Rescue the Wounded

Rescue Ministry

Recently, I started to speak about a different kind of church. Actually it’s more like a different kind of ministry. The Lord has been asking me some questions, one of which was this – “You have a ready made people for this new church in those who have been hurt and discarded, or walked away from, the present church. How will you bring them back to Me?”  Wow – what a challenge.

We had been thinking only of the lost, the unsaved, the unchurched, and the untold or uninformed when the Lord brought this to mind. I mean, it is so obvious isn’t it, yet as a group, the churches wounded soldiers will be the hardest to pull back onto the front line again. The old saying of ‘once bitten, twice shy’ springs instantly to my mind. Also, the church is the only group who leave or discard their own wounded. The stories are multitude. The shame upon the church is enormous and that upon the hurt is almost unforgiveable – yet forgive they must.

The obvious reaction of such as these will surely be to pull away, or to complain bitterly over their past treatment. Either way, they will be holding onto old pain and hurts, old insults, and all manner of bad memories. Everything from shunning over their past life before salvation, to rants over their lack of faith, or false accusations of sin and ‘crimes’. The list is endless.

The possibilities are also endless.

Just think of all the people you can invite along just for a social evening of music, BBQ, a theme (A Cowboy Evening, Music, or a craft evening etc). You don’t have to be ‘churchy’ with them – just be yourself. If anyone has a problem just say you’ll pray for them – not with them as that may embarrass them – unless they ask you to do that. Any other religious talk is off the menu unless raised by someone else, but even then, take it slowly. What opportunity lies in all of this – Lord open the doors !!

The rescue ministry can serve both parties. Both sides need to learn about love and forgiveness. Also, remember, those who have been hurt may never even have heard the Gospel and if you truly believe that a non-believer will go to hell, how can you not tell them about Jesus, heaven, and eternal life?

Wow

©Chris Bennett May 2012

Jesus confronted Legalism & so should we

The Pharisaic Spirit

Perhaps I should have called this ‘Legalism’ as that is what this passage is all about. Matthew 23:27 (NKJV) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “

The Message Bible puts it very bluntly - Matthew 23:27 (MSG) "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds.”

Legalism robbed the people of Jesus’ day of nearly everything He came to bring to them. Through the centuries, legalism has consistently robbed Christianity of almost everything the Lord wanted us to have. So today, legalism still robs us. It has been, and still is one of Satan’s most efficient and successful weapons.

Whenever there is the slightest move of the Holy Spirit, there are many churches who will say sternly, “We don’t do things this way in this church.” In saying that, they are throwing away what might have been God’s most precious gift to them for centuries. They still and stifle the Spirit. They grieve Him and reject Him – mainly because they do not know Him, nor do they recognise or acknowledge His gifts.

This is that to which Jesus referred when asked for a sign by the Pharisees. Matthew 12:38-40 “ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ” They did not recognise the signs Jesus was already showing them but wanted another one. I suspect they would have been asking for signs every day if Jesus had accommodated their requests.  It is the same in our generation today. We see the signs of God all around us, particularly in our churches, yet, like the Pharisees of old, we continue to ask for more proof.

I saw Bill Johnson, of Redding California, speaking to a meeting. The clip is on You Tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96gsFuSfhuA#at=213)  “By not celebrating what God has given you, you have shown yourself unworthy of increase. So the very people who are crying out for revival have cancelled their opportunity for it because they didn’t celebrate what God had done or what He’d given them. It’s a huge deal.”

Unworthy of increase. Is that what we are? What an indictment that would be were it from the Lord Himself. And all because we didn’t acknowledge and celebrate what the Lord has given us. We already have revival in our grasp and we don’t recognise it and celebrate it giving Glory to God. Why do I say we have revival already? As surely as an acorn is an oak tree waiting to take root and grow, so any visitation of the Holy Spirit is an embryo revival. Yet we look at it and say, “This isn’t revival.” That statement is only true because of our attitude and our voice which articulated the condemnation. Just as David celebrated the return of the ark, so we need to celebrate Holy Spirit in our meetings with our praise and worship – with great joy and thanksgiving.

What will it take, I wonder, for us to acknowledge what we have in order for the Lord to release more. For he who has much, to him much more will be given. Yet for he who has little, even the little that he has will be taken away.

What We ALL Believe

What Do We Believe?

What is it that binds all Christians into a family? What is it that separates us from all the other religions? What is it that says to the world, “Jesus is different, follow Him”? The answer of course is Jesus Christ. Not just Jesus Christ, it is Jesus, and Him crucified, risen, and sitting at the right hand of God.

So what is it about Christianity that is so different? It is love. The love of God for us that was so great that He sent His only Son as the ransom, to pay the price Himself for our wrong doing so that we might go to heaven and have eternal life. It was the command to love God first and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Nowhere in scripture do we find God commanding us to hate other people or to kill anyone just because they don’t believe as we do.

