Ambassadors For Jesus

Ambassadors for Jesus

an Online Magazine

A Letter to Pastor and his Homies

I Can't Get No...Satisfaction

~Rolling Stones

www.ambassadorsforJesus5.com

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ~John 4:11

Hi Pastor, I attend your church. I really like the fact that it is a mere ten minutes from my home, which saves ME gas and time. The cafe is also nice, although the coffee is a bit bitter for MY tastes. Will you see about changing that, I highly recommend "Starbucks" blend. Their coffee is fantastic, even if a little pricey. You can afford that on your salary, can't you?

Well, enough of the chit chat, I must move on to the real "bad news". I don't find my relationship with God and others very fulfilling anymore and I have concluded the fault lies with you and your homies. As such, I have been seriously considering leaving your church. I'm blushing as I am saying this, seriously pastor, but you gotta know this stuff if YOU are to improve. Your sermons lately have been less than appealing, to put it mildly. In fact, I found myself snoozing through last Sunday's Service. Oh sure, a couple people shouted and seemed to enjoy it (I even noticed one lady with tears in her eyes) but didn't you notice the rest of us...borrrrrrrred.

I don't feel fulfilled in my relationship with God. Why aren't YOU doing more about that?

At one time things were different. It was really nice, like finding a new guy I really liked. It was all new and exciting, had the warm fuzzies and all, but now I find all that has fizzled out. In all honesty, now I get more out of sitting in front of the tube. Those make believe characters seem more real to me. I wish your services did more for me than that. Why don't you spice it up some?

Anywayz, I've been considering YOUR dilemma and have come up with a few pointers for you...ok, maybe more than a few, but who's counting. So, I thought I'd give you an opportunity to hear ME out and change YOUR ways to meet OUR needs.

I don't have many friends at church and blame that on the structuring of your services. Seriously pastor, how are we supposed to get to know each other and mingle if you don't change things around? Why don't you create more events that help us to do just that? You know, like that picnic we had last month. You do have time for more of that, don't you?

By the way, loved meeting your children there. I even remembered their names: Brian, Keith, Stacy, Rebecca, Isaiah, Tommy, Jimmy...The last two seemed a handful...as they say, boys will be boys.

Speaking of children, at church those kids fussing in the background get on my last nerve. Come on, even though you seem absorbed in your sermon you can't tell me you haven't noticed. Why don't you have more people that can help them? For instance, last month there sat by me a mother who seemed overburdened with looking out for her young toddler...another pistol. I tell you it was distracting...to say the least. He even pulled on my hair...and it hurt. If I wanted to be abused by others I could have stayed home for that. Why didn't any of your homies help that poor woman?

The least you could do is set up a place for childcare during service. Working with children is not my cup of tea but I bet you would get plenty of others volunteering for the job. You can fund that, can't you? I've been faithfully doing my part. My spare change goes in the collection plate every week.

And speaking of "cup of tea". I have wonderful gifts and talents that are laying dormant because your church doesn't have anything available as an outlet for me there. Why is that? I need to express myself with the God given gifts and talents that I have...isn't church the place to do just that? Seems a bit selfish of you not to consider these things...

Anyway, the list goes on, yet these are my main issues with your church. I hope in some way this letter serves to enlighten YOU as to the needs of some of us in your congregation. So pastor, what are YOU going to do about that?

From a dissatisfied member of your church...looking to help you out.

God bless you and your homies.

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On a more serious note, the response:

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

~1 John 4:9-12

A Response to Anonymous:

Growing in Love and Personal Accountability...

(www.ambassadorsforJesus5.com)

Dear Anonymous,

Allow me to begin by apologizing for not responding sooner. Between helping the children with homework, driving them to football, ballet, and band practice, and dealing with other activities that needed my attention…it did take some time to get back to you. I also really wanted to give your letter the proper prayerful consideration it deserved for I sense your pain. This to me speaks louder than words. You appear to be sincerely concerned and searching for a deeper relationship with our Lord. How blessed you are! I’d like to tell you a story that speaks of our progressive journeys, if you can bear with me for awhile...

