A look into a life being changed by Christ

Drifting Away from fellowship and Church

You see it around Easter and Christmas. The church population grows a bit. Believers who do not fellowship come to assemble with other Christians to worship and pay tribute on those special days. I will describe the scene across the world’s churches. The pastor of the church looks out over the crowd and smiles and exclaims "I wish we had a crowd like this every Sunday". The next week the crowd is markedly smaller. A few individuals and families come back for a few weeks or months. A small number of folks may even become members; then, some begin the drift away.

 

 

 

What’s the problem then? We, the regular members of our churches need to look no further than the nearest mirror. Members of churches are so ingrained in their duties to the fellowship body they are "short’ with new folks who try to engage them in conversation. We are about 60% of this drifting problem. Are we putting our best foot forward to keep folks in fellowship? Perhaps that "best" foot forward is the problem. We are careful to show the non fellowshipping Christian, or undecided soul the path to a spiritually alive life and we demonstrate how a Christian is supposed to live by example. We give them; sermons, prayer, the passion of Christ DVD, wisdom, telephone calls, help with food, help with children, books to read, devotionals to listen to, conferences to attend, fellowship dinners, small groups, bible studies, group trips to Christian concerts. ALL great things that every church should do….alas…they drift away.

 

 

 

Perhaps we have forgotten something…

 

 

 

This goes specifically for those who were blessed enough to grow up in home that echoed the precious words and songs of our savior.

 

 

 

If you did not grow up in a Godly home, but found salvation I will remind you.

 

 

 

Folks who do not fellowship are either disenchanted with church, non believers, or the spiritually confused. We have got to start being real y’all! If we portray ourselves as one who zips through life with no struggles in our Christian walk we are inadvertently being a little bit deceitful. We are also displaying a life that seems impossible to live up to by the non churched individual.

 

 

 

DO you really want to gain a church member?

 

 

 

Start by being open.  I believe that one of the first things we should do is discover who the new person is through conversation. Once we gain some insight on the person’s life we need to be open about ours! Common since and the ability gauge personalities are vital here. If you are raised in church and life wasn’t that bad of a struggle you may want to pair the new person off with someone who struggled with sin in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Commonality is key!! If the person is a partier you may want to talk about your beer bashing days and point out how it was wrong. You might even want to bust out the picture of you passed out on the couch with the kiss t shirt on with a beer cans all over the place. Share your thoughts! Tell them of your PAST and current struggles. Tell them about the grace of Christ! Tell them they are saved forever if they believe in Christ. Make sure they know that after salvation sin still has consequence in their present life….even consequence unrelated to the sin committed.

 

 

 

Some just do not understand that Christ died for sins past, present, and future. Once someone has believed and the Holy Spirit has occupied them the individual has to become incredibly black hearted through the self decision of their free will to loose salvation. Once someone knows the truth they are changed for life and the ability to be evil is diminished greatly.

 

John 10 verse 27 to 30

 

 

 

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.

 

 

 

I was the one who was un churched. I was the one who visited a church and saw all the "clicks" engaged in conversation, NONE bothering to pause for a minute to extend the common courtesy of a hand shake to a new comer. Do you have any clue how awkward it feel to come to church as a single man who is alone and not knowing anyone? Do you know how it feels to try to start a conversation with someone and you get the feeling you are distracting them from their "church job" and conversation with their fishing buddy.

 

 

 

Do you want more folks in your fellowship? Do you want to increase the Harvest of souls for Christ? 

 

 

 

Read this blog twice then.

 

 

 

Christ’s Servant,

 

 

 

Thomas

Worry...A look into a time wasting problem!

Worry is one of my very worst strongholds. Planning ahead can quickly turn into plain ole’ fashioned worry if you ain’t careful. 

My definition of worry is (a planning thought gone into hyper drive).  

Worry is like a crashing airplane that never hits the earth, the horrible feelings of impending doom resound constantly without the finality of “the crash” the plane is eternally crashing, it never ends…it is self torture!!!! 

Please stop! 

I struggle from time to time with worry even now, but my walk with Christ has eased this enormously. 

Worry is an enormous waste of time. 90% of the things we worry about never come to pass. If we worry enough we can think bad things into existence. If we worry about having a bad day, then we probably will have one!  Worrying accomplishes nothing because the situation typically has not come to pass yet; and if it has, little can be done to un-do what has come to pass when you just sit and fret! Worry can weaken your mind enough to where the evil one can start flipping switches and influencing your thoughts…YIKES!! 

