I read on a blog somewhere an idea that pastors could visit other people in their places of work. Instead of people always meeting me in my office at the church facility, I want to see where you work too. So, I’m going to start visiting people’s offices all around town.

I realize that the quickest way to win people’s loyalty and become everybody’s favorite pastor is to buy them food. So when I visit you I’ll find out what you want for lunch and then I’ll bring it to you.

If you’d like for me to visit you, just click over to my facebook page and click “Like” to become one of my “fans” and then I’ll randomly select a fan each time. Just FYI, I’ll probably make these visits on Fridays (one more reason to TGIF).

Today I bought Tobin Watler Lunch from Lawless subs. Tobin works for ProVisionIT and is stationed at the Orlando Orthopaedic Center managing the network for all of the doctors and staff at that central location, as well as the various satellite locations and buildings throughout the area.

I’m convinced that managing a computer network is every bit as difficult as being a pastor. If you think I’m exaggerating, think of the council you needed the last time your hard drive crashed. Thank you Tobin for the way you serve God by working for ProVisionIT.

God’s people frequently test and always prove God’s patience. We suffer from the disease of chronic lethargy in spiritual matters. Our growth in godliness crawls along at such a sluggish rate that calling it a snails pace could be considered an insult to snails. But God is merciful to us. He doesn’t respond to our slowness in anger, but by being quick to impart grace. God’s anger is the only thing in the universe slower than my heart’s change. His faithful and steadfast love preserves me even when I hypocritically insist on instant change from other people not required of myself. God is content to do long-term work on my heart, launching character renovation and overhaul projects scheduled to take decades to complete. His patience cannot be outlasted by my stubbornness. As amazing as God’s patience is, what makes it truly remarkable is that he did not respond to his own perfect Son the same way. God’s patient slowness to anger that I take for granted every day was conspicuously absent at Calvary. The anger poured out on Christ while he was on the cross was anything but slow; it was fast, furious and relentless, unceasing until every sin placed upon Christ had been fully atoned for. Jesus Christ was the only person to not sin, and yet he was punished for sin so that God’s anger toward sinners is slow, and his love for them is steadfast.

The inquisition against my soul is conducted by an omniscient prosecutor. Jesus Christ knows the heart of man more intimately than man knows his private, unspoken thoughts. The heart is cunning and has many effective strategies that easily fool us by cloaking its activity from our frail perceptions. But Christ does not suffer from our blindness. He is not so easily fooled as we are by the deceitfulness of sin. Christ calls Satan’s bluff and sees the truth behind sin’s lies every time. Trusting in Christ requires that we distrust ourselves. Those who are not suspicious of their own hearts must be suspicious of Christ. No one who is confident that he knows himself can fully embrace a gospel message that offers deliverance from self-deception by an all-knowing Savior. Being fully dependent on Jesus Christ requires that we seek deliverance from the ongoing deception of remaining sin. Christ frequently told his opponents what they were thinking before they shared their thoughts aloud. The path to Christian maturity will inevitably lead to a secure trust in Christ which nurtures healthy self-suspicion. But we are not left merely suspicious. Christ knew what was in man and died on account of that depravity. Since he was raised, we have been given the Holy Spirit who searches the depths of our soul. Christ is the great navigator of the human heart who guides us by his Spirit through his gift of repentance to discover paths of righteousness amidst the maze of our own corruption.

From My Soul’s Inquisition blog

The soul’s great sin is its disregard for the glory of God. The Israelites bore the unique mark of the chosen people of God. He had mercifully given them his law, temple, manifest presence, the cloud of his glory and his promises to bless them and make them a blessing to all nations. There was glory in Israel greater than any other place on earth. One would think that the value of this glory would be recognized, treasured and protected with fervent jealousy by those privileged enough to possess it. Shockingly, it was not. Instead of being treasured, the glory of God was traded. Israel quickly and willingly gave up the covenant blessings of the living God in exchange for lifeless, worthless idols. They surrendered their status as God’s chosen ones and joined the ranks of the condemned. But any divine shock at this colossal misappropriation of value and disregard of God’s glory must also be directed at my heart and that of every Christian. For we who cherish and pursue worldly things above Jesus Christ and the law of God commit a sin that exceeds the sinfulness of Israel’s sin. For we have something far more valuable than that which Israel possessed. They possessed only a shadow of the real glory. We have the actual glory, the fulfillment of the law, temple, presence and glory of God in the very person of Jesus Christ who dwells within our own hearts, not in a temple built by human hands. Therefore, when the regenerate soul of a New Testament Christian exchanges the glory of the indwelling Christ for worldly things that don’t profit him, how much more shocked and appalled should the heavens be at such disdain of the soul towards its own Savior and God, preferring instead to cultivate an appetite for unprofitable amusements.

