“You’re either a leader or you’re a follower.” I don’t think that’s a true statement. I think it’s possible to be neither: that makes you a wanderer. Part of the frustration of leading others is trying to lead them, but they refuse to follow along. As a leader, you are always aware that you could be doing a better job leading. So when others don’t follow, it often confirms that you should be doing a better job. “If only I was a better leader, then I would see better results.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that. After all, in my “profession,” there are many pastors who I perceive to be much better leaders than myself, and in all cases, they are able to develop maturer (is that a word?) disciples of Christ than I see myself doing. I have a lot to learn about how to lead people along in their walk with Christ. But on the flip side of the coin, I don’t think it’s always the fault of the leader that others won’t follow. It doesn’t only require a great leader, but willing followers. And sometimes, a leader cannot do anything more to help followers who refuse to follow. And if followers refuse to follow, can they even claim to be followers? That is the question for those of us who call ourselves Christians–followers of Jesus. Are we following Jesus? If not, not only can we not call ourselves leaders, we can’t even call ourselves followers! We are wanderers. Churches feel obligated to have some sort of follow-up plan in place when people make decisions for Christ. Yet, I stumbled across these words from the late Keith Green a few days ago: In my studies of the life of Jesus, it has amazed me that He never had “a follow-up program.” It was usually His habit to let people “follow Him up.” He never had to go door to door, looking for that fellow who He healed last week, wanting to share another parable or two. He always seemed to have the attitude of, “If they want life, then they’ll have to come and follow Me.” What if we had more of that approach...

88 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming Back in ’88 Harold Camping is just the latest in such a trend to say when Jesus is returning. And everyone is dismissing his prediction, not surprisingly. Of course, it concerns me when someone thinks they know the day or the hour when Jesus himself said He didn’t know it when He walked this earth. I guess some people interpret Jesus’ words, “You will do even greater things,” to mean they can know things that even Jesus didn’t know… But there is one thing that concerns me even more about the silliness of such a prediction: It seems to me that people, even Christians, should be cautious about what exactly we dismiss. Jesus is indeed coming back, and it could very well happen on May 21, 2011. It could happen today. It could happen several thousand years from now. When people wrongfully predict Jesus’ return, it’s like the boy crying wolf. There is a danger that people will dismiss the very notion that Jesus is coming back at all. Jesus says, “When I return, will I find faith in the world?” He is indeed coming back. People are making all sorts of jokes about how to prepare for Jesus’ return on May 21. But being prepared for His return is no joking matter. While I think it’s great to poke fun at such a silly prediction as Camping’s, we must be diligent to separate that from poking fun at merely the idea of Jesus returning on May...

(If you haven’t already, read Part 1 and Part 2 first.) Jesus promises us abundant life and promises to be with us always, even unto the end of the age. It should not be hard at all to be a disciple of Jesus. Yet there is one group that Jesus says will find it very difficult to be one of His disciples. Rich people. At one point, he alludes to it figuratively in the Parable of the Sower. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature (i.e. produce fruit). But at another point, He flat out says: Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me…How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. –Luke 18:22, 24-25 I find it interesting that Jesus doesn’t treat us all “fairly” like the government does (or ought to do) with taxes. Jesus doesn’t say, “Each of you should give me 10% of what you own.” That would make it more of an even playing field for everyone, regardless of how much they owned. If you were poor and only had $100 to your name, you’d only have to give $10. While the person who has $1,000,000 to their name would have to give $100,000. (Interestingly enough, the “tithe” doctrine has convinced too many church-goers that God asks for 10%, and let’s us keep the other 90%. Because of this and many other reasons, I’m not convinced tithing is a New Covenant principle.) Instead of asking for a certain percentage from us, Jesus makes it so difficult for rich people. He asks for everything from everyone. To the person who only has $100, this isn’t as difficult as the person who has $1,000,000…that is a tall order. To the person who has a shabby home, giving up the home is much easier than someone else who is...

