Why so serious?

• He just posts to be controversial!
• He just wants a rise out of people!
• Why is he so serious?

I have heard these and other comments in the past few weeks concerning my tweets and subsequent Facebook posts. I have received a lot of push back in recent weeks and felt that remarks were needed as to why I post the way I do on Facebook and Twitter.

To begin please allow me to share a little bit about the history of religion. In the 17th century Christian philosophers in an attempt to "rescue" Christianity from the rise of rationalism and empiricism separated religion from science. The purpose of this separation was to ensure that Christianity survived the attacks which were being leveled at it by science. An unfortunate consequence of this decision was that Christianity was separated from having a "voice" in the public arena. Christianity became viewed as a private faith which should not be spoken about in the public arena. This attitude towards Christianity is still held today. Christianity may be practiced in church on Sunday, however, Christianity should not be shared throughout the week nor should Christianity have a "voice" in the public square.

Two examples of a public square which exists in our digital world is Facebook and Twitter. There are over 500 million active users on Facebook and there are over 1 million active users on Twitter. I have 1,092 friends on Facebook and 110 followers on Twitter. The majority of my friends on Facebook and Twitter are not followers of Jesus Christ; therefore, Facebook and Twitter provide a wonderful opportunity to share Christianity. I also have friends on these sites who are not actively sharing their faith and Facebook and Twitter provide a wonderful opportunity to encourage and exhort followers of Jesus to share their faith. Finally, I have friends on both sites who do not know a lot about Christianity; therefore, I have a wonderful opportunity to teach doctrine and the Bible. I have friends on these sites who I will never see again in person; however, by the grace of God I have the opportunity to evangelize and disciple.

I am bolder on Facebook and Twitter than in real life because of the high turnover of posts on the Facebook news feed. I want a post which will stop someone dead in their tracks while scrolling down the news feed. I want a statement which will stick in the minds of my friends long after they have logged off. I want my posts to be like a pebble in someone's shoe which continues to irritate them and drives them to investigate further the claim being made.

Am I posting just to be controversial? No; however, I do believe there is a difference between tweeting solely to be controversial and tweeting knowing a post will be controversial but still having to speak the truth in love. For example, last week I posted on the marriage amendment and I realized that the tweet, posts, and blog was going to be controversial; however, the truth still needed to be shared. Christianity needed to provide a voice in the marriage amendment discussion; therefore, even though I knew the posts would be controversial I still took a stand.

In conclusion, I have received requests to stop tweeting, posting, and blogging on controversial subject matters; however, I can not, nor will I stop. God has given me a burden to proclaim the Gospel and one of those avenues which have opened up to share is on Facebook and Twitter. Christianity must have a "voice" in the public arena. No longer should Christians be content to sit silently in our churches while society goes to Hell in a hand-basket. We must speak up and speak out for the sake of the Gospel and society. Will you join me?

Power of the Gospel

For nine years Hamadu waited for someone to say something

Week by week the people came and went, passing by him as he performed his duties as a church security guard. As was the custom, Hamadu lived on the grounds, and he had opportunities to meet a lot of people. He heard the singing from inside the church building, as well as the prayers and the messages proclaimed by the preacher. Even though he was a Muslim, Hamadu was curious about this Jesus mentioned in the songs and discussed in the sermons. He wanted to know more about Him, a lot more. But no one ever stopped; no one ever said a word.

That was in Burkina Faso, and now Hamadu lives in a small desert town in Ghana-a 12 hour bus ride from the capital city of Accra. He is old, terminally ill, and his eyesight is failing. One day, a missionary stopped by and prayed for him. The missionary was known as one who prayed for the sick in the small community where they both live, and he had heard about Hamadu. The missionary prayed and shared the Gospel, and Hamadu got better. It was then the missionary learned that Hamadu had been waiting for years for someone to tell him about Jesus. That day Hamadu opened his heart and asked Jesus to come in.

Soon after, an eye doctor with a volunteer mission group fit Hamadu with a pair of glasses. What a joy it was for him to be able to read again! But not only that, for that first time he could read God's Word, because the missionary had given him a large print version of the Bible in Hamadu's language.

Monday Morning Humor

Power of a Mom

Should Christians be involved in politics?

Great article written by a South African as to why Christians should be involved in politics.  Any time read Africa just fill in America.