When I was younger in age and in my walk with God I didn’t care much for soft worship music. With the rare exception of a song here and there, frankly speaking, it bored me. Instead, I really enjoyed the upbeat sounds of more contemporary Christian music. The more rhythm, the better. It lifted my spirit and put my heart to dancing…and sometimes my feet too.

There came a time when I began to feel bad about not enjoying softer worship music like other people I knew. I wondered if this was due to something amiss in my walk with God? So, I tried to listen to more of it in the hopes that it would capture my heart too. Instead of acquiring a taste for it, I was progressing from being bored to feeling slightly tortured.

One day I felt the Lord would have me go back to the music that helped me and I enjoyed. So I did, and it brought joy to my heart once again. Later on in my journey, I found that I was feeling differently about worship songs that previously did little to engage my heart. I was seeing the beauty in them now, enjoyed listening to them, and also found myself singing-a-long. It wasn’t something that I needed to work at or even something I needed to be conscious of, but like a tree bearing fruit it grew on me. I couldn't make it happen, it came about naturally in my personal relationship and walk with God.

You gave a great analogy when you compared it to falling in love. Imagine being in love with a guy and wanting him to be yours. You can break into his home, move in, then bind him up so he cannot escape. Sure, he’s yours in the literal sense but would you have his heart? He may even be impressed with how far you went to make him yours, but would he resent you for imposing yourself on him? And would you want him to be yours because he had to, or because he truly wanted to?

God gives us the liberty to choose Him but even He knew that we would fall short, yet He wanted us to see that. The heart doesn't choose, it is won over. It will automatically gravitate to what it has fallen in love with for it has a mind of its own. We of ourselves cannot awaken our hearts to God's Life and Love. Prayerfully consider it, you can make a conscious decision but your heart won’t necessarily follow your choice.

Our new life empowered by God's Spirit is a relationship and we are progressively growing in our love for Him and others through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The way of old showed us a standard and asked us to choose, but it lacked the power to engage our hearts to Father God's. Just remember, we aren't making it happen for we cannot awaken our hearts to his Love. Jesus is the King of hearts, we ask and we put our trust in Him. Additionally, we can use the tools He has given us to help nurture his Life in us, become more intimately acquainted with him and stay sensitive to how He may engage our hearts. That "bubble effect" that has fizzled can be signs of a love more centered around self. As our love grows in maturity it will deepen and move beyond ourselves.

Beloved child of God, we are all foremost personally accountable for our personal relationship with God. We don't want to fall into the trap of blaming others. I'm saddened that too often we are quick to toss blame on others and even ourselves rather than understanding how we are progressively growing in our relationship, and how and where He may engage our hearts.

And do know that whether it be a pastor or musician, I am not saying that the messenger may not lack, even sometimes be seriously in the wrong. What I am saying is that these things aren't necessarily about that, but about our progressive journeys and where we are presently at.

I do have more to say but for now will leave you with this portion for your prayerful consideration with the Lord. I hope to write more soon regarding your other questions and concerns.

Thank you for sharing your life and journey with me. I feel honored that you have trusted me with your concerns.

Until next time,

Pastor

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Second Letter:

Dear Anonymous,

I was cruising through some articles in "Relevant Magazine" and ran into this one that shares my sentiments on those other areas I wanted to cover with you. I'm going to share it with you as I said, it already shares a good deal of what I wanted to cover. May you find it a blessing and useful in your progressive journey in Jesus and your walk with his other children. Click on the title below to view.

Is the Church Lost?

Thank you again for trusting me with your concerns and giving me the opportunity to share my heart too. Keep living for Jesus and trusting in Him and the rest will fall into place.

Feel free to write anytime...although it may take me a bit to get back with you...

Pastor

Psalm 146:1-10

Praise the Lord!

   Let all that I am praise the Lord.
    I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
      I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
But joyful are those who have the God of

Israel as their helper,
      whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He made heaven and earth,
      the sea, and everything in them.
      He keeps every promise forever.
     He gives justice to the oppressed
      and food to the hungry.
   The Lord frees the prisoners.
     The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
   The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
      The Lord loves the godly.
The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
      He cares for the orphans and widows,
      but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.

Praise the Lord!

jo@ambassadorsforjesus5.com