This story is too good not to share. This is what happens when Jesus' love works through others for others...
The Gay Protest That Encountered The Love of God
From Charismanews.com
by Michael Brown
Last week, Scott Volk, one of the pastoral leaders at FIRE Church, my home congregation, received a call from the local police informing him that there would be a gay protest outside our building on Sunday morning.
The leader of the protest announced on Facebook, “We will meet just before service begins, and protest as they gather, we will have a silent protest as service is going and let them have it as they leave for the day. Remember we will be peaceful and respectful, something they don’t understand. We are going to STAND TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY to show that our love is stronger than their hate.”
In response, I wrote on my blog: “On behalf of FIRE Church, I want to extend to you the warmest welcome and let you know that we are thrilled that you are here with us on Sunday. We have been praying for you for a long time!
“As always, you will only meet with love, kindness, and respect from the FIRE leadership and congregants, and we proclaim to you once again the amazing grace of God. Jesus died to save us from our sins, heterosexual and homosexual alike, and only in Him can we find forgiveness, redemption, and transformation. Jesus alone is the Healer, Savior, Deliverer, and Transformer.”
On my radio show, I also encouraged them to come in good numbers so we could greet them, and Scott posted a note on Q-Notes, a local gay website that had announced the protest, saying, “As the pastor of FIRE Church, I just want you to know that you’ll be greeted with the same love and compassion as we always endeavor to show anyone--you are more-than-welcome! You make mention of the ‘hate’ that we show. Yet, in all our years here we’ve only desired to reach out with love to everyone in the local community here whether they are labeled as gay or straight. Hopefully, you’ll see that love demonstrated on Sunday as you protest.”
Not surprisingly, given the suspicion, and misunderstanding that exists, Scott’s gracious invitation drew some hostile responses:
David: “Love is the most disfigured mask that hate wears.”
Sue: “If what you think is reaching out in love is perceived as hateful attack, perhaps you should reconsider your actions.”
David: “You can fool yourself, Mr. Volk. You can fool your parishioners. But you can’t fool God. He knows what’s in your heart, and it isn’t love. It’s hate.”
Tom: “What these fire church people probably don’t understand is that spending an eternity ANYWHERE with them is what I would consider a true HELL. They should concern themselves with their own pathetic lives and leave other alone to theirs ...”
Scott responded by inviting them to his home for dinner to spend a night with him and his family. And he explained that, “to call someone hateful without ever meeting them, seeing them, or hearing them speak, is an indication of a heart that needs love. I make myself available.”
On Sunday morning, Aug. 26th, about 10 protesters showed up (we were disappointed there were so few) and some of our FIRE leaders met with them, offering them water and snacks, sharing God’s love and truth with them, and then inviting them to join us in the service. After a few minutes they left, explaining that we were too nice and loving to deserve a protest!
Bear in mind that these protesters know the stands we have taken for biblical values and some of them have listened to my radio broadcasts or read my writings, so they recognize how strongly we differ with them on many key issues. Yet they also recognized our genuine love for them and saw that we were not full of hate. The love of Jesus, flowing out of Spirit-filled, godly hearts, makes an impact that cannot be denied.
Scott shared this good news on the Q-Notes website, along with the invitation to those calling us hateful to join him for dinner at his house. In response Spydre wrote, “I want to hear more about this Jesus,” and Jaybea commented, “Even I would be welcome there? It would be an honor to meet Scott Volk and Dr. Brown. I’m beginning to see light as very attractive.” How amazing!
The next day, Monday, Aug. 27th, the leader of the protest called into my radio show to apologize publicly for the protest, explaining that their “anger ... was aimed [in] the wrong direction.” And then he said these words: “Once we got there Sunday morning we were greeted with absolutely perfect love. I mean, it was fantastic.” Praise God!
After the broadcast, we exchanged contact information and are looking forward to sharing a meal together and, more importantly, candidly sharing our hearts. This is genuinely good news.
When the Lord called me to get involved with homosexual issues eight years ago, He said to me, “Reach out and resist,” meaning, “reach out” to the people with compassion and “resist” the activist agenda with courage.
Is it possible to do both? By God’s grace, the answer is yes, and in the end, love never fails.
