During time as pastor, I have realized that the Christian faith is not so much an organization as it is a relationship with Jesus!

During ministry in organized Christianity, I have seen endless board meetings. I have experienced enough of religious mind-battlings when Christians argues and vote. Sometimes people are not even nice to each other. I have seen the smiles on faces, when I know there are anger and wrath inside. Sometimes, people are hypocritical and even evil! People act just as they would in an ordinary organization.

There are many groups to join today. You can join political, civic, social or religious organizations, but with the Christian faith you don’t just join an institution. Christian faith is not just like Buddhism, Hinduism or Muslim religions. When you speak of the authentic Christian faith, you speak of being born into a personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ! Someone said it this way: "I hate religion, but I love Jesus!"

By faith in Jesus Christ, God saves individually. It is my personal trust in Jesus, as Savior that saves. He died and rose again for you and me! He paid my sins by taking my sins on Himself. Organization never changes hearts. However,what Jesus Christ has done does!

This relationship changes lives. We don’t just pray God for things today. Rather, we seek God intimately. As a child in His presence we communicate with our Loving Heavenly Father. Today, “He walks with me and talks with me and tells me that I am His own.” God even promises to visit us, speak, teach and comfort us individually, and because of that, the believer in Jesus can live a new authentic lifestyle, sincee we walk our lives in His presence.

In the Bible, prophet Ezekiel speaks of the future of the land of Israel. Today, Israel does not have a relationship with Jesus. Israel is more an organizational religion. However, soon it will turn back to God’s Son, Jesus Christ and trust in Him. Then it will understand that God always had a plan with it and that one of its own sons, Jesus of Nazareth, is its Savior and Lord. Instead of living in disobedience to God, Israel will turn to Jesus as and their hearts will be cleansed by God’s Spirit. Judaism will turn into a living relationship with God, through Jesus Christ!

Friends, remember that the Bible is God’s Love letter to you and me. In it, we are invited to a personal relationship with God Himself. Religion is one thing and Jesus Christ, for sure, is completely different. Be very careful about religions!

God’s Salvation is presented to you and me. Salvation is from beginning to end God’s design and you and I have nothing to do with it. It is only when God reveals Salvation that you and I can be rescued from bondage of sin and spiritual death. Remember, we were the ones who tuned our backs to God but He still provides this way to fellowship with Him! That is why we say that we are saved by God’s Grace alone without any input by man. You find nothing like that I religion

Our choice is to accept God's offer of or reject it.  By accepting Jesus Christ as Savior, God becomes the foundation upon where you and can start building a Christian lifestyle and obey Him. At the time of Salvation we are “born again from above” which means that I am born into a new spiritual family where God is my Father and I am a child of His. Remember, it is all God’s doing!

Salvation is the first event and most essential choice we can make in life. The second most important choice is to start obeying God.

This new Christian life is all about you and obeying God! Though God will now, through his Holy Spirit, work in our lives it is our responsibility is to obey his orders. This is where the Christian will start to grow strong as a believer. All God’s resources and promises are provided for us but we need to trust and obey them.

Yes! Through the new birth Jesus is my Savior, but, after I have become a believer Jesus is also my Lord. You cannot make Jesus Lord before you trust Him as Savior. However, after salvation we need to start obeying Him. This growing experience of a Christian is called “Sanctification”, and it takes time, effort and obedience. The best is to start to grow spiritually right away after trusting Jesus as Savior! But reality shows however, that though we are new Christians and have all the power to grow right away, it takes its time for us to become strong Christians.

As a believer in Jesus Christ we can now have confidence that we have eternal life with God. Since we have a complete new righteous nature, given by God, we are on our way to Heaven. However, it is only when we follow and obey God’s Holy Spirit that we can have a close, satisfying and peaceful relationship with God. Never confuse these two events of salvation and sanctification. The first event called Salvation does not produce spiritual fruit, but the second event called sanctification after salvation will. I encourage you to first trust in Jesus as Savior and then right away start living for Him as your Lord!

Don’t forget to check out my website www.simplefaith.us!

Let me do some deep theology-diving. Since I know that church health is related to its very teaching, our way of preaching the message we proclaim is essential.

