This is what happens when I just start writing

I have recently been challenged intellectually as to some aspects of the Christian faith.
Weather it be inerrancy of scripture, Jesus’ commands and life, evangelism, today’s church or the “emergent” movement all have been extremely thought provoking. I have mainly stayed out of much discussion, outside of comments here and there, but I do have a thought on the subjects that are so widely debated, and I think now is as good of time as any to write my heart on the subject.

I fear that we have forgotten what this is all about, what our purpose in life is. Tom Landry would stand before his football team, after he felt they had lost their direction, and hold up a football and say, “this is a football.” If our lives are not about Christ and searching for and the showing of the glory of God, what is it about? Maybe I read too much Piper but I agree with him when he says;

“God is glorified most when we are most satisfied in him.”

This is the chief end of man, to glorify God!

Our lives should be that of Christ, who followed and obeyed the will of the Father. Did Jesus call us to love our neighbors? Yes! But he first called us to love God the Father! This command of loving people does not wash out the rest of Christ commands to us; Go and make disciples, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s but give to God what is God’s, Zeal for thy house will consume me. The command to love is powerful but it does not wash away the rest of Christ’s life. Loving people goes hand in hand with all the other commands Jesus gave us, for it is impossible to any of them without fist loving the person you are pursuing. That is why loving people is so important, you cant do anything God has asked of us without love.

But we are, and make no mistake, we are called to more than love. We are called to do more than hand someone a rose or give someone a hug, yes these things can communicate love and affection, but that is just a piece of what we are called to. Can a rose speak of the grace of God? Can a hug communicate the suffering of Christ on a cross? Can a different label for a church explain the resurrection?

I am beaten down by all these labels we throw on church today, post-modern, emergent, modern. Why cant we be followers of Christ. Where our aim is to live life as He has called us to live!

The inerrancy of scripture

Scripture is either inerrant or not, it can not be both. So be prepared to accept the consequences.

I Got Chopped

ADOPTING THE ACTS MODEL:
AC T S 2 : 4 6 – 4 7 : Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
By no means can we take credit for the results, all is for the glory of His name. We can’t even take credit for the idea, it wasn’t ours. We are not responsible for the growth, only He can change a heart. But it was the spurring of the Spirit to begin home groups two years ago. We knew our students needed something more, something different, something to belong to.
The leaders of the ministry used the early church in Acts as their model. Our goal was to create an environment where our students didn’t feel like they needed to hide anything or be someone they weren’t. It’s easy to blend into a group of 250 people, it’s a lot harder to do it with 50. Our passion was to help our students encounter God differently and see Him as the light of life. When one sees God in that light there is no turning back. We started out by launching three “house churches.” Whatever was going to happen at the houses would be Divine, for all we wanted was for God to show up and our students to see Him.
I have had the privilege of being a house leader for over a year-and-a-half and this past year I watched our house group grow from 40 to 80 high school students—not because of some special program I was running but because God was encountered. I saw teenagers—who previously cared more about their looks and the person they
showed up with than God—be grabbed by the truth of the Word and have their lives shaken so hard by God that they could no longer deny Him as their Creator and Savior. The same God who changes lives in great and beautiful cathedrals also changes lives in homes across the Valley.
His idea, His vision, our passion—what a wonderful combination.
—Chris Smith, High School intern

Here is what I actually wrote.

Back To Where We Started

Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

By no means can we take credit for the results, all is for the glory of His name. We can’t even take credit for the idea, it wasn’t ours. We are not responsible for the growth, only He can change a heart. But it was our passion, it was the spurning of the Spirit to scorch our hearts with the passion to return home, rather, to homes. Over 2 years ago the high school ministry decided that numbers were overrated and intimacy was undervalued. We knew the hearts of our students and knew they needed something more, something different, something they belonged to.
Two years ago the leaders of the ministry decided to return to our roots, we looked at the early church in Acts, and decided to return to homes. Our goal was to create an environment where ours students didn’t feel like they needed to hide anything or be someone they weren’t. It’s easy to blend in to a group of 250 people, it’s a lot harder to do it with 50. We took our Wednesday weekly meeting off the main SBC campus and put it into three different houses located close to SBC but more importantly close to local schools. Our passion was to help our students encounter God differently, and see him as the light of life. When one sees God in that light there is no turning back.
Against suggestions that we would be making a mistake, we “launched” 3 house churches. Whatever was going to happen at the houses would be Divine, for all we wanted was God to show up and our students to see Him. Of course God showed up and then so did the students. I have had the privilege of being a house leader for over a year and a half and this past year I watched our house group grow from 40 to 80 high school students. Not because of some special program I was running but because God was encountered. I saw teenagers who cared more about their looks and the person they showed up with than God, be grabbed by the truth of the word, and have their lives shaken so hard by God that they could no longer deny him as their creator and savior. The same God who changes lives in great and beautiful cathedrals also changes lives in small broken homes.

His idea, His vision, our passion, what a wonderful home.

By: Chris Smith

Hmmmmmm

Has anyone ever read anything I have posted on this blog?