Even If i Walk Alone

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

Colossians

When Tragedy Strikes

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free will,freewill,evil,sin,boston marathon,bombing,terrorist attack

The bombings at the Boston Marathon again have people shaking their fists, pointing fingers, and asking, “Where was God?” The first instinct of many when something tragic occurs is to blame God for not preventing it or even to accuse Him of orchestrating it. Strip away everything else you know about God and you will be left with an incomprehensible love. Love does not maim; it does not kill. Love protects and heals. There is no part of the bombing that was part of God’s plan, despite what some seriously misguided individuals might have you believe. Sickness and hatred were behind the bombings. These traits are the antithesis of who God is.

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Unity in Christ

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Jesus is Lord,Lord of your life,Jesus first,God first

I’m surprised how many people are searching for the “12 steps to Discipleship” or the “5 keys to being a follower of Jesus”. We don’t need any gimmicks to learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He has already clearly spelled out the process in His Word. The problem is that following Jesus is hard and requires us to make wholesale changes in our lives. That is not the Jesus most people want; they want the Jesus that spares them from spending eternity in Hell, but not much else. For too long, Christianity has been synonymous with inactivity. We have been taught that once we pray the magic prayer, our eternity is covered regardless of whatever we might do from that point forward.

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God’s Will for Your Life

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blueprint,direction,decisions,God's plan

It seems so many Christians are desperately seeking to find God’s will for their lives. From my observations, perhaps no other question causes more stress in the life of a believer than this one. I’ve seen far too many Christians paralyzed over not being able to figure out the exact path God wants them to walk. Instead of doing something that would further the mission of Christ, they become frozen in the fear of doing anything outside of God’s perfect will for their lives. As one of my favorite authors, Greg Boyd, reveals in his upcoming book, “The Myth of the Blueprint”, Christians have allowed secular influences to color the way we understand the will of God. We’ve twisted the message of what God’s will is for the Church and narrowed it down into seeking what His will is for our individual lives. That’s not in the Bible; it’s only in our own selfish and short-sighted interpretation.

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Pursuing Holiness

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Two roads diverging

As you go throughout your days, are you pursuing a life of holiness? Are you consciously striving to be the person God created you to be, a person who is consumed by the love of Jesus? This isn’t a new concept, but it has been brought to my mind in fresh ways through recent teachings by Bill Hybels and David Platt. Not only has God placed a unique combination of passions and skills in each of us in order that we might do the work He created us to do, but He has also charged us to conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to Him (Philippians 1:27).

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Should Christians Attend Church? (Part I)

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Church

Our modern churches look very different from the early church in the New Testament. This is particularly true in the West. In America, our landscapes are dotted with mega-churches on sprawling plots of land where thousands of people gather to worship freely each week. Contrast this with the house churches in Asia where believers gather in small spaces under cover of the night in fear of torture and imprisonment if caught.  The Asian churches much more closely resemble the early New Testament churches in virtually every way. With that in mind, does that make attending the safe, luxurious churches in America wrong for the follower of Jesus?

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