A User Friendly Church

The phrase user friendly is a term that is often connected to a computer program. It means that the operation of the program is easy to understand and that steps have been taken to make the operation of the program easy to use. Also many steps have been adjusted or taken so that the operator does not have to worry about what to do next or which direction they should go in. User friendly in short is something that is easy to perform and operate in.

Jesus when speaking of people coming to Him said, “Come unto me…my burden is light and my yoke easy.” Jesus wanted people to know it was easy to get to Him. Jesus was User Friendly.

My daughter, Rachel once sent me two lists concerning people connecting to a church. As I read through the list it was simple to see that if the people of a church want to, their assembly can be an easy place for someone to get to Jesus. But on the other hand if the members of the church are not careful their place of worship could become harder to break into than Fort Knox. It is clear that a church needs to become user friendly. Become a place where people can easily get to Jesus, easily find a place they can call home, easily connect to the people that call the church their family.

This is not something that is program to install. It is not something that we can pawn off on a certain group in the church to take care of. Yes, ministries and functions of the church must operate in a user friendly way but just as important is the action and mind-set of the congregation. Yes it is easy to look across the aisle and say someone needs to do something but the question needs to be what am I doing personally to make our church easier to connect to? What am I doing to help create a user friendly church?

The scripture tells us the early church had great unity of spirit with all things in common. They operated their lives such that they personally touched the lives of others on a regular basis. It was their life-style. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common.” Acts 2:42-44 NKJV

As you turn through the pages of the book of Acts, the recorded actions of the church, you can watch them become and act like a user friendly church or become a church that made getting to Jesus an easy task.

I want to share with you a list I have called 10 ways to draw me to your church. These 10 points are very visible in the actions of the early church. See how you are doing with them personally. How user friendly are you as part of the church being.

Pursue them: Being pursued by a church can be either helpful or scary. The helpful form is for a church to be responsive and make a genuine effort to connect. The scary form of pursuit is when it turns into stalking in the church. We can’t be guilty of force feeding salvation.

Take them out to eat: This is very New Testament Church. Acts tells of this deed several times. An excellent idea if I ever heard one.  

Ask about their story, show genuine interest: Ask them about their life especially about their church background and life. Give them a comfortable chance to tell their story and then be interested.  

Find out how people are really doing and pray for them: “I’m good” is the most frequent lie out of people’s mouths especially on Sundays. Search your heart do you really care how someone is really doing?  

Show interest in their hobbies: Knowing how someone chooses to spend their free time can be immensely useful. People tend to exercise skills and gifts in hobbies they may not otherwise get to use. Those skills can likely also benefit the church.  

Ask them to become involved then see that they do: Many today have been involved in volunteering since they were young. It is taught and pushed in schools and media today. Yet, most churches make it hard for someone to become involved.  

Seek their input: After you have gotten them to attend a few services take them out for lunch and ask them what they think about your church and your evangelism efforts, ask them for input so you are better and friendlier. No don’t take them don’t the road about what all is wrong in the church and then turn it into a gossip session.

Invite them to hang out with your friends: One of the many buzzwords in churches today is relationship. One of the lacking things in churches today is relationship

Tell your story how God has and is transforming your life: As much as people want to share their life they also want to hear about yours. Knowing how God has transformed your life gives hope and faith about how God can transform theirs.  

When they are sick check on them: Most people are not going to take you up on the offer of assistance if they are sick. Still a call just to make sure they are alive and see if they need something says much.  

All these together boil down to one simple message, We Care, We Really Do Care. Look at your life today. Look at your daily actions, how user friendly are you coming across?

The lives of people around our city are very busy but they are still longing for a spiritual change and will make time for someone who truly cares about what is going on in their life.  People want to feel they are important enough to you that you will value their impute and friendship.

All these together will make us personally more user friendly and thus create a user friendly church. Church, people need to feel we are real and we are concerned. They also need to find it easy to get to God through this church. We have to be a User Friendly Church.

Thanks for all you did yesterday to be this kind of church. Don’t check up though; make sure being a user friendly church is our nature.

Burn the Baggage

After a wonderful weekend of services at FPB I would like to just leave you with some thoughts running through my mind.

I was very impressed and touched with the anointing in our evening service. I enjoyed greatly the young adults leading and directing worship. The worship and music was wonderful and Jason was right on with the Word of God. Here are a few things to remember about what Jason preached.

·         No one is exempted from the baggage’s of life. We all pick up things that hinder our walk for God, things that kill our faith and stunt our abilities to minister. The American church picks up more baggage and petty things that will not even get close to mattering in eternity. So as Jason preached, we all should have been in the altar praying for God to deliver us.

