What are we doing??

We are studying 1 Corinthians on Wednesdays, and as I was preparing for the lesson last night I came across a verse that struck me, and struck me hard.  Its the kind of verse that you read and then you can't get it off your mind until you are sure you have the right answer....

"In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good" (1 Corinthians 11:17, NIV)

As a church we do a lot of "meetings" or "gatherings".  Are they doing more harm than good, or is that even possible?

Now of course when Paul wrote this to the church at Corinth they where doing some pretty corrupt things.  The big one was they where drinking the wine to get drunk at communion instead of commemorating what Christ did.  So we may not be doing that, but as a church and how we appear to the community, are we doing more harm than good.

Are my lessons doing more harm than good?  Are our worship times doing more harm than good?  Is my counseling doing more harm than good?  Is my discipleship doing more harm than good?  Is my representation of Christ doing more harm than good?  Is my ministry doing more harm than good?  Is my church doing more harm than good?  I don't like these questions, but they must be asked...

I love God, I love His people, and I love His gift of the church.  As a church is He happy with what we are doing and how we represent Him?  Are we showing grace?  Are we showing mercy?  Are we showing forgiveness?  Are we showing equality?  Are we showing Love? are we teaching the gospel

or

are we forcing our personal opinions?  are we teaching hate in the name of Love?  are we focused inwardly instead of outwardly?  are we becoming uncaring?  are we becoming fake?  are we becoming a social club?  are we becoming dogmatic? 

My head is overwhelmed with so many thoughts as I examine my own life.

In the end I have come to the conclusion that for the most part I believe that what God is doing in my ministry, in my church, and in my life is that God is indeed resiliently doing good and may He show me in the future if at anytime we (or I) begin to do more "harm than good".

Have a great day!! Chris

I cant hear you.....

Where is the power in the church today?
Why isn't God moving like He used to?
Why isn't God answering my prayer?
Why does it seem that God isn't listening to me?

Have you ever wondered this?

If it seems as though you are asking yourself these questions, the answer lies in Psalm 66:18.

"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened"

This verse is not popular with Christians because it makes us look inward.  We are like everyone else, we like to blame others for our problems.  If we are honest, we almost never want to admit that the problem may lie in you or me.

This verse tells us that if we have kept sin, not acknowledged it, in our lives that the Lord will not hear our prayers.  You and I can pray all day long, but it would never reach higher than the roof of the room we are in.  Humbling thought isn't it.  Sin has that great of an affect on us and the line of communication that we have with our Heavenly Father.

If you find yourself feeling like this line of communication between yourself and God is blocked the answer lies in self-examination.  Ask yourself, "Is there something that I have not confessed", be honest with yourself.  You know if there is.

The promise you and I have is this:

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us..." (1 John 1:9, NIV)

There is nothing you cannot tell God.  There is nothing you or I can do that will shock Him.  There is also nothing you and I can hide from Him.  God is always willing and waiting to hear and forgive, always.

confession + forgiveness = line of communication back open

"But God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!" (Psalm 66:19-20, NIV)

Spend sometime today in prayer, and begin with confession.

Chris

press on

I have never been athletic, nor have I ever claimed to be.  So what I'm about to say is huge for me.  I am registering to run my First 5k race this November.  I have been trying to get healthy and walk/jog for the last several years, and had worked myself up to over three miles, but in all honesty have never built up my endurance to be able to run even half of it.  I became frustrated and took several months break. 


Four weeks ago I set a goal, to run the 5k race on Seabrook Island while I'm there on vacation in November.  That gave me approximately 10 weeks to get ready.  So you may ask, why?  what's my inspiration?  Well my inspiration are two people:  May pastor Ken Sausedo, who just ran a half-marathon and is 10 years older than me, and my friend Steve Conard who ran a full marathon the same day.  I figured if these guys can do it, there is no reason why I shouldn't.  So then the question is why?  Well, mainly for my health.  I want to improve my health both physically and emotionally.  Running is a release, it's gets me away from the stress.

So how am I going to reach my goal?  I found an app for it.  I'm not joking.  I found an app that is supposed to take you from 0-5k in 8 weeks.  Through the end of week three I felt confident that I could get this, last week the workout was 5 min warm up walking, jog 90 seconds walk 90 seconds, run 3 min, walk 3 min rotation for 31 minutes.  I did it no problem.  Then came this week:

My routine this week is 5 min warm up walking, jog 3 min, walk 90 seconds, jog 5 min, walk 2.5 min rotation for 31 min.  I was ok until the last 5 min, it was the toughest the workout had been.  My legs where screaming at me, my mind was telling me to just quit and walk "no one would know", and this was only 2 min into the last run.  I can say I made it all the way through the last 5 min run without stopping.  I have a goal.  I want to run the race.  I want to reach 5k.

We all need goals.  God has a goal in mind for you in this life.

^14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Php 3:14., NIV)

The closer we get to reaching the goal of what God has in mind for us, the harder it will get.  Just like this morning when I hit that 2 min mark in the last run and I wanted to quit, when you hit the mark that makes you work a little harder to reach your goal you will want to quit.  You have to dig deep down inside and keep going.  We all reach points where we feel like we want to quit, where we want to take a break, or where we want to give in.  Dig deep.  Press on.  Jesus believes in you.

I can do this, and so can you.  Press on.

Have a great day, Chris