What Is Church?

I believe that when we all get to Heaven, there will be many people shocked and bewildered that Jesus will not like the way that they did church while on earth. I see the church of the first century and compare it to the practices of a lot of churches today and amazed how far off the mark many have gone. I am not claiming that the first century church was perfect, just a casual study of Acts and several of the epistles proves for a fact that they were far from perfect. But there were quite a few things that they did get right. Today I want to point out three operations that the Bible says that the church ought to be involved in:

The Great Commission

Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

The church exists to be a vehicle of the furtherance of the Gospel. This is the primary function of the church. I have been asked before, “Should the church focus on evangelism or should it focus on discipleship?” The answer is… “Yes.” I understand, some churches emphasize one over the other. Some churches focus on winning souls but they never do anything to help baby Christians to grow, whereas some churches get so wrapped up in searching out the depths of Scripture that they forget to look outward to a lost and dying world. A balanced church will reach out to a sinful world, and when those people get saved that church will bring them in, teach them the Word of God (discipleship) and then send them out to do the work of the ministry and reach more people for Jesus.

We are guilty of treating the church as more of a book club and less like an army. The point is to recruit more soldiers and then train them to go out and recruit more soldiers. The church does not continue without the Great Commission. By the way, I believe that is one of the reasons why we are seeing a decline in church attendance and in Christianity in our nation today, for more than a generation the church has been fixated on making the sinful world conform to its standards by using the government as its tool at the expense of spreading the Gospel, which will transform the sinful world, with the Bible as our tool. Satan does everything he can to stop us from spreading the truth of the Gospel, because it is the Gospel that has the power to save souls and change lives. Why has the church become satisfied with simple conformity to our way of life rather than yearning for the transformative work of the Gospel? Complacency. Laziness. Pride. The church is about spreading the Gospel.

Worship

Next time you go to a church service, I want you to intentionally think about how each aspect of the service is an act of worship. I look at Calvary Baptist Church’s particular schedule of events for our worship services and notice that each action done is for the purpose of worship (with the exception of Announcement time). The first thing that comes to mind is the singing of songs, we do not do that as a time filler so that we do not have to listen to the pastor preach an hour long sermon, we do it as an act of worship. Our tithes and offerings are an act of worship. It is saying, “Lord, you have been so good to me, I want to give you something in return.” Truly a time of worship. The preaching of God’s Word is worship, as it is approached in a desire to learn more about our God and his Word. Even the altar call at the end of the sermon is an act of worship, as it is kneeling down before God and saying, “Lord, I am convicted of my sin, please help me to please you with my life!”

The problem is, too often we approach Sunday morning as more of a routine than actual worship. “I sing because that is what we do every week”, “I give because I have to”, “Pastor preaches because he has to do something around here,” It all becomes a routine rather than an act of true worship. Let me challenge you, when you walk into your church on Sunday, have a worshipful attitude. Participate in the service as if God is standing in front of you and you are worshiping Him (because He is and you are!)

Growth in the Word

Acts 17:11, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

I was once told that doctrine and theology were for a pastor to know and not the laypeople. It is a shame that a lot of people feel this way. There are plenty of Christians who have been saved for decades but still only have a surface concept of their faith. As the average Christian how to prove from the Bible that Jesus is God and they may break out in hives out of fear. How many Christians know how to go through the Gospel and lead someone to Christ? Too few! How many Christians actually understand their salvation and all the beauty of it? Again, too few. We go to church so that we can grow in the Word of God. By the way, this does not contradict my first point at all. True growth in the Word of God will motivate me and equip me to be a better soul winner. A Christian who knows what the Bible says about eternal security can show that to another Christian who is wavering. A Christian that can show the deity of Christ in the Gospels is better equipped to show that Jesus indeed died on the cross and rose again for our sins. A Christian that dives deeper into learning everything that happened to them at the moment of their salvation will be amazed and more thankful and, in turn, motivated to reach more people with the Gospel. The Bible is an incredible book (quite the understatement!) we need to dig deep into it, and when we do, we will be motivated to serve more. That is why I suggest being in church every time the doors are open. The way I preach (and a lot of pastors do too), is on Sunday morning I preach in a series (right now in the ministry of Christ) Sunday night I typically do stand alone sermons as God leads me to preach, and then on Wednesday night we do a verse by verse study of a book of the Bible (right now we are in Revelations). That gives us a well-rounded schedule of Bible study not just in where in the Bible we are studying but even in how we are studying it. But the point is all the same- Growth.

I believe that in many churches today we have lost sight of these three things. We have become overly concerned with making the church our own little family group that gets together every week. We make it into a social club. We use the funds of the church to cater to the whims of our own rather than reaching a dying world with the Gospel. We have meals and potlucks just for the sake of having them, rather than using them to bring people in from the fields of sin. Do not forget Jesus’ purpose for the church, and do not forget to follow it. If we are to be Jesus’ church, we are to follow his rules. 