Link to article: http://www.frontline.org.za/articles/should_christians.htm

Many of us understand that we need to serve others with love and compassion, but the question remains: Is politics an area where we need to also serve people? Many Christians will say that Jesus wasn’t involved in politics. He also did not tell His followers to join any specific political party or movement.

But if we look at Jesus Christ’s stand in His day, we will see that He took quite an extreme political position. He basically challenged the existing order by announcing a new government – that is the Kingdom of God – and He Himself as head of it.

At the time of Jesus, the Jews were living under the government of the Roman Empire. People could worship the gods of their choice, so long as they also worshiped the Roman Caesar, who was seen as their god. Refusing to worship Caesar (the Emperor) was seen as an act of treason, which was punishable by death. That is why so many early Christians were persecuted by the Roman State, not because they were involved in various religions, but because the Roman authorities saw their religion as a threat to the state.The official religion of the day was Emperor worship, this meant that it was a political offence to not worship the Roman state. Christians were burned at the stake and eaten by wild animals because it was perceived that they were involved in crimes of treason. Jesus Christ stated that He, and not Caesar, had all authority in heaven and earth. His disciples understood that God’s Laws took precedence over Caesar’s laws. In other words, He challenged the political and spiritual authority of the most powerful government in the world at that time. Jesus told us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God the things which are God’s. The Bible makes it very clear that when man’s law violates God’s Law, then we are to obey God rather than man. And we see the disciples doing this in Acts Chapter 5.

Let’s imagine somebody, with the name of David, living under the Mao Tse Tung regime of Red China. This young man, who is a carpenter, living under this Marxist dictator, comes and tells Mao that he is God and not Mao or the state.Further, he tells Mao that he is the way, and not the state or the party. He also goes and tells his followers that they need to disobey the laws of Red China if it conflicts with his 10 commandments.How do you think this person would be accepted in China? Would he be perceived as a dangerous political revolutionary or just as a non-conformist?

We know that Jesus’ disciples did not get involved in politics, but that was because Rome was not a democratic country. Political involvement, as we know it today, did not exist. We know that Jesus Christ proposed a higher Law and a new King, Himself, and the Christians of His day were prepared to sacrifice their lives for Him. Many people think that the early church used to "just preach the Gospel", which they think is very good and not political. However, the word "Gospel" in the day of Caesar, referred to Caesar’s speeches and authoritative decrees. It should be obvious that Jesus, and the early church, challenged the political and religious people of their times, but the question still remains if God expects us to become involved in politics today?

What do we mean by the word ‘political’? Well, in today’s life, we see this as the practice of governments in the civil arena; politics usually refers to involvement and influencing those who govern.If we are going to fulfill God’s purpose in ministering to people’s needs, then surely this means that we are going to have to deal with social problems.How can we implement God’s Word and demonstrate love for the poor if we do not get involved in politics? How do we take care of the poor, the widows and the orphans, without being involved in politics?

At the very least, we play an indirect role in being involved in politics by voting at the national and local elections. It is very important to influence government officials because the poor are usually impacted first by changes in the economy, and these changes are generally brought about by new laws and policies as passed by government. God has also commanded us to liberate the oppressed. We often find that the greatest agents of oppression in the world are secular humanist and authoritarian governments. Wouldn't it be an effective way of liberating the  oppressed by influencing those governments to pass laws that can help rather than exploit these people? Government policies can play a role in protecting unborn babies, who are murdered by abortion. Through political laws a country can protect women and children from the exploitative industry of pornography. Sex and violence on television, women being viewed as sex objects and abused and raped can be corrected by the passing of godly laws.Governments govern people, they will decide if we are going to live as free people or oppressed people. They will also, by their laws, decide on how we are going to worship God – whether it be freely or under persecution. They will also set the standard of morality by the laws that are enforced. The question is – by what standard are they going to govern?

The following four verses help us to understand what God expects from Government:

A wicked ruler is as dangerous to the poor as a lion or bear attacking them – Proverbs 28:15With good men in authority people rejoice, but with the wicked in power, they groan – Proverbs 29:2When rulers are wicked their people are too, but good men will live to see the tyrants downfall – Proverbs 29:16Where there is ignorance of God, the people run wild, but what a wonderful thing it is for a nation to know and keep His laws – Proverbs 29:18

While the institution of government is ordained of God, it is obvious that God does not approve of all governments. It should be obvious that God did not approve of Hitler, Stalin, Mao or Idi Amin or any other bloodthirsty dictator in history. Governments must live and rule according to God’s purpose, they need to protect the innocent, punish the guilty and preserve the peace, so that we can live peaceful and godly lives in our country. When God’s Law comes into conflict with man’s law, then we as Christians need to obey God’s Law above man’s law. And, this might also mean that we need to physically resist the wicked when they oppose the Law given to us by God.

