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Category Archives: The Church

Repost: Christ – The Foundation of a Counter-Culture

Repost: Christ – The Foundation of a Counter-Culture

Our culture is our way of life.  Why, then, is modern Christianity so much like the culture of America?

It doesn’t matter what you talk about, the statistics are very close.  Divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and a host of other issues seem very much a part of church life.  I’ve known Christian girls who couldn’t wait to turn 18 so that they could lose their virginity legally.

Why are we so much like the world?

We would rather talk about religion than Jesus.  We try to be so careful not to offend anyone by what we believe.

I think an important word to use is counter.  Think about how we use it in society.  We have groups in counter-intelligence or counter-terrorism.  To be counter means that you are going the opposite direction than that group.

We need to see the Scriptural pattern.

This verse tells us that it’s God’s job to make us stand firm in Christ.  How does He do that?  The Lord accomplishes it by anointing us.

Anointing – now there’s a rich word.  The very word Christ means the Anointed One.  His anointing came from the Holy Spirit that was upon Him.  Now we are standing firm in the Anointed One.  That’s where we have the power to fulfill what we’re called to do.

This passage states that the anointing upon us is one of the things that are guaranteeing what is to come.  That tells me that I have a future in Christ.  This anointing is taking us somewhere.

In the same way, this culture we live in is headed somewhere.  It leads to addiction, divorce, depression, guilt, and, worst of all, hell.  Personally, I don’t want to go where the American culture is leading us to.

As the church of Jesus Christ, our future – our direction – should be vastly different.  Actually, the world should want what our culture leads to.  The differences should be that obvious.  We need to get back to the basics of what Christ wants to do in us.  Then we must follow it through to the end.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on May 15, 2026 in Revival, Spiritual Walk, The Church

 

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Repost: Christianity The Counter-Culture…or not?

Repost: Christianity The Counter-Culture…or not?

A number of years ago, I did a series on how Christianity should be a counter-culture. Lately I’ve been feeling like I need to repost that series. So, I’ll update and post a few of them.

Is the church called to run contrary to the world?  If so, then where are we missing it?  In this series, I want us to think about our walk as Christians in America.

This topic actually isn’t that new.  James wrote about it long ago.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
James 4:4

Those are some strong words he uses.  He called them an adulterous people.  What does cheating on your spouse have to do with the spiritual condition of a generation?  The answer is found in the verse just preceding this one.  It explains his choice of words.

As he talked about asking for things in prayer, he wrote…

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:3

Here’s the problem that James is describing as adultery.  They asked God for things so that they could then spend those things on their pleasures.  It literally says that their motives in seeking God, was so that they could become consumers of pleasures.

That sounds a little too familiar.

“God, please help me to get a better job.”

Then, as our blessings increase, we get more things and push God further into the background.  After all, now that I have more stuff, I have less time for “church”.

Here’s the problem from God’s perspective.  It says in verse 4, above, that trying to make friends with the world is an act of hostility toward God.  To make a friend, you need to try to please them or be like them in some way.

Remember, we’re not talking about the people, but the world system.  You can make friends with people without buying into the system.

There’s a word we use for the world’s system of order.  It’s the word culture.  Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary defines culture as, the sum total of the attainments and activities of any…people, including their implements, handcrafts, agriculture, economics, music, arts, religious beliefs, tradition, language and story.

In other words, the American culture is our entire way of life.  It’s how we live and what we expect.  It’s what we strive for as well as what we accept as “normal”.

When I think about the mainstream of life in the United States, I get a picture of the system at work here.  Then, when I see the lifestyle we are called to as followers of Christ, I get a whole different picture.  There are some areas where the two cultures are drastically different.

How do we live in both worlds?  That’s what I want to talk about in the next few posts.  Hopefully you’ll join the conversation.

Question: Do you see areas where the church is too friendly with the world system?

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on May 13, 2026 in Revival, Spiritual Walk, The Church

 

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Love Means Participation

Love Means Participation

I’ve been writing about how we should show our love for God. In my last post I started talking about participating in the body of Christ. We were looking at a verse from 1 John.

If you remember, I said that love is choosing to actively, positively participate in someone’s life while hate is choosing to not actively, positively participate in someone’s life.

So that brings up the question; can you love God and not go to church? Some would argue that you could watch a church service on TV or over the internet. But can you participate with those believers?

A great segment of Christians say that they love God. Is it true? What does God think, based upon His Word?

In the above verse John is saying, “How can you participate with someone you cannot see, if you cannot participate with the ones you do see?”

“But I don’t like them.”

The thing is, the Lord isn’t asking you to like them, but to participate with them. I’m going to start meddling. It’s amazing what you’ll put up with for a paycheck. But to please God, it seems too hard.

