A friend of mine recently told me about a message by Paul Washer, a Baptist preacher in the south (where being a Christian is about as common as wearing blue jeans).  I watched it on YouTube and wow, this guy gives one hell of a message. Although I don't agree with everything that he says, he is right on point when he speaks of the hype and fluff that has taken over the American church today.  I am sure many of us can associate certain pastors, churches and youth groups with the stuff he says.  It's an hour long but if you have time I recommend watching the whole thing.  Here is the link:

Shocking Youth Message by Paul Washer

If you don't have time to watch it, here are some of my favorite quotes (and the time mark where he says them) that ring very true in my ears.

1. "The greatest heresy in the American evangelical protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus Christ into your heart, he will definitely come in…you will not find that in any place in scripture." (10:00)
2. "Do you realize how much love it takes to stand before 5,000 people and tell them that American Christianity is almost totally wrong?  Do you know how much it is going to cost me to never be asked back to something like this?" (11:30)
3. "[They think they are saved] because some evangelist who should have spent less time preaching and more time studying his Bible told them they are saved.  And he did so, so he can brag about how many people came forward in his next revival." (13:30)
4. "One of the greatest distinguishing marks of false prophet is that he will always tell you what you want to hear, he will never rain on your parade; he will get you clapping, he will get you jumping, he will make you dizzy, he will keep you entertained, and he will present a Christianity to you that will make your church look like a six flags over Jesus." (26:50)
5. "How many times do youth groups come to things like this and get all fired up and go back to their churches and it only lasts a week and a half…it wasn't a great move of God, it was emotion." (33:15)
6. "The only thing that is going to save the church in America, there's only two possibilities, one, a total reformation in our preaching and the study of the world of God, or the other is a fierce, horrifying persecution." (54:45)

Washer has received some criticism from people who thought the message was too harsh, so he did a follow up interview to help explain why he felt he had to give the message.  Background of The Shocking Youth Message

I believe it's pretty easy to grow a mega church when you preach the warm and fuzzy stuff that everyone wants to hear. Many preachers today don't have the balls to preach the truth because the truth often hurts. As Washer said their are a lot of false prophets out there, preaching the good stuff while ignoring the bad.  I too hope the American church undergoes some sort of major reformation before it's too late. 

I know I know, people don't like talking about this subject because it gets way too heated.  However, I think Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in the Seattle area does a good job of summing up the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism for those who don't quite get the differences:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–iC5KHqaZk

The best part is what he says near the end around the 7:24 mark. The bottom line is we can debate this and share our different views but we don't need to divide over this.  We can disagree on this but still love each other because no matter what, it's about accepting and serving Christ more then anything else.

In recognition of our growing on-line community/church I've decided to start some Sunday devotionals with a goal of creating dialog on various biblical verses and stories.  Disclaimer: I never went to bible school and have a pure secular education (oh the horror) but I do read my bible and my focus here will be more then 5 points on how to break down a verse.  I'm here to counter what many mainstream American churches have spent years preaching.  Lets start with a basic one:

Luke 15:11-32: Almost everyone has heard the story of the prodigal son.  It's right up there with the sermon on the mount and John 3:16.  However, in my many years of sitting in church pews hearing this story I've often heard it preached from the standpoint of the prodigal son only.  Preachers talk all about how we can come to God and He (as the prodigal sons father did) will accept us, clean us up and make us right.  Of course I agree with this, however I don't think Jesus taught this story to only emphasize the prodigal son, but rather the response of the faithful one as well.  You see when the the father welcomed the prodigal home the faithful son became angry (verse 28) and lashed out at his father for not rejoicing over his faithfulness the same way he had over the prodigals return.  And how did the father respond?  He said "son, all that I have is yours" (verse 31). 

Today most people in church are a lot like the faithful son; highly religious, regularly attending to the Fathers purpose, going to church, paying their tithes and dedicating years of service to ministry.  Like the older brother they are faithful and never stray far from God's people.  They toil and labor for recognition and acceptance, climbing the spiritual ladder to gain a position of authority.  They are so focused on living "good" that they never truly live in Him.  The quest for money, position and power in the church dominates their weekly focus.  And after years of living this way they become prideful and arrogant in how they've lived "proper" and "upright."  The problem soon becomes that they don't want to see God openly accept someone who has lived a total train wreck of a life, unless that person conforms to their ways.  This is why they tell you that once you become a Christian you have to stop doing this, avoid doing that, stay away from there, and begin to faithfully serve the church.  They reason that because they have done it for so many years, now that person should to.  This is why you see very little variation in these kind of churches.  They are structured the same, with people who dress, act, talk and look the same.  Eventually they all become mindless robots in a factory line of conformation.

