church – Page 7 – John Markum

Where Religion Fails

Posted on February 20, 2012 by johnmarkum

The biggest thing that God has taught me in 20+ years of following Jesus, is the most basic:

It’s not about what I do. It’s about who He is.

The implications of this simple thought, however, are far-reaching and profound. You see, religion, of any flavor, is a human attempt to appease a Deity(ies). It’s biggest question ultimately is “How do I not get in trouble?” This is why getting churched-up doesn’t change your life for the positive.

Getting religious only demonstrates how broken and far from God we are. It accentuates our failures and minimizes our successes. And no one stays in that situation for long… unless they fake it. And those who are not willing to fake it begin to see the hypocrisy of those who are. Eventually they come to the conclusion that religion is full of fakers. Sadly, they are correct.

But God knew our broken status and our inability to affect lasting change. His solution was not “do these things and not those things.” Instead it was “Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy burdened… You’ll find rest for your soul.” You see, it’s not about what you do. It’s about who He is. The best thing we can do, is get close to the Person who makes change happen in our lives for His glory and our good.

Try as you may, you can’t chase away the shadows from your life. So stop attempting to clean your act up and just open the blinds and let the Light come pouring in. And interestingly enough, as we get closer to Jesus, and farther from a list of Do’s-and-Do-Not’s, the darkness that once entangled us becomes far less appealing. We do not overcome our faults by trying harder than we’ve ever tried. We overcome by drawing close to the One who overcame for us.

Blessings,

John

Brain-Wash your Kids

Posted on January 5, 2012 by johnmarkum

I’ve heard many people that I’ve met in person and online who have railed against “religious” people in church who brain-wash their kids to believe the same things. I’ve heard it in movies, sitcoms, the news, and even billboards. Some have declared that my children should get to choose whether they believe what I believe for themselves and I should not try to influence them otherwise.

As a parent, here’s the truth…

Your kids are being influenced. By their friends, musicians, advertisements, facebook, major corporations, the government, and Lady Gaga. All of whom have an agenda. I trust my beliefs and values a million times over any of the above influences. And honestly, I trust your instincts to the same degree when it comes to your children.
Parents make decisions for their kids. My kids go to school, eat vegetables, answer adults with respect, go to church, take baths, and get shots from the doctor. We taught them to do those things. We make them do those things. Because we know what’s best for them more than they do. My kids may not always like school, but I hope that one day, they’ll appreciate the value of their education. The same is true of church and spiritual values (although, my kids love church).
You can’t teach what you don’t live. Just because you tell your kids that God, faith, community, and church are important doesn’t mean that you’ve taught them so. You teach what you do, not what you say. What are your actions teaching your kids? Does it tell them that God has control of your life? or your friends? or your job? or the NFL season schedule?

I am completely convinced that you as a parent are perfectly equipped by God to raise your children better than anyone else (especially the media). If someone says you’re brain-washing your child, than at least they’ll have a cleaner mind than if you didn’t.

Blessings,

John

See my post on 5 Ways to Make your Kids Hate Church, for more.

Power of Sin

Posted on October 30, 2011 by johnmarkum

This past Saturday, I preached a message from Judge 16 on Samson to begin our new series, I Am Sin. Below is a synopsis of the message, just in case you missed it:

Sin is Attractive: You and I don’t stumble over things that we dislike. We stumble over things that are very appealing to us. Scripture tells us that sin is “sweet for a season.” But sin is a lie. It never says, “Come on, have an ugly, bitter divorced because you had an affair.” Instead it says, “Your spouse doesn’t care for you like this person.” It never says, “Become codependent on substance abuse. Ruin your career, and hurt everyone that loves you.” Instead it says, “You need an escape from all this chaos.” Sin lies to hide what it really is.
Sin is Creatively Unoriginal: Samson stumbled every time over the same thing: women. And sin knows your weak spot also. It’s not so much that sin throws us curve-balls; it just finds new ways to throw the same pitch that we can’t seem to hit.
Sin desires to leave you Powerless: The saddest part of this passage is in verses 19-20, where it says, “In this way, she began to being him down, and his strength left him… he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him.” Sin wants to rob you of your power, and leave you empty and broken. Like Samson, sin wants to make you an example of something once very powerful, not humiliated by your lack of strength.

Samson thought that his hair was the source of his strength. And his disobedience to God brought him down. Sometimes we think that if we try really hard, that we can defeat our sin on our own. But our willpower is not the source of our strength to defeating sin: Jesus is. He beat sin on the cross, and He gives us the power to overcome sin from day-to-day.

Join us next week, 5pm for our second message in the series, “There to Here.”

Blessings,

Jonn