Promo: “Losing Your Religion” from North Point Media on Vimeo.
Sunday, August 16 Andy Stanley will begin a new series entitled Losing Your Religion.
Why am I writing a post about it?
Because this new series is also the kick-off of North Point Online.
Go check out their site and tune in Sunday nights at 6pm eastern/5pm central.
When a pastor/speaker says something along the lines of, “I had another message prepared, but I really feel God leading me in a different direction, because someone needs to hear this.”, does it mean that God changed his mind on the message He gave to that speaker, or does it mean the speaker didn’t spend enough time seeking God’s will for that message?
I mean, if God is all-knowing, doesn’t He already know who will be in a particular service?
Another question: why is it that one worship leader/team has to do two or three “warm up” songs to get the congregation (and maybe themselves) pumped for worship, and then segueway into the slower stuff before God really even begins to move in the service, yet another worship leader/team can have a two song worship set and God is moving and people are in His presence from the first chord?
Seven days ago I announced I would be authoring a post on alcohol. I didn’t expect much response (at least not until I published the post), but within a few minutes of tweeting that announcement I was getting responses on both Twitter and Facebook. While the response has been all positive, I have discovered that writing the post itself has been more difficult than I ever imagined. I thought I could just outline the three major positions on alcohol in Christianity (moderation, abstention and prohibition), list the scriptures that each position uses for support and debunk any myths fabricated by each position, all while remaining objective and not contributing to the already wide chasm between each group/position.
Simple, right?
Not really.
Because the more I research, the more I realize someone will get offended, which is not my intention. I never set out to please everyone, but I don’t want to alienate people either. As Steven Furtick has said:
“A lot of people like to use the Bible to fight their own individual wars on culture.”
I don’t want to be that guy. My intention is to open up discussion, because I see that lacking in Christianity. So it’ll be a bit longer before you see my post on alcohol and the church. I want to be sure that I write nothing carelessly, no matter how truthful or right it may be, because I would then be no better than that guy. I’m constantly reminding myself of the following:
“In the essentials we need unity, in the non-essentials we need freedom; but in all things we need love.”
- Rupertus Meldenius