In 1 Timothy 2:1-4 we are instructed to pray for God’s wisdom and for direction for our leaders so that we might"live peaceable and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth."We know that the function God has given government is the dispensing of justice and the restraining of evil (Romans 13:1-4).For God to demonstrate His justice in government, He uses godly men and women in government, to do His will.Evil men don’t understand the importance of justice, but those who follow the Lord are much concerned about it – Proverbs 28:5.

A good man knows the poor man’s rights, the godless don’t care. – Proverbs 29:7.

We need godly men and women in positions of authority, so that we may have a peaceful, just and moral society for the people of United States to live in. If the moral, righteous people of our country do not take their responsibility in government, then we leave the doors open for our nation to be governed by the wicked and immoral.We need to defend those who can’t defend themselves (Proverbs 31:8). We are to give fair judgment to the poor, the afflicted and the orphans. How can this be done in a society, when Christians remain outside the areas of politics and justice?

Christians were told by the Apostles that they must not sue each other in secular courts, but that they needed to go to the church elders to settle their civil disputes. The Roman governors of the day began to appoint the early church Bishops to positions as judges, because of their reputation for integrity and high moral ethics. Rome became very insecure because their court systems became corrupt and the only way to correct this was for the Roman authorities to appoint godly men as the administrators of justice.

In England, we saw statesmen, like William Wilberforce – who led the fight to abolish slavery. Christians such as Lord Shaftsbury were also involved with correcting child labour abuses. Christians brought about reform to insane asylums, they worked in prisons and have had a great impact on every level of society. Christians established thousands of missions around the world including orphanages, schools, hospitals and medical clinics. Christians have led the way in bringing literacy and modern sanitation to multiplied millions of people around the world. All these reforms were brought about by social action of godly men. Many leaders in Africa received their basic education from missionaries and church schools. (It is very unfortunate that, although the Christians taught these people to read, the Marxists and Atheists gave them something to read.) 

We, as Christians, need to be represented in government. Here are some simple ways of you getting involved in the process.

1. Christians need to pray every day for South Africa and its leaders.

2. We need to register to vote.

3. We need to be informed regarding where the various parties stand on moral/Biblical issues.

4. We need to select, elect and actively support godly men and women, who are prepared to stand for public office.

5. We need to vote on every Election Day – whether municipal or national.

Monday Morning Humor

Why Marriage Matters

In recent years, the definition of marriage in our country has become a passionate topic of debate at both the state and federal levels.   Although on its surface, the debate may seem straight forward, the issues and subsequent consequences surrounding the definition of marriage are much more complex than many of us may think.

This May, North Carolina voters will have the opportunity to forever preserve the definition of marriage in our state by voting YES on the Marriage Protection Amendment.

What is the Marriage Protection Amendment and what is at stake for North Carolinians with the amendment vote this May?

While many people would like to believe that proposals to allow same-sex marriage are simply about allowing a different form of marriage to coexist alongside traditional man/woman marriage, they are wrong.   The impact that same-sex marriage will have on society is much deeper and far-reaching then a modest change in the word’s definition.

What is at stake in this debate are two competing definitions of marriage. One definition – advocated by same-sex “marriage” activists – would define marriage as the union of any two people regardless of gender, with the law treating the parties’ genders as irrelevant to the meaning of marriage. The other definition, contained in the proposed constitutional amendment and reflective of North Carolina’s current law and the collective understanding of virtually every nation throughout recorded history, is that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Under the law, one definition of marriage would not exist alongside the other. Only one of the competing definitions of marriage would legally exist. As noted in a scholarly review published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, “…once the judiciary or legislature adopts ‘the union of any two persons’ as the legal definition of civil marriage, that conception becomes the sole definitional basis for the only law-sanctioned marriage that any couple can enter, whether same-sex or man-woman. Therefore, legally sanctioned genderless marriage, rather than peacefully coexisting with the contemporary man-woman marriage institution, actually displaces and replaces it.”

Why has virtually every society throughout history defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman?  The answer can be summarized in one word: children.

Protecting the interests of children is the primary reason that government regulates and licenses marriage in the first instance. After all, government does not license or regulate any other form of intimate relationship – not friendship or dating. People are free, under the law, to live as they choose, and engage in sexually intimate relationships with whomever they choose – all without any governmental recognition or regulation.

