BEING REAL

Writing is a joy for me.  Whether it is for a blog, or for a newspaper or a magazine, I consider it a privilege to share the gospel with others.  I do not take it lightly when people take the time to hear what to have to say.   

                      As a result, I am thrilled when I receive feedback from something I have written or shared.  It lets me know that people understand what I am saying and that it has really touched their life in some way.

I occasionally receive a comment that when I write an article such as this: "It doesn’t feel like a Bible teaching”.  Motivational?  Yes.  Inspiring?  I hope so. Once, I received a comment that,               

                “It was nice, but as a pastor, 

                     shouldn’t you be teaching people the Bible?”  

Actually, I do…every week as I pastor Bethesda Church. 

I also teach the Bible (or try to) in every situation of life that I encounter.

Whether I am sitting in a local restaurant having breakfast or sitting in an auto shop, 

I look for ways to communicate the gospel by demonstration.  For example, last week 

some friends of mine began dismantling an antique car.  It looked great on the outside, 

but needed repair as part of the car’s frame has rusted out.  It was a perfect moment to comment 

on how the car was like people.  

Everything looks great on the outside, but the inside has been eaten away 

because of neglect.  It became a “teaching moment” with a REAL outcome.  

That moment led to someone approaching me to say, 

“My heart is like that car.  Can Jesus help me?”       

Jesus taught in different ways.  The Gospels record that 

                             He read the scriptures and taught in the temple.  This is probably the process that people today can best relate with, as the method for delivering the gospel is widely seen as a pastor opening his Bible in front of a congregation on Sunday morning.  

Jesus also ministered to the multitudes.  There are accounts of Him 

preaching and teaching to crowds of thousands. 

                         He loved to teach in parables.  

He would take a story with real life relevance and would use it to expound upon both the nature of man and of God’s Kingdom.  He also loved to go into the street, locate the one who would listen and reach them where they were.   I find it interesting that those encounters carry more significance in the heart of people than the other methods of instruction.  

People are familiar with the Sermon on the Mount. 

By familiar, I mean they know that there was one.  However, ask around

 to see who knows anything about the content of the Sermon on the Mount and 

you will find few who can offer true insight.  But, the number of people who can 

relay a story about a person who had a specific encounter with Jesus is much greater.

People relate to a message or a lesson when

the elements of that lesson reflect

something of their life.

My point is this.  

One of the greatest tools Jesus employed when teaching others is that 

                     He was real.  He expected them to be real – 

not to be something they were not for the sake of impressing Him.  

He met people where they were.  He taught them by example, and by relating 

His teaching to their current life situations.

The purpose for the temple was and is still important.  

                                      Going to church is vital to your life.  It affords for you training that can make the difference between success and failure in raising your kids, or saving your marriage.  It creates the opportunity to build family style relationships with others – the way families are supposed to be – 

not the dysfunctional chaos that many suffer. 

For as long as there has been religion, there has been a mindset that we have to put on our “religious face”.  On Sunday, we wear the right clothes.  We sing the right songs.  We have our spiritual moments.  In a restaurant last week, I overheard a mother tell her 12-year-old son, “Don’t you dare cuss at me on Sunday.”  What about the rest of the week?  Why are Sunday values different than the values he should be living by Monday through Saturday?  That is not “being real”.

Jesus was hard on those who weren’t real.  He was much harder on those who put up a front for the sake of religion than He ever was on someone just trying to wade through life.  He challenged those who struggled with sin to recognize that 

        life could be much better if they would embrace 

                                                         His love and His instruction.

My purpose in communicating as I do is to demonstrate that God is REAL.  And, that in coming to Him, He desires for you to be real.  

                           You come to Him, faults and all. 

You don’t put on some “spiritual air”.  

It is not His desire to change you into something you are not.  

It is His desire to complete what He created you to be.  He wants you to know that He is not “put off” by your current state. But if your current state is eating away at the value of your life, He has both the ability and the desire to change it.  

He wants the real you to discover the real Him.

That is the core of His Gospel.  That is “being real”. 

Prayer - Randall Wallace ("Braveheart" Screenwriter @ National Day of Prayer)

The other day my friend, Brian Bird, posted this link on his website.
Brian is an amazing person.  He is a writer.  He is a partner in Believe Pictures.
His stories and his films are creatively constructed to touch the heart of people while at the same time
provoke them to thought and even to action.

