We All Change

 It is natural for growth to change us over time. No one thinks that seeing a grown man act like a young child is healthy. No one wants to have a mature woman need to be cared for like a immature little girl. God designed us to grow and to mature and to change over time.

Not all change is easy and not all change is healthy and not all change is desirable. But we all will change as we go through life. Children change fast. Adults change slowly. But the minute we stop changing at all something is wrong. New converts change dramatically, elder saints change incrementally.

The challenge is not just how to stay saved for the first 6 months or even the first 3 years. The challenge is how to stay saved when decades have passed and life has been lived. The challenge for our church is how to keep elder saints interested and involved and engaged without brow beating them about things that they can no longer do.

It is not a failure to grow up and mature. It is how life is lived with all of us. It is immature to criticize elders for not acting like children. It is insensitive to belittle folks who have stood the test of time and who just need a little encouragement to help them stay saved for another day.

It is unfortunate that the New Testament ends so soon and only covers the first few years of the emergence of Christianity as a stand alone religion. But maybe God knew that times would change and rather than force us to live like our ancient ancestors He gave us liberty to work things out in our time in a way that works for us. We often have to study church history in the modern world to find out how to do this.

I am grateful that I am where I am in life and that I have found a place to live for a long time. Please do not make life any harder by trying to force me to live a life that I lived a long time ago and that does not work for me any more. God is eternal, but I am not. God never changes but I change a lot.

To God Be The Glory!

 There are Christians who go to great lengths to prove by science that there is a God and that God created all that there is. The problem is that God is revealed more than understood. And so winning a debate or winning an argument will not be enough to save one soul.

Look at your Bible. How does it begin? In the beginning God... Or we could easily say God, in the beginning, created... In my Bible God is the 4th word we read. No great story of who He is or how He came to be. Just a statement of fact and therefore a call to believe. When we walk by faith, not by sight, it simply means that we believe what the Bible says and that settles every argument.

The Gospel is a mystery received by revelation, not by human intellect. Anyone from a child to a grandparent can believe. Anyone, from  rich or poor, wise or illiterate, smart or stupid, can believe. God in His wisdom made truth in such a way that you can believe it without understanding it, and that the more you learn or know you never hit bottom of all that God is and does in Christ. The half has not been told!

The Bible is not a text book of how the natural world works. It is God's self revelation to humanity of all that we need to know to believe. This is why faith is critical to pleasing God. This is why science that omits God is being dishonest and ungrateful.

If science fascinates you then study it. You will find God's finger prints all over the natural world. Look up into the night sky and ponder the mind that designed it and the power that created it and how it all is connected like a mechanical clock in perfect sync and perfect rhythm and perfect time. And be in awe at a God who did all of this and how He worked through generation of people and nations to bring Christ onto the stage where He could fulfill the plan of redemption as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. And as great and awe inspiring as He is yet He loves us in our fallen state and thinks kindly toward us in our failed condition. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Entertainers Or Worshipers?

 There have been times when I watched video from the Grand Old Opry in Nashville and regularly the artists will sing a Gospel song. Or I will see a video of some other artists and they will sing a Gospel song or two. I figure it is just something they do and I put no stock in the fact that Gospel songs sung by unsaved people have no power or anointing.

But the troubling trend is when churches try to mimic entertainers in church. They call it worship. That music has no more power when they sing their so called worship songs than when a country superstar sings The Old Rugged Cross.

Why do we think that these entertainers posing as worship teams produce music that we would want to sing in our church to worship in Spirit and in Truth?

My Vows

 Those of you who are married no doubt said vows during the wedding ceremony. I did. Mine were the old fashioned kind. And I was thinking, I wonder if those vows would be appropriate to our relationship to our local church? I think that it just might work. Here is what I mean.

I Steve Garfield take the Door Christian Fellowship to be my church. I promise to serve and support my church no matter what happens in life. For better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.

What do you think, would this be a proper application of those ancient vows? The only problem is this is one sided. In marriage both parties make the same commitment. You cannot marry your church any more than you can marry a cat. But I fell  like for me I need this kind of tangible act to settle in my mind that this is my church that I identify with and I am promising to do my part. All I ask is that if I get married do the ceremony and when I die do the funeral. And if I end up in the hospital send me flowers and come visit me.

