Jordan and Kristen Ministries
Join us for life-altering teachings along with prayer for you and your needs! As the Bible teaches us in Matthew 18:19-20: "If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." So please feel free to submit your prayer requests (preferably through the Facebook page), and Jordan and Kristen will pray over them personally.
Jordan and Kristen Ministries
Reversing America's Church Decline: One Person at a Time
What if you held the power to revive the church? That's right, the journey towards restoring the Christian influence in today's world starts with you. Each one of us has the potential to spark a spiritual renaissance, and this episode is all about harnessing that power to enact meaningful change. We're not just waiting for miracles – we're making them happen. Through sharing the love and message of Christ intentionally, and understanding the profound impact our actions can hold, we can turn the tides on the declining church. Inspired by a powerful meme from our friend, Cliff, we delve into the transformative influence that each individual can have, potentially touching a billion lives.
Even as we get practical, we never lose sight of the spiritual core of our faith. As Christmas draws near, we're reminded of the need to be a beacon of hope and positivity in a world that often seems dark. More than just celebrating, we're embracing the Holy Spirit – letting it fill us up and flow outwards, touching the lives of those around us. So, join us as we navigate the complexities of prayer, the beauty of blessings, and the joy of being a light in the world. We wish you a Merry Christmas, but more importantly, we implore you to not just receive blessings, but to become one yourself. Tune in and let's light up this world with love, one person at a time.
All right, good evening everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Jordan and Kristen records show. It's good to see you. I hope you guys had a great week. Tonight's topic is gonna actually be part two of last week's message, or last week's Ranting me complaining, so the actual topic was the declining church and what to do about it, and it was just kind of me complaining about how I got bored and church and why this week is going to be actually about what to do about it not being bored and church, what to do about the decline of Christian influence in the United States and, I think, globally also. Before we get to that, though, chris, and why don't you pray about us?
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1:Pray, not just pray about us, but pray for everybody and about this message.
Speaker 2:I'll pray about everybody. Thank you, lord. Thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, god. We hold on to your promises, god. All of your promises are yes and amen. God, you have Given us life, and life abundantly. And when the world seems dark and our world seems like there's just no way out, god, you provide that way. You are the way, the truth, in the light, and I just pray for anyone who's discouraged right now or just feels down or maybe the holidays bring up Just interesting feelings and, and for different reasons, god, that you would just comfort, comfort your children today and give them the Presence of your light. In Jesus name.
Speaker 1:Amen. Great job, baby. Hey, so I don't know if I told you, but my mother actually talked to me the other day. She actually listened to that message that we did on the family dynamics.
Speaker 1:Oh, of course which we were hoping our parents wouldn't listen to, and I said, well, what do you think of it? And she said, well, it was great, but you talk way too fast. And I was like, well, I know, mom, but it's, you know it's. We only have 12 minutes, we have a lot to say. And she goes yeah, but this is ridiculous here, listen to this. And she was playing. She played it back for me on her phone, but she had it on one and a half speed, like that's just how she's been listening to our messages. I mean, I sounded like a hamster who had taken a hot dose of caffeine or something like that, and like my heart rate was like, you know, 300 beats a minute or something. But you actually sounded pretty normal, which was weird because I don't think of you as speaking all that slowly.
Speaker 2:I just guess compared to me, maybe I do sometimes.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get into this. So Part two declining church and what to do about it. If you missed part one. Last week, we really kind of got into how the church was declining and the data behind that. I want to talk, chris, in today about really what's to be done about it. So why don't you kick off with that? Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Well, when we're talking about the church, we're talking about us, right, we are the body, we are the church, we are representing Christ, and so, you know, we can say we need to be Christ to everyone. What would Jesus do? Remember those bracelets that saying what WW, jd, what would Jesus do? But that sounds great, but what are the?
Speaker 2:I feel like we need some Practical ways to do that and I was just thinking recently about this.
