Crimson Cord (Jim Caso)

Today, I want to discuss the Church... Specifically, is the church today, the same church Christ left in our hands 2,000 years ago? Is what we call "The Church" today, The Church of Jesus Christ, or is it a Social Club that doubles as a church? What do people look for in a church today? 1. People seek professionalism... organization... appearance... effectiveness (size)... entertainment... health (wealth)... So we end up with the Mega Churches of today, with professional staffs, ministries, publicist, promotional campaigns, lobbyists, etc. 2. People seek activity... age group socialization... camping... clubs... teams... separate classes for separate groups... separate churches... etc. We think we're serving God better by offering activities that interest people, and actually these things are fine for believers to be involved in, but not in the Church... 3. People seek teaching... but what they really mean is they seek accreditation... like attending class to get the grade... they want simple, short, light-hearted, and short... I went to an event at a church recently... pretty important event... basic to the doctrine of the church... it seemed like a children's performance at school... this was a teachable moment... this is what first century believers died for... 4. People seek community... but not community with God or about God, but community with each other... but we can do that anywhere... do we really need social community in church??? If we look at how the disciples responded when Christ was crucified, we can discover the natural purpose of the church. a. A place where believers gather - after Christ was crucified, the disciples gathered to understand what happened. b. A place where believers found comfort and safety - the followers of Christ were afraid they were next. c. A place where believers could discuss the glory of Christ - the wonders of His death and resurrection. d. A place where believers discuss events - They discussed among themselves the events of the past few days. e. A place where believers were encouraged in their faith - Christ showed himself to the disciples. f. A place where believers could share in the promises of Christ - He promised to give them eternal life... g. A place where believers could pray, and grow in their knowledge of God and Christ - So if I took this description of the defining actions of the Church after the crucifixion of Christ, the purpose of the first century church could be defined in a sentence; "When the church was first formed it was; A place where believers gathered for comfort and safety, to discuss the actions of Christ and His glory, and be encouraged in their faith, as they discussed His promises, and through prayer grew in their spiritual knowledge as they prepared to proclaim salvation, through Christ, to the world." What happened??? Where did the church go wrong??? Why did it go off the track??? Christ warns us about what was going to happen to the church in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, with 4 parables; A. The Parable of the Sower (13:3-8, 18-23) B. The Parable of the Wheat & Tares (13:24-30, 37-43) C. The Parable of the Mustard Plant (13:31 & 32) D. The Parable of the Leaven (13:33) We see examples of the process of the Parables in the Book of Revelation when the Apostle John speaks to the 7 leading churches of his day; Starting in chapter 2, John says to; 1. Ephesus - Left first love - the first commandment - Love God and your neighbor as yourself. Prosperous and renowned city. Also known for its religious tolerance. 2. Smyrna - the persecuted church. Even before the church had reached the end of the first century it was already entering into apostasy. The teachings of the original apostles had been trivialized and, in some cases, thrown out completely. Many who claimed to follow Christ now focused on who he was rather than the news He brought. Doctrines were compromised,

Today, I want to discuss how we can recognize God's involvement in our life, and the lives those around us. I want us to see if we can recognize what God is doing, by taking a closer look at the differences between God and us, and better understanding those differences... I believe that when we sift through those differences we can discover God's purpose for us and our world... and we can respond to the things happening around us with more understanding and less confusion... A reminder; The following are my notes from the audio podcast. To get the complete message you must play the recorder above. "The Keys to Hanging Out with God" When do you feel most comfortable with someone? We feel more comfortable the more we know someone... groups... teams... meetings... The more we know and understand about those around us the easier it is for us to socialize with them... The same is true about us feeling comfortable with God and with Christ... Ever notice how uncomfortable people get when you start to talk about Christ? I think we can all agree, God understands us and our ways, but we don't really have any clue about God and His ways? Even to suggest that we understand God, is actually to admit we don't understand Him at all... If we really did understand God and Christ, we wouldn't even begin to imagine that we could comprehend the slightest of their capacities or capabilities. The prophet Isaiah said; Isaiah 55:8-11 I. Key #1 - Recognize Our Position before God; Ground Zero for us to be able to Hang out with God is this... God is the Creator and we are the Creature... I think we forget this... Isaiah wrote; Isaiah 29:16 We don't recognize our position in relationship to the awesomeness of God... We think we're calling the shots... When it comes to God, the creator of everything, we think very differently... In fact, compared to God, do we even have thoughts...? Job said this about God; Job 9:32 When God has a thought, it's already determined, it's planned, and it's accomplished... When we have a thought, we're trying to figure things out... we're not sure... God having a relationship with us is like us having a relationship with a plant... and yet it's not... Our nature and God's nature is not similar at all... The Psalmist wrote; Psalm 103:15&16 So the first key in being able to Hang out with God and Christ is to recognize our position before them... Creator/creature... He's in charge... Get this first!!! He gives us life, not the other way around... To the world God is dead, that's because the world's god is a creation of the world... II. Key #2 - Recognize God's Value's are different than ours; By stating that His ways are so much higher than our ways God is showing the vast distinction in value's between Him and us... It's not just that His ways are better, His ways are on a complete other level... How do we determine the value of something? Supply and Demand... The more there is of something, the less it's worth... On the other hand the less there is of something the more it's worth... But God's value's are much different than ours... God can create an endless supply of everything in our world, so He doesn't need anything from our world... So God's value's have some other point of reference. When Jesus was asked what the "Greatest" ( or most valuable) Commandment was, he said; Matthew 22:36-40 This is something that can't be bought, sold, or manufactured... Love is something that's given freely... God's value's are based upon LOVE... God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save the world... Christ loved his father and us so much that endured the pain of his death to save us... If we can recognize that everything that God causes to happen in our world is because He loves us, we will begin to see the events and circumstances in our life differently... God loves each one us and He cares about our eternal existence...

