How do we introduce people to The Risen Christ?

As Christians we believe in being changed by the presence of God. The real question is how do we do that? Some churches think the way to do that is by having a "salvation alter call" at every service. While others see this introduction as a slow and steady process of revealing this Jesus to people that had not yet been aware of Him. Whithin this question is the question, what is The Gospel? How do we preach/teach it? Do we sum it up in a 5 or 6 minute message presentation, or do we do all that we do as an act of preaching The Gospel? Some verses to ponder: John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (it is The Spirit of God that leads someone to God not us. How do we facilitate this?)

Whose kingdom do you find more compelling?

Who do you think is making a better world Caesar or Jesus? As Christians we would all answer Jesus; but what if we were never asked the question . . . what if our lives were the answer to that question,” who do you think is Lord”? For some the answer would be Caesar and for others the answer would be, ourselves. For some of us the answer would be, “I think I am making the world a better place all by myself.” For others it would be my job is making the world a better place. We were all created to worship. Where though do we worship? As Westerners we find the concept of alter sacrifice difficult to comprehend. If our very lives are an act of worship, and the time, money, and effort we spend are the sacrifices; who then do we worship? Most Buddhists, and Hindu homes have an alter displayed in a prominent part of their house set aside to venerate their gods for the sake of worship. I recall going to the home of a Hindu and seeing their alter set up for the god their family worshiped. They would make sacrifices of food, incense and of course money to their god. They would also spend a good deal of time in prayer and silence before the alter. I remember being shown the alter and being told not to point at it because it was irreverent to do so. As soon as the young lady left the room I pointed at the golden statue and giggled to myself about it. “How silly” I thought, “A god made of gold and silver that sits in the corner of the kitchen that doesn’t like to be pointed at.” Some Buddhists, Hindus, or any number of eastern religions spend large amounts of money on the shrines in their homes, they feel as though all of this time and money spent on the object of worship gets them closer to their god.
Where is the shrine in your house Christian? Again remember, we worship with time spent at the shrine, with money spent on the shrine, and the amount of reverence we show in the presence of the god enthroned on the shrine or alter.

I would say most Christians spend the most time in worship either at work or in front of the TV.

The Great Antithesis

Ephesians 4:27__32

“Be angry, and do not sin do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.  Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather  let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something  to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but  what is good for necessary edification,  that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and  evil speaking be put away from you,  with all malice.  And  be kind to one another, tenderhearted,  forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

What is the great antithesis?

In short, it is an attempt to bring healing and restoration to the church by means of articulating areas within The Body of Christ that need to be changed; to address past failures and articulate them into future opportunities for growth, redemption, healing and restoration. One example would be: The Lord has been leading many of us to focus more on confession and repentance as a lifestyle, rather than a onetime occurrence. How might we implement a culture of continual confession and repentance within the church? Or how do we help establish an atmosphere of forgiveness in the church? Do we set up confession booths like the Catholics do? Do we teach more about forgiveness? Do we pray more about it? Or do we simply practice confession and forgiveness more?
So then, the sole purpose of this new spirit of articulation and wrestling with God seeks to invite us to pray together, think together and to ask how we can learn together from our past mistakes and move forward to what God would have us to do in its place. To continue to move from hurting to healing, and to seek to lead others to do so as well; for this is the sum of ministry itself. How best would God have us to conduct ourselves more fully and obediently to His way? I am asking for suggestions on any topic not just forgiveness. I will suggest a topic, and we will spend time on it until we feel like we have a handle on it, or until we decide to move on and maybe return to it later if lead to do so. The very notion of the great antithesis is for me a means of healing. To fully walk away from the pain of past mistakes, those that I have made, and the mistakes of others, and to strive forward to “Faith, Hope and Love”; to be “as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves” as I struggle.

What the great antithesis is not!

This is not an opportunity to complain, or dredge up pain from the past or to name call or to place blame! The tone and direction of this blog MUST always be moving from pain, disappointment and confusion to Faith, Hope and Love. Blogs will start only after we’ve picked ourselves up, and are able to ask not “how did I get here?” But “where do I go from here?”

Guidelines

Always stay within the boundaries of the answer to a particular problem, rather than the problem itself. For example: don’t say “such and such church doesn’t care about the homeless” etc. But instead say, “How can the local church better reach-out to the homeless population within our community?” And then think, pray, and seek God’s will on the subject and post whatever you come up with. As always, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” “Grace to the hearers,” I like the sound of that. I post the guidelines for myself as well as for everyone else involved. Believe me! Invitations to the blog should be limited for the sake of maintaining its intended purpose. So please only invite to join those that you feel are ready to begin on the journey toward redeeming their past and not reliving it.

Will you join me?

Matthew 11:27 To whom the Son chooses!

In the song, "The Wanderer" (with U2) Johnny Cash sang as only he could, "I went out walkin' with a Bible and a gun, The Word of God lay heavy on my heart and I was sure I was the one."

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”