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The Two Times The Gospel Was Presented To Me (In My Adult Life)

All my life, I have grown up in churches that taught the importance of personal soul winning. I have been challenged to go out of the church building and tell as many people as I can about Jesus. Every Christian ought to be a witness for the Lord, Jesus has commanded that we “Go and Tell”. In my adult life, there have been two occasions in which someone confronted me with the Gospel. I want to tell you about both encounters:

The first encounter was when I was working at Panera Bread. I was in seminary in Florida. I had just gotten married and was earning my Masters Degree. I worked at Panera to pay my school bill and for us to survive. I often worked at the cash register and had the privilege of meeting a lot of people. One day, as I was taking a lady’s order, after she paid she handed me a piece of paper, she smiled, and simply said, “Read this paper when you have a chance, it will show you what the Bible says about going to Heaven!” And then left. Of course, this blessed my heart. I am already saved, but it is always nice to see other people spreading the Gospel. I looked at the  paper (we would call it a tract), the church named on it was a local non-denominational church. As I read what the tract said about the Gospel and the plan of salvation, I was pleased to see that it was doctrinally sound, a person could read it and be saved by believing!

My second encounter was actually yesterday. I was pumping gas, and a truck pulled up onto the other side of the pump. A man got out and started pumping gas. The man said hi to me, and I said hi back. I was wearing a suit coat and tie because I was about to go to a funeral, and maybe that was why he asked me, “Are you from Hartwell?” I then told him that I was actually the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. He went on to talk to me about the Bible. He told me that he was a Mennonite and we talked a little about Biblical interpretation ( we were in agreement that the Bible ought to be taken literally). After that, he asked me about how I was certain about Heaven! I was shocked and pleased. Most people, after hearing that they were talking to a pastor, would not have the courage to ask that question. But this man was not afraid, and he asked me about my soul. I explained to him that I was saved by grace through faith, not by my own works but by the finished work of Christ on the cross. We shared a little bit of conversation about the Gospel and how sweet it is. After that he said to me, “A long time ago, I made a decision to tell as many people as I possibly could about the Gospel!” What a blessing!

As I dwell on both of these encounters, I cannot help but be convicted by them. There are actually two things about these encounters that convict me:

First, why do I not witness like that? This may come as a surprise to you, but I am a relatively shy person. I am very introverted and it makes me nervous just talking to people that I do not know. As I think about my encounter from yesterday, I cannot see myself suddenly initiating conversation with a random stranger at the gas station. But I most certainly can do what that woman did when I was working at Panera. We are already forced to talk to people at fast food restaurants that we are ordering from, why can’t I take an extra 5 seconds (at the most) and say, “Hey, can you read this when you have a chance? It’s about how to know you will go to Heaven when you die!” It is not that hard. I am convicted by the fact that, yes, I am a soul winner. I try to get out every week to knock on doors and spread the Gospel and as pastor of Calvary I enjoy creating opportunities for our church to spread the Gospel even more through special days, Love Works, Neighborhood Bible Time, and others. But when I see someone taking relatively mundane experiences like ordering at fast food or getting gas and then turning them into soul winning opportunities, it shows me that these people are truly serious about the Gospel. I need to have a heart for lost souls like these two wonderful people have, not just at designated times of the week, but ALL THE TIME.

Second, those of you who come to Calvary or are familiar with me know that I am an independent Baptist. I am more than an independent Baptist: I am an independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist. These two that witnessed to me were non-denominational and Mennonite. I will preface what I am about to say with this: I have very little issue with Mennonites and very little issue with (most) non-denominational churches. I have met many sincere and doctrinally sound people in both of those categories. But I am an independent Baptist, and I cannot ignore that. As I said, all of my life I have been brought up in independent Baptist churches that have told me that I need to make my Gospel witness personal. And to be honest, I do not think I have ever met an independent Baptist pastor who was not also passionate about personal soul winning in his preaching. But again, the two times I was witnessed to were when a non-denominational lady gave me a tract and when a Mennonite asked about my soul. I’ll take it further, the only time that someone has ever knocked on my door to ask me about my eternity was when the Mormon missionaries came by (I understand that they are in doctrinal error, but they did show concern for my soul). As independent Baptists, we claim that we have a fire and a passion to see people get saved, but from my personal experiences I have seen that this is mostly not true. Baptist friends, stop talking about soul winning and start actually soul winning. Nothing gets accomplished by talking about something you ought to do, things get accomplished when you actually do it.

Pretty negative post, so let me tell this story to balance things out a little bit. My family and I were traveling from Florida back home to Georgia a few weeks ago. We stopped at a Chick-fil-a to get some food before continuing our journey. At one point I went to the restroom. When I was at the sink washing my hands, there was a Gospel tract from a Baptist church sitting against the mirror. I examined the tract, the pastor of the church was listed, I saw that the pastor was a close friend of my dad’s. This church was all the way in North Carolina, and I was in a Chick-fil-a in Georgia. I realized that someone from that North Carolina church, in their travels, left a Gospel tract in the restroom to try to be a witness to whoever was coming next. What a blessing!

Being a witness of the Gospel can truly be simply, but we MUST determine to actually do it. In closing, here are a few simply ways you can share the Gospel in your day to day activity:

• Give a tract to the fast food worker that you give your money to
• Leave a tract (and a good tip) for your waiter/waitress at a sit down restaurant
• Leave a tract in a public place where someone will easily find it (a restroom, a condiment stand, an ATM, or at the laundromat)
• Take opportunities to talk to people (gas station, in lines, in commute)

Soul winning is more than a weekly church activity or something we do on Sunday, it should be a part of our daily lives, bleeding into our most basic of interactions. The Gospel message is deserving of it. Be a messenger of the Gospel.