Welcome, to the Crimson Cord Podcast... Where we discuss the ongoing process of confidently living our life, through the experience of spirituality, until the day we find ourselves living our spiritual hope forever!  In this podcast we're going to look at the nexus of the Church. We're going to travel back in time and observe the moment of the inception of the church, and discover whether the church, today, is or isn't what Christ intended it to be... Welcome back to Crimson Cord... I'm happy that you've decided to listen to this Podcast, and I appreciate that you've taken this time to be a part of the Crimson Cord community... Our purpose here is to help each of us develop a full and satisfying spiritual walk with God, and grow closer in our personal relationship with Christ. With everything that we see going on around us today, it's more important than ever that we know who we are in Christ, and how God wants us to respond to the events happening in our world. Today, I want to discuss The Church. Here's some statistics to think about... there are 3.7 million churches in the world... 67,000 different denominations... 50,000 new churches every year... the growth is in South America, Africa, and Asia... Let's go back to the beginning, and find out what the church was intended to be... The Church is first mentioned by Christ in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, starting at verse 13, with this statement; "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" A better translation is, "Whom do men say that I am? The Son of man?" We must always remember that there is no punctuation in the Greek. There are no periods, question marks, paragraphs, chapters. It's all continuous writing. The translator decides on the punctuation, sentences, paragraphs, and structure. Continuing in verse 14, "And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist; and others Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." Those living in Israel at the time of Christ believed that a great prophet would appear prior to the coming of the Messiah. So Jesus asked them directly in verse 16, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus responded, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter (or "you are a stone") and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." When Jesus said he would build His church... he used the Greek word ekklesia... When Jewish people gathered they were called a "sunagoge" or synagogue, which means - a distinct assembly separate from others or separate from Gentiles. Using ekklesia Jesus distinguished His believers from the Jewish community. In the ancient world, an ekklesia was any gathering of people who were called to a meeting. It was a scheduled assembly, by invitation only. Trade Union, Town... The ekklesia, or church is any called meeting... Jesus uses it for believers... 1. The Foundation of the Church: What was the foundation of the Church? It was the fact that, as Peter confessed, "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God." The Plan or Blueprint for the church was already completed by God... Now it was time to lay the foundation... The foundation is the support for everything else that's going into the building. The foundation is primary, everything else is secondary. The foundation isn't that Peter is the first Pope... It isn't baptism... it isn't being born again... it isn't speaking in tongues... it isn't holiness... it isn't the inerrancy of the Bible... it isn't the cross...