You would rather actively, positively participate with some people you don’t like for a paycheck. Do you love your paycheck more than God?

I won’t judge you. But I know what the world says about us. The world calls us hypocrites, and many times they’re correct.

But the real issue is more than participation.

The word for help in this verse is actually the Greek word for serve. This verse makes it clear that you show your love for God as you serve His people and continue to serve. It’s more than giving a blessing. It’s also more than participation. We’re talking about serving.

Love for God means serving others. This is the hardest thing we’re called to do. The truth is that we’re basically selfish creatures. Our first response is, “Well nobody serves me. Why should I serve them?”

At the Last Supper all of the disciples thought like that. Then Jesus took a towel and washed their feet. Jesus served in spite of them not serving.

Do you realize that when you serve you’re administering God’s grace? We need to do something for the Lord. Not because we have to, but because we can. He’s made us worthy to serve Him. Now we can love God with our actions.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Loving God, Loving Others

Loving God, Loving Others

I’m currently in a series about loving God. In my last post we saw that it requires more than lip service. I need to do what pleases Him.

In order to know what pleases the Lord, I need to be in His Word. When a passage speaks to me, I guard it from injury if I do what it says. It’s only logical that if the Word is true, then I’ll do it. If I trust God, then I’ll fulfill His desire. That’s something which God will see and appreciate.

But, there’s more to it than that.

The original Greek of this verse is very interesting. The phrase, no pity, literally means to close your bowels. To the ancient Greeks, the bowels were the seat of our emotions.

I’ll try not to make it too graphic. However, the love of God keeps things moving. I believe that there are too many “constipated” Christians. There should be a constant flow of God’s blessings into and out of our lives.

Simply put, love for God means blessing others. Do you have what someone else needs? It might be money. It might be a skill or resources or contacts.

Too often we just sit back. It’s like we’re saying, “I feel sorry for you. Let’s see how you get out of this one.”

We have to act like the body of Christ we’ve been placed into. Each part should be supplying what the others need. We’re wrong if we don’t associate loving God, with helping others.

But it goes deeper than that.

This is where the understanding of true love and hate comes in. Many think that love and hate are emotions that can’t be controlled. That’s not the case when it comes to the Biblical definitions.

A careful study of both love and hate in the Scriptures will bring you to the following conclusions: Love is choosing to actively, positively participate in someone’s life. Hate is choosing to not actively, positively participate in someone’s life.

You can say, “I am actively, positively participating with God.” Yet at the same time you’re walking in hate toward others. That means you’re either negatively participating in someone’s life OR refusing to participate at all. In either case you don’t really love God.

The Lord gave us this clear command. To participate with Me, you must participate with my people. It all comes down to the fact that love for God means participating. This is a huge area that Christians in our generation have no concept of.

Especially since COVID, we’ve found it to be more and more acceptable to be isolated Christians. I’ve heard all kinds of excuses.

The younger believers are turned off by “big box religion”. For those of you who don’t know the term, it means churches with huge operating expenses compared to their impact on the community.

Others have been hurt or offended by the congregation or leadership. Then there are those who feel that they’re just too busy to attend church.

I understand all of this. However, in order to love God properly, you have to find a way to personally, positively, participate with His people. I’ll continue this subject in my next post.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Rebellion

Rebellion

We’re continuing our look at the book of Jude. He’s been writing about false teachers. So far he has used the examples of Cain and Balaam. Now Jude move on to another Old Testament problem.

The first thing we need to do is understand the background of Korah and his rebellion. Korah and Moses were cousins, so you might have expected them to be close. But that’s not the case.

As it happens so often in families, there was a great deal of competition and jealousy on Korah’s part. At some point he began to amass a following who felt the Korah was the better leader. You can read the whole story in Numbers, chapter 16.

Here’s the problem that we even see today in many churches. God calls and appoints leaders based upon His own criteria. So often that doesn’t involve outward ability, but inward character.

Eventually Korah surrounded himself with over 250 others who openly opposed Moses and Aaron. Their argument was that the whole congregation of Israel is holy. So, Moses and Aaron shouldn’t put themselves over the people.

Unfortunately these men were working with a false assumption. Moses and Aaron did not put themselves over Israel. God Himself was the One who placed them in authority.

The end of this rebellion was quick and decisive. The ground opened up under these men and swallowed them alive.

This is what Jude is referencing in his writings. It’s a problem that’s all too commonplace in the modern church.

I believe it’s a result of this generation’s misconceptions of the church. In many places churches are established and structured according to an American business model. They come complete with CEO, CFO, and governing board members.

