But the story line and quotes in this video provide an incredible parable of the Christian's commission to be part of God's rescue mission of souls for eternity. I'm taken back a month ago to a quote from the movie, "The Great Raid." "It is comforting to know that there is someone who desires my life more than an enemy who desires my death." Check out the video and then record some of your favorite quotes that speak to you!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Parable of the BOAT LIFT Rescue
One of our friends posted a link to an incredible video clip on YouTube. Called "BOATLIFT: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience." There is an obvious humanitarian inspirational aspect to this story of the hundreds of boats that drove to lower Manhattan on 9-11 to rescue a half million people trapped at the tip of that island by the collapsing twin towers.
But the story line and quotes in this video provide an incredible parable of the Christian's commission to be part of God's rescue mission of souls for eternity. I'm taken back a month ago to a quote from the movie, "The Great Raid." "It is comforting to know that there is someone who desires my life more than an enemy who desires my death." Check out the video and then record some of your favorite quotes that speak to you!
But the story line and quotes in this video provide an incredible parable of the Christian's commission to be part of God's rescue mission of souls for eternity. I'm taken back a month ago to a quote from the movie, "The Great Raid." "It is comforting to know that there is someone who desires my life more than an enemy who desires my death." Check out the video and then record some of your favorite quotes that speak to you!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Danger of Spiritual Viruses
Our church has been in pursuit of "helping a friend move one step closer to Jesus." It has been an emphasis to encourage and equip our family of faith in how to build intentional redemptive relationships with those who have yet to put their faith in Christ. The objective is to help them move, even if its just one step closer to a full relationship with Christ.
We're now encouraging our people to utilize the National Back to Church Sunday as a place to put things into practice. It's time to quit talking about reaching out and actually doing it. National BTC Sunday is September 18. We're then following it up with a series called "GodQuest" that invites people to continue to seek out a relationship with Christ by addressing some of the most significant faith issues that people face.
But ... isn't it always the case when God's people begin to do God's work in God's ways that there is opposition? Sometimes is obvious and pronounced. But other times the opposition stealth. It isn't obvious and even when it's pointed out many folks still don't recognize it.
In several conversations over the past couple of days a couple of issue keep coming up. A CRITICAL SPIRIT and AN OFFENSE TAKEN. Someone has even been offended that it was suggested to them that they have a critical spirit. This is NOT to say that there are times for evaluation and constructive criticism and evaluation. But there can be a spirit of criticism that takes root and begins to find fault in everyone and everything. The result is destruction and disillusionment.
That is really bad for the unity of the Body of Christ! Jesus said that his disciples would be known by the manner in which they loved one another. Evangelism and outreach are closely tied to the level of unity and harmony there is in the Church.
With that in mind I began to think about relevant passages of scripture that the Lord would want to say to me and to my CrossPoint family of faith. Here they are ...
That is really bad for the unity of the Body of Christ! Jesus said that his disciples would be known by the manner in which they loved one another. Evangelism and outreach are closely tied to the level of unity and harmony there is in the Church.
With that in mind I began to think about relevant passages of scripture that the Lord would want to say to me and to my CrossPoint family of faith. Here they are ...
For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have
divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (ESV)
14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy
life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look
after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.
Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Hebrews 12:14-15 (NLT)
In our strategy to help our friends take one step closer to Jesus
we must recognize that there is a tremendous spiritual battle raging. This is
an act of war against the Kingdom of Darkness and we must confront the enemy if
we are to rescue souls from His prison.
There is, admittingly, an “external” spiritual battle taking
place. Those who we are attempting to reach out to, will have thoughts and
schedules that conflict with what God is directing us to do. We also have our
own issues of time, opportunity and fears that keep us from being what these
folks need us to be. Lord willing we’ll focus on that next week.
But the greater threat to being all that God wants us to be are
spiritual strongholds within – spiritual viruses that make us spiritually weak
and ineffective. One of the greatest spiritual viruses is the stronghold of a
critical spirit. Consider what a critical spirit does to us …
(1)
It breaks
down spiritual unity of the Body of Christ.
(2)
It diverts
incredible amounts of mental and emotional energy away from eternal matters.
(3)
It is a path
of increasing passivity.
(4)
It gives our
ego a place of worship in our souls.
(5)
It leads us
down into the dark valley of discouragement and discontentment.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Expanded Sermon Notes from 6/24/2011
When I got home from church on Sunday I glanced at the sermon notes that had been included in the worship folders given out for people to follow along. I realized to my disappointment that I had not listed the supporting passages for the outline. The more I have thought about Sunday's message on "Critical Perceptions for Effective Witnessing," the more I realize how significant this message is for the future of our evangelistic passion and fruitfulness. I've included the outline below for people to use as they listen to the message again (www.sermon.net/crosspointac) and look up and study the supporting passages.
