September 9, 2008
001 Tex’s Thought Provokers
Where Do We Go From Here?
“Oh there’s bad news tonight folks”
I am sure some of you will remember this from long long ago in the days of old, It was a broadcast from TV and Radio.
This is the first of, I hope many, what I call “Tex’s Thought Provokers”. I am sure that there will be things about which I will be wrong. I am sure that some where along the way some of you may even be upset with some of my thoughts. I can assure you that this is not my intent. I would be aghast if I thought for a minute that I mindlessly said something that hurt anyone.
Please bare with me, for I am the farthest thing from a person with knowledge that there is. As I have often said when I am teaching fire courses, the one thing I know for certain is how little I know.
The entire idea behind these writings is to make folks think. To self evaluate as I do all the time. I have learned that it is vital, without being too hard on myself, to evaluate the things I say and do in order to keep improving; to admit my mistakes and learn from them. This keeps me busy because I certainly make my share of mistakes every single day.
I am trying very hard to seek out the things that are wrong with me, and not the things that are wrong with other people that I sometimes feel. This again, is sometimes very hard. I hope I am getting better at it.
With all this said, “Oh There’s Bad News Tonight Folks”. More frequent stronger storms, more extreme fire events, shrinking glaciers, defrosting permafrost, weird weather period; high rates of fuel leading to higher cost for everything, war rages on with no real end in sight, and so on and so on.
Some churches around these parts are struggling to stay afloat. Attendance is in some cases declining. Times are tough and getting tougher.
Well….this has started out really positive then, hasn’t it?
Where is the good news you ask? In my mind, there is plenty of good news. The media today loves to dwell on the negative. It abounds in our lives from every corner. It would seem that people love to read and hear about devastation, providing it is not happening to them. It makes for super sales, this is the prime reason the media does these things. In short, bad news sells and this means loads of money in profits.
“What you live with you learn…what you learn…you practice; what you practice…you become…what you become has consequences.” I wish I knew who said this. If you think about it, it really is true.
We have gotten used to things like bad news and crime in the streets. When you get used to something, it becomes all you expect.
All the while this is going on; “Old Stench” (Satan) is feeling quite proud of how things are going.
So again, where is the good news you ask? Well let us consider a few things, like, hope for example.
All people will hope in him.” Matthew 12:21
So my heart is happy, and the words I speak are words of joy.
Yes, even my body will live with hope. Acts 2: 26
I have the same hope in God that these Jews have—the hope that all people, good and bad, will be raised from death. Acts 24:15
Through our faith, Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace* that we now enjoy. And we are very happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory.* Romans 5:2
And this hope will never disappoint us. We know this because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit* he gave us. Romans 5:5
Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. Romans 12:12
Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. Those things were written so that we could have hope. That hope comes from the patience and encouragement that the Scriptures give us. Romans 15:4
Someone will come from Jesse’s family. He will come to rule over the nations, and they will put their hope in him. Romans 15:12
I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace as you trust in him. Then you will have more and more hope, and it will flow out of you by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Your faith and love continue because you know what is waiting for you in heaven—the hope you have had since you first heard the true message, the Good News.
Colossians 1:5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has great mercy, and because of his mercy he gave us a new life. This new life brings us a living hope through Jesus Christ’s resurrection from death. 1 Peter 1:3
Now then, isn’t that good news? I could go on and on. However, I think you all get the picture. Our hope in the Lord and all the things he provides for us, all of our blessings, of which there are many, hope is one of the three, along with faith and love, which are vital to our very existence. We are told that Love is the greatest of the three in, 1 Corinthians 12:13. I truly believe this. But where there is no hope there is darkness. There is despair. When people lose hope after trying to cope so hard with the struggles of life, they turn to anything that they think will give them even a bit of joy. Sometimes they turn to things that only cause short term joy and long term grief, thus more hopelessness. In other words, people sometimes turn to false hopes, which sadly, is no hope at all.
