In a recent sermon at Captivate Church I was in the middle of a point about the path we can create for a guest to be able to receive the word of God.  I was affirming the wonderful work done by our various teams to ease the mind of our guests so that they may hear the Gospel presented clearly and convincingly.  As I preached, it occurred to me that while the service was very diverse (60/40) it seemed that African Americans were on one side while Caucasians sat on the other.

Here is what I know about our church.  We do not have a bigoted bone in our church body.  The problem was that based on habits, people tend to sit with who initially invited them.  If an African American friend invited them, they’d sit wherever their friend sat.  If a Caucasian had invited them, they’d likewise sit with them.  The ethnic diversity is awesome but how the seating arrangements may have looked to a guest would give off an impression no one in our congregation would intend.  In this case an oversight could speak louder than the preacher.

So I stopped the sermon and said:

“You know what?  You’re speaking a sermon right now for a guest and it’s a terrible sermon.  All across this room I want you to look across your aisle and see if that person looks like you.  Then I want you to stand up, switch seats and when you sit back down make sure the person to your right and left look nothing like you.  Ready?  Go.”

At that point you would have thought pentecost just happened again.  Amid the rumble of conversation people started to re-arrange themselves and our church began to realize that we do in fact speak the sermon even in the small things.

I want to encourage you today.  Don’t wait for your pastor to ‘preach’ this weekend.  Go and preach with your life.

God is alive and we are the sermon!

Recently I’ve had a few conversations where someone brought up the concept of preaching to a decision vs. teaching exclusively about better living.  The general theme has been that many churches in our area will teach you “5 steps to being a good Dad” or “3 steps to a healthy marriage” but leave out the most important first step.

The first step we must take in any area of living is to make Jesus Lord over that area.  The common expression that sums up this principle is “He is Lord of all or he isn’t Lord at all.”  When we jump over this vital first step, we get nothing more than human effort.  Simply hearing a humanist message in a church building does not make it less humanist.  

The challenge is that the flesh doesn’t want to hear about His Lordship; the flesh wants to hear about managing relationships.  Pastors everywhere are faced with the challenge to fill the seats.  The thinking often becomes “If we can teach people how to be better parents or better neighbors then we may have a larger audience.”  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s not likely that someone raises their voice in a meeting and says “Don’t preach Jesus.”  It’s usually much more subtle but every bit as disastrous.

What’s the big deal?  Behavior modification without Savior modification.

So what’s the solution?

You want to be a better father?  Jesus must be Lord in your life.

You want to be a better neighbor?  Jesus must be Lord in your life.

You want to be known as an honest businessman?  Jesus must be Lord in your life.

Approaching life without Christ is reserved for the atheist.  There is no such thing as self-help to the Christian.  If self could help we would not need the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  The good news is that Jesus wants to be Lord and bring about an abundant life. In every area of life, take the first step and acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus. 

(Actual target from Monday’s shoot.  Don’t mess.)

From time to time it’s important that we as a staff get away and unwind. After a challenging few months I felt we were due for a day of being together away from the pressures of ministry.  Monday was that day.

We did several things but one of the most fun was a spur-of-the-moment trip to the firing range.  In the south they shoot guns in their back yards, here in Baltimore we do too but it leads to arrests. We picked a nearby gun range and enjoyed about an hour of poppin’ lead.

The owners of this range weren’t playing around.  They were very serious. I felt like the F.B.I. was right at the counter with us.  After about 300 questions and 500 commands we were issued our equipment and weapons.  I walked over to the gentleman helping us and said “Man, you guys are extremely serious around here.  I appreciate it.”  He said “Yeah, when you’re giving out ammunition and a weapon that can kill someone, you kinda have to be.”

Instantly my mind went to the local church. How I wish the average Christian would take hold of those words.  We hold the message of hope for eternity. Forget earthly lives, we are called to be witnesses to the nearly 7 billion people alive who need to hear the life-changing message of the gospel that has the potential to determine their eternal lives.  That is a powerful message that must be delivered.  We’re dealing with forever-life here.

It breaks my heart to hear Christians who want to back-pedel in their commitment to Christ and the mission of God. It physically makes me ill when people are unwilling to give their time, talent & treasure to advance the Kingdom of God.  It is mind-blowing for me to see people in the local church who value a part-time job above assembling with other believers (Hebrews 10:25).  I’m amazed when parents allow participation in athletic competition to come before their teenager’s involvement with the local church.  We can’t be serious.

I continued to think about seriousness and I was reminded that in every area where I have influence, I must raise my level of seriousness. For the sake of the gospel I must be more serious in my petition of the Lord through prayer, I must be more generous, I must be more humble, I must be more studious in my sermon prep and personal study of God’s word.  No matter what area of ministry I engage myself, I must do so with the seriousness equal to the task at hand.

Will you consider becoming more serious in your own faith-walk? Would you ask God “What do you need from me?” and then commit to doing whatever he asks of you?

I believe if you do, you will become the man or women equivalent to the task for which He calls you.

Let’s get serious about the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m asking Jesus to let it begin with me.