Tag: God

Christian Living

Magnify the Lord: Making God Bigger in Our Lives

Chris

One of my favorite parts of church is the singing. My life was always filled with music. We learned how to play the recorder in Grade 3. In Grade 5 we were given the chance to sign up for the school band. When I went home and told my parents I needed a trumpet, they were quite surprised. All through my school years I was part of the choir, which is where I learned music theory. Later I took that knowledge and taught myself to play the piano and the guitar.

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Songs can stick with us for years. It will be a long time before people stop hearing the music of Disney’s Frozen every time they hear the phrase, “Let it go.” The songs we sing in church have the same power. We may not be able to remember them in their entirety, but parts of those songs can sink deep into our memories. They help us remember powerful truths about God and life. And no matter our situation, we can pull those songs out of our hearts, any time and any place.

Scripture describes what we do with our songs using many powerful words. One of these tells us to take the words we sing and use them to take God from the back burner of our minds and put Him front and center.

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Church Life

Addicted: Understanding the purpose of God’s touch

Chris

I am a child of the 80’s and early 90’s. My parents wouldn’t let me listen to secular music, and for the most part I didn’t stray away from the Contemporary Christian Music scene. Anyone who grew up in the church back then listened to one of the greatest Christian storytellers of all time: Carman.

You never knew what to expect on a Carman album. There’d usually be one great story like “The Champion” or “A Witch’s Invitation.” Though his music is considered contemporary, Carman is versed in many styles of music. And he proved it with the song, “Addicted to Jesus.”

It was a venture that a few other CCM artists would bravely dive into with mixed results. Partnering with growing sensation DC Talk, it involved adding a hip hop, from the street feel. We were called to this positive addiction, obsessed with the Son of God, the Word of God, and in prayer.

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There is nothing more amazing than feeling the power of the Creator of the universe touch your life. God created us with a desire in our hearts and souls that can only be satisfied by Him. No amount of pleasure or treasure can fill that hole. So when that hole inside of us actually connects with the one true God, our lives yearn for it to happen again. But can we go too far? Can we be addicted to Jesus in a bad way?

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Christian Living

Sermon Audio: Heaven & Earth Collide, part 1

Chris

Part 1. The miracle of Christmas is more than the birth of a Baby. It marks the collision between Heaven and Earth. When all of Heaven invades the world and humanity with every step, word and deed, the Limitless God opens doors we never believed were there.

[This post now includes the full series, downloadable individually or as a full album.]

Christian Living

When G.I. Joe Stands Before the Throne of God

Chris

One of those famous cartoons of the 1980’s, G.I. Joe was a paramilitary team of experts and super-geeks that fought the forces of Cobra who, like every villain, wanted to take over the world. But after all of the battles and rescues, just before moving on the next Saturday morning classic, the team had a lesson to teach the moldable minds glued to the television sets: “Knowing is half the battle.”

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A boy played with a kite too close to the power lines. Girls were baking cookies and almost reached into the oven without any oven mitts on. Kids were running around in the dark near a busy freeway. One of the Joe’s would step in and help them out, and the children would respond with with, “Now we know.” But knowing isn’t everything.

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Christian Living

Did You Hear the Big News?

Chris

Well, it’s September. That means is a very important time of year. The children are back to school. There’s a hint of Fall in the wind. And an entire subculture of Western civilization sat on the edge of the seats for a big announcement.

We were waiting for it. Sometime back in April or May we started to think about it. Like kids getting ready for Christmas we started to countdown the days. Google searches led us to rumors and hopes. We couldn’t stand the wait. The anticipation almost killed us. Then yesterday it finally came. The big news we waited months for: the launch of Apple’s iPhone 6.

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Unbeknownst to a lot of Apple junkies, there’s a much bigger announcement that continues to ring out around the world. It wasn’t delivered in a keynote speech at a prestigious conference of forward thinkers. There were no headlines when it came out. And just because it’s old doesn’t mean it is less powerful than the latest technology.

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Christian Living, Church Life, Ministry

Calling Off “The Preacher Hunt”

Chris

You have probably found yourself in one of those conversations. The internet is all abuzz because someone figured out that a certain preacher is mixing his theologies. He said something questionable. It’s time to burn all of his books and denounce any pastor or church that has them in its library.

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Maybe you know those kind of people. They scour the internet for everything they can find to discredit a well-known preacher of the Gospel with a mega-church and book deals. To have that many people in their church, so many followers on Facebook or Twitter, they must be watering down the Gospel. “Let’s expose them and tear down their empires,” is the war cry of these people.

I’m hesitant to call them Christians. Sure, they sound like they are sold-out, radical, gung-ho for God and the purity of His Church. But if they were to take some time and read their Scriptures instead of countless articles on the internet, they might be surprised how unbiblical and unChristian they are acting. They are hunting preachers instead of sharing Christ.

Continue reading “Calling Off “The Preacher Hunt”” →