Is There More to Life Than This?

How would you start an Alpha Course?

I attended one in downtown Chicago. It is from noon to 1 pm with lunch thrown in (which I think is a small incentive to attend!). Consider doing the following:

Painful Percentages; Encouraging Conclusions

THE BAD NEWS (August 2013)

• 18 percent of today's young adults (age 18-29) say they were raised in a religion but are now unaffiliated with any particular faith. Nearly all come from homes with lukewarm or nominal faith.
• It's the Mainline Protestant churches that have seen marked declines in participation/membership in both real numbers and percent of population.
• The nones have increased from 15% to 20% of the adult population in the last 5 years.

4 Key Conclusions for Ministry

1. Bible-teaching churches continue to see healthy growth. Be faithful to teaching and honoring God’s Word in a clear and vibrant way.Young adults desire to receive uncompromising truth that calls them to something beyond themselves.

Faithful But Flawed (Judges 1:1-2:5)

"Judges For You" by Tim Keller is a small, short (217 pages), succinct and well written Bible study guide. I have blogged briefly on Gideon, Samson and the six key themes of Judges. This is an overview of chapter 1 of the book: Half-Hearted Discipleship (Judg 1:1-2:5). It shows how the people were faithful yet flawed; they were committed (to God), yet given to compromise, convenience, and common sense.

Radical risk-taking discipleship requires faith and obedience. Judges begins after the death of Joshua (Judg 1:1)--Moses' God-chosen successor to lead the people of Israel (Num 27:12-23). As recorded in the book of Joshua, God kept his promises to them, brought them into the promised land, defeated their enemies and began to give them blessing and rest. The gist of the book of Joshua is that since God always keeps his promise, God's people can bravely obey and worship him. Briefly, God's people are to 1) believe God's promise (Josh 1:3-4) and obey God's word (Josh 1:7-8; 23:5-6), which they should continue to do. God's call to his people (then and now) is to combine spirituality with bravery. True discipleship is radical and risk-taking. Judges records how they fared.

Questions:

I Can't Hug Every Cat

Is this an amazing eHarmony Video Bio or what? 27 million viewers think so! (I wonder how many were guys?)

If that’s not enough, check out this Songify version of Can't Hug Every Cat.

It reminded me of this memorable quote (that validates my love of cats!): "There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." Albert Schweitzer.

Check out more cute cat quotes HERE.

Why Are Leaders Leaving Your Church

This is an excellent post sent to me by my friend David: Why The "Leadership Movement" is Leaving Your Church Leaderless. It answers a question I had asked: Does your church raise Christ-centered leaders of Church-centered followers?

There are two kinds of leaders:

1. Those who raise leaders.
2. Those who raise followers.

What type of leader are you?

All Christian leaders say #1. But sadly, in actual practical reality many are doing #2. Why??

Samson: How God Used A Womanizer (Judges 13-16)

Samson's story has many Hollywood themes: illicit sex, graphic violence, revenge, death and a Rambo style hero. But his story is perplexing. He was conceived miraculously, chosen by God, set apart to serve him from birth, blessed by God and empowered by his Spirit. Yet, he may be the most flawed character in Judges. He is violent, impulsive, sexually addicted, emotionally immature and selfish. Most troubling of all, the "Spirit of God" seems to anoint him and use his worst sins for God's purpose--especially his sexual addiction and violent temper. How can such a person ever be called and chosen by God to fulfill his purpose of redemption?

What Is Your Worship Status?

Facebook enables us to share updates on our status and our relationship status, should it change or when it changes. Similarly, don't you think it would be good for us as Christ followers to share our "worship status"? What do I mean?

My sermon yesterday was entitled Heaven? Worship? That's It?? I emphasized that the sole predominant activity of heaven is to worship the One on the throne (Rev 4:2, 8-11) and the Lamb who was slain (Rev 5:6, 9-14) as the only One worthy of our worship. Isn't this excessive? What does it mean to me during my life's journey this side of heaven? How is my "worship status"? Are there any major distracting or competing objects of worship?

Notably, when tempted by Satan, Jesus said, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only" (Mt 4:10; Lk 4:8). The word "worship" occurs 65 times in the NT.

In light of what the Bible says about worshiping God, what is your worship status?