Toxic Christianity - Psalm 132-138 Listen to Psalm 132-138
Insight Into Scripture
Good Morning! There are two Psalms that I thought I would bring to your attention. The song "His Love Endures Forever" was written from Psalm 136 . We just sang that song in our church, and the worship leader would quote verses from this Psalm, it was a neat touch.
The next Psalm would be a Psalm of Nehemiah, who we just finished reading about. It is Psalm 137 . The Psalm below is a nice Psalm. When you read these, are you remembering to pray or sing them to GOD?
Psalm 138:6-8
Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon
the lowly,
but the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the anger
of my foes,
with your right hand you save me.
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever-
do not abandon the works of your hands.
Listen to Psalm 138
Thought For the Day
Kim and I were out running errands a couple of days ago. While we were driving we passed a church, with a large sign on the front of it. I looked at it quickly, then I had to do a double take to actually read the sign. When I actually saw what the sign said, my heart was broken and angered at the same time. Here is what this LARGE sign said that was smack in the front of the church.
NO SKATEBOARDING
NO ROLLERBLADES
NO BICYCLES
I do now know why they did not say:
NO KIDS
NO FUN
GO AWAY
This is a subject that GOD has laid dear to my heart; Toxic Christianity & Toxic Churches. Do you know that it has been said that 8 out of 10 churches are dead or dying? How sad is that? There used to be a time that Christianity was the religion of choice. When a person wanted to search for GOD, they would have tried a Christian Church. But that is not the case today. Christianity is just a choice among many religions and gods.
We had one of our good friends prove this. Her daughter went through a shooting at a shopping mall, as you could imagine she was very shaken up. So she went searching for something....... she had a Buddhist saying tattooed on her back. The comment of her parents is that they were glad she found some god and religion. With the statement like the one above, no wonder she found accepting Buddhists.
Some of our churches have become toxic. They are so focused on them and looking inward, that they have totally missed Jesus' last command. They are more concerned with looking good, what type of music fits ME, and not accepting people that are not like them or that would fit into their church mold. What our culture is boiling down to is our Christian Churches do not carry the weight it used to, WE have to carry that weight. We have to be shinning examples of Jesus love and acceptance. Who did Jesus hang out with? The pretty, religious people? Or the lost, hurting, ugly, prostitutes?
You might be saying "What can I do"? Hopefully you are involved in a church that is carrying out Acts 29. One good gauge is to look at your baptisms, do you have them regularly? If not can you remember the last one you had? WE have to be the example of Christianity, church or no church, we need to reach out to the lost, the kids, and hurting of our culture. OK, OK, OK.... I could go on and on.
I believe that you are going to see a shift in our churches in the future. I think that you will see more mini missions going out into the people, instead of waiting for the people to come to them. One good example is a link that Donna sent me yesterday. It is Skate Disciples. A father and son mission to reach the young skateboarders. This is an awesome example of reaching out to a certain group of people that are lost and mislead, showing Christs' love and acceptance. Awesome job guys! So, where are you on the toxic meter? Have a Blessed Day in CHRIST!
Bible Trivia
How did Pilate's wife describe Jesus?
Hint: Matthew 27:17-19
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Have a Blessed Tuesday!
Bible Trivia
ReplyDeleteHow did Pilate's wife describe Jesus?
ANSWER: just man
Matthew 27:17-19
19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
THOUGHTS OF AGRANNY3:
There is no doubt that God had appeared to this woman, testifying the innocence of Christ, and showing the evils that woould come on them if Pilate allowed the shed of this innocent blood.
She not only came before her husband with a request not to condem Jesus beacuse of what would befall them she gave a very honourable and praiseworthy witness of Jesus by proclaiming Him to be JUST.
Look at a few of the people that had been around Christ for a long time and where are they at this moment: many were most probably gripped with fear and would not appear in defence of Him, God made even those that were strangers and enemies, to speak in his favour: Peter denied him, Judas confessed him, when the chief priests pronounced him guilty Pilate declared he found no fault in him, when the women that loved him stood afar off, Pilate's wife, who knew little of him, offered defense for him. These things show that God will not be without witnesses to the truth and His cause.
Pilate's wife surely could of sent him this warning, out of the love she had for him, She could of experienced fear meddling in her husbands affairs but she did not let it stop her from offering he warning and the things she had seen in her dreams. She came and delivered and let him take it how he would.
This is an example of how even today we should be for the delivering of Christ Word to the world today. Lets bring this closer to home:
It is a wittness and testimony of our true love to our friends and relations, to do what we can to keep them from sin ( Leviticus 19:17 ). True, we might be scoffed at as we give warnings of the judgement that will befall them for their sin BUT if not heeded they will one day look back and reflect on the day that the warning was given and by who, and realize they had been warned. What they do here again is up to them.
IN CHRIST
Ecc.3
Donna