Archive for November, 2008

Is Our Church More Than a Conqueror?

Posted: November 10, 2008 in Conqueror, Pleasant Prairie Baptist, Uncategorized
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Pleasant Prairie Fortieth AnniversaryWe celebrated Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church’s 40th Anniversary PPBC History pg 1yesterday. I had thought two hours would be sufficient time to herald the past 40 years at Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church. Don’t get me wrong, I get nostalgic from time to time. I even did a video for my wife on our 25th Anniversary (10 years ago-I figure it’s good until our 50th). But actually, I’ve always been a here and now kind of preacher. In fact I’m more a what’s happening tomorrow kind of guy-always looking to the future, never looking back. I’ve always taken Paul’s phrase to heart – “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead”. As a preacher, if anyone frustrates me, it is Christians that live in the past. You can recognize them by the sighing and the tears when they talk about the “things we used to do”, or they remember how the people “used to do this or that”. But when you ask them about what God is doing NOW they usually get a blank look on their face. Older Christians with multiple “battle scars” seem to be more inclined to this “nostalgia”. Sometimes I believe we focus too much attention and emotion on what might have been. “If only this hadn’t happened, if only that had happened”. Anniversaries are important, and we should take time to honor those who have brought us to this moment in time. But shouldn’t we Honor God most of all?

Lizzy Lou Recycles Mouthwash

Lizzy Lou Recycles Mouthwash

The truth is that many churches, especially smaller churches, that have been through a lot of ups and downs (and splits) view themselves as SURVIVORS. This spirit was in evidence just a little bit yesterday. It is true, our church has SURVIVED many trials, TWO major Splits, an endless parade of Pastors (we have had more Interim’s than Called Pastors). I was hoping that there would be no mention of past pains, because as long as we are still dealing with painful memories we are blocking any view of God’s Purpose. I understand that there may be regrets, painful memories, but we must be God-focused, and God is Jehovah Rophe, the God who HEALS.

Is God a Survivor?

Do we view God as a SURVIVOR? After all, He endured a HUGE split that took one third of the heavenly host away from Him. His Son was rejected as the Messiah and then horribly crucified. Most of the world uses His Holy Name in vain. If anyone is a SURVIVOR, it should be God. But that is NOT the God of the Holy Scriptures. God is a God of PURPOSE. There is NOTHING that happens that surprises God, or catches Him off guard. The following verses declare the omnipotence and omniscience of God:

  • Job 42:2 (ESV) 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
  • Psalms 33:11 (NASB77) The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
  • Proverbs 19:21 (ESV) 21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
  • Isaiah 14:24 (NLT) The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.

The Church of God is the Bride of Christ.

We are being prepared for that fabulous Banquet in Heaven. God’s Church is said to be “More than a Conqueror” (Rom 8:37). We need to see the bad things that happen in our church as the GOOD things of God. God is building His Church. We must acknowledge the HAND of God in building His Church. Most of the problems that a church experiences are the direct result of the flesh blocking the Holy Spirit of God. The flesh can block growth, the flesh can block God, the flesh can make it impossible for a Church to experience the Power of the Holy Spirit. The flesh will be pruned. Those that do not bear fruit, the Holy Spirit will cut off. Instead of seeing our church as a Survivor, we must see our Church as a Conqueror. Building a church is the work of the Holy Spirit. His mission is to move and call and prepare the Bride of Christ. The most important thing a church can celebrate is that the Holy Spirit is moving among the people, because we have united our hearts with the Purpose of God!

Priests were forbidden to wear garments that would make them sweat when they were ministering to God. God did not want any sweating going on in His Temple. After the fall, man was condemned to work by the sweat of his brow. In the ministry of God’s Word, it is not man’s sweat that ministers, it is GOD! God wants His preachers empowered by the Holy Spirit. He does not want us to work in our own strength. He does not want us to sweat as we minister. The sweat symbolizes our own fleshly efforts. The flesh is the enemy of God and His Purpose.

Ezekiel 44:15-18 (NKJV) 15 “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord God. 16 They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge. 17 And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.

