We Are Not All The Same

Over the years I have experienced a lot of heartache from others and I have caused a lot of heartache in people through a particular sin called division.

What I am about to name are things I have personally been guilty of and/or have seen others be guilty of. I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to judging and condemning every church, ministry organization and Christian because they were "not like me" or didn't believe exactly the same thing.

I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to judging every church besides my church because after all, those other churches do not have true doctrine or are "off" in some area.

I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to a less extreme form of the above example but nonetheless still a perpetrator of sin by judging those who left the church I attended for reasons that I did not like and tried desperately to find some reason from the bible on why they should have not left.

And lastly, I have seen and sometimes been an accomplice to taking such a lax approach that it did not matter where people attended church just as long as they were happy and believed they were doing the right thing.

These four approaches and perhaps more I did not mention are all ways we sin against one another. I do not know if these sins are big business overseas, but in the West it is huge. And it is disgusting.

Jesus spoke to this very divisive sin with his disciples because they brought up a good teaching opportunity to do so. They said, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."

We hear similar things to this everyday. We are so accustomed to it that most of us do not even recognize it. It comes in the form of, "That church is way to big for their own good" or "that house church will die in a few months because they are ineffective" or "they believe that crazy doctrine and God will judge them for it" or "they don't teach the bible like we do" or whatever you want to call it. There are too many examples to name, but nonetheless very similar to what the disciples said to Jesus. It's ironic because they thought they were bringing good news to Jesus as heresy hunters or sin-sniffers. There are a lot of sin-sniffers around these days who sniff out every one's sin but their own. Nothing has changed in 2,000 years.

How would Jesus respond? Would he compliment them for their keen insight? Would have pat them on the back for helping God out? Not in the least. Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us."

Jesus was communicating a very simplistic truth. If you are for Jesus, you are for Jesus. Pretty simple, huh? Elsewhere we read that Jesus knows who are his. Also, we read that His Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation. His Spirit cries out within each of God's children for more of God. How do you know you follow Jesus? Because everything within your bones cries out for more of God. If that is not the case, you are not one of His.

So why do we make a big deal over how each Christian follows Jesus like the disciples did? We love to argue. Over the years I have seen so many pointless arguments it makes me sick. As early Christians we all sat around arguing with one another ignorantly. As we get older, we do the same thing. We speak of things we know not as Jesus said years ago. And the long term affects of this sin is devastating because after these arguments ensue, we break ties with brothers and sisters "because they cast out demons but were not following us." How sad!

Lord Help Your People Take Your Advice

"Lord, how long the wait, cause this is a long debate
Neither side wants to prolong the hate
They say we reach the church and they reach the streets... Read More
But can't find an in or out of season to preach
And there's only two, but you kept the charge the same
The harvest is ready, but the workers lame
I say we reach the church and we reach the streets
And some don't believe and I'll catch the heat
But we'll take the lash, word bond
But they'd be surpised if they know who was ringng the horn
But ain't no beef, 'cause we all still fam
I'm gonna shut my teeth and not give the enemy a chance
But just know this, this our only main stance
Trust the wisdom of God and not the stratz of man" -cm

John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.

[And now for the advice...]

But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.

The Influences Of 2009.2

My son will be turning two years old on November 21. I am amazed at all the ways he has influenced me to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus and the ways our relationship together parallels my relationship with my Father in heaven. Here is the list of ways he has influenced me:

1] He is not worried about a thing. There have been many times this year where mommy and daddy were worried and anxious about certain life issues and our son never worried or fretted. He was calm and collective and just wanted to enjoy life. I have brought this up to my wife several times in our worrying state as an example as how God wants us to be so we would repent and change.

2] He enjoys the simplicity of the life God has given. Our son is a very happy child. He loves to play, eat, drink, read, sit in mommy and daddy's arms, and hang out outdoors. If we can teach him to have a grateful heart to God he would be a great Christian hedonist!

3] He imitates every move I make. Although this is sometimes a bad thing, the point remains that he loves to be like daddy. If daddy does it, then he wants to also. This would be a good example to all Christians that if our Father is doing it, then so should we!

4] He prays with fervency. He bows his head, gives the occasional "uh, huh," and shouts "Amen" at the end. He never minds to pray and rather enjoys it quite well.

