Month: September 2010

Go Fish


Why Share the Gospel? 14 Biblical Motivations for Witnessing

1) For the glory of God – God is worthy of worship and praise, and evangelism will bring Him what He has earned on the cross.
See Psalm 96

2) To evangelize is to fight evil with the most effective weapon for doing so.
See Jonah 1:2

3) The lost world around us needs our witness, and waits for it in the storms of life, so that they may be spared God’s wrath—our witness being the means by which God has chosen to set them free.
See Jonah 1:7-11

4) Because even though you’ve failed in the past, you’re still called.
See Jonah 3:1-3a

5) Because sometimes a great harvest is awaiting you among the “least likely.”
See Jonah 3:5-10

6) To walk with God means to put aside our needs and share His sacrificial concerns for the lost.
See Jonah 4:10-11

7) Because of eternal reward He offers –
See Luke 19:11-26
Also note that every NT writer and almost every NT book holds out reward for a motivation to serve God well, and serving Him in evangelism is one way that is key to this reward. Jesus not only suggested we seek heavenly reward, but commanded us to.

8) Because of the needs you see and the compassion He gives you.
See Matthew 9:35-38

9) Because somehow, somewhere, you will have success.
See Mark 4:8; and Gal. 6:9

10) Because He protects you.
See Acts 26:16-18

11) Because He compels you.
See 1 Cor. 9:16; and Acts 4:18-20

12) Because He chooses, calls, and sends you.
See Acts 26:16-18

13) Because of all that the lost will receive after you proclaim Christ to them – a) open eyes, b) a turning from darkness to light, c) deliverance from Satan to God, d) forgiveness of sins, e) a place among us who are already His, f) sanctification, g) saving faith in Him-a relationship.
See Acts 26:16-18

14) Because it is a matter of obedience.
See Luke 5:5-6 –What God needs from us in evangelism isn’t our opinion or viewpoint; just our obedience to fish when and where He says, just because He says so.

Celebrity near misses – Who do you remind me of?

A note from the facebook wall of my father, Bob Bunnell, that is well worth a read:

My six years working front desk at the Motel brought me almost near to celebrities. Once a woman came who looked just like Jenifer Aniston. I greeted her and her husband and looked down at my computer to check them in and then in a double take looked right back up at her. She laughed and said, “Yes, I look like Jenifer Aniston; people tell me that all the time.” Her husband was not an imposing looking man, but I remembered that Jenifer Aniston used to be married to Brad Pitt so I asked him, “Do people ever mistake you for Brad Pitt?” He laughed and said no.

Another time a woman came in whose voice sounded exactly like Barbara Streisand with the same Eastern Accent. I said to her, “Your voice sounds exactly like Barbara Streisand; would you sing for me?” She said, “No.” I said, “Just sing, ‘people, people who need people are the luckiest people in the world’; just sing that much.” She said, “No, I can’t sing; I’m not going to sing!”

Once a man came in dressed to look like Elvis Presley and along with the Elvis wardrobe he had the thick black hair on the sides and top. Yet on his face he had an anxious look the whole time. His face said, “I want to look like Elvis Presley, but I don’t want to make a fool of myself.” His wife standing next to him had kind of an embarrassed look standing next to Elvis. Their daughter had a roll her eyes look that seemed to say, “I’m not really with this man.”

As I checked them in and gave them room keys still Elvis looked anxious not wanting to be seen as a clown. I said to him before they left, “Would you sing, ‘Don’t be Cruel’ for me? He smiled, his face lit up and he began strumming an imaginary guitar and launched into the song.

Gets me thinking Christians are to remind people of someone. We are to be Christlike. Our destiny is to be conformed to the image of Christ. We’ll have a glorified body like His one day and a sinless nature and we’ll be like Christ. Can people tell you are becoming more like Christ even in this life?

God will be good to you

God is good. A good God will be good to you. You can afford to surrender into His hands your life, your dreams, your hopes, your plans, and your future. You can do it without worry that His plan won’t work out for your good, for your peace, and for your joy. Because it will. That’s the theme of tomorrow night’s study–6:30 pm at our place–How would it change your life if you REALLY believed the truth, that God is good?
The next part in our series of God’s attributes, based on the Chip Ingram book God As He Longs For You To See Him.

Science Fiction

Science Fiction
A missing link? Who do they think they’re kidding? They’re not missing a link. They’re missing the whole bloomin’ chain!

When God Says No

What do we do when we’re in crisis, asking for deliverance, and God says no, because He has a better plan? That’s one of the lessons learned from today’s passage in the message at the church, from Luke 22:39-46. The message audio is available for your listening here.

9-11 Remembrance

View the pictures in remembrance, and hear again the words President Bush spoke to the nation 9 years ago tonight, in this four-minute video.

Songs of Worship – YouTube playlist

Here’s a YouTube playlist of my favorite songs of worship from various musicians. Hope it is a blessing to you.

20 songs 1st page, 16 2nd, for a total of 36

Does Mormonism Result in Good Morality, Citizenship, and Politics?

