Greater Things

A number of years ago, I came across some sermons that changed me, and of which I need constant reminder. In the 80's and 90’s, Pastor Lon Solomon of McLean Bible Church taught on living by grace. I have an old cassette tape album called “Living By Grace” which includes the message “No Confidence in the Flesh”. In “No Confidence in the Flesh", Lon Solomon says that most Christians are saved by faith, but live by works. This describes much of my Christian life. And I’m sure others fall into this as well. So here’s an outline of Lon Solomon’s message ... ---------- Phillipians 3:1-7 (NIV) 1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself ha...

This is a post by Bob Thune of Coram Deo in Omaha, Nebraska. I really like this reason for celebrating Good Friday and the idea of fasting between Good Friday and Easter. The blog can be found at http://www.cdomaha.com/blog/ Lamentation Before Celebration It seems that American Christians are all about celebration. In fact, some churches have intentionally chosen the adjective “celebratory” to describe their worship style. Everything has to be upbeat, positive, encouraging (“Positive, Encouraging K-Love…”). After all, life itself is discouraging, depressing, and difficult enough; shouldn’t church be uplifting? The Bible does indeed encourage us to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). However, true celebration takes into account the gravity of mourning and suffering. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that lamentation is good for us: “The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure” (Ecc. 7:4). And the Apostle Peter reminds u...

Well I am a few days late with a blog post but I decided I would still write one. We have an opportunity to share our personal thoughts about life, God, church, etc on this blog. Please understand that this post is not supposed to come across as complaining or wanting to cause an uproar....this is my own humble opinion and I will continue to submit to the direction and leadership of the church. (now you may be excited to see what I write) Lets start with Good Friday. This is very special day in our Faith. This is the day that our God whom we worship was murdered on a cross. This moment changed history FOREVER! Jesus' death paid for the sins of the world and so much more. (On a side note, I am reading Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper . My goal is to read one reason a day from easter to Pentecost, the birth of the church.) I think we should celebrate this with a special service on Good Friday, much like a Christmas Eve service. It would be an opportunity to...

I came across an extremely though provoking quote in an article regarding the prostitution of underage girls in Phoenix, Arizona. I will let the quote speak for itself. "I've always wondered why the criminal world can network so well, and we can't. You see the government agencies doing their stuff autonomously, churches and parachurches doing their stuff autonomously. What if we could network as well as the criminal world? We would be awestruck at what God would accomplish." -Pat McCalla Churches within the Phoenix area have been working with each other and local government to protect these young girls. It is not everyday that you hear the call for the church to emulate organized crime.

If you are like me, then you probably say it a lot. I think there are several factors that play into this: I don't exercise like I should, I don't eat the right food, and I don't have a regular sleep pattern. I sometimes pray, "God give me the energy to get through this day." I often wonder if I should really pray that since I am not taking any steps to be disciplined in my physical habits to improve my energy levels. In some sense I am humbling myself before God and admitting that He is the only way I am going to have the energy to get through the day but I still feel like I should back up my words. I think that I don't deserve for God to sustain me through the day if I don't take any action. But then I am reminded of God's grace. Its true that I don't deserve it, in fact no one does and that is the beauty of God's grace. Even if I did eat right, exercise, or had a regular sleep pattern there is no reason why I should have good energy...

Acts 5 I need to be honest the beginning of Acts 5 confuses me.  The church has been growing super fast, people were being healed, the gospel was spreading.  Then God decides to freak everyone out by killing someone who gave money to the church. I should be clear here, Ananias and Sapphira conspired together to gain favor in the fledgling church by appearing spiritual in an act of giving.  They decided together to sell some land and give part of the money to the apostles and make seem as though they had given all the money they received.  Peter being full of the Spirit knew they were attempting to deceive the body of believers and, more importantly, God himself.  Peter called them out and both were struck dead. This strikes fear in my own life because I feel I've committed equally, if not worse, sins against God my savior.  God clearly is the author of life and is sovereign over all, so he can at any point exact his wrath or demonstrate his mercy. ...

Acts 4 continued.   32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.  33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.  34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales  35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.   36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement),  37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. How's that for an open hand.  While I won't advocate for some sort of theocratic socialism, I will say it seems that as believers we should hold our possessions a little more loosely.