Key Verse

2 Timothy 3:5

⁵They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that.

Something To Think About

If you are a fan of the TV show, American Idol, the name William Hung most likely rings a bell. He became the face of the thousands of people who tried out for the show who couldn’t sing. My theory on why William Hung became so popular is that he truly didn’t know how bad he was. He honestly thought he was a good singer while the rest of world could hear otherwise. (Not to mention that his dancing was entertaining!)

Why did he become this cultural phenomenon? Is it that people like to see others make fools out of themselves so that they can feel better about themselves?

When you think of the “ideal” family as presented in today’s culture, what comes to mind? Two successful professionals, 2.5 kids, a dog, a large home in the suburbs, the kids involved in numerous activities outside of school. Church every Sunday. Everything is hunky-dory. Not a care in this world! Right?

That is the image that a lot of this world tries to keep up. We have the false ideal that we try to live up to and I suspect that for most people, it is a fragile shell. That is why watching William Hung sing “She Bang” is such a relief for us. For that brief moment, we can watch someone else completely make a fool out of themselves and we can forget about the facade that we have built up around our self.

Now think about what the world thinks about Christians? Let’s look at a few recent examples:

• Rev. Pat Robertson advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez
• The preachers wife who just shot her husband.
• The priests that molest boys.
• Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart affairs.
• People who in Christ’s name bomb abortion clinics.
• How about the guy at the office who surfs porn on the Internet and gets fall down drunk at the company picnic but is known to be a deacon at his church?
• How about the woman who teaches Sunday school, attends Bible Study faithfully, but then gossips, spreads rumors, acts selfishly and betrays their friends?

As Christians, we need to be real.

Jesus gives us the freedom to be real.

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we can come to Him and confess our own sin. We can be assured that we are forgiven, plus, we can be confident that He will continue to transform us into holiness. Will we ever be perfect? Not while we are here on this earth, but that is the point. Because we are followers of Christ, we can knock down the unreal facade and bare our ugliness to Christ so he can cleanse us from our sin. Then we will be able to say to the world, “Yea, I’m sinful but look at what God is doing in my life.”

That’s reality.

Let’s Discuss

What did Jesus think of hypocrites? (Matthew 23)

Since Jesus gives us the freedom to be real, does that give us a license to sin? (Rom 6:1-2)

What are the benefits to you by being real? (Gal 5:22-23)

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If you would like a printable copy of this devotional, we have provided one here.

A 21^st Century Christian must know how to cope with real life situations and issues.

This is Pastor Bart Wilkins presenting the fourth message in our 21st Century Christian series entitled “Being A Christian In This Age Of Reality”.

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Key Verse

Matthew 28:19-20

¹⁹Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Something To Think About

Who are you to judge me? Where do you get off telling me that I am wrong? Don’t push your morality on me! You’re just a bigoted homophobe. That might be your belief but it’s not mine. You should just accept everyone’s belief. How can she call herself a Christian acting like that? She is such a hypocrite.

How many times have you heard things like this? Maybe you’ve even said some of these things yourself. In today’s world, we are constantly pressured to just accept everything. The new definition of tolerance today means avoiding offending someone. This often times flys in the face of Biblical truth. So, how do we as 21st Century Christians speak truth in today’s climate of tolerance?

The first thing we have to remember is that people won’t understand the truth until they know the Savior. We should always be ready to share Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection for them when they are ready to hear the message. Look at the key verse once again. It’s actually two parts. Part one says to make disciples of all nations. The second part says to teach these new disciples to live like Christ. If we reverse that and tell people that they have to live like Christ before they believe in Him, nothing else we tell them will make sense.

Most importantly, along with truth the second thing we need to practice is love. We must learn to embrace everyone while not embracing all beliefs. We need to learn how to listen to and learn from all people without necessarily agreeing with them. We must aggressively practice love by actively seeking to promote the good of another person.

So how do we do this in the real world?

When Tolerance says, “You must approve of what I do.” Love says, “I will love you, even when your behavior offends me.”

When Tolerance says, “You must agree with me.” Love says, “I will listen to and learn from you without necessarily agreeing with you. I will speak the truth because I believe the truth will set you free.”

When Tolerance says, “You must allow me to have my way.” Love says, ” I will love you even though I know you’re way isn’t the right way. When you are ready to receive it, I will tell you about the right way.”

A principle that I say frequently is, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Purposefully develop love relationships with those people around you think are the farthest away from Christ. Through your love, following Jesus’ example, you will have an impact on them.

Let’s Discuss

How do you respond when people say, “You can’t legislate morality!” or “Don’t force your morality on me!”

Why is it important to belong to a group of Christian friends as it relates to tolerance?

Jesus said, “Don’t throw pearls down in front of pigs.”_{(Mat 7:1-6)} What did he mean by throwing pearls down in front of pigs and how does it apply to our topic of tolerance?

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If you would like a printable copy of this devotional, we have provided one here.

A 21^st Century Christian must know how to present God’s truth in a culture that only values grace.

