At church today, our pastor shared on the Parable of the Sower as part of the series on Church Without Walls (cWoW), the concept that church is not only about doing the traditional "spectator-sport" of going to church, sitting in pews, listening to good music, perhaps even singing along, and then listening to a good sermon.

Church is about being actively involved in living out your faith among a community of active participants who share the life of the Spirit and meeting the needs - physical, spiritual, social, emotional - of the wider community and drawing people to the loving Heavenly Father God.

One of the first steps of actively living out your faith is to first of all receive the Word and let it flourish in your life.

So, Pastor Dave shared some thoughts on the Parable of the Sower and then asked the congregation to interactively respond by offering their insights, reflections and sharing about what God is doing in their lives, and how the passage impacted them.

As I was reflecting on the passage, I was quite puzzled with the description of the types of soil. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a farmer who went out to sow his seed. He says that the seed fell on different types of ground. Typically people talk about the four types of soil.

Some seed fell on the path where the ground was hard and there was no soil and the birds came and ate up the seed. The seed that fell among rocky ground, sprang up quickly but because the soil was shallow, when the sun came up the plants shrivelled up. Other seed fell among thorns which grew and choked up the plants so that they did not bear grain. And the seed that fell on good soil sprang up, grew and produced an abundant crop.

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Each time I thought about the passage of Scripture that Jesus said to His first disciples, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” I had assumed He was talking about evangelism and that evangelism was about telling the message and convincing others to follow Jesus. Similarly, I thought Jesus’ emphasis was about catching men, fishing for people and also that evangelism was about the bait, the content of the message, and about reeling men in, the delivery and so on.

“Fishers of men” might really have to do with going out to where there might be a lot men, and making the effort to bring them to know the Lord. But, the other day, as I was sitting and listening a sermon about the story of the young boy in the sixth chapter of John, there was a “connecting of the dots” in my mind. It occurred to me that the phrase “fishers of men” might have a lot to do with what happened that day about the boy with the fish and the loaves. Read the rest of this entry »

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NOTE: As I was writing this post, I surfed around a bit and found that, oh! joy! Messy Christian is back! And, she just post about Church too! Now, this is what you call colla-blog-aration at its best!

Of late, my church pastors have been talking a lot about this concept of Church Without Walls“>Church Without Walls or the Underground Church. He was referring to the practice of taking our faith beyond the four walls of the Church building and outside the structures of the traditional idea of “doing church.”

Too many times, when we think of being a Christian, or being part of a Church, we think in terms of the organization or a group that has a particular structure or organizational framework.

Yet, when we think of the disciples of Jesus in the first century, they really got it when they went to out to engage people in the synagogues, the temple and in other public meeting places, even to other sacred or religious sites. They went back to each other homes for fellowship, prayer and more study and learning.

So, what does this mean to us modern day Christians then? What does Church Without Walls mean to you and me?

Last night I witnessed a Church Without Walls. I went down to L.A. Skid Row where a group of Christians meet every Friday night and read and preach from God’s Word at the Corner of Wall and Winston right in the heart of Skid Row. Read the rest of this entry »

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“If God appeared to you today and gives you a chance to ask Him one question, what would it be?”

At church this morning, the pastor posed this question to us and gave us a chance to talk about what our question might be with each other. There were quite an intriguing array of questions people suggested.

One lady next to me said she would like to find out when He is returning. Another asked if he was in the center of God’s will. Yet another asked if she could find out the real meaning of the gospel.

One question that I might be tempted to ask is, “What are you doing, Lord?” In the past, I have asked quite a few questions. Not so long ago, I agonized over a painfully personal one. But the tone and intention of such questions now seem almost too presumptuous to me and I now have the impulse of putting my hands over my mouth, as Job did when confronted with the majesty of God, after initially demanding God for answers to some really tough questions. So, perhaps, I might just have to be silent before Him.

But, if given one question to ask the Lord, what might that be? I think it might be this: “Why do you love so much?” I think that question might be help me to plumb the depths of who God is, and give me glimpses to the mysteries of life.

Well, what about you? What if you were given a chance to ask God one question? What might that question be?

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My previous meditation was spurred by my own personal experience of agonizing through an incredibly tough problem I was facing. The breakthrough came for me via a Bible reading in church. While the sermon addressed another issue, the Scriptures read that day jumped out at me and it was as if God was singling me out and speaking to me directly.

The meditation on that passage of Scripture led to another meditation on a similar passage. In both passages, Jesus healed a lame (or as the Scriptures refer to him, paralytic) man. In this passage, the paralyzed man was brought to Jesus by his friends. As his friends came to the house where Jesus was preaching, they were blocked by a crowd of people and there was no way they could get through.

His friends were undaunted. They thought (and acted) outside the box, and broke down the barriers. They climbed to the top of the house and broke through the roof to lower the man down on a makeshift platform with his mat.

Jesus’ words to the man was surprising, especially to the religious leaders of the day: “Son, your sins are forgiven!” Read the rest of this entry »

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When God speaks to you it is quite unmistakable, although sometimes it can be terrifying and sometimes it can be confusing. I have one of these experiences just recently. While sitting in the pew listening to a sermon from John chapter 5, I heard the words read from the gospel, “Pick up your mat and walk!”

It was from the familiar story of the paralyzed man who had been in that helpless condition for almost an entire lifetime. He was lying by the pool of Bethesda which was known in those days to have healing qualities. When the “waters stirred” the first person who get down to the pool would have their ailment healed. John 5:4: for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. (NASB)

This man wanted desperately to get well. So he camped by the pool waiting for a chance to get into the pool first and experience its healing effects.

When Jesus saw him by the pool and learned of his condition, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

What kind of question is that? Read the rest of this entry »

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Stories, as I said in my previous post on this subject, are important aspects of our lives. We all love stories. Stories not only help to give us our identity, they also help us to identify with one another. Stories also remind ourselves of our humanity and brokenness. Perhaps maybe that is why gossip can be so juicy. When we gossip, we get to hear someone else’s story, usually something that is less than glamorous. We get to connect with someone else, although in a less than edifying manner, but it is also a way for us to realize, that we are not that bad after all, and that behind all the razzle-dazzle and masks, other people are rather like us, behind our own glittering facades.

Regardless, stories are the building blocks of our lives. It is through stories that we learn lessons that we can apply to our lives. You can talk about courage all day long, but it is only when you hear about the young man who has to overcome poverty, prejudice and hardship throughout his life to rise above the norm, and achieve greatness in an environment that usually belongs to only the privileged, that you understand in a more intimate manner what courage means. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dawn at Fugal for Life shares from a movie she has just watched. Just a simple, short review of a foreign language movie that she finds interesting and valuable.

It instantly reminds me of many movies I have watched and novels I have read and how I resonated with their stories. Stories appeal to all of us. Perhaps that is why children love it when you tell them stories. Even adults love the reverie of a compelling movie, an engaging television show or a captivating novel.

In most of my career and volunteer experiences as a teacher, communicator, public speaker of sorts, and even as a professonal salesperson, I find that whenever I interweave my communications with stories, especially “real life stories”, I tend to win over my audience much more readily, and help them understand the concepts I am trying to expain much more effectively. Even when I am selling high tech solutions to chief executive, financial or technology officers, I find that they lean in to listen more intently my stories of how other customers are benefiting from our solutions rather than complex demonstrations of feature and functionality of the software applications that I am trying to sell. People are simply much more moved by stories than they are by facts and figures. Read the rest of this entry »

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