Why Share The Gospel?

1 John 1:3 "What we have seen and heard we announce5 to you too, so that6 you may have fellowship7 with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ)." (NET Bible)

One of my current favorite parts of the Bible is the sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew's Gospel. In those two chapters, Jesus lays out the foundation of discipleship. Jesus tells us to build our relationship with God through giving, praying, forgiving and fasting. Then (Chapter 7), as our relationship with God becomes close, we are to do a bit of "house cleaning": searching for and removing the sins (logs) from our lives (eyes). After we have done these things, we will find ourselves in a position to ask, seek and knock and God will give, show, and open what we need so that we may do His work.

Today is a good day for us to spend a little bit of time examining our lives. I don't necessarily mean looking for the sins in our lives as much as spending some time with God and letting Him show us all the things He has done for us and with us and even through us. This is an amazing thing to do. Often, when we do this, we find that even (or especially?) in those times that we struggled through, there was God leading us through that valley. Not only that, but when we look back at those good and/or exciting times in our lives we find that God was there too.

Those are the kinds of testimonies that we need to share with others. We need to share that in our good tmes and in our bad times, God is with us. Of course, we also need to share the Gospel and we need to be available for people who wish to receive Christ Jesus as their friend, brother, Lord and Savior, but how much more willing might people be to take that step when we testify about our hope in Christ rather than their dread of the adversary?

Speak to us Lord! Tell us the story of our lives. Describe all of the ways you have helped us and held us up. And teach us Lord. Teach us to share all that you have done fro and through us with those people that You bring into our lives. We ask these thing, not for our own sakes or for our own glory but so that You may be known by others and so that you may be gorified through our interactions with everyone we meet.

Listen to the Spirit's promptings today and, when an opportunity arises, share a little of your faith with some one else. By sharing yourself, you will really be sharing Christ and that is a wonderful gift, indeed.

May you be blessed and a blessing today,

Christopher

(THE VOICE: a devotional)

Joel 2:1

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet1 in Zion;
sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,
for the day of the Lord is about to come.
Indeed,2 it is near!3 (NET Bible)

Shouldn't this always be our mindset as Christians? Shouldn't we live our lives in fear and trembling, hoping that our LORD will return? Jesus even says that He will return "like a thief in the night." That is, at time when He is not expected. Basically, what all this means is that we just don't know when Jesus will return. It's best to be ready.

I like to think of it this way. My wife has the gift of hospitality. She likes the house to be in order at all times just in case some one should happen to drop in for a visit. She doesn't mind a little bit of clutter. We do live in the house after all and we do have two young boys and a puppy so the house is never in perfect order. But, real messes need to be taken care of as soon as possible. When a guest arrives, there just isn't time to clean. Not to mention, that would just be plain rude. Our guest must always be our main focus.

And, there it is. There is the gist of what we are talking about in today's conversation. When Jesus returns, it will be too late to clean up all of our messes that we have been putting off or otherwise ignoring. When He arrives we have to give Him our total attention. Just like our houses, I don't think Jesus will necessarily expect us to be perfect. He knows what it is like to be human, after all. But all those little messes in out living rooms really need to be given the attention they deserve, for our Guest's sake if not for ours.

LORD help us prepare for your return. Our lives are not as they should be aNd they require the kind of cleaning that only You can provide. Pour Your Holy Spirit on us and in us and through us. Remove the stains of our past and protect us from the messes of our future. You are our LORD and our savior and we are longing to see you again. So come and be our Guest. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Is there sin in your life that you know about? Clean it up. Is there sin on your life that you don't know about? Ask God to show it to you and ask Him to provide the means to clean it up. He'll be glad you did and so will you.

You're doing great!

In Christ,

Christopher

(THE VOICE: a devotional Day 5)

And ...Action (again)

I was praying last night and I was shown that God always directs us to act upon what He has done. He offers us His hand of salvation: we must grab hold of it. Once we are are saved, we are directed to be baptized. Being believers, we are to devleop our relationships with God and raise up other belivers as well encourage others to accept Jesus. This is not salvation by works, this is works because of salvation. But, it is important to remember, God doesn't expect success, He expects faithfulness.

Christopher

(A CHRISTIAN VOICE, January 9, 2006)

Let Go

Mark 7:31 "Then31 Jesus32 went out again from the region of Tyre33 and came through Sidon34 to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.35 7:32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 7:33 After Jesus36 took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s37 ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.38 7:34 Then39 he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”).40 7:35 And immediately the man’s41 ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. 7:36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more.42 7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”" (NET Bible)

This is a kind of odd miracle, isn't it? It's easy to get caught up on Jesus' theatrics in this particular passage. We often engage in conversations over passages like this one in which we discuss why Jesus placed His fingers in the deaf man's ears, and why He spit or touched the man's tongue. Why didn't He just say, "You are healed," and be done with it?

