All posts tagged: Christianity

The Culture of Pastoral Notoriety

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Part 2 in the series – “The Pulpit and The Pew” The number one thing rocking the pulpit with scandal after scandal in America, is the rock star status of celebrity pastors. From heresy to immorality, worldliness to apostasy, consumerism to greed, the culture of celebrity pastors is bringing the western church to its knees. It doesn’t matter if you pastor a mega church or a small church in your neck of the woods. Nor does it matter if you’ve written a book, air a television program of your own or have a just a few followers and fans. You can fall into the trap of desiring the status of “the next big thing” no matter where and who you are. Who is a celebrity pastor? The common mistake is to select big names, men or women whom God has apparently raised up as voices to this generation and brand them with a negative connotation. Another mistake is to pick on easy targets like those incredibly gifted to speak and lead, or those with a million …

When Prayer Invokes Mercy

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What if prayer had another dimension to it than what we have experienced? What if prayer is way out of the box we’ve placed it in? Sometimes, in our particular corner of Christendom we think that our particular tradition and prayer style is the only one God accepts. In fact , for us, other traditions just don’t measure up. I can say beyond the shadow of doubt that our particular way of praying isn’t the only one that has something worthwhile to say about prayer. If we could just step out of our comfort zones, lean on the Holy Spirit for guidance, we would discover a lot of valuable lessons about prayer in other Christian traditions. Today I want to challenge you to venture out of your comfort zones and try a different approach to prayer. I challenge you to try something fresh and out of the box, out of the norm. Something that will deepen and enrich your prayer life. I have been a Christian for many years now, but have only recently attempted to do a 40 day of prayer and consecration leading up …

Rolling Up your sleeves

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1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The idea “of preparing for action” is much like the phrase “rolling up your sleeves.” God is calling us to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the most important thing in life – our faith, our relationship with him. Two thoughts from 1 Peter 1:13 1. Prepare you mind for action. Be Sober. This means to take a serious look at life. There must come a time in the life of every person when he or she must ask the hard or most important questions. What am I doing with my life? Where will I go if I were to die today? What is the meaning of all of this, God, Jesus, this world, church, suffering, my faith and christian life etc…? Am I on the right track? Am I sober? Am I right with God – am I growing as I should – is …

20 Admonishments Millennials Need to Embrace

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The Pew Research Center defines millennials as having personality. They are American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood. And they have begun to forge their own identity. They are confident, connected, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living. Generally, millennials are less religious than older Americans. Fewer young adults belong to any particular faith than older people do today. But for those millennials who are Christ’s followers, their religious affiliation is as strong today as among earlier generations. Unfortunately, many are beginning to see a spiritual drought creep in the camp of Christ following millennials. The culture of hooking-up and shacking up is on the rise. The culture of laziness and unemployment is on the rise. Drug abuse and alcoholism is on the rise. The life-style of fun-loving party junkies is an epidemic. Apathy is on the rise and droves of millennials who once followed Christ are leaving the church. Huston We Have a Problem! The spiritual vitality in many churches in America today is not strong enough to stop this bleeding. In many …

Be thou removed: Prayer of a man they called “Consecrated Cobbler

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When William Carey went to India, many a wise man would have said to him, “You may lust as well walk up to the Himalaya mountains, and order them to be removed and cast into the sea.” I would have said, “That is perfectly true; this Hinduism is as vast and as solid as those mountains; but we have faith-not much, yet we have faith as a grain of mustard seed”; and William Carey said, “I will go up to the mountain.” Lonely and weak he walked up towards the mountain, which in the eye of man seemed verily one of the summits of human things, far above all power to touch or shako it; and with his own feeble voice he began saying, “Be thou removed! be thou removed!” And the world looked on and laughed, a celebrated clergyman, looking down from his high place in the Edinburgh Review, was much amused with the spectacle of that poor man down in Bengal, thinking in his simple heart that he was going to disturb Hinduism; …

holy, holy, holy VS happy, happy, happy

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I have never met anyone who doesn’t dream about being happy. There is this thing inside us that long for a happy life. I don’t think happiness  is a bad thing to want. Our loving heavenly Father planned for our happiness. The very idea of “Shalom”  in the Bible – “nothing missing – nothing broken” speaks to that fact that God provides for our happiness.  However, I also think most of go about looking for happiness The wrong way. We seek to fill that God-Shape Vacuum (that only He alone can fill) with things that don’t satisfy. First Things First Most people do not know better, so they go about seeking happiness the wrong way. They go for pleasures of all kinds, but it leaves them empty and longing for more. They go for status, fame and money, but soon realize that these things just can’t deliver true happiness. They go for self-help books that only scratch the surface of how to find true happiness. Jesus said, “seek first the kingdom of God and His …

Some Days You eat the bear – Other Days the bear eats you

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A few years ago, Billy Collins wrote a masterpiece called “Some Days.” Some Days you eat the bear and other days the bear eats you is Collin’s poetic explanation of the piece. In it he asks the question: “How would you like it if you never knew from one day to the next if you were going to spend it striding around like a vivid god, your shoulders in the clouds, or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper, staring straight ahead with your little plastic face?” In essence, what he is saying is, Some Days you are at the top of your game – other days you are not. Some Days, as a writer, speaker, singer, preacher, parent, a Christian, leader, professional, athlete – you are on top of the world, but other days you are dull, uninspired, bored, creatively challenged, down, depressed – at a wall. How do you deal with this kind of emotional roller coaster? How do you manage to stay focus, and keep a sound mind when you are feeling dry, less inspired than …

Patience: the Rose among many thorns

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Somebody once said that if you ask God to give you patience, “he may allow difficult situations in your life to help you cultivate it.” Unfortunately, these situations are never pleasant and none of us look forward to any one of them. But apparently, they seem like the most logical place for patience to develop. Paul understood this very well. Remember the thorn in his flesh? Speaking to this very situation he said, “In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We “patiently” endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.” 2 Corinthians 6:4, 5 NLT In the same chapter he adds the following We have been despised We have been slandered We have been called impostors We have been ignored We live close to death Our hearts ache We are poor We own nothing In such difficult times and dark situations, there is one word that stands …

6 Reasons why you should forgive people who are not sorry.

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Recently, I was speaking about the power of forgiveness at a meeting and there a young woman two or three rows from the front. I could tell that she had something on her mind. She seemed a bit anxious. Apparently, she didn’t want to interrupt or draw attention to herself. But I could sense that she was struggling very hard to ignore the urge to ask a question. Finally she gave in, and with a raised hand, she asked, “but what if they are not sorry for what they did?” I thanked her for the question and assured her that I would address the question in the next session. However, I took some time to counsel with her after the meeting because she was obviously looking for an answer to deal with a pressing need.  The following is a summary of what I told her and later shared with the group: Forgiving someone who doesn’t see the need to ask for forgiveness or show any sign that they are sorry for what they’ve done wrong is …

3 Incredible Promises & 1 Big Reason

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“But now, God ’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead-end— Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” Isaiah 43:1-4 MSG Check out The Promises: When you are in over your head – I will be with you When you are in rough waters You will not go down When you’re between a rock and a hard place It won’t be a dead-end Check out the …