Who's in charge here?

I have been having an ongoing debate with a gentleman I met over Twitter about Scripture. He is Roman Catholic and believes that "The Bible cannot declare itself to be the inspired Word of God. An outside authority must do it. That authority is the Catholic Church." (That is a direct quote from one of our online dialogues.)

I shared with him that even though he may say that the Bible cannot declare itself to be the inspired Word of God, that is exactly what the Bible does do. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul affirms that all Scripture is inspired (literally "God-breathed"). And Peter insisted in 2 Peter 1:21 the prophets did not originate their own private predictions, but wrote as "they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

You see, the fundamental difference between my Roman Catholic friend and myself is this. I believe that the Word of God is inspired, infallible and authoritative by itself. He believes the Word of God is also inspired, infallible and authoritative only because the Roman Catholic Church has said so.

My question would be this: Where does parental authority come from? Is there authority inherent with simply being a parent or does an outside source (like the state) say you have the authority to be a parent? (Unfortunately such an idea isn't that far from reality.)

A parent has authority as a parent because he or she is a parent. Now there are some cases where the state has stepped in and declared a person to be unfit to be a parent. But by and large, parental authority is derived from the state of parenthood, and not the state.

Similarly, the Word of God, validated by signs and wonders and miracles, can claim with no help from an outside source, that it is divinely inspired. There have been occasions in the past where the church stepped in and helped to determine if a book should be in the canon or not based on historical merit. But Scripture is inspired with out the help of the Catholic Church.

The Bible's authority, reliability, authenticity and validity is in no need of support from a religious tradition that subverts the nature of the message of the Gospel by telling men that they can be saved by good works. The epitome of heresy, in my humble opinion, is to think that we can do anything at all to add to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to atone for the sin of mankind.

I trust in the infallible Word of God, not because the Catholic Church has deemed it to be okay (by the way, the Catholic Tradition has upheld the validity of works that have no historical merit as the Word of God with their acceptance of the apocrypha) but because the Word of God has told me it is inspired from God.

Ministry has changed...

Ministry has undergone lots of change in recent years. Some things are never going to change. Like helping people learn to love and live for God. That is at the heart and core of ministry.

But how that gets accomplished has changed. It used to be that a minister would simply be able to go to someone's home, knock on the door, be invited in and be able to talk to that person (or people) about the Lord. Nowadays, if you tried that, you are most likely a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon and you aren't received too kindly.

We live in the era of Facebook, Twitter and emails. Life seems more techno-centric than it was 30 years ago. People have come to rely on computers and mobile devices.

I have found that ministering in this era can be a challenge but you can still accomplish the same goal of helping people learn to love and live for God but you have to embrace new methods.

Using my account on Facebook I have been able to keep up with those that I minister to as well as encourage them in their walk with the Lord. On Facebook, I created a group on Facebook for our church members who are on Facebook to have another place of connection. Click HERE to see our church's Facebook Group Page.

From that group page, I have created special "events" that help promote and advertise various activities and sermon series we have at The Fort. I have also incorporated Twitter into this at another level of fostering more communication and connection with our church body online. We have a Twitter feed on the home page of our web site that we update to broadcast special announcements or updates.

All of these are tools. Some might argue that it contributes to the increasing isolationist direction of our culture, but I would say that we are building community on many levels. Not everyone is online. But many are.

We want to be a church that embraces all the methods we can to help people become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. We want to help people get into the Word of God.

Recently a woman was publicly executed in North Korea. Her crime? Distributing Bibles. It is noteworthy that a book most Americans take for granted and rarely read was worthy of death in a far corner of the world.

Anything I can do to get people more invested in reading the Word of God I will do!

Need some more remembrance and do...

I have been thinking about something lately. I've been wondering about why it is that we seem to not be growing numerically in the way that I would like. I believe that it's got to happen. For the ultra-spiritual person who says that spiritual growth is more important than numerical growth...I say, "You're missing the point."

If you grow spiritually, you will grow numerically. You can't separate the two. But it is possible to grow numerically and not grow spiritually. So what is the answer?

I proposed something to a few in leadership that I think is one of the keys in this. In James 1:22-25 I see a three-fold principle outlined.

#1) We need to intently HEAR God's Word.

Now I think we are doing this first step well. Not to pat myself on the back, but I know I am preaching the truth and handling God's Word correctly. I know I am preaching the Word with all my heart! So this one we are doing. We are intently hearing the Word proclaimed.

#2) We need to REMEMBER what it says.

This is the beginning of our problem. People come to church each week and listen to the sermons and walk out and by the time they have gotten into their cars, they've already forgotten what they have heard. We need to help people have a more concrete experience than this.

We need to help them "Not Forget" what they have heard. I think there are ways of accomplishing this.

#3) We need to DO what it says.

This is definitely another area of failure for us. We are not DOING the Word of God. We are simply hearers at this point, in my opinion. I think we can DO much better.

So I am intentionally going to be focusing on these two latter steps with every sermon that I preach from now on. I am going to be giving out "homework" and having little exercises to accomplish each week, so that retention is increased and the probability of application is raised as well.

