The Big Diehl

My worship team is a really weird group of people if you think about it. Some of them are tall, some of them short. Some of them wear their feelings on their cuff, others of them are content never saying an extra word. Some would like to express their worship by jumping up and down, others would prefer to quietly meditate. Each of them have different musical strengths and weaknesses. Each of them have a significantly contrasting emotional makeup. My first inclination is to see differences as a weakness because we all tend to think others should be like us. Every time I really ponder on how everyone on the worship team is so different from everyone else I can’t help but say out loud, “Yea, I’m pretty sure I serve with the best worship team in the world.” (That’s no joke, I say that nearly every weekend).

I’m glad my worship team has figured it out. I hope we always remember the importance of unity on a worship team. In 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 there is an example of how the Holy Spirit totally knocked the Believer’s socks off when the worship team was in complete unity.

The number one destroyer of worship is a dis-unified worship team. Staying unified takes more work, but if we don’t do it - we’re kind of like the Amazing Precision Marching Band. Check out this video

I was recently cleaning up my desk and I found a blank sheet of paper folded in half with some notes written all over it. Not sure where they came from, I think I took these notes while listening to John Bevere speak. I liked it… so I figured I’d post it here:

A sinner has a sinful nature and can’t help but sin! We (Christians) often get mad at them for sinning, but they’re sinners - its what they do! Sinning is in step with who they are. But for a Christian to live in habitual sin just doesn’t make sense — its out of step. 

Saying the prayer and confessing Christ does not change the NATURE. Christianity requires a nature change. You can’t just join the “born again club” with an initiation statement. 

“Jesus, I relinquish my rights to live for You — whatever You want.”

FOLLOWING JESUS COSTS YOUR FREEDOM. 

We proud Americans don’t like to hear that - we like to focus just on how Jesus gives us FREEDOM from sin. That is great — Jesus DOES give us freedom from sin and that is wonderful! But I’m talking about how we Christians must give up our freedom to do what we want to do for what God wants us to do. We relinquish our right to do what we want. That process is called sanctification.

I’ve pretty much decided that sometimes I need to “fake it ’til I feel it.”When I first started seriously learning classical piano in college, I had to practice several hours every day. Sometimes I was excited to work on the music - other times I looked for ways out of it. On those days where I didn’t feel like practicing I learned that I had to just fake it - I had to tell myself, “Adam, you want to practice.” Once I got practicing, I began to feel like it again. But I had to fake it before I felt it.

Can we translate that into our spiritual lives? Can we fake our Christianity? I say, “absolutely!” — I frequently fake my Christianity (Don’t freak out just yet - let me explain myself!)

You see, our faith doesn’t come from our feelings. Our faith comes from obedience. My obedience cannot be the result of my feelings. So, I’ll fake it.

Right now I really don’t want to go read my Bible. I have no desire to pray or seek God. I just don’t want to.

But I’m going to go fake it ’til I feel it. I’m sure that if I am just obedient and chase after God even when I don’t feel like it, the feelings will follow. I’ll feel like it after I get going. But to get going, I’ll fake it.

This post was inspired by a blog by Steven Furtick. 

My Uncle Mike is amazing. He’s probably the most brilliant mentor ever. He has forgotten more about Worship Arts Ministry than I know. Several times I have asked him for advice about a certain situation, wanting to tap into his seemingly infinite knowledge. Each time I fully expected him to say, “Adam, the solution is simple. You need to _____.”

But he never has done that. He’ll start by saying something like, “What do you think?” or “What do your instincts tell you to do?”  I hate it when he asked that! It would be so much easier if he just told me how to think. But he never did that. He continued to ask question after question until I solved my own problem.

As time went on, I found myself contacting my Uncle Mike for advice less and less. Every time I encountered a potential problem I started to intuitively ask MYSELF, “Adam, what do your instincts tell you to do in this situation?” If my Uncle Mike told me how to think, then I would be an Uncle Mike Junior (not that that would be all bad, I mean he’s pretty cool). But instead, my Uncle Mike helped develop me into my own person with my own leadership “guts.” Would it have been faster and easier for him to just tell me what to do? Sure, but not better.

I wrote this down on paper last February (I don’t remember why):

“A disciple-maker/mentor must regularly check his motives. The disciple-maker’s goal is to develop his proteges into devoted followers of Christ, in the context of their giftings, Calling (with a capital C), and personal vision.”

