Christian Teamwork

In 1st Corinthians 12 Paul tells us that we are all part of one body in Christ.  No matter where we came from or what we did before we bacame Christians we are now one in the body of Christ.  This is true in two ways.  First in totality of all Christians being bound together.  Then in our individual church communities being bound together.

As we come together and begin to work with people from different backgrounds, we see that we are not all created the same.  Some of us are hard chargeers and always out in front of the croud saying follow me.  Some are quiet and reserved and willing to work as long as we are not seen.  But the dinamics do9n’t stop there.  Those who lead are good at many different things and those who work behind the scenes are good at equally as many things.  It is from this fact that we get people that feel left out or those of us who lead believing that everyone should be able to do exactly what we do.

So how do we overcome these conflicts of gifts and talents?

First,we need to realize that we don’t all have the same gifts. Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 12:1-11 that we all have different gifts and they will be used in many different ways.  If you are an athlete you should not assume everyone else is.  If you can isng you should not think everyone need to be in the choir.  When we realize that everyone is given differet talents and gifts we will begin to work together better.

Second, we have to understand that we are all created different. God has not made each of us the same.  In verses 12-13 Paul tells us that we have all come from different backgrounds and nationalities.  this means we will all heve different value systems.  Newer Christians should be treated with greater respect because they do not know many times what they are saying or doing is not acceptable to the group.  Coach them in a setting away from the group not on the spot.

Finally, don’t complain and give up. Verses 14-26 deal with those who are complaining and giving up on the project.   First we see those that are not getting enough attention and decide they want to quit.  We are all in this together and not everyone will get the same amount of praise.  Second we see people who are ridiculing others.  This is not what we need in Christian settings.  When you or someone on your team decides he or she is more important remind that person that we should rejoice with those who are honored and suffer with those in need.  The body must stick together to accomplish gods task.

Verse 27 to the end lets us know that there is a hierarchy in the church and the leaders are to be respected.  When a leader falls they should not lead, but until that time it is not the Christians part to complain only work for the Glory of God.

Why Study

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Imagine your walking down the street and someone just walked up and pushed you from behind.  They would very easily push you over.  But if you were prepared, say you had taken Karate or Gymnastics and your balance was impeccable even if they hit you with a sneak attack you could recover quickly and not fall.  That is what bible study is to our lives.

Bible study prepares us for the journey through life.  When we read the bible on a regular basis we are more capable of withstanding the onslaught of attacks we receive.  Romans 12:1-2 is one of my favorite scriptures.  In these verses Paul reminds us to renew our minds.  Through this renewal we will become less and less like the world we live in and more and more like Christ.  will we become perfect this side of heaven? No.  Will all the bad stuff that happens in life stop? No.  But we will be able to handle it better.  Jesus never promised it would be easy, He just promised to be there for us.

Getting What You Want

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I recently returned to my home town and had lunch with three of my childhood friends. A lot of the stories they told were stories I had spent the last twenty years trying to forget. While I did manage to forget several as soon as they began telling them the vivid picture of each on returned to my mind. I can’t say I am proud of them all but I now understand that they are part of who I am and what I have become.

My cousin reminded me of a story that deals with he and I getting exactly what we wanted. And it turns out just like most stories of people getting what they want.

We just wanted to go fishing and camp out. We pestered my dad for a couple of days to take us to the river bottoms and let us camp and fish for a couple of days. So Friday afternoon he relented and hauled us and our boat to a large creek where we could fish. We put the boat in the water and removed our camping goods from his truck, we said, “Goodbye” and watched him pull away into the distance. Wasting no time we quickly loaded the boat with our fishing gear and set out.

We spent the next couple of hours putting out trotlines, which are 50 footlong lines with hooks every foot, and yo-yo’s which are automatic fishing reals that hook a fish when it bites the hook and pulls it up out of the water. With this process done we landed the boat and began carying our gear to some friends duck blind.

I recently returned to my home town and had lunch with three of my childhood friends. A lot of the stories they told were stories I had spent the last twenty years trying to forget. While I did manage to forget several as soon as they began telling them the vivid picture of each on returned to my mind. I can’t say I am proud of them all but I now understand that they are part of who I am and what I have become.

My cousin reminded me of a story that deals with he and I getting exactly what we wanted. And it turns out just like most stories of people getting what they want.

We just wanted to go fishing and camp out. We pestered my dad for a couple of days to take us to the river bottoms and let us camp and fish for a couple of days. So Friday afternoon he relented and hauled us and our boat to a large creek where we could fish. We put the boat in the water and removed our camping goods from his truck, we said, “Goodbye” and watched him pull away into the distance. Wasting no time we quickly loaded the boat with our fishing gear and set out.

We spent the next couple of hours putting out trotlines, which are 50 footlong lines with hooks every foot, and yo-yo’s which are automatic fishing reals that hook a fish when it bites the hook and pulls it up out of the water. With this process done we landed the boat and began carying our gear to some friends duck blind.

As the evening progressed we checked our lines and put fish in a live basket to clean later. Then shortly before midnight it began to rain. Not sprinkle or drizzle but rain. This did two things. It prevented us from going back and checking our lines but it also meant we had to get up in the duck blind to try and sleep.

Since it was summer we didn’t bring sleeping bags or any type of sleeping equipment. We each took a corner an began to curl up to try and sleep. Within a few minutes we began to realize that the blind had not been built to withstand wind driven rain. Well the sides and top had not, the floor had been built very tight and held water nicely.