Question for the comment section: How are you being a witness in your day-to-day activity?

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Three Favorite Verses About Doing Right

I want to be honest with you, dear reader, about something. This week I got discouraged. I have said in church before that the biggest difficulty for me when it comes to pastoring is my desire to make people happy and for people to like me. It is a weakness of mine. I understand that making people happy is not a bad thing, but at the same time we must have an understanding that when you do the right thing and you stand up for it there are going to be times, plenty of times, when you will not be liked for it. My family was at Disney World a few weeks ago, as we were walking to an attraction we came across a cast member who had a big grin on her face, she was holding a bubble wand that blew bubbles all over the place. Children and parents alike were giggling and playing with the bubbles and having a good time. I thought to myself, “Man, that sure is the life! Your job is simply to make people happy!” But the truth is, and this is nothing against this girl or any of those cast members for that matter, a smile is short-lived doing right has eternal rewards. I say all of that to say this: My desire to make people happy is strong, but I have to constantly keep that in check with God’s calling on my life, and that calling is to do right. As Ron Hamilton wrote in song, “Do right til the stars fall, Do right till the last call, Do right when there’s no one else to stand by you. Do right when you're all alone, do right though it’s never known, Do right since you love the Lord. Do right, DO RIGHT!”

It is times when I am discouraged in doing right that I am reminded of these verses, I want to share them with you today.

1. Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua was giving the children of Israel his final address. He knew that the children of Israel were prone to wander and to rebel against God. It was in light of this that Joshua stood and made an example of himself and of his family. He told them that they needed to choose who they would serve (something they would truly struggle with for generations to come) the Canaanite gods or the Lord. But then he says this, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” What was he saying? Basically, “If you all choose to worship the false gods of the Canaanites, me and my family are still going to serve the true and living God!” Joshua was committed to serving the Lord, even if it meant doing it alone. I’ll be honest with you today, the path of doing right is a lonely path. There are many who will oppose you, there are many who will walk with you for a little while and then turn back, unsaved people will mock you, many in the church will scorn you, even hate you. But you must determine to do right. Remember the song, “I have decided to follow Jesus”? One of the most touching verses to that song, yet one of the most difficult to sing is, “Though none go with me, still I will follow, no turning back.” Determine this, “Even though I stand alone, I will do what’s right!”

1. 1st Peter 1:16, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

Some Christians get saved and then after that go about living their own way. Time does not permit me to delve into the churches that propagate this false teaching, but suffice it to say that these people believe they can do whatever they want because, “Jesus died on the cross for all my sin, therefore all of my sins are forgiven, I can do whatever I want because my sins are forgiven already.” What a carnal way to look at salvation and the Christian life! But this is part of the mindset behind Christians being involved in much of the wickedness that the unsaved world is involved in. Name any sin that an unsaved person regularly commits and you will not struggle to find a saved person who has, is, and relishes in doing the same. The reason I point out this verse is because it is a direct command of God. It is not a suggestion, it is not a good idea, it is a command. And it is a command to be HOLY. Holy means to be set apart. What basically God is saying is that we ought to be set apart from the world, we ought to be different from them. We ought to look different, act different, talk different, and be different. Why? Because we ARE different thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ! When I am tempted to hang in the towel on doing right, maybe just ease up a little, I am reminded that God has called me to be this way. To not do right is to go against the command of God and why would I want to disobey the one who has given everything for my salvation?

I don’t want to misrepresent myself here, I do fail sometimes often. I am by no means perfect, some of you who are reading this know me pretty well and you can attest to that, I am a sinful person. But I still strive to do right, and it is this command that helps me continue on.

1. Daniel 3:17-18, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

We know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (their real names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and I am sure they would be offended by us calling them by Babylonian names, but that is a different post for a different day) they did not bow down to the idol and so they were thrown into the fiery furnace, and, as we know, God spared them from the flame. Before they were thrown into the furnace, they testified to Nebuchadnezzar the verses that I posted up above. What are they saying? Basically, “We know that our God can deliver us from the flame of the fiery furnace, but even if he does not WE WILL NOT BOW!” They believed in the power of God, which we all should, but they determined that even if it was not within the will of God to protect them from the flame, they would do what is right. The truth is, doing right sometimes hurts. You will sometimes face real troubles for doing right. The eternal rewards are wonderful, but let’s be honest, it is difficult to think about the eternal rewards for doing right when you are hurting right now for doing right! The three Hebrew boys said, “Do whatever you want to do, you can kill us, you can throw us into the fire, but we will not disobey our God!” What steely determination! It makes me think of the martyrs who burned at the stake for standing up for the Word of God and their beliefs. They would not recant for anyone, even if it meant burning at the stake, being drowned in the lake, or being cut with the sword. And when I think of the testimonies of these brave Christians it breaks my heart that so many times I am so quick to give up on doing right over the smallest of oppositions! We must be like these three boys and determine to do right, no matter what difficulties may come our way for doing so.

