Cowboy’s Ten Commandments

Cowboy’s Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie , Texas :
(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin’.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin’ before God.
(6) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.
(7) No killin’.
(8) Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don’t take what ain’t yers.
(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.

Where is the spice?

How many of you have ever had a meal and something was missing?  Like the food was all there, but when you tasted, say the meatloaf, that it just was not quite right…  Something was missing.  Some ingredient was not there to make it all pop and make your mouth water…

Or maybe you don’t like meatloaf, so I lost you on that.  But think of your favorite food, and how sometimes you want it so bad, and you go out to eat and find it on the menu and you order and you know in your mind what it will taste like when it gets to you.  The waiter or waitress brings it to you and you look at and have the taste in your mind and when you taste it, it is just wrong!  That is not how it is suppose to taste…

Isn’t this how we as Christians are to the world?  We are told by God to be Salt and Light.  We are told to be the flavor they grave so that they might come to know God.  But do our lives provide the flavor they need?  Do we focus on him or on our selves and thus remove the wonderful flavor of God from the mix?  If we are not drawing people to God by the very actions we do, are we allowing God to make our mouths water and thus causing those around us to be curious about what we’ve got that they don’t.

True spirituality is mouth watering it is so good, and makes people wonder what you got, and how they can get some of that.  Are our lives salt and light to draw people to God, or are we making God to be bland and yesterdays news.

If the spice is gone, reconnect with God and allow him to spice up your life!

Infographic on How Americans Spend Their Time in Blogs | The Life – Zetify

Infographic on How Americans Spend Their Time in Blogs | The Life – Zetify.

Interesting thoughts on how we use our time.  The pretty picture says .21 hours a day on Religious Activities. That is 12.6 minutes, and that is average.  So most of the Christians in the America (where statistics are from) spend less than 5 minutes a day in prayer and reading the Bible and things of that nature. The very things that keep us connected to God, and the very things we will be doing for all of eternity…

Heaven ~ What is it?

Here is a quote from a review of Lisa Miller’s book Heaven from Slate magazine columnist Johann Hari.  I found it looking for stuff on heaven.  I found it to be very interesting…

“InHeaven, Newsweek‘s religion correspondent, Lisa Miller, has written a fascinating millenniums-long history of the idea of heaven, spliced with some surprisingly mediocre reporting on present-day believers. At its core is a (very politely administered) slap to the American consensus. The heaven you think you’re headed to—a reunion with your lost relatives in the light—is a very recent invention, only a little older than Goldman Sachs. Most of the believers in heaven across most of history would find it unrecognizable. Heaven is constantly shifting shape because it is a history of subconscious human longings. Show me your heaven, and I’ll show you what’s lacking in your life. The desert-dwellers who wrote the Bible and the Quran lived in thirst—so their heavens were forever running with rivers and fountains and springs. African-American slaves believed they were headed for a heaven where “the first would be last, and the last would be first”—so they would be the free men dominating white slaves. Today’s Islamist suicide-bombers live in a society starved of sex, so their heaven is a 72-virgin gang-bang. Emily Dickinson wrote: ” ‘Heaven’—is what I cannot Reach!/ The Apple on the Tree—/ Provided it do hopeless—hang—/ That—”Heaven” is—to Me!””

Building the body of Christ???

How does one construct the church?

I guess the question may need some unpacking really…

Who is trying to build the church? And what is the purpose of the church? In Ephesians 4:11-12 we see an answer for this, that is not what you probably think when you first talk about building the church…

Paul tells the Ephesians “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” He gave gifts for some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.  He gave.  Who is he?  Ok I guess we all know this, but do we really think about it.  God gave gifts to us all, that we are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers…  He did this. We all have a gift to use, and through using the gift we are doing a task to spread his message, be that through teaching, preaching, predicting, telling the story, or going and doing… And this is usually where we stop with these verses.  The gift was given, and go and use it.

But WHY?  These gifts were given for specific reasons according to Paul, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”  The gifts were given to equip all the saints for the work of ministry.  The gifts were given to prepare God’s people to do the work of ministry.  All of us have a part in the work of God and we are to support and uplift each other in the moving of ministry… And all of this, the gifts, the equipping and preparing is “for the building up of the body of Christ.”  All the gifts and equipping and preparing are for the building of the church!  We as the church are the body of Christ.

A church isn’t created by constructing a physical building or by hiring a professional ministry worker, or even have lots of people attend.  A church is constructed when each part finds its proper place and function and works together!  When the eye sees, the ear hears, the nose smells, the legs move the body, and on and on…

We are to build each other up and work together in the building of the body of Christ.  We are to equip and prepare each other for the work of ministry.  So remember that you have a part to play, and that church is not a spectator sport!  You are not a bench warmer – you are a key player in the body of Christ!