Information Does Not = Transformation

i heard an interesting fact yesterday.

only 8% of Christians are considered fully devoted followers of Christ.

the term used was that they were 3rd chair Christians. ill explain that in a second. but only 8% of all claimed Christians in America are actually fully devoted Christians. there was this illustration with chairs that explained it well:

1st chair people:

• do not know who God is
• they do not have a relationship with God
• they are not apart of Christianity in any way

2nd chair people:

• people who have the title of Christian
• people who go to church, but only take up a seat
• people who are observers, not doers
• people who go for social reasons
• people who go because the music is really good
• people who go because THEY feel better about THEMSELVES for going
• people who think that just because they showed up means they have a real relationship with the Father
• people who own a Bible but don't read it

(most of all Christians fall into this category) also, they chair was a Lazy-Boy. appropriate? i think so.

3rd chair people:

• have a Bible and read it daily
• have a servants heart
• are wanting and willing to grow spiritually
• people who know Jesus and Jesus knows them
• people who do not just show up to church because that's what you are supposed to do but because that's what they know what they are supposed to do to learn and grow as a community
• people who are there not for themselves, but to help strengthen their relationship with Christ
• there are many other reasons here, but that's another post

what i want to get at is the percentage. 8% of Christians are the 3rd chair.

what that leads me to believe is that the 2nd chair people, who call themselves Christians is at 92%. that leads me to believe that 92% of all people who go to church are their just to hear information about our Savior but choose to do nothing with it.

this is outrageous!

INFORMATION DOES NOT LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION! just because you go to church and sit there and listen to a message and go home and do nothing about it will not change your life. zero. none. how can we expect a life style change to happen if we never take the steps to change our current life style we are living now?

when we go to church are we hearing the message and thinking, "oh ya, that's good. cool." and then never do anything about it?

that's like going to driving school and learning how to drive a car and then when you get in a car you just sit in the car and are pissed because it is not taking you anywhere. you need to step up, buckle up and put it into drive in order for you to go anywhere.

same thing with being a Christian! what good is it to just go to church and sit there and not put anything to action and then expect a huge transformation to happen in your life? its ridiculous.

a Christian is not a noun, a Christian is a verb. its an action.

we CANNOT get caught in the mind set that just going to church is good enough to get by and get a get out of hell free card. just because we are there listening on ways to better our life and to better our relationship with Christ does not mean you are in that 8% of people who are fully devoted Christians. if we are just listening and not doing, we are not Christians, we are hypocrites.

INFORMATION DOES NOT LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION

APPLICATION LEADS TO TRANSFORMATION!

are you a noun? or are you a verb?

RANDOM FACT: A goldfish named Tish lived to be 43 years old, making it the OLDEST GOLDFISH EVER.

Comfortable?...Let Me Get You a Pillow

The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel is one of my favorite shows on TV right now. these dudes are insane. there is not doubt in my mind why they call it one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. crab fishing in the Bering Sea in 40 foot swells and negative degree weather. not for me. these are are on the frontier of danger, they go looking for it so they can catch some crab and make some money. the thought for me is: why on earth would anyone want to choose to do that? who would want to work in the freezing cold, work for 50 hours at a time with no sleep or rest? these guys intentionally choose to do this. why? because they know that that's what they love to do and they will get paid the the big bucks for it.

why isn't Christianity like this? it used to be. there was a time were that if you were a Christ follower or if you followed God you would be persecuted. Just look at Hebrews 11:37 and see what the prophets had to go through. what my issue is, is that Christianity has become such a comfortable thing. there is nothing really that makes it how it used to be when it was first getting started. we are all comfortable with the routine that we have when it comes to Sunday. We get up, go to a service, hear a message, listen to some music, maybe lift up our hands during the songs, leave church, go to breakfast, and never think about the message again.

the question is why is it OK for us to sit back in our comfortable chairs and not be out on the front lines and maybe put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation? when we look at the verses in Matthew 5:10-12 why would we not want to be like the guys on the Deadliest Catch and put ourselves in the uncomfortable situation? i feel that many Christian have lost the passion to go out among the world and tell people about the Gospel. we feel that the only the pastor does that on Sundays. i am not saying to go out and start a fight or anything. what i am saying needs to happen is that we need to stop going to "church" and start going out and BEING the church.

CHURCH IS NOT A NOUN IT IS A VERB!

in Matthew 10 when Jesus sends out his disciples, he warns them that they will be laughed at and mocked. yet they all still out and spread the word of Jesus. most of them later died proclaiming the word of God. would we really step out and and put ourselves on the front lines, for us to step our of our little routine or bubble we live in with church, and make being a Christian not such a comfortable thing.

i truly believe that as soon as we become comfortable is when we have a problem. that is NOT what we are called to do. we are called to go out, to be uncomfortable, not to sit back and relax and enjoy the pretty sounds that we hear and not put what you hear into an actual action.

we need to be on the Deadliest Catch mentality. they know they are putting themselves in a tough situation, but it is for a huge benefit. we need to put ourselves in those situation, to go step out in our faith, because if we do, Jesus says we will be blessed and we might have to opportunity to allow someone to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

are you comfortable? you shouldn't be.

Random fact: Jellyfish evaporate in the sun. They're 98% water.

