Does Christianity today look like Jesus? George Barna says…

My last post looked at the religious spirit in the Church today, and I believe this relates to the article I read the other day on ChristianPost.com. It shines a light on both the culture we live in and the American Church that we are apart of, whether we like it or not! George Barna examined the trend of non-christian views toward Christianity, which shows a steep decline in terms of viewing “Christians” favorably. I find this both a poignant article and a timely one, as we evaluate the Christian culture of our day. I’ve even experienced this negative attitude talking to people all over the country about their views on God, Jesus, and Christianity.It can be discouraging to read this article and very humbling to know that the Church has in many ways not embodied the cause of Christ both in actions and words. We are quickly entering an anti-christian age, which will certainly lead to more persecution as Christians that sincerely follow Jesus communicate with the world about their need for a Savior. At the same time, It will hopefully bring unity among the church and allow us to see who is sincere in their faith in Jesus as both Lord and Christ.See the article here:http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070925/29448_Study%3A_Christianity_No_Longer_Looks_Like_Jesus.htmDo you think Christianity Looks like Jesus anymore? Why or Why Not?

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The Healing Power of God

The other day I had a conversation with a Grad student from ASU. She was getting her masters in Architecture and happened to be from the midwest like me - Springfiled, Illinois to be exact. We talked for a while about general stuff and then I had an opportunity to ask about her religious beliefs. She shared about being raised catholic, but was now very turned off to the things of God and came off very apathetic to anything about God. But, she still allowed me to share about the dangers of religions and I sympathized with her about how a religious spirit can be a turn off to her now considering the claims of Christianity. I even shared how Jesus was the toughest critic of the religious leaders of his day and didn’t tolerate their outward religiosity. (And as I right this I can’t understand why we have become so tolerable of this similar religious spirit in the Church today, which has caused so much hatred by the world aligning us with the pharisees of our day - which has included me in the past - Colossians 2:21-23 talks about these dangers by saying “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”)I began to share with her about how Jesus has healed me both physically and spiritually, how I’ve seen His Power in so many ways. But, the comment she made in response, I will never forget.”I don’t need to be healed.”I was taken aback by this comment. I should have been ready to respond about her need for spiritual healing. But, I wasn’t. I should of told her about her need for a Savior. But, I didn’t.Instead, I simply left her with a picture of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that I hope was more accurate than she has probably ever known, one that I hope she will never forget. But, even with thoughts on what else I could have said, I need to trust her to the Power of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, show her God’s love, tear down the walls of religion, and bring her into an intimate relationship with the Living God - Jesus of Nazareth.I’m reading a book right now about “Freedom from the Religious Spirit”, which I highly recommend, as it analyzes what this religious spirit is and how it has seeped into the church very intentionally by the Kingdom of Satan. Let’s fight against the religious spirit in our churches, our communities, and in our personal lives. It will steal our unity as a body, our love for Jesus and the world He loves so much.My friends, Jesus is alive today and wants to move in Power through His Church and through His People. If you’re open to it, He will show you amazing things. You will be used by him in some amazing ways. But beware a religious spirit that seeks to steal the Healing Power of God from your life and your hearers.One such demonstration of God’s Power is from an acquaintance of mine named Fabian who has a website called FreedomToCaptives.com. He shares a healing testimony in his newsletter below:

Another encouraging testimony is from a lady that we have been ministering to over the phone. She has been bed ridden and had to use a wheel chair for over 24 years. She was bound by a spirit of infirmity. Doctors named this one Fibromyalgia. She called me a few days ago excited to share with me that she is healed. She believed that Jesus took her infirmity by the stripes He took on His body. She refused to believe the devil’s lies. Now she is walking, driving her car and ministering to other sick people to be healed. - Fabian from www.FreedomToCaptives.com

Since sharing this story on my Myspace page, a few friends have responded with similar testimonies. See them below:http://blog.myspace.com/KJFHow have you been healed by God? Please share with the Missionary Road community how God has been moving in your life or those you’ve been privileged to minister to!

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How much are you willing to share?