Many religions say there are many ways to heaven, whatever their version of heaven may be. Christians believe that there is only ONE way to heaven. It is variously called the narrow gate and the narrow path. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 Christians believe that unless we are born again, unless we give our lives and ourselves to Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him, we will not get to heaven but we will get to hell.

So, in summary, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, He came He died He rose again from the dead – all for our wrong doings and so that we can have eternal life. In order to gain the “prize” of eternal life, we must go through Jesus Himself. We must be born again and enter into a personal relationship with Him.

All this is what binds the whole church together as one big family of God. We have a difference of flavours of course, they are called denominations, but these are the basic beliefs of all real Christians everywhere. Our faith is not in a book, or any translation of that book, it is in a person – Jesus  Christ. This all being so, let me ask you all one simple question.

If we truly believe that any non-believer will go to hell, how can we not tell them about Jesus, heaven, and eternal life?

How will we answer that question on the day of judgement? How will we account for the members of our own family who died not knowing Jesus or not knowing about Jesus?

We must maintain our obedience to the great commandment to preach the Gospel. As the Word of God says in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” The Gospel is the Power of God for salvation. Yet in thousands of churches worldwide, the Gospel is virtually never preached and virtually no-one is ever saved.

So it looks like it’s up to us – up to you and to me – to preach the Gospel to anyone or anywhere we have opportunity. Perhaps “share the Gospel” is a better way to put it as nobody like being preached at, least of all in a one to one environment. And remember, God never asks us to do something we cannot manage to do as He will always help us get the words right. He will use even our worst efforts for the good of His Kingdom.

P.S. Don’t forget the repentance bit of the Gospel – OK?

Stone Throwers

Stone Throwers

John 8:1-11 “Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.   At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

A familiar story full of Jesus’ insight and wisdom. Yet it leaves three haunting questions. Why did Jesus go to the Mount of Olives? What was He writing in the dirt on the ground? Finally, where was the man? I suppose any answer given by any preacher is bound to be a bit of surmising because we just don’t know.

I feel that the first question is easier than the other two because we do know something of Jesus’ habits. We know that He often used to go off alone for time with His Father. So it is most probable that on this occasion He did indeed go off on His own for time alone with the Father.

What was He writing? The best answer I have heard to that question is, the names of those who had sinned with this woman. This is borne out by the fact that those accusing the woman were  scribes and Pharisees, those who knew the Law. Jesus, unbeknownst to them, actually wrote the Law and in Jeremiah 17:13 He wrote, “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.” Jesus could no more go against the Law than the accusers, but by writing their names in the dust, where the evidence could be brushed away and destroyed, He reminded them of the law that they had heard so many times.

Finally, we come to the question that has so often vexed us – where was the man? The law actually said that BOTH parties to adultery were to be brought before the priests, and yet, the man was conveniently ignored here. By doing this, the Scribes and Pharisees had themselves broken the law in respect of bringing only the woman. Again, when Jesus wrote their names in the dust, He was reminding them of the laws they had broken for themselves. No wonder John had accused them of being a ‘brood of vipers’ and ‘whitewashed sepulchres’.

Warning - Stone throwers beware. Your own glass house could get damaged.

Blessings

Just how Blessed are You

Do you have reasonable HEALTH – Sight, hearing, sense of smell, your own reasonably good teeth?

Just remember that over 1 million people will die this week of one illness or another.

Health is a great blessing

If you have never had to fight a BATTLE; if you have never been tortured; if you have not been thrown into prison just for being who and what you are; if you have never suffered starvation

Just remember the millions of those who have suffered these things.

Peace and freedom are great blessings

If you can go to church FREELY and openly and if you have never suffered persecution for your beliefs

Just remember the billion or more who cannot go to church or who are persecuted for their faith

These things are a great blessing

If you have sufficient FOOD at home, and money in your pocket and some to spare

Just remember that over 90% of the world envies you

God’s provision for you and your family is a great blessing

If your parents are still MARRIED; if you can smile and do just because; if you can hug someone and bring God’s healing touch to them

Remember the billions who can’t do these things

Every day freedoms and faith are a great blessing

If you had any EDUCATION at all and can read and write

Just remember the billions who cannot do these things at all.

Education and all that goes with it is a great blessing

When we count our blessings, start with these, then add the rest. You are far more greatly blessed than you often think.

Thank you Lord \o/

21st Century Church 2

Church Outside the Church 2

We ended part one by saying this “So church now has to be outside of religion, outside any church building, and reflecting Jesus love for people. It has to be totally and completely trustworthy too. How on earth do we start that?”

First we need to attract people to us. Not to the church – they’ll never come. We need to attract them to ourselves as people. How to do that? Well, when we are new to our homes, how do we get to know our neighbours. We talk to them. We introduce ourselves, and hopefully we make friends with them. After a while we begin to feel a little bit safe with them so we might invite them round for coffee or even a meal. If that goes well, we may even get invited back again and so the potential friendship grows. We show them some love.

