Why I Don't Want to Be a Celebrity Pastor

Matthew 11:7-9

It seems our culture today, particularly the Christian culture, seems obsessed with celebrity pastors. You can turn on the television and see how The Preachers of LA roll with their $2,000 Armani suits, Mercedes, and Rolex watches. Or, you can go online and see a host of other pastors with designer jeans, embroidered shirts, and cool accessories. I will withhold naming any one particular person, because this is not about a person, but a dangerous phenomenon that is developing.

Now, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying a pastor has to wear a suit and tie, or that they have to dress casually. The issue is not the clothes, but the attitude and perception given. I believe a pastor should dress according to the dynamics of the community that he serves in. If you serve a corporate culture community, it might mean dressing in a suit and tie. If you serve a rural farming community, it could be jeans and a flannel shirt. The point is not what we wear, but the message we proclaim.

In Matthew 7:7-9, Jesus challenges the popular perception of how people viewed John the Baptist. He asked them, "What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces! But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet."

If you read a description of John the Baptist he was not much on fashion. In fact, he wore a camel hair's vest with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and honey. And his message was not centered around how you can be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. It was centered on how you could develop an eternal relationship with the living God.

What we need today is pastors who are not concerned about their image, or how they can promote their latest book, conference, or podcast. What we need are pastors who will be willing to deliver an uncompromising message to a hostile culture.

I confess that I am not "cool." I am more comfortable in khakis and a button up shirt than I am jeans and flip-flops. I do not have a charismatic personality. God can use the pastor in California wearing jeans and flip and flops. He can use those pastors with magnetic personalities. It takes a wide variety of pastors to reach a wide variety of people.

The point I am trying to make is that I want to be a prophet of God, not the next trendy thing to come along. I want to challenge my fellow pastors to honestly examine themselves. Has the message taken a backseat to the mirror? Has the desire for prominence replaced a passion for people?

My brothers, let us all to strive to be phrophets and not celebrities. 

In Christ Alone,

Bryan

The Radical Gospel

In Luke 4:14-30, you can read of Jesus' rejection in His hometown of Nazareth.  In v.24, Jesus utters the famous phrase, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country."  Maybe you have felt the same sting among your own family and friends.  Perhaps you can relate to allowing God to do a radical work in your life, attempting to be obedient to His calling, and facing rejection, ridicule, and scorn.

If you are experiencing this type of trial, don't worry.  Many of God's choicest instruments have gone through the same fires of dismay, pain, and betrayal.  Often, it is from the people closest to us-our family and friends. They cannot look past who you once were.  All they see are your limitations, your weaknesses, your vulnerabilities.  But God sees your potential, your strengths, and how He can effectively leverage them by His power and might.

Let this thought sink into your heart and mind today:  To soar like an eagle, you must first be willing to leave the nest.  This often means leaving the comforts and confines of your hometown and be willing to go where God leads to your destiny.  If you think I am wrong, check out your Bible.  You will find time and again the people God used the most, He called out of their familiar surroundings.  Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Jonah, the prophets, the disciples (especially Paul)-they all left the comforts of home to journey with God to fulfill their purpose in life.

Am I saying that the only way you can serve God effectively is by leaving your hometown?  Absolutely not. God does not call everyone to leave their hometown.  However, you will find more often than not, people are living dissatisfied lives, not experiencing the power of the Christian life, and deal with a frustrated spirit. Why?  Because they are attempting to live a radical Christian life in the midst of doubters, deniers, and downers.

Are you ready to soar like an eagle?  Are you tired of living an "ordinary" Christian life devoid of power?  Do you long to break free from the doldrums of frustration trying to become all God desires you to be amid people who cannot see past the old you and your old life?  Try something radical. 

Ask God today, "Am I a phrophet living without honor in my hometown?  Is there something bigger out there You want to use me for?  Is it Your will for me to leave the comforts of my nest, so I can soar like an eagle?"

Then, be willing to wait and listen for God.  Make the commitment today.  God has greater plans for you than you can imagine.

