How can we get more people into our church?

You can not will someone into Heaven and you cannot save someone. No one is saved. It is sad that in America we tell people to come forward, say a prayer, and accept Jesus into their life. It's a joke. We, as Christians, are not called to save souls. We do not have the power to do this. Only Jesus Christ has this power. Our calling is to spread the gospel of the word of God. The goal of the American church is that of a business, it's all about numbers. How can we get more people into our church? Outreach isn't about sharing the gospel, it's about glorifying ourselves.
D. Platt

Kehendak bebas yang menentukan?

Apakah yang menjamin ketika di pagi hari kita bangun dan kita tetap beriman kepada Tuhan? Apakah keputusan terletak di dalam manusia yang menentukan “Saya akan tetap beriman hari ini” atau, “Saya tidak mau beriman lagi kepada Tuhan”, apakah manusia mempunyai andil dalam hal menentukan apakah dia akan terus dipelihara oleh Tuhan di dalam Yesus Kristus.

Adakah “kehendak bebas” dalam diri manusia untuk menentukannya? Justru karena saya tidak punya “kehendak bebas” Dia senantiasa ‘muncul’ dalam kehidupan saya, ketika di masa-masa sukar, ketika di masa-masa saya akan sangat mudah sekali untuk menyangkal Tuhan sebagai Juruselamat saya, justru karena Kedaulatan Allah sepenuhnya akhirnya Dia yang mempertahankan orang-orang pilihan untuk tetap di dalam Dia, sekalipun mereka berjalan di dalam lembah kekelaman.

Radical

What do I really want for this life?

I once asked a friend this question: "What do you really want for this life?" Is it to be happy? Is it to be loved? Is it to be number one in your area of expertise? Is it to be good at everything, or at least at something?

We are living in the post-modern society, where people only embrace what they think is good and satisfying for them, so as long is good and is satisfying, everything don't really matter anymore.

As for me, I can't even answer that question - even when I have enough money, good career, nice place to live, family to love and everything that I possess will still not sufficient enough to answer the question. For in the deepest of my heart I know those stuff cannot be my ultimate things to have in this life.

So, I should be asking to myself this instead "What does God really want in my life?" - is to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. By writing this article doesn't mean I will always glorify and enjoy Him everyday, there will be times where I won''t glorify Him at all or times when I feel more satisfying to soak in earthly things rather than God. Oh, how we desperately need You, to keep us in You.

Marriage is not...

Marriage is not a human's invention to make you happy. So if it's not making you happy anymore you just discard it. Marriage instead was invented by God to sanctify you. Tim Keller

Divorce is not God's invention to make you feel devastated. Divorce instead was invented by human but still it won't stop God to sanctify you. AT

"Orang Kristen" lebih egois?

Sering mendengar cerita bagaimana orang mendapatkan kekayaan dengan cara pergi ke "gunung" yang dianggap keramat dan dapat mendatangkan kekayaan jika kita mempersembahkan korban ke sana. Banyak cerita, bahwa mereka dapat kaya tapi hanya waktu di bumi, upah mereka dikatakan akan menderita di neraka, saya tidak tahu kebenarannya sampai mana, yang pasti walaupun kita tidak ke "gunung" keramat tersebut semua orang juga seharusnya masuk neraka.

Sedangkan banyak orang yang mengaku diri "orang Kristen" tahu dalam Kristus ada keselamatan di Surga, dan selama di dunia ini mereka juga ingin menikmati kekayaan dunia. Bukankah hal ini lebih egois, kalau jadi Kristen pasti diberkati jadi kaya, tidak bakal mengalami kecelakaan, hidup bahagia di bumi dan akhirat, punya keluarga yang penuh damai sejahtera. Apakah benar hanya hal-hal yang bersifat sementara yang menjadi akibat kita menjadi pengikut Kristus, jika hal-hal yang bersifat material itu diambil dan kita tidak memilikinya apakah kita tetap akan mengikuti Kristus?

Apakah Kristus hanya menjadi 'orang tua' seperti di gunung keramat hanya saja lebih menjamin kita di kehidupan setelah kita meninggal? Apakah Kristus hanya menjadi satu pribadi yang kita pakai untuk memuaskan segala nafsu daging kita? Apakah pribadi tersebut benar-benar Kristus? Apakah kita benar-benar dapat dikatakan Kristen, jika kita hanya datang kepada Kristus hanya karena untuk mendapatkan apa yang menjadi keinginan kita?

Dismembering an Idol

In Luke 19, Zacchaeus the tax collector was converted. He vowed to give back fourfold to anyone he had defrauded. Imagine a conversation he might have had when returning the money.

