Go Ahead, Believe What You Want To

Isn't it interesting that the term One way is such a dirty word? Well, two words. I read a book by John MacArthur over the week end. It is called Why One Way? it is a short book, my favorite kind. Pastor MacArthur gives some points On why it is so important for the church not to back down from teaching that doctrine. If the gospel is the truth, it cannot be shared as truth by other world views or philosophies. John 14:6 was spoken by Jesus to His closest followers. He told them that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Later, Peter said in a sermon that there is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Although the book is written to the church and Christians in general, this particular chapter hit home to many of our non-believing friends who have that philosophy of it is okay to believe in whatever you want to. That is very dangerous for anyone to think that. There is so much to hang our thoughts and beliefs on that any one can jump on the next best thought or world view and get further from what will ultimately save them from eternity seperated from God. But is also a call to Christians to not allow those thoughts to permeate our friends' minds. To parphrase an old saying, true friends should not let non-believing friends live in unbelief. Friends on the surface are those who thinks like each other. A good friend is one who lets you believe in what you want and supports you in your beliefs. A True friend will not allow you to not live without the Gospel. To my tolerant friends within the church, who feel that being liked by the community and getting along with others is so important, take a good look into your heart. Is being liked more important than sharing the gospel? Then you are in the wrong business. To my friends who have not experienced the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will hear much more from me and hopefully your other friends who are followers of Christ.

These are not my words and I apologize to the person who I clipped this from... As a general rule, I try and avoid making trips to Wal-Mart. If I have to go, however, besides the pure entertainment value in people watching there, I inevitably end up getting frustrated at the check-out counter due to combination of a long line and my short attention span. We have a Super Wal-Mart near our home, so when I go to check out, there are about sixteen lanes at the front of the store to make the process as efficient as possible. The problem is, that for whatever reason, nearly every time I go there are only two of them open. Sure, there are those self-service lanes, but no one ever uses those because they know that they don't work. Instead, there usually are about twelve of us (somehow it always works out that everyone finishes at the same time) that end up waiting in those two lanes and we're all thinking the same thing. "Open up some lanes!" All too often I feel that same frustration when I look at the state of church planting today. Again, I aplogize for clipping this, however, these are the thoughts I have had for a very long time. In this age of competition, churches often make me think of the frys, Safeway, Wal-mart competition in the Phoenix area. go big or stay home. This is how we do super market shopping. I am so happy that people are recognizing that big is not always the best. That the larger the store does not always mean that the store is better. Because when it come to checking out... taking the goods and making them work, there are just not enough check out stands and the frustrations forever out weigh the positive. I knwo church is not about good feelings and frustrations, but the fact is that churches need to make each "patron" a disciple and not a satisfied customer.