In, but not Of...

I know this is a subject that has been discussed over an over again for millenia, but just in the past couple of weeks I have entered the discussion with some of those in my circle of "churched" friends. (Yes, I know I am slow; and yes, I do still have a few "churched" friends.) Actually, we weren't really talking about being in the world, but not of the world. We were talking about whether it was more important to be culturally relevant or Biblically relevant. We came to the conclusion that we as followers of Jesus must be culturally sensitive, but Biblically sound. We walk the way of Jesus, as revealed to us through Scripture and the Spirit of God, but we should do so in a way that can be understood by the culture around us.

"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth." Psalm 86:11 That should be our priority, but it should be done in such a way that it penetrates and influences the culture around us. Unfortunately, it seems that too often we have switched the order around and we have elevated cultural relevance to the point where we have become Biblically sensitive at best. Too often we order our lives around the cultural norms and then check with the Bible or our pastor to see if that lines up with Scripture instead of ordering our lives around Scripture and then checking to see how that lines up with culture.

I am pointing a finger at myself here, so don't feel too offended. But since I'm already offending some, I might as well take the next step. I hear Christians from more traditional churches bash "contemporary" or "emergent" or "seeker-sensitive" churches for doing this very thing. They claim that they water down the Gospel and the preaching in order to attract more people into their churches (cultural relevance) and have abandoned sound Biblical doctrine in the process. In some cases, they are right and it is a shame. But on the other hand, some of the traditional churches that I have visited have supplanted Biblical doctrine with tradition as their highest standard. Their church culture has become more important than Scriptural commands and they have done the very thing that they accuse other churches of doing. "We've never done it that way before" takes priority over clear Biblical commands.

A mentor of mine shared with me a long time ago, "There are a lot of things in the Scriptures that aren't in our churches, and there are a lot of things in our churches that aren't in the Scriptures." Why is that? Is it because we have followed cultural norms even in our churches without checking to see what the Lord had to say about it?

Now, I know I've offended some of you so let me offer you a blessing and my prayer. May each of us seek God's Way first. May we have the courage to follow His Way only. May we challenge others around us to seek His Way and follow it with us, no matter whether they come from a pagan culture or a churched culture. May we never stop seeking His Way.
Blessings,
Shiloh

Walking Jesus

A good friend of mine sent this to me a couple of days ago and agreed to let me share it with the rest of you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Shiloh


Over the past few weeks I have been reading a book by John Eldredge called ‘Walking with God’. The author talks about 3 levels of a believer’s walk: 1) being a believer 2) being an obedient believer and 3) having an intimate relationship with God. During my reading I began to think about this and I believe that in my life being an obedient believer must be further defined or divided. At first we learn to be obedient to His Word, following his commandments. Second, we learn to be obedient in spiritual things and spiritual decisions of our lives after seeking and hearing from Him. But there is a third step or level of surrender. Not just surrendering to God’s will that is made known to us in His Word, or even His will that is made known to us about spiritual decisions, but to be completely yielded to our Father, to be a living sacrifice, we must also seek his will in the rest of our lives – even the parts that seem to be mundane or normal, like what are we going to do this weekend or on our next vacation. This changes our mindset from seeking Him in preparation for and while we are doing Work, to seeking him always. Obviously as we yield more and more of our lives becoming more obedient, we become more and more intimate with our Father.

I have realized something since being back in the states about walking Jesus. Overseas your entire life is ministry because every time you step out of your door you are in the middle of lostness. Going to the store or to dinner you are walking Jesus among the lost. Overseas you are more focused and more dependent on God, but here in the states it is so easy to separate or segment our lives – now I’m doing my to-do list and running errands versus now I’m doing ministry. I’ve been guilty of not walking Jesus at all times, and I’ve realized that this is a part of my life that has not been yielded to Jesus.

Some quotes of John Eldredge about knowing God:
“An intimate conversational walk with God is available and is meant to be normal.”
“Intimacy with God is the purpose of our lives.”
“The goal of our existence is to know God, love Him and live our lives in an intimate relationship with Him.”

