No SHAME November

Before I explain the above photo, I want to go over last weeks' announcements...
- Winter Jam: We are planning to go, so keep reminding me if you are interested in going with us. I'll give cost and date at a later time.
- re\\VAMP Wednesdays: January 8th is the launch of our official new services. Get excited and contact me on here if you are interested in being a part of our worship team or leadership and I'll get you an application.
- Fifth Week: it's a week from today and here is the flyer we're painting the town with.

Now to answer the question about the mustaches, last week at re\\VAMP, we played a game in honor of facial hair trend, movember, that I call #yomo. The game was like "yo momma" but instead of dissing on mothers we switched gears to a positive note and COMPLIMENTED the manliness of each others' mustaches. For example, I said, "Your mustache is so manly and wild that Bear Grylls, himself could not survive in it." To which my student responded, "Your mustache is so Italian that even Mario couldn't pull it off."

Needless to say, it was good clean fun and it worked its way into a lesson we all need to be reminded of.

The other facial hair trend of November is "No Shave November." Well, the week before last I was unable to be at our service and Clinton taught our students on identity. The one thing that really stuck with them was his quote, "Your actions do not define YOU, YOU define your actions." In other words, your past failures don't define you as a failure, you have the power to control your future actions and succeed. I realized in hearing this that the feeling of being a failure needed to be further addressed so in the spirit of November we tackled the topic of shame!

#noSHAMEnovember.

What is shame?
Are shame and guilt the same thing?

Webster's
1 a : a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety b : the susceptibility to such emotion 2 : a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute

We have all felt shame before. But should we ever give in to shame? We've discussed condemnation and conviction before and determined that conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, but condemnation is a tool of satan to hold us down, but does that apply to guilt and shame as well?

What does the Bible say about shame?

To this I'll refer to a web article by acts17-11.com

Jer 6:15 (NAS) "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush."

The Way Of Shame

Shame, guilt, and condemnation are similar in that they all have to do with sin, but different in degree, duration, and scope.

Shame is an intense feeling of angst that makes you wish you could evaporate; extreme humiliation and remorse; a despairing of life from abject embarrassment.
Guilt is realizing you have done wrong, usually for some particular sin.
Condemnation is being sentenced (convicted) for doing wrong.
Shame is deeper than guilt. It is not based on having done something wrong so much as a soul ache of being wrong at the core. Shame is more piercing than condemnation where the reality of judgment is mentally apprehended from an outside arbitrator. With shame we palpably feel our own depravity in vivid self-realization.
With this definition, what could possibly be the benefit of shame in the lives of the redeemed? Should its debilitating presence be given no quarter, or does God use it--even require it? Is it a pity party, or the Holy Spirit's doing?

The Case For Shame

1 Cor 15:34 (Wey) Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.

1 Cor 6:5 (Wey) I say this to put you to shame...

Eze 16:63 (NKJ) that you may remember and be ashamed...

Ps 69:5,7 (NKJ) O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You... Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.

Heb 12:2 (Phi) ...For he himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame [NIV: scorning its shame] because of the joy he knew would follow his suffering...

The Case Against Shame

Isa 54:4 (NKJ) "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth..."

Joel 2:27 (NIV) Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

1 Pet 2:6 (Wey) For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed."

Now, it might be understood that these and other "no shame" Scriptures are a future promise--spoken as a destiny and hope. Or again it might be pointed out that these types of texts are promising that we will not be ashamed at "throwing in" with God in the long run. But still, there they are: and should we not strive to attain them?

While I agree with the author that shame, in a biblical sense, is looked at in both a positive and negative way, I have a different thought on the way we use the word in our language.

Anyone who is bilingual or has taken a foreign language class knows that sometimes words don't translate properly from language to language. Some words don't even have a proper word for them in other languages.

This being said, my point is that the word shame as we (and the author) defined it and the word shame in these verses are not always exactly a match. This is what I believe of it and the scriptures will back this up, when you define "shame" as we have.

Shame is to condemnation as conviction is to guilt.

If you sin, YES, you should feel guilty, just as God WILL convict you for going against Him. But you should not feel deep SHAME because that is a tool of the devil to keep you from growing, just as he uses condemnation.

Where shame defines your identity by your actions and says, "Look what you've done! You're nothing more than a wretched sinner and you'll never get past this." Guilt and conviction from the Spirit says, "Look and the mess you've created. Let's clean this up together, because I made you and know YOU ARE BETTER than what you're doing."

This is why I wanted to play a game where instead of throwing insults, we threw compliments. People already have enough guilt on their hands and we don't need to focus on the negative and bring them to shame. Instead, we should focus on the positive and bring them to light. Earlier that week I had seen a video by Blimey Cow that really hit that point home...

