8/13/2011

A Solid Godly Church: Hierarchy Fundamentals

Last time I discussed what a spiritual leader should reflect in a church that’s worth joining. Now, since it take more than a good leader to make a church go (Collective Body, 1 Corinthians 12), I want to take a look at the church “hierarchy” , or the power structure. WARNING: The Scripture will largely be similar. The structure of the church “hierarchy” should:

1) Also not be into a whole bunch of titles (Matthew 6:5).
2) And if they have the title, they look at it as a calling and not an entitlement…and their walk reflects that (1 Timothy 3).
3) Whatever their field within the church, only derive what they do from the Word of God…in other words, it’s all Kingdom-driven (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
4) Will accept you as you are, while at the same time, uplift you so that you reach the fullness of your potential…and check on you to make sure you’re pushing toward that mark (Ephesians 4:25-32).
5) Make you feel at home, like family. I’m not saying that you make every member of your congregation your brother or sister, but I AM saying that you should make every member of your congregation your brother or sister, and they should accept the same with you.
6) All be solely focused along with the leader of the church to be the church that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against…and have a singular direction in their teachings in whatever field they are in (Matthew 16:18)
7) Have “senior level” members that have been walking with God long enough so that you don’t have to go to the pastor in order to get good growth nuggets (Proverbs 27:17). The pastor should not be the only person in the church with an iron sword. There should be a variety of swords in the church, all going back to the Truth of the Spirit, the Word of God (Ephesians 6:20).
7a) There should be a general church nucleus with Supernatural intellect-ability to navigate the invisible arena on all levels and know the nature of temptation and spiritual warfare (1 Corinthians 10:13/2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
8) Happy with you so long as you are pressing toward the mark to answer the call God put you here for, helping you cultivate that no matter where it physically lands you (Matthew 28:18/Philippians 3:10-17).

8/11/2011

A Quick Spiritual Nugget...with some Special Sauce: Why is Phi 4:8 as important as Phi 4:6-7?

You know that Philippians 4 is nigh commercialized in different tidbits...bumper stickers, pictures, paintings, Tim Tebow's face...well Tim Tebow, who put Phi 4:13 on his face during a college game (over the tape under his eyes) and beat the other team, may be inclined to tell you that that whole chapter works together. Phi 4:13, and also Phi 4:6-7 are nigh commercialized, but what about Phi 4:8?

Alright, so the short answer is "It's in the Bible like everything else that's sacred for teaching and reproof (2 Tim 3:16-17).

However, let me tell you why Phi 4:8 works as scaffolding for both previous verses:



Phi 4:6-7 (AMP): Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Phi 4:13 (AMP): I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am]self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

Am I the only one who is fired up now? I hope not.

Take a look at these verses. I used to AMP to get some extra emphasis on the verses. Look at the bolded parts. God's Peace builds a fort around our minds and hearts in Christ Jesus, who also empowers us to be self-sufficient in his sufficient.

Well, think about it from the other verses in the epistles
"My grace is made perfect in weakness"-2 Cor 12:9
The fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23)
"We must take thoughts captive to obey Christ" 2 Cor 10:3-6

Remember that our God is a God that empowers His Work. And that last bolded (summarized) Scripture tells us to take thoughts captive to obey Christ. Well how can we approach the throne if we are unwilling to check thoughts?

Answer: We can't! So we can't go to the throne, we don't get the Peace, and we don't get the Power.

So, that brings me to the point...
Phi 4:8 (AMP): For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

Fix our minds on all these things...the reverence of God, honorable things, just things, things of love and kindness and graciousness, things WORTHY OF PRAISE.

Well, taking thoughts Captive to obey Christ would involve focusing on those things. Who that is saved would NOT revere at the prospect of not going to Hell and getting the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:15-16)? Or revere at being taken care of (Nahum 1:7)? Or the prospect of being strong and courageous through Him who does not abandon us (Joshua 1)? Or the opportunity to take dominion and go out and be the vessels necessary to spread God's Image and Likeness (Genesis 1:28)? The same God that gave us the Standards in Exodus 20:4-18 (and throughout the Word really)? That's a lot to revere in right there but this post is getting long so I'm going to just continue...

