Category: Perspective

My good friend Brittany Cline and her husband Carl manage San Antonio Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Occasionally Brittany will post on social media the workouts, training sessions, and competitions. It’s always fun to watch, especially seeing the kids grapple with one another.

I imagine before you sign up to become a Jui-Jitsu disciple, you would count the cost. You would talk with Brittany and Carl and discuss the training, workouts, ability to enter competitions, and what the rules are. Lots of rules, especially for the kids, click here. After you commit, your training begins. It certainly would be odd if you showed up in your gi and just sat on the mat the whole time watching. At some point you are expected to participate.

When I compare the early church to the Western model of Christianity, I see a big difference. There seem to be a lot of people sitting around in their gis not really participating. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe the institutional church leaders prefer to teach and preach rather than get involved in the grappling. Maybe it’s something else?

I think the church may have gotten things backwards. Acts 14 says,

They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

When people in the first-century church became disciples, they knew the cost. Proclaiming Jesus as their King and Messiah meant they became treasonous to the state. The Roman emperors were no longer their king. They gave up, or were disowned, by friends and family. They knew they would go through many “hardships” even to the point of death.

I see so much discussion about disciple making. Yes, it’s important to share our faith, but are we really making disciples when we don’t explain to people the cost involved when a decision is made to follow Christ? Is there even a cost? Do we get them saved and then abandon them? It seems to be a priority to get people to make a confession and then after, try to motivate them to be good disciples.

Western society is filled with people who claim to be Christ followers, many walking up to the front of the church and saying a prayer and then told to sign up for Church Membership 101. Most come because they are convicted of sin and want to avoid eternal punishment. We then hear church leaders complain when only a small percent of their flock participate in church matters or even worse, just leave through the back door. Somehow we get upset when people only have a casual relationship with Christ, even less with their brothers and sisters, and have no understanding of what true discipleship is. Who is to blame? And let’s not talk about any “hardships.”

Maybe we should tell people about the cost of following Christ before they want to join our club.

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My good friend Rachel posted an interesting video on our group chat. The video is of Tucker Carlson interviewing Dr. Casey Means explaining why she prays over her food.  She prays out of reverence and awe for its role in nourishing her body and mind. She believes the food she eats becomes her, affecting her cells, genes, microbiome, and overall well-being. She also believes that by praying over her food, she is asking for divine blessing and guidance. 

It’s an interesting video, she says the food we eat becomes part of us. We become what we eat. I’m wondering, if we were to get a group of people together and they all ate the same things, would the food become all of us and we become one with each other? OK, I know that might sound silly but hear me out.

Before our group gathers, we plan on what we’re going to eat. Sometimes it’s a struggle because people are on restricted diets for a number of reasons, but we stress healthy eating. Some in our group maintain healthy eating as a way of life and others not so much. I’m really trying to be better, really! If each of us all ate the same healthy food on a consistent basis, would we begin to look and feel like each other?

We remember Christ’s sacrifice as we eat and drink the body and blood of Christ. Spiritually, is there anything as pure and holy as this food and drink we partake of? It should impact us on a microscopic level. As His children commune with Him and each other, do we become more like Him? Does it change us, do we look more like Him? Do we have a steady diet of Christ or do we only ingest Him once a week, once a month or less? We get a shot of holiness but it doesn’t last. The worldly food winds up having a greater impact on our spiritual health.

We all know people who call themselves Christians but seem like they only eat junk food. Perhaps we need to change our diets. We are what we eat, and if we’re not looking more like Him over time, we should hire a nutritionist, spiritually speaking of course. Many nutritional programs track what and how much food is eaten, perhaps it would help to examine our spiritual diets, the results might surprise us. We must ask ourselves how much time do we really spend eating things that have eternal value and how much do we reflect His image?

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Since my wife and I became disciples of Jesus in 2002, we have always sought to understand the true meaning of discipleship. According to the dictionary, a disciple is “one who follows the ideas or imitates the examples of another.” In the case of Jesus’ followers, we are those who seek to live according to His teachings and imitate His example of life.

We know Jesus and His life and work, and we believe in Him. We repent of our independent life from Him and return the governance of our lives to Him with the commitment to live completely submissive to His will.

The church where we began our life as followers of Jesus was beautiful! All we had was Jesus and each other, which is truly all that is needed. Religiousness was not welcome. It was delightful when someone asked the name of the church and we replied: the church of Jesus has no name. Or when they asked: where is the church? And the answer was wherever we were gathered.