But when we look to the story of the prodigal son, we find that God has a very different standard towards us then we often think.  The truth is that God doesn't care where we came from or what we've been doing, and He doesn't ask us to change for the sake of changing or being good.  This story tells me that the person who thinks his faithfulness makes him justified in Christ is just as wrong as the person who lives reckless in Christ.  That's because there's no pecking order with Him.  All of us our saved under His grace and are on the same level in the eyes of God.  There's no spiritual ladder or preferential treatment.  When He looks at us He just sees red because He's looking through the lens of Christ, who not only died in our place, but lived in it too!  We have been wiped clean and are free to be whoever we want to be.  Now that doesn't mean there are no consequences for destructive behavior but there is a difference between grace and mercy, and God's grace is given freely to all in spite of our actions.  We just have to accept it.  So lets not live like the faithful son thinking everything we do is giving us better standing with God.  All that He has is already ours, there's nothing more to earn.  He doesn't care how we live, as long as we live for Him.

I know this has been a topic of discussion before, but I am new here and have seen two recent posts about Judah Smith preaching on grace. 

Kenrick said: Then i remembered Judah’s 5 Part series on Grace just a couple month’s ago. It didn't’t stop there, I checked their website, and the current podcast is titled Graceland.

Teapot said: Judah Does know about Grace. He preaches a whole series on it. If you are interested, Listen to this. http://www.generationchurch.org/audio. It will be under February 2008.

Based on these posts, I did a little investigating to see if it was true.  Had a prosperity preacher found a new path?  Well I was a little disappointed by what I found.  Although JS is shooting in the right direction, he's not quite on target.  You see I am a big grace preacher and have spent the last eight years of my life studying the bible, reading books, meeting in small groups, visiting churches, and debating with my friends/family, all in an effort to get real grace.  And in all this time I have discovered a main theme: grace living is easy to understand, but difficult to follow.  I say that because no Christian today can doubt God's grace.  But for His grace we would not be Christians, right?  However, I've discovered that many Christians are afraid of the real message of grace, especially those in MFI type churches.  Why?  Well they don't like the notion that we are all equal before God.  Telling the prominent pastor who's spent 40 years dedicated to serving the church that he is no more justified in God's sight then the drug addicted, gay stripper who genuinely turned to Christ, doesn't usually sit too well.  That message scares many Christians who feel they've paid their dues and deserve a "special" place before His thrown.  I even heard someone once say that in heaven the mother Theresa's of the world will get to sit at the feet of Jesus, while the newly converted convicts will have to stand in the back.  You see grace to them is an area of our faith, it's a good staring point but as we grow and mature we move on from grace to more important biblical principals (that's why they usually let the youth pastor speak on grace - its more elementary in their eyes).  However, getting the radical message of grace means that you understand it's not just one area of our faith, but that it's the only area.  You see the Gospel is not the beginning of Christianity, it's all of it.  Grace is not a balancing factor between irreligious and super religious living (as JS preaches), but rather grace is the essence of Christ.  It is why we even exist as Christians!  Grace tells us who we are and how we got here.  It defines the dichotomy of being sinful and holy at the same time.  It provides the answer to God's iron judgment mixed with His unconditional love.  But for grace there is no other reason to be a Christian.  Sounds simple right?