We get justification through faith in Christ (and thusly He is just), Christ is God and is Love (John 1:1-8/Heb 1:3/1 John 4:8), who was more excellent than someone who died as a ransom for all sin of all time? Christ is definitely worthy of PRAISE.

So...it connects like this...if we are taking thoughts captive to obey Christ, THEN we aren't worrying. We get that Peace from making requests and thusly God empowers up to do the things He intended us to do (He works through us). And that's my take on how Philippians 4:8 works as a scaffold for Philippians 4:6-7 and v13 (among other things).

Hope you enjoyed!

8/06/2011

A Solid Godly Church: Leadership Fundamentals

Hey everyone! Haven't forgotten about the blog. Been thinking about what to write after spending so much time on Functional Masculinity. I guess you could call this entry an "application" on functional masculinity: finding a nice solid Godly church.

Before I go on, most of you who know me away from Blogspot know I'm a bit "peculiar" (to say the least). My current church home embraced my personality (as they were only concerned in my desire to grow in and serve the Lord), and let me do my thing otherwise (the growth and servanthood thing is MAD REQUIRED though). I was skiddish about joining a church BECAUSE I'm so "different". Many churches only see Christians in a certain light. And I don't like that model. And neither does God. Something that bugged me a while ago was that someone I knew was tired of their church and didn't feel like they were growing. I told her that if that church isn't helping you get God for yourself you need to BOOK IT! I still agree with what I told her, but I thought about it, "What ELSE does every good church need to build up powerful and productive believers? (shout out to Jesus is Alpha and Omega Ministries (http://www.jaom.org), hopefully merit is seen in my assessment in the eyes of the LORD.

Before I begin though, I put this in terms of the pastor/leader of the church. I felt this would be best because in any given church a pastor has to take the most ownership over the direction of the church (fellowship, fundraising, servanthood, visits to other churches, getting contemporaries on one godly page, etc.). I understand it takes a solid leadership structure to make a church work, and those things need to be tight too (see future blog entry). Now this list probably isn't comprehensive, but I wanted to just start with these items:

If a church is suitable for growing folks up in Christ, a spiritual leader must:

1) Refer to the church as God’s church and the ministry objective is clearly following that notion. (Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:6, Matthew 16:18)
2) Make sure the ministry message drives congregation to get God for themselves and is serious about doing it, and making sure that he doesn’t, either deliberately or accidentally, put himself on the throne reserved for Christ). (Genesis 2:2 (God’s default Model) Matthew 6:6-12, 33-34; Colossians 1:28)
3) Only teache from the Word of God. (Revelation 22:18-19)
4) Not be into a bunch of titles and be approachable (within reason) in that his identity is in Christ and understands what that means (stewardship, servanthood). (Matthew 6:5, Matthew 28:18; John 13:1-17; 2 Timothy 2:19;Hebrews 11:24-25)
5) Allow congregation members to be themselves so long as it lines up with the Word of God, allowing for each to use their own gift to edify the Body. (1 Corinthians 12)
6) Have content is taught in a fashion where it uplifts, convicts, and triggers change in the congregation (at least the members who are serious about following the message). (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
7) Be only concerned with that which uplifts those around him, both inside and outside of church. (Ephesians 4:25-32)
8) Have a message lines that up with his own walk and it is evident that he got into this position of leadership in an orderly fashion. (1Timothy 3)
9) Not be obsessed with getting in a whole bunch of topics and teaches the depth of Scripture. (1 Corinthians 2:15-16; 2 Timothy 2:19)
10) Talk with (and sometimes to) his congregation and not at it. (Luke 7:29)


Anything I miss? Anything you disagree with? DISCUSS!!!! And have a great day folks.