Christmas Time is Here!

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over, it's officially time for Christmas. Let the decorating begin, the cookies start their baking, and most of all... the music be played! I am always a big fan of Christmas music, provided it's done tastefully and the singing of it is not depressing and contrary to the words themselves.

Someone who does a fantastic job of this is Phil Wickham, one of my favorite worship artist! He has just released a new album entitled, "Songs for Christmas". I can't get enough, and Phil does not shy away from what Christmas music really should be, worship of the Father. I encourage everyone to get a copy of it, and in the mean time, here is a snippet of the song "Christmas Time" of the album. Enjoy!

Christmas Time by Syntax Creative

Going Out or Staying In?

I've been seriously pondering how we do church in the United States lately. For some reason we feel this need to bring people to "church" so they can hear the gospel. But is that what we are called to do?

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”- Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

At the end of Matthew 28 we see what we call "The Great Commission". In this, Jesus' call and command is to GO and make disciples, not invite them to a building. We spend so much time working on ways to get our church numbers up, as if that really matters, and trying to get non believers in a building that many have a lot of animosity towards. Our culture is full of misconceptions of what the church really is, and it's because we treat it like some exclusive club.

We see in Acts that the church is a body of believers that go out into the community. What if our focus stopped being on filling seats, but rather on taking the love Christ to the people?

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”-

Romans 10:14-15 ESV

Check out this video of an event held by Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. While most churches hold fall festivals at their building and invite people to it, this body of believers took the festival to the people, playing music, games, and giving out groceries to needy families, even with only a one hour window. With this small time slot they probably touched the lives of more people than hours of effort in inviting people to an event at a church. Is this really that revolutionary of an idea, or just one that we overlook?

Flash Fall Festival from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Check This Out

Great thoughts from Dr. Russell Moore on testimonies!

Check it out here- http://theresurgence.com/2010/11/07/do-our-church-testimonies-empower-satan

Letters to Corinth: 2-Wisdom from God (Part 1)

Passage- 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

In continuing the next section into 1 Corinthians, I want to split up this next section into to two parts. Paul is further addressing the wisdom of God that was a main piece of chapter 1. Of the whole of chapter 2, let us section off the first five verses.

"[1] And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. [2] For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. [3] And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, [4] and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [5] that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." - (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV)

Paul begins, talking about how he did not come to the people of Corinth with "lofty speech or wisdom", but rather to speak in the simplicity of the message at hand. Paul simply rests in the truth and simplicity of the message of Christ crucified. That's it! The fundamental truth of our faith that rests above all else is Christ crucified on the cross for our sins, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11). Anything aside from that truth is fallacy. We must not rest in our own ability, but the truth of the message of Christ. As Paul states in verse 3, he as the messenger was in just the same place as everyone else, humble before the power of God!

That is how we should be in proclaiming the Gospel, being weak in and of ourselves, but strong in the message of Christ!

This is an important piece of truth, and though this passage doesn't make for a very long blog post, it is further testament to simplicity of the message of Christ crucified. I will end with this... In verse 4 and 5 Paul states that the Gospel is not "plausible" by the wisdom of man. The knowledge and ability of man will not save people, so don't rest on your own ability, but rest only in the power, truth, and wisdom of God.