Today’s USAToday article on Online Social Network Information really set me off. No, it wasn’t about the start of the article describing a woman coming out of the closet to her entire circle of friends online about being a newly married lesbian. Instead, It was about a professing Christian Professor discussing his fear to come out of the closet about his faith to his students. The article reads,

Ledbetter states on his page that his political views are “conservative” and that he is a Christian. “I’ve wondered about if students don’t share my political affiliation or religion, would that ever be a barrier?” He says he has wanted to post religious thoughts for members of his church, but decided against it. “Would that be appropriate for current students to read?” he asks. “Possibly not.”

Why did this set me off so much? As I’ve been reading about persecution around the world and seeing missionaries sacrifice their lives oversees to share the Gospel in the most dangerous of places, I can say without a doubt that I have more respect for this lesbian’s courage than I would for this overly cautious Professor. I don’t even place this professor’s decision to not share his “religous thoughts” as an attempt to be shrewd with his students. I see this as another compromise by Christians around America to conform to the false tolerance of our day. In fact, this is such a common occurence in Christian circles to not want to offend in workplaces or among nonchristian friends, that more education needs to be done in the Church to prevent this.

Would reading the blog about the Persecuted Church, Persecutionblog.com, change your views on whether you should be bold enough to stand up for your faith in the workplace or with nonchristian friends? Would checking out this Map of worldwide Christian Persecution challenge you to get out of this false mindset of tolerance that runs rampant in our American culture today.

Maybe the American Church should focus less on becoming the next mega church and more on sharing these truths about having the boldness Paul had to Proclaim Jesus Christ and Him Crucified:

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

May God change the hearts and minds of the American Church to embody the verse above, and may God grant us repentance as we confess believing the lies of this world.

 

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Do You Pray Global Prayers?

John Piper got me thinking about the importance of praying global prayers on his blog. When I think about the importance of praying from a Global perspective, I’m reminded by some key verses that support this mindset:

“Go and make Disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19),

“You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8),

“You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation“(Revelation 5:9).

These verses are clearly calling us to think farther than our immediate sphere of influence, but I wonder if the Church is embodying this as opposed to putting on a facade of this through short term missions trips that give you a glimpse into another culture without really making a dent in living out even 3 of the countless verses in the Scriptures that call us to go around the world with the Gospel of Christ.

And if we don’t even have a clear mission on our homefront, how could we ever have one abroad?  I mean, do we really have a clear understanding of why we even “do church”. Is it simply a place to fellowship or meet people? John MaCarthur wrote a great blog about the mission of the church, that simply put is ‘to seek and save that which is lost’ as Jesus modeled to us. When Jesus said to his first disiples,

“Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

I see from this statement a mission and a plan. Unfortunately, for some reasons many churches today do not have this on their priority list.  And, the Church shouldn’t have to depend on Christian organizations like Campus Crusade, Navigators, OM, Way of The Master, etc. to show us the way in this! Now, I love all these organizations and, in fact, I am humbled by what they do to live out the commands of Jesus and fulfilling the Great Commission, but the Church should be leading the way to model following Jesus and making disciples to become fishers of men and women.

To close,  I started by asking if you pray Global Prayers, but what I’m really asking is do you have a mindset that seeks to embody making Christ known starting in your sphere of influence and extending around the world. After all, if you are not modeling this now in your own backyard, why would you ever want to do this in a foreign land.

Here’s a strategy from Operation World that may assist all of us in this charge:

Missionary vision. An Acts 1:8 strategy is needed for every church and denomination. Amazing results have been achieved by a dedicated few. How speedily the world would be evangelized if all believers and every congregation obeyed the commands of Jesus in Acts 1, and believed His promises for enablement through the Holy Spirit! Pray for the awakening and growth of missionary concern. Pray for effective and practical missionary involvement in praying, giving and going and for the following:

a) The speediest possible completion of the goals given in the Great Commission by the Lord Jesus to His Church.
b) All churches to make obedience to the Great Commission their primary ministry objective. Only through this will the resources be available to bring the task to conclusion, or closure, in our generation.
c) All leadership training institutions and programmes to ensure that missions be a fundamental and essential core component of every course. It is failure to do this that has caused the centuries of neglect and marginalization of world evangelization in churches and agencies.
d) Mission agency prayer, planning and deployment to emphasize reaching unreached areas, peoples and cities. The Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse and the AD2000 and Beyond Movement have compiled a list of over 6,000 unreached and adoptable peoples submitted by agencies as targeted for entry. Many are those included in our World A totals, others are World B and C peoples. (See Appendix 2 for addresses of these organizations and agencies who can provide further information.)
e) The adoption of unreached peoples by churches, Christian groups, prayer circles and individuals. The task can be completed only as Christians take responsibility in earnest intercession until believers are won and churches planted in each people group.

