Missions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTVpyUOR_fI

You know I am really getting more and more frustrated here. I live in the Bible belt, roughly 30 congregations that claim Jesus as Lord in my town of 3000. I am not only frustrated that the body of Christ is dismembered into 30ish segments in this town alone, but I am also frustrated that the Great Commission "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." which was the last thing Jesus said to his disciples does not seem to be carried out anymore. I see churches whose focuses seem to be on reaching those inside the church or else those with the city. There are occasions when they support a single people group that is considered unreached, but why do we only focus on one group of people. If there are 3o congregations in my town, it is probably safe to assume the number reaches somewhere close to 100 in a larger town 30 miles from here. What if every single church in America that had a congregation of lets say 150 or more chose to train and sponsor missionaries to unreached people groups? What if people instead of focusing on making the church bigger, better, or prettier, started moving, started denying themselves and went into the world and reached those people?

I gotta ask

I have to ask y'all, has anyone seen the Spirit of God moving recently? I am angry right now because the Spirit does not seem to be moving anymore. At least not where I am. I am angry that at church, the one place where we should be open, is one of many places where we build walls high and have superficial relationships. A few weeks ago while at youth we broke down into small prayer groups, it broke my heart when every kid prayed for their family/parents, but no one was willing to say for what reason. I have seen their families they are spectacular actors. I understand to an extent why no one wants to open up, gossip in this town travels faster (and is more damaging) then a wildfire on a dry, windy day in this town. I did a head count and we are missing the One who makes it count.

What if?

What if we started believing and living like we say we do? Think about the fact that John 14:12 tells us that Jesus said that we will do even greater things than he did, but also in Matthew 5:16 He tells us to "let our lights shine so that people may see our good works and praise our Father in Heaven." Or think about the early church who were so filled with the Holy Spirit that it just sort of overflowed think about Pentecost, 3000 souls that came to believe, it was not because Peter was such an inspirational speaker, or because Matthew had donated his embezzled money to a worthy charity or anything else that they did something because of their strength or because they read so many self help books. People were reached because the Holy Spirit was allowed to move. When was the time you saw the real power of God?

The Id Strikes Again

We just finished studying nSigmund Freud's theory of the Id, ego, and superego. While a lot of what Freud says is well out there at best I wonder if maybe he was onto something.

It seems as though the recurring theme in my life this year is be careful what you pray for, because it seems I pray something then approximately 20 minutes later I am trying desperately to take it back.

I am not sure how much you know about the id, ego, and superego, but supposedly here is how it works. Your id works totally for gratifying whatever impulse happens to come. Your ego supposedly keeps that in check. On the off chance your ego lets its guard down the id may escape and you may accidentally say something totally inappropriate (or a Freudian Slip). The superego is you conscience.

Like most things in Christianity this is totally backwards of the world. If we have accepted the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ we know that the Holy Spirit lives within us. That is your spiritual id, your ego is where your social standing comes in and will "quench the spirit" if the ego is your selfish thoughts that keep you from doing some things, and your superego checks with the social norms to see if something is alright. I hypothesize that on those rare occasions when your spiritual ego and superego take a break, the Holy Spirit comes in and you find yourself praying the things that everyone told you not to pray (did that accidentally tonight, although I am unable to recall which taboo prayer I prayed). Ultimately I think we would live to our fullest potential if we just let the ego (self) die and allowed the Spirit to guide and change our lives.