Several former mormons have shared this with me about their past religious affiliation: That mormon culture is one that is focused very strongly on putting up a false public front, as individuals, and as a church organization, in order to persuade people to become mormons. Could this sometimes be behind mormons’ desires to appear pro-America and pro-family in the public arena?
For an answer, let’s look at the actual morality behind mormon teaching to see where they really stand on issues that would be of importance to us as Christians.
On abortion: Mormon leaders in government, such as Sen. Orrin Hatch and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, tend to have histories of following the prevailing political winds and their party’s stands on this issue in the moment. This is probably because mormon teaching is that a person isn’t a person until birth, at which time the fetus receives a soul (due to their god having physical sexual relations with one of his harem of wives in order to create the soul for it. I hope the blasphemy of that claim isn’t lost on anyone.) So, mormons often view abortion as something not good, but they don’t believe it is killing an innocent human being. That’s why they don’t have the heart for standing against things like embryonic stem cell research that takes a life, and why they’re willing even to support abortion if it will get them elected (as it will in Massachusetts).
On marriage: They may be against homosexuality, but they are not pro-marriage. Mormon teaching still holds strongly to the belief in polygamy, and only the laws of the nation prevent them from practicing it (most of the time, anyway.) The goal of a mormon man, in fact, is to be so pleasing to the mormon’s god that he will receive an afterlife as a god of his own universe, with a harem of women to enjoy physically. (How is that really different from Allah’s offer? The true and living God “cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.” But the gods of the Koran and Book of Mormon do play on a man’s sinful desires to tempt him to follow said gods.)
Do you see on these first two issues how messed up the mormon teaching is? Even the average secularist would call late-term abortion “murder” and frown on a man having several wives.
On Israel and the Jews: Mormon religion is very anti-semitic, and racist in general, teaching that only white-skinned gentiles are truly pleasing to their god. When it isn’t politically correct to air that belief, they won’t publicly do so, but the immoral beliefs in the heart will affect their actions in some ways. And Christians of the black race have a legitimate complaint against white Christians who ally themselves with mormons in the political arena. We as Christians should denounce racist belief, not overlook it.
On prayer and respect for God: They couldn’t be more off-base. They pray to what they call “the Heavenly Father” but they are referring to Adam. And they don’t have any respect for God. They teach He is just a man like us, and is evolving and gaining power, which we will do one day, too, if we’re white and righteous enough to earn it. They also teach that the god’s first two sons were Jesus and Lucifer. Lucifer wanted their god to be sovereign and control his creation so it would be good. Jesus wanted people to have free will. Jesus won that battle and now Lucifer is angry. (So they view sin as basically Jesus’ fault, since Lucifer would have made creation good.)
“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” The light in you and the darkness in mormon teachers have no fellowship with one another. Mormonism isn’t a denomination of Christianity. It is one of the world’s most evil blasphemies and heresies against it. Don’t let the fact that they know how to look like moral upstanding citizens trick you into following their lead.
Mormons, like all lost people, need to come to Christ and find forgiveness of sins and eternal life, through faith in Him and His sacrifice for them on the cross. In your individual life and relationships with them, tell them of God’s love and their need of salvation. But don’t try to reach them by joining them in the arena of politics. They aren’t your allies. They are the enemy’s captives. You won’t see them set free by patting them on the back for standing with you against the liberals and socialists.

Curious About Evil

A recent film, due to its subject matter and the fact that it is in 3-D, has been promoted with the tagline, “Experience a whole new dimension of evil.”
The marketing team that came up with that knew something more than just how to turn a phrase or make a pun. They knew what lies within the human heart. Namely, a nature that is curious about evil.
That was a big part of how Satan caused the fall to begin with. God had made people in a world where they only experienced that which was morally exemplary. Adam and Eve had never seen evil, never heard evil, never spoken evil, never done evil. They were innocent regarding evil. They only had knowledge of good. And God, while giving them the opportunity to choose, commanded them to stay in a state of knowledge of only good.
Along came the devil, basically saying to Eve, “Don’t settle for knowing only good. Experience evil, too. Disobey God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You’ll be wise like Him, then. Innocence isn’t for you—come to know both good and evil, and you won’t regret it.”
Of course, they did regret it. Choosing to know evil is choosing to experience death and a loss of the life and peace walking with a Holy God would bring.
Ever since she and her husband made the wrong choice, then, the battle rages within us all. Sometimes it takes religious forms, like in Buddhism, which is all based on the ying-yang philosophy that balancing the amount of light and darkness, good and evil, in your soul, is the road to inner peace. Other times, it shows itself in the temptation to read books, listen to music, or watch films that glorify darkness and curse the light. Gossip often has its roots in a dark desire to know all of the bad things others are doing. Even as Christians, we will be tempted to “look into evil,” if for no more reason than that we’re curious to know how bad things can get.
Perhaps we need to be reminded that when we seek ways to increase our knowledge of evil, we are playing with fire. Because of this tendency in us to want at least a vicarious experience of evil, Paul’s closing to the book of Romans contains this warning, “but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” (Rom. 16:9b)
That’s a key to peace and fulfillment in your walk with God. Pursue righteousness, mercy, peace, holiness, cleanness of heart and mind. Focus your attention on knowing more about what is good and right and just. And while you focus your attention in that direction, make an effort to avoid feeding the desire to know about evil.
If you ever feel like you’re out of touch because you don’t keep up with “pop culture,” consider yourself blessed to be innocent, or even ignorant, of the level of evil that is in the world. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to rent that film everyone’s talking about because you want to experience the chills of a horror flick that takes violence to never-before-seen heights. Don’t let yourself be too curious about the portrayals in the latest music videos as the producers of them try to make them more and more pornographic to draw an audience. When your coworkers or classmates are dishing out the dirty details of someone’s sinful activities, don’t linger to listen.
Sometimes, the enemy might even try to trick us with thoughts like, “You need to know all about the latest things that the world is into, so that you can relate and reach them for Christ.” It might sound logical on the surface, but go to the Lord and tell Him that and see what He says. Ask Him how many people have been reached because they were impressed by some Christian’s ability to talk at length about the depths of society’s depravity. He might say you don’t really need any of that. He might tell you that faith comes by hearing, and by hearing the word of God.
It is good to be out of the loop about wicked things. As followers of Christ, let’s try to become more so.

Threatened by Hawking’s statements? Hardly.

Then why would we care if silly people like Hawking and Dawkins delude themselves with the airheaded idea that there might not be a God? This video gives an answer that can actually pass the test.