Fran Trascritti culture, Jesus, salvation

Spiritual but not Religious…5 Reasons Not to Write off the Church

We’ve all heard it: “Yeah, uh, I’m spiritual, but you know, um, I’m just not religious, know what I mean?”
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Uh, no. Not really.

When we hear this sort of talk, it might seem somewhat profound. But first of all, let me be clear that being spiritual means to be at one with the Spirit of God, not some far off, nebulous mystical concept of self-defined happiness. Yet even assuming that the Holy Spirit is the context, with all this talk now and in the past about bad church experiences, the idea of giving up on the church might even seem an attractive thought. I mean, can’t you be Spiritual without being religious?

Well, yes and no. If you mean be in tune with the Spirit of Christ and reject hypocrisy in the church while staying in the church, well sure. I’m right there with you. As a pastor who has been in ministry for over two decades now, I’ve seen my share of ugly. And ugly is, well, sinful and shameful. Hey, there’s plenty of comfort loving, sin dwelling, pride filling, molehill making people who call themselves Christians to make grown men cry in a business meeting…and sometimes they do!

But if being Spiritual without being religious means to stay away from the church, then you are missing the mark on this one. Here’s a few reasons why we need not write off the church:

  1. We are all sinners. Hypocrisy in the church has and always will be, simply because sin will be until the Day of Christ. In fact, anyone who claims to be free of the struggle with sin is being dishonest. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” There. We’re all hypocrites in some way.
  2. We are the Bride of Christ. Yep, sometimes an ugly bride, but the bride nonetheless. Jesus died for this bride! And as the bride, we are called to grow to be more like Christ, both individually and corporately. One day, all this will come to pass and we as believers will be invited to the Bridegroom’s wedding feast (Rev 19:7).
  3. We are One in Christ. I pastor a multiethnic, multigenerational church, a people who put away the labels of Black, White, Democrat, Republican, Rich, Poor, Young, Old, etc. We might have come from different cultures, but in Christ we are one new humanity (Eph 2:15).
  4. We are all partakers of grace. Christ in His death on the cross was an act of grace. Salvation is a gift of grace (Eph 2:8-9). Our sanctification is through God’s grace (Rom 8:29). And our love for one another must abound in grace and love (1 Pt 4:10). In fact, the church is at its finest when it is a beacon of grace to the world.
  5. We are better together. Ministry is given to, partaken in, and poured out through the church. God’s plans are realized through the church. He commended and corrected the church (see Rev 1-3). Though the church (the people) are far from perfect, the bible is clear: we are all pilgrims in this journey, and as we serve one another (Phil 2:2), we are better together!

Obviously, these are some reasons to still love the church and I’d love to hear more from you. The point is, I’m not writing off the church, and I pray that you won’t either.

My point: love the Bride of Christ as Jesus does!

Fran Trascritti Uncategorized

Thirsty Thursday: Readings from the week 

What I read: This week has been an exploration of various Psalms. In fact, tomorrow’s reading on Psalm 136 is what the message will be on for Sunday. 

Scripture passage that popped out to me: Ps 130:3-4, “LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? 4 But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.”

Reflections: these psalms are by various writers, many of which were sung by the people of Israel as they made their way towards Jerusalem. As you read these, you get a real feel for their humility and dependence on the Father prior to the celebration of each of the festivals. It’s even likely that Jesus and His family sang some of these psalms as they ascended to Jerusalem! 

Fran Trascritti Devotional, discipline

How God Changes You…

There is no doubt that a true change in Christ happens when a heart is transformed by the work of the Spirit. In fact, change really can’t happen without the work of the gospel in a new believer’s heart. From this life change, a desire for producing spiritual fruit almost immediately comes to a person’s life. This is an exciting time!

But what about the long term changes in maturity that a believer shampoogoes through? How does this sanctifying change happen? Often, people give simple instructions (like on a shampoo bottle) and simply tell new believers to read, study, and pray every morning. Sure, this makes sense, but it’s also easy to just read, study, and pray, and then get on with your day, never to think on what you read. You read, study, and pray, and move on, then wake up the next day, and it’s read, study, pray, and again move on, etc. Just like on a shampoo bottle: wash, rinse, repeat!

