Are You Living An Offended Life?

Posted on February 8, 2015 by ccpastormike

Most people would answer this question in the negative. Of course they are not living that way. But if you want to know if you are living an offended life, then pay close attention to how you react to the mention of certain people’s names or what you think and how you act when you are in their presence.

Author John Bevere in his book “The Bait of Satan,” explains that people can live an offended life without even knowing it because they are so focused on the hurt done to them.

Offense that is harbored and allowed to have free rein produces varying degrees of anger, outrage, jealousy, resentment, strife, bitterness, hatred, and envy. These emotions in turn produce division, separation, broken relationships, betrayal, and even a cooling of faith and love.

Clearly, the devil utilizes the bait of offense to destroy us and other people. So what must we know and do?

First we must realize that we have a choice whether to pick up the bait of offense. I have a dear friend who many years ago made this statement that has stuck with me for decades. He said, “I’m not smart enough to be offended.” In his own humorous way, he was saying, “I love you and will not let words or actions come between us.” The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sin.

The point is this – we have a choice whether or not we will become offended or whether or not we will forgive. Remember friends, forgiveness has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not the one receiving forgiveness deserves it. What it all boils down to ultimately is this – do you want to remain free of the rotten results of harboring an offense?

Then secondly, we must determine to forgive those who have hurt us. I am convinced that a big reason love among Christians is growing cold is because people refuse to forgive. They believe they are justified in their feelings. Perhaps they have never been told that Christians must forgive. Perhaps they don’t understand that their holding onto hurt has frozen them in time, effectively making them a prisoner of the one they believe has hurt them.

Friends, God’s way for His children is that we live in peace with one another. You cannot do that when you are living an offended life.

I recommend you pick up a copy of John Bevere’s book, “The Bait of Satan,” and begin reading and praying for your own deliverance from this heinous trap of our enemy.

When you do you will experience a transforming moment in your life.

Matthew 3:1-12

Posted on February 2, 2015 by ccpastormike

If we were to go into downtown Lima and conduct one of our now famous hypothetical “man-on-the-street interviews,” asking the question, “What makes a person great?” What do you suppose would be the most common responses?

What makes a person great in the world’s eyes is the question. I think we would hear something along the lines of these responses:

Having famous parents or being born into a famous family (Kennedy, Rockefeller, Forbes, etc).

Having wealth – Gates, Warren Buffett, Sam Walton’s heirs, Oprah

Academic degrees, Nobel Peace Prizes

Your profession – politician, doctor, lawyer

Outstanding athletic ability

Artistic ability – music, art, poetry

I think it is obvious that the world does judge greatness for the most part by these types of standards.

Continue reading →

Be Offensive In Love (Part 1)

Posted on January 31, 2015 by ccpastormike

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace”’; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ Jeremiah 23:16-17

Are you a watcher? I mean do you pay attention to the times we live in? Are you aware of the shift in what is considered to be polite and impolite conversation culturally speaking? Let me zero in specifically on evangelism. Have you noticed the huge shift in the methods of presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

I believe that many of the new approaches to evangelism are not well thought out and lack clear biblical support. The reason so many of these new emergent and hipster strategies are gaining a foothold in churches is because too many Christians have succumbed to new definitions of old words. Our society has determined that new definitions are needed in order to rationalize ungodly behavior. A case in point is the word tolerance.

In America tolerance once meant that everyone had a right to express their viewpoint and everyone had a right to disagree with a viewpoint. Today tolerance means that everyone has a right to express a viewpoint as long as it is a socially acceptable viewpoint. In other words, if you hold a viewpoint that is contrary to what the society at large believes, you are not free to express yourself. If you are brave enough to try then you will be met with a very hostile “shout down” by the more enlightened people in our midst.

This has clear implications for telling other people about Jesus Christ. It has become increasingly impolite and in fact culturally incorrect to speak about anyone “needing” Jesus. The Christian faith is being systematically muted by self-appointed “elites” and apparently many Christians are ok with this development.

I will be addressing this development in a five-part series of thoughts entitled, “Be Offensive In Love.” Stay tuned for Part 2.

God bless you today friends.

Gourmet Meal or Crumbs?

Posted on January 25, 2015 by ccpastormike

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Ephesians 5:22, 25

“Love makes the world go round” is a cute adage that is simple in its message but deficient in explaining exactly how that works. Love is as the poet says a “mysterious thing” and something that is both fleeting and enduring. Love has the capacity to satisfy the soul like a gourmet meal or it can starve the one who receives only crumbs.

Let me cut to the chase here folks. How would you describe your relationship with your spouse? Would you give it a thumb up or a thumb down? I don’t mean is everything going great right now because truth is, almost every marriage has a few pot holes every now and then. What I am asking is this – is your marriage on solid footing? Is the foundation of your spousal relationship solid?

If you cannot say “yes it is,” then let me encourage you today to begin the process of evaluating why. The decision to begin to build a solid foundation for your marriage may be an individual one, but to make it happen takes team work.

Taking the necessary steps to construct, restore, or repair a damaged marriage must begin with determining to love your spouse even though they may be behaving in an unloving way. Let me issue a caveat here – I am not suggesting that you should accept abusive behavior in the name of love, and that includes physical, verbal, or emotional abuse. But I am suggesting that you live the truth that love is not primarily an emotion. It is a decision in the biblical sense. So determine to honor your covenant vows to love your spouse through the thick and thin of life.

Next, determine to be honest and transparent with your spouse. This will require a generous amount of trust. Some information will be hard to share and the fear of being judged can be a tremendous weight. Press on anyway. If not initially, your spouse will in time see that your love for him/her outweighs the hurt, because the goal in being honest with one another is to begin to build accountability, which ultimately leads to trust.

When trust is an integral part of the marriage relationship then you are able to overcome those things that previously were stumbling blocks. In effect you are being equipped to demonstrate love in the biblical sense. Friends, your spouse deserves the best you can give not the left over crumbs.

That is a transforming truth.