Perry Noble Talks at Elevation Church: An Open Message in Response to his Alcoholism

From a recent YouTube Video I just posted:

Former pastor Perry Noble recently spoke for Steven Furtick at Elevation Church only 7 months after being fired from New Spring church over his struggles with alcoholism.  This is an open message warning Perry Noble about the dangers he's facing, and the need for him to step down from all public ministry and church consulting work as he seeks to overcome and battle alcoholism and other life problems. 

Please prayerfully consider the qualifications of a minister found in 1 Timothy 3:1-15 (NASB)

1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8 Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, 9 but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. 11 Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. 13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

The Jesus in Someone Else

When I started out as a fiery young prophet in Bible college at Lee University, I was convinced that unless you believed exactly like I did on even the most hair splitting of issues, you were  quite possibly destined for the eternal fires of hell.

And why not? 

I had the Bible.  And I had the Holy Spirit living in me.  So all I needed to know that I was in the truth, and that you were in error, was simply to read the Bible and then turn inward to find out what was true and what was not.  So, if I did that, and you didn't agree with me, well then "bless God," (as us Southerners sometimes say) something was clearly wrong with you!  The fate of your eternal soul must be hanging in the balance, and it was my job to make sure you got on my side of the fence lest you perish.

I'm guessing most of us can probably identify with this story.  Either, because you've been "that guy" before, or because you've known someone else who was a lot like me (and some of you who read my blog knew me when I was this guy!). 

But one day something inside me changed.

One day God showed up in a pretty significant way.  And He did so through some of the people I thought were walking a dangerous tight rope over the very fires of hell.  All of a sudden I was startled as I discovered something of the Jesus living in me was also living in some of these very same people.  At that time, "my heart was strangely warmed," (to echo the words of John Wesley).

And I experienced a change.  No longer did I look at these men as possible enemies, but I saw them for who they truly were all along, they were my brothers and sisters in whom Christ dwelled. 

Since then as I have grown more and more in my faith, I've begun to realize that the truth of Jesus Christ living in me is not as important as the truth that Jesus Christ is living in other people. 

Don't get me wrong, the indwelling presence of Christ, "Christ in you, the hope of glory!" is a very important truth that we all need to grasp and realize as Christians.  But we need to grow up from this basic doctrine. 

I believe our evangelical expression of the faith has made far too much of this theology, and as foundationally important as it is, it has almost become a doctrine that has crippled us instead of a doctrine that has equipped us.

Yes, Jesus is alive and well in me... but Jesus is also alive and well in a lot of other people. 

And as such, I need to be looking to see Him and hear Him in the lives of other people just as much as I am looking for Him inside of me.  "The witness" I find confirmed in me I need to look for in others as well.  For Jesus is just as much inside of them as He is me.

Therefore, the moment I stop looking to see and hear Jesus in other people is the moment is the moment that I become a danger to myself and others.  Not only in the sense of thinking just about everyone besides me is a heretic in the making, and treating them like it, but also in the sense that I am cutting off from myself the opportunity to truly serve others in the body of Christ, and to also be served by them. 

Jesus stressed the importance of us grasping this truth.  So much so that in the judgment to come, Jesus said we will be judged by how we treated others whom Christ was found to be in:

"I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in...." (Matthew 25:35, NASB).

While there is an undeniable inward focus of our faith, and the need for us to have a personal relationship with God, this relationship only exists as a starting point in our faith.  The doctrine of "Christ in you" was never meant to turn you into a prophetic hermit, or to be a doctrine by which you were suddenly empowered to overwhelmingly conquer whatever addictions or personality hang-ups you have going on in your life (although there is truth to that).

Rather, the doctrine of "Christ in you" was always designed by God to turn out outward instead of inward.  It was designed by God to make you think twice about how you interact with others and how you treat them.  Instead of treating others as deplorably and ignorable, the doctrine of "Christ in you" was designed by God to compel you to start thinking about "the least of these," and actively seeking them out as someone to serve. It was meant to change our focus from that which is inward to that which is outward.

As a result, folks like me should be motivated to play the fiery young prophet role a little less often, and become more like the men and women who have faithfully served Christ by washing the saints' feet. 

Is there still a time and place to take bold stands for the truth, to confront an erring apostle Peter with his hypocrisy, and to be a voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the ways of the Lord?  Absolutely.  Are there times in which we must look inward to summon up incredible Sampson like strength to overcome adversity?  Yes! 

But such things are few and far in between.  They should not be everyday occurrences.  What should be something of much more frequency is how often we find ourselves bowed before another, in humble and quiet service, seeing the face of Jesus in others, and tending to them even as we would if it were the Lord Himself.  For in truth, through them, we are caring for the Lord himself. 

But if all we do is think about the Jesus living inside of us, we will never see Him, even if He is right before our very eyes. 

"In your face" Jesus Style Mercy and Social Justice Ministry

"Bible education?"  We've got a program for that.

"Feeding the homeless?"  We've got a program for that.

"Seniors ministry?"  We've got a program for that.

"Greeting first time visitors?" We've got a program for that.

"Community outreach?"  We don't currently have that, but give us 6 months and we'll put a committee together to form a program for that.

Over the years I've come to notice that as the church, we love having "programs."  I'm not even sure many of us could define the word "program."   However, there is one thing we know, is that if there is a problem we are trying to solve, we know that a program will fix it.

Programs have become our one indispensable tool that we use on everything, and fulfills the prophecy that says if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem will begin to look like a nail.  And if we don't have a program for something as a church, we tend to let things fall to the wayside, as collectively, we can only do so much.

Please don't get me wrong.  I think programs are great, and I believe they are Biblical. Organizing a group of mutually interested people to solve a problem, pooling mutual resources, and working together as a community, we can often do more together than we can individually.  We need food pantries, we need community outreach programs, and all these sort of things.

However, there still remains much for us to do at the individual level.  As much as we need church programs, we also have a great need for "in your face" Jesus style mercy and social justice ministry.

Jesus once said:

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' " ~ (Matthew 25:34-40; NASB)

One thing that has always stuck out to me regarding this passage is the very intimate and personal nature in which the followers of Jesus are supposed to reach out to people.

Jesus said "I was hungry, and YOU gave ME something to eat... I was thirsty, and YOU gave ME something to drink..."

There is something very one on one and up close and personal about this.   I, you, me.

I believe in my heart of hearts we need to reach out to people and connect with them in a way that programs simply will not allow.  Programs tend to get boxy and have steps and procedures and regulations and chains of command.  Programs become filled with red tape, and and as we institutionalize outreach, we sometimes make it impossible to reach out to people to meet their individual needs.