Welcome back to Crimson Cord... I appreciate that you've taken this time to be a part of the Crimson Cord community... Our purpose here is to help each of us develop a full and satisfying spiritual walk with God, and grow closer in our personal relationship with Christ. An essential attribute we should all be aware of as believers.... Communication key - If you want to be heard, first show others you hear them...  The Prophet Samuel was an example of hearing and being heard by God, 1 Samuel 3:1 - 10; Samuel's name means "Heard of God." It comes from the combination of two Hebrew words 'to listen' and 'God'. Samu -el Samuel's back story - 1 Samuel, chapters 1 & 2 God 'heard' Hannah's prayer and gave her a son. She named him Samuel because God had heard her prayer. Eli was the Temple priest - he had 2 sons (Hophni and Phinehas), which the Bible calls 'worthless'.... 4 contrasting examples of listening, and not listening; 1. Hannah prayed and God listened to her - she fulfilled her promise to God... She would visit her son... talk... bring him clothes... she was an example to him... 2. Eli heard how his sons abused the people who came to worship God, and how they despised the service of God, and he didn't stop them. He ignored God's warning... 3. Eli's sons (Hophni & Phinehas) ignored their father's warning, just as Eli ignored God's... 4. Samuel heard God and responded by listening to Him... Following his mother's example... A simple message; Hear and be Heard... Whether with people or God... If we listen and hear others, we will be heard also... Why do arguments not get resolved... Because everybody's talking, and nobody is listening... Samuel learned from his mother, just as Hophni & Phinehas learned from their father... If you want to be heard, you must first listen... So parents if you want your children to listen to you, maybe it starts by showing them you hear them... It's important to remember... Samuel didn't have any great supernatural powers like other prophets of... He never called fire down from heaven... He didn't write any great prophecies like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Daniel... And he didn't win any great victories like Joshua... Samuel had no Super Hero ability... except for the ability to hear and be heard. He could hear God, and in turn God would listen to him. He would hear God, and do what God asked, and in turn God would listen to him, and do what Samuel asked... That is a true super power... the ability to hear and be heard... Imagine a world where people feel their being heard... in turn they will listen to the needs of others... That's the power we need, to walk a resolute spiritual life in our world today... Are we listening to God? Can we hear God? As we saw in Samuel's story, Eli, the religious leader wasn't listening.. Are we listening to God in our churches today? Is He heard in our Congregations? When believers go to church and worship, do the church leaders promote or hinder their worship? Are they listening to how their congregation wants to worship... or are they telling them how they will worship... From what many have told me, they are turned off by the church today. Many see the church today as a platform used by religious leaders to promote themselves and their organizations... not God. When believers desire a closer relationship with God, are they told to 'Listen for the voice of God'  or are they given a job, and told, "God's calling you"? When I first became a believer, before I even had a chance to read the Bible, I was teaching a Sunday School class... I didn't know anything about being close to God and growing in my spiritual walk... but that wasn't important... the church needed a Sunday School teacher... God was calling me... Maybe... But not till I was ready... When believers want to help those in need, do our religious leaders use their charity for their own enrichment...

Crimson Cord is dedicated to; Actual spiritual living... Knowing God... Experiencing a relationship with Him that's founded in actual faith... and Realizing the confidence and liberty we have in our salvation through Christ... What is - Crimson Cord? Crimson Cord is a 501c3 non-profit organization... My wife and I started Crimson Cord 10 years... We wanted help people struggling with difficult issues. We've supported battered & abused women & children. We've helped to feed families... paid for medical needs... Our goal has been to provide help to those who are without help. It the future we want to expand what we do in the world, and reach out in a new way... The concept of Crimson Cord comes from Joshua 2:1-14... It's the story of Israel, Jericho, and Rahab... Joshua planned to attack Jericho. He sent two spies into Jericho to determine it's vulnerability... City officials asked Rahab to turn the spies over... she admitted they had been there, but they left... she told them if they hurried, they might catch up with them... But Rahab had hidden the spies, protecting them and preventing their arrest... For protecting the spies Rahab wanted something in return... a promise...to spare her & her family. The spies agreed... The sign of the pledge was a Scarlet Thread or “Crimson Cord” hung from her window... this would mark her & family for salvation. When Jericho fell... Israel overran the city... and the promise to Rahab was kept... We usually focus on the miracle of the walls falling... but Rahab was an even greater miracle... God gave her & her family salvation... She was a prostitute, and she wasn't an Israelite... but she was saved.. How was she saved.. by her faith... she knew the LORD GOD was the true God... she had confidence in his promise... a thin Crimson Cord was all she had to hope in... and she believed... All her hope and faith was in God, not in men! Her hope in The Crimson Cord, was the same as our hope, in the promise of our salvation through Jesus Christ. To the world... a Scarlet Thread or Crimson Cord may appear insignificant... those living in Jericho didn't notice the red string in Rahab's window... But God noticed it... Same is true of Christ... in our world... our Jericho... Christ is marginalize... Faith is ridiculed as outdated... But those who believe in His sacrifice and resurrection, know the value of faith... because salvation comes through Christ, by faith. In my experience  I've found it's important to remember, that as believers we have the grace of Christ... we're saved by Christ, not ourselves... Once saved, many believers enslave themselves and others, and suffer under the weight of trying impress God. They hypocritically pretend they deserve salvation.... Rahab had faith... she was saved by her faith, and accepted the sign of her salvation... the Crimson Cord... If we have faith, our sign, or Crimson Cord, is the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our lives... To the world this is foolishness... to us who believe... it's the power of God! Many of us are searching for a richer spiritual life... we want to experience our freedom... we desire to know unconditional love... and we long for the acceptance promised to us as believers. Our mission statement here at Crimson Cord is... "To help people learn faith, receive insight into who Christ is (find Christ), attain spiritual freedom in this life, and expect God to love you." No Slavery to doctrines... No added rituals to follow... No restriction of your thinking... No guilt bags to carry... Discover (Learn) faith... Find (Insight) Christ... Spiritual freedom (because of our hope)... and Expect love, not judgment... Through this podcast I pray you'll discover that God sees you as he sees Christ... He loves you, not because of who you were, but for who you are in Christ... Visit our website at crimsoncord.org... get involved... Subscribe to the blog and podcast... get updates... and leave comments.