Sharing the Good News with Faith, Hope and Love

Their are places were Christians are more concerned with weather or not people know how to use all the hymnals, BCP (or other books depending on denominations), or know all the response's during worship service. Though we ultimately must remember this is about salvation and we must be more caring to those outside of the church, as the church is meant to draw others in, be a benefit to the world, and to do its best in following God and its will. Of course at times that the truth of the Good News will conflict with worldly understanding but that doesn't mean we  shouldn't invite people were they are as Christ can and will change them if it is his will. Yes the church isn't just their to reflect the trends of society either- we are also here to challenge the worst that their is and support what is good and constructive. The church should not be a place where you must know completely how to dress and act, as Jesus loves all and meets us where we are. We must not just invite people to have a saving relationship with Christ but also welcome them to the community, to the body of Christ. I think some Christians and I myself at times can be very judgmental and we mustn't be. We like to judge other peoples sins which isn't right- We go She (or he) must be a worse sinner than I, thank God. This is a parallel to the women who walks into Simons house with her head uncovered. Oh man, how scandalous ---she is a obviously a women of the street. Also she is embarrassing to them, as she is crying and particularly on our saviors feet and cleaning them with her hair. Oh gosh, I cant believe this, why Lord-this is crazy now she is covering him in perfume, We Cant Have This In A Proper House! What will people think? This just wont do at all, how could he let this happen (referring to Jesus). I guess we know what kind of person he is, as a man of God he should know better than to hang out with sinners. Despite what they think it is this women's love and humbleness before Jesus that brings her to be forgiven before the Lord, the Son of God. She doesn't even have to ask, Jesus knew in her heart she wanted to start over, to know God, to be forgiven, and for her heart to be changed and it was. Their is another aspect to Jesus's example that no matter your past God can forgive and loves you. Also it is an example that we shouldn't be always hanging around other followers of Christ, otherwise their is no one to witness to...It isn't going to do any good to always be bunched together, we need to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News and share God's love with all. Finally the last aspect is that we must realize we are still sinners too, we were once in that position and are sins are no less. We have been forgiven by Christ's sacrifice and we are to forgive others as God forgives us (Jesus told Peter 70 x 7)...God Bless

Tidus warns us to preach the true Gospel of the Lord.

Tidus is often very busy telling us how one should behave and engage. A paraphrase of what he says is To teach what is consistent with sound doctrine; to be serious prudent and sound in faith love and endurance (it is a marathon, not a race). Let us not to slander others ourselves or anything in general, not to slaves to drink or more simply alcohol, teach what is good, to be self controlled, models of good work and integrity to show gravity and sound speech. We are told by the prophet to do these things not to win our salvation but as a response to God's grace and mercy, God loves us enough to save us from our missteps, misbehavior, sin, and our disasters continually! God loves us and respects us enough to not save us simply by making us puppets and pulling our strings or manipulating our actions. No, he has given us free will so we may chose, because Love is a choice and beyond just emotional aspects and without free will one can not really love. Instead God gives us amazing gifts and freedom and redemption. Any single one of these aught to be enough to bring us to our knees on their own, also to become people who do their best to show God that we respect and thank him for such Grace by trying to follow him and his Son to the best of our capabilities. It is our destiny to be faithful stewards to become more Christ centered. We are called to serve God not just because Must, we are called to serve God cause we can and this is the greatest of all honors, Amen.

God comes before All!

The modern world is very toxic to followers of Christ. Their are so many distractions to take us away from God. Their are so many different things that can really get us. We are so distracted in general with tv, school, hw, the treasures of this world, and more. Perhaps I should say burn what you worship and worship what you burn! Idolatry is still an issue for all of us who follow Christ, it really is they just may be a little different. A lot of people these days collect a whole bunch of teachings according to their own taste. We should ignore these as we have the Real God who loves us enough, a farther (which some would now would want us to say creator) who sends his only Son into the world to save it and die for our sins.  The trinity is not the Creator, the redeemer , an sanctifier.

No it is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! The modern world believes in the idea people can basically do whatever they want and you have to accept that. People now say you can lose weight through mother earth, get through depression with Mother Earth. I don't understand how intelligent people can get trapped in that,  but we just need to pray. Astrology is big now and I'm not sure why, their is all this creation up their designed by God. Their are five million people get the same message something good is going to happen. Yeah I can thank God for giving me another day. Now granted and admittedly most of us don't put up or set up statues of multiple god's on our alters anymore or as the prophet Jeremiah tells us as dumb scarecrows in our cucumber fields (Jeremiah is a cool prophet)!

 The way home, the way to God is through truth and light, and it isn't found in lesser things. However we always end up finding a way to worship lesser things church cannons, athletes, singers, parliamentary procedure, and more. Everywhere we go we can see the latest political issue or position becoming an Idol! Issues around immigration, debt ceiling, fiscal cliff, democrat vs republican, and more. They are all capable of being important, but are not the way to God. They are lesser things, were do we put our ultimate trust? We should put it into God, the source of all life, the loving God that saves us from our self, and our saviour who died for his love for us, the son of God, Jesus Christ. God Bless.