As a result, even our best of programs have tons of cracks for people to fall through, and if the program you have does not match the person, that person will become further neglected, marginalized, and unreached.

Jesus calls on us as individuals to reach out to individuals.

If we see somebody is in need, Jesus doesn't want us to simply refer them to a church or government program.  Rather, we need to look and see if there isn't a way that you as a person can meet them where they are at and help them.  You can feed them, you can give them something to drink, you can give them a place to stay, you can put clothes on their back, you can spend time with them when they are sick, you can visit them in prison.

You.... you... you!  This is one of the few times in the Bible that we read where it's really all about you.

You don't have to wait for the church or the government to solve the problems people and society face, rather you as an individual can look solve these problems at an individual level, within whatever sphere of influence you have.  You may not do a lot to fundamentally transform society and reach the masses, but you will be performing a service as if unto Jesus Himself.  And if we as individuals in the church all stepped up to do this, who knows to what degree society might be quietly changed and transformed.  I'm pretty sure there is a parable or two in the Bible where Jesus talked this sorta thing.

So, if you consider yourself a "social justice advocate" and think everybody should make a living wage, then when you go out to a restaurant to eat, instead of sitting back and dreaming about a democratic socialist utopia in which president Bernie Sanders leads a revolution that sticks it to greedy corporate fat cats, and forces them to better pay their employees, when you go out to eat at a restaurant, you could make it a point to leave a VERY generous tip (much more than 20%), regardless of how well your waiter performs, or the size of your food order.

Or if you think a particular government agency does a great job at something, and you really like what they do, you could always make a very generous donation to the IRS, and pay the tax level that you want to pay, instead of sitting around and waiting for the government to raise taxes on everyone else.

Or, if you think that college should be free, you could always head down to your local college registrars office, and find out the names of some students who need some tuition assistance this year, and bless one of those students with a scholarship or grant funded by you.

Likewise, if you think medicine should be socialized, there is nothing stopping you from randomly paying the bills of a stranger or somebody you know at the hospital.

Go, do these things.  Stop waiting for some program to be formed that addresses all these issues and ministers justice and mercy to others.  Rather, be an angel of mercy yourself.  Practice justice yourself.  Find individuals wherever they are at, be it friends, neighbors, co-workers, or even complete strangers, and think of ways that you as an individual can serve them even as Jesus would serve them.

Learn from Jesus, who when He healed the multitudes, He never did this by just waving His hand over an entire crowd and making everybody whole.  Rather, He did this by going through a crowd, and one by one, He touched people where they were at.  He ministered to people face to face, and He took the time to care for each person as an individual.  He didn't wait for a committee to organize something.  He was proactive, and took it upon Himself to do these things, because He knew that is what the Father wanted Him to do.

What does God the Father want you to do?  What has He purposed in your heart?  Who has He put in your life, that you know has a need?  Who can you reach out to as an individual?  Where can you make the difference?  Don't wait for a program to be organized to solve social ills that you have identified.  Don't simply talk a good game.  Put your hand to the plow, and work the field that is yours to work.

Jesus says: Beware of your Preacher

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?  So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."  ~ (Matthew 7:15-20; NASB)

False prophets are something that Jesus said we should be on high alert for.  But many Christians aren't so discerning, and prefer to take on a more passive and accepting attitude.   At the end of the day, many of us simply want a minister who puts on a good show.

And that's exactly what wolves dressed in sheep's clothing do.  They put on a good show.

Outwardly, their ministry is very impressive.  Who could dare fault them?  They are extremely successful and often have stellar results.  Their naysayers are often said to just be jealous haters.

But for all the success and window dressing associated with their ministry, underneath the veneer is somebody actively looking to take advantage of you in some way, shape, or form.  They can come off as very sincere, very passionate, and very successful at what they do.  They usually have a great message that people just eat up... even very good Christian people.

But at the end of the day, you are being preyed upon.

The false prophet's ministry is often self-seeking, self-promoting, and makes the minister wealthy in the process.  Tough questions about the minister or the lifestyle of the minister are not really welcomed, and is even discouraged.  Blind submission becomes an exalted virtue among the sheep, transparency is feigned, and real accountability is virtually non-existent.  Inner circles are often formed to insulate the wolf dressed in sheep's clothing, so those on the outside can't get a closer look at their leader, and discover some awful truths.

After all, even the best dressed wolf can't hide the fact that it's merely wearing a costume.  The Wizard of Oz could only hide behind the curtain for so long, and it took nothing more than a tiny dog to ultimately find him out.  But if the people are kept far enough way, they'll never be able to pickup on the unusual scent or clothes.

Wolves are aware of this.  So they do everything they can to hide and blend in.  For they ultimately know that while sheep may have very poor eyesight, at the end of the day, they are not dumb.  And, if they get close enough to see something they don't like and are afraid of, they will simply take their business elsewhere.  But, if they never get the opportunity to see if their leader is merely wearing a costume, it's only a matter of time that they'll have something for lunch.

That's why Jesus encouraged us to closely examine the fruit of those who would presume to be our leaders in the church.

Jesus never wants us to be impressed by the show.  The outward acts of an impressive charismatic ministry are not what qualifies one to lead in the church.  The Lord Himself isn't impressed by the outward showmanship, and warns us that there are going to be a lot of seemingly mighty and powerful ministers who put on a good show, yet find themselves tossed into hell one day:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" ~ (Matthew 7:21-23; NASB)

We often think of false prophets as those who claim special revelations, that take away or add to the Bible.  We think about false prophets as people who deny classical, historical, Christian orthodoxy, and make heretical statements that are at odds with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

But in the above passages, Jesus doesn't say that false prophets are simply those who are spreading false teachings.  Such is so obvious that it goes without Jesus even needing to say it.  That's kids stuff.  Instead, Jesus dives a little bit deeper than that in His teaching.

Rather, the false prophets Jesus warned us to be on the look out for are a little harder to discover.  They won't be found by simply examining their statement of faith, or listening to them speak from the pulpit.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us that false prophets are often people who confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and hold to an orthodox view of the faith, and even do many mighty works in His name (works that would indicate that God is certainly with this person), yet the fruit of their everyday life and conduct reveals where they really stand with God.

It is ultimately the lack of God bearing fruit and character in their personal lives that makes these individuals false prophets, not their theology.  

And, that is why false prophets often work overtime to make sure you only see the side of them that they want you to see.  And this is why they excel at often putting on the best show in town, that hopes to silence those who might otherwise speak against them.  They have no interest in you ever getting to know the real them, and proactively take steps to keep as many people as possible at a distance.