And discipleship was something intimate and transformative, growth was not limited to knowledge alone, but extended to faith, love, and the commitment to make new disciples. We lived this intensely for a period of our Christian journey. We were always eager to experience more of Jesus, excited to practice His words, and with hearts full of desire to share Him with those who did not yet know Him.

But…

As time went by, the enjoyable and exciting discipleship began to turn into something mechanical and robotic. Lots of knowledge, booklets upon booklets, many obligations. And the meetings started to become tiresome and boring. So much so that several times, I hoped they would be canceled. And then you ask me, “If it was so bad, why didn’t you leave?”

Ah, so… We left. For four years we were alone. In the meantime, I took a theology course at a large church institute. In a short time, I became the “pastor” of my own church. I started preaching in various churches and got to know the institutional church from the inside. What I saw and witnessed was a tremendous disappointment, but that’s a topic for another occasion.

After those years and tired of so much religious adventure, God gave us a clear word: “Return to where you started.” And when God speaks, those who have ears obey.

But when we returned, what astonished us was that the church had transformed. Many things had changed. The root of religiosity was sprouting. And so more than eighteen years passed. And the church was becoming like any other church. With buildings, with salaried pastors and elders, with programs, with various leaders, as a sister once told us, not normal people.

Some dissatisfied with this organizational structure left. Some wounded and hurt, others because they did not believe that this is the true way to be a church. Our small group that meets in our home understood the message that God had given us: Return to where you started. And we returned to the simple and true discipleship of the beginning of our journey. Where we were together, ate together, laughed and cried with each other, where the fundamental is the relationship, communion, and the flow of the Holy Spirit.

We rediscovered that our place was that church from the beginning: without denomination, without buildings, without pastors. In the living room, in the garage, under a tree, or wherever God wants. Living the life of Christ and in the good sense “contaminating” others.

We believe that the church builds itself up. We believe that this is the true discipleship that cultivates a lifestyle that pleases the heart of God and impacts lives.

Let’s embrace Jesus’ call to be His disciples, multipliers of His love, and living examples of His grace. We must transform not only our lives but also the lives of everyone around us, impacting the world for the glory of God. May our discipleship journey be a continuous celebration of the love we have received and that we have been called to share.”

Love and Relationships – The Heart of the Organic Church

Many Christians feel a lack of true connection and live as disconnected and isolated individuals despite attending churches.

In the organic church, we are part of the same Body and members of one another. Here we can be ourselves, share our weaknesses, and find support. Often, this need is not met in traditional churches. The organic church is a welcoming and loving environment where authentic relationships are developed. This text aims to explore the meaning of love and relationships within the context of organic churches, based on the teachings of Jesus. Read the full text by clicking the link below.

https://northphoenixhousechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Love-and-Relationships-The-Heart-of-Organic-Church-1.pdf

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is “Will my dog go to heaven?” My usual response focuses on the fact that there are horses in heaven so why not other animals, although I’m pretty sure cats will never make it. My last dog, Spencer, may have made it; he was a bit naughty but perhaps he was able to sneak in with those big eyes.

Spencer, a Yorkie, was a ball of energy. One of his naughty behaviors was that he would jump out of the bicycle basket. He loved going for car rides where he would insist on sitting on my lap but he couldn’t sit still on a bike. I thought of keeping him on a leash or restraint in the basket but had nightmares of him jumping out and strangling himself.

I do see pictures of dogs that love to sit still and go for rides on bicycles. They seem so happy, taking in fresh air, seeing sites and having full faith that they are safe and secure in their owners’ care.

We talked about dogs at our fellowship meeting last Sunday and it got me thinking. It seems Christians can be one of three types of dogs. The first type is the dog that just stays at home, maybe goes out for an occasional walk but never really goes on any adventures. When it’s time for a ride, he knows it’s to the vet so he’s not very happy. Dogs are happiest having adventures, playing with others, having fun and cuddling with their owners. May I suggest that it’s the same with all of us. When it’s time for you to go to church, do you feel like you’re going to the vet? Is your spiritual walk here on earth exciting and an adventure or are you just holding on waiting for your eternal reward?

The second type of Christian would be like my Spencer. They want to enjoy life and have adventures but don’t fully trust the Lord. They keep jumping out of the basket thinking that Christ will ask them to become a missionary in some foreign country. They are the ones that say “That’s OK Jesus, I can handle this life on my own”.