Janice Fogle Remembers

Janice Fogle Remembers

Rachel Wicker

Rachel Wicker

Pleasant Prairie has been a great church with great people. I received several compliments on how wonderful the Anniversary Service was. We had an appearance by Lizzy Lou, singers Jack and Rachel Wicker, the testimonies of Janice Fogle, the Andrews and Cory Young. However by the time I stepped into the pulpit to deliver a message that I believe spoke to the FUTURE of our church, it was 12:13. We had started at 10 AM. I know a hostile, restless crowd when I see one. I promptly announced that I would only preach for 5 minutes and I did.

Gary & Charlotte Andrews

Gary & Charlotte Andrews

Does it seem that sometimes we push God out of the way? Does God want to lead a church where He is only allowed on the sidelines? Churches are full of people with good intentions. But how often do we stop and ask “God, Are we in line with Your Purpose? God, are You pleased with what we are doing? God, what do You want to accomplish with our Church?” Churches can sometimes get stuck in the rut of doing their own “agenda”, and just throw God in for good measure.

Rev. Cory Young

Rev. Cory Young

I believe that the people of Pleasant Prairie aligned themselves with the Purpose of God in the early days. That is why God blessed and multiplied the church. As Pastor, my concern is that we again unite ourselves with the Purpose of God. We cannot do that and focus our hearts on the pains and regrets of the past. We must accept that sometimes God does a shaking, so that those left can truly worship Him. God desires that we be “unshakable”.

Hebrews 12:25-29 (NLT) “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.“

Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church has great potential. Not in our own strength, but through the Power of God. We have a great core of people who are humble, and seek God’s will for their lives. There is a spark missing, a cylinder that is miss-firing, and I believe it is caused by those holding on to the failures or misspent opportunities of the past. We have got to change our focus from failures and the past to the future we have with God and His purpose.

I believe we are on the edge of very exciting moves of God. I believe God is ready to pour out His Amazing Grace upon our people. He is very excited by what is happening in our church. Hearts are being touched, lives changed. Sure there are problems, sure there are challenges. But God must be allowed to be Sovereign. He must be allowed to work without our meddling and our own personal agenda’s. We must not hold on to the past, we must not hold on to painful memories, we must not hold on to the way things used to be. We must let go and grab hold of God’s Purpose. We must seek Him and keep seeking Him until we see His purpose for our church. We must not get content. We must willingly agree to unite our Hearts with His Word and His purpose.

I was very proud of our church yesterday. I believe the guests that came could sense God is being honored and is at work. I believe some people came that secretly desired to come back and re-discover God’s purpose for their lives. I pray that we will all move to that end, that we will become a church of God’s Purpose, a Church that is More than a Conqueror!

Videos from our 40th Anniversary:

Americans See Themselves as Spiritual

Posted: November 6, 2008 in Barna Group, Spirituality
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The Barna Group Obama and Spiritualityhas revealed an amazing glimpse into the psyche of America. They have discovered an America which believes itself to be very spiritual. According to a recent poll (Oct 27, 2008) millions of Americans describe their religious faith as personally very important (71%). Two-thirds of the nation’s adults think of themselves as “deeply spiritual” (64%). All of this focus on spiritual matters seems to provide people with a confident self-assessment: 82% of adults describe themselves as “spiritually mature.”

In addition to spiritual identities – and in some ways beyond spiritual labels – Americans also think of themselves as difference-makers and concerned about the world around them. In all, three out of every four adults say they are “making a positive difference in the world” (78%). In fact, close to nine out of every ten Americans (86%) describe themselves as “caring deeply about social injustice.” A similar percentage of adults are “concerned about the moral condition of the country” (86%).

spirituality for dummiesHowever Americans portray a personal search that is challenging and often conflicted. At times Americans put a positive face on their reason for being; other times they admit to not living up to their ideals. For instance, while 71% of adults believe they are “fulfilling their calling in life,” 51% also say they are “searching for meaning and purpose.”

Another conflicted self-assessment shows up when asked to describe their sense of peace and simplicity in life. Most Americans feel “very much at peace with life” (84%) and the vast majority say they “live a simple life” (84%).