Jesus tells us to beware of such ministers, who put on a good show, yet their lives don't quite measure up to the demands of the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus.

They are dangerous, not only because they have hopes of exploiting you in some manner for their own selfish gain, but because their conduct has the possibility of setting a dangerous precedent that others may be encouraged to imitate as they grow in popularity.   And such behavior is ultimately out of step with the kingdom of God that Jesus came to establish in this world, and sets itself at odds with His kingdom.  And this happens even in ministries that confess that Jesus is Lord, that prophesy in His name, and perform many mighty miracles.

Such a ministry may look like it is part of what Jesus is doing in the work of the kingdom.  But it is ultimately something that will cause a lot of men to be cast into hell.

At the end of the day, Jesus says that the man and the message should be one and the same.  And we should be careful when a closer look reveals that they are not. Prophets should be known for their lives, not their words.

Prophets Can No Longer Afford to Profit

If you ever plan on speaking for God one day, and feel called to do so, don't ever plan on making a dime for your troubles.

Rather, plan on being like the apostle Paul and many of his companions, who seldom took so much as a dime to cover even their personal expenses.  Prefer to pursue your holy calling while you work as a janitor, mechanic, nurse, office worker, manager, accountant, banker, or some other profession.

There is no shortage of men and women who feel "called" to "full-time vocational ministry."  And while I have no problem whatsoever with men and women doing such, I feel it in my bones that such a calling should be exceptionally rare.  We should seek to persuade as many people as possible, as often as possible, away from such a pursuit.  Especially young ministers, who so easily glamorize the idea, and make it a personal goal.

Prophets can no longer afford to profit from their ministries.

There is too much at stake.  Hard times are coming, and difficult decisions will have to be made.  The decision to do the easy thing, and accept money as compensation for your labors, that will cost you more than you think.

A paycheck will cost you your reputation, and your loss of reputation will cost you influence, and your loss of influence will choke whatever words that issue out of your mouth, and cause them to fall on deaf ears.  And in the process, you'll make a liar out of God who said His Word would not return unto Him void.

Don't do that.  I've myself have made stupid choices myself over the years that have cost me such.  I've seen God's Word die because of my destructive actions.  And I don't want to see the same thing happen with you.

Instead of seeking vocational ministry, prefer to seek "bi-vocational ministry."  Consider it the new normal.

Learn about as much of the Word as you can from godly men and women.  Be a scholar.  Be active in the life of your church.  Pound the street as well as the pulpit.  And don't look at your career outside the church as "secular" employment, but rather, see your career as part of your "holy" calling.

And whenever possible, prophesy.

Should Christians Save For Retirement?

Recently I had the distinct privilege of sitting down over dinner and talking to a young missionary couple.  Knowing that I have a background in theology and ministry, and making a living in the world of finance, they wanted to pick my brain and see what I thought about the idea of them saving up for retirement.  For the missionary society they are a part of requires that they set aside a certain percentage of their income for this purpose.  And in doing so, they have received some criticism from other Christians (and even other missionaries), for having any savings at all, let alone saving up enough money to one day retire.

I found this question very interesting, because when you and I think of missionaries, we typically think of extraordinary men and women of faith who boldly immerse themselves in remote parts of the world for the purpose of sharing the Gospel.  We don't think of people who plan on retiring from the missions field like people who will retire from their jobs.

We think of people who are putting their entire life on the line to go to the utter ends of the earth to answer the call they feel God has placed on their lives.  We tend to think of missionaries as extremely spiritual people who live very close to God, as the nature of their job requires of them.  When we think of missionaries, we think of people who will go somewhere, spend their life in a remote part of the world, and ultimately die there.  We seldom think of people who eventually come off the field, returning home physically and mentally exhausted, and spending the final years of their life in retirement.

As I pondered in my mind how to respond to this couple, I reflected on how we as the Church are often far too "spiritual" about practical matters of every day life.  And too often we "shame" people for how they handle practical matters, such as their personal finances, and for failing to demonstrate the "faith" we associate with handling finances.

We claim of ourselves that we are acting with a wisdom and faith not of this world, and we work up this great cosmic drama in our minds that God is somehow testing us in the area of how we handle money.  And we reason that if we don't respond in some irrational way (like paying our tithe instead of our mortgage), then we aren't really putting our faith in God as we ought, and that everything in our life is going to come unglued as a result of our failing to act "in faith."

As a result of such broken thinking, we misuse the Bible to shame the practice of saving money or retiring.  Real wisdom and faith, as taught by some, is in living paycheck to paycheck, and practically speaking, being constantly broke as a result.  Such people often quote the famous parable Jesus taught about the rich man who built large barns for himself so that he could live a life of ease and pleasure, but did not have the foresight to see that his life would be required of him earlier than he thought, and was called a "fool" by the Lord for so handling his finances, and not living a life of generosity.  Thus, we are told by some who so mishandle this parable, that the Lord condemns saving, or condemns retirement planning.

Never-mind the Bible is full of examples of great men of faith who not only possessed wealth in both the Old and New Testaments, but also made practical preparations in regard to the future, and were able to be a source of blessing to others who were without as a result of such practical thinking.  Joseph knew a famine was going to hit the world, and used his seven years of plenty to prepare for the lean times ahead.  Or consider how when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, how He not only provided enough to feed the multitude, but He sent people away with extra to eat on for the next few days.  Or consider how in the book of Acts, there were believers who were able to sell possessions and property at a profit, and were able to share their wealth with the poor as a result of all the saving and investing they had previously done.

But with all this said, we need not get in some great theological war as to whether or not Christians (or missionaries!) should save for the future and plan for some form of retirement.  If they have the means and ability to, I believe a Christian can and should save for the future, and plan for retirement. The way I see it, the question of saving and retirement to me isn't so much a question of one's theology or spirituality, as it is simply about living a very practical life.

To question whether or not a Christian should try to save and plan for retirement is like questioning whether or not a Christian should own a refrigerator.  Stop and think about it: Why do you own a refrigerator? Is it not because you buy food in bulk at the grocery store, and plan on keeping it for a few days, if not longer?  Or if you see a great deal on meat, do you not buy some extra meat, and come home and wrap in up in a freezer bag and store it for future consumption?

For those of you who think it is a sin or unspiritual to save and plan for retirement, how would you feel if a Christian guilt tripped you over owning a refrigerator and buying food in bulk?  If you are truly living by faith, should you not go to the grocery store every single day and buy food and make it fresh?  Should you refuse to stick a lasagna in the refrigerator so that you and your family can eat off leftovers later this week?  Do you not trust God to provide you with "daily" bread?  Why is it then that you have a refrigerator in your house?  O Christian, where is your faith???

