Friday, August 26, 2011

Week of Prayer

I am excited to have the opportunity to do a Week of Prayer in Palau where my daughter, Chelsea, is spending a year as a student missionary. I will be leaving September 28th and returning October 10th.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Biblical Illiteracy


Americans revere the Bible--but, by and large, they don't read it. And because they don't read it, we have become a nation of biblical illiterates. How bad is it? Researchers tell us that it's worse than most could imagine.

     Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels.

     Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples.

     According to data from the Barna Research Group, 70 percent of Americans can't name even five of the Ten Commandments. "No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don't know what they are," said George Barna, president of the firm.

The bottom line? Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate.

     According to 82 percent of Americans, "God helps those who help themselves," is a Bible verse.

     A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

     Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.

     A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.

We are in big trouble. As the nation's civic conversation is stripped of all biblical references and content, Americans increasingly live in a Scripture-free public space. Confusion and ignorance of the Bible's content should be assumed in post-Christian America. The larger scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians. Choose whichever statistic or survey you like, the general pattern is the same. America's Christians know less and less about the Bible. It shows.

Recovery starts at home. Parents are to be the first and most important educators of their own children, diligently teaching them the Word of God. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) God assigned parents this non-negotiable responsibility, and children must see their Christian parents as teachers and fellow students of God's Word.

What are you doing to remedy the problem?



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Keeping up with Chelsea


You can follow my daughter, Chelsea, on her blog, Adventures in Palau at http://chelseaaguilera.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 15, 2011

Book Review: Enemies from the Heart by Andy Stanely


“Enemies of the Heart” by Andy Stanley is a republishing of “It Came From Within,” written a few years ago. The book are thoughts from a sermon series preached around that time.

In Enemies of the Heart Andy focuses in on four emotions that seem to constantly overtake us in our lives: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. He goes in depth why a person has a tendency to give in to these four emotions. It is all rooted in our hearts. The things that we say or do actually come from deep inside of us. They come from our hearts. We just filter them most of the time.

The four emotions: guilt, anger, greed, and jealously can the most detrimental to our hearts. Andy gives excellent, practical advice on bringing those emotions out of us so we can confront them. By bringing our guilt out in the open, answering anger with forgiveness, letting generosity stamp out greed, and using celebration to curb jealousy we can overcome these enemies of the heart.

In the last part of the book Andy takes time to discuss lust. He explains that we were created to lust. It has a place within our marriages to be directed at our spouse. This is an issue that we are usually encouraged to stamp out of our hearts. Andy tells us it is an emotion to be managed within marriage.

If you are someone who might be struggling with any of these issues, this book is highly recommended.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Kayaking Rescue


Just recently, I saw this TV show about this British kayaker who capsized in heavy seas off southern England a few years ago.

Mark Ashton-Smith,  a 33 year old a lecturer at Cambridge University, knew he was in serious trouble  when he fell into the ice cold water. He clung to his upturned kayak in treacherous seas off the Isle of Wight.

Fortunately, he had a phone with him, but his immediate thought wasn’t to call nearby emergency services, which were only a mile or two away. Instead, he decided on something different. He told the reporters, “I spent several minutes racking my brains to think of someone who could help and could only come up with my sister and my dad.”
His father Alan Pimm-Smith was training British troops in Dubai 3500 miles away when he got the call from his son. Without any delay, the father called the Coast Guard nearest to his son. Within 12 minutes, a helicopter was dispatched and Mark was rescued.

As I thought about this, here is what came to mind...No matter what kind of troubles you may face, you can always count on God, your heavenly Father, to help you. You call on him and he will help you!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Student Missionary

My daughter, Chelsea, is spending this next school year volunteering as a teacher (2nd Grade) in Palau. If you want to keep up with her, check out her blog at http://chelseaaguilera.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 4, 2011

1 Corinthians 13:11 - “When I was a child…”

1 Corinthians 13:11 - “When I was a child…”

When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought (or reasoned) as a child: but when I became a man (adult), I put away childish things (and ideas). What is the single most important idea about your religious experience that you have changed as an adult?

Unlike Robert Fulghum, author of the book, “Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” many of the ideas that are important to me are those that I learned as an adult.

For example:
1. The distinction between what the bible says and what someone say the bible says is important.
2. Honest, informed Christians differ about the interpretation of scripture.
3. Right doctrine is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
4. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, Baptists, etc…have something to teach us.
5. Having “The Truth” can be a curse.
6. Our relationship to other people defines our relationship to God.
7. It’s is all right to be happy, to have joy.

Something to think about…