Trusting?

have you ever been dealing with something and then you open up the Bible and you read exactly what you need to hear?

today should have been an all out amazing day. i finished one paper and then i went down to Saddleback Church and hung out with Kurt Johnston and the Wildside Jr. High staff. i had a great tome talking with them and hanging out with the crew. we learned and got to see the services for the junior high and high school. after we got to go to dinner with them after. it was a good time. but the whole time, i was not myself because i was so stressed out about what i have due on Monday. it literally has been on the back of my mind all day long, because as much as i wanted to be there, i could not stop thinking about what i still needed to do for school. i was stressed out to the point that my stomach was upset and i was just not myself. i was just in a bad mood and it was noticeable to everyone.

but then i read this:

Phil 4:8-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

it got me thinking, with how stressed i am, not once did i pray today. and that bugs me. all i did was stress today and not once did i think to pray. i did the opposite of what Paul demands of us. what i needed to do was put all of my stress into God, and it says that i will get to expericence the peace of God. on top of that, God will guard our hearts if we do this, if we go to him first.

i just wonder why we, why i, dont do that. why wouldn't we want to do that? something i need to work on is coming to God with my stress and letting Him take on my stress so that i can experience His peace.

i challenge you to do the same thing. because i can say this with a good hunch, that when most of us are stressed, the first thing we definetly dont do is turn to God first. and this should bug us.

Assumptions

something that i have been doing a lot lately is making assumptions. if you really think about it you make assumptions hundreds of times a day. you assume that when you fall asleep, you will wake up in the morning. that when you are driving, you are going to arrive at the destination safely. you assume that every time you hick-up your going to fart... what is that just me? (that has happened before and its quite embarrassing, so that's why i always assume it now... just saying). but as much as we make these assumptions, some of them can be destructive.

for instance:

• The other day i assumed Kristin's (my beautiful girlfriend) feelings and it was a mistake, and caused a fight.
• i assumed that one of my class mates actions would go a certain way, and it might have damaged our relationship

but i would have to say the most damaging assumption i have ever made is to assume that i understand God and His ways.

sometimes i actually catch myself assuming that i know what God should be doing in any given situation. and when God does not act in a way that i thought He was going to act i often gets me super frustrated. and angry and leads me to question God.

My assumptions of God almost always leads me to trying to control and manipulate things i shouldn't be controlling and manipulating.

I have come to the conclusion that control is formed in our lives when we assume God must think and feel as we do. and i think that's the most destructive assumption we can make.

Random Fact: Contrary to popular belief, swallowed chewing gum does NOT stay in your stomach. It gets excreted somewhat normally.

On a Serious Note....

I am sitting here in my office (well...office area) between the Easter services, waiting for the last service of the day. it has been amazing so far.

Our senior pastor Jeff Vines said something really cool today. he said that he has been assuming that everyone who comes to church on this day knows what the story of Easter is. just like how we always fall into the trend that the 4th of July is all about fireworks, BBQ, and fun in the sun when it truly is the day in which we remember as Americans that the Declaration of Independence was signed and it marked a huge day that changed the world.

same thing goes for today, Easter. we tend to always fall into the mind set that it is a day where we get together with family, hide eggs with candy, and eating. i am all for that. i love all those things. but we HAVE to not let that get in the way for the real reason we celebrate today. Today is the day in history where death died. death lost its power. today is the day where Jesus rose from the grave after dying a criminals death on the cross. and he did this for the forgiveness of all our sins. he took on that burden. he conquered death FOR US.

we need to remember the real reason we celebrate today and not have it be just a thought in the back of our head as we go about our day. today is the day that changed the world, that changes any life who believes that Christ Jesus rose from the grave after being crucified for our sins.

if you want to go back and look at this amazing story click HERE. remember it like it is supposed to be remembered.

San Jose

last weekend i got to go up to San Jose to visit my good friend Adam. i drove up there after class with my buddy Travis and we just did a little torture trip, leaving Thursday afternoon and coming back Saturday night. it was so much fun though. i have not gone somewhere or done that in a while and it was long over due. my friend Adam is a student ministry director up a church in San Jose, and he is one of my favorite people. Adam, Travis, and I had a great time catching up. we stayed up until about 230 in the AM the first night just talking about life and ministry. its cool to see where God is moving in His life.

when we woke up, we got some coffee at a place walking distance from his apartment and then headed out to Half Moon Bay. it was beautiful. cool little place.

from there we went to the Golden Gate Bridge. it was such a good day. usually its all cloudy, foggy, and cold, but it was perfect. we walked, well, a little less then half way across it, but it was still cool. we found this really nice place to eat right on Pier 39 and Fisherman's Warf. it was so good, until we got the bill and it was $95. we were a bit surprised, to say the least. we spent the day in San Fran, and i got to see my little cousin at USF. it was really awesome to see her and see where she get to go to school. she gave us a tour. that school is beautiful, such a view, holy crap.

it was a good trip. i had fun with those guys.

the rest of my spring break i just hung out. it was a busy week. even though it didn't have school, i still worked. but i love my work now, so I'm ok with it. i got to hang out with my wonderful girlfriend Kristin. i always love that, she is amazing. this weekend was fun. my brother is moving to OK for a job, so we had a going away party for him and then Saturday had Easter with my entire family. i love that. its fun to hide the eggs for the little ones.....oh crap, i mean its cool to see the Easter Bunny hide them all......

its been a great week.