In closing, we are believers in Christ. If we are truly saved, changed, and re\\VAMP'd then we can abide by the following.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (Romans 8:1, 2 NLT)

Where there is no condemnation there also should be no shame.

New Announcements and Upcoming Events!

This last weekend at re\\VAMP, our students were busy at work cleaning up the fellowship hall. While part of this was a way for me to allow our youth to practice servanthood, another part was preparation for some renovations coming to our platform. Not only are we remodeling the stage, but we have an official launch date for the new re\\VAMP services. Starting Wednesday, January 8th, we will be moving our service, complete with the relaunch or re\\VIVE: WORSHIP, to Wednesdays and will continue with fellowship and project-oriented weekends after worship with the adults on Saturdays.

Next on the list, remember that this weekend I will not be in service and Clinton will be teaching on identity.

Last big announcement, we have a new community youth event that the three youth ministries of SGG are putting together.

Four times a year there are five Saturdays in a month. Each time this happens the fifth Saturday will hold a youth day for re\\VAMP, 8:37, and God's Kids. This event will be complete with live music from re\\VIVE: WORSHIP, games by Greg and Nina, Cheryl, and Jennie and I, and fun, Godly activity to build new friendships and grow closer with the friends we all already have.

I'll give you all more details as they roll in!

#PassTheBall

Two weeks ago at re\\VAMP, I related our discussion to a theme of sports. We played a game of football and used it as an analogy, but for this post I'd rather relay the point with my favorite sport...

To me, there is nothing more exciting in the world of sports than watching a baseball team turn a triple play. But what can the church learn from a triple play?

#PassTheBall

Too often the church falls into a mindset that I'll call, "the multitude mentality."

We put too much focus on numbers and we lose sight of our unity. We want a bigger and better church than the one down the road. As a matter of fact, we desire that so much that often times we water down the gospel to avoid offending the congregation, but that's a different topic. We try so hard to outdo our local churches that we turn what should be unity into rivalry. We focus on Jesus feeding the multitudes (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:5-15, Mark 8:1-9, Matthew 15:32-39) and we forget that the last group He fed was only twelve in number (Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-39, John 13:1-17:26). Sadly, the American church has turned to quantity over quality.

I don't know about you, but I would rather be part of a small family than a large club.

Now, I'm not against larger churches either. That statement can go both ways.

I would rather be part of a large family than a small club.

This lack of unity extends to more than just jealousy, it's also often caused by overly religious denominations arguing that their ways are the only right ways. Don't get me wrong here, there are certainly some denominations (denomination meaning a version of the Christian faith) that are so far off base that it isn't even Christianity anymore. While I don't always agree with Mark Driscoll, I like the way that he describes this...

#PassTheBall

What Mark is saying is that there are some issues within Christianity that aren't worth fighting over and there are some that are. Basically, "state borders" are ideals that we may not agree on, but won't (or shouldn't) cause us to war within the church. How you worship God and how someone else worships God usually should be considered a state border. "National borders" are absolute essentials that if you go outside of, you are no longer within Christianity. Jesus' death on the cross being our only mode of salvation should be considered a national border and anyone who believes in any other mode of salvation has stepped outside of Christianity.

But what does this have to do with baseball and triple plays and why do I keep saying #PassTheBall ?

TEAMWORK!

It is incredibly rare when a triple play is made by one person and it is impossible for one player to beat an entire team on his/her own. THIS is why I say that we need to be willing to #PassTheBall. There are many lessons that we as a church can take from this.

The first lesson we can look at is strength in numbers. There is a reason why regulation sports require an equal number of teammates on each team. If they didn't, the team with more athletes would usually win. There are two ways in which we can increase our numbers as Christians. The first is as simple as learning the difference between state and national borders and creating unity between the churches who only have "state" differences. The bottom line is that we need to learn to stop the gossip, bickering, and quarrels that lead to disunity. And also, Christ gave us a direct list regarding how to handle those situations...

“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17 NLT)

Simple. Talk with that person about what they did to you, no one else. Normally you won't have to take any more action. Stop the gossip.

The next lesson is on sharing the gospel. The last command that Jesus left for us was to share the Word with EVERYONE.

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NLT)

That job belongs to ALL of us, not just a missionary or evangelist. We are ALL called to share His Word with others and make disciples of everyone that we connect with. Do not be afraid to share the gospel and grow the church.

