One story that really sticks out to me is one conversation I had with a sister. I had earlier shared about how I discovered father’s unconditional love for me, she came up to me and related her story about how she discovered father’s unconditional love for herself. She was a member of a nearby Baptist church teaching Sunday school with the pastor’s wife. On one Saturday night while she was praying, father revealed his love to her. She got so excited she went in the next day and promptly quit teaching the class. When the pastor’s wife asked her why, she said I no longer need to do this to gain his approval. No matter how much the pastor’s wife tried to talk her out of it or to defuse the impact of the revelation she was unsuccessful. Not long afterwards she let the Baptist Church and is now walking and exploring her new freedom in her relationship with father.

bob humphrey

I was watching TV the other day when a commercial for a local “church” flashed on the screen. The handsome, smiling pastor began to list the reasons that made First Church the one to go to. As he spoke, each virtue appeared on the screen, boldly underlined all the way down to “convenient parking.” Obviously, since church in the religious world is a commodity you must “go to” in order to reap the alleged benefits, it’s very important that you can park conveniently once you’ve made the effort to show up. The commercial ended with a picture of the “church.” It had a very tall steeple pointed directly to the heavens where one must assume God is gazing down with favor on the architecturally appropriate structure with the convenient parking lot. Certainly he must be pleased as he watches the clientele leave their vehicles and wander into the building where the Sunday morning ritual begins. His smile must grow as the offering basket is passed. This will provide for the commercial, the smiling pastor in the commercial and the pretty building with the convenient parking.

Yes, things are much tidier now than they were when Jesus walked the dusty streets of his home town. And Isaiah said that the Savior wasn’t much to look at. As The Message puts it, he was “..a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away.” And then he said things such as, if you wanted to be like him you had to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him to who knows where. Wasn’t much of a salesman. Would have made an awful commercial. But then, he didn’t need anything we had to give, and he had nothing that could be bought. He came to give himself, to bear our sins, our burdens, our injuries, our punishment. He came to deal with ugliness in a desperately ugly way. And hanging on that cross, naked and mutilated, Jesus drew all men to himself.

David F

Take for example the issue of righteousness. If righteousness is something a person feels they must obtain and fight to stay in, that person will live a life of continual misery as he fights day in and day out to stay in Father’s good graces. God becomes the great conditional lover whose love for us constantly changes as our performance does. But if my perspective is that His righteousness is something that Father freely gives to us because of Jesus’ completed work on the cross then I find myself at peace with Him and with myself and resting in His love. I am able to just enjoy my relationship with Him. And then my behavior soon begins to change because it is through that loving relationship with Him that we are changed. So my perspective has a huge impact on my relationship with Him.

Here’s another biggy that God was really showing us last week. Do we see ourselves as servants or sons? If I am a servant than I am not worthy of anything. I must work to make God happy and that’s how I please Him. Nothing He has is mine, but rather I am only a steward. But if I am His son, then I am an heir to all He has. Not only that, He loves me as His very own child. His love is no longer based on how I perform but rather on who I am. I am not a worker in His house, I am a family member. And as His son I have access to Him all the time. Also as son I am allowed to have differences with my Father and through our relationship work through those together. A servant is never allowed to say what he thinks or express any differences with his master because it is his duty to follow orders. A servant only has a working relationship with his master. It doesn’t take long to see which perspective most Christians have of their relationship with God.

I think it is as Father changes our old perspectives to His perspective that we truly find His life and freedom growing inside us.

Loren

He gives us His Spirit. But just walking? Hmm. There’s something more I believe than just walking. Isaiah talks about mounting up on the wings of an eagle. Running and not being weary. I’m beginning to see there is transformation He wants to bring in our lives. Now that we’re free of the obligations to religion, something new is about to happen.

bob humphrey

You all know where I’m going with this. The religious institution offers church life as a neatly wrapped package containing a few minutes of social interaction followed by inspirational singing and selected Bible sound bites delivered by professionals on Sunday morning to a passive audience. Consequently, most Christians take little time to search out Truth for themselves. They believe most of what they hear from the pulpit and are dependent on “spiritual leaders” to interpret the scriptures and hear God for them. Religious services become their spiritual fix to get them through the week. They believe that the Son revolves around the institution!

Yet the Master mind behind the universe has uniquely created each individual with the potential to discover who God is and what he is doing by becoming his personal friend. “..I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Wow! Sometimes I’m blown away by the realization of how little I take advantage of engaging the heart and mind of the Source of all knowledge, wisdom and life. And to think that my friendship with Father is unique from every other individual on the planet. He no longer needs a Moses to represent himself to me – Jesus has done that. And all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. So, shouldn’t Christians be the smartest, most creative people on earth?

David F

The Christianity I was raised with was one that taught that those who are led by the Spirit are more like bricks than the wind. We’re locked in place and we ain’t budging! Following God was about routines and procedures. It was about going to my job Monday through Friday, saving up for retirement, going to church, sticking to the plan and being a nice guy. It was about my five-year plan, my ten step program and my daily devotion. Anything that caused me to deviate from this course was a nuisance and a problem.

