No regrets? Are you kidding?

  

     Ever heard someone say "I have no regrets".  That to me sounds like a person who lived a very tame, very boring life. Went no where, did nothing. Over burdended with pride.  That sounds like someone hit with a stupid stick who never recovered. I have lots of regrets.  I regret not having more kids so I could have more grand-kids.  I regret not being twice as loving towards my kids and wife.  I regret not doing ten times more for God than I did.  I regret not making more friends and even more, regret not keeping them.  I regret not being more loving to others around me. I regret missing the will of God far too many times but greatly appreciate His acceptance and forgiveness.  I regret being stubborn and prideful far too often.  I regret at having failed at times to accomplish what I know God wanted and so thankful He gives second, third, ect., etc., other chances.  I regret having to battle my flesh in some of the same areas for so many years. And yes, I regret my sins, trespasses, iniquity, guile and being short of the original glory of God.  But, so thankful He saved me, forgive me, plucked me out of the miry clay and put my feet on the Rock.  I regret not walking in a greater lever of God's wisdom, which I could have done, had I surrendered my pride.  I regret not kicking the devil in the teeth more often.  I regret not learning to drink to overflowing of the Holy Ghost earlier in my life.  I regret taking so long to discover the supernatural joy of the Holy Ghost.  My, oh my, would that have made a difference. (Less regrets for sure).   Regrets?  Oh, yeah!   I have them.

    To me, people with no regrets also have no consciousness of how wonderful God's grace, forgiveness and long-suffering happens to be. People with no regrets, I guess, never look back and think "I wish I had done differently".  To me that sounds like they went through life and really learned nothing much. That reminds me of the horses that race with blinders on.  Do you realize how much that horses missing seeing?  He just sees the dirt path in front of him and nothing else. Just goes in circles.  How boring would that be? I have found life is not one consistent blind walk down a smooth path like that horse.  It is walking, with a little running, with a jump here and there, a misstep here, a wrong turn there, an obstacle or two there, one you jumped and the other you had to fight your way through.  Life is lived taking what comes at you, sometimes throwing a right hook when you should have thrown a left. It is standing when you should have run and running when you should have stood. And, sometimes it is actually getting things right. But, it is always going on, learning, living, laughing and loving.

   Now, there are some things I don't regret.  I don't regret tricking the greatest woman on God's green earth to marry me.  No regrets!  I don't regret having three kids and my grand-kids who I love more than life.  No regrets!  And for sure, I don't regret a trip to the altar as an eight year old boy, asking God to save me.  I sure don't regret the opportunity to serve the Lord in so many, many ways, for sixty two years now and with a million or two, etc.,  yet to go.  I don't regret getting baptized with the Holy Ghost setting off on a lifetime of companionship and learning with Him.  No regrets!

The "Bigger is better" philosphy

     

    "I'd rather do a little right than a lot wrong".  That was the wisdom of days gone by, wisdom lost to this generation.  Nowhere is this more painful to watch than in the church world. It seems we have adopted "bigger is better" philosophy completely.  It doesn't matter that we do things well, we just do a lot of whatever we do.  Our vision is "big", our quality is suspect.  With this philosophy, an artist doesn't just paint one great picture, he paint twenty bad ones and feels successful because of numbers.  This philosophy is the end of artistic greatness, quality manufacturing, and even successful church or Christianity.

   Want a painful example?  The command to "go ye" that we evangelical and Pentecostals just love, was actually not a command to go win lost souls. It was a command to go ye and make disciples. In the church world, this misreading of the command has become our "great commission".  "Win the lost at any cost"  Of course, you have to win a soul in order to make a disciple and that we should do with fervor, but that isn't the command.  The command is to make disciples. That is where church and leadership are supposed to invest themselves. They are to bring believers to maturity, to make disciples. Today, leaders seem more concerned with just getting the sheep into the building. And, the discipling that does get done seems to be to just teach the same philosophy.  Go ye and collect people! 

  I once made this statement "I would rather pastor ten people in a shack who have been taught to love God, to know God, and live pleasing to Him than ten thousand in a mega church who don't love God, don't know their God and live as they want to live".  Some thought that was a crazy idea.  They thought just getting a lot of people in the church, by whatever means, was a better measure of success.   This points out a classic error of religion: to do, without knowing why you do.  This error has swept across the church for many, many generations greatly affecting the shape of what we now are as a corporate body.  We win souls without knowing why, we sing without knowing why, we build without knowing why, etc. The eyes of our understanding remain closed and so, we just do what we do and do a lot of it. 

