Hey all. I was looking for a television show that my co-worker (a brother in Christ) was telling me about. It's called The Way Of The Master and you can visit it by clicking here. If that site doesn't load well for you, because it's for high speed users with cable and dsl, click here.
After looking at this site for a while, I found another site called Adventures In Christ. A guy named Joey goes to people with an iPod and interviews them. He starts by asking a simple question like, "If you saw a human and a cat both drowning in a pool, which would you save?" This leads into all kinds of interesting conversation. At that point he addresses their values and why they hold them. It leads into conversation about God very naturally. The result? Evangelism.
To visit this site click here. I've also added links to both these sites in the side column for you visit at any time. Thanks for stopping by.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
What Happened?
Many times, the question is asked, why don’t we see miracles like there were in the early church? Why aren’t people being miraculously healed, why aren’t demons being cast out, and why aren’t supernatural experiences of all kinds occurring?
Allow me to read to you some of the things that the early church was doing.
Acts 2:43-47
43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 5:12-16
12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
The church at this time was on fire for God. People didn’t believe because they were coaxed by miracles, they believed because of Jesus.
The miracles happened only after there was belief in Jesus, not before. Not to compel belief…
John 20:29
29Then Jesus told him (Thomas), “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Hebrews 11:1
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
We look for miracles to occur, begin to doubt God’s presence, but miss the point. It’s not about what God can do to impress you; it’s about whether or not you’re giving your all to allow God to use you.
Have you put everything else aside and adopted the same zeal and passion that the people in the first church had? You probably haven’t if you’re convinced you need to see something to believe.
That’s the problem with the church as a whole today. People have allowed their values to lax, their minds to wander, and an all encompassing desensitization in their lives.
It is our responsibility as the church to revitalize the faith and only then will amazing and extraordinary things occur. Consider miracles as evidence of life. The presence of evidence for life means that life produced it first, not the other way around.
Allow me to read to you some of the things that the early church was doing.
Acts 2:43-47
43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 5:12-16
12The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. 13No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.
The church at this time was on fire for God. People didn’t believe because they were coaxed by miracles, they believed because of Jesus.
The miracles happened only after there was belief in Jesus, not before. Not to compel belief…
John 20:29
29Then Jesus told him (Thomas), “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Hebrews 11:1
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
We look for miracles to occur, begin to doubt God’s presence, but miss the point. It’s not about what God can do to impress you; it’s about whether or not you’re giving your all to allow God to use you.
Have you put everything else aside and adopted the same zeal and passion that the people in the first church had? You probably haven’t if you’re convinced you need to see something to believe.
That’s the problem with the church as a whole today. People have allowed their values to lax, their minds to wander, and an all encompassing desensitization in their lives.
It is our responsibility as the church to revitalize the faith and only then will amazing and extraordinary things occur. Consider miracles as evidence of life. The presence of evidence for life means that life produced it first, not the other way around.
Can I Trust My Pastor's Teaching?
Acts 17:11
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
It’s important to check the scriptures against the things you hear. Even if it is a friend or a pastor, it’s your responsibility to make sure that you’re not being misguided.
It’s not hard to mislead people who don’t check for themselves.
JWs took their own meaning from the original text and created The New World Translation: a skewed and extremely inaccurate version of the Bible.
Amazingly, even though false on many counts, over 5 million people are current believers in the Jehovah’s Witness Cult.
The religion has had many false prophets as well.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
All this came about from misinterpretation of the scriptures.
When you read the Bible and you think you know what it means, check other reliable translations, check other parts of the Bible (no contradictions), and ask those that have been consistently right and knowledgeable about the Bible. This could mean a pastor, a teacher, or a friend.
20 20 RULE
Always make sure that when you read a verse or verses that don’t seem to make sense, read twenty verses before and twenty verses after to try to gain understanding. If that doesn’t work, read more.
If you don’t gain the understanding you want, stay undecided until you read across something else in the Bible that sheds more light on the subject. Cross references appear in many good Bibles. Take advantage of it.
It’s important not to let your entire understanding be from other people. You need to read and learn it.
Colossians 1:25-27
I have become its servant(speaking of the church) by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness--the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
God has made available to us the mysteries of Christ our savior, but to gain it we must search out the answers.
So, to answer the question, you may trust your pastor's teaching, but only after you know he's trustworthy. To know that, it takes your effort to research the things he talks about. The better you know the Bible, the easier it is to recognize truth from untruth.
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
It’s important to check the scriptures against the things you hear. Even if it is a friend or a pastor, it’s your responsibility to make sure that you’re not being misguided.
It’s not hard to mislead people who don’t check for themselves.
JWs took their own meaning from the original text and created The New World Translation: a skewed and extremely inaccurate version of the Bible.
Amazingly, even though false on many counts, over 5 million people are current believers in the Jehovah’s Witness Cult.
The religion has had many false prophets as well.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
All this came about from misinterpretation of the scriptures.
When you read the Bible and you think you know what it means, check other reliable translations, check other parts of the Bible (no contradictions), and ask those that have been consistently right and knowledgeable about the Bible. This could mean a pastor, a teacher, or a friend.
20 20 RULE
Always make sure that when you read a verse or verses that don’t seem to make sense, read twenty verses before and twenty verses after to try to gain understanding. If that doesn’t work, read more.
If you don’t gain the understanding you want, stay undecided until you read across something else in the Bible that sheds more light on the subject. Cross references appear in many good Bibles. Take advantage of it.
It’s important not to let your entire understanding be from other people. You need to read and learn it.
Colossians 1:25-27
I have become its servant(speaking of the church) by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness--the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
God has made available to us the mysteries of Christ our savior, but to gain it we must search out the answers.
So, to answer the question, you may trust your pastor's teaching, but only after you know he's trustworthy. To know that, it takes your effort to research the things he talks about. The better you know the Bible, the easier it is to recognize truth from untruth.
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