Of course, no Christian thinks it is a sin to own a refrigerator (well, except for the Amish).  For us owning a refrigerator is just practical and common sense.  We own refrigerators, not only for the convenience of avoiding excessive trips to the grocery store, but so we can stretch out our dollar and make food last for a longer period of time than it would otherwise naturally last.  And in doing so, we are taking the "daily" bread that God has provided for us in the present, and using it to make provision for the future.  It's a simple matter of practicality.  Indeed, not owning a refrigerator would be seen by most as an unwise and foolish decision.

And if we unquestionably make use of refrigerators and freezers when it comes to food storage, should we not make use of savings, retirement accounts, and other investment tools when it comes towards handling money? Why is it that we see a refrigerator as common sense, but we see saving for the future as some great acid test of faith?  Far from being an issue of spirituality, worldliness, or sin, saving for the future is simply a matter of common sense and practical wisdom.

I advised this young missionary couple that I thought it would be wise for them to save for the future and to plan for eventual retirement.  Even should they die out on the mission field and never retire, the money they saved could be used to pay for their funeral, or to bless others in the form of an inheritance.  Such was like many missionaries in the course of history, who went to the mission field, and brought a coffin with them wherever they moved.  They knew they were going to die on the field one day, and they made practical arrangements ahead of time for their death.  Such wasn't an issue of spirituality and faith to trust God with the mans of providing them a proper burial, but such was simply a matter of practical wisdom and common sense.

We as the Church need much more common sense and practical wisdom.  We need less pseudo-spirituality that masks itself as wisdom.

Give less to God, more to Others

God doesn't need your money.

People need money.

God can't accept your money.

People who are poor can accept your money.

With these truths being rather self-evident, maybe we should strive to give less to God, and give more to others.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't give money to the local church or world missions, and to help financially support the work that goes into preaching of the Gospel.

Such is entirely Biblical.

I just think we should give more money to those who specifically need it than those that don't.

Such is simply MORE Biblical.

Blindly writing a check every week and putting it in the offering plate and saying you gave to God as a result... not so much.

Some ministers might object to such statements, and insist that you have (or get to!) tithe 10% of your income to the local church. It is there, they say, that God has setup His storehouse in which you are to bring your tithe.

Many preach this really well, but frankly, it's simply not Biblical. And there is nothing in the writings of the New Testament to support the notion that God accepts your tithe by means of a pastor at a church building.

Indeed, the early church didn't even meet in buildings, they met in public outdoor places and in living rooms. So the concept was far from their minds.  The only "house of God" they knew about was the temple in Jerusalem, and they knew that Jesus promised it would be soon be destroyed.  So, it's doubtful that they ever brought very much money there knowing such a thing.

No matter.  Such still won't keep very many pastors from trying to come up with clever ways to link the Old Testament practice of tithing to the New Testament, and induce you to give to them as a result.

As some pastors told me in Bible college and Seminary, whether tithing is required today doesn't matter, they were still going to preach it anyway, because without doing so, many of them were convinced that their doors on their church would close tomorrow, and they would be without a job.

(That was a true story by the way.)   

In case you are not aware:

The "storehouse" of the Old Testament to which people brought their tithes was something akin to a barn and used to store food. When people tithed, they brought livestock and other food stuff there.  It was like a giant community food pantry. They didn't bring money. If they had money, it was to be used to purchase food, and that food was subsequently stored and eaten.

Tithing was primarily a practical means by which God made sure the Levitical priesthood and their families, in exchange for their full-time service in the temple, could have something to eat. For the priesthood and their family were engaged in the service of the temple all day long, and they simply didn't have time to milk cows and plant a garden.

Additionally, because they didn't inherit any land in Israel, they literally had little to no land from which they could cultivate, farm, and support themselves with. All they received from Moses when he divided the land were a couple cities that were designated for the Levites to live in. Without the tithe, they would have literally starved, and they would have been forced to abandon their priestly duties in the temple.

This isn't a problem anymore today, because...

We have no more Levitical priesthood to support anymore.

With the giving of the New Covenant, all of God's people are now priests, and all are called to minister in some fashion. And while it is true that pastors and others have the right to be compensated for their service to God's people, if you read the New Testament carefully, you'll find that folks like the apostle Paul rarely accepted financial assistance in compensation for their ministry.

Instead, the apostle Paul worked, and was self-employed in the leather trade. And he specifically encouraged others to follow his example, as he thought it was the wisest thing to do.  He didn't want people to question his motives for preaching the Gospel, and create a stumbling block for others in the process.  Additionally, he wanted the money that might have normally gone to him, had he demanded it, to go towards the meeting of other more pressing needs than his own.

If you actually study all of the passages that talk about giving in the New Testament (and there are quite a few!), you'll discover that the early church primarily gave their money to feed the hungry, take care of the poor, and to support widows. Very little money seems to have ever been given or received for the purpose of helping pay preachers for their labor.

And NONE of it was ever given to help build auditoriums or cathedrals.

And the church still grew like wildfire in spite of not funding the things we typically spend a lot of money on, and did so for several centuries.  Which leads me to ask...

What would happen if we followed the teaching and pattern of giving practiced in the New Testament by the early church?

Just imagine all the places we live and how our cities and nations would be transformed overnight, if instead of "giving to God," we simply made it an intentional point to be radical in our giving, and looked to give our money directly to the people who actually need it the most.  And in the process, share the Gospel with them.

Can you imagine the witness this would bear for Christ in the community? Can you imagine the platform the church would gain in order to proclaim the Gospel if it had little overhead, and majored in giving?

Let's think outside the box for another moment.

I go to Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. As of December 2013, we received over 25 million dollars in offerings last year according to this audited online financial report from the church.  The church, which is very generous, gave back 12% of that money to the surrounding community.  Not too shabby compared to most other churches.

But, imagine a scenario, that, if instead of using the money we received to support the hundreds of pastors and staff who work at Elevation, and to pay for all the overhead associated with this ministry, that we simply decided as a church to pool all of our money together to end homelessness in Charlotte.

We could do so every year, starting this year!

Impossible you say? Check this out...

According to this report at the Charlotte Observer, as of December 2013, there were 2,418 homeless people in Charlotte. If we took the same 25 million dollars we received last year, and used it to help each of these homeless people obtain an apartment, that means we could give each person every year $10,339.12 (or $861.58 per month), to go towards paying for rent somewhere. For those not from this area, at $861.58 a month, you could easily find a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment to live at in the greater Charlotte area, and possibly have some money left over.

