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Category: Biblical Church

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Biblical Church

The Spirit of Cain pt.2

I noticed my friend had a significant spiritual growth spurt. So much so that I asked her what happened, what changed. She told me she joined a house church. I got angry and told her she was in a cult. I told her I was booking a flight to come down and rescue her. I was upset.

When I traveled down to see her I actually stayed at the home of her house church leaders, Teryl and Diane Hebert. Listening to their testimony, learning historically what happened to the church and experiencing house church changed me forever. The Bible came alive, the New Testament made sense and I finally found my missing puzzle piece. I returned home and I was so excited to share my discovery with my family and friends. Of course I was met with some skepticism.

Why did I get so angry; why do people get so angry when you share about house church? In Genesis 3:7 Adam and Eve sinned and they sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. In verse 21 God made tunics of skin…leaves weren’t enough. God had to shed blood to cover sin. It would set up a pattern of sacrifice and worship that would end with Jesus Christ.

The next chapter of Genesis records the story of Cain and Abel. God set in motion the shedding of blood to cover sin but Cain brought crops produced from his land. Abel brought the firstborn of his flock…he had to shed the blood of his innocent lambs. God was not pleased with Cain who wanted to worship God his own way. Instead of admitting his error and changing his ways, Cain got angry and killed his brother. Why did he get so angry?

I saw my friend experience growth and freedom and somehow I thought it was a bad thing. If you are a house church leader not everyone will understand what you are doing and some will be critical. Brick and mortar churches have been around for 1700 years and mentioning to people that there is a better way to worship is incomprehensible to most. Rejoice in the fact that Christ will bring people into your sphere of influence that truly want to worship Him in a more Biblical way.

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Biblical Church

The Spirit of Cain pt1

Imagine you walked into a restaurant and ordered a steak. Twenty minutes later, the waiter comes back and puts a plate of spaghetti in front of you, claiming it’s the best spaghetti you’ll ever try. Would you be happy about it? No, you would send it back because it wasn’t what you ordered. It wasn’t even close!

I feel like this is what we have done with the Church. God gave us His “order” for the Church. He told us precisely what He wanted through His commandments in the Bible. In our arrogance, we created something we think works better. Rather than diligently studying His commands and delivering exactly what He asked for, we have been influenced by so many other things. We think about what we want, what others want, what others are doing. In the spirit of Cain, we bring an offering we think He should accept rather than what He actually asked for.

Francis Chan, Letters to the Church.
Vegetarians this is only an analogy please don’t get upset!

I encourage you to read Francis Chan’s book cited above and on my Resources page. The book is an honest account of his life and his struggles overseeing a large and “successful” conventional church. He eventually walked away and is now serving steak to those who are hungry for it.

For me, I grew up in church and have been a part of church and ministry all my life. As part of leadership we would discuss how we could do things better, attract more people, get the worship team to be tight, which refreshments to serve in the lobby, how to raise funds to build bigger or buy better equipment, invite special guests to speak, develop small groups, etc. etc. etc. It became a never ending amount of small tweaks to make the spaghetti taste and look more like steak. It is never enough, you can never turn spaghetti into steak!

When we bring an offering that is acceptable to God, He rejoices and we rejoice. There is a joy and peace I experience now that I have never experienced while I was trying to do church the conventional way. I have solid relationships with my spiritual family and my relationship with My Father has been really sweet. I challenge you to get involved in a more relational church and if there is not one around please contact me and we can walk you through starting one. You don’t have to be a master chef to serve a good steak!

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Biblical Church

Rock Tumbler

My friend Vince and I stopped to search for some fire agates around Safford, Arizona. I found a bunch of small pretty rocks that just lent themselves to being polished. I always wanted a rock tumbler and this was a great excuse to purchase one.

When it arrived the instruction booklet said this…”Oceans and rivers take hundreds or thousands of years to polish stones. The Advanced Rock Tumbler will help you get faster results than nature, but you’ll still need to tumble your rough gemstones for about a month for maximum polishing results. Be patient!”

The process is very simple, add your rocks, add water to cover the rocks, insert the grit and start rolling. You have to continue the process four times using finer and finer grit. The biggest complaint about a rock tumbler is the noise it creates while rotating. You can hear the motor but it’s the sound of rock tumbling on rock that causes the most noise.

