Author Archive: Revraney

I ran across this recently and had to reprint it for you.  It’s a brilliant spoof by Doug Phillips of vision Forum.

        “I have the privilege of worshiping in a small, family-integrated church. When asked about our various church programs, I explain that we are blessed with more than thirty different organizations to which our members belong – they are called families.  I further explain that we have more than sixty youth directors – they are called parents.  In fact, we have such a full schedule of events that there is a mandatory activity every day of the week – it is called family worship . . .
        With so much responsibility on their hands, our youth directors have to really get their collective acts together . . . They have to study God’s Word more than they have ever studied before so they can wisely lead their organization. They have to be creative so they can solve the diverse problems of their special interest groups.  They have to learn to be patient.  They have to learn to love.  They even have to reprioritize their lives.
        This last part is crucial.  Only by reprioritizing life, and structuring their organizations properly, will our youth directors be successful.  They know that.  They also know there is a price to pay.  But most of them are willing to pay the price, because they have decided that the greatest activity they can do in this life is to be a youth pastor and to run a special interest organization called the Christian family.
        Here is what we are discovering:  The more we commit to faithfully shepherding our mini-congregations, the more blessing we experience.  Moreover, the more we study what God’s Word says about these little congregations, the more we see the wonder and the brilliance of God’s plan of equipping the Church and transforming the entire culture through these often forgotten, twisted and even maligned organizations called Christian households.”1

1 – Douglas W. Phillips, “Our Church Youth Group” (San Antonio, TX:  Vision Forum Ministries, 2002) www.visionforumministries.org

Some years ago I participated in a course written by Don Wellman called “Dynamics of Discipling”.  I learned a great lesson during that course that has stuck with me and helped me for many years.

In a discussion regarding priorities in the Christian life Rev. Wellman had us all make a list of our priorities.  Everyone of us put God first on our list.  Then it varied some with the main subjects of family, church, job, etc.  We were all wrong.  We were then shown two things.  First, God does not belong on the list and second, the other things on the list vary as to what is the most important based on the circumstances.  I am going to focus on the first (although the second is a great lesson as well). 

A list of priorities designates what is most important, followed by what is second, and so on.  As Pastors of course we had to put God first on our list, even ahead of our families.  That made us all feel very spiritual.  Problem is, the thing which is first on your list is not absolute, meaning that although it is the most improtant it is not always what you are focusing on.  God, on the other hand should be an absolute to us as Christians.  Rather than be on the list, God should be the list that everything else is written on.  We should approach our family, our jobs, our church, and everything else from the perspective of God in our lives.  God should permeate our family as well as our jobs and our church. 

To put God on our list, even if in first place says that there are times, places and things where He is not involved.  As Christians we far too often segregate our lives.  We have have our God segment, our family segment, our church segment (sometimes confused with the God segment), our job segment, even our entertainment or hobbies and interests segments.  Granted many of them have some level of interaction with others.  For example it may be that our primary reason for working is to provide for our families. 

But as Christians our lives are to be more integrated, with God as that which permeates all parts.  We are not to be made up of a God part along with other parts such as a family part, a career part, etc.  Our relationship with God should not be something that gets turned on and off.  When I go home from my job I am pretty good at leaving it at work.  I can usually turn it on and off pretty well.  There is never a time to leave God anywhere.  He is to saturate all of our being and all of our doing.  Lets seek to integrate our lives fully into God.

There is an oft-quoted line in the movie The Usual Suspects, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn’t exist.”

We live in a world that increasingly chooses not to acknowledge the existence of an enemy we have referred to as the Devil, Satan, etc. In contrast, the Bible clearly demonstrates his existence as well as his goals. Jesus acknowledged him and warned us of his deceptive ways.

An enemy who operates in the dark is a dangerous enemy indeed. Fortunately we have the Light.

Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3

Surely anyone can say the words “Jesus is Lord”. So what does Paul mean when he says that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit?