Yes, you can actually worry yourself sick. You can also be worried to death! 

“Well brother Tom…what do I do then” 

Pray about the situation and admit to Christ that you have fallen victim to worry and doubt.

 

Get to work! 

Worrying never gets anything done, if you are worrying it is a sure sign that it’s time to get something done. 

If the situation is in physical existence, and if you can, and if it is safe and will not cause harm get off your tail and run to the problem if it is possible. Face it! 

If the situation has not come to pass yet or if it is unsafe to confront the situation,

do not give the opportunity for Satan to create turmoil. 

Pray until you have prayed! Under girding the situation in prayer helps enormously!

Give the situation to Christ. No, you don't bring it to Christ and leave it, that won't work. No, all the thoughts won't go totally away, BUT Christ can take the load off. His yoke is easy! What this means is he will take the weight off so that the load is lighter..."his yoke is easy! Walk in freedom!
 

Matthew 11 (Today's New International Version)

 

28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
 

Some other tidbits 

Worry in the dictionary it is defined as… 

1. to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.

2. to move with effort: an old car worrying uphill.

–verb (used with object)

3. to torment with cares, anxieties, etc.; trouble; plague.

4. to seize, esp. by the throat, with the teeth and shake or mangle, as one animal does

5. to harass by repeated biting, snapping, etc.

6. a worried condition or feeling; uneasiness or anxiety.

7. a cause of uneasiness or anxiety; trouble. 

A word from the bible on worry 

Matthew

6: 25

to 34 (Today's New International Version)

Do Not Worry

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?     28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in his entire splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

A Video

It was time for a change...Christ tapped me on the shoulder

Have a look at this short video

I have no riveting story to tell. I have lived a decent, GOD SHELTERED life. No near death experiences, nothing spectacular.  Their have been many incidents in my life where I have been protected by the hand of God.  I'll illustrate one occurrence and then I will press on with this article.

In the ancient days of my youth my cousin and I always played in the church yard across from my grandmother’s house.  One day I was in a live oak climbing it like any 11 year old.  I fell about 10 feet straight down and planted on my wrist.  The pain shot through me like red hot lightning.  I freaked!  I kept thinking my parents were going to be angry.  Time passed, the pain subsided, and the little swelling that started went away in days.  No broken bones. 

I'm a different man than I was 5 years ago.  No manifestation of miraculous proportions.  I was just prompted by the familiar inner voice of the Holy Spirit to think about how I have never been allowed to crash and burn in the failures of my life. I have always survived to fight another day.

I have learned that being a Christian isn't about a church dress code, or wearing the best clothes to church.  It's not about running laps around the sanctuary and jumping pews because you were "touched by the spirit".  It's not about tithing 10 % and above when you have to buy fuel to get to work for the next week and food to sustain life. 

Being a Christian is knowing the love, grace, and forgiveness of our Savior.  In return for what Christ does for us he wants us to do the same for each other. It is NOT religion...NOT EVEN CLOSE!  Praise the Lord!! I have discovered that being a Christian isn't as big of a choir as it was presented to me in my youth.

I was more or less disappointed by the church where I found Christ as a youth in the early 80's. I went to an alter call after the service and I knew I was changed and that I wasn't "alone" anymore.

The church I attended was a religious type of  fellowship; in other words, they put their own spin on a whole bunch of rules and stipulations in how one was to live their life  No television, short hair cuts for the guys, long hair for the girls, no jewelry, ect. There was a trip to Disney World (imagine that) hosted by the church I attended.  I think my Mom and I both contributed to the fund.  I approached someone about the trip and I was told, "You can't go to Disney World unless you have spoken in tongues". Further more they said, unless you have spoken in tongues to PROVE you had the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, you are doomed to hell".  I was 13 years old; I had some bad feelings about church and fellowshipping for a long time.

After an 18 year absence at age 31 I came back to fellowshipping with other Christians. I am still learning and growing in the Lord.  I am a work in progress.

There are a few I'd like to thank that clarified my view on organized fellowship.

