GRANDVILLE, Mich. — For years, Rob Bell closed his Sunday teachings at Mars Hill Bible Church with a simple statement: “Grace and peace be with you.” Thousands would respond in unison: “And also with you.”

On Sunday (Jan. 8), on Bell’s last day at the megachurch he founded 12 years ago, only one voice sounded out across the sanctuary housed in a renovated shopping center: Bell’s.

“And also with you,’ he replied, looking out over the congregation as he accepted their wish of peace.

With that, the man who has garnered national attention in recent months for his controversial book on hell, “Love Wins,’ left Mars Hill for the last time as lead pastor.

Sunday’s services wrapped months of transition for the church following Bell’s September resignation and subsequent move to the Los Angeles area to create an ABC television drama with “Lost” producer Carlton Cuse, loosely based on Bell’s life.

In November, he began touring the U.S. and Canada on an eight-date “Fit to Smash Ice” speaking tour. Bell also has said he has “at least three” more books he plans to write.

“I feel like I’m just getting started, like I’m a rookie, a freshman, a newb,” he told a gathering of several thousand in his final sermon on Dec. 18. “I feel like the world is big and wide and open.”

On Sunday, former Mars Hill Worship Leader Kent Dobson encouraged Bell to be bold as he steps into the future: “The spiritual life is not such a safe thing. Go for it — don’t be afraid to fail. Take a risk. Try something new.”

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” These are the words of Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ first disciples, written to some of the first and earliest Christians. And like most words put down on paper, these instructions have not always honored the intent of the author.

Peter wrote this during a time when Christianity was new, unheard of in most places, and very often viewed with suspicion. Thus, a graceful and thoughtful explanation “for the hope that you have” was absolutely required. Thousands of years later, Christianity is still handled with suspicion by many. Not because it is a novel invention, but because a large core of its adherents have misapplied Simon Peter’s good words.

Having a “prepared answer” – that is a ready opportunity to interact, dialogue, and discuss beliefs with others – has been replaced with defensiveness, anger, and out-and-out hostility toward those who see things differently. Many have forgotten to read the second half of old St. Pete’s instructions: “But do this in a gentle and respectful way,” he said.

Yes, I am a follower of Jesus. Yes, I consider myself a Christian (on most days). Yes, there are a number of essential beliefs important to me and to which I hold. Yes, some of these beliefs are in conflict with the beliefs of others, and these conflicts are not easily dismissed. But my beliefs, as important as they may be, do not give me the right to be belligerent toward others who do not share my beliefs.

I will allow that Christians aren’t the only ones who behave this way. Devotees to other faiths, politicians of all parties and persuasions, soccer fans, college alumni, and those with all manner of competing opinions will attack, degrade, and smear those they consider their opponents. The intent, it seems, is clear: Win the argument at all costs.

This cutthroat way of life is consuming every facet of our society, resulting in a complete collapse of common civility – that’s a column unto itself – and there is no relief on the near horizon. Anywhere there is an “us” versus “them” attitude there will be nothing but antagonism and disappointment until “them/they” are somehow rehabilitated or totally vanquished in favor of “us/we.”

In other words, peace will only come when all our adversaries are destroyed. This may be the way the world works, but it is not the way of Christ. For Christians, if Jesus is who this thing is about, then things should be different. Just because we have some assurance of our faith and beliefs, we forfeit the ability to share that assurance when we behave badly.

Our beliefs need not – should not – cannot – must not – be used to hurt or harm others. Consistently, and this should rend our hearts to pieces, Christians are characterized as mean-spirited, judgmental, critical, and inflexible (You don’t need research statistics to confirm this conclusion. Simply do an informal interview on any street corner.).

This is a reputation we have largely earned, because we have been more concerned with proving we are right, than we have been proving God’s profound love and grace. We have been more concerned with providing answers than we have with providing gentleness and respect.

Personally, I don’t think Jesus came to create an “in” group, an assembly of elitists who have truth held down under lock and key. I believe he came to create a “come on in” group, a crowd of fellow-journeyers who come to know God, experience grace, live life, and serve others together. But why would anyone want to come in to such a group if its representatives are constantly rude, arrogant, and unyielding.

Even if such a group had all the answers to all the questions in the world (and humility should caution anyone from making such a claim), it would be impossible to hear what they had to say, because it is simply impossible to hear the truth when it is communicated from a hard heart.

