Shocking but True!

The truth in this message (watch full length here) is a powerful bucket of cold water in the face of American Christianity. Soft pews and passive preaching is not what the people of this nation need. This nation needs the willingness of more Christian Leaders to echo Brother Paul’s message…indeed the message of the Gospel. It cost something to do that! Are we willing to pay the price?

A Question

I was asked this question by a dear brother the other day:  How do I bring glory to God when I buy things for myself that are more luxuries than necessities?
Here’s my response…what are your thoughts?
Brother, I don’t want you to think I have been avoiding answering your question. It is such a profound one that I wanted to take a couple of days to pray, think and search scripture to formulate my response. After all of that I know my response will be inadequate.

One thing that I know is never inadequate is the power of God’s word to pierce the heart and by the working of the Holy Spirit to bring us to right understanding. So consider these parts of scripture as they may relate to your question:

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:6-11

Here’s my point, I do not see anywhere in scripture where obtaining luxuries for the sake of obtaining them ever glorifies God. It seems the opposite is true in the sense that the man obtaining those “things” is glorified in his own eyes. Does that make sense?

What we have to be careful of as “American Christians” is that we do not confuse our need to have certain things with our ability to obtain other things. To use your example, we need to wear clothes. Purchasing a pair of jeans can be an opportunity to glorify God in that we can purchase an adequate pair of jeans that may not be “in fashion” knowing that the money we saved in doing so can be used to help someone in need, support the mission of the Church, etc.

I am sure my response has left you wondering why you asked me and questioning my ability to answer a question at all. I am sorry for that. One thing I am thankful for and I praise God for is your desire to think through your faith, your relationship with the Lord, and your love for Him!

In all things, Soli Deo Gloria!

It’s Time

I received the following email from a friend this morning and it hit me between the eyes.  Take a read:

Do People Bore You?
May 10, 2008  |  By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

I’m working on a book on the new birth. The final chapter is designed to give encouragements for personal evangelism. I just added a quote by C. S. Lewis that I love. Here’s the whole section to help you move toward people:

Find People Interesting

Be encouraged that simply finding people interesting and caring about them is a beautiful pathway into their heart. Evangelism gets a bad reputation when we are not really interested in people and don’t seem to care about them. People really are interesting. The person you are talking to is an amazing creation of God with a thousand interesting experiences. Remember the words of C. S. Lewis:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. (The Weight of Glory, 14-15)

Yet, most of us don’t think this way. The gods bore us and we return to our video games. Very few people are interested in others. If you really find their story interesting, and care about them, they may open up to you and want to hear your story—Christ’s story.

It is estimated that on average 1,202,000 abortions are performed monthly worldwide. Some studies show there are approximately 2 million gay men living in the United States and almost 1 million lesbians (I think that estimate is probably low). One study showed that on June 30, 2006 there were 2,245,189 prisoners held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails in the US.

So what?

Here’s my question: As Christians, are we really willing to love these people? Are we willing to hold the mother who just aborted her child against our chest while she sobs? Will we put our arm over the shoulder of a man who has lived so many years in the confusion of homosexuality and show him Christ love? Can we look with compassion into the eyes of a murderer and say “God loves you and still wants you to be His.”?

There is a popular saying, “Hate the sin but love the sinner.” Exactly! This is what I’m saying. The problem as I see it is too often we hate both. It is almost as if we say “God loves you, but that does not mean I have to.”

Come on Christians!

It haunts me to think where I would be heading if Christ would have said that about me: “Mike, my Father loves you, but I can’t. I can’t love someone who has been addicted to pornography and cigarettes. So I won’t endure Calvary for you.”

So you do not think I am on a soapbox here, let me share something with you. I’m writing this for me as much as anyone. There are many homeless who have been passed with a judgmental look from me. For years I have thought of mothers who would have an abortion as unforgivable murderers. If all of the stones I have thrown were tossed back at me, I would be crushed beneath their weight.

John 3:16 begins, “For God so LOVED the world…” At that moment in history, with His creation having built a wrap sheet filled with evil and vile; knowing that His Son would be spat upon and crucified, God still LOVED the world. Let’s do the same Christians. Let’s Love. We know Our Father will judge each and every man, woman and child He has ever created. Let us be about the business of bringing more in to that Saving Relationship with Him through the reflection of His Love in us.

The Pastor and his son

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts.

This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, “OK, dad, I’m ready.”

His Pastor dad asked, “Ready for what?”

“Dad, it’s time we gather our tracts together and go out.” Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring down rain.”

The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to Hell, even though it’s raining?”

Dad answers, “Son, I am not going out in this weather.” Despondently, the boy asks, “Dad, can I go? Please?”

His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, be careful son.”

“Thanks Dad!”

And with that, he was off and out into the rain. his eleven year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract.

After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.

Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer.

Finally, this eleven year old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the
bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch! He rang again and this time the door slowly opened. Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, “What can I do for you, son?” With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that *JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU* and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great LOVE.”

With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave. She called to him as he departed. “Thank you, son! And God Bless You!”

Well, the following Sunday morning in church Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, “Does anybody have any testimony or want to say anything?”

Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face, “No one in this church knows me. I’ve never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live.

So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on that chair, so lonely and brokenhearted I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, “I’ll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.” I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I thought to myself again, “Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me.” I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.

When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes, for there on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life. His SMILE, oh, I could never describe it to you! The words that came from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead, TO LEAP TO LIFE as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, “Ma’am, I just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU.” Then he gave me this Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand.

As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel Tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn’t be needing them any more.

You see—I am now a Happy Child of the KING. Since the address of your church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally say THANK YOU to God’s little angel who came justin the nick of time and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell.”

There was not a dry eye in the church. And as shouts of praise and honor to THE KING resounded off the very rafters of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated.

He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably. Probably no church has had a more glorious moment, and probably this universe has never seen a Papa that was more filled with love & honor for his son… Except for One.

Our Father also allowed His Son to go out into a cold and dark world. He received His Son back with joy unspeakable, and as all of heaven shouted praises and honor to The King, the Father sat His beloved Son on a throne far above all principality and power and every name that is named.

Moving Forward

Well, I’m back.  The need to blog has caught up with me so here I am.

Something has been on my mind lately, a phrase echoing through my mind:  “Capture the Web for Christ!”  I have shared this with a couple people over recent days and have come to this…

The Web is possible the largest untapped mission field in the world.  Oh sure, every church and ministry has a website, some even post YouTube videos and have a MySpace presence.  When I say “Capture the Web for Christ,” I mean CAPTURE!  Make it nearly impossible for anyone to navigate anywhere without seeing Christ-Centered content.  I appreciate your smirk right now.  Still, I wonder if you will give the idea some thought and post your ideas on how we (Christians) can begin to network together to do this.

By the way, moving forward you are likely to see a lot of simple post like this one on PlaceitattheCross.com.  Much of the time you will read, shake your head and wonder “What is Mike talking about…has he lost it?”  I hope not.  Just keep reading.  I’ll try to make it interesting from time to time.

For Him!