I want to treat pew-people and as individuals, who need to hear the Gospel (the Gospel as explained in one of my first blogs – 1 Corinthians 15: 1-3.) I don’t want to take for granted that those I speak to understand what God expects from us. Therefore I try to provide a time in my speaking to explain God’s simple plan of Salvation. Since we all are imperfect sinners and Heaven is a perfect place, we can't make it there.There is no room for any human efforts or good work that can earn God’s salvation (Salvation = forgiveness, the new birth and assurance of going to Heaven when we die.) Paul of the New Testament makes it clear in his writings to the churches in Rome and Galatia that salvation is a completely free gift, and does not have anything with what I, as human, can do or can muster up. It is simply a question of trusting Jesus Christ that he took my sins when he died on the cross. He then is my personal Savior. That is why it is called “Good News!)

Why do we, as preachers and individuals make it so hard for people to become children of God? We confuse and philosophy the simplicity of God’s love. Either man can make himself righteous by good works or simply trust that God, though Jesus, provided the perfect salvation.. There is no middle way! Either we are saved by God’s Grace or by our human good works (which can never take away our sins!)

If we preach a human Gospel based on what we man can do, it will give spiritual birth to no one! That is what religion is all about! Religions tell us to better ourselves and clean up our act before any god can accept us. It is like the typical message of”good boys go to Heaven and bad boys go to hell” This is not a saving message. It only creates confusion, dissatisfaction condemnation. In such proclamation there is no God’s Grace or evidence of God’s Love.

Some would call this message of God's Grace "Easy Believe-ism,” meaning that a person just has to believe with his/her brain and that would be enough to be accepted by God's standard. Paul, of the Bible even argues about this issue in his letter to the church in Rome. He says, pretty much; “If you think you can trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and then continue to sin, as nothing happened, you have not really understood God’s Salvation and Grace.” You see, too many people just believe with their heads and that is that! The message of God’s saving Grace never touched their very hearts. It is your heart’s faith and trust in Jesus, as Savior that saves you. 

Let me refer to what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus church (Ephesians 2: 8,9) Salvation is:                 By grace (undeserved)                                                                                                                                                            through faith (trust, believe)                                                        

not of ourselves (no human act or behavior) 

it is a gift (and how much do you pay for a gift?)        

not of any good work, so that we cannot pride ourselves of God's Love)

Too read more about this issues read my book “Authentic Faith” at www.simplefaith.us

Let me emphasize that my blogs are very personal thoughts of mine. My opinions and beliefs are only mine and I don’t want to be sounding dogmatic about the way they are presented. However after years in the pulpit and in different traditional settings, I have accumulated convictions that I feel free to express. I mainly write for myself, but hopefully someone out there in space can be encouraged or challenged. So, here I go, again!

 Pew sitters ought to come to church with a mood of expectation and a sense of learning something new about God and His Word. When church become mundane and lack the personal anticipation something has gone amiss. Who wants sit in a church when it church becomes humdrum? I am sure that an unexciting atmosphere in many churches is the reason why many mainline churches are losing its people and influence in our culture.

If church services becomes too predictable and people know, in detail, what will happen during worship, I believe people are not anticipate God to speak. Those who have grown up in such a church atmosphere might benefit, but to a new-comer to such a church culture, it can create a wrong attitude toward what the Christian life is all about. When people are tempted to fall into too much rituals and rules individual participation can be lacking. A spirit of spontaneity and a personal touch between listeners and the pulpit is a healthy spiritual practice in any church.

The church should be a place where the Bible is read and taught. Personally, encourage members to come to church with Bibles in hands. The pulpit should be a place where listeners are encouraged and educated in the promises of God. Pastors do well in using the Bible as their textbook and the teaching style should be expository, which means that the listener understands how the ancient teaching of the Old and New Testament can be referred to today’s life. I love to hear people leaving church with an excitement because of learning something new from the Bible. Bible teaching together with a spirit of life-giving worship is a beautiful concept that brings glory to God and matures Christian.

We know there are many church traditions and different worship practices. I appreciate that, since we all come from different backgrounds. But if a church service is an hour of continual readings of already printed traditional prayers and responsive readings without a personal touch, the temptation of people believing that the Christian faith is mainly an organized institution and not a relationship issue between God and mankind. Don’t we know that the Bible is God’s love letter to the world? When people get the impression that the Christian faith is merely another human made religion, rather than a Body of Christ, it stifles God’s Spirit to move and the result will be that church equals another human organization.