But is this what God intends? Of course not! God uses devotionals, bible reading, prayer, and other quiet moments with Him, but He really wants more than what is on the surface. He wants your full attention with Him in order to truly stretch and grow you in Him. Psalm 40:6 says, “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened;” You are not devoting time to God as a ritual, a sacrifice, or even a habit as much as to see God make real change within your heart. He has in mind a greater mission than a daily blank routine, He wants you to be conformed to the image of Christ!

That said, spend time with God in devotion, but make it count. Your time with the Creator is a time for real change, a change which affects everything you do- work, family, home, entertainment, and yes, your internal, private thoughts of your heart. I pray that this encourages you to grow in Him and for His glory!

What devotionals and time do you spend with the Lord?
How has God used this time to change you?

Pastor Fran

Fran Trascritti Uncategorized

A Call to Prayer THIS Sunday, 7/10, 5 pm

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Fran Trascritti Thirsty Thursdays

Thirsty Thursdays: Some readings from God’s Word and His people

NOTE: I am going to try to post some thoughts from my readings on Thursdays as both an accountability and also as an encouragement for you the reader to thirst for the Word. Hence, the name  😉

What I Read: One Year Chronological Reading plan: IMAG00182 Kings/Chronicles, Isaiah 13-16, Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotional, 365 Days with Calvin

A passage that popped out for me: 2 Chronicles 28:27, “When Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery of the kings of Judah.”

Why: Ahaz was a wicked king who relied on himself and worshiped false gods. While his son, Hezekiah, became a godly and reverent king, Ahaz died a faithless, rebellious, pitiful man who was not honored in the way that other kings had been honored. His legacy of falsehood was removed when Hezekiah destroyed his altars to Baal and others and reinstituted focused, godly worship to the Lord.

Questions to ask: What is your legacy? Do your children see you in the Word or in the world? Who do you rely on?

Fran Trascritti Uncategorized

Great Insight from Paul Tripp: Hang In There

Read this word from Paul Tripp in his Wednesday Devotion:

Have you ever been in the middle of a difficult season and someone says to you, ‘Hang in there!’ Maybe you’ve said it to a friend just recently yourself. I think we mean well with phrases like this, and our aim is to encourage our friends or loved ones, but let’s be honest: ‘hang in there’ doesn’t actually do much to lift our spirits or strengthen our resolve. If I can be even more honest, sometimes I think we say ‘hang in there’ because we’re…

Source: Hang In There

Fran Trascritti discipline, ministry

A Word on the Transgender Issue…

On Friday, the U.S. Secretary of Education, John B. King, stated, “No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus” (source). Out of this sentiment, a call for change in the use of restrooms has come from the Federal executive branch to all educational institutions in one fell swoop. Also in line with this thinking, both governments and businesses have begun to allow transgender individuals to use any restroom that they feel comfortable with using.

Of course, this has unleashed reaction like a tidal wave. Parents, churches, and community leaders have protested that such a policy would create an unsafe atmosphere in the most private of places. In essence, they claim, this practice would literally open the door to anyone who wishes to enter any restroom, even if there are nefarious reasons. Safety and security are issues, to be sure.

Both sides of this issue offer arguments with both logic and emotional considerations. The media is having a field day, grabbing clicks with emotionally charged headlines to get readers to state their opinions and stir up debate. Yet all of the arguments fall short of the main issue at hand. While the assumption in almost every discussion here is that restroom choice is the problem, the truth is, we are missing the main point.

What is the main point? To answer this, we have to return to God’s creation. When God created the universe, He created it as a proclamation of His glory. He made men and women to be equal in value, image bearers of Him, willingly fellowshipping with His presence, following His commands without burden. He intended a perfect paradise, a place where love and truth share an equal coexistence, unopposed to one another in contrast to some of the thoughts of today. His created order is a perfect order.