A man went to his rabbi and complained, “There are ten of us living in one room. Life is unbearable! What can I do?” The rabbi answered, “Go home and take your goat into the room with you.”  The man was incredulous; but the rabbi was insistent. “Do as I say. Come back in a week.”

A week later the man returned looking even more distraught than before. ”Rabbi, please, we cannot stand it. The goat is so filthy!” The rabbi then told him, “Very well, go home and let the goat out. Come back in a week.”

A radiant man returned to the rabbi a week later. His perspective had been astonishingly altered. “Life is beautiful,” he cried. “We enjoy every minute of living together without the goat – and there’s only the ten of us!”

Jesus once encountered a group of ten, living together, with little for which to be thankful. These ten had more than a stinking goat in the room. They had leprosy. From a distance they shout to the rabbi Jesus to have mercy on them – life was unbearable.

This group was following standard social protocol. Leprosy was highly contagious and had to be controlled. Those who had the disease were quarantined into colonies. Those unfortunate enough to contract the disease were thus cut off from family and friends, typically, for the rest of their lives.

It’s hard for us to imagine the stigma attached to this malady when we have never seen anyone with the disease. It is a crippling, disfiguring condition. Today it can be treated and cured with drugs costing a couple hundred dollars, but in Jesus’ day, it was a death sentence. Devastating the skin, eyes, and lungs, it ate away at the nerve endings and flesh until it completely dismantled the sufferer.

Jesus did more than change their perspective. Mercifully, he healed them. Maybe fingers began to grow back. Maybe the difficult breathing was replaced by fully inflatable lungs. Maybe their splotchy skin became pink and healthy again. For the first time in years they are physically well, and this group turns together from death’s door. But they do not turn together toward their healer.

Only one of the ten came back to Jesus. This one fell at the feet of Christ and worshiped him. Outside of others in his leper colony, this was the first person he had drawn close to in years. He didn’t run home to a wife he had not held in years. He didn’t scoop up the children he had only seen play at a distance. He didn’t seek out his old friends who had long given him up for dead.

No, he went first and foremost to Jesus. He threw himself down on the ground in devotion. This was a thankful man. This was a grateful man. This was a man with perspective. The tragedy is that this was the only one who returned to say, “Thank you.” Even Jesus was surprised by this. “Were not all ten cleansed?” Jesus asked rhetorically. “Then, where are the other nine?”

Why didn’t the others come back? Maybe one waited to see if the cure was for real. Maybe another intended to go back later, as soon as possible. Maybe one ran to the family from which he had long been separated or got so entranced with having his life back, he simply forgot to return to the one who had performed the healing. I don’t know for sure.

But I do know that we can become so absorbed in our happiness – in our blessings or good fortune – that we fail to consider the Source of those blessings. We do not maintain perspective, and can sometimes say “Thank you,” because we know that it is the proper thing to do, but saying it and feeling it are two different things.

During this holiday week, may the Source of every good and perfect gift give us the greatest gift of all: A grateful heart. In return, may we fall at his feet with thanksgiving.

Many music bands have interesting stories on how they came up with their band’s name. This is not one of those stories. Beginning in 2002, three musicians from Ontario, Canada, (Jason Dunn, Davin Clark and Matt Paige), formed a pop punk band called SWISH.

A little later they changed it to Reason Being briefly before landing on the name, Hawk Nelson. To the un-initiated, one would think that with a name like that, someone in the band would actually be named, “Hawk” or “Nelson.” But you would be wrong.

Turns out, frontman Dunn was playing a video game and he named his avatar character, Hawk Nelson and the name just sort of stuck. So, if you’re trying to find a spiritual meaning behind the name, look no further.

Will Graham, grandson of Billy Graham, wrapped up a successful evangelistic celebration recently in Nakuru, Kenya where some 14,500 people braved the rains, with over half of them responding to an altar call.

The three-day Will Graham Celebration of Peace was held at the Mama Scrape Grounds, where some 14,500 attended despite sketchy weather reports, and some 938 made a commitment to Jesus.

“What now are you going to do with Jesus? What I’m going to ask you to do is the most important decision you’ll ever make in life,” the oldest son of Franklin Graham told the crowd, according to Charisma News.

Nakuru has, since elections held in Dec. 2007, been affected by tribal violence that has hit Kenya, but Graham chose this context to talk about peace and healing.