I haven't known Brian very long, but even in the few short moments we have

 had together, he has demonstrated a special gift of communication which prompts

thoughts and ideas to awaken within you.  It is a gift that I believes God reserves

for certain people.  His thoughtful insight for me proves to be both a joy

and a challenge at the same time.

I share this because I believe that it is important for people to recognize when God places
such a person in your life.  When God wants to bless you, 

He places someone in your life.  

It may not be face to face.  But, someone. somehow will speak a word into your life
that will serve to adjust your perspective,  
                                  enlarge your vision or,
                                                                               strengthen your resolve

to stand and be as God designed you to be.

When God creates access to such a person,
that access should be treasured.  It should be celebrated.  The words that are spoken which
have the ability to inspire should be cherished.  They should serve to stir passion within you.

Their greatest value is discovered when their fruit matures

from enlightenment to accomplishment - from initiative to achievement.

Brian is such a person.  And being such a person, he also knows when others offer a similar
gift.  Recently he posted a link containing the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast.

The speaker was Randall Wallace, the screenwriter for the movie, Braveheart.
I invested 20 minutes to hear what this Hollywood Writer had to say to the world leaders
who were gathered in that room.  I was moved by his testimony and his simple call to prayer.
I was motivated and challenged as he inspired these leaders to pray.

The average Believer prays less than 3 minutes a day.

The average PASTOR - less than 5 minutes. 

How can we expect more from our leaders than we do of ourselves.
We need to recognize the power of prayer.  We need to become motivated to pray.


I always encourage my readers and my congregation to invest in motivation - particularly the kind that will produce Kingdom fruit.  I offer you this link and urge you to invest a few moments to receive from this funny, insightful caring person.  And, thanks Brian for bringing him to our attention.  




http://www.garydavidstratton.com/2011/culture-making/academy-award-winning-screenwriter-randall-wallace-braveheart-at-national-prayer-breakfast/

Our National Anthem

Oh Say Can YOU See?

I would like to start with the disclaimer that what I am about to say is not meant as an
attack on an individual.  It is simply a thought that was triggered by a mistake made during
this past Sunday's Superbowl opening ceremonies.

Christina Aguilera was slated to sing our country's National Anthem - a tradition that occurs at
virtually every sporting event in our nation.  As a professional musician, I am certain that
there was a great deal of practice that took place in preparation for this event.  For a musician, the
opportunity to sing the anthem at the Superbowl is probably one of the most significant moments
one can achieve. 

She missed it.  I feel bad for her.  Anyone can make a mistake, and that is what it was - a mistake.
She is not going to get much of a fair shake for it...or is she?  My kids were watching the
opening ceremony and they caught the blunder.  What bothers me is that there was a time when there
would have been no consideration for such a blunder, for such a thing would have been unheard of...

To NOT KNOW our National Anthem?!?

As I stated, this singer is a well-known and rehearsed professional.  I am POSITIVE that she knew the
words to our nation's anthem.  She would have memorized them for the purpose of being able to sing
them professionally, knowing the mark that this event would have on her career.

Here is my problem.  It is one thing to memorize something.  It is another thing to KNOW something.

I was not taught to memorize the National Anthem. I was taught its message, its purpose, its significance,
and its value.  It is just the same as memorizing scripture.  As a child in a faith-based school,
I was required to memorize long passages from the Bible.  There was even reward for those who could
recite the entirety of what had been memorized throughout the school year.  Yet, for all of the
memorization, and for all of the prizes (which I won - after all I was a pastor's kid), those passages
were just words on a page.  They were words to be forgotten once the prize to be won was delivered.

The passages that I really remember are not those I memorized during those school years, but the ones
that have a direct impact upon my life. Honestly, I could not recite those passages from
memory with any degree of accuracy today.  However, the ones that I have carried in my heart as a part
of my belief system, I can rattle of with great accuracy.

They are not memory verses.  They are part of the foundation of my life.

Hence, my issue with last night's blunder.  The reason last night's blunder bothered me is not that
someone forgot the words.  It is that it underscores that those words have come to have little value
in the minds and hearts of many of our nation.  Men and women have died for the freedom afforded only
to Americans.  Others have lived the entirety of their lives in the service of others to defend and
to preserve that freedom.

When Francis Scott Key penned the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner, he was declaring in victory
in the face of certain failure.  His words served to rally a nation to believe they could always
win, even against over-whelming odds.