Michael Brown is the author of The Real Kosher Jesus and the host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Get real!
Sticks and stones
It makes me sad to see how Christians are being portrayed in the world these days. Why do Christians get these distorted and hurtful labels placed on them? I've seen the words bigot, discriminatory, anti-gay, close-minded, hateful, judgemental, out-of-touch and irrelevant all tied with Christianity in recent news articles, reports, blogs, social media and videos. I wonder what Jesus himself would say if someone called him those names? He'd probably give that person a big hug because, well, he's Jesus and he loves everyone including sinners! Wait! We're all sinners, so he must love us all!
Who's to blame? I blame us!
I blame part of this bad perception on some Christians themselves. See, there is an expectation of Christian behavior as it's clearly outlined in the Bible. When non-Believers (or sometimes-Believers) see people calling themselves Christian acting in a way that doesn't align with the Biblical teachings of Christianity, then labels are put on people as a whole. Yes, a messed up stereo-type.
Who's to blame? I blame them!
I blame part on the media for picking and exploiting stories about Christians that show those who are not behaving in a Christ-like manner perpetuating a misguided idea about what Chritianity is really all about. Lets face it, there are some crazies out there who don't do the rest of us any favors. But instead of over-looking these stories, the media will often put them front and center. When was the last time you saw a major media story that showed a Christian living out his faith in a positive way?
Who's to blame? I blame us some more!
I blame social-media for it's fast paced, sarcastic humor and incorrect message spreading as well. How many times have you seen cynical cartoon, images, web-videos and the like, that reduce Christians down to a point where a reader just laughs and mocks them. This denigrates Christianity and removes all the loving wonderful aspects of all of Christ's teachings. It is making a mockery of what Jesus' purpose and what real Christ-followers believe.
Check yourself, before you wreck yourself
So what's a Jesus loving Christ-follower to do? I think those poking fun of and mislabeling Christians don't truly comprehend what it means to be Christian. No one is perfect (only Jesus was), but all of us are forgiven when we give our lives over to Christ. In doing so, we're held to a different standard. We can't hate, like the world does. We can't be bigoted. We can't discriminate. We have to be as my Pastor says, "Jesus with skin on." If we are to change the misperception of what a Christian is all about, we need to match our actions and words with scripture. Does what you do or say align with God's word?
Separation anxiety
Often times it feels like we are under attack. And rightly so, because well...we are. Whether you believe that evil does exist (Satan) or not, you must agree that the best way to keep people from having a personal relationship with God through Christ is to separate His people from Him. Worldly activities and government policies will often subtly work to separate people from God. We need to remain faithful. We need to remain in God's grace by following His word (scripture) and acting and behaving in ways that please God and build up His Kingdom. This is tough to do. But Jesus made it easy for us. Pray and live in faith and God will strengthen you. When asked what is the most important Commandment, Jesus answered:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:30-31).
24/7
If you love the Lord your God then in turn you will love His people, His creation. But also, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will also love the Lord God! Kind of neat how those two most important commandments go hand-in-hand. But what the world needs to understand is that in living out "Love the Lord your God...", a Christian is filled with God's love through Jesus 24/7. It's not a Sunday-thing. It's not just on Christmas and Easter. It's day and night. In doing so, a person is humble and submissive before God and does whatever he can to please God through worship, prayer and every aspect of life. God is the center of all, He is not somewhere on your priority list. Your thoughts, opionions, actions, activities and words should serve to glorify God to best you know how. It is done through a continual personal relationship with Jesus.
A Christian cannot do this and turn his back to God when there is a hot-topic or issue facing our culture today. A Christian needs to keep his focus on God while walking in the world. A Christian must not waver from obedience to God just because it's easier to go with the flow of popular opinion. Loving your neighbor as yourself does not mean that its ok to turn away from God or his word in order to do so. It also doesn't mean your neighbor is always right. God is always right and just. As a Christian we can't pick the parts of scripture that we like and ignore the rest. Yes, love your neighbor, but first and foremost love the Lord your God. You can't love the Lord your God and be intentionally disobedient at the same time.
Pride and truth
Personally, I think what our culture today struggles the most with is pride and truth.