Please understand – that’s not how God establishes His church. The true church is a theocracy with Christ, Himself as the Head. He calls and appoints leaders as He sees fit.

Too often there are those in the congregation who feel that they know better than the pastor or leaders God has placed in ministry. They end up trying to get people to join their ranks and agree with them. They’re trying to establish their own little kingdoms.

This is what Jude is referring to here. What these rebellious individuals forget is that God hates such rebellion to His established authority. Even James warns us about this.

We even see this in the early days of the apostles. When they were called before the rulers of Israel, these leaders wanted to stop their preaching. However, a wise teacher named Gamaliel stood up and spoke this truth. He told the assembly to not attack them.

I believe we have to be very careful not to join with those who are in rebellion against God-given leadership.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Experiencing God’s Work

Experiencing God’s Work

We’re now going through the epistle of Jude, that tiny book toward the end of the Bible. He helps us to understand and identify false teachers and preachers in the body of Christ.

This is a very important verse that we need to pay careful attention to. Again, the word he uses for speak abusively against is the Greek word for blaspheme. But, what is it that they blaspheme in this verse?

That word, understand, literally means to know by seeing. In other words, they blaspheme things that they haven’t personally experienced.

Jude goes on to say that these people have a level of understanding. The Greek words that he uses mean that the knowledge they stand upon is in the natural.

That’s an important concept. He says that this natural knowledge will cause them to shrivel, wither, and become ruined.

The Apostle Paul dealt with this exact same issue in his first letter to the Corinthians.

That phrase, man without the spirit, is literally natural or soulish man in the Greek. In other words, like Jude tells us, they don’t accept what they don’t understand.

I’ve seen this many times in my ministry. If you were to label me, I’d be called a Charismatic preacher. That means I’ve received the baptism in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues.

I regularly pray in the spirit (in tongues). I know, by experience that I cannot minister fully in God’s power without it.

However, I also know that there are many believers who haven’t experienced this manifestation in their lives. I don’t judge them or look down on them.

But, there are also those who preach and teach against this experience. Many of them go as far as to say that what I experience is of Satan. I have a big problem with this.

I’m about to say something that may sound like I’m bragging. I assure you I’m not because it’s all based upon the power of God and not my own strength or intelligence.

I have brought many people into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have laid my hands on the sick and have seen them healed in the name of Jesus Christ. I have cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ.

Why would the devil ever allow me to do that if I was operating in the power of the enemy. Like Jesus said to His accusers…

I believe Jude is talking about this. These people are blaspheming what they haven’t experienced. We need to be very careful about how we treat others in the body of Christ, especially if we don’t understand their ministries.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Warning Signals

Warning Signals

I’m currently studying the epistle of Jude. In my last post, we were looking at some characteristics of false teachers in verse 8.

Continuing with along this line, Jude tells us that they reject authority. That literally means that they cast off lordship.

I believe this is referencing the lordship of Christ. There are many Christians today who are embracing Jesus Christ as their Savior. On the other hand, they’re definitely not serving Him as Lord. This is a part of what I talked about in my last post. They claim to know Him, but by their actions they deny Him.

As church leaders, we need to be constantly aware of Christ’s lordship. He is Lord and we are not. Too many get in trouble by forgetting that one fact.

The next thing Jude talks about is what the NIV translates as slandering celestial beings. The actual Greek translation of this is that they blaspheme glory.

Personally, I see an important theme in the context of this verse. These false teachers are spiritually asleep, they’re not walking in righteousness, and they reject Christ’s leading.

All of these things are directly a part of our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Now Jude uses the word, blasphemy. I believe the glory he’s talking about is the Holy Spirit working in us.

Blasphemy is speaking evil about something or someone. This is speaking evil about the Holy Spirit or His work. That’s something the Jesus Christ expressly warned against.

Jesus said this when the Pharisees were saying that the Lord was casting out demons by the power of Satan. They were attributing God’s work to the devil. That’s speaking evil about the Spirit.

There are so many self-proclaimed teachers today who are speaking out against modern “revivals” and “moves of God”. This especially true online. Please be aware – you can remain anonymous to other online people – but not to God.

Be very careful about your criticism of other ministries. Many times, God does things that don’t fit into our neat little theological boxes. You don’t want to be found guilty of saying something the Holy Spirit is doing as being of the devil.

Too many people want to make a name for themselves by blasting others. Don’t fall into that trap. Take Jude’s advice.

If you have a problem with what you see happening in another ministry, pray for them. Let God handle the rebuke. Jesus Christ is the final judge of His people.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 13, 2026 in Leadership, Ministry, Power of God, The Church

 

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Leaders Who Leave the Path

Leaders Who Leave the Path

We’re continuing our study through Jude’s letter to the church. He’s writing to combat the false teachers who infiltrate the body of Christ.

