Pastoral Ministry

A Little Understanding – Landscape and Décor (part 6)

I am the first to admit that church can be boring.

Sometimes suffering for the gospel and attending Sunday morning church services are almost indistinguishable. For a group of people who claim to have found the key to really living, both here and for eternity, you have to wonder if death is the better choice with the way they do church. The one thing they have going for them is, there is no way you could confuse them with those who are not Christ followers. They look nothing like the world, sadly they also have trouble reaching it.

Church in other places isn’t boring.

(more…)

The Antichrist Is Here.

If you have been a Christian for any amount of time you have heard someone somewhere talking about their “prophetic” intuition into the end times. From the time of the apostles to this very day people have believed that their generation is the one that will see Christ return. Some lived/live in anticipation knowing that as much as they believe that they will be the last, it is quite possible the trumpet will remain silent. Others, whether for reasons of personal gain or fear of being wrong, have created elaborate chains of Bible verses connected to current events to lay out a case for why they are right. Then when it doesn’t happen, come up with a new chain to explain why the old chain was a misunderstanding and why this one is right. That being said…

(more…)

I Need My Faith Validated

Following Jesus isn’t easy. I guess there are those who would disagree, those who would look down on me for admitting that I struggle, but I do. When the world whispers in your ear, “This is what life should look like,” it is tough to embrace a totally different way of living. I don’t think I am alone when I say I look for people who are seen by the rest of the world as a big deal including social media influencers, pastors, political leaders, superstar musicians, athletes and actors that follow the same faith I do so that my faith in some way is validated.

(more…)

A Little Understanding – Landscape and Décor (part 5)

A Little Understanding – “How-to” Do Church Books

                “…He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should   desire   him.” Isaiah 53:2

We can fix the problem in Isaiah 53:2. We can do an image makeover so that people will run to Him and the church. One makeover idea I have heard is; “we need some of that good old gospel preaching again, that will fix everything”. That good old gospel wasn’t the good news of the gospel, instead it was a way to scare the hell out of people. Fire and brimstone.  Jesus; the insurance policy against the coming disaster. Church was for the saved to feel guilty about their inability to live right and the unsaved to feel scared that they were even further away from living right. There was an aura of hopelessness that made those in attendance feel they could be sent straight to the fiery pit if for a moment they had a thought not in line with the teaching of the man in the pulpit. It didn’t matter that Jesus wasn’t beautiful or majestic, He was all that stood between you and eternal fire so you better learn to desire Him.

(more…)

Holy S***** Guide Me Through and Beyond

If you asked me to perform tasks with my non-dominant hand, look out. After 52+ years of favouring one hand, suddenly asking me to do the opposite is not going to be easy. It should be simple shouldn’t it? With a little practice or maybe a lot of practice I should be able to overcome the underdeveloped skills and muscle tone to produce the same outcome previously achieved by my other hand shouldn’t I? Still, it is likely that once given the chance, I will return to my old way of doing things because it was the way I have always done things; it is easier.

(more…)