Gross cliches' A.K.A Jesus, Barney, and the stripped power of the Gospel.

    I do not like cliche' statements.  Every time I hear some one utter a trite like quip and hide it behind the smoke screen of sage wisdom I throw up in my mouth a little bit.  Ok so I don't do that, mostly because people think it's really gross, and let's admit it, it is gross, but my stomach does start to hurt a little bit.  I believe the point is made cliches are annoying.

    If your sitting there wondering what my definition of a cliche' is let me give you a few examples, in no particular order I give you five common cliches'

1) When God closes a door he opens a window
2) Hate the sin love the sinner
3) Seven days with out prayer makes one weak
4) It takes more faith to be an atheist than to be a Christian (guilty of using this one)
5) God don't make no junk (this one is not even grammatically correct)

    The issue is not the truth in these above statements (although I wonder about some of them), the issue is that when we fire off these type of responses we make our entire belief system pretty laughable, if you need proof of that check out

http://unreasonablefaith.com/ (warning there is some material on here that you will find offensive.)

    It has been my experience that cliche' statements are uttered when someone does not know what else to say.  It has also been my experience that there are few things that do more damage to the Gospel, than packaging it into cute little sayings that fit on certain types of candy.  Our entire way of relating to God and to others begins to take on the look of a bad Barney episode.  Maybe this is part of the reason that James warns us to be slow to speak.

Let me put it this way(even at the risk of creating a cliche');  If were spending our life firing off cute Christian sayings, I have to assume were not spending our life studying the scriptures.  

This can be quite a problem for ministers who stand in front of people every week and try to convey the message of Christ.  Our temptation is to cut the gospel into easy to digest sound bites that the people can easily remember.  Here is the issue though.  Most of the scriptures are deep and challenging, cliches and sound bites do not do them justice and strip them of their power.


It's amazing to me that Jesus was always able to make truth memorable and relevant with out making it cliche'.

So how about you, what cliches have you heard recently, and what steps do you take to make sure you live a cliche' free faith?

Jesus Hates Cynics! A.K.A I wonder if Jesus finds Owl City catchy?

    I'm a cynic by nature, that's just the way it is.  I came out of the womb cynical of everything.  If you tell me that a certain book is good, I will automatically assume it's not as good as everyone says it is.  When someone begins to tell me about "this really awesome song I heard on K-Love" I automatically begin to roll my eyes in my head. I apologize to anyone reading this that has ever told me they liked something, you are probably coming to the realization that I did not believe you, but keep reading.  Some how I have gotten into a life cycle of believing that anything that is remotely popular is probably not that good.  Case and point, I have been ragging on the New Owl City CD for a long time now.  I'll let you in on a little secret, I had never actually listened to that CD the whole time I ragged on it.  Low and behold  I gave it a listen today, and call me Captain Tom Kasey if it's not really daggone catchy!

    My point in writing this is not to convince you that I am a cynic or to convince you that Owl City is catchy, my point is this.  Jesus does not like cynics.  I know this because Jesus' fundamental attitude toward everyone and everything he came in contact with was hopeful, and the chief opponent to hope is cynicism.

  I am beginning to realize that I am apart of a ever increasing generation of cynics.  I won't debate you on whether or not that cynicism is warranted, I don't really think that is the point.  The point is cynicism is an ungodly attitude when it dominates our lives.  The saddest part of it all is I see the a lot cynicism directed toward the Church today (and it's not by non-Christians).  I have written on this before and if you want you can catch up on that just skip back a few entries.

This Sunday I am preaching a sermon called "Do you love the Church?"  We are going to study through Ephesians 5:25-32.  The thought I am impacted the most about from that passage is that Jesus, despite some of the horrible ways the Church throughout history has screwed up, is still  passionately in Love with the Church, so much so that the only imagery Paul can use to describe it is marriage. If anyone has a right to be cynical about the Church I would say it's Jesus.  He died for us, and we still don't get it.

So next time someone tries to convince you that the new season of 24 actually is that good, or the next time your tempted to jump on the beat up Christ's bride bandwagon, take a step back, breath, and balance some of that cynicism with some good old fashioned Hope.

Hollywood Conviction A.K.A Denzel Washington is the Coolest Christian in the World.

    Last night I went and saw The Book of Eli.  If you have not seen this movie and you work in anyway with the word of God I would suggest seeing it (word of caution, do not take your eight year old niece or nephew with you, this is a violent movie).  I don't want to give anything away but I will say this, if you read the Bible you will walk out of this movie challenged to read it even more.

    For some reason over the past month God has really been pushing me in a very big way to memorize his word, not just read it, memorize it.  It started with a sermon I heard at Church, it continued with the Deeper Conference (mad props to Mark Moore's elective, it made me fall in love with the word of God all over again.)  And I can say for the first time ever I think God actually convicted me through a movie.

   I don't share this to make myself sound like I'm some kind of super Christian, I share it because I want your help.  What practices do you have in place that help you memorize The Word of God?  Would you share them with me?

