Blog Archives

What is Church?

1/26/2015

How would you define or describe the local church? Is it:
a)      The People of God
b)      A Building
c)       The Body of Christ
d)      The Temple of the Holy Spirit
e)      All of the Above
f)       None of the Above
g)      Some of the Above
Milliard Erickson, “The church is the chosen people of God; they belong to Him and He belongs to them.”

There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed and offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity of human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness. Still to this day the potential of the church is almost more than I can grasp. No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close.
- Bill Hybels in ‘Courageous Leadership’

Three Biblical Images of the Church

1.The People of God
Often we identify it as a building, such as ,”Let’s go to church!” But the church is made up of people.
2 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

2. The Body of Christ
The church is the body of Christ.
Romans 12:4-5
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.Christ is the head of this body.

3.The Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit brought the church into being in Acts 2. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit with individuals and the collective group indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
The Holy Spirit makes the church holy and pure.

There is nothing like the church when it is in unity, has Christ as the head and the Holy Spirit present.

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The Pro-Life Movement

1/23/2015

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The following article from marchforlife.org was posted on January 15, 2014 by Bethany Goodman. I considered condensing the article, but every point is worth reading.

It’s been 40+ years since the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated all 50 state abortion laws in Roe v. Wade. The pro-life movement has made tremendous strides to educate the American people on the gift of life. Although there is much more to do, there are many reasons that pro-lifers must have hope!

40 bright spots in the pro-life effort

Polling & Data on Abortion

1) According to polls, “pro-life” has been the “new normal” for Americans since 2009. In 2012, 50% of Americans identified as pro-life, while those identifying as “pro-choice” hit a record low of 41%.

2) Young people are increasingly pro-life, which is evident as thousands of youth travel to the March for Life each year. Trends show that support of unlimited access to abortion by young people has dropped 12 percent points since 1990. According to Gallup “support for making abortion broadly illegal [is] growing fastest among young adults.”

3) Admitting that the pro-abortion movement is losing support among young people, pro-abortion NARAL President Nancy Keenan recently submitted her resignation to allow a younger president to conduct youth outreach. Commenting on the March for Life she lamented, “There are so many of them, and they are so young.”

4) According to a NARAL study, 51% of pro-life voters under 30 consider a candidate’s stance on abortion very important, yet only 26% of pro-abortion voters of the same group consider a candidate’s stance on abortion to be very important.

5) Most Americans do not agree with United States abortion laws. Abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy, but most believe that abortion should be highly restricted: 79% believe it should be illegal after the first trimester; 87% of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal after 6 months of pregnancy, while only 16% believe it should be legal through all 9 months of pregnancy.

6) The number of abortions in the United States has steadily declined since 1990. Abortion rates dropped 5% in 2009, the last year for which statistics are available.

Pregnancy Resource Centers

7) Throughout the United States, there are more than 2,000 Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRC) that offer help to mothers experiencing unplanned pregnancies. There are 1,793 abortion providers through the country.

8) PRCs report that up to 90% of women contemplating abortion who see the ultrasound, and hear their baby’s heart beat, choose to carry their baby to term.

9) Many PRCs offer ultrasounds free of charge to mothers.

10) There is a movement of mobile PRCs bringing ultrasounds to women. By parking in locations where there may be high numbers of women with unexpected pregnancies, such as malls, college campuses, and abortion clinics, these mobile units reach women who would not have otherwise walked into a PRC.

11) PRCs run largely on the generosity of donors, and volunteers. In 2010, approximately 71,000 volunteers performed an estimated 5,705,000 hours of work.

12) Free services offered by PRCs in 2010 were worth well over an estimated $100 million.

13) As PRCs advance in medical sophistication, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), has trained many in sonography, helping make ultrasounds more widely available to expectant mothers.

Conversions and Outreach Ministries

14) Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist and co-founder of NARAL, had a change of heart in 1980, and became a pro-life advocate until his death in 2011.

15) Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade is now a pro-life advocate.

16) Sandra Cano, the plaintiff of Doe v. Bolton is pro-life, and a popular speaker on pro-life issues.

17) Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director, left the abortion industry after seeing an abortion on ultrasound. She is pro-life speaker and advocate.

18) Abby Johnson began the ministry “And Then There Were None” to reach out to abortion clinic workers who want to leave the abortion industry. Since the organization’s founding in June 2012, nearly 40 workers have left their places of employment, and through the help of “And Then There Were None” were able to find new jobs.

19) 40 Days for Life is a peaceful prayer campaign where groups dedicate 40 days of prayer and fasting for the protection of life, often in front of abortion clinics. Since beginning in 2007 at least 6,749 lives have been saved, 75 abortion clinic workers have left their jobs.

