So I know that this is probably not proper in writing but I am going to start out by asking you a question.� Do the people around you and the people that know you well want to go to church because of you?� Does your attitude, actions, re-actions, and habits draw people to church?� Or do they leave them with the thought??if that is where he/she goes to church I am not going there!??�

Take a second and think back to high school or college during science class when the teacher or professor began to explain the litmus test.� If you remember the litmus test is used by scientists to indicate whether a chemical is an acid or a base.� So it is the means in which we can determine based upon criteria the makeup or the designation of a substance.�

In society we have used this expression of the ?litmus test? to explain many things that test circumstances or situations in our lives.�� And in the same way we have a litmus test for our walk with Christ.� We have the Bible and the examples that are laid out for us to understand through its teachings.�

And so we should look at the examples and then compare them to our own lives and grow and adjust according to the reflection.� For example, let us look at the first people to actually be called Christians.� They were gentiles (anyone who is not of Jewish decent) who were told about Christ and what He did and believed that He was the Messiah.��

Now unfortunately over time, the word ?Christian? has lost a great deal of its significance and is often used of someone who is religious or has high moral values but who may or may not be a true follower of Jesus Christ.� Many people who do not believe and trust in Jesus Christ consider themselves Christians simply because they go to church or they live in a ?Christian? nation.� But going to church, serving those less fortunate than you, or being a good person does not make you a Christian. Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you an automobile. Being a member of a church, attending services regularly, and giving to the work of the church does not make you a Christian.

The Bible teaches that the good works we do cannot make us acceptable to God. Titus 3:5 says, ?He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.? So, a Christian is someone who has been born again by God (John 3:3; John 3:7; 1 Peter 1:23) and has put faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that it is ??by grace you have been saved, through faith?and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.?

A true Christian is a person who has put faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, including His death on the cross as payment for sins and His resurrection on the third day. John 1:12 tells us, ?Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.? The mark of a true Christian is love for others and obedience to God?s Word (1 John 2:4, 10). A true Christian is indeed a child of God, a part of God?s true family, and one who has been given new life in Jesus Christ.

And it is in this new life that we as humans begin to mess it up.� We begin to make Christianity about us and not about Christ.� We make it about our religious acts and about the people who are behind the pulpit instead of about the God that humbly gave himself as a sacrifice for us.� And to make it worse we don?t do as the people from Antioch did and example our faith, we walk around with bad attitudes and we judge other people?s sin without being concerned about our own.�� We assume that God got a good deal when He got us in His church instead of understanding that we are the ones that messed up the church.�

So, let us go back to the idea of the litmus test.� As we take the scriptures and we apply them to our lives we must examine whether or not our actions, behaviors, and our speech reflects the fact that we do have a new life in Christ.� Would the people around you use your life as a litmus test for being a true follower of Christ?� When they see you at the grocery store shopping do they see Christ?� When they see you at the basketball game cheering do they see Christ?� When they see you at church is it different than when they see you out on Broadway?� I encourage you to seek Christ and His litmus test for your life.

 ⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
   at the presence of the God of Jacob,
⁸who turns the rock into a pool of water,
   the flint into a spring of water.            Psalm 114:7-8 ESV

There are several reasons that one might tremble.  First and foremost on that list of reasons would probably be fear.  That is probably the most typical response as to the question ”Why would you tremble?”.  And there is nothing wrong with the response as it is a very accurate statement.  And if we examine scriptures there are several places where it is discussed that someone or something trembled at the sight of or presence of God.  And that is without a doubt an appropriate response to those times.  To physically see God or to experience His power in a dramatic forum is an event that is life altering.   But I want to suggest that we should have a different response as believers that might warrant the number one response to be changed. 

As we have made the transition into Nebraska and into the town of Imperial we have been able to do some things that normally we would not of had the exposure to do.  One that is pertinent to this discussion would be the amount of time that we have spent in a combine picking corn.  Now to some of the readers this might seem somewhat boring or even drudging.  But to my four year old this is basically one of the pinnacles of his young life.  When I tell him that we are going out to ride the combine with Mr. Max or Mr. Kurt he literally begins to shake with excitement.  He cannot stand still and he definetly cannot stand in a stoic fashion as if he were a statue.  So here is my question and my point. 

As we read the verse above and review that we as believers serve a God who can turn flint (which is hard form of quartz rock…just in case you were wondering) into a spring of water shouldn’t we be trembling with excitement to go and spend time with Him?  Shouldn’t we be like my four year old who can’t even stand still when he finds out that we are going to the field?  Shouldn’t we be filled with such excitement at the fact that we are going to worship and hear from God that we cannot even stand still?  There are so many churches across America that will be filled each Sunday with individuals that act like they are at a funeral.  So, I pose this question to you for you to ponder and consider for your own life.  Do you tremble with the expectant excitement that you are going to be in the presence of the Almighty God each Sunday morning before church?  Secondly, do you feel the exact same way Monday thru Saturday?  Now I am not suggesting that you have to be running around like you hair is on fire every moment of everyday, but I am asking do you tremble in your spirit, in your heart, in your soul, as you reflect, consider, act upon the fact that God can take a hardened rock and turn it into water.  Because if He can do that then surely He can rescue us from the trials of life, He can fix any issue, and resolve any conflict.   He can restore any marriage, repair any heart, provide for any need, and love any unlovable. 

