An Epic Journey » faith

Have We Missed It? Corporate & Individual

epic — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:59:59 +0000

Lately I’ve been thinking about the American spirit to be an individual. We want to make a statement with our life, we want to be famous, we want to pursue our dreams, want to make it on our own. We want to be a shining star in the night sky. Here is the problem, you and I were created for community. I even believe we are better in community. I’m challenged in community, I’m encouraged in community, I’m supported in community, and I’m able to support in community.

There is a big push in American Christianity for “Personal Evangelism”, it is the idea that you personally are sharing your faith with other people. I’m, obviously, a big proponent of this – I don’t think anything gets my proverbial engine revving as much as sharing Jesus with another person. But lately, I have been thinking about how often in scripture there are instances of one person sharing their faith on their own. Honestly, I can only think of two – Phillip with the Etheopian Eunich in Acts and Paul at the Aeopogus in the book of Acts as well. There may be more, but that’s what comes to mind. As I thought about it, most of the evangelism in the book of acts and even the Gospels came in at a minimum of 2 and was really uber effective in larger groups (think of Acts 2 at Pentecost – we know that there were at least 12 who were speaking in other languages and possible as many as 120 – thousands were added to their number that day as evangelism was done in community).

Often times Christians of today bauk at the idea of doing evangelism as a group – but Jesus sent out missionaries 2 x 2 (Luke 10), John & Peter (Acts 3) went to the temple and stirred up some minds, Acts 5:12-16 tells us that the disciples met daily in Solomon’s colonnade and that people were added daily to their number. Paul & Silas, Paul & Barnabas, Paul & Timothy – any of those names ring a bell – interesting that we talk about them together, why? Because they went as a team, as community.

What does this mean? It may mean that Christians engaging their community at large as a Christian community has tremendous power that we may just be missing. It means that doing it alone is not bad, but it may be harder than having the momentum of a community of Christ followers living out the gospel with people who don’t have gospel. It may mean that as Christians, our Connection Groups need to join together to start thinking of ways to impact the world. That our churches should start to come together to interact in the “Colonades” of our day – the YMCA’s, the fairs and festivals, the mall, wherever it is that people are and we can find ways to positively impact them with the gospel.

What have we been missing by simply missing community…?

Faith or Belief

epic — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:00:03 +0000

Just thinking about the difference between faith and belief (not that there should be a firm line drawn between the two), but one of the core differences in our language is that belief simply denotes an intellectual acceptance of an idea. It does not denote an action that must be taken out of that belief. Tons of people believe smoking to be bad for them but continue to light up all day long. That’s because belief does not translate into your the behavior of your life consistently. Faith on the other hand includes belief in it’s system but adds an element of trust – Faith is so tightly wound with trust that when we ask someone if they have “faith in me”, we are asking them if they trust you – will rely on you…

I wonder how many times my life has been caught up in simple belief in the good news rather than faith in Jesus. I long to trust Him and let Him lead.

Is there any evidence that Jesus existed outside the bible?

epic — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:31:02 +0000

The answer is yes! While I was studying for an upcoming sermon I came across the following website:

http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4223639/k.567/Ancient_Evidence_for_Jesus_from_NonChristian_Sources.htm

I wanted to pass this along because I think there is a sense in Christianity that the bible is the only reference we have to the existence of Jesus. It did great things for my faith when I learned that there were other sources that described the same Jesus as our bible!

Big vision needs big faith! Audio Blog!

epic — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 23:00:08 +0000

checkepic: And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.. Faith… works… http://bible.us/Gen15.6.NLT

epic — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:00:03 +0000

And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.. Faith… works… http://bible.us/Gen15.6.NLT

Busting Religion

epic — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:08:25 +0000

So, this weekend for Easter we are talking about how to Bust Religion! �I’m really pumped about this Myth Busters series! �I haven’t been this excited in a while! �Anyway, I want to give you some resources that might help you as we think about how to bust religions! �The first one is by a guy named Lee Strobel and it’s called, The Case for Christ & The Case for Faith. �These were actually two�separate�books, but have been packaged together. �Lee was someone who had no interest in the Christian faith until his wife came to Christ. �After this, he began to investigate and ask really good, hard questions of really smart people. �These were questions he assumed had no good answer. �What he found was there were good answers all around. �If you have ever struggled with doubt, then be sure to pick up The Case for Christ: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Christ-Faith-two-books/dp/0310608821/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270137716&sr=8-3

Nic at night

epic — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:32:30 +0000

Really interesting article on the biblical Nicodemus http://www.facingthechallenge.org/nicodemus.php. There is so much outside of the biblical text that points to the verasity of what is written in the scripture, I wish that more people knew that – I think it helps to better root your faith.

Toothpicks for My Eyes

epic — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:58:06 +0000

It’s nearly 2am and I am wishing I had toothpicks to prop my eyes open. My caffeine is starting to wear off. I have been working on my sermon for Sunday. All I keep thinking as I study is that Jesus did not come for us to commit part way. He came for us to commit completely to following Him and learning from Him.

There are so many distractions in this world, so many things that make you weary, so many things that steal your joy. It’s easy to allow the desires that war inside of us to rule our hearts rather than the peace and contentment of Christ. Jesus came to set us free, Jesus came to bring peace to the broken, freedom to the prisoners.

Get out the toothpicks! I’m fixing my eyes on the author and perfecter of my faith!

(I hope that makes sense – you shouldn’t write stuff at 2am)

In Prayer

epic — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:43:05 +0000

I was just spending some time praying today and really felt a strong compulsion to ask God to lead Epic. You see, I’m afraid that as a leader I can work on systems, creativity, relavancy, and so many other things and never let God lead. It is my hearts one desire that God would be the one who leads, that Christ would be the one who is glorified. That as leaders we would take on the humility and gentleness of Christ as we follow Him. It’s so easy to get this all switched around and miss the boat – so I’m going to do my best to keep my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith. How bout you?

The Great Depression Part 2?

epic — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:54:15 +0000

It seems like I know more and more people who are asking the question, “how much worse can it get?” I personally don’t know, and am not really qualified to even comment on our current economic status. I do know that my wife and I have felt the pinch just like a lot of our friends are feeling it. One of my chief concerns in times like these is that the church does not over spiritualize circumstances, but that we would neither downplay the significance of being spiritual and only focus on the physical needs. This is a crucial moment in our history. We will forge a future, the question is, will it be one that it is forged on fear or on hope?
I say we have a hope that is greater than the movement in the dow jones, we have a calling that is deeper than the recession – as Hebrews 10:39 says, “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” My faith is not in the economic, political, scientific system. My faith is in the creator of the universe, who with one swift breath could breathe mud into a man (see the beginning of Genesis).