Do right! We see that we ought to do right even when we must stand alone, we see that we ought to do right because it is commanded by God, and we see that we ought to do right although we may face hardships for doing so.

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Why Are Young People Leaving the Church (And What Can We Do About It)?

I am a young pastor. I pastor an “older” church. I am one of the youngest adult members of the church that I pastor but it is my desire to change that. In these past three years I have been introduced to countless people my age and almost every time I ask them about church they will say, “Oh, I went to church as a kid, but I don’t anymore,” or worse, “Oh yeah! I used to go to Calvary Baptist Church (which is the church that I pastor)!” This sentiment is not just in Hartwell, GA, but it is everywhere. Plenty of my friends on Facebook grew up in Bible-preaching churches, but are now no longer active, turned off by the church and its people. What happened? I know that some have written long articles about this very subject, but I hope to offer some insight from the perspective of being both a young man (at this point, 27 years old) and a senior pastor. Here are a few reasons, why I have seen, young people are leaving the church and what we, as the church, can do about it.

They Clung to People Rather than God

Everybody wants a hero. We all long for someone to look up to in life. A lot of teenagers are pressured by the church and Christian leaders to not make heroes out of sports figures, movie stars, or similar types of people. This is wise advise. It is foolish to make heroes or role models out of people who often life worldly, sinful lives. But what ended up happening for some of these teens is that in order to fill the void of needing a hero or role model, they went to their parents, youth pastor, senior pastor, coach at their Christian school, etc. You may say, “That is a good thing!” But I would suggest that it is not! I love my parents, they are wonderful people, but I am not fooled by something, my parents are sinners. My parents are capable of doing things that break the heart of God. So is your pastor, so is your youth pastor, or whoever else. This does not mean that they are not worthy of our admiration and respect, but it does mean that they are not perfect. When teens are inevitably presented with the harsh truth that their parents or their pastors are not perfect people they are quick to call out the word “hypocrite!” What they fail to understand is that, in many cases, their spiritual leaders are not hypocrites, they are simply sinners on the same spiritual journey that they are on, maybe a little further along, but on the same journey nonetheless. 

What Can We Do About It? The answer is simple. Make Jesus the hero. The moment that teens start clinging onto God instead of onto the adults in their life is when they begin to develop a truly deep relationship with God. Something that I strive to do as I preach is to often remind my congregation that I am a sinner. I worry, I have pride, I sometimes act carnally. Their relationship with the Lord is not based on my spirituality, it is based on the goodness of God. Preacher, Sunday school teacher, parent, make JESUS the hero, don’t make yourself the hero. Making Jesus look good and lifting up his name will cause the young people of the church to be less disillusioned with the sinners surrounding them in church.

They Learned the Rules of Our Faith but not the Relationship

If a teenager is active in your church’s youth group and goes to your Christian school, they are aware of the rules of our faith. Their are quite a lot of rules too! As adults, we understand that there is a need for rules. Rules provide structure and organization. Also, rules keep sinful activity from being present in our youth groups and in our classrooms. Rules are good. The problem though, is that little children will follow a rule just because it is a rule and an adult says to follow it, a teenager will not. A teen wants to know why the rule is in place. Some adults may see such questioning as rebellion, but it certainly is not. Some adults do their best to silence such questioning, and they do themselves great harm in doing so. Teens question things, and that is what begins them on their personal journey of belief and knowledge. In other words, the teenage years are the prime years for a teen to practice their faith because THEY believe it rather than because their parents believe it. That is why the questioning of rules comes in, “Why don’t we say those words? Why don’t we watch that type of movie? Why don’t we have sex before marriage? Why are we supposed to behave this way?” When those questions go unanswered, it turns teens and young adults skeptical toward what we believe. A lot of spiritual leaders want their teens to simply fall in line and obey, but that is not what our ultimate goal ought to be. I was once told this, “Subdued and spiritual are not the same thing.” You may be doing well at getting your teen to obey, but that may very well end when they are out from under your roof if do not move them to being spiritual.

What Can We Do About It? Again, The answer is simple. Don’t just teach these young adults to adhere to rules, help them build a relationship with God. I once heard a good phrase, “Rules without relationship breed contempt”. Teach your teens why we have the rules we have, show them the Scripture that supports your rules (if you know the Scripture. if you don’t, it is time to start figuring it out!) But then teach them how to have a relationship with God- teach them to pray, teach them to read (no, study!) their Bibles. Take your teens from an area of doing to an area of being. Answer the “why” questions that they have and then show them the “how” about our faith. May I make an observation? I believe the BIG reason this goes undone is because many adults, who have been in the faith for decades, do not have a walk with God themselves. These young adults are not buying into all these rules without knowing why we have them, and you cannot expect them to.