In verses 5-7, Jude is reminding the people about God’s character. Even though God is love, He’s also perfectly righteous and just. Because of this truth, we need to always keep in mind the laws of sowing and reaping.

Jude is reminding the church of the negative examples of this throughout history. He mentions the children of Israel who were delivered from Egypt, but died in the wilderness because of their sin.

He also reminded them about the angels who fell as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. These are all examples of those who persisted in their errors with no repentance.

Now Jude describes the characteristics of false teachers.

He first describes these people as dreamers. That word, dream, means to see something in your sleep. The fact that Jude calls them dreamers, points to the fact that they’re asleep. That’s an important spiritual concept.

Paul talked about this with the Thessalonian church.

The opposite of being spiritually asleep is to be alert and self-controlled. In my last post we saw that these false teachers were turning God’s grace into a license for immorality. This is the false “revelation” that these dreamers are seeing in their spiritual slumber.

The next thing Jude says about these people is that they pollute (contaminate, defile) their bodies. This is also something that Paul talked about.

In these verses, Paul actually tells us how to identify these “polluted Christians”. He tells us that their words don’t line up with their actions. They may say that Jesus is Lord. However, in their daily lives they’re not following the Lord’s instructions.

This type of life is an epidemic in the church these days. There are many who like the idea of saying they’re a believer. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that you can’t simply pick and choose what Biblical truths you want to follow.

We need to take our walk with the Lord seriously.

I’ll continue this in my next post.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2026 in Leadership, Spiritual Walk, The Church

 

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Understanding Spiritual Battles

Understanding Spiritual Battles

In my last post, we started looking at the Apostle Jude’s letter to the church. He explains why he’s writing in the third verse.

Jude was one of the early leaders of the church. He was a half-brother of Jesus who became a believer after the resurrection.

In this short letter, he explains that he simply wanted to write a brief word of encouragement. He wanted to bless and uplift those who would receive it.

Instead, once he sat down to write, the Holy Spirit grabbed his attention and caused him to speak of the spiritual battle. Jude felt the urgency to warn them to diligently contend for the faith.

He sounds the same as Paul in the book of Ephesians.

Not all spiritual battles are the same. In Ephesians, Paul was contending against demonic forces. Jude is writing about contending against false teachings.

False teachings are the result of leaders who veer off the clear path of faith. This is what Jude is going to show us.

Jude tells us here that he’s talking about people who will be condemned. They’re headed in the wrong direction, spiritually. This implies that at one time they were correct, but they’ve now left the path.

He describes them as godless – literally non-worshipers. The Lord is not their primary focus.

What they’re doing is simply taking the teaching on the grace of God. They then use this teaching as a reason to abandon self-control. They basically say that you can live however you want, fulfill any desire, and God’s grace will cover it.

They’re conveniently omitting the truths of repentance and righteousness. In so doing they’re denying the the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word he uses for deny means to contradict. The Apostle Paul talks about these people as well. In writing about the last days he says there will be those who are…

Form without power. We know that the Holy Spirit is the One who gives us this power. Denying the power is denying the Spirit.

They may some of the right things. They might even quote some Scripture. But the fruit are missing. This is a warning sign for believers.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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The Call to Leadership

The Call to Leadership

As we go through Peter’s first letter to the church, he’s just finished speaking to elders. Now he changes his focus.

Here Peter comes to the heart of the matter. In this verse, the phrase younger people literally means new or fresh. I don’t believe this is about age as much as spiritual maturity.

In actuality, all mature Christians should be leaders. As I said in my last post, we should all have a “forward passion”.

The Bible teaches that we must all submit to one another. All lead in some way and all of us have a leader to follow.

There seems to be an epidemic in the modern church. That is the desire to simply be a follower.

“I will show up on Sunday. Tell me what I need to do. I’ll do my job, then go home.”

That’s not God’s best for His people. Many of the apostles were frustrated by this.

The problem was that these people were slow learners on purpose. We see this today in our society, but especially our churches. These people want to stay followers – but why?

The true problem is the worldliness of God’s people. We realize that a commitment to lead comes at a price. There are things I can’t do in the world, if I commit to lead something in the church. So we don’t live up to our potential.

Everyone would say, given the choice, they’d want their church to grow. However, they’d prefer others to put in the time to accomplish it.

We need to humble ourselves before God and accept His call to leadership. Then we can give our anxiety to Him. Usually, we’re anxious because we’re afraid we’re going to miss out on what the world is offering us.

Follow God’s calling and walk in His freedom!

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on October 27, 2025 in Leadership, Ministry, The Church

 

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