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Showing posts from February, 2011

God...and....

In 2 Kings 17:33 we see the end of the kings of the line of David.  The Bible states this, "They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought." When we come to Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior we must learn a new way to live our lives ( Matt 11:29 ).  We are buried with Christ in His death and then raised up to new life in His resurrection ( Romans 6:5 ).  We cannot be with God and with our old way of understanding and living life ( Luke 16:13 ). Becoming a Christian isn't just a better form of living life.  It isn't the icing on the cake of life.  It is a radically different way to be alive.  It is leaving the kingdom of the world and moving to the kingdom of Heaven.  It is more than just working on being a better person.  It is more than membership at a church with good kids programs.  It's more than buying Christian music.  It's more than not lying,

Proverbs 14:12, yeah that's right

In his book Generation Ex-Christian, about younger Christians leaving Christianity, author Drew Dyke tells a story of one interview with a young man who left Christianity to join the Wicca religion. He expressed his rejection of Christianity with candor.  “Ultimately why I left is that the Christian God demands that you submit to his will.  In Wicca, it’s just the other way around.  Your will is paramount.  We believe in gods and goddesses, but the deities we choose to serve are based on our wills.” Do you come up with a great idea and ask God to make it happen?  Do you figure out how your life could be better and then ask God to make that happen?  Do you wonder why God wouldn’t let you get the things you want?  Do you wish God would listen to you better?  If so, that sounds a lot like this young man’s reason for leaving Christianity and choosing to be Wiccan.  (Wiccan, by the way, is not a viable option.  There is one truth and it is that God is real and God is in charge.) Just becau

102 men died

I love this lesson of humility found in the first chapter of 2 Kings.  The King fell though a lattice and injured himself.  He gathered up some men and told them to go to the god of another nation.  They took off and were stopped by Elijah.  Elijah (the prophet of God) asked them why the king would consult a god of another nation when he already has God.  Then he tells the men to tell the king that he will die. Now it gets more interesting.  The king sends a captain with 50 men to have Elijah come to him.  The captain calls out, "Man of God come down here."  Elijah shouts back that if he is a man of God may God sent fire down and consume the men.  It happens.  (Maybe the captain should have said please or at least asked nicely.)  So another captain and another 50 men come and the same thing happens.  Finally a third captain comes with his 50 men and begs on his knees for Elijah to not kill them and come with him.  Elijah doesn't kill them. Do you command God?  Do you s