Crowded Out - 6 of 6

We are talking about "practices" to keep us from Crowding God Out of our lives. So here we are with #5 and the final in the series.

5) Prayer – This is often mis-understood, at least it was to me for many years as a Christian. I always heard stories growing up of saints of old who got up in the wee hours of the morning to earnestly seek the face of God in prayer. And I so wanted to be that “saint of old”. But I found it extremely difficult. Some Christians may think it’s my “lack of true spirituality”, or my “lack of true commitment”, or my being “too carnal”. Who knows, maybe their right?

I read a book back in the 90’s called, Could You Not Tarry One Hour by Larry Lea (he was a famous TV preacher and pastor of a huge church in Texas back in the 80’s 90’s era until he was exposed on Nightline NBC for fraudulent activities. I actually met him personally … he always looked so tall on TV, but he was a very little guy in person). So I read the book and began getting up every morning before school and praying for an hour through the Lord’s Prayer. Sometimes I would fall asleep and wake up an hour later… that’s when the prayer time flew by, but normally I struggled to even find the words to pray (which is where my Pentecostal roots came in handy… cause I could just pray in the spirit for a while).

This went on a couple years, maybe three and it became robotic, hallow, empty, ineffective and unproductive. Plus I found myself becoming self righteous because now “I got up in the wee hours of the mornings and prayed for a whole hour” I am super spiritual, actually I am more spiritual than most people because most people do not do that and I do, therefore I am better than they.

Then I actually heard a sermon early in 2000 that really impacted my spiritual life as it relates to prayer. It freed me from the heavy burden I had carried around about this “wee hours in the morning prayer” stuff and it gave me freedom to pray in a way that is real, fresh, and productive for me, for my spiritual journey. Here is a verse that I now understand …

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.”

I had always wondered (with my previous views of prayer) how could I pray without ceasing and hold down a job without being fired. Now I know … pray is just “communicating” with God in whatever way best fits you, your personality, your style, your life, etc. And for me, I pretty much (not always) but pretty much am in an attitude of thoughtful prayers, reflections or meditations all the time. Please, don’t go thinking, “wow Timmy is so awesome!” Cause I’m not (well my wife and kids think I am, but don’t let them fool ya). I am just a regular guy who really loves Jesus and wants to see others find and connect with God in a way that is real and impact-ful for them.

So I challenge you to communicate with God in whatever way fit YOU best!

Crowded Out 5 of 6

We are talking about "practices" to keep us from Crowding God Out of our lives. So here we are with #4.

4) Volunteering – Just like giving money, giving of our time is just as important. God has given each of us talents, skills, or abilities that we should not only use to earn money in the marketplace, but I contend that those talents, skills and/or abilities are to be used to further God’s purposes here on the earth.

The church is 95% volunteer run. Take for example the church I pastor; we have 300 – 400 people who attend our Sunday service, 600 – 700 who call us their “home church” whatever that means (when a pastor gives his churches “membership” numbers … they are inflated… because you only get everyone who calls you their home church in your church on Easter and Christmas, unfortunately). Anyway, I’m not bitter. Lol!

Anyway, we have 3 fulltime paid staff, and 2 part-time paid staff. It takes 40 people to run a Sunday morning service, musicians, greeters, ushers, children’s workers, set up crew, sound crew, etc. And that is just the people who we need on hand on a Sunday, not to mention all the gifted people who volunteer by doing graphic design, web, and computer stuff during the week. If we didn’t have people giving their time we just simply couldn’t do it!

But all that said, that shouldn’t be the reason or motivation behind our giving of our time “because the church needs it” but the reason we should is because WE NEED IT! We as people tend to be very very selfish! And the best antidote for selfishness is to serve and give to others.

I have personally never met a depressed self-less person who was giving of their time for a greater cause! But I have met plenty of unhappy, depressed selfish people.

Give to your local church by volunteering your gifts, talents and or skills … you will be so glad you did!