More Thoughts On Worship

 I recently finished reading a book called Why I Don't Sing In Your Church. The author is right on some things and wrong on other things. But he touched on issues that have bothered me for a while now. I have recently written on some of those issues and today I want to finish up my series on worship in the local church.

Why do some men not sing during church? Maybe they do not want to be there at all. Maybe they are ashamed of their voice and do not want anyone to hear how badly they think they sing.  Maybe they just don't like to sing at all. There are many reasons why men in particular do not feel comfortable singing in church. I love to sing in church. Not everyone does.

Why do song leaders seem to ignore the audience? When someone in the spotlight keeps his eyes closed and doesn't smile or make eye contact at all it makes me feel uncomfortable. I have sat under preachers who do this. I stop caring about what they are saying since they don't seem to care about me.

Most of us are not professional singers like the performers who record the songs you want us to learn. We cannot sing in their key and we do not have their range and we will never sing like they do. We only sing a few minutes a week. They sing for a living. Don't expect us to sing their songs like they do. If men are not singing then the key is too high. 

Not every worship song will translate into our song service. They may be emotional and they may be stirring but they are not suitable for our style of church. Most popular Christian music songs are terrible church worship songs no matter how much you may like the songs. No one 100 years from now will be singing Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord over and over again.

Finally, new songs are great but don't forget to sings the songs that this church grew up on. Old faithful songs are the ones that I sing in my head during the week. Sing them in the regular mix of songs every service. When you sing the old songs people will trust you that you care about them. Even though our outreach is focused outward our worship is ours, not theirs. Sing songs that make us glad to be saved and let new converts learn what is important to us.

Mistaking Rattle For Revival

 Let me give you some ideas on how to pick good worship songs.

1. Songs must be true. They must be Biblical. They must turn our attention to Christ in Heaven in Glory and not focus on feelings here and now. They must be sung the way they were written and not adjusted to suit you. Songs must be about who God is and not about what we ought to do.

2. Songs must be grown up and mature. I am not a giddy teenager or a silly woman or a 13 year old going to Boot Camp for the first time. This is not brand new for me. Sing songs for me as well as for them.

3. Songs must be timeless. Hymns may be ancient but they have stood the test of time. The greatest hits of all time are different than what is top 40 today. Would it be so hard to sing old familiar songs and not always be so anxious to sing brand new songs?

I am not anti singing or anti music. But the ear tests words like the tongue tests foods. And the ear tests songs the same way. Emotion is not evidence of God moving. Rattle is not the same as revival.

I Love To Sing In Church

I love to sing in church. I was in choirs and in music groups. I can learn new songs quickly. But you would think by watching me that singing in church makes me uncomfortable. I love old familiar songs and I do not love a lot of modern songs. Here is why.

1. Top 40 is no guarantee that it works in worship. No one pays you to produce truthful songs. They pay you to produce songs that sell. Truth is often the victim. I hear songs sung in church that are false doctrine almost every service in Prescott and now in SA.

2. Modern songs are about feelings. How God feels about me. How I feel about Jesus. Try telling your spouse I love you over and over and over and over and over and see what happens. You will arouse more suspicion than romance. 

3. Many modern songs use arrangements designed to build to a climax just like any pop song. Climatic endings do not produce true worship. Never. They feel more like manipulation than inspiration.

4. A simple lyric sang over and over is more annoying than uplifting. Songs with no depth or weight produce light weight Christians.

5. Finally, with all of those women on stage singing why do you need me to sing also? If you want to sing on stage form a choir.

Why People Do Not Sing In Our Churches

 "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old." Matthew 13:52

Worship is valuable. Worship is important. Church worship is probably the only place where most regular people sing. Knowing this it seems that we need to look carefully at worship and singing to make sure we are not taking something important and making it too hard for people to participate in.

So this raises a question; why do some people not sing in church? Much has been written on this subject and much debate has taken place in what is being called the Worship Wars. Let me share a few thoughts on why people do not sing in church.

1. They do not know the songs. They are new to church or the songs are modern or the songs are in a foreign language. The average person will take a long time to learn what you take for granted.

2. They cannot sing the songs. They are too fast. They are too high. They are too complicated. They cannot learn them and if the screen is blank they cannot sing.

3. The service is too loud. People sing with those around them, not with the musicians on stage. If they cannot hear their neighbor sing the service is too loud. Period.