Family Worship (

Pensacola

,

Florida

): This was first church I have ever felt comfortable in.  I was assured that what I experienced as a youth was un-scriptural. They lovingly showed me the path to return home to Christ, and I was reunited with the presence of God.

I loved the folks at Family Worship, but the majority of the congregation tended to be against contemporary worship.

Harvest

Outreach

Church

(

Pensacola

,

Florida

):  I was captivated by the contemporary worship; the flow of Christ's love was WIDE OPEN there.  The outward focus and the LOVE of this church were AMAZING!  The come as you are atmosphere provided a feeling of belonging.  This is where I was baptized, and thanks to the evangelism and agreement in prayer I overcame my cigarette addiction.  Thank God for fellowship at Harvest!

God had answered a prayer for me and gave me turbo charged motivation to focus on the restoration of my home.  I over did it and focused too much. It monopolized all of my time. I drifted from fellowship for about 9 months.

Christian

Life

Church

(

Milton

,

Florida

):  This is my present place of fellowship and worship. I wanted a church closer to home where I could serve the Lord more effectively. I look forward to the blessings that I know will flow from this church.  I am stoked about the future of this church and ready to serve!

Churches like the ones I mentioned above exist all over... all you have to do is find it, then again the right church for you will probably end up finding you.  Don't give up on fellowship; Jesus is the greatest love you will ever know!

Christ's Servant,

Thomas

 

Leaving the "old person" behind to change for the better

I am Thomas, and that's good enough for Jesus. The best decision I have ever made in my life was my decision to follow Christ. If you truly follow Jesus you know that it is not about being better than your neighbor. I do not profess to be a learned man, nor do I claim to be above anyone. One of the gifts that have been given to me is this ability to write about my changing life and my savior. 

The purpose of this article is to show I'm a work in progress, all of us are "in progress" one way or another. I'm not claiming to be a preacher, nothing special here to show. I'm just a man doing what his creator motivated him to do. I'm a man in the middle of changing for the good. The thing that has been placed on my heart tonight is to show my struggles with leaving the "old person" behind.   

Old person = the person I was before walking closer with Christ. 

Many get discouraged after giving their lives to Christ; the thief "SATAN" waits to steal the seed. After church folks return to their cars, cigarettes on the console with the lighter near by. When they crank the car the radio is tuned to garbage. Before they get a block away they are being attacked by Satan. After a few days many give in. Little did they know salvation still belonged to them, all they needed to do was confess the mistakes, and learn to turn away from the sin. They didn't understand that Christ died for all sins, past, present, and future. They have forgotten, or know little about grace.  As soon as someone at your fellowship is saved please talk to them about this! 

Some of us give up on leaving the old person behind. Instead of going back to Christ to confess our wrong doing and asking for strength we anguish in guilt. We try to take on things on our own power without the benefit of Christ sharing the yoke to help pull the load. By ourselves we are futile in trying to change the old person. 

Matthew 11:30 (New International Version)

30.) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Christ will share the yoke with you!  He takes the load off!

I'll use an illusration.

Ever have a car break down? Remeber when your buddy started helping and the load got lighter? In a way similar Christ helps us.

How do we get to that point of giving up?  What happened to that feeling of elation after the church service? Why do you wake up stressed out before your feet hit the floor and feeling like you've been in a bar fight? Why do we let worry tear us up in our dreams and waking moments? We are listening to Satan. Satan is a LAIR!  He convinces you that you are doomed because you've made a mistake in your walk.

Satan is the perpetrator of worry and anger.

He is the one that gives the single finger salute in traffic jams.

He is the one that makes the snide hateful remarks in the lines at the grocery store when the new cashier is struggling with her new job.

He is the one that says "take it, after all my employer is rich and I haven't got the raise I deserved". 

My weaknesses that are healing: 

I get upset sometimes when things don't go just right, I get frustrated too easy.   

I worry about my past mistakes that people can point at.   

I think about lying to get my way. 

I often worry others will think I am weak…plain old pride ! 

Those are just a few weaknesses I have.

 

Tell you what…. 

Leave a comment! While you leave a comment, identify a weakness that bothers you and I will under gird it in prayer. Those who see the weaknesses identified should also pray for that person. God has you reading this article for a reason. I am doing what God told me to do, you do it too! 

Respond to this and watch Christ work in your life!

 

Christ's Servant, 

Thomas