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Think. Pray. Love.

Think. Pray. Love.

June 30, 2015 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

In the current debate over same-sex marriage, legalization of marijuana, immigration reform, SOPA/PIPA, and the list goes on… my advocation to Christians is to think and pray.

You can count on being regarded as a bigot, egocentric, unaccepting, prude and old-fashioned. The same group that casts these labels has demonstrated little interest in becoming acquainted with your thoughts and beliefs, so you will be misunderstood.

But don’t stop thinking deeply, praying fervently and loving wildly.

You will be asked to be quiet, but as of now, free-speech is still a part of our constitution, and I would urge you to exercise that ability.

Yet, while you do, think:

  • About the people involved on the other side of the debate
  • About your body, soul and mind becoming more in line with the heart of the Father
  • Critically; seek truth, not what appeases man
  • Long and hard before speaking; seek first to understand before being understood

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3

All is not lost. We have been here before. Court rulings will be decided, and later overturned. Our responsibility is to think, pray and love.

Pray for wisdom in the decisions that are made; that our government would see past the immediate, to understand the long-term effects of their decisions.

Pray for men and women of faith to step into office, that they might reflect the rule of God in the United States as it is in the heaven.

Pray for hope and peace for young Christian fathers and mothers who are eagerly seeking to raise God-fearing children in an increasingly humanistic society.

Pray for your “enemies”. Pray for those on the other side of the debate. Pray for those who are different than you.

My mom always prayed over us boys: “Bless them as they obey you God, and curse them in their disobedience.” A mother’s loving response desires that our road is difficult if we choose to reject God’s ways; that the difficult road might turn us back to Him.

Don’t lose hope.

Think Deeply. Pray Fervently. Love Fiercely.

Being right doesn’t preclude you from showing love. Landing on the losing side of a vote doesn’t exclude you from showing kindness or giving generously. And though your heart may burn within you to see God’s children run from Him, His desire to ravish them with loving kindness is greater than the fear or angst that you may feel. So love fiercely.

Jesus’ time with the prostitute at the well ended with truth: “go and sin no more.” But it was his love which saw beyond her past that caused her to hurry into the city proclaiming she had found the Messiah.

The people didn’t kill Jesus for his evasive argumentative skills. They killed him because, in a world of darkness, there is no place for the type of radical love that He espoused. Oh that we would love like Jesus!

For you to think, pray and love, you may be stoned or crucified. Yet consider this: our King was. And death did not keep Him down, nor will it have the final word with you. #JesusWins

Filed Under: Church Philosophy Tagged With: homosexuality, love, Prayer, wisdom

Understanding Infant Baptism

February 14, 2013 by brianmichaelsteck 37 Comments

Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles —all who have been called by the Lord our God.” (Acts 2:38, 39 NLT)

In a parenting devotion on YouVersion, Timeofgrace.com published a piece on infant baptism, using this verse to suggest that infant baptism is a justifiable means of receiving salvation.

I, in no way, want to divide the church, but I don’t want you to be naive in this. The verse begins with, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God.” Then, and only then, must you be baptized. An infant simply has no understanding of sin, nor the ability to repent.

Baptizing an infant is a great way to bless them and consecrate them before friends, family and fellow believers, as a symbol of your intent to bring the child up in the Word. But to assume that your child is reconciled to Christ is recipe for disaster, especially if you fail later to adequately train your child up in the way he should go.

For those who are afraid for your infant’s eternal destiny: God is sovereign and He is just. Infants who die prematurely ate under His good and righteous rule and you can trust God.

For those who want to argue, this is not about arguing, but about us all being built up in the Word for the sake of the gospel and the Kingdom of God. May this admonition unify our hearts as we seek to obediently follow God together.

Filed Under: Church Philosophy Tagged With: Infant Baptism, TimeOfGrace.com, Unity, YouVersion

Feed my lost sheep

Hungry Sheep

January 2, 2013 by brianmichaelsteck Leave a Comment

Feed the poor hungry sheepReading towards the end of my one-year Bible plan this morning, I came across two verses, one in the old and one in the new testament, that were strangely paralleled. Admonition from God to feed the poor, hungry sheep He has entrusted to us.

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorry awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd and they are easy prey for any wild animal. They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.”-Ezekiel 34:2-6

The new testament verse read:

“Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly — not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.”-1 Peter 5:2-3

The Lord so strongly continues to put on my heart the need for the Church to rise up out of apathy, idolatry and selfishness, to engage with the needs of the poor. There are poor in spirit and poor in finance, and neither are exempt from God’s command to Shepherd the flock.

What, I believe, most believers (especially Christian leaders — myself included) fail to see is that “God’s sheep”, while first the people of Israel, was expanded to include the gentiles. That means that our “flock” includes the lost sheep of the cities, the country, the highlands and lowlands. Prostitutes, musicians, government officials and housewives alike are all sheep in His fold. Why do we devote the majority of our time and money to programs, church services and budgets that only serve the upper and middle class?

Why have we neglected the poor and permitted our government to take over our God-given role of shepherding and feeding the lost sheep?

This is truly an abomination. We have entrusted our mantle of authority to people who don’t submit to God as Lord and King. As God’s elect, having been grafted into His Holy people (the Jews), we should be ashamed for relinquishing our responsibility of proclaiming the good news to the poor.

May I remind us all, myself included, that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is that the Kingdom is near and available to all, bringing a new heaven and new earth [Rev. 21:1] and its’ citizens will be without tears, sickness, hunger or death.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”-Revelation 21:4

The Kingdom is at hand. We are carriers of the good news — shepherds entrusted with ushering people in and ambassadors entrusted as co-laborers in establishing His reign, spiritually and physically, here on earth.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”-James 2:14-17

Filed Under: Church Philosophy, Discipleship

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