Good stuff from Colossians

I have started reading Tullian Tchividjian's book, "Jesus + Nothing = Everything." At the same time, I am listening to Matt Chandler preach through Colossians. Kind of a double whammy, since Tullian takes a lot of what he says from Colossians. Anyway, here are some thoughts/quotes from the first 3 sermons by Matt.

• You can't love God and hate the church. (But that doesn't mean you have to agree with everything that is going on in current Evangelical churches either).
• According to the Bible, it is not just your badness that falls short, it is your goodness too. (So just showing up for church doesn't give me any brownie points? What about all the pain I am going through! Has God heard my preacher?)
• We don't do good works to fall in love with God, we fall in love and then do good works. (Just like obeying the speed limit really doesn't make me love that cop sitting behind that sign.)

I obey the speed limit because I don't want a ticket. If that is all there is to my religion, I fear that I am just wasting my time. If I don't see God as beautiful, I would feel just as out of place in heaven as I do when my wife hosts a Pampered Chef party. And I don't think that is any way to spend eternity. Do you?

Reasons 5-8

I want to finish up my post on the 8 reasons to read your Bible, as shared by our pastor.

My original post is here.

5.  So I can get the most out of life. (Josh 1:8)
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Sounds like a verse that Joel Osteen would quote. It is not that I do not believe God's promises, it is our interpretation of them I struggle with. Instead of Joel, how would John the Baptist interpret this verse? Remember him? The one about whom Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Mt 11:11) This man was the ultimate prophet, yet he was imprisoned and his life sold for a lap dance. I think it is a matter of perspective. I think that John did get the most out of life. I just think that most people would not interpret this statement in that manner. I have heard my pastor preach, and I don't think he would either.

6.  So I can know what is true. (Acts 17:11)
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

There is no greater tool for truth than God's word. If only we didn't let our preconceptions get in the way so often.

7.  So I can be close to God and learn from Him.(Heb 10:22)
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

I love this verse, but not sure how this snippet of a much larger section is appropriate here. Read the entire paragraph! He is talking about a life style here, not just 10-20 minutes of reading and a journal entry on the "zinger" verse. He is talking about the confidence we can now have because of what Christ has done for us, and how that confidence should change us and the way we treat others. Perhaps more appropriate would be Deut. 5:6 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." which conveys the very essence of our faith. Yet I remember a man who knew this verse and quoted it to Jesus and was then told that he was close to the kingdom of God. I find that one of the saddest verses in the Bible, because while we were told that he was close, we never know if he made it. I want to be more than close.

8.  So I will have hope. (Rom 15:4)
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Read the entire paragraph here. It is not that reading the Scriptures shouldn't give us hope, it is just that the hope should not end on us, but rather it has the purpose of changing us so that we might glorify God by how we live and treat others.

So I will end with this...Read your Bible, whether it be on a plan or not. A lover of God should want to know all that he or she can about the object of their love. In fact, if all you do is attend church, tithe, and even do read your Bible, but do it in a sense that you are fulfilling your obligation to God, then I think you need to question your love for Him and maybe even question your salvation. (You won't hear that coming out of our pulpit on a Sunday.) Selah.

Reasons 3 & 4

I want to quickly touch on numbers 3 and 4 of our pastor's reasons to read the Bible.

3.  So I will not sin. (Ps 119:11)
"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

Bible reading is a great place to start when it comes to not sinning against God. Knowing God and His ways, and seeing Him for who He truly is should keep us from sinning against Him, shouldn't it? So how come it didn't work out that way for David when it came to Bathsheba? I think the answer lies in Ps 119:10:
"With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!"
Verse 11 must be understood in light of verse 10. It is not just storing up God's Word that keeps us from sin, it is storing up His Word because of our great love for Him. Without that part, it is just a legalistic trap that will only make us think more of ourselves than we ought.

4.  So I can find comfort. (Ps 119:52)
"When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD."

Yes, there are times when I find comfort in reading the word of God. And yet, there are times when I find it down right uncomfortable too. Especially some of those red-letter words of Christ. I find comfort in a Savior who loves me and gave Himself for me. But I get a bit squeemish when He calls me to carry my cross and die to myself. Rules I can live with. But if reading the Bible doesn't make me a bit uncomfortable at times, I question if I am reading it right.

