Sunday Highway 35 Student Ministries proudly presented Superchick, John Reuben, Luminate, and Bread of Stone in concert at East Juniata High School. We were very pleased with how the bands performed and the turnout. We sold out the auditorium (Over 800 Seats) and the place was very electric and I think all who were there had a lot of fun. Thank you very much to all who came out and made the evening a great time. Here is a video of the evening.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
To Preach Or Not To Preach
Recently popular Christian evangelist Franklin Graham had a couple of comments that I would like to write a little about. Those comments were:
"I think its coming to this country where we (will) have the freedom to preach inside a church wall, but we will lose the freedom to do it outside. That day will probably come – maybe in my lifetime."
“(In the United States) we see everyday our rights being eroded. Just a little at a time, but its happening. Everyday. So let’s preach while we can. Let’s stand up and holler ‘Jesus Christ! King of Kings, Lord of Lords!’to the top of our voice... The secularists are going to get ticked off, the news media’s going to hate it. I don’t know, maybe the people in the White House are going to be mad. But you know what, I don’t care. Because God has called us to take the Gospel -- His Gospel, the power of God and His Salvation -- unto the ends of the Earth.”
My thoughts are as follows. This is a very interesting topic. I have wondered many times how long we are going to have the freedom to speak about our faith in the public square and really it scares me...a lot. However, I have come to the conclusion that no matter who is in the White House, no matter what bill gets passed God is in control. We can spend so much time worrying about what will be that we do not follow through on what God has called us to do. God is in control in this world and sometimes I wonder what He is up to, but His ways are not my ways nor are his thoughts my thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9) so I will worry about what I can control and that is following through with God's call on my life.
Every since Jesus left this earth his command has been to preach the Gospel. Franklin Graham is right that we need to preach the Gospel, but it is needed whether our freedoms are eroding or not. This is what we are all called to do. My problem with him lies purely in his methodology. Does standing up and hollering really do any good? Sure Paul tells us that the Gospel is foolishness to those who do not believe (1 Corinthians 1:22-24), but still our approach is increasingly important to those who are increasingly skeptical about what we claim. It seems to me that it is in the context of relationships that we are able to convey to others what it is we believe and how that has made a difference in our own lives. Jesus did some preaching to the crowds, but a lot of his calls to repentance were in conversation with others. Some of it took place around the wells, in eating with the sinners in their homes, or at a person's place of work.
There is absolutely no doubt that one of the founding principles of this nation was freedom of religion. However, I find it interesting that so many who fight so hard for that seem to ONLY want freedom of Christianity. They get so upset when other religions exercise their freedoms, but cry out when it seems like Christianity isn't allowed the voice they want it to have. If we truly want freedom of religion (A good thing) then we must be prepared for those who do not subscribe to the Christian religion to talk about what they believe. Really one of the beauties of freedom of religion is the conversations that can happen when many from different beliefs can stand up and converse about they believe in an open dialogue. As Christians we have the truth and we should be open to discussing that with even those who are in opposition to what we believe. Unfortunately many cries for freedom of religion really only mean freedom for Christianity.
"I think its coming to this country where we (will) have the freedom to preach inside a church wall, but we will lose the freedom to do it outside. That day will probably come – maybe in my lifetime."
“(In the United States) we see everyday our rights being eroded. Just a little at a time, but its happening. Everyday. So let’s preach while we can. Let’s stand up and holler ‘Jesus Christ! King of Kings, Lord of Lords!’to the top of our voice... The secularists are going to get ticked off, the news media’s going to hate it. I don’t know, maybe the people in the White House are going to be mad. But you know what, I don’t care. Because God has called us to take the Gospel -- His Gospel, the power of God and His Salvation -- unto the ends of the Earth.”
My thoughts are as follows. This is a very interesting topic. I have wondered many times how long we are going to have the freedom to speak about our faith in the public square and really it scares me...a lot. However, I have come to the conclusion that no matter who is in the White House, no matter what bill gets passed God is in control. We can spend so much time worrying about what will be that we do not follow through on what God has called us to do. God is in control in this world and sometimes I wonder what He is up to, but His ways are not my ways nor are his thoughts my thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9) so I will worry about what I can control and that is following through with God's call on my life.
Every since Jesus left this earth his command has been to preach the Gospel. Franklin Graham is right that we need to preach the Gospel, but it is needed whether our freedoms are eroding or not. This is what we are all called to do. My problem with him lies purely in his methodology. Does standing up and hollering really do any good? Sure Paul tells us that the Gospel is foolishness to those who do not believe (1 Corinthians 1:22-24), but still our approach is increasingly important to those who are increasingly skeptical about what we claim. It seems to me that it is in the context of relationships that we are able to convey to others what it is we believe and how that has made a difference in our own lives. Jesus did some preaching to the crowds, but a lot of his calls to repentance were in conversation with others. Some of it took place around the wells, in eating with the sinners in their homes, or at a person's place of work.
There is absolutely no doubt that one of the founding principles of this nation was freedom of religion. However, I find it interesting that so many who fight so hard for that seem to ONLY want freedom of Christianity. They get so upset when other religions exercise their freedoms, but cry out when it seems like Christianity isn't allowed the voice they want it to have. If we truly want freedom of religion (A good thing) then we must be prepared for those who do not subscribe to the Christian religion to talk about what they believe. Really one of the beauties of freedom of religion is the conversations that can happen when many from different beliefs can stand up and converse about they believe in an open dialogue. As Christians we have the truth and we should be open to discussing that with even those who are in opposition to what we believe. Unfortunately many cries for freedom of religion really only mean freedom for Christianity.
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