The gospel has a global impact; Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Everyone needs to hear about Jesus, his saving work on the cross, and the empty tomb. This is why Christians support mission work in all parts of the globe.

But the Church is locally focused. Every Church exists in a very specific time and place. No community is the same, each with its own unique people. This is why the letters of the New Testament are addressed to towns and contain instructions for their situation.

With the internet, we are exposed to people from all over the globe with a keystroke. It is easy to begin to think of the Church globally. That is not entirely bad, as the message of Jesus can spread online across the globe now without much effort.

The downside can be that we, as Christians, forget to think locally. We might believe every person we encounter struggles with the same issues we see on the internet. We may begin to feel that the views expressed on social media are the ones my neighbor holds.

Here is my challenge to believers: never assume you know what people think, feel, and believe. Each person you encounter has a unique background and experiences that have shaped their point of view. Our first step in sharing the message of Jesus is getting to know the people in our lives and communities.

I want to be a part of a Church that is going into all the world. But we do it by addressing one person at a time.    

Success looks vastly different for two followers of Jesus.

For one person, it might mean never tasting alcohol. For another person, it might mean staying sober for one night.

For one person, it might mean never saying a cuss word. For another person, it might mean they stop using the Lord’s name in vain for one week.

For one person, it might mean teaching a class two nights a week to young people who want to know Jesus. For others, it might mean attending their first class to learn about Jesus.

We are all on different journeys, and we have different starting places. Therefore, we cannot compare our lives with others.

Celebrate your successes as you grow in the Lord. They are genuinely YOUR successes, and you have every reason to be happy with how you are changing now that you are a believer.  

I do not care in the slightest if Jesus gets me. 

I do not need someone who can identify with me as being poor, an outcast, or struggling.

Empathy is a fantastic thing, but I need more than that.  

I need someone who will step into the mud with me so that he can pull me out.

Jesus is not the great Empathizer. He is our great Savior. Do not settle for anything less, no matter how much they spend on advertising. 

I was sitting in a class at Bible College when an older student was asking the professor questions. This student was already preaching in a local Church and was having trouble with some false teachings. At the time, some things that were not good Bible interpretation were being promoted on TV and the radio. The student wanted to know where to learn about this topic and how to address it best.

The wise old professor replied with a story. He told the students about when he was in Bible college many years before. They were required to take a class to refute a particular false teaching (something I had never heard of, nor do I remember it now). He told about how he spent a great deal of time learning the concepts this heresy was teaching and how to respond when he became a preacher. Then, he continued, I went into the world and never really met anyone who believed this particular viewpoint. In fact, within a couple of years, everyone stopped talking about it and moved on to some new form of flawed interpretation. 

Then he delivered some lines that I still remember over thirty years later. He stated boldly, “That is when I decided to know only the truth. If I can thoroughly know what the Bible teaches, I will never fall to any false teaching.” 

Numerous forms of bad Bible teaching exist today. First, I find very few people who believe everything being reported online. Second, my job is not to refute every piece of misinformation, although I occasionally must do that. As a pastor and Christian, my job is to know the truth. If I spend more time learning about some false belief than reading my Bible, I am doing myself and the people I teach a disservice. 

Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Free from anyone and everyone who would try to mislead you in faith.     

I remember a few dates without needing a reminder on my phone or a note on my calendar. Family birthdays, my anniversary, and national holidays are indelibly written into my mind. Two other dates find their place there too. Those are the days I lost my best friend in an accident, and I lost my dad to a stroke. Whenever those days roll around, I am filled with a sadness that I cannot wholly explain to you until you have lost someone you deeply love too.

Recently, one of those dates popped up for me, and I found myself sitting in front of my computer with an overwhelming sense of sadness and loss. A couple of times, I started crying as I was deep in thought about my loved ones.

Why do I tell you this? Because everyone has a few of those days on their calendar when their hearts begin to hurt. For some, it brings moments of grief; for others, joy; and for some, it is the source of anger.

As a Christian, there are many reasons to be kind and give grace to every person you meet. One of those reasons is that you never know what emotions someone is bringing to this date. While this may be just another day for you, for them, it conjures up feelings from deep inside their soul.

