Home About 5:16 Club Forum Contact

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Are You Relevant With The Message?

"If you preach the gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time-you are not preaching the gospel at all." Martin Luther

"I find it refreshing that Jesus Christ met people where they were. His words touched nerves...He met people as they were, not as they "ought to" be. Angry young men, blind beggars, proud politicians, loose-living streetwalkers, ignorant fishermen, naked victims of demonism, and grieving parents were as clearly in His focus as the Twelve who hung on His every word." Chuck Swindoll

I simply argue that the cross be raised again
at the center of the market place
as well as on the steeple of the church,
I am recovering the claim that
Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral
between two candles:
But on a cross between two thieves;
on a town garbage heap;
At a crossroad of politics so cosmopolitan
that they had to write His title
in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek...
And at the kind of place where cynics talk smut,
and thieves curse and soldiers gamble.
Because that is where He died,
and that is what He died about.
And that is where Christ's men ought to be,
and what church people ought to be about.

-George MacLeod

I'm meditating on Matthew 10:16-42 today. I want to be relevant.

10 comments:

Muthering Heights said...

That last quote is awesome!

Larie Carlice Proverbs 27:19 said...

Hey, do you have anything that expounds on Chuck Swindoll's quote?

smooches,
Larie

Larie Carlice Proverbs 27:19 said...

Hey, do you have anything that expounds on Chuck Swindoll's quote?

smooches,
Larie

Kelli said...

WOW! Powerful! Thankk you!

Nimmi said...

I love your blog, the encouragement you give, your faith. Reading your posts helps me to keep up my daily quiet time with God. Your posts are so inspiring and often I write them down in a special notebook I bought. This I carry in my purse and whenever I have some "waiting-time" I read through it.
Tomorrow morning (it is already 10 pm in Germany) I will mediate over Matthew 10 - such strong words.

Mikki said...

WOW!!

What a powerful post. Thank you.. Thank you.. Thank you..

Carrie said...

Thought provoking! I've been meditating lately on the verse about not being ashamed of the gospel. I didn't think I was (I am a missionary, afterall), but the more I thought about how I avoid the subject in the presence of certain company, the more I realized my own weakness.

I want to be so sold out to Christ that my life shines of His grace!

Kind Regards,
Carrie

Anonymous said...

I thought this post was very powerful. We sometimes forget that Jesus was crucified in a nice, sterile environment, but was crucified in a bloody, dirty garbage heap. But remember, when the Gospel is read with candles on both sides, this represents that the Gospel is the light of the world. We are to preach Christ crucified as St. Paul said, hence the crucifix hanging over the reader. But while we remember his sacrifice, it would be for nothing without the resurrection. We must remember that as well.

(Sorry, didn't mean to run off at the mouth!)
God bless!
Rhonda

P.S.: Love your blog! Keep up the good work!

Heathahlee said...

Our pastor is passionate about this, and it's contagious. I have changed my thinking so much since I was a little girl brought up in a change-then-you-can-come-to-church church. Love it.

Penelope said...

What a beautiful post! Found you through scoutle, and happy I did :)