Essentials - this is what's important

Having been a Christian Blogger and Podcaster for over three years now, I have received many different reactions to my posts and Podcasts; from the very positive to the very negative. The negative is almost always someone who is a Secular Humanist or a Christian who wants to argue over non-essentials.

The only thing that really bothers me is when Christians argue over non-essentials. These non-essentials are the things that have created so many denominations in the Christian Church and what caused some of the worst bickering between Christians. Many people cling, I mean really cling to tradition or routine like they are scriptural essentials, when in fact they are not.

Examples of the non-essentials are, what day we worship, type of baptism(full immersion or Sprinkling of water), frequency of communion, type of music in service, instruments in service, dress code, King James Version only, I could go on and on. People get wrapped around the wheel over non-essentials more than anything else.

Below is a list of essentials...or in other words, this is what's important.

The deity of Christ. - Jesus was fully God and fully man. (John 10:30 , John 20:28, Matt. 2:2,11; 14:33, Heb. 1:8,Col. 2:9)

Salvation by grace - There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor or gain access to heaven apart from His grace. Salvation is by grace through faith alone. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Salvation through Jesus Christ alone -  HE IS the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through HIM. (Acts 4:12, John 14:6, Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 3:1-2)

The gospel - The resurrection of Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ—His death on the cross for sinners and His resurrection from the dead to everlasting life. This is the bedrock of the Christian faith. To believe Jesus did not resurrect is to deny that Jesus’ work here on earth was a satisfactory offering to God for the sins of mankind. Jesus rose from the grave physically. (1 Corinthians 15:14, John 2:19-21,1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Galatians 1:8-9)

Monotheism - There is only one God, you are to put no other “gods” before Him. (Exodus 20:3,1 Corinthians 8:5-6, Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8)

The Holy Trinity - All three Persons ARE represented as one in the Bible. - (Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Cor. 13:14, Isaiah 6:8, Gen. 1:26)

As we mature as Christians we can see Gods work more clearly in the small things. Faith is essential in Christianity. Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. We believe in a God we cannot see, but we can see Him in things around us and in our life when we earnestly seek Him out. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Thanks for Checking in and God Bless >>John

This is the REAL way “Love Wins”

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Behave Like a Christian

    9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. -  Romans 12:1-13 (NKJV)
I was reflecting on Romans 12:3-13 today and it got me thinking about how many people we take for granted around us that allow our lives to go so smoothly. I’ll give you this, my smoothly may be much different than your definition, but we in America have it pretty easy compared to most around the world.

For now, we can worship freely without fear of violence. We are protected by the most advanced military in the world. Most of us live pretty close to hospitals, EMS, Fire and rescue (many of them volunteers). We have Police to protect us, people to come pick up our trash, water treatment plants that make sure we have clean running water and sewage treatment plants that make everything else “goes away”. Here is a biggie, we have food everywhere. I can drive 5 minutes and pass 20 places that serve food.

We can live our lives the way we do because of the love, caring, talent and hard work of people of the past and present. I have heard the term that “we stand of the shoulders of giants” that so many greats came before us. There are so many great people in this world that do so much for so many. We Christians owe so much to so many, so shouldn’t we live lives worthy of the sacrifice of so many?

        In verse 9 it says “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good.”

We hate evil, we should serve and thank one another, love and lift each other up. We should not be self absorbed shut-ins spending our time trying to avoid contact with the “outside” world.

        Verse 2 tells us “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Let’s change our hard coded mind sets to think outside the box when it comes to helping others. Lets humbly and thankfully serve each other. Think of someone who makes your life easier day in and day out. They don’t do it for praise or thanks....but why not make their day and do something for them, not just a “thank you”, but a gesture that shows you care about what it is they do and who they are? In using our individual talents in helping and loving each other, we can lift each other up as one in the body of Christ.

This is the REAL way “Love Wins”.

        “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11


Thanks for checking in and God Bless>>John

Haiti mission trip support and Prayer request for a good friend. Update 5

For those of you that have been following the update from my friend Anthony and his fellow team members from Berean Community Church in Rochester, Michigan. They are all back from Haiti safe and sound!! Anthony sent me this slide show/video that was put together. Please continue to pray for that message and work in Christs name that they did will continue long after they have gone. Enjoy! Great Job and God Bless you all.

Thanks fro Checking in and God Bless >>John

10 Resolutions for Mental Health

 Great article by Pastor John Piper:

On October 22, 1976, Clyde Kilby, who is now with Christ in Heaven, gave an unforgettable lecture. I went to hear him that night because I loved him. He had been one of my professors in English Literature at Wheaton College. He opened my eyes to more of life than I knew could be seen. O, what eyes he had! He was like his hero, C. S. Lewis, in this regard. When he spoke of the tree he saw on the way to class this morning, you wondered why you had been so blind all your life. Since those days in classes with Clyde Kilby, Psalm 19:1 has been central to my life: “The sky is telling the glory of God.”

That night Dr. Kilby had a pastoral heart and a poet’s eye. He pled with us to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature. He was not naïve. He knew of sin. He knew of the necessity of redemption in Christ. But he would have said that Christ purchased new eyes for us as well as new hearts. His plea was that we stop being unamazed by the strange glory of ordinary things. He ended that lecture in 1976 with a list of resolutions. As a tribute to my teacher and a blessing to your soul, I offer them for your joy.

1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."

3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.

5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.

7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."

8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.

9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.

10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.

>>By John Piper

Daily Devotional : The Spirit of God will not forsake you.

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:6

Paul remained confident as he wrote this to letter to the Philippians. He was confident in God’s desire and ability to continue His transforming work in the lives of the Philippian believers.

Remember: The Spirit of God will not forsake you, HE will see you through to the end, until your mortal bodies will appear before the judgment of Christ to be glorified. Be strong and confident in your faith; let your witness to the world be the fruit of your faith and trust in Jesus. All glory be to God.

May God Bless you and keep you. Thanks for checking in >>John