Fire Agates – after 2nd round of polishing

Paul’s writing in Ephesians 4:12-16, takes us through the process of a Christ follower’s growth that includes maturity, stability and integrity. The believer is expected to grow up, but it is apparent that many believers never seem to achieve this…they seem like rough gemstones out in nature getting slowly tossed by the waves of life.

The rock tumbler, or House church, is the perfect environment for getting polished up. In doing life together we are in close contact and we rub against each other. We use the water of The Word and the grit of life to help in the process. We all have heard Ephesians 4:15…

but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ –

We’ve also all heard truth spoken to us without love, and we can tell the difference.

Speaking the truth in love is key to spiritual growth. As we do life together we will inevitably see rough spots in the people we fellowship with. We can then gently speak into each other’s life, our mutual love and respect allowing us to consider the observations made. It’s in this process that the Lord helps us change becoming a beautifully polished gemstone!

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Biblical Church

True Family

I’ve always loved the exchange that Jesus had with his mother and his disciple John. It is recorded in John 19:26-27. A tender exchange right before Jesus proclaims, “It is finished!”

When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Women, behold your son!” Then He said the the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

In this act Jesus fulfills a beautiful scripture recorded in Psalm 67:5-6.

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families…

Photo by Mike Carroll

Throughout scripture Jesus would refer to God as Theos, Kyrios, Great King, Lord of Heaven and Earth, God of the Living, Most High, and Abba. However, I would suggest the most used, most common and most relatable term used by Jesus would be Father. It is worth the time to ponder why the creator and sustainer of all life would want to be known as a father and not by some grandiose cosmic name. What would you call yourself if you had that position?

The Bible says when we decide to follow Christ we become part of His family. We are adopted, God becomes our Father, Jesus becomes our big brother and we are introduced to a multitude of sisters and brothers. The early church ate and met together, shared everything so no one was in need and provided for the widows and orphans. No wonder the early church had such an impact on society.

If we think in context of family, the scriptures become a guide book on how to treat others, how to love each other, how to deal with conflict and how to do life together. We regard others more important than ourselves, we learn how to treat our spouses and we learn how to best reach others outside our family.

I believe doing life together with a spiritual family connects us to God and each other in a more significant way than what a conventional church can offer. Sitting down, sharing a meal, having conversations with one another and praying for each other seems like such a simple thing but it is in this environment that the Lord can speak to us, shape us and mold us to become more like Him.

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Biblical Church

Listen Up

Learning to hear from the Father is one of the critical skills we need if we are to navigate life successfully. My cousin was exiting Tower Two with a coworker during 9/11. An announcement came on instructing people to remain – or even return – inside. My cousin heard a voice saying “leave”, his coworker returned inside and never made it out. We need to hear!

Unfortunately many in the church have abdicated directly hearing from their Father to hearing from their pastor. It reminds me of the account in Deuteronomy 5:23-27:

23 “So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 24 And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives. 25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.“

We all know that God spoke with Moses but I think most Christians aren’t aware that everyone heard the voice of God. It was God’s intent to speak directly to His people. In Numbers 11 it is recorded that God’s anger was aroused because the people were complaining about their hardships. The fire from the Lord came down and a number of people were consumed. I believe the people remembered this and didn’t want to take a chance of it happening again. They were afraid…it was safer and easier to abandon hearing from God directly. Moses became the middle man.

Is it still easier and safer to believe one man can stand in front of a group and speak for God? Pastor, you go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it and we will pay your salary! Sorry, I changed that up a bit. But seriously, are we repeating the same narrative?

If you understand the importance of hearing from God for yourself and are trying, don’t be discouraged…you will be successful. It takes time but it is well worth the effort. If you are using a middle man to hear from God I would encourage you to ask yourself why. I believe the best way to navigate life is by hearing the Spirit speak directly to you. Listen up-your life as a Christ follower can be filled with passion, excitement and productivity if you do.

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Biblical Church

1700 Years

Battle of Milvian Bridge (A.D. 312) Edict of Milan (A.D. 313)—established freedom of religion within the Empire.