Reason 2

As I continue to blog about our pastor's 8 reasons to read the Bible, we come to #2.

Reason #2: So my decisions will be wise. (Ps 32:8)

Ps 32:8 
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Reading the Bible to become wiser is an admirable goal. I think I might have used He 4:12 or James 1:5 or James 3:17 as a proof text, but perhaps that is being picky.

Wisdom is an admirable thing. Unfortunately, wisdom is not guaranteed just because one reads the Bible. When I think of wisdom, I think of Solomon. When given the chance to have anything his heart desired, he asked for wisdom. Yet even Solomon made his share of mistakes. I think the counsel that I get from here is that with wisdom comes responsibility. We preach about change, and how we can achieve it, but change does not come just from the desire for change. Our President should be able to tell you that. Change is a desirable message, but without a new heart, change is only surface and will not last.

Our Youth Pastor confirmed this yesterday as he preached. He concluded with an impassioned plea to get on board with the reading program. Yet he also confessed his previous experiences with such plans and how they always fizzled out after a period of time.

Reading the Bible to achieve wisdom is admirable. But perhaps even more admirable is to first lay yourself at the foot of the cross. I have always liked the way the Message Bible translates Proverbs 1:7,

Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God;
only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

Reading the Bible is a great thing, but we must also be aware that some of the most prolific readers of the Bible were the scribes and pharisees.

Reason 1

I want to address the 8 reasons our church's pastor has given as to why one should read the Bible.

Reason 1: So my prayers will be answered. (Jn 15:7)

John 15:7 reads... "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

So is what Jesus was saying here is, "If you read my word, your prayers will be answered?" Or is He speaking of something much more demanding. He is not talking about reading the Bible, He is talking about abiding in Him and His word. ABIDING. Living, dwelling, growing in these things. Doing them, and not just reading about them.

Again I want to emphasize that I am not against reading the Bible, and some people do well with reading plans. Good for them. And some people just read.

I think it is a mistake to think that because we read the Bible, God will do a better job of answering our prayers. I believe it borders on prosperity theology. And it is selfish.

This verse belongs on a coffee cup, and it probably is on some. But it is not a proof text for Bible reading.

At least that is my opinion.

Added 1/2: I kept thinking about the Lord's Prayer after I posted this. "Thy will be done." If we always pray with an attitude of thy will be done, will our prayers ever go unanswered? So perhaps instead of praying to get our prayers answered, we should read the Bible to get a better understanding of prayer and how to pray.

Why don't I like what I see?

Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?" and Peter replied, "Yeah, sure, Lord. I like ya."

This comes to mind because our church is encouraging a Bible reading plan for this year. Now, I am all for Bible reading, but it is their motivation for the plan that concerns me. Here are their "8 good reasons to listen to God daily through His Word:

1. So my prayers will be answered. (Jn 15:7)
2. So my decisions will be wise. (Ps 32:8)
3. So I will not sin. (Ps 119:11)
4. So I can find comfort. (Ps 119:52)
5. So I can get the most out of life. (Josh 1:8)
6. So I can know what is true. (Acts 17:11)
7. So I can be close to God and learn from Him.(Heb 10:22)
8. So I will have hope. (Rom 15:4)

 On the surface, these all sound like great things. But why is it I keep hearing, "Yeah, sure, Lord, we like ya." 

Like I stated already, I am all for the reading of God's word, and I think it is powerful and can transform lives. But I also know that the scribes and pharisees were very devout in their knowledge and reading of God's Word, and that didn't work out so well for them.

Jesus question holds the answer. "Do you love me?" What is our motivation for reading the Word? Is it for what I will get out of it? Or is it because I love God and desperately want to draw closer to Him? Mere obedience does not bring about change. I (try to) obey the speed limit, but that does not make me love the police. I do it to not exact the consequence.

