Adam – Page 17 – The Big Diehl

September 5, 2007

3) The Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I am “for” the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I’ve written a lot about the Holy Spirit in the past, so I won’t waste typing time, you can read all about it here in my “Holy Spirit” blog category.

One new point I would like to bring up: The Holy Spirit doesn’t always make sense. I’ve heard about certain “works of the Holy Spirit” that sound outrageous to me — people barking like dogs, cavity fillings turning to gold, gold dust or oil appearing on hands, etc. etc.

THOSE THINGS DON’T MAKE SENSE TO ME! Unfortunately, I think many of those outrageous-sounding “works of the Holy Spirit” are, well, outrageous. Sometimes there are counterfeits, but if you find counterfeit money — you don’t stop using money. Even the cow knows when to spit out the briers.

In Acts 3 there is an account of Peter and John healing a crippled beggar. The crippled man stood up and ran around telling everyone how he was healed. The people recognized him as the crippled man — “and they were filled with wonder and amazement” (verse 10).

That phrase jumped out at me — they were filled with wonder. To me, that says that not everything the Holy Spirit does is going to make sense. And if there is scripture to show that not everything the Holy Spirit does is going to make sense — then I will not condemn someone else’s outrageous spiritual encounter simply because it doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not supposed to make sense — that’s kind of the whole point.

So many people are defined by what they are against, declaring how they are against this type of stuff. I don’t want to be defined by what I’m against — I am “for” the full ministry of the Holy Spirit.

September 4, 2007

4) Attitude and Motive.

I am “for” attitude and motive.

Revelation 20 is clear that everyone will be judged according to what they’ve done. As I’ve read through the teachings of Jesus (especially the entire Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5), I think its clear that we not only be judged according to what we have done — but by our attitudes and motives — our heart.

Matthew 5 gives an example that if a man looks at a woman lustfully in his heart, he has already committed adultery in God’s eyes. That’s being judged by attitude and motive.

I think this is extra “tricky.” I mean, its easy to eliminate the sins that everyone sees — but we’re supposed to eliminate the sins that nobody else knows about as well. I’m not sure who said it, but I once read, “true character is how you live when nobody else is looking” (or something like that).

Examine your attitude and motives!

September 4, 2007September 4, 2007

5) Church Growth — by any means.

I am “for” Church growth. I am speaking of the growth of the universal Church.

I am “for” church growth via these particular methods: church plants, numerical growth of individual local churches, satellite churches, video venues, itinerant ministries, para church organizations, mid-sized connection groups, attractional philosophies, missional philosophies, the underground church movement, Mega churches, Micro churches (I made that one up), and anything else you can come up with in order to grow the Church. I will never be against a particular method of honest Church growth. Unfortunately there are Christians who invest a lot of time in bashing another church’s Church growth strategy because its not the method that works for them or because it is not their conviction. When I hear that, I feel like the lawyer in this situation.

I am “for” Church Growth — by any means.

September 4, 2007September 4, 2007

6) Honesty.

I am “for” honesty.

Okay so you’re probably thinking I would be talking about the opposite of lying. I already did that over here. I don’t want to re-say what I’ve already said, so go read that. There’s another aspect of honesty that I want to speak of here.

We each have our own perspective. No exceptions.

We also all have a huge problem – our problem is that our perspective limits us from knowing that we have a problem. Think about that… Your problem is that you don’t know you have a problem.

To obtain true honesty — about ourselves even — we need to get away from the selectivity of our own perception and see ourselves as others see us.

For example, I remember a principal in high school who had the main job of disciplining students. Of course students need disciplined and corrected — but “he” would BARK at them. Constantly. It was never done with love or concern (although I’m sure the love and concern was present — we just couldn’t see it). He emitted anger in nearly every command. “Don’t tip your chair!” “Where’s your hall pass?” and “Don’t throw your corn!” Students began to hate this principal and did things just to provoke him (even our teachers mocked the principle’s zealousness). He would have been so much more effective had he showed that he cared instead of constantly barking at us. Saying things like, “Hey tipping your chair can break the legs. Please don’t tip your chair,” or “Hey do you have a hall pass?” would have had a better result from the students.

Now this principal probably thought he did a fantastic job. He probably saw himself as the most committed employee at the school — who else deals with angry parents and students all day long like he does? Nobody. But he’s limited by his perspective. To see the true honesty about himself he needed to see himself how other people saw him.

I don’t want to be defined by what I’m against — I am “for” honesty. We should be honest and help others find honesty about themselves as well (a lie by omission is still a lie).

September 3, 2007

7) Budgets

I am “for” budgets. I think a good synonym for “budget” is “plan.” I don’t need to talk about the need for planning our money – we all know that.

When we think of “budget” we usually think of money. But I think we need to budget all the areas of our lives — especially if its out of control; or “out of rhythm.” The most common thing for me that gets out of control is my time — but I gotta budget, and plan it out! If I don’t, then I don’t accomplish very much at all.

What’s “out of rythm” in your life – and how can you budget it better?

September 3, 2007September 3, 2007

Hello.

You will become stupider if you watch this — I’m not going to lie. However, this video does make a good point about nonverbal communication. Only 10% of what you communicate is communicated with words (which is why writing a book can be very difficult).

August 30, 2007August 30, 2007

8 ) Expressive Worship.
Part 3: Emotion.

I am “for” Expressive Worship. One of the greatest things about expressive worship is the emotion that often comes with it. Emotion is most certainly a way that we can worship God (see the scriptures listed in the post prior to this). We worship God with our emotions, but we do not worship God because of our emotions. That’s an important difference. We should worship God whether we feel like it or not. Sometimes in our Christian walks, we have “high spots.”