5] He is excited to learn. He loves to read with mommy and daddy. He could read book after book after book. He loves flash cards. He loves to call out animals names and make animal noises. He loves to say the alphabet. I pray as followers of Jesus we would redeem the time like the little ones around us and use the mind and bodies God has given to us for his glory.

The Influences Of 2009

Each year I write a series of posts revealing who has influenced me that year. Here we go again. The first up [and in no particular order] would be Casey Luttrull, another man who is apart of our church plant in Northern Kentucky.

1] His faith in God is great. He moved here to join those of us who had started church planting without even knowing us because God had told him too! He moved his family across country to do so!

2] His zeal to preach Jesus among the unsaved is passionate. He is always talking about bringing people to Jesus. He is a very personable man who is always up to meeting someone in his neighborhood.

3] His accountability his helped me walk uprightly. During a three to four week period this year I went through one of the darkest times of temptation I had gone through in years. Casey helped me through this with daily calls, emails, and get together's. He had an awesome listening ear and truth speaking tongue.

4] His desire to grow in godliness is contagious. I have seen Casey hear truth and immediately repent and demand change of himself. And not only of himself, but of his family as he learns of family error.

5] His commitment to the Gospel, the church, and mission is one of a kind. Casey is easy to talk to and one thing I almost always hear him talking about is these three things: Gospel, church and mission. I am convinced this is of utmost importance and it's great to be around someone else who does too.

What Paint Should I Buy?

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Reflecting The Year: Spending Time With My Son

My son is a wild man. I love observing all the new things he does everyday. He builds Lego's and then tears them down. He terrorizes my 80lb Labrador which I highly approve of. He says, "teats" and runs to the treat cabinet to give the dog a bone. He grabs a whole handful of treats gives the dog all but one of them and then runs around laughing hysterically while the dog chases him for the last treat.

If we say, "Do you want to go outside?" he drops whatever he is doing and runs to the door as fast as he can and says, "Bye, bye." He loves the outdoors. When he wants a drink he says at mach ten speed, "Dink, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink, dink..." until he gets one. When we tell him to be patient and wait a minute he stops immediately and just watches us while he waits for a drink.

When I chase him he runs to the couch laughing and hides his face in the cushions thinking I don't see him. But I grab him and squeeze him and he laughs and laughs. He imitates everything we do to the minutest detail. As parents, for some reason we are always shocked when he repeats our actions. When he is around other kids we tell him to be gentle and most times he is very nice. When he is angry or disobedient we spank him and sit him down and discuss his behaviour with him. We teach him to honor God and the authorities in his life. We explain the scriptures to him. Though he is not understanding much these days besides "Bye, Bye" we are preparing him for the day when he will understand in hopes that he will have been preconditioned to receive correction, instruction and training from God's Word.

All in all, I could have never imagined the joy of having a child. My son is a great source of happiness and joy to my wife and I. We love him dearly and hope to honor the Gospel of Jesus in our relationship with him.

Reflecting The Year - Being A Missionary

Living the life of a missionary in Northern KY and Cincinnati and teaching others to do so is one of the most challenging things in my life. The American pursuits of life, liberty and the happiness constantly combat our Apostle Peter's declaration that we are pilgrims passing through this life to another world.

I am constantly convicted in my conscience by the Holy Spirit to grow and change and repent to love those who don't follow Jesus. My belief is that it is difficult to be a pacesetter in this area because of several contributing factors. Most followers of Jesus in our area treat life like a vacation and not a mission. We spend too much time "catching up" with our believing friends "because we don't want to hurt any one's feelings" or "I have not seen them in forever" or "we couldn't miss their birthday party." We are comfortable in our homes, with our money, and full stomachs so we don't want to step out on a limb and love someone. And finally, most churches are not visiting the theme of loving those in the world in their times of teaching to equip the saints. In addition to the prevalent false teaching that not everyone is called to be a missionary, in the last 11 years I can hardly think of a time where direct teaching was given on being a missionary. It's been this fact that has led me to spend at least 1/3 of all teaching given to Jesus' command to love others and in particular those who don't follow him. The other 2/3's are for loving Him and loving his church.

So in reflecting the year, we have seen one person believe in Jesus as a church, but we don't want to be content there or be deceived into thinking our job is done with millions dying around us. I want to keep teaching and encouraging others to be missionaries. It's time to repent again. It's time to love again.