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More on “Are Seeker-Sensitive Churches Biblical?”

The following article continues the conversation we’ve been having on the issue of being seeker-sensitive in American Churches today. I don’t know what your church considers itself, but this article on ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com looks at the key points behind why being “seeker sensitive” can be a problem for your Church. I just need to ask, was the early Church as told in the Book of Acts “seeker sensitive”? I don’t think so as I read it!

Posted: 01/08/2008
Are Seeker-Sensitive Churches Biblical?
by Daniel Nuckols

It seems as though everywhere you look in Christianity today, seeker-sensitive churches seem to be the new fad. Well-known evangelicals like Rick Warren and Bill Hybels are leading the charge of this movement, and one will find these churches springing up everywhere. These churches are all about large numerical growth. Driven by market analysis, these corporation-like churches offer programs, high energy worship services, and fun and games to draw more pagans to their church. This all sounds good and effective, right? However, there are problems with this model of a church.

The seeker-sensitive church brings about some very negative results by desiring to please men rather than God: a corrupted form of the gospel message, a manipulated definition of “church,” and an under-”feeding” of true believers.

The seeker-sensitive church is more concerned about tickling people’s ears with what they want to hear, rather than with the truth that is found in God’s Word. This “feel-good” theology adds many to the church, but it does not result in much spiritual growth. The desire to tickle people’s ears rather than telling the truth is not a new concept. Consider the story of Micaiah and Ahab in 1 Kings 22:1-28. Four hundred false prophets were encouraging Micaiah to tell King Ahab a favorable message: that Ahab would indeed win if he fought against the king of Aram. They wanted him to tell this regardless of whether it was true or not! Micaiah would not hear of it; he would not tickle Ahab’s ear, he would only report to Ahab what God told him. Because of this, Micaiah was thrown into jail, and was only fed bread and water because it was not a message Ahab wanted to hear. When our desire is to please people first and foremost, like the four hundred false prophets, our message will be compromised, because God’s truth revealed in His Word most of the time clashes with what unsaved people want to hear. Our goal should be to please God first and foremost regardless of the human praise (or hate) we might receive. “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10).

Secondly, the most important message of Christianity, the Gospel, is often softened so it is acceptable to seekers. Rarely do you hear about God’s wrath, the exceeding sinfulness of man, law, hell, and repentance preached from the pulpit. Why? Because these topics are offensive to the ears of pagan seekers. The human propensity is to enter through the broad gate and not through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14). Again, pagans only want feel-good theology. So even the Gospel has to be changed, by leaving out the offensive parts, so it will be made acceptable to pagan ears!

Jesus did not soften His message to please people. Consider the story in John 6:53-65. Jesus said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54). Many of His disciples left Him because this teaching was too hard for them to follow. Jesus could have explained to them that He was not talking about eating and drinking His physical body and blood, but He did not. Therefore, many disciples left Him because it was too hard to follow Him in this teaching. Jesus did this to weed out those who were not really committed to Him.

Seekers do not want to hear the hard parts of the Gospel: to repent and give Jesus the Lordship of every area of your life. They would rather just “add” Jesus to their life as a ticket to heaven, but live their life however way they choose. They probably signed a card, or prayed a prayer, but they are not really picking up their cross and following Jesus day by day (Luke 9:23). Seeker sensitive churches leave out the hard parts of the Gospel. Instead they mainly talk about one component of the Gospel: God’s love. It is all about love, love, love. It is true that God is love, but He is equally just. The seeker sensitive Gospel message goes something like this: “God loves you so much that He died for you! Did you know that you have a God-shaped hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill? Ask Jesus into your heart, and He will give you peace and happiness.” The problem with this message is that it is just not complete. It is true that God give us peace, and he loves us very much. However, He must punish sin. The Bible teaches that all lawbreakers will have their place in a lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). When one hears the complete Gospel message their response may be: “Wow Christ loves me so much, that He would actually die for me, a person that has broken His perfect law, who deserves His wrath, yet He gives me mercy and forgiveness at the cross, so I can receive Christ’s righteousness? What a loving God!” But the problem is that they try to sell the benefits (peace and love) rather than teaching the whole story. Hence, modern churches have pews full of a lot of believers “adding” Christ to their lives, and not giving Him control of their lives.