Hopefully, we all aim to become like the third type of dog. The one that completely trusts in his master. At 65 years old, I have finally come to the place where I can stay in the basket, enjoy life and believe that wherever the Lord takes me will be filled with awesomeness and wonders. So far it’s been quite a ride!

It’s the beginning of October 2024, only 33 days until the “big” election. At 65 years old, I’ve been through many election cycles but I’ve never seen this much angst within the Christian community.

The majority of my friends are conservative and will vote Republican but they seem to have adopted a do-or-die attitude. They think if the Democrats win all hell will break loose, Christians will be persecuted, religious freedom will be a thing of the past, our country will crumble and civil war will break out. I guess only time will tell.

I’ve heard Christians distort scripture (Romans 13) saying that we don’t have to obey authority if we deem that our leaders are “evil”. I’m hearing comparisons to Hitler and Nazi Germany. They say Hitler would never have stayed in power if the “church” took action, implying that the church should take up arms. There is even a movie coming out in November about Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.” Last time I checked Jesus was not a ninja.

My wife and I enjoyed the beauty of Kauai last week; it was awesome. Beautiful scenery, refreshing oceans, great food. We didn’t want to come back to Phoenix especially with the record breaking heat, but we did.

The picture above was taken at the beach where my wife lost her earring. Yes, she was upset but she knew the general area where it had fallen. When she searched for it the sand had already swallowed it up.

A short time later, out of nowhere, comes an angel named Daniel with a metal detector. We asked if he could search for the earring and he agreed to look for it. In a short time his detector started pinging and he recovered the earring.

Daniel then said to my wife, “Do you know the greatest thing that I’ve ever found?” After a short dramatic pause his response was “Jesus”. We all let out a hallelujah and had a great conversation about the Lord.

Maybe you think this was luck or a happy coincidence but could He have orchestrated such an event? Was this a reminder of His many promises in scripture? He knows our name, He knows how many hairs we have on our head, He’s gone to prepare a place for us. He cares about us and He loves us. Do we have faith in His promises? Can we trust Him?

If times get dark, which we know will happen, what will we decide to do? Should we take up arms and start shooting our enemies? Should we fight and rely on our own strength or rest on His many promises and expect Him to take care of us in life and even in death? We need to seriously work through these issues before things start getting darker.

On my way to a fellowship meeting last Sunday I did what I usually do, stop and grab a coffee at the McDonald’s Drive Thru. I enjoy a good cup of coffee and you can’t beat the price, especially if you have the app.

When the young man handed me the coffee, I didn’t notice that the lid was not on tight. I grabbed the cup, naturally squeezed it, and hot coffee poured all over my hand. It was painful but I kept calm. The young man looked like he was in shock, I had to instruct him to grab the cup from my hand. I could tell he was new and this was probably the first and hopefully the last time this would happen.

In a couple of minutes I arrived at my friend Victor’s home and he grabbed an ice pack. For those concerned about my health, I appreciate you. The next couple of hours I was intermittently applying ice to my hand. The pain subsided and the next day the only reminder was slight redness in the area where I got burned.

Looking back, I’m kind of proud of how I reacted. I didn’t drop the “F” bomb, I didn’t yell at the young man or demand he be fired, I didn’t request my $1.07 to be refunded and I didn’t think about opening a court case. I did think about getting $10 in McDonalds coupons, but didn’t go through with calling customer support. I didn’t want to get the young man in trouble.

My thinking was this, perhaps this happened to me so the young man would learn the importance of checking the lid. Perhaps if I didn’t get burned, some younger, more delicate skinned person would get burned worse. Whatever my thinking, I do feel like I passed a test.

Like Lady Galadriel, I had passed the test and now “I will diminish”. Over time and through testing, we hopefully find our sinful nature “diminishing” and His nature increasing in us.

Life will continue to slap us around; how do we choose to react? Do we turn the other cheek or do we fight back in our own power? I know this was just a small slap. Many of us have had crushing slaps, made worse because they came from people who were suppose to love and protect us. We must trust Christ to get us through. He left instructions on how to handle all sorts of difficulties.

Lady Galadriel passed the test and achieved her hope of “going into the West”, leaving Middle Earth and going to an eternal beautiful realm. This imagery by Tolkien is a reflection of heaven where Christ promised to go and prepare a place for us! It is a reminder that this place is only our temporary home and what awaits us is too glorious to comprehend. Let this future hope sustain us and cause us, while here, to strive to be conformed to His image.

