The Power of Prayer

I just found this article today on Yahoo News:

Pastor prays over deposit slip, gets $1.5M gift
Tue Dec 9, 9:14 pm ET
LONGVIEW, Texas – A $1 million bank deposit slip wish by a Longview minister to pay for a new church came true — and then some. The Rev. Thomas McDaniels of LifeBridge Christian Center said a businessman, who chooses to remain anonymous, wrote him a $1.5 million check.
Members of LifeBridge, which formed in 2005, had met at a Longview hotel. Their new church opens in a few weeks.
McDaniels described on Monday how in January 2007 he took a bank deposit slip and wrote $1 million, "meaning that one day someone would give us a million dollar gift."
The minister, who prayed over the deposit slip, said a business owner Dec. 2 asked how much was needed to pay for the church.
McDaniels said $1.4 million. The benefactor's check included an extra $100,000.
McDaniels says, in these economic times, that "the Lord wanted to show his power."

I wonder what would have happened if his whole congregation prayed over that deposit slip... What an amazing story of God's provision. What would God do if we prayed

Love Your Neighbor

Recently there has been a new addition to the neighborhood and I can't be more pleased. Her name is "Black Puddy." I don't know what her real name is but she looks something like this:

(Actor's portrayal of Black Puddy.)

She is very sweet and friendly and loves people. She lets me pet her and even tries to get on my lap when I sit on the curb. She is a little purring machine! I lament the fact that I have only been able to meet up with her just a short while before I move.

Ok, so what does this have to do with anything? I realized how much I love acceptance by this little cat. But I am not alone. We all crave love and acceptance from other humans, if not cats as well.

Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Do you crave love and acceptance? Of course you do. Then we also need to love and accept others as we would like to be loved and accepted.

I would like TCCBC to be a church that when a new visitor comes, he or she is made to feel like part of the family. Let's not allow ourselves to think that it's someone else's job to make people feel welcome at church. It all starts with YOU.

I challenge you to ask God to open your eyes and let him see as he sees when it comes to visitors to our church. When you begin to notice people standing by themselves with no one to talk to, then you will know that God is bringing you an opportunity to bring someone love and acceptance.

Celebrate Diversity?

As I was driving to church today, I saw a car with many, many politically themed bumper stickers on it. One sticker caught my eye. It was a white sticker with just two words on it, with each letter being a different color. It said plainly, "Celebrate Diversity."

But what does that mean? What I think the owner of the car meant was, "Differences between people should always be accepted and even celebrated." The irony is that people who generally like to celebrate diversity on that level can only celebrate with like-minded people. If you don't happen to believe that all diversity should be celebrated, you will probably not receive any invitations to their afternoon tea parties.

But God's people really do need to celebrate diversity - but within limits. God made us all different and we need to celebrate those differences. We have different personalities, likes, dislikes, gifts, talents, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, etc. There is room for diversity in the church. Even minor theological differences not explicitly addressed in the Bible can be overlooked between brothers and sisters in Christ.

What the church cannot celebrate is diversity in explicitly stated Biblical teachings, otherwise known as orthodox theology. Some of these would be who God is, who Jesus is, how he wants us to live, how to be saved, etc. When the church deviates from the teachings of God, you can be sure that it is actually deviating from God himself.

God's people need to be God's people; doing things his way or no way at all.

Life in the Middle

Do you struggle with your faith? Maybe you want to quit but having tasted the truth can no longer revert back to a sinful life in peace. Yet you know that you will never be a "Super-Christian" and experience a life that transcends the mire. You are stuck.


Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason tells the story of a conversation he had with a woman in a similar situation:


She had a deeply discouraging sense of being "in between." She said, "I'm a Christian, so I can't go back and enjoy it [I call that the "Christian curse," by the way]. But I can't reach the level of spirituality I think is required of me, so I can't enjoy my Christian life either."


Are you looking for an answer to that dilemma? Koukl has put together some points that will help you. It's pretty long but you can read his response here.

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross!

Young Amir and Baba

Another big theme in The Kite Runner has to do with the courage to do what's right. Amir's father, Baba, is an activist that will stand up for others even at the cost of his life. Ironically Amir proves himself to be the complete opposite, shying away from challenges, with self-preservation as his main concern.

I could identify with Amir, as I recognize how tough it can be to stand up for what I believe. The world we live in can be a difficult place for God's children. To believe in the morality set by God is considered backward and outdated, even hateful.

So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

As appropriate as the last paragraph is for our times, the interesting thing is that it comes from Isaiah 59:14-15, written over 2500 years ago! How did God respond back then?

Isaiah 59:16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

God saw that his people were helpless and hopeless and came down and took care of business himself! I believe the same principle applies today. Even though sometimes the enemy seems too strong, when the time is right, God will make everything all right.

But until that time, we as Christ-followers should strive to live as God would have us, despite the cost to us personally. Let us rise up to the challenges set before us as we serve our God with our best!

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:24-27

Is It You, or Just a Brilliant Disguise?

I have been having an online discussion about political and spiritual matters with a friend. One of his recurring arguments against Christianity is the hypocrisy of Christians. Basically we don't practice what we preach.

Because the standard set by God for us is perfection, no Christian will, this side of heaven, live in a way that is absolutely consistent with his or her belief all the time, every time. Does that mean that all Christians have no choice but to be hypocrites then?

Merriam-Webster defines hypocrisy this way: 1: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not ; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion

2: an act or instance of hypocrisy

Believing in a standard but failing to live up to it does not automatically constitute hypocrisy. Otherwise the only people on earth, Christian or otherwise, who are not hypocrites are those who have no standards.

The key word is "feigning." Hypocrisy is pretending to be something you are not, or acting like you believe something that you really don't. Assuming that you are genuinely trying, failing to live up to a standard is just that - failure, not hypocrisy. Hiding the fact that you are a sinner is hypocrisy.

In order to overcome the hypocrisy label, Christians must do two things: 1. live as consistently with the standards of belief as possible 2. be honest about the difficulties and failures trying to live that life. Maybe then the fallacy of having to be "good" before setting foot in a church would fall as well.

What Now?

President-elect Barack Obama

Now that the dust has settled and the election is over, some might say that any hope that Christians may have had about turning our country's moral compass back to God seems to be fading fast. If you think that, you'd be wrong.

Maybe new laws will be enacted and liberal judges might be selected, thus taking our country farther away from God's idea of morality than we feel comfortable with. Maybe it's past that point already for you. But I would challenge you to rise up child of God, as the ball is now in your court.

Even if _______ (insert unGodly law here) was here to stay, but hypothetically speaking, if everyone in this nation were to live according to God's ways, the "rights" we have under our federal and state law would be moot.

What that means is this: now more than ever you must live in a manner worthy of your calling. You need to shine God's light and love in the darkness on an individual level. You need to be praying for people and sharing the Gospel! You can no longer hide behind your "conservative" candidate to do God's work on a national level for you.

And if at times you get really hopeless always remember this: Even the worst of governments and rulers (and I'm not saying ours falls into that category) could do nothing to stop God from accomplishing his will.