
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Bloodmoney movie

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Pride can be a national sin as well.

The consequences of pride can be felt on an individual level as well as on a national level.We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A Neglected Theology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMG_PVaJoI
The theology of suffering still eludes many within the Body of Christ. This neglect seems to be localized within the United States but has spread to many other countries with the rise of the "prosperity gospel". It is natural for men to pursue their own self interests. However, there seems to be less and less distinction from the natural ways of the world and what should be the salt and light of the Church. The desires, goals, values of the church should be radically different from the world that surrounds it.
I know I am often prone to comfort and indifference. I can sense the hypocrisy as I type on the laptop and the T.V. plays for noise in the background. I go out of my way to avoid pain or conflict. I find myself often claiming my rights to what I feel I deserve. I've felt the pressure of churches who are typically more interested in numerical growth than real authentic spiritual growth that challenges people to Go and Make Disciples. These attitudes and values have infiltrated the church like a virus. I thank God that Friendship is often making choices to do the right/righteous thing which is often not the popular thing.
The reason I posted this link was to remind myself and anyone else who cares to watch it of the importance of "brokenness" or what the speaker calls anguish. If we pursue comfort, our own rights, and embrace a consumerism what will our churches look like in the end. This is a theme I have been trying to drill into our students over the past 24 months. Brokenness over our sin and brokenness over those who are lost and desperate without a Savior. This is the beginning of calling. This is the beginning of selfless service. This is the foundation for the grace and forgiveness that needs to be extended. This is what motivates young people to deny self and pray desperate prayers for their friends. We don't need better music, better dramas, or better multimedia we desperately need the desperate prayers of broken students.
The Christy Nockels song Hosanna says, "break our hearts for what breaks Yours" I couldn't agree more. I believe this to be the most dangerous prayer a young Christian can pray.
Pray that we as a church accurately teach and model this theology in our church.

