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Published by Jeff Kennon on May 22, 2014

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100 Bible Knowledge Questions – How much literate are you of the Bible? This test may help you decide.

Are Youth Groups Bad? A Rant on Bad Research – Research shows that youth groups are bad for our students, right? Not so fast.

10 Characteristics Shared By Great Leaders – I’ve just finished one of the most enjoyable books on leadership I’ve ever read. It’s called View From The Top: An Inside Look at How People in Power See and Shape the World. It’s the result of a remarkable 10-year study of 550 elite American CEOs, senior government leaders, and nonprofit executives. From my reading of the book, I’d like to share with you the 10 factors I picked out that most of these leaders seem to have in common.

Nine Heartfelt Things Church Members Would Like To Say To Their Pastors – Hear these heartfelt words from church members who love their pastors, from men and women who truly desire the best for them.

Satan’s Lies About Prayer – It’s a fair bet that most Christians would see prayer as a vital component of our relationship with God. We can bring our worries and troubles to our Father, we can ask for anything in Jesus’ name, we can be confident in our approach to God because of the blood of our saviour—these are all things we affirm and love.

8 Ways To Comfort The Suffering – “People suffer differently.” So the process of discipling them through their pain will look different depending upon the person you are walking through the shadow lands with.

Why Youth Ministers Need To Be Theologians

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A Theology Of Washing The Dishes

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 21, 2014

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Washing the dishes is such a trivial task, but according to Tim Chester, in his short little book The Everyday Gospel: A Theology of Washing The Dishes, “it represents countless ordinary activities we do each day.”

But though such tasks are everyday and routine, they should be informed by the gospel. This is why Chester writes The Everyday Gospel. He wants to get across that the “Christian faith is for Monday as well as Sunday mornings.” And he uses the simple task of washing the dishes to illustrate how.

For starters, one way that Chester highlights how the gospel works itself out in washing dishes, and every activity we do, is that doing dishes brings joy. It does so because the gospel changes our desires. We want to do what is right and so we now ” find joy in doing the right thing because it is the right thing.”

Chester goes a bit further, however, in explaining how we find joy in washing dishes.

First, we find joy in washing dishes because we bring order out of chaos. Remember the creations story? The earth was “formless and void,” but God brought order (see Genesis 1:1-2).

Having been created in the image of God, we are given that same task of bringing order. “The divine activity of governing chaos,” writes Chester, “ordering what is formless, bringing beauty out of mess, tidying up creation–that task is given to humanity made in God’s image.”

When we tidy up the kitchen, we should feel good about it. And the goodness that we feel is a “divine feeling.”

Second, we find joy in doing the dishes because it serves others. Chester writes that “when I wash up I deny myself. I put others first. I say, in effect, that someone matters more to me than my comfort.” It is when we look outward beyond ourselves that we encounter true joy. We were not made to look inward.

This aspect of serving others in the everyday activities of our lives is a powerful point in Chester’s book. He writes:

Christian service takes place in day-to-day life; its occasion and location is everyday life. Indeed, the church is not a building, nor is it an event. The church is the community of God’s people sharing life–ordinary life, everyday life–at any moment and in any place with gospel intentionality. 

I think sometimes we forget about how the gospel permeates all of life. We know it is important for mission trips, etc…, but as Chester concludes, the gospel “does not only belong to a quiet time and opportunities to share the gospel. It affects every moment, every relationship, every activity.”

“If you do not have an everyday gospel,” writes Chester, “then the gospel will become a formula that you have to crowbar into conversations. But an everyday gospel creates opportunities everyday to talk about Jesus.”

Consider getting a copy of The Everyday Gospel. At only around 48 pages, it’s a quick read.

 

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So Why Are You My Friend?

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 20, 2014

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So why are you my friend? Is it only so you can share Jesus with me?

Have you ever been asked this question? How did you answer?

It’s a hard question to answer isn’t it? The reason is because I know many who have been challenged and encouraged to build friendships with others just so they could share the gospel with them?

What usually happens in these relationships is that you work on building a strong friendship and then one day, you lower the boom and ask them what they think about Jesus. What’s their response? Well, it all depends, but sometimes they may feel set up and ask, “So you’re just hanging out with me because you want me to know Jesus?”

No one likes to feel like a project. So what do we do? Is it wrong to build a friendship with someone to share the gospel?

The answer is yes and no.

No, because to really “love your neighbor as yourself” will cause you to want them to have the same joy you have found in Christ. You will want them, along with everyone else around you, to know of the grace and mercy found in God. Consider these words from Augustine…

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Now you love yourself suitably when you love God better than yourself. What, then, you aim at in yourself you must aim at in your neighbor, namely, that he may love God with a perfect affection. For you do not love him as yourself, unless you try to draw him to that good which you yourself are pursuing.