Some may ask; why do people turn away from the Lord and the church? Why do people not see what joy there can be in the Lord?
Sadly from my point of view, it is because they don’t see much joy, or at least they haven’t in the past, in our churches. They have seen people that exhibit a better than anyone else in the world attitude. They see people being hypocrites. They see long sad faces. They hear nothing but gloom and doom and fire and brimstone. They feel like they are being judged constantly. They feel like; “for an outfit that says all this nice stuff about love, I sure don’t feel a whole lot of it.”
I have heard all of these things in the past.
And once again, all the while, Old Stench is really quite happy with the way things are panning out.
Now then, we all certainly know that things are really not completely like that. I know for one, that I have felt a lot of love from many in my church. Yet, the perception is still there. Whether it came from long ago or is continuing today, is irrelevant. There is nothing to be gained on dwelling on the past, that is gone. The question I think we should be asking ourselves is where do we go from here?
Jesus said in Matthew 12:25
Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking so he said to them, “Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And every city or family that is divided against itself will not survive.
First and foremost I think that we need to get united. For a church divided against itself will not survive. We all have to get back to the very basics and become as one. This will take patience and tolerance and change. It will take a huge amount of love and understanding. We have to change the perception that the populace has now. We need to show them that we do love them and that we welcome all people.
The divisions we see are making Old Evil Pants really happy. He is very sly and very cunning. He has great patience. He knows if things stay on track as they are, the churches will start dropping like flies in the future.
An old Irish statesman turned Englishman named Sir Edmund Burke once said; “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.”
We need to start doing something folks. First we need to change. One way we can change I think, is to worry more about ourselves and not what others think, we should think about what the Lord thinks. What a person believes is between them and the Lord. If some one for example believes in abortion (I don’t) that should be between them and Jesus. What right do I have to say that person is wrong? I am not the Judge! Maybe I think they are, but that should be where I keep it, in my mind.
I will give you an example of where we are headed if we do nothing.
A few years ago I had occasion to be in Thunder Bay Ontario. I never was much on going out on the town to bars and such; it just never was my kind of scene. Too Loud! I do however, love to play darts. I actually got half way decent at it, but that was long ago. Anyway, there were three other lads with me and luckily they were of the same mind set. So where can you go to play some darts in a quiet environment? The Legion, so it was off we went to the nearest branch we could find. It took some time, but we finally found one in the old part of town. To me all Legions smell the same. As I walked in I can remember thinking, what a grand place this once was. Sorry to say, it was now in disrepair and fading fast. You see, the Legion was once a place for the Veterans only. Then the membership realized, we had better include sons and daughters as Associates, because our numbers are declining. Then came the Affiliate members just to try and keep the numbers up.
But alas, this is not working either. I think it is a shame. One of my favorite places was sitting at the Legion listening to the Vets tell stories. Then I lost interest because all my old friends were quickly disappearing. I found that I had no more reason to go, so I quit going.
I am not saying that I know all the reason for the Legions decline, but I do know what the elderly lady at the bar in Thunder Bay said. “We were about to close” she said with a bright smile that lit up the room.
“You are the first sign of life we have had today. Oh except for Old Baggy Pants and Gracie over there, they’re here every day. Seems like they got no place else to go. It ain’t too often we see fresh young faces like you in here. Where ya all from?” This dear sweet lady seemed to have a renewed existence because of us. She was smiling bright as a new silver dollar and her eyes were watery yet they seemed to sparkle and dance as she spoke. “Me and him are from New Brunswick, and these two lads are from Manitoba.” My friend said. She gasped and exclaimed; “Lands a mercy! Visitors to our fair town ta boot! Welcome friends…welcome!” She then slapped the bar and happily said. “What can I git for ya?”
We had simply a wonderful evening playing darts, laughing and listening to stories of old. My kind of night!