He is the Great  Mighty Living God that is concerned with your every breath. 
Now that is something to tremble about! 

God Bless ~ Pastor Tyler

As the New Year has begun a lot of us have already made resolutions trying to implement changes that we want to make in our lives.    They could be financial, family related, weight loss, or even a new job but hopefully one (or more) is spiritual.  And if you haven’t made a spiritual resolution yet let me suggest one.

Consider the resolution to not go to church unless you make true worship of Jesus the first priority of your life.   Now this is where you might do one of a couple of things.  Some of you will be appalled that I even suggested such a thing so you will be angry with me and not read any further.  Some of you that think that you already do this will check out and not continue reading.  And then some of you will consider that I am off my rocker and simply dismiss me but I urge all of you to hang in there and really consider the rest of this article.  See this article is more for you; the one who claims to know Christ and to be a worshipper of Him than someone who doesn’t make that claim. 

Now don’t get me wrong those who don’t know Jesus in a personal relationship definitely need to get that worked out in their lives.  If you don’t know Him your life will never know true peace, true freedom, and true joy.  In the Gospel of John the fourteenth chapter Jesus says “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  What does that mean, you ask?  Well that simply means this; if you want to go to Heaven and spend eternity with God you must know Jesus and believe that He died on the cross for you.  That when He shed His blood it made all of your sins and wrongdoings go away in God’s eyes.  And it is that simple!  Sometimes religions make it much harder than that but it isn’t.   It is Jesus and Jesus alone.

And this brings us right back to those of us who claim to already be worshippers of Jesus.  With the beginning of a New Year I challenge you to start out with a new prayer of worship.  And this prayer would be that God would come in and radically change your heart to see Him in a new and fresh light this year.  Now you say well this sounds like every other “New Years” article that a pastor might write but I assure you that it isn’t. 

God wants to make an impact on your life in the area of worship.  And by worship I don’t mean singing songs before the pastor speaks I mean the way that we live and glorify God.  As one spends their life in church they can know the right things to say and all of the right things do in man’s eyes and can sit in a pew every Sunday and think that those things make them closer to God.  See you can do the right things and you can give your time, your money, and think that that is what makes God happy.  But that isn’t what brings you closer to God and that is not what makes God happy.  And it is definitely not what the Bible teaches on the subject. In fact God specifically says that He would rather us close the doors of our churches than offer half-hearted worship and obedience.   In Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament in the tenth verse of the first chapter God says this:

^“10Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.” ESV

God doesn’t want robots that say and do all the right things.  He wants people to truly love Him with all of their hearts and desires.  He wants people to be passionate about His Son and what He did on the Cross.  He wants people that will search after Him and allow Him to work in their lives.  When He speaks they will listen and they will follow.  We have made so much of Church about the rules and regulations that we have taken a lot of the true worship of God out of Church. 

Jesus spoke to this very thing in the book of Matthew when he was speaking to the religious group of that day the Pharisees.  He instructed them that you do all of the right things on the outside but inside you are still defiled.  This is what He said

             Matthew 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

            It is not what the outside appears to be that makes God happy but the true inside state of your heart and your relationship with Jesus that does.  See the only way to really know what Jesus is about and what God desires for us is to dig through the Bible and learn about His character and about His ways.  It is very easy for us as people to begin to think that we have some influence into our salvation or our righteousness by what we do.  That is why keeping all of those religious rules feels so good.  But what God really wants is our dependency upon Him and to release our control and just worship Him with our life.

So the spiritual resolution for 2010 should be that we would not go to church unless we are going to worship and glorify God with the truth of Jesus in our hearts.   That we will put down all of the religion and all of the extra stuff that we have added to Jesus and just simply worship and praise Him.  And we should do that as the Bible instructs us to in Psalm 98:4

⁴Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

God Bless ~ Pastor Tyler Harrison
Berean Church

Try explaining that to an 8 year old.  We as humans always try to put things into a category that we can grasp and understand.  Men have strived for decades to prove that there is life on other planets or that the “Theory” of evolution is true.  Matter of fact there have been many scientist who spent their whole career working on a theory only to retire or die before they are able to prove it.  What is this need of ours to try to understand and rationalize everything?  Why is it so hard for us to accept the unexplainable? 

¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! ¹⁹ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, ²⁰ that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. ²¹And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”

2 Chronicles 6:18-21 ESV

In 2 Chronicles 6 we see that Solomon has completed the temple and he then dedicates it to God.   In this prayer of dedication we see that even though he doesn’t understand how God could possible reside in the temple he believes that He will…based simply on the fact that God said He would.   He then cries out to God to day and night hear the pleas of His servants and the whole nation and asks God to forgive all the sin.   Oh and by the way he also was praying this in front of the entire nation on his knees with his hands thrown upward to heaven (What an example of complete surrender).

In regard to our own lives; are we standing kneeling on the promises of God rather we can comprehend them or not?  Are we expecting God to move in supernatural ways that are His ways or are we settling for things that we as humans can understand?  Do we have to settle the argument “what came first the chicken or the egg” before we are able to praise God for creating Chicken pot pies?  Ok, that one may have been a stretch (but when it is cold and snowy chicken pot pies are a supernatural warming agent) but you get my point regardless.  Solomon knew that God could not even be contained by Heaven…so why do we think he can only work in ways we would think of?  I challenge you to get on your knees and throw your hands up to the God that can not be contained by Heaven.  He is waiting to hear your praise and your pleas!