Week 11

New Age Movement

This is really “a believe what you want” religion. It contains a lot of Buddhism and Hinduism in it. It is really hard to say exactly what the New Age Movement is, because you can really believe what you want. The most common thread in there is the beliefs of no absolutes. My truth is not your truth. As long as I am not hurting you and it gets me closer to some sort of spiritual state then it is good. It reminded us a lot of Oprah and her religion.

There is a lot of belief in reincarnation in the New Age Movement. Most believe that your soul keeps progressing until you get it right. However most don’t believe you can go backward on the evolutionary scale or should I say the reincarnation scale. Hey, if you’r going to make something up, why make it hard on your self. We know the truth is salvation comes from putting your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (see Rom. 3:24,25; Eph 2:8,9).

A common phrase in the New Age Movement is “God is us and we are God” and that Jesus is just one of many teachers. Even scarier is that all roads lead to heaven. Jesus said that he is the only way (John 14:6). The bible also talks about God being separate from His creation (Isa. 45:6, Rom 1:25).

This is not anything new. In the Garden the Serpent asked if God really said she couldn’t eat from tree (see Gen 3:1-5). We can be like gods and can have our “eyes open”.

Our Visit

We attempted a visit that we tried a few weeks ago. A school family, the son is in my daughter’s class. Last time we had trouble finding it. That was because it was their store address. I called before hand and she was excited about us coming by. She owns a convenience store/gas station. One thing to note, her store is one of very few that doesn’t sell beer. She was told that she’d never make it if didn’t. She said her and God will prove them wrong. Great faith!

They already attend a church and seemed to love it so we didn’t talk much about the church except where it fit in with the school. It was a good visit, very friendly family. Her sister came into the store just as we were about to pray, so we prayed blessing on her family and her business. I gave my bible to her sister before she left.

Prayer Request

Pray for my step-father-in-law. He is battling cancer and is having trouble with his back. Pray for our country, school and our solders and friends overseas.

Week 11

Our Role in Kingdom Work

Non-Christians may be looking for several things from a church, but ultimately they are looking for Jesus Christ. Jesus is what they need.

People want a place where they can discover the truth, find connections, enjoy of variety of experiences, and have an opportunity to make a difference in the world. This is our role in the kingdom work. We are not just to share the gospel, but to disciple others. This is where Sunday school comes in. It is through our Sunday school class or small group that we are to continue the work of the Great Commission.

Our Visit

We had one assigned visit. It was a new homeowner, not too far from the church. The house was located in a new cul-de-sac with two other houses. They were not home so we went to the next house. They were not home either. The last house was still being built. We decided to drive to the top of the hill and work our way down one of the main streets. As soon as we got there, we see a lady walking her dog. We told her that we were in the neighborhood asking some questions on how we could better serve the community and asked if we could ask her a few questions. She said no because she went to church, which wasn’t the question. It was clear she didn’t want to participate. We did small talk with her a little longer. We had another miss or two at houses on that street.

We finally found someone at home. When the lady answered the door, I gave the opinion poll introduction. She immediately responded with “Are you doing FAITH?” I told her we were. She said that her husband is the pastor at Central Baptist Church and they do FAITH. We talked with her and her husband for a while. As we try to do at most visits, we prayed with them before we left. This visit was different; he asked if he could pray for us and our efforts. This visit was a real encouragement.

At the next house we found two women at home. I went through the Opinion Poll questions and asked her “in your personal opinion, what do you understand that it takes for a person to go to heaven.” She started out with a FAITH answer, but added some works in there. I went though the gospel presentation. She said that she has done that and she attends church at New Life.

Prayer Request

Pray for Susan, a visit mentioned in a previous blog. Pray for our teams. We have a couple weeks left. Pray that we will finish with a good attitude. Please pray for my mom, brother, and his girlfriend.