Graham told the crowd, “Whether we are looking at Kenya and the trouble here a few years ago, or the issues of hatred and sin around the world, it’s a heart problem,” ASSIST News reported.

Downpour

The three-day celebration took place from July 8-10. The final day, a Sunday, was concluded in a field that was muddy after a 30-minute downpour.

Some people left the stadium, others ran for cover, and the rest remained patiently waiting. Hastily, workers covered loudspeakers. As the rains abated, many returned to the stadium and worship began.

“I’m so grateful to God for the great decisions people have made. I know the bigger job we are left with is the preservation of the harvest,” Rev. Paul Mwakio, who headed the executive committee of the event, told Charisma News.

“We plan that we will get back together with the pastors and try to follow up, because we have the contact information from the people,” Mwakio told Charisma News.

The day before, on Saturday, July 9, the Grahams witnessed the final youth soccer match of the Will Graham Peace Tournament. Some 400 Kenyan youths participated in the games.

Afterwards, Graham signed certificates for the participants and trophies were handed out. In his message to the players he asked, “What is the purpose of a pen? The purpose … is to write. But it can only fulfill its purpose when it’s in its master’s hand,” Charisma News reported.

“The same is true in life. You can only fulfill your purpose when you surrender to God. Because it is God who gives you purpose and meaning in life,” Graham said, according to Charisma News.

Graham went to Kenya with his wife, Kendra, who told Charisma News that it was her first time to visit the country. She addressed some 500 women at a rally that was held on Friday, July 8, at the Life Celebration Center.

She told the crowd, “God has decided not to forget you. Others may forget you. A spouse may forget you. A child may forget you. A church may forget you. But God will never forget you,” ASSIST News reported.

Graham told ASSIST News that he was overwhelmed with the welcoming treatment he received in Kenya. “It’s a welcome I’ve never had before, and it is incredibly humbling. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Mwakio told Charisma News that Graham’s visit helped the Christian community in Nakuru to have a greater sense of unity. “I want to say that I am grateful to the [Billy Graham Evangelistic Association], because there has been more cohesion among the ministers in working together in bringing this meeting. And I trust this will be a new beginning for the working-together of pastors.”

The president of a woman’s rights group appealed recently to the international community to stop international funding that supports China’s one child policy.

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said that China’s one-child policy is supported by international organizations including the United Nations Family Planning Fund, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International.

In her statement, Littlejohn said, “It doesn’t matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue. No one can support forced abortion, because it is not a choice,” Asia News reported.

Littlejohn called for an end to such funding noting that the one child policy is implemented oftentimes through forced abortions and sterilizations, and has given rise to other types of crimes as offshoots of the policy, Asia News said.

Littlejohn said the one-child policy also leads to selective female foeticide and infanticide. The number of babies murdered in this way is a “hundred times worse than the Tiananmen massacre,” noting that the latter was done out in the open, whereas abortions are done in secret, according to Asia News.

Violations

Some of the violations committed against women who are “illegally pregnant” in China include “forced sterilization, forced abortion, arbitrary detention and other abuses,” Asia News said.

Littlejohn cited the findings of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China report, dated Oct. 10, 2010, which listed down violations against women that have been committed due to the one-child policy, according to Asia News.

She also recounted the experience of one woman who was dragged away, tied to a table and administered a forced abortion on her seven-month fetus. Other stories of brutalities caused by the one child policy are here.

Ripple effects

The policy also has ripple effects leading to other crimes and social problems. Three were cited by Littlejohn, namely:

Gendercide. Because there is a traditional preference for boys, there is a stronger tendency to abort if one is pregnant with a girl, or to be rid of her through infanticide or abandonment, because only one child is allowed per family, according to Asia News.

The one-child policy of China also causes a ripple effect on the global economy. Ling said in her statement, “Gender imbalances have been shown to significantly disrupt spending patterns, leading to significant trade imbalances that are detrimental to the global economy,” the AFP reported.

Ling said, “More and more economists are speaking up about China’s increase in private saving. The drop in Chinese marriages brings the drop in consumption, and until it changes, we will see little change in our trade and exchange rate with China.”

A male surplus population in China can also lead to social unrest and aggression, studies say. Ling told Life News, “It’s important for world leaders to see gendercide is not just a women’s rights issue, but it also leads to trade imbalance, insecurity and a threat to peace.”

