Tag: Evangelism

Morning Musing: James 4:4

Leave a comment

“You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

One of the most famous theologians of the 20th century was Reinhold Niebuhr. He was a giant in a number of respects. His equally influential, but less culturally famous younger brother was H. Richard Niebuhr. The younger Niebuhr wrote a famous book I had to read in seminary called, Christ and Culture. In it, he worked through several different approaches to thinking about how Jesus—and by virtue of necessity, His followers—got along with the world around them. His was an important contribution to what has been a much larger question on the minds of thinking Christians for most of 2,000 years. 

read the rest…

Morning Musing: Romans 12:2

Leave a comment

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
— ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

We’ve talked recently about how to counter bad religion with the help of some things James, Jesus’ brother, wrote. Christians often have a reputation that we’ve unfortunately worked hard to earn that all we are concerned about is policing the behavior of the people around us. If we really put into practice what Paul says here, we will go a long ways toward fixing both the perception of ourselves and of our religion. 

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Leave a comment

“Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: ‘Be reconciled to God.’” (CBS – Read the chapter)‬‬

This morning we laid eyes and hearts on the truly amazing fact that in Christ, God doesn’t count our sins against us. Rather, He counts Jesus’ credit in our favor so that our accounts can be reconciled. Once we’ve been reconciled, though, then what? 

Read the rest…

We’re for Them

Leave a comment

This past Sunday we took a look at the final piece of our identity as a church. We are a place designed by God to reach out into our community to advance His kingdom. God made us like this because He is for our community. He is for your community too. The church is to be for the world because our God loves the people in it. Keep reading to find out more.

We’re for Them

I’m not totally sure if they still do them nowadays, but a few years ago both Lowe’s and Home Depot had kids build days one Saturday each month.  The projects were usually pretty cheesy, but for the boys they were a lot of fun.  It was fun for us to get to see their excitement.  The setup was pretty much the same at both stores.  There were several makeshift tables composed of upside-down buckets and 8-foot shelf boards.  There were a couple of folks at a check-in table taking names and handing out the build kits.  Then, you spread out at one of the work stations with a pair of safety goggles and got to work.  The kits themselves were generally simple enough and with pretty clear instructions.  All the pieces were pre-cut and all the nail holes were pre-drilled.  You just followed the instructions and let the kids bang away with the little hammers they provided. 

Read the rest…

Planting Seeds

Leave a comment

God designed you to grow. And, when you’re growing like you should, you’ll be producing seeds that can be planted in other people that will affect the way they see and interact with and think about the world around them. The question is: Are these Gospel seeds, or are they seeds for something less savory. As a community, God designed us to be a place where people grow in Christ. Read on to see what this means for us, what it can mean for you, and what we should to about it.

Planting Seeds

I don’t have any corn growing in my front yard.  You can drive by my house any day of the week, any time of the day, and you won’t ever see any there.  It’s the weirdest thing.  It just isn’t there.  I like corn.  I love eating it.  I love it when we buy a whole bunch at the store, strip it off the cob, freeze it, and pull it out months later to enjoy.  Lisa is a wizard with those goodie freezer bags.  But there just isn’t any in my front yard.  There aren’t any green beans either.  That’s really too bad too, because it’s the one vegetable we’ve managed to be able to get all three boys to eat without much in the way of complaint.  I can’t tell you how convenient it would be to simply go out the front door and pick what we need rather than having to go to the store all the time for them.  Alas, though, the yard is bereft of beans.  And greens.  Now, I’m not much of one for greens myself, but Lisa likes cabbage.  You won’t find the first leaf of it in my front yard. 

Read the rest…