The Pope was smiling broadly as the shirt was handed over – he’s known as a keen football fan but isn’t thought to be switching allegiance from his hometown club of San Lorenzo, or the Argentine national team.
Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.
Frustrations are to be expected in any pastorate. Today we discuss six of the most common frustrations pastors face when revitalizing or replanting.
Some highlights from today’s episode:
In almost every church, there is some need for revitalization.
“We will do whatever it takes to turn around our church” usually means “we will do whatever it takes as long as we don’t have to change.”
If your focus is on what you don’t have in your church, you’ll fail to appreciate what you do have.
Strangely, your biggest early supporters in a pastors often turn into your biggest critics later on.
The six common frustrations we discuss are:
Unrealistic expectations
Perceived lack of resources
Lack of peer support
Supporters who become critics
Members who leave
Family challenges
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
Biblical Worship is the foundation for church revitalization. Biblical worship leads us to listen to Jesus and in listening to Him he will reveal His plan is for his church. The North American mission board is pleased to present a revitalization worship summit August 26 and 27 at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta Georgia. Leading the Summit will be Thom Rainer , Mike Harland the director LifeWay worship, Jared Wilson from Midwestern Baptist seminary Along with guest musical artist Andrew Peterson. This summit will feature main conference sessions and specialized breakouts focused…
Christian Activist Fined $55,000 for Calling Transgender Woman a Biological Male
Christian activist William Whatcott must pay $55,000 to transactivist Morgane Oger, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ordered this week.
According to the Vancouver Sun, $35,000 of the fine is compensation for a flyer Whatcott published when Oger ran for office in 2017 and the other $20,000 is punishment for Whatcott’s behavior during a hearing in December.
“Society is full of people with diverse views and the Tribunal’s decision undermines the foundational principles of the free society and jeopardizes the health of Canada’s democracy,” he said.
In 2017, Whatcott printed 1,500 flyers with a photo of Oger that described the candidate as a “biological male” and said she was promoting “homosexuality and transvestism.”
“Thankfully Jesus Christ paid the price for your sin,” the flyer said. “You can turn to the merciful Christ and ask for forgiveness and when the (National Democratic Party) come knocking at your door you can tell them, you won’t vote for them because you believe in God’s definition of gender and marriage.”
Oger lost the 2017 election by 400 votes but asked the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal to investigate Whatcott’s actions. He claimed the flyer was an act of religious…
Six hours after tickets went on sale, the film had already surpassed the number of ticket sales in the first twenty-four hours for the previous record holder, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Both AMC and Fandango experienced crashes that kept fans from buying tickets. “I have never seen anything like this,” tweeted Fandango’s managing editor.
Why is the latest Avengers film already such a phenomenon?
We have always needed heroes or, more specifically, a Hero. From our beginning, humans have been creatures dependent on our Creator.
C. S. Lewis: “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other….
By him (Jesus Christ) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name (Hebrews 13:15).
Just as the priest offered sacrifices of burnt offerings and incense in the Old Testament, today, we offer sacrifices of praise to the Lord with the fruit of our lips, which are the words we speak in praise and thanksgiving to Him. The underlined expression, “giving thanks” is the Greek, “Homologeo”, meaning to make confessions; making confessions to His Name.
Our sacrifices of praise are with words, and they transcend statements like, “Lord, I give you praise.” For it to be a true sacrifice of praise to God, it must be mixed with substance from your spirit. You must have definite reasons for praising Him, and then voice those reasons. Your Praise of Him must have content. In other words, you’re to consciously praise and thank Him in the Name of Jesus, for specific reasons.
The sacrifices of praise are confessions, declarations, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that you render to Him for His love, grace and goodness towards you. They also refer to tributes or speeches that acknowledge and celebrate His majesty; confessions of His Word that we make to glorify Him. These confessions are the fruits and calves of our lips—words from our mouths that give glory to God.
Therefore, when making confessions, say beautiful things about the Lord and give testimonies of His wondrous works. Proclaim what He has said about Himself and about you: “…for he hath said…So that we may boldly say…” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
As you make those confessions in Jesus’ Name, He (Jesus), as our Great High Priest, presents them before the Father, who receives your praise and worship as a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. Hallelujah!
PRAYER Blessed Father, how great and glorious you are! You’re the only true and wise God, who reigns and rules in the affairs of men. To you, O Lord, be all glory, honour, majesty, dominion and praise! Thank you for making my life beautiful and filling me with your glory, righteousness and peace, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY: Hosea 14:2; Hebrews 13:15 AMPC
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Luke 11:1-13 & Judges 1-2
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Matthew 27:45-54 & Leviticus 6
Rhapsody of Realities 6th April 2019 Devotional was written by Pastor Pastor Chris Oyakhilome (D.Sc., D.D.). President of Loveworld Inc. aka Christ Embassy Int’l.