We learned that Gracie and Old Baggy Pants, later we learned his name was John, were an item. They had been for many years. The bar keep was Ruth and she was a nurse in the army long ago. John was a fighter pilot in WWII.
On our way back to the hotel, I felt somehow enriched, yet kind of sad at the same time. I loved the evening of fun and stories, however, I knew that this Legion like so many today was on the way out and it was only a matter of time before it would be a part of history.
The reason for this, from what I could see and what I had been told, was there was no interest from any of the young people, they all had many other things to occupy their time. Ruth told us that night that in a way it was the members own fault. She said that the members were not willing to change, they wanted to keep things the way they had always been, a place where a special breed of people could go, people that had a lot in common, people that had each had their taste of hell on earth in one form or another. What they failed to understand, or perhaps refused to accept was they were getting older. And with no new blood to take over the helm, the ship would soon run aground.
I realize that not all Legions are the same. I know some are in better shape than others. But the hard fact of the matter is, the Legion is not taught the way it should be in schools. It is not understood by a large percentage of the population. A lot of younger folks think it is a place where people go to set and get drunk. I won’t deny that this does happen, but I can tell you that the Legion stands for something a lot more than that.
At any rate, take a look around our churches and we can see that by far and away the greatest number of the congregations are fifty years plus in age.
This summer was the start of something very exciting. We seen that churches working together as Christians, putting different denominations aside, joined in unity can do wonderful things. This a great start towards something very special.
We do not have the population that big cities have; we can not afford to have a church on every corner with only a few members. We need to think about change. We need to think about being Christians first. Get back to the very basics. Love the Lord with all our heart and souls and minds and love one and other the way we would want to be loved.
We need to put our differences aside. Every person’s walk with the Lord is a personal one. Who am I to say how another person should act or what they should believe is right or wrong. This should be between a person and the Lord. If you are not right, if you are wrong, the Lord will let you know. And when he does, it will be very evident.
We should perhaps think about combining churches just as they split many years ago. Only let’s think about gluing them back together.
I know this sounds radical, but I think maybe we should start to think outside the box, or radical if you like.
In smaller populated areas in these times of limited funds, perhaps it would be better than seeing a continuation of one church folding up after the other.
Let’s put aside our giant egos and our pride and say, if you want to raise your hands to the Lord, great! Believe in Christ and the resurrection. Read the bible and do as Jesus taught us to do. Let’s quit arguing over things that really don’t amount to a hill of beans. Let’s all just be humble servants of the Lord, as best as we possibly can. “I don’t agree with this or that…so I will go to the next church!” This type of thinking has to go! No matter where you go or what you do, there will be someone who says or does something that you do not like. There is only one thing that is perfect. Jesus!
This will never work….I know some of you are thinking this. But if we simply trust in the Lord, he will either allow it to work or he won’t. To do this will take a lot of compromise and love. At least try, doing nothing spells doom.
We also need to look seriously at what we can do to attract some young blood. We will need a lot of love and patience here too.
I have always been more comfortable around older folks. But not everyone is that way. I understand that we have to accept the beliefs of others as long as it is glorifying to the Lord. That being said, we need to understand that there are different ways to glorify God. And we have to accept that.
Here is yet another example. On the last night of our summer services, John and I were talking. We thought how wonderful it was to see such a good crowd. How wonderful it was to see how the different churches got together and worked together. But then we realized, the crowd was made up of believers, at least from what we could see. We came to the same conclusion. It was great encouragement for all of as believers, but how many non-believers were we reaching? A few perhaps, at best.
Think of this then; what if some of our church members saw me going into the Legion on a Friday night? I want you all to really be honest. I will never know, but what do you think some of them would be saying? What is the first thing that would enter their mind? Perhaps, for some, it would be time to do that self evaluating thingy.
