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Broken Reflections

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We are beginning a new sermon series on Sunday called “Broken” and my Bible reading this morning was from the book of Jeremiah. In Chapter 51 the prophet retells of how the city of Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon and the temple of Solomon was destroyed by the Commander of the Armies of Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:13

He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings[h] in the city.

This is the epitome of Broken; the hub and center of the Jewish faith was now destroyed. The place were “religion” was practiced had been taken away from the people of God. What were they to do now? As we learn in other places in scripture, the people of God learned to worship God in a new way and their worship of God was based on faith not religious practices. Turning to the book of Hebrew, the writer of that book looks back at the temple system and comments,

Hebrews 9:9

This is an example for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect.10 These gifts and sacrifices were only about food and drink and special washings. They were rules for the body, to be followed until the time of God’s new way.

The Hebrew writer is saying that the sacrificial system is broken! It was always broken! Why do we cling to the things in our life which God has said are broken! Our biggest problem as Christians is that we cannot cling to the one thing that is not broken and will never be and that is the person of Jesus Christ! We place all of our hope and trust in things that ultimately will not last.

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen.

Broken

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Beginning this Sunday we will be starting a new series called, “Broken.” We will be looking at our finances, our relationships, our sex lives, and our human condition and if they are not grounded in the person of Jesus than they are broken. Here is the promo video for the series:

Monday Morning Reflections

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Yesterday we finished our “Zombies” series with me preaching a message I called “Faking Church.” My big idea was that “when our reputation does not match with reality there is a disconnect.” The message was about hypocrisy and how we must repent of it and make adjustments to our lives so that our reputation as the body of Christ can be restored in the minds of the unchurched. This was a message preached as much to myself as it was to the masses. I know that I am not perfect and I have blown it on my levels but I am covered by the grace of God and I need more of God in my life every day. In this spirit, I am asking my readers for their feedback:

Is hypocrisy a problem in your life or church? How are you dealing with it? Do you think that it is important that we deal with it as pastors and church leaders?

Of Gas Shortages and Busted Bailouts

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I usually shy away from blogging about politics but this is just to big to ignore. I can’t believe that our leaders in Washington can’t find a way to come together and agree on a plan to help out our troubled economy! In many ways the mess that we find ourselves in is a result of their failures over the last few years. Therefore it should be incumbent on them to fix the mess that they have made. There is plenty of blame to go around and the talking heads and spending the morning doing that. The mark of a leader is to admit your mistake, avoid blaming others, and set into the fray and do something about it. I just hope there is a leader left in Washington who will head my advice.

As for the gas shortage….it is a joke and completely ridiculous! Yesterday I saw cars waiting at a local Racetrac station for the gas that the tanker truck was just delivering. You would think that they (our state government in Georgia) would have anticipated this problem knowing full well that all of our gas comes from the gulf region and stepped up their efforts to get extra gas flowing into the state! Nope did not happen! Our Governor last week finally realized that it might be a good idea to drop some of the restrictions on the type of gas that we can use in GA so that more gas can be available. Stay tuned on this front…Georgia and North Carolina are the only states that are feeling the shortage and it is becoming a major pain in the you know where!

Partnership

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At Velocity we do not have been members but we will have partners. Why the change in language and understanding? The church has lost the understanding of what it means to be committed to a local church and to the universal church. God is looking for people who will partner with him by identifying with a local church body while also identifying with the universal body of Christ. I believe that Paul understood this idea when he wrote in Phil 1:4-6, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Partnership is a new concept in many churches and most are having to take the time necessary to explain what it means to their people. When the time is right, we at Velocity will also take the time to explain the concept of partnership to our people. I pray now that when that time comes the people that God has called to be apart of Velocity will become “partners with the Gospel” like others have done in the past and many are doing now in the future.

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Discussion: Is your church using the concept of partnership instead of membership? How is it working? How are you teaching this concept? Are you using different levels of partnership? How do you determine this?

Potty Mouth

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Ephesians 4:29

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

When I was in college I can remember having a “roommate meeting” with the guys that I shared an apartment with and one of them (could of been me but memory is a little foggy) brought this verse up as we talked about some things that were bothering all of us. Since that time this verse has always stuck with me as one of those pet verses that we like to bring up when people says things to us that challenge or rebuke us. So what was Paul saying in this verse?

I believe that we need to use words that build each other up and not intentionally tear each other down. I can remember that their was a time in my life when I enjoyed making fun of others and saying things to people that were mean-spirited. The funny thing is that the older that we get in the faith we still continue to speak to and about others in the same way mean-spirited way but we have learned to “cover” ourselves with spiritual sounding language and intent.

I know that we all can be challenged by this verse as Paul wrote earlier in this chapter,

“17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Amen!