Now, imagine if my church did that. And then imagine if they partnered with other large churches in the area, like Calvary Church, Mecklenburg Community Church, Central Church of God, Forest Hill, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the dozens of other very large mega churches in our community.

Each of these large churches bring in millions upon millions of dollars every year in tithes and offerings. Collectively, I would speculate that all of the mega churches in Charlotte probably bring in well over 100 million dollars annually.

Just think of all the good works the church could engage in across our community if we collectively partnered together to meet real and pressing needs.

Think of the opportunity it would create for all of us to openly share our faith with people who have been made ready by God to hear what we have to say.

Instead, the trend these days is for us to operate under the assumption that God has called our church to be a big church, with as many venues in as many cities and states as possible, so people can gather together and hear 1 or 2 people dynamic people preach for a couple hours a week, listen to some music, watch some theatrics, and then go home.

And as more and more churches expand their sphere of influence by opening multiple satellite locations, we are literally spending millions of dollars on buildings that just allow people to watch somebody preach the gospel over a jumbo sized TV screen that simply has a live internet feed attached to it.  Truth is, the people could do the same at home in their pajamas at just about any time of the day, and the church could spend a lot less money on overhead in the process.  Last I checked, putting up video's on YouTube was free.

That's not exactly a visionary way to reach people. That's probably just bad stewardship.

There are better ways of reaching out to people and changing the world for Jesus. What is needed is not for a church to pump and prime God's people to tithe and give more and more, so that we can build more and more buildings.  God's people give plenty already.  We already have plenty of buildings.

What is needed is for us to adjust our vision, and to be aware of the opportunity that is all around us. We need to redirect where we give our money.

We need to see the single mom who is having a hard time making ends meet, and give to her.

We need to see the children in our nation who experience hunger on a regular basis, and buy them something to eat.

We need to see neighbor that we know was recently laid off from work, and help him make ends meet for his family.

We need to see the wife, who stays with her abusive husband only because she has nowhere else to go and find safety, and help provide a place of refuge for her to flee too.

We need to see the countless others, whom we often refuse to see, and deliberately make them the recipient of the grace God has given us, so that we can enrich their lives through our joyful and generous giving.

We need to stop being so lazy, and simply dropping our offering in a plate.  We need to reach out of our comfort zones, and really begin to minister as God would have us as the church to minister to those in our community.

We need to give less to God, and more to others.

And in the process, if we find some preachers who are exceptionally gifted and make a regular difference in our life and the lives of others, and help equip a lot of people to do such things, we should consider supporting such men and women. They are worthy of our support... if they will take it.

(Note: I have called out Elevation Church and other churches in the Charlotte area for illustrative purposes only. It's the church I go to. I am not attempting to smear them or otherwise malign them. If you think I'm trying to pick on them, may I kindly advise you to think about something else... like puppies, or whatever else makes you smile.)

Leaderless Churches

"Do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." ~ (Matthew 23:8-11; NASB)

If you were to do a survey of the New Testament, you would find that the word "leader" is a pretty hard word to find.

The word "leader" is only found twice in all of the gospels as a topic that Jesus specifically addressed. Likewise, the subsequent letters that the apostles wrote contain very few and scant references to this word as well.

Yet for such sparse usage, a recent search I conducted on Amazon.com shows that there are currently an astonishing 2,510 books that falls under the heading of "Christian leadership" that are currently for sale.

It makes me wonder, how is it that something that received so little attention in the pages of the New Testament has somehow managed to become something of an industry in our generation?

Yet, if you were to do a similar word search for words like "servant" or "slave," you would find that these words appear hundreds of times throughout the New Testament in reference to Christian ministry.

Good luck finding very many books on Amazon.com that emphasize the theme of Christian slavery. If any such books exist, most of them are probably dedicated to the studying the theological views of Christians who debated about the abolition of the slave trade in America and Europe. Which of course, is not what we are talking about here.

Instead, we are talking about a slave mindset and identity that the Lord has called us all to embrace, from the least of us to the greatest of us. The proliferation of Christian leadership material abundantly available to us today goes to show one thing: Christianity has not embraced the mindset of Jesus would have in the church.

It's not that Jesus is against there being leaders in the church.

The early church was clearly full of many leaders. That is, it was full of men and women who showed others what it was to live the Christian life, and they demonstrated and modeled to others what that life looked like, and taught others how to live it. They were leaders primarily in the sense that they were role-models, and the embodiment of what it means to live a mature Christian life.

This is stands in stark contrast to what a Christian leader is generally perceived as today. To be a leader in the church today is to be a charismatic CEO type, who strategically leads the body of Christ in implementing the unique "vision" that he has dreamed up for the church. The sheep exists primarily to help the pastor build (and fund) his dream. Sometimes the congregation may indeed be part of that dream, but at the end of the day, they ultimately exist to help the pastor fulfill his vision. Anybody who voices dissent or questions the pastors' vision is generally asked to leave the church, or otherwise encouraged to find another church that they are more agreeable with.

Jesus' teaching on leadership was specifically targeted against this sort of mindset. The Lord didn't want us to think of ourselves or allow ourselves to be identified as "leaders," because in the process of doing such, we undermine the call to serve, create divisions in the church, and become takers instead of givers.

In the church, we are to only think of one person as our leader, and that is Jesus Christ alone. No man may take His spot. And as a result of being rightly oriented with the leadership provided to us from heaven, we are to relate to one another as "brothers."

There are to be no "leaders" or "followers" in the church in the traditional sense of those words, only brothers helping other brothers out in their mutual quest to become more and more like Jesus, and to share the gospel with a lost and dying world.

There is to be no division of the church into pastor, staff, and laity. Our relationship with one another is to be horizontal, not vertical. If there is to be any hierarchy in the local church, it's a very small one, with Jesus Christ sitting clearly on top of it all. He alone is our leader and visionary.

The danger when we get this wrong is that you begin to see the church acting in a dysfunctional manner. When somebody's head gets too big, and they become "the leader" of the church, they eventually start looking at the people in their midst as "followers" instead of "brothers." Everybody in the church eventually becomes somebody from whom the leader "draws from" instead of "giving to." In the end, the leader will treat everybody as mere pawns, of whom the pastor frequently allows himself to enjoy the "benefits" and "perks" related to being their "leader."

This is a very real and dangerous problem in much of the church. You see it all over the place.

You see this attitude prevailing in churches where the pastor and his wife are treated as King and Queen of the church. You see it when pastors recruit people to be their "armor bearers," who do things like carry the pastors' Bible to the pulpit for him, or take his car to get cleaned once a week.  You see it in churches that have "pastor appreciation week," where the pastor allows a special offering to be taken up for him on an annual basis, as a sort of "bonus" for all his hard work and personal sacrifice.

