:A Christian Blog

A couple of days ago, someone searched for that that very question in a search engine and clicked on my site. It almost seems strange that a Christian would be asking this question, but in these times, where a lot of people claim to be Christian, so many in fact that I think the line has been blurred, it’s not that surprising. Of course, I didn’t have an answer for him at that time, but I hope to accomplish that with this post.

John 3:16″For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

17″For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

18″He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

So, there’s the answer. You must believe in God. I don’t see any rules or regulations to follow, the Bible is clear, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you just can’t grasp the fact that it is that simple, then I encourage you to follow the two greatest commandments in addition to this, which is almost just as simple detailed in my 30-second Bible for Christians.

I’d also invite any of my readers to add their responses for anyone asking themselves this very question.

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What really got me thinking about this was a daily devotional email I received a couple of days ago and it mentioned Hezekiah.

2 Kings 20:1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘ Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”

2Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying,

3″ Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight ” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

5″Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD.

6″I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.”‘”

This is interesting to me, because Hezekiah wasn’t just sick, he was dying. He looked up to God after speaking to him and then Hezekiah wept bitterly. Bitterly? Sounds to me like Hezekiah was disappointed at God. Can this be? Can someone be disappointed with the creator of the Heavens and Earth? I think so. I think God wants this kind of interaction with his followers. He created us in his image, and so we have feelings like anger, resentment, and disappointment. When we get behind God like Hezekiah did, “Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight “, then are we are a follower of the one true God. I think if you are truly in the path of righteousness, then you can get healed like Hezekiah did, if it’s within God’s will. It would be no different than asking a parent for something. God is going to take everything into account, including your faith and commitment to him, and come back with an answer. I don’t think that’s anything new, but I believe that answer can even be “Your healed”.

I don’t just conjure up these thoughts, I read the Bible and then try to apply it to today’s world. I’d love to hear your comments on this, maybe my thinking is way off, but I think a lot about my interaction with God and how in the Bible their interaction was totally different, I’ll be doing a second post this week along this same lines about faith in the 21st century.

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If you want happiness for an hour – take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day – go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month – get married.
If you want happiness for a year – inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime – help someone else.

–Chinese Proverb

At the risk of sounding like I’m a paid blogger for John Maxwell, I’d like to again return to one of his books previously mentioned, 25 Ways to Win with People. Specifically, one of the ways in the book, “Be the First to Help”. I found this after going through the book to do research for Invest and Invite and immediately knew I had to blog on it. It’s something I struggle with on a daily basis. I seem to be so attuned to my personal needs or focused on the task at hand that I will forget to do something as simple as offering someone something to drink. The author breaks it down into four simple points to be successful at being the first to help that I will comment on.

Make Helping Others a Priority. The first point in the book is the strongest for me personally. I need to have a notepad that has this point stamped at the top of every page so that I remember this on a daily basis.

Make Yourself Aware of People’s Needs. This is something that I really think comes natural to everyone. At some point in their lives though, they put this natural ability into the back of their head and forget it. If you make helping others a priority, I don’t think this point will be a challenge.

Be Willing to Take a Risk. The book makes the point that sometimes helping others may actually hurt you, such as helping someone in a competition in which you are a competitor. This is, in my opinion, one of the best situations to help someone, because it really shows them you aren’t helping to gain anything.

Follow Through Once You Begin to Help. Of course, to counter the last point, not following through once you begin or promise to help is one of the worst ways you can help someone. They think less of you, and everything you represent. The goal, of course, is to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

I really like this book because not only does it break Winning with People down into 25 different ways, it also sums everything up at the end of every chapter. An excellent book to use as a resource later down the road.

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Many of the Christian blogs I frequent has posts about the new 100-Minute Bible that has been released in the UK. “Proponents say it is a gateway to the classic, a crash course in Christianity that will provide a useful tool to reach out to the curious, the lapsed, and the ignorant.”

I’d like to submit my own version of the Bible called the 30-second Bible. This one is completely endorsed by Jesus and ready to hit the shelves as soon as I get a publisher. What’s in it you say?