Pride. We are a culture of prideful people who can take care of ourselves and don't need God in our lives. People reject Him, or turn away from Him because they are living a happy, comfortable life and are good people. I don't have a way to convince anyone they need God's grace, that's something a person has to accept for themselves. I pray for those people to accept God's free gift of salvation without having some life altering tragedy in order for them to realize they need Him.
Truth. The second thing that our culture doesn't like is truth. The Bible is full of truth. If you are calling yourself a Christian, then the Bible is well...your truth. It's your Bible! It is truth. Sometimes it is hard to accept because some biblical truth is contrary to what is acceptable and "right" in our culture today. Before accepting Christ in my life, I often went back and forth on issues because both sides made sense from time to time. But what was missing was the knowledge of truth defined by authority. When I let God rule my life, I found that authority....God himself, the Creator. I'm pretty sure He knows what's right and wrong. I now know truth. I pray for those who do not yet know truth, and that they come to know it through His grace, and word.
The major difficulty with pride and truth is that we often have to set aside our pride in order to accept truth.
What to do
I will continue to read God's word and pray so that I can be like Jesus to the best of my ability. I will continue to to try show people God's love and grace through how He works through me. I pray my actions and words glorify God and do not serve to separate His people from Him but instead encourage others to seek Him out through Jesus. This in no way means I am perfect. I make mistakes.
I am a Christian, not a bigot. I love my neighbor no matter his race.
I pray for the salvation through Christ for people of all races.
I am a Christian, my aim is not to discriminate but to love my neighbor no matter his religious belief.
I pray for the salvation through Christ for people of all religions and those without any belief system. I pray their hearts are opened to God through Jesus.
I am a Christian and will demonstrate love for my neighbor no matter his sexual orientation.
I pray for the salvation through Christ for people struggling with sexual addiction, confusion and differing orientations. I pray for their strength to overcome sin.
I am a Christian. I am not closed-minded or hateful. I love my neighbor no matter his judgement on me because I identify myself with Christ. I pray for the salvation through Christ for all people overwhelmed with pride, cynicism and judgement.
I am a Christian. I am not perfect. I thank God each day for His loving grace.
If you're wondering where I got this blog idea from, well, it came from God Himself.
Colossians 2: 6-10
It makes me sad to see how Christians are being portrayed in the world these days. Why do Christians get these distorted and hurtful labels placed on them? I've seen the words bigot, discriminatory, anti-gay, close-minded, hateful, judgemental, out-of-touch and irrelevant all tied with Christianity in recent news articles, reports, blogs, social media and videos. I wonder what Jesus himself would say if someone called him those names? He'd probably give that person a big hug because, well, he's Jesus and he loves everyone including sinners! Wait! We're all sinners, so he must love us all!
Who's to blame? I blame us!
I blame part of this bad perception on some Christians themselves. See, there is an expectation of Christian behavior as it's clearly outlined in the Bible. When non-Believers (or sometimes-Believers) see people calling themselves Christian acting in a way that doesn't align with the Biblical teachings of Christianity, then labels are put on people as a whole. Yes, a messed up stereo-type.
Who's to blame? I blame them!
I blame part on the media for picking and exploiting stories about Christians that show those who are not behaving in a Christ-like manner perpetuating a misguided idea about what Chritianity is really all about. Lets face it, there are some crazies out there who don't do the rest of us any favors. But instead of over-looking these stories, the media will often put them front and center. When was the last time you saw a major media story that showed a Christian living out his faith in a positive way?
Who's to blame? I blame us some more!
I blame social-media for it's fast paced, sarcastic humor and incorrect message spreading as well. How many times have you seen cynical cartoon, images, web-videos and the like, that reduce Christians down to a point where a reader just laughs and mocks them. This denigrates Christianity and removes all the loving wonderful aspects of all of Christ's teachings. It is making a mockery of what Jesus' purpose and what real Christ-followers believe.
Check yourself, before you wreck yourself
So what's a Jesus loving Christ-follower to do? I think those poking fun of and mislabeling Christians don't truly comprehend what it means to be Christian. No one is perfect (only Jesus was), but all of us are forgiven when we give our lives over to Christ. In doing so, we're held to a different standard. We can't hate, like the world does. We can't be bigoted. We can't discriminate. We have to be as my Pastor says, "Jesus with skin on." If we are to change the misperception of what a Christian is all about, we need to match our actions and words with scripture. Does what you do or say align with God's word?
