The Weeds Are Coming! The Weeds Are Coming!!

oh wait, they are already here!

Wow, this has been a hot dry summer. I don't know why, but here in Easley SC it seems like every time any rain comes to the area this year, it either: (1) Falls apart before it gets to us (2) Goes around us or (3) Falls apart before it gets to us, Gets below us, Re-forms and takes off again moving away from us.

60% chance of rain Sunday. Dark clouds on the horizon. Thunder booming all around us. Not one drop of rain. Temps flirting with 100, makes for a hot and dry day.

What does this have to do with anything about Christianity? Just wait, it's coming!

I love gardening. Especially flowers. They are all over my front and back yard and deck. So I have been watering them most mornings, yet the heat has been so bad, the flowers are still often droopy from the heat by afternoon. I feel so sorry for them that I want to gather them all up and take them inside where we have central a/c.

But the WEEDS are really getting on my nerves. While I'm steadily trying to keep the flowers alive, the weeds are THRIVING! They are sprouting everywhere in my beds. I put down a fabric underneath the mulch and plants, and now they have found a way to poke thru them. EGADS. So today I had to spend quite some time pulling them. It looks like a bomb was dropped from high above and plants lie scattered around. While pulling weeds, a thought hit me. This is just like church.

Churches have weeds. YES, weeds. They are the ones who are always seeming to prosper in position, while causing a bunch of consternation to everyone. You know, the person who gabs about everyone, never truly likes anyone, yet is trying to be better than everyone. They tend to run people off. They will hurt your feelings, either indirectly or directly, and they won't care. They take over committees and run them with their own agenda, choking off the ideas of anyone who doesn't agree with them.

Dictionary.com defines a weed as:

'any undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that grows profusely where it is not wanted.'

Any undesirable (why do you let people whom everyone knows is not good for the betterment of your congregation run your church) or troublesome (do you really want troublemakers/problem creators in your church?)  plant (reckon Satan has placed them there, either known or unbeknownst to them?), especially (wow, that is a word that has strong meaning) one that grows profusely (read what i said earlier about the takeover) where it is not wanted.

How does it happen?

I blame pastors and congregations alike. People are too worried about being too politically correct for one thing. They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. It is too hard to get people to church nowadays (and after reading so far, you wonder why????) and they do not want to lose membership/attendance so that they can boast of how big they are.

Pastors! Preach the word. Create a congregation that is strong in the word. Not a congregation that shows up, listens to you carry on for a while, then goes home, never fully understanding why they were there in the first place. You need to show people why they should even be there in the first place. Get their attention back to what matters. That is what Upside Down Christianity is all about. Shake out the bad, the poorly rooted, and put your church (WHICH IS GOD'S HOUSE) back in order.

(don't know how to do it, contact me, I'll come help!)

"Well, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings," is what I hear. Bologna. I'm not saying go and be mean. But confront them. Gather your elders (although a lot of the time a good bit of them are the problem!!!!!) or people who you can trust and will back you. Go to them. Explain to them what they are doing and why it is hurting the ministry of the church. Then give them a choice. Quit doing whatever or you will call them out and ask for their resignation. (notice I did not say throw them out of the church, they still need the word of God!!!!!!!)

"But that will leave me with so few people to work with. The problem children are the only ones who will do anything."

Then get to preaching. And teaching. And PRAY! Ask the Holy Spirit to convict their hearts that they will want to SERVE God, not just Attend Church! (read the earlier blogs (May 2011) on how to have a successful church)

THE WEEDS ARE GOING TO CHOKE YOUR CHURCH!! Then when all you will have is a church with a bad name and a bad reputation (the church I grew up in became known as a problem church because a family ran it, and no one would even come to be an interim, let alone a pastor) and you have no one to preach to eventually (the weeds aren't going to listen, and you will soon realize the spiritual level of the church is dead.)

Once the weeds are all pulled, then the church can begin to grow. It will take your church some time to regroup and start a true growth, (it took my former church almost 2 years), but it will happen, and you, your congregation and your community will be better for it.

NOTE: Are you a member of a congregation where you see this happening all around you? Go to your pastor, tell him what you see, agree to be a part of the solution. But if he refuses to see the problem, then you need to decide what other course needs to be done (change churches/new pastor/etc). DO NOT just sit there and say, "Oh well, I tried but there is nothing I can do about it." THERE IS! And you just may be the one that God will use to do it! END NOTE
Zephaniah 2:9

Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah— a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the survivors of my nation will inherit their land.” NIV 1984v

Matthew 13:

 ²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

   ²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
   ²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
   “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

   ²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

(the above further explained by Jesus later on in the chapter)

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

 ³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
   ⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Now, I ask you, do you want the weeds to take over your church? Do you want to have to let them grow until Jesus has to weed them out for you?

