Wanna Know What's Real?

Check out this poem written by a young lady from our GAP ministry:

My name is Meth,
I destroy homes, I tear families apart,
take your children, and that’s just the start.
I’m more costly than diamonds, more precious than gold.
The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold.
If you need me, remember I’m easily found,
I live all around you - in schools and in town.
I live with the rich, I live with the poor,
I live down the street and maybe next door.
I’m made in a lab, but not like you think,
I can be made under the kitchen sink.
In your child’s closet, and even in the woods.
If this scares you to death, well it certainly should.
I have many names, but there’s one you know best,
I’m sure you’ve heard of me, my name is crystal meth.
My power is awesome, try me you’ll see,
But if you do, you may never break free.
Just try me once and I might let go,
But try me twice and I’ll own your soul.
When I possess you, you’ll steal and you’ll lie,
You do what you have to just to get high.
The crimes you’ll commit for my narcotic charms,
Will be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in your arms, your lungs and your nose.
You’ll lie to your mother, you’ll steal from your dad,
When you see their tears you should feel sad,
But you’ll forget your morals and how you were raised,
I’ll be your conscience, I’ll teach you my ways.
I’ll take kids from parents and parents from kids,
I turn people from God and separate friends.
I’ll be with you always, right by your side.
You’ll give up everything, your family your home,
Your friends, your money then you’ll be alone.
I’ll take and take till you have nothing more to give.
When I’m finished with you, you’ll be lucky to live.
If you try me be warned, this is no game,
If given the chance I’ll drive you insane.
I’ll ravish your body, I’ll control your mind,
I’ll own you completely, your soul will be mine.
The nightmares I’ll give you while lying in bed,
The voices you’ll hear from inside your head.
The sweats, the shakes, the visions you’ll see,
I want you to know, these are all gifts from me.
But then it’s too late and you’ll know in your heart,
That you are mine and we shall not part.
You’ll regret that you tried me, they always do,
But you came to me, not I to you.
You knew this would happen, may times you were told,
But you challenged my power and chose to be bold.
You could have said no and just walked away.
If you could live that day over, now what would you say?
I’ll be your master, you will always be my slave.
I’ll even go with you when you to your grave.
Now that you have met me, what will you do?
Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you.
I can bring you more misery than words can tell,
Come take my hand and let me lead you to hell.

WOW! Are you kidding me? These are the people that we have been commanded to take care of, to preach the Gospel, and just flat out love. Let's love them well!

Bad Singers Unite

Thanks to everyone who showed up last night to worship and who performed volunteer tasks that made our Grand Opening an event that I don't think people will soon forget. Plenty of folks showed up and did their job with style and grace.
Parallax View was outstanding. Fee was Fee. And our great big white chocolate building performed magnificently as our God was glorified.
I just cannot believe that nobody bought me a "Bad Singers Unite" t-shirt. I am the leader of that choir -- HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Interesting Encounter

One of the strongest pieces of direction to pastors and leaders of churches is to protect the flock from false teachers and wolves who try and devour the sheep (1 Timothy 3 and Acts 20). I had an interesting encounter yesterday about that subject in between our two services at The Bridge. I thought the first celebration brought glory to God as Seth Durbin led worship for the first time and the study from Daniel 3 was strong and evident. But afterward, a lady that I had never seen before approached me off of the street with immediate questions. Her first question was: "Does your church support the 'word of faith' movement?" Assuming that she was asking me if I supported the prosperity teachings of folks such as Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, and Joel Osteen, I answered her quickly but gently, "No." Her second question was: "Does your church support the ministries of Kenneth Copeland?" Having studied his teaching quite a bit, I answered, "No." She did not like these answers and challenged me strongly on them. I really wanted to go rest for the second celebration, but she had many questions. I informed her that I did not presume to know about the salvation of these men and women who teach 'word of faith,' but I, with gentleness and respect, answered all of her questions about what I personally had heard them teach that I found troublesome and even gave her directions to a church that had a speaker in recently from the Copeland Ministries if she would like to go there. She left the building three times and came back 3 times to challenge me some more (after the events of last week, I confess that I wondered if she came bearing more than questions and challenges).

Here are some things specifically that Kenneth Copeland teaches that I have a problem with:
1. He is very passionate about saying that Jesus never claimed to be God. Jesus did claim to be God; that is what got Him crucified. To say that he did not claim to be God is heresy and requires very bad hermeneutics to even come up with the idea in the first place.
2. He teaches constantly that Jesus had to descend to hell during the three days in the tomb and fight Satan for the keys to life and death. This is a heretical teaching for many reasons: #1) the issue was settled on the cross (there was no further work needed), and #2) Jesus has always possessed the keys to life and death. He is the sovereign God of the universe, so He would never need to take something from Satan because He has ALWAYS been in control of such things.
3. He teaches a prosperity Gospel. He does not understand the basic nature of God. He thinks that God is our cosmic servant. John McArthur calls it a "genie in a bottle" theology, or in other words, we rub the bottle, call up God our genie, and he fulfills our wishes (you demand healing, you demand money prosperity, you demand a new job all under the guise of faith). It is "give to get," and it is a man-centered theology that has no basis in Holy Scripture or reality and is very destructive. It always ends up that if these things do not happen for you that you just did not have enough faith. God's sovereign will is basically tossed to the curb. The truth is that God cares so much for us that he would never allow our weak hearts and weak thinking to rule what is best for us.