By the way, if you consider yourself a devoted follower of Christ and you’re not mentoring someone else, well, Jesus told us to go and make disciples… so get going. You don’t have to be a super-Christian. You just need to be honest. I wrote about that in 2006 right here.

Woot!!! My blog is exactly two years old today. I can’t think of anything creative to do in celebration except to link back to my blog post on June 3, 2006. I wrote it while on my internship in Tulsa, Oklahoma with Pastor Ed Gungor. Here it is.

Also, just for kicks, I must share with you. I saw in my Google Analytics report that someone got to my site by searching in Google, “what happened to ‘Turbo’ from American Gladiators?” lol. Cracks me up.

When I was little I wanted to be a superhero. I even filled a backpack with all the superhero essentials: rope (to swing from building to building), squirt guns, a mask, and a belt with cool crap on it. I wanted to be Batman, specifically. My best friend wanted to be Superman. Another one of my friends wanted to be Spiderman. Together - we would save the world. I doubt I’m the only one who wanted to be a superhero! Truth be told - most of us (especially the guys) wanted to be a superhero as well.

Recently it occurred to me that I am a superhero — I’m a Christian. Consider this:

Superheros help people — Christians are Christ’s ambassadors, and so therefore help people. Superheros save the day — Christians are working with the Guy who did. Superheros have superpowers to do amazing things — Christians have supernatural powers to heal (amongst other things), when they’re walking with Christ and lined up with the will of Christ. I mean to think about all the things that a Christian is supposed to do — all the responsibility God has placed in the hands of His Church — its incredible, and very similar to being a superhero! I AM IRONMAN!

Now don’t wet yourself - Jesus is the only one who really saves. I’m not trying to diminish His role - but I’m trying to help all of us remember how important OUR role is! God has given US the responsibility of being His ambassadors.

So many people (even most Christians) think that Christianity is boring. It’s about being a nice, clean, good (and boring) person. That’s ridiculous.

I remember just under 10 years ago I was at church camp. Pastor Matt Keller was giving an altar call for those that wanted to open their lives up completely to Christ and would say to God, “However You want to use me, I’m available.” I remember when Pastor Matt followed that up and said, “Be careful responding to this altar call - if you open your life up to be used by God, HE WILL USE IT!” I remember how seriously I devoted my entire being to Christ that night.

From that moment on weird crap started happening to me. I often feel like I’m living in a well scripted action movie. Its as if God is directing a movie called, “Adam Diehl — the Superhero.” I’m not swinging from building to building knocking out muggers, but the opportunities God has orchestrated into my life is absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have a more action packed life if I were Indiana Jones.

Many men spend their lives looking for action and adventure. You will never find more action and adventure than in the life that is completely devoted to Christ.

Okay I had absolutely no intention of creating an evangelism blog series this week - it just sorta happened! So here’s the impromptu part 3!

Steven Curtis Chapman has a song called “Live Out Loud.” Check out these lyrics:

Imagine this, I get a phone call from Regis. He says, “Do you want to be a millionaire?” They put me on the show and I win with two lifelines to spare. Picture this: I act like nothing ever happened - I bury all my money in a coffee can. Well I’ve been given more than Regis ever gave away, I was a dead man who was called to out of my grave. I think its time for makin’ some noise.”

How true is this?! I agree with SCC, we need to LIVE LOUDLY! Christians should LIVE so loudly that everyone around them can hear, “Jesus!” HOWEVER . . .

God never intended for us to be cookie cutter Christians, He knew what he was doing when he made each of us differently. Living loudly isn’t going to look the same for all of us. Your personality will effect the style of your loud living. But one thing remains - we must live loud.

I remember a few teachers in High School that loved teaching. There were just some teachers that loved teaching so much that you could tell it wasn’t just a job to them. They genuinely loved teaching. I also remember a couple teachers that hated teaching. Especially several substitute teachers. You could tell. They never said they hated it but it couldn’t be hidden. It was obvious they hated teaching (two of the teachers I’m thinking of are no longer in the education field!). Kids can always tell how their teachers really feel about their job — they can’t hide what’s on the inside.

That’s what it means to live loudly.

