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got inspired while reading my bros blog: have thine own way. my response is there as well but i wanted to post it here for any of you regular readers who may not know about his blog.
been going to providence community church on sundays for a while now. its part of the acts29 network. pastor mark moore said something a couple weeks ago that really hit me. it was so obvious and yet i think its so overlooked. he said that the gospel isnt just for lost people. its for saved people too. how often we take for granted that the gospel is still good news in our own life. we are such a consumerist society that what we buy today is forgotten tomorrow and i think the church has allowed that mentality to infiltrate our thinking to the point of corrupting our love and passion for the gospel. i mean - i need as much saving today as i did way back when. why shouldnt the truth of christ be as driving a force today as it was when i first tasted of the holy spirit? with that in mind i look at things thru a gospel christ filter and things like possessions and positions becomes meaningless. and more keenly - those whose lives are broken in sin become a primary concern for my compassion - not my judgment. praying for strength and faith and the spiritual growth of our kingdom family is also a natural product of being christ centered. now it seems to me just from casual observance that when many people talk about christ-centeredness what they really in practice mean is me centeredness with a christ facade. they staple his name on their own desires and wants and come up with a bastardized version of the faith that sells to the masses who have no true desire to lay their lives bare before god. so we end up with guys like osteen telling people about their best life now and its no wonder - self-help with jesus stapled to it = osteens gospel. but thats not scripture. in scripture jesus doesnt back down from calling sin out. but unlike the many judgmental jerks floating around in our fundie churches today he doesnt stop there. he offers them life more abundant and a relationship. our legalistic brothers tend to offer them a set of the ten commandments and a daily checklist. so all that to say: im with my bro. we desperately need to get soaked in the word and when we do - the fruit of that will be the gospel in our lives. /rant.
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