We don’t know what evil awaits us in the future. Let’s pass the tests that come our way now, so we have a hope that we will reflect Christ then.

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I recently reviewed and posted excerpts from Nexus, a 525 page book by Rad Zdero and another of his books, The Global House Church Movement. The text below is copied from a post of Rad from 2011. In a dream the Lord told him to “prepare for revival”. I believe it is important for individual groups to relationally connect together, let’s prepare!

The topic of the church’s readiness to deal with disaster, harvest, and hostility is an important matter that was recently blogged about. Indeed, are we ready? And are we ready in the “right” things? It is one thing to be ready personally on spiritual and practical levels, but it is quite another to be ready corporately as the church. 

Several years ago, I had an unusual dream. Being a non-Charismatic skeptical person, I asked God to confirm it. He did several times. In the dream, the Lord said, “God is not satisfied with denominations, but is drawing out a remnant for himself that will accomplish his will.” And that we must “prepare for revival” in my region. My sense was that God asked us to put into place tangible expressions of relational, intentional, and missional unity. We must shift from simply awareness of each other to practical partnership. 

Airports, computers, roadways, human brain cells, ecosystems, and many other things in the man-made and natural world are networked. Simple/house churches should be networked too. Spiritual water can only flow properly if the spiritual plumbing system has been set up! Consequently, simple/house churches will not be ready THEN for disaster, harvest, or hostility, until several things happen NOW ahead of time. 

First, simple/house churches must trust, partner, and network together locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally NOW, so that coordination and cooperation can happen THEN, just like the early church (Acts 2:41-47, 5:12, 5:42, 20:20; Gal 1:18,19, 2:6-10; 3 John 1:3-8). 

Second, simple/house churches must learn true hospitality toward strangers and the afflicted by providing for their needs and empowering them NOW, so we will know how to do it wisely THEN, just like the early church (Matt 25:31-46; Luke 10:30-37). 

Third, simple/house churches must give generously and share money and material resources with each other NOW, so we will be able to efficiently funnel funds to the Body of Christ THEN, just like the early church (Acts 2:44-45; 1 Cor 9:1-14; 2 Cor 9:1-7; Philip 2:25, 4:15-16). 

Fourth, simple/house churches must develop leadership hubs for connecting, training, and launching a new generation of local leaders of churches NOW, so we can facilitate spiritual growth in quality and in quantity THEN, just like the early church (Acts 20:17-38; 2 Tim 2:2; Tit 1:5-9). 

Fifth, simple/house churches must identify, finance, and launch a new generation of travelling leaders who visit and equip entire networks of churches NOW, so we can strengthen and expand Kingdom frontiers THEN, just like the early church (Mark 3:13-15; Luke 10:1-10; Acts 10:1-48, 13:1-3, 15:36-41; 1 Cor 9:1-14; Eph 4:11-13; Tit 1:5; Philip 4:15-16; 3 John 1:3-8). 

Sixth, simple/house churches must create high-tech and low-tech communication channels to effectively broadcast information about needs, opportunities, obstacles, and attacks NOW, so we can navigate future surprises and challenges THEN, just like the early church (Acts 15:22-30,36; Col 4:16; 2 Thes 2:15). 

Seventh, simple/house churches must be open to the extraordinary power of God to speak to us, speak through us, heal the sick, deliver the demon-possessed, and even raise the dead NOW, so that we will be prepared and experienced vessels THEN, just like the early church (Acts 5:12, 9:36-42, 13:1-3, 19:11-12; 1 Cor 12:7-12; James 5:14-15). 

And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Otherwise, simple/house churches will be caught unawares, not knowing how to deal with disaster, hostility, or harvest. Let’s not miss the chance God gives us THEN! Let’s get ready NOW! 

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Several days after his death on May 12th, 1963, A.W. Tozer’s final thoughts were published. His article below has been abridged, you can easily find his complete article on-line.

Let me state the cause of my burden. It is this: Jesus Christ has today almost no authority at all among the groups that call themselves by His name…It is a basic doctrine of the New Testament that after His resurrection the Man Jesus was declared by God to be both Lord and Christ, and that He was invested by the Father with absolute Lordship over the church which is His Body. All authority is His in heaven and in earth. In His own proper time He will exert it to the full, but during this period in history He allows this authority to be challenged or ignored. And just now it is being challenged by the world and ignored by the church.