Well the problem is talking grace and living it are two different things.  Its easy for me to tell someone to depend on God's grace, but its much more difficult to do it myself.  Why?  Because humans have built their entire existence on a graded scale.  From family, to school, to sports, to work, to life, we have it ingrained in our minds that the hardest, smartest workers get the best rewards (the As) and the lazy slackers get the worst (the Fs).  And that carries right into our Christianity.  When the bills are paid, the job is good, the spouse and family are happy, and the bodies healthy, we think "I'm on my spiritual game this month cause God is blessing me."  Yet when the late fees pile up, we've been fired from the job, can't get along with the family, and are having health issues we think "What did I do wrong," or "I didn't pray enough this month."  The human standard causes us to judge our external situation by what we do for God.  Whether we like to admit it our not, our faith becomes a point system where we believe He gives us good things for good behavior, and bad things for bad behavior.  I lived this way for many years even though I thought I understood grace.  But then one day I had a true light bulb moment.  Sitting in church hearing a message on grace I realized everything I had been doing was in vain, a wasted effort to please a God that didn't need my pleasing.  The roller coaster of good and bad days to my faith in Christ had ended.  Everyday is now Jesus day!  Once you get that you remove yourself from the equation, and once you do that you begin to serve Him because you want to, not because you feel like you have to.

A reformed church gets grace!  People live the way God intended, in the ultimate freedom that He has called us to.  If anyone would like to go deeper in this I recommend starting in Galatians and pick up a copy of the book "The Ragamuffin Gospel."  Also there are some good on-line messages and bible study materials by Tim Keller and John Piper.  Living in grace is not the easiest thing to do, but it sure is the best thing to.

I heard a message from the CBC website this week.  The message was about saying no to vain imagination (??).  Here are the highlights:

Main points: 1) Know that God knows, 2) Deny self, 3) Tear down wrong thinking, and 4) You finish the race so God can finish the work.

Key thoughts: Put your humanity to death for the will of God in your life; The Cross was only good to kill the flesh; Unless you deny yourself the cross means nothing.

Notice a theme here?  This is the problem with churches like CBC.  They constantly preach works, implying that God's grace means very little to our salvation.  It may be subtle but its all about what WE do for Christ instead of what HE has already done for us.  The harm from messages like these is that they put all the pressure on us to live "holy", and when we can't measure up they and we eventually give up.  I don't know about anyone else but all I want is the real Jesus, not one that asks me to work my way into heaven.

I've been critiquing City Bible Church's month long sermon series titled The Gift. Last week we (they) covered the Gift of Love and this week I had the pleasure of listening to a sermon on the Gift of Peace given by Marc Estes.

I have been hoping all along to hear about the Gospel (truth) of Jesus Christ…but I'm coming to realize that CBC has no idea what that is.

I'll try to sum up "The Gift of Peace" according to Marc Estes. Marc started by telling you what a "Gift" was (basic recap of Frank's sermon from last week) and then told you that Baby Jesus was a gift of peace. Marc says that there are 3 things you need to do to make a gift worth anything: 1 - Receive 2 - Unwrap 3 - Apply to your life. His example was this: If someone gives you a box full of cash and you take it but don't open it, then it doesn't do you any good. You have to unwrap the box and apply the money to your life (I have no idea how to "apply money to your life", but my guess is that you put it in the bank). He than said that Jesus wants to give you Peace and all you have to do is receive it.

Apparently, all you need is Jesus in your life and you will find Peace…and not just a partial peace, but a full and complete peace that nothing from this world can penetrate. Marc then read a bunch of scriptures that talk about God wanting you to have Peace. Are you curious what you have to do to get this "peace" in your life? I was, and this is what Marc said you need to do to get this Peace:

Receive. Unwrap. Apply.

Yup, that is it…just Receive the gift of peace, un-wrap that gift of peace and apply that gift to your life. It's so simple. Once again we have another CBC sermon where I'm left saying ???????. Those are some very generic directions. What does that mean? Specifically, how do we Receive, Unwrap, and Apply?

I wish I hadn't asked. Marc ended the sermon with an alter call where he basically told everyone that if they don't have Peace in their life than all they need to do is come down to the alter and ask Jesus into their hearts. It's as if the "Sinner's Prayer" is a magic spell.

I don't know how in the world Marc can say the things he said…I certainly hope he doesn't actually believe them. I have known far too many Great, Godly, Christian Men and Women who did NOT have peace in their life at all times (consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane: Mark 26:38). It isn't that easy.

Marc, what do you say to the Christian woman whose spent her whole life living for God along side her Godly husband…who has an unfortunate accident and dies…leaving her alone…

Is there something wrong with her, if she doesn't feel peace?

