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Is repentance a change of behavior? Or is repentance a change of the mind which leads to the behavior change?

Some words from The Preacher:

Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this. [Ecclesiastes 7:10]

Do you find yourself wishing things were as they once were? I know I do from time to time.  You look back at a time in your life when things were “better” than they are now - when you were more passionate about God, when you preached the gospel more often, when you were skinnier, had more hair, had kids at home, were in college, were dating your spouse, and more. We look back because we have a fond memory of the way things used to be. 

So maybe you have been hearing and seeing of the news now 2 weeks after the earthquake in Haiti and you’ve thought “I should do something.  I should send money.  I should donate something.”  Maybe you have spoken about it with someone close to you about the best way you could help.  But then maybe life got busy again for you.  Maybe your desire to think-through the best way to help has led you to do nothing because you’re just not sure if it will do any good.  Afterall, you can’t give enough to make the pain all go away - so then why do anything at all?

We want to welcome anyone who might be logging on to our blog and website after listening to Servetus the Evangelical on “The Line of Fire.” We want to welcome you to engage with us and check out our resources. Please check out Christian Monotheism a site with hundreds of resources - video, audio & articles - on this subject.

Sean Finnegan’s Truth Matters Radio Show interview with Kermit Zarley can be found here.

Jesus v. Santa

Tell your friends.

Here are some good thoughts from John Piper’s wife, Noel:

Over the years, we have chosen not to include Santa Claus in our Christmas stories and decorations. There are several reasons.

First, fairy tales are fun and we enjoy them, but we don’t ask our children to believe them.

Second, we want our children to understand God as fully as they’re able at whatever age they are. So we try to avoid anything that would delay or distort that understanding. It seems to us that celebrating with a mixture of Santa and manger will postpone a child’s clear understanding of what the real truth of God is. It’s very difficult for a young child to pick through a marble cake of part-truth and part-imagination to find the crumbs of reality.

Something to consider as we approach the winter holiday season.

[thanks to Burnside Writers]

CBS News: Evangelists Target Unreligious New England

In New England, we battle the hard hearts of skeptics while enjoy the open-mindedness of those searching. Engaging our neighbors and communities is important - and there is a way to do it right. Forget the marketing strategies or membership drives, get into conversations with the people you’re around. I think that the challenge facing New England in regards to evangelism and outreach is not in the people who need the gospel, its found in the people who supposedly don’t.

Best line of the article - “That means outreach must be deliberate and personal.” And those reaching out need to move out of the comfort of our church building’s four walls and away from the safety have having our pastors teach those who don’t know the gospel.

Sean and I attended a church service this past Sunday night which got me thinking about the role and function of the church. Certainly we know that biblically, “the church” is not the building, but the people who gather together, be it in a building, a home or on the street who are joining together to worship God, encourage each other and take time to read Scripture, share a message, sing, pray, etc. Different people have different experiences and what they consider the church and I’m not writing this to talk about which version is best, what should be included, removed etc.

In light of last week’s post, consider the following:

Luke 13:6-9 - And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”