You know, I think that every church in America could be growing but the Kingdom not be. What's this preoccupation with growing our churches? Where does the Kingdom come into the picutre?
I know what some of you will say (if anybody reads this), "If my church is growing then that means people are coming into the Kingdom." I disagree. Your church can be growing and people could know nothing of the Kingdom. They are coming into your church, not the Kingdom.
I want to be about growing the Kingdom. Sure, I want The Point to grow, but I want The Point is not the destination. The Kingdom is. May we be about what Jesus was about and may we lay aside our selfishness, pride, arrogance and egos that keep the Kingdom out of and away from most of our churches. Until next time...
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
Prayer
I feel like a terrible pray-er. Do you ever feel like that? It seems like I get so busy with life and church work and family, that I can't seem to make time to pray. Sure I spend time with God in the mornings, but it's not the same as taking extended periods of time to just pray. I read those stories of Christians who get up at four in the morning to pray for four hours and those who spend hours and hours on their knees and all I can manage is a measly 15 minutes (if that), and I end up feeling guilty, which further distracts me and keeps me from praying.
Why am I so easily distracted? Why is it so easy to forget to pray? For those of you who don't know, I'm the lead Pastor of this team that's trying to plant a new church in Spartanburg. Planting a church requires a lot of work. This work seems to always be getting in the way of praying. It's distracting. It's keeping me from depending on God.
So here's what I did. No one was home this morning so I walked around my house, cleaned the bathrooms and talked out loud to God. It felt good. If feels good to complain to God, to tell God thank you, to ask for help, to acknowledge that things really are up to Him. Why can't I do that more often?
If you read this, I want you to come up to me or call me and ask if I've been praying lately. I'll probably be tempted to lie or make up an excuse, but hopefully I'll be able to say, "Yes." And know that this church planting thing is God's doing.
This probably made no sense whatsoever. If that's the case, I'm sorry. Until next time...
Why am I so easily distracted? Why is it so easy to forget to pray? For those of you who don't know, I'm the lead Pastor of this team that's trying to plant a new church in Spartanburg. Planting a church requires a lot of work. This work seems to always be getting in the way of praying. It's distracting. It's keeping me from depending on God.
So here's what I did. No one was home this morning so I walked around my house, cleaned the bathrooms and talked out loud to God. It felt good. If feels good to complain to God, to tell God thank you, to ask for help, to acknowledge that things really are up to Him. Why can't I do that more often?
If you read this, I want you to come up to me or call me and ask if I've been praying lately. I'll probably be tempted to lie or make up an excuse, but hopefully I'll be able to say, "Yes." And know that this church planting thing is God's doing.
This probably made no sense whatsoever. If that's the case, I'm sorry. Until next time...
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