·       We need to be able to recognize the baggage that is keeping us weighed down. Realize what holds you back. God has a call for each of our lives. The sooner we can realize that we have hindrances that are costing us that call, the sooner we can get delivered and get on being anointed to do God’s will. Be honest with yourself and Jesus. He already knows, the sooner we admit it and change the sooner we can get on being what He needs us to be.

·        It is the anointing of the Holy Ghost that burns the baggage. As Jason preached about Elisha’s call in 1 Kings 19:19-21, we see the response of someone who means business with their walk for God. When the man of God walked into Elisha’s life and through the Spirit of God put a call on his life, he refused to allow anything to hold him back. Elisha takes the things of his life and burns them so that they can never be visited or considered again. When that day was finished, Elisha didn’t have any direction left except after God’s will. He burned anything that would be baggage to him. It’s the anointing of the Holy Ghost, the fire of God that can consume our baggage. The fire is powerful enough if we will allow it to burn through our life.

A little before Elisha’s call the prophet Elijah had a prayer meeting where the fire of God came and not only consumed the sacrifice but the stones, water and everything in its way. (1 Kings 18:30-39) Yes, we each have baggage we need to pile up all of it and set the Holy Ghost fire to it once and for all.

·         Jason reminded us that we have a tendency to take out baggage to the altar and then carry them away with us again. We also tend to allow ourselves to pick up other things; other bags we know will hinder us. We excuse ourselves and our actions but we need to realize that if we don’t lose the junk forever the next generation will also have to deal with it. Later we can read that Elisha the prophet is approached by a man with leprosy. The man wants healing and does what the prophet tells him to do. The man is so excited over his healing that he returns to Elisha to give him some stuff, some baggage. Elisha refuses it and the man leaves. Yet, the servant of Elisha goes after the man and lies and gets some of it for himself. In the end the servant is stricken with the leprosy that the man was healed of. But the sad part is that not only he but his children also, the next generation also had to deal with the heaviness of the baggage. (2 Kings 5:26-27) The next generation desperately needs to be delivered of the junk we are carrying around.

There are all kinds of stuff we pick up. Baggage from our child hood, marriage, work, friends, and people who did us wrong. We pick up junk from hurt feelings and bad business deals. We pick up all kinds of weights and blame them on everyone. I don’t know if you have noticed but no matter how long you carry the junk it doesn’t get any better, it never gets healed. It just gets heaver and more of a struggle to deal with. Why not pile it up and allow the Holy Ghost fire of God to consume the baggage. If you don’t you will pass it on to the next generation and your kids don’t need to inherit your bitter heart or heavy junk.

Thanks Jason for a wonderful message from God at FPB.

I was also touch and my heart convicted over the missionary service that morning. I was also reminded as I thought of the church that would win around 5000 people to God before that out grew the tin $3000.00 building, we are coming up so short. Our nice day of blessings is keeping us a long way from the will of God. Again we have too much junk in the way. We personally spent enough money as a body of believers collective yesterday to build a church to make sure 5000 people walked on streets of gold. That should convict us. I have attached a link to a video that explains why we lack the great anointing of God. Take the six minutes to watch this and hopeful change you directions.

 http://youtu.be/mY7I02N6a1I

At least that’s My Thoughts

"Agony" by Leonard Ravenhill

Something Better Than Heaven

Let me begin by sharing one of my devotions for today.

You have dealt well with Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word.

Psalm 119:65

Eternal instants. You’ve had them. We all have.

Sharing a porch swing on a summer evening with you grandchild.

Seeing her face in the glow of a candle.

Putting your arm into your spouse’s as you stroll through the golden leaves and breathe the brisk autumn air.

Listening to your six-year-old thank God for everything from goldfish to Grandma.

Such moments are necessary because they remind us that everything is okay. The King is still on the throne and life is still worth living. Eternal instances remind us that love is still the greatest possession and the future is nothing to fear. – Grace for the Moment

After reading this today I was reminded of a sermon I heard the late J.T. Pugh preach. He titled it, Something Better Than Heaven, Something Worse Than Hell. Looking at this title you may think it’s a statement that is impossible. You may find it hard to comprehend. We feel nothing could be better than Heaven and nothing could be worse than Hell.

It was the Apostle Paul who said, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” 1Corinthains 13:13 NKJV

Brother Pugh preached that we will be known in eternity. The rich man in hell lifted up his cry and ask help for his family. (Luke 16) With this in mind he preached what is better than Heaven.

You may ask what could be better than Heaven? A place of no sorrows, no tears and no pain and sickness. A place so beautiful that mere words fail so short to explain it. Walls of jasper, streets of pure gold. A city where the Lamb of God is the light of the city. What could possibly be better than Heaven?

The answer is a simple as sharing heaven with the ones you love.

What could be better to me is to spend all of eternity with God Almighty and my family and friends close to me.