But marriage is a special relationship reserved exclusively for heterosexual unions, because onlythe intimate relationship between men and women has the ability to produce children as a result of that sexual union.

Marriage serves a vital and universal societal purpose – to channel biological drive and sexual passion that might otherwise become socially destructive into enduring family units that have the best opportunity to ensure the care and education of any children produced by that biological drive and sexual passion.  Indeed, the United States Supreme Court has said that marriage is, “fundamental to the very existence and survival of the [human] race.”  The noted British philosopher Bertrand Russell (hardly a conservative – Russell was a liberal anti-war activist and socialist) said, “But for children, there would be no need of any institution concerned with sex…It is of children alone that sexual relations become of importance of society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution.”

By encouraging men and women to marry, society helps ensure that children will be known by and cared for by their biological parents. Whenever a child is born, her mother will almost always be nearby. But the same cannot always be said of her father. Men, especially, are encouraged to take responsibility for their children through the institution of marriage.  Marriage is society’s mechanism of increasing the likelihood that children will be born and raised by the two people responsible for bringing them into the world – their mother and father.

While death and divorce too often prevent it, the overwhelming body of social science evidence establishes that children do best when raised by their married mother and father. Simply stated, children need both a mother and a father. No matter one’s view of homosexual “marriage,” it is undeniable that every child born into a same-sex relationship is intentionally denied the love and affection of one of her biological parents.

David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values and a self-described liberal Democrat, said of marriage, “[M]arriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood – biological, social and legal – into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and father, accountable to the child and to each other.”

Fundamentally, same-sex marriage advocates propose to shift the marriage paradigm away from what definition of marriage is best for society – especially for children – and squarely onto the desires of the individual adults who seek to marry. Under a definition of marriage that is genderless, the interests of children – and therefore society’s intrinsic interest in marriage – is eliminated entirely. Only the wishes of the two adults in question matter.

When a court or a legislature adopts a genderless definition of marriage, legal experts warn (and actual experience from other states and countries confirms) that there will be profound consequences for society. Those people who refuse to accept this redefinition of marriage will be punished by the law. Churches and religious organizations can lose their tax exemptions and be forced to abandon their core moral principles or face punishment. Individuals, small businesses and groups will be subjected to lawsuits and regulatory action if they refuse to condone the “new” understanding of marriage. Perhaps most profoundly, children at a very young age will be taught in school that marriage is between any two adults, no matter what they have been taught at home, in church or in their ethnic traditions. Under the law, those who believe otherwise will be treated as the legal and moral equivalent of bigots. [To learn more about the consequences of redefining marriage,click here.]

What is at stake with the outcome of the vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment this May?

First, of course, is which of the two irreconcilable and conflicting definitions of marriage will be the only form of marriage legally recognized in North Carolina:

• The amendment preserves North Carolina’s historic and traditional definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman – the same definition adopted by voters in every state to consider the question (30 of 30 states have voted to amend their state constitutions to define marriage in this way), adopted by a bi-partisan majority in Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, and adopted by virtually every society in every nation to ever live, from the ancients to current times.

Additionally, passage of the marriage amendment ensures that the people of North Carolina themselves, and not activist judges or politicians, decide how our state will define marriage in the future.

• Without a marriage amendment in our constitution, activist judges can substitute their values for those of the people of North Carolina. This is exactly what happened in Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. Similarly, legislators can redefine marriage without the permission of the people, as was done in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. The marriage amendment ensures that if activists want to redefine marriage in the future, they must receive the approval of voters to do so.

Marriage as the union of one man and one woman is in the public good. It serves the interests of men and women, of children, and of society itself. The marriage amendment on the May 2012 ballot gives voters the opportunity to preserve this special and timeless institution.

Article:http://www.voteformarriagenc.com/why/

Monday Morning Humor

Our sole mission

This week I had the privilege of attending the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, Kentucky. I enjoyed spending the week with theologically like-minded brothers and sisters. Attending a theological conference usually brings out the "Tweeter" in me and this week was no exception. I tweeted alot! (Everyone on my Facebook Newsfeed would give an AMEN to this point.) Must of my tweets were harmless, however, I did get under the skin of a few individuals because of the theological nature of my tweets. I was accused of hurting my mission. When I asked the individual what he believed my mission was he informed me that it was, "to win as many souls to Christ as possible, regardless of whether you believe they are preordained or are freely choosing to follow Him." This is good if not a great mission, however, I do not believe evangelism is our sole mission. I believe our sole mission is to glorify God and the ways we glorify God is through Enjoying God, Church Membership, Theology, Evangelism, and Discipleship. Allow me to explain...