I guess that is why I think of this passage when I heard about the reading plan. I have contacted the pastor about some of the statements I hear from the pulpit. He puts me off for months. When he finally does talk to me, he promises to pray about it and get back with me. What he does is then send me a letter saying that if I do not have full confidence in his preaching, perhaps I should find another church. He follows that up with a meeting with myself and a couple of elders. No mention is made of my questions, just a meeting to say that we need to get along and start over. I left for a few weeks, but decided that I should not allow this bullying to chase me away from a church. I now attend again, but listen to my i-pod during sermons. Although many have seen this, no one questions anything. (What elephant in the room?)

"If you love me, feed my sheep."

"Yeah, sure, Lord, we like ya."

I have really done this, and still do it!

We had been in limbo for a while, searching for a place to worship. We either had issues with doctrine or theology or both. So we tried worshipping a home, but felt something was missing.

We decided to go back where we had previously worshipped, even though we felt the preaching sucks. Really, I can't think of a politically correct word for what I hear. Like recently, two of points were that 1) We should trust the promiser and not his promises; and 2) We should focus on the relationship and not the results.

But why would I trust a promiser who does not keep his promises? Why does God make promises and swear by Himself? I need to trust His promises, not as I understand them, but as He gives them. God is completely faithful. And to tell me not to trust in His promises belittles Him.

And why have a relationship and not consider the results? Unless we go in with selfish motives and then of course we will be unhappy. One of the greatest things about a true relationship with God is the result of the changed life I have as a result. That is why I seek a relationship, because I know God is good and I trust in Him.

So what have I done to resolve my dilemma? I use my i-pod during services to listen to preachers that uplift God rather than try to sell some god to me that needs to have someone give excuses for his imperfections. Really. And the preacher has seen me with them in. And no one says a word about it. Now, I must have had them a little loud a couple of weeks ago, because the little old lady in the row in front of me looked back at me a few times, but no one has said a word in the 4 weeks we have been back. Because if you ignore the elephant in the room, it isn't there, is it?

Why go back if it is that bad? Because we have made some connections there that will likely fade if we leave, and we don't feel that we should have to give them up. Strong, gospel centered connections.

Maybe someday they will talk to me. Maybe someday I will have an opportunity to say something that will change them. I am going to leave that in God's hands. I am not seeking to create controversy, but you really can't have a controversy if one party refuses to participate. I just want to worship.

Maybe I do need to turn up the volume a bit more though.

Pat Robertson and Love

I read a few days ago a few posts about Pat Robertson's comment regarding a man who wanted to divorce his wife because she had Alzheimer's. In case you did not hear, Pat Robertson (supposedly, I did not hear the comments myself) said that the man should go ahead and divorce her.

When his co-anchor asked if this broke his wedding vows, Pat responded that vows were "until death do us part, and this is a kind of death."

Does this bother anyone? While I am sure Pat took some heat for this, is this just a non-issue for most folks. Isn't Pat just stating what our itching ears want to hear? Isn't he just stating what most of us practice in some form or another? Isn't he just stating our truth. When the going gets tough, the tough find a loophole or a justification for their actions.

• We live in time of economic crisis. Will borrowing more money really get us out of this mess?
• We see the poor and afflicted. What do we do to help them in Jesus' name? Not even a cup of cold water?
• We make vows to our spouses. We tell them we love them. But when that beauty fades or they are no longer of service to us, we cast them aside. Was not the person we loved really ourselves? As long as we get what we want, we love and stay together. Was that the vow we took?

It is no wonder that non-Christians are not affected by us. We don't clothe ourselves in Christ, we just put on a t-shirt that says, "I love Jesus because saying so gets me into heaven." Problem is, we have never read the back of the shirt. It says, "I wanted to go to heaven, but all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"

That's been my experience...

I was listening to a Matt Chandler sermon. If you are not familiar with Matt, he has a less that positive view of most of what is done in the name of evangelicalism.

In this particular sermon, he mentions how many churches are about confirmation. We confirm that what the minister says is good and right, and he confirms us through his distortion of the word. Has Matt been to my church?

