe.

(11) Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, (12) so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong. (13) This will continue until we are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him. (14) We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. (15) Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head (16) of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love.

Some say, and I tend to agree, that Paul is reminding the church at Ephesus that Jesus went through the ultimate sacrifice for them. He literally went into Hell, and then ascended to, and went up into Heaven where he now resides. From Heaven, Christ can look over the earth, look over his people, and then be there to assist and direct the Holy Spirit as to what to do.

We need to recognize, Jesus is the giver of gifts. We can’t change what he gave to whom. Bottom line though, he knew what gift was best for each individual and gave that individual those gifts. He gave these gifts so that people could learn and better serve each other. Notice the gifts are not for our own benefit per say, but for the benefit of others. I fully believe, if you aren’t using your gifts to help the body or help other Christians or those who don’t believe in Jesus, then you are not really using the gifts that God gave you.

Verse 13 is critical, Paul is telling us that God is going to use this method until we reach maturity. For many, the belief is that we never reach full maturity until we get to Heaven. I don’t know about this. I do believe that we should continue to mature, as we get older, not just in our faith but in years. We should learn in such away that we have begin to take on these attributes that Paul talks about. As we mature, as we use the gifts God has given us to serve others, the more we become like Christ. Remember, Jesus was at peace and able to totally love every individual, no matter how much harm they chose to bring to him. Jesus was content, and able to do incredible works. As we exercise the things that Paul is talking about to the church of Ephesus, as we begin to use our gifts and serve each other, remember, we become more like Jesus in all ways.

Paul then goes on and gives a little strong admonition here. It is kind of contrary to other passages of scripture if you think about it. Some say we should become like Children, yet, Paul here is telling us to quit acting like children. He tells us this, I believe with the understanding that we have to be careful about what we listen to, and who we listen to.

One of the things I think the church has not done a good job of is looking at Scripture in its entirety and then evaluating the teachings of scripture with each other, thus finding a practical and consistent application. In the preamble to this posting I mentioned a way I think we do that. Christians treat non Christians like they should be Christians, often times misapplying scripture as a justification of doing that. They could simply look at the Bible in its entirety and evaluate what has to be a logical conclusion. I believe that looking at the life and teachings of Christ and the apostles provide quality examples to learn from. Yet, what do we often do? We listen to television or radio preachers tell us what to think. They tell us what to think because they don’t think the Holy Spirit can do his job. They Holy Spirit has to have others tell us the meaning of scripture. I would say be careful here, be careful about that radio preacher, that television preacher, even that internet preacher Mike Furches. Measure what I and or any other pastor says with the message of the Bible. Of course we can’t know that message if we don’t read it an apply it to our lives. Then again, we can’t fully know it if we don’t follow the directives that Paul has already given in the first several verses of this passage.

There is a major reason people don’t follow these concepts though, the first word of verse 15 gives us a good indication as to what is needed here, LOVE! The bottom line is, we talk a good game about love, but we don’t really love. We say we do, we say things like, “I’ll pray for you,” then we don’t. We say things like, “If you need me for anything let me know,” then we don’t follow through. Truth is, many Christians have forgotten how to love. Jesus is the ultimate measure of what love means. Yet truth be told we don’t want to be like Jesus, because to be like Jesus means we take up our cross and we follow him daily. Did you hear that? We take up our cross, which means exactly for us what it meant for Jesus, great sacrifice and ultimately death, not per say a physical death, although in many parts of the world that is exactly what it means, but certainly a spiritual death to the point that we give up and turn from all of the things that would cause us to not be like Jesus. Just as Jesus was able to raise from the dead, he is able to bring people together that have minor points of theological difference. He can bring us together and hold us together to accomplish the things that God desires for this world. A world where we care for the poor and needy, provide hope to the hopeless, homes to the homeless, food to the hungry, rehabilitation to the prisoner and on and on. The things Jesus desires for this world are illustrated in the way he led his life and in the life’s of those he touched.

Questions:
1. Why is it important that Jesus went to Hell?
2. Why is it important that Jesus went to Heaven?
3. Do you think the gifts listed are the only gifts?
4. Why or Why not would there be other gifts that Christ might give?
5. What would some of those gifts be?
6. How can you become more like Jesus?
7. How do you determine who you listen to and learn from regarding religious things?
8. How do you determine if a teaching is true or false?
9. Why would some teachers trick us into accepting their teachings?
10. What does it mean for you to become like Jesus?

The Old Life and the New Life
(17) As a follower of the Lord, I order you to stop living like stupid, godless people. (18) Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right, (19) and they are so greedy that they do all kinds of indecent things.
(20-21) But that isn't what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about him and learned about him. (22) You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. (23) Let the Spirit change your way of thinking (24) and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.

Paul takes a step out of the norm here, he recognizes that there are those who don’t accept God who are stupid and godless. He talks about how they are stubborn, ignorant and have missed out on all that comes from God. Paul also makes several other negative comments here towards the non follower of Christ. I will note here, I can’t deny what he is saying, but we need to remember, he isn’t trying to per say point out the wrongs of the non follower of Jesus, but reminding people who are followers of Christ as to what their lives used to be like. These individuals already know the truth. One of the concerns I have here, is that people would use this passage to address any non follower of Jesus in this way. From Paul’s actions around others, in the way he reached out to them I don’t think this is Paul’s intent. I think his intent is to make clear to the Christians, in essence he is saying “You used to live this way, now quit.”