Critical Perceptions for Effective Witness
Pastor Tim Feather Mark 5:1-13
#4 One Step Closer June 26, 2011
The Greatness of People’s Need “Without Christ people are …”
Spiritually Dead
John 3:6-7; 1 John 5:11-12
Under the Influence of Satan
Eph 2:2; Col 2:15
Without restraint
Ez 35:26-27
Prone to hurt themselves
Filled with many complex issues
Lonely
The Fullness of Christ’s Sufficiency
He is Son of the MOST high God
James 2:19
He has superior authority
Col 2:15; Eph 5-6
His righteousness calls for reverent fear and worship
Rom 12:1
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Expectant Churches Gather Together
In the message that I presented on Sunday regarding the blessed hope of the believer (The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ!), I made a point that churches that are made up of believers who are actively looking forward to the Lord’s return will passionately gather together regularly. This point was based on Hebrews 10:24-25 … “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
In brief, the points I made on Sunday included:
· Every time we gather together it is to be a dress rehearsal for Heaven. It is supposed to be a “foretaste” of glory.
· Our culture of the individual makes this sort of perspective difficult to comprehend or assimilate. We make fun of “it takes a village” sort of talk, but when we give up that value to our cultural norms, we find ourselves separated from the whole and hopelessly drift according to the prevailing currents.
· We are way too casual about church attendance. If there is nothing else to do, we go to church.
But what I didn’t say on Sunday has to do more with our level of commitment and devotion to the local church. In the early church this aspect of gathering together dictated their lives. Their devotion to the other believers in their local church governed their schedules. In essence, in the waiting church – the expectant church – the church came first.
We see it in the book of Acts as they gathered together daily and broke bread together. The apostles seem to assume this priority as they write their letters. This passage from the book of Hebrews indicates that there must have been some believers even back then who were not as devoted to gathering together as they had been and the call was to not let that happen.
There are a couple of factors in our day and age that make it tough for us to even imagine this sort of lifestyle.
· There were no other churches down the street. We’ve become consumer oriented in our church shopping and this leads to superficial commitment. “As long as my needs are being met by this fellowship … I’m committed.”
· Our lives are so full and there are so many competing priorities that to say that my life is centered in the gathered church is nuts! But keep in mind that while life was simple in Bible times, it was hard. The most mundane and simple tasks took so much longer than they do today.
· We live in a world that says, “You’re too heavenly minded to be earthly good.” The whole notion of living in expectation of the second coming says that “You no earthly good unless you are heavenly minded!”
I just finished a conversation with someone who told me of another pastor who, after a similar study on the Second Coming, would wake up every morning look over at his wife and say “This may be the day!” O that I would live that way! O that my family of faith would live in that context. O that He might come TODAY!!!
In brief, the points I made on Sunday included:
· Every time we gather together it is to be a dress rehearsal for Heaven. It is supposed to be a “foretaste” of glory.
· Our culture of the individual makes this sort of perspective difficult to comprehend or assimilate. We make fun of “it takes a village” sort of talk, but when we give up that value to our cultural norms, we find ourselves separated from the whole and hopelessly drift according to the prevailing currents.
· We are way too casual about church attendance. If there is nothing else to do, we go to church.
But what I didn’t say on Sunday has to do more with our level of commitment and devotion to the local church. In the early church this aspect of gathering together dictated their lives. Their devotion to the other believers in their local church governed their schedules. In essence, in the waiting church – the expectant church – the church came first.
We see it in the book of Acts as they gathered together daily and broke bread together. The apostles seem to assume this priority as they write their letters. This passage from the book of Hebrews indicates that there must have been some believers even back then who were not as devoted to gathering together as they had been and the call was to not let that happen.
There are a couple of factors in our day and age that make it tough for us to even imagine this sort of lifestyle.
· There were no other churches down the street. We’ve become consumer oriented in our church shopping and this leads to superficial commitment. “As long as my needs are being met by this fellowship … I’m committed.”
· Our lives are so full and there are so many competing priorities that to say that my life is centered in the gathered church is nuts! But keep in mind that while life was simple in Bible times, it was hard. The most mundane and simple tasks took so much longer than they do today.
· We live in a world that says, “You’re too heavenly minded to be earthly good.” The whole notion of living in expectation of the second coming says that “You no earthly good unless you are heavenly minded!”
I just finished a conversation with someone who told me of another pastor who, after a similar study on the Second Coming, would wake up every morning look over at his wife and say “This may be the day!” O that I would live that way! O that my family of faith would live in that context. O that He might come TODAY!!!
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