Who are the “shepherds” of Jeremiah 23:1-2?  Are there pastors who fall into this catagory?

 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. 2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.” 

 If the Biblical age of creation is approximatly 6,000 years old, how can it be explained that, given the speed of light, the Hubble deep field images of stars are looking back in time at universes that are over one billion years old?

What is our duty as a “body” in regards to something going on in the “body” that is not good and we don’t want to be gossiping?  What is the proper thing to do?

The instructions of Matthew 18 are applicable here.  Jesus said “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.”

Even before that…pray.  Pray for God’s view of the situation.  Is the “not good” thing not good because it isn’t in harmony with Scripture…or is it not good because it violates something specific to your own conscience?  If it’s the latter, then continue to pray.  If it’s the former, and you have a place in the person’s life to speak into it, then go and talk to them about it (and only him or her).

If you don’t have that place in their life, gain it.  Get to know them, find out what’s going on with them and how you can serve them.  Don’t go off on a crusade to clean a person up or fix them…that will only add new problems to the mix.  Pray about how you can love and serve the people involved, and ask God to lead and convict and guide them.  The Holy Spirit is well able to lead His own people, He doesn’t need us to show Him how to do it.

The bottom line answer is love.  Love the person/people.  If you have a place in their life to speak, speak in love.  If you don’t, through love-find that place.

First, before I get to the question, be sure to visit the Prayer Wall page, we have a lot of needs to be keeping before God for the people of our church community!

 Ok, here goes…

Why Doesn’t Jesus let the demons He throws out identify Him as the Son of God?  Wouldn’t that make people believe, and wouldn’t that be kind of ironic?

Also: Why did Jesus warn folks not to make it known that He was the Son of God?

Ok…obviously, the reason this is asked is because the Scriptures don’t give a definitive reason why Jesus did what seems almost counterproductive to gaining a following.  I mean, if Jesus let supernatural beings identify Him as the Messiah, wouldn’t that just help to further His cause?  The most common  answer to that, and the one I tend to lean toward has to do with timing.

Everything happening in it’s right time.  The amazing thing about God is that He is sovereign, meaning, He is in complete control of all things.  The even MORE amazing thing about His sovereignty is that He seems to be able to exercises it through the midst of man’s appearant free will.  Jesus had to go to the cross…it was mandatory.  If He didn’t, we would still be lost.  There had to be a right time and a right place for people to know that Jesus is the Son of God…and the majority of that belief came after Jesus was killed and then rose again.  Had He let everyone identify Him as the Messiah, the groundswell of His popularity may have prevented His death.  Maybe that’s even why the demons were so quick to want to identify Him…to throw off the timing, make the cross a less sure thing? 

That seems like the most reasonable explanation for His behavior to me.

What do you think?

I love Eugene Peterson’s take on Matthew 5:5-13 in The Message.  No formulas, no fakery…just love and relationship.  “Just be there, as simply and honestly as you can manage.”

 Read this…read it again.  Read it slowly.  Jesus is crashing paradigms and inviting us to grace.  Take a deep breath…it’s like the shining after a rain. 

 5“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

 6“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

 7-13“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

   Our Father in heaven,
   Reveal who you are.
   Set the world right;
   Do what’s best— as above, so below.
   Keep us alive with three square meals.
   Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
   Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
   You’re in charge!
   You can do anything you want!
   You’re ablaze in beauty!
      Yes. Yes. Yes.

The CBC News  (a Canadian News agency) recently did a story on a reporter who “embedded” himself with the “Christian Army”.  Yeeks.  The two videos take about 25 minutes to watch in total…but it is well worth it.  It’s important for us as the church to listen to and understand the questions posed by those who try to understand us.  In fact, the reporters questions form some of the most insightful stuff about the issues at hand. 

VIDEO ONE

VIDEO TWO

Go take a look at them, and share what you think in the comments.  I think the most damning statement made comes as he summarizes his perplexity that we (Christians) want to change the world “from a compound out in the middle of nowhere”.  He concludes he has nothing to fear concerning their influence on the world at large.

It could even be an example of what I said in an earlier post…salt shaking out on salt.

Christians….mostly harmless.

*sigh*