"And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness"
-Acts 4:31
When Christians are bold, great things can happen for the kingdom of God. But more often than not, modern Christians choose NOT to be bold, and stay within their comfort zones. I think that this is a huge part of why the church is so idle these days. If we decided to be bold and act on what God calls us to do, amazing things would happen.
The Bible has lots of examples of what can happen when people decide to be bold for God. One of my favorites is Simon-Peter. He, like many modern Christians, loved Jesus and claimed that he would not fall away, even if everybody else did (Matthew 26:31-33), but when hard times came, he ran away and tried to blend with the crowd (Luke 22:54-55). But after Jesus was raised from the dead, something happened to Peter, HE BECAME BOLD! He began to do amazing things, such as bringing 3,000 people to Christ with ONE sermon (Acts 2:14-41) and giving a lame man the ability to walk (Acts 3:1-10). This time around when the hard times came, our friend Peter stuck with Jesus. He preached the message of Jesus even though he knew he would suffer for it (Acts 5:21-41)!
God can use you to do amazing things, just like He did with Peter, if you will be bold enough to act on what He is telling yo to do. Will you be bold?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Idol Worship
"You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third an the fourth generations of those who hate Me"
-Exodus 20:3-5
When you hear the word "idol", what comes to your mind? Bad singers? An English guy who never has anything nice to say? A statue made of gold, silver, or stone?
Webster defines an idol as "a representation or symbol of an object of worship" (www.merriam-webster.com). Since early Bible times, people all over the world have created "gods" out of wood, stone, and other materials, and would bow down in worship. As strange as this concept may seem to us today, we in some ways do the exact same thing every day. I think that most of us have something in our lives that we "bow down" to and "worship". This looks different for everybody. For some, it could be a boyfriend or a girlfriend. For others, it could be money, celebrities, our even themselves! Sometimes we take something of this world, and put it where only God should be.
This is a HUGE problem! The Bible says very clearly that we are supposed to worship God, and serve Him only (Matthew 4:10)! Why in the world would we put anything before God? Is that really something that we want to do? I can tell you that it's not something that I want to do, because the Bible also says that people who commit idolatry WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Galatians 5:19-21)! In fact, it says in Revelation 21:8 that idolaters belong in "the lake the burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death"! If that doesn't scare you, then I don't know what will.
In the end, each of us has a choice to make; God, or our "idol". We must pick one or the other, because we cannot have both.
-Exodus 20:3-5
When you hear the word "idol", what comes to your mind? Bad singers? An English guy who never has anything nice to say? A statue made of gold, silver, or stone?
Webster defines an idol as "a representation or symbol of an object of worship" (www.merriam-webster.com). Since early Bible times, people all over the world have created "gods" out of wood, stone, and other materials, and would bow down in worship. As strange as this concept may seem to us today, we in some ways do the exact same thing every day. I think that most of us have something in our lives that we "bow down" to and "worship". This looks different for everybody. For some, it could be a boyfriend or a girlfriend. For others, it could be money, celebrities, our even themselves! Sometimes we take something of this world, and put it where only God should be.
This is a HUGE problem! The Bible says very clearly that we are supposed to worship God, and serve Him only (Matthew 4:10)! Why in the world would we put anything before God? Is that really something that we want to do? I can tell you that it's not something that I want to do, because the Bible also says that people who commit idolatry WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Galatians 5:19-21)! In fact, it says in Revelation 21:8 that idolaters belong in "the lake the burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death"! If that doesn't scare you, then I don't know what will.
In the end, each of us has a choice to make; God, or our "idol". We must pick one or the other, because we cannot have both.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A Little Bit About Me...
Hey everybody out there in cyber space! Before I start posting too much, I should probably tell you a little bit about myself, and my vision for this blog:
I am 17 years old (at the moment) and I live in Minnesota. I am a born again Christian who lives to do the will of God. I am also a Vikings fan (SKOL VIKINGS!), a brother, a son, an Information Technology student, and a friend. I love to hang out with my friends, use computers, and serve God in any way that I can.
Recently, God has been speaking to me and giving me messages that I feel need to be shared with the world, and I decided that this would be a good place to start. Everything that you will see on here will be something I am personally struggling with, or something that God has put on my heart to share with you. Please pray that I will be able to hear what God wants me to say.
Signed,
Cityonahill
I am 17 years old (at the moment) and I live in Minnesota. I am a born again Christian who lives to do the will of God. I am also a Vikings fan (SKOL VIKINGS!), a brother, a son, an Information Technology student, and a friend. I love to hang out with my friends, use computers, and serve God in any way that I can.
Recently, God has been speaking to me and giving me messages that I feel need to be shared with the world, and I decided that this would be a good place to start. Everything that you will see on here will be something I am personally struggling with, or something that God has put on my heart to share with you. Please pray that I will be able to hear what God wants me to say.
Signed,
Cityonahill
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