Some people receive love quickly and openly, while others are extremely wary and suspicious and stay ‘reclusive’ for a long time. sooner or later we may even arrive at the point where our new friends confide in us or ask us questions and we can start to proselytise a little bit. Nothing heavy – just the mention of our views and stance on God, Jesus, and the whole of the universe. Seriously, we go to church and if you’d like to come with us then we’d love to take you. An invitation and that is all.

Alternatively, if there is a problem in our friend’s life, we can offer to pray for them – maybe even with them. Again just the prayer and leave it at that until the subject arises again – as it surely will if that prayer is answered !!

The whole point of this approach is that there is no church. We are just befriending people, perhaps those previously hurt by the church, and seeking opportunity to help them or walk alongside them – to help them carry their load. Or as I blogged a week or so ago, we seek to go the extra mile with them – just because we are a friend. If church or faith or prayer is raised as a conversation starter, then we can react, but it is no use raising it again and again if people don’t want to know. They want to see our faith in action before they will ever want to talk about it. The want to see the demonstration of Holy Spirit’s power before they ask who He is. They want to see our Christian faith in action before they will ever want to know more about it.

And if they don’t ever want to know about it? This is a ploughing church we are talking about. It is a church that ploughs unbroken soil and maybe plants a few seeds. Some seeds will give fruit immediately but some will take longer and others may well harvest them. The purpose of this type of church is to listen to God, do as He asks, love the people, and show them Christianity in action. Anything over and above is either us trying too hard, expecting too much, or God’s favour upon us.

The truly amazing thing about it is that we are just like the original disciples – unqualified, inexperienced, virtually untrained and with no personal resources. Yet even as God used the originals, so He can use us too. God has always used the foolish to confound the wise. 1Cor 1:27

I am excited by the possibilities of such a “church” as this aren’t you?

©Chris Bennett May 2012

21st Century Church - 1

Church Outside the Church 1

In the 1^st Century, when the church was in its infancy, meetings were in the people’s houses. Bigger meetings were either in bigger houses or in meeting rooms or even in public places – not something you would do in England in May 2012 as, today, the temperature hasn’t yet reached 50°F or 10°C yet !! Real dedicated, purpose built “churches” didn’t really start to appear until 3^rd or even 4^th century. Today, here in England, we have a positively wonderful legacy of church buildings from every century since about 580AD when the “first” one was founded in what is now Canterbury in Kent, Southeast England.

Given the present radical decline in church attendances, perhaps it is time to return to the practices of the first church and start meeting in houses or cafés. People are sick and tired of the church saying, “Come to us, all are welcome” when anything much further from the truth is hard to imagine. There is, of course, a huge and still growing “house church” movement. This is probably the only viable church in some places around the world, like China for instance, where church building is not allowed. Here in the UK, and I suspect in America and Western Europe too, even House Church is something not seen as particularly attractive by the average man in the street. Christians have not done themselves any favours at all by becoming the same as any other part of society. We are not seen as being any different and therefore have no, as sales folk say, “what’s in it for me” factor.

So how do we attract folk to church, or more specifically, to Christianity in this day and age? If we cannot answer this question, then, quite honestly, we might as well give up and go back to church as it has always been.

First and foremost, religion can no longer have any place in 21^st century church. How do we do that considering the vast majority of today’s church is founded and based upon the denominational structure, rules, and statements of faith. Most people in the street don’t want to know anything about that – it’s all gobbledegook to them. They don’t understand and neither do they want to understand religion. All they want to hear is the answer to that one question – “What’s in it for me?” The answer “Eternal life” is not much use either as it’s an intangible thing. Your average Joe wants something to hang his hat on and say, “That’ll do me. I’ll buy that.”

Do you want to know what I think is the most valuable asset we Christians have to offer the world at the moment? Trust !! Now trust is not something any of us gives away freely. Trust has to be earned the hard way. But how can we earn public trust? By not being like the rest of the world. We keep our word. We keep our promises. We keep our counsel until it is asked for. We keep quiet in front of others. We keep secrets. We don’t gossip or spread rumours. We don’t betray any trust placed in or with us.

The next thing we do is to give love. We love people all the time. We don’t judge them or necessarily even criticise them. I have a favourite saying about a pastors job. There are three golden rules for a pastor. He must love the people. Then he must love the people some more. Then he must love the people again. Jesus told us to love one another and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Have you ever really tried that? I personally have only ever known two people who do, or who have done that.

So church now has to be outside of religion, outside any church building, and reflecting Jesus love for people. It has to be totally and completely trustworthy too. How on earth do we start that?

See the second part of this little treatise - tomorrow.

©Chris Bennett May 2012