A new dynamic to Christ?

Perhaps it is best to preface this entry by saying anything that follows is not a direct shot at anyone. My words and thoughts are not intended towards anyone or any specific group, But God has placed this on my heart lately and I finally feel as though I am able to put emotions into words in this case.

In the ever fast growing world of Christianity there is always a hot topic or an up and coming theme or movement. This has been true for hundreds of thousands of years. It just so happens that in the time I live in the hot topic is the emerging church. Inside of this delicate child, that is the emerging church, lies an amazing passion for God and an awe inspiring love for today’s culture.. I have no doubt in my mind that those who consider themselves the emerging church are looking out for the sake of Christ and taking forth His gospel to those who have never heard.

I cannot, however, escape some of the terminology used in the culture today. Often times I hear someone speak of a new dynamic gospel presentation. Or I read about a new dynamic church. This is where I encounter hardships with what they are saying, or better yet, what they are portraying to me. Here is what is being portrayed: There is a new dynamic to the gospel or the church. When I spent some time dwelling on this it became abundantly clear that this cannot be true. Christ died on the cross and rose again to conquer death, and all who believe that he died for their sins and did indeed rise on the third day will be saved. This is the gospel of Christ. This is not new, 2,000 years old actually, and to say we have something new about it would be to add to this account. I do not believe that any one of us is willing to do so.

Then there is the issue with the word dynamic. Allow me to say that the gospel is extremely dynamic, the dynamic in the gospel is not us however, it is the Holy Spirit. To think that we are the dynamic or could add to the dynamic is foolish. The fact that anyone hears the words that we speak about the gospel and believes it to be true is amazing. But this does not happen because of us, it happens because God speaks through us and uses the Holy Spirit to take the utterances from our mouth and translate them into music that penetrates hearts and satisfies souls. That is dynamic. There is nothing more we could do, in fact there is nothing we can do, we do not save people, God does.

Last week I sat at a graduation for Phoenix Seminary and listened to the guest speaker Alistair Begg. He spoke to the 36 graduates and not the hundreds in attendance. He may have bored almost every single person in room, but he had my full attention as well as the graduates. He spoke on taking forth the gospel, and when you do so you can not take any glory for yourself, it all belongs to God. Yes we speak the words, but they are not ours. Yes we go out to the people, but God has placed them there for us to reach. Yes they came to knowledge of Christ, but the Holy Spirit worked in their heart. All the glory is to God. To say that we have something new or dynamic about this is to take glory for yourself. To say that you have a new dynamic church is to say that Gods previous church was not enough.

Please do not get mixed in my words, there are different creative ways to present the Gospel and there are different creative ways to run a church, but nothing new or dynamic has come in the last 2,000 years and to say otherwise is crossing a line that none of us want to cross.

Flood my SBC?

My heart was challenged earlier today when I received a call from Flood The Desert about the original hosting of this blog (floodthedesert.blogspot.com). I was asked about my intent in creating such a blog, and basically told that Flood The Desert did not want me to be in control of such a site. Flood The Desert currently has a website at floodthedesert.com and would like to have their own blog as part of their site. This enables them to control what is posted and comments made regarding the blog post’. I was asked if this was something that I would be interested in and if it was something that I wanted to be a part of. To which I responded, maybe, we ended the conversation and decided that we could finish the discussion later.

I went on with what I was currently doing, but could not avoid thoughts on the discussion I had with Flood The Desert. After hours of thought I came to the conclusion of this blog, Flood My SBC. The name stems from my relationship with Flood The Desert and Scottsdale Bible Church. I am very close friends with the pastor of Flood The Desert, as well as an attendee of their meetings, and I am on staff at Scottsdale Bible Church and do plan being involved with both in some fashion or another in the future.

So why the change of blog names? Because I could not in good conscious allow what God is doing in my life to be censored or subject to approval by others. God moves and I will write about it freely. The disciples did not run to Jesus for approval before telling others about what they had seen Jesus do. The Apostle Paul did run the book of Philippians through his editor before mailing it out to the church. So I too cannot allow what God is doing in my life be subjected to a vote of others as to whether or not it will get posted on a web site. God has chosen me in the same way that He chose The Apostle Paul, The Disciples, Martin Luther, Saint Augustine, Kyle DiRoberts, the homeless man on the street and billions of others throughout time. God has entrusted me, as well as all others who claim Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, with the Gospel of Christ, and gave us the command of taking this truth to the world.

Please know that I completely understand where Flood The Desert is coming from. If I were a church, I too would be concerned about who is using my name and how it is being used. So in fairness and understanding to them I have dropped the name of Flood The Desert, and coined the current Flood My SBC. My blog name has changed, but the God that saves has not and I will not allow what he is doing in my life to be censored or approved.