* * *

"Dad, there's a man at the door. He said his name is Zacchaeus."

"Zacchaeus!" Judah's face flushed with sudden anger. "What does he want?" Under his breath he muttered, "The little vermin." His young daughter didn't need to hear that.

"I don't know."

Judah moved brusquely past his daughter, clenching his jaw. If the little weasel even hints at more money, I swear… a thunderstorm of violent thoughts broke in his mind.

When he saw Zacchaeus he exploded, "WHAT?" Zacchaeus reeled slightly from the verbal blow.

"I'm here to return something to you, Judah."

"What do you mean?" The words sounded more like "Get out of my sight!"

Zacchaeus held out a small moneybag. Judah was suspiciously confused. This man had robbed half of Jericho collecting taxes for Tiberius. No one was more conniving and slippery with words. Fearing some kind of set-up, Judah didn't move.

"What are you doing, Zacchaeus?" The cynicism hissed through Judah's teeth.

"I'm dismembering my idol."

Judah's fiery glare turned to stony bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

"Judah, I know how strange this must sound. And you have every reason not to trust me. I'm here because I've defrauded you. I've charged you more taxes than Rome required and kept them for my wicked little self. I know that you and everyone else knows that. But now I've come to ask your forgiveness for sinning against you like that, and to make restitution. That's what's in this bag."

Zacchaeus held it out again. This time Judah tentatively took it. He looked inside. "There's a lot in here. It's got to be more than you overcharged me."

"Yes. It's four times what I overcharged you. I've got all the records, you know." Zacchaeus smiled.

"Why are you giving me four times what you owe me?" Judah's distrust was not dispelled.

"I'm keeping a vow. I promised Jesus that I would repay everyone I defrauded fourfold."

"You mean the Rabbi Jesus? You know him?"

"I do now. He's in town, as you know. And the other day I wanted to get a glimpse of him. But being, ah, short-legged, I figured the only way I'd see him was from a tree! Wouldn't you know, as Jesus passes by he stops, looks up at silly me in the sycamore and says, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.'"

Judah gave him a puzzled look.

Zacchaeus said, "I know, I know! I was as shocked as anyone! How did he know my name, right? So Jesus and his disciples come to my house and in a matter of minutes my world falls apart and comes together."

"Falls apart and comes together."

"Judah, when I was a boy I was in awe of what I thought money did for people. It seemed to open all the doors to power and pleasure. So I vowed to myself that whatever it took I was going to be rich. And I kept that vow. Back then I had no idea how empty being rich would be. But up till two days ago, I figured it was still better than the alternative.

"But as I sat in my home with Jesus and his disciples, who have nothing, nothing but God—Judah, I've never seen happier people in my life! And as Jesus spoke, it was like his words were alive. My heart burned with a longing for God I had never felt before! And a deep shame that I traded him for money.

"Then it hit me like a cedar beam: I'm poor, not rich! They had God; I had a dead idol: money. They were rich; I was no more than a beggar. They were free. But the only doors money ever opened for me led to dungeons. My world, as I had known it, fell apart.

"And there sat Jesus, looking at me as if he could read me like a scroll. Everything in me just wanted to follow him. I wanted the forgiveness and salvation he's been preaching about. For the first time in my life I wanted God more than… anything! Suddenly, it was like life never made more sense. Before I knew it I was on my feet vowing in front of everyone that, well, that I would dismember my idol."

"Give away your money."

"Right. Well, some of it is your money."

This time Judah smiled.

Later, Judah's wife found him staring at a small moneybag on the table.

"What's that?"

"A tax refund."

"A what?

"I think we need to go hear Rabbi Jesus."

"Rabbi Jesus? Why?"

"I think we're poor."

* * *

Some of our idols need to be dismembered for us to be free of them. Jesus knows what they are and how to help us see them. It may feel like we are losing our world to lose them. That's okay. Jesus said, "whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 16:25).

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" (Jim Elliot, October 28, 1949).

Dismembering an Idol: "Dismembering an Idol from the Desiring God blog."

I'll be generous when...

2 Cor 8:1-2
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part

Some people might say - "Of course I will be generous when God gives me more wealth, more blessings and more money. The reason I'm not a generous person because God hasn't prospered me abundantly" My respond: "It's baloney!!! Churches of Macedonia were generous not from their prosperity, but it came from their extreme poverty and their abundance of joy - grace of God had enabled them to do so"

If life were stable

"If life were stable, I'd never need God's help."  Francis Chan