Let me tell you my thoughts on Peace and Jesus. The peace that comes from knowing Jesus helps when you fully understand that everything (and I mean everything) that happens in this world is ordained (or allowed) by God. The good, the bad, and the in-between all happen with God's permission. The devil can NOT interfere with God's plans for this life. Sometimes, there will be stresses that come into your life. Sickness and Death are two real buggers that can interfere with your Peace, and as much as we may say "God you are in control" it doesn't bring immediate peace, necessarily. Peace from Jesus, in my mind, means accepting that God is in control of all the crap that this life has to offer…there is peace in that.

I'm so tired of CBC teaching that God will solve all your problems. "Just ask Him into your heart children, and he will take over the controls of your life…just trust in Him and he will take care of your problems". "If you are feeling down, just run into His arms and He will hug you and take away your pain".

Maybe….or maybe not.

Let' be REAL for a moment. God set up some simple rules that apply to life. And within those rules are rewards and consequences. Sin has a negative effect on this this world, and sin doesn't just effect the sinner, it can effect those around them even more so.

What happens when people expect God to magically cure all their problems? They get angry at Him when it doesn't happen. Life is Life, people. It isn't going to be easy. Jesus is a good friend, but He isn't a genie in a bottle.

I thought about emailing this to Marc, but I'm quite certain if I did he would just tell me that I completely misunderstood what he was saying. The truth is, I heard him loud and clear. (Marc did spend 10 seconds saying that your life needs to line up with the Bible and God's will in your life and that sometimes when bad things happen it is because God is just trying to get our attention… but his basic theme was that if you are a good Christian you will have perfect peace in your life.)

I say, that although God CAN miraculously take all the stresses away from your life, chances are good that He won't. Do not be discouraged if you are going through a rough time. Again, Life is Life.

My faith in Jesus helps remove the fear of dying, but it doesn't take away my fear of death. If something were to happen to my wife or any of my children I would HURT for a very long time. There would be many nights of pain, stress, anguish…and that would be ok. It wouldn't mean that I am a lousy Christian and it wouldn't mean that God is a liar. Because of Sin we have Death and because of Death we have Pain…this is the life that we have to live in…and it's OK.

Feel free to hurt, feel free to cry, and feel free to know that despite all you are going through God sent His son to earth to pay the price for you sins.

Romans 5:1-8

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

 3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.

 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Here is Today's Thought from last week's City Bible Church bulletin.

Dear Church,

John Newton's song, "Amazing Grace," says it all- "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."  We have all been captured by the amazing grace of God, rescued from our lostness, transformed by His love and mercy. Grace frees us from our past and lifts us to a place of hope and freedom. Please join with us during this December series "The Gift" as we preach the grace of God.  This would be the time to invite that friend, that family member, that prodigal that has strayed away.  No one is beyond the reach of a loving God.  Believe, reach, pray, activate your heart and your hands to reach the people around you.

Every service in December there will be a direct message of hope, love, forgiveness, the gift of a new life, and the gift of renewing the life you have now.  Help us touch people with the amazing grace of God. Beginning this weekend December 1st -2nd and going through every weekend of December. No one is beyond God's gift of love.

God bless you as we have a wonderful Christmas season sharing the best gift of all.

Pastor Frank

On of the reasons I enjoy going to my current church is the extreme focus on grace and how important it is in our everyday life. Every week and Every Sermon grace is one of the main themes. It pains me when I look back and think about how rarely I heard the Gospel of Jesus and His grace for us taught from the CBC pulpit. I am very excited that Frank is now going to dedicate an entire month to it…I'm excited, but I'm also nervous…I don't have a lot of confidence that Frank really understands what Grace is seeing as how many times he has been quoted as saying "I love the smell of sinners"…and he isn't talking about himself.

I just downloaded his first sermon and I'll let you know how it goes. For those of you who are confused right now let me say this: We are all sinners…we all continue to sin…if someone says they have walked away from sin they are lying…therefore, we all need grace in our lives…every day, every minute…it is not just for the "un-saved" it is for all…and quite frankly, I love the smell of that.  

I would like to take a moment to update everyone on Faith Harvest. I, naturally, have been listening very closely to all of Frank Damazio's Faith Harvest sermons (this year he started prepping his congregation early with the "Surplus" series which he has carried right into "Faith Harvest" which he titled something like Supernatural Supply…). I've heard them all.