The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be likened to that of a king in a limited, constitutional monarchy. The king (sometimes depersonalized by the term “the Crown”) is in such a country no more than a traditional rallying point, a pleasant symbol of unity and loyalty much like a flag or a national anthem. He is lauded, feted and supported, but his real authority is small. Nominally he is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver the tame, colorless speech put into his mouth by the real rulers of the country. The whole thing may be no more than good-natured make-believe, but it is rooted in antiquity, it is a lot of fun and no one wants to give it up.

Among the gospel churches Christ is now in fact little more than a beloved symbol. “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” is the church’s national anthem and the cross is her official flag, but in the week-by-week services of the church and the day-by-day conduct of her members someone else, not Christ, makes the decisions. Under proper circumstances Christ is allowed to say “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden” or “Let not your heart be troubled,” but when the speech is finished someone else takes over. Those in actual authority decide the moral standards of the church, as well as all objectives and all methods employed to achieve them. Because of long and meticulous organization it is now possible for the youngest pastor just out of seminary to have more actual authority in a church than Jesus Christ has.

Not only does Christ have little or no authority; His influence also is becoming less and less. I would not say that He has none, only that it is small and diminishing…The Lordship of Jesus is not quite forgotten among Christians, but it has been relegated to the hymnal where all responsibility toward it may be comfortably discharged in a glow of pleasant religious emotion. Or if it is taught as a theory in the classroom it is rarely applied to practical living. The idea that the Man Christ Jesus has absolute and final authority over the whole church and over all of its members in every detail of their lives is simply not now accepted as true by the rank and file of evangelical Christians.

What we do is this: We accept the Christianity of our group as being identical with that of Christ and His apostles. The beliefs, the practices, the ethics, the activities of our group are equated with the Christianity of the New Testament. Whatever the group thinks or says or does is scriptural, no questions asked. It is assumed that all our Lord expects of us is that we busy ourselves with the activities of the group. In so doing we are keeping the commandments of Christ.

To avoid the hard necessity of either obeying or rejecting the plain instructions of our Lord in the New Testament we take refuge in a liberal interpretation of them. Casuistry is not the possession of Roman Catholic theologians alone. We evangelicals also know how to avoid the sharp point of obedience by means of fine and intricate explanations. These are tailor-made for the flesh. They excuse disobedience, comfort carnality and make the words of Christ of none effect. And the essence of it all is that Christ simply could not have meant what He said. His teachings are accepted even theoretically only after they have been weakened by interpretation.

Yet Christ is consulted by increasing numbers of persons with “problems” and sought after by those who long for peace of mind. He is widely recommended as a kind of spiritual psychiatrist with remarkable powers to straighten people out. He is able to deliver them from their guilt complexes and to help them to avoid serious psychic traumas by making a smooth and easy adjustment to society and to their own ids. Of course this strange Christ has no relation whatever to the Christ of the New Testament. The true Christ is also Lord, but this accommodating Christ is little more than the servant of the people.

But I suppose I should offer some concrete proof to support my charge that Christ has little or no authority today among the churches. Well, let me put a few questions and let the answers be the evidence…In the conduct of our public worship where is the authority of Christ to be found? The truth is that today the Lord rarely controls a service, and the influence He exerts is very small. We sing of Him and preach about Him, but He must not interfere; we worship our way, and it must be right because we have always done it that way, as have the other churches in our group…

For the true Christian the one supreme test for the present soundness and ultimate worth of everything religious must be the place our Lord occupies in it. Is He Lord or symbol? Is He in charge of the project or merely one of the crew? Does He decide things or only help to carry out the plans of others? All religious activities, from the simplest act of an individual Christian to the ponderous and expensive operations of a whole denomination, may be proved by the answer to the question, Is Jesus Christ Lord in this act? Whether our works prove to be wood, hay and stubble or gold and silver and precious stones in that great day will depend upon the right answer to that question.

What, then, are we to do? Each one of us must decide, and there are at least three possible choices. One is to rise up in shocked indignation and accuse me of irresponsible reporting. Another is to nod general agreement with what is written here but take comfort in the fact that there are exceptions and we are among the exceptions. The other is to go down in meek humility and confess that we have grieved the Spirit and dishonored our Lord in failing to give Him the place His Father has given Him as Head and Lord of the Church.

Either the first or the second will but confirm the wrong. The third if carried out to its conclusion can remove the curse. The decision lies with us.

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