I did not confirm the minister, but I questioned what he said or at least how he said it. Did he really say that good deeds plus the gospel = Jesus follower? Yup, and I have the outline to prove it. Now I am not opposed to good deeds. But they are not in needed in addition to the gospel, are they? Are they not rather a response to the gospel. I guess what bothers me most is the fine line that is walked. I cannot say that he is wrong. In some ways he is right. Faith without works is dead. But taken in context, that is not how I see him meaning it. Not when you take all of the other statements and see a bigger picture.

I can't confirm that message. But he won't either. I find it sad.

I still haven't found...

Things continue to be busy at work. It seems that shortening our day by 30 minutes actualy makes for more work, as I try to figure out how to get everything done  that needs done. Add to the the new "fixes" they have incorporated into our teaching, and it is amazing I have time to sleep at all. Hence, the blog has taken a back seat lately. But sometimes I just need a break from grading papers, like now.

Tomorrow will be the 4th Sunday away from UCC (which I pronounce phonetically as Uck!) We have had an elder stop by to encourage us to return, but not another sound. I am sure that many do not even realize we are gone.

We went to a Presbyterian church last weekend. Not the place for us, although I had such hopes. So much of their service was consumed by their upcoming building project. It made me uncomfortable. They asked when we signed in if they could contact us...(silence)

So we will worship at home tomorrow. Sing a bit, listen to a sermon (tomorrow will most likely be a Tim Keller sermon), share communion and pray. We will talk about how we can give back to God some of what he has given us.

I want a church home, but I don't want to play church. I can't pretend all is well and paint a smile on my face. I pray God will lead us somewhere soon.

Mother Fletcher

Life has been crazy! School is back in session, and I have been going non-stop trying to keep up. They have initiated so many changes this year, it is like starting over.

Church is crazy too. I applied to teach Sunday School. I was told that if I am going to teach SS, I must attend worship. I politely refused, which drove the SS Chairman bonkers. So I had to explain how I have had questions about the minister's sermons and he refuses to speak to me. Yet he tells the SS Chairman how much he respects me and the manner in which I approached him.

So I am reading this week's story for my class. It is about a woman in Harlem who invites a friendly police officer to Christmas dinner. She says this, "'Cause the more you expect the more you get your heart broke up. But you got to be ready whey they do act right because that's what makes the surviving worth surviving. That make any sense to you, honey?'"

Well, it makes a lot of sense to me. We have stopped attending our church, but have left the door open if they want to talk to us. I really don't have a high expectation. The SS Chairman did stop by, but only to convince me to come back. He knows my background and has seen me teach, and has told me I have a lot to offer. I reiterated my position. I would love to return, but not if it means showing up and listening without being able to question. He told me that the minster knew he was coming to see me, but did not offer to join him. That spoke volumes to me.

It hurts. Even though we have only a little over a year invested there. I am sad for them. One of the elders, who I have known for a long time, came from a similar background. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, training to become a minster. He was asked to leave because he wanted to do what he believed the Bible wanted him to do. Now he is on the other side of the table. How ironic.

Well, back to school work. I hope to be caught up and back to more frequent blogging within a few weeks.

That's always been my experience...

I had lunch about a week ago with a man from our church. During the course of lunch, we discussed some theology. I am Reformed and Calvinist. He leans toward a prosperity theology. He quoted a verse in Corinthians to support his thoughts (I wish I had written it down) and also stated, "That's always been my experience, when I am closer to God He blesses me more and more." The context of our conversation made it plain that this was in regard to material things.

But what about the Bible? Taken as a whole, we cannot find this theology to be supported. The Apostles died horrible deaths, and suffered along the way. I think of Stephen, John the Baptist, Jesus' mother just as a few other examples. I just finished reading Trevin Wax's Blog and see all that he had endured this month. Either this theology is wrong, or Trevin has been a very bad boy. I don't know him personally, but I am going to go with the former.

God is a God of comfort. To know comfort, we must know pain. There have been times in this life He has been all I have had to cling to. While I do not like pain, those times have brought a bond that gets stronger every time.

Has God blessed me materially? Yes. But that is not the only kind of comfort He intends for me to have. Because God loves me, he will allow me to walk through the valley of death too. The place where His rod of correction and his staff of leadership will give me what I need. At least, that's always been my experience.