Take care of God's house now. If you see a weed, pluck it before it can grow. Preach the word so that people will know and recognize a weed when they see one.

Stop the weeds before they can start. Let your "wheat" be able to help you keep the "weeds" in check. Then you can have a successful ministry and your church will truly prosper.

May God bless you in the days to come!

Starting Over

On a recent trip I met someone who I hit it off with immediately. We were talking about churches and he mentioned about starting a church, and some of the local denominations. His next sentence caught my ears. “Why not start over? It has to be better than what we have now.”

Wow, what a statement. Starting over. That tells us a lot about how denominations are perceived. And also one other thing. Long established churches. It is not uncommon to wind up with a lot of clic’s and groups that can quickly make anyone start to feel like an outsider if they are new. I addressed this in a previous blog, so I won’t go into this again.

But I do want to address the idea of starting over. Starting over in many ways can be a path to a better life.

Christianity. When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you start a new life (hopefully), leaving behind the things that caused you to stumble in your life. Some people try to pin down exactly what actions are a sin. The bible is explicit on a few, but in a world that is rapidly changing, the list can grow quite quickly. So here is the simplest way to decide if you are in doubt.

(1) If you do something that makes other people look at you as a non-believer

(2) If you say something that makes other people look at you as a non-believer

(3) If you do something that makes you feel guilty

(4) If you do or say something that makes you wonder if it is right or wrong

Well, then it’s wrong.

Problem comes in what a lot of people do next, they listen to the words of an old popular song:

“If it feels good, do it.”

You cannot always substitute the “feel good” into the above to determine if it is the right thing to do. The only checkpoint for that is the bible. There are so many things that tell you what to do and how to do in the bible.

What? You don’t know what those are? Read the bible.

“But it’s too hard. I don’t understand it.” This day and age you can find all kinds of versions of the bible. Some versions stray from the original content, but the King James Version, New King James Version, and the New International Version are the ones who track the closest to the original document.

“But Keith, you just listed the King James as a version.” Yes, it is a translation, so it is a version. It is not the original document. Unless you are fluent in Greek and Hebrew, the documents that we have from that age would be “greek” to you. (haha, I couldn’t resist!). I personally prefer the NIV translation. The writers have gone back to the original document and they have tried to keep the translation current to the meaning of the language of today.

Find a version that you can read and start reading. Some of the items that are mentioned are hard to understand, especially in the Old Testament. My suggestion is to start with the New Testament and read one of the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the first four books that start off the New Testament. Pick one and read it, then skip to Acts and read until you get to Revelations. Stop. Go back to the Old Testament and read it carefully. If you don’t understand a term, go to Wikipedia.org or go to www.biblegateway.com and look it up. These two sites are free, and they have a ton of resources for you to read. I use both of them for my biblical studies. Plus, if you cannot afford a bible or another translation of a bible, biblegateway has many different translations for you to read. Then go back and read the rest of the gospels, and finally Revelations. Revelations can be a tricky book to read and grasp. I highly recommend a study series by Dr. David Jeremiah, “Escape The Coming Night”, which will help you understand Revelations, as well as apply it to modern times. I have attended several of his seminars, and listened to him on the radio, and he is “spot on” with his teachings and preaching.

So start over in your life.

Start over by reading the bible.

“But I’ve read it already.” Well, I don’t doubt you, but did you absorb anything that you read? Read it this time, even a chapter at a time, and then ask God to reveal to you what He wants you to learn from it.

Start over by being a “new you.”

Be someone that even you wouldn’t recognize. When you get to church and the same group gathers to start their gossip. Stand up and tell them they shouldn’t. If they still continue, walk away. Leave the room. Make a statement by doing so that you won’t be a part that does not fit with the Christian lifestyle.

Start worshipping while in church. (I’ve covered quite a bit about this in previous blogs)

Quit checking out who is doing what in the sanctuary. Shut your eyes and start your private prayer time. Start by asking God to work in your life. Ask God to help you clear your mind of everything else that is going on around you, and start praying for yourself, your family, your friends, the people who are currently in your church, the people who can’t be in your church, and the people who should be in your church.

Start to be a new employee/manager/owner

If you’re employed, go to work and be different. No gossiping. No backbiting. Start by telling someone thank you when they help, help someone when they need it, and start to be someone that others come up to you wanting to know what is different about you. PERFECT opportunity to be a witness for God in this situation.

If you do wind up in a place where you can’t be the Christian that you’re supposed to be, find a place where you can. Not all churches are Christian, though the name or denomination on the sign might indicate differently. If they need another book in addition to the bible, nope, not a Christian group. Resources that help you to understand what the bible is telling you are wonderful. But if someone wants you to study something instead of the bible, RUN FORREST RUN! Not all employers welcome a Christian environment. Employers are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion. Just be the example, and pray for God to change their hearts.

