Category Archives: Christianity
What is Your Life Centered On?
C.J. Mahaney writes in his book “Living The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel THE Main Thing”
“Each of our lives is centered on something. What’s at the center of yours? Think about it for a moment. What’s really the main thing in your life? Only one thing can truly be first in priority; so what’s at the top of your list, second to none? What are you most passionate about? What do you love to talk about? What do you think about most when your mind is free?
Or try this, what is it that defines you? Is it your career? A relationship? Maybe it’s your family or your ministry? It could be some cause or movement or some political affiliation. Or perhaps your main thing is a hobby or talent you have or even your house and possessions… Read the rest of this entry
Cross-Centered Christmas Worship Song: “Glory Be to God”
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years, I can attest to how frustrating it has become to find songs that are worth singing! There are many out there, but it takes time to find them. Because of this, we have started a new feature at Not For Itching Ears. Each week, we will post one worthy (at least in our opinion) worship song for you to listen to. We will post the lyrics as well as the Mp3 along with a chord chart when possible. This weeks selection is a cross-centered Christmas song called “Glory Be To God.” It is an exuberant and lyrically rich celebration of the Incarnation miracle. Listen to it below. After listening to it, please rate it by taking our quick poll. You will find the poll at the bottom of this post.
Glory be to God on high
Let peace on earth descend
God comes down before our eyes
To Bethlehem
Endless ages wrapped in years
He has come who cannot change
And Jesus is His name
He comes in human form
Being’s source begins to be
And God is born
All our griefs He’ll gladly share
All our sins He’ll fully bear
He will cover our disgrace
And suffer in our place
The Prince of Peace proclaim
Lift your heart and voice to shout
Immanuel’s name
What a work of grace this is
Son of Mary, chosen One
The Lamb of God has come
The Lamb of God has come
Hosanna, hosanna
He is the promised One
Let peace on earth descend
God comes down before our eyes
To Bethlehem
Get the FREE authentic chord chart Here:
http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/downloadFiles.aspx?key=Freef8506d24-81b1-4113-b873-257ebcfa2033
The Centrality of The Bible
John Piper says:
The Offensive, Attractive Cross
“The curious paradox of the atoning death of a bloody Jesus rising above the plane of human history with a mocking crown of thorns is that he is offensive in an attractive way. It is the utter horror of the cross that cuts through the chatter, noise, and nonsense of our day to rivet our attention, shut our mouths, and compel us to listen to an impassioned dying man who is crying out for the forgiveness of our sins and to ask why he suffered… Read the rest of this entry
Will The Non-Conformists Please Rise Up?
In his book The Mindchangers, Em Griffin describes an experiment with groups of 12 people. They were brought into a room where four lines of unequal length were displayed. They had to decide which two were the same length and publicly vote for their choice. Person after person after person (11 in all) voted for the wrong line–because they had all been told to ahead of time. The one individual who was in the dark couldn’t imagine how in the world all these seemingly normal people could all choose the wrong line. When it was his turn to vote, he had to decide, “Do I go with what I know my senses are telling me, or do I go with the crowd?” One third of those tested caved in to group pressure and changed their vote to agree with their peers.
If you have ever been in a similar situation, you know how powerful peer pressure can be. The pressure to conform to the world around us is a constant challenge. That is one of the reasons the Apostle Paul wrote Romans 12:2, which says: Read the rest of this entry
Back to the Future: Sunday Morning Church Service circa 150 AD
In the movie “Back To The Future”, 17 year old, Marty Mcfly, lives a lousy life. His dad, George, a nerdy scaredy cat, and his mom, Larraine, is an alcoholic, who met George through pity, when her dad hit George with a car. All he has ever known is this reality. The only thing that he can do for fun, is hang out with the local scientist, Dr. Emmit Brown (Doc) who has created a time machine. You know the story. Marty goes back in time and changes how his parents meet. In the process everything that was wrong with his life and family is dramatically changed for the good.
When I contemplate the current state of the American Evangelical church, I wish we could get into that DeLorean and head back in time. If we could, perhaps we would be able to intervene at just the right moment so that today’s church reflected God’s design rather than our own. We can not time travel back to the first century, but we can read their documents to see how they understood “Church.” It is good to look at history to observe how things “were”. We often look at how things “are” and assume that’s this is the way things are supposed to “be”… Read the rest of this entry
A 300 year Old Prayer: “All I Want Is To Know and Serve You, Lord”
The following prayer is drawn from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They testify to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. They can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English. but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together…
SERVICE AND EQUIPMENT
Thou God of my end,
You have given me a fixed disposition
to go forth and spend my life for thee;
If it be your will let me proceed in it;
if not, then revoke my intentions.
