Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Archives for January 2020

Jesus is Not an Institution

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A pastor shared a cartoon drawing of Mary and baby Jesus. In the cartoon, Mary is comforting Jesus and asks if he had a nightmare. Jesus replies, “Yes, I dreamed I became an institution!” I don’t know what your reaction is to this, whether it’s laughter, disgust, or ambivalence. For me, it cut me to the core. What would Jesus think if He came back today to assess the state of the Church?

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What are we doing with and to the plan He has for our redemption? He spent His life showing how we should love and care for others. That is the essence of why the Church exists. God intends for us to represent Him here on earth. Instead, we’ve become just another business organization complete with heavy debts and ever-increasing administrative budgets.

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The Cost of Following Christ

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Wang Yi is the pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China. The Chinese government arrested Pastor Yi, along with his wife and over 100 members of the church, in December 2018 after a period of prolonged harassment of the church by the Chinese government. While the official charge was “Inciting subversion of state power,” in reality the government arrested them for following and proclaiming the truth and good news of Jesus. Such a charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

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After being later released, Yang’s wife and church members spoke of being tortured while under arrest. Police ransacked their homes and have kept them under close watch since their discharge. The release of Yang’s wife, Jiang, was conditional on posting bail and she lost considerable weight during her time being held in detention. She has been under house arrest with her young son for the past six months.

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Sleepwalking

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Did you ever wake up and realize you’ve been coasting through life? Suddenly, you recognize while you’ve been living, life has been passing you by. As followers of Christ, we should live soberly and with intention. Our time is limited, and when it runs out, those who have not chosen to surrender their lives to Jesus will be out of options. Their destiny will be eternal separation from God. They will spend eternity in Hell with the devil and his demons.

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We have the truth and a responsibility to share that truth. It has never been more important to break out of the malaise in which we’ve been living because time is shorter today than it was yesterday. If we don’t begin living with urgency, I promise we will one day face a horrific surprise as we discover we are out of time.

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2020 Vision

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Beginning a new year is always an opportunity to get clear on our purpose and focus more diligently on our goals. This particular new year has the advantage of coming with a built-in reminder. The year 2020 should remind us to strive for 20/20 vision for our purpose and daily tasks.

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The way to gain clarity is to recognize no goal is worthwhile if it does not engage our God-given gifts and abilities and has the mission of building His Kingdom here on earth. There is nothing we should do that doesn’t point people to Christ. Everything we do should draw others to Him.

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