Restored relationship with God the Father

Around the world diffrent cultures make ways to celebrate relationships in diffrent ways, such as in United States (and Im sure other places) Valentines day marks the love between two people. Nations mark relation with treaties and in several other ways. But what about relationions with God you say? God has his own way of setting relation. One of the first ways God showed he will not abandon us despite our fall and continued sin is through the rainbow which is a sign that after the great flood is his sign of restored relations saying that kind of global destruction will ever happen again (at least not by God's hands. God's creation is beutiful as he creates the sun, the moon, all the creatures of the land and water, and more. Then he creates humans and they are very good, however after the fall of man we realize that our relationship with God had been severly damaged. Though God would not leave us this way though because he loves us. God sent his son Jesus Christ into the world so he might save it, and he does save us. Through the Cross-his blood and sacrifice as the perfect passover lamb he saves us from our sins, saves us fromm the death meant for us. His love changes the world and changes us and he restores the realtion that was broken between God and humans. We see this at our Baptism in a special way after we are baptised into Christ we here you are my beloved, as in we adopted into God's family and through Jesus we are made into children of God. We cant love God unless we really know he loves us, which is made obvious through his sacrifice for us and the Word says We love him because he loved us first.

A deeper look into God's Plan John 3:16

You will notice that it doesnt say that God so loves Christians, followers of Jesus, or God so loves the churches in this verse, but it does say that he so loved the world. This has two main points - God Loves all people and desires them to be saved. In the Older Testement God says he desires to be a light to all nations, and to be the Glory of his people Israel. All people no matter who they are are loved by God regardless of Race, Color, or social economic status are within the confines of God's plans for Salvation. No one is excluded no matter how small they may be, how old, and at whatever stage of life, however do not let yourself forget the word used here for world is cosmos. This means God's plans for redeeming the whole of the universe and all that is, and we musnt ever lose sight of this fact that God's plan is bigger than us, bigger than the Christian Church, bigger than us as followers of Christ, and bigger than the whole of humanity even. It is nothing less than the transformation of this universe that he has created conforms to his original purpose- his purpose for us, the paradise we once had, and for his Glory. The church and world are still seperate distinctions, but some day they shall be one with God! Amen

John 3:16 - 17 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one
and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not
to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

 

 

Why is Bad Theology so dangerous?

Bad theology is bad for one spiritual, mentally, and physically. I personally believe biblical literacy is at all low within modern American culture. Between the health and wellness preachers and all the strange liberation theology that is around we have really turned a mockery into God's word. One may ask the implications of bad theology besides obviously damaging your relationship with God. The answer to bad Theology is not no theology but good Theology for we must study God's word as it is a lamp unto our feet and is where we meet God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (we meet them outside the word too but that is another topic). Their are layers of Gods Word- their is a divine level, allegorical, and when you go back about 200 years it was considered one needed a whole lifetime to live with scripture and let it permeate one's soul. To me they were right 200 years ago.

Anyways some of the most heart wrenching and atrocious events in history have been the result of bad understanding of God's word and the honest truth sometimes bad theology even kills people. From the KKK, the Westboro Baptist Church, the burning of witches in England and America, to Adolf Hitler (admittedly not a Christian at all, just used a limited understanding to control and dictate people)who said just as Jesus cleanses the temple of the brute of vipers I am cleansing the world of Jews and doing Gods work in doing so, to the Spanish Inquisition, the crusades. Their is a lot of Bad theology admittedly some are not as violent as these extreme examples but a spiritually destructive.

Some of the modern garbage that is out their is America is the light of the world or as Bush thinks that America's ideals are the light of the world. Um their is a bible verse similar but quite different to that for sure, it goes or as Obama says that America is the last best hope of the planet. No that ain't true we know that we all the light of the world and the hope of the planet and it isn't America, but Jesus Christ the saviour of the world. I love my country but this is wrong. We like to think we are good and doing good but remember the bible us Nobody is good but God! God should be before all else.

So here is some advice about how to avoid such bad understanding of God's word: When reading God's word try and read at different levels. When reading at different levels it helps one to understand and dig deeper into his word. My way doing it is reading is as follows: I start with the face value or literal reading of the passage I am studying, next I look at the historical and social/political context of the passage, and then the deep reading where I try to discern God's will for my life. Another important thing to do is to find yourself a good teacher that is father along on the walk with Christ so that you may learn from them. However also you must remember to spend time on your own with prayer and his word.  If you want answers to anything your greatest tool is prayer to God-tell him what your confused about and ask him to reveal his truth to you and surely he will answer, don't go running for the opinions of people.

Now to leave with some scriptural basis:
Amplified bible 2 Timothy 2: 13-17

¹³ If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself. ¹⁴ Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers. ¹⁵ Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.¹⁶ But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.¹⁷ And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene.

So one last word of advice: avoid and beware of loud mouth teachers who have something to prove and are trying to sell you DVD's on crazy teachings as we have more that enough proof in the Bible, which is the light to our feet. God Bless 

God hears our Prayers

Does God hear and or answer prayers? What do you think? He most certainly does!!!! Remember when God's people were wandering in the dessert for years and years and years and years! God heard those people and Moses now didnt he. When God hears us Cry out, what does he do you may be asking yourself. God is with us even as Jesus and God the Father preside in Heaven the third part of the trinity the Holy Spirit is here with us and when two or more gather in God's name, Jesus is in the midst. Jesus is always in our hearts. We are the hands and feet, the body of Christ until Jesus returns. God often answers using us, his people! That is part or one way God answers, but that isnt all. God motivates us to respond to those who cry out, the poor who need us, the sick, and the lowest among us.

As followers of Christ it is our job to answer God's call for us to help those people. God can hear us, for God is love! God hears us through many ways-through our worries, our prayers or conversations with him, through the suffering of the world, through the love in the world, he hears us when we are gathered as his body for sure, God is beyond humanity. God is mroe than the human part of creation!!! God created all that is and it all reflects his awesome glory and power and love in some way. This shows his ability to create and heal all that is and bring life out of nothing and death. We need to listen to God in our lives, he speaks to us through nature, God is also in the scilence. It is often a subtle and quiet, yet quite obvious feeling in your heart were you here God answer your prayers and suddenly you know what God is telling you. Encouraging video below for the short hymn Here our Pray O' Lord