The next problem arose when my cousin turned on the lantern to check the growing water problem. When we looked around to find leaks to stuff paper in we discovered several large spiders on the ceiling. Since we were both scared of spiders we sat in the corner of the blind soaking up the water and making a game out of shooting the spiders of the ceiling with his .22 rifle. Yes this made made holes in the ceiling for water to come in but it also helped my psyche knowing the spiders were dead.

When we finally fell asleep we each had our behinds setting on 8 inch square dry spots made higher by cardboard boxes. Sleep is always welcome in these situations and it was exactly what each of us needed.

We got exactly what we wanted but we did not know what the outcome would be before we started. If we had asked instead of demanded my dad may have told us it was going to rain. Many times in life people head off and do things they think they want to do only to have to pay consequences later. I still pay stupid tax from time to time but I also learn about what I want and make more educated decisions about what I am doing.

Psalm 23 says, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”  The next time you want something out of selfish ambition think of this funny story.

So You Wouldn't Go Astray

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Every few months WordPress.com has a featured article that extols the reasons why a person is leaving the Christian faith and why he or she is now an atheist.  It is not WordPress.com that is featuring these articles, it is just the amount of hits these articles get that puts them on the front page of WordPress.com.   I read these articles and become somewhat disappointed thinking about the view of Christianity this person has seen.  But it is the view of American Christianity that most people have.  We Christians  are self centered, money hungry, two-faced, homophobes, that are trying to force everyone that disagrees with us to bow to our wishes.  Look at the treatment of Liberty University over pulling the liberty name off of the Democrat’s Student Club.  We are made to look bad even when we stand up for what we believe, so when we do slip people pile on like a elephant herd on the last peanut.

In John chapter 16 Jesus says, “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.”

When I read this it helped me realize that some people will walk away.  They will walk away from Christianity because life happens, or because they have found many reasons to not believe in the God of the bible.  Lets face it, there are reasons given daily on the TV or in new books or every Easter and Christmas in special segment that magazines run.  If you look you can find a reason almost daily to stop believing because the enlightened do not believe in God, and mainly the God of the bible.  In the parable of the sower Jesus calls this cares.  The cares of the world just became so great that the person walks away from their faith.

So how do we overcome this?

The main thing is to stop focusing on the negative.  Yes you should check everything you read, and no you should not check your brain at the door.  But you should ask yourself how much of this is true and how much is false. Take Creationism for example.  You can’t prove creation ex nihilo scientifically, just like abiogenesis can not be proved scientifically.  Now can we see that one or the other is true absolutly because we are here.  Does your Christian faith rest on whether or not God spoke and created everything, absolutly not.  Salvation requires you to take Jesus as your savior and give him control of your life, not believe in creationism.

Don’t put the weight of trying to learn every nuance of the Christian faith on yourself.  We try so hard to obey when we read, “Always have an answer.”  This has made us overly skeptical of people that are not Christians.  We project a mean spirit when we act like we have all the answers or try to have all the answers.  If someone asks you a question its o.k. to say, “I don’t know.”  They want to look smart so let them, and don’t worry about it.

He told them to love each other and serve each other so we need to serve.  Do we serve well?  No, not all the time but we are human.  We are trying to do better serving.  But it is ingrained in our culture to be self serving and expecting the rest of the world to come to us.  Missional churches are learning to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Not to get people in the door, but to just serve people and let them know God loves them.

If you are struggling with your faith try focusing on the hungry and hurting.  Give back instead of trying to find fault.  I am not saying that this is the cure for those who are seriously doubting their faith.  I am saying this to those that these few things will begin to help those who are seriously trying to resolve issues.

If you have done your due diligence and really tried to examine the Christian faith.  I mean really tried to prove or disprove it, and you  decide Christianity is not right for you, that’s o.k.  But if you have just heard someone say Christianity ain’t cool and you walk away, then you have done a disservice to what you say you believe and need to really examine what you are saying.  Don’t just give up.

New Believer Class Part 3

Final Installment of this class I should have a download page up by the end of the week so you can get both the Leader Guide and the Participant Book both.  It takes about two hours to teach the class because you are taking people through the bible that have never looked up scripture before.  Be patient it is worth the effort.

III. Bible Study and Scripture Memorization

What is the Bible? It is made up of 66 books written by 40 different authors over 1500 years on two continents. 2^nd Timothy 3:14-17 says that it is, _____________________

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So why do we study the Bible? Romans 15:4 say

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And Romans 12:1-2 says

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Finally look at Psalm 19:7-11. What does it have to say about the scriptures?

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Through prayer and the study of the scriptures we grow in our understanding and relationship with Christ. We mature in our Christian walk and while we may not understand everything we read at first over time our minds are changed and renewed. Along with scripture reading, comes scripture memorization.

What does Psalm 119:11 say about memorizing scripture?

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In Joshua 1:8 God told Joshua to Meditate day and night on the law and to never let it Leave his mouth so that he will do everything in it. A New Testament example of this mentality toward the scripture is found in Acts 17:10-11. The Bereans Examined the scripture every day.

I memorize scripture by finding a verse that really applies to where I am in my life when I read it. I am always careful to use the verse in context and not to over stretch it meaning. I write the scripture on a 3×5 index card and carry it with me. I read it often and begin to memorize parts of it starting with the book and verse number then the verse itself. I try to stay in the few chapters around where the verse is for a couple of days and really get the meaning of the verse in my head.

Our time spent with God is valuable. You would not try to make a new friend by ignoring the person you want to be friends with. Start your memorization with Romans 12:1-2 this will be your foundation to build your time with Christ on.

If you change your mind you will change your habits. If you change your habits you will change your life.