You see, if we do not go to the real battle ground, then we are doomed to failure. Matthew comes to mind again. Something like; ‘Healthy people do not need a doctor.’ We need to get priorities straight; we need to start helping people to see that we really do care. We really do want these people to see that we are loving people. We need to change their perception of Christians, and we need to start right away.
In our church I believe we have made some great starts. The free yard sale, what a great and wonderful thing. The combined churches this summer. It is just I think we can do more.
I have over the years heard so many negative things about Christians that it would scare you out of your wits if you knew what some people say about us. I don’t believe we will change everyone either. I am not that naive.
Philip Yancy in his book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” says he thinks he knows why Jesus was always hanging out with so called bad people. First, he wanted to tell them the good news. He came for sinners. He wanted to save these people from themselves. But Yancy also thinks that Jesus liked being with these people. He thinks Jesus felt that they were real and nonjudgmental. They did not try to be something they were not. They did not think they were better than anyone else. They liked a good joke and they loved to laugh. From all that I have read, I agree with him.
Why is it that we have all these cultural man made rules? They have been in place for many years. It seems to me that it could be that these rules were made, in some cases, not all, for the same reasons that the Pharisees and Priests made them. To make themselves feel better than other people.
The words written in red are very important to me. And they are really quite plain and simple. I trust in the Lord with all my heart. I love the Lord with all my heart and soul and mind. I try my very best to love others as I would have them love me.
It is not always easy being a Christian. No one ever said that it was, including Jesus himself.
I have rambled enough for one evening. I certainly hope I have not offended anyone. And I am certainly not saying or implying that any of you are hypocrites. I am saying they do exist. I hope I did provoke some thought.
Until next time, I will close with this:
12Jesus heard them say this. So he said to them, “It is the sick people who need a doctor, not those who are healthy. 13 You need to go and learn what this Scripture means: ‘I don’t want animal sacrifices; I want you to show kindness to people. I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.” Matthew 9:12/13
13 “It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites*! You close the way for people to enter God’s kingdom.* You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop those who are trying to enter. Matthew 23:13
In the name of Christ Tex
001 Tex’s Thought Provokers
Where Do We Go From Here?
“Oh there’s bad news tonight folks”
I am sure some of you will remember this from long long ago in the days of old, It was a broadcast from TV and Radio.
This is the first of, I hope many, what I call “Tex’s Thought Provokers”. I am sure that there will be things about which I will be wrong. I am sure that some where along the way some of you may even be upset with some of my thoughts. I can assure you that this is not my intent. I would be aghast if I thought for a minute that I mindlessly said something that hurt anyone.
Please bare with me, for I am the farthest thing from a person with knowledge that there is. As I have often said when I am teaching fire courses, the one thing I know for certain is how little I know.
The entire idea behind these writings is to make folks think. To self evaluate as I do all the time. I have learned that it is vital, without being too hard on myself, to evaluate the things I say and do in order to keep improving; to admit my mistakes and learn from them. This keeps me busy because I certainly make my share of mistakes every single day.
I am trying very hard to seek out the things that are wrong with me, and not the things that are wrong with other people that I sometimes feel. This again, is sometimes very hard. I hope I am getting better at it.
With all this said, “Oh There’s Bad News Tonight Folks”. More frequent stronger storms, more extreme fire events, shrinking glaciers, defrosting permafrost, weird weather period; high rates of fuel leading to higher cost for everything, war rages on with no real end in sight, and so on and so on.
Some churches around these parts are struggling to stay afloat. Attendance is in some cases declining. Times are tough and getting tougher.
Well….this has started out really positive then, hasn’t it?
Where is the good news you ask? In my mind, there is plenty of good news. The media today loves to dwell on the negative. It abounds in our lives from every corner. It would seem that people love to read and hear about devastation, providing it is not happening to them. It makes for super sales, this is the prime reason the media does these things. In short, bad news sells and this means loads of money in profits.
“What you live with you learn…what you learn…you practice; what you practice…you become…what you become has consequences.” I wish I knew who said this. If you think about it, it really is true.
