I know I’ve talked about this before, but I encountered it once again today and feel it bears repeating.

Why do we live a ritualistic life?  Why are we attached to tradition so much that it hinders the present?  Why we let the past dictate the future?

As a member of our worship team, it fell upon several of us to go to a church that we will be playing in in the next month to make sure we were prepared technologically for the location.  Checking for plugs, estimating spacing for musicians and getting a general idea of the setup was the purpose of the day.

While we were there we mentioned moving a table that is on the stage of the church we will be playing in.  The member that let us in made a comment referencing the displeasure it might cause by some church members.  Mind you these members will not be present during this performance. That however is not the point.  Why would a person be upset that a table was moved to enable a group of people to bring a message that God has laid upon their heart?  Because of tradition.

Tradition is a very dangerous thing.  It has been the reason for many unjust laws to stay on the books, it has been the limiting factor for growth in every facet of our existence and it is often the problem not the solution.  Tradition is a great thing for us to be able to look back upon and learn from.  But as I have said before if you aren’t growing you are dying.  If you want to grow you will have to modify and mold to your clientele.  If you want to keep the traditions alive you will maintain all the people that want tradition.

But why do they want the tradition?  What is the real reason for the tradition?  Is it a clear biblical principle or a distorted viewpoint of someone in the past?  If we don’t vet our actions properly we will be doomed to spin wheels in the name of tradition.  We will continue to die a slow and agonizing death.

So the audio to my sermon is posted, here it is. After listening to it I realize just how regional my dialect and diction is. Also I have a fear that I have a lisp. It really sounds like it. My wife swears I don’t, but I think she’s just using that teacher empathy to comfort me. Continue reading →

 These are the notes I used during the presentation of my sermon.  Later I will post a link to the audio of it so I can compare what I wrote to what God delivered to me during the moment.

The Friendship Effect

How many of you asked a friend to come to church with you today?  Notice my hand wasn’t up.  That’s not because all of my friends are already church members and it isn’t because I don’t have any friends, regardless of what Tim might have you think.  I say that to help you to understand that I am probably the biggest failure in this church when it comes to recruiting others to be a member of the body of Christ. 

For those of you that did ask someone, I commend you, but I have another question.  Did you let them get away with using the excuse that “church just isn’t my thing” or “I don’t believe in organized religion”.  If you got that last answer from them tell them to come on down next Sunday, we rarely are that organized. 

But that first one.  The enemy would have us believe that that is a real answer.  Church just isn’t for some people.  With the number of denominations and other churches meeting throughout the week with different preaching and worship styles, they can’t find anything they like out there. 

Continue reading →