Tag Archives: sin

Nov 23 2010
44 Comments
Baptism, Personal Growth, Preaching, Resources, Sermons, Teaching, Theology

More from Francis Chan on Repentance, Baptism, & The Holy Spirit

A few weeks ago in this post I shared a short clip from the DVD teaching aid accompanying Francis Chan’s bestselling book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God.

In the clip, Francis articulated his struggle to base his  beliefs strictly on the written word, and not on what others fed him outside of it. His conclusion from reading scripture only: if you want to become a Christian, you shouldn’t walk an isle and pray a prayer, you should repent, be baptized, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Honestly, he is the first leader outside of Restoration Movement churches I have ever heard say or teach this, and I was quite shocked to hear him do so (so were many others as revealed in the ensuing discussion). In the Restoration Movement, we’ve been teaching this for many years, and have taken much heat and been accused of many unkind things for doing so. It’s encouraging to me to see at least one ‘mainstream’ evangelical leader in agreement with us, and, at the risk of sounding pretentious, with scripture!

One commenter (Tyler Ellis – a campus minister friend) directed me to further teaching from Francis on this subject, and that teaching is what I would like to share with you today.

I encourage you to watch this lesson, take a few notes, and share your thoughts in a comment. This is the simplest, best lesson on repentance, baptism, and the Holy Spirit I’ve heard in a long time, and would love to hear what you think about it. It’s 39 minutes long, and well worth watching.

Here’s the video (if you’re reading this in a feed reader or via email subscription, you may need to come to the actual website to see it):

Love to hear from you. What do you think about this?

Thank you to Tyler Ellis for the sharing this with me.

For more teaching materials and study aids by Francis Chan for use in your ministry, go here. To access archived sermons by Francis Chan at Cornerstone Church, go here.

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May 03 2010
2 Comments
Devotional Thoughts

What if every sin you committed showed up as your Facebook status update?

And it did so instantly and in real time? Woah.

Can you imagine status updates like this?

  • ___________ just stole money from the cash register at work.
  • ___________ is drunk, and cussing out his neighbor.
  • ___________ is viewing pornography and ___________.
  • ___________ is attempting to sleep with a guy she met at a club.
  • ___________ is pridefully thinking he’s better than everyone else while he reads Facebook status updates.

Were it this way, would you be more addicted to Facebook than you already are?

Shame on you! (but I might be too).

I don’t know why this thought about sin showing up in status messages struck me, but it did and I caught myself thinking, “Man, I’d be a lot more careful!”

Now I have to ask the question … why?

Psalm 139, Matthew 6, many Proverbs and other Scriptures remind us that God sees everything, and He’s the only one that ultimately matters.

So your sins show up as your Facebook status updates in real time. Everyone sees. What difference should that make?

If you’re a disciple of Jesus … none, but you know it would.

Being aware that others really know what’s going on in our lives causes us to be vulnerable in a way we’re not with God. Perhaps we take His omnipresence for granted. Perhaps we’ve written off the old saying, “God sees all,” as a mindless cliché. Perhaps we don’t really believe He notices everything we do.

Regardless of the reason, there’s something about knowing another person is aware of our sin that causes most people to want to get over it and stay over it.

Years ago I struggled with an addiction to pornography. I knew God saw me and what I was doing and I knew I was dishonoring Him by my actions. I tried numerous times to get over this sin on my own, but I couldn’t do it.

It wasn’t until I got others involved that I broke the habit. I confessed my struggle to a few of the guys at church, and told my newlywed wife what was going on. Then I took it a step further.

I bought a calendar, hung it on the wall in a room of our house, and told my wife that each day I stayed pure in that area I would mark an ‘X’ on the calendar for that day. I knew that every day my wife would see that calendar, and I decided I was not going to disappoint her.

That added layer of accountability helped me heal from that sin. With God’s help and the help of others I’d confessed my struggle to, I healed from an addiction to pornography.

While most of you would find Facebook reporting your sins involuntarily to be horrible, have you ever thought about sharing your struggles with someone else … voluntarily?

It could be that’s the missing ingredient in the recipe to help you truly get over it:

James 5:16
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Confession and the prayer of others = healing.

I found this healing the Bible speaks of … and I didn’t even need Facebook to confess my sins for me.

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Oct 04 2009
2 Comments
Leadership, Missional Living, Resources

Dan Kimball: “If tradition gets in the way of mission, then it’s a sin!” Does Jesus agree?

Check out these comments from Dan Kimball:

Have you ever witnessed a local church holding on to traditions that kept getting in the way of their God-given mission to seek and to save the lost? Any examples you’d like to share?

Dan makes a bold statement: “If tradition gets in the way of mission, then it’s a sin!”

Watch the video and tell me what you think – is he right or wrong?

I believe Dan is right.

In fact, he echoes Jesus’ own words in Mark 7:1-13 (cf. Matthew 15:1-6):

Mark 7:1-13
1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and
2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed.
3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.
4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
9 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),
12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
(NIV)

Look at that – Jesus said in verses 7 & 8 , “Their teachings are but rules taught by men … You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men,” in verse 9, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commends of God in order to observe your own traditions,” and in verse 13, “You nullify the word of God by your tradition …” 

Wow!

And is this still an issue today? 

Well … ?

Is it always easy to distinguish between manmade traditions and the will of God? Why or why not?

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