One major focus of politicians, special concern groups, and the American people in general is pollution. The pollution of air, water, and everything else around us is seen by many as a large problem. Pollution talks have created the "idea" of "Global Warming" and has been blamed for cancer and death. Companies, organizations, and individuals have accepted a "going green" policy to try and make the earth (which was created by God) a healthier place for us to live.
Believe it or not there is type of pollution that I am more concerned about. It is the pollution of a perfect Gospel. A perfect Gospel that is based around a perfect Jesus. People have tried for centuries to pollute this message. We have preachers that stand in pulpits and speak opinionated messages and tell stories that relate to nothing but senseless humor, self-esteem, and the world. People have taken the word "believe" in the verse John 3:16 and replaced it with "think". I have heard sermons that talk about salvation but not the cross or Jesus Christ.
The world has taken a cup filled with purity and tried to combine with something that has no resemblance of God at all. People have tried to pollute the purest words ever spoken! My question is, why would we try to fix something that's not broken. The answer to my question is that people would rather change something perfect to make themselves look better and more attractive or create any easier path to their choice of life. We have forgotten that the true Gospel doesn't only show the light but it brings it. We forget that Jesus and his life gives us life but often its not the life that we want. The life that many people want is one wrapped around themselves and sin which is death is disguise.
Jesus' death was a bloody one. The cross which he died on was soaked in his innocent blood. He chose to pay the debt of all people with that blood. Why are we trampling through it? Why do we deny the truth? Why do we deny him? Why we preach messages that make things seem easy to give false hope? Why do we forget that the great commission is about saving souls and making disciples and not just putting names on a church role?
While people are focused on going green, lets focus on going Jesus. How about, we call it what it is and accepting it as that. Salvation comes with a cross. A cross that we should be proud to bare because it resembles my Jesus. Preach The Truth. Preach The Gospel. Preach The Blood. Preach The Cross. Preach Jesus.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Between My Toes...
I love, love, love the beach. The water crashing into the shore while the wind blows the hair of many. It's a great oppurtunity to sit and talk with friends or have an awesome time fighting the waves with family. The thing that captures me the most suprises many, but it's the sand. I love leaning back, letting my feet sink and watching as the sand rises between my toes.
Sand can be beautiful but it can also be very dangerous.
'24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.' -Matthew 7:24-28
Often we get caught up in the beauty and magnificance of sand but I see here that it's better kept for vacation. As we hear the opinions and ways of pagan people we get entangled like strings on a shoe. We chase the world down this highway because the road is ride without speedlimits or restrictions. We build our lives(house) on the ideas(sand) of this world because we see no inspecter pulling in the driveway.
As we travel these ways and set this foundation we have no idea what they lead to. We learn in verse 13 of chapter 7 that the wide highway is the one that leads straight to hell and destruction but the narrow leads to God's Kingdom and eternal life. The narrow is led by the one and only messiah, Jesus Christ. His teaching may not be the easiest but he never promised easy. My king promised a cross to die on and eternal life. Build your house on the rock which is Christ because the sand which is the world will always come short and crumble under your feet when put under the pressure of judgement.
I ask my self today is any room, door, or even square inch of my house built on the sand. Jesus chose to give us a rock to stand on, live by, and shout from. Are we doing it or are we okay with gaing nothing now and still losing everything later?
Sand can be beautiful but it can also be very dangerous.
'24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.' -Matthew 7:24-28
Often we get caught up in the beauty and magnificance of sand but I see here that it's better kept for vacation. As we hear the opinions and ways of pagan people we get entangled like strings on a shoe. We chase the world down this highway because the road is ride without speedlimits or restrictions. We build our lives(house) on the ideas(sand) of this world because we see no inspecter pulling in the driveway.
As we travel these ways and set this foundation we have no idea what they lead to. We learn in verse 13 of chapter 7 that the wide highway is the one that leads straight to hell and destruction but the narrow leads to God's Kingdom and eternal life. The narrow is led by the one and only messiah, Jesus Christ. His teaching may not be the easiest but he never promised easy. My king promised a cross to die on and eternal life. Build your house on the rock which is Christ because the sand which is the world will always come short and crumble under your feet when put under the pressure of judgement.
I ask my self today is any room, door, or even square inch of my house built on the sand. Jesus chose to give us a rock to stand on, live by, and shout from. Are we doing it or are we okay with gaing nothing now and still losing everything later?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Fire Ants...
I often ask the popular question..."why?". Why this and why that. It is a natural action of the human mind, most of them anyways, to search for reasoning or the "why" factor in most situations. I often ask myself and even God why about the simple or even silly things of life. Why was it Adam and Eve and not George and Martha? Or why do I find myself stumping my toe on things that seem to have been in the same place for a century? Oh and I always seem to question why god created fire ants while I'm dancing across my yard and swiping at my feet and legs.
Then again there are the serious, more impacting questions that we ask. It seems to me that every time something goes terribly wrong we seem to look at the sky, shake our heads, and say, "Why God?". I admit I am guilty of this insanity and often forget that, "It rains on the just and unjust alike". I am so quick to throw all of the blame into God's arms and tend to forget that the world we live in is an imperfect one.
I also often forget to ask God the question of, "Why did you bless me so much?". Or "Why do I have a place to live and enough food to eat". It's quite obvious that we're okay with the good but it happens to slip our minds to rest it upon the shoulders of the almighty one. We can curse the heavens when we have red insects running up our ankles but we forget to to praise the Lord when everything is right. Praise the Lord through everything, with all that is within you, and at all times, not just when its comfortable or the sunshine seems to be just right.
Tonight as I sit here typing away, I think about grace. Not just a song but the true grace of God. I imagine his nail pierced hands and his thorn crowned brow. I think about the words, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.", that my Jesus prayed while he was hanging on that cross. Tonight I ask, "Why does he love me, the undeserving, that much?"....
Then again there are the serious, more impacting questions that we ask. It seems to me that every time something goes terribly wrong we seem to look at the sky, shake our heads, and say, "Why God?". I admit I am guilty of this insanity and often forget that, "It rains on the just and unjust alike". I am so quick to throw all of the blame into God's arms and tend to forget that the world we live in is an imperfect one.
I also often forget to ask God the question of, "Why did you bless me so much?". Or "Why do I have a place to live and enough food to eat". It's quite obvious that we're okay with the good but it happens to slip our minds to rest it upon the shoulders of the almighty one. We can curse the heavens when we have red insects running up our ankles but we forget to to praise the Lord when everything is right. Praise the Lord through everything, with all that is within you, and at all times, not just when its comfortable or the sunshine seems to be just right.
Tonight as I sit here typing away, I think about grace. Not just a song but the true grace of God. I imagine his nail pierced hands and his thorn crowned brow. I think about the words, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.", that my Jesus prayed while he was hanging on that cross. Tonight I ask, "Why does he love me, the undeserving, that much?"....
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