You see this attitude prevailing in churches where pastors rule in an authoritarian fashion.  You see it when pastors  live isolated lives from the rest of their congregation.  You see it when pastors are treated as the chief "visionary" to whom the rest of the church must unquestionably "submit" to. You see it when there is a heavy emphasis in the church on tithing and giving. You see in in churches that always seem to be in some sort of building program.  You see it when pastors make handsome salaries, live it up large, and buy mansions.  You see it when people start quoting Bible verses about "touching not the Lord's anointed, and doing His prophets no harm" whenever somebody calls into question the pastors' morality, and the example he is setting for others in his lifestyle.

These attitudes exist because we have failed to realize that God isn't looking for men with a leaders' heart, but rather, a servants' heart.

He's looking for people who aren't interested in building large ministries centered around themselves.  He's not looking for people who dream big, but for people who dream small, and whose only care is how they might help you as a person grow to be more like Jesus.

Slaves don't dream big, or to try and make something of themselves.

Their only concern is the task at hand, and figuring out how they might please those to whom they are enlisted in service too. That was the attitude of the leaders of the early church. So much so that they didn't think of themselves as leaders but as slaves who were called to work for the Lord in serving other people.

Indeed, when they sat down to write letters to the churches they founded or were partnering with, whose letters eventually became our New Testament, they always introduced themselves. And when they introduced themselves, they did not speak of themselves as the leaders of these churches, with a right to demand an audience with the congregation, but they simply desired to speak as slaves who merely wanted to help others out, and felt they had something they could share that would benefit others.

In light of Jesus' teaching on leadership, I hope that we we realize that the church is not the place for leaders, but for servants.

The Dark Side of Tithing Testimonies

I work for a department in the foreclosure side of a bank as a mortgage underwriter. Every day I attempt to modify the mortgages of people who are behind on their payments, and adjust the terms of their loan so as to make their home more affordable, so they can resume making their payments, and keep their home. In the process of doing my job, I have occasionally analyzed the tax records and bank statements of people who tithe and make donations to various ministries.

I have seen people who tithe lose their home to foreclosure.

Over the years I have been in the church and involved in ministry, I have known some fantastic Christian people on a very personal level who believed in tithing. I've seen some these people tithe their way into deep everlasting poverty. I have seen very few people tithe their way out of poverty.

I've seen people "trust God with their finances," but they couldn't keep a bank account open. Either because they were worried about creditors suing them and seizing their assets, or because they couldn't keep a balance high enough to justify a checking account.

I have known people who tithe to have their phones ring off the hook at all hours of the day due to creditors calling for unpaid bills.

I have known people that tithe that have spent years suffering chronic unemployment, who would even tithe from their unemployment checks.

I have known people who tithe that needed people to co-sign for them on a car loan (which means a bank wouldn't lend them money because their credit was trash or they simply didn't make very much money).

I have known people who tithe to drive the most unreliable cars in the world, that constantly breakdown, leave them stranded, and further suck their already limited resources dry.

I have known people who tithe that regularly rely on government aid or the charity of others in order to just survive and have the basics in life.

Some of the people I have known in the above scenarios have been "lay people." But some have also been ordained ministers within the church. And for many ministers in various denominational affiliations, this is a major predicament, because the credentials they hold with their denomination require them to tithe. If they fail to tithe, they could lose their credentials, their church, and their job. So in spite of their extreme financial hardships that some suffer from, they continue to tithe so as to avoid unemployment, or losing a ministry that is precious to them.

Yet, in spite of all these bone crushing hardships people have suffered while tithing, and in spite of going through foreclosure, being behind on bills, being unemployed, and living in deep poverty, I have sat in church and heard some of these same people stand up and testify about how "blessed" they were financially for tithing. If their creditors were in the room, they would disagree. If they are so blessed, and if heaven is so open, why aren't they paying all their bills?

For every story I've heard where somebody stands up, testifies to God's faithfulness in tithing, and then tells stories of groceries left at the door, or receiving anonymous checks in the mail, I know of a hundred other people who went without groceries, and whose mail boxes were full of nothing but "past due" and "shut off" notices. Ashamed, many choose to say little to nothing at all about this in church. Even if they did want to share, many pastors would probably not let them do so.

I don't mean for this post to come across as harsh, unloving, or cynical. I'm just attempting to be very real about the things I know and to generate a real discussion about the modern practice of tithing. I am very deeply conflicted about the things I have seen in church over the years, and testimonies connected with people who tithe. I don't think many in the church are being very honest. We are very selective in the stories we tell, and we are guilty of telling half-truths. We ignore any story that could hurt the size of our offering. We don't want the real truth.

Many ministers know of these things, but continue to selectively celebrate "success stories" while deliberately ignoring the stories of people who tested God with their tithe, yet have seemingly seen God fail them. Their selective success stories are like fisherman who tell stories of big catches, but never tell you about the days they caught nothing. Their selective success stories are like professional stock traders who tell stories of 100 percent gains, but don't tell you of the time they saw a stock they own go all the way down to zero.

Some who know of these things will even go so far as to say these failure stories are not evidence of a busted doctrine, but are evidence that the person who was tithing wasn't doing it with the right heart. Or, they will make some other charge of guilt against their brother and sister who was so bold as to give 10 percent of their income, even in the face of financial adversity. Something must be wrong with them and why they tithed but didn't see the results. Then they will go on to rehash a success story they know of, that reinforces the idea that tithing always works, and using it to discount the not so happy story. This my friends is known as propaganda.

As a result, most never bother to genuinely question the doctrine of tithing altogether, and whether or not Christians today are required to tithe, in spite of the knowledge that there are people whose tithing stories aren't so successful. No genuine inquiry and no real "testing" is allowed. No failure stories are kept, recorded, or remembered, except in the memories of people whose financial lives have been turned up-side down because somebody twisted their arm and encouraged them to tithe, and misapplied some promises from the Old Testament.

If we are going to tell people to "test God" in with their tithe, then we better be open and honest about the whole truth of the matter, and tell all the stories of people who tested God with their tithe, only to seemingly see God fail. Some people tithe, and never see heaven so much as crack open an inch. Instead they suffer bankruptcy, foreclosure, unemployment, broken down cars, and outlandish medical bills and other outstanding debilitating issues.

It is my contention that because God does not require Christians to tithe under the New Covenant, the promised blessing of Malachi 3:10-11 has no bearing anymore, and that is why we cannot "test God" in tithing. I believe we are called to a different sort of stewardship and a different form of giving altogether.

