Scripture Thursday - Prayer for the Church

John 17:20-21 (ESV)
20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Are you ever awestruck that the Son of God, who holds the entire universe together, prayed for you and me before we ever existed.  Jesus prayed for those of us who would believe in Him through the words of the apostles.  Amazing.  Of course not long after this prayer He did an even more amazing thing for you and me.  He allowed Himself to be crucified for our sins.

I am frustrated sometimes because of the lack of unity in the Church.  I guess it should not be too surprising. While we are forgiven sinners, we are still sinners.  However, we do have the Spirit within us, so we have a great hope.

I read an encouraging post on Sheepleblog where the author, Derek, shares the struggles he faced as a pastor.  He makes a statement in his post that I want to share here:

“I am anticipating the days ahead because I know that Jesus is still the head of His church; He is actively building His church; and it is He who is the author of that desire within each true believer to connect with His people in order to become that “house of living stones”.

This is my hope and my dream.  I am confident in this hope because it is my own Lord's prayer.

Read More...

Summary only...

What if the Church Was Invisible?

I came across this great post about the church, or rather what the church should\could be. Jeromy from Mending Shift has graciously allowed me to re-post it over here on Seeking Things Above. Let me know what you think. If this message resonates with you, drop by and visit Mending Shift and give Jeromy a shout.

What if we, as the church, were invisible? What if we had no church buildings? No signs declaring a church location? No denominations or headquarters? No mega weekend gatherings? No Christian radio presence? No Christian stores? No Christian bumper stickers or other outward personal identifying stuff? What if the Yellow Pages didn’t have a “church” category and if you Googled “church” it came up with no search results? What if there was no such “thing” as the church? Would there still be a church?

What if we, as the church, were invisible? What if we simply lived the life of Jesus, speaking and displaying his love to the people we knew and came in contact with on a daily basis? What if we as followers of Jesus simply did just that? What if we gathered quietly in homes to break bread and encourage each other in Christ; where our goal would be to simply live as agents of God’s restoration, serving God and the “other” in real and tangible ways? What if church were not a weekend thing, but a people who radically lived behind the cultural scenes bringing God’s kingdom to earth?

What if God’s church was more like a tiny mustard seed instead of trying to be the biggest oak tree on the hill? What if Jesus’ church was more like a tiny amount of yeast…itself unnoticed, yet quietly transforming and restoring people and, in turn, culture? What if the Holy Spirit’s church sought to be the last and the least—a servant? What if the church daily sought self-death—dying to itself and loosing its life in order to find it—instead of doing all it can to save its life? What if God’s church chose to sit down in the least honored seat of society and culture, instead of clamoring and fighting for the most prestigious one? What if the church “thing” disappeared and all that was left was the church—people who realize they are forgiven and loved by God and who actively want to be a part of his restorative and healing work in lives of other’s?

In other words, what if the church was invisible—or even better: visible, yet invisible? What if?

Read More...

Summary only...

The emerging church

What is the emerging church? Some friends and I had an interesting email dialog going on this topic a couple of weeks ago. Is it what we see missing in our churches today where it feels like we've lost our first love (Rev 2:4)? Or is it a heretical movement that has joined with the world in denying Truth (John 18:37, James 4:4)?

This weekend we joined many other families, from a variety of churches, to celebrate Easter at a neighbor's house. We told the resurrection egg story to our kids, ran sack races, egg races, played egg baseball and shared good food and then, we worshipped. We sat together on a hill and worshipped our Lord and Savior as families in Christ.

As I sat there on the hill with my arm around my 10 year old son singing praises to Jesus, I thought, "This is the emerging church."

This is not all of it of course. As Christians, we need to not only reconnect with each other in true worship and oneness but we need engage our postmodern world. This postmodern world that believes there is no absolute truth needs to hear the real Truth, the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that died for our sins.

I pray, all of the body of Christ, "emerges" from our sleepwalk and our luke-warm passion for Christ's passion. Life is not about two car garages and little league baseball. The kingdom of God is here and God's judgment is not far behind. However, judgment is not just for the outwardly morally corrupt (Matthew 25:31-46).

Informative article on the emerging church from Christianity Today.

Read More...

Summary only...