I saw a video about a church that’s planning a book burning event on Halloween. The list of books to be burned include all bible translations that aren’t King James Version because that church believes that the King James Version (KJV) should be the only Bible that English speaking Christians should use and all other Bibles are heretical. Now, I don’t agree with that. I prefer some translations over others, but I’m not about to claim that certain translations are heretical and that readers of that translation are heretics.

I mostly use the New International Version (NIV). So does my church.

My question is this: Which translation do you personally use/prefer? Your church?

and

Why?

Share.

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It’s amazing how spot on this video is for youth pastors.
How close is it to the youth pastor(s) you know or have in your church?

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I remember when I first saw this video a few months ago as a funny suggestion for my friends’ wedding. I stumbled upon it again when someone posted it on Facebook and saw it in a whole new light. Weddings aren’t supposed to be boring, It’s a celebration. It’s not a solemn occasion, it’s a joyous one. Most of the time, though, we end up making it boring because it’s “another wedding”.

Now look at church services.

Often boring, even though we’re supposed to be celebrating. We lose our joy and excitement over it as we attend service after service week after week.

What can we as the church learn from an example like this?

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I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. – 1 Corinthians 1:10-15

I think the reason that this has stuck with me so much is because of how much I’ve been noticing division in The Church. There’s so much distrust and bad blood between churches and denominations. We fight and argue over aspects of faith and focus on ways that we can separate ourselves from each other instead of what eternally binds us together, Christ. It breaks my heart when I hear the bashing that Christians do on one another, and I pray that we would be able to come back and unite as one Church in Jesus’ name.

What scripture is kicking your butt right now?

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thoughts?

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How would our world change?

Dustin

Knowing that the synoptic gospels usually speak about Jesus’ healings as “acts of power” rather than as miracles helps us understand the basic theme of Acts, which is to show that the early church, the early Christians, had the same power to preach, to heal, and to cast out demons that Jesus had. The church is the continuation of Jesus’ saving power in history. The Jerusalem church (Peter) and the gentile churches (Paul) all carry on the same preaching and healing as Jesus himself did, because Jesus is the one who is still doing it. Only now he is multiplied in his apostles-and in us-who can be his witnesses to the end of the world.

Just as Jesus combined both preaching and healing in his presentation of the goespel, the early apostles carried on that tradition with no diminution of power. When these early Christians were persecuted, listen to how they prayed for help:

And now, Lord, take note of their threats and help your servants to proclaim your message with all boldness, by stretching out your hand to heal and to work miracles and marvels through the name of your holy servant Jesus (Acts 4:29-30)

Notice that they did not pray to preach and to heal, but to preach by healing. They preached the message of salvation by actually continuing the works of Jesus. A doctrine of God’s salvation without that salvation actually taking place, or a doctrine about healing without God’s power to make healing actually take place, is empty rhetoric. Perhaps this is why so much of today’s preaching impresses people as abstract and irrelevant.

Jesus and the early church didn’t put a separation between preaching and healing. Healing was preaching, and preaching was healing. Healing was so much a part of what Jesus did. Both physical and spiritual, men and women, young and old. Somewhere along the path in Church history though, the common occurrence of healing almost died out completely. But people need the same kind of healing today that was occurring in the gospels, and here’s the good news…

Jesus is still in the healing business!

That’s great news because I know that I’m still a jacked-up mess and the Holy Spirit is currently working in my heart to bring about healing from some woundedness I’ve endured. And when the power of the Holy Spirit comes into contact with our woundedness and brokenness, the result is restoration. Healing is making a come back in the Church and we are beginning to get a better awareness of the power of God and who He is.

This might be why the song Healer is so popular right now.

Dustin

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Now, nowhere in this verse does it say to offer our good days, or offer the times when we feel like it as a sacrifice and that that would be our form of worship. It says to offer our bodies as a sacrifice, and then that would be our form of worship. Body can be interpreted as merely the physical body that each of us have, but it can also be interpreted as the whole, our lives.

I think that often we tend to justify not doing something for God by saying, “I don’t feel like it.” (I know I’m guilty of this). We think that because there’s no “mountain top” feeling going into something, that we don’t necessarily need to do it. But if we think that this is okay, why did Paul write to offer our bodies as a sacrifice and that that would be our form of worship?

Would true worship be showing up when the feeling isn’t necessarily there? Would it be participating in what God is doing out of true love, discipline, and obedience rather than out of a feeling or emotion? I’ve heard it said, and I agree, that love isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice (or something to that effect). And I think that we often forget that. A relationship with Christ is like any other relationship, if you try to operate off of feelings and emotions, the relationship will be short lived. But just as Christ chose and is constantly choosing to love us despite all of the junk in our lives, so should we choose to love and be obedient to Christ, operating not on feeling or emotion, but out of love, faith, and obedience.

I’m writing this post out of some experiences of mine that have happened as of late where I flat out didn’t want to do something that God was calling me to do. I wanted to leave or skip what I was responsible for and just move on to the next part of the night. I’ve heard several talks, and chances are if anyone has ever been on a retreat you’ve heard it too, about showing up and continuing this walk with Christ after the feeling from the retreat/concert/sermon/worship set is gone. I believe the same principal applies when going into something. I think God purposely chooses to not fill us with that emotion/anticipation of a moment to teach us to trust that He is still God. I think he does this to show that He is the God of everyday, not just the God of the big extravagant church events. This is a lesson that I’ve been learning a lot over the last two months and it’s been hard for me. I’ve had discussions with a couple of people where I just say that I don’t want to do this. But after we’ve prayed and brought this to God, God provided and told me to continue on.

This post feels kind of scattered and not well written, but I can live with that. Basically, worshiping God when the mountaintop feeling isn’t there is just as important, if not, more important, as worshiping God in those mountaintop experiences like retreats and worship events.

Love isn’t a feeling. It’s a choice.

Dustin

It was an amazing night that and time of worship, we even had an encore! I have never had that happen to me before! God is so good, and it was incredible to watch these young people encounter God tonight.

It was incredible

Dustin