The answer is yes, however, for several reasons. First, because it can make others feel manipulated. This happens when we wait to bring up anything about Christianity until we are deep into a friendship. We just spring it on them. Why don’t we bring up the topic sooner?

Second, it’s wrong when our goal to share the gospel is not working and we abandon the friendship. What we need to ask ourselves is when someone rejects the gospel, do we continue to be his/her friend?

A final reason it can be wrong is that we have the tendency to pick those most like us or those whose friendships will build our egos. As a result, we tend to ignore people who may be very open to the gospel.

This doesn’t mean that people we naturally get along with don’t need to hear the gospel, but we must be aware that God might bring someone new into our path. And that someone might be very different from us. We need to be willing to befriend anyone who is open to the gospel.

As I think about what it means to share the gospel with others and to befriend them while doing so, I like what Justin Leonard writes in his book on evangelism. His words give us some great encouragement in building friendships and sharing the gospel.

Sharing your faith doesn’t impose itself on others, leaving them feeling resentful and used. It invites people to step beyond a superficial friendship where no one really cares about listening, and to head toward deep spiritual relationship. It’s an approach that makes it safe for people to confide in you and trust you with the truth of what’s going on in their lives, so that your interaction with them becomes like warm oil, bringing healing, peace, and grace, lifting the burdens off their shoulder. 

 

 

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The Expansion of Christianity (a list of articles)

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 19, 2014

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For several days, I have posted about the expansion of Christianity in the first centuries. Below is a list of those posts with a one sentence summary. I have also included a few resources for further study.

The Growth of Christianity in the First Centuries

 The growth of Christianity in the first centuries is quite staggering when looking at the numbers.

The Growth of Early Christianity Among Women

 One attraction to Christianity was it’s treatment of women as equals.

The Growth of Early Christianity & Compassion

One of the major considerations as to why Christianity grew in the early centuries was that it provided help and compassion for those in need.

Despite The Difficulties, Christianity Triumphed

 What were some of the difficulties that the early church faced in spreading the gospel?

God Makes A Way For The Spread of the Gospel

 Was it just a coincidence that Christianity emerged when it did? Or was it divine providence that prepared the world for the birth of Christianity?

Did The Early Church Have A Plan to Grow?

The early church did not have a man-made plan. They walked in the “fear of the Lord” and in the “comfort of the Holy Spirit.”

Resources

The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark

The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark

The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era by James S. Jeffers

The First Thousand Years by Robert Louis Wilken

The Christians as The Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken

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Did The Early Church Have A Plan To Grow?

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 19, 2014

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Did the early church have a plan to grow? Since I have been writing some about the growth of early Christianity (you can find a summation of the articles here), I find it to be an important question.

As I began to think about it, I came across a post by Ray Ortland that grabbed my attention.

He writes…

I remember hearing Michael Green at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in 1974. He asked us, Why don’t we see anywhere in the book of Acts a man-made strategic plan for evangelizing the world? His answer: They didn’t have one.

What then did they have? Two things, for starters: the fear of the Lord, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

In the fear of the Lord, they were teachable, they were humble, they were listening to the gospel, they were open and grateful and easily bendable. They did not have a spirit of self-assurance. They were eager to learn and grow and change in any way the Lord wanted them to.

In the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were gladdened, they felt forgiven, they were reconciled to God and reconciling with one another. They saw their sins and failures, but they also saw the far greater reality of Jesus crucified for them. To put it in a secular way, they couldn’t believe their luck.

Openness in a know-it-all world, comfort in an angry world – that ancient world simply could not resist these heaven-sent powers. So the church didn’t just grow, it multiplied.

Those early churches had no master plan for their future. But they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and it worked.

Church growth takes planning. Let’s do it. But church multiplication takes a miracle. Let’s be open to what only God can do.

When I look at church growth, I have come to the conclusion that there is only so much we can do. Consider what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. He writes:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

According to Paul, it is only God that gives the growth. This does not mean that we do not have a part as we “water” and “plant,” but as bad as we want to, we can’t make it grow. Only God can!!

I’m not necessarily against church growth books or strategies (well,  I am against a few of them), but we need to be careful not to forget to walk “in the fear of the Lord” and in the “comfort of the Holy Spirit.”

If I have learned anything from looking at the early church and their growth, I have learned that God had to have made it happen. True, God used his people, but as Paul writes, we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

 

 

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Stir It Up!

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 18, 2014

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What are you going to do in church today?

