How the way I got saved can be a problem!
Years ago I was invited to tour the headquarters of Little Caesars pizza in downtown Detroit. As we were being shown the corporate facilities I was truly impressed. At one point we sat down with one of the executives and were given “the talk.” We were told the story of how Little Caesars began and how Mr. Ilitch (owner of Little Caesars and a couple of the Detroit sports teams) believed that there are 1001 ways to sell pizza. Now think about that, 1001 ways to sell pizza! How many can you name? The point is that there are many more ways to sell pizza than any of the current pizza companies have come up with.
I recently heard someone quote Craig Groeschel, Sr. Pastor of Lifechurch.tv, “If we are going to reach people that no one is reaching, we must use methods that no one is using.” I’ve been thinking…
One of the big outreach obstacles in the life of a church is the path that those who are already convinced took to get into the local church body. For example, those that came to a faith decision at a city wide crusade will tend to believe that that is how God wants everyone to come to faith. For those that came to faith on the street when someone walked up and shared God’s love with them, they will expect that street evangelism is the anointed means to the end. For those that accepted Christ in the living room of a believing neighbor, neighborhood relationships will be the way to share their faith. For those that came forward at the end of a Sunday service in response to an altar call, they believe that is the way outreach is supposed to take place.
We need to embrace the concept that Mr. Ilitch ‘preaches’ to the Little Caesars employees and keep thinking outside the box, searching for new ways to share the same unchanging message of God’s love. We can’t become so focused on the method, that we miss the opportunities to help others discover God and experience his power in life-changing ways.
I AM Proud of my Citizenship
I just finished watching the final medal sport of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Canadian Men’s Hockey team beat the USA team in overtime.
I was born in Hong Kong to missionary parents. By birth- determined citizenship is Canadian. I am living in the States and have been a Naturalized citizen of the USA for more than four years now.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been proud when USA team members won gold, I have been proud when Canadian teams won. I was ecstatic when the Canadian hockey team won.
There was something that happened earlier today that made me even more ecstatic though. Something tied to another, more important, citizenship that I also hold. When I was child, I became a citizen of heaven and what truly brought a tear to my eye was watching a handful of people walked to the front of a church auditorium and make the decision to follow Christ! Now that’s something to be proud of!
Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”
I am proud of my citizenship in heaven!
The call a parent doesn’t want!
I went to get my hair cut the other day and while I was in the chair, a call came in that no parent wants to get. The place I go is family owned and operated. Two sisters and a brother. When I was there, the two sisters were there and the brother had yet to arrive. When the phone rang it was the brother. Turns out his son was snowboarding in Vermont and landed badly off a jump. He broke his wrist and also broke his back.
This lead into a discussion about how you never know what a day is going to hold and different aspects of parenting.
I told the gal cutting my hair of a comment that my father told me when our first was born: "Welcome to the time in your life when you don't know how to raise children. There are two times in your life that you know all you need to know about rasing kids... before you have them and after they leave your house!" How true it that!
The conversation covered other areas as well but I left that haircut session once again reminded how we can do all that we can to protect our kids from harm, and it still won't be enough. we have to trust that God is in control. But more than that... God has a plan. God doesn't prevent hardship and pain and suffering in the lives of our children, but he does watch over them and keep extending his love for them. He is in control. We must continue to trust him.
Tying God’s Hands
There are some verses in Scripture that both excite me and make me nervous. Matthew 6:14 is one such verse: “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
I am excited by the fact that forgiveness is available for me. Those times when I've blow it and made sinful decisions and done, said or thought something I shouldn't have. Those times I've had a wrong or bad attitude. God's forgiveness is available so that I can remain in good standing with Him.
But there is another part to this verse... the opening word in particular: IF.
The reality is that there are conditions to God's promise of forgiveness. If...
If I don't forgive someone, then God can't forgive me.
We can actually tie God's hands simply because He has put a condition on his provision of forgiveness. I don't always like it. There are times times that I want to hold onto my hurt feelings or keep judging some one's motives or actions. However, doing so puts up a roadblock to experiencing His forgiveness.
That is a place I don't want to be. That is a place you don't want to be. Let's live each day by extending grace and forgiveness in the same way God wants to extend grace and forgiveness to us!
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