What Really Matters?

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." 2 Peter 3:10-12 (NIV)

Peter is encouraging all of the scattered believers by reminding them that this world is not the priority. When the Lord returns everything will melt away and He will establish a new heaven and a new earth. 

Yet, the world still takes priority over God's will. His Word and His church are not priority one. Relationships, careers, plans, and personal gain rule our lives. 

It is so true that God is not priority that one simply can look at the decisions that have been made by believers in this economy. When times get hard financially the first thing to cut is giving first fruits to God. When we get busy the first thing to cut out is time in His Word and with His people. 

What really matters when we are looking at how things are going to be when Christ returns? 

God is what matters above all things. He is first and everything else is last. 

The Club or the Church

I can honestly say that I love the body of Christ. I have made decisions in my life that are heavily swayed by my love for the church. I am concerned that those of us that love the church can be loving the club more.

The body of Christ is the church. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is filled with those that will inherit the Kingdom of God. The church is made up of regenerate hearts. The bride of Christ is beautiful because it is a collection of followers of Christ. It is beautiful because the bride of Christ has no one that is not a sold out follower of Christ. The church is disciples that make more disciples. Only those that love God above all other things are in the body.

One might say, AMEN. Others might say that we have some that are that way in our church, but most only fit a few of those descriptions. I will say that either you are regenerate or you are not. If you are not sold out for Christ then you are not a part of the church. Oh, there may be those that claim to be a member of a group of people that say they are on a roll of a church, but they are not necessarily a part of the bride of Christ.

A professor at a Christian college asked students in his class to raise their hands if they were Christians. All that were in the class raised their hands and he then asked for those that were disciples of Christ to raise their hands. There were few hands that went up timidly.

Some may consider being a Christian means that I am justified by Christ. Meaning that because I have called on Christ I have received my ticket to heaven. Some may think that to be a disciple means that if I am ever called to ministry then I am a disciple. All Christians, people that are Christ like, are called to ministry. The word Christian is only used twice in the Bible and it is used in a negative context. The people of God are called disciples in the Bible.

Who do we consider to be a part of the church body?
Is everyone in our church sold out for Christ?
Are the leaders in our churches disciples that make more disciples?
Is everything we do in the church done so to make disciples?

Because I love people I want everyone to be in the church and I wish for no one to leave the church. Nothing breaks my heart more than when someone finds the excuse to leave a body of believers and to simply do life their way. But am I loving the church to death?

I would argue that we are killing the church by being more concerned about keeping all of those in the body that are not regenerate. Leaders are killing the church by allowing the body to have a foundation on entertaining the lost in the pews. Leaders are loving the church to death.

Now I know with all my heart that the church wins. My hope is in Jesus Christ returning for His church. He is not returning for the lost in the pews or the non-regenerate people. If that is the case then why are we so consumed with holding on to the lost and being influenced by the non-regenerate that consider themselves a part of the body?

I believe leaders have actually created clubs all over the world that we call churches. I believe that we have a generation of pastors that want to bring the body back to making disciples. I believe that we need men leading the body in that direction at the cost of losing many members of the club. What is a man saying to Christ when he sacrifices discipling the flock for the sake of keeping the money or lost in the church?

God will be my judge and not man. I need to be willing to sacrifice my income, my family, my friends, and my self for the bride of Christ. That means that I must lead Mountain Creek Baptist away from the man made, worldly acts in the church and point them to scripture and making disciples. If I am loving the church to life then I will do so.

It is sad to say that this is not the popular thing to do when leading a church. Many club members will leave the church, but followers of Christ, members of the body of Christ, will rise up and make disciples for the Kingdom of God.

Paul told Timothy that everyone had forsaken him in Rome except for Luke. Jesus had all the apostles forsake Him when He was taken by the guards. Jesus even had God the Father forsake Him on the cross because of our sins that He took on Himself. What should you expect to happen if you imitate Jesus and Paul?

Pastors and leaders I want to encourage you to not be caught up in doing what is loved by the world to the extent that you sacrifice the bride that needs to carry out the great commission. Sacrifice the club for the bride. Trust God more. Jesus promises that He is with us.