I want to revisit this, even though I already posted it once before…this time though, I'd like to issue another challenge with it. This challenge is for all PBC students who read this blog (and for Ben Windle).

Can any of you explain to me how Frank can get away with telling his congregation that Surplus is a good Bible word that means God wants us to have more than enough? Please take into consideration that when I run a Bible Word Search for "Surplus" I can't find any mention of the word in the NIV or the NKJV, and when I find mention of it in the NASB it is only in the following story from Mark 12:41-44:

The Widow's Mite

 41And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums.

 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent.

 43Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;

 44for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."

Please answer these question:

1. Does this scripture, with the word "Surplus" in it, support Frank Damazio's sermon series titled "Surplus"?

2. Does this scripture teach the opposite of what SPFD is teaching in his Surplus series?

3. What should you do about it?

Any good Bible College Student (or youth pastor) should be able to answer those questions…after all we are all searching for the truth….right? Wouldn't it be safer to say that Surplus is a Frank Damazio word that he has attached to the Bible to make it sound more believable?

Please help me understand how this all works. Thanks.

Ian, recently wrote in this comment in regard to Frank Damazio's sermon series about the "Surplus Anointing"

So-far the surplus message has been really great! The whole premise of the surplus series is to get the blessing of God in someones life, so that they can be a blessing to those around them (and NO that does not always mean monetarily). I think it could be taken out of context and called "prosperity teaching". But there hasn't been anything of the likes. I think the world is filled with oppressed and poor people and that we are in many ways oppressed and poor ourselves. However, as God brings us out of our depravity and into freedom He wants to use us as instruments to bring His healing and freedom to others. This is what I've been getting out of the surplus messages so far

Ian, I really (and honestly) appreciate you writing in and telling us how you have enjoyed Frank's sermon series on the "Surplus Anointing".

There are a couple of issues I have with this series. First, Frank frequently says "You can't give what you don't have" and makes it sound like we (Christians) are unable to help others until we receive a special anointing (surplus) from God. And it is only then that we will be able to help others.

Personally, I believe that we all received the "Surplus Anointing" when Christ died on the cross for our sins. This is all the Surplus we will ever need. If we decide to wait until we receive "more than enough" to start helping others we will likely never do anything.  

Here is a better sermon for you:

Christ gave you all you need through Salvation now go help others. Don't sit and think you aren't good enough, or don't have enough, God's grace makes you good enough and gives you more than you need. When you fully understand "grace" you realize that you are instantly a "Super Surplus Person".

Another problem I have with many of PF's sermons is that he rarely tells you HOW to do the things he wants you to do. Mostly, he just hypes you up on WHAT he wants you to do.

Yes Frank, we all want MORE, we all want to HELP others, we all want SURPLUS, but HOW FRANK…HOW do we get it? Interestingly enough, in this series, he actually tries to tell you . Listen to this.

In order to receive this "Surplus Anointing" Frank wants you to:

1.  Stretch 
2.  Reach
3.  Pick up your mantle
4.  Breakthrough
5.  Ask
6.  Dig a New Well
7. Stretch

I am not making any of that up. Seriously. This is Frank's idea of "Biblical Instruction"…generic and random words that sound nice, but don't actually mean anything.

Frank, you want me to "Stretch"…stretch what? And after stretching I am supposed to "Reach"? I guess that makes sense, stretch first that way you won't pull any muscles…thanks.

Then "Pick up my mantle"…what the hell is that? Is it a Surplus mantle? Wait…surplus mantle(?)… now I'm talking crazy. This is getting confusing.

Ok, "Breakthrough"…that sounds nice, I think I'll try that…but wait…what am I breaking through…ok, how about I just "Ask", I can do that. I'll "Ask" for the "Surplus Anointing", but if that doesn't work then what? Uh…lets see… "Dig a New Well"…um Frank….WTF…I live in the city and if I start digging any wells I'm gonna get in trouble…this better be worth it.

In all honesty Ian, can you tell me HOW to get this anointing? It sounds nice, not Biblical, but nice. So how IAN, how do I get this anointing.

By the way, Frank does tell you what an anointing is in his 9/30/07 sermon, I don't have time to get into that, I'm busy looking for a shovel.