But now I am seeing that my walk with Him is a lifestyle of constant adjustment. I’m not talking about flakey living. Like being some irresponsible goof ball who changes jobs every two weeks because “God told me to.” But I’m seeing that this walk with Him really is a path where I need to be hearing Him daily to see what He is doing and adjust my plans and course accordingly. I have found that so many needs in my life go unmet and desires go unfulfilled simply because I slip away from hearing Him and doing what He is doing. I’m reminded of Jesus’ words, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The word “word” used there is not talking about what was written in the Bible. It’s talking about hearing what He is saying to us now. His daily words to us truly are food for our soul. They sustain us and satisfy the deepest hunger within us. God’s words aren’t just idle words He speaks to make us feel good. Often times they are instructions that require us to take action or council that means we’re going to have to change our plans. But these changes He brings into our lives are for our good because He knows what we need. So many of His people are starving simply because they won’t follow their Shepherd to the green pastures and still waters that He so deeply desires to lead them to.

Loren

We just got back from a great trip to Eureka in Northern California. David Loren and myself spent a couple of days with some folks that had just had their world turned upside down through a series of circumstances that dismantled the church group they were a part of leaving them a little shaken and bewildered about what was to happen next.

We were able to discover and share about each other’s journeys. I always find it interesting how things that have been stirring inside of you can become so crystallized once you’re able to articulate and share them with other people. I also find a great deal of this the Spirit’s impact in my life takes place in the midst and often after such gatherings. It’s as though the Spirit is stirred during the conversations; he seems to begin to connect the dots of earlier revelations and thoughts and activativating them from a dormant state. The conversations are no longer just the passing of information or listening stories told but often it’s how I hear Father any more.

bob humphrey

Personally, I don’t feel that either leaving or staying pinpoints the real heart of the matter. The important thing as I understand it is to walk in the full redemption, freedom and love that Jesus died for us to receive. If your liberty and relationship with Father is not hindered by attending a religious institution, that may be where he wants you, at least for now. Perhaps your life will touch others who are saddled with religious obligation.

I believe the religious system is evil because it misrepresents God and usurps Christ’s authority through unscriptural leadership. It motivates people through guilt, shame and the desire to be accepted. It generally seeks to provide a substitute for all that lends toward pure and simple devotion to Christ and to one another. But the system is not the people. And within the system are many who love God and serve him with a whole heart. Some manage to live in the freedom and fullness that God intends for each one of his children. Most, in my opinion, do not.

But it’s not our place to “call people out” of the system or encourage them to stay in. That’s God’s job, and it’s obvious that he’s drawing people away from religious mindsets and religious institutions to himself. It’s happening at a rate that has religious leaders scrambling to discover reasons and solutions. So if he has called you “out” he will be sufficient for you. On the other hand, if he has led you to remain, he certainly can sustain you and make you fruitful as he did Joseph in Egypt or Daniel in Babylon. Either way, he’s calling you neither to a system or a movement, but to himself.

David F

Well, what I found disturbing were the circumstances the husband sited as being the root causes that drove him to commit adultery. He and his wife were good church going people who had three children. The husband said that he thought he would never commit adultery in a million years. Then he unfolded his side of the story. He said his wife was extremely involved at church. She was constantly at Bible studies and women’s ministries. She was over her head with church activities. She was never around. He shared that he began to feel neglected. That feeling of neglect and desire for companionship is what eventually caused him to crash and burn.

Now that is no excuse for the husband to break his wedding vows. But what I found disturbing was that they virtually swept over the root cause that set their marriage up for failure. It was religious obligation! The wife out doing “Christian things” gave her a permission slip to neglect her marriage. I wonder in that season how many of her fellow churchgoers said, “Hey girl, you better slow down and spend more time with your husband and three kids.” Nope. You know why? I’m sure the Christian organization she was a part of was only too happy to have another hard worker in their midst.

Then they went on in the radio broadcast to just say, “Yeah, don’t neglect your families.” You know, it’s God, family, then ministry. Yeah, that’s great! But we all know that it doesn’t play out that way in religious systems. The discussion they had on this program completely ignored the corrupt religious Christian system in place today that was the very root cause of their devastation. But see, their emotional attachments to this system that is believed to be of God kept them from seeing or being able to acknowledge the obvious. They even went on to share that during their recovery there were no other couples around they could talk to. And the wife was involved in how many activities and for how long? Wow! The husband even started to say, “The church couldn’t help us.” But then rephrased his answer to say, “The church didn’t have the resources available.”

When I heard the story I couldn’t help but think that they were having the wrong conversation. I couldn’t help but think how many marriages would be healed and families restored just by simply being able to see how corrupt the system of religious obligation really is. Lord, open the eyes of your people and set them free!

Loren

Also we wanted to remind you to check out our latest Lost Moments video clip that captures the real birth of the institutional church service in Episode 3.

We’ve updated our podcast as well ‘What about our dreams?’ is part 2 of our ‘Dreaming with Father’ podcast. We’ve also archived the 2007 podcasts to make the regular podcast page easier to navigate.

Blessings

bob humphrey