Graham Cooke is noted as having suggested that the Christian cherishes the fight that comes with establishing the Kingdom of God and pursuing the Father. He himself proclaimed that he enjoys and looks forward to the fight against dinky little demons and self-inflated principalities. He waits for the moment of victory.
This can obviously be taken the wrong way and I’m certain that many people have. But there’s a deep truth embedded here that is easily missed. It’s easily missed because people, men especially but people in general, tend to think that a fight is a big affair that requires effort and training and blood spatter and weapons and maybe a really cool stop-motion camera…. Or maybe that’s just me but you get the idea. Read more…
Lately I’ve been feeling Dry. I don’t think there’s another word to really describe how i’ve been feeling. It’s especially weird because Jesus has been really awesome in my life these past two or three weeks. I mean it’s been the kind of thing that surprises me as I feel compelled to fast, and pray – two things that I am notoriosly bad at and I generally don’t go into voluntarily. So you know it’s got to be a God thing right? But all the same, I’m just dry. I can’t explain it any better than that as I am working hard at my day job, (ever notice how job and Job are spelled the same? Makes you wonder doesn’t it? lol) and then being privledged to watch God pour out as ministry opportunities continue to make themselves present. Read more…
Some youth pastors I know get questions from their youth like “can I go on missions?” “Why does God love me?” “How can I better serve God?” My youth group skipped right past those questions and went straight to crazy questions like “Can we Sin in Heaven? If we do, do we get kicked out?” “What’s the trinity EXACTLY?” “If God is all knowing and exists outside of time, is it possible that he KNEW Adam and Eve would fall? Does that mean God created evil?” I mean seriously? A thirteen year old kid is asking me if God is the author of evil?!?! But at least all of these I had considered, thought about or read about, this is reasonably standard systematic theology type material.
Then one of the kids asked me “is polygamy sin?”
Go ahead. I dare you. Just TRY to answer that one, because the only thing I could say was “I don’t know, let me look some things up and I’ll get back to you.”
I was this close to starting a fast to try and figure it out (which tells you just how desperate I was about it) when the answered came to me in one of those flashes of insight that can only come from the Holy Spirit.
Regardless of our sin, it is superseded by Grace.
In other words: stop focusing on the problem and focus on the solution. Now I understand why so many people out there are busy arguing about the topic but I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I have THE answer. All I know is that Love covers a multitude of sin, that Grace is given for all who believe, and that Christ stands in the gap for us bridging the distance between us and the father.
My sin is superseded by Grace.
Good news: so is yours.
There’s a line from a Casting Crowns song (at least I think it’s casting crowns) that references Matthew 7:24-27. The artist sings “I’ll take a shack on a rock, over a castle on the sand.” The idea is that a firm foundation in Christ and his words provide the kind of foundation that allows the house built upon it to withstand “trails of many kinds.” And yet, I’m not interested in a shack on a rock. I’m just not. I’m not interested in a castle on the sand either. I’m interested in the Castle that my Father is going to build when His kingdom comes.
A castle on a rock. Read more…
At a evangelism training workshop that only five people attended, the teacher started off by asking “how many people do you want to save?” He got the following answers…. Or She got the following answers…. I’m not sure who the teacher was but that’s beside the point. The five people attending gave the following answers.
- One
- Six
- Three
- A dozen
- A million.
Read more…
