|
Back To The Cross - Chip Brogden |
 |
 |
"For I determined to not know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2)." Though Paul had quite a bit of knowledge and many things to say and teach the Corinthians, he determined to become a man of one subject: Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
- We must become foolish in order to be wise.
- We must give up everything in order to get back everything.
- We must become weak in order to be strong.
- We must die in order to live.
We can quote these teachings of Jesus, seek to imitate Him as our Example, strive to walk the narrow Way, and even accomplish many good deeds in His Name. But apart from the Cross these activities are wood, hay and stubble. The moment we are challenged or confronted by the opposition we will fall away. Perhaps we can appear to be patient, but a day comes when we lose our patience. Perhaps we can appear to be gentle, but a day comes when our roughness is revealed. Perhaps we can appear to be humble, but a day comes when pride is discovered in us and we fall. Perhaps we can obey the letter of the law and appear outwardly to others as being righteous, but when alone and faced with the secrets of our heart and mind we discover that the inside of the cup is full of uncleanness.
|
|
|
The Body of Christ? You better hope not! - Doug Perry |
|
|
|
As I've been looking intently at the state of the Church, I've grown more and more frustrated that hardly anybody seems to be really aware of the problems and the need for repentance. I struggle with what to make of that. Perhaps people think the 37,000+ denominations we have now are a good thing. Perhaps the fraud and waste and division and selfish ambition are just part of the human condition and can't be helped (although he says he's coming for a Bride without wrinkle or blemish and I think those are blemishes.) Perhaps no one ever told them how much this is hurting Jesus. I hope that this helps with that. In fact, I hope it sears an indelible burn mark on your conscience that makes you cry in pain every day. That's probably what it's going to take to get this turned around.
|
|
|
Apology To The World - Doug Perry |
|
|
|
Open Letter of Apology to The World
Please bear with me, this is long overdue and there's lots of ground to cover. I want to make sure that I get it all out. Not just for me, but because I think you need to hear it. Maybe there are other Christians out there as well that need to make apologies and will find courage here. I appreciate your time, I know it's valuable.
Dear Members of the World,
I'm just a guy, nobody really. Son of a preacher and missionary. Years and years of Vacation Bible Schools, summer camps, youth ski trips, puppet shows, revivals, choir trips - you name it. Even went to a Christian college and got a degree in religion. I ended up in the business world, but I spent two decades tithing, sitting on committees, teaching Sunday School, going to seminars and conferences, etc. I even met my wife in the single's class at church. I'm not a bad guy, I've been mostly behaving myself and everybody seems to like me. I do some good stuff here and there.
But lately I've been trying to understand Jesus more and stuff I never noticed before has really started to bug me. I've been taking a look around and I'm having a hard time making sense of what it is we've built here. So, it just seemed like, whether anybody else says it or not, I need to take responsibility for the part I played and say what I have to say.
Here we go ...
|
|
|
