Month: November 2016

The One Thing I Hate to Do

/ Jesus_Follow3r

Thank-you for writing this timely blog entry! Gotta love God’s Providence! Jesus’ crucial message of denial to self is truly the cost of discipleship. I pray and hope that more preachers would deliver sermons on such key topics within Christian Living.
Walking-out our Christian faith is all about the denial of self, and dying to ourselves daily so that Christ through His Spirit can then fully reign within us.

Elihu's avatarElihu's Corner

This is part 2 of the series “Do I have to carry THAT cross?” To read the original post, click here.

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“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. or what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

~ Matthew 16.24-26, ESV

I am a selfish creature.

I do not make the statement with pride, but rather confess it, to my great shame.

Like most humans, I enjoy my own particular flavor of comfort. I love sipping my homemade iced chai, surrounded with whatever music suits my mood. My favorite find is a book to get lost in. I warm with pleasure when I find myself in a…

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Insight: Church. What’s The Point?

/ Jesus_Follow3r

Sadly, Christianity within the Progressive West often overlooks what it means to be a true follower of Jesus. Taking up our crosses daily by dying daily to our fleshly desires is an incredibly unpopular message, yet it is practically the whole point of the Gospel Message! We need to crucify the sins of the flesh in order that Christ may reign supreme in every fiber of our being and every sphere of our lives! However, in Western Society we typically find ourselves doing one of the two extremes: placing excessive focus on building up one another as a Church Body, or decisively disconnecting ourselves from the Church Body because of its alleged hypocrisy. Every true Christian must diligently seek to uphold this delicate balance of being equipped and being missional with the power of the Holy Spirit, otherwise they will become lukewarm and/or self-righteous hypocrites themselves. Exclusive focus to either one of these ways of Christian living is extremely dangerous and it must be avoided at all costs! By seeking to maintain this balance through the indwelling Holy Spirit, our impact as Christians is able to be optimized and, most importantly, our Awesome God is also being glorified!

God Bless!

Do I have to carry THAT cross?

/ Jesus_Follow3r

Beautifully written post with an immensely important message, particularly for the materially-abundant West, where we have watered down the Gospel Message so much!

Elihu's avatarElihu's Corner

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There’s an old hymn we sing once in awhile entitled, “Nearer My God to Thee.”

Nearer my God to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me.

Still, all my song shall be,
‘Nearer my God to Thee!’
Nearer my God to Thee—
Nearer to Thee.

~ Sarah Flower Adams, 1841

As with anything worth having, nearness to God is costly. Many claim to want a relationship with God, but have no desire to make any sort of sacrifice to achieve it. What about me? Am I willing to be “raised on a cross” in order to gain a closeness to the Lord that could not be attained otherwise?

More often than not, the conversation in my head goes something like this:

“Does it have to be that cross? Why can’t I have his cross over there? It looks a bit smaller than mine…”

Or…

“Why don’t…

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