I Think I Am in Love

My wife and I have been married 21 years the 15th of September. We have been together since 7th grade. We did take a little 2 year break for freshman and sophomore years of high school. The amazing thing about it all is that we have been together most all of our lives. I am 40 years old and I will not disclose the age of my wife, but I am one month younger than her. We have not known each other for 11 years of our lives. This is amazing to me.

The reason these stats are so amazing to me is because I am more in love with my wife than I ever have been in the 28 years that I have known her. The things that we have been through are incredible and all of the experiences have drawn us closer together. The tough times have been hard and sometimes we even entertained not staying together. We even still get into arguments. I always win, because I always admit that it is my fault.

When I say that I am in love with my wife, I mean that I long to be with her and I miss her after a few hours. We can spend days and weeks apart and we got good practice while I was in the Army. We were married for a year before we ever lived together due to Desert Shield and Desert Storm. But it is astonishing how my love for her continues to grow. I want more time with my wife. I want to talk to her more. I want to experience more of life with her.

I think I am in love.

When I was eight years old I prayed and committed my life to Jesus Christ. I admitted to Him that I was a sinner and that I needed Him in order to have a relationship with God. One can say that I have known God longer than I have not known God. I have been in a relationship with God for 32 years and I am more in love with God than I have ever been in my life. It is amazing to me.

The things that I have experienced with God are incredible and the experiences have drawn me closer to Him. The tough times have been hard and I have even gotten away from Him and ignored Him for long periods of time. I even still sin today. I always win though because I always admit that I am a sinner and He forgives me.

When I say that I love God I mean that I long to see Him and I miss Him when I walk away from Him and do not hear His voice. I have spent days and months away from Him and it astonishes me how He never stops loving me. I want more time with Him. I want to talk to Him more. I want to experience more of life with Him.

I know I am in love.

I know He loves me.
John 3:16

False Advertising

Advertisement is very interesting to me. In college I got to study a little advertising and I began to see how people can be manipulated to turn there wants into needs. It is amazing to know just how much we are influenced by media.

There is nothing that makes myself and others more upset than to come across something that was false advertisement. When we are persuaded to believe that we need something and that one particular something is the best. Sometimes that something even comes with a bonus.

There are laws against advertisements that are false.

Churches advertise all the time. Some will have signs placed on their property. Others will go as far as to use billboards in the city to communicate with the public. Television commercials and radio advertisement is not outside the realm of advertisement for churches.

Some would say that advertisement is a waste of money and time. Some people feel that spending money on letting the community know about a church's existence and purpose does not need to be advertised.

The funny thing is that Christians are advertising all day long. Oh yes, people are watching those that have made it known that they are followers of Christ. Your life is a living advertisement of Christ's teachings.

Do not fear. We do have the disclaimer that we are still sinners, but we are forgiven. Christians are not perfect, but we serve a perfect savior.

Perfection is not the issue. The fact that the church can false advertise is the issue at hand. It is advertised throughout the world that the God's church is one that is loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, forgiving, benevolent, and the best thing in the world, but when one that is outside of the faith attempts to understand our faith by befriending a Christian or attending a church they can see the opposite.

Christians, we are advertising truthfully the teachings of Christ when we love one another and love our neighbor as ourself. The secret to this healthy advertisement is that if we will love God with all of our heart then we can not help but love ALL those around us.

May we not false advertise about the great news of Jesus' love. People want to be loved and may we help them turn that want into a need.

Read the gospel of John this week.

Fru-chi-bear

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;  against such things there is not law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." (Galatians 5: 22-26, ESV)

When I was in youth ministry in North Georgia I taught on these verses. I asked the group how people would know they are Christian. One of the youth answered by stating, "From the fruit you bear." One must remember the setting in order to understand that it sounded like this young man said, "From tha fru-chi-bear." As soon as I heard him I began to picture t-shirts, posters, bookmarks, etc... that would have a big fat bear with fruit around everywhere. This bear would be able to tell who was a follower of Christ and who was not.

