Our Ministry: Is it like Christ's?

I think about the way that I and the majority of Christians witness to people directly or indirectly, and it has brought me to a conclusion. I am 27 years old and have been witnessed TO a handful of times, maybe 4-5. Now modern day statistics say that there are approximately 224,000,000 Christians in the United States, and I have been witnessed to 4-5 times. Now I am not saying that I am doing any better. As a Pastor I get to witness through my work, but what am I doing in my plain clothes away from the church. What are all of us doing as believers?

I feel that it is because we have not accepted the new covenant that the Lord paid the ultimate price for. The more I think about it, it feels as if the majority of Christians are wandering through life like the children of Israel did. What I mean by that is there is a promise given to us (eternal life), and we are just doing everything we can just to get that promise. While instead the new covenant which fulfills the old covenant should require us to live how Jesus lived rather then how a bunch of nomadic people lived. We too many times are waiting for God to give us the next opportunity rather than make our own with God's direction. Jesus ate at sinners' homes. He hung out with hurt and sick people. Maybe we take the scripture in Romans 12:2 TOO literal and we separate ourselves from anything and everything that could possibly lead us astray. Maybe I want more for my walk. Maybe I want people to look at me and see Jesus rather than see someone that is weak and is leaving it all to God. God gives us the power to do all these things. Through Christ this power is given.

I guess what I am saying is that we need to have lives that reflect Jesus rather then a life that is aimless in wandering with a "pillar of smoke" leading us to the "promise land." I want to be a Joshua and a Caleb, who had the spirit of the Lord in them when they said that they could take the land. I don't want to be the other ten that were punished with death. Because in the end if we lived our life like that there will be a yearning or desire to have wanted to do more, and that will feel like death.

So may we look to Christ and how He DID ministry, with boldness and courage!! Let us not be fearful of man. Let us take the land the Lord has given us. Let us know that it is Him that gives us the strength to do these things and it is not of ourselves. Let our ministries be like Christ's!!

Step Into The Light

In John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night or in the darkness and proceeds to tip toe around the fact that he believes in who Jesus says He is; the Son of God. Nic then goes on to ask questions of Jesus, not to trip Him up, but rather to get to the bottom of it. He basically states that He must be who he says He is by the miracles He performs, but how can he be sure that He is? Jesus then talks about being "born again" and that no one can enter heaven unless they are. "This is of water and Spirit." This is with an encounter or experience with the character and person of Christ. You can see all the miracles in the world, but unless you encounter Him you just won't know Him. So many Christians are not living as they born again because for some they have either not had that encounter with Christ, or they have reverted back into the darkness and they just cant feel it anymore. Christ also goes into other difficulties that people let get in the way. Jesus says that if He speaks to people of earthly things and they don’t believe how will they believe in heavenly things. So many people get hung up on the earthly things i.e. age of the earth, creationism vs evolution, big bang, etc; They let this consume them and prevent them from seeing the spiritual side of it all. They aren't just willing to believe which leads into the most well known scripture in the Bible: John 3:16. But I like the verses to follow; how He talks about condemnation. The way to be free from it is to just believe. But I think that "to believe" in anything is simple, it is knowing that it is true that is the difficult part. I can believe that my football team is going to win a game, but knowing that it is true is difficult for me to hold on to. This is different from believing in Christ. We can know what He says is true by the evidences in our life, IF, we are obedient to His word. IF we are in the light.

Verse 19 goes onto say that Light came into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because of their evil ways. There is almost security in the darkness. You can't really see what is going on and in turn other people can't see what you are doing. People are afraid to come into the light because of fear that their ways will be exposed.

Maybe this is why Nicodemus came at night and in the dark. Maybe he didn’t want people to see what he was doing. Getting closer to the light, having an encounter with Christ. But Jesus is so smart in the fact that Nic was where he was at. You see, Christ knows where we are all at, and as He concludes with Nic He simply says that "whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." This is a positive twist on exposing us gently to show people God's love and grace. He isn't like one of my children who tattle on the other with hopes of disgracing us, but rather as a loving parent that shows us our faults and that He loves us in spite of them. This is an encounter or experience with Him. This is the safety and comfort of the light.

So I urge you to step out of the darkness and into His light. You are able to see a lot better there.