I was up to my neck in hot water―literally.  I was laying in my antique, six-foot long, claw foot bath tub, filled to the rim with water as hot as I could stand it. That tub was my favorite place to escape from the pressures of business, ministry and the cares of the world. 

It is there I often have my most intimate discussions with God.  That night I heard myself say, “My soul is convinced, but I know not how….”

The journey of the last few years has included a lot of changes.  Most of those changes have come as bits and pieces of revelation of what the Kingdom of God, and God’s eternal purposes, are really all about.  It started some fifteen years ago when I was pastor of a small church in Rockville, MO.  It grew during a year and a half of seeking God outside of formal connection with a local church.  It gained expression when I helped to start a new, nontraditional church.  It took on a different expression when I moved to Papua New Guinea to serve on the mission field.  It is becoming more defined as I continue to seek the Lord for truth and reality.  I expect it will find its culmination in a legitimate expression of the Body of Christ on the earth in the last days.

That night, more than ever,  I felt my soul convinced that God is expecting something much different than what we experience as 21st century Evangelical Christians.  I know I am about to slay the sacred cow of evangelicalism, but what if Christianity isn’t just about getting a ticket to heaven and trying to live a moral life until we get there?

What if the gospel message could not be summed up in the Four Spiritual Laws or the Roman’s Road to Salvation?  What if it was more than just ‘having your sins forgiven,’ or ‘giving your heart to God,’ or ‘getting saved?’  What if you couldn’t explain the essence of Christianity in a 4″ x 6″ tri fold tract?

My soul is convinced―after several years of frustration, prayer, thought, meditation and seeking­―that what we have come to accept as normal church experience in the past century is not at all what God intended.  I’ll be quick to say that He has used it―as He has always uses imperfect people and means to declare His great power and glory.  However, I am also sure His use of our methods does not necessarily indicate His satisfaction with them.

“My Soul is convinced.…”  I found myself in a quandary.  I am thoroughly convinced of something I am not quite sure how to express or even achieve.  “But I know not how ….”  The knowing of a thing is much different from the doing of a thing.

It is that moment when revelation sweeps away the last excuse for the status quo and you’re left with the stark realization you just can’t do things the same way you used to do them. However, you are not sure what or how to do them differently. 

What, you might ask, am I even talking about?  I think it mostly has to do with the way we do Christianity.  The things we emphasize and the way we present the message. 

It is the emphasis of a ticket to heaven gospel that avoids the requirements of making God the central part of our lives.  In his challenging book The Cost of Discipleship, WWII era German Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, said, “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession….cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

It is the fact that we place far more importance on the organization of church than the organism of the Body of Christ. The modern, western version of Christianity is about more events and programs and presentations and such.  It should be about Christ; and honestly, with all our protestations, it is not.  The church is often about how can we get more people so we can get more money, to do more things and get a bigger building to get more people―ad nuaseum.

I am disillusioned with the ineffectiveness of a watered-down gospel that is only about having your sins forgiven.  The only requirement is to say a prayer. The gospel is about much more than having your sins forgiven.  Being born again is just the beginning―not the end―of our salvation.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:14, “Those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.”  How does that fit in with our easy believism that is preached today?

I am frustrated with a professional clergy and pastoral system that hinders the true expression of the Body of Christ while burning out men and women of God.  It is the fact that most pastors are taught that their key responsibilities are to preach sermons, run the organization and keep people in church (a difficult combination to say the least).  What happened to discipleship―real discipleship where young Christians are raised up to serve the Lord―not just coaxed and coddled to stay in the church. What has happened to developing and mentoring new ministries within the church and allowing them to have space to serve and grow? 

I am embarrassed by the political rhetoric coming out of the religious right.  The anger and hatred being spewed in the name of Jesus bring more harm to the Kingdom of God than just about any other thing.  I’ve been shocked to hear ‘evangelical Christians’   resort to mockery, lies and misinformation to malign the folks they oppose politically.  The truth is, Jesus said, “love your enemies.”  He also said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”  It is not that Christians should distance themselves from politics―it is that Christians should act like Christians in politics.  What is being expressed by the political/religious right is not the character of Christ.  It is scary to me that so many Christians ae buying into it and calling it the Kingdom of God.  That movement needs to repent.

My soul is not just convinced of what I am against.  Christians should not be known mostly for what they are opposed to, but rather what they stand for. 

I am convinced that the genuine expression of Christianity has a lot more to do with love than we care to imagine.  Not a love that condones or excuses sin.  A love that overcomes sin with forgiveness and grace and resurrection power.  A Christianity that presents Christ, not in anger at unrighteousness, but in love of the unrighteous.

My soul is convinced that a true expression of Christianity has a lot more to do with serving others―even to the point of sacrifice―than it is about being more comfortable as a Christian.  It embraces the truth that “if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him.” 

I am convinced that God is wanting to do more in us, and through us than ever before, but the current religious structure we worship keeps Him at a distance. There is a shaking coming to the church.  Some will endure it and some will not.  I want to get rid of the “shakable” now so I will not be greatly moved in the coming days of shaking.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake  not only the earth but also heaven.”  Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:25-29

God is shaking things up―let Him do it.  God is changing things

My Soul is Convinced, But I know Not How…

I was up to my neck in hot water―literally.  I was laying in my antique, six-foot-long, claw foot bath tub, filled to the rim with water as hot as I could stand it.  That tub was my favorite place to escape from the pressures of business, ministry and the cares of the world. 