Fellowship Sermon Outline

  This is a sermon outline I used to preach about fellowship this past Sunday.  Not that I think it's great but I am a big fan of sharing information for everyone to use.  If you can use it great, it not great, but if you do use it just DON'T give me credit let your people believe you wrote it lol!

If you want to hear the audio version go to http://web.me.com/jondrms/Creeds_Student_Ministry/Home.html and then on podcast link.

Intro

   Fellowship is a subject that we give lip service to but often times give little thought to.  This may be because we may be a little vague on what Fellowship actually is.

·      Some ideas of what we consider fellowship

·      Our working definition of fellowship=accountability and encouragement. (Hebrews 10:24-26)

1) The Importance of Fellowship

·      It is important because the Christian was never meant to live this life on their own (water drop illustration?)

o   This world is Satan’s and we will not survive physically or spiritually with out each other (Proverbs 27:17; Ecclesiastes 4:9-10; Hebrews 3:13)

2) The Difficulty of Fellowship

·      We are in fellowship with each other not matter it we realize it or like it or not. (SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF TRAITS THAT MAKE IT HARD)

o   It takes commitment-Hebrews 10:24-25 (This is not just about Sunday morning service)

o   Often times the time we need fellowship the most is the time we want it the least.- Romans 12:15 (It’s hard to mourn together, it’s against human nature)

o   Something happened in the history of the Church and we taught ourselves that when you have a problem the last place you bring it is the Church.  As a result we have families that are struggling with their children, marriages that are falling apart, addictions that grow quicker and more powerful, and apathy that lulls us into thinking everything is ok, all because we forget what true fellowship is.

3) The Result of Fellowship

·      When a Church is in true fellowship there are some natural results of it.

o   We become a spiritually stronger and more mature family. (“Jesus hung with sinners” excuse) He also had 12 guys he spent a great majority of his time with.

o   We are prompted to action = service to the community (full circle to John’s sermon)

Conclusion

Fellowship with each other is impossible without fellowship with Christ 1 John 1:1-3

·      He is the common bond that keeps us together

·      Imagine if we as a Church became intentional about taking time to truly fellowship with each other.

Digging wells AKA The Mark of a Good Leader

I stumbled across an interesting story in the book of Genesis that I do not think I have ever read before. In Genesis 26 we find the story of the rise of Isaac's wealth, verse 12-13  says that "Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.  The man became rich and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy."

Like all people who come into success and wealth Isaac soon finds that the people around him are jealous of the success he has accumulated.  The Egyptians in the land that he was living in stopped up the wells that his father Abraham had dug (their perceived source of his wealth), and because of this the ruler of the land requested that Isaac move away.

When Isaac moved away he dug some new wells and and the people of that land quarreled with him over these wells also, so Isaac once agains decides to move on from this area.

Finally Isaac comes to an area where he digs another well and the Bible says ,"He moved there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it.  He named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land." (Vs. 22 Chapter 26).

This is a cool story to me because I think it shows how good of a leader Isaac was.

1) Isaac was a good leader because he understood that people will always be jealous of success and the blessings of God.

2) Isaac also understood that you can't fight culture, it does not matter how much good work your doing in an area, if the people are quarreling with you it's time to move on.

3)  When you find an area, where the blessings of God can be poured out with out resistance a leader will flourish.

  Do you find yourself in a setting where the blessings of God are being "stopped up?"  Do you find that you are fighting with culture and a mindset of jealousy and envy because of the work God is doing through you?  Perhaps we could learn a lesson from Isaac.

Sometimes we try to reopen the well, sometimes it's just time to move on and dig another well  in a setting where the work of God can flourish.

Why we exist

This Sunday Creeds Church of Christ will begin to cast it's vision for the mission of this congregation in it's local setting. Here is a peak at what we are working on.

The Decade in Review A.K.A. Leaving Egypt out of It.

 When I sit back to remember I usually do it in one of two ways.

1)  I focus on why I am glad to be where I am at this very moment

2) I begin to remember how it used to be and find myself longing to be back there.

  I realize this is not exclusive to myself.  As I read the scriptures I begin to see that it was a pretty typical practice of God's children to reminisce about "the good old days."  A certain story about a group of people coming out of Egypt always seems to come to mind.  As I write my final blog post for 2009 and wrap up a decade of significant changes this is where I have landed.

  Like all blessings that God has given us the art of remembrance can be warped by Satan.  

  There are many instances in the Bible when God commands his children to remember events in the past and focus on how God has either delivered them or blessed them through those events.  I believe that God is please when his Children practice the art of remembrance today.  So as the decade wraps up, take a moment to focus on what God has delivered you from, or blessed you through, and for just a few moments leave Egypt out of it.

Happy New Year see ya in 2010!

P.S. Leave a comment and let me know what you favorite event of the past decade has been. Mine is a tie between balloon boy and Stephanie Meyers making Vampires fun again.