Christ Started In A Manger, Where Is He Now?
Filed under: Christian Living, Evangelism, Ministry Methods of Jesus
Jesus Is To Be Recognized
Not Found
Every Christmas we “celebrate” the birth of Jesus or at least we say we do but are we really celebrating or just memorializing?
We talk about Jesus in the past tense, like He used to be here but not now. The timing of His birth, where He was born and how desperate the circumstances were is the focus. We talk about it, play act it and build replicas of it but all of that looks back to a time in the past. A time that most of us can’t relate too.
Is that how we celebrate birthdays? We look at a person’s baby pictures and talk only about the circumstances of their birth, and we speak of them only in the third person, as if they aren’t present or living. That makes a great memorial, not a birthday celebration.
Christmas today paints the picture of the Jesus that was then. The question is where is He now? He accomplished a lot in the few years following His birth but is He finished? Was His impact only for that day and time?
When we celebrate the birth of Jesus two important facts should influence how we plan the party:
- One, He rose from the dead. He is out of the grave not in it.
- Two, He is a person. He has personal attributes. He does personal things, still.
So, if He loved people, felt their pain, communicated with them, connected with them and saved them 2000 years ago shouldn’t we expect Him to do the same now, even, and especially, at His birthday?
He said He came to seek and to save those who are lost then, and there is no reason to think His purpose has changed. He hasn’t stopped doing what He originally came to do.
So, instead of focusing on the Christmas story of 2000 years ago, let’s talk about the one that is still being written today. That focus will help us see that Jesus is doing the same thing now that He was doing then. The only change in today’s story is geographical. Read more
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Review Chapter 6
Filed under: Book Reviews, Love Wins, Ministry Methods of Jesus
“Love Wins” now has a Study Guide
Rob’s Saviour
Chapter 6
There Are Rocks Everywhere
This chapter of Love Wins
He takes an event that Christians accept and refer to occasionally – but are afraid to really think about – and expands on it, bringing it into greater focus. Not fearing what the Bible implies – in spite of being conditioned to jump no higher than the rim of the jar – Rob ventures into the no-go zone, following the obvious to its logical end.
In this case he is talking about a rock. One that figured briefly but significantly in the life of Israel during the Exodus.
Wandering through the desert, Israel became thirty and had no water to drink. Under God’s instruction Moses took his staff and, with all the people looking on, hit a rock. And out came water. Enough water to quench the thirst of an entire nation.
It was a miracle in more ways than one and it involved a rock.
We know about Moses’ staff. It became a snake, ate other snakes – that were previously staffs – and caused all kinds of pestilence when pointed in the right direction. It was the emblem of Moses authority and was prominent in the Exodus story…
But the Rock?
The Rock, about which little was said in the Old Testament, stands out because Paul makes reference to it in the New and gives it a very special place in theology. He never mentions the staff but the no-name, nondescript rock, he says, was Christ! And Rob, taking his cue from Paul’s remark, goes on to suggest these rocks are everywhere. Read more
Rich Young Ruler Misses Heaven??
Three Gospels report an incident in which a young man approaches Jesus and asks specifically how he could inherit eternal life. Jesus’ response is a bit confusing and makes it difficult – not impossible – to achieve a clear interpretation. Because of the confusion this passage is often ignored or misrepresented.
This post is an attempt to bring sense to an otherwise perplexing situation.
The young man, who happened to be of the ruling class and therefore wealthy, approaches Jesus (Mark says he ran to Jesus and knelt) asking how he might inherit eternal life.
It’s a good question. We have to give him high marks just for asking.
The interesting thing is, Jesus did not convulsively respond with the standard “confess your sinfulness and trust in me” answer.
Instead, in this situation, He attempted to explore the heart of this young man and in the conversation that followed, Jesus said three things that cause us to raise our eyebrows:
- One, He asked “why do you call me good,” making the point that only God was good, seemingly insinuating that He was neither good nor God.
- Two, He told the man eternal life could be entered by keeping the commandments.
- Three, He directed the man to sell everything he owned and give the proceeds to the poor.
Obviously, these remarks don’t gel with our understanding of truth. They really make us wonder: Read more
Evangelistic Verses In John
Most churches have constitutions one part of which is a statement of faith. It provides a list of important beliefs along with a brief description and several Bible references supporting the belief.
What they don’t often have but should is a statement of activities, things they do regularly as an expression of their faith. And at the top of the “do” list should be evangelism.
Although the word is not actually an English word – anglicized (transliterated) form of the Greek euangelion – it is clearly the most important issue in the New Testament.
It refers to the good news of the Gospel and the activity associated with evangelism is anything we do to spread that message. This was very prevalent in the ministry of Jesus.
Without question, one of the most important lessons we learn from Jesus is how to evangelize. This intention was so obvious that the writers of the Gospels have been referred to as the four “evangelists” and of all the Gospels, John’s emphasizes evangelism the most.
Proof of this emphasis is the number of verses in John which are evangelistic stand outs. The purpose of this post is to provide a list of these verses. Read more
Evangelize Intentionally
We don’t easily get it.
We study the Gospel of John digging out the useful bits of evangelistic information and then refer to it as the Gospel of “Belief” rather than the Gospel of “Evangelism.” We fall short of the right conclusion and then fail to follow through on any meaningful application.
And we do this because we are more content just studying the Bible than we are doing what it says. We scour John’s Gospel locating all the powerful evangelistic verses, making other pertinent observations as well and then, instead of evangelizing, we study it some more.
That is one reason I think Bible study has become an insidious and pervasive evil. It is now the cover up for inaction and ineffectiveness. All over the world, in churches everywhere, spiritual action has been constipated by the idea that once you have studied your Bible you have done your due. Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration
