for ponderment....

why has the church become so worldly?

why do we lack courage and the resoluteness to stand firm?

why have we been so accommodating to 'live' with comfortable relativism? 

Christian author: US churches are weak because they’re worldly

WASHINGTON (AP) — Evangelical author Os (ahz) Guinness says churches have lost influence in America because Christians are fearful and compromised.

Guinness told an audience at the Family Research Council in Washington that the church is weak because it’s worldly, at a time when the world needs “a positive and persuasive alternative vision of human flourishing.”

He said too many American Christians lack the “courage to be different and to clearly make a stand” in a culture that’s increasingly disdainful if not hostile to Christianity.

Guinness said modern culture’s comfortable relativism has done more to undermine Christianity “than all the persecutors in history put together.”

Now Solomon loved the LORD, except…

Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. (1 Kings 3:3) 
 
What is our area of 'except' as we walk with the Lord? What do we continue to hold onto of the world that is an exception to completely surrendering to the Lord, to loving Him with all of our heart,  

soul, mind and strength? 

quote for the weak....

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God, give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!

--A.B. Simpson (December 15, 1843 - October 29, 1919, Canadian preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance)

the war wages

The war wages for the minds and hearts of man 
The walls have been breached 
The enemy lays siege to all in his path 
Destroying the fortresses of man 
The darkness settles in and man is unable to sense it 
Unable to resist its seductive powers 
And evil is called good and good is called evil 
Lies, destruction, death leave their wake 
And man no longer comprehends his bondage 
For the darkness has overcome his hardened heart 
Yet, there is the Light that shines 
The Light that is able to pierce the veil of darkness 
And the more the Light shines the less darkness retains its hold 
As it is with the light that slowly comes with each morning's sun rise 
May we allow the Light of the Son to shine as we arise each day 
Sharing His Light in this world of darkness 
For it is only His Light that can pierce the hardened heart of man 
And overcome the darkness… 

quote for the weak....

Millions call themselves by His name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who or what is above, and his true position will be exposed.
Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, God and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout his life.

A.W. Tozer

Blessed, Blessing, Bless

He shows His love for us by blessing us…. 
 Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ  
 
We should show our love for God by blessing Him…. 
 Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His 
holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who 
pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life 
from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies 
your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. 
 
And we, in turn, should bless others as we have been blessed by the Lord…. 
 Psalm 129:8 The blessing of the LORD be upon you; We bless you in the name of 
the LORD. 
 1 Peter 3:8-10 To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, 
kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for 
insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose 
that you might inherit a blessing. 
 Proverbs 11:11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted… 
 Luke 6:27-29 "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those 
who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you….. 
 
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD  (Psalm 33:1) 
 
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!  (Psalm 34:8) 

is this a picture of our life today?

Is this a picture of our life today? 

Overloaded with all that is going on, sucking up the power (exerting all of our energy) in an attempt to meet everything that pulls on us while trying not to burn out (flip the breaker)...

The key questions we need to contemplate as we look at our lives:

1. what is our power source - the world and our own perceived competency OR the Lord

2. what are we really spending our time (energy) on - gold and silver (valuable) OR wood, hay and stubble (not valuable)

3. are we plugged into the things that are temporal OR eternal

4. do we live abundant lives OR lives that are overly abundant with the world's stuff