Avengers vs. Disciples (Church, Assemble!)

I love story lines. And a story line I have fallen in love with and can’t get enough of are those of the Marvel Universe. I never really got into reading comic books. My love of words far overpowered that. I love how each character has his own movie, his own story, and then all of the super heroes come together to fight something bigger than they can take on themselves.

What if . . . these super heroes were Christians, trying to make a difference in God’s kingdom, instead of doing that super-hero-thing-they-do? If Iron Man was a disciple, how could he win people to Christ with his powers? Captain America? The Hulk? They all have some pretty great testimonies. I can envision Captain America being the cool pastor of some inner-city church. Black Widow would use her skills to help the church out, as well as Hawkeye. I could see those two heading up outreaches or something. I’ve read a few blog posts on the subject, and the Avengers are an awesome analogy of the church. We are all so very different, yet when we come together and “assemble” in church on Sunday, or at a Lifegroup or Bible study, we glean from each other’s’ differences. While Iron Man is trying to fix an engine that went down, The Captain awaits to pull the red lever. We all get distracted, but the job gets done! Thor would be in the nursery at church, gathering up the toddlers and teaching them about Jesus during church. Or maybe the kids would be climbing all over Hulk—but on second thought, the Hulk’s gifts could be much better used . . . parking cars? Or doing all the heavy lifting.  What jobs would you give these heroes if they went to your church?

What I set out to do with the book that I just released on Amazon, was to create that different kind of super hero—the one that serves Christ and each other. Although there are some deeper issues in the book that probably aren’t fit for children, who doesn’t love a battle scene where scripture shuts down the enemy? In my book, I explore the armor of God, and things of the spiritual world being visible—but only for those with the eyes to see.

If this peaks your interest at all, check out my eBook for Kindle on Amazon here!

Anna E. Meyer

What do you suppose your spiritual gift is? How is that your “super power?” How would having the super power of Christ behind you change the way you live life?

Why Belonging to a Church is Important for Christians

Before Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I moved way out to Kentucky from the northern Midwest, we looked online for a church similar to ones we’d been attending. We prayed for seven-ish months before we moved that the first church we went to in Pikeville, KY, would be the church that the Lord had for us to grow, flourish, and get plugged in at.

Why?

Because having a church home is how you grow. True, one can do Bible studies on their own or podcast a sermon. But IT’S NOT THE SAME. The church is VITAL to individual spiritual growth. Did you know that for couples who attend church regularly, the divorce rate goes down, leaving it at 1%? They don’t even have to be born again Christians for that to happen—the Lord uses his bride for that effect on people.

Churches are also important because of FELLOWSHIP. Dr. Coyote and I also prayed that we would find friends right away. We came to Pikeville on a Saturday, so that we could go to church the following day. In church the next morning, we met Jim and Erica, a couple from the northern Midwest, as well! They took us out for supper that week, and told us about gender specific Sunday school classes and the time they met at. So the next week, we began attending Sunday school!

Sunday school (or small groups that can meet anytime during the week) are great to get plugged into for a few reasons:

1. You get to meet people! There aren’t as many people in a small group than there are at church. You will get to know them, and they will get to know you. Friendships may form, if you let them!
2. You get to grow even DEEPER in your spiritual walk. Not only will you cover extra material, but a small group gives a chance for questions or discussions! VERY helpful.

Which leads me to another reason why attending church every week is so great: You develop a church FAMILY. Not only did we get new friends and new opportunities to grow, we could request prayer for something and know without a doubt that there will be prayers petitioned on our behalf. We can greet people we see at church in the store, not only because we recognize them, but they are family!

There are some people that have had bad experiences with church or never feel welcomed. Let me touch on the second point first:

At some bigger churches, especially, where there are multiple services, not everyone is going to know anyone else. They may just think your new face is in their regular service because normally you go to a different one. REACH OUT! Tell somebody that you’re new there. Dr. Coyote and I were lucky—we got to the church we currently attend during a holiday weekend, so EVERYBODY knew that we were new—we weren’t sitting with anybody, and there was a scant crowd that day. But I didn’t instantly recognize people as family after one attendance. “Hi, I don’t know you!” I sometimes say while I’m greeting somebody. Whether I’m simply unfamiliar with a person or they are new—it doesn’t matter.

The first point: Yes, many churches have hurt people. I have heard tales over and over about it. But does that make you want to give up church all together? Not all churches are the same. I’ve attended churches of all sorts of denominations because to me denomination doesn’t matter, as long as the pastor preaches from the Bible and there is a welcoming atmosphere. Those two things are honestly the most attractive first-impressions of a church. (I’ve moved around a little bit in my lifetime, believe it or not.) Why were you hurt? Because of a conviction you received that you didn’t want to hear? Because of something you, nor anybody in the congregation had any control over? I find it sad that after a church has issues with a pastor, many times they disintegrate. Who was that church following? The pastor? A human being, just like you and I? Or Jesus Christ, the God of the universe? Just so you know, Jesus can use ANYBODY. He is able to use a pastor who has committed a crime, he is able to use a homosexual pastor— he used prostitutes in the Bible, for goodness’ sake! And liars and thieves and drunkards and ahh! So many.

Here’s something else: We’re told to.

Hebrews 10:25
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Jesus went to the synagogue regularly (when he goes to Nazareth, he went to the synagogue AS WAS HIS CUSTOM). All over the New Testament, we are told to gather together! Love one another! Serve one another! What better place to do that than the church?