That is a funny picture that has stuck with me for years now and I shared this in a sermon recently and actually got some great artwork from some of the listeners that pictured a bear and some fruit. We are having a great deal of fun with this and yet we still remember people will know that we are in love with Jesus because of the fruit that we bear. People will know that we follow his teaching because the love of Jesus comes out in us.

Humor helps us remember, but scripture helps us grow in our understanding of what it means to bear great fruit for Jesus' sake. I want to encourage everyone to continue to read scripture and apply it to their lives because one can only put away sin and desires of the flesh by reading God's word.

It is a blast loving others and it stinks when we try to do it with our own power.

Worship in Every Way, Every Day

After participating in the Gulf War, I remember how amazed I was at my appreciation for the simple things in life. I could not believe how just being in a room and having windows felt so good. Being able to take a shower or bath was the bomb. The choices in food and drink we great and a bed, wow.

After being deprived of all of these things that I used to take for granted, I had a better appreciation for them. I really came to understand what mattered. If you ask me what I wanted to eat, it would not matter as long as it was food. If you asked what kind of bed I wanted to sleep in, I would have taken any you had to offer. If you asked me what size room I wanted to stay, it could have been a closet.

We are a depraved people in that we are dirty filthy rags in the site of God. We are sinners in which will be separated from God for eternity. We deserve death and hell and nothing else. We all have sinned against God, the one who created us. He is a perfect and just God and He must separate from Himself that which is not righteous.

If we can understand our depravity then we will realize what really matters. All that matters is that God came to dwell among us. His name is Jesus. He lived a perfect life under the law of Moses and He died on a cross in order to pay the ransom for what we deserve. Jesus suffered the worse possible death imaginable so that we can be justified for our sins before a perfect and just God. We are now seen as perfect in the sight of God.

Speaking as one that can remember life without Christ, I love Jesus and I do not want to ever take for granted what He has done. Therefore, I worship God all day and all week long. I am a walking worshipper of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in me and I am a temple in constant worship. Not that I am super spiritual or perfect, but I understand my depravity and I wanted to be reminded of it always.

When we understand our depravity we will worship in every way, every day.

What is your worship style?

When we understand our depravity and what we deserve, we will worship in every style that brings praise and honor to the one true God who saved us from our own sin.

Out of Control

Never being out of control of ones life is something that most people would say is admirable. We look on people that are in control and say that they have it all together.

Some friends of my wife once confronted her about how they were amazed at how out of control I was and was still able to hold down a job, provide for my family, and be a good father and husband. They were amazed that we had nice cars and a great home. The reason they were amazed is because they perceived that I was out of control and a goof all the time.

Being in the military and experiencing Desert Shield and Desert Storm helped me to appreciate life at an incredible level. Once you have had Scud missiles shot at you, you get a great perspective on a great deal of things. My respect for life and my appreciation for simply breathing increased. The experience caused me to be able to enjoy life.

When we realize that we deserve death and hell for eternity, it will allow us to have an increased value on life. For those of us that have called out to Jesus to save us from what we deserve, we have nothing to loose. We not only appreciate life, but also eternity.

Does it matter that we win all the little league games? Is it the end of the world if we don't make straight A's? Do we have to always be perfect or appear to be perfect? At the end of all the events in our life we are still going to wake up and have another game, one more class, or a career to attempt to perfect.

We all would do good to ask the right question. Why do we allow these things to control us? Why are we not out of control? Why not walk in the rain without an umbrella? Why not color outside the lines?

I want to be out of control. That does not mean that I will not be a good steward of the gifts that God has gifted me, but I will not allow events and this world to control me. I will be out of control and I will allow God to be in control. As long as I do my best God will always guide me.

When I experienced the call to ministry I established a motto and that motto was to never hinder God. If I am in control then God will not be.

Are you willing to be out of control?

It is scary and a blast, but I am confident that my Father in Heaven is going to guide me as long as I am not controlled by this world.

Enjoy being in the hand of God.