4. They feel like the focus is on the stage and they are only spectators and their contribution is not needed. With all of those singers on stage with microphones why do I need to sing?

5. The song leader is annoying or ad libbing or not singing the song straight but harmonizing or worse.

6. Simple lyrics repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over ad nauseum will discourage even seasoned worshippers. Only women and immature men will enjoy singing like that.

The burden is on the song leader to make sure that the majority of worshippers are participating. It is not always secret sin that discourages participation in church singing. It can be that what we are doing is not working.

Why No Choir?

 Why does a church like ours not have a choir? No one seems to know. Some interesting statistics show that choirs are a dying trend in America. In 1998 54% of all American churches had choirs but by 2012 it had dropped to 45%. And in Evangelical churches it went from 69% to 36% for the same period of time.

Is there really no one in San Antonio who can arrange music and play a piano and who can hear parts and choose good songs for a choir of men and women to sing? Or are choirs relics of a bygone era to our Pentecostal sensibilities? Sister Mitchell sang in the Prescott choir for many years. She did not run it.

I bet there are people in our church who would love to sing in a real choir.

My Best Life When?

 No one in our Fellowship would ever invite Joel Osteen to minister in their church or sell his books. But I fear that brother Joel is honored at almost every church service by our head over heels acceptance of expecting to live our best lives now.

Little of our so called worship music today looks to Heaven as a worthwhile goal. It focuses on youthful shallowness of topics and emotions concerned only with how I feel right now.

Pentecostals, because we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit now, often only focus on the immediate and we seem powerless when obedience for the long pilgrimage is required. We can give advice to young couples wanting to get married but have little to help when a spouse of many years dies.

Much of our so called worship music was written by or for a youthful audience. No wonder it annoys me. And worship has become commercialized to the point that truth and doctrine are sacrificed to sell more music.  It's little wonder to me that some of the artists who write the shallow, weak, childish songs that we sing in church are leaving the faith and turning their backs on Christ. Fanny Crosby or Charles Wesley did not do that.

Finally, if this is the best that being saved has to offer then I have been ripped off. My hope is that what God has prepared for me in eternity is worth whatever trials and hardships I must endure to get there still saved and sanctified. My best life will not be in this life.

Worship Matters

 This is just my opinion but in church we sing too much. We have song service where we sing too much. We have song service before Sunday School and it is terrible. We are like the mega churches in that we put too much stock in music and singing. We sing songs that have a design and structure and then we repeat over and over one line or part of a verse or the chorus when we ought to be moving on to finish the song.

This is the result of whoever is in charge of our music insisting that we do things in a particular way. For me it does not work. If the song is supposed to end, I stop singing. If the song is about God but not worship I do not worship. And is the song is false doctrine or an emotional love song to Jesus I do not sing. I sing in Spanish even though I get no benefit from singing words I do not understand.

Singing and music have their place in church. But we don't need a worship service before everything we do or to end everything we do.

Worship in this church is making me crazy!

Sunday's Sermon On The Mark

 This coming Sunday morning, September 19th, pastor Rubi is going to preach a sermon on The Mark. As in the mark of the beast in Revelation. He said that the covid vaccine is not the mark. But you will have to leave your house and come to find out more. Service starts at 11am so you need to be there by 10:45 to get a good seat. Break out of the arriving late habit.

I remember years ago hearing pastor Mitchell preach a sermon on Henry Kissinger: Mystery Man of Power or something like that. In that message on the antichrist pastor said clearly that he was not saying that Mr. Kissinger was the antichrist. But that the antichrist man could share some of the same character traits visible in Henry Kissinger.

So don't be lazy and watch from home. Come to church to hear what pastor Rubi has to say. It will be worth your time to hear him say it in person. And if you are genuinely worried about getting sick, wear a mask. But be there in person and show the Lord Jesus that you are really saved!

Samson And 9/11

 "Peace blows so few bugles in most of us." This cliché was quoted by pastor Mitchell many times. And as we think about the 9/11 event we often remember the rush of civic and religious zeal that swept our nation. And if we were honest we would admit that that burst of zeal was short lived. Yes we fought a war in the near east for 20 years. But we also practiced taking away personal liberties which we saw demonstrated during the CV epidemic.

My thinking goes to Samson, whose morals robbed him of his ability to conquer and overcome. While in the intimate company of Delilah he got up and shook himself and it was over.