Unfortunately, we as a people have fallen. Because of sin and death, we live in a broken world. We rebel and squeal and scream, we try to find our own path instead of what God wants best for our lives and our world. We struggle with our lives and we pridefully seek our own ways and our own lives and we miss God’s way. We and others struggle with alcoholism, drug abuse, gluttony, pornography, or anything else which mars and scars us. As we see today, our minds come into conflict with our bodies, often because we fail to see God’s sovereignty even in our struggles. As such, we miss the joy and pleasure of turning our lives and struggles to a powerful God who can get glory in the victory over these things.

And this is the underlying issue behind the transgender bathroom debate. The conflicts of our desires with God’s desires are as old as the temptation of sin in the Garden. Whether it’s gender identity or anger management or sins of the heart, the truth in love is found in the perfection of Christ. Our conflicts will happen if we turn from God and His Word, and anything contrary to God’s created order in the beginning is going to create problems, even chaos in our present world. We should know what it means as to what biblical manhood is and on what biblical womanhood is. In other words, our struggles are resolved if we think and act and behave as Scripture teaches vs. what the culture claims.

So what is a Christian to do? I respectfully disagree with this decision, and I call for the church to focus on showing our children, youth, and adults that being a man or a woman is more about following Christ and His Bible than biology. We must love boldly in reaching out to those who are hurting and confused, and yet be the voice of safety and security for our children. But most of all, we as believers must be a voice to share the Scriptural teachings on men, women, and God’s sovereignty. That said, let’s remember that our witness to the world should have both love and truth- today, even in the face of yet another societal controversy, we have the opportunity to do both.

Love boldly. Share Biblically. Live blamelessly.

Pastor Fran

Fran Trascritti Uncategorized

A Devotion: Serving in the Spirit

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5

Last night, I had a vivid, realistic dream, the type of dream that only comes on occasion. I dreamed that I was outside in a field preaching a message and that there was a crowd of thousands of people from many different people groups. As I spoke, I was also being shown on a large screen behind me, and I was sharing the gospel of Christ and how to live a life in the Spirit. One of my sons was also in the dream, and he was holding a camera as I walked around sharing the Word of God.

Suddenly, a man in the crowd asked me a question. He simply asked me how he too could serve God with his spiritual gifts. I responded, “First, you have to know Jesus, and then you have to find out how God has gifted you. Beyond that, find your passions and serve God in that way.” He nodded and seemed to understand, and I woke up.

handful_of_water_-_kolkata_2011-03-16_1999_croppedI told my wife about the dream, and being the ever practical one, she asked me what I thought it meant. I told her that first, God is doing something amazing and will keep on doing it, and second, I just need to keep doing what He called me to do, to live for Him and serve Christ with the spiritual gifts that He has given me. Such a comforting, encouraging thought!

Without a doubt, all Christians are called to do the same. We are to live and serve our Lord as we walk in the Spirit. In fact, you cannot separate the two. If you are Christ’s, you will serve Him because of a love for Him- there is no such thing as an inactive Christian! This is because when your mind is set on godly things “in accordance with the Spirit,” then you will reflect it by loving others, living in peace, showing patience and kindness, being gentle, and having self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Simply put, if you live a life centered in the Spirit, you will do what He says.

Jesus said as much, when in Luke 6:46 He asked the question, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” and then proceeded to compare those who heard and then acted on His words to a house that was built on a solid foundation. As the Pharisees showed, talk is cheap, and a true ambassador for Christ is not just a person who “talks the talk,” but also “walks the walk.” We thus walk worthy of the calling (Eph 4:1), not by human power but by the power of the Spirit. This is a powerful testimony of a changed life in Christ!

Go. Walk worthy of the calling. Serve in the way that He has called you with the gifts that He has given you in the Spirit. Live for Christ, under the conviction of Christ. And as you walk in Him, and do what He says to love God and love others, you will indeed glorify Him now and for eternity.

Pastor Fran