All posts in category Bible

The Church of the Old Testament

I’ve so often heard people appealing to Acts and the New Testament as our model for how our church should be today, but I’ve never heard anyone appeal to any Old Testament passages for why and how we should do church today. And I know, in the Old Testament they had a temple, they were under the old covenant, Jesus hadn’t come yet, they were in a much different culture, etc. BUT I can’t help but see some references to the church in the Old Testament. I had the opportunity to teach through Nehemiah 10 yesterday and the last verse is very interesting, it says,

We will not neglect the house of our God.

How easy is it for us to neglect the house of our God? We have the command in Hebrews 10 to not neglect meeting together, but we don’t take it seriously. It’s so much easier to use Sunday as a day off to recover and prepare for another week.

It’s become much more trendy recently for evangelicals to question to authority of Scripture and the necessity of a local church body. But I have yet to find a text in Scripture that supports either of these thoughts. No, it’s not the easy way, and sure there are more things even I would rather be doing on a Sunday, but we have this command throughout Scripture to not neglect meeting together, to not neglect the house of our God.

So how can you go about taking care of the house of our God this week? What things do you need to do in your life to reorient your life around God and meeting with his people? What things do you need to let go of to better serve God?

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by mikethestrand on February 20, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 20, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/02/20/the-church-of-the-old-testament/

Putting Childish Ways Behind

I’ve been reading ‘The Dude’s Guide to Manhood‘ this past week by Darrin Patrick (review coming when I actually finish it). The fact that Willie Robertson is what sold me on buying the book! Plus, that’s quite a manly beard on the cover. As I’ve been reading this book, it’s been a good reminder to me that when we grow up, we need to leave behind our childish ways. No one would think it’s right if I were to not be able to get the candy bar I wanted at Wal Mart and I started throwing a temper tantrum. Yet there are so many ways in which I don’t even want to grow up.

It’s easier to do the potato chip curl while watching TV then do a real curl and force myself to work out.

It’s often more enjoyable to read the newest novel or watch the movie than to read the Bible.

It’s way more fun to sit at home than work.

It’s much easier to post on Facebook than to actually sit down face to face with someone.

All these things remind me that life isn’t easy. Sure, some seasons of life may seem to be easier than others, but overall we are told work and life isn’t going to be easy. Why do we so often try to cut corners? Why do we expect to be the experts in our fields before we’ve even started working? God told Adam in Genesis 3, “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” I know that work is going to be hard, despite me wanting it to be easy. Within this lies the desire to be continually youthful. I’m not sure about you, but I’m so grateful I don’t have some of the same issues I had when I was a youth!

I’m glad I’m not an acne ridden teenager.

I’m glad I’m down growing.

I’m glad my brain has finished developing.

I’m glad I can hold down a good job and enjoy going to work.

Part of the reason people don’t seem to want to work is because they want to continue to be younger than they are. As I’ve aged (I know, I’m not THAT old), I’ve started to see that I shouldn’t try to act like I’m in high school or college anymore. There was a time in my life when that was good and appropriate, but that time is not now. There’s a Bastille song that’s called Oblivion that says,

Are you going to age with grace?
Are you going to age without mistakes?
Are you going to age with grace,
Or only to wake and hide your face?

Even now, whether you’re in high school, college, a 20 something, a 30 something or even beyond, are you beginning to age with grace? Are you able to start accepting the responsibility that comes with age and look for others around you that you can help grow and age with grace?

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11

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by mikethestrand on February 12, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on February 12, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/02/12/putting-childish-ways-behind/

Commit to Your Church

There’s an article that’s been going around on my Facebook for the past week titled ‘5 Really Bad Reasons to Leave Your Church.‘ This is something I’ve addressed pretty regularly on here, and have had many frustrations with as I’ve begun serving in a church. As I’ve also said before, and is said in the article, most of the time when people leave a church it’s because of a very selfish motivation. I got to preach just a couple weeks ago on church membership, and asked the question: Why aren’t people more committed to the church? Why can it be so difficult to find people to help out in some areas (music, nursery, coffee, greeting, painting, etc)?