The key to our answers is found in verses 36 and 37. "Jesus ordered them not to tell anything." "People were completely astounded and said..." Do you see what was going on? Jesus put on a show so that the people watching would believe and share the good news of the Kingdom. They placed their own expectations upon Jesus and Jesus, in His mercy, condescended to them and did what they needed Him to do.

This lesson kind of "cuts us to the quick" when we stop to think about it, doesn't it? How often do we make demands upon Jesus so that our faiths will be verified. We ask for healings, and signs and miracles. We want to feel His presence. None of which is bad, of course. We ought to expect such things. But on Jesus' terms; not on ours. When we get to know Jesus and when we start following Him more and start trying to lead Him less is when the real miracles begin to happen in our lives. If you are like me, you find that the times when you "let go and let God" are the most exciting times of your life, anyway.

Here's another key to experiencing miracles of Jesus in our lives. We have to share them with others. Really. Read the miracles and healings that Jesus performed in the Gospels. The people involved always share what happened or what they witnessed. In otherwords, such things happeen for the glory of God and so must be shared.

Lord give us a spirit of acceptance. Help us accept You as You are just as you have accepted us just as we are. May all the gory be yours forever. AMEN

Our challenge to day is to relax and let Jesus operate in our lives as He sees fit, to give thanks as we notice His actions, and to tell some one what Jesus did. Simple, right?

Be Blessed Today,

Christopher

(THE VOICE: a devotional, Day 2)

Link of The Day

FaithWriters.com is a fabulous online community of Christian writers.

Lamps

Mark 4:21 [Jesus]also said to them, “A lamp24 isn’t brought to be put under a basket25 or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand?" (NET Bible)

Don't you think that this passage speaks to all of us as Christians? I mean, if Christ is our Light, then that makes us the Lamps that He is speaking about. We are not to hide our Light but we are to let it shine where ever we go. Infact, Jesus is telling us not just to let our Light shine, but to display it. Isn't that what He means by puting it on a lampsatand?

How do we do this, though? I think we need to go into the world with integrity. That is, we must be honest. We must always speak the truth no matter the consequences. We must always be seen doing our best whether we are at work or at play. The Bible is full of directions for our daily lives and we all know passages that give lists of acceptable and/or unacceptable activities. If we spend time everyday in prayer and in the Word, then we are able to discern whether what we are doing is right or wrong. The Holy Spirit gives us gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudges.

Also, I think that it is good to discern our spiritual giftings. these are special gifts or abilities that ?God has given to each of us in order to serve Him and His Kingdom. Some of us are wrtiers and teachers. Others are preachers, pastors, and exhorters. Some are evangelists or artists. What is your gift? Not that the Holy spirit won't help you in any situationthat arises, but your special gifting is a sign to you from God about what He has in mind for your life. Go with it! You won't be sorry. Nor will those around you.

Lord speak to us today. Lead us as we walk through the world. Be our Light so that wea may be lights to the world that will lead others to you. And help us as we stretch ourselves to become the people of God that you created us to be. All for Your honor and Your glory in Jesus' name. AMEN

I encourage you to seek the guidence of the Holy Spirit in all you do and say today and if you don't know what your spiritual gift is, then I also encourage you seek after that. You will be glad you did.

May you be Blessed and a blessing,

Christopher

(THE VOICE: a devotional, Day 1)

Eucharistic

Who is the Word? What else is the Word? Now if one wishes to truly know the Word, one must fully digest the Word so that the Word will fully become a part of the very fabric of one's being and one may truly Love God. Obviously, Jesus did not start feeding Himself to His remaining disciples who were totally at a loss when Jesus presented this teaching. They did not expect Him to do so either.

So, it's not about eating Jesus. Then, there's that incident with the woman at the well in which Jesus speaks of Spiritual food. And there is the Hebraic mindset of studying Scripture and thinking of it in terms of eating and digesting food. This is descriptive language more than symbolic language. It's metaphoric in terms of its language but it is describing a real process. One studies something so in depth and puts it into effect to such a degree that it literally shapes one's being inide and out. The Eucharist is symbolic in that it reminds us that we are to place our entire being into our faith and it, in turn will be our truth source of life because of He who is present within us at even the most basic level of our existence. It all goes together.

In Christ,

Christopher

(Originally published 10/27/2005 in A CHRISTIAN VOICE)

Easter

I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Easter.

My family and I enjoyed a wonder Easter service at our church which was followed by a huge Easter egg hunt with over two thousand stuffed plastic Easter eggs. My sons have enough candy now to last until (probably) next Easter.

God Bless,

Christopher

2,000 visitors!!!

A Christian Voice has now had over 2,000 visitors. Considering how slow the traffic was for a very long time, this is quite something. Thank you for being a part of it.

May you be blessed and a blessing.

In Christ,

Christopher

THE VOICE: an update

THE VOICE: a devotional is now available in a HTML version that you can subscribe to! Just enter your name and e-mail address in the form on the right and you will be included in the mailings. If you want to read past issues you will, for the time being, need to go to the original e-book version which will continue to be updated.