Ling told Life News that there are currently 37 million more men than women in China, and said research shows that a large male youth population is also linked to increased violence and aggression. Crime in China has doubled in the last 20 years.

Ling also noted that the “systemic elimination of girls simply because they’re girls is a crime that has to be stopped,” Life News reported.

Sexual Slavery. The severe gender imbalance in China has also become a powerful force behind the rise in sexual slavery and the trafficking of women in nations that surround China, Asia News said.

All Girls Allowed stated that by 2020, China will have 40 million more young men than women. Dudley Poston, an expert in demographics from Texas A&M University, told AFP, “My research shows that the average surplus male in China is rural, unmarried, poor, unemployed and has little education. Few women desire such prospects as marriage partners.”

Poston, who is an adjunct professor at three Chinese universities, told AFP, “These males are going to remain unmarried. They’re going to live in bachelor ghettos in the big cities of China.” He added that such a social climate will lead to a huge market for commercial sex and “huge potential in China for an HIV epidemic.”

Female Suicide. The World Health Organization said in a report that the highest rate of female suicide in the world is found in China, at 500 a day. There are speculations that such a high rating may be related to the emotional trauma that may follow forced sterilization or forced abortion, Asia News said.

A Christian pastor wrote in his newly-released book that Christians should celebrate Easter outside the church rather than just within it.

Rev. Eric Foley, pastor of Doers of The Word Evangelical Church (with branches in Colorado Springs and Seoul, Korea) says in his book, The Whole Life Offering:   Christianity as Philanthropy that from a biblical point of view, Easter is best celebrated on the road, Christian Newswire said.

Foley, who is also co-founder and CEO of Seoul, USA, takes a deep look into Christian history, Scripture and Protestant theology. He says in his book that making one’s life an offering to God is characterized by being soaked in grace, in this way empowering one’s Christian discipleship, according to the book’s website.

In so doing one achieves full maturity in the faith. The website says, “[G]rowing to full maturity in Christ isn’t only possible; it is God’s intended purpose for every Christian, right here on earth in the midst of everyday life.”

In the first chapter Foley says the book’s goal is “[T]o enable the philanthropy of Christ to be magnified more fully in the life of the reader, and to equip the reader to mirror that philanthropy more fully into the lives of others as a continual act of worship.”

Foley adds, “The Whole Life Offering is Christ’s philanthropy. He pours the fullness of his life into any who will receive it. Those who receive it are enabled and authorized to share the length and breadth of it with others,” the website says.

Foley says, “Whether it’s the disciples who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus or the apostles who are called out of the Upper Room and on to Galilee, the Easter message is clear: If you want to meet Jesus, hit the road,” Christian Newswire reported.

Foley writes in his book about seven spiritual disciplines that enhance loving God, and 10 outreach disciplines to strengthen loving one’s neighbor. Easter Sunday, he adds, is the perfect time to practice both branches of loving, Christian Newswire said.

The seven spiritual disciplines are called Works of Piety, while the 10 outreach disciplines are anchored on these. Foley says in the website, “We find not only what we should be doing in order to love our neighbors, but how to do it to the glory and praise of God.”  The Whole Life Offering can be purchased either at Amazon or at the book’s website, www.thewholelifeoffering.com, according to Christian Newswire.

Foley’s church, Doers of the Word meets via satellite in Seoul, Korea and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In the last 20 years Foley has trained some 1,300 church leaders on volunteerism and socially oriented programs, the website said.

A new book examines the history and significance of a 12-word prayer that is believed to have been prayed by the apostles.

Dr. Norris J. Chumley and the Very Rev. Dr. John McGuckin wrote the book, Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer: Experiencing the Presence of God and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of an Ancient Spirituality, as a companion piece to their first PBS documentary, Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer, according to PR Web.

The prayer is simply, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It is believed to date back to the time of the apostles, and remains a popular prayer of hermits and ascetics today in desert monasteries in Eastern Europe and other areas, PR Web said.

Chumley and McGuckin visited the holy sites of the ancient Christians, visited monasteries and photographed their voyage, including rare pictures of holy places that photographers are rarely allowed to take, PR Web said.

According to its website, “Never before has there been this kind of access to ancient caves, monasteries and convents in Egypt, Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia.”