Seeker sensitive churches want to fill their pews with non Christians to evangelize to them. It is true that God does save people by attending Church; I personally know some. For instance, a couple that was not married, but were living together, attended our church. God worked in their lives so they both gave their lives to Jesus, and then the married. However, when market-driven churches seek ways to draw the unsaved, many things change as opposed to biblically-based church services. Praise services turn into concerts. Sermons are shortened in the effort not to become “boring.” All Scripture passages are on power point so no one needs a Bible anymore. Drama is used a lot to entertain people. All these things make the pagans feel good, entertained, and energized. But does it really help? Are the true believers getting fed? I would argue that many are not. Seeker sensitive churches have gotten to the point where they do all this stuff to draw in a large amount of people, but in doing so, they have changed the message of the God’s Word so much that their church becomes meaningless. All their church has become is a place to meet nice people, hear a short, entertaining sermon, listen to a concert, and feel good about yourself that you went to a “church.” If people dare to change the format and really start preaching God’s Word instead of entertaining them, the pagans will leave. Hence, many of these churches are caught in a vicious circle. So the churches keep up their seeker sensitive programs to look good numerically in the eyes of men. Instead of the church meaning “a body of believers,” it now has been reduced to a building full of anybody having fun, and doing the Christian “thing”.

The early church grew incredibly without any seeker sensitive programs (Acts 2:47). Biblically, the purpose of the church was to build up believers through the teaching and fellowship, communion and prayer (Acts 2:42-47). They then went out and reached those around them with the good news through evangelism and missions ( e.g. Acts 3). The apostles’ primary focus was on feeding the believers spiritually. These spiritually maturing believers would then reach out to pagans and tell them of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But some would argue: “but people are getting saved in seeker sensitive churches.” That is great; I would not doubt that some people are indeed getting saved in these churches. Others would argue, “what about unity?” “Isn’t this all so divisive?” “Isn’t unity what the Bible teaches?” It is true that the Bible does teach about the importance of unity (see Ephesians 4). The end does not justify the means. We should not use bad methods just because people get saved by them. Consider the Nazi Concentration camps. Just because God, in His rich grace and mercy, used some of these concentration camps to bring people to Christ, should we then build concentration camps to get people saved? This is an extreme example, but again, it shows you that the end result doesn’t confirm the use of bad methods even if God is indeed saving people through them. We need to just faithfully obey what the Bible teaches us.

Unity is important, but unified about what though? The “what” is what matters here! Are we supposed to be unified with Muslims and Mormons because they teach about Jesus too? At what point do we dissent? Are we supposed to believe everything that the seeker sensitive supporters are saying just for unity’s sake? We are not supposed to be unified on things that are not Biblical. For example, Paul gave strict warnings to the Galatians about accepting any other Gospel message that was different than the one that was preached to them. He said some harsh words about this: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8) False teaching always begins with a perversion of God’s Word. The bottom line: we need to be unified on what the Bible teaches a church is, and confront those who want to change definition of a church into something that is not Biblical. No one likes to be confronted that what they are teaching is wrong; however, sharpening other Christians by encouraging them to follow what God teaches is Biblical. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). But when we correct those who have veered of God’s Word, we must correct in a spirit of love, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.” In doing this we build one another up and demonstrate the love of Christ to one another.

In summary, Seeker sensitive churches are growing incredibly by the numbers. Yet this is at the cost of becoming people pleasers, not giving the complete Gospel message, changing what it means to be a “church,” and true believers’ starving for some meat to grow up in Christ. Is this worth it for the numbers’ sake? I don’t think so.

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How Can Christians Explain Truth to Others?

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A group of ministers calling on American Christians to reclaim the neglected task of soul-winning.