Dana Abdullah stabbed Avan Najmadiein 50 times last October.
Before the attack, he discovered the 32-year-old mother-of-four children under the age of eight, had refused to support his application to remain in the UK.
Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association told Premier there are countless people in the UK who can relate with this story.
Speaking during Premier’s News Hour, he said: “We recently wrote a report for the hate crime inquiry on Islamophobia so that we could show the other side of the coin, where much of the persecution of apostates in this country is based on a real hatred for those who quit Islam.
“And if you think of Nissar Hussain who suffered 17 years of persecution, where he had his car smashed at least six times a year, which amounted to thousands of pounds.
“The house next door to him burned down in an attempt to burn him out of his house also. And also he was beaten so badly that he was hospitalised for 14 days.
“The poor man had to escape with a four police car entourage away from Bradford to a place of safety. It really is an atrocious situation.
Abdullah had previously been deported after being convicted for a child sex offence.
After killing his estranged wife, he handed himself into a police station after the attack, but only to admit being a “failed asylum seeker”.
Church splits aren’t quite as prominent as they used to be, but they can still be a problem for some churches. Today, we discuss nine reasons for them.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Churches that split are more likely to die than those who don’t because of the negativity that comes along with the split.
If someone has been part of several church splits, it’s likely they could be part of the problem.
“Inactive church member” is an oxymoron.
An entitlement mentality is almost always found in churches that split.
The nine points we discuss are:
A church that has split is likely to die.
The negative community impact of a church split is great and enduring.
The majority of church splits focus on the pastor.
Church splits typically originate from power groups in the church.
Some church members have actually been a part of several church splits.
Church splits are typically preceded by inactive church members becoming active members.
Church splits are more likely to occur in “country club” churches.
Atheist Group Threatens Suit over Mississippi ‘In God We Trust’ License Plates
A national atheist group is threatening to sue the state of Mississippi over a new law that makes license plates declaring “In God We Trust” the default plates in the state.
The American Humanist Association’s legal center sent a letter April 4 to the attorney general and the commissioner of the department of revenue, saying atheists and humanists should not have to purchase a specialty plate in order to avoid conveying the message.
Unlike other states which offer only a specialty “In God We Trust” license plate, Mississippi’s plate is standard and issued to every driver.
“We hereby demand written assurances that steps will be taken so that Mississippi drivers can, without paying any additional charge, display a state-issued license plate that does not make a theistic affirmation,” the letter says.
Ideally, the letter says, that would include a new plate design for the entire state. Alternatively, though, a neutral plate should be made available to those who desire it.
“Mississippi’s law violates the First Amendment rights of atheists in accordance with firmly settled Supreme Court precedent,” said Monica Miller, American Humanist Association senior counsel. “The Supreme Court has made clear that the state cannot force motorists to display an ideological message they deem unacceptable on their license…
RCCG Holy Ghost Service April 2019 – Swimming In Glory 4
You are watching the RCCG Holy Ghost Service April 2019 tagged “Swimming in Glory 4” with Pastor E.A. Adeboye ministering LIVE from the Redemption Camp, KM 46-48, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.
Theme: Swimming in Glory 4
Time: 6:00 PM [17 HRS GMT]
Date: Friday April 5th, 2019
Venue: Redemption Camp, KM 46 Lagos Ibadan Expressway, Mowe, Ogun State Nigeria.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye is the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries.
Israeli Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient Second Temple-period settlement linked to Abraham. The find, in the city of Beersheva, revealed a rare lamp chard with a nine-branch menorah, one of the earliest ever discovered. Other artifacts include limestone vessels used for purity rituals, bronze coins, a watchtower, and underground tunnels used by Jewish rebels.
The site was uncovered while construction was underway for a new neighborhood in the southern border of what was the Kingdom of Judah.
Archaeologists are particularly interested in the remnants of the oil lamp.
“This is probably one of the earliest artistic depictions of a nine-branched menorah yet discovered,” excavators Dr. Peter Fabian of the Ben-Gurion University in the Negev and Dr. Daniel Varga of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said.
According to Israel Today, the archaeologists noted that of the few lamps found featuring a menorah none are seven-branched, likely in keeping with a Babylonian Talmud ruling that only the menorah in the Temple could have seven branches. Lamps for domestic use have between eight to eleven branches.
Click here to read more. Source: Christian Headlines
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
