A boy in the Middle East named Andrew Miman, was shot 5 times in the chest by Muslims and left bleeding on a sidewalk. He was shot simply because he didn't want to die, but he was unwilling to deny Jesus as Lord.
He gave his life for Christ.
And we talk about being Radical Christians because we wear a tee-shirt??? Or we go to a conference. Let's talk about HOLINESS! How about GODLINESS??
You want to know what a move of God is? If everyone reading this, and I writing this, if we FELL ON OUR FACES AND WEPT, because we watch the things that God HATES! We wear the things that God HATES! Because we ACT like the WORLD, LOOK like the WORLD, SMELL like the WORLD!
Even though we acknowledge and claim that the Scriptures are the WORD of God, basically all we get is illustrations and stories. But what would happen if we let God MOVE us, and we would TURN AWAY from our fleshly desires and turn away from the things of this world and turn to God?
We have this American SPIN on CHRISTIANITY. AMERICANIZED Christianity tells us to get a job, get lots of financial security, a nice house, a beautiful wife, and have a family....
We don't believe that Christ can call us to sell everything we own and give it to the poor.
We don't believe Christ has called us to give a DYING world a SAVING GOSPEL.
We don't believe this.
We put our own little spin on Christianity and make it so it is convenient and useful to us.
Jesus never said it was convenient. He never even talks about convenience. In fact He says in Luke 9:23:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
If you want to follow Jesus, he says to DENY YOURSELF, and pick up your cross DAILY! Not just when it is convenient for you! In the same passage he goes on to say,
24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
What would it really profit you to gain the whole world? You die and the things of this world are useless.
"The Prosperity Gospel will not make ANYBODY praise Jesus, it will make people praise PROSPERITY! Of course we will take a Jesus who will give us a car! Who wouldn't want a Jesus who will give us good health, a car, money, a fine marrige? I'll take your Jesus if the PAYOFF is right!
"It's not the way we are going to win our campus' or workplaces'. Dressing the coolest...driving the coolest...typing on the coolest...It's not going to get any praise."
He calls us another way...He calls us to take up our cross.
From John Piper "Christians Must Suffer"
2 comments:
As much as I don't believe. Thank you. Most Christians need tyo read this. Because they just go to church or pray and say they're christian. No, sorry but you're not. I could not eat, dress in robes and write all day long, and meditate. But that doesn't make me a monk either.
thats one of the biggest struggles in america. if we walk in a neighborhood and knock on doors and ask people if they are christians, 90% will profess to be one, but then the number drops dramatically when you ask if they go to church or share their faith. Christians need to be more active
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