A Country Club Or A Fighting Force?

• We treat our churches as country clubs
• We treat our pastors as hosts whose main goal is to make us feel welcome
• We treat our fellow Christians as acquaintances 
• We treat the bible as a book meant to be a guide to a comfortable life
• We treat Jesus as someone who came to make our lives easy
• The only enemy that we fight is boredom

• Our Churches were meant be military outposts
• Our Pastors were meant to be our commanders, leading us in the way we need to go and encouraging us along the way
• Our fellow Christians were meant to be our fellow soldiers who fight with us and support us as we support them
• The Bible was meant to be our manual to show us how to successfully fight  our enemy
• Jesus came to lead his armies
• We have an enemy. His name is Satan. He understands the fact that he is at war and he is leading his armies tactfully.

Is there a place in the church for those who are hurting? Absolutely! Think of it as an infirmary. Help people heal so that they can get back on the battlefield.

Until we recognize the truth of the situation we WILL NOT be useful to God. We cannot continue fighting the same decoys that our true enemy has put out there and hope to do anything that is worth doing.

Humility In Asking

Expecting God to answer our prayers is not necessarily prideful and expecting that God won't answer our prayers is necessarily prideful. The difference between pride and humility in seeking God's blessing is this. In pride, we expect God to answer our prayers because of what we have done. In humility, we expect God to answer our prayers solely on what he has done.

I believe we can take that even further. In Pride, we expect that God won't answer our prayers because of what we have done.

As followers of Christ, expecting God to deal with us according to our actions is prideful.
As followers of Christ, expecting God to deal with us according to his grace and mercy is humility.

What if #2

What if we obeyed God the first time, every time, whether we felt like it or not?

What if we took to heart the fact that God calls us to honor our mother and father and realized that our heavenly father God deserves that honor and obedience more than our earthly parents?

What if?
Why not?

Who is it for anyways?

Worship is for God. Not for me. Although I often act like it, worship is not for the sake of me receiving joy. It is not even to make me feel in love with God. When we as followers of Christ worship Him, it is for bringing Him glory. When we worship Him, we do it because He deserves our worship.

I will confess that often times on Sunday mornings when I am singing worship and praise songs, my mind is on myself. How good does this song make me feel? Do the verses in this song line up with how I experience God? Sometimes I am more happy when we sing certain songs. Sometimes other songs just don't cut it for me.

When did worship start being for the worshiper and not for the one being worshiped? It seems like musical worship to a large degree has stopped being an avenue for worshiping our creator and has started being a time for us to try and receive joy.

We need to get back to choosing humbling ourselves and worshiping our creator because he deserves it, whether we feel like it or not. We need to get back to serving our God, whether we feel like it or not. We need to stop doing these things for the sake of having more joy or happiness.

If I wake up in the morning and I am in love with God, then fantastic! In that moment I need to praise God because He made the sun rise and allowed me to live another day for Him. I need to thank Him for the joy that he has given me that morning.

If I wake up in the morning dreary and tired and loathing the thought of turning my heart towards God in praise, then I need to humble my heart and acknowledge that whether I like it or not, God is my God. I need to acknowledge the fact that God is my creator and my Lord and that He deserves my worship. And having humbled my heart, even if I still dread worshiping God, even if it feels like my worship and my prayers are not going above my ceiling, I need to worship God because he deserves it.

Whatever state my heart may be in, I must not worship God for the sake of my joy because the moment that I do that, I am now seeking my joy above God's glory. My feelings and my happiness are more important to me than God is. That is not okay and whatever I do is worthless when I do those things for those reasons. God will not be glorified and I will not receive the joy that I am seeking to steal from my God.

When you do what you do, who are you truly doing it for?

My recommendation is this: Take a few moments today and go to God. Humble your heart before God. Praise Him because he is worthy of it. Ask Him to show you the things inside of you that are hindering your ability to glorify Him. When He shows you those things, confess and repent of them. Finally, make it a habit to worship God throughout the day, no matter how much you may feel like doing it.

To be honest, Despite knowing that God deserves my all and me wanting to give it, I still struggle to wrestle my heart from seeking my joy before God's will. Don't be discouraged if you find yourself in the same struggle. You are not alone. Keep seeking your humility and God's glory.

What if #1

What if we held lifegroups at starbucks or the mall or other public places instead of just our homes?
What if said lifegroups were known at their locations by how loving and kind the people were to the employees and other customers alike?
What if the lifegroup pitched in each week to buy a specialty drink for a random person and for a group member to sit and have a conversation with that person?
What if people flocked to that place at that time so they could get in on the conversation of the group and maybe have God's kingdom come into their life because of the lifegroup?

What if? why not?

If Jesus is my Lord...

I need to stop acting like he is my servant
I need to stop treating him like my genie
I need to start coming to Him, hearing his words AND doing them
I need to stop getting upset at him when he does not do my will while I ignore his


Luke 6:46-49

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

How often do we call Jesus, "Lord, Lord" and not do what he tells us? How foolish is that? It is even more foolish than to go to an engineer asking for his help on how to build a house, and then ignoring his advice because it is too time consuming or difficult or because we think that we know better than him.

 and the ruin of that house was great.

All because that man neglected to do what he had heard Jesus tell him to do.

God deserves our obedience. As if we need more reason, it is in our best interest to obey Him.

It does not take an active decision of disobedience to be like the second man. All it takes is neglecting to do what you are called to do.

Three simple steps to living your life wisely.

• COME To God
• HEAR His Words
• DO What He Tells You

The only difference between the first man and the second is that the second man neglected to do what he had heard. Both came to Jesus, both heard his words. Only one did what he had heard. Which man are you?

Stealing That Which Is Already Freely Given

When we sin, we are trying to steal from God what He has already given us for free. However, we fail to hold on to it. We give into the lie that money, sex, popularity or things will bring us joy. It's not that these things are inherently evil, but we think that they are what will give us joy. Instead of joy we get death because these things were not meant to fulfill us in the first place. God is the one who fulfills us. God is the one who satisfies us.

John 10:10, "The thief [satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I [Jesus] came that they might have life and have it abundantly.