I recommend subscribing to Charisma Magazine’s email newsletter where I recently read an article by J. Lee Grady, which highlights the gathering of ministers from around the world to urge American Christians to soul-winning and the role of the evangelist in growing the Church. Please pass this on to your church leadership and all people passionate for spreading the Fame of Jesus to America and the Nations. Here is a quote from one of the ministers at this gathering:”The urgency of the hour demands that we recapture the role of the evangelist for the planting of new churches and the equipping of churches to mobilize believers for ministry.” - Rice Broocks, Pastor of Bethel World Outreach CenterSee the full article here:An Urgent Cry From the Nation’s Evangelists by J. Lee GradyA group of charismatic ministers have called on American Christians to reclaim the neglected task of soul-winning. The American church knows how to design functional buildings, develop sophisticated programs, utilize technology and preach to the proverbial choir. But we have forgotten the fundamental task of soul-winning—and as a result churches are closing at a record rate and more and more young people are leaving the faith.That dire assessment of America’s spiritual condition was proposed last week in Orlando, when 50 national and international evangelists convened for an honest, 24-hour strategy session held at Charisma magazine’s headquarters. The participants included South African revivalist Rodney Howard-Browne, veteran street preacher Scott Hinkle and German crusade evangelist Reinhard Bonnke.

“When the spirit of evangelism grips our hearts, it will totally reorder our priorities, interrupt our schedules, mess up our church programs, destroy our religiosity, challenge our timidity and burn up our selfishness.”

Rice Broocks, pastor of Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville, Tenn., and founder of the Every Nation church-planting movement, organized the Orlando gathering because he believes the charismatic segment of the church has become distracted from its evangelistic mission.“The statistics don’t lie,” Broocks says. “America has been described as a post-Christian nation. The urgency of the hour demands that we recapture the role of the evangelist for the planting of new churches and the equipping of churches to mobilize believers for ministry.”Broocks recently teamed up with charismatic author and pastor Larry Tomczak to form ICE-CAP, the International Center for Evangelism, Church-Planting and Prayer, which just opened its offices in Nashville. ICE-CAP’s mission is to help train a new generation of evangelists and mobilize churches for strategic evangelism efforts.Broocks introduced Tomczak as “the only guy I know who still gives out personal tracts.” Tomczak then told the story of how, on the previous night, he led a hotel desk clerk to salvation after giving him his printed testimony.In three sessions held over two days, the leaders outlined several reasons why evangelism has waned. They include:1. A lack of spiritual zeal in our churches. “Soul-winning must be a passion, not a program,” one attendee said. The renewing power of the Holy Spirit is the key to shifting our churches into a place of contagious faith.2. A spectator mentality. Many Christians have been deceived into believing that evangelism is the work of paid clergy or itinerant specialists. Said one evangelist: “You don’t limit tithers to those who have ‘a gift of giving,’ do you? Everybody tithes. In the same way, everybody is supposed to be doing evangelism.” Broocks, Hinkle and others made it clear that the primary role of the evangelist is not to conduct meetings but to train and equip all believers to win souls.3. A cultural disconnect. Hispanic leader Samuel Rodriguez pointed out that a large segment of the millennial generation has abandoned church because they feel it isn’t relevant to their lives. As long as the church remains mired in superficial religiosity, we won’t reach young people—who crave authenticity and want to apply the gospel to their world.4. An increasingly secular culture. Vincent Esterman, who has done street evangelism for decades in France and Australia, believes the United States would do well to study how Christian faith has waned in Europe. Americans will most likely face similar hostilities in our culture, since universalism and atheism are growing here.5. Tensions between evangelists and pastors. Eric Cowley of Global Focus Ministries spoke for many in the room when he shared that many pastors feel threatened by evangelists and don’t want to share local church resources with them. At a time when the role of apostles and prophets has been reclaimed in charismatic circles, the role of the evangelist has been marginalized.6. The church’s credibility crisis. Recent religious scandals, incessant fundraising on Christian television and reports of televangelists living in opulence have produced increased skepticism about preachers’ motives. Many of the leaders in Orlando were incensed by the blatant moral and ethical abuses occurring in our movement. Said one leader in a moment of candor: “If I see one more telethon on Christian television I’m going to puke.”7. Bad theology. Broocks pointed out that American Christianity has, at times, morphed into an errant “virus” that has had a negative impact on countries where it has been exported. “We preach a gospel that offers faith without repentance, grace without the fear of God and destiny without discipleship,” he said.8. A poorly defined mission. Many churches no longer understand what evangelism is. Missionary mobilizer David Shibley offered the group a succinct definition, borrowed from his days in Southern Baptist seminary: “Evangelism is sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit with a view to bringing people to repentance and faith in Christ so that they might serve Him in the church.”In the first evening session, after a time of spontaneous prayer, Bonnke laid his hands on all the participants and asked God for a fresh anointing of evangelism on the American church. This humble man who has led 47 million people to Christ (and once saw 2 million make decisions for salvation in one meeting in Nigeria) told the group that this anointing has nothing to do with him. “I am not giving you my anointing when I lay hands on you. Jesus is the one who anoints you,” he said.As Bonnke laid his hands on my head, I stood in the gap for all of us. I believe there is indeed a new grace available to the American church in this hour. I hope we are ready for the changes it will bring. When the spirit of evangelism grips our hearts, it will totally reorder our priorities, interrupt our schedules, mess up our church programs, destroy our religiosity, challenge our timidity and burn up our selfishness.If you are willing to embrace that anointing without placing conditions on it, please ask for it now.To see short videos with J. Lee Grady, Charisma’s publisher, Stephen Strang, and other Charisma editors, click here.J. Lee Grady, Charisma’s editor, has been involved in Christian journalism since 1981 and has faced a monthly deadline ever since. A native of Atlanta, he has been with Charisma since 1992, serving as news editor, managing editor and then becoming editor in 1999. He and his wife, Deborah, have four daughters. Lee has won three first-place reporting awards from the Evangelical Press Association, and his monthly column in Charisma, “Fire in My Bones,” has won awards from the Florida Magazine Association. Also an author, Lee’s book 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, published in 2000, opened a unique door for him to preach internationally. He has since traveled to 12 nations, challenging the church to release women in ministry and to end abuse and gender discrimination. In his spare time Lee is trying to learn to speak Spanish. www.fireinmybones.com