 The main enemy against Christian faith is when church becomes only an  institutional and a religious entity without the life-giving message of God’s Grace and Love. Remember that the Christian faith is from the beginning to end a intimate relationship between you, me and God!

Lately, I have been reading some biographies of politicians. I am intrigued with what goes on behind closed doors of fame and influence. The more power and influence people have been entrusted with the more temptations for moral compromises. Therefore some people live in compromise that nobody really knows about it. Sadly, hypocrisy is a reality of life.

A Christian is known by God in a very personal way. A believer in Jesus Christ can live a hypocritical life in the sight of men, but not in the eyes of God.  Since God knows the heart of men and since a believer, one time or another, has had a specific moment when he/she faced God without anything to hide there is nothing that God already knows. Both God and that person have acknowledged our human failings.

 Just think of it! Isn't it true that before the moment of salvation, when I fall down on my knees before God in utter despair and call out for God’s mercy and forgiveness that I have, in some way, been emptied of myself? I realized I am a sinner and in desperate need of a Savior. I don’t just trust Jesus as Savior with my head, but with my very heart. I can’t fool my heart, since God is the only One  who knows what’s in there and He reveals it to me.

So, a Christian is a person who, at least one point in life has been face to face with God. As believers we have all been completely been disrobed before the Holiness of God. In utter need for salvation our souls have cried out; “please save me!”

The question to be asked then is: Since we have already been totally uncovered before the Mighty God, who sees and hears everything, why is it so hard to live out our Christian walk in that same attitude day out and day in life? Shouldn't our Christian lives be a continual desperate pleading for God’ help and shouldn’t we walk purely before God’s face?

Doesn't it seem strange that, after this very personal and specific encounter with God’s goodness and forgiveness, we have a tendency to, again and again put on our past and sinful lives and persist to walk on as nothing ever happened? Shouldn't the characteristic of our Christian lives be known as a continual spirit of desperation before God?

Friend! You call yourself a Christian! Then has your lifestyle been changed after you came to Christ for forgiveness? Have you, at all changed? Are people around you aware of a different way of life or are do they see you as different? Are there evidences of the spiritual birth that has taken place in your life? Can others clearly detect the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit in you, according to Galatians chapter 5 and verse 17?

The name of the game in the Christian faith is changed lives. Changed behaviors, changed words and changed lifestyles! People out in the community yearn to see the new you. They desperately look for signs of changed lives among Christians. They look for it in local churches and in your and my life. It is only when non-believers see changed lives in us Christian that people out there will find God and have peace.

Friend, people who have not met God personally through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior are allowed to live hypocritical lives. They don’t know better. But, those of us who call ourselves Christians should know better. 

One of the characteristic of God is his graciousness. I like that that! The word “Grace” makes me feel good. There is no condemnation in a word like “Grace”. It rather speaks of goodness and blessings. It relaxes me. I had a mother who was full of grace and that always gave me a feeling of security.

This grace needs to be evident in our churches. Feelings of comfort and acceptance soothe us in our worship of God. I squirm when legalism is present. When God’s grace lacks I want to withdraw. When jealousy, competition, selfishness or the attitude of “my way of the highway” seeps in, I struggle.

I have met pastors who need to grow in grace. Instead of behaving as if they know everything, having a “chip on their shoulder” or just being untouchable, they would do much better in showering in the humility of God’s Grace. People lacking grace many times look down on people. When we are in God’s Grace you don’t have to pretend. You are accepted as you are.

As believers in Jesus Christ we have experienced the Grace of God in a very special way. As authentic Christians we have personally experienced God’s goodness when receiving His Son, Jesus Christ as Savior. Remember that it was by grace that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8, 9). God’s Grace has already invaded the Christian. In no way did we deserve salvation, since we, in the past, turned our backs to God in disobedience. Now, as believers in Jesus we are free from the condemnation of judgment, fear of death. We are allowed to live a life honoring the Lord. Yes, God’s Grace changes lives!

I crave for this atmosphere of grace in my witnessing of God’s love. Freedom and acceptance must be a characteristic of my every day’s activities. Looking down on other misrepresents God’s Goodness.  It honors God when we smile.  Singing with gusto in church brings happiness. An atmosphere where personalities of the pew sitters is accepted and appreciated brings feelings of freedom. It is in grace that God Spirit can freely work.