Keep the conversation going. Share this article on Facebook and Twitter. Leave comments below, keep the conversation going. Additional blog posts on this topic to follow...

The greater things we should be known for...

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was walking to Blockbuster to rent a movie (like I said... it was a long time ago). As I approached the store, a group of teens gathered outside saw me walking up, and one of them came up to me and said, "Hey! You're that guy that tells everybody they're going to hell!"

At this time in my life, I was a young Bible college student. I hadn't been saved very long, and I had recently answered God's calling on my life. Not finding much opportunity in the church to preach yet, I boldly took to the streets, and started regularly preaching outside of the theater at the Birkdale Village shopping center in Huntersville, North Carolina. In those days there was a large area by the water fountain that teenagers used to gather and hangout at. I decided they would be a perfect audience to preach to, and on most Friday nights one summer you were virtually guaranteed to find me preaching loudly in the open air. I often gathered quite a crowd.

After a brief discussion with this young man outside of Blockbuster about the Lord, and further threatening him with hell-fire should he not repent, I went on with my evening. I stroked my ego a bit afterwards. I was somebody who was known for publicly taking a stand for Jesus! I was doing the Lord's work! Look at me get my light shining business on! The girl I was dating at the time who was with me at Blockbuster was clearly impressed by the "testimony" and "witness" I was making on the youth in the town of Huntersville. My head couldn't help but grow a cap-size or two after accepting such flattery.

Approximately 10 years later, looking back at this event, my opinion of everything I said and did in those days isn't what it once was. While I would still pat myself on the back for preaching the gospel openly for all to hear, I think my older and wiser self would have some words of wisdom to impart to my younger self. And, as I observe the American Evangelical landscape today, I feel some of that wisdom is something that would benefit the church today. So here it goes:

"You are known for all of the wrong things. There are greater things that you should be known for."

My reputation was one of being known for the wrong things. The tragedy of my situation was that the summary of my street preaching was summed up by this one young man: I was the guy telling everybody that they were going to hell.

That's not exactly the legacy I want to leave in this world. It's not the eulogy I want spoken at my funeral. It's not what I want engraved on my tombstone.

While I believe there is a definite place for preaching on hell as part of the preaching of the Gospel, as it is something that Jesus Christ regularly preached on, and is something that modern day preachers should make as part of their preaching, me preaching hell-fire and repentance is not the same thing as preaching the glorious good-news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a vast difference between the two. And just as I had left the wrong impression upon this young man, so too, I feel like we as Christians in America are leaving the wrong impression upon our culture.

In America, the church is often known for the things it is against more than the things it is for. And the things we tend to be known for are not the things we should want to be known for, or at the best, should be secondary things we are known for.

We are known for being against homosexuality and the Boy Scouts. We are known for our stance against evolution. We are known for being against abortion. We are known for being against Democrats when they run for office. We are known for being anti-Palestine. We are known for wealthy pastors who live lavish lifestyles. We are known for sex scandals. We are known for being hypocrites. We are known for judging everybody.

A recent event in pop-culture illustrates this problem beautifully.

This past weekend, the movie "Noah" staring Russell Crowe was released, and it has been billed as "the least Biblical Biblical film ever made." On the internet, there has been a "universal flood" (pun intended) of outrage amongst Christians over this movie. Whether or not they have seen the movie, Christians and prominent ministries are "taking a stand" against it, and letting everybody know why they should not go see this evil, evil movie. After all, the truth is at stake! The knowledge of God might be perverted! This is just another movie by Hollywood attempting to attack the Christian faith!

And while these things may very well be true to some degree, I think the reaction of the church against the movie "Noah" is very revealing. In once again finding another "cause" to rally behind in the "culture wars," I believe that God himself is using this movie as something of a mirror meant to expose a blemish on our Evangelical soul. Once again, we find ourselves being too concerned over things that don't really matter, and we are getting bent out of shape over something we won't think twice about a year from now. As a result, we are in danger of leaving the wrong legacy behind. We are giving testimony to the wrong thing!

Carrying on the way we have against the movie Noah, we have lost far more as the church in our society than we can ever hope to gain. We are developing a reputation for all the wrong things. Our fame as the church is over scandals and secondary matters.

There are greater things we need to be known for, like the preaching of resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, the newness of life that Christ has called us to participate in, acts of service that demonstrate our love for one another, and for doing the things that make for peace. Instead of raising hell, we need to look for ways to bring heaven down to Earth, and show the world the things God is really concerned about. We need to show this world things that are truly close to the Father's heart, so that in the process, their hearts might be changed by being exposed to His. But we cannot do such until we've gained such a heart for ourselves. Let us focus on and be known for that.

Why I dare to dream small!

In this day in age, just about every soothsayer out there gives great motivational speeches about dreaming big and shooting for the stars. Both sacred and secular authorities regularly expound the virtue of dreaming big, in ministry, in business, and in life.

Dare to dream big...

We serve a big God who honors God sized faith...

You can be whatever you want to be if you just put your mind to it...

If you dream it you can do it...

There are thousand other well worn and tired cliches I could drum up about dreaming big, repeated by everybody from Jack Welch, to Zig Ziglar, to Steve Jobs, to Oprah, to John Maxwell, to Joel Osteen. But I won't bother you with those. The chances are you know what these influential people have said better than me.

I've long listened to the dream big mantra. I've been to leadership conferences. I've read leadership books. I've hung out with leaders. But, I've noticed that the more I listen to this philosophy, the less I am impressed by what I hear, and the less I am inspired to dream big. Frankly, all this dreaming big talk is starting to get pretty boring, and I find most of what I hear to be uninspired, unoriginal, and dull.  Everything that has ever needed to be said about dreaming big has already been said.  Unfortunately, that won't stop somebody else from writing another book dedicated to the topic.

Now, please don't misunderstand what I'm saying.  I'm not against people having big dreams.  Big dreams are fantastic things.

However, when I think of all the people I know and the things that motivate them every day, it isn't their failure to have big dreams.  Everywhere you look in our society, you see evidence that people everywhere are dreaming big.  Dreaming big is not something people in our culture need to be encouraged or further dared to do.

We've been dreaming big since before Columbus thought he could find a shortcut to the West Indies.  Nearly a mere half a century after learning to fly, we put a man on the moon.  The energy in my home is provided by something that is nuclear.  I am typing this brief article on a Microsoft Windows based operating system.  All these things are the result of people dreaming big dreams.

But in an age of big dreamers, I feel like we are missing something.  I fear that for all of our big dreaming, we fail to dream small.  And because we fail to dream small, the truly important things that God would have us to value get overlooked, marginalized, and neglected.  We are always looking for the next big thing, when so few of us have the vision to see the thing that is right before us.  

