Contemporarianism

03/03/2015 jimpayte Uncategorized

I’m not sure if this word is a noun or a verb, but rest assured whatever it is… it is a real threat. I believe it to be an instrument, both literally and figuratively, being wielded in the hand of the enemy of God… against His church.

We live in an ever-changing world; that is no surprise, but it seems now more than ever (in my lifetime) I’ve never seen such an ever-changing position on foundational fundamentals of the modern-era Independent Baptist Church. What would our God fearing, Christ honoring, KJV Bible Preaching, praying, soul-winning, Christ led, pioneers of that group of spiritual rebels, that stood against the wide river currents of carnality that was sweeping through the baptist ranks so few years ago, have to say… I truly wonder what….The Lord, not the reigning goto leadership guru (which changes as frequently as the weather, by popular vote or populated pew or relative perspective… But The Lord… I wonder if HE is truly pleased and truly exalted and truly “lifted up” in our meetings at His house. I wonder if the “lights” are on… but the Lord is not home.

While witnessing to a young man this week he made these statements to me about a church he attends, “going to my church is more like going to a rock concert” and then he said to me “what’s the point of going to church… I feel like I’m just going to watch someone put on a show.” As the masses are being pulled in… to these… shows… these… performances of washed out, watered down, flesh feeding, carnality consoling, seducing spirits… at “the end of the show…” which spirit is being exalted.

Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

How could the HIGH and LOFTY ONE, the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD, inhabit a place where the “act of worship” is rooted in the musical influences of the god of this world.

Contemporarianism is a highway that leads to carnality. Carnality is a bridge to compromise… compromise is an avenue which leads the church to a path of ineffectiveness.

God help the country whose churches have lost their effectiveness. God help us, forgive us, hear us and heal us. Strengthen your church and your children. Reclaim the lost, the wayward, the backslidden.

Get Connected

04/24/200903/22/2013 jimpayte Uncategorized spiritual applications CONNECTED Family Time

How long has it been since you turned off the TV, cell phones, I-pods, computers, gaming systems and all the other flashing flickering, whizzing and whirling techno-gadgets that so discretely absorb our “free time”? Like a thirsty sponge lying on the sands of a smoldering hot desert at high noon absorbs the scarcest molecule of moisture out of the air, good, ol fashioned, high quality, family time is becoming more and more endangered every passing day.

How long has it been since you gathered as a family; dad, mom, brother, sister, Fido, hamster, kitty or gecko, sat down around the coffee table, kitchen table, picnic table or even on the living room floor and spent some time together playing a good board game?

I know, you are probably thinking, “I would be BORED to tears!” Or, maybe you would find yourself having the time of your life with the people most dear to your life.

Growing up I can remember such great times when we would sit around the table and one of my brothers or me would say, “Soooorrrrrryyyyy” as we would turn our game piece into a marshal arts expert, complete with sound effects and knock or should I say launch a poor unsuspecting game piece off the board and across the room. At which the whole family would erupt into laughter. Those were some really fun times in my life, before we all got busy.

There is something to be learned by coming together as a family and spending time away from the world’s distractions. Being distracted from distractions, I think would be a good way to describe this time of connection I’m talking about. Not only have I found great satisfaction in reliving those moments but I’ve taken the time and energy to implement the same principles in my own family.

In a culture when our time is blatantly robbed from us I think we need a revival of uninterrupted, unadulterated, undistracted family connection time, aka “Game Night”.

It doesn’t matter how busy you think you are, whether you’re a parent of a teen or child. It doesn’t matter if you are a child or a teen, husband and wife, we need uninterrupted, undistracted family time. I’ve gleaned and been able to apply many meaningful, helpful and spiritual applications to myself and my children through the illustrations I’ve gotten from board games, which will be the topic of a series I’ll be starting, “Spiritual Applications, The Bored Game”. I’ll be using some of my favorite board games we used to play and we’ll see what we can learn from them. I want to encourage you to check back from time to time to read each article as they’re updated, but in the meantime, don’t forget to pull one of those games down off the shelf in your closet, blow the dust off, turn the cell phones off and see what treasures await you and your loved ones.

3 Little Words

04/14/200904/17/2009 jimpayte Uncategorized challenge, DARE

Three words; down through history these three words have caused such a tremendous impact on so many lives. From moms and dads to children, from best friends to worst enemies, young and old, from sea to shining sea, these three little words span the world’s continents. In any language spoken or written, it’s a universal phrase, learned from the time of our youth and carried through our adult life. These three little words transcend the philosophical, intellectual, inter lingual gap of our cultures. You can hear these words uttered from the mouths of child to child, parent to child, wife to husband, teacher to student (and in some cases student to teacher) nation to nation, God to humanity!

I’m sure you have guessed by now the three little words I’m speaking about. The prolific effects as a result caused by the action produced from these words are equally as immense. Fights, injuries, hospitalizations, traffic violations and citations, involvement of the police, fire department, emergency medical techs, or all three at once.

Yes, those three little words we all know so well ….. “I Dare You!”

I dare you; these three little words opened up a whole new world of exhilaration and introduced me to the power of peer pressure. Down through the years I’ve learned to harness this mysterious power of “the dare”, including its counterparts double and triple dogs. The power to make a normal kid or adult do something totally abnormal and idiotic which could result in possible injury or even worse, just by introducing these three small words into the conversation has become a delight to many a You Tuber, you know this to be true.

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Lost Pieces!

04/03/200904/14/2009 jimpayte Uncategorized gone forever

puzzle

My wife, Melinda, loves to put puzzles together, and to be quite honest with you, I hate them! Until she gets about half way through with it and then I get very interested in her puzzle. You see when my sweet wifey starts a puzzle, it becomes an all consuming mind numbing addiction to her, and she prefers to conquer her addictions by assembling them in our living room, right on the table that beckons me to place my ice cold beverage on top of when I get home after a hard days work. I then find myself drawn into her little snare and become trapped like a fly on a web that has been strategically placed where knowingly the innocent fly will be drawn to. It is in those few moments of intense struggle that I covertly REMOVE just one unsuspecting, innocent, insignificant, unnoticeable little piece of the puzzle. There, I said it, the secret is out, the cat is out of the bag, the truth has been told, the beans are spilled!

Its a little game that I like to play called “where is the last piece?” Now before you get all upset with me, you know you’ve done the very same thing, to your brother, sister, mom or dad…. maybe it wasn’t a puzzle piece, maybe it was the last piece of pizza and you heard your little brother cry out as you shoved it in, “gimmie what’s due me!” Or maybe it was the last piece of chocolate or the last twinkie, I’m sure I’m not alone on this “last piece” game we play am I? I have however noticed there is a flaw in this game I like to play with Melinda’s puzzles, and that is I’m very forgetful. The way it works is like this: She works very hard for several days to complete her puzzle, I remove one piece of the puzzle and put it in my pocket or on a bookshelf, or in my office, or in the fridge, or in the cup holder in the expedition, or about a million other places and then when she realizes that there is one piece missing she comes looking for it.

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