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How to Get to Know Your Neighbors

By Sam Riviera
11 Comments

How to Get to Know Your Neighbors

neighborsDo you want to get to know your neighbors? Do you want to share with them the love of Jesus? Let me share with you what has worked for us …

My wife and I know most of the people in our neighborhood and in the two adjoining neighborhoods, a total of about three hundred homes. Several neighbors have told us that we know more neighbors than anyone else in the neighborhood, and asked us how that happened, since many of our neighbors have lived here longer than we have.

Follow Jesus to Your Neighbor’s House

We enjoy getting to know neighbors. It may appear to come natural to us, but we make it an intentional part of following Jesus.

In this series I will discuss some of the methods that have worked for us in getting to know our neighbors, how we move some of the relationships beyond just being acquainted, and what we’re doing now to move those relationships to yet another level.

Living in Neighborly Isolation

Most of us drive home from work, push the button on our remote garage door opener, pull into the garage, close the garage door, and go into the house. If we emerge from the house that evening, we may go only to our backyard, possibly to play with our children, or to grill something on our outdoor grill. The next morning, we raise the garage door, back out, and wave to a neighbor as we pull away from our house.

If we hire a lawn service, we may rarely spend any time in our front yard. If we’re lucky, we may know the people who live next to us, but probably don’t know most of the people who live two or three houses away from ours. We may notice a house with an unkempt yard, or the house with several broken-down cars parked in front. But we don’t know the people who live there, and assume they’re probably lazy.

Many of us find our friends and build relationships at work, church, or among relatives. When we have a party, those are the people we invite. When the party runs a little late on a warm summer evening when all of our neighbors have their windows open, and our guests are laughing and singing and some neighbor calls the police to complain, we’re offended. We silently make a vow to get even with every neighbor who does anything to annoy us. We have our rights and have to stand up for them! Right?

That’s what Jesus would do, right? Didn’t He throw the moneylenders out of the temple, His temple? If Jesus could display His righteous anger, shouldn’t it be OK for us to do the same?

Loving Your Neighbors Like Jesus

We have discovered there is another way, a way that not only doesn’t get the neighbors upset with us and us mad at the neighbors, but a way that looks a whole lot more like Jesus.

This “other way” begins with getting to know our neighbors.

Let me show you how we have come to know our neighbors, and how you can too.

If you truly want to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it begins by getting to know your neighbors.

What are some easy, practical ways to do that? We’ll look at some of those ways in the series of posts on getting to know your neighbors. Sign up to receive them all for free by filling out the form below.

As you receive these emails, you will discover that there are better ways to love your neighbors than by passing out Bible tracts or inviting them to church. Sign up below to see how.

Do you want to share Jesus with your neighbors?

There's more to it than inviting them to church...

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to get to know your neighbors and love them like Jesus.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Featured, Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, neighbors, Sam Riviera

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How You Can Help Homeless People

By Jeremy Myers
13 Comments

How You Can Help Homeless People

how to help the homeless

There are homeless people all around. You live near them, walk by them, and see them almost every day.

But what do you DO about them? What can you do?

If you give them money, will they spend it on drugs and alcohol? Aren’t they homeless because they don’t want to work? Shouldn’t they just go get a job? Isn’t the government taking care of them?

There are so many questions about homeless people. And so few of us have any answers.

Learn the answers to these questions and learn how to love homeless people from someone who spends large amounts of time with the homeless every week.

Learn how to help the homeless

Sam Riviera has been loving and serving the homeless people in his area for many years. I have recently been trying to begin showing love and service to the homeless in my own area, and asked him for suggestions and advice. In response, he wrote 13 blog posts on how to love the homeless.

The stories Sam shares are often heart-wrenching, but more than this, Sam’s deep love for Jesus and how he wants to share this love with those who rarely see it is truly beautiful.

If you have questions along the way about loving and serving the homeless, Sam is quite active in the comments on this blog, and will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

I have been helped by reading these posts, and believe that if you want to learn how to love the homeless in your area by meeting their needs and showing them the love of Jesus, you also will benefit from reading these posts.

And it is super easy to read them all! Just sign up to have them sent to your email inbox. There are 13 emails total, and you will receive a new one every Friday. Sign up below to learn how to love and minister to the homeless.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Featured, Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, ministry, missions, poor, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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Are you afraid of the Unforgivable Sin? Don’t be. You have NOT committed it!

By Jeremy Myers
200 Comments

Are you afraid of the Unforgivable Sin? Don’t be. You have NOT committed it!

Most Christians have wondered at one time or another if they have committed the unforgivable sin. Have you?

If this is your fear, be encouraged. You have not committed the unforgivable sin.

You are not eternally damned.

You are not forsaken by God.

You are not hated by God.

You are not outside the bounds of His love and grace.

Quite to the contrary, you are loved by God more than you possibly know.

unforgivable sin

You are forgiven. You are accepted. God loves you!

When I first became a pastor, the very first counseling session I had was with a member of my church who was afraid they had committed the unpardonable sin.

I had personally struggled with fear about this sin in my own life, but I sort of thought that I was alone in this struggle. As I talked with this church member, I clearly remember feeling a sense of relief that I was not alone in being afraid about this sin. There were two of us!