For example, when I was in Bible college and seminary, there was no shortage of young ministers who dreamed of being pastors of big churches or featured as conference speakers.  Many dreamed of preaching to 10,000 people as a guest speaker somewhere.  Many coveted the idea of being in "full time ministry."  Yet, many (including yours truly) were regularly not invited by anybody to speak anywhere about anything.  People often complained and felt "held back," and were upset that their pastors weren't utilizing them in the fullness of their calling.

I look back at those days and chuckle on the inside.  God has been so gracious to me.

Instead of putting me in front of 10,000 people to preach my heart out to, He gave me a small number of homeless people to love and serve on a regular basis for several years.  Then after that assignment I went to another church where God gave me a group of High School students to teach in a Sunday school classroom setting.  For several years after that, on a weekly basis I helped to lead and oversee 3 small groups.  We met in homes, local coffee shops, and even at a Taco Bell.

Some people, not finding an outlet to pursue their big dreams, have ended up sidelined forever, not making the most of the thing set before them because they are too busy dreaming and pursuing something big. They wouldn't be caught dead teaching a weekly Bible study in an old worn out homeless shelter located in a bad part of town, because, as some people said of me, such is a "waste" of their time and talents.  And some people take such temporary assignments, but they are only motivated to do such because they see it only as a stepping stone to "bigger things." As a result, their heart is never fully engaged in what they do, and the mess they leave after they are gone shows where their minds really were all along.

To date, God has given me none of the "big dreams" I "dared" to dream and honor God with when I was younger.  Perhaps one day He will.  But if not, I am ok with that.  Honestly, the further I've journeyed down the road God has me on, I've seen that most of the "God-sized" things I dreamed about handicapped my making an actual impact in this world.  As I believe it does, in fact, for many people.

God has used me to touch a number of lives in eternally significant ways, not because I've dared to dream big, but because I started to learn to see the opportunities right in front of me.  And seeing the opportunities in front of me, I started dreaming about small ways to reach out to people around me and make a difference.  Instead of trying to "take cities for Jesus," I dream about ways of reaching my neighbors.  For ultimately our neighbors are the people that God has called all of us to love, serve, touch, and bless. And if the sum of all of our dreaming ultimately causes us to overlook the people God has put in front of us, then I believe we are dreaming about the wrong things.

Dare to dream small my friends.

Moses is dead-- Let's keep it that way!

Moses is dead-- let's keep it that way!

Before you gather stones, hear me out. I love our dear brother Moses. He has taught us a lot about the Lord. Without him, we would have never discovered Christ. He was one of the greatest prophets that have ever lived, and if there were ever a man that spoke on behalf of God, it was him.

But, with the coming of Christ, I think it is time we move on from some of the things Moses taught, as with the coming of Christ, some of the things he prescribed have simply become outdated. Take for example, animal sacrifices and temple rituals. These things are considered outdated, not because of any human philosophy, but because of the work of Christ on the cross. Because of what Jesus accomplished in His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, there are some things Moses prescribed that have faded away, and are no longer part of our faith.

Such is a very over simplistic summary statement, but as Christians we all get this... right?

If so, why is it that we continue to look to Moses and the leadership model he employed as being an example for us as a viable ministry model since the coming of Jesus Christ? If Jesus Christ brought an end to so much of what existed under the old covenant, why is it that we continue to use the "Moses on the mountain top" model of ministry for the church today?

Moses model of ministry was a pyramid, top-down, hierarchical approach to ministry. Moses heard from God. Most people did not. Therefore, if anybody wanted to know what God thought, they let Moses climb up a mountain, disappear for a number of days, then come back and tell everybody what God had to say. But, as the problems in Israel grew, and there were simply too many people for Moses to handle one-on-one. So he established some people in-between him and the people, and he would delegate the decision making and God-talking to others thing. The bigger Israel grew, the more mid-level managers were added, and the further Moses was removed from interacting with the people one-on-one. The only time Moses was consulted was for issues that were too big for anybody else in the pyramid to figure out on their own.

Such isn't by any stretch of the imagination, a bad system of government. In fact, it is quite good, and there is a lot of wisdom to it. However, there is a big problem with this form of government: Moses died, his government eventually collapsed, and it was never rebuilt.

And if you pay attention very carefully, upon the coming of Jesus Christ, Moses's ministry stayed dead. Jesus Christ did not resurrect the ministry of Moses. He let it lay in the dust. He brought with him not only new wine, but new wineskins, for the new work Jesus Christ was doing was incompatible with the work Moses did. As the book of Hebrews reminds us, Moses was great, but Jesus Christ is greater. So since we have Jesus Christ, while paying great respect to our brother Moses, let's allow Moses to stay dead. For Jesus Christ replaced Moses, and brought us new things in the process.

There is a lot of ministry being done these days that models a Moses style ministry. Superstar preacher figures climb up to the mountain, speak to us on behalf of God, then go back into hiding once they are done. If they are good enough at the entire hearing-from-Godand-speaking thing, and attract a large enough crowd, they do like Moses did, and delegate a number of leaders to stand between them and the people, and allow others to speak on their behalf.

Such preachers will seldom, if ever, talk to you after the church service is over. They vanish far too quickly for anybody to say anything. If they go to lunch with anybody after the service, they'll go to lunch with people closer to the top of the pyramid. Hanging out with the pastor in his home would be out of the question. If you get sick, somebody else will visit you. If you need somebody to counsel with, somebody else will do that. If you are lucky, when you die, the guy on top just might preach your funeral. But, chances are, he's probably too busy for that too. But no problem, the pastor's got a guy for that too.

In contrast, Jesus Christ established a new way of ministry. He preached to the masses, yet was always available to them. He gathered together a close group of people, taught them everything He knew, shared His meals and life with them, opened up and made Himself vulnerable (enough so that one of them had him killed because they didn't like what they saw!), and then taught those guys to do the same with other people.

While they were doing this, Jesus promised to be in the midst of each and every single one of them as they established their own outposts. This is something Moses could never do. Moses had to stack things the way he did, because he was unable to be everywhere all at once. He was finite. But Jesus Christ, on the other hand, can be in the midst of every group, all at once. He is infinite. He can be something Moses, nor us, can never be.

So, instead of creating our own little mini-Israelite nations, with us playing a Moses like leadership role, let us gather in community together with others centered around Jesus Christ. Moses is dead. His body is missing. Let's keep it that way! Let us not try to be Moses, and let us not try to take the place of Jesus Christ.