What Difference Does It Make

What Difference Does It Make

One question that gives me pause is, how is my life different because of my relationship with Christ? Sounds like a soft-baller but you can ask most Christians for specifics as to how walking with Christ has transformed how they make decisions, respond to disappointment, determine their priorities, etc. and the average church-attending American will struggle to give clear examples. 

In fact, most could be atheists and still be decent, hardworking folks that you could trust to watch your house while you are on vacation. I have even heard people speak of how much slower they are to cuss now that they attend church. Other spiritual feats include... I don’t mind helping folks if they really need it... I try to treat people the way I want them to treat me... or, I don’t mind giving to the poor if they act like they appreciate it. Well, we have established that you are not likely to steal my lawnmower but the Pharisees, whose righteousness Jesus condemned, are still ahead of you. 

My point is that Christ did not die on the cross to make us good neighbors, to pay our bills on time, to keep our racial prejudges to a minimum, or stay out of jail. In Luke 6:27-32 Jesus resets the bar from civilized to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, give to everyone who asks, and for those who just take it away from you, don’t ask for it back. Then He really deflates these spiritual giants by declaring “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. (NASB)

Don’t misunderstand, loving your enemies will not get you into the Kingdom of God, but if we are in His kingdom, we are able to love people who do not love us, live with that inner sufficiency called joy, and demonstrate meekness as we relinquish our rights. 

Decent... we can do. But real transformation only Christ can do. But, He can only transform us fine upstanding sinners with good credit scores when we are willing to fall before Him and confess our hypocrisy and abandon our self-righteousness.    

Then, when asked for specifics as to how Christ has changed your life... you won't shut up for a week.

Pastor Mike Snelgrove

Have you met the “New Jesus”? 

Would the post-Christian “woke” world of “what I think” consider someone a Christian who...  

• refused to feed hungry people because they rejected the real purpose of His mission (John 6)

• declared absolutely that there was no other way to God but His way (John 14)

• chose 12 apostles all from the same race and gender (Luke 6)

• called a woman a sinner who had been caught in adultery and refused to accept her behavior (John 8)         

• accepted an expensive gift that could have been sold and the money given to the poor (Mark 14)

• brought up a woman’s past five failed marriages while she was trying to give him a drink of water (John 4)

• ignored a man dying on a cross who was begging Jesus to save Him (Luke 23)

All of such are ideas that many consider un-Christian in the modern world.  But no worries since we seem to have created our own “Jesus”.  I like to call the new one, "Facebook Jesus", since he is the product of media where we get to speak and He doesn’t.  Places that canonize “what I think” as sacrosanct, and makes Jesus tons more culturally sensitivity than when He used to pipe off about how most people are going to die and go to hell (Matt 7:13-14).  Who needs to hear that... right? 

Remember the dark ages of being micro-aggressively moored to absolute truth concerning marriage, sexuality, under the thumb of a Jesus to whom our soul was more important than our self?  Remember when we were like so concerned with what He thought of us.  We were just too afraid to give Him a much needed less-repressive make over so that we could finally just be ourselves? 

Regrettably, we have forgotten that Christ’s message is not offered in a software package, which requires constant updating in order to meet the demands of its users.  He never asked for feedback or provided a means for reporting errors. 

Fortunately, He offers us an opportunity not to be ourselves... lost sinners, who need a Savior. He does not need a makeover or an update.  But... neither do we.  Actually, we need for Him to recreate us completely.  So, when we get to the end of being ourselves, life without a compass, and demanding the right to be empty and shallow... remember there is hope.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (NASB).

 Pastor Mike

So, how much should I give to God?

WARNING... how and what one should give to God gave birth to the first jealous rage recorded in human history - and ended with murder. In Genesis 4, Cain concluded that whatever I choose to give is a personal and private matter and God should appreciate my decision. In fact, whether to give in the first place, and if so how much, has been sacred ground  since the beginning of  human history, and anyone who treads there does so at his own peril.

Later, the Law would conveniently mandate the proper amount down to the minutest degree, but long before Moses and the Law, God had made it clear that what He required was simply our best. Just as Able gave the first of his flocks, and did so without knowing how his decision would affect the future of his herds. His brother Cain's gift required far less risk but was well in line with the still popular notion that something is better than nothing and whatever I choose to bring should be appreciated.

Nonetheless, God rejected his frugal offering and condemned his attitude. Then, like so often happens to this very day, this volatile issue led to discord, hatred, and in the case of Cain, the murder of his own brother. No relationship is safe when humans feel obliged beyond their willingness or have their efforts scorned. In fact, God even warned Cain that his attitude was certain to bring pain and heartache, and yet his idea that it was no one's business but his own was more than he could resist.

