Blog Changes Continued.

This blog IS NOT about bashing the church, it is not about tearing down the direction our Churches are going, it is to remind us all, that God started His Church and told us plainly in Scripture how to make it work!

Have you ever gotten out of bed one morning and felt restless for no reason? Like something bad is about to or has already happened? Like you forgot something really important? Even worse, you wake up and that feeling is a reality and you HAVE forgotten something of great importance? I hate the feeling that I get when that happens, that twisted knot of gross, sickening, overpowering muck right in the center of my chest. It makes me want to scream. Can you identify?

It’s funny how the human mind and our emotions are tied together. Our thoughts and realizations generate real sickness over an idea. Do you get the picture I’m painting? Some of you are reminded to the point of actually feeling that gross feeling right now.

Now, when was the last time you felt that gross sick feeling for the things God is sick about? Many times we are sick because we have forgotten a birthday or anniversary. In my case I usually feel that overwhelming sickness when I wake up and have slept through my first two classes of the day. (Horrible feeling by the way…) Yet so many times, I read my Bible and see a rebellious people that God is longing to romance, and instead of it breaking my heart, instead of me seeing the message in that Scripture for me, I check off my, “I’m a good Christian for doing my quiet time” box, and move on with my day… Oh how we have missed it.

Far worse, the church has become accustomed to this same “check-box” mindset. We, including myself on a near weekly basis, file into church at our designated times, go to our predetermined seating, drink our customary two cups of coffee (1 cream 2 sugars), settle in for a few entertaining songs (but not too loud), listen to the sermon (but only sort of because I was texting during that last point, and before that I was checking my Regions app to make sure I could afford lunch today, after I tithe… Heck, many of us don’t even tithe!). Church has become part of the routine. For Christians, Church IS the routine. Christianity is our routine. However, we couldn’t be further from the truth! Christianity is the single farthest thing from a routine life ever to exist in Heaven or here on earth, and we have missed it. We have watered down our walk into a society of people who gather weekly and pat each other on the back, tell ourselves that we’re doing the right things, and in the process, facilitating within ourselves the cancer that is making us irrelevant to the lost people of the world. Slap onto that a catchy Christian t-shirt, and you’ve got the Westernized American Church. Have we forgotten that Christianity is a call to GO and to SERVE and to DISCIPLE? For some DEATH will take them early as they push the Gospel to new heights around the world. Christian means “Little Christ”. When did we quit telling people that all of His disciples except one, died for His cause?

Yet, God is God. He wasn’t caught of guard by this series of events. He knew they were coming, knew that we would miss the mark, and yet He STILL uses our broken down mess we call church to change lives in our communities, in our states, in our country, and around the World! Hallelujah! We are not hopeless, we can change. God will renew what He started in us! This blog IS NOT about bashing the church. It is not about tearing down the direction our churches are going. It is, rather, to remind us all, that God started His Church and told us plainly in Scripture how to make it work!

Just like you can’t build a model airplane without the directions, if the Church relies on the ideas of leadership without taking into account what God has for His church, the results will be just as useless as an incomplete model. But, thankfully, there are directions for the church… And it all starts with one single command:

Matthew 28:18-20:

“Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Jesus is laying out the plan for how knowledge of Him is to be passed on. It’s not some long drawn out eight tiered plan for a ten year spread of the good news. It’s actually about as simple as it gets. You, an individual follower of Christ, have been given all authority through Christ Jesus to GO and disciple others, teaching them all the things you have learned of Christ.

My friend, this is what it is all about: God came to earth as a man, died for us so that we can live, and then when He left, He gave us all of that power through Him. The only thing He demands of us in return is our love of Him and our willingness to serve Him wholeheartedly.

Now, as we unpack this more, I want to discuss what real discipleship looks like, how it works in the modern church, and how it will affect us if we will make a stand for the Gospel as the chief purpose of the Church. We will also discuss how the Church has become sick, getting caught up in an attempt to be relevant, and in some cases completely abandoning the call to disciple in the process. Remembering always that God is still in charge, not going anywhere, and enthroned above all to rule forever!

Join me as we take a look at the Great Commission and what it means for the Church! More to come!

Thanks for Reading,

Josh