If you look at a tire you will notice at the center of the tire there is a hub and branching off from the hub are several spokes. With the image of the tire in our minds we may observe that the hub is central and the spokes are secondary. The spokes branch off from the hub and are NOT the central part of the tire. The hub in the Christian life or the center of our mission is to bring glory to God.

GLORIFY GOD:
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Paul tells us that whether we eat or drink we should do it all for the glory of God. Everyone who exists, exists to bring glory to God. The hub or our sole mission is to bring glory to God!

There are several ways in which we bring glory to God and these are the spokes on the tires...
ENJOYING GOD:
One way we bring glory to God is by enjoying God. Enjoying God involves a radical faith in God's supremacy in all things (Ps 46:1-3), and a belief that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him (Ps 100:1-3, Jn 4:14). Abundant joy comes to those who pursue all that God is for them in Jesus (1 Pet 1:3-10). We are called to hunger and thirst for God and as the deer pants for water so our soul should long for God. We bring glory to God when we enjoy God!


CHURCH MEMBERSHIP:
Church membership is a vital part in bringing glory to God. The church is God's plan to push back the darkness and establish His Kingdom on Earth. Christians are called to take part in a covenant commitment with a church in order to be edified and sanctified through life on life with other believers. The church is the bride of Christ. Christ served, loved, and died for His bride, the church, therefore, we should serve, love, and die for Christ's bride, the church. We bring glory to God when we covenant together with other believers in church membership.


THEOLOGY:
Correct doctrine or theology is a vital part in bringing glory to God. The study of theology should ALWAYS lead to worship. When you read through Romans, notice all of the Doxology (praises to God) which follow after weighty theological issues. If you don't know theology than you don't know God. For example if I told you I knew John Piper but than told you John Piper was a 200 pound African American you would understand that I do not know John Piper or at least I do not know the famous preacher John Piper. Wrong theology leads to wrong worship which leads to a wrong view of God. We must think through what we believe and ground what we believe in the Bible. We glorify God with our mind and we do this by thinking through complex theological doctrine.

EVANGELISM:
God is glorified through the saving of souls. God has chosen to save souls through the preaching of His Word and the primary way preaching takes place is through the mouths of men. Sharing our faith is an important aspect of our mission. We should preach the Bible at all times and ALWAYS use words. We should also be involved in planting churches both in the States and abroad, as well as partnering with missionaries, para-church organizations, etc. Evangelism is a great means of fulfilling our mission, but evangelism by itself is NOT our sole mission. Our sole mission is to glorify God and God is glorified when we share our faith and engage in evangelism.

DISCIPLESHIP:
God is glorified through the discipling of believers. When God saves an individual, they know nothing about God or the Bible, therefore, we must come alongside him or her and teach them about Christianity. Discipleship is a life on life process in which a spiritually mature believer pours his/her life into a spiritually immature believer. This results in mature disciples bringing glory to God.

In conclusion, we must remember that our primary mission is to bring glory to God. We bring glory to God through enjoying God, church membership, theology, evangelism, and discipleship! We run into problems when we elevate one spoke over another, all spokes are equally important and feed into the hub, therefore, let us glorify God with our lives!

Warning to my Orthodox friends

The Christians at Ephesus were hard workers and full of patient endurance. They were faithful, indefatigable, and doctrinally sound. They did not tolerate wicked men. They tested the false apostles and spied out false teaching. A few years after Revelation was written, the church father Ignatius wrote to Ephesus and again praised them because he heard the report that no heresy or sect or false teaching could even gain an audience in the Ephesian church-they were taught so well.

The church at Ephesus was also ethically sound. Its members hated the practice of the Nicolaitians- the anything-goes crowd of the day. The Nicolaitans were the ones who said, "You're free in Christ. Live like you're free and get rid of these rules. Go with the flow. Accommodate the culture. Jesus was the great sexual liberator. God's grace is wide and inclusive. Live as you like." The Ephesians were not drawn away by such notions. In fact, Jesus commended them for two virtues scarcely mentioned in the church: intolerance (of false teaching) and hatred (of immorality). For all the talk in circles about the supremely inclusive kingdom of God, it should not escape out notice that Ephesus was not praised for their inclusion, but for their exclusion.