I believe it has got to become an intentional act on my part to help people along in these last two steps. Now, having said that, I can't hold everyone's hand either. People are going to have to learn to do some of this on their own.

I just think part of the answer of our growth issue is that we focus largely on helping people hear the message, but not necessarily helping them remember it or do it. I want that to change. I want to work on all three areas...Hearing, Remembering and Doing.

My Encounter Journey (Day 7)

As with any time that I have focused on getting into the Word, I have experienced both good and bad this week. The good comes from sensing God's Presence with much more clarity in my life. The bad comes from Satan stepping up his attacks in my life because I have been in the Word.

I really do desire to crave God's Word. I am being honest in saying that I don't currently. I want to. But for me, many more times than not, it is a textbook or a workbook. I want it to be my oxygen. My life flow.

This coming week's focus is on prayer. I have practiced my sermon several times and feel good about it. I don't have the strongest prayer life either. I desire that as well (a better prayer life).

One of the things I do with my sons is snake hunt. Part of that experience is something we call "flipping". Flipping is when you turn over rocks and logs to see what is lying under them. I feel like that is what this encounter experience is for me. Flipping.

Except God is doing the flipping in my life. He is turning over the things that need to be turned over because there are dangerous areas hidden from sight. And I want Him to do that. I want to be flipped over.

"Heavenly Father, as this new week dawns, help me to stay in your Word. Help me to crave it, to desire it. Help me to continue feasting on it. Help me to be a better man of prayer. Thank you for all the flipping going on in my life right now. In Jesus' Name."

My Encounter Journey (Day 5)

Today's Scriptures are Isaiah 55:6-12.

In having recent conversations with my natural father (he called me last night again) I have been struggling with what parts of my faith do I let come through? He knows I am a pastor. But we haven't really broached to topic of faith yet. He has cussed a couple of times while we've talked...not a big deal to me because he's not a Christian and that's what non-Christians do (they cuss...I think they take classes in it or something). So I'm not bothered by that.

But being that our relationship is really just beginning, I want to start it out on the right foot and not have it be awkward or odd that I would talk about the Bible and my faith with him.

But then, you think, What kind of Bible passage would be appropriate? I don't know. I just don't want the weirdness that I currently feel when we are near the subject to pervade the rest of the relationship.

Funny thing in that passage that I read today. God said that His word will never return to Him empty. Obviously His Word is a lot more obedient than His children because we would more often than not show back empty-handed. And then we would act surprised at God's disappointment.

But His Word always is able to accomplish something. That is helpful to me. Some time ago I began to change the way I thought about my sermons. Not every sermon I preach is a home run (believe it or not). But I have taken comfort in knowing that as long as I am sticking with Scripture, every sermon (no matter how well structured or delivered) does some good.

It's like breakfast. Sometimes it is bland. Just a bowl of bran flakes and cold milk. Sometimes it is amazing. It is a buffet of replenishing eggs and bacon and sausage and biscuits. Definitely the two breakfasts are in different leagues, but the accomplish the same purpose. They nourish your body.

We might not get overly amazed every time we read out of God's Word. We may even share a verse and it seems that it made little or not impact at all...but God promises that it always does what He intends. It nourishes. It fills up empty souls. It refuels the weary.

God's Word is so incredibly valuable. I want to move beyond my fears about talking about it with my father and just bring it up in our conversation with how God's Word helps me each day. I am going to trust that God will do the rest.

"Heavenly Father, I need your help and wisdom. I need you to enable me to speak boldly without fear of the effect upon the new relationship that you orchestrated. Give me tact and clarity. Give me the right opportunity. Season my weak words with Yours. I pray for my earthly father, Lord. Help me to learn to love him. Help me to see him as your lost child. In Jesus' Name."

My Encounter Journey (Day 3)

Today's Scriptures are Luke 24:1-33. This is the account of the resurrection of Christ and the two who were on the road to Emmaus and then Jesus covertly appeared to them without their knowing it was him. The coolest part for me is when Jesus begins to teach them the Scriptures in verse 27...it says that he began with Moses and all the prophets and taught them what the Scriptures say about Himself.

Can you imagine what that would be like to have a Bible Study with Jesus? I wonder if Jesus knew how to parse verbs and participles in Greek? I wonder if He pointed out what the "original words" meant as He taught?

Or I wonder if He simply taught from His heart on how God's Word was fulfilled and what that meant for them that day. I don't think Jesus got overly complicated, to be honest, but I don't know that for sure. It's just a hunch.

He was kind of like that when He taught. What's the greatest command? Love God. Oh yeah, love people too.

That's it. Not real tough stuff. No foraging through the woods of the original language. Just simple stuff for real people.

And the best part is how that simple teaching impacted people. For the two on the road to Emmaus it says that their hearts burned within them while Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. That's what I want. I want my heart to burn within me when I am in His Word. Because Jesus is there opening up His Word to me when I read it and spend time in it. He is sharing insights with me. And I desire to have that burning within (and I ain't talking about heartburn).

"Jesus, help me to know you more. Help me to fall in love with your Words. Teach me. Reveal to me the gems that Scripture contains. Help me to have a burning passion for knowing you through your Word. In your name."