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How do you become all things to all men?

Whether I’m having a conversation with a college student at a coffee shop or hanging out with a homeless person on the streets of LA, I always try to follow Paul’s charge to become all things to all people that by all means we may win some. But, what does it really mean to follow what Paul said? How do you become gay to reach those in the gay community? How do you become homeless to reach those who are homeless? How do you reach the pluralist, the atheist, the porn addict, the sports athlete?

I feel there are many in the Christian community that care about doing this well, both to reach the culture and to honor God with their actions. But there are also extremes, those Christians who totally avoid culture and stay in their christian bubbles either out of fear or just a lack of understanding on how to do this at all, And, the other extreme, those that becomes so entrenched in culture that their culture changes them more than them having an impact for the Kingdom of God.

What is Paul really trying to communicate to us as we try to reach different cultures in society? I found a good interview that sheds some light on this volatile topic, In a recent interview with John Macarthur on Crosswalk.com:

Edwards (Interviewer): One of the things I get most frustrated about is whenever people like you who are standing for truth point out the error both in the emergent church and in the seeker movement people will immediately run to 1 Corinthians 9 and begin screaming, “You know Paul said, ‘I became all things to all men,’ which means to the grunge I become as grunge, to the Universalist I become as a Universalist.” But in 1 Corinthians 9 Paul isn’t saying that we compromise the message and we become whatever the audience needs us to be in order to make the gospel palatable.

John MacArthur (Response): Well, of course not. All he is saying is there’s a foundation in the proclamation of the gospel with the Jew and there’s a different starting point with the Gentile. If I’m going to evangelize a Jew, I’m going to start with the Old Testament because that’s the substantial basis. So every time the Apostle Paul preached to the Jews he started with the Scripture—the Old Testament Scripture. Every time he evangelized Gentiles he started with creation. For example, in Acts 14 and Acts 17 he talks about the unknown God. Who is the unknown God? He’s the God who made everything—that was the foundation.

All he is saying in 1 Corinthians 9 is you must understand the starting point of your audience and here’s the point: ideologically. In other words, how do they think ideologically, philosophically, religiously? What are the ideas, the theories, the viewpoints that they hold? It’s not about identifying with their lifestyle; it’s not about being able to converse about every episode of South Park, every R-rated movie and every Rap song—that’s not it at all.

How do people think religiously, how do they perceive truth?—those are the starting points that Paul was establishing. That’s a far cry from saying that to reach this generation we must do their music, we must dress the way they dress, we must live the way they live, we must be familiar with the baser components of their culture. That’s a million miles from what the Apostle Paul had in mind. He was talking about those things that controlled their thought process and their worldview.