20) Abortion clinics close at a steady pace; 40 Days for Life reports the closing of at least 25 abortion clinics, including the oldest abortion clinic in New York City.

21) Pro-life campus outreach is flourishing. Students for Life of America reports that in 2011, they had 678 active groups, chapters in 49 states, and 42 trainings on college campuses throughout the year.

22) There are numerous organizations such as Isaiah’s Promise and Be Not Afraid that support expectant parents who receive a poor prenatal diagnosis. These ministries help parents respect the dignity of their babies by carrying them to term regardless of their prognosis.

23) Organizations such as Project Rachel, Lumina, and Silent No More bring post-abortion hope and healing to women and men who have chosen abortion.

Laws – Federal and State

24) In 2003, Congress passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 5, 2003. The ban outlawed use of the procedure that became known as partial birth abortion, and brought the violent and intensive procedure of abortion into the light for the public to see. It is likely that because of this law, public opinion has moved in the pro-life direction.

25) Congress has enacted the Hyde-Weldon, Church and Coats-Snowe Amendments, which all protect conscience rights.

26) Since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has restricted federal funds for abortion.

27) Between 2010 and 2012 there have been tremendous pro-life advances on the state level. In 2011, a record breaking 92 pro-life laws, and in 2012, 43 state laws were enacted.

28) In 2011 nine states voted to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

29) Thirty-four states require women receive counseling before an abortion, and twenty-six states have a required waiting period between counseling and abortion.

30) Thirty-eight states have parental involvement laws for minors seeking abortion. Studies show that parental involvement decreases the abortion rate significantly.

31) Twelve states have passed ultrasound legislation, giving women the opportunity to view an ultrasound prior to their abortion.

32) At least five states have pro-life laws on fetal pain.

33) Twenty-seven states now offer specialty “Choose Life” license plates. Proceeds from the license plates benefit PRCs or other organizations that provide alternatives to abortion.

34) Twelve states now provide direct funding to PRCs.

Cultural/Miscellaneous

35) The “Too Many Aborted” public ad campaign caused national uproar as it called attention to the fact that over 40% of African American babies conceived are aborted.

36) There have been increasingly more movies that highlight the gift of life including Bella, Juno and October Baby.

37) Adoptions have consistently increased since 1995.

38) Advances in technology show that the developing baby is undeniably a human being and many credit this for influencing public opinion in favor of the pro-life position.

39) Advances in prenatal technology offer lifesaving treatment to the baby in utero, captured in images such as the “Hand of Hope” picture of Samuel Armas.

40) The March for Life has grown from its humble beginnings in 1974 to be the largest pro-life event in the world!

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LIFE

1/22/2015

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A professor in a world-acclaimed medical school once posed this medical situation -- and ethical problem -- to his students: "Here’s the family history: The father has syphilis. The mother has TB. They already have had four children. The first is blind. The second had died. The third is deaf. The fourth has TB. Now the mother is pregnant again, the parents come to you for advice. They are willing to have an abortion, if you decide they should. What do you say?"
The students gave various individual opinions, and then the professor asked them to break into small groups for "consultation." All of the groups came back to report that they would recommend abortion.
"Congratulations," the professor said, "You just took the life of Beethoven!"

What Does God Say about the Sanctity of Life?
1. The sanctity of life was instituted by God because only humans reflect the glory of God.
Genesis 1:27-28
27 So God created mankind in His own image,
   in the image of God He created them;
   male and female He created them.
We are a living image of Him and we’re created in His likeness. We are made to reflect His majesty on the earth.

2. God starts at conception to develop a child.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 reads, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
God loves people so much that what starts out as a cell He wants as a child. Today’s 3D/4D ultrasound pictures show with clarity wonderful details of the developing baby.

3. Even when people are not perfect God acknowledges the fact that the one in the womb belongs to Him.
Psalms 127:3, “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him.”
But understand that even if people are not perfect, God acknowledges the fact that the one in the womb belonged to Him.
Exodus 4:11   "“The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
It is not His desire that someone be born mute, deaf, or impaired in any way. That's the result of being part of a fallen world. We’re born imperfect, not perfect. Not a single person is born without a physical flaw and that's why from the time we're born we're on the path to death.

4. What God decides to start; He doesn't give us the liberty to decide when to end.
Exodus 20:13 we're told, "You shall not murder."
God has placed a high value on a human life. God is against murder and suicide because He gave life.
Mother Theresa "America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts--a child--as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience." (Mother Theresa -- "Notable and Quotable," Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p.A14)
If you’ve had an abortion please understand that with God there is forgiveness. We all have things in our lives that are dishonoring to God. But when God forgives you, He puts all things we’ve done wrong on a screen and then he presses the delete button.