Hebrews 10:25 is one of the most often quoted verses when addressing the issue of church “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” That’s generally where we stop. But if you continue on, it says, “but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Church isn’t about us, church is about God. Be willing to commit to your church to work through the thick and thin in order to better represent Christ to a dead and broken world. After all, as soon as you find the perfect church, it’s no longer perfect because you’re there.

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by mikethestrand on January 30, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 30, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/01/30/commit-to-your-church/

Why You Should Raise Your Hands During Worship

Relevant recently posted an article titled ‘Should I Raise My Hands in Worship?’ It did a good job of taking the focus off of music being the only form of worship, but I still have some concerns with the overall direction the article took. As I read the Bible, I see an abundance of physical expressions that are to accompany our worship – and particularly worship through song. The biggest book the in Bible is a book about songs of praise to God.

Borrowing heavily from Bob Kauflin’s book Worship Matters (worth reading if you haven’t already), he begins by saying, “Biblical praise is normally expressed, spoken, and observable. That’s why David says, “My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!” (Psalm 108:1)” (page 170) Then on the very next page, Bob goes on to say

God created our bodies to glorify him (1 Corinthians 6:20)… Various physical actions can bring God glory, including clapping, singing, bowing, kneeling, lifting hands, shouting, playing instruments, dancing, and standing in awe (Psalm 47:1, 6; Exodus 12:27; Psalm 95:6; 134:2; 33:1; 150:3-4; 33:8)… The crucial question is this: Is there any physical expression of worship that God has given us in Scripture that I’ve never displayed? And if so, why?

– Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters. 171

These are some very important questions to ask about yourself as you worship at your church on a regular basis. Worshipping isn’t something we do only on Sunday morning, but there is something significant about our coming together as a body (Hebrews 10:25). The Bible doesn’t give an out if you aren’t an expressive person, or if it makes you feel weird, or if you’re not used to it. It’s not about you, it’s about the audience of one, who has revealed to us how we can worship Him. So what are some things you need to do in order to better worship Christ with your body?

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

-Psalm 29:2

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by mikethestrand on January 29, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 29, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/01/29/why-you-should-raise-your-hands-during-worship/

You’ve Got A Friend In Me

One of the most difficult transitions to adult life is friendships. When you’re in college friends come easily, either by starting a new semester with new classes, or by just walking around campus and sitting at a different table. But then college ends, and real life begins, and how do you continue to make friends that are more meaningful then, “hey, want to go to a movie?” Relevant Magazine posted an article today titled ‘Why Is It So Hard to Make Friends After College?‘ And part of it is true, there’s just something about college that makes finding friends easy: you’re all the same age, going through similar things and really wanting friends. It’s almost like the beginning of Toy Story, you’ve got a friend in me.

I was really blessed after college with an incredibly close group of friends (shoutout to Ryan, Joseph and David!) who were able to pour into me, and I pray I was able to pour into. One of them even went to college with me, but we decided we hated each other back then…

So how do you make friends after college? I’m going to address 3 things I’ve done that have been incredibly helpful in making friendships that are meaningful and go deeper than a surface friendship.

1. Find an interest.

All of us have things we’re passionate about and enjoy doing. Whether that’s playing video games, reading books, hiking, climbing, playing basketball, running, watching movies, taking pictures, drinking coffee or playing music (if you enjoy all those things, please call me! Let’s hang out!) everyone has something they enjoy doing and are decently good at, or could get good at. So pick a hobby and start doing it. Find places nearby that you can do your passion with others, and before you know it, you’ve got a friend! And even if it’s something you haven’t really enjoyed before, there’s always room to try something new. When I moved to Wyoming I started playing no-stakes poker with some guys from church. Turns out I somewhat enjoy playing poker!

