by Skip Tschantz | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Responding to Society Keeping the Mission in Focus Being mindful of our mission Titus 3:8: This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. What is Paul referring to that is good and profitable for all men? Lets look at 2 Corinthians 5 where we see an outline of our mission. 2 Cor 5:18-21 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Our mission is not to impact our culture by changing their moral values, or by legislative or judicial process. Our mission is to be an ambassador through whom God can reconcile men and women to Himself. The Bible doesn’t mandate that we are to impact our culture so that it becomes Christianized. To embrace this view will blur our priorities and weaken our allegiance. Our priority is the gospel and our allegiance is to Jesus Christ and to Him alone. Our calling is not to change society...
by Craig McAndrews | Jul 25, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
In Luke 14:25-35 Jesus makes it clear that it costs to follow Him and in concise language He spells out the details on what the cost will be. The words He uses in this teaching really got my attention and challenged me to think about paying the price. His statements are direct and very absolute. Consider verse 26, where He says, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple”, or when He says in verse 27, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Statements like “hate his own father and mother”, “carry your own cross”, and “cannot be my disciple” provide little room for interpretation. Studying these verses has challenged me to ask two very specific questions of myself and I wanted to share them with you as you seek to know our savior more deeply: Question 1: What has following Jesus cost you in your life? Question 2: When have you been uncomfortable or inconvenienced for the sake of Jesus? Are these questions tough to answer? I know when I first started thinking through these questions, I really wondered if following Jesus had cost me anything. In the Luke verses He tells us that being His disciple can cost us relationships, a lot of inconvenient living, our resources of time or money, and even all our possessions. Had I given up any of those things for the sake of Jesus? Fortunately, as I prayerfully thought...
by Walt Henrichsen | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, People Not Listening
“Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.” Matthew 27:3-4 Matthew 27 is devoted to the trial and crucifixion of Christ. Judas expressed remorse and returned the money to the Chief Priest. The men who had plotted Jesus’ death were indifferent regarding whether or not He was innocent. However, they were “spiritual” enough that they did not want to place the returned money in the Temple treasury: “And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood” (v. 6). Evidently, they thought it proper to sacrifice an innocent Man to protect their nation, which they perceived was threatened by His existence. Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent, and was affirmed by his wife: “For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him” (vv. 18-19). For fear of the people rioting, Pilate executed an innocent Man. While Jesus hung on the cross, “… the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself he cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,...
by Ed Allen | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, What Do You Think?
Romans 3: 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (Observation) The Law holds men accountable to God. The Law demonstrates that man falls short of God’s righteousness. (Interpretation) God’s purpose in giving the Law through Moses was not to give men a vehicle to become righteous in His sight, but rather to educate men in regard to their depravity and need for a savior. (Cross-reference) Galatians 3: 20 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. (Application) Thanks to the Law I can see that I am a hopeless sinner doomed to eternal separation from God in Hell except for God’s provision of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. What do you think? If it were not for the law, would you have been or now be, “conscious” of your own sin? for more article by this...
by Gayle Jackson | Jun 13, 2016 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Joh_1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Joh_1:14 And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. Words are important to our being. Matthew 12: 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 38 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” We think with words, therefore a sloppy vocabulary yields a sloppy mind. A vocabulary full of what we call curse words or slang will yield that kind of thinking. This generation loves the “f:” word. That will be a dominate influence in their thinking. We can’t believe that there is no impact from a bad, poor, dirty, etc. vocabulary. We think with words. Ergo, a society with a small vocabulary have a limited opportunity to develop. I have been told that those who study the “lost” tribes in the jungle, find the people with a small anemic vocabulary have a very underdeveloped culture. Think of the inner city’s vocabulary and look at the product. Just think of hip hop verses classical music and their impact of society. Evidence says we are better off with a strong good vocabulary in our culture. But all tribes of people have a word for God. The key to speed reading is your vocabulary. If you have a weak vocabulary, you are constantly struggling with...
by David Kotter | May 30, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
“If you died today, and were standing before God, what would you say to convince him to let you into heaven?” Imagine this question posed to you at a lunch meeting, or even perhaps on the phone. What would you say? Fortunately, I am prized with daily unbeliever intersections, which allow me the opportunity to ask this very question. As one might imagine the feedback runs the gamut, but all have a common theme, which is justification. Whether they consciously know it, or not, man is always playing the Luke 18 Pharisee justify card. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” This manifests itself today, as “I am a good person,” or could be better understood as, “I am so much better than the next guy.” Man is always playing appraiser as he pulls out comps to support his own personal valuation. The tactic, to this attitude of hiding by justifying, is to ask questions, which expose the truth of his/her sin condition. Some of the questions I pose back to them are: How did you come up with that? What standard are you using? Does your standard trump someone else’s? Have you ever not lived up to your own standard? Questions are so powerful, and Jesus knew this well; look at Matthew 19:17: And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” Jesus knew about His own divinity, but was forcing this man to think...
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