Thursday, April 19, 2012

Words vs. Deeds

Ever heard the famous quote by St. Francis of Assisi?

"Preach the gospel always, and when necessary, use words."

Have you every thought about the fact that the Bible calls us to share the Gospel with BOTH our words AND our deeds?

Here's a cool video about a book by a guy who knows a TON on the topic:

http://vimeo.com/36917416

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Easter Thoughts!


Can you spot all of the issues with this post?  There are a LOT!




Looking at that picture reminds me of 1 Corinthians 15:1-34.

This is a really cool passage where Paul is writing to the Corinthians about something they were misunderstanding:  The Resurrection of Christ.  Since Easter is completely about Christ’s resurrection from the dead and his defeat of sin and death in that, I thought this passage really applies to Easter well.

Here’s what I see:
Verses 1-11
Paul is laying out for them the TRUE gospel, reminding them of the truth.  Paul is kinda saying “let’s define what we’re talking about here right out of the gate” so that it’s not confusing.  There is one Gospel, One Christ, and if there is no resurrection then all of it is a lie.  Why?  Because the entire gospel hinges on the defeat of sin and death through Christ’s resurrection.

Verses 12-32
Reminders, history, and theological truth about why it’s so important to our faith that Christ was raised from the dead.  This is where Paul explains the reasoning behind WHY it’s so important that Christ was raised from the dead.  It’s a necessity for all of it to make sense and fulfill the word of God.

Verses 33-34
To me, this is the real issue with why the Corinthians were believing weird things about the resurrection.  This is a major reason why anyone believes in false doctrine.

This is just a good reminder to me to keep my eyes on the prize, Jesus, the perfecter of my faith (Phil 3:8-14 and Hebrews 12:1-2).  We have to be careful of letting the world influence and twist the truth.  That picture up top is a great example of how wrong thoughts and ideas can start to creep in and become what we believe.  You know how to fight that?  Keep the truth up front and the Bible on your minds and hearts (Colossians 3:1-4)

Post

Talk about what you got out of it, what challenged you, questions you have, and any other cool stuff about what you read in scripture.