A Murky Mind and Clouded Heart

When we come to God through Christ He gives us a new heart, a heart for Him. This heart needs nourished by things which God has determined will help it stay healthy.  The problem is that these things rarely come naturally to us.   That’s where the distractions come in and divert us from doing the things which will nourish our hearts and propel us to a rich life with Christ.  In the bible God says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  The mind is the very place where attention is paid and focus is maintained. A good friend of mine once encouraged me to pay attention to what I’m paying attention to, to think about what I’m thinking about. While that encouragement sometimes hurts my head just to ponder, he does have   a point.  Let me encourage you my friend.  Do not be mislead by what you feel, discouraged by doubtful thoughts, or diverted by negative circumstances.  Instead continually present yourself to God and asking him to continue the work of renewing your mind.  This, in my experience will really help to begin to change the way we think.  

That New Wine Is Good Stuff!

In the latest version of Star Trek released onto the big screen (a movie that I ended up regretting having watched), a young Captain Kirk is required to go through a simulation as a condition of his graduation from the academy.  (Hang in there you non-trekky people.) Upon finding out that the simulation had been designed to fail and that doing things the “Star Fleet Way” would inevitably lead to failure for him, he decides to reprogram the rules portion of the simulation in a manner that would allow his unconventional methods to bring about the first success in the simulation's history.  While he could have been kicked out for cheating the system, his unwillingness to accept the premise that this is the way that things have to be done and his unwillingness to accept the status quo end up earning him his own command. 

Now to my point.  In Matthew 9:17 Jesus is faced with multiple accusers all basically saying the same thing- that he is not doing things the “religious way" or the "right way”.  He responds by saying the following:  “¹⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wine skins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wine skins so that both are preserved.”  I used to skip over this passage as being culturally irrelevant because it talked about something that we no longer use- wine skins. But based upon my recent experience, it seems to make real sense to me.  Old wine skins had been stretched to the limit as wine fermented and expanded in them. Because old wine skins had already been stretched to the limit, if they were filled with new wine, it would ultimately burst them when it expanded. In the same way, it appears that Jesus was condemning the traditional rituals of the time by saying that they must never become a straitjacket that hinders us from embracing the message of God's new covenant kingdom life style.  Just as Kirk changed the rules of the Federation to make the goal of survival of the test a possibility, the rituals of the old covenant as well as the rituals of the John the Baptist preparatory era were not to be allowed to hamstring the message of the kingdom.  Wow, that was quite an analogy, not worthy of the Bible college professors from my past training, but probably as timely as I know how to give.   

You see, my passion is that the Christian church wake up and be the relevant expression of what God intended church to be when he created it.  I don’t believe it was God’s intent that we just morph the old covenant concepts of the temple, priests, and the law into the new covenant concepts of the church, the pastor, and the expectations of what it means to be a “Good Christian”.

The church in the New Testament is a community of believers all intricately involved with the welfare and progress of each others' lives. Not a building, an organization, a business-like corporation, or an ongoing series of events or programs.  Jesus came to make a way for man to relate to the father directly with no other go-between than Him, yet many of us view our pastor as the one who is to go to God on our behalf and get for us what we need.  When the apostle Paul says that he considers rubbish all the things that he once thought were so important, he is speaking about knowing and following the law and the traditions that man had about the best way to do so.  He goes on to say that these are rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of just knowing Christ.  I believe that he chose to emphasize the relationship with Christ and not just the knowledge of Christ as a manner to emphasize the relational nature of the kingdom.  Behavior modification was not the goal of the kingdom, it was relational modification that God was after.  Don’t get me wrong, relationship with the one true living God will certainly modify your behavior, but simply modifying your behavior alone will not increase your relationship with God.  If it would, we would not have needed Christ’s sacrifice. 

