“But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (ESV)
Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin? Really??? This seems like an awfully broad statement. “Everything” is a pretty all-encompassing word. Read the rest…
“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.” (ESV)
So many fights in the church are over issues that are far less significant than we have made them. Often someone has read something in the Scriptures (even in community) with a desire to apply what he’s seen, but, in his efforts to apply the Scriptures, he’s given too much power and position to the issue. The result is an insistence on a certain behavior that, while not necessarily unwise, much less sinful, is an unnecessary restriction on the freedom we have available to us in Christ. Read the rest…
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” (ESV)
When we are on our own, our ideas almost always seem great. We can convince ourselves of anything. This does not, however, mean our ideas are always good. In fact, if we are thinking entirely on our own, the likelihood that we are thinking off track runs pretty high. Read the rest…
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.” (ESV)
Paul plays a mean trick on us here. He starts listing off sins that those evil people (whoever they happen to be) commit under the cover of darkness. And right from the start we’re tempted to cheer along with him. Down with those evil people engaging in orgies! Down with those drunks who are wrecking their lives and the lives of their families! Down with those sexually immoral perverts! Read the rest…
This Sunday we continued our conversation about the church and how it was designed to work. With the help of a summary of the church Luke offers in Acts 2, we saw that the church was designed to rest on four pillars. Keep reading to see what those were and what we need to do about them.
While there have been very large churches at various times and in various places throughout the history of the church, the megachurch movement in this country began in the 1980s. One of the first churches that was a part of this movement and in many ways came to define it, was Willow Creek Community Church. Willow Creek was founded by Bill Hybels. It started as a youth ministry meeting in an old theater in 1975 in Chicago, but under Hybels’ visionary leadership it quickly became the largest church in the country. Today it averages 26,000 people a weekend. It’s main sanctuary seats just over 7,000 people. Read the rest…