Here is a video Trevin had posted at the end of his post. I have always loved Bebo Normen, and this is powerful.

I wanna be like Leslie

You have to believe it, and you hate it. I don't have to believe it, and I think it is beautiful.

The above quote is one that I wrote down in my journal from "Bridge to Teribithia. The scene is the boy in the movie has invited the new girl, Leslie, who moved into the house next door to church. They are riding home and Maybell, the younger sister is sounding off. Maybell apparently is not to fond of church. Perhaps she is too young to understand, or maybe she has just fallen into the trap of participating without belonging. She has found religion, but not a love for the God of that religion.

I wonder how these words apply to many in the church today. We see people leaving churches and organized religion in droves. Is it because God has failed or has religion gotten in the way? Do we feel the pressure of having to be perfect on the outside, while inwardly we know the truth? Does our enthusiasm wane when we just can't play the part anymore? Is that really what God has in mind for us?

Maybell had to believe it. Her parents made her go to church, and she resented it and all of the trappings that went along with it. Leslie saw something different. Instead of condemnation, she saw forgiveness. Instead of rules to obey, she saw freedom. Instead of outer obedience, she felt the inner response to the tug of God on her heart.

Which does your church sell? Which do you buy?

That can't be what that means...

I was listening to the sermon from Sunday. The preacher said that "doing the right things for the right reasons requires purity." He went on to connect Jesus telling the Rich Young Ruler that he must "follow the commandments" to Jesus calling us to be pure, and that Jesus was saying "if (we) want to be good, then (we must) live a life free of disobedience and sin."

Dang, I was really hoping for a shot at going to heaven, but I know that I am not pure.

But maybe Jesus telling him to follow the commandments was not a call to purity, but to show him his impurity. Jesus had previously stated that "No one is good except God alone." And this man was no exception. But the man thought he was.

He responded to Jesus by saying that he had kept all these commandments since his youth. But he also knew that this was not enough. In Luke's version of this encounter, the man wants to know what he still lacks.

Jesus then tells him to sell all he has and follow him. Wow. So what is Jesus saying here? Is he replacing the legalism of the OT law with monastic poverty? Or is he saying take all that you depended on in the past, your purity, your wealth, your ways of thinking of these things, and throw them out and put yourself in my care. Follow me. Love me. See the Father through me. I am the way, truth and life.

I think that would be how Paul would interpret this encounter.

Philippians 3:7-9

⁷But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Okay, I feel better now.

Radical...or minimal???

Last Monday our church had its monthly men's meeting. They were going over Chapters 6-9 of the book "Radical" by David Platt.

Overall, they did a decent job of discussing the book. I wonder if they understood that David in a Calvinist, and that they spend most of their time tearing down the very theology that they were heartily embracing this night. It reminds me of Fiber One commercial where the dad puts his hands over the F-I in Fiber and tells his son it's a new cereal, Number One, to get him to eat it.

Needless to say, I was enjoying hte evening. Until the end. That was when the preacher spoke up. He had to say something, he had to grab some glory for himself. Seeing that things had gone well, he stated that this was why he had chosen this book, because of its challenging message. Yet this is the same preacher who 4 months earlier had admitted to me that he had not yet read the book, but merely "perused"it. (The book was chosen well prior to this time, as the reading list was given last year.) But that was not bad enough. He went on to talk about the challenge that Platt issued at the end of the book. And he issued his own challenge. "If you don't do anything else, if you don't accept all of David Platt's challenge, at least pray about it." Now I have nothing against prayer, in fact, I am all for it. It just that James 1:22 and 2:14-17 are ringing loudly in my ears.

Way to water it down, brother! Drown that seed.

Purposefulness...which rock are we building on?

For some reason, this is what's on my mind today...

A few months ago, I went to one of our church's small group meetings. It was stated at the outset that the purpose of this meeting was fellowship. (This seems to be the purpose of most of what our church does.) It was stated that even if we did not get to a bit of discussion of the Bible, or prayer, or anything else, if all we did was get together and fellowship, that was okay, because that is the primary purpose of our small groups.