So, what should we give... our best. Our best will require sacrifice, risks, and much consideration.  Paul taught that "each should give as you have decided in your heart to give... ." We should consider in our heart ahead of time how we plan to honor God with our gift. Our heart is where our deepest expression of love toward God rest and is a clear indicator of our priorities.

Paul continues that "You should not be sad when you give, and you should not give because you feel forced to give. God loves the person who gives happily" (2 Cor 9:7 NCV). Imagine seeking legal counsel as to the least amount one must give to his children in order to be lawfully supporting them. Such selfishness would not convey love but rather an obligation.

So, what about tithing? The tithe is an Old Testament requirement that is easily and perhaps legitimately dismissed as legalism.  But, for most, 10% is rarely a consideration anyway, and the reality is that most actually give little or nothing. However, the New Testament teaches that we are simply stewards, not owners of anything. Our responsibility is to see that every cent of the Master's resources is used to glorify Him.

Still, we may feel that "I worked for it and so I deserve to keep as much of it as I choose." I challenge you to make it a matter of prayer. Ask God what would be pleasing to Him. Seek His will for your finances, time and all other resources over which He has given you responsibility. This will allow Him to create in you the heart of not only an obedient giver but a cheerful one.


Pastor Michael Snelgrove

A Fool For a Client?

Christ desires to be our advocate "one called alongside" (I John 2:1-2).  The context addresses our standing before God as guilty sinners with Christ standing beside us speaking on our behalf-- speaking as One who has satisfied (propitiation) His own wrath for our sin. Sounds like only a fool would refuse such essential and unwarranted grace.

Unfortunately, many do reject such grace and choose to represent themselves. Why? Why, would anyone refuse to allow Christ to stand on his or her behalf; especially since He is the only hope he or she has?

Perhaps it is because I must understand that Christ is a Savior and, if He is a Savior then that means that I need saving. The angel told the shepherds (Luke 2) that having a Savior was good news for everyone... not an example, not a great teacher, not a celestial bread truck, not a cosmic buddy who understands that I am not perfect, but a Savior.

Embracing a Savior means that I have ceased to make my own case that...

• What I did could have been worse...
• Times have changed
• It's just who I am...
• I was just confused...
• Others, who attend Church, have done it too...
• At least I admitted that I should have tried harder...
• or... (just write in the one that has always made you feel better)

No... choosing to fall on the mercy offered by the death of Christ is to abandon efforts for validation or sanction for my sin... no more comparisons, equivocations, excuses, explanations, justifications, or "reasons" that if people only knew the circumstances they would understand.

We've all heard that he who attempts to represent himself in the court of law has a fool for a client. Such is even truer and far more serious in the eternal court of judgment before God. Christ is our advocate and we are fools to stand before Him as our Judge without also having Him as our attorney.

So, don't. Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God... (I Peter 5:6). My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise (Ps 51:17 NIV).







Pastor Mike 

What Does God’s Word Really Say?

Understanding the difference between what God’s word says and what I want it to say is critical for the follower of Christ. Such sounds simple enough, especially since we have it in writing. So, whatever “I think” or “want to believe” is either biblical or it isn’t.


Simple enough, right – well maybe not.

For most followers, we, at least, begin with the premise that the Bible is indeed the final authority… period. But what happens when loved ones die who may have been lost but we desperately want to believe they are in heaven? Perhaps we ourselves have made a sinful choice about which God’s word is clear but now we sense the need for a "fresh interpretation" – one that accounts for the particulars that we feel in our case should also be considered.

We may remain cautious with these personal conflicts with scripture but, some are just too delicate, too painful, and too unthinkable for us to abandon. The final authority then becomes not what God has said but what I wish He had said. Our pain and fear of the unthinkable have begun to supersede what God has made clear and so God’s word as “the final authority” has become neither.

Once the emotional toxins have set in, loved ones who never cared about Christ are now with Him in glory, someone else’s spouse has become our latest gift from God, and the narrow way has become an interstate. We soothe our soul with notions such as “no one knows the heart” or “we are not supposed to judge” until we eventually reach critical mass wherein we now find more comfort in what we do not know (or don’t want to know) than in what God has so clearly promised.

None of this is necessary. Christ did not die on the cross in order to vindicate our decisions or to validate our notions but rather for the forgiveness of sin. Christ is now our advocate and intercedes for us before the Father. “Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 NIV). God freely offers grace and forgiveness but not endorsement.