They Did Not Learn Sound Doctrine

I have sat where many of our church teens are sitting. I have been to youth conferences that give emotional pleas the make decisions for the Lord. I have seen hundred of teens flood the aisles at camp meetings and youth conferences surrendering their hearts to Jesus. I have seen the tears of teens flow down their faces as they get things right with their peers and determine to live for Jesus. I have also seen less than 48 hours later, nearly every teen went back to living the same way and acting the same way they did before. What happened? Emotion driven decisions. Please do not misunderstand me, there is certainly a place for emotion when it comes to making decisions for Christ, and I believe that we ought to pull at these teens heartstrings, but THAT IS THE EASY PART. The hard part is moving passed the emotion and making them grounded. The only way to do that is with doctrine. Young adults can not survive in their faith through emotion alone, actually, emotion can only work so much by itself. If you are pulling at teens emotions without teaching them doctrine, over time they will grow to resent your use of emotion driven sermons and teaching to get them to make decisions for Christ. We need to use emotion in tandem with teaching the doctrinal truth, because ultimately it is doctrine that will keep our young adults in church and will make them grounded in our faith.

What Can We Do About It? Stop preaching “teen sermons” in youth group. What I mean is, a lot of youth pastors will preach sermons that they believe will appeal to their young audience. They preach a lot of sermons on faith, facing giants, God taking care of them, which are good subjects but do not make up much of what the Bible says at all, but do teach on the deity of Christ, the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the great depths of our salvation and how we can thoroughly enjoy it, the attributes of God, and what the church is in God’s eyes. Those may seem like topics that you do not think teens will listen to, but those are topics that they will need if they are going to stick around in the long run. I was once told that it is the pastor’s job to know doctrine and that it is the church members role to simply listen to sermons. Not many people are bold enough to voice that opinion, but I believe that is a sentiment shared by many. The problem with that thinking is that doctrine is and what should be the thing that strengthens us and keeps us in the church. Teach them Biblical truth.

They Are Turned Off By Traditionalism

We have done ourselves great harm in focusing on our traditions rather than on the good news of the Bible. I remember one time me and a few of my friends came up with a way to get more children to ride into church on our church buses. We were so excited about this program we had made and were prayerful about getting these young children in church. On the day that I was setting up for our special day, a lady came up to me with a sour look on her face and she said, “We’ve never done things this way before!” Honestly, hearing her say that, hearing her tone of voice, and seeing the anger on her face quenched my spirit. But looking back, I would have asked “young me” these questions: Does this idea go against the teachings of the Bible? The answer to that was no. Does this idea compromise anyones standards? Again, the answer was no. Does this idea have the potential to bring children into the church so they can hear the Gospel? The answer was ABSOLUTELY. So then, why should I give it a second thought whether or not the church had “never done this before”. Listen, just because your church has done something the same way for 3 decades does not mean that it is the right way to do things. I see where this attitude is coming from too, many older adults do not see the church as Jesus’ church but as their church. They feel as if everything should be centered around their comfort and that no changes ever ought to be made. They have “their” pew, and “their” parking spot, and they believe they are entitled to the church being exactly the way they want because they financially support the church. Here is the problem with that, the church does not belong to you, it belongs to Jesus, the church does not bow down to your whims and desires, it bows down to the command of Christ, that command includes reaching and even keeping young adults. These teens have creativity flowing through their minds, and when they start wanting to serve Jesus, those creative ideas are going to start coming up. Instead of squelching the creativity and zeal out of them, encourage it. It is ok to do a few new things, it is ok to have a different approach, and it is ok to follow the creative lead of a teen.

What Can We Do About It? I have challenged my congregation that they ought to never argue that we should not do something simply because we have never done it before. If they have a problem with a new program, new ministry, or new idea they ought to come to me with Scripture in hand or with a reasonable, well-thought out reason why it won’t work rather than say, “Well, this is the way we’ve always done it and we don’t want it to change.” Be open to listen to your young adults. I know that many older adults believe themselves to be the “fount of all wisdom” and that their voices should be the only ones heard in the church. I respect the opinions of older adults, and appreciate their decades of labor and service for the Lord, but their opinion is not the only one in the room, and sometimes their opinion is not the right one in the room. Do not turn a deaf ear to these younger Christians.

I believe that these 4 points all boil down to one main theme: Authenticity. What is missing in many churches today is a real walk with the Lord and our young adults can see right through it. From my experience with young adults, they do not necessarily want the things that everyone says they want in a church. A lot of pastors think they can attract young adults by having concerts, by building coffee shops in their churches, and by using slang while they preach. Young adults are not looking for that, they are looking for an authentic experience. They are looking for a place where the Bible is preached unapologetically, by a man of God who admits that he is not perfect but on the same spiritual journey as they are, surrounded by people who sincerely strive to follow Jesus and want to help others on their journey. Boy, that is a tall order, but that is what the church is supposed to be and what we are supposed to do.

By the way, Our church is beginning to turn the corner with young adults. We now have several young couples who are involved in the church, they are excited, they are growing, they are writing notes during sermons, and soaking it all in. In our country, most churches are losing young adults by large numbers, but at Calvary Baptist Church we are gaining young adults slowly but surely. I believe that has to do with understanding these 4 points and what we ought to do about them.

