How can Anabaptists spread the gospel of Christ without making others think they need to become like us? Should their new disciples become Anabaptist? What’s the balance? Is what we do really important?
While Americans celebrate two hundred and forty-two years of independence and freedom today, thousands of immigrants are being held in “immigration detention.” How should Christians respond to this?
If you are an older brother or sister, a husband or wife, a teacher, parent, project manager, writer, speaker, deacon, pastor, coach, person with friends, or anyone that relates with other people, you have influence. As your influence grows, you will face temptations that could destroy you.
In this post, I discuss two particular temptations I have found that we least expect to face when we are young influencers.
Is there a specific age one should be before taking on public ministry? Are there certain credentials he should have before he’s ready for that kind of influence?
Maybe. But in today’s post I share something that matters more than age and more than credentials. Without this, no one is ready to say anything publicly.
And now we come to the current problem in the refugee crisis. Refugees can’t come to America. Not now, at least. If we can’t be Christian and not accept them, what are we to do?
I have heard a lot of discussion about the Parable of the Good Samaritan among Christians debating the crisis and Trump’s ban. What surprises me as I listen to these conversations is that many people are using the parable to justify not taking care of their refugee neighbors.
“The Good Samaritan didn’t take the injured Jew home with him.” “The Good Samaritan found him on his way.”
I’m afraid in justifying ourselves, we are missing the very point Jesus was trying to make.
I do not believe you can be a Christian and not accept refugees. If we haven’t before, now is the time to truly count the cost of following Christ.
As Christians, we are called to lay down our lives for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are the hands and feet of Love in this broken world, and we risk our lives being so. Our doors are to be open to the Christian refugee as well as the Muslim refugee. We of all people need to be the ones greeting refugees when they come.
Islam is a religion of consummation. They are not merely concerned with us accepting them and letting them have their own religious peace. They want the whole world to be converted. In taking them in as a nation, we risk being consumed by them. If we want the world to know peace, then we must be the first ones to care for them so that we can introduce them to the One who is peace.
I find it interesting how many people thought I was talking about Trump and his ban on refugees when I asked the question, “Can you be a Christian and not accept refugees?”
Perhaps our faith and our patriotism are so intertwined that we think in terms of our government enabling or crippling us from living out what Christ calls us to. When our government prohibits us from doing something, we don’t do it. Or we complain about not being able to do it rather than just living out our faith regardless of the cost.
Why is this? Why can’t we separate ourselves from this earthly kingdom and live for the sole purpose of the Kingdom of God?
There are more refugees in the world today than any other time since WW2, yet our President has administered an executive order banning refugees from seven prime terrorist countries.
The seven main countries refugees are fleeing from.
I am not concerned about the executive order. We will get into that in the next post. What concerns me is the unwillingness on the part of many followers of Christ to open their doors to those fleeing for their lives.
Without adding to the meaningless noise of opinions on the current refugee crisis, in this post I want to wrestle with some questions specific to those of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Can we say we are “little Christs” and not accept refugees?
Have we in the American church become so obsessed about the cares of this world and deceived by riches, and have we become so in love with other things that God’s word has been choked out of our midst and we are proving unfruitful?
If we do not accept refugees, can we claim Christ as our Lord? If we do not commit to suffering for the Gospel, can we expect to share in the resurrection?
There’s nothing mystical about writing well. Anyone can do it, and anyone who does it long enough, meaningful enough, and public enough begins to influence others. All you have to do is put one word after the other. That’s it!
Many gifted, eloquent people never write because they fail to discipline themselves at the practice. That’s why I’m introducing a writing challenge. We need more excellent writers. But we won’t get any unless we start practicing.
I challenge you to take a few minutes every day for two weeks straight and write 500 words. That’s it! Five hundred words. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar, just write. If you can do that each day for two weeks, I guarantee you will be a much better writer than you were at first.
Not everyone is a writer; but my guess is many of you are, you just don’t know it yet.
Either you’ve never taken the time to try or you don’t know where to start. You see writing as something done by really gifted wordsmiths (or those who enjoyed school). But that’s not what defines whether or not someone becomes a writer. What defines writers from non-writers is that writers are constantly practicing their craft.
That’s why I’m introducing my own writing challenge. If you would like to test the waters of writing, or if you already are a writer and want to take it to the next level, I challenge you to take a few minutes every day for two weeks straight and write five-hundred words.
This is where it all begins.
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