We have gotten used to things like bad news and crime in the streets. When you get used to something, it becomes all you expect.
All the while this is going on; “Old Stench” (Satan) is feeling quite proud of how things are going.
So again, where is the good news you ask? Well let us consider a few things, like, hope for example.
All people will hope in him.” Matthew 12:21
So my heart is happy, and the words I speak are words of joy.
Yes, even my body will live with hope. Acts 2: 26
I have the same hope in God that these Jews have—the hope that all people, good and bad, will be raised from death. Acts 24:15
Through our faith, Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace* that we now enjoy. And we are very happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory.* Romans 5:2
And this hope will never disappoint us. We know this because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit* he gave us. Romans 5:5
Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. Romans 12:12
Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. Those things were written so that we could have hope. That hope comes from the patience and encouragement that the Scriptures give us. Romans 15:4
Someone will come from Jesse’s family. He will come to rule over the nations, and they will put their hope in him. Romans 15:12
I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace as you trust in him. Then you will have more and more hope, and it will flow out of you by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Your faith and love continue because you know what is waiting for you in heaven—the hope you have had since you first heard the true message, the Good News.
Colossians 1:5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has great mercy, and because of his mercy he gave us a new life. This new life brings us a living hope through Jesus Christ’s resurrection from death. 1 Peter 1:3
Now then, isn’t that good news? I could go on and on. However, I think you all get the picture. Our hope in the Lord and all the things he provides for us, all of our blessings, of which there are many, hope is one of the three, along with faith and love, which are vital to our very existence. We are told that Love is the greatest of the three in, 1 Corinthians 12:13. I truly believe this. But where there is no hope there is darkness. There is despair. When people lose hope after trying to cope so hard with the struggles of life, they turn to anything that they think will give them even a bit of joy. Sometimes they turn to things that only cause short term joy and long term grief, thus more hopelessness. In other words, people sometimes turn to false hopes, which sadly, is no hope at all.
Some may ask; why do people turn away from the Lord and the church? Why do people not see what joy there can be in the Lord?
Sadly from my point of view, it is because they don’t see much joy, or at least they haven’t in the past, in our churches. They have seen people that exhibit a better than anyone else in the world attitude. They see people being hypocrites. They see long sad faces. They hear nothing but gloom and doom and fire and brimstone. They feel like they are being judged constantly. They feel like; “for an outfit that says all this nice stuff about love, I sure don’t feel a whole lot of it.”
I have heard all of these things in the past.
And once again, all the while, Old Stench is really quite happy with the way things are panning out.
Now then, we all certainly know that things are really not completely like that. I know for one, that I have felt a lot of love from many in my church. Yet, the perception is still there. Whether it came from long ago or is continuing today, is irrelevant. There is nothing to be gained on dwelling on the past, that is gone. The question I think we should be asking ourselves is where do we go from here?
Jesus said in Matthew 12:25
Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking so he said to them, “Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And every city or family that is divided against itself will not survive.
First and foremost I think that we need to get united. For a church divided against itself will not survive. We all have to get back to the very basics and become as one. This will take patience and tolerance and change. It will take a huge amount of love and understanding. We have to change the perception that the populace has now. We need to show them that we do love them and that we welcome all people.
The divisions we see are making Old Evil Pants really happy. He is very sly and very cunning. He has great patience. He knows if things stay on track as they are, the churches will start dropping like flies in the future.
An old Irish statesman turned Englishman named Sir Edmund Burke once said; “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.”
We need to start doing something folks. First we need to change. One way we can change I think, is to worry more about ourselves and not what others think, we should think about what the Lord thinks. What a person believes is between them and the Lord. If some one for example believes in abortion (I don’t) that should be between them and Jesus. What right do I have to say that person is wrong? I am not the Judge! Maybe I think they are, but that should be where I keep it, in my mind.
I will give you an example of where we are headed if we do nothing.