Crowded Out 4 of 6

We are talking about "practices" to keep us from Crowding God Out of our lives. So here we are with #3.

3) Financial Contribution – Of course this is quit a controversial subject for many people… even Christians, yet this is something that God asks from us in the Old Testament and you find scriptural support for it’s practice in the New Testament!

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Here Jesus is saying, hey you religious teachers, those of you who love God, you should practice JUSTICE, MERCY and FAITHFULNESS and also don’t neglect the other stuff you are doing i.e. giving a tenth.

People get bent out of shape when you talk about money, or giving to a church, or religious organization… and honestly this is just a reflection of either immaturity or having been jaded in the past. Personally I think it’s sad that people would rob God, and not want to give back to God through the local church … I mean God has giving us so much, it’s the least we can do. Jana and I have been giving 10 – 20% of our income since the day we got married, over 14 years ago now and don’t regret it one bit! It’s been difficult sometimes, especially lately as the gas prices have sky-rocketed, but it’s the right thing to do. And when we don’t give to our local church community we are simply missing out and our church community is missing out because let’s just be real honest here … it takes money to do any kind ministry. You can’t do any outreach like feeding the poor without money, and it takes money to keep lights on too. That’s just the truth … nothing good is happening in the world without money helping to make it happen! Period!

I challenge all of you who actually got this far without deleting … to give to your local church community whatever you can … whether it’s 5% or 10% or more, start this Sunday, and all I can tell you is that you will be blessed in doing it!

Crowded Out 3 of 6

We are talking about "practices" to keep us from Crowding God Out of our lives. So here we are with #2.

2) Read/Study the Bible – This is obvious I think, yet not so often practiced. Many people rely on Sunday service as their “spiritual food” for the week. I must be honest and say that is better then nothing, though getting some spiritual nourishment each and every day is helpful. There is nothing like feeding yourself spiritually… and learning the Bible, and what it means for our lives today. Now there are days I miss reading the Bible, I dare say I’ve even gone a week or two without cracking the Bible for personal devotion … and I missed it!

Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

We so often say we want God's direction in our life and miss reading the BOOK of DIRECTION for this life; The Bible.

Crowded Out - 2a of 6

If I could have said this any better I would have… this was emailed to me from a church member here ... enjoy!

Why I Go to Church?

If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this! If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it. If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!

Why Go To Church? A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!"

Crowded Out 2 of 6

5 practices to keep us from crowding God out of our lives

1) Belonging to a church community – Now there are people who say, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”. And of course the obvious answer is, yes of course you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian (as I slump my shoulders in frustration with people who say that). But it’s also true that to be a Christian and not belong to a church is counter intuitive. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian but if you are a person of faith then there is no doubt you would (should) belong to a church community. I am going to step out there and say something that may make some of you no longer read my blog, and I am okay with that … but being a Christian who doesn’t belong to a church community leaves room for being a little out there sometimes. Being in community is what helps us all stay balanced. Three people meeting in a “home church” can start getting a little weird and leave room for some squirrelly beliefs. In know this to be true because I have met them.

Also, Jesus is the one who founded the church ... now I understand not all churches are doing it like Jesus intended, but some are ... find one that is and belong there!

Hebrews 10:23-25 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

Tomorrow ... 2)

Crowded Out 1 of 6

When I think about what really matters in life there is no doubt that God would be the first on the list of “most important things”. After that would be family, then career and so on … though when we compare those things on “the list” with what is actually happening in our lives (or what is getting our time and energy) it’s amiss. I mean we say, “God is the most important thing (person) in my life” and yet He is the first to get crowded out of our lives.

I see this as a pastor of even a wonderful church community. God get’s crowded out by anything and everything. And it’s easy to do … it’s easy to say, “Sunday is the only day I get to relax” and so we skip church. But at the expense of what? What are we teaching our kids?

Believe me, I understand! I really do, though as a pastor I have a responsibility to help people stay focused on what is most important – God; and helping people foster that relationship by keeping it fresh and on top of the list!