5. He loves what He sees in the womb although the infant is sinful from the day it’s conceived.
Psalm 51:5 says, “5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
   sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

6. God so loves life He wants everyone on earth to live with Him.
God not only loves us coming into the world but He wants us to be in His world forever. That is why one of the best known verses in the Bible, John 3:16 says, “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
We’re sinners from the day we’re born, and yet God loves us.
Jesus Christ saved us by dying for us. He took the punishment for our sin, died in our place and rose again. All God now asks us to do is to receive His salvation as a free gift by trusting Christ to save us.

So Now What?
*Listen and love those who have a deep wound from abortion; those considering abortion. Be a voice of love and share options.
*Volunteer your time, talents, and services to your local pregnancy resource center.
*Pray regularly for mothers and babies, for those who are suicidal, and for the elderly.

4. Grab hold of God’s forgiveness if you have had an abortion or have pressured someone to have an abortion.

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Three Voices We Hear

1/14/2015

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Neil Thielke, a pastor friend of mine, shared that there are three voices that we listen to in our lives.
1.       God’s voice
2.       Our voice
3.       Satan’s voice
God speaks to us and we can doubt whether it is just our own thoughts and ambitions instead of the Lord’s. Sometimes we confuse our voice as the voice of God and believe God is directing us, when in reality it is our own ambition. Satan’s voice is cunning, condemning and corrupt. We need to know which voice is truly speaking.

God’s voice is loving, encouraging and convicting, but never condemning to a true follower.
Your voice and my voice can be prideful or critical. It can be confused as God’s or Satan’s voice.
Satan’s voice can use portions and principles of the Bible like he did with Eve in the garden of Eden.

Asking the Holy Spirit for truthful discernment will clarify voices.
Asking a mature Christian will bring wise counsel and clarity.
Scripture can confirm which voice is speaking.

What have you found helpful to determine which voice you are hearing.
John10:27 (NIV)
My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.

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When You Do Not Know Why

1/9/2015

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I am reading the account of the man, Job, who lost everything but his faith in God. His wife wants him to blame God for all his losses. His friends insist that Job must admit to hidden sin that must be responsible for his suffering. Job does neither.
Job 19:25-27
I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end He will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see Him
    with my own eyes—I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!
Job does not know why he is suffering. He does know that he must not curse God and that his pain is not the result of secret sins. Job knows that God is alive and that he will meet Him someday.

When you do not know why things are happening in your life, keep the perspective that:
>God is alive
>Cling to Him, not cursing Him
>You will see God in the end

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Low Gas Price is Bad News?

1/7/2015

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The price of oil per barrel has been dropping at a steady rate and everyone is happy about lower gas. Well, almost everybody. It seems that our news networks work very hard at finding bad news out of good news. I listened to a news report that “warned” us we might get what we wish for (lower prices) and it will NOT be good.

So, if you own stock in oil or other commodities related to oil, it is not happy days. The boon in North Dakota’s oil fields is affected negatively by the low oil prices. For every business and industry that has lower profits due to low oil and gas prices there are many more that are enjoying lower costs and higher profits.

Our news networks seem to report the glass is half empty rather than half full. Are they to be faulted or are we to be faulted? News survives by the market size of audience they draw and keep. Human nature seems to prefer bad news over good. Good news does not travel as rapid or broadly as bad.

Those who follow Jesus Christ bring good news to a world that desperately needs good news, but prefers bad.

Romans 10:15-16 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”

Today, accept the good news of Jesus and tell others the good news!

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New Year, New Spirit

1/6/2015

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New Year's resolutions are not wildly popular in the US. with less than half the population making any resolution in any given year. Most resolutions relate to diet, exercise, followed by resolutions relating to money and debt, personal improvement—including being a better person, being more generous, having more leisure time, overcoming an addiction, career focus , spirituality or church, and education. Barna Group did a survey of 1022 people about New Year's resolutions in 2011.

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, commented on the findings: "Only 9 out of more than 1,000 survey respondents mentioned that one of their objectives for next year was getting closer to God in some way. Even in the rare instance when people mention spiritual goals, it is often about activity undertaken for God rather than a personal pursuit of God or an experience with God." https://www.barna.org/culture-articles/465-americans-resolutions-for-2011

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the best way to get closer to God and experience God more in 2015. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and not a vague force. The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and Son.

Ephesians 5:15,18
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit...

Ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you each day with His presence and have the best New Year's resolution for you life.

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What is Church?

The Pro-Life Movement

LIFE

Three Voices We Hear

When You Do Not Know Why

Low Gas Price is Bad News?

New Year, New Spirit

Mark Radeke

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