Mark 12:28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

32″Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Jesus broke it down into really simple terms, probably for days like these where there are many many things that aren’t covered in the Bible. Many Christians spend weeks upon weeks debating on things like abortion, stem cell research, and whether the newest TV preacher is actually the anti-Christ. I just find it really strange that loving your neighbor as yourself seems to be the one most forgotten. We mock, criticize, and sometimes pity our neighbor, but neglect to do one of the two greatest commandments that Jesus set forth to all Christians. Love your neighbor as yourself.

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While reading through Creating a Community, I found an evangelism strategy used by North Point Church called “invest and invite.” On the surface, it sounds very simple, and that’s exactly what impressed me so much about the strategy. I’ve been struggling to come up with an effective way to get non-Christians to come to church without giving them the “holier than thou” speech heard round the world daily that just fortifies the non-believer’s thoughts on religion in the first place. This strategy, however, really puts into words the way Jesus ministered throughout his journey here on earth. From the book, “We encourage our attendees to invest in the lives of unbelievers and then invite them to a relevant ministry environment.”

First, invest. I think it’s very important that this is the first step. I put a lot of thought into how to just get the non-believer to believe. Something that’s very hard to do when the most important part of Christianity is believing. You can’t just start out with talk of belief in an almighty God and if you don’t you’re going to hell. That puts them on the defensive right from the start, and from then on, they have a mental filter for religious talk when you speak. So, how do you invest in someone’s life? Help a person in need? Let’s assume this is a peer, someone at work or at the local gym. They probably don’t need clothing or food. You may not have the opportunity to help them fix a tire or let them borrow a cup of sugar that often. So, how do you invest in a person’s life that is on the same level that you are?

My first thought was to go to another book on my shelf, 25 Ways to Win with People by John Maxwell. The book outlines 25 ways to make others feel better about themselves, therefore appreciate you and value your friendship. I’m going to go over three of them that I think most apply to the goal of getting a person to come to church with you.

1. Start with Yourself. I love the quote out of the book by Harry Firestone, “You get the best out of others, when you give the best of yourself.” Make sure your emotionally healthy and happy. The task at hand involves sharing this happiness with others and showing them Jesus through you and your actions. Remember that investing and inviting a peer will require accountability.

2. Pass the credit onto others. This is especially effective if the person your trying to invite works with you. Selfless acts that build up others. Don’t just do this for this person, but for others also. Make it a daily occurrence to build up other people by crediting them and giving them compliments. People love praise and it brightens their day to get it.

3. Listen with your heart. “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said” — Peter Drucker. Even though this is a very passive way to invest in someone’s life, it’s one of the most important. Why? Listening opens up opportunities in the other areas. When you really listen to someone, even if they seem to only talk about work, you can often hear needs and problems surface. Maybe this person and their spouse haven’t had a night out in a long time and you could give them a gift certificate to a local restaurant. That’s just one idea, and I’m betting there are plenty more if you really start listening with your heart.

It’s very easy for most people to give money to a charity but investing in peer’s life takes focus. Changing your daily routine from one that focuses mainly on your needs to one that puts some of that focus on someone else will take time. A good way to accomplish this change is notes around the house or at work that will help focus you everyday on your goal.

There are many different ways to do this. I’d recommend starting small. Invite them to a church function outside of church. The more friends they have from your church, the better chance they have of getting into a routine of attending church. Of course, there are two possible answers to your request.

Yes. Great! Reduce any anxiety they have about attending church by letting them know about what will be going on and be prepared to answer any questions they have about what will be happening. If they are anything like me, then one of their worries might be getting singled out once they get there. If they are nervous about this, take steps to insure this doesn’t happen by calling friends, letting your pastor know about them coming, etc.

No. This isn’t as bad as you think. By investing in someone’s life, it not only helps them, but helps you as well. Hopefully, you now have a friend and there will be other opportunities to get this person involved with church and hopefully in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Also keep in mind that it’s possible that another “Christian” hurt this person and now they are cautious towards religion in general.

For some, this won’t be as rose-colored as I make it seem I know. It can take anywhere from weeks to years to make something like this happen. Trust in God, pray about your goal, and let him lead you to victory. The outcome may be a little different than you expected, or take a little longer than you thought, but by investing in someone’s life and inviting them to church, you’re on the great commission given to you by Jesus Christ.

