Tag Archives: kingdom

end of the world as we know it?

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Just found an article entitled “‘Fusion Centers’ Expand Criteria to Identify Militia Members” on foxnews.com and thought it was pretty interesting in an alarming kind of way.  I submit to you that it won’t be long before christianity is put on the list of “unsafe” organizations to be monitored and labeled as domestic terrorist and national security threats, and the Bible listed as a book of subversive literature.  But hey, don’t worry Jesus was charged and murdered as a domestic terrorist and a national security threat, guess it can’t be that bad.

Some of you may be thinking i sound more like a conspiracy theorist (which by the way is another criteria for you to be monitored and labeled) but history warns us of the consequences, of the path this nation under god (little “g” for government) is on.  It seems as though my thoughts are being confirmed every which way i turn and the above article is just one small piece.  Everything from america’s economic situation being remedied and insured by communist China, one of the major persecutors of the “evil cult” that is Christianity.  To the age-old debate of the question:  ”Is Christianity Good for the World?”  that is rapidly reemerging, one of which was recently documented with prominent athiest Charles Hitchens and Pastor Douglas Wilson at The King’s College.  These aren’t the only examples all you have to do is read or watch the headlines for 5 minutes and you can see.  We must discern the times we live in.  We the church must understand by a revelation of the Spirit of God that our allegiance is not for one second to a flag, seal or sword, but to Christ the Lamb who was slain and Him alone. When we understand this we will not fear the tribulations that are soon coming to the true body of Christ.  In fact He pointedly told us to expect this very thing because they hated Him first!

Let us go in peace and spread the Gospel to the loveless, to the ones who desire nothing more than to irradiate us from their world.  This is our commission, the ministry of reconciliation.  Let us forsake our fleshly desires to defend our patriotism to a man-made kingdom and surrender our entire selves to the work the Holy Spirit desires to do in us in order for that work to naturally flow out of us. This is my prayer.  Amen.

The Church: A Gospel-Centered Community (pt.1)

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This is an article i just stumbled across and it is a must read for sure! Let me know what you think!

By Jonathan Dodson

It’s a buzzword. It’s often misunderstood. It’s central to the Christian faith and yet absent from many churches: Community. I will address two main issues with our attempts to find community. First, defective Christian views of community are based on unbiblical notions of the Church. Second, true community is based not on what you do but who you are.

Church: A Community?

Most church-goers conceive of church as a building. On Sunday mornings they get up, get dressed, and “go to church.” However, this is not how the early Christians conceived of church. They did not go to church—they were the church. Church is a community, not a building or a meeting. Church is all week, not just on weekends. Church literally means a “public assembly of people.” It has to do with people gathering, not with program-participating.

In trying to communicate the church as community to my two-year-old son, I have changed the way I talk about church. Instead of telling him that we are “going to church,” I tell him that we are going to be with the church, to sing and eat with them. Once Christians repent of reducing church to buildings and programs and begin to cherish the people God has given them to live with, warts and all, community will increase.

The Household of God

In a letter to a pastor named Timothy, the apostle Paul described the church as “the household of God.” Household has more to do with dwelling and living than it has to do with brick and mortar. God dwells in the church. The church is not just people; it’s God’s living room, his neighborhood. Church is both human and divine, a place where people and God live in community together.

God: A Community of Persons

Community as a divine-human phenomenon is traced back to the nature of God. God is not, as many assume, a disinterested Scientist, a removed Observer, or an impersonal Energy. According to the Bible, God is three persons in relationship—God the Father, Son and Spirit. God has always existed as a community of persons, self-sufficient, self-delighting, self-honoring, with no need of anything or anyone else.

The Imago Dei

When he created the universe, he made man like himself, “in his image.” This means many things. One thing it means is that man was created with a need for community. We don’t need the Bible to prove this need. Even feral children, kids that are abandoned in the wild, make friends with animals. We are social creatures.

The Redemption of Community

God is also purposeful. He designed the universe for redemption. New life comes out of dying stars. In divine agreement, the Trinity agreed that Jesus would die to rescue the world that man would mar. Jesus died “before the foundation of the world.” As a result, Jesus put the creation project back on track. He began restoring it right away. Healing lepers, stilling storms, balancing the unstable, drawing people back into community with God and with one another. God is missional. One of his purposes is to redeem and restore community by saving humanity from their broken relationships with him and with one another.

Vintage ChurchVintage Church:

In this book, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears discuss the essentials of what it means to be a biblical church. Find out more.

new year; new ways?

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So it is almost next year as i sit here at a quarter till 7 on December 31, 2008 and i have just been thinking: what is the big deal with these new years? I mean honestly we have to buy new calenders and sign some things a little differently, and i am sure there are some other things but i bet if we are honest with ourselves we wouldn’t be able to think of anything, of real weight or substance that this new year actually is. Honestly the new year only represents certain, specific things in an individual’s mind. We call them by nice, important sounding names like resolutions, goals, or strategies but what are they really besides our own personal resolutions, goals, or strategies… these are just words, put together to motivate us emotionally. Here i will prove it, they go something like this: “My new year’s resolutions are: words, words, words!“, or “My strategy for this year is: words, words, and more words!” Now think about that, you the individual can put any words you want there! And if you the individual can put anything that you want, however big or small, right or wrong, serious or stupid, spiritual or secular, then how important can this new year actually be? I know that some of you are probably quoting some scriputres at me or something like “your words have life or death power” or “if we don’t have vision we perish” and i am certianly not going to argue with those. But i just want you to answer me this: does the new year actually represent anything besides a mindset? No! So as someone in Christ (a Christian), who has the mind of Christ, what is any different tonight at midnight than any other night at midnight… or any time for that matter!?!? Nothing! In fact when Christ was raised up on that cross and drew all men to Himself, the calendar that we are celebrating tonight wasn’t even a thought in anyone’s head yet!

The point i am making is this, we must be careful not to get caught up in the externals, the temporal things. I hate seeing believers at these new years putting all their hope and trust on their words, on their diligence or discipline, on their strength and power.

Check out what the Apostle Paul says to the Church in Corinth about this in 1 Corinthians 4:6-20…
6 so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.
7 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
8 You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
11 To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;
12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
15 For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
16 Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power.
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.

You see it isn’t about us at all, our resolutions, goals, or strategies, for all we have is words that lead to death. That is the reality outside of Christ. Power is only found in Christ which is exactly where the believer is found. If we are to build up this Kingdom as we glorify our King then our words are useless, as the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power!

As we change out our calendars and have to akwardly adjust to now writing 2009 instead of the familiar 2008, let us grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ. Let us understand that our ways are found in Christ!  Amen.