The writer of Hebrews helps us to decide…

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Are you going to “stir up” someone to “love and good works?” Are you going to be a catalyst for someone to be “salt” and “light” this week?

It’s easy to go to church and forget about our role. You may not teach a Sunday School class or serve in any “official” capacity (whatever that means), but according to the writer of Hebrews, you have a part to play.

You are to be one who “stirs” things up!!! The phrase “to stir up” is actually a pretty harsh phrase. It has the idea of spurring a horse to get it to gallup. It has the connotation of “provoking” someone.

The writer of Hebrews wanted to make sure that those He was writing to remained in the faith and continued to bear fruit. Therefore, he urged them to “spur one another” to get things going.

This is not always a comfortable thing to do. And yet, sometimes people need to be “stirred up.” We occasionally need people to challenge us to think about what we are doing. There are times in our lives that we need to be kick-started.

So are you willing to “stir things up” today? Or it could be that  you personally need to be “spurred on”?

Do remember that as you “spur one another on,” and as others “spur you on,” it is done for the purpose of producing “love and good deeds.” So stay humble today and be willing to “stir” and be “stirred.”

 

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God Makes A Way For The Spread The Gospel

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 16, 2014

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I was listening to a young man the other day talk about his journey to Christianity. As he began to discuss his life, I became overwhelmed at how God orchestrated events in his life to draw him to Himself. Though this man grew up in a country that is not so friendly to Christianity, God made a way for him to hear the gospel.

Listening to his story, I began thinking again about the growth of the early church and how God made a way for the gospel to spread in those early centuries. Though it is true that the disciples did face difficulties (read here), there were also several things that created a path for Christianity to grow.

Here are a couple of them…

First is the  pax Romana.  Some have suggested that Christianity would have been “inconceivable had Jesus been born a half century earlier.”[1] But due to the control of the world by one power, Christianity entered the world at a time of peace, the pax Romana.

One could travel throughout the entire Roman world by the roads built by the Romans with relative ease and peace from war. Robert Wilken writes that “never before had so many different peoples enjoyed such a measure of security and freedom of movement. As Rome conquered the world, it made the world welcome.”[2]

Second is the spread of the Greek language. While the pax Romana made the “world welcome,” the spread of the Greek language, after the conquests of Alexander the Great, “provided a common language for communication, trade, education, and intellectual life.”[3]

Theologian Michael Green places much emphasis on the Greek language and the spread of Christianity. He writes, “Greek was a sensitive, adaptable language, ideally suited for the propagation of a theological message, because for centuries it had been used to express the reflections of some of the world’s greatest thinkers, and thus had a ready-made philosophical and theological vocabulary.”[4]

Was it just a coincidence that Christianity emerged when it did? Or was it divine providence that prepared the world for the birth of Christianity?

Paul writes that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4). Some have held that this “fullness of time” refers to the items listed above, the pax Romana and the Greek language, and how they made it possible for the gospel to spread. Others believe that “fullness of time” is a specific time period that must be met.

PersonalIy, I think it’s easy to see how God worked in opening doors for the spread of the gospel in the first century. Regardless of how you view God’s sovereignty and days of old working together, we all can agree that God works and moves through history and events.

I write this way because of the story of the young man from the Middle East. Thought its mysterious, God apparently opened and closed certain opportunities for him which eventually, led him to a place to hear the gospel.

Paul asked the church in Colosse to pray for him “that God may open to us a door for the word” (Colossians 4:2). Paul seems to understand that it is God who makes a way for the gospel to spread.

Therefore, maybe we should not only see our salvation as by God’s grace, but also the opportunities we had to hear about it as well.

 

[1]Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church.
[2]Robert Wilken, The First Thousand Years.
[3]Wilken.
[4]Green.

 

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Around The Web

Published by Jeff Kennon on May 15, 2014

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The State of Evangelism – Are Millennials evangelizing more or less than previous generations? What is the future of evangelism?

What Can Miserable Christians Sing? – This article was intended to highlight what I saw as a major deficiency in Christian worship, a deficiency that is evident in both traditional and contemporary approaches: the absence of the language of lament.

20 Time Management Lessons Everyone Should Learn in Their 20’s These are very helpful for those in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond.

Lighten Up Christians, God Loves A Good Time – Challenging ourselves to embrace the sense of fun infused in this world.

Yawning At Tigers – Ignoring the majesty and splendor of God leaves us yawning in the face of a tiger.

A Simple Habit To Set The Tone for Your Day – The thoughts we start the day with can set the tone for our day. We can begin the day grumbling and down. We can kick off the morning worrying or stressed. “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”

Pro Day: L’Damian Washington – Powerful short video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j85Bg4Ecoo#t=34

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