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Not that I think anyone cares, but sometimes I find myself looking for new books to read and often spend more time than I should at Amazon looking for books. Here are just some books that I currently have on the shelf waiting for me to read that are at least worth checking out if you’re in the market for a new book.

The Barbarian Way (Just finished this one)

Creating a Community

The Tipping Point

Today Matters

Of course, all authors were speakers at Catalyst 2005. I really wish I could hear all the authors of books on my reading list before reading them because it really gives you some idea of what they are about. The only one I can say I’m not really anxious to read is Today Matters by John Maxwell. He didn’t really impress me at the conference and the last couple of books I’ve read by him seem like it is republished material that he’s already talked about. I think he has some great ideas and insights, but tends to try to turn those into 2 or 3 books instead of just one. I still buy and read his books for the same reason I read all my other books: new ways to think, vision, and ideas.

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This post is filled with questions in my head surrounding talk about the new Supreme Court Justice nominee, Harriet Miers. Everyone wants to know how she will vote on this issue or that issue. James Dobson has even graciously assured us that Harriet Miers is a good candidate for the Supreme Court. Which in turn, has got him in some hot water with everyone else. That fallout caused Dobson to come back to the issue today and say this. Whew! Anyone else seeing more focus on the Supreme Court than the family here?

Question: Why don’t Christians start concentrating less on making abortion illegal and more on encouraging mothers to keep their babies so that even if it’s legal, they won’t want to do it? This all comes back to outreach in the church. The majority of mothers (I dare say all) don’t want to abort their babies, but they don’t feel like they can support them. If less basketball courts were built, and more permanent shelters for the poor were built, maybe more of them would keep their babies knowing they are going to be taken care of.

Am I wrong to think that all of this attention given to Harriet Miers by James Dobson and others is just missing the point? Have we become so small of an influence on society that we think we need the help of a law to prevent/discourage people from doing something we feel is wrong? Maybe we should lobby for judges that would require everyone to go to church, prevent them from smoking, and ban alcohol. Is that the best way to spread the gospel in the 21st century?

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In case your wondering, yes, I will wrap up talking about this subject soon. This is probably my last post about it specifically. Here are some links I’ve found from around the internet on views about Catalyst 2005. Some I really agree with, and some only partly, but if you read them, it at least looks as though everyone was at the same conference and in sync for the most part with their opinions of it.

Church Marketing Sucks

Tony Morgan’s Blog (in depth posts about Catalyst also)

live… from new orleans

Bob Franquiz (seperate posts for different Catalyst speakers also)

I’m sure there are more, but that’s what I could find from the past few days of looking through the Christian blogs that popped up. It’s good to see that everyone had a good time, and I hope it’s even bigger and better next year.

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Just thought I would point out that Rick Warren has made Fortune’s Top 25 People We Envy Most. A suprising list to make for a Christian I know, but even more suprising is their write-up about Rick.

From the article:
“The most influential evangelical since Billy Graham preaches in Hawaiian shirts and sandals. As if that weren’t enough: Warren gives away 90% of his income. And he’ll never wake up wondering if his job has meaning.”

God is giving a lot of responsibility to Mr. Warren, and from what I’ve seen, he’s using it in some of the best ways possible. Congratulations and keep up the good fight.

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Imagine a person that has spent his life in the jungle. He somehow knows how to read, but the only book he has ever read is the Bible. This person would believe that a follower of the almighty God is without limits. That is what I see in Erwin McManus. Someone who hasn’t been domesticated to American Christianity. Someone who doesn’t see limits to Christianity.

The Barbarian Way tries to convey some of that thinking to the Christian who has been domesticated to think that going to church most Sundays out of the year is what being a Christian is all about. In the book, he tries to “unleash the untamed faith within” with many examples in the Bible of barbarian Christians. He challenges you to stop acting civilized when spreading the word of God, and start acting barbaric (The book tells more about exactly what that means). One of the Bible contexts in the book that really hit it home for me was this one.

20And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

21But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone,

22saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

23And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

24″For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

25″For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

26″For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

27″But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

I’ll end with this tough question. How many Christians do you know (including yourself) that deny themselves, take up the cross daily, and follow Jesus?

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