So I wonder...

Did the early church ever meet just for fellowship? Peter is in prison, Paul is at sea, Jesus died for your sins, persecution is rampant. Let's have a cookout!

I think it is good to have purposefulness, but it must be the right purpose! Fellowship is a great thing, but our church was not built on the rock of fellowship!

I feel a volcano brewing. It is just a matter of time until it spews. I think this blog is a sort of pressure release that has kept it from blowing already. When and where it will happen I do not know. But when it does, I will blog about it here.

Mirror, mirror

Ephesians 5:22-33

²²Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

What is this picture all about? Is it about being the submissive wife, or is it about modeling God's grace? I have to go with the latter.

I know that people like to pick this verse apart, and then add, "What if the husband is abusive?" To which I think Paul would say, "Use your heads here, folks!" Or perhaps he would pull out the line, "To live is Christ, to die is gain."

Setting aside the extreme situations, lets just look at "the norm." By the norm, I just mean where one side is unhappy with the other. The marriage has grown lackluster. If you are in Christ, it is not about your happiness, it is about your joy. Not the joy you get from your mate, but the joy you get from honoring and serving God. If you don't have that joy, perhaps that is a problem surfacing in your lack of joy in your marriage.

 ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because we are members of his body. ³¹ "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Notice how many more verses we get, men? But the message is still the same. Love your wives as a mirror of your love for Christ. Perhaps that is a problem in our society today. We all want to be saved and so we wear the name Christian, but do we really love God and His Son?

Paul is not saying this is what you must do, he is saying, this is what real Christianity looks like. Real Christians, who love the Lord, honor one another even when there are differences. Real Christians live up to their covenants, even when their partner is not a believer.

Ephesians 5:15

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

Paul has just finished telling us to not partner with those who walk in darkness. We are to walk in the light, for the light exposes the darkness.

But we live in a world of darkness. Sometimes the darkness is think all around us, even in our churches. So this verse becomes important, because it reminds us to beware of how we walk. Don't get caught up in the games of those around you, but stay grounded in the light of God's word. Verse 16 goes on to say,

making the best use of time, because the days are evil.

I think it is easy to get caught up in the ways of those around us. Their avoidance, paranoia, fear, etc. We live in an evil age. No, not just the 21st century, but the age of mankind since the fall.

The Bible's message is clear, I am a sinner in need of a Savior. There are those who do not like this, don't think it will sell well, and who will water it down or even change it. Sometimes they do it out of fear, other times out of selfish motives. Either way, it is a part of the evil days we live in. Verse 17 continues,

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Stay grounded. Stay in the word. Live the gospel. God's will is not that I save anyone, and that is a good thing, because I can't save anyone, only God can do that. Understand what God's will is. Understand that His will is for me to love Him, and to serve Him out of that love. If I can focus on that, I will be doing well.

I am going to suggest that you leave now...

Ephesians 5:6-10

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as chidren of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

I listen to so many sermons, and hear so many empty words. Words that depend on me and my works, words that make God sound desperate for my soul. Why would God want my dark and dirty soul? Only because He loves me, not because He is desperate. God is not interested in numbers. And because of these words, the wrath of God will come.

I struggle even at the church I attend. God is so dishonored through some of the things that are taught and said, and yet I cannot exist apart from the church. Truly there are weeds among us. And their fruit exposes them to the discerning, but not to their own blind eyes. They run, they hide, they shiver in their insecurity. They do not address or discuss.

So I must struggle with the phrase that says, "do not become partners with them." And my answer is to not partner with their hypocrisy, but to stand firm in what I believe.

They haven't thrown me out yet! (Although it has been suggested that I might be more comfortable somewhere else.) Since when did Jesus promise us comfort? If he wanted us to be comfortable, he would not let the weeds among us, would he?

Who Said This?

"We think that by living gracious lives (instead of grace-filled lives) it makes us attractive to God. In reality, it only makes us more attractive to one another."

ANSWER:

I did, after reading Michael Spenser's book, "Mere Churchianity"