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Micah and horror movies

I’ve just about completed preparing for my sermon on Sunday. I thought I was familiar with Micah because we’ve talked about Micah 6:8 a lot in recent years. I even have an International Justice Mission t-shirt that says “seek justice”, which is an integral component of that verse. “Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly withContinue reading “Micah and horror movies”

If God hated their worship, could he hate ours too? (Check out the podcast!)

So God hates worship services. The quotes affirming this in my previous post are from the prophecy of Amos. God isn’t mixing any words. It was a rather wealthy era in Israel’s history, and they were living it up. To be specific, this was during the years when Israel was split north (Israel) and southContinue reading “If God hated their worship, could he hate ours too? (Check out the podcast!)”

How to have worship services that God doesn’t hate.

It’s true. He says so. God hates worship services. Don’t believe me? Here’s the proof: “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.” But then, almost as if he wants to really injure us, he says he hates the music too. I’m serious: “Away with the noise of your songs! IContinue reading “How to have worship services that God doesn’t hate.”

Church has left the building

Yesterday was a big day for Faith Church. We left our building. About a month ago I put a message on our outdoor sign that said “This church will leave the building Oct. 7”. I never imagined the response we would get. In the first week one couple that is a part of our churchContinue reading “Church has left the building”

Church as CAUSE or EFFECT? What do you think?

“Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the EFFECT of discipleship and not the CAUSE. If you set out to build the church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is far more likely that you will creat consumers who depend on theContinue reading “Church as CAUSE or EFFECT? What do you think?”

Detours

Is it possible that detours are actually good things? Do any of you actually look forward to detours? Does anyone have a great story about a detour that surprised you by being wonderful?

Are we allowed to not have a worship service on Sunday and instead worship by serving the community?

As you may have already heard, we are taking the month of September to prepare ourselves spiritually for The Church Has Left The Building on October 7th. So we’re pausing our Minor Prophets sermon series, and we’re learning from some events in the life of Jesus, primarily in the Gospel of Luke. First and foremostContinue reading “Are we allowed to not have a worship service on Sunday and instead worship by serving the community?”

Do Christians really have to follow all those weird Old Testament laws?

There are loads of laws in the Old Testament. Some of them are really bizarre, and for the most part Christians don’t follow them. We like the 10 Commandments though. So we say “Jesus came to fulfill the Law” and happily decide we don’t have to obey the weird commands like not eating shellfish, notContinue reading “Do Christians really have to follow all those weird Old Testament laws?”

The end is near!

How did you react when you heard about Harold Camping’s prophecy that the end of the world was going to be on a specific date last year? There were loads of interesting responses. Some people cashed in their life savings and signed up to travel cross-country telling people to beware. Some people ignored it completely. Continue reading “The end is near!”

Committing adultery against God

If God asked you to start dating and marry someone who, guaranteed, would commit adultery, would you do it? Maybe the better question is why would God ask that? Read Hosea and then let’s discuss this further. What happens when we read Hosea’s story is that we put ourselves in Hosea’s shoes. We feel hisContinue reading “Committing adultery against God”