Category: Discipleship

Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, Funny, Life Happens4 Comments

5th-grader4Like American Idol, the recent television program, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, has been quite a hit for Fox and host, Jeff Foxworthy. Let’s face it, some kids are very smart, and often, they say the wisest things!  Listen to some of the remarkable wisdom of children from around the country.

  • “When your dad is mad and asks you, ‘Do I look stupid?’ don’t answer.”  Hannah, 9
  • “Stay far away from prunes.”  Randy, 9
  • “Don’t squat with your spurs on.”  Noronha, 13
  • “Puppies still have bad breath after you brush their teeth with dad’s toothbrush.”  Charlie, 9
  • “Never hold a Shop Vac and a cat at the same time.”  John, 9
  • “Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.”  Kellie, 11
  • “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”  Naomi, 15
  • “Felt markers are not really good to use as lipstick.”  Lauren, 9
  • “When you get a bad grade at school, show it to your mom when she’s on the phone.”  Alyesha, 13

Two of the saddest things in this world is a child who can’t learn and an adult who won’t.  Every day you and I can learn something that will make us a better person and a more devout follower of Jesus. Every week our church can learn ways to be more effective at assimilating newcomers and helping our members to become fully-devoted followers of Jesus.

Prayer: “Lord, help us to stay curious. Help us have a hunger for You and a thirst for knowledge. Help us to be content in our salvation, but discontent in our level of spiritual maturity. Help us to do whatever it takes to be more like you in our thoughts, in our ways, and in our heart! Amen.”

The Barbarian Way

Posted in Discipleship, Evangelism, Worship1 Comment

barabarian3This afternoon I listened again to Erwin McManus, senior pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles, preaching his sermon, The Barbarian Way. Wow, what a needed reminder that I should be living on the edge for Jesus. McManus also wrote a great book by the same title.

Read this quote from his book, The Barbarian Way:

Perhaps, the tragedy of our time is that such an overwhelming number of us who declare Jesus as Lord have become domesticated–or, if you will, civilized. We have lost the simplicity of our early faith. Beyond that, we have lost the passion and power of that raw, untamed, and primal faith.

Jesus did not suffer and die so that we could build for ourselves havens, but so that we might expand the kingdom of His love….Christianity has become docile, domesticated, civilized.

God’s will for us is less about our comfort than it is about our contribution. God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life.

What about you? Can you remember how passionate you were about Jesus during those early days? Do you remember how burdened you were for your family members and friends who were not followers of Christ?

May God help us to return to that simple, unhampered, all-out, barbarian approach to following Christ!