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Aim for the Head

4/28/2015

I was at a conference last week held by TrueBridge, a network of like-minded churches. Rich Kao, pastor at Five Stones Church, shared on “How to Become a Disruptive Leader”. He drew the application points from David’s victory over Goliath, the giant Philistine soldier.

The point, “Take dead aim at the head”, referenced David killing Goliath with a stone thrown from a sling that hit him in the head. The speaker was telling us to aim at the head, the center of our thoughts, and kill the lies, negative thinking, and self-talk that prevent us from the victories that God intends for our lives.

There were many other good points to his message, but “aim at the head” stood out for me. I think my way out of many activities and actions because my head said it could not be done or it would not work. We do not use slings and stones, but spiritual weapons to make our thoughts surrender to Jesus Christ.

Today, do have thoughts that keep you from pursuing something courageous because you are afraid it will not work out? Aim for the head.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

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Why Should Christians Care About Earth Day?

4/22/2015

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Air and water pollution were much bigger problems back in the 70’s. Industries did not have the scrubbers they do today and were pumping out damaging emissions into the air every day. Lake Erie had so much pollution dumped into it for so many years that it was declared a dead lake. Fish caught in the lake could not be eaten because of the toxins in the water.

The position Christians took was that Jesus was coming back and would make all things new. Because Jesus was going to fix everything, we did not feel responsible to care for the earth. Thankfully, much has changed in practice and theology. The LORD put humankind in charge of the earth to care for it.

Genesis 1:27-28
So God created mankind in His own image,
in the image of God He created them;
male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

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Not All Religions Are Alike

4/7/2015

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People have told me that they respect my “religion” and they have their own beliefs. They say things like, “All religions are the same and are to help end the problem of evil in the world.”. Not all religions are alike. Christianity is the only religion whose core idea is substitutionary atonement.

Substitution means taking the place of another. March Madness basketball just finished the championship game last night. When a player fouls out, he is substituted.
Substitution = taking the place of another.

The second half of the core idea is atonement. Atonement is the appropriate payment; satisfying the demands of justice when a crime has been committed.

The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 on March 24 killing 150 has the world in an outrage. The black box and other evidence indicate that the co-pilot’s suicidal depression brought him to lock the pilot from the cockpit and intentionally fly the airline into the mountainside killing all 150 aboard. Society cannot put a crime behind it until there has been an appropriate payment made.

Substitutionary Atonement is taking the place of someone else and satisfying the demands of justice when a crime has been committed.

Jesus – the perfect, unblemished prize lamb that was offered as the ultimate substitute, atoning for people’s sin. This is the core idea of Christianity.

Other religions resolve a person’s sin through works, doing more good than bad, appeasing other gods through gifts, or separating from this reality and focusing on an alternate reality.

Christianity is the only religion in the world whose core idea is based on substitutionary atonement. Jesus Christ took our place as a substitute and satisfied the demands of justice for our sin when we put our trust in Him.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will never perish, but have eternal lie."

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April Fools Day!

4/1/2015

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There are some great April Fools pranks in our world, so today is a day to be on your guard! I began to think of what would qualify as the greatest prank in the Bible.
Would it be:
>Jesus rising from the dead? Well, He did tell His disciples that He would do exactly that.
>Rahab hiding the spies and telling those searching for them that they had been there and left? She told a lie and we are still trying to figure out how what God thought about that.
>Samson’s tricks with Delilah and her “friends”? Those tricks got lost with Samson’s failings.
>Jonah and the big fish?
>Peter walking on water?
>Cloths that Paul touched bringing healing to the sick?

The miracles done by Jesus and His followers were sometimes wrongly credited as trickery, but were authentic. The Bible contains numerous events and activities of God’s amazing works. None are tricks.

God still does amazing things through His follower’s everyday.
No fooling!

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Aim for the Head

Why Should Christians Care About Earth Day?

Not All Religions Are Alike

April Fools Day!

Mark Radeke

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