There must also be expressions of grace from the pulpit. Too many church pulpits have an environment of sophistication and a fear of offending those who listen. It seems as if some pastors are scared to preach a simple Gospel message filled with grace. The pulpit has become a seat of philosophical and pure human decrees that ”flies right above heads” while the poor pew sitters are yearning for a personal life-saving message from God. Fear of perfection stifles the Spirit of God. Worship becomes too informal and God is not allowed to ouch hearts. When we let the attitudes and politics of the world enter our worship God’s Holy Spirit “takes a hike” and leaves. Political correctness has no place among preachers. Is essential that we create an atmosphere of generosity in church!

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then it is by God’s Grace that you have been received into God’s Family. God gave you the freedom to believe in Jesus Christ and now you have to live out that new graceful life day by day! Live out God’s Grace in church as well as in your community.

The lack of confidence

The most disturbing experience in doing church-work I find in the lack of spiritual confidence among pew sitting Christians. There is problem of confidence in assurance of salvation, in Christian walk and in telling others about their faith. If asking the question: “Where would you go if you died today?” most are hesitant to answer. Little do pew sitters realize that 1 John 5: 13 promise the believer in Jesus in Christ of perfect confidence in spending eternity with God in Heaven.

This lack of confidence stems from not understanding the simple Gospel message of Salvation in our churches. Too many pastors have been fooled by present secularism that the simple Gospel message is old fashion. Rather we are told to speak about social injustice, how to live goodly lives, to follow the Ten Commandments and living out that faith. Even though all these issues are essential for the Christian faith, they are rather results of the essential message which is that people are sinners,need to return to God and have sins forgiven. The Church has turned away from God’s simple Salvation message and must return to the basics of God's Salvation. Our responsibility is to help our audience to trust and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. This is the message at issue. There can be no Christian growth unless we provide people with the first step of growth, which is to first become a confident child of God. What is the Gospel, anyhow? It is specifically pointed out in 1 Corinthian 15: 1-3. The very definition of the Good News is a very detailed: 

                

1. Jesus Christ died for our sins. 2. Jesus was buried for our sins. 3. and Jesus came back from death to show us that He is God who forgives sin                                           

People in our pews don’t need to just hear inspiring sermons. They don’t need to hear first about being saved from behavioral problems! We have counselors for that. Neither do we need to tell people how to live successfully and healthy lives. Bookstores are filled with literature for that. Our deep-seated dilemma is a sin-problem and people must be approached with God’s Grace, realizing that their sin needs to be rooted out from hearts and be able to experience the cleaning of sin by God’s Spirit. This is the only solution to to our listeners’ needs. If the pulpits do not present listeners with that message how will people ever know? From the very first book of the Bible man and woman were created in God’s image. However, they turned away from God and that is the dilemma! This dilemma still lives on in our spiritual genes. The Good News (the Gospel) is that God, once and for all, through Christ died, was buried and resurrected to pay for sins, so that people would be free to have a personal relationship with God. This, more than anything else will give our pew-sitter confidence. Confidence of a personal relationship with God and confidence to live out an authentic faith. A person must first understand the basic step of salvation and respond by faith. And after a person becomes a believer, by a simple faith in Jesus Christ he or she can start to confront the responsibilities how to live as a Christian believer.

Again, the power of God to salvation is found in the Gospel and we churches must be committed to that promise (Romans 1:16, 17.) Pastors, priest, preachers, or any one of us will never have any power in our witness unless we use that power of God given to us.

Please., remember to check out my website www.simplefaith.us

After serving congregations from different traditions, I have experienced much good and some not so good. I have been pastored churches that basing their theology more on traditional belief rather than what the Bible says. Other congregations are stuck to messages mainly tickle people's religious ears. Warnings and rebukes from the pulpit are no-nos. So much of today's preaching is grounded on pure humanism, where human philosophies has decided what is truth and what is not. All this while people, Christians as well as non Christians, sit in the pews, either not understanding what is being preached or not being challenged with the life changing message of Jesus Christ.

In my blogs writings I will share some of the blessings and frustration serving churches during a long time. The desire is to go deeper than just traditional beliefs and church work. There is much good church tradition around. But this pastor thinks it is time for religious institutions to re-examine preconceived ideas and where the consequences have taken them. It is not just a question about worship style or music style, but it has to do with what the Christian Church really believe and how the message is presented to those who are invited to to listen.

I invite you to follow my blogging.

For more information at this time, please visit my website www.simplefaith.us