I think all Christians can relate to the high spots.

Some Christians go on a missions trip, have an amazing God-encounter, and then come home and within a few days or weeks everything is just like it was before the trip. What a waste.

The most common example is probably church camp. I recently heard one young man refer to it as a “camp high,” where you have a massive God-encounter at camp and come home and everything goes back to the way it was before. He came back from church camp excited because he did not experience a “camp high.” He said he did not want a “camp high” because there was just emotion attached to it. He is not alone. I’ve heard this attitude over and over again — people don’t want a “high spot” because it goes back to the way it was and is surrounded on emotions.

Every time I hear that I feel sick. Seriously — I just puked a little bit in my mouth. That’s stupid, folks.

The stupid thing is NOT the mountain top experience. We should strive to give God everything we have and to have mountain-top, emotion-filled experiences. Mountain-top, emotion-filled experiences are all throughout the Bible. If we read through it quickly without chewing on it, we fail to realize the emotion that occurred in some of the Bible stories. When the Ark of the Covenant came into Jerusalem, David danced naked — certainly that was a result of emotion! There are numerous examples of the disciples’ emotional responses after their encounters with Christ in the gospels. People that were healed got up and danced and shouted about how they were just healed. Kings ripped off their clothes and and covered themselves with ashes to be humble before God — certainly there was emotion there. They all worshiped with their emotions! We should seek God-encounters and embrace the emotions that may occur with it. That’s not stupid.

The stupid thing is that people let their life go back to the way it was before. What a complete waste! The examples in the Bible of people who had mountain-top experiences — those experiences changed their lives. We need mountain top experiences — its part of life. When you have a God-encounter take advantage of it. Maybe there is emotion involved . . . there probably is! Who gives a rip? It’s a God encounter! Are there seriously Christians who are so intellectual that they will avoid a God encounter if emotions are involved? That’s sad, but its true.

I realize some people are more emotional than others. The emotion “standard” is not “jump six times, raise hands for 10 minutes, and shout during the songs.” That mindset is exactly why “emotion” has a sour taste to many Christians. The emotion “standard” is that we each appropriately express what is on the inside of us. I am “for” Expressive Worship, even if it includes emotion. The line is crossed however, when the emotion becomes the worship. We worship God with our emotions.

August 30, 2007

Tangent.

This is a tangent from my current “Top 10 Things I Am ‘For'” blog series, but I’m so excited I had to put it up right now.

We all know Evel Knievel. He had a reputation of being wild! Drugs, alcohol, women, partying — you name it. I just read read that his wife had given him the book, “The Case For Christ,” and he read it. In his own words, “I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put His arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go.” Evel gave his testimony of Salvation last Easter Sunday at a large church in Florida – and over 500 people committed their lives to Christ as a response to his testimony. Way Cool.

August 29, 2007August 29, 2007

8 ) Expressive Worship.
Part 2: Expression.

I am “for” expressive worship. Yesterday I talked about how worship is our response to God. We respond with our expressions. Worship without an expression isn’t worship at all!

I think the key to expressing our worship is to simply express what it on the inside of us; responding to our savior. There are many ways to express our worship to God. Let me list a few of them:

Sacrifice. (Rom. 12:1-2, Heb. 13:15, 1 Pet. 2:5, Psm. 51:17).

With Our Spirit AND Mind. (1 Cor. 14:15-17)

With Our Emotions. (Ps. 47:1, Phil. 4:4, Ps. 46:10, Hab. 2:20)

With Physical Expressions. Kneeling or bowing in worship or reverence (Phil. 2:9-10, Micah 6:6-8). Lifting hands (Lam. 3:40-41; Ps. 63:3-4). Dancing with joy (Ps. 149:3). These are just a few descriptions –I do not believe there is a limit to them at all. However it may be interesting to note the emotion that is involved with nearly every physical expression.

With Our Lives. “If you are not a private worshipper, you will not likely be a public worshipper. You may go to church, and go through all the motions. But you will not likely really worship. Trying to worship publicly, not having worshipped privately, is like the dry heaves: You are trying to bring up something you don’t have in you.” – Paul Faulkner.

The most important expression we can give to God should be seen by the way we live our lives. Let your life be an expression of worship. Worship cannot exist without an expression.

I’m not focused on what I’m against. I am for Expressive Worship.

Tomorrow I will make a post specifically about the “emotion” expression. I’m dedicating a post specifically to the “emotion” expression because I think its often misunderstood and misconstrued. I’ve been working on it for months, literally (so please read the whole thing!). I’m pumped!

August 28, 2007August 28, 2007

8 ) Expressive Worship.
Part 1: The Instigator.

I am “for” expressive worship. Seeing as I’m a worship pastor and this is at the core of my daily focus, I thought it would be alright if I do a few blog posts on the 8th thing that I am “for.” This is the first of three parts.

Worship is a relationship that takes place between us and God. Who is the instigator of this relationship?

John 4:23 says that God is seeking out worshipers. God is seeking us! Humans instinctively find some object of full spiritual devotion. At the point where the sought (that’s us) realize the unmatched worth of the seeker, combustion (our worship) will occur.

Because of this I believe that God starts the worship relationship. Worship is our response to God. Has God done anything at all for you? Does God mean anything to you? If he does, then respond to Him!

For you intellectuals out there, this “response” model can be seen all throughout the Psalms. I call it the “Why-How” model. Take Psalms 100 for example. The first four verses describe a response to the attributes of God in verse 5.

This isn’t about what I’m against — I am for Expressive Worship.