— Lyrics: —

Our tongues are like matches
Our ears are like trees
Our words are like sparks on dry summer leaves
It doesn’t take much for the flames to rise
And turn a soul into a forest fire

Jonathan Rourke as CJ Mahaney from Resolved on Vimeo.

“Merely hearing a flying and evil rumour about an individual, in such a thoughtless and lying world as this is, is far from being sufficient evidence against any one, to make us believe he has been guilty of that which is reported ; for the devil, who is called “the god of this world,” is said to be ” a liar, and the father of it,” and too many, alas ! of his children are like him in their speaking of falsehoods. And yet it is a very common thing for persons to pass a judgment on others, on no better ground or foundation than that they have heard that somebody has said this, or that, or the other thing, though they have no evidence that what is said is true.”

What this means is that some of you are going to have to commit to praying from 2-3 am, and 3-4 am. That sounds kind of crazy, but I’ll bet you have it in you. In fact, I’ll bet at some point in your life you stayed up all night and lived to tell about it. Anyway, after you pray you could post some element of your prayer on our Facebook page so we can see the types of things people are asking God to do.

What do you think about that? We’re going to try it out this Saturday and Sunday and are looking for 24 brave souls to get on their knees. If you want to participate go to our Facebook Group I AM (praying for) Metro Life Church. If you’re not a member yet, send a request and I’ll join you. Once you’re in the group, click “Discussions” and leave a comment specifying which hour you’ll be praying.

“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Now before you get all religious and churchy on me and ramble on and on about how wonderful your church is, let me provide a little dose of reality. The church is the one of the biggest failures in the world. If your Jesus really knew what was going on inside the four walls of the average church, he would probably be disgusted.

Do you think he would really accept the fact that Christians are hypocrites? Do you think he’d be happy to learn that churches are chock full of people who only care about looking good to others on Sunday, while they drive by homeless people on the streets on their way to their fancy houses and problem free lives? In the real world people have issues. Not everything is black and white. You think a mother wants to commit abortion? Of course not. If she could have her own little perfect world that Christians enjoy then of course she could choose to have a baby. But I hate to break it to you that in the real world bills have the be paid and choices have to be made. If Jesus really does have the compassion you say he has, then logically he’d understand people’s circumstances, right? But if the church Jesus said he would build included the types of self-righteous Pharisees that fill churches today, then I don’t think he would have been so enthusiastic about the church.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering how I can doubt the success of the church. Look at all the churches in the world. God is building his church. No, actually, God’s not building his church. Men are building things that they call churches. They are constructing buildings that people gather in to talk about how much better than the rest of the world they are. You can build a nice building, but if you really cared about anyone other than yourself you would take that money and give it to the poor. Buildings are useless. They just sit there and collect people’s tithes. Why would Jesus want to build a building? Didn’t he toss some tables and kick people out for selling stuff in church once? Jesus came to break down religious institutions, not create more.

If you Christians would get your act together you’d break down all  your denominations and solve real problems. Instead of condemning sin and fake problems, you’d focus on true solutions to genuine needs of poverty and social justice. Instead of trying to legislate morality, you could free people to live how they want and overcome their issues the way they want. Instead of trying to scare people with your conformist doctrine by taking about hell all the time, you could free them to be who they are and to live the lifestyles they were made to live.

The evidence is right in front of you. Why do you think churches are full of older people, while the young folks are turning away in droves? You want to reach them, right? Quit talking about your religion that they can’t relate to and start talking about real issues. It’s hilarious to see pastors ranting on and one about dusty books and sound doctrine, and other terms that people could care less about. Then, after talking about nothing but theology week after week, they wonder why their kids are not interested. Hello, maybe it’s because you and your church are not interesting. The world does a way better job attracting people than the church ever has. Yet how many years have to go by before people in the church realize that what they’re building couldn’t have been what Jesus had in mind.

If Jesus was really building today’s church, why does it have so many problems? I think if he saw the church today, he’d probably tear it down.

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Now that my evil Alter Ego is done with his rant, let me share with you my perspective on the church, in all her glory and with all her issues:

I have seen a mystery,
The hopes of prayer and prophecy,
And rising from all peoples see, she comes.
Rescued, ransomed, lifted up,
Crowned with mercy, clothed in hope,
The object of all heaven’s love, she comes.

It is the church,
The hope of all the world,
And here I fix my heart and hand,
I cannot turn away!
It is the church!
The passion of God’s Son,
The goal of history, come.
You’ll see we’ve nearly reached the day.

And she will be all glorious;
Fitting for Him whose bride she is.
In that day, in that day (repeat)

Words by Stuart Townsend.