What is a church?

This is a question that Shane and I have really been sorting through in our minds, and in the Word, for the past several months.

For example, what would the Lord have us do with our children during church?

When the Hebrews met, they included their children. It was a huge part of their culture, as well as God's instruction to them, to have their children alongside them as they studied the Torah and worshiped the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6:1-7
1"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,
2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
3 "O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7 "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Certainly, there are some wonderful childrens' programs in churches. No doubt. It's just that in many of the churches we have visited, they believe that Scripture must be dumbed down in order for children to understand it.

I don't believe that, and I don't want to be held accountable before God for changing His Word! We went to one church that took John 3:16, and cut it to "God loves you".

Wow! Ok, I agree it's important that a child knows that God loves him, but must we really cut the Gospel out of John 3:16?

These children were in kindergarten! I think with a little bit of effort on the part of the teacher, they could have understood "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life".

In fact, I know they could have because I've seen how much of the Word children can absorb when it's presented to them in an interesting way, and they have an opportunity to engage with God and His Word.

So...other questions have been pulling at us as we've looked for a church...questions like, "Does God really want our family to drive 20 - 30 minutes to a church, or would He rather us be planted in our community where He can more readily use us?".

"How much time do we have left with our children, to pour the Word into them, and build a firm foundation for the rest of their lives?".

"How can we reach out to the lost, the hurting, the poor in our neighborhood, and share the love of Yeshua with them?".

But, ultimately our question has been..."What is the model that we have of a church, from Scripture? What is the basis of a church supposed to be?".

Tune in tomorrow, and I'll tell you what we've found out....

Have a super night!
Jes

The Next Time Someone Tells Me They Have a "WORD" for Me From God...

Recently, I had the second person in a short period of time come up and tell me that they had a "word" for me from the Lord.

I remind you that in my last post about this, I shared that in the Old Testament, God was so serious about false prophets, that He required them to be killed.

It's not acceptable in His eyes for one to say that they are speaking on His behalf, when in fact, they are just speaking out of their own feelings.

He does not tolerate that!

In fact, now that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which people did not have during the times of the Old Testament, I believe that that God loves me enough that He'll speak right to my heart.

He doesn't need to tell someone else to come and tell me what He Himself is fully capable, and desirous of telling me.

In addition, I've been learning through the example of Josiah's life, that even when God spoke to Josiah through a prophet, what was spoken related right back to the book of the law. To be more specific, it was directly out of Deuteronomy.

And today, we have the full cannon of Scripture. It's complete. Lacking nothing.

So, even more so today...if God wants to speak, He will do it by pointing people back to His Holy Word.

I do believe that the gift of prophesy is still an active gift...but I believe that a true prophet only points people back to God's Word.

I don't believe that there is new revelation. Yes, it might be new to us, in that we might never have seen a truth in Scripture before..but it isn't "new" in that God just came up with it!

So, the next time someone tells me, "I have a word for you from the Lord", I'm going to say, "Super! I love hearing from God. Please tell me what book and verse it is, and I'll go home and get on my face before Him, and I'll read it"!

Chapter and verse, please...that's all I need.

Chapter and verse, please...no more, no less.

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Obeying His Call

It's interesting to me...I heard someone say the other day that they take issue with the concept of obeying God...that the word obedience is tough for them.

I feel so differently about it. Not that I'm perfect, but I sure strive to be more and more obedient to Him as I mature in my walk with God.

To me, obedience is a gift...because it implies that I have a personal enough relationship with God that He makes clear to me the things that He wants from me.

That's a huge gift...that God loves me enough to show me the things in my life that don't honor Him and have to go...and that He gives me a choice as to whether I will obey Him.

I guess it all goes back to who I was before Him. You see, I spent years living for me, and they were empty pain-filled years.

So now, when God speaks to my heart..whether through His Word or through His still soft voice, or through the words of a trusted fellow believer, I want to obey.

He revealed something huge to me the other day...and I have chosen to obey.

I was listening to a tape on leadership by Kay Arthur, my mentor and cherished friend. On it, she was talking about how temptations will come for the believer, but that through Christ, we have all we need to rise above them. She was explaining that when they come we need to go right to God about it, and draw near to Him.

As I was listening, I was thinking about how Shane and I both feel a real call on our hearts to spend the rest of our days teaching people how to study God's Word.

And, I was thinking about this verse in Scripture, from Hebrews:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So I asked myself, what is the sin that so easily entangles me? Is there one?

I mean, anyone who knows me knows that I'm vigilant about protecting my marriage and my children. I don't spend time with men without my husband present. Even with my pastor, should we meet for some reason, it's done at the library in the middle of the kids play area, with my children right there.

I'm just very careful about situations with the opposite sex. I don't want there to be any chance for entanglement...ever.

There are lots of other things that God has made clear to me through my time as a believer about how He wants me to live. And, I try very hard to obey Him in those.

But still...that day I asked myself...is there anything else? Is there a sin that would easily entangle me?

And you know...there is. God made it clear that day. I know it's not sin for everyone, but I believe that when God reveals an area of our lives that could be used by the enemy to easily entangle us...that for us, is an area that we need to avoid like sin...because it could easily become sin.

For me, it's alcohol. I'm not an alcoholic...I am clear on that. Yet, when I am in a group of people where I feel safe and relaxed, and there is alcohol there, it's too easy for me to drink too much.

What's too much? For me, for a long time, I thought it was 2 drinks.

But now, I think it's any.

It's just not worth it when I think about it compared to the race that has been set before me.

If one drink is going to put me in a position where I could possibly be filled more with drink than I am with the Holy Spirit, then I don't want anything to do with it.

And the truth is, having one just makes having two that much easier for me.

The Lord really showed me that day that He doesn't want me to have anything more to do with it.

Someone asked me, "what about at home..when it's just you and Shane...what about a glass of wine with dinner?".

My answer to that is I'm not really sure...we're so cheap that we don't buy wine to have at home that often. So, drinking a glass of wine at home with my hubby wouldn't be the sin that easily entangles me, anyway.

My best answer to that is, I'm not sure..but God is, and I trust that He'll make it clear...and as He speaks, I will obey.

Funny isn't it, how when your life isn't all about you anymore, the things you once held so tightly to just don't seem to matter in comparison to being a faithful servant to your King?

At least, that's how I see it.