“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”” – C.S. Lewis

2. Get involved in a church.

This is the other area that guys especially can have a tendency to neglect. The way I met those friends right after college was through a church small group. Church also allows you to become friends with people you wouldn’t necessarily gravitate toward. I have a group of men from church that I get together with 2 times a month. 2 of them are retired, 1 is in his 60s, and the other is a decade older than me. It’s awesome! While we don’t have everything in common, we are all trying to become more like Christ in our everyday lives. You’d be surprised how much believers can have in common despite having no shared areas of passion or interest. Church allows you to become friends with those who are older, younger and the same age as you. And that’s what the church is supposed to be: a family. Proverbs tells us “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Ultimately that friend is Jesus, but we can have that in the church as well.

“Most often, growth happens through deep relationships and in communities where the implications of the gospel are worked out cognitively and worked in practically — in ways no other setting or venue can afford.” – Tim Keller

3. Be a friend.

This is one of the most difficult but necessary things you can do. This takes time, work and a TON of energy. Is there someone in your life that you can stick closer than a brother to? Is there someone you can serve, as Christ has commanded us to? This is the one area I didn’t see addressed in the article on Relevant. People are sinful which makes relationships with each other very difficult. There are going to be ways people rub you wrong and ways you are sinned, but that doesn’t mean you should withdraw. In fact, we should be like Jesus who was betrayed to death. I’m guessing most of us have never had our friends betray us to death, but we so often get offended like they have. So pray about this and find someone that you can be a friend to.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”  – C.S. Lewis

Obviously this isn’t an all inclusive list of ways to make friends after college, but I think it’s a good start. We are created to be a friend and have friends, we are not created to be lone ranger Christians. We need people around us to help us, encourage us and point out our blind spots of continual sin. May we truly be a community that represents Christ to the world so they see what it means to sacrificially lay down our lives for each other.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

-C.S. Lewis “The Four Loves”

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by mikethestrand on January 28, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 28, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/01/28/youve-got-a-friend-in-me/

EFCA Theology Conference 2014

I’ve decided to do things a little differently this year and just continually updating this page with the new sessions in order. Would love to hear any questions or comments you might have!

A World Absorbing Text or a Text Absorbed by the World?

Dr. Richard Lints

Introduction – Cultural Saturation

Interpreting Overlapping Realities: Gospel and Culture

Misconceptions

Micro and Macro Stories

The Gospel as Theological Framework and Theological Vision

Culture as Macro and Micro Stories

Pre and Post – Modernity

Defining Narratives

Democratic Consumerism

Technological Rationalism

Social Pluralism

The Great Irony

Reading Our Times

Beginning Clues

Reading the Scriptures as a Canon

Being Read by the Scriptures

Christian Faithfulness in the Face of Ancient Cultural Challenges

Dr. D. Jeffry Bingham

  1. Christian Faithfulness in the Face of Persecution
    1. The Accusations of the Culture

1. Christians were being accused by a culture that was very religious, the culture saw Christians as atheists. This was the main motivation for Roman persecution.

2. Christians didn’t make good Roman citizens.

3. Romans viewed Christians as incestuous

4. Communion is viewed as cannibalistic

  1. The Faithful Responses of the Christians

1. They explained in literature and conversation. Showed how monotheism was something allowed even among the Romans, pointing to poets and scholars (Plato in particular) to show that monotheism was already accepted.

2. Pointed to their care for others (orphans, neighbors, hungry) as their appeal to how they were good citizens.

3. They said they were a family and that’s just the way they refer to themselves.

4. Eucharist was the reason they came together. They explained to the community what they were doing and why.

Christianity is a very gory religion, characterized by the sloppiness of blood.

  1. Christian Faithfulness in the Process of Scriptural Definition
    1. The Proposed, Erroneous Models of Scripture

On the one hand you had Marcion who cut most things out of the Bible, and then the other hand had add everything.

  1. The Faithful Responses of the Christians

The sacred text, if nothing else, included the Old Testament Hebrew Bible.

So they said nothing gets into the Bible unless it’s in harmony with the OT. And if they are universally embraced by Christians throughout the world. We don’t accept any text that doesn’t put the slaughter of Jesus as its’ focus.