A few years ago I had occasion to be in Thunder Bay Ontario. I never was much on going out on the town to bars and such; it just never was my kind of scene. Too Loud! I do however, love to play darts. I actually got half way decent at it, but that was long ago. Anyway, there were three other lads with me and luckily they were of the same mind set. So where can you go to play some darts in a quiet environment? The Legion, so it was off we went to the nearest branch we could find. It took some time, but we finally found one in the old part of town. To me all Legions smell the same. As I walked in I can remember thinking, what a grand place this once was. Sorry to say, it was now in disrepair and fading fast. You see, the Legion was once a place for the Veterans only. Then the membership realized, we had better include sons and daughters as Associates, because our numbers are declining. Then came the Affiliate members just to try and keep the numbers up.
But alas, this is not working either. I think it is a shame. One of my favorite places was sitting at the Legion listening to the Vets tell stories. Then I lost interest because all my old friends were quickly disappearing. I found that I had no more reason to go, so I quit going.
I am not saying that I know all the reason for the Legions decline, but I do know what the elderly lady at the bar in Thunder Bay said. “We were about to close” she said with a bright smile that lit up the room.
“You are the first sign of life we have had today. Oh except for Old Baggy Pants and Gracie over there, they’re here every day. Seems like they got no place else to go. It ain’t too often we see fresh young faces like you in here. Where ya all from?” This dear sweet lady seemed to have a renewed existence because of us. She was smiling bright as a new silver dollar and her eyes were watery yet they seemed to sparkle and dance as she spoke. “Me and him are from New Brunswick, and these two lads are from Manitoba.” My friend said. She gasped and exclaimed; “Lands a mercy! Visitors to our fair town ta boot! Welcome friends…welcome!” She then slapped the bar and happily said. “What can I git for ya?”
We had simply a wonderful evening playing darts, laughing and listening to stories of old. My kind of night!
We learned that Gracie and Old Baggy Pants, later we learned his name was John, were an item. They had been for many years. The bar keep was Ruth and she was a nurse in the army long ago. John was a fighter pilot in WWII.
On our way back to the hotel, I felt somehow enriched, yet kind of sad at the same time. I loved the evening of fun and stories, however, I knew that this Legion like so many today was on the way out and it was only a matter of time before it would be a part of history.
The reason for this, from what I could see and what I had been told, was there was no interest from any of the young people, they all had many other things to occupy their time. Ruth told us that night that in a way it was the members own fault. She said that the members were not willing to change, they wanted to keep things the way they had always been, a place where a special breed of people could go, people that had a lot in common, people that had each had their taste of hell on earth in one form or another. What they failed to understand, or perhaps refused to accept was they were getting older. And with no new blood to take over the helm, the ship would soon run aground.
I realize that not all Legions are the same. I know some are in better shape than others. But the hard fact of the matter is, the Legion is not taught the way it should be in schools. It is not understood by a large percentage of the population. A lot of younger folks think it is a place where people go to set and get drunk. I won’t deny that this does happen, but I can tell you that the Legion stands for something a lot more than that.
At any rate, take a look around our churches and we can see that by far and away the greatest number of the congregations are fifty years plus in age.
This summer was the start of something very exciting. We seen that churches working together as Christians, putting different denominations aside, joined in unity can do wonderful things. This a great start towards something very special.
We do not have the population that big cities have; we can not afford to have a church on every corner with only a few members. We need to think about change. We need to think about being Christians first. Get back to the very basics. Love the Lord with all our heart and souls and minds and love one and other the way we would want to be loved.
We need to put our differences aside. Every person’s walk with the Lord is a personal one. Who am I to say how another person should act or what they should believe is right or wrong. This should be between a person and the Lord. If you are not right, if you are wrong, the Lord will let you know. And when he does, it will be very evident.
We should perhaps think about combining churches just as they split many years ago. Only let’s think about gluing them back together.