1700 years is a long time. When you think about this length of time, it’s really hard to grasp. In comparison, our country is only 244 years old. It’s been roughly 1700 years since the Roman emperor Constantine in 312 supposedly converted to Christianity. It is reported that the night before a big battle Constantine prayed for success and either in a vision or a dream saw an image with the script “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“In this sign, conquer”). Others reported he saw the first two letters of ‘Christ’ in Greek. Whatever he saw, he was victorious in battle and credited his victory to the Christian God.

After his victory, Christians/Christianity went from being persecuted to tolerated, then legalized, favored and even funded by the government. Emperor Constantine became the supreme patron of the church, the Head of the church. Christians went from meeting in homes under threat of persecution to gathering in former pagan temples in complete freedom.

To learn more about this transition you can download Biblical Church free.

I firmly believe that Satan tried to wipe out Christians for 300 years, killing and persecuting them, but to no avail. Eventually, Satan changed his tactics to infiltration, impregnation and then ultimately corruption of the faith. Spiritually for 1700 years Christians in the Western world have lived in bondage, not freedom, worshiping under a pagan ordained structure. Religion replaced relationship.

In Genesis 15:13 it says that Abram’s offspring would be afflicted for 400 years. According to scholars, the amount of time they were actually enslaved varies. Whether or not the actually enslavement was 350 or 400 years, it was still multi-generational. The generation that was set free by Moses was born and lived as slaves, as did their parents and grandparents. Although free in body, when trouble came, they wanted to return back to Egypt. We are all familiar with the journey to the promised land and the wandering in the desert.

It’s hard to reverse 1700 years of slavery. It doesn’t even feel like slavery anymore, it’s just the way it is. No need to question or even think there is a different way to do church. But bondage is bondage and religion will always bring bondage. It’s a hard statement, but I believe it to be true with all my heart. I know that I am free now, only because I am aware of how it feels to live in bondage. Spiritual freedom is liberating! Returning to relational worship, what I call house church or organic church, breaks the power over that religious spirit. I long for my brothers and sisters to be freed from religious bondage.

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Biblical Church

The First Supper

I still remember what my Calculus teacher told me. He said that it was highly unlikely that I would be solving mathematical equations later in life. Learning Calculus was useful because it would train my mind on how to solve problems. He was correct on both accounts. Problem solving and critical thinking are important in life.

The picture above is a digitally altered version of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. My friend re-posted this on Facebook with quotes from all the disciples about why they couldn’t attend. The last paragraph of the post said, “Following Jesus was never meant to be a solo experience. Pull up a seat at the table. It is a level table and there is room for all of us.” The post encouraged people to attend church.

I added a comment. “Here’s an interesting question. So you attend a church for many years. You go faithfully, give money, get involved, even go to Bible study on Wednesday night. The question…how many times has the senior pastor invited you over to his/her house for a meal? For most people the answer is never! Anyone find that strange?

Look at the picture, Jesus was sharing the Passover meal with His friends. I’m sure He also ate daily with His friends…this is Jesus! If you’ve never shared a meal with your senior pastor maybe you should ask why.”

Jesus set an example for us. It’s not only The Last Supper that matters, it is also The First Supper and all The In-Between Suppers. We never question the fact that there is not “a level table” at a conventional church, not when it comes to senior leadership.

I find it important to think and discuss such matters. It has been my experience, however, that most church leaders don’t see critical thinking and/or problem solving as spiritual gifts. Questioning things in church will usually get you labeled as insubordinate. It is not a sin to think about and question what goes on in a church. It is not a sin to feel that there is something amiss.

I would attest that there is a better way, the road may be more uncomfortable, but stopping and having supper with your friends and Jesus makes it all worth the effort!

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Biblical Church

God in a Salad pt.2

Yes it’s delicious! Every week, no matter what the main course is, Derek makes his salad. You can really tell that Derek delights in making his salad and delights in the reaction he gets from his guests. I imagine him in the kitchen preparing the ingredients and thinking about adding something special, all with a huge smile on his face. This is his gift to the group and we all look forward to receiving it.

I do wonder however, what would happen if Derek missed a week. Perhaps I, or someone else from the group, would try to make Derek’s salad. We would do our best to copy it, but the group would just be reminded how much they miss the real thing.