Seeker-Sensitive Absurdities: “Come to our Church, We’ll Help Improve Your Sex Life!”
A local church in my city recently ran this “Pure Sex” advertising campaign to attract the non-churched to come to their services. They drove around the city with this banner on a trailer. First, I thought it was an advertisement for a porn shop. I was stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it was an advertisement to come to a church.
Does the seeker-sensitive model have no limits? Now our message to the lost is “Come here and we’ll teach you how to have a better sex life?” Is that the message God has entrusted us with? Read the rest of this entry
Top Posts For November
Below you will find links to our top 5 posts in November. Have a quick read and join the discussion!
1. Does God Care How We Worship?
2. When Did “Worship” Become the Singing of a Song?
3. Jeremiah’s Message to Today’s Church Leadership
4. Poll: What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?
Poll: What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?
Over the past few days, hundreds of people have read and commented on our post “Does God Care How We Worship?” As a follow-up to that post, we have created an online poll asking the question: “What is the Most Important Element of Corporate Worship for you Personally?” We hope you will take the time to vote. We will reveal the results in two weeks. About the poll: We understand that we are asking you to make a choice that in the real world you may not have to make. However, for the sake of the poll, we want you to vote for the one thing you just cannot live without in a CORPORATE worship setting. Feel free to comment, or to add an element that is not on the poll. Following Him together, Jim
Does God Care How We Worship?
The past twenty-five years has seen the corporate worship of the evangelical church radically transformed. Throughout the years, the liturgy of the early church and the liturgy of the modern church had been very similar. But that all changed with the arrival of the seeker-sensitive movement that the church has largely embraced. The modern seeker-sensitive church meeting bares very little resemblance to the historical church… Read the rest of this entry
What Are You Thankful For?
Thanksgiving has arrived! If you are like me, you are busy getting ready for the big day. There will be lots of food, visiting family and friends, football, pie and shopping on Friday (I need a new laptop!). With all these activities, it is easy to forget that the whole purpose of the day is to give thanks to God for all he has done in our lives. As Americans, we have a lot to be thankful even in these hard economic times. Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ have the ultimate reason to be thankful. Not just on Thanksgiving day, but every second of every day… Read the rest of this entry
When Did “Worship” Become the Singing of a Song?
The memory is forever etched in my mind. It was a typical Sunday, the service was over. There was a line of people who wanted to talk to me. One of them was our sound guy, who said “Worship was great today pastor! Your guitar solo was AWESOME!” I remember this comment for two reasons. It was the first time in my ministry where I realized that people were equating songs with worship. What he meant was that he liked the songs we played. Even then, I knew that worship was much more than singing or listening to a song. The other troubling part for me was that I did not have any guitar solos, and the guy who thought I did was the soundman! (He had taken too many drugs as a young man, and apparently heard things that were not there. Not good if you are a sound guy. I guess I should be happy he did not imagine a really bad solo, but I digress.) Read the rest of this entry
Sunday Morning Prayer
The following prayer is from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It testifies to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. This prayer and others can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English,but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together… Read the rest of this entry
Cross-Centered Worship: “The Gospel Song”
We have noticed a disturbing trend in the corporate worship songs of the church. Perhaps you have too? It seems that we sing very little about the main point of Christianity. This is largely because the church wants to be more “sensitive” to those who are not Christians. With the best research in hand, we are told that non-Christians don’t really want to hear about sin and guilt and being accountable to a holy God. They also don’t want to hear about a Savior dying on a bloody cross for their sins. To reach them, we are confidently told, we must eliminate these topics from our sermons and our songs. Sadly, much of the Evangelical church has mistakenly signed on to this approach. Read the rest of this entry
Staying On Message (2 Timothy 4:1-8)
Staying On Message 2 Timothy 4:1-8
An exposition of the Apostle Paul’s passionate final message to Timothy. The church must continue to proclaim the message of The Cross even when people will not listen to it. Given in October 2010 at a fellowship in Denver Colorado. Speaker: Jim Greer
Not For Itching Ears!
Not For Itching Ears is a blog dedicated to discussing the serious issues that exist within the American Evangelical church. It is a place for like minded people to share their thoughts on a host of issues relating to this subject. Our opinion is that the church in America is in serious trouble and has lost its way. If you believe that, then this will be an excellent forum for you. Our goal is not to bash the church. Rather, the goal is to bring people together to encourage one another and talk about solutions… Read the rest of this entry
Not For Itching Ears 