A Normal Sunday

It's been a great weekend with the family! We went to the Jump5 concert last Friday and the girls really had a great time. Brandon, Chris, Brittany and Lesley really showed the crowd all their awesome acrobatics!

It's been a great Sunday! We're still focusing on evangelism. Please scroll down to "Harvest DC" and read my blog about the importance of evangelism. It's one of the most important ministry God desires to see "active" but the least done in the church. The members of the Lord's church simply just open the door and wait for people out in the world to just show up. It is highly likely "not" going to happen. If we continue to do this, we're probably looking at a mere 2% chance people will just show up because they saw the church on a web or newspaper or via word-of-mouth. Most of the time, they're just passing through and checking us out. They need to be invited. They need an impact. They need to feel welcome. God wants them to be recognized as a prize possession. They would appreciate the thought of us inviting them to church. Ask them to meet for breakfast before worship or class time. Invite them in your home and get to know them. Give them your testimony, if God truly has made a huge impact in your life, about how God is working in your life and the lives of others. Be an influential person, influencing the love of Jesus.

Michelle and I were watching a movie, "Ladder 49" about a fireman by the name, Jack, whom, after the floor caved in, fell a couple of stories down in the middle of a huge ring of debris and fire. He was trapped. All the firemen from different units raced to find him and bring him to safety. While Jack was waiting for the rescue team, he looked back to the great times he had with his "fire brothers and his wife". One scene shows the firemen relaxing, reading newspaper, talking, playing pool and even wrestling together. They weep for one of their fallen brother. They embrace each other like they are a family. When they quarrel, the captain would come up to them and scold them to stay together and be a family that they are not to fight among each other but fight against fire!

Isn't this what God wants in His church? He wants to see His children not fighting among each other but loving, supporting, praying, encouraging, building each other up. The only fight they ought to fight against is: Satan and Sin. If we quarrel against each other, do you think you would hear God, our captain, telling us through His Word that we're to stay together and be a family. Of course, there will always be problems in His church and that's how we grow and be a strong family. Yet, when someone comes and visit or if one of you invites a friend to church, I strongly believe they would like to see a church that ties together like a family. We shouldn't act holier than them because we're simply "members of the church". We shouldn't classify ourselves like members of God's "country club" where we're a "stuck up" to our visitors. We're a normal people on normal Sunday.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Matthew 5:13 (nas)

How is your attitude before the people (unchurched) in the world?
How do you respond to them (rude, blunt or pleasant, understanding)?
Are they tasting the fruitfulness of God that you're reflecting on them?
Are you "Showing Jesus"?
What do they see in you that, perhaps, you don't see in you (negative)?
If you have become "tasteless", do you know how you can be "tasty" again (repentance)?
Are you seeking, "my-way" or "God's way"? ("my-way" is tasteless while "God's way", tasty!)

Remember, we have a very "unpopular message" to give to the world. Yet, it is, with great privilege, to share the "good news of Jesus" to them! Not only we're showing them the good news, we ought to reflect the beauty of our Lord to them using Christ-like examples that He left with His Disciples, then eventually passed it on to us and us to the world!

May I ask that we pray for all the "married's" in the world today: both deaf and hearing. Divorce is growing at a "fast pace" rate and it is not only destroying the spouses, but the children in the world! They (children) are being influenced with the "divorce life" and eventually will follow the same pattern as their parents did. It is my prayer that the Lord will help all of His leaders to put a stop to it: influencing the parents (fragile or not) and the children in the world the love of God!