Many of us have friends who are spiritual seekers. They are friends or co-workers who want something more but haven't considered trying Jesus. In their mind, Jesus = church = religion, and they definitely don't want to be religious. It could be that their prior experience with church was confusing (especially if they remember it being in Latin). Or, the only Bible they own is a leather-bound King James, complete with thee's and thou's. Yet you know they are searching, and often searching in the wrong places. What can you do? How about asking them the same question that Philip asked an Ethiopian searcher back in the first century: "Do you understand what you are reading?” That one question set in motion a conversation which led to Philip sharing the message of Jesus, leading to the Ethiopian's baptism.
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One minute, you're the most popular guy in class and the next minute you're not. That's how fast public opinion can change. Just ask Jesus. On Palm Sunday, he's riding a donkey as the crowd lays down branches and shouts, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. By Friday, the crowd is shouting, "Crucify him!” Somehow, somewhere, something went terribly wrong. Or did it? Maybe what appeared to be wrong was actually God's plan to set things right. Good Friday reminds us that just because something doesn’t appear to have a happy ending is no proof that God wasn’t behind it.
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Jesus would have made a horrible politician. Had Jesus been a politician, the first person he would have needed to hire would have been a public relations expert. Why? Because Jesus was a walking public relations nightmare. For one thing, he was politically incorrect. He didn't excuse immorality as a product of low self-esteem. He called it sin. Instead of pandering to the crowd, he challenged and provoked them. He was compassionate to the unpopular, and uncompromising toward the powerful. To ears both then and now, he would say things that sounded both intolerant and exclusive. There is no better example than this one: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Jesus doesn't offer himself as an alternative path to God or even the best path to God. He claims to be the ONLY path to God.…
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What is your greatest need? What is your neighbor's greatest need? We often get confused about needs and wants. I think I need a new computer when, in reality, I only want a new computer. My "old" computer is just fine. To be honest, our wants far outnumber our needs. In other words, we want much more than we really need. As a result, we end spending much more time and effort in pursuit of our wants than we do our needs. And this is unfortunate because fulfilling our wants will never match the satisfaction of having our greatest needs met. And what is our greatest need? It is to be loved and accepted by our Creator, leading to a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. Which is why evangelism is a core value of a biblical church. Don't be scared or nervous when you hear that word. It's a…
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In every life, bad things will happen. You might have a bad moment, a bad day, a bad week, or a bad year. Not every bad thing that happens to you will be of your own doing (but let's be honest, we bring a few bad things on ourselves). We will face circumstances beyond our control. Accidents. Mean-spirited people. Bad things will happen. That bad things will happen is beside the point. Bad things have always happened. In theological terms, we live in a fallen world. Sin has been defeated but not eradicated. The effects of our sinful behavior are obvious (just see Paul's list in Galatians 5). But here's something I've noticed: bad things happen to all people but not all people live with a victim's mentality. Did bad things happen to the apostle Paul? Well, that depends on how you define being shipwrecked, beaten, and thrown in prison.…
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