Legalist!

"Why don't you smoke?"
"Because the Bible says not to."
"No it doesn't."
"Yes it does."
"Where?"
"I don't know, but it's in there!"
"No it's not."

How many times has a conversation gone like this? Every time there is a debate about the sinfulness of something, it typically comes around to "because the Bible says not to."

"Why don't you rob banks for a living?"
"Because the law says not to."
"So? Does that stop the people who do it?"
"Not really. So? Why don't you rob banks for a living?"
"Because I have no desire to. If robbing banks was no longer against the law, would you do it?"
"I don't think so."

You can see how ridiculous this is. I don't avoid doing things because the Bible says not to. I avoid doing certain things because I have a personal relationship with Jesus, and He doesn't want me to do those things!

The Bible says that God gives us the desires of our hearts, but why would He do that? The Bible says that out of the heart of man comes "evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness." Why would God give us the desires of our hearts when the desires of a man's heart are clearly displayed as evil?

Ask any married couple about their personal preferences for food. One of them might say Mexican food, while the other might say Chinese. They like different things, but because they're in close relationship, their desires change to match each other. Sometimes they disagree, but they can reconcile the differences and come to an agreement. They don't suddenly get a divorce because of One Difference in their preferences for food! (Sound familiar?) So therefore, when I'm in a personal relationship with God, my desires change so that my desires match His! Then, God is more than happy to give me the desires of my heart.

There's a name for not doing things because the Bible says not to. It's legalism.

One Strike, You're Out

You're at church, and you see one of your friends. You sit down with them and they start talking about some of their beliefs. All goes well until they mention that thing. You know, that One Thing that you are absolutely opposed to. All of a sudden, your opinion of them just dropped to zero. Discounting everything you ever did together, and all the things you have in common, this one thing now makes you turn your head and say, "I don't like what he said. I don't agree with that."

So now every time you see them, though you may be civil to their face, you have that thought in the back of your mind that "I don't like him because he believes in this" or "I don't like him because he supports this" or "I don't like him because he's friends with that other person." Every time their name is mentioned or they are somehow referenced, you have a near-religious check of "I don't like him."

Since when has that been a way to live your life? You are never going to agree with everyone on everything! Never. Never. NEVER. So someone believes something different than you - deal with it!

I can't stand how people form one-off opinions of those around them. You like them, or you don't like them. You may even be torn trying to decide which to do. Can you see what's wrong here?

I have a friend who is a great guy and loves God with everything he is. Many of the things I learned about God came from him. But sometimes he makes jokes about fighting you when in reality he is just messing around. The constant "You wanna fight me?" bothers me sometimes. But does that mean that I drop everything we've ever done together, all the things he's taught me, and everything else simply because he jokes about fighting?

That is one of the most short-sighted ways to live that I know of. One of your friends didn't thank you for something you did for them. You think your youth pastor's awesome, while someone else thinks he's not all that great. A friend says that one of your other friends is a bad person because they said the wrong thing once.

EVERYONE HAS THEIR FLAWS! Everyone makes mistakes! Everyone has their own beliefs, and while they may be similar to your own, they probably do not match exactly. How about we drop the "One strike, you're out" policy and learn to love people for who they are, instead of having that snide voice in your head saying "I don't like him because he does things differently than I do" all the time?

Let's do it.

Damon Thompson or: The Reason Why Church Camp Highs Wear Off

In September, I got to hear Damon Thompson speak at The RAMP: Awakening here in Cleveland. Simply put, it was amazing. I have heard Damon speak live before, but there was a difference between those times and last night: the times before, I heard him from a decent distance away, because of the attendance of the meetings. Last night, I sat on the floor, within kicking distance of him. In fact, I'm not sure he didn't accidentally kick me during the service! He spoke about seeking God, and about how we have not held up our end of the bargain with God keeping his promises. It was an amazing message, and one which needed to be heard.

People in the church have started slacking on their responsibilities to God. Yet, in the midst of this, we go to God, expecting him to keep his promises, and even taking promises meant for the Apostles, and arrogantly trying to apply them to ourselves! There is a reason that 90% of the sick people we pray for in church stay sick! That reason is that we have quit holding up our end of the deal, and therefore, God has not fulfilled His end while waiting on us. We expect God to keep His promises, when we haven't even kept ours! We expect the "seed" we planted to be fruitful, but we have not taken care of all the steps along the way! We believe that "Good seed + good ground = good fruit," but this is not the case. Good seed, in good soil, in a bad environment, has the potential to waste the seed and ruin the soil!

For example, oranges are grown in Florida, in coastal soil. Those seeds are perfectly good; try taking them to Kansas, where they grow corn. The soil there is hard, rocky and black. That soil is good for growing corn, not oranges. You have a good orange seed, and you have good corn soil, but the environment is not conducive to growing oranges! Therefore, you have just wasted the seed and ruined the soil. We all get on Fire for God at meetings, conferences, and other such things; that's the seed. Then, we go back to our home soil, which is not conducive to the Fire of God, and it wastes the seed and ruins the soil. People always try to blame the lack of revival in our youth groups on a "youth camp fad." "Oh, those kids just go there for a week, and the next week, they're back doing the same old stuff." THAT'S BECAUSE THEY TRIED TO PUT THEIR BURNING SEED INTO YOUR FREEZING SOIL! You were not conducive to the move of God, and therefore, you wasted the seed that had been given to them, and ruined your own soil in the process. Soon, the cycle will start all over again.

Speaking of blame, people always pray for "revival in the churches," "revival in our schools," and other such things. They ask God to send miracles back to the church, but He never does, does He? This is in grave error, my friends! We would love to ask God to send miracles back to the church, because that makes it sound like God took them away! It makes it sound like God took them away, rather than that we quit holding up our end of the deal! When no one wanted to be holy enough to see miracles, they simply made up the doctrine and theology that Miracles went out with the Apostles! In part, they are correct, because since we have no Apostles, we have no miracles! We could quit asking God to send miracles back, and just start being the Apostles whom signs and wonders follow, but if we do that, that shows that it is our fault that they left.

Friends, we need to quit blaming God for taking away signs, wonders, and miracles! We need to quit blaming Him, and asking for Him to keep His promises to us, and start holding up our end of the deal so that He will hold up His! Only then will signs, wonders, and miracles return to the church.