My challenge to you is to evaluate your life and see if anything is crowding God out, and if so change it. Don't wait and then have regrets later! Live a life with little or no regrets!

Joshua 24:15 "Choose you this day who you will serve … as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"

Tomorrow:
I believe to truly have “God” at the top of our list means the following things:

Verbal Abuse

Proverbs 18:6-8
A fool's lips bring him strife,

and his mouth invites a beating.
A fool's mouth is his undoing,

and his lips are a snare to his soul.
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;

they go down to a man's inmost parts.

What else is there to say … when we open our mouth to speak we should speak well of others and well of ourselves, or don’t speak at all.

Compass

When I reflect on the world, and all that is in it … the not so pretty side of life; sickness, disease, death, pain, sorrow, suffering (which most of us know nothing of here in suburbia) poverty, depression, heartache, hunger, crime, war, hate, deceit, calamity, divorce, racism, evil, etc. Then there is the beautiful side of this life: love, liberty, freedom, flowers, mountains, ocean, friendship, laughter, joy, peace, health, sharing, caring, faith, community, dreams, etc.

I am reminded that, at least in my life, the one constant true north for me is Christ. In Him I find meaning and purpose. For in this world of uncertainty I find Him to be certain.

If I can just spill my heart here for a second; there was a time in my life that I had many questions (still have quite a few … but not the same ones) in regards to the reality of God and the Bible. Is God real? Does He exist? Does He care? (Cause sometimes it seems He doesn’t) On and on I questioned and even doubted what I was taught as a child ... finally landing on a firm foundation. A place I now rest with peace in my heart; God is really real. I have no doubt about that.

Jesus walked this earth 2,000 years ago and then gave His unbroken life as a substitute for my broken one. It’s what we call the great exchange! And because of what Christ did I can have an unbroken relationship with the creator of the universe. What a cool deal! I'm glad I know Him!

Infant Baptism

FYI – I personally have no problem with infant baptism, but I heard something recently that made me want to investigate it further. Enjoy!

A German theologian, Schleiermacher, wrote, "All traces of infant baptism which have been asserted to be found in the New Testament, must first be inserted there."

He’s right. The host of German and front rank "Theologians" and scholars of the Church of England, the Anglican Church, which believes in infant baptism—a host of their scholars have united to affirm not only the absence of infant baptism from the New Testament, but from apostolic and post-apostolic times. It isn’t in the New Testament and it didn’t exist in the earliest church. They believe it arose around the 2nd or 3rd century.

Now, all that said, I personally have no problem with infant baptism and if you have an infant and would like him/her baptized I would do it for you! Though it is not what we typically do here at OLF. We have always felt that it was important that the person being baptized know and understand WHY he/she is being baptized. So what we do for infants and parents is a Baby Dedication. A lot like the other, just without water.

Okay, here is the main reason I am blogging about this; a pastor friend of mine mentioned that he knows a pastor who teaches that unless your child is baptized he/she would go to hell if he/she were to die. That is total hog-wash-bologna-dog-crud-not-in-the-bible-anywhere-heresy!

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I said to him! He wasn’t kidding me. Here are questions I ask to see if what I hear is indeed truth:

1) Is it supported in scripture? What did Jesus say if anything?
2) Does it produce fear or peace?
3) Does it seem to fit within the overall teaching of scripture?

And that teaching doesn’t pan out well. So, this guy believes if your child dies during birth he/she goes to hell, since you didn’t have a chance to get him baptized? Heresy!! Of course I have not spoken to this person, and I would imagine even he would have some hem-hay way to back out of that scenario. With TRUTH there is no hem-hawing around, it’s either truth or not.

Bottom line: Don’t fear for your child’s eternal security in regards to baptism, and just be at peace that all God’s children are in His hands. And if you want to have your baby water baptized, then I would encourage you to do it.

And by the way, it’s Jesus who saves us, not water baptism... and I highly recommend if you are a follower of Christ, to be water baptised!