Pastor's Corner

 Me and the family ... I am the one on the right!!

 

Going Deep

"Superficiality is the curse of our age…. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."- Richard Foster, "Celebration of Discipline"

"The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived." -  Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude".

Your need, my need, Christianity's need – is for us to go deep.

I'm concerned for Christianity, I'm Concerned for the Church in this Region, I'm concerned for me and you.

Unless we go deep, our impact on this world will be shallow.             

The topic of Going Deep in Christ, only seems and sounds deep because the majority of us Christian are so shallow.             

With our western mind-set we are deeply concerned with knowledge, information, right doctrine, sound theology, we have a continual desire and quest for more information, new teachings, exciting fresh insights.  We love Information, we love knowledge, we love systematic theology, we want to mentally understand the things of God and hopefully understand them accurately and write about them, talk about them, preach about them and teach about them with accuracy.  We want exactness, factuality – we want mental, doctrinal and theological precision.             

Now, lest it sound like I'm against that, I'm not.  I am primarily a Pastor/Teacher.  I like all my doctrines in a nice, neat, accurate line up.             

This doesn't give me great concern, what does give me great concern is that we tend to stop at accurate theology, accurate doctrine and teaching – thinking that when our subject is perfectly understood - our mission is accomplished.             

If we can understand and get an A+ on a test on Love, Forgiveness, the New Birth, The Gifts of the Spirit, Eternal Judgment and Reward, then we think we have finished the task.  No Sir, that task has just been clearly understood and now it is to be executed or lived.             

Clear and accurate understanding of Biblical Principles and practices is of extreme importance, but it is only the portal, the door way, the entrance point.   It is not an accomplishment of the doctrine, it is an understanding of it so we can go live it.             

To Completely and Accurately Understand the Doctrines of the Christian Life is not that same as living the Christian life.             

When Christian Pollsters such as George Barna, with Barna Research Group and The Gallup Polls find little difference in how a professing Christian lives and what a professing Christian believes or a Non-Christian's Behavior and Beliefs, something is dangerously wrong.             

Here's a proposal.  How about we begin as the Body of Christ in this region praying for reformation and transformation before we pray for revival.             

I believe if we would do that, we could turn our world upside down.  Will you join me?  let's pray, first for ourselves to be fully devoted followers of Jesus and then for the "church" in this region to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.  I believe that would be a great foundation for revival, don't you?