"I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free! But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him." Judges 16:20

My deepest fear for the USA is that one day we will shake ourselves as before and by the time we realize our condition it will be too late. Samson died in chains and blind. Sodomy blinds the minds of people and causes them to be weak and in chains. This could explain why America is not mentioned in the End Times portions of the Bible. After the Rapture of the Church there will be nothing left but blind guides and we know where following the blind leads us.

The first word in the Gospel is not Love. It is Repent!

Broken Heart Healed

 Well, I seem to have passed a milestone today. I watched Ike Cook's memorial service prepared for sadness and heaviness but it never came. I was awash with memories of the years that I knew Ike and Opal but not sad or depressed. So I took a chance and went to support our 9/11 tribute at the drive-in tonight and I was again surprised by the lack of negative emotions. It was a beautiful night and though not a hard hitting Gospel film one person did go forward to be saved.

The emotional wreckage that grief left me with made me defensive in the sense that I was afraid to feel good and I was diligent to protect myself from feeling bad. I was weary with feeling bad and sad. Today I was able to feel a tinge of sadness over the loss of a good friend and to feel the anguish of those who suffered and lost in the 9/11 tragedy. But it was not overwhelming or surprising.

Jesus said that He would heal the broken hearted. I feel as though my broken heart has been healed today. For that I am grateful.

9/11 Tribute Feels Like A Funeral To Me

 Tonight for our drive in movie outreach they are showing a 9/11 tribute movie. I am not going. For some strange reason I am avoiding funerals and 9/11 tributes feel like a funeral to me. I pray that souls will be saved tonight. But I cannot bring myself to watch the film so I will stay home tonight.

Praise Report

 I tend to see life in the worst possible light. After all that I have been through it seems that if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. But as I look back  over the past few days I see God's grace has been at work even though I do not feel that it was.

My vehicle was showing symptoms of what I thought was serious trouble. But it turned out to be a simple repair and it's running as good as it ever did. I have been concerned over the condition of the roof of my new house. I thought that it needed to be replaced. But a roofing contractor told me that a few minor fixes and it will be fine. He said my roof looked good as is.

So God has blessed me even though it seemed like He was against me. I am grateful that things are never as bad as they seem, especially as with God all things work together for our good in the end!

New Wine/Old Wine thoughts

 "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, nd the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins." Mark 2:22

And in the same story Luke adds this statement:  "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, the old is better." Luke 5:39

There is more truth to these statements than I am going to address today. Let me give you just a few thoughts that I see when I read these verses.

1.Putting fresh wine into dry skins ruins both the wine and the skin. It is a waste and unproductive. 

2. Revival is a youth movement. When everything is new and everything is a wonder it's easy to do anything.

3. The old wine is only better to those who have drunk it. 

4. The key word is "immediately". This implies that old wine drinkers can develop a taste for new wine in time.

5. Forcing new wine into old skins is irresponsible and short sighted and immature.

6. Old wine can go from valuable to undrinkable if let alone long enough.

7. Finally, wineskins are people. The wine is the Holy Spirit. But people put the wine into bottles. The skill and understanding we use in this process determines whether people will thrive or disappear in our church. 

Witnessing :Cause Or Effect?

 In the short time that I have been here I have not heard one entire sermon on witnessing. In Prescott I heard witnessing sermons all the time. And yet this church, like Prescott, is active in outreach and evangelism all the time.

Witnessing did not start revival. Witnessing was the natural expression of people who had been touched by Christ sharing what had happened with their friends and family and neighbors and coworkers. People would notice a change and it is natural and easy to tell who made that change.

Hammering on witnessing only makes people not hear you anymore. It does not inspire or convict it only annoys. Me telling my personal testimony sounds like fiction. It is the story of how a lost and lonely teenager got saved. I have not been a lost and lonely teenager for many decades now. When the Lord does something for me now I share it where I can.

Pastor Mitchell did not preach on witnessing all the time in Prescott. But he is not here to see what is happening now.

A Challenge To Attend

 I want to issue a challenge to all of the San Antonio church saints. It is important for you to be in church every Sunday in September at 9:45 in the morning. Pastor Rubi has important things to teach us and to tell us in preparation for moving into the new building. This is something that will only work in person. Watching on YouTube won't be good enough. So I will be there and I hope that you will join me to see where we might all fit into God's future plans for this church. Our church. My church!