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You Are My Joy
20 July, 2010
Christianity Christianity, Crossroads, Music, Religion, Song writing, Worship 1 Comment
Supporting a Corrupt Government?
19 July, 2010
Christianity, Community Christianity, Religion, Obama, politics, USPS, Republican, Democrat, Government, Muslim, Religious Freedom 5 Comments
Yesterday, Matt preached about the role of a Christ-follower in relation to the government. He had some very Biblical points that we can all learn from. If you want to listen sermon titled “David & Saul.”
I wanted to follow this up because of an email I received this morning. The email talked about a ‘new stamp’ that President Obama commissioned the USPS to print. Perhaps you have received a similar message at some point. After doing some research I found the email to be a mix of lies and truth. (read the Snopes article) The following are three points that are from the Snopes article, logic, and the Bible.
1) The stamp was actually introduced on September 1, 2001 as part of the USPS Holiday Celebration Series. That’s 10 days BEFORE the September 11th tragedy. Obama was not the US President at that point.
2) Most Muslims are not evil. Most Muslims do not commit hate crimes. If you remember, the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 was done by a Christian hate group. They claimed to be Christian (but as you and I should know, this was definitely not a Christian thing by any means). So we can’t be prejudice against Muslims in a country that esteems itself in religious freedom. Do I agree with Muslim teaching? No, I am a solid Christ-follower. But this is government stuff we’re discussing.
3) Probably most important, I think all of us (including myself) need to stop bashing the government, no matter who is residing. Even if we do not agree with what they are doing, God put them there for a reason. We need to pray for them. Check out these three verses.
Romans 13:1 – Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established—the authorities that exist have been established by God.
1 Peter 2:13-15 – Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 - I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
As a Christ-follower I need to pray for and support our government officials.
In all of the current government affairs going on, it’s easy for some to get discouraged. In fact, when the election was happening I was following it all and decided to stop because it was depressing and frustrating. My peace comes in knowing that I serve a much higher authority, Jesus Christ.
I’m not trying to fight against a particular party, so please don’t read this blog in that way. The fact is that God calls us to something different, something greater.
New Song by Brandon
17 July, 2010
Christianity Christianity, Crossroads, Joliet, Religion, Song writing, Worship 2 Comments
Here is a new song written by my good friend, Brandon.
Shift from Denominations to Networks
14 July, 2010
Christianity church planting, cincinnati, Christianity, Religion, Jesus, church, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Denominations, Acts 2:42 Network, Newthing Network, Acts 29 Network, Catholicism 4 Comments
If you were to ask me about denominations, I’d have to tell you that I think they are a dying breed. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of denominationalism among the Church, but as time progresses the divide is lessening (or so it seems).
The new generation of leaders are no longer concerned with your background. I come into contact with people who claim to be Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, etc, and we can see eye-to-eye on so many levels. I first started to realize this while listening to Catholic radio in Cincinnati. Even though we are not even close on some practices and beliefs, our overall mission is identical.
With the state of our society’s faith, I think Christ-followers are realizing that separation is damaging not only to the Church, but the perception of the Church. This realization is helping Christians to re-unite.
Our community needs Jesus. Our country needs Jesus. Our world needs Jesus. And if we really want to make a global impact, then we can no longer be divided because one person wants to sprinkle and another wants to immerse. This is a valid argument, but not one that should cause denominational division.
So which direction is the Church moving? I think we have seen a huge increase in church-planting over the last decade, so much that networks are being developed (Acts 2:42, NewThing, and The Acts 29 to name a few). These networks are trying to work together to start new churches around the world because we are discovering that new churches are the best way to spread the Gospel.
The future will see less and less concern about denominations and doctrines, but focus on which network you are a part of and what is being done to tell people about Jesus. After all, this is more important.
Book Review: A Guy’s Guide to Life
13 July, 2010
Book Review A Guy's Guide to Life, Book Review, Christian living, Christianity, growing up, Jason Boyett, manhood, Religion Leave a comment
Jason Boyett’s book A Guy’s Guide to Life claims to train you how to be a man in 224 pages or less. I’d hope this would be possible since the publication is only 209 pages long of actual material. I think the idea was to include all of the other pages at the beginning and end, but that’s beside the point.
After perusing through the pages, Boyett has some good stuff to offer. His first goal is to point out that we have a preconceived notion of what a man should be based on our culture. Though this is comical in approach, there is some seriousness as he tries to show that a Christian man is not necessarily the same as a macho man.
Boyett deals with issues on dating, grooming, health, and even sex. I can honestly say this would be a good read for any male who wants to be a Christ-follower. He hits on some very touchy topics that can actually help shape your view of what men should be.
If you want to buy it, click here.
To learn more about the author, check out his website.