A month later, a high-school student in the church asked me about this sin. He was angry with God and said some things to God that he regretted. He wanted to know if he was now doomed to hell.

Then I received an email from a single mother in the church who had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. Twice. The first pregnancy had been aborted. Someone told her that she was now a murderer and God would never forgive her. She wanted to know if that was true.

I began to see that fear about committing a sin that God would never forgive was a common fear in the lives of other people. So I decided to preach a sermon about the Unpardonable Sin, and what I believed the Scriptures taught about God’s love and forgiveness for us – no matter what we say or do.

To this day, this sermon on the Unforgivable Sin is still my most popular sermon on this website, and I get weekly emails from people all over the world who are afraid they have committed the unforgivable sin and want to know if God still loves them and if there is hope for them.

I do not know if you struggle with fear about the unpardonable sin. But if not, I guarantee that you know people who do. They may not express this fear to you, but there are people in your life who have done something they fear God will never forgive.

If you are afraid you committed the unforgivable sin, I have created a short series of emails you can receive about this sin (You can sign up below).

These emails explain what this sin is (and is not) and how to know that you have not committed it.

Even if you do not personally struggle with fear about this sin, you might want to get these emails anyway, since you almost certainly will encounter somebody who is afraid of it, and it would be helpful for you to have a way to encourage them and give them hope about God’s love and forgiveness.

In this series of emails on the Unforgivable Sin, I show why you have not committed this sin, and you can know that you have not committed it.

If you struggle with fear about committing the unforgivable sin, this free series of emails is for you.

This series of posts begins by surveying the various views about the unforgivable sin, which is also called “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” This survey includes an examination of Matthew 12:31-32 so that we can understand what Jesus meant when He talked about the unforgivable sin.

The most common theories about the unpardonable sin (also called the unforgivable sin) include the sins of adultery, divorce, murder, and even cursing the Holy Spirit. None of these are the unforgivable sin.

Not even suicide is the unforgivable sin.

While many churches and pastors teach that those who commit since like those listed above can never be forgiven, this series of posts reveals that all such sins are forgivable by God.

If you have committed adultery, you are forgiven!

If you got a divorce, you are forgiven!

If you had an abortion, you are forgiven!

If a friend of yours committed suicide, this does not mean they automatically went to hell.

If you are afraid that you blasphemed the Holy Spirit, do not worry — God has already forgiven you for whatever you said or whatever you did.

Even if you cursed God, cursed the Holy Spirit, or said some terrible things to them, God still loves you and still forgives you.

Yes, it is true… There is a sin in the Bible which is “unpardonable.” Yes, the Bible talks about a sin which cannot be forgiven.

But there is so much bad teaching in the church about what this sin is, how it is committed, and whether or not there is hope for those who commit this sin, but you do not need to worry about committing it.

Some churches teach that there are seven unforgivable sins in the Bible, or that there is one thing you can say which will cause God to hate you forever, or that if you have done something terrible in your past there is no hope for your eternal soul.

All such teachings are unhealthy! They do not reflect the heart of God, His great love for you, or the infinite forgiveness He has provided to you in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

If there is a sin you have committed which you think is unforgivable, or which makes you think God does not love you, or makes you feel like you cannot be forgiven, do not worry any longer. This series of emails will give you hope for your future and reveal to you the infinite love, grace, and mercy of God for you.

In the end, you will learn that you have not committed the unforgivable sin.

If you fear you have committed the unforgivable sin, or if you simply want to learn what this sin is (and is not), sign up below to receive a series of free emails about this sin.

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me which explains how you can know that you are loved and forgiven by God.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

 

God is Featured, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: adultery, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, divorce, forgiveness, grace, Matthew 12:31-32, mercy, murder, sin, Unforgivable Sin, unpardonable sin

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Bibliology is Dangerous

By Jeremy Myers
39 Comments

Bibliology is Dangerous

Bibliology - Study of the BibleI am quite hesitant to begin blogging through my seminary class notes on Bibliology — the Study of the Bible.

Why?

Because Bibliology is dangerous. It lays traps and creates a labyrinth from which it is very hard to escape. I’ve been trapped in a certain Bibliology for about thirteen years, and in many ways, I feel I am just starting to escape. I would hate to trap anybody else. Of course, maybe I’m entering a new labyrinth and don’t even know it…

Let me back up….

The problem with Bibliology (and Systematic Theology in general) is that the questions it asks are loaded questions. In legal terms, the questions would be considered “leading the witness.” This is a dangerous thing to do when the “witness” is the Word of God.

Here is how Bibliology works:

A theologian (like a lawyer) wants to prove a certain point to the judge and jury. So to prove that point, he calls forward a witness which he views as the ultimate authority — Scripture, the very Word of God.

But the judge and jury are not ready to accept the authority of Scripture. They doubt the credibility of the witness. So the theologian has to back up and make an argument for the authority of Scripture. This is what Bibliology is. It is an attempt to prove the accuracy, authority, and credibility of Scripture.

[Read more…]

God is Featured, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: bibliology, inerrancy, inspiration, scripture, Theology of the Bible

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