Author: Joe

Keeping Scripture in Context

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

Let’s say you find yourself discussing a Bible verse with a friend, and suddenly he says, “You’re taking that verse out of context!” You didn’t think you were taking it out of context, but how do you know?

The “out of context” claim is often used to stop arguments, but many times with no basis. Yet many times Bible texts are taken out of context and made to mean things which their authors never intended them to mean.

How do you respond to your friend?
How do you make sure that you are not taking Scripture out of context?
And what is context anyway? Continue reading →

Got Hypocrisy?

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

Wired.com had a “Green” eco-friendly article up the other day entitled, American Consumers Not As Enlightened As You Think. Although the article reported survey results and expert opinions regarding the automobile purchases of American consumers, I think the first two paragraphs capture the heart of the article nicely.

Hybrids? Pfft. Clean diesel? Who cares. Americans want cars with iPod integration, photochromic glass and capless fueling systems – whatever the hell those are.

Give people a choice between a fuel-sipper with a map in the glove box and a gas guzzler with in-dash navigation and most of them are going home in the car that tells them how to get there, according to a “snapshot” survey by MyRide.com.

The great thing about this article is that it’s true! Although the mainstream media purports that Americans are converting to “green lifestyles” and leaving behind their misguided fossil fuel habits, their purchasing decisions show the contrary.

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Where does your "energy" come from?

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

FOXNews.com had an article posted yesterday entitled, “Energy Drinks – Do You Drink Them?” It was an interesting article from the “Whole Food And More” blog.

Although some people may drink energy drinks to keep them active and alert, I’d say the drinks are more about an energetic rush mixed with two parts of flavor and a pinch of social status.

Have any of you had an energy drink lately? There’s several (270+) to choose from.

Continue reading →

Being a Nearsighted Christian

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever had a project to complete around the house or at work and at some point during the project you lost your focus on it? What caused you to loose your focus? Distractions? Something more urgent? A lack of desire to complete the project?

Just as it’s easy to loose our focus on day-to-day projects, I think it’s also easy to loose our focus in spiritual matters. My hope is that this article will be the first of many that will show us how we can remain “focused” in living our Christian lives according to God’s will.

Wouldn’t it be great if at the same time we committed our lives to Christ He also gave us the map of his will for our lives?! Unfortunately He doesn’t do that…

Continue reading →

We Must Hear Worthily

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A.W. Tozer wrote an insightful piece entitled “We Must Hear Worthily” (part of his book The Root of the Righteous) in which he says:

It is carelessly assumed by most persons that when a preacher pronounces a message of truth and his words fall upon the ears of his listeners there has been a bona fide act of hearing on their part. They are assumed to have been instructed because they have listened to the Word of God. But it does not follow.

This is very true. How many times can each of us say we’ve sat and listened to sermons and yet don’t recall even the last the we heard; much less say that we were truly taught something that changed the way we live our day-to-day lives?

Now that’s not to say that every sermon has had no impact on our lives because some have! But what is the difference? Assuming that both sermons are taken from the Word of God, what makes one sermon a life impacting teaching and another just another forgotten preaching?

Some would say the difference is all on the part of the preacher; the way he delivers the message; the illustrations he uses in the message; the amount of emotion or humor that is involved; and so on. But I believe there is another element we need to consider…that being the hearer.

Continue reading →

Comments are now working!

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

Hey everybody. I just discovered and fixed a problem on my site that was preventing comments from being entered. So if you’ve had an opinion you’ve been dying to share but haven’t been able to, now is you’re change. Comment away!

If ever you find something on my site that’s not working properly, just drop me a note at joe@titusoneone.com and I’ll get it fixed up.

Thanks,
Joe

I second that!

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

Floating Axhead has a wonderful article called The Wal-Mart Way which does a great job of explaining how the modern church has tried to market itself and failed. The article mentions Wal-Mart’s new slogan of “Save Money. Live Better.” and compares it to the slogan of “Find God. Live Better.” that so many churches have slowly adopted. I fully agree with the article and appreciate Floating Axhead’s candidness on the topic.

Here are some of my thoughts.

Sam Walton may be right in saying, “There’s only one boss. The customer.” but that’s not how the church, the Body of Christ is organized and operated. The customer mindset may be fine for business but it’s not for church. In fact, I believe one of the biggest problems with church today is that people have brought the customer mindset into it. We believe that we are customers and the church is there to entertain us! And when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. People drive up and park there cars in large parking lots, walk into the building (which very rarely has a cross on it anymore), are greeted with warm hands and smiling faces, find a cushioned seat somewhere in the auditorium, and then…the music begins! They’ll have people welcome them from the platform and hand out “up coming events” literature to them. There will be musical numbers sung by the choir and soloists, and eventually, the main attraction — an eloquently delivered message from the minister. This whole time the “customer” has had to put forth no effort except for maybe dropping some money in the offering plate as it passes by. And many of them will only drop in as much as they think the show is worth!

Is this a picture of every church. Absolutely NOT!!! Is it a picture of your church? I hope not. But I know it is for many people.

Continue reading →

What Race are You Running?

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

A simple scan down yesterday’s listing of the FOXNews RSS feeds reveals there was:
1 story about a parrot that could speak English
2 stories regarding pop/tv stars
3 stories about scientific/technical achievements
6 stories about politics/economics
7 stories regarding death/killing/kidnapping
7 stories about war issues
8 stories covering sex acts/sex crimes

Not necessarily uplifting news! But I think Kathy Griffin’s story truly showed the pulse of our society. I’ve included a few snippets of the story below.

Continue reading →