I know this sounds radical, but I think maybe we should start to think outside the box, or radical if you like.
In smaller populated areas in these times of limited funds, perhaps it would be better than seeing a continuation of one church folding up after the other.
Let’s put aside our giant egos and our pride and say, if you want to raise your hands to the Lord, great! Believe in Christ and the resurrection. Read the bible and do as Jesus taught us to do. Let’s quit arguing over things that really don’t amount to a hill of beans. Let’s all just be humble servants of the Lord, as best as we possibly can. “I don’t agree with this or that…so I will go to the next church!” This type of thinking has to go! No matter where you go or what you do, there will be someone who says or does something that you do not like. There is only one thing that is perfect. Jesus!
This will never work….I know some of you are thinking this. But if we simply trust in the Lord, he will either allow it to work or he won’t. To do this will take a lot of compromise and love. At least try, doing nothing spells doom.
We also need to look seriously at what we can do to attract some young blood. We will need a lot of love and patience here too.
I have always been more comfortable around older folks. But not everyone is that way. I understand that we have to accept the beliefs of others as long as it is glorifying to the Lord. That being said, we need to understand that there are different ways to glorify God. And we have to accept that.
Here is yet another example. On the last night of our summer services, John and I were talking. We thought how wonderful it was to see such a good crowd. How wonderful it was to see how the different churches got together and worked together. But then we realized, the crowd was made up of believers, at least from what we could see. We came to the same conclusion. It was great encouragement for all of as believers, but how many non-believers were we reaching? A few perhaps, at best.
Think of this then; what if some of our church members saw me going into the Legion on a Friday night? I want you all to really be honest. I will never know, but what do you think some of them would be saying? What is the first thing that would enter their mind? Perhaps, for some, it would be time to do that self evaluating thingy.
You see, if we do not go to the real battle ground, then we are doomed to failure. Matthew comes to mind again. Something like; ‘Healthy people do not need a doctor.’ We need to get priorities straight; we need to start helping people to see that we really do care. We really do want these people to see that we are loving people. We need to change their perception of Christians, and we need to start right away.
In our church I believe we have made some great starts. The free yard sale, what a great and wonderful thing. The combined churches this summer. It is just I think we can do more.
I have over the years heard so many negative things about Christians that it would scare you out of your wits if you knew what some people say about us. I don’t believe we will change everyone either. I am not that naive.
Philip Yancy in his book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” says he thinks he knows why Jesus was always hanging out with so called bad people. First, he wanted to tell them the good news. He came for sinners. He wanted to save these people from themselves. But Yancy also thinks that Jesus liked being with these people. He thinks Jesus felt that they were real and nonjudgmental. They did not try to be something they were not. They did not think they were better than anyone else. They liked a good joke and they loved to laugh. From all that I have read, I agree with him.
Why is it that we have all these cultural man made rules? They have been in place for many years. It seems to me that it could be that these rules were made, in some cases, not all, for the same reasons that the Pharisees and Priests made them. To make themselves feel better than other people.
The words written in red are very important to me. And they are really quite plain and simple. I trust in the Lord with all my heart. I love the Lord with all my heart and soul and mind. I try my very best to love others as I would have them love me.
It is not always easy being a Christian. No one ever said that it was, including Jesus himself.
I have rambled enough for one evening. I certainly hope I have not offended anyone. And I am certainly not saying or implying that any of you are hypocrites. I am saying they do exist. I hope I did provoke some thought.
Until next time, I will close with this:
12Jesus heard them say this. So he said to them, “It is the sick people who need a doctor, not those who are healthy. 13 You need to go and learn what this Scripture means: ‘I don’t want animal sacrifices; I want you to show kindness to people. I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.” Matthew 9:12/13
13 “It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites*! You close the way for people to enter God’s kingdom.* You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop those who are trying to enter. Matthew 23:13
In the name of Christ Tex
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