What's Holding The Church Back?

In my last blog post I addressed the question to individual Christians, "What's holding your back?" As promised, in this post I will address the question, "What's holding the church back?"

As individual believers lack spiritual growth, so does the church since the church is comprised of individual believers. Therefore, it is not wrong to say it is individual Christians that are holding back the church. 

I want to look at a few things that we, as Christians do (or don't do),  that come to mind that affects the church in a great way. 

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our traditions. How many times have we said or heard, "But we've always done it this way"? Jesus told the Pharisees they've made the Word of God on non affect through their traditions. Traditions can kill a church. Traditions can suck the life right out of a church. Maybe its time to do something different!

We tend to put limits on God. Of course, we would never admit this but our actions prove it. Israel had a history of limiting God (Psalm 78:41). We limit what we allow God to do in our lives, in our families and in our churches. God desires to do so much but we, by our thoughts and our actions say "no" to God. How foolish we are  at times. 

We sometimes think we have to figure it all out. We want to live a practical "Christian" life. There is no such thing. You see, the Bible plainly tells us "Without faith it is impossible to please Him..." (Hebrews 11:6). We try to walk a spiritual journey in our own strength attempting to figure things out for ourselves. Where's the faith? If there is a lack of faith in or personal walk with the Lord that carries over to the church. There will be a lack of faith in the church. 

Maybe some are guilty of the things mentioned in my last blog post. If you are guilty of backbiting, complaining/griping, gossiping, bad language (profanity as well as negative talk), hypocrisy, causing division in the church, lack of character and integrity these things spill over into the church. It affects the church body. This needs  to stop now!

If you are guilty of these things then it is YOU that is holding the church back. What are you willing to do about it? 

If the necessary corrections are not made you may well see ICABOD - "The Glory Is Departed" written above the church doors. What a sad ending that would be. You see, it's a terrible thing to experience the loss of the glory of God. It makes you wonder how many churches have lost the glory of God, whether willingly or unknowingly. 

The same things that caused ICHABOD in Israel - sin, disobedience, idolatry - are present in many of today's churches. Christians must never take the glory of God in our midst for granted. If we do, we could very easily wake up one day and find out that ICABOD has become a reality among us.

Some have simply been playing church for far too long. You think you are a Christian when all you are is religious. Get a real relationship with Jesus.

It's time to sit up, stand up, step up, shut up (where applicable) and DO something. It's easy to sit back and complain about the church. What have you done lately to help the church? What is your life saying about the God you claim to serve as well as your church?

Some things to ponder...and fix.

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

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What's Holding You Back?

These thoughts I originally thought may be sermon. However, the Holy Spirit has led me to write it as a blogpost. I truly believe God desires us to grow in our faith. Yet some believers have little or even no spiritual growth in their lives even though many have been saved for many years. 

Therefore, the question comes to mind, What's holding you back? I believe there are any number of things holding Christians back in their spiritual growth. I want to touch on a few of these today. 

Let me preface this by saying if you find yourself in this list it is incumbent on you to do something about it. The ball is in your court. 

Let's look at some things that are holding many believers back in their spiritual lives. 

• Backbiting 
• Backbiting, by definition, is to say mean or spiteful things about a person - usually someone not present. 
• Complaining/Griping
• There are some people who are never happy no matter the circumstances. They gripe and complain about every situation or even other people. They don't do anything about what they are griping and complaining about - they just gripe and complain which tends to stir up strife. They are part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution
• Gossiping 
• Gossiping is habitually revealing personal, intimate or sensational facts about others. How many times have you said something to the effect "You didn't hear this from me but..." and then to go on to share a nice juicy tidbit of gossip - that may or may not be entirely true. Sometimes we even embellish the information to make it even more "juicy". 
• Language 
• This not only includes profanity but all the negative  and hypocritical talk that comes from one's mouth. As Christians we are supposed to be different from the world. 
• Hypocrisy 
• The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior doesn't conform. In a nutshell, to say one thing while doing another. To be a pretender.
• Causing Divisions 
• People who cause people to take sides against one another. This oftentimes turns very bitter. There is much in the Bible about those who cause divisions. 

Again, if you see yourself in any of these things you can change all this. As the old hymn says, "Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right". Do you want to make things right? Do you want to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem? Have that little talk with Jesus. Confess the areas that have affected you and ask Him to change you. Be sure to do your part. You will notice a huge difference in your life. 

My next blogpost will deal with "What's Holding The Church Back?" 

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

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IT'S A NEW YEAR

It's a new year but God's the same God! Praise God for His consistency. Even when our lives are up and down God remains stedfast, consistent and sure.

Many are glad to have 2018 behind them for any number of reasons. I encourage you to look forward to 2019 with a great anticipation of what God has in store for you. 

