Monday, July 9, 2012

Safe Drinking Water Silver Lined Filters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3rRiWsRE0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puUid4LZCwM&feature=channel&list=UL
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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Does salvation include social justice?


Does salvation include social justice?

Posted: Wednesday in Culture, Ministry, Missional Living
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2
Stetzer asks the question, “Should the definition of “salvation” be expanded beyond personal redemption of sins to include social justice through the reformation of economic and political institutions?”
This question is quite relevant in our current missional culture. Is the primary purpose and mission of Christians to “fix” society, culture, and politics in addition to sharing the Good News of Christ? Personally, I feel that we should keep our focus upon the simplicity and centrality of Christ Jesus. Nothing else matters eternally. That does not mean that ministering through platforms that address issues of social justice is not part of the equation. I feel that engaging in ministering to human needs is more of a way of life that points to the Good News rather than an end in itself.   As we live a missional life and share the Good News, we should inevitably CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.
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5 Ways to Be Missional


5 Ways to Be Missional

Posted: Tuesday in Missional Living
0
City PplMissional is not an event or a project that we just  to add on our busy schedule. As Christians, being missional is a lifestyle.  We are to be salt and light and make disciples as we go.  We can be missional in everyday ways through our normal routine & activities. Here are a few ideas to live missionally on the go:
  1. Eat with Non-Christians. Make a focused attempt to eat with folks outside of the Christian culture. Use the time to develop deeper relationships & share life with others.
  2. Get outside. Go on a walk or hang out in a park. Be deliberate in your walk. Get to know people & strike up conversations. Take the dog or the kids & engage people intentionally. Take interest in your neighbors. Ask questions. Pray as you go.
  3. Be a CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article.
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Travel and Safety Training is Crucial for Christians Traveling Abroad!


Travel and Safety Training is Crucial for Christians Traveling Abroad!

Posted: Saturday in Ministry, Missional Living
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Pastors, team leaders, and volunteers going on mission need to be concerned about the increasing trend of crisis situations when traveling overseas.  Obviously, Mexico and the border have been a recent concern for us here in Texas, and then the team detained in Haiti has been a strong reminder that despite our benevolent intentions, things can go significantly wrong.
The reality is that any time that an American leaves U.S. soil, he/she is CLICK HERE to read the rest of this article.
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Eight Reasons Why My Anxiety Is Pointless and Foolish




JUSTIN TAYLOR|10:24 AM CT

Eight Reasons Why My Anxiety Is Pointless and Foolish


1. God is near me to help me.
Philippians 4:5-6: “The Lord is at hand; [therefore] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
2. God cares for me.
1 Peter 5:7: “. . . casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
3. My Father in heaven knows all my needs and will supply all my needs.
Matthew 6:31-33: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
4. God values me more than birds and grass, which he richly provides for and adorns; how much more will he provide for all my needs!
Matthew 6:26-30: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
5. The worst someone can do to me is to kill me and take things from me!
Matthew 6:25: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” [I.e., you still have eternal life even if you have no food; you will still have a resurrection body even if you are physically deprived.]
Luke 12:4: “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.”
Luke 21:16, 18: “Some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish.”
Romans 8:31-32, 35, 38-39: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . . For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
6. Anxiety is pointless.
Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” [Answer: no one.]
7. Anxiety is worldly.
Matthew 6:31-32: “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things. . . .”
James 4:4: “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
8. Tomorrow has enough to worry about and doesn’t need my help.
Matthew 6:34: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Lamentations 3:23: “[God's mercies] are new every morning.”


11 Comments

  1. Pete
    May 2, 2012 at 12:26 pm
    Not to mention anxiety is sinful.
    REPLY
  2. SirBrass
    May 2, 2012 at 12:59 pm
    Good to be reminded. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
    REPLY
  3. John
    May 2, 2012 at 1:06 pm
    Just to add a twist, what would you (or a commenter) say about panic attacks? I completely agree that day to day anxiety about items, or health etc is pointless, but I would tend to think that an actual mental health diagnosis of an anxiety disorder (perhaps due to chronic abuse/neglect, etc) may be a whole other topic altogether?
    REPLY
  4. Amy
    May 2, 2012 at 2:10 pm
    I had the same thought as John and while I know the intent is the “day-to-day anxiousness” (inability to control everything) being talked about, I didn’t much care for the title. Some people cannot control their anxiety.
    REPLY
  5. Andrew from bonnie Scotland
    May 2, 2012 at 3:13 pm
    While I understand what is being said here I think on a pastoral level it needs to be said in a different way. If I was a parent in hospital anxious about my child who has cancer I’m not sure that being told that my anxiety was “sinful” or “foolish and pointless” would be all that helpful.
    REPLY
  6. Chris Schrader
    May 2, 2012 at 3:18 pm
    From someone who has spent numerous hours counseling brothers and sisters with anxiety issues/problems, I wonder how saying it is “pointless and foolish” or telling them it is “sinful” (as one comment states), will aid them in transformation. Both may be true, but is it the best way to deal with the issue when someone already feels like a failure? Would it not be more beneficial to focus on the glorious provision of God in the title…as Scripture does throughout the passages you have posted? The title, and some comments, will not necessarily have the intended effect of helping our brothers and sisters who ‘do believe’ but need help with their unbelief.
    REPLY
  7. Bruce Russell
    May 2, 2012 at 3:33 pm
    Christians need to remember that God often appoints years and decades of languishing before the days of flourishing. Study Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David.
    REPLY
  8. drwayman
    May 2, 2012 at 3:37 pm
    I think of anxiety (worrying) as being the same mental activity as prayer. Worry is focusing thoughts on self. Prayer is focusing thoughts on God. If you can worry, you can pray. That’s my $0.02
    REPLY
  9. jimmy
    May 2, 2012 at 5:09 pm
    You might want to reference this. Isn’t this from Piper, the otline of Matt 6 that is?
    REPLY
  10. James Swift
    May 2, 2012 at 6:00 pm
    While some of the points in this post are helpful, I find a wholesale rejection of anxiety and worry as “pointless and foolish” to be highly simplistic, unfaithful to Scripture, and dismissive of the complexity of emotions.
    After all, Jesus experienced an extreme form of anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-46). If one is to reject anxiety as “pointless and foolish,” then Jesus’ experience was “pointless and foolish.” Trusting in God and experiencing anxiety are not diametrically opposed in Scripture. If the verses quoted in this post imply that the one who completely trusts in God will never experience anxiety, then the Bible is commanding us to be more spiritual than Jesus.
    REPLY
  11. What I Read Online – 05/03/2012 (a.m.) | Emeth Aletheia
    May 2, 2012 at 7:36 pm
    [...] Eight Reasons Why My Anxiety Is Pointless and Foolish – Justin Taylor [...]
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