If any of you have about 45 min to burn… check out the message I gave at our church this Sunday.  

“Called to a Journey” Mp3

Check it out here

A recent survey compiled the worries of working Americans.

They are as follows:

34% Being able to retire comfortably

30% Rising cost of health care

11% Stagnant paycheck

10% Losing job

10% Job being outsourced

Now,  even though America sees itself as a Christian nation, we’re really a Secular Consumeristic one. But I know that in this survey it’s laced with a fair amount of church goers. I’m going to run with a tangent on this one, so bear with me.

We worry about comfort and stability. We work hard to make sure things are easy and smooth sailing. But if we call ourselves Christians, we can have none of the above. I believe that the Gospels are here to completely mess up or lives. If we are truly changed by the redeeming power of Christ, our life can’t remain the same. Our desires can’t remain the same. Our worries can’t remain the same (or even remain at all).

So who’s willing to buck the system in the name of our Lord? Who’s willing to put a nail in the coffin of the American dream? Because if you truly see yourself as a follow of Him, you should.

And I’m not alone. Craig Gross notes:

“Christians must take risks and get out of their comfortable pews and classrooms and do something for God. If we don’t, who will?… God did not create you to be a scared, irrelevant Christian!”

Scared. Irrelevant. You could also add worrying or busy. We are busy because we’re worried that if any of the plates we’re spinning drop… we’re toast. I’ll let you in on a little secret. God wants the plates to drop - if they’re more important to you than He is. You say no? How much time do you spend, worrying or being busy on things that don’t matter? I mean things with no eternal value? And then look at how much time you spend with the Lord.

You see that’s our problem. Focus. The things that don’t matter, eat up our time and our lives. The things that do matter, get brushed aside.

So ask yourself this when you’re caught up in the business of life. One hundred years from now… what will it matter? We forget to look at things through an eternal perspective. And when we forget to do that, we miss the entire point.

Why worry? I don’t know. There’s too much time serving the Kingdom to bother with it.

I’ve noticed a trend lately. There seems to be a shift in God’s people. I’ve ranted on how I’m tired of seeing sleepy Christians, but I’m beginning to see some people awaken. Revival needs to happen and all it takes is prayer, faith and a spark. It feels like there’s plenty of gas laying around, we just need a match. I’ve seen signs of life, just no one rousing it and shepherding it. There’s no one leading the charge.So where are you out there? Are you going to be one of the grumblers (like I am most of the time) or are you going to get on your knees to pray and then do something about it.

Earlier in the week I comment on what a blowhard Jerry Fallwell is and then todayI take a quiz on what type of Christian I am. And whouldn’t you know I’m a Jerry Falwell.

I think the quiz is simply based on the fact that I do believe that the Bible is the divine inspired word of God. That is it is complete and true 100%. For this Jer and I can agree.

Where do we differ?

Hmmm. Where to begin. Well it’s summed up easily by saying that Jesus is both truth and love. If you just stand on truth and forget the love you miss the whole point. Jerr Bear I believe has forgotten this. He’s on the truth patrol, enjoying proclaiming what God hates. You know, we as Christians often like to debate and battle over what God likes and dislikes. By the way we act, you’d think the Lord needed someone defending Him. I believe that he can hold His own. So instead of fighting about rightness let’s focus on what we as Christians are called to do. See Matthew 22:36-40 if you interested.   

For more on thisgo to my friend Kevin Bussey’s blog. He wrote a great piece on this. 

Oh and back to the quiz.  Because all quizzes of these type are accurate, full proof, and air-tight, you should take it too…

Go here and take the quiz.

Then, post what kind of Christian you are.