Yearly Spiritual Diagnostic

In life it is good to do annual checkups. We should do them for our physical health. We should do them for your vehicles and homes. We should also do them for our spiritual health. An annual checkup on how you are doing spiritually is vital to ensure you are growing and progressing in your walk with Christ.

In my small group and with other leaders in the church, I'm giving them a spiritual diagnostic tool for them to gauge where they are in their walk right now. When it comes to spiritual growth, you are either progressing or regressing, there is no standing still. So how are you doing spiritually? Are you further in your walk with God right now than you were a year ago? Since we celebrated Easter this past Sunday and the new life we can have in Christ, let's use this as a chance to gauge how that new life is coming along. Take time to prayerfully answer the following questions:

1. What kind of time are you spending in God's Word each week?

none barely any regular daily

2. What kind of time are you spending in prayer each week?

none barely any regular daily

3. How frequently are you sharing your faith and/or inviting people to church?

never rarely sometimes all the time

4. How generous are you with your time, talents, and treasure for God's Kingdom?

none very little fairly good very generous

5. When you evaluate your walk with God over the past year, how would you rate it?

neglected lazy good, but needs improvement strong

6. What actions do you need to take to strengthen your walk with God?

So how are you doing?

Are You Coasting or Sprinting?

God didn't save you so you could coast toward the finish line of life. If you hear nothing else from this post, please hear that. None of us were saved so we can sit comfortably awaiting our ticket to heaven. Just the opposite is true. We are saved for a purpose that goes beyond relationship with God and the promise of heaven. We were saved for good works, which God prepared for us before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 2:10).

Do you understand what this means? If you have been saved by the grace of God, then you realize that this salvation leads to a transformed disposition toward our lives and actions. God wants us to join Him in the salvation of others. Some of us are given gifts that will build up and equip the next Billy Graham. Some are given gifts that make possible the environment for the next Billy Graham to hear the gospel. In other words, we all, if we are followers of Christ, have been given specific gifts for specific purposes. How do you discover them? Not by doing nothing. You must get off the sidelines and into the game. We must begin to serve.

If God were to evaluate your level of service to the Kingdom of God, like a performance review, would you look forward with anticipation or shrivel with dread? Lets get busy. There's work to be done. Coasting is not in the playbook. We must finish the race marked out for us and we are called to run with the intent to win.

What is Church About Really?

I'm glad to be blogging today. I've been on a couple month sabbatical from blogging. I finally feel that I have something to say after taking a break. The question I want to ask and briefly explore is: what is church really about?

This is a question that as a church right now, is vital that we answer. Since we have started utilizing video, there have been some comments from people saying things like, "well, we can just watch a video at home" or "I can watch videos online." While these things are absolutely true, they reveal a much deeper issue. If church is nothing more than going to listen to a preacher talk, then yes, you can absolutely do that at home. HOWEVER, is that all a church is really about? My answer is a big fat NO!

Church is much more than "GOING & GETTING." Church is about "GOING & SERVING," "GOING & CONNECTING," "GOING & GIVING." There is a big difference between the first one and all the ones that came after. Church is not about sitting and listening to a live preacher, it is about much more than that. It is about WORSHIPPING CORPORATELY TOGETHER, it is about BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE TO SHARE LIFE WITH, it is about GIVING YOUR GIFTS TO THE BUILDING OF GOD'S CHURCH. You can't do these things from your computer at home or from your couch.

So let's reevaluate what we are saying when we begin to make comments about what the church is really about. It is much more than watching a live preacher. May God grow us in our understanding of the church, and lets move from being consumers of a service, to people who are consumed with serving.