To walk through Heaven hand in hand with my wife Stephanie. To chase butterflies in glory with my daughter Jessica and pick flowers with my other daughter Rachel. To hike across the beauty of Heaven with my son Bryan and my son-in-law Jared. What could be better than Heaven? To enjoy eternity with the ones I care so much about. To extend the eternal instances, those eternal moments that started here on this earth and carry them over into glory. That is something better than Heaven.

What could be worse than Hell?

To carry those eternal moments into to the wrong place in eternity.

To see my wife there because she followed my lack of commitment. To see my children there because they believed my unfaithfulness was the way it should be. To see people in hell because I lead them there. Yes, that would be worse than Hell itself.

So while I still have time I plan to make some eternal moments that will carry over into glory. I plan to remain faithful and committed to the work of Christ and cherish each moment here on earth. I plan to take the most memorable and touching moments, eternal instances and take them to glory with me. To enjoy the sights and wonders in the presence of the Almighty God with the people I love the most around me. That’s Something Better Than Heaven.

God’s in Front of You

Yesterday was a wonderful day at FPB. We had a great number of people in service and the church family went beyond in doing the work of God. I was Holy Ghost proud of the people of FPB. It was a joy to watch them work for God in that service. Lives were touched and only eternity will show the difference that was made. We should expect the seeds to come up, they will produce. God is doing a great work.

Saturday morning as I though about the weekend and what we were celebrating I couldn’t help but think about the day in-between. Much is talked about of Good Friday. Songs have been written about the death of Jesus on Friday and the fact that Sunday is coming. Yet it hit me Saturday that the day between putting Jesus in the grave and resurrection morning must have been forever long. It was no doubt filled with much that robbed faith and expectations along with hope. In reading the Gospels the disciples and those who followed Jesus really didn’t get the resurrection. They really didn’t believe that Jesus was going to get up. They continually keep going to the tomb looking to take care of the body. They are mostly in some sort of hiding and there is worry about tomorrow. They have given up the last three years of their life to follow Jesus. They expected great things like a kingdom being set up. They had jockeyed for positions in what they thought Jesus would do. They never expected Him to die. Now after the funeral they are struggling with where do we go from here?

Fear, unbelieving and worry about the future dominated the day between but the resurrection was still on. No amount of doubt or worry could stop it. No amount of struggle and pain, no amount of confusion and frustration could stop the fact that God Almighty was about to do something great. It goes even farther than that. The whole time that they were worried and fearful God was doing a work that would last forever. What was wrong in their world was not stopping the powerful hand of God in the spiritual world. Unknown to them the events of the spiritual world was about to change their worried world.

God is doing great things! His Word tells and promises of powerfully anointed blessings and events coming. Jesus is at work! The church, God’s bride is promised an anointed blessing and power and might. No amount of unbelief, worry and fear will keep God from doing His will. I just want my life to be such that God includes me in what He is doing.

We cannot allow the circumstances of today to rob us of tomorrow’s promises. Don’t allow fear and worry to take your hope for what God is about to do in your life. Bad days come and problems arise. Things go wrong and don’t work out like we thought they would. This does not mean God is dead. He is still at work; He is still doing great things. I challenge you to not allow the events of your day to take your faith in God for tomorrow. Don’t allow circumstances to rob you blessings. There is tomorrow, God will do a great work in it. We must plan on living in such a way that He includes our life in His plan. Yes, Sunday’s coming with all its power and glory. Just don’t get caught living in such a way as to stop believing and miss what God is already doing and planning. God is in front of you doing a work. Plan on getting to where God is working.

But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Matthew 26:32

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you. Matthew 28:6-7

Re-Vision Your Vision

The author Lloyd Douglas told about an old man who gave violin lessons. On one occasion, Douglas asked him, “What’s the good news today?”

Rather than answer, the old man rose and struck his tuning fork a sharp blow and said, “There is the good news for today. That is not just an A. It was A all day yesterday. It will be A tomorrow and for a thousand years to come.”

Thankfully, some things never change. The good news for today: Jesus Christ is unchanging and His message still works. God’s purpose is unchanged. Yesterday, His purpose of the incarnation was to seek and save that which was lost! Today, His purpose is to seek and to save that which is lost! Tomorrow will be the same, to seek and save that which is lost! The lost are God’s mission, purpose, and vision! Should anything less be my vision, purpose and mission? The fields are still white and ready for harvest and we still need to pray for laborers to get in the field. We must understand that the call is for us to be the laborers. (Matthew 9:38)

We too often assume our way of seeing things is also God’s vantage point too. Peter, James and John and their peers learned that their take on life was not necessarily that of the Lord’s in John 4. In the story of the woman at the well Jesus articulated four important principles regarding His vision and purpose.

1.                  Jesus affirmed the important. What He was doing at the well – this matter of evangelism – was the Father’s will. There sounds the “eternal A.”