This lady told me as she left that she would pray for me, and I appreciate her doing that. I am also praying for her (she is welcome anytime) because I am afraid that she has passionately committed to something that sounds great, but only tickles the ears of a wicked and deceitful heart.
I could go on and on about these bad teachings, but let me finish with this. There are people locally that think I am arrogant for taking such stands (like The Bridge is the only church that has correct doctrine). That is a false accusation. I believe that there are many other churches that are healthy and have truly surrendered leadership teaching great Biblical truths and doctrines. However, when bad teaching is present and I am asked to comment on it, I will always point out the bad teaching -- I am commanded by Scripture to do so. The three things I listed above are as bad as it gets, and I will always point these out to the flock -- not to glorify me or our church or to demean any human being (only the teachings, not the teacher) -- but to glorify the One who is in charge of all things. His name is Jesus Christ and He is our God.

Third Anniversary

I bet there were some awesome naps taken yesterday afternoon after our Third Anniversary Celebration in the Sprung building. Our volunteers did an amazing job of getting the facility ready for bringing Glory to a Magnificent God. At 10:00 Saturday night, there were still no drain pipes on the bathroom sinks and there was no nursery whatsoever (no dropped ceiling, no carpeting, no nothing). Men and women of God got all of that done about 2:30 Sunday morning (and we just thought we were finished with early Sunday mornings), and then the band arrived from Jeff City at 3:00 am and just stayed up through the night getting the sound and video right.

Our building was completed mostly with volunteer labor. We subbed the concrete, the heating and cooling, the plumbing, and the tape and mud. Other than that, it was all God's people acting like God's people. It is quite a story that we now have 18,000 square feet (soon to be 23,000 when God gifts us with some more money to finish the second floor) that was all built for less than a million dollars. Our federal government could learn some lessons about rolling up their sleeves and really working rather than spending. This facility would have cost more than 3 million dollars if we had used tradition building styles and just hired it all done. I am very proud of what God has done. Pride is usually a bad thing, but I don't think so this time.

Everything came off without a hitch yesterday except me. The 9:00 service was a train wreck during the sermon as I missed my cue and forgot to let the 'Fearless' video run before I stood up. Then, when my battery went out on my microphone and we did an audible, I came back up from the "melt your face" guitar solo and left almost 3 pages of notes out of the sermon. People were sweet and said that it made some sense; only God could have made sense out of that debacle.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve this church as lead pastor. I don't feel qualified, but look what God did through 'knees knocking' Gideon -- maybe He can ever use a messed-up dude like me.

Here we go church. Year 4 with our own facility -- this is going to be quite a ride for God's glory and your health.

Time to Set Priorities

I know I know --
The Gospel is our life -- our hope!
The opening of the Sprung is exciting!
God is changing lives daily!
Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter are healthy! HAHA!

Sorry, that I haven't posted in a while.
Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so.

Last Sermon in E-Hall

Yesterday felt like it was an explosive day spiritually for The Bridge. Here are my top five memories of what could have been my last sermon in E-Hall:
5. "Correct doctrine is important, but it is not doctrine that saves you; it is a right relationship with Jesus Christ that saves you."
4. On eternal security, "I don't believe that someone who has truly been cut through the heart probably can forfeit his salvation, but he should live as though he can."
3. Powerful movement of worship through the music. We still have many people standing around talking or being busy instead of engaging the Holy Spirit in music, but the percentage of those who got ready to do business with God (especially at 9:00) was high.
2. Busting out hair (or lack of) jokes on Matt Pratt and Krishna. Sorry Matt.
1. Seeing Steve (the floor stainer from Springfield) flat out broken before Jesus Christ. He thought he came for the weekend to get our floor in the new building looking great and he ran headlong into the King of Kings. He was not the only one in the building that had a big day with God; many others came clean before the Lord. His Word is powerful, and His glory matchless.

Quote from Steve: "I have never seen a church like this, never seen people like this. It is over 3 hours from here to my home, but I would consider driving that far every week to experience what I experienced today." I really think that what impressed him was the God that made the day so special. Both he and Curtis (the boss of the floor crew) are bringing their families back to worship next weekend if we are in the new building. Praise be to God and thanks to God for making yesterday very special.

By the way, the Super Bowl was much better than the commercials. Great athletes playing at a very high level -- it was good as sports gets. It would have been a cool story to see Kurt Warner get another ring, but he cemented his place in the Hall of Fame. Way to go, Kurt. You know as well as played though, it was not nearly as important as the fantastic talk he gave last summer to a few thousand men at The Men at the Cross about King Jesus.

Mark McGwire's Brother -- Jay

Listen to this language that Jay McGwire uses to describe why he exposed his brother's steroid use:
"My bringing the truth to surface about Mark is out of love. I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom -- which is the only way to live. " Source: ESPN
That sounds like the theological teaching that we would espouse about repentence with Jesus Christ and walking in the light of the Gospel on a Sunday morning at The Bridge or even moreso at Conquering Addiction on Tuesdays. WOW!