As for Cindy and I, we are excited about what God has laid out before us. 2018 was the busiest year we've ever had for New Jerusalem Singers. We praise God for all the doors He opened for us. We never take any opportunity to minister for Him for granted. 
We are approaching 2019 with great excitement. We anticipate even greater things. Doors are already opening up for us in our singing ministry. I will begin blogging again. I plan on doing "Something To Ponder" from time to time on Facebook.  I will start "tweeting". We are looking forward to encouraging God's people wherever they are and wherever they gather. 

2019 also brings a change in that I will be leaving the pastorate to pursue the calling God has placed on our lives. Just as sure as we know God brought us to the church, we are equally sure He is leading us out of the pastorate. We have no regrets as we know we have accomplished what God has called us to do while we have been here. We love our church family and are looking forward to seeing whom God calls to lead this congregation forward. 

We hope to see many of our friends and family as we travel the state lifting up Jesus. 

May God bless you and your 2019!

Enjoy the journey!

Ray

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DOES ANYONE GO TO HELL?

Does anybody go to hell any more? Interesting question, huh?

It seems every funeral I go to the deceased is said to be in heaven or at the very least in "a better place". It doesn't matter how much they snubbed their noses at God and the things of God, they are in heaven.

Here's a newsflash - NOT EVERYONE WHO DIES WILL GO TO HEAVEN! I wish things were different but that's the reality. We are given a free will and with that free will we choose whether or not we have a relationship with God.

Let's look at the words of Jesus, Himself, shall we?

Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23 "Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it....Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophecy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me you lawbreakers" (literally - you who work lawlessness).

Wow!  These are some pretty stern words from Jesus, Himself. He got straight to the point. There are a lot of religious people doing a lot of religious things, even invoking the name of Jesus. Yet He doesn't know them. That is, He has no personal relationship with them.  Without that relationship with Jesus, it doesn't matter how many good things you do or who you do them for. It doesn't matter how many sermons you preach (yes, there are without a doubt "preachers" who are not saved), how many lessons you teach or how much money you give. If haven't been through the blood of Jesus you are lost and bound for hell.

Of course, its always possible that the deceased could have had a death bed repentance and given their life to Jesus. Who am I to question that. That is between them and God.  Only eternity will reveal these things.

I encourage you today, don't wait until its too late to give your life to Jesus. Don't allow the "preacher" to lie at your funeral. Make certain you have received Jesus as your Savior and then make Him your Lord and follow after Him.

You see, hell is real. Hell is hot. Hell is for all eternity for those who don't know Jesus.

There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun!

Until next time...enjoy the journey.

Ray

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I LOVE MY CHURCH FAMILY!

I love my church family.  I enjoy spending time with them.  We actually enjoy spending time with one another. We enjoy our times of fellowship. I say that from the depths of my heart.

My church  family is a very diverse group of people.  They range from people my age (mid 50's) to people in their 80's. We come from different backgrounds and have had different upbringings. Most are retired but some still work.  They have varying talents and abilities from singing, teaching, cleaning, mowing the church yard, taking care of maintenance issues, changing light bulbs, working in the kitchen, planning, praying and really whatever else needs to be done.

Some have funny personalities, some are serious most of the time. Some can sometimes pull a prank on you. Some have a very dry sense of humor. Some it's hard to tell, by their facial expression, if they are joking or not.

We come in various shapes and sizes from tall to short, from skinny to, well, uh....let's say not so skinny. (I fall under that category).

The one thing we have in common - the one common denominator we have is JESUS! If it weren't for Jesus most of us wouldn't be around each other. In fact, most of us wouldn't even know each other. You see, we are family. The blood of Jesus makes us family. I like that old chorus:

Oh, yes, Oh, yes, I'm a child of the King,

His royal blood now flows through my veins;

And I who was wretched and poor now can sing,

Praise God! Praise God! I'm a child of the King!

Because we are blood bought born again children of God, because we are joint-heirs with Jesus, it causes us to love one another! Are we perfect? Not at all.  Not a one of us is perfect, especially me. You see, I'm one of those Christians who knows and freely acknowledges I NEED JESUS! I need Him every day and every hour. We're not perfect, just forgiven.

When our church family gathers together, we laugh, we share, we enjoy the presence of Jesus, we hear the Word and hopefully, we leave with a nugget to chew on until our next encounter.

By the way, we don't only gather in a church building. We may share some fellowship in someone's home, we may share fellowship around a meal in a restaurant. You certainly don't have to be in a building to have fellowship with the family of God.

I trust you love your church family, as well. Spend time with them. Get to know them. After all, if they are born again, blood bought children of God they are going to spend eternity in heaven.

For those in my church family - you think I'm loud down here...you ain't seen nothing yet!

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

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HOW FAITHFUL ARE YOU?

