Jesus said to be witnesses in “Jerusalem.” Now, obviously Jerusalem was a physical place. In fact, it was the place where this event occurs. Jesus had spent forty days with the disciples and had told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came (Acts 1:4).
Although Jesus was literally speaking of the city they were in (and a place that was buzzing with the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ), the principle applies to us. I think what “Jerusalem” means for us is to start where you are.
Jesus didn’t tell them to go on some long journey to get to a particular place to share the gospel. He told them to start being witnesses in the place where they received the command.
When we first encounter Christ, we don’t need to wait until we get to a certain place to witness. We can start right where we are. Start with your friends and relatives that need Christ. Start with you old drinking buddies who need hope. Start with the people you used to run with who need to know that Jesus loves them.
Start in your Jerusalem. Determine who is in your Jerusalem that needs to hear the message of Jesus crucifixion and ressurection.
Filed under: Uncategorized
“The type of evangelism that is concerned only about winning souls, while neglecting the needs of individual men, women, and children, is a contradiction of Scripture, which tells us that God made humans in his image and that salvation means wholeness as well as rescue.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: acts 1:8, great commission, holy spirit, receive power
I had the privilege of speaking in the Wednesday night service at my church last night. I thought I would share some of the thoughts from that message here. I will take a couple of days to post my notes and thoughts from the message.
I taught from Acts 1:8. Here are some thoughts I talked about:
* “You will receive power” – This implies that on our own we have no real power. The power that we have is only power that we have received. This SHOULD keep us from being prideful, but often does not work out that way.
* “After the Holy Spirit has come on you” – The Holy Spirit can also be translated “Sacred Breath” (which has some pretty cool implications). We don’t get the power until we receive God’s sacred breath. It is His breath alone that gives us any power. It is about HIM. Not us. Too many times in our lives we strive to find power through various different venues. The only sources to true power (the power of God), is the Sacred Breath of God – the Holy Spirit. Where are we trying to get power from besides the Holy Spirit?
*”You will be witnesses unto me” – The power is given to us so we can “witness” (Gk: martus) for Christ. We are to use this power to express Christ to others. We are to express Christ ONLY! Not our opinions, our denomination, our political party, our accomplishments or anything else. We are to express Christ alone. We are not even to express the Bible, but to express the Christ revealed in the Bible. We are not to express some generic “god”. We are to express the Father of Jesus Christ, the Yahweh God of the Bible. What is our life expressing?
* “In Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth”. These were obviously real places that Jesus was speaking of, but I think they have significant and profound principles for us today. We will discuss Jerusalem in the next post.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bush memos, gq, intelligence reports with scripture, rumsfeld reports
GQ magazine has posted some “Intelligence Report” documents from the Bush administration. These documents were prepared by Donald Rumsfeld for President Bush.
The disturbing thing about these memos is they have cover sheets that contain pictures of war captioned by Scripture. This is disturbing on a number of levels, including the fact that the verses are grossly proof-texted and give a strange feeling that Rumsfeld and Bush felt that God had ordained this war and America was doing God’s work.
You can see them for yourself here (WARNING: THIS IS GQ MAGAZINE AND IT IS DESIGNED FOR MEN SO THERE ARE ADS THAT ARE AIMED AT MEN.)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: allegiance, american bible, american flag, american patriot's bible, Greg Boyd, thomas nelson
Thomas Nelson has released “The American Patriot’s Bible.” I haven’t read it. I don’t plan on reading it. Greg Boyd reviewed it and you can find his very well written reviews here (part one) and here (part two). If this Bible contains what Boyd says it does (and I have no reason not to believe Boyd), then this is really sad.
For me, just the title is pretty ridiculous. The title is aiming at excluding people from reading it. As if someone from another country could not read this Bible.
This goes back to the whole allegiance thing. Do you pledge allegiance to the flag or to Christ? Because you really can’t swear allegiance to two things – that’s treason. To be a patriot (according to dictionary.com) means “a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.”
Are we supporting the interests of America or the interests of the Kingdom of God? There are certainly interests in America that we would support, but those interests should only be ones that cross over into the interests of the Kingdom. We do not support the interests of America and the Kingdom of God. We support the interests of the Kingdom of God regardless of whether or not they are American interests. If our interests in the Kingdom also happen to be American interests, that is fine. But the Kingdom ALWAYS trumps America. This is where I fear we tend to get off track. We support American interests (oil, greed, war, etc..) without any consideration for whether or not they are in the best interests of the Kingdom.
All Christ followers of every nation on earth should pursue the Kingdom regardless of their nation. Nationalism is idolatry.