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Christian Rules for Handling Bullies

I was bullied when I was in high school. I was not physically beaten up but I was mistreated quite a bit which did bring me quite a bit of emotional grief and tears. I am quick to admit that some of the mistreatment that I got was self-inflicted (I was a little bit of a “know-it-all” stinker), but for the most part, I did not deserve the way that I was treated (neither do 99.99999999999% of people that are bullied). That is why I sympathize with people who struggle with being bullied. Although I sympathize, I do not agree with a lot of the methods being taught today about handling bullies. To me, it seems as if this generation is not being taught how to handle bullies, but that they have the right to not be around bullies. There is a problem with that thinking and let me give you an illustration: When I was a teen there was one person, above all others, that was really cruel to me (let’s call him Bill). One day I was so fed up that I told my dad about how upset I was that Bill was picking on me. Dad told me this piece of truth “Curt, there is going to be a “Bill” everywhere you go for the rest of your life.” Do you know what? He was right! I went off to Bible college and there was a guy just like Bill, I went to work at Panera Bread and at each store I ended up working at I worked with a Bill, even now that I am in the ministry I have to deal with “Bills” every Sunday. The point I am trying to make is this: No matter how far you run, there will always be a bully. That does not make it right, it does not make it fair; but it does mean that we need to learn how to handle them instead of running away from them. Fortunately, Jesus does not leave us without answers when it comes to dealing with bullies. Here are some rules to abide by if you are a Christian.

Be kind

Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

I feel like I mention kindness almost every blog post that I write. The reason for that is because of the fact that as Christians WE OUGHT TO BE KIND. Let me ask you, does a bully deserve your kindness? Absolutely not! To be honest, it can be hard enough to be kind to your friends, let alone your enemies. But there are a few reasons why this is a good practice. First, it will burn the bully with conviction (Romans 12:20, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.) Second, you will be blameless and on the high ground. And third, and most important, it is what Jesus did for you. Let me elaborate on this one, you were the enemy of God (Romans 5:10) before you were saved. You did not deserve a single good thing from God, all you deserved was eternity in Hell, but Jesus came and died on a cross for your sins as undeserving as you are. That is called grace. That same grace that Jesus gave to us, we ought to give to other people as well. Does that bully deserve your kindness? No! Give it to him anyway. Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t just save those who “deserved” to be saved! Let’s be like Jesus and show grace to everyone.

Be prayerful

Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”

I heard a sermon when I was a teen, it was about loving your enemies. The preacher said something that stuck to my mind, he said, “It is impossible to not love someone that you pray for every day.” I heard what he said, I thought about the bullies in my life, and I took him to task on that statement. I singled out the top 5 people who were particularly cruel to me and every night before I went to bed I would pray for them, calling them the Fantastic Five (I was, and still am, a nerd). I didn’t pray anything dumb like, “I pray they will have a ton of bricks fall on them”, instead I prayed three things, first, that God would give them a good day the next day, and second, that I would be granted the opportunity to show at least one of them kindness. And third, that God would help me to love them. Do you know what happened? They never changed. Those five kept being bullies, they never stopped mistreating me. But there was a change inside of me. I can honestly say that I love those 5 now and if I were to see any one of them today I would have nothing but kind things to say to them. God put a piece in my heart that could only be gotten by praying for my enemies. If you have a bully who is ruining your life, pray for them.

Choose to be happy

Acts 16:25, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”

Paul and Silas were in a difficult situation, they were in prison. They had been beaten and now their feet were in stocks, rodents and vermin were likely crawling all over them. In the middle of this awful circumstance, Paul and Silas praised God. Their actions show us that happiness is not based on circumstances. By the way, even if it was based on circumstances you should still be happy, here are your circumstances: you are on your way to Heaven instead of Hell, you are no longer seen by God as a sinner but a saint, you are a child of God rather then a child of sin. Be happy. No matter what life throughs your way, be happy. In fact, God does not say to just be happy in convenient times, but to “rejoice in the Lord ALWAY” (Philippians 4:4). What does being happy have to do with bullies? The reason that bullies will bully people you is because they do not want you to be happy, they want to see you miserable. I’ve had to learn this the tough way, the bully is happy when you cry, the bully is giddy and feels like he has won when you lash out in anger, but the bully has lost when you do not let him get to you and you keep that smile on your face. In high school, I would get weepy and sad over people that were unkind to me, but now I have learned that in order to win against a bully you need to smile in their face, say hello to them whenever you see them with a little bit of a spring in your voice as if nothing they do or say can get you down. Everyone, even a bully, ought to see that you have the joy of Jesus in your heart.

By the way, bullies are often miserable themselves, that is why they are a bully (miserable people make more miserable people and then they are happy!) maybe you can help the bully by spreading that joy a little: invite them to church, witness to them, again, be kind. Show them the reason why you are happy.

I want to send out a disclaimer before this post is finished: I am not trying to victim shame. I know what being a victim of bullying is like, it is not fun. I wish that no one would have to go through bullying. I am not trying to victim shame, instead, I am trying to keep you from being a victim. I would rather be a victor than be a victim, and I believe that when it comes to bullies we can be victors. I believe that when we follow these truths found in the Word of God we can be victorious over bullies.

Check out more of my writing at Getting My Attitude Adjusted and Sermons from the Book of Haggai

Christian Rules for Politics

It has been quite some time since I have written on here, for which I apologize (sense, you know, thousands, or even millions, of people read my blog!) But the Lord has been laying some things on my heart about this upcoming election. If you go on Facebook at all, you see that one out of every 5 posts (statistic created by myself) is about this year’s election. Some are anti-Trump, some are anti-Clinton, some are anti-both. It is not uncommon to see a large group of my friends posting at least a dozen politically charged articles in a day. This post IS NOT to say that we ought to abandon our concern about politics. I believe every Christian ought to vote. I believe every Christian should be an informed voter. But I believe that there are a few things more important than politics. Here are some Christian rules for politics, based on Scripture.

