Consider this

 It is not that people do not want to listen. The problem is that the church is talking about things that they do not care about. We need to refine and clarify our message so that it is not only heard, but understood and wanted as well.  

                 We would be shocked if we could hear the Bible for the first time again.   On every page, something unexpected happens.   The only reason we are not surprised is that the stories are so familiar to us.   Think about some of the unexpected interactions that God has had with his people.                For example, every culture has stories about a creator, but none imagined that God would become part of the creation.   That the creator would lower himself and become human is surprising, to say the least.                Not only did he become one of us, but he also came as a baby.   A tiny, helpless, baby!   If I wer...

You cannot earn your salvation. However, we are told that we ought to live lives worthy of it. To get started, here are two areas to focus on.  

 Remembering where we came from, how we got here and the blessings we share.  

                 Almost every culture has a genie-in-the-bottle-type story in which someone frees a being from captivity and is granted three wishes.     Often the wishes go wrong.   For example, the man who asks for a pile of money finds it difficult to know his real friends because everyone wants something from him.   The woman who asks for a life of leisure finds that a life without stress is boring.   The moral is that we do not know what to ask for and that what we think we need may harm us.                I bring this up because our prayers often sound like our three wishes list.   We ask for what we think we need and overlook what would be most beneficial.   On top of that, o...

 We think that we know what we want. However, some of the things we wish for would actually be harmful to us. What we really need is to know what is best for us and how to get it.