Speaker 2:I think we need to really think about different ways we can be practical about this, and one way is Maybe if we took every day and said, okay, who are the five people I'm gonna bless today, give a compliment to? I mean, it could take two seconds sending a Facebook message to someone saying thank you for encouraging me in my life. I mean, it does not have to be complicated, but it's gonna make a big difference. I know when I get those messages, or when someone tells me a compliment, how it just makes my day and makes me feel that's one way we can. You know there's, I feel like there's practical things or not being just totally self-absorbed when we go into the grocery store or go into some place and we just got to go in and get out, say holy spirit. If you need me to talk to somebody today, if you need me to bless somebody you know, show me, show me who that is and be more aware of our surroundings.
Speaker 1:So you're saying you like getting compliments? I had no idea.
Speaker 2:I know I told you, if I was like a dog on that dog show, my tail would be wagging. That's right.
Speaker 1:One of the things I love is how you, instead of speaking in theory, that you went right into the practical, like here's an idea of what you can do, and I think we can't overstate the importance of Doing this on an individual level. Right, when you look at the decline of the church and we get into the numbers, we say, well, there's whatever it is 350 million Americans and 10% fewer doing this to 10% fewer going to church. That's a decline of 33 million. You can look at the world and feel totally overwhelmed, like I'm one person. But you know funny thing, chris, I don't know if you ever heard the statistic they say in the course of your lifetime you will probably get to know about a thousand people. Well, if you know a thousand people and each of them knows a thousand people, that's a billion people. So you won't. You're only one degree of separation away from influencing potentially a billion people, and that was probably before social media.
Speaker 1:So, you should never really underestimate exactly what you're talking about, chris, and the the role of just how one person can really make a difference.
Speaker 1:I saw a meme that our friend Chris Chris Cliff Gibbons put up here that we love, cliff right shout out to Cliff shout out to Cliff If he's listening, and the meme he put up was he said if you want Christ back in Christmas, then feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, love the outcast, forgive the wrong doer and Inspire the hopeless. It's not just about complaining, it's not. You're getting into a Facebook war about. Well, you know this is a. This is about Jesus Christ. It shouldn't say X message, say Christmas, and you know this is. You know we should be able to say Merry Christmas, that are happy holidays. That's some silly. You know culture war doesn't get you anywhere. Do exactly what you're talking about understand that one person Can make a very meaningful difference in the lives of others, and if enough of us are doing that, then that's how you begin To change the world true.
Speaker 2:I you're reminding me about a story and I'm gonna have to go look it up after after this discussion today. We're a man, a missionary, every single day shared the gospel with just one person and after his whole entire lifetime they measured, and this is just the people that they know of that came to the Lord, and those people then Also, in turn, of course, shared the gospel with someone else, and I forget the number. Honestly, I don't want to misspeak, but it was just an astronomical number of the amount of people that he shared the gospel with and then the amount of People that they shared the gospel with. And I just think about all the layers.
Speaker 2:You know we were talking last week also about revival and prayer, and you know the Billy Graham's who were up there speaking. Then there's somebody else in the wings, maybe literally, or back at a hotel or something on their knees, praying for the event. And I think about all the different layers and spiritual layers to us as a body, as a church as a whole, that we need to Really understand our part and our calling and how it's different things for different seasons. But even if it's unseen, god sees it and that's all that matters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think to build off of that, it's not just praying in general and praying for change that's important, but pray for change in you. I told you, chris, in, that one of the things I actually admire about the Muslim community is that they are committed to praying five times a day.
Speaker 2:There's a practical thing. You did, did you did.
Speaker 1:You know, actually I'm not making this up there's actually I have a watch collection for those who don't know and and there's actually something called Muslim watches, islamic watches I'm not making this up where the watch will actually go off five times a day for the five different times You're supposed to pray. And so what I did was I took my phone and I created five different Alarms, basically silent alarms that would just vibrate five different times during the day to remind me to do that. And you know the? The idea here is I'm not just praying in an abstract sense, I'm praying for God to change me and to use me. Yes, one of my favorite quotes and actually you were the one who told me who said this but it's preach often and use words when necessary. Now, you know I am not one to sit through lengthy sermons.