There’s no reason to try and copy someone’s gift, there’s no joy in that. God is incredibly diverse and the gifts He gives His children are wonderfully diverse. In a small group setting, if you are paying attention, it will become apparent that everyone has gifts that are unique. However, most people don’t feel what they have is anything special. Many have been conditioned to think gifting is ‘preaching’ and ‘teaching’ and they know that they will never be able to orate like a Senior Pastor, Teacher or Evangelist.

Last week someone had a song on their heart, they sang it to the group, no music, no instruments, it was beautiful. Others have had drawings, poems, words of encouragement, dreams, visions, prophetic words, inspiring thoughts. Jesus was, and is, in all of it!

Most of us will never be a Billy Graham. True joy and peace come when we realize who we are, and that what we possess is something special. Trying to fit into someone else’s mold will frustrate us, lead us to believe we ‘just don’t have it’ and eventually convince us that we have little to offer.

I pray each of us will discover our ‘special salad’ and take great joy in preparing it and serving it to others. When we do, our ‘ministry’ becomes effortless, we bless those around us and find our faith renewed.

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Biblical Church

God in a Salad pt.1

My friend Derek makes the best salad I’ve ever had. What puts it over the top is his home-made salad dressing. Forget about asking Derek for his dressing recipe…he refuses all inquiries.

At our last house church meeting one of the guests said how good the blueberries tasted in the salad. She could tell that the blueberries were organic. Derek responded that all the ingredients were organic, yet another reason why everything tasted so delicious.

Livesstrong.com has an online article listing the 10 worst non-organic fruits and writes this about the blueberry.

Blueberries are an additional berry type that contain a high level of pesticides. The thin skin allows the chemicals to enter the fruit’s flesh. Buying blueberries organic is the safest option. Conventional blueberries contain 52 pesticide chemicals.

Wow, I didn’t even think there were 52 different types of pesticides! The use of pesticides changes the taste and might have negative health impacts down the road.

It’s interesting that house church is also know as organic church, reflecting a kind of pesticide free influence on the crop. When we gather together for house church we try to model a purity reflected in the Book of Acts. I understand how and why the church model evolved and am passionate to help de-evolve the church back to its original model. Check out my Resources page for some great books on the subject.

It is inevitable that some people will attend a house church and still attend a conventional church. People enjoy the fellowship found at the house church meetings, the ability to share and the freedom to express life experiences without judgement from others. Those same people also enjoy the conventional church with full band worship, a dynamic speaker, kid’s church, youth groups and coffee and donuts in the lobby.

Honestly, it does bother me sometimes when people don’t exhibit the same passion I have about house church. I hear them referring to our group as a Bible study or a fellowship group, not really understanding the nature of what house church is intended to be. My frustration is relieved however, when God speaks to me through a blueberry in a salad. I am praying that people will eventually taste and feel the difference. When they do, I will gladly share why!

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Biblical Church

Lonely Weed

My back wall is lined with six Bougainvillea plants. I think the previous owners planted them for privacy. The plants grow fast and shed their red petals…regular cleanup and maintenance is a must.

Once venturing out to do some trimming, I saw a weed had popped up. Single skinny stalk about three feet high with the most beautiful flowers. Instinctively I pulled it out but immediately regretted uprooting it. Why did I just kill something so beautiful?

The Lantana Camara is officially considered a weed. A weed is defined as a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants. It was different, it didn’t fit and it had to go, no matter how special or beautiful it was.

How does our religious mindset define what is beautiful and what is not? In what context do we define ideas of church, pastors and prophets? What do we do with people who may be beautiful but don’t fit in? Have you ever felt that you didn’t fit in organized church? Unfortunately, like the Lantera Camara, if you don’t conform in a corporate church there is little chance of thriving.

I think of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist and Jesus. Organized religion didn’t recognize their beauty and so they did as I did, plucked them out.

As a house church facilitator, I am amazed at how unique, wonderful, beautiful and yes wild people can be. Most Christ followers have never been given a chance to express themselves in a spiritual setting. We rely on pastors, teachers and small group leaders to feed us, which then sets a pattern of how things are done and defines what is normal.

You can now purchase Lantana Camara, plant them and admire your ‘weed’ garden. My prayer is for more weed gardens to pop up and thrive, creating a new definition of what is a Biblical Church. Don’t give up if you have been hurt by religion…you just need to find a place where you can thrive.