#PassTheBall
Don't be afraid to share Jesus!
#PassTheBall
Don't fight with other churches over stupid issues!
#PassTheBall
Don't stifle what the body can do by being a "ball hog" or trying to take credit for your entire ministry.
#PassTheBall
Don't be afraid of new ideas that your brothers or sisters bring to the table.
#PassTheBall
Be willing to hear others points of view.
#PassTheBall
Learn to work with people you usually wouldn't.
#PassTheBall
Don't talk behind each other's backs!
#PassTheBall
Try to repair any bad relationships with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
#PassTheBall
Be willing to apologize and don't be prideful.


#PassTheBall

The Power of Life and Death

What is the most powerful thing that humankind possesses? What do we have that has the power to protect or attack, build or demolish, heal or kill? Do we even have anything with this power?

The TONGUE!

The tongue has the power of life and death... (Proverbs 18:21 NIV excerpt)

But why?

We are made in the image of the same God who spoke life into existence from the beginning of time.

That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. (Romans 4:17 NLT)

So we have the same power in us of the God who brings the dead back to life and creates new things out of nothing? How does He do THAT?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. (Genesis 1:1-3, 6, 9, 11, 14 NLT)

In all of this, how did creation begin?

"God SAID"... Remember? He spoke things into existence.

So we must realize that WE also speak life and death into existence.

What should we do differently knowing that our words are so powerful? A good place to start is a study of His word to find out how to control our tongues.

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring. (James 3:1-12 NLT)

First, I've heard people try to use this passage to say, "Well, I can't tame my tongue. The verse says no one can, so I won't even try." That attitude is wrong and sinful. The same book of the bible tells us this...

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. (James 4:17 NLT)

Second, far too often I've heard James 3 misquoted as if the term, "cursing" meant using foul or abusive language, but in this context, that isn't what this term means. This verse is saying that to curse those made in God's image simply means to slander someone, or talk bad about them. This can mean spreading rumors behind someone's back, gossiping, or even bullying face-to-face.

But let's focus on gossip.

The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! (Luke 12:2, 3 NLT)

In simple terms, we all know that what we say about people behind their backs will eventually get back to them and ruin our relationships.

Now back to foul language. If James isn't referring to cuss words when he says, "cursing" than does the bible actually tell us that cussing is wrong? Yes; in Colossians twice.

You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. (Colossians 3:7, 8 NLT, emphasis mine)

Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. (Colossians 4:6 NLT, emphasis mine)

So make no mistake about it, cuss words have no place in the vocabulary of a Christian.

There is so much evidence in scripture that WORDS hold the power that saves or destroys. Even FAITH itself is made by words...

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 NKJV, emphasis mine)

And Jesus' disciples acknowledged that He had the "words of eternal life."

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:66-68 NKJV, emphasis mine)

Words- Hawk Nelson feat. Bart Millard

In closing, Christianity is known as the Great Confession. Christianity is a confession of LOVE which should be spoken by words of LOVE. We have the power of life and death in our tongues and we should always use this power to choose LIFE!

re\\VAMP: My First Entry in Almost Two Years.

If you have followed this blog back in the GoFM days, you've seen several vision changes of a ministry that impacted some, but never reached its full potential. This post, is not to declare a new direction of vision for GoFM, but to inform my old readers about the new ministry that God has ordained me to lead. Nearly a year ago I was given a chance to start a new youth ministry and accepted the position of Youth Pastor at Seeking God's Glory Church in Warren, Ohio. It took me a while to anchor down to the vision God had for the teens of this area and even a year later we are still building our group up, but the reoccurring theme He placed in my heart was CHANGE.

CHANGE! to revamp, renovate, or remodel this community... NOT physically, but spiritually. And we HAVE seen change. We've seen an atheist give her heart to God and publicly accept Christ, His baptism, and His Spirit. We've seen kids who trust no one pour their hearts out to us, because they know that "there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1 NLT excerpt)." The goal is simple. Show love to those who never see it.

re\\VAMP Student Ministries stands as a beacon of the change that takes place when Christ lives in us and we die to our old sinful nature. "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT)"

From here on out I will be using this blog to post summaries of the lessons we teach each week along with occasional posts of words God puts on my heart to share starting later on this week with last weekend's topic, "The Power of Life and Death." This will allow my students or their parents to catch up if they miss a service or study further on what we've learned and if you aren't currently one of my students you can learn along with them.

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Beauty Is in the Eye (Part Two)...

Photo of the tattoo I mentioned in my precious post. My apologies for the poor quality.

So I think Im realizing that "context" is my current soapbox to preach from...

In my last post I discussed my views on the controversial topic of tattoos and appearances. I wanted to give a little merit to my opinion by giving some examples of the context that shows that the old laws I had mentioned were, in fact, cultural...

When we study scripture we have to remember to study the surrounding context of the verses that we read, so that we can understand what topic is being addressed. I proved how important context is in one of my previous posts titled, "Contradictions in the Bible." Sometimes this context is obvious, and sometimes we have to search history to find it.