In Christ,

Christopher

Devotions

Well,THE VOICE: a devotional is off and running. I'm going to try to add to it daily. I don't know for how long. I pray that I'll know when to stop. It could be that it will continie ad infinitum. My gues is that there will be a series of "VOICES". That seems more in keeping with the style of e-books.

So far (there's only two entries) the theme seems to be seeking God in our daily lives. Not a bad theme for a devorional, if I do say so.

Be Blessed,

Christopher

THE VOICE

Day one of THE VOICE: a devotional is finished. Check it out!

THE VOICE: a devotional

My goal is to add daily entries.

Enjoy and God Bless,

Christopher

Two Fishers: A Limmerick

Two fishers from Galilee
Were fishing for fish
By the sea

Stop! Cried He
Come fishing with me!
And their nets
They let float away free

Influx of viewers

Wow, there certainly has been an influx of readers lately. God is great! Just when I was about to give up on "A Christian Voice", He sent people here. This is awesome. I do wonder who you are and how you found out about "A Christian Voice". Also, your feedback is very welcome so I can improve this site. So, please comment on any article you read and do sign the guest book.

To me, surfing the internet is a lot like the travelling I used to do when I was younger. I would load up a backpack with esssentials and hit the road. I travelled from one tip of Great Britain to the other, through the Yukon and Alaska and even across Australia this way. One of the neat things in all the Hostells was the guest books that people from all over the world had signed and writtten comments in.

And, do come back. I'm working to improve "A Christian Voice". One thing to look forward to in the very near future will be a devotional. My plan is to make this a daily episode that readers such as yourself will be able to subscribe to.

Thanks for coming.

Be blessed,

Christopher

"The Simple Hemeneutic" revisited

I've been working on a new, simple hermeneutic, lately. Actually, by "working on" I mean trying to understand what my LORD has been telling me. It is based on the Two Great Commandments. Succinctly put, they are "Love God with everything you are", and "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Obviously, there's a lot that is packed into those two phrases but it comes, basically, down to this: Serve God first, all others second and your self last.
Jesus says it. Paul explains it (c.f. Phillipians). The Holy Spirit provides examples throughout the Bible that demonstrate this principle. These examples are almost entirely negative in one way or another except for Jesus' because He is Emanuel.

It's pretty cool. It even provides a simple basic "litmus test" for testing Biblical theories and theologies. There are two questions for the believer to ask. Does it glorify God and does it serve others?

Both criteria must be met. It is also practical in nature. Once again one can ask those above two questions when examining any action. If I do such and such; will God be glorified and will it serve someone?

This is, obviously, just a "bare bones" description. The Big (albeit simple) picture is still a work in progress. But, I am examining this from the beginning of the Bible and it has already provided unexpected dividends in the first 3 chapters of Genesis.(More on that later.)

It all begins with the Cross:

Here's the deal. Metaphorically speaking, envision Christ Jesus dying on the cross. Now imagine an eternal, cosmic exposion that sends ripples throughout time and space.... The cross is ground zero.

That's the imagery.

God doesn't change. God is God. His precepts, His will lasts forever. On the otherhand, we have the above event that altered "stuff" (how's that for a high powered word?) in some mysterious way.

Now, imagine the faithful as cosmic surfers riding Christ's eternal wave. It's this empowering "Christ Effect" that allows the faithful to live the Way. It allows them to view the Law as a measuring stick instead of a club. It allows us to live hope-filled lives even amid the chaos of the world around us. It shields us from the arrows of the enemy and allows us to survive and even grow strong from those barbs that do get through to us (being the imperfect servants that we are, this is bound to happen from time to time).

Associated with this wave is the Holy Spirit. Riding the wave places us in contact with the Spirit of God. This Spirit aids us along our Way; empowering us for the tasks at hand and the tasks to come. We shoot through the curl that is the Law and we now see that it is a demonstration of God's will and not His will itself. His Will is much older and simpler. The Law is an effect of the Will. We realize that by being followers of His will we are de facto followers of the Law because it is an effect of His will.
Remember this is just the bare-bones of the very genesis of this idea and I believe that there are some very astounding ramifications to this and we can discuss them as they arise in the course of discussion.

Essential Conclusion:

Together, believers comprise an imperfect image of God on earth. What He does perfectly alone ( though not alone), it takes millions of humanbeings to even imagine. However, what He does believers can do, too not because of who we (as indivdual humans) are, but because of who we are as the body of Christ. And if we are part of Christ or , at least, part of the imperfect facsimile of Christ's body, then He is a part of us (though He,of course, accomplishes His part perfectly). I believe that it is a necessity for all faithful Christians to understand the responsibility and the power that is available to them through being a part of Christ's body and through this kind of ultimate relationship with God. This is where true minstry begins and the Truth will be actualized. This is true faith accompanied by true work.

To God be ALL the GLORY! AMEN

Not alot gets me excited but this is definitely doing the trick. Have you ever had the distinct priviledge of knowing that your a part of something that is much bigger than yourself?

In Christ,

Christopher