Posts tagged lost
RE-POST: FIVE RESULTS WHEN CHURCHES GET HONEST

If someone challenged you to choose three words to describe Jesus, which would you pick?

Righteous?

Compassionate?

Loving?

All those would be good choices, but here’s another description that doesn’t usually make it to the top of our list.

Honest.

Jesus was honest. He told a woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” He called the Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood of vipers.” To their face.

Jesus didn’t mince words. He said, “I am the bread of life. . . . Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. . . . the one who feeds on me will live because of me. . . . Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”

His teaching was so new, so fresh, so honest, that some who followed him walked away (John 6:35-60).

That happens today, too, when we tell people the truth about Jesus. Some turn and leave because they can’t handle the demands Jesus makes on our lives. But many more, hungry for the truth, can’t resist Jesus when we’re honest about him. And that’s only one of five results I’ve seen when churches decide to be honest.

Read More
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE MAKE POLITICS OUR PRAISE- PART 2

Last week’s post painted a pretty bleak picture of division in the church. If it did not describe the church you know, maybe you haven’t been looking. Or maybe the situation isn’t as serious in your world as I’ve seen it in mine.

I’ll agree it’s too soon to give up hope. Certainly many Christians are weary of all the political wrangling. Some have decided to quit watching the news. Others have agreed never to bring up politics or their presidential choice with certain friends or family members. They’re concentrating, instead, on strategies to build and maintain relationships. They’re looking at a world in need and asking how they can make a difference.

We need more of them, because even a vocal minority of Christians with an unbalanced focus on politics can bring dangerous consequences. I listed three of them last week. This week I’ll mention two more.

Read More