This is Pastor Bart Wilkins presenting the third message in our 21st Century Christian series entitled “Being A Christian In This Age Of Tolerance”.

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Key Verse

Jude 1:3-4

³Dearly loved friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the truth of the Good News. God gave this unchanging truth once for all time to his holy people. ⁴I say this because some godless people have wormed their way in among you, saying that God’s forgiveness allows us to live immoral lives. The fate of such people was determined long ago, for they have turned against our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Something To Think About

Not to long ago, I was visiting with an old friend. Over lunch one day, we started talking about the various events that had shaped our lives since college. The subject eventually came around to my relationship with Christ. When I mentioned to him that long ago, I had a decision to make on where I was going to end up when I died, he made a comment that really got me thinking. He made the statement, “You get to heaven by generally being a good person, following the rules and not hurting anyone, right?”

Another day, I read a quote from Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, a member of Chicago’s Council of Religious Leaders. He said, “I am always fearful when we in the Christian Community move beyond the rightful claim that Jesus is decisive for us, to the presupposition that non-Christians…are outside God’s plan for salvation.”

How many times since the start of the Gulf War have you heard, “Islam and Christianity have the same god. They are essentially the same. Why can’t we all just get along?”

These are just some of a growing example of the pluralism that we live in today. Many people equate the human peace that we all want with the peace that God gives us. We are encouraged to all get along and that any belief is OK as long as you believe in something. Pick and choose from a wide variety of belief systems and work out your own feel-good faith.

Christians in the 21st Century need to be able to defend their faith by developing a strong foundation in what the Bible says about these faith challenges. That is why it is important to remember that there is nothing that we can do on our own to achieve what Jesus’ blood on the cross achieved for us. By His supreme sacrifice, we gain our salvation for all of our sins. Other religions are man striving to be good enough to gain perfection and peace. This is in contrast with Christianity. God demands perfect justice for the sins we commit. Since there is nothing we can do to achieve this perfection, God sent His Son, who is perfect, to die for all of our sins and securing a place with Him for eternity.

Let’s Discuss

2 Corinthians 11:3 says: “But I fear that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to Christ, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent.” How can you prepare yourself to be able to defend yourself from deception?

The idea that there are different ways to heaven is not new. We see from our key verse that Jude dealt with this issue in the early church. How can we be sure that there is only one way to heaven?

Even in Christian circles, there is debate on whether the Bible is the true Word of God. There was a program on the History channel recently entitled, “Banned From The Bible”. It was a discussion by various “religious leaders” about the current Bible and some other “gospels” that were left out. How do we know that the Bible we have today is the true Word of God?

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If you would like a printable copy of this devotional, we have provided one here.

A 21^st Century Christian must know how to develop a solid theology in a society that’s trying desperately to water everything down.

This is Pastor Bart Wilkins presenting the second message in our 21st Century Christian series entitled “Being A Christian In This Age Of Plurality”.

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Key Verse

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

^1bYou think that everyone should agree with your perfect knowledge. While knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really builds up the church. ²Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. ³But the person who loves God is the one God knows and cares for.

Something To Think About

As I write this, I can use the Internet that gives me access to over 50 translations of the Bible, numerous commentaries on the Bible written by a bunch of dead guys that were much smarter than me. If it wasn’t all Greek to me, I could read the original New Testament manuscripts, preserved forever on CD-ROM. If there is a particular subject that I am interested in, I can search Amazon.com and find a long list of books written on the subject. I can cross-reference any word in the Bible with a click of the mouse. If I get tired of reading, I can download podcasts from churches all over the world. I can turn on the satellite TV and get 24 hour Christian programming. Needless to say, I am not lacking for information on God.

During Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were the real religious people. They knew the Law. In fact, in order to make sure that people didn’t break the Law, they would make additional rules for people to follow. They treasured knowledge and encouraged debate on the Law. To make sure they always had something to debate, they practiced the tradition of zuggot, or pairs of scholars with opposing views. They had all the knowledge and missed the Savior.

Jesus often times called them hypocrites. One day, one of the more knowledgeable Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking him what the most important commandment was. Jesus’ answer gives us an idea of where He placed knowledge in the matter of eternal importance. Matthew 22:34-40 provides us with the account.

In his answer to the Pharisee, Jesus didn’t speak of knowledge or keeping any law. He spoke of Love. Loving God first, others next.

It doesn’t matter how much we know about God if we don’t know God.

Let’s Discuss

Does your salvation depend on how much you know?

Proverbs 4:7 says, “Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And whatever else you do, get good judgment”. Discuss if this is contrary or in agreement with Jesus’ answer to the Pharisee.

Discuss the following statement: “Since I can’t see God, it is important for my salvation to know as much as I can about Him.” Is this statement supported by our key verse?

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If you would like a printable copy of this devotional, we have provided one here.

We have so much information, so much knowledge about God that we often forget to know God. Information is dangerous. Knowledge is overrated.

This is Pastor Bart Wilkins presenting the first message in our 21st Century Christian series entitled “Being A Christian In This Age Of Information”.

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