If you have read my blog before, you will know that I believe that much of the practices of the modern church, while not bad in and of themselves, have become the focus of Christianity instead of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ himself.  Let me encourage you to be certain that the way your express your Christianity lines up with the message of Jesus found in the gospels, not just with what you have learned from others regarding what the verses in the Bible mean when they mention church and its various expressions.  When the Bible tells us not neglect meeting together with other believers, we naturally interpret that to mean we need to go to a church service multiple times each week or month, but what it actually says is meeting together with other believers. While that can happen at a church service, it doesn’t just happen naturally by being together with them at an event or programmed service.  Let’s let God define what church is by taking a closer look at the teachings of Christ, the history of the early church found in the book of Acts, and the principals of relational Christianity found in the epistles of the New Testament.  In doing so we will inevitably see where that sort of an expression of church takes us.  I personally believe it will take us to the next level.    If you would like to learn more about the church, start by reading more from this blog’s history, or by visiting our YouTube Channel at

http://www.youtube.com/user/CityLightTopeka

Let Compassion Be Your Guide

I received this testimony from a friend who recently visited the church my wife and I are planting here in Topeka.  Hope it encourages you. I thought it was an excellent example of being the church.  "Received a call from Sandy Slater, at the Topeka SRS building today about a man who was living in his pickup truck suffering from severe anxiety. Being nearby, I was able to locate this vehicular homeless gentleman along with my volunteer, and talk with him, offering services. Listened to this man for about 30min. During the conversation he went to his truck and pulled out a Jehovah's Witness Watch Tower publication and he advised that he grew up as a Jehovah's Witness and that he was in a laundry matt in Topeka and picked up that publication and it made him feel good. I could see that the man was searching again in his life. I told the man that we had something in common with each other and it was God and asked him if he could see that, and he said yes. I mentioned that he must believe in prayer and he said yes, and I offered to pray. In prayer, we asked Jesus to bring healing to his anxiety, his nerves, his shaking and to the heaviness in his chest that kept him from breathing, thanking Jesus, and ending the prayer in Jesus' name. My volunteer Kenneth Oldridge, noticed the man's speech slowed down. I also offered to take him to a facility in Topeka that could assist him with any medical or medications he may need, since I am a collaboration promoter for multiple agencies in Topeka. He followed us to the facility I recommended. In the counselor’s office, the man relayed his story of coming to Topeka, his anxiety, his struggles. Then the man mentioned to the counselor that he ran into nice people today that wanted to help him and then he held up his hands and noticed that they were no longer shaking. He was calm. The counselor asked why he had stopped shaking and he told her that it was the prayer and it was Jesus that had calmed him. He is not sleeping in his truck tonight in a big Wal-Mart parking lot. He is sleeping in a home, with a bed and meals. This is what it is like to minister in love to anyone, to include a vehicular homeless Jehovah’s Witness. God does not discriminate. Minister in love, by loving God, and loving your neighbor (the one in front of you) as you love yourself, or as you would want to be treated. Seal it in the name of Jesus; sign His name at the end of your day. We have an encounter with God, to bring a tangible encounter of God to the one in front of us. This is how God is bringing his Glory to Earth, through us anywhere in the city at any time; Heaven invading Earth. Yay God!"  Have a blessed day my friends.

What Do Lazy Cats and Trusting God Have in Common?

Was just looking at the alley cat that lives in my back yard and sleeps on my porch.  It occurred to me that he is always happy, always fat, and always sleeping while everyone else is working hard.  Part of that is that he is nocturnal, being that he hunts at night and sleeps in the day.  But I think he pretty much hunts cat food from the various neighbors porches who put it out to  feed their cats.   So he's sort of an entrepreneurial/thief sort of fat, happy, and lazy cat.  Well anyway to my point.  He doesn't worry, because he's pretty much taken care of by the neighbors willingness to leave food out and the generosity of my kids who give him their scraps.  While I'm not interested in the scraps or the cat food, the not worrying  part really intrigues me.  You see the cat can be fat and happy and rest because his experience suggests that his providers will take care of him, and they do.  He doesn't worry about what he will eat or where he will sleep or what to do when it gets cold or wet, because other more "intelligent" creatures take care of those details, insignificant to him.  I on the other hand often find myself wondering how it will all work out where the next check will come from or how to juggle the income and expenses in order to make the ends meet.  I wonder if the cat has found some truth that I could learn from.  God whose ways are far higher than mine, takes care of all creation and provides for the needs of all who seek Him.   We can rest in Him (if we choose to) because he promises to keep at peace those whose minds are stayed on Him.  As far as the fat part goes I pretty much have that covered without God's help.  Well I hope that you can lay down your fears and worries as God is teaching me to and honestly trust Him to take care of your needs and to make straight your paths. I guess if God could use a donkey to get a person's attention in the bible that He can use a cat to get mine today!
Stinking Cat!