What if God was as faithful to you as you are to Him? Have you ever given that any thought? Faithfulness is important in every area of our lives and in every relationship of our lives.

If you love someone you like to spend time with them. You spend time in conversation with one another. You spend time sharing things with one another. You enjoy each other's company. You are faithful in your relationship with that individual.

So it is with God. If you love Him, you will want to spend time with Him. How do we do that? Well, we can spend time in His Word, we can pray, we can meditate on His Word. He often speaks through songs or music. We can even spend time with His people. We can gather with our brothers and sisters for the ministry of His Word. God speaks to us through all of these areas.

Think about this - Jesus was faithful to us all the way to the cross! He was faithful with unconditional love for each of us. That love took Him to the cross. It wasn't a pretty sight. He suffered unthinkable torture. He did that for you and me. The leaders of the day thought they took His life, but the fact of the matter is Jesus voluntarily laid down His life for you and me. He was faithful to each of us. 

I, for one, acknowledge I didn't deserve the faithfulness and sacrifice Jesus showed toward me. Then grace entered the picture.  Thank God for grace - His Grace! Grace is God's unmerited favor. That is, God giving me what I don't deserve. I didn't deserve it, but I sure am thankful for it. Again, God was faithful to me in providing His grace. He has been faithful to each of us.

The reality is, God has been much more faithful to each of us than we have been to Him. What if the roles were reversed? What if God showed the same faithfulness to you and me as we have showed to Him? What if He showed the same degree of faithfulness to us as we show to Him in our lives right now? Is that a disturbing thought? If so, what are you going to do about it?

Let's be faithful to the One who has been most faithful to us! He deserves it. We owe it to Him. If we are Christians, we have been redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus.

Jesus gave His life for us. We ought to live our lives for Him. We have been called to present ourselves as a "living sacrifice...which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). Let's do! Let's live for Jesus! Let's give it all we have. If we have a God worth serving, He' worth serving wholeheartedly!

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

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ENCOURAGE SOMEONE TODAY

I want to take a moment to encourage everyone to be an encourager to someone else. You never know who God might send across your path and what that person may be facing in their life at this particular time.

I have a good friend I have known for somewhere around twenty years. He lives in another state so we don't have the opportunity to see or spend time with each other often.  Most recently, it had been some three years since he and his wife and Cindy and I were able to spend any time together and then it was a brief time. The neat thing about this is that even after three years without seeing each other and very few phone calls, when we were together it was as if we had just seen each other the day before. We had the joy of spending several hours of several days with them last week. It was wonderful fellowship. Of course, there was eating involved. Eating is always a big thing on my agenda!  Ha. Ha.

This trip was a spur of the moment trip. It was nothing we had planned even a few short weeks ago. However, the time was right, everything fell into place and they were going to be home so we planned his trip in a matter of days. Guess what? God was in this trip! I love it when God puts things together!

We were able to sit and visit and he shared with us some things he and his wife were recently discussing in regards to expanding the ministry God has given them.  One involved needing a piece of equipment for his radio broadcasts. As it turned out, we had the exact equipment he needed. I purchased this a few years ago and have never used it. As it turns out, it wouldn't work for what I was hoping to use it for.  I was able to pass this piece of equipment on to him for use in the ministry. Is that God or what?

In addition to that, he mentioned some other things he desired to do but had no idea how to go about doing it. Cindy had the knowledge to do that and to help instruct them on what to do and how to do it. So now, this brother not only has the equipment he was praying about for his radio broadcasts, he now has a website along with a You Tube channel.

The next thing was obtaining a video camera for him to use to upload videos to You Tube that he wants to record. We put the word out on Facebook and before we returned from that trip my brother-in-law replied that he had a video camera that he would donate.

My friend was so excited he made arrangements to come up to our place Saturday afternoon to pick up everything. He was amazed and thrilled to see how God had met his needs. Again, I absolutely love how God does this!

He and his wife stayed over and I asked them to sing Sunday morning at church and he preached, as well.

I said all that to say this, God used us to be an encouragement to him and his wife. It reignited a fire in him. He is excited and can't wait to get to work.  We stand ready to encourage him and offer support to him in any way.

Another thing happened as a result of this trip. It reignited something in me, as well. I haven't been blogging much.  That's going to change. I have completely revamped my personal website that the Lord led be to set up back in 2012. I am in the process of updating it. I have felt led to start a podcast for a number of years but up to this point I have not yet done so. That is going to change. I will be looking in to information on how to do that. I will be setting up a personal You Tube channel that will not only have preaching on it, but will include other things such as interviews along with other thoughts and teachings that I have.
This is a new day. We must be about our Father's business.  Stay tuned!

Until next time...enjoy the journey!

Ray

Thanks for taking your time to read and share this blog. If you know of someone who would be encouraged by this blog, please feel free to forward a link or use the icons below to repost this blog.