I have finally distilled what it means to be a true Christian. I have read blogs on being spiritual and not religious, on the reasons why the Book isn't really the "book", on being followers of Jesus, about the doctrine of universalism and been slammed in the comments over the years for being to narrow-minded about the path to salvation.
Please allow me a short paragraph to sum up where I have been over the years. I mean there are nearly 600 posts on this blog and even I haven't read them all! We have discussed denominations, who gets to go Heaven, is there one true God, dead religion and host of other churcified topics. I have also challenged belief and faith.
And today, I am going to tell you why I know what makes a true Christian! POWER!
There are a million debates we could have. This whole mess started about a bajillion years ago when the earth was without form and void. There we see the adolescent God of the universe messing with the chemistry set he got for - actually it might not have been for a holiday, we didn't have those yet. He took a week out of his summer vacation to create creation. Actually we didn't have season yet, but I am pretty sure it was a vacation. (sort of a paraphrase of Genesis 1) Since that Genesis, the spiritual forces have been violently opposed to one another. (Matthew 11:12) Adam and Eve knew both God and Satan, but future generations were not always so sure.
Elijah had this same scenario with religions people back in his day. Ahab sent 450 prophets of Baal to challenge the God of of Israel. It was quite a showdown. (1 Kings 18:20-40) God's pyrotechnics that day make a Kiss concert look like a skit from Sesame Street, and would have had Oscar trying to find his trash can floating in the Mediterranean.
So here we are in 2011, standing in the bathtub full of water with a toaster oven plugged into the wall, wondering if it will kill us if we drop it.
That is how the church is. We believe this, and we believe that, but is not always connected to a power source. It is sad. The Kingdom of God is power! The Word of God is power, not a book! The Holy Spirit that resides in us is power. The new man in us is powerful, the old man has lots of good ideas, cunning schemes and evil thoughts - and no power.
Without power, we can drop the toaster oven into the tub in complete safety, and with power, it not a good idea. Amen?
God's power is attracted to love, to the preaching of the Gospel and it's available for advancing His Kingdom and defeating the Devil's. His power flows through those who know Him. Regardless of what you believe, it is only visible by FAITH! It is miraculous, forgiving, revelatory, loving and explosive. God's power does not have to conform to science, logic or intellect. God's power IS and always was - and will be forever. The expression of God's power is the fruit of true Christianity, you can bank on it!
Do you know his power?
Please allow me a short paragraph to sum up where I have been over the years. I mean there are nearly 600 posts on this blog and even I haven't read them all! We have discussed denominations, who gets to go Heaven, is there one true God, dead religion and host of other churcified topics. I have also challenged belief and faith.
And today, I am going to tell you why I know what makes a true Christian! POWER!
There are a million debates we could have. This whole mess started about a bajillion years ago when the earth was without form and void. There we see the adolescent God of the universe messing with the chemistry set he got for - actually it might not have been for a holiday, we didn't have those yet. He took a week out of his summer vacation to create creation. Actually we didn't have season yet, but I am pretty sure it was a vacation. (sort of a paraphrase of Genesis 1) Since that Genesis, the spiritual forces have been violently opposed to one another. (Matthew 11:12) Adam and Eve knew both God and Satan, but future generations were not always so sure.
Elijah had this same scenario with religions people back in his day. Ahab sent 450 prophets of Baal to challenge the God of of Israel. It was quite a showdown. (1 Kings 18:20-40) God's pyrotechnics that day make a Kiss concert look like a skit from Sesame Street, and would have had Oscar trying to find his trash can floating in the Mediterranean.
So here we are in 2011, standing in the bathtub full of water with a toaster oven plugged into the wall, wondering if it will kill us if we drop it.
That is how the church is. We believe this, and we believe that, but is not always connected to a power source. It is sad. The Kingdom of God is power! The Word of God is power, not a book! The Holy Spirit that resides in us is power. The new man in us is powerful, the old man has lots of good ideas, cunning schemes and evil thoughts - and no power.
Without power, we can drop the toaster oven into the tub in complete safety, and with power, it not a good idea. Amen?
God's power is attracted to love, to the preaching of the Gospel and it's available for advancing His Kingdom and defeating the Devil's. His power flows through those who know Him. Regardless of what you believe, it is only visible by FAITH! It is miraculous, forgiving, revelatory, loving and explosive. God's power does not have to conform to science, logic or intellect. God's power IS and always was - and will be forever. The expression of God's power is the fruit of true Christianity, you can bank on it!
Do you know his power?
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