Leroy Light

Proselytes vs. Disciples

I had a great time with the Lord this morning and I just had to share something that came up. I have been reading through a book called "Lead Like Jesus" and there is a story in there by Avery Willis that struck a nerve with me. He describes a time when he was president of a seminary in Indonesia when he was convicted of his leadership attitude. He read through Matthew 23 and heard the Lord correct many things that he was doing poorly or wrongly. Verse 15 jumped out to me when Jesus said, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert (proselyte), and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." Really strong words from our Lord.

Avery shared his own personal convictions of how he had been making converts instead of disciples and that concept struck a nerve deep within me. Am I any different from the Pharisees here? Are you?

There are many similarities and overlaps, but there is a significant difference between proselytes and disciples. Proselytes change from one set of "rules to live by" to another; they change religions. Disciples don't follow rules, they follow a Person. So what's the difference, what's the application? In our attempts to "win people to the Lord" are we giving them a set of rules to live by, or are we giving them Jesus to follow?

Another way to look at it is like this. If someone decides to become a Christian and all we give them are teachings about Jesus, then we have missed the boat. Satan and his angels know much more about Jesus than most people in church on Sunday mornings. We must know Jesus personally and decide to trust Him with everything and follow Him anywhere, no matter the cost. There is a big difference between knowing about President Obama and knowing President Obama personally. There is an even bigger difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus closely enough to follow Him.

Do you think the first disciples knew what they were getting into when they heard, "Come follow me?" Maybe not, but they knew enough to leave everything and follow Him. What are we following? A set of rules to live by, or a Savior? Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not _____________?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:21-23) What will I fill in the blank with? What will you fill in the blank with?

Am I making disciples, or simply making converts to another religion? Am I giving people a Lord to follow, or a set of rules to live by? Am I showing others the way of Christ with my life, or talking about Jesus like I would a Hollywood star? What about you?
Blessings,
Shiloh

Gather Round the Bus Stop

Over the past several years we have noticed there are several school bus stops in our area of Ocala where a vast number of children of all age groups gather to await their busses each morning. We first made this discovery when our nearby church was attempting to build a youth group. At that time we discussed ways in which we could interest these young people in participating with our church youth group and the best we could come up with was to invite them. This approach failed.

Recently Linda mentioned that she believed God was burdening her to pray with and for these parents and children and told me that she was determined to visit these bus stops weekly, preferably on Mondays. During each visit she would simply ask both parents and children if she could pray with or for them and, if they had any specific needs or concerns needing prayer. As Linda explained this ministry to me I heartily agreed and immediately thought of our phase one 2x2 Fellowship training “saturate the land with prayer.” I suggested that she contact Shiloh immediately and ask him to circulate her idea among the faithful in hopes of uniting many believers in a concerted prayer for its success.

Linda has outlined the following process for this ministry:

1. Locate and select target bus stops (SE 56th Street Ocala, FL)
2. Set a launch date
3. Engage other believers to saturate this ministry with prayer
4. Humbly approach these bus stops weekly asking adults if we could pray for their children – or children if we can pray for them specifically
5. After a “yes” response, pray for:

Childs safety on the bus and at school

For children to make good choices through the week

For children to do their very best in school

For specific requests

Possible opportunities that may develop as friendships are built and prayer needs arise:

• Prayer expands to multiple bus stops over a larger area
• Mom’s Bible studies
• Children’s Bible studies
• Couples Bible studies
• Introduction of family worship times
• Summertime fellowship activities including,, block parties, puppet skits, back yard Bible Clubs w/ storying

Once these weekly prayer times are established at specific bus stops, we begin praying for a “Prince or Princess of Peace” to carry it forward so we can move onto a new bus stop and reproduce, again, and again.

Children as well as parents living in today’s world encounter problems associated with broken homes, peer pressure, teachers, financial stress, and so much more. Our hope is for the bus stop prayer ministry to offer hope and peace in these areas with the ultimate goal of people coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior and then reproducing similar ministries everywhere.

Please join us in prayer,

Daniel & Linda Draime

Way Behind

It's been a while since I blogged so I am way behind. I have all sorts of things to share, but I have been convicted recently of sharing too many of my stories and prayer requests and not enough stories from others that are walking in this faith experiment called Fellowship Project with me.

So, I am going to be catching up by sharing their stories as well as mine. I hope you enjoy.
Blessings,
Shiloh