(Read part 1 first, if you haven’t.) So I’m supposed to lose everything in this life in exchange for Jesus…are we saying that I must quit my job, sell my home, give away all my possessions in order to be a disciple of Jesus? Why wouldn’t you be willing to do so? Wouldn’t you rather follow Jesus than have all that stuff? No? If you wouldn’t be willing to lose it all for Him, then do you really know what a treasure it is to know Jesus? It’s very clear in Scripture that Jesus called people to give it all away in order to follow Him. Why would it be any different now? The fact is, I think Jesus is calling every one of us to give it all away. Even if God wants you to keep your present job or keep your present money for the time being, it is only for the time being. It isn’t yours anymore. Jesus has a plan in place for how to spend it all. The same is true for your very life. For example, if God asked you today to die for Him, some might say, “Could you do it? Could you die for Jesus?” But a disciple of Jesus would say, “I already died when I was baptized. It is nothing to die for Jesus today.” If God asked you today to quit your job, some might say, “Could you do it? Would you be able to trust God to provide for you and your family?” But a disciple of Jesus would say, “Since the day I confessed Jesus as Lord, I have been trusting God to provide for me and my family. This is no different. I’ve already given this job over to the Lord years ago.” Whatever things were yours before you became a Christian, they are no longer yours. Jesus now owns them, because Jesus now owns you. You have already sold everything you own to Jesus, and He has bought them. He is now free to do with them as He wishes, just as you were free to do with them as you wished before becoming a Christian. And I have a hunch that what Jesus...

These next three days are what life is all about. They were the pivotal moment in earth’s history. The importance of what happened cannot be overstated. The importance of what happened should not be understated. And yet, because of the way us Christians live act speak demean misconstrue ignore sleep reject waste fear rebel judge abandon deny cower confuse neglect so many people will carry on today with life as normal. They will… eat drink be merry laugh drive work entertain shop sell build party learn vacation worry win lose write speak carry on as if life is all about this world, and God is just an afterthought. Yet, God sent His Son into the world. Out of weakness, He suffered. Out of love, He died. And in power, He rose again. I wish I had the words to convey just how incredible, true, and powerful Jesus’ death and resurrection really is. As a pastor, I feel it is my duty to somehow get it through everyone’s heads what this all means. But I keep coming up short. I can’t do it justice. I just wish that everyone understood. I wish that instead of mocking, they would kneel. Instead of dismissing, they would confess. Instead of ignoring, they would come face-to-face with their Creator and receive His forgiveness. I wish that all that Jesus did would have a much bigger effect on the world. I wish it would have a much bigger effect on us Christians and on those who have yet to believe. As C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity…presents us with something knottier–a God so full of mercy that He becomes man and dies by torture to avert that final ruin from His creatures, and who yet, where that heroic remedy fails, seems unwilling or even able to arrest the ruin by an act of mere power.” Oh, that we might all come to the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. That God might be able to peel through the many layers of our hearts that prevent us from standing bare before the truth. If that were to happen, today would indeed be a good...

So now what? I find it funny that so much effort is being utilized to convince other Christians that there is indeed a hell. I’ve devoted several blog posts on the issue since leaving my former church. At times, I’ve grown frustrated in this endeavor, since Jesus and Scripture talk very clearly about its existence. I feel like I’ve written more about it than ought to be necessary. I wish we could stop debating its existence and move on to the implications. It’s like continually debating with someone whether there’s a God or not. There is, so let’s move on to what that means for our lives. This morning, I woke up to discover that David Platt (author of the book Radical) gave his take on the Rob Bell / Robbed Hell controversy. (Man, there are so many plays on words to make regarding this controversy, LOL.) Check out his video response here. His response reminded me of the same conclusion I came to myself when faced with people who laughed at me for my convictions regarding the Gospel and the reality of hell. Read it here. Like I said at the conclusion of that post, Christians have three options when it comes to the reality of hell: Reject the idea of hell, because it is too intolerable to believe any longer Somehow convince ourselves that everyone around us going to hell is tolerable Find it intolerable that everyone around us is going to hell, and do something about it Today, I’ll add a fourth option that is very similar to #1: Believe that there is a hell but that very few people are going there (just the “really, really bad” people throughout history that we don’t want to see in heaven). Sadly, that’s the opposite belief that Jesus taught (few are on the narrow road, and many are on the road to destruction). The lack of evangelization in my life is as disconcerting as those who reject the idea of...