Jesus might say to an Ephesus church today, "You are very faithful people. You declare the truth in an age of error. You can spot false teaching and wrong living and do not follow it. You are hardworking, truth-defending, immorality-hating Christians. I commend you for that." If Revelation 2:1-7 is any model, Jesus wouldn't chastise contemporary Ephesus churches for being fastidious about doctrine and morals. Those are genuinely good things. The problem is, as the contemporary culture is quick to point out, those are not the only things.

The church at Ephesus was your exemplary fundamentalist, evangelical church with a good Protestant work ethic and a close eye on theological orthodoxy. This was good, but these aren't the only things that matter in a church. Ephesus had one big, cancerous problem. They didn't love.

At one time, there was great love in this church (Eph. 1:15-16), but it had been lost. At first glance it seems that their love for God had grown cold, but in the OT whenever God's people are said to forsake their love for God they are pictured as adulterous and idolatrous (Jer. 2 and Hos. 4), which dosen't fit Ephesus. No, It wasn't the loving feeling they had lost. They had stopped doing something they used to do (which is why Jesus tells them to do the works they did at first). Their fault wasn't with the first great commandment, but with the second. They loved God, but they did not love their neighbors as themselves.

They stopped loving one another in the church. They had keen minds and busy hands, but shriveled hearts. They were a classic case of 1 Corinthians 13- "If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knoledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (v.2) The church at Ephesus was strong in some areas, but with out practical, tangible love for one another, they were in danger of becoming worthless as a church. The people care about being right, but they no longer cared about one another. My guess is their precise, careful eye for theological and moral error become a precise, careful eye for finding fault in one another.

This is the great danger for doctrinally sound churches. They can be quick to judge and slow to forgive. They analyze everything and everyone. They are so used to fighting against the world that when they get bored with that they turn and fight among themselves. They always need to be against something, always purifying something, always looking for error or inconsistency. This is why many denominations that split end up splitting again. Fighting gets in their blood.

It doesn't matter if you are up against all the things you should be against, if you aren't for anything. That's the Lord's point to Ephesus. "You hate what I hate. That's good. But you do not love what I love." I can tell in my own spirit when I am arguing a poing to be right and when I am arguing a point out of love. There is a big difference between the two. Do I want to be right because "I know this is right, moron, and why can't you see it?" Or am I arguing my point because "I love you and I know this will be good for you and honor Christ"?
Ephesus' lovelessness manifested itself in another kind of sin, not just a lack of life-giving fellowship but a lack of life-giving witness. The followers of Christ were so busy battling and protecting and defending that they had turned inward t self-protection and suspicion. They were navel-gazers, with no vision or purpose outside themselves. They were great at keeping the world out of the church, but they were terrible at taking the church out into the world.

Consequently, Jesus, He who walks among the lampstands, threatened to take away their lampstand that was failing to give light- even though they were to be the light of the world. Jesus calls all followers to "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16).

The light at Ephesus had grown dim. They had good deeds, but not in love for one another. They defended the light, but they were not shining it into the dark places of the world. They were not bearing witness to Jesus Christ in their love or in their testimony. And as a result, Jesus says, "I will come and take away your ight if it does not shine." And, sadly, He did. There is no church at Ephesus. This is not the reason every church closes its doors. But certainly it has been true many times and continues to be true that churches which refuse to live and shine and bear witness in the world will die. Let this be a warning to all Ephesus churches: Give the gospel away or lose it.

It is sad but true. Theologically astute churches and theologically minded pastors sometimes die of dead orthodoxy. Some grow sterile and cold, petrified as the frozen chosen, not compromising with the world, but not engaging it either. We may think right, live right, and do right, but if we do it off in a corner, shining our lights at one another to probe our brother's sins instead of pointing our light out into the world, we will, as a church, grow dim, and eventually our light will be extinguished.

Taken from: Why we aren't emergent by two guys who should be. By. Kevin Deyoung

Monday Morning Humor

Ghana Pics

Julia and I will be moving to Ghana, Africa in October here are a few pictures of where we will be living...
A village market in Nalerigu, Ghana

Nalerigu is famous for it's circle huts

Kids at the hospital



Who wants a bike?

Who needs a dog?

The hospital

Patients waiting to be seen.

My future motorcycle!

I could see Julia doing this.

If you would like to receive an e-newsletter about our time in Ghana, Africa please message me. Thanks!