Friday, September 30, 2011

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

In his most recent book, Maximum Faith, George Barna reports that 4 out of 5 self-identified Christian adults (81%) say they have made a personal commitment of faith to Jesus Christ which is important in their life. 

Yet less than one out of those same five (15%) claim to be invested in spiritual development.  And only
about the same number (22%) say they are dependent upon God.

So where does that leave the Christian community? 

Where does that leave YOU?

Are you one of the four......

or the one out of five?

I hope this will get you to thinking. 

My mother used to say "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."  If America is not standing upon the promises of God...if we are not deeply rooted in our faith, then we will ultimately FALL. 

Saturday, September 10, 2011

NEAR BELIEFS

The following is taken from MOMENTS WITH YOU by Dennis Rainey.  I thought it powerful enough to want to share it with you today.  I hope it will stir you to ask "WHAT DO I BELIEVE?"


Near Beliefs


Continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them. 2 TIMOTHY 3:14


I'm afraid too many of us Christians don't know what we really believe. Like a cork in the ocean, driven and tossed by the waves, we bounce from opinion to opinion, influenced more by the last book we read than by a lifetime of biblical study. We've become activity junkies, seldom stopping long enough to decide what really matters to us, too busy to determine what's really worth living for,let alone worth dying for.



As a result we live our lives based upon "near beliefs." Near beliefs have just enough truth in them to sound strangely familiar to convictions, yet they're too weak to inspire us or our actions. Too anemic to influence us to make a decision that demands a sacrifice.



Near beliefs wimp out when a teenager is pushing you out of his or her life. Near beliefs won't keep a marriage together when romance fades. Near beliefs almost always fall silent on such issues as same-sex marriages and homosexuals adopting children. Near beliefs don't inspire the courage to change a behavior or to press on against disapproval or opposition from "the herd."



Near beliefs are to blame for a new brand of Christianity that is epidemic in our homes and churches—a faith that has little flavor, little light and little influence. When near beliefs are our only source of motivation, tough stands are never taken, feathers are never ruffled, and absolutes are held very loosely.



Without core convictions to help us navigate, we stand uneasily on shifting sand, and we lack the solid footing with which to stage a life of principle and character.



Today is a call to biblical conviction. A call to spending time studying the Word. A clarion call to challenge you to determine: What do I believe?



What is needed today is a battalion of believers who follow Christ and stand for Him and His truth.



DISCUSS



If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?



PRAY



Ask God for the courage to stand for that which you know to be true.