Where is the Lord’s supper in your meetings?

The Opportunity to Learn from the Challenge of Race

Dr. Vincent Bacote

Mandela’s Death and movies like 12 Years a Slave show us the problem of apartheid and puts the legacy of racism right in front of us. Thought it may be in front of us, we may be tempted to avert our gaze.

  1. “Our” Issue and Our Mission: A commitment to Bible and the obligations of the gospel

Using the issue of race to enslave people is completely missing the idea of the greatest commandment: love God and love others. The Bible talks about it.

  1. Dancing with history: facing the world and society we have inherited in the modern West; why race remains a challenge for all of us in spite of improvements

These issues don’t simply disappear.

  1. Considering the Experience of Minorities: What can the church learn…and perhaps anticipate in the future.

The question of a lack of power. People become accustomed to accepting the fact that they are lacking in power. There’s also the question of hope.

  1. Considering Some Core Beliefs: How does our Christology, Soteriology and Ecclesiology lead us toward persistent and patient progress on the lingering question of race and the prospect of the evangelical church as a cultural minority?

Theology and ethics need to be seen together. Which Jesus do you emphasize? Which text do you go to when talking about Jesus? What do people experience at your church that helps deal with the issue of race?

If you’re going to be people of the book, are you considering all the book teaching us? Or are we just pragmatists?

  1. What Posture Should We Take: Faithful Presence, or something else?

Your context makes a huge influence as to what your suggestions can be.

  1. To Consider: What vision might we have for the future?

At one level, Christians out to be a counter-cultural people practicing a counter-cultural reality. People will notice this because it’s not typical for people to live with other people who are not like them.
Need to have a disposition of massive patience.

Regression happens within the church as well (the crisis of marriage is also taking place within the church)

A commitment to public engagement without messianic ideas.

Understanding the Times and Understanding the Places: Theological Localism

Dr. Fred Sanders

  1. Theology with a local accent

It’s just a matter of fitting in – the message of the cross should offend, not our way of talking about it (i.e. sports)

  1. Two methods: correlation and proclamation

Correlation: identified in Paul Tillick – philosophy raises the questions, theology answers them. Explains the contents of Christian faith using questions.

Proclamation: identified in Carl Barth

I suggest using theological localism.

  1. Taking action: Men of Issachar in every place

See 1 Chronicles 12:32. Seen in Augustine’s City of God.

  1. “Theological Engagement with California Culture”

 

Evangelicals in 21st Century American Culture

Dr. Leith Anderson

Introduction

  1. Living in challenging times

We get caught up in our time and forget about previous times issues

  1. Theology of Culture

Do you consider culture to be the friend, or the enemy of Christ?

  1. Matthew 13:24-30 – parable of the weeds

Looking back – where we came from

  1. Liberalism & Fundamentalism

Scopes vs Monkey trial in 1925, fundamentalists increasingly marginalized. Most of the world didn’t even think of fundamentalists, then along came Billy Graham

  1. Billy Graham & today

Evangelicals are now ¼-1/3 of all people in the US, so what do we do with that?

Looking around – where we are

  1. Globalization of Christianity

Now the largest & fastest growing religion. 20,000 new believers in China every day

  1. Evangelicals in America

We are the dominate Christian force

  1. Demographics

Segregation in America remains strong

  1. Theology

Homosexuality and the exclusivity of Christ

  1. Church in adversarial circumstances

Conclusion: How then shall we live?

Speak the truth, but always in love

Don’t be quick to come to conclusions

TRUST GOD

As long as people have the Bible and the Holy Spirit they’ll be ok.