It is there I often have my most intimate discussions with God.  That night I heard myself say, “My soul is convinced, but I know not how….”

The journey of the last few years has included a lot of changes.  Most of those changes have come as bits and pieces of revelation of what the Kingdom of God, and God’s eternal purposes, are really all about.  It started some fifteen years ago when I was pastor of a small church in Rockville, MO.  It grew during a year and a half of seeking God outside of formal connection with a local church.  It gained expression when I helped to start a new, nontraditional church.  It took on a different expression when I moved to Papua New Guinea to serve on the mission field.  It is becoming more defined as I continue to seek the Lord for truth and reality.  I expect it will find its culmination in a legitimate expression of the Body of Christ on the earth in the last days.

That night, more than ever,  I felt my soul convinced that God is expecting something much different than what we experience as 21st century Evangelical Christians.  I know I am about to slay the sacred cow of evangelicalism, but what if Christianity isn’t just about getting a ticket to heaven and trying to live a moral life until we get there?

What if the gospel message could not be summed up in the Four Spiritual Laws or the Roman’s Road to Salvation?  What if it was more than just ‘having your sins forgiven,’ or ‘giving your heart to God,’ or ‘getting saved?’  What if you couldn’t explain the essence of Christianity in a 4″ x 6″ tri-fold tract?

My soul is convinced―after several years of frustration, prayer, thought, meditation and seeking­―that what we have come to accept as normal church experience in the past century is not at all what God intended.  I’ll be quick to say that He has used it―as He has always uses imperfect people and means to declare His great power and glory.  However, I am also sure His use of our methods does not necessarily indicate His satisfaction with them.

“My Soul is convinced.…”  I found myself in a quandary.  I am thoroughly convinced of something I am not quite sure how to express or even achieve.  “But I know not how ….”  The knowing of a thing is much different from the doing of a thing.

It is that moment when revelation sweeps away the last excuse for the status quo and you’re left with the stark realization you just can’t do things the same way you used to do them. However, you are not sure what or how to do them differently. 

What, you might ask, am I even talking about?  I think it mostly has to do with the way we do Christianity.  The things we emphasize and the way we present the message. 

It is the emphasis of a ticket to heaven gospel that avoids the requirements of making God the central part of our lives.  In his challenging book The Cost of Discipleship, WWII era German Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, said, “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. heap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

It is the fact that we place far more importance on the organization of church than the organism of the Body of Christ. The modern, western version of Christianity is about more events and programs and presentations and such.  It should be about Christ; and honestly, with all our protestations, it is not.  Church is often about how can we get more people so we can get more money, to do more things and get a bigger building to get more people―ad nuaseum.

I am disillusioned with the ineffectiveness of a watered-down gospel that is only about having your sins forgiven.  The only requirement is to say a prayer. The gospel is about much more than having your sins forgiven.  Being born again is just the beginning―not the end―of our salvation.  Paul tells us in Romans 8:14, “Those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.”  How does that fit in with our easy believism that is preached today?

I am frustrated with a professional clergy and pastoral system that hinders the true expression of the Body of Christ, while burning out men and women of God.  It is the fact that most pastors are taught that their key responsibilities are to preach sermons, run the organization and keep people in church (a difficult combination to say the least).  What happened to discipleship―real discipleship where young Christians are raised up to serve the Lord―not just coaxed and coddled to stay in church.  What has happened to developing and mentoring new ministries within the church and allowing them to have space to serve and grow? 

I am embarrassed by the political rhetoric coming out of the religious right.  The anger and hatred being spewed in the name of Jesus brings more harm to the Kingdom of God than just about any other thing.  I’ve been shocked to hear ‘evangelical Christians’   resort to mockery, lies and misinformation to malign the folks they oppose politically.  The truth is, Jesus said, “love your enemies.”  He also said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”  It is not that Christians should distance themselves from politics―it is that Christians should act like Christians in politics.  What is being expressed by the political/religious right is not the character of Christ.  It is scary to me that so many Christians ae buying into it and calling it the Kingdom of God.  That movement needs to repent.

My soul is not just convinced of what I am against.  Christians should not be known mostly for what they are opposed to, but rather what they stand for. 

I am convinced that the genuine expression of Christianity has a lot more to do with love than we care to imagine.  Not a love that condones or excuses sin.  A love that overcomes sin with forgiveness and grace and resurrection power.  A Christianity that presents Christ, not in anger at unrighteousness, but in love of the unrighteous.

My soul is convinced that a true expression of Christianity has a lot more to do with serving others―even to the point of sacrifice―than it is about being more comfortable as a Christian.  It embraces the truth that, “if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him.” 

I am convinced that God is wanting to do more in us, and through us than ever before, but the current religious structure we worship keeps Him at a distance. There is a shaking coming to the church.  Some will endure it and some will not.  I want to get rid of the “shakable” now so I will not be greatly moved in the coming days of shaking.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake  not only the earth, but also heaven.”  Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:25-29

God is changing things―don't be afraid.

God is shaking things up―let Him do it.  

That which remains cannot be shaken.  It you lose it in the shaking, it was never really of eternal worth anyway.  That which remains cannot be shaken.  It you lose it in the shaking, it was never really of eternal worth anyway.  Be blessed.