Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

Who Built This Church Anyway?


28 Aug

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Posted in Religion | 2 Comments »

It was a fairly straight-forward request really: Could our church provide some administrative and bookkeeping  assistance to a new church that was just opening up just down the road?  It would have been perfectly fine to have declined the request because we didn’t have the resources.  But we did have the resources.  We also had people willing to do the actual work.  The request wasn’t even remotely unreasonable.

As our small congregation sat in a special “business meeting”, called specifically to discuss the request, a few members spoke about characteristics of the requesting church.  It was a small Baptist church, from what I recall, that really had a desire to reach the younger generation in our community for Christ.  They would have “contemporary worship services”. (more…)

The Day God Visited Our School


31 Jul

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Posted in Devotions, Non-Fiction, Religion, Short Stories | 1 Comment »

Rain beat violently on the pavement outside of my second-grade class window.  The sun had been hidden by dark gray clouds the entire morning.  To say this was a downpour would have been an understatement.

This memory from my childhood seems to only serve one purpose: to remind me that God is near, even when he seems far away, or worse; non-existent. (more…)

If You Really Love God, You Will Read This Article


12 Apr

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Posted in Religion | No Comments »

What do viral status updates and emails really say about our love of God?

What a tragedy it is for the person who spends their whole life using Grace as a defense for doing nothing.  Even more so for the ones, the thousands, who could have been reached by the actions that were never taken by that one person.  Grace was not cheap. (more…)

Cheap Plastic Fish


05 Jan

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Posted in Religion | 3 Comments »

Is going to church the same thing as “confessing Jesus before men” (Matthew 20:32-33)?  If the people I meet or work with “know” that I’m a Christian because I have a fish on my car – or because I pray before my meals, have I just “confessed” Jesus?  Are my Christian friends the “men” (people) that Jesus is referring to?
Myself, I live somewhere in the space between confession and denial. I’m not comfortable with that.
The idea that confession of Jesus to men (unbelieving people) is simply the absence of a denial permeates Christianity.
The context of the passage above is a command to evangelize and that we should not fear the “men” (non-believing people) that we are evangelizing to. Our identity as Christians (followers of Christ, Christ followers, whatever) should be crystal clear because of our “confession.” Nothing wrong with the fish on your car or being nice, but it seems like that should be a supplement to our confession of Jesus as Lord.
It’s interesting that, in a similar context of confessing Christ found in Romans 10:9-10, it is clearly pointed out that the confession is to be done verbally.  But even still, within the context of Matthew 10, Jesus refers to “speaking.”
I have a lot of growing to do. Thoughts? (perhaps not about my need to grow, but that’s fine. whatever.)

Is going to church the same thing as “confessing Jesus before men” (Matthew 20:32-33)?  If the people I meet or work with “know” that I’m a Christian because I have a fish on my car – or because I pray before my meals, have I just “confessed” Jesus?  Are my Christian friends the “men” (people) that Jesus is referring to?

Myself, I live somewhere in the space between confession and denial. I’m not comfortable with that.

The idea that confession of Jesus to men (unbelieving people) is simply the absence of a denial permeates the church.

The context of the passage above is a command to evangelize and that we should not fear the “men” (non-believing people) that we are evangelizing to. Our identity as Christians (followers of Christ, Christ followers, whatever) should be crystal clear because of our “confession.” Nothing wrong with the fish on your car or being nice, but it seems like that should be a supplement to our confession of Jesus as Lord.

It’s interesting that, in a similar context of confessing Christ found in Romans 10:9-10, it is clearly pointed out that the confession is to be done verbally.  But even still, within the context of Matthew 10, Jesus refers to “speaking.”

I have a lot of growing to do. Thoughts? (perhaps not about my need to grow, but that’s fine. whatever.)

Bill Daniel Johnson

sometimes I just say stuff