Living loud doesn’t (necessarily) mean that I have to get on a soap box to share Christ. Living loudly means that my internal life is being revolutionized by Christ (I use the present tense, “being,” because its a never ending goal). Folks - this is the secret right here, but it often gets unintentionally ignored and overlooked (even by pastors and leaders) because its not observable and measurable by others. But that’s the key to living loudly - our relationship with God must be loud on the INSIDE before anything else. After that, it will come out of you through and in the style of your personality, in everyday situations.

Steven Curtis Chapman says it best, “If we’ve really been given the gift of life that will never end and if we’ve been filled with living hope we’re gonna overflow and if God’s love is burning in our hearts we’re gonna glow — There’s just no way to keep it in.” 

I had heard a lot about Scientology. It’s a religion created out of thin air in the past 100 years, and has thousands of followers. I had heard it was all about removing the aliens from your mind, created by a science fiction writer (both of which are true facts) who was quoted as saying something to the effect of, “Religion is where the big money is at.” But nobody would actually head into Scientology thinking they have aliens in the mind, right? I mean that’s a little far fetched. So I decided to do some checking about what the Church of Scientology advertises about Scientology. I watched numerous videos on their website asking myself the question, “What’s the draw? Why are so many people believing this?” Here’s what I came up with:

Scientology is practical! They provide real life solutions and answers to what we’re thinking and feeling. I think that right there is the kicker - its relevant! (I’m not saying its truth, but relevant to our everyday lives).

Christians, take a snapshot of your daily life. Imagine someone else looking at that snapshot. Would they see a life that has been and is being revolutionized by Jesus? Would they see a Jesus that is stagnant and insignificantly in your life . . . or would they see a Jesus that is passionately renovating your entire being? Would they see a Jesus that applies to today?

With that in mind, I understand why 55,000 Americans have picked Scientology over a stagnant and insignificant relationship with God. Psh - I DON’T BLAME THEM!

The key to evangelism in every situation is to show the one that is seeking for Truth that Jesus is the Truth they’re looking for. People around us are already looking for Jesus - they just don’t know it. Scientology provides answers when Christians (and their lives) remain silent. Start living louder.

Earlier today when I was mowing my lawn kept singing the first line of “All My Life” by Foofighters:

“All my life I’ve been searching for something…”

Then it hit me - I’VE GOT WHAT HE’S SEARCHING FOR!

Christians, the world around us is truly searching for Jesus - they just don’t know it. They’re not interested in the Jesus that shakes his finger at anyone who sins and takes the fun out of life. They’re searching for a Jesus that is loving, just, accepting, sovereign and brings fulfillment and revolutionizes lives. Why don’t we give them what they are searching for? (Maybe you haven’t even let Jesus REVOLUTIONIZE your life???)

The key to evangelism is not standing on a soapbox declaring “The End is Near” or knocking on doors (although if that works - more power to you). The key to evangelism in every situation is to show the one that is seeking for Truth that Jesus is the Truth they’re looking for. People around us are already looking for Jesus - they just don’t know it.

I am not perfect. There it is. That’s the big announcement. The rumors are true - Adam Diehl indeed is still trying to fully put to death his sinful nature.

If my pastor gave an altar call for people who are struggling with something and need God’s help, every Christian would fit into one of three categories:
1) Christians who are struggling, awknowledge their struggle, and respond to the altar call.
2) Christians who stopped struggling and have started to live complacently with their lousy lives rejecting the power of Christ. These people don’t even realize they stopped struggling and are stuck in a rut.
3) Christians who are struggling, but they lie to themselves and do not respond to the altar call.

Sometimes I feel that if I admit that I am struggling with a sin than that makes me less of a Christian — like people will think I’m a horrible person if I admit a struggle. If someone admits a struggle, Christians should say, “Yahoo! They’re FIGHTING and not giving in!” Struggles are universal and guaranteed, but how you respond to your sinful struggle is another story.

Too many of us are lying, arrogant pigs on the inside (of course it doesn’t look this way from the outside!). C.S. Lewis wrote much on this subject of pride. Our religious pride causes us to become outright liars to ourselves, justifying our own sins, actions, and motives so that we don’t admit we have a problem. We all have a battle of our two natures; struggling with sin is a GIVEN - so why do we hide it?

A great man once wrote, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you can be healed” (James 5:16).