Most of all, friends, I actually love going to church. My weeks get long, but when I go to church, I know I’ll find someone to hug, and I’ll get my “fellowship fill” for the most part. I’ll learn something new, and the Lord will teach me things that GO WITH THE SERMON all week. Seriously, that happens all the time. When I’m down, I receive encouragement. When others are down, I can give it. Life gets monotonous and draining, but the Lord is with us through it all! (And don’t JUST go to church—spend time with God every day! He’s just that fun to hang out with. But…that’s a rant for another post.)

Anna E. Meyer

Being the Bride of Christ and Learning about it with the man who’s bride I’ll be in just over 2 months!

²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Dr. Wile E. Coyote and I are going through this book called “The Momentary Marriage” by John Piper—I recommend it to anyone. It explains the marriage relationship between Christ and the Church pretty well, and also talks about human marriage here on earth some. It is a book for anyone—Dr. Coyote and I just decided to go through it together now, because we talked about going through it someday. But seriously. When he’s in med school and I have a full-time job or something, we are NOT going to have time to do that. I digress.

Dr. WEC mentioned to me this morning while we were Skyping that he hadn’t thought much before about being a bride—the bride of Christ. It’s weird for guys to proclaim that they are Bride of the Most High. I mean, it’s easy for girls. I grew up boosting my self-esteem by declaring myself the beautiful bride of Christ. No boys at school will date me? That’s okay, Jesus is going to marry me, so it’s kinda like we’re dating when I’m reading the Word and journaling my prayers to him. Again, digressing.

Men, you are the BRIDE OF CHRIST. Your wives are called to submit to you, and you are the head of your marriage and your family. (But they are the neck.) You are called to submit to Christ, who is YOUR head, the head of the Church. (And God is the head of Christ!) As Christ loves the church, makes her holy, and washes her with water through the word, so also, you men are called to love your wives, point her to Christ, and bathe her in scripture.

So, we are also reading the book together called “Intended for Pleasure” by Ed Wheat, MD and Gaye Wheat. I recommend this book for couples to read as they do premarital counseling. Chapter 3 goes through Biblical principles of marriage, and it’s really great and lining up with other things we’re studying together (it’s like they’re all based of the message of a single and greater being than all of us—oh wait). I think it was this book that talked about how submission comes from within. And going back to Piper’s book, I just finished a chapter that talked about how conditions on the inside lead to demeanors on the outside. “¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:12-13). In other words, mercy (compassionate hearts), humility, and patience (endurance) on the inside of us leads to kindness, meekness, and bearing with one another/forgiveness. I believe submission is the outward expression of our inner love and joy for the person we’re submitting to. I find it a whole lot easier to do what I’m told when I’m not mad at the request-giver. In John 14:15, Jesus tells his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” I love my Lord and Savior with all of me. I also love and respect my hubby-to-be. So, out of that love and respect and joy from being with him and talking with Dr. Coyote, I will heed his suggestions (yes D, I stretched longer today and did yoga for, like, 15 minutes after all my roommates left).

I love how Paul takes Genesis 2:24 (quoted in verse 32 of passage above), a verse that talks about marriage, and points it to Christ. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” Jesus left his father to come down to earth. He paid the ransom for the Church—his bride—so that he could be united with her. When Jesus Christ returns, we will be astounded in glory and the marriage of the Lamb to the Church will take place.  Gah!  When I look up (look toward Christ and not myself), I just get all happy and stuff.

 

So, I’m sorry that this post jumped around some, but I just wanted to share all the exciting things I’m learning! Thanks for tuning in.

Anna

Legalism (Thoughts)

Growing up, I went to church every Sunday and on Wednesdays for confirmation or Lent.  I was involved in everything, it was all for God.  I was “church girl,” but I was proud.  I was trying to live a good life FOR my Lord.  It wasn’t until later when I realized just how exhausting that was becoming.

Legalism.  Rules, rules, rules.  Yes, the Old Testament is full of them.  There are even some in the New Testament, although I think Jesus’ two greatest commands kind of take care of the rest.  “³⁷ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’”(Matthew 22:37-39).  I wrote this post about rules before, but I felt another nudge to write this one.  Steve McVey says in Grace Walk, “…attending church, reading the Bible, praying, witnessing to others about Christ, etc…should be the result of intimacy with Christ, not a means for achieving intimacy” (82).  Christ desires intimacy with you.  He longs to fill you up and pour into you so much that you overflow and hunger to attend church, read the Bible, pray, witness to others about him, and so much more!  That’s right—“God’s concern with you isn’t about rules but relationship” (McVey, 80).  And where is there a law saying that you have to do all those things to get close to God?  Going to church should be about longing to worship and learning from a sermon and surrounding yourself in a community of other believers; reading the Bible should be about letting God speak to you through it or learning more about God; praying should be about speaking with God and expressing what’s on your heart, even though he already knows it (you have to tell him!); you should witness to others about Christ because you want them to experience the same overwhelming peace and love that comes with knowing the Savior on a personal level!  “The law says, ‘You must, you ought,’ while grace causes a person to say, ‘I want to!’” (McVey, 81).

“God can do anything he wants to have done.  He doesn’t want what you can do…instead, he wants you” (McVey, 77).  Do want him as badly?

Smiling in the Sunshine of His Grace, Anna =)^2