Mercy triumphs over judgement

There is a world outside the church doors that needs Jesus…there is an internal “thing” that they are wrestling with that is struggling for grace, love, forgiveness, purpose – a reconnection with the God who created them…

What saddens me is that far too often it is the church, the very “Followers” of Christ that will be the greatest hindrance to them finding Jesus.
 
The greatest threat to the Kingdom of God is not satan – Jesus said to a Follower of Christ (Peter) in Matthew 16:18
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

So satan cannot overpower the church of Jesus Christ.
SO, what puts the kibosh on a growing , impacting Kingdom of God?

Again – it is the “Followers” that can stunt the growth. The world knows what the church hates, what the church stands firm against… but what if they knew what we loved, what we stood firm FOR, what really mattered to us… what if?????

The Christian band - Casting Crowns – wrote of this very thing in their song –
“Jesus, Friend of Sinners” – and I think we could take a lesson from these lyrics.

We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing

Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see

The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me

Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded

A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners

Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers -  

Let our hearts be led by mercy

It goes on later –   “Nobody knows what we're for only what we're against when we judge the wounded -  What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did”

WHAT IF???  The church didn’t PLAY church anymore…

WHAT IF???  Followers of Christ showed mercy and restoration

WHAT IF???  The church crossed over and loved like Jesus

WHAT IF???  Followers no longer pointed fingers but held out a hand of mercy

I dream of that… It makes me sad and elated at the same time – sad that we are not “BEING” this… but elated that it’s possible.

My prayer is that WE, the FOLLOWERS of CHRIST can be what we are called to be… the BODY of Jesus Christ…
Finally in the song from Casting Crowns…

Help us reach with open hearts and open doors

Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks Yours

Whats going on?!?

1 Thessalonians 5:6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

“…so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”
 

Satan is no fool. The full on assault of the Christian faith will not be effective. He knows that and as such will not really attempt it. But, what he does know is that by slowly eroding the liberties, by making the practice of the faith something that is frowned upon, he can impact the whole belief system. 

Little by little the idea of being a Follower of Christ is chipped at, attacked from the side, that before you know it – the Body of Christ has been relegated to a “hate group” and will be forced to either deny the faith or die for the faith…

Here are some instances found on the web, I verified these statements to ensure that they are legitimate.

 

Christian faith coming under attack in the military including:

Commanders barred from disclosing any programs that are tied to the Chaplaincy or any programs involving religion.

 

The Air Force banning the word ‘God’ from an Air force patch logo – even though the reference had no religious connotation.

 

A Navy directive that banned Bibles at Walter Reed Hospital.

 

An Army Reserve training program that listed Evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremism.

 

An Army email that listed prominent Christian ministries like the Family Research Council and American Family Association as “domestic hate groups.”

 

I personally have been told, when offering the invocation at a county council meeting that I could not say, mention or elude to the name of Christ or any other religious figure found in the bible. To whit – I closed my prayer – “…in Christ name I pray…” I wasn’t invited back. BUT – neither were several other local clergy when they too refused to abide by the request.

However, in other organizations (non-religious) – I was asked to pray, given no restrictions, prayed “in Jesus name” and was invited back multiple times. Not every institution is so bent on wiping the protestant religion out of the picture.

The issue still exists though, that Christianity is being slowly pushed to the side, and at this rate will be outlawed in the future.  That may sound like an alarmist… but the above statements from the military alarm me. You say it wont happen…but it will, not because the government or other groups force it… BUT WE ALLOW IT.

I cannot fault non-christens for eroding the liberties, the freedom of speech and religion, from the national scene, after all they are not believers, the behave and live as such… who I do struggle with is US!

Is it the fault of those who slowly erode those things or those who do nothing about it?

I believe that GOD has an expectation of us as Followers of Christ – to stand up and stop the slow erosion of faith.

In Acts 26:16 (NASB)

“But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;”
 

So – BELIEVER – Stand up – get on your feet – find your voice… every Follower of Christ is commissioned a minister, a witness of Jesus Christ. 

We cannot blame the world for behaving like, making decisions like, the world. We who may sit silent are very possibly the culprit of allowing the deChristianing of our society.

Yes, it will make you look radical. Yes, it will make you look strange to the rest of society…

Jesus himself warned us – John 15:19

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

I would rather be hated for standing for Christ than loved for standing for nothing…

 Wake up – stop the creep…take a look at one pastor who did...


http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/florida-pastor-to-defy-prayer-ban.html

Well we are at it again...
Last time is was Sandy Hook... NOW its the Boston marathon finish line with hundreds of innocent bystanders. This is another tragic incident, regardless of WHO is at fault it is still horrible. I will let the wise men and women in blue figure out who did it... we could speculate all day long and then find out it was something completely different. And there will be conspiricay theories that will abound. If you WANT to find a conspiricy in anything you can find something that will bolster your claim regardless of how far fetched it is..

The previous post I had in December still applies.

What weighs on me is when we realize it.
How is it that we cannot seem to put two and two together.
We will once again struggle for answers, the pendulum will swing to far the other way and our "we are from the government we are here to help" crowd will tell us that somehow all this is our fault so lets ban something because we are not resposible enough... (ok, no more political stuff).

But let me share a thought with you -
Paul told Timothy, gave Timothy some solid instruction about what to do.
 ^"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness..."

2 Timothy 3:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

We stopped (as a nation) a long time ago teaching the basis and principles of God's word to our children. The repercussions of which we are experiencing today. No I am not saying some kids did this. BUT - we have not given our society the basis for real morals, but instead have tried to legistlate morality.

YOU cant. You cannot legislate morality for people who have no basis for morals. You cannot give moral instruction to people who are not willing to have their character shaped by the basis for the morals.

We have taken God out of the equation and made Him at best one "alternative" among many. Even though He has ALREADY told us that everything He has laid out for us is indeed FOR us... our life, our dealings with other... and YES to even correct us when need be.

 

When did we the people in order to form a more perfect nation forget that with out standards of living that are embraced by the whole the whole fails.

God gave us what we call the Bible, for our good, for our benefit, for our health, for society and it is all based on the foundation of Jesus Christ. When will we wake up and see that rather than scour and scoury for lifes' answers for a quick fix to a circumstance... we need to go back to the one who made us, who gave us life and who loves us (inspite of ourselves).... GOD, through Jesus Christ.

 

The answer remains the same... lets stop trying to make things up. HE is the answer.

 

Doug