"Passionately seeking & Speaking the Love of Jesus Christ"
Dateline: Phillips West
People of the book? What book?
I have spent the past 12 years of my life in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, to whom has been given all authority on heaven and earth. These years have also been blessed by becoming more intimate with Jesus Christ along with an increased service to His church. I do not claim to know it all but I do claim that He does. I do not claim to have the key to the Kingdom of heaven but I do claim that He does. I did not write the book on salvation work but he did. Many, many, many times over the past 12 years I have been asked to participate in various church/ministry events, programs, and such and it has slowly occurred to me that these events have little or nothing to do with the do with the Bible. Sure you can find Scriptures referenced frequently in little parenthetical sections of the guidebooks for these programs but overall The Word of God is overshadowed by the opinion of man.
I am also a frequent listener to the "preacher station" on satellite radio and I constantly hear opinion preached instead of doctrine. Unfortunately, the popular preachers are not the only ones failing in this area. Church leadership has failed to fulfill the call to proclaim the Gospel message unabashedly without compromise as they have also failed to place the Bible above all other teaching tools in the church. When was the last time a passage of Scripture struck you as the most important point of a sermon? Truth be told the most important "hook" in the sermon is probably a video clip, anecdote, or witty quote by the pastor or someone else whose name is not listed in the index of the Holy Bible. Pastors, just preach the Word.
We continually meet to discuss strategy, consult with "experts in the field," post trivial nonsense on social networking sites, and try our darnedest to be cool, hip, modern, and relevant. This is easily proven by a visit to any Christian book store (by the way isn't that an odd term, "Christian book store?" isn't there only one "Christian book?"). Just look at all the newest trends, fads, and methods we find and attempt. Trust me, these fads will come and go, their relevance is fleeting, and today's modern is tomorrow's clearance. While people are leaving our churches in droves, we sit around pointing the finger at the world, and we devour every single piece of literature that the Christian publishers can produce. Instead, we ought to be studying the best selling book of all time, preaching the best selling book of all time, and living the best selling book of all time. I honestly cannot recall the last time a Christian meeting began with an open Bible, how pathetic is that? Sad truth- If I had a dime for every time a fellow Christian has suggested a book to me (other than the Bible) I would probably have enough money to be the first civilian to travel to the moon.
When we began the MN Hardcore Church 6 years ago, I was very excited about the possibilities. I thought about all the cool songs I could write about Jesus and how clever the lyrics would be. One day, I praying and God spoke to me and said, "These people have not heard my songs." I realized God was not talking about hymns, He meant the Psalms, the song of Moses and Miriam, the heavenly choruses in Revelation, and all the other praises we have long left unsung.
People are not interested in our churches because they do not see the Bible at work in them. We see an increase in other religions because they adhere to their "holy books." It is time we adhered to ours. I spoke with a young man this week who said he was at a youth camp at which they are living the Bible. He reported dreams, visions, and healing.... funny how that's just the type of stuff we see in the Bible?
The Bible is a book about prayer, healing, holiness, church growth, discipleship, marriage, family, grief, parenting, preaching, missions, finances, vocation, creation, life, death, birth, rest, war, peace, politics, music, and education. It is the only living and active book. It is the ONLY book we need!