Getting Beyond Disappointment

Let me ask you a question.  When disappointments come into your life, how do you handle them?  It is easy to blame yourself or others-or even both.  Many times, it is difficult to know what to say or do because you cannot quite identify the real cause or purpose of the letdown.

Disappointment is often an emotional response to our failure, or someone else's-to achieve a hope, goal, or dream.  This can lead to losing faith in someone on whom we were depending-perhaps even a person we love.

In John 11, we see two sisters-Mary and Martha become disappointed in Jesus because He did not respond immediately to their brother Lazarus being sick.  As a result, Lazarus died, dashing Mary and Martha's hopes and causing them to question Jesus' love for them.  However, Jesus had a far greater purpose in mind in His delay.   He desired to do something beyond everyone's hopes-raise Lazarus from the dead so that God would be glorified through the miracle and many people come to faith in Christ.

God has reasons for us expierencing disappointemtns.  He could prevent them, but He wants to show us His purpose.  He desire is that we trust and believe, and let our circumstance bring glory to Him (John 11:4, 25).

When disappointments come, will you be stalled and derailed from God's plans for your life?  Or will you find yourself open to what He wants to show you and eager to understand His purpose and lesson in those situations?  The right response is to simply trust Him.

"Soul" vs. "Spirit": Are They One in the Same?

My dear friend Bennie Durham wrapped up preaching revival at the church I pastor last week.  He did a tremendous job, and God definitely used him.  He preached a series of messages out of Hebrews 4.  One night talking about Hebrews 4:12-13, he made the comment about the "soul" and "spirit" being essentially the same thing.  Let me try to clarify this for you.

The words for "soul" and "spirit" are two entirely different words in the Greek language, which is what the New Testament was written in.  The Greek word for "soul" is psuchē, while the Greek for "spirit" is pneúma.  To make the comparison easier, I would reference you to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where Paul prays for the Thessalonians for God to, "sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Let us try to differentiate between "soul" and "spirit."  The "spirit" is the part that enables us to perceive the divine.  Through this component we can know and communicate with God.This higher element, though damaged through the fall of Adam, is sufficently intact to provide each individual a consciousness of God.

The "soul" is the sphere of our will and emotions, the true center of personality, which gives us a self-consciouness that relates to the physical world through the body and to God through the spirit.

The "body" is the physical side of the human person.  This analysis of humankind had been Paul's training in the Old Testament, though much unresolved mystery remains regarding the interrelationships between the different parts, including the body.  How one affects the other is fully understood only by the Creator. 

I hope this clears the muddying of the waters somewhat.  Please feel free to respond with questions.

Blessings,

Bryan

Worship Wars

Contemporary or Traditional?  That is one of the hot button issues in many of today's churches.  Quite a few have attempted to bridge the gap by having "blended" worship services.  I preached the first part of a two-part message entitled, "Symbols & Cymbals of Worship" based on 2 Samuel 6.  At the risk of being misunderstood and misinterpreted, let me clarify a few things for you:

1. "Contemporary" is a subjective word.  What is contemporary to you might be considered outdated by another and vice-versa.

2. I am not against certain "secular" music.  I like certain songs from a variety of genres of music.  For instance, I have a George Strait greatest hist CD that I enjoy listening to from time to time.

3. What makes a song God-honoring or satanic is the lyrics, not necessarily the music.  Songs that promote alcohol, drugs, promiscuous sex, and other behaviors that are expressly forbidden in the Bible are satanic in origin and a believer has no businesses listening to them.

4. I am not against "praise bands" and "praise teams" in a worship service.  I actually enjoy them.  I think having a variety of things in a worship service adds excitement, energy, and creativity.  

5. I am not against traditional choirs.  In fact, I believe they add a great deal to the worship service.  You can do things with a choir that you cannot do with a praise band or praise team. 

6. I am against playing secular music in a worship service.  Why, you might ask?  The main reason is you cannot hope to achieve spiritual results (salvation of souls, conviction of sin, transformation of the heart) by using worldly methods.  Oil and water do not mix.