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by mikethestrand on January 23, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 23, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/01/23/efca-theology-conference-2014/

EFCA Theology Conference 2014 Pre-Conference Part 2

The final part of the Pre-Conference from Dr. Fred Sanders

Tacit Trinitarianism

God has no unmet needs – there are no needs outside of the divine life

  1. Getting saved – an evangelical practice. The eternal son becomes the incarnate son to make others an adopted son bringing them into relationship with God.
  2. Knowing Jesus personally – generally trying to point to a deeper reality of communion with God. “ask Jesus into your heart” (Eph 3, being strengthened in your inner man) Puritans used that heart language, book My Heart, Christ’s Home. Jesus is present from heaven, it’s the Spirit who is indwelling. This means being indwelt by the Holy Spirit who makes Christ present here on earth being poured out from the right hand of the Father.
  3. Devotional Bible reading – this comes from a high view of Scripture, we know the Bible is God’s message to us.
  4. Understanding Scripture’s big story – the big story of Scripture is very evident, about how the Father sends the Son and the Spirit
  5. Conversational prayer –
  6. Evangelism –
  7. World mission –
  8. Daily spirituality –
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by mikethestrand on January 22, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 22, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/01/22/efca-theology-conference-2014-pre-conference-part-2/

EFCA Theology Conference 2014 Pre-Conference

The pre-conference at this years EFCA Theology Conference is on the doctrine of the Trinity and is done by Dr. Fred Sanders from Biola. Here are the first two lectures and links to the Prezi slides that were used.

Approaching the Doctrine of the Trinity

The Trinity-try to understand it and you’ll lose your mind, try to deny it and you’ll lose your soul.

  1. Teaching the Trinity as an inviting doctrine

The word of the Trinity is not far away, you don’t need to get advanced degrees to understand.

Trinity is primarily for categorization and building up the understanding of believers.

  1. The basic component of the doctrine

One being in three persons, we don’t say God is one person and three persons, or God is one person and three persons

  1. Three key texts

Trinity is not in the Old Testament because the OT was a time of promise, we don’t find the doctrine of the Trinity revealed in the OT, but we see shadows of it. Then the New Testament is the time of fulfillment, the Messiah and the Spirit already came. The revelation of the Trinity is in the events of the Father sending the Son and the Spirit.

  1. John 1:1-3 – takes you from the beginning of the Gospel to the beginning of the whole Bible. What we have in Jesus Christ shows us what happened before creation, which leaves us with God.
  2. Matt 28:18-20 – doctrine of the Trinity is in Scripture, even if the word itself is not. Trinity just means “threeness”
  3. 2 Cor 13:14 – the revealed character of these three persons (see also 1 John “our fellowship is with the Fathe rand the Son”

Overall idea: salvation is by & from & in & with the Triune God

  1. Heresies to avoid
    1. Tritheism – three gods (kind of Mormonism)
    2. Modalism – 1 god doing 3 things, manifests himself in 3 ways (oneness Pentecostalism)
    3. Subordinationism – 1 real god, a couple lesser gods (Arianism, Jehovah’s witness)
    4. Illustrations
      1. There’s nothing like God or God’s trinity
      2. Most illustrations are a little helpful, but mostly just show Trinitarian heresies
      3. The main things are the plain things: God the Father saved us by sending the Son and the Spirit.

The Trinity is not a distraction from the gospel, but a super-condensed explanation of it.

 

The Deep Things of God 

  1. Grace as God’s gift of himself

Grace as free forgiveness, grace as power for service (John 3:16, Gal 4:4-6, Eph 1:3-14)

  1. The two hands of God

The incarnation and atonement are the means to the end of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

  1. The economy of salvation

God gives himself as the gift of salvation

  1. The happy land of the Trinity
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by mikethestrand on January 22, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 22, 2014

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2014/01/22/efca-theology-conference-2014-pre-conference/

Divorcing the Church

As many people have said before me, divorce has become so commonplace that pretty much everyone expects to get divorced at some point in their life. Those who were willing to enter into a covenantal with each other seem all to ready to break that covenant as soon as things get more slightly more difficult. I fear in our attempt to chase after the ever elusive “easy life” we have done away with hard work and commitment to anything. We don’t want to be unnecessarily tied down to one place (which is why so many people my age either don’t work or work at Starbucks). We don’t want to be accountable to anyone (which is why so many people jump around from job to job). And we feel like we don’t need anyone else around us to help us through life (which is why we don’t get involved in a church). And for those that do get involved in a church, they typically remain only as long as that church agrees with them without expecting too much from them (which is why people refuse to become members of a church). I worry that the divorce culture has entered in to the culture of the church, and at the drop of a hat, we are willing to divorce ourselves from the church that we have committed ourselves to.