However, most Americans also acknowledge they need to make major life changes. For example, most adults reject the statement “you would not change anything significant about your life” (55%). Also, their sense of peace and simplicity is often thwarted by their strong desire to make more money and do more in life: seven out of ten Americans say they are “totally committed to getting ahead in life” (68%).

How does the Christian community compare on these self-perceptions? In many ways, the self-perceptions of born again Christians are remarkably similar to those of Americans who are not born again. Not surprisingly, the largest gaps showed up related to spiritual self-perceptions. For instance, born again Christians were much more likely to describe themselves as deeply spiritual, to desire a close relationship with God, and to prioritize their faith when compared with other non-born again Christians.

Yet, on social awareness, matters of lifestyle, and the desire for simplicity, the self-identities of born agains and others were very similar. Only two of the non-spiritual self-perceptions showed any difference, and those gaps were minimal: born again Christians were slightly more likely than others to see themselves as making a positive difference in the world (83% versus 74%, respectively) and slightly more likely to be fulfilling personal life calling (76% to 67%).

The Barna Group president indicated that “as the nation’s population becomes increasingly fragmented in terms of ethnicity, age, media, technology, and religion – including a projected increase in the number of spiritual skeptics – the language and imagery of spirituality and relationship with God figure to be rarer connecting points across a diverse audience. Christian leaders who hope to have mainstream influence within this fragmenting culture will have to find and communicate common values but also be cautious not to pursue mainstream credibility at the cost of simplistic or spiritually impotent solutions.” 

This report is based upon telephone interviews conducted by The Barna Group with two random samples of adults selected from across the continental United States, age 18 and older. One study was conducted in January 2008, with 1004 adults, and the other was conducted in August 2008 (N=1004). The maximum margin of sampling error associated with each study is ±3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Minimal statistical weighting was used to calibrate the aggregate sample to known population percentages in relation to several key demographic variables.

If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release of each new, bi-monthly update on the latest research findings from The Barna Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna website www.barna.org.

American’s see themselves as spiritual.

spiritualityWe believe ourselves to be in touch with God. That feeling is not restricted to born-again Christians, but applies to people across the broad spectrum of religion. That is why we can call someone a Christian who follows a preacher such as Jeremiah Wright. After all, we are a “Christian” Nation, under God. There is very little difference between true “born-again” Christians and the average American.

Jeremiah was puzzled over a similar situation in Judah a few thousand years ago. He presented the problem to Jehovah in Jeremiah 12:1-2: “Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.”

KidneysThe people of Judah were prosperous, happy, and very spiritual. The Name of God was on their lips. But Jeremiah indicates the truth of the matter, when he says that God is far from their “reins” as the King James says. The Hebrew word ‏כִּלְיָה‎, ‘kilya’ actually refers to the kidneys, organs that serve to filter the body from impurities. Jeremiah indicts the Jews who believe they are spiritual by claiming that God does not hold their ‘reins’, their ‘kidneys’. Most scholars change the meaning to something easier for us to understand, such as mind or heart.

I believe ‘reins’ is a great translation. As the Barna Survey indicated, most Americans, while believing they are spiritual, are actually conflicted in their actual spiritual walk. That is why a majority are still seeking for meaning and purpose while 68% are still seeking after riches. This reveals that God may be on their lips, but He does not hold their reins. God is not allowed to filter the impurities and corruption from their lives.

What this means is Americans are being deceived.They are living proof of the truth of Ephesians 4:18-19:

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The Majority of American are Deceived

We can fool ourselves into believing that we can be highly spiritual and still seek after the things of this world. However, the truth is they still possess the “old man” which as Ephesians 4:22 states is “corrupted by deceitful desires”.

The only measure of true spirituality is our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:20-21 (KJV) But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.

christ_the_hope_of_gloryThe truth is in Jesus. If you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, then you know this TRUTH. Jesus is True Spirituality. He either lives in you or He does not. You have either placed your faith and your life in Him, or you are continuing to follow a lie, brought to you by the great Deceiver, the Father of Lies. Who holds your reins. Who is the filter of your life?

Does Jesus Christ Live in You?

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