Notice the second part of the passage starts out talking about how the church was taught about how to act, they were taught about Jesus. Paul really hits this topic hard. One has to look at these verses in their entirety to have an understanding of what Paul is trying to say. Yes, after the fact, we all did some stupid, godless, ignorant things. Yet we have been taught about Jesus and the time for change is now. There comes a point in time that we have to change our ways. Now I firmly believe that God is involved in that, God helps people know when that time is. In fact, most people don’t like who they are, they want to change, often times they don’t know how. I think one reason Paul may be addressing this is that he wants the people who follow Jesus to act different. They need to be examples to others as to the correct way to act and behave.

Now on this point, notice there is a difference between again, the way I believe Paul addresses Christians and non Christians, here he is speaking specifically to Christians, it isn’t the non Christians he is speaking to making these comments to. It is Christians. Some have again confused my own expectations of Christians in the things they do and don’t do. It is a difficult area, I know an area I have at times failed myself. It is difficult because we have to distinguish between cultural issues, and legitimate spiritual issues. We have difficulty and we all base our views on our own interpretation of the Bible. Likely the closest to taking a pure Biblical approach is people like the Amish, yet I don’t think that is the answer either. I think becoming holy, means doing things that brings us closer to God as opposed to pushing him further away from us. Within this area, there are certainly the clear sinful things, wrong things like stealing, murder and so forth. But there are other things that may be sinful for some and not others, things like drinking a beer, or going to a movie. That is where Romans 14 comes into play. It all comes down to in part, following through with that maturity thing, listening to the directives Paul is giving, using your gifts, serving others and so forth.

Last note here, in support of my position, notice who it is that makes the change. We don’t by the name calling, the confrontation and so forth make people change. It is the Holy Spirit that brings about change in people. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we will become more like God, which is more in tune with what God wants for each of us.

Questions:
1. Notice Paul starts off addressing this to those who are a follower of the Lord, who are followers of the Lord?
2. What types of stupid, ignorant, godless things have you done before?
3. Are there any of those things that you need to break away from and quit doing?
4. Who is the model we pattern our lives after?
5. Who is the one responsible for helping us change our ways?

Rules for the New Life
(25) We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. (26) Don't get so angry that you sin. Don't go to bed angry (27) and don't give the devil a chance.
(28) If you are a thief, quit stealing. Be honest and work hard, so you will have something to give to people in need.

(29) Stop all your dirty talk. Say the right thing at the right time and help others by what you say.

(30) Don't make God's Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins.

(31) Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don't yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. (32) Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ.

Paul before closing this section, talks about the rules for the new life we now have once we have accepted Jesus as our Leader and Forgiver. We have to stop lying, lying is a way to make ourselves look better, it really isn’t about doing or making God look better. It seems as if Christians are in that sense of competition I spoke about earlier as much as anyone. We get to the point we have to prove our point, and when someone disagrees, we get angry. Notice Paul don’t say don’t get angry, he says don’t get so angry that we sin. There is room for what I call a controlled anger, especially if over theological issues, but don’t let that anger dwell within you, especially to the point that you are wishing ill on the person you are angry at.

Paul also starts to address specific areas, he addresses theft, which is really self explanatory. We could talk about theft from employers by spending too much time on the internet, or lying about the day off and other forms of theft, but the Holy Spirit will make those areas clear to you when you need clarity.

Then there is the section of dirty talk. I really believe here, that many have misinterpreted what this means. Language, especially cultural language is not what I think Paul is addressing, I have some indication of that from other writings in the Bible, but also here. Notice here, the follow up is talking about what you do for other, how you build others up. I think that dirty talk is in reference more about how we treat others and by honoring our word. I could do a whole series on this topic, but think about hit.

When we do wrong, when we ignore what God wants us to do, we make the Spirit sad. I have to admit, I have done this and I know that every single person reading this has done this. The question is, do we keep doing it? I honestly believe that as we get older, as we mature, as we use our gifts, as we serve, then, we get to the place where we sin less. I know that to be a fact in my own life. It is why I strongly encourage you to think about, read, reread, and apply the truths you get out of this teaching today.

Paul is closing this passage, really talking more about relationship than anything. How do we get along? How do we show love to each other? It all comes down to actions. Are we kind to others? What does that kindness mean? Do we show others compassion and mercy? What does that mean? Do we forgive others? What does that mean? I know that I am as guilty of not doing some of these things as the next guy or gal. That is not an excuse to keep on with that type of action or behavior though.

As we come to know and become more like Jesus after we ask him to come into our lives and be our forgiver an leader, we will realize that he has something special for us. Christ loves each of us enough to give us gifts. As we receive those gifts, it is expected that we use them to serve and help others. As we do that, we become more and more like Jesus, in our attitudes, and in our life walk. I guess the question here is, “Where are we in that process?”

Questions:
1. What does it mean when it says we are a part of the same body?
2. How should we treat each other?
3. What are ways you have made God’s Spirit sad?
4. How can you make God’s Spirit happy?

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are numerous postings, and you will have to go into the archives to see the 100 plus postings over the last months.

Now I also want to remind you that you can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page scroll down to the left hand side of the page where you sill see our store. Your purchases through our Amazon store provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something on the page to buy, you can click on the search engine for the store, (do not put anything in the search box at this time) and you will then be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew and/or at the very least shop our store. The items on the store page are highly recommended.

Contact and Giving Information

Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.

The Virtual Pew

P.O. Box 17731

Wichita, KS 67217

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To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can also subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ or see the newsletter on line at http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can also sign up for the free newsletter from The Virtual Pew by visiting the main page for The Virtual Pew, or you can see the newsletters online by visiting this web site: http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.