Paul Edwards is the host of The Paul Edwards Program, a columnist and pastor. His program is heard daily on WLQV in Detroit and on godandculture.com. Contact him at paul@godandculture.com.

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Help Another Soul - His name is Kenny

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Do you leave Jesus in the manger?

Today, as I read Mark Cahill’s recent newsletter, I thought of its importance in light of the Christmas season, but more than anything its importance as a follower of Jesus and even for someone searching for what is truth.

“As I heard a pastor say recently, that some people see Jesus as a good rabbi, some see Him as a great prophet, and many see Him as a great humanitarian; but He is so much more. He is God. Do you see Him that way? Do you see the power that He has? Do you realize that you will stand in front of Him and give account of your whole life one day?”

Thank you Mark for pointing this out in light of a culture that views Jesus in so many different ways - so many wrong ways. We need to examine our own hearts as Paul declared in 2 Corinthians and ask this same question Mark poses “Do you see Him this way?”. Then, as you begin to examine the Scriptures, you will see the true Jesus and not one that has been conjured up by man. Enjoy the rest of Mark’s Newsletter. It is filled with nuggets to chew on. You can sign up to receive his monthly newsletters on his website www.markcahill.org

Colossians 1:14-19 says

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”

Here is a Video from Realfusion that tells the story of Jesus in a manger and how this should impact our view of the poor and broken, but Mark writes in his newsletter that follows, that we must not leave him there, but rather see that He is Lord, and that understanding radically changes our lives and the message we share with the world.

Mark Cahill’s December 2007 Newsletter

Don’t Leave Him In the Manger

What a wonderful time of the year it is, snow falling in some places, school is out for most people, and families getting together for their Christmas traditions. Part of that tradition for so many families has to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. Many will go to Christmas plays at their schools and to productions at their church.

Those services can be so beautiful as we learn more about the story of Joseph and Mary, the angels, and Jesus in the manger. But for many that is where the story ends. We have left Jesus in the manger. He is still this cuddly, lovely little baby and not much more. It is a cute tradition that has meaning during this time of the year, but then it is back to our normal lives.

Jesus is not in the manger anymore. He is not walking around Jerusalem. He is not on the cross. He is not in the tomb either. He is seated at the right hand of Almighty God.

1 Peter 3:22 says

“Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”

He is not just a baby in a manger. All authorities and powers are made subject to Him. No matter how crazy this world may get in the coming days, Jesus is, and will always be, in control.

John 1:1 says

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Again, Jesus is not some baby in a manger: He is God. When you see Him as God, you now look at Him completely differently. You see His power, His glory, His omnipotence, His love, His forgiveness, and His wrath. You don’t see those things when you just see him as a baby in a crib or a manger.

As I heard a pastor say recently, that some people see Jesus as a good rabbi, some see Him as a great prophet, and many see Him as a great humanitarian; but He is so much more. He is God. Do you see Him that way? Do you see the power that He has? Do you realize that you will stand in front of Him and give account of your whole life one day?

Colossians 1:14-19 says

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”

Do you see Him as the Creator of the whole universe? You need to see Him that way because that is who He is.

1 Peter 1:19 says

“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

When you see Him as the perfect Lamb of God who took upon our sin as the only possible sacrifice for those sins, you can never just see him as a baby in a crib.

Revelations 19:11-16 states

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Kind of sounds like a little bit more than just a baby in a manger. All you can do is fall down and worship Him after reading verses like that.

We love it when our kids get out of the crib. We love it when they begin to walk, talk, and read. We love it when we can go to watch them play sports and we love it when they are finally old enough to mow the grass instead of just run on it! We love it when they get married and have kids, which will be your grandkids. We love it when our kids get out of their manger.

Remember during this Christmas season that the Jesus you believe in is out of the manger and sitting at the right hand of God. Stay focused on that fact. Remember whom you will answer to for your entire life when you die. Make sure it is the Biblical Jesus that you believe in for your salvation. And since you believe in Him, it is a great time to share that belief with someone. The belief that Heaven is real, Hell is real, God is real, and so is Jesus. The Jesus that sits at the right hand of the Father does not fit in a manger; so don’t leave your faith in that manger.

Until the nets are full,

Mark cahill

www.markcahill.org

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