1. Don’t Neglect Your Spiritual Walk

2nd Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

I get on Drudge Report every day to read the news. I make sure that I am somewhat informed about the world around me. But I should never be a “news hound” at the expense of my walk with God. If you are constantly reading news stories but not reading your Bible, you are not walking with God. I fear that there are too many Christians reading the news and too few Christians reading their Bibles. I have said behind my pulpit many times before, and I strongly believe this, that one of the biggest problems with Christianity today is that we are not people of the Word of God. Get into your Bibles!

2. Be A Witness

Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

I have met plenty of people who are very quick into getting into political arguments (they call it discussions) with other people. It burdens my heart that too many Christians are more quick to share their political beliefs with a stranger than to tell that stranger about their Saviour. Christian, Donald Trump is not your Messiah. Hillary Clinton did not die on the cross for your sins. Gary Johnson did not give you the gift of eternal life. There is no person in this world more important to the world than Jesus Christ. Let’s tell others about him! Sure, he may not be on our ballot, but he is in our Bibles and on our Gospel tracts. Tell others about Jesus. By the way, most of the world’s problems would be a lot smaller if more people knew Christ as their Saviour. The Gospel is the hope of the world!

3. Have Perspective

2nd Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Can I say something that will hurt some people… ok, here it goes… Donald Trump cannot Make America Great Again. Neither can Hillary for that matter. Republicans and Democrats alike tend to deify their candidate to a level of “Messiah-ship” (look, I made up a word!), and that is absolutely wrong. No matter who is put into the White House, this nation is still in a great amount of trouble. No president can fix this mess. Who can? God can! The verse above does not say to seek Trump’s face or Clinton’s face, it says to seek God’s face. And this is a task that must be done by the people of God (“if my people…”) I have said before and will say it for years to come, America is in the shape that it is in because of Christians who will not humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from their own wicked ways.” Do not look for a president that will fix the problems that you created, seek God’s face at this time. The only way America will be great again is if Christians start living like Christians ought to.

4. Be Kind

Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind…”

There is more to that verse, which goes into greater detail about how and why we should be kind to others. But those first four words are beautiful in their simplicity. Be nice! I have seen unkindness rear its ugly head on two fronts:

Cruel statements about politicians- I am not opposed to calling out politicians on inconsistencies or on their policy, but personal attacks are unChristian and unkind. The other day my wife and I saw an article about Michelle Obama, underneath the article were all of these comments about how ugly Mrs. Obama is. My wife and I were shocked! People were saying cruel things like calling her “Moochelle”. My wife and I agreed that this was ridiculous. Every time we see Mrs Obama, we are both impressed by how put together she looks and, yes, the fact that she is a pretty woman. Let me ask you this, would Jesus ever call any woman ugly? The answer to that is “NO!” Neither should a child of God. This is not just about Mrs Obama though, but about practically every politician that anyone ever disagrees with. Even children aren’t off limits! Remember, politicians are people too, they do not deserve personal attacks based on their looks, intelligence, or public speaking abilities (you try it sometime! I promise, public speaking is hard and I only speak to 30-40 every week!) Attack positions, but do not attack people.

Cruel statements to others- Too many families and friends get into heated discussions about politics! I understand talking over things, but when names start getting called and when people start to be cruel is when the line has been crossed. Do not forget that after this election is over you will still have that family member in your life whether or not they voted Blue or Red. That coworker will still be standing next to you every week. Basically, what I am trying to say is Practice Grace with people that disagree with you. Just because someone disagrees with you over some minor area of policy does not mean that we should cast them out of our lives and treat them as heretics. Kindness is what is expected of a Christian.

You might say, “Pastor King, these are all things we ought to be doing anyway!” Exactly! The point I am making is simple: Our spiritual lives do not take a back seat in the election year. Before you are a Republican, you are a Christian. Before you are an American, you are a Christian. Go out and vote this year (you have no right to complain about politics if you do not vote), be an informed voter, read the news to make sure you know the developing stories, but please, Christian, please do not stop being what you ought to be for your Saviour. A blogger wrote the other day that this will be the ugliest election in our modern history. It very well may be, but let that not be said of us Christians, let us walk through this season with grace toward all men.

"Pastor King, where have you been? I miss your writing!" The mighty throngs of you are saying. I will continue to write on this blog when I can, but in the meantime, check out the health/lifestyle blog that my wife and I have together right here!
Don't forget to check out my books on the Kindle: Getting My Attitude Adjusted, Sermons from the Book of Haggai, and Sermons from the Life of Abraham!

