Another book? Yep.

Following up our resident book expert, Lee Saffell's blog post, and Pastor Brett's most recent video blog post about Relationships That Heal, Not Hurt -- I thought I'd offer a book for your summer reading.  The book is called Renagade: Your Faith Isn't Meant To Be Safe, by Vince Antonucci. 

Vince left the church he planted in Virginia to plant a new church in Las Vegas -- on the strip!  He was warned by friends that it could be risky.  Not just because planting churches is hard work and a majority of them do not make it, but even more so because of where he was going to plant it.  There are certain men in Vegas who would not like their "employees" to become Christians (if you know what I mean).  Reference Acts 16:16-24 for a similar example in the New Testament.

I'm not yet 50% of the way through it yet, but have already made many highlights (sorry Lee!).  A key one is: "If you're not close to people who are far from God, you're not as close to God as you think you are, because God's heart is always with those who are far from Him.  That's why He sent Jesus."  I don't know about you, but that hits me pretty hard.

In reference to Matthew 5 (A City on a Hill/Light Under a Bushel), Antonucci writes most of us Christians are "happy to grab some other Christians and put themselves under a bowl."  Sad but true.

Busted....again.

Yesterday, a lady at work was commenting on how her daughter had moved back in with her over the weekend.  She had been living with her boyfriend and had bought a house with him and so we were hearing about some of the complications of the situation.

I didn't say anything, but of course being the self-righteous Christian I sometimes am, was thinking to myself; "Well, that's what happens when you live together.  Don't you know the statistics....blah, blah, blah."

Well, later that night as I was going to bed that doggone "still, quiet voice" speaks to me...again.  Psalm 139:24 says, "see if there is any offensive way in me".  God said there was.  Rather than being judgmental and condemning (even though only in my mind), God suggested I pray for this young woman and her mother.

You’ve maybe heard the phrase/prayer that says: “God, break my heart for the things that break Yours.”  That needs to be my prayer…again!

Quote to Ponder

“Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How about you? 

How were you raised?

How are you raising your kids?

I’m guessing most all of us would answer the same way.

The X Factor

Have you ever heard that phrase, “Christians are known more for what they’re against than what they’re for?”  That kind of bugs me – for two reasons.  1) Because I’m a Christian.  2) Because it’s probably true.  Ouch!

This past summer when the whole Chic-Fil-A ordeal was going on, Skye Jethani (Christianity Today) did some research.  As you recall, a lot of Christians turned out in support of Chic-Fil-A because the gay community was going to boycott the restaurant.  Skye’s research showed that in the last ten or twenty years (it’s been a while, I forget the time frame), Christians have initiated a whole lot more boycotts than other organization.   Hmmm.  What does that tell you about us?

For years, during the Christmas season, Christians have complained about “taking Christ out of Christmas” – namely, the use of Xmas instead of Christmas.  Generally, we’ve made a big stink out of the deal.

In actuality, it may not be that bad.  It might even be a good reminder of what Christmas means and can be a bridge to conversations about the meaning.

Two thousand years ago, paper and pen as we know it, did not exist.  Information was memorized or abbreviated.  X is the first letter in the Greek word Christos (Χριστός).  In church history, X is shorthand for Christ.  An O with a line across the middle is Theou (Θεου) and means God.  Have you ever heard of anyone protesting the use of the Greek letter for God?   I didn’t think so.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the “fish symbol” that the early church used.  I’m not sure, but I think the origination was a spin off some of the disciples being fishermen and being called by Jesus to be fishers of men.  So, the early church would take the fish and inside of it put five letters, creating an acronym of sorts.  The letters look like this:

ΙΧΘΥΣ

They stand for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.  Really, isn’t that a good reminder of what Christmas is?  Not only is Xmas about Jesus.  Xmas can remind us once again, that He is the Son of God.  And, that He is our Savior.  It also reminds us that we are to be fishers of men.

So next time you see Xmas used, rather than get all in a huff, use it for a reminder of Who Christmas is about and what we’re supposed to do about it.

SDG

Friend or Foe?

I ran across this comment earlier this week:

Rick Warren has an innate ability to accept people without approving of their behavior.  He also has one of my favorite quotes: “You can’t win your enemies to Christ.  You can only win your friends.”  That one statement has completely changed the way I view people with a different worldview than mine.

Not really much to say about that, except maybe a short prayer -- Lord, make me more like that.

Important Question

This past Sunday, during the 9 am hour, the middle school kids and I were discussing Steven in Acts 7.  The three themes we talked about were how Steven knew the Word,  believed it and then talked about it -- boldly.

We ended our discussion with these three statements regarding our Christian life.

1.    We need to know God's Word with our heads.

2.    We need to love God with our hearts.

3.    We need to share God with our our mouth.

I asked them which is most difficult to do.  The collective response was #3.  I think that's what most of us would say.  But it struck me that morning that if #2 was really true, #3 would take care of itself.  When I suggested that, they seemed to quiet down a bit.  Certainly more quiet than they had been the rest of the morning.  ;-)   Perhaps I struck a nerve.

The thing I like about teaching middle school, is that they're old enough so you can press on them and push beyond some of those traditional Sunday School answers they're used to giving.

The thing that also happens when you press them -- is that you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself the same questions!  Jesus said in Luke 6:45 that out of the mouth comes the overflow of the heart. 

So the question is: What's in my heart?

That's the important question.

8 Letters

This past summer Pastor Brett allowed me to “preach” one Sunday while he was on sabbatical.  I related how Daniel 3 was an encouragement to me during a difficult time in my life.  (Daniel 3 is the chapter in which Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are thrown into the furnace.)

One of my key points came from verse 18.  It is underlined and asterisked in my Bible.  The king gives these guys once last chance to bow down to the golden image.  They refuse.  There is a bit of a dialogue, but in verse 18 they say three very important words:  BUT   IF   NOT   Their allegiance and commitment was to God.  They knew He could save them, BUT IF NOT, they were still going to be faithful.

Just the other day, I read an article by Margaret Feinberg.  She had met a guy with a tattoo across his bicep.  You guessed it.  It said, BUT IF NOT.  He related this story from Daniel 3 to her and after a little while, she realized that these eight letters were the same amount in the word “faithful”.  And if you read on further in that chapter, you will see that the faithfulness of these three guys caused a prideful king to praise the Almighty God that we serve.

While I think that would be a cool looking tattoo, I don’t know if I have enough of a bicep to pull it off.  However, I can ask God to help me be faithful, even in circumstances where the result may be BUT IF NOT.