Antioch Community Church - Parents, kids should worship together

Antioch Community Church - Parents, kids should worship together

Official Google Blog: Project 10^100

Google announced today Project 10^100, an effort to help people around the world. Quoting from their announcement:

"But what would help, and what would be most helpful? We don't believe we have the answers, but we do believe the answers are out there. Maybe in a lab, or a company, or a university -- or maybe not."

Maybe here?:

Love your neighbor as yourself. - Matthew 22:39b (NIV)

I think that the humanitarian effort with the greatest effect on Earth comes from the untold daily actions of the individual devoted followers of Jesus Christ in their daily effort to serve others with the love and respect. This world would certainly be a far darker place without the love of Christ shining through his servants. On the flip side I think one of the major causes of the world falling into its present dismal state is a failure of the individuals that compose the Body of Christ (myself included) to love their neighbor as well as we should. Imagine the impact we could have if us "westernized Christians" spent a little less time entertaining ourselves and a little more time serving others.

I'm glad Google wants to help people - and I think it would be great if their Project 10^100 was put to use by Christians as a means to serve our fellow man - but the announcement does seem kind of hollow without giving recognition to the ultimate humanitarian act:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - John 3:16 (KJV)

You can't top that one.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13

Pray for the Crimmins Family

The Nathaniel Crimmins family (their parents and my parents and grandparents have been friends for many years) lost their son Micah this week after a long battle with cancer. Micah's story is documented on their website pray4micah.com. Please keep them in your prayers.

Communion

We took communion together as a church for the first time last night. It was clear God was present with us in what turned out to be a great time of worship and remembrance of Christ and his sacrifice as he fortells it in John 6. What's even more amazing, the kids seem to be getting the hang of participating with us!

Check out the photos below:

Great Commission Family

Steve Nelson, a contributing blogger at Great Commission Family has just finished his 40 day quest to share the gospel each day. While I personally believe the best way to share the gospel is by first developing relationships Steve's experiences in evangelizing "cold-turkey" are worth the read. If you have a few hours to spare, take a look at the Chicken Day posts.

You believe what?!? (part 2)

So, if you've read the Introductory Post you have seen the two "wisdom tidbits" (as I called them) that God has revealed to us. Let me stop for a moment to explain that though I call them widsom tidbits, any wisdom found in them is certainly not from our own thinking, but from Gods. I have searched the recesses of my mind and found them to be utterly devoid of wisdom apart from that which I have obtained from God :)

Now, previously I posted about the first of these two tidbits. You can find that post here. In this post I want to talk about the second one: Dads and Moms have a God-given responsibility to disciple their children. Let's start by looking at what God has to say. Just prior to the Israelites entering the Promise Land, they assemble before Moses. He reads them the 10 commandments, and then tells them this:

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. - Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NIV)

Much later, Paul reiterates this point in his letter to the Ephesians:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. - Ephesians 6:1-4

Proverbs is perhaps the key piece of evidence for this point. Not only does it mention repeatedly that parents are to discipline and instruct their children, but the majority of the book of Proverbs was written from Solomon to his son for the purpose of discipling him and instructing him in the Lord.

As parents, we are given a huge responsibility! One we can't afford to take lightly. This is one of the key reasons why we have chosen to homeschool. By doing so we have the opportunity to spend most every day - each teachable moment - with our children...not merely educating them in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but training them to walk as Jesus walked. As parents, there is nothing more critical then training your children to be like Jesus: not your job, not your ministry, not your financial status.

Take a look at the story of Samuel as a boy if you need evidence of this. Eli the priest had failed to properly disciple his sons as children, and they grew into adults who, though they were priests (by lineage), failed to honor God. Because Eli was still unwilling to step up, correct them, and lead them by example, God brings judgement upon his household:

Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel. I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family, from beginning to end. I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God and he hasn’t disciplined them. So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.” 1 Samuel 3:11-14 (NLT)

A chapter later Eli and his sons die. Now, I'm not saying that God will deal with us as harshly. Eli and his sons were priests and were supposed to lead the nation of Israel in service and devotion to God. The punishment for our sins has already been paid by Christ's death on the cross. However, God does not take it lightly when we ignore this responsibility.

Let me take this a step further: Can we fulfill our responsibility to train our children as disciples of Christ when they are spending the majority of their time in a government school that not only fails to teach them about God but in many cases teaches principles that are opposed to God's Word? I won't go so far as to say the answer is no (as I know a few families who have taught true discipleship to their children despite their schooling) but I do think the answer is Not Easily. I'm not pushing for legalism here...there is no verse in scripture that says "Thou shalt not send thy children to public school.", but I do think it is a subject that every Christian parent should evaluate carefully. If you reasons for sending your children to be educated by the government are selfish, due to finances, feelings of inadequacy, or the inability to get along with your children then it is likely that you are missing God's best, both for you as a parent and your children.

Family Driven Faith

I recently finished Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. This book is like a punch to the gut of modern American Christianity. If you have ever heard of Voddie Baucham before I'm sure you are aware of his ability to "tell it like it is". This book is pretty controversial, but a lot of exposure of Biblical Truth goes on within its pages.

Voddie challenges fathers to step up and take their roles as leader of their households. More than just "taking charge", fathers should be spiritual leaders that disciple their children well, lead their families in worship, and teach their families and others to approach life with a Biblical worldview.

I recommend this book to all professing Christians (it is not written just to men), though be prepared to be challenged far beyond the norm. In the words of Voddie: "If you can't say Amen, you ought to say ouch!"

Rained Out

So, we had a picnic planned for our church group down at the ranch Monday night instead of doing house church on Sunday evening, but heavy rain off and on all day Sunday and Monday put an end to that idea. Maybe we will try to picnic again this upcoming Sunday if things dry out before then.

In other news I drove to Denver over the weekend to pick up our new 12 passenger van (well, new to us anyway). It is so much more roomier than our mini-van! We put the kids at opposite ends of each bench seat and proceeded to have the quietest ride to church ever since they were too far apart to poke at and annoy each other :).