Observing the Sower

Matthew 13:3, “And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;”

As the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, I believe that God has called me to be a sower, and also to get the members of my church to be sowers. I am unashamed that I heavily emphasize the subject of spreading the Gospel in my preaching. Plenty of other pastors focus on “hobby horses” that may or may not be central in God’s Word, but I believe it is important to keep the Great Commission as our top priority. This upcoming year, 2016, is going to be a great year for Calvary Baptist Church. We are stepping out in faith and are planning an unprecedented year of outreach with Love Works Month, Friend Day, door knocking goals, Thursday and Saturday visitation, as well as several other events and programs. The members of Calvary Baptist Church will know (if they do not already) that we are meant to be a lighthouse for the lost, sowing the seed of the Gospel wherever we are able to. With that vision in mind, I was reading the parable of the sower and I made a few observations about this character that will help us in our service for the Lord:

1. The Sower Sowed the Seed

This may sound like an incredibly obvious point, but sadly it is overlooked. The seed, in this passage, is the Word of God. It is the job of the sower to sow the Word of God. Notice, the seed was the only thing that the sower sowed, nothing else. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly socially conscious, which is not bad thing. I fear though that in this consciousness, we (as the church) have lost track of being spiritually conscious. Let me give an example: A few weeks ago I received a pamphlet in the mail at church. It was about churches giving special love offerings to these agencies in order to help people in 3rd world countries get livestock, such as cows, water buffalo, chickens, etc. I believe that it is a good thing to give livestock to third world countries, but I believe that giving the Gospel is better. If I am going to give time, energy, and resources to something, it ought to be to the spreading of the Gospel. Why? Because a cow or a chicken is not going to save a soul from Hell, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will. In this Christmas season, there will be a lot of causes vying for your attention and your donations, all of which are noble and good, but do not get sidetracked and forget that the Gospel is the most important. Giving to the missions program at your church, give of your time to go door knocking and telling people about Jesus. If you are a sower, you must sow the seed. A sower that does not sow the seed is a worthless sower.

2. The Sower Didn’t Focus on the Ground

My wife and I have tried gardening for two years now, one year was a great success whereas this last year was an utter failure. I am not good at making straight lines, but my wife assured me that it was important to plant the seed in straight lines. Not only that, but it was important that the ground be tilled so that it was nice and loamy enough for a plant to grow. I am by no means an expert in gardening, and it confuses me when gardening experts talk about “PH balance” and “full sun”. We are meticulous about how seed gets planted these days. In the story of the sower though, we do not see that. In fact, by the way the story looks, it would seem as if the sower is just tossing the seed wherever with little to no regard as to where the seed landed. And that is the whole point. The sower did not inspect the ground and say, “Well, this ground is good, but this ground is thorny” instead he threw the seed wherever he could. As sowers for Christ, we cannot be picky and choosy over who we spread the Gospel to. When my dad was a young pastor, he was standing outside the door of his church with a member. A young couple pulled up in their car, they were visitors, and they began to walk into the church. My dad and the member greeted them and they went inside. The member looked at my dad and said, “They look like our kind of people!” Dad asked him, “What do you mean?” and the member said, “They are breathing!” The truth is, if they are breathing it is our job to reach them with the Gospel. Too often churches get focused on reaching a certain type of person, maybe someone of your own race or economic status or age; maybe someone who looks like a “church person” instead of just a random person from off the street. That is not how it should be. Often times I am guilty of this and the Holy Spirit has pricked my heart. I will tell myself, “That person doesn’t want to hear what I have to say!” And the Holy Spirit will say to me, “Tough! Tell them anyway! They need to hear the Good News!” Some churches will focus on getting the rich people to church at the expense of the poor, but the true sower does not care whether a person is rich or poor. The master told the servant (in another parable) to go to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. Where was the servant supposed to go? EVERYWHERE! Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. Where did Jesus tell them to go? EVERYWHERE! Who did he tell them to witness to? EVERYONE! Stop focusing on the ground and focus on the seed and getting it out to as many people as you possibly can.

3. The Sower has No Name

I understand that one of the hallmarks of Jesus’ parables is that none of the characters ever have a name (the rich man and Lazarus is not a parable). But I feel it is especially significant in this story. We call this parable “The Parable of the Sower”, but interestingly enough, the sower only appears in one verse, and all that it says about him is that he went forth to sow. Really, I believe that it would be more accurate to call this parable “The Parable of the Seed and Ground” because the sower plays a minor role, at best, in this story. What is the point? The sower got no attention, he just did what he needed to do. Too many Christians seek the praise of men instead of seeking the glory of God. They want their name in the bulletin or they want the pastor to mention them from the pulpit for a job well done or maybe even they want a thank you. But this sower was not thanked for his work, he was not named, he did not receive any attention at all, he simply did what he was supposed to do. I have found that Christians who constantly seek attention for their service are miserable people, reason being is that they lost their focus. The happiest people on earth are the Christians who learned that this life is not about them, but it is about giving glory to God and spreading the Good News of the Gospel. When a Christian loses focus of the importance of the Gospel he becomes caustic, bitter, and more prone to get his feelings hurt. That can be combatted with focusing on what God wants us to focus on: The salvation of the lost. My challenge to you: Put your nose to the grind and get to work for Jesus. Do not care about attention or praise, do not make sure people see what you are doing. God sees, and He is the only one who matters! Focus on spreading the seed.

I hope you are doing your part in spreading the Gospel. As we enter into a new year, make it a point to commit to God to be a better soul winner in the year 2016. Be a sower.