Blog Archives
John MacArthur: “To Be A Christian Is To Be A Slave of Christ”
What is a Christian? What does it mean to be one? How should Christians order their lives? What priorities should captivate and compel those who call themselves Christians? In our day, it seems many who call themselves Christians are confused about this. Several months ago, I embarked on a study of the descriptive terms used in the Bible to describe Christians. I hypothesized, that understanding those terms, would shed much light on what it means to follow the Savior. I was right. It was a very nourishing exercise.
Would it surprise you to learn that the word “Christian” is one of the least used terms in the Bible to describe those who follow Christ? It occurs only three times. The two most common terms used to describe followers of Christ are: Disciple and Slave/Servant.
In his new book, “Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your identity In Christ”, Dr. John MacArthur focuses on the term “slave.” I was hooked by the end of the first page. Here are some great quotes from the book:
“When we call ourselves Christians, we proclaim to the world that everything about us, including our very self-identity, is found in Jesus Christ because we have denied ourselves in order to follow and obey him. He is both Savior and our Sovereign, and our lives center on pleasing Him. To claim the title is say Read the rest of this entry
Worship Leader Make-over: Laying the Foundation
To this day I believe I was set up! Those who know the truth, may one day come forward and acknowledge what they did. Until then, I will never know for certain.
I was a young Christian, and had just arrived at my second visit to what we called “Mini-church.” It was a home-group, but back in those days, they were very uncommon and this one had 40 people in it.
During my first visit, someone found out I played guitar. Ten minutes before the start of this second meeting, one of my new-found friends approached me with the con: “Jim, our normal guitar player is not going to be here on time, would you mind playing guitar during worship tonight?” Yeah, I would mind , I thought. I don’t know any of the songs, and I don’t have a guitar. Practically reading my mind, he told me that the regular guitar player had “just happened” to leave his guitar at the house we were meeting in and I could use his. Without waiting for my answer, Mike handed me the guitar and pointed me to the back room where the singers and the flute player were running through the songs. I was trapped with no means of escape.
How did it go? In my opinion, it was a horrible train wreck. I did not know any of the songs, and the charts were absolutely no help! So I winged it. Everybody could tell! When the meeting was over, Cathy (the flute player) asked me if I would like to be the regular guitar player. Now I ask, does that seem like a set up to you?
For some reason, I still don’t know why, I said yes! That is how I got started leading worship. Twenty-four years later I have led worship all over the world… Read the rest of this entry
Not For Itching Ears 