Speaker 2:I don't like that. Was established last week that was established last week.
Speaker 1:Okay, but I absolutely I love that saying preach often and use words when necessary. What's what it's saying is the best way to really testify to people is not through preaching at them through sermons. It's how you live. I began to say it last week and I know I'm going a little bit long. I'll let you speak in a second. But if you have a job, you should be the first one there and the last one to leave. When you go to a restaurant, you should always leave the biggest tip, you should always be the kindest, you should be the person who is known as the most reliable, so that even someone who's an atheist says you know, I know, I can count on that person. I mean, if you're doing that, then I can't think of any better way to preach the gospel of Christ right than that.
Speaker 2:I want to be vulnerable here for a second and say that we're talking about all the ways that you can do this. But also, don't be afraid. We're human. We're going to make mistakes in life. But don't be afraid. God can use. Through your mistakes, god can use you in a great way.
Speaker 2:When I was a teenager, I remember I was in this department store and the sales lady was really rude to me and I responded to that. I kind of got rude back to her. My excuses. I was a teenager. I know that I had an attitude, but I did not respond. Let's just say in the Christian way that I should have. But it was from a worldly standpoint. It was definitely justified because she was rude to me.
Speaker 2:Whatever, I left that store and as a teenage girl I remember God speaking to my heart and saying Christian, if someone saw you and you know from church or someone you have just witnessed to, would that be the behavior you would want them to see? And I said no. And what about witnessing to that woman, that saleswoman? And I said no. He said go back in that store and apologize to her. And I said what? And God and I went back and forth. But at the end of the day I went back in the store and I apologized to the woman and she just looked at me like just shocked what are you even saying? Like nobody does that. And we had a great conversation and I still remember that moment now, like years later not that many years, I'm not that far away from being a teenager but seriously, I still remember that moment and I remember that God not only uses the great things we do, but he uses when we are humble about our mistakes. He actually uses those opportunities for his glory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's very good. And the other thing, the flip side of that coin when we're talking about preach, often use words when necessary the flip side is we have to learn how to listen. And this is, I think, one of the fundamental problems with church services in general, but also when we talk about the church, meaning the greater body of Christ, is that we're very lecture oriented. You go into church, you hear a lecture, but there's not a whole lot of listening going on there. That you know. Is the pastor really hearing what the congregation is saying? Well, not if he's the only one speaking.
Speaker 1:And in our, our, our day to day lives, I think it's very easy for us to criticize, it's very easy for us to go around and be judgmental. It's very easy for us even to go around and say, look, this is. You know, Jesus died for your sins. That's the sort of thing that's great. But we also have to take time just to be quiet, be still and listen to what other people are telling us. You can't diagnose problems, you can't. You can't develop an emotional relationship with somebody that you need to help influence them if you're not listening. I think it's a failure on an institutional level and on an individual level.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm gonna try not to get in the flesh here for a second. I know we don't have that much time left, but you mentioned your soapbox about the sermons last week. My soapbox would tend to be what you just said about listening, one of the things I'm involved with Mary Kay. There there's definitely a culture of listening, looking in the eye and making a person feel valuable. I feel that in churches and pastors I've been. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a church where you feel like the pastor is just their mind is somewhere else and they're not even looking in your eye and they're just kind of like hi, how are you? And walk past you. So I? That's all I'm gonna say about that.
Speaker 1:Eight seconds left, so why don't you press out in five?
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, right, thank you, lord, for your goodness. Lord, may we be, may we be the light, may we be the change that we wish to see. Lord, may we truly, just truly, be filled with your Holy Spirit and pour it out all over this world in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Amen, merry Christmas. We'll see you next week and have a great week. Absolutely, as always be blessed and be a blessing.
Speaker 2:Merry.
Speaker 1:Christmas, merry Christmas.