2 Cor. 6:14-18 (ESV):
 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? ¹⁵ What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
¹⁸ and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

Although Paul is dealing with the marriage of a believer to an unbeliever, the broader scriptural application is clear:  believers should be different from the world.   That includes their talk, attitudes, behaviors, and choices.  God is not honored when we bring secular music into our worship experience.  In fact, we do people a disservice.  

So in closing, let me be clear:  I believe a church should use a variety of methods for worship including a traditional choir, praise band, and praise teams.  I believe the music should be uptempo, energetic, and cause people to lift their voices in praise.  However, no matter what method you use, the music should always exalt Christ, honor the Father, and enable the Holy Spirit to supernaturally work in the hearts and minds of the people.  What that is done, souls will be saved and lives changed for the glory of God.

Blessings,

Bryan

Was Jesus Really Married?

I first read the book, The DaVinci Code, back in 2003.  A friend I worked with let me borrow so I could see for myself what all the fuss was about.  I read it-and then promptly dismissed it.  There were so many holes and fabrications in Dan Brown's work that it was laughable.  That is, until the general public started believing it to be serious academic work instead of what it really was-entertainment fiction.  The sad thing about it was Brown started believing he was a serious scholar and attributing factual claims to his book that did not stand up.  Several years later came the movie starring Tom Hanks-I really liked him up to that point.  Just when I thought we had put all these unfounded claims to rest, here it rears back it's ugly head.

Karen King, a Harvard divinity professor, has been given a small fragment of a papyrus written in Coptic from around the 4th century.  It is presumed the fragment is Egyptian in origin, and is translated, "Jesus said to them, my wife.."  Dr. King is now saying this fragment is part of a larger papyrus scroll still yet to be found.  She has dubbed this fragment, "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife."  Well, I am just a simple country preacher.  I don't teach at Harvard.  However, I do have a little common sense.  At least that is what my wife tells me occasionally.  So, let us look at the facts of this "gospel."

• The fragment is the size of a business card.  
• The fragment is from the middle of a larger papyrus scroll-which means you lose the context in which it was written all together.
• The papyrus is dated to the 4th century.  That is more than 400 years after Jesus' death and resurrection.
• The texts we have in the Bible were written much earlier.  Epistles like 1 Corinthians were written around 55-56 A.D.-just a mere 22-25 years after Jesus' passion.  The last gospel written, John, was composed around 90 A.D.
• Karen King has an agenda.  Read this article:
•  http://www.examiner.com/article/karen-king-needs-jesus-to-have-a-wife-so-her-career-can-have-a-future.

The bottom line is:  if you are a Christian, the Bible you have is the most tried, tested, and authenticated source of Jesus' life on the planet.  Don't lose sleep over this.  Have confidence.  Just my take on this whole deal.

Blessings,
Bryan

Overcoming the Dark Side

One of the books I'm reading right now is titled, "The Dark Side of Leadership." It is a very thought provoking book. Basically, it works on the premise that all of us have a dark side to us. Past experiences, our childhood, the way we were raised by our parents, and our inherit personality all contribute to this darker side of our personality. After reading several chapters I thought to myself, "I'm one messed up individual." It's enough to send someone straight to therapy!

After coming in off the ledge (just kidding), I realized how true it is. All of us do have a darker side. Now, I don't mean we are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type people. However, if we are honest with ourselves, we have a side to us we don't want most people to see. It's the side of us perhaps only our kids and spouse see. The side we would be embarrassed and ashamed of if people caught a glimpse of it.

The good news is our dark sides can be redeemed. The way we do this is by bringing those dark components of our personality into the light of Jesus so they can be healed, restored, and redeemed. This leads to a healthy, whole individually instead of a fragmented one.

Jesus Himself said essentially the same thing in John 3:19-21:

"This, then is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God."

So, bring yourself into the light of Christ and allow Him to expose those things in your heart and mind that need to be healed and redeemed. Don't allow yourself to be divided anymore. Let Christ make you whole.

Expecting Great Things,
Bryan