So just to be clear, I understand that Christ taught us that none of the law would pass away and He didn't come to change it or abolish it, but rather to fulfill it.

"Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose." (Matthew 5:17 NLT)

So how can ANY of the old laws be cultural? Shouldn't we continue to keep them all? YES -- Yes we should, but in our culture they translate differently... Now, don't think I'm trying to take the scripture in a liberal fashion either, we can easily take this statement too far as well, but read on and you'll see what I'm saying.

Let's take a look at some of these verses and their historical context.

"You must obey all my decrees. Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread." (Leviticus 19:19 NLT)

Like I stated in the last post we're all "breaking this law" everyday! Grab the tag on the back of your shirt and read it. I can guarantee it says something to the likes of "50% Cotton 50% Polyester." Upon studying, I've come to find that this law was partly literal, yet mostly metaphorical. The decree for not sewing multiple crops on one field and not wearing combined linens was set as a literal AND metaphorical reminder not to intermingle sinful lifestyles into what God had called them to do. It was part of their culture. Today we honor this command by living righteously and keeping the filth of sin out of our lives. We honor what is Holy and cast off what is not.

"Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards." (Leviticus 19:27 NLT)

How many Christian men are guilty of this, today? How many of us have broken this decree? The truth is that if you aren't shaping your head to honor the celestial gods, you haven't actually broken this decree. See, the Gentile (those who were not Jewish) people in this era were rounding their hair as a sign of devotion and honor to celestial gods, so the God of Abraham commanded that the Israelites take no part in that practice. Today we honor this decree by making God our ONLY priority and putting no other gods before Him.

"Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:28 NLT emphasis mine)

This one is actually easier to see the context, especially because I emphasized it. In the days this scripture was written, the Gentiles would cut themselves and tattoo graven images as a ritual to mourn the dead. To my understanding, this was actually never a decree against the art of tattooing itself, but rather against the ritual of marking yourself with graven images for the dead. Today the Christian community honors this command by not marking ourselves with any image that constitutes idolatry or any other graven image. Those who mark themselves with symbology that relates to God or Christ have not broken this ancient decree, because they have not marked themselves for any ritual with any graven image for the dead.

These are just a few examples and I'm sure there are several more, but this post is already lengthy enough, so, I hope this sheds light on a subject that has left many people hurt by judgment that was misplaced at best. I love you all and God bless!

Beauty Is in the Eye...

We've all heard the age-old saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The only question I have is, does that phrase hold any relevance in our Christian walk?

Too often we judge those working in the church based on an outward appearance and what WE feel falls into the guidelines of "beauty." We get worked up if a pastor dresses too formal, too casual, too trendy, too old fashioned, too this, too that, and the list rolls on and we don't hear a word he has to say.

Of course this statement applies in Christianity.

Look at this picture.. Tell me what you see. If you told me that you saw a man with massive holes in his ears, covered in tattoos screaming into a microphone I'd have to agree with you. But would you agree with me if I told you that this photo is of one of the most powerful ministers of our time? Watch this video and try to tell me otherwise...

See, we have to understand that music and appearances both fall into categories of beauty that are subject to personal opinion. Just because we don't care for someone's style doesn't mean it is not beautiful to them. And don't worry, I know what you're thinking. "What about scripture saying not to give the appearance of evil and not to mark or mar your body?" As far as the appearance of evil, we can yet again refer to the title of this post. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I'm sure the appearance of evil is subject to interpretation as well. A biker gang that has only experienced hatred from the church may feel that a pastor approaching them in a three piece suit is giving the appearance of evil, while they may actually hear out the Word of God if spoken to them by a fellow biker. "But the Bible clearly states that tattoos are sinful!"

???

"Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:28 NLT emphasis mine)

My only problem with this is when we look at some of the surrounding verses we are told not to wear fabric made of more than one material and not to cut our hair or trim our beards.

"You must obey all my decrees. Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread. Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards." (Leviticus 19:19, 27 NLT emphasis mine)

So my honest thoughts on this subject is that anyone who isn't Amish has already sinned as much as I did when I got the word "discipline" tattooed on my left wrist. God has made a diverse people, we must understand that our appearances don't define how Godly we are, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Now understand, I'm not trying to dismiss the rules either. But when you look at the ancient scriptures I believe many of these rules, especially that dealt with appearance, were cultural. The rules that affect morality are never and will never be in question, but I feel we need to stop using single verses of scripture without context to support the excommunication of ministers and Christians who look different than we'd like them to.

*Photo and YouTube contents are not my property and I do not intend to infringe on copyright laws or claim these works as my own.