December 15, 2010 at 1:26 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a comment
Tags: abortion, America, anecdote, apostasy, applaud, ateasetees, awesome, baseball, Bible, Bible Belt, bookstore, Botox, Christian, church, clique, compromise, context, crazy, death, different, disenchantment, duty, editorial, effort, entertain, evangelism, faith, family, feeling, fluff, football, freak, God, gospel, gossip, grace, gravity, guilty, heart, hell, holiness, Hollywood, holy, hope, hungry, hunting, hypocrisy, illustration, image, Islam, Israel, Jesus, judgment, laugh, law, life, love, marriage, mellow out, mercy, money, murder, music, Muslim, nice, passage, pastor, peace, prayer, preach, prestige, pretense, program, reason, repent, respect, salvation, scripture, sermon, shallow, shout, sin, social, sound, starlet, study, Sunday School, system, ten commandments, theology, TIME, truth, why, work, wrong
I have been thinking about something and anyone who reads this blog knows that it means trouble….
Over the past year, I’ve been looking for a church. I have been to a few churches and they’ve been full of nice people, and yet, I’ve not been able to find a church that has what I am looking for in a church. Let me state again, the churches that I’ve been to are full of very nice people, but it’s not enough. My search is especially frustrating because I live in the “Bible belt” of the United States. Here, there is a church on every street corner (this is almost literal). Here, going to church is a regular part of life. But, as I’ve studied scripture, I’ve noticed that the reason we go is very important. Even more important is what goes on there. Continue Reading Why do you go to church?…
November 13, 2010 at 2:27 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a comment
Tags: abortion, adult, alcohol, Almighty, anointing, answer, ateasetees, Batman, battered, believer, Bible, bitter, bitterness, bless, bold, boys, breakthrough, burger, buried treasure, calling, change, character, child, childhood, Christian, church, clown, coffer, comfort, community, compassion, compromise, congregation, cool, cotton candy, creator, crime, crushed, death, depart from Me, disease, divorce, drugs, Elvis, empty, entertain, evangelism, exposit, faith, fear, flock, forgive, foundation, generation, gentle, goat, God, gospel, grace, graphics, harsh, hell, hip, holy, homosexual, homosexuality, honor, hope, hurt, hype, integrity, Islam, Israel, Jesus, job, jot, Judge, judgment, kind, last resort, laugh, law, life, lights, lost, love, lure, marriage, meat, megachurch, memory, mercy, message, milk, mind, misunderstanding, money, movie clips, murder, Muslim, pain, parent, passion, pastor, peace, person, perspective, pew, plastic, play church, pornography, prayer, precious, pride, program, prominent, rant, reality, relevant, repent, righteous, sad, salvation, scripture, seeker sensitive, sermon, sex, shallow, shame, sheep, shepherd, sin, smile, song, soul, sound system, Southern Baptist, special, spring, stage, strength, strife, study, suicide, Superman, ten commandments, tittle, transcendent, tremble, trial, tribulation, truth, unemployed, universe, valuable, war, watered down, weight, wisdom, Word of Faith, works, worry, worship, wrath
Think of something precious to you. Not someone, some thing. Maybe this is a ring that has been handed down in your family for generations. Maybe this is a tool your grandfather gave you. It may be something from a loved one who is no longer here. Whatever it is, think about it. Could you describe it to me? What color is it? How big is it? What is it made of? Does it have any distinguishing features? Do you remember the day that you got it? Where you were? What was going on when you got it?
For most of us this exercise comes pretty easily. As humans, we hold on to those things that we hold dear. The things that are most important to use have a prominent place in our hearts. Now, think back on that object that is precious to you. See yourself holding it (if possible). Now imagine that you took the item outside; somewhere in your backyard. And you dug a hole, dropped that precious object into it, covered it back up with dirt, and tamped it down. Continue Reading A buried treasure…
May 24, 2010 at 5:26 am | Posted in Christianity | Leave a comment
Tags: academia, advertisement, America, ancestors, ateasetees, Bible, blasphemy, cabinets, car, CD, character, Christian, Christmas, church, clothes, complacent, compromise, computer, credit cards, days, death, debt, desensitize, doctrine, El, Eli, Elohim, Elvis, encourage, entertain, enticement, evangelism, evil, evolution, exclusivity, fact, faith, false, Fear Factor, feel, giveaways, glory, God, gospel, grace, hate, hear, hell, herd mentality, history, holy, homosexual, hope, house, idolatry, immorality, influence, interest, Islam, Israel, iTunes, Jesus, judgment, lackluster, law, lawn, life, love, lyrics, magazine, manicure, marriage, mercy, mock, money, morality, movies, murder, name, New Testament, Old Testament, one night stand, party, pastor, peace, Pharisees, prayer, preacher, radio, rape, repent, sacrifice, salvation, science, scripture, secular, see, seeker sensitive, set apart, sin, smell, song, sports, stats, study, stunts, swimwear, taste, teams, ten commandments, theology, tights, toys, Trinity, truth, TV, unsaved, violence, vulgarity, watery, weak, weight loss, world, worldview, wrath, writing, Yahweh
Whether we realize it or not, we are influenced by many things. We see an advertisement for the newest car, the latest way to lose weight, or the fastest way to make money and we have the opportunity to be influenced. The more we see the ad, the more likely we are to be influenced to purchase the product. It happens for cars, houses, grocery items, toys (think about all the ads you see at Christmas), and movies. We see people happy with the new product or service and we can’t help but think that it may be the same way for us. We see the newest TV shows with the hottest stars and our interest is piqued. We see the latest summer blockbuster with the most amazing special effects and we have to see it. The chart topping hits play on our favorite radio station, we can’t get the song out of our head, and the next thing we know, we’re buying the CD or iTunes download.
The influence of music, movies, advertising, and other media forms has become so pervasive that we hardly even notice it anymore. We have become desensitized to it. We hardly realize that we are not making the choices anymore. Add to this the “herd mentality” where friends and family are acting on this influence and it becomes even stronger. We seem to be in full control of our decisions, and fail to recognize the influence that the environment around us – the things we see, hear, smell, taste and feel – has such a profound influence on what we say and do. Continue Reading Influence…
August 10, 2009 at 3:10 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a comment
Tags: acceptance, Advocate, ateasetees, Christian, church, Comforter, community, entertain, evangelism, Father, feelings, God, gospel, hell, homosexuality, hope, Jesus, judgment, know, lie, lost, love, preach, repent, salvation, sin, truth
I read a comment the other day that got me thinking about something that I’ve seen happening for a long time now. The person who made the comment was out West for an event and said that the people at the event had found “community there and online when they couldn’t find it anywhere else”. While I don’t know that I could argue with that because I think that that happens any time you have a number of people getting together for a common purpose, it was the idea drawn from this that got me thinking. The person then said that the people stayed connected because they felt accepted, and that this is what Christians need to do. The basic premise is that Christians need to go out into the world and make others feel accepted. This is often promoted as “loving people like Jesus”, “living life with people”, or “getting our lives dirty”. Continue Reading Arm Yourself – Acceptance…
Get the Word out! 