What are People Thinking?

Have you ever have one of those experiences that just leave you shaking your head wondering what people are thinking, or if they are thinking?  A while back I had an experience that still leaves me baffled to this day.  I remember it each time I walk past the donut counter at my local grocery store. (Which isn’t as often as the number of times when I stop by the counter unfortunately.) 

It was a normal Sunday morning in that I was off to get the donuts while my family was still asleep.  We gather as church on Sunday afternoons so it allows most of my family to sleep in on Sundays which I might add is a nice change.  I walked up to the store shelf and grabbed a prepackaged dozen of frosted donuts with sprinkles and began making my way to the check out line. As I was walking I noticed some movement in the box so I looked closer.  Sure enough there was a fly trapped beneath the plastic lid.  I made a bee line (or should I say a fly line) for the donut counter to get another box.  Not wanting someone else to get this box without noticing it’s “extra contents”, I took it to the woman at the counter and explained the situation.  To my amazement she asked me if I would like her to mark down the price of the box of donuts with a fly in it.  I gave her what I’m sure was a very strange look, and said “No thanks I think I’ll just get a different box.”  (that does make me think twice about going to the “day old” marked down pastry shelf).

Now before any of you well meaning moms tell me that there are starving children in Africa that would have loved to have that box of donuts fly and all, I want you to know that I’m not unsympathetic to their plight.  But I was not about to pay any amount of money for a fly laden box of donuts. 

The whole story made me think.  In what aspects of my life am I settling?  What areas of my life am I willing to keep doing the same thing on and on because its mostly ok, or because at first glance it lookls good, but upon closer inspection it’s laden with things that have the potential to sicken my life, or hold me back from all that God has destined me for?

In what realms of my life; family, church, work, friendships, am I putting up with the flies because the rest of the situation looks really good?  Don’t get me wrong the answer isn’t necessarily changing of venues, but maybe changing of expectations.  Don’t be willing to settle for just having fun with your kids instead of being willing to deal with some of the tough behavior that you have been tolerating when you know it needs corrected. Don’t be willing to have areas in your marriage where you just don’t go because you or your spouse aren’t willing to talk about it.  Don’t settle for friendships that are merely social in nature with no intimate conversation.  Don’t continue to work a job that you don’t enjoy without making a plan to move up or move out to something better.  Don’t continue to do church or attend church if you aren’t growing closer to God and others as a direct result of what happens when you gather as church. 

Let me liberate you  Jesus said “I have come to set the captive free”  and If He were literally walking the earth today, I believe he would be not only tending to the sick of spirit who are apart from Him lost in their world of sin, but that He would also be tending to the sick of spirit who because of what they have believed about Him, or His church have settled for a life all wrapped up in something that will make them act religious, but that lacks the power that could make them change. (2 Tim 3:5) 

Let me encourage you to do something Godly today and make a decision.  It is one way in which we are created in the image of God that we have the capacity for choice, a free will.  But a free will used only to decide to stay the same when the same is less than God intended for you, can be a toxic thing.  Proacatvity and intentionality are meant to be our friends, not things that will inspire fear or paralyzation.  Spend some time today in your Sunday routine asking the Spirit of Christ within you to highlight areas of your life that He wants you to better steward and then take a step to bring that change about.  For life is too short to settle!!!