So first, let’s leave the frightening unknowns in the hands of a loving and just God. Both people and problems are always better left in His hands than in ours. Secondly, when those whom we love, embrace that which is clearly contrary to biblical teaching, let’s pray for healing and deliverance. Normalizing or justifying their decisions will still leave them with the same emptiness that led them there in the beginning.

Finally, let's not edit but embrace the word of God. Emotionalism is where the certainty and peace of God's trustworthiness go to die. Let Him be God and when we sin, let Him be our Savior. When we cannot change outcomes, let Him be Lord of Lords. When loved ones are sick of soul, let Him heal.

 For the word of the Lord is right and true; 

he is faithful in all he does. 

The Lord loves righteousness and justice; 

the earth is full of his unfailing love. 

Ps. 33:4-5 (NIV)

There they crucified Him... 

If I live to be 100 I will never forget standing at the foot of Mt Calvary outside the City of Jerusalem in 1996. A place that is necessarily outside the city limits so as to not taint the city's religious purity by the butchery of human beings. No special gear needed for reaching the base of this ignominious geological tumor - just walk across the paved parking lot of Modern Jerusalem's city bus station.

I was amazed that such a place would be so ill-considered as I stood on the diesel saturated asphalt that terminated at its base. I later returned there at night in order to be alone and weep. The other members of the graduate project had seen me cry at various sites and seemed curious as to my emotions. I knew that this was a place where I needed to be alone.

How could they just build a city bus station at the foot of such a place? My brother in Christ, Dr. Anthony Negbenebor had reminded me earlier, at the house of Caiaphas, that these places meant something very special to me, but meant very little to most who lived there.

In fact, the Church of Holy Sepulcher is supposedly the "correct" crucifixion site. In the second century AD, Hadrian the Roman Emperor had built a temple to Aphrodite, which was later converted into a church by Constantine. Helena, Constantine's mother, claims to have held one of three crosses she found at this site over a corpse, under which one of the crosses caused the corpse to live. Therefore, she believed that this was indeed the cross of Christ and that Hadrian's former temple site was where Jesus was crucified.

However, this was all a bit too spurious for some. In addition, this site was located far too deep within the city walls to have even been a place of crucifixion. In 1863, British General Charles Gordon gave the skull shaped mound, at which I stood, further  significance after the discovery of a garden, a tomb, and wine press nearby. Also, a large underground cistern indicated that this tomb would have belonged to a person of wealth, such as Joseph of Arimathea (John 18:38).

No matter, I too am guilty of not giving the death of God Himself the significance it deserves. My worship is often hurried by obligations that I have allowed to encroach on the sacred time that should be God's and His alone. Like the choking smoke of city buses, my plans and my time often compete for attention that should belong to God.

I need forgiveness and where such was made possible could never be sanctified sufficiently. Because "there" (Luke 23:33) is where we caused the most pain to the most precious for the most worthless... me.

 Pastor Mike Snelgrove

Hiding the Mess that needs Healing the Most

I recently came across a great word from Pastor Steve Ely of Passion Ministries, concerning how that which is hidden cannot be healed. Most of these insights are his, but I wanted to share how it opened my own eyes to some precious truths as well.

In Mark 3 Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. After telling the man to stand up and come forward in front of everyone present, Jesus tells him to stretch out his hand. He did not specify which hand to stretch forth, and it may seem foolish even to raise the point… but perhaps not. 

If he were like most of us, he may have been tempted to put forth his good hand; the healthy, functional hand. Besides, Jesus told him not only to stand before the crowd but then to make his infirmity public. Just imagine if he had resisted or perhaps suggested that such was a private matter and that he did not understand how further public embarrassment was necessary to facilitate his healing. Or, what if he pointed out how he wasn't the only one present with issues?

Remember when Jesus told Mary and Martha that He needed to see their dead brother Lazarus? They seemed reluctant to make Lazarus available because of the stench they had labored for days to perfume and conceal. Still, Jesus is offering to bring life to the wretched death and decay buried deep in the tomb - the same decay at which they could no longer bear to look. 

Jesus wants to do the same for us. But first, we must remove the layer upon layers of wrappings and distractions we have used to hide the extent of the putrid rot. Since we often feel that we must conceal our brokenness, many of us have likely missed the healing that God can bring. We might even decide that it is time to find another synagogue where our withering is not so well known.

However, why not raise our "weaknesses" and glorify God. Raise our feebleness and failures to him and like the apostle Paul declare, that God's "... power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me (II Cor 12:9 NIV). 

Pastor Mike