Hollywood has fought vehemently to break this American Spirit.  They speak of freedom in the form of
tolerance, while at the same time, have created a doctrine that belittles any idea or thought which
points to the greatness and virtue of a nation under God, indivisible.

Many entertainers have discovered that one way to boost a wavering career is to become a political advocate.  I have listened and observed - sometimes with amusement, but more often with disgust as people who do not hold sacred the value system upon which our nation was designed, wax poetic in trying to prove a point which is usually contrary to reality.  They rattle off about our nation's constitution and its history with
great inaccuracy.  And, they get a free pass because they are not politicians, but entertainers fighting for a
compassionate cause. 

Missing the words for our national anthem is to me an indication that the message of that anthem is only
on your tongue, not in your heart. It was the opportunity to demonstrate your talent before millions of people,
rather than demonstrate the conviction of your heart.

I believe in promotion.  I believe if you have the opportunity to sing before millions of people, you should do it.  However, whether you sing, play ball, work in an office, or build cars, you should live your life with conviction.  As a singer, sing what you believe.

As I said, there is no judgment here for Ms. Aguilera, nor on what she believes or does not believe.  I am simply pointing out There is a concern that her blunder points to a greater lack of conviction in our nation. 
We WILL see if the media, which is notorious for taking such actions to the proverbial woodshed, will trumpet the moment or pretend it did not happen.

As for you, my reader - I urge you to consider the core values upon which our nation was founded.  Consider
"What price Freedom". Consider the benefit to being "The land of the free and the home of the brave".
And, learn your National Anthem.



The Star Spangled Banner -

Francis Scott Key




Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream;
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

CHURCH TRAGEDY

One of my dear friends, John Muratori is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Life Family Worship Center in Cheshire Connecticut.  I have ministered for their congregation and have a great love in my heart for Pastor John, his family and his people.

On February 2, we received news of a terrible tragedy.  I offer this letter from Pastor John.  I ask you to read it, to be in prayer for him and for the Calvary Life Family.  I also ask that of there is anything you can do to bless then through this time, please contact our church office. 

We can be reached at:   912.368.6121  or  http://theamazinglife.com.

To: Our Faithful Congregation and Friends of This Ministry:

It is with a broken heart that I share our church home has collapsed under the weight of all the snow accumulation.We in New England have weathered three major storms seeing more snow than we have in decades.
 

Let me say it has been a long road to get us to this newly built place of Worship, allowing our congregation to have a place of permanence for generations to come.

Today will be ingrained in my memory all my days.  

You see, I was with my two sons, Executive Pastor and another leader in ministry. We were putting signs on the door for people to stay out of the facility until an engineer could arrive.  

We walked into the foyer to make sure everything was closed; at that moment I heard the small voice of the Lord say, "Get Out!"  

Suddenly, we heard the loudest bangs from the sanctuary. We ran outside the building and I watched with my sons as the building collapsed. Yes, covered with dust, I witnessed a project that took 2 years to build fall in 30 seconds.  My sons were shouting and crying as we got to a place of safety.  

Once I gathered myself from the shock, I heard the Lord say amidst the rubble:

"The vision is still standing, the mission hasn't changed, this ministries purpose is found in Him."

We now find ourselves at a unique place in Christ -- One that will challenge our members' commitment and resolve. As a church we are still becoming, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him (1John 3:2).

This one thing I have learned, this trial is necessary in order for us to become all He desires.

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan (trials of life)? (Jer. 12:5)

We need to be closer, stronger, and persevere more than we have in all our previous years. We pray God will send us His friends from around the Nations to stand along side us as we rebuild His House of Worship.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. (1Peter 1:6-7)

--Pastor John Muratori

  

I am also including a list of immediate needs that we have compiled. Ongoing updates will be posted daily at www.calvarylife.us.

Our most immediate needs at this point are:

• Facility: as we have suffered a total loss and can no longer use our facility, we need a place for services and temporary offices
• Travel Sound system
• Microphones
• Instruments
• Cameras/Camcorders
• Computers & Printers
• Copy machines/ Fax machines
• Office furniture
• Financial Support

The Bible tells us that when one suffers, we all suffer together.  This situation represents a physical setback to the congregation at Calvary.  It DOES NOT represent a setback to the kingdom of God.  God’s glory WILL be revealed through this trial and His kingdom will be advanced.

Thank you for your prayers,

TJB