This day holds no extra significance for me, but I will be sensitive to the fact that this might be an important date for you.

Thirty years ago, I repeatedly stated, “Show me your checkbook, and I will show you your priorities.” Where your money goes was a significant indicator of what each person valued the most.

Now, I tell people, “Show me your calendar, and I will show you your priorities.” Time is a limited commodity, and where you spend it demonstrates what you value most.

I used to say, “How small a $20 bill looks out on the town, and how big it looks on Sunday morning when the offering is being passed.”

Now I say, “How quickly two hours go for kids’ sports, and how long that time looks on Sunday morning.”

Time is our greatest treasure. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  

People primarily leave a Church they once called home in three ways.

First, some leave by the front door. These people are not happy. Something happened or was said that upset them, and they marched out loudly with a slamming door.

Second, some people leave by the back door. One day, they stopped attending and quietly left, never returning. These people are not upset; they go because they know they no longer fit in with this group.

Finally, some people leave by the side door. They get busy with work, sports, family, or a long list of other possible reasons. Attendance becomes less frequent. This pattern may continue for months. Then, one day, they are gone completely. They are not mad about anything. They do not say, “We are never going back.” They simply drift away and don’t return.

In my years of ministry, a few have left by the front door. Sometimes, they have proven to be a “blessed subtraction” as they were a source of negative words and actions. Also, I have had several people leave by the back door. Often, a larger Church has better worship, a bigger youth group, or more for their family. Some have told me the opposite, that our Church was too big and they needed something smaller. 

The last group is the most significant way I have lost people by far. People drift away quietly, and no one knows what happened. Frequently, they quit reading their Bibles and move away from anything religious entirely. 

Losing people, especially through the side door, is one of the most difficult parts of being a pastor. I try to get friends to reach out to them. The leadership and I make phone calls, drop messages, and visit their home. But since there is nothing truly wrong, little can be done.      

Many Christians are bracing themselves for a spiritual battle with evil. They are prepared to handle the arguments against faith. They can be well-versed in the fundamental doctrines. They will not fall prey to some grand scheme of the devil.

Meanwhile, the real threat to their faith may be a full calendar, busyness, and an overloaded life.  

Evil doesn’t care which door you choose as long as you stay far away from the Church. 

I believe there are markers of spiritual maturity. Some are highlighted in the Bible, and others are practical indicators seen in people’s behavior. One sign that someone is maturing as a believer is their willingness to own their spiritual growth. Related to that is when they begin to take responsibility for helping others connect and grow.

That means they look out for the new person when attending Church. They go out of their way to make a guest feel welcome. They love to speak to new people and shine their light for Jesus. They make it a point to find the person who is an outsider to conversations and seek to bring them into the group. These people make it their responsibility to share their faith everywhere, but especially when people walk in the doors of the Church.

You could flip this over, too. One mark of immature believers is that they continually wait for people to come to them. They want others to serve them. They want others to come and start a conversation with them. They want everyone else to take responsibility for their connection and growth. 

Spiritually mature people are not looking for others to help them continually. They seek to help others.

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness – they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only complete realist.”

— C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

While driving around a suburban shopping mall during the holiday season, a group of teenagers stepped off the curb in front of me. Then, they shot me a dirty look as I slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting them.

Then, I circled down near an East entrance, and a group of college-aged women walked out in front of me without pausing their conversation. Again, I was on high alert and stopped so they could cross the street.

Throughout that day, numerous people would move through traffic as if they had all the power in the world. I could not help but think about how they did not acknowledge how little power they actually possessed. If I were not watching their actions, I could have brought disaster to any one of them. They acted like they had power over their life and destinies when, in reality, I held all the cards.

It makes me ponder about how we treat God. We often act like our lives result from our planning and decisions. We think our brawn and brains are what determine our destiny. We step off the curb feeling like we control the situations surrounding us when, in fact, we have so little power.

Part of faith is acknowledging our weakness and that we only live with an illusion of power as God drives the car.