Reap Baby Reap Baby 1 2

Christians that have encountered Christ and haven given their life to Him are ready to do the will of God. That is why they give their life to Him. There are some that come to Christ and have a greater understanding of being sold out for Christ than others. That is evident in scripture when Jesus told some that wanted to follow him that they had to give up this or that and they didn't want to give up their desires to follow him.

Many are saying I want to be justified before God, but I don't want to be set apart from this world. Thanks for the sacrifice and all, but I am not willing to give you every aspect of my life even though you did for me. Some that come to faith in Christ do desire to get to it. They want to start doing whatever it is that Christians are to do in this world and they have so many questions.

Jesus was at a well with a Samaritan women (John 4) when he let her know that he was the Messiah and her response was to run and tell everyone in the town. The apostles returned just as she was leaving to go tell the good news (gospel) and they were wondering why he was talking to a woman and a Samaritan half breed at that. But they didn't say anything to Jesus about the questions they had. Jesus knew what they were thinking. It was not custom for Jews to speak with Samaritan people much less a female Samaritan.

The apostles had accomplished what they had set out to do and they wanted Jesus to take part of the food they brought. The amazing thing was is that Jesus didn't take the food.

Wait a minute. We are apostles and this is what we were to do. We needed to get food and you need to eat it because we made such a sacrifice to go get the food and lay it before you. The apostles had to have headaches from the sour expressions that kept having to make about what Jesus was doing at the well and the fact that he was not reaping the benefits of what work the apostles had done.

Jesus, on the other hand, was in another mind-set. A girl that he had created had just come to know that he was the Messiah and was running to tell an entire town the great news (gospel).

When the apostles asked him to eat he said he was full already of food that they knew nothing about. Once again the apostles have to wrinkle their foreheads in confusion. Jesus went on to say that his food was doing the will of the father. He continued by letting the apostles know that you are going to reap a great harvest. A harvest that others had labored for.

Once again the apostles are wondering what in the world Jesus is talking about and they want to know what to do next.

Christians everywhere would to good to sell out to Christ. When they do they will worship in spirit and truth. When one is sold out, food will not even take priority over the harvest. Do not allow the pleasantries of this world take priority over God's will. We find God's will by reading scripture.

What do we do?

REAP by spreading the good news (gospel) that the Messiah has come and he is coming again.

Defining Worship Style

Me: Hi, my name is Tylan Blansit.

Stranger: What do you do for a living Tylan?

Me: I am the pastor of Mtn. Creek Baptist at the foot of the "W" road.

Stranger: I know where your talking about. How many you running on a Sunday Morning?

Me: We run between 55 and 70 each week.

Stranger: What is your worship style?

Most conversations that I have with people in the community get right to the worship style question. Many want to know because that will be the deciding factor for coming to worship at Mtn. Creek. Therefore, one must answer this question well.

We are messed up on how we decided worship style. We grade worship style on the wrong scale.

Existing Scale: Traditional - Blended - Contemporary

Proper Scale: Fake - Shallow - Authentic

Arrangements can and should be all over the board. God has gifted us with the notes of A through G and the creativity God gave us allows us to give back to Him every kind of worship we can create.

Our worship leader, Andy Highlander, just pointed out this past Sunday how the music manipulates your emotions. If it is a fast song then the group can get pumped up and excited. If the song is arranged slow and soft the hearers can be influenced to be calm and relaxed. We all can take note of that when we are driving. The faster the music the more we get worked up and the softer the music the more relaxed we can become.

There are fast songs, slow songs, happy songs, sad songs, crazy songs, hard songs, soft songs, and on and on. All of these types of songs work for worship because of the lyrics that bring glory to God and not the style.

Satan loves it when we all get caught up in the things that keep life change from occurring in people. Not many argue or debate over the type of doctrine or theology that is being presented. Not many discussions occur on the style of prayer vigils or how we share our faith with others.

There is much more to say on this subject, but the scale that we use to define style is the issue on my mind today.

Back to the conversations.

Stranger: What is your worship style?

Me: Authentic and real. You should come and worship the living and true God with us.