Unfortunately words are becoming increasingly empty in society. Idle promises and outrageous statements are made with little or no consideration. It was not meant to be so.

Our words are to have meaning and impact. To recite the words Jesus is Lord takes no special unction of the Holy Spirit, but to live up to your words when you do so certainly does require the power of the Spirit.

Another important word here is the word, “Lord”. It means absolute authority. To state that Jesus is Lord is both a universal truth and a personal dedication and commitment. To claim Him as Lord is to acknowledge that He is above all in both creative origin and in power. It is also to submit to Him as the absolute authority in your life.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit no one can live such a claim. Our self-centeredness, our sinful nature will not allow such a claim, nor can it live up to such a claim. We must submit to the power of the Holy Spirit, always, in order to be able to truly say, “Jesus is Lord.”

There are some points in the article you may not agree with but there are some good points to consider.

By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA Today

This weekend, Jeanne O’Hair, her friends and family will raise their voices in Easter hymns “as the spirit leads us,” she says, in her “house church” — O’Hair’s living room in Brea, Calif.

In a metal outbuilding at a shuttered horse track near San Antonio, Jeff Bishop says he will celebrate at his “simple church” under a rough-hewed cedar cross, with “folks who speak ‘cowboy’ like I do.”

…..

No matter what you call them, house churches, or “simple” or “organic” churches, have long thrived in Third World countries where clergy and funds for church buildings are scarce. Now, however, they are attracting a small but loyal following across the U.S.

It’s not that Americans can’t find a conventional church congregation. Rather, millions of believers are leaving the pews for small, regular weekly gatherings where they pray, worship, study Scripture and support each other’s spiritual lives.

…..

Participants are not “Christmas & Easter Christians” — folks who pour into the buildings on peak holy days and fade away a week later. Instead, “they’re intensely active believers who want to take charge themselves and find something that feels more authentic,” said Christian
research expert George Barna, author of a new book, <em>Maximum Faith</em>.

“If you look at the Bible, the church we have today is nowhere to be found. The original form of church was the house church. Older people want to find a more personal experience of God and young people don’t want the congregational structure or process. People don’t want to just read the responsive reading when they are told to,” Barna said.

A January 2011 survey by Barna Research (the firm that Barna founded and later sold) found that 5 percent of Americans — about 11.5 million American adults — say they attend a “house church or simple church, which is not associated in any way with a local, congregational type of church,” at least weekly or monthly.

Before moving to California, O’Hair was on the staff of an Oregon megachurch that pulled out all the stops with Easter pageantry — and later disbanded.

“We just weren’t seeing any fruit, any new members, for all that huge expense of time and effort. I love Jesus and I love the church, but I think the way we do institutional church in America will be extinct before long. It will just crumble,” O’Hair said.

…..

Traditional churches have taken note of the growing desire for more simple ways to worship.
…..

 Read the entire article here

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will revere him.
Ecclesiastes 3:14

The world has been created and established by God. As someone has said, “It is, what it is.” Regardless of how hard man works he cannot add to or take away from the world.

An interesting phrase in this passage of scripture is, “God does it so that people will revere him.” Why does God want man to revere Him? Is God an egotist? Does God have a personality flaw that He needs attention? Of course the thought of such sounds absurd.

So why does God do something specifically so that people will revere Him. Consider that God ALWAYS has our best interest at heart. He cannot compromise who He is without harming us. We need Him to be Holy. We need Him to be awesome and perfect. By definition this perfection has high standards for those who worship Him.

We are created to worship God. This is where we find our ultimate fulfillment. This is where we find our highest level of satisfaction. Revering God places us in the position for which we are created and best suited.

Consider this illustration. When a fork is asked to do the job of a spoon by using it to eat soup is setting it up for failure. It was not made for such. If such a feeling were possible for a spoon, it would be greatly frustrated. Even if it felt like serving soup would be the thing that would make it happy it would experience frustration because that is just not what it is made for.

God knows that what we are made for is to enjoy communion with him and this communion only occurs to its fullest extent when we revere Him.