Separation anxiety
Often times it feels like we are under attack. And rightly so, because well...we are. Whether you believe that evil does exist (Satan) or not, you must agree that the best way to keep people from having a personal relationship with God through Christ is to separate His people from Him. Worldly activities and government policies will often subtly work to separate people from God. We need to remain faithful. We need to remain in God's grace by following His word (scripture) and acting and behaving in ways that please God and build up His Kingdom. This is tough to do. But Jesus made it easy for us. Pray and live in faith and God will strengthen you. When asked what is the most important Commandment, Jesus answered:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:30-31).
24/7
If you love the Lord your God then in turn you will love His people, His creation. But also, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will also love the Lord God! Kind of neat how those two most important commandments go hand-in-hand. But what the world needs to understand is that in living out "Love the Lord your God...", a Christian is filled with God's love through Jesus 24/7. It's not a Sunday-thing. It's not just on Christmas and Easter. It's day and night. In doing so, a person is humble and submissive before God and does whatever he can to please God through worship, prayer and every aspect of life. God is the center of all, He is not somewhere on your priority list. Your thoughts, opionions, actions, activities and words should serve to glorify God to best you know how. It is done through a continual personal relationship with Jesus.
A Christian cannot do this and turn his back to God when there is a hot-topic or issue facing our culture today. A Christian needs to keep his focus on God while walking in the world. A Christian must not waver from obedience to God just because it's easier to go with the flow of popular opinion. Loving your neighbor as yourself does not mean that its ok to turn away from God or his word in order to do so. It also doesn't mean your neighbor is always right. God is always right and just. As a Christian we can't pick the parts of scripture that we like and ignore the rest. Yes, love your neighbor, but first and foremost love the Lord your God. You can't love the Lord your God and be intentionally disobedient at the same time.
Pride and truth
Personally, I think what our culture today struggles the most with is pride and truth.
Pride. We are a culture of prideful people who can take care of ourselves and don't need God in our lives. People reject Him, or turn away from Him because they are living a happy, comfortable life and are good people. I don't have a way to convince anyone they need God's grace, that's something a person has to accept for themselves. I pray for those people to accept God's free gift of salvation without having some life altering tragedy in order for them to realize they need Him.
Truth. The second thing that our culture doesn't like is truth. The Bible is full of truth. If you are calling yourself a Christian, then the Bible is well...your truth. It's your Bible! It is truth. Sometimes it is hard to accept because some biblical truth is contrary to what is acceptable and "right" in our culture today. Before accepting Christ in my life, I often went back and forth on issues because both sides made sense from time to time. But what was missing was the knowledge of truth defined by authority. When I let God rule my life, I found that authority....God himself, the Creator. I'm pretty sure He knows what's right and wrong. I now know truth. I pray for those who do not yet know truth, and that they come to know it through His grace, and word.
The major difficulty with pride and truth is that we often have to set aside our pride in order to accept truth.
What to do
I will continue to read God's word and pray so that I can be like Jesus to the best of my ability. I will continue to to try show people God's love and grace through how He works through me. I pray my actions and words glorify God and do not serve to separate His people from Him but instead encourage others to seek Him out through Jesus. This in no way means I am perfect. I make mistakes.
I am a Christian, not a bigot. I love my neighbor no matter his race.
I pray for the salvation through Christ for people of all races.
I am a Christian, my aim is not to discriminate but to love my neighbor no matter his religious belief.
I pray for the salvation through Christ for people of all religions and those without any belief system. I pray their hearts are opened to God through Jesus.
I am a Christian and will demonstrate love for my neighbor no matter his sexual orientation.
I pray for the salvation through Christ for people struggling with sexual addiction, confusion and differing orientations. I pray for their strength to overcome sin.
I am a Christian. I am not closed-minded or hateful. I love my neighbor no matter his judgement on me because I identify myself with Christ. I pray for the salvation through Christ for all people overwhelmed with pride, cynicism and judgement.
I am a Christian. I am not perfect. I thank God each day for His loving grace.
If you're wondering where I got this blog idea from, well, it came from God Himself.
"And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority."Colossians 2: 6-10
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)