   What if you get a lot of people saved, or in the building at least, and never teach a one to worship?  God's purpose in saving us was not just so we could escape hell, but that we would worship Him. "God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth".  Of course, we will miss hell if we are saved, but that isn't why God saved us. This salvation plan isn't based on His pity.  It is not merely a rescue effort. God's salvation plan is based on His love for us and desire to be loved by us.  So, what if you have ten thousand who don't, won't, can't worship God "in spirit and in truth"?   Will God say "Well done"?   What if you get a sinner saved, dress him up, teach him to say "Amen" but he still sins at will?  What have you done, really?  Will God say "well done"?

    I remember a famous evangelist, ejected from his denomination because he came into deliverance and Holy Ghost baptism saying something he discovered as a result, "The church is full of the meanest people on earth".  If that be true, and sometimes it seems that way, it is because we have collected lots of heads and no hearts.  We have failed at discipleship, the great "go ye" command.  Most of the church messes you can put your finger on, at the heart of the problem is that we have substituted quantity for quality.  Discipleship is not story telling, it is not exciting people with the daring adventurous stories of the Old Testament.  It is say "this is the way, walk in it".

I could change the world - part 2

  

   I could change the world if I could get Christians to embrace Christianity as God presents it in the New Testament, book of Acts.  That book describes the birth of the redeemed church.  It describes the Gentiles being drawn into relationship with God, such as Abraham had and having been given the Holy Ghost.  Consider a few things they knew well which we (church in general) don't seem to know.

1.  The knew Jesus went away but sent another Comforter who was just as real as was Jesus.  They embraced the Comforter, they knew the Comforter.  We don't. 

2. They knew that to embrace and relate to this new Comforter required being baptized, saturated and filled to overflowing.  We don't.

3.  They knew that to receive or experience the Spirit they had to drink (experience).  They knew they were made to drink.  They knew that was how the Spirit was presented.  We don't.

4.  They knew they were spirit beings and that their spirit was empowered by The Spirit.   They knew they were filled with the dynamite (dunamis) power of God and the authority (exousia) to use the power.  They knew the Greater One lived in them.  We don't.

5.  They knew that Holy Ghost baptism was the seal of all God's promises.  We don't.

6.  They knew that the Holy Ghost was the earnest, the down-payment, the security deposit of all that God has in store for us.  We don't.

7. They knew that Holy Ghost baptism and every subsequent touch of the supernatural Spirit made them witnesses of the resurrected Lord.  We don't.

8.  They knew that the Kingdom of God was to be found in the Holy Ghost, not in education or religious activities.  They knew they were to seek that Kingdom. We don't.

9.  They knew that the way to defeat sin and the flesh was to walk in fellowship with the Spirit.  We don't.

10.  They knew that by being filled with The Spirit, they could talk directly out of their spirit to God.  We don't.

11. They knew that to mind the things of the Spirit made them a friend of God but to mind the things of the flesh (natural mind) put them at enmity with God.  We don't.

12.  They knew that to embrace the Spirit put them in a new covenant with God causing a vail to be lifted off their eyes and allowing the glory of God to be renewed.  We don't.

  If we knew what they knew we could have and be what they were.  The recipe is the same in God's plan.  The product would be Christianity as seen in the book of Acts. And, that would change the church and that would change the world.

  

I Could Change The World

   If I could convince the church that they should approach God with singing, with joy on their head and in so doing, would obtain gladness and joy which would make sadness and sorrow flee away, (depression), it would change the world.  This is how God says the redeemed are to live and approach him, Is. 51:11.

   If I could convince the church, when persecuted, to rejoice and leap for joy, the rewards of God would increase dramatically.  That would change the world. This is what Jesus said,  Lk. 6:23 

   If I could convince the church to have a merry heart, it would do good like a medicine.  Merry hearts would release the healing power of God across the church and the world in greater measure and that would change the world. This is what the Bible says, Prv. 17:22.

   If I could convince the church to have merry heart, it would make us all look better and that would change the world, so the Bible says, Prv. 15:13

   If I could convince the church to have a merry heart, we would have a continual feast so the provision of God would be released at a greater level, so the Bible says, (Prv.15:15).

   If I could convince the church to step into the joy of the Lord, it would step into the strength of the Lord.  A more powerful church would arise, walking in the strength of the Lord and that would change the world.  The joy of the Lord is our strength, so the Bible says, (Neh. 8:10).

  If I could convince the world to look for the "fullness of joy" when seeking the presence of God, they would more likely find it and the rewards would increase dramatically. His presence is marked by fulness of joy. That is how you know you are where you think you are in relation to His presence, so the Bible says, Ps.16:11, Acts 2:28.

   If we were to walk in joy, we would begin to look like the church portrayed in the New Testament and that would change the world.  The Bible says God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise. Isn't it sad, but curious, we go for the wise and ignore the foolish?