Some activities might be subject to debate, but evangelism was non-negotiable as far as Jesus was concerned. So what are we doing about what Jesus defined as “the will of the Father,” (verse 34) Something more important than a well delivered sermon, a song well sung, a ladies event done really good, an unscarred painted wall in a child’s classroom, or a perfect youth activity. Something greater than a perfect Sunday service or a Bible Study taught flawlessly.

Let me ask you to look at your evangelism, it more about maintenance that it is evangelism?

Yes, I believe we should to the best we can in the events and services we have. Yet, we must continually remember that we should be more about evangelism and changing lives than we are about simply maintaining what we have.

*A well maintained building turns into a structure that is on the list of historical places to visit.

*A growing organization will transform, it will change into something fresh to meet the needs and demands of growth, thus making a difference in its day continually.

One is more known for what it once was while the other is known for what it did and is still doing. How well are you doing with your God commanded evangelism?

2.                  Jesus revised the perspective of the “where” and the “when” of the harvest.

The disciples were “yet four months” Visionaries. They were caught in a “one of these days’ modes”. Four months from now we’ll be down the road a bit – we won’t be in Sychar and it will be a better place. Four months from now what we expected will have matured. One of these days I will be better prepared. One of these days I will become what I need to become. One of these days I will get my life together so I can touch another life. One of these days I will get involved.

The disciples where caught in a one-of-these-days mode. In essence, Jesus helped them see an opportunity that existed right before them: “Lift up your eyes, (Now) and look on the field; for they are white already to harvest.” (Verse 35) The word “lift” means figuratively and literally to raise up or poise up. In other words lift your chin, reposition your face so you can see father than you been looking. We get so caught up in our own life that we can’t see any farther than our meager surroundings. We only see what we have to do and what our life has going on. We need to lift our gaze so we can see beyond our self.  We will need to see beyond how we have always done something and how things have always been. The harvest is ready now; there are lives to make a difference in now. But you will have to live and look beyond yourself to see the ready field.

3.                  Jesus just didn’t simply “see it,” He named the opportunity.

Several commentators note that from a distance, those who walked from their homes in Sychar looked like fields covered with grain. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that the place was ready now and there is an opportunity now. If Jesus visited our town what would He say was our best opportunity for getting more souls to Heaven? If Jesus spent the day with you what would He point out to be your best chance to make a difference in the lives of people? If Jesus road with you for a week what would He point at as being your best prospect for making a difference and getting people to heaven. What would He point at and say, there is a great opportunity, there’s a great door of effective evangelism open at hand.

Paul was able to see such an opportunity and said to the Corinthians; “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

1Corinthains 16:9 NKJV

What has God been dealing with you about? What have you been feeling needs to happen around you personally? What has God been pointing out to you? If He hasn’t and you don’t know of anything then you need to lift your chin and look father than you bee looking. There is more going on than just your world.

4.                  Finally, Jesus gave them the example of how to respond to the opportunity.

We have to get this.

The Samaritan trip may have started as a short cut. Jesus is going from the Jerusalem area to the Galilee area. Earlier times they had used the Jordan River route but this time Jesus cuts through Sychar. It was no doubt to be just a passing through area for a Jew. Yet, for Jesus it was a mission. When the woman took her testimony back to the city those who came out to Jesus wanted to know more of the Messiah. The short-cut became a journey that took an extra two days. In our journey to the usual, do we have time to be interrupted by an opportunity to do the, “Will of the Father?”

I am afraid we too often declare, “We don’t have time.”  We want to evangelize a life, minister to a person as long as it doesn’t mess up our routine. How much effort are you willing to spend on helping someone with life change? How often are you willing to ruin your plans or disrupt your schedule to help someone get to Jesus? How much time are you willing to spend on successful Christ-like, Jesus acting life style? We have to always respond to God given opportunity.

Notice what Jesus did and what He didn’t do at the well in John 4.

He did connect at the woman’s place in life. Jesus went to where she was. He did speak the truth to her that was outside the context of her usual religious experience. Jesus did validate the uniqueness of Samaria and the Samaritans. It was okay with Jesus for her to be a Samaritan!

What Jesus did not do was instruct the people of Sychar to move to Jerusalem and become good Jews. Apparently, they could live out this newly discovered truth in their setting; they could live for God in their culture. This gospel is for who-so-ever-will. The Holy Ghost will not cause a Spanish cultured person to act and be a southern white person. The Holy Ghost will not cause someone from the black community to become a white Caucasian in their worship and actions.

Jesus did speak the truth to the woman at the well. He brought conviction to her life because of her moral actions but he never told her she would have to stop being a Samaritan. On the contrary Jesus said the time will come and now is when worship is not about where but who. (Verse 21)

Do you need to Re-Vision your Vision?