Start to be the spouse/(g)(b)friend that you need to be. If your “significant other” isn’t a Christian, rethink your relationship.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

I’ll go more into this in a later blog series where I tackle relationships.

Be the “S O” that you need to be. Show them that you love them. Kiss them, hold their hands, do special things that cause you to have to go out of the way for them. Guys, hold the doors for the girls. And guys and girls, initiate bible study together. Have devotional time. There are plenty of resources for different types of devotions, based on what you enjoying doing and reading.

Start over in your mind. Quit being negative. God is not negative. Start to believe in what you pray for, and in what you do in your daily life so that others can be reached for Christ.

In other words, START OVER!

The Sleeping Giant Gets a Wake Up Call

What started out as being a way of life for me became how I didn’t want to live my life. I started working in the cotton mill when I was 16, cleaning the air units for the different floors, and turning pic clocks on Sundays. Mom insisted that I take the job, and after I found out that I would be working on Sunday mornings, I didn’t argue. Finally, a break from having to listen to the same things I had been taught all my life. Or had I? If I had been taught, then wouldn’t I have a better understanding of what Christianity meant? Some would say yes. I probably would agree, especially now that I have thought more closely about it.

For 2 years I enjoyed having at least one service that I didn’t have to attend. Besides, Sunday nights were usually more casual, and I didn’t have to dress up to go then. But I was still expected to attend every service when I wasn’t working. I lived with my mom and grandparents, and as long as I lived under their roof, so be it.

I couldn’t wait to escape to the next level; Not having to attend at all.

When I was a senior in high school, the pastor talked me into taking a day off from work near graduation, and participating in “Youth Day” at the church. The youth of the church would take over all of the responsibilities for a Sunday, and usually a Senior would be the one to deliver the sermon. Guess who was picked? 3 Guesses and the first 4 don’t count!

After the service, the preacher walked up to me and said, “You’ve found your calling. You’ll make a fine preacher one day.”

“Oh my gosh, get me outta here,” was all I could think. Church people … Jesus Freaks … Stuff Shirt Preachers … HELP!

I graduated from High School, and turned down a scholarship and went in the Army. I wanted to be as far away from home as I could be. I succeeded. West Germany would be my home for the next 2 years. I was happy, with very little complaints.

I moved up in rank as I became eligible, but I was injured while on maneuvers, and so I was discharged on an Honorable, Service Connected Disability discharge.

The back injury brought a lot of pain, but it posed no problem, as I knew how to deal with the pain. Alcohol was cheap, Drugs were easily obtained while I was in service. When I got out, I found out that the same was true in civilian life. People who sat beside me in church were the same ones sitting beside me now that I was back home getting drunk, stoned or a raucous combination. And we wonder why the “outside” people view us as hypocrite’s?

(Next segment: Not only is my view of Christianity getting turned upside down, but I’m now dizzy from it spinning!)

What is Upside Down Christianity?

Upside Down Christianity ... What exactly is meant by that?
It means to turn Christianity on its head and shake out all of the bad things that have latched on to the faith. We wonder why most churches don't grow, and if they do, it is usually from "stealing" other members from other churches to theirs. Start a youth group. Hire a band. Serve some pizza. The kids fill up the place. Have no substance. Band gets old. Pizza gets old. Soon the only people at the church are old. The young ones are gone in search of the newest trend in the newest church.
FOR STARTERS:
It's time to turn everything upside down and shake out the misconceptions of what makes a church grow.
How do you measure church growth? By the number of people on Sunday mornings in the pews? It certainly isn't the number of rear ends in the chairs on Wednesday night. Have we forgotten that we need to turn back to what really matters. Having a relationship with Jesus. Quit selling Fire Insurance and start showing people how to have a Higher Assurance!
I was raised in church all of my life. My family attended church so many times in a week that if the Janitor left the door open while he/she was cleaning, we sat in the pews and watched. (well, not really, but you get the idea! LOL)
I believed that you went to church because that was what you were supposed to do. The other days we read the bible and had devotionals each morning with breakfast.
I learned about all of the people in the bible, and all of the things that happened. I would sit there, saying to myself, "Well, that's nice." I looked at it the same way as I looked at learning history in school. I was sure I would need to know it at some point, and if not, it was possible useful trivia for down the road.
NO ONE explained that the events could still happen today. NO ONE explained that I could put to use in my daily life the lessons learned. Salvation was just that. Being saved from burning in Hell for eternity. Once saved, I just needed to attend church and act my part, and everything would be fine.
WRONG! (Stay tuned for my wakeup call)