One of the first questions to ask is why do we even have church membership? Is there a difference between being a member and just going to a church?  In a word, yes. Kevin DeYoung has an excellent post about it at his church’s website, but he boils it down to 5 basic points:

  1. You make a visible declaration of your commitment to Christ and his people.
  2. It’s counter-cultural to make a decision and actually stick with something.
  3. It helps us to keep accountable.
  4. It helps those in church leadership to better know how to help you.
  5. It gives you an opportunity to make a promise.

The last point is the one that people seem to take far too carelessly.

When someone commits to a church, that are committing to grow, serve, give and contribute to the life of the church for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do us part. If you’ve ever been to wedding before, that last part should sound familiar to you. Similarly to enter into a wedding covenant, entering into a church membership covenant isn’t something that should be taken lightly. With all the divorce happening in the culture around us, we should be even more adamant about sticking to our commitments. Yet I’ve found already in my 2 years of ministry that people take church membership far too lightly. We often have trouble getting a quorum at our annual meetings, some members have left the church instead of sticking around and working things out, and some people who are members don’t even come to church! I think it’s time for those who are in the church to make a commitment to their church and be willing to stick with them no matter what happens!

Does this mean there’s never an appropriate time to leave a church? Absolutely not. Just as in a marriage, there are times where you should not stay married (unfaithfulness, abuse). If a church begins to teach things contrary to Scripture, don’t stay there! But if it’s simply because you don’t like someone or something in the church, then stick around and make it better. The church isn’t meant to be full of consumers, but givers. What’s the last thing you’ve done that has given back to your church? In his book ‘What is a Healthy Church Member?‘, Thabiti Anyabwile says, “The health of the local church depends on the willingness of its members to inspect their hearts, correct their thinking, and apply their hands to the work of the ministry.” If we had more people who were willing to do that, I think we would have much healthier churches who are on mission for Christ and living “in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:5). So find a good church, get plugged in, become a member and be willing to work through whatever comes with them. If you can’t find such a church, maybe it’s time for you to start making a difference in the church you’re already in. If something isn’t working like it should, maybe, just maybe God has brought you to that church to help promote a healthy, Christ-centered church.

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”

-1 Corinthians 12:27

If you’d like to learn more about this I’d suggest checking out the following books:

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by mikethestrand on October 7, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on October 7, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/10/07/divorcing-the-church/

I’m Sorry, That’s Not Me

I often read about ‘Christians’ who continually bash those who aren’t in the same camp as them. Complementarian, or egalitarian, cessationist or continuationist, calvinist or arminian, and the list goes on and on. Or even worse, when ‘Christians’ begin picketing different functions and telling the world that “God hates fags.” I often feel the need to apologize to those who aren’t in the church for the way Christians often behave. As Ghandi supposedly said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” While this statement rings true for everyone else, have you ever looked in the mirror and thought about it for you? According to dictionary.com, a hypocrite is: “a”a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.” So in that case, yes. I am a hypocrite, and will continue to be a hypocrite until I die. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” It’s not just a blanket statement to follow him no matter what, but to imitate him as he imitates Christ! I pray this regularly for those I lead in youth group and on the music team. There are so many areas in my life that I need God to constantly refine.

In this same vein, I just read an article on Relevant titled ‘Should We Apologize for the Church‘ that asks this very same question. We need to admit to our own faults and confess that we are just as much a sinner as “those Christians” who only listen to “Christian” music or only wear skirts, or picket different events. We are all sinners in desperate need of a Savior. We need to regularly confess of our sin, pray for the strength to not sin again and continue to become more like Christ.

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by mikethestrand on October 3, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on October 3, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/10/03/im-sorry-thats-not-me/

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