The website says that the authors met Christian monks and nuns who turned their backs on the world so that they could search for their eternal salvation. “For the first time, they speak of their private prayers of the heart on film.”

In the PBS documentary, The Jesus Prayer, Chumley and McGuckin looked into the history of the prayer, which is largely unknown in the U.S. In his blog with the Huffington Post, Chumley wrote that the ascetic or hermit life began as a social movement among ancient Christians who left behind their worldly relationships, personal crises and responsibilities to commune with God in the desert.

Chumley wrote in The Huffington Post that hermits lived completely alone in the desert but others formed tiny communities of  ascetics in desert areas. St. Paul first mentioned asceticism in the New Testament (2 Tim. 4:7).

According to Chumley, asceticism became popular in the mid third to fourth centuries when it became an organized movement in the Christian faith, he wrote in the Huffington Post.

Though still practiced today, it is not widely acknowledged in light of the Reformation. Chumley wrote in Huffington Post that “There are many contemporary hermits, monks and nuns, some of them highly educated and accomplished.”

The Jesus Prayer is a cornerstone of their prayer life, Chumley and McGuckin said in their new book, according to PR Web. It was transformative and imminent to their history and practices including reflection, humility and feeling constantly connected to God by moving through the stages of the prayer, the website said.

The monasteries the authors visited include St. Anthony’s Monastery in Egypt’s desert, St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai, and convents and monasteries in Russia, Transylvania, Greece and the Ukraine, the website said.

Shane Claiborne of the Common Prayer website commented, “This isn’t just a book about prayer. It is a full-on plunge into a prayer-filled adventure. Chumley takes you on a pilgrimage to some of the most enchanted places, and all you have to take with you is a one-line prayer that has been changing the world for centuries. Dive in.”

Diana Butler Bass of the website A People’s History of Christianity said of the book, “[Chumley] discovers a way of peace open to those who seek a deeper connection with God,” the website reported.

Chumley is an Emmy awardee whose work has appeared on various television networks including NBC, ABC and A&E, among others. He is executive producer and director of media for the Columbia University Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life, PR Web said.

A congressman urged recently President Barack Obama to raise the issue of human rights violations in China stemming from its one-child per couple policy, when the president meets with China’s President Hu Jintao this week.

Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, in a press conference, said women in China are forced to abort their babies and oftentimes, because they can only have one child, they are pressured to abort females, Life News said.

Smith said, “[China’s one-child policy] is ‘marked by pervasive propaganda, mandatory monitoring of women’s reproductive cycles, mandatory contraception, and mandatory birth permits, coercive fines for failure to comply, and…forced sterilization and abortion,’” Life News reported.

Smith said that in China, “illegal children” cannot have access to health care, education and marriage. Fines to bear illegal children are ten times the yearly income of both parents, and families who fail to pay may be jailed or their child may be killed, Life News said.

Smith also said the family of an illegally pregnant woman who flees may be beaten and jailed, and neighbors and colleagues may be denied birth permits because of her. Women are also physically forced to have abortions, according to Life News.

Chai Ling, a former Tiananmen Square student leader, showed a petition of 1,500 signatures and photos of 300 people around the world urging Obama to raise the issue of abortion and gendercide with Hu, Christian Newswire said.

Chai said over 35,000 coerced and forced abortions take place daily in China, and a baby dies every 2.5 seconds. One of every six girls is aborted for her gender, and 500 women commit suicide, “five times the world average rate,” Christian Newswire reported.

Chai also said 3,000 baby girls are abandoned in street corners daily, while over 200 women and children are sold to slavery. Chai said, “The brutal and violent enforcement of the one-child policy is the largest crime against humanity; it is the inhuman secret slaughter against mother and babies,” according to Christian Newswire.

During the press conference Smith told the story of Wujian, a victim of forced abortion. Wujian hid from the population police but was found and brought forcibly to a hospital where she saw “hundreds of pregnant moms,” who were “like pigs in a slaughterhouse,” Life News reported.

Wujian’s baby was cut into pieces in her womb, and then sucked out. In her testimony she said, “I could hear the sound of the scissors cutting the body of my baby…one nurse showed me part of a bloody foot with her tweezers,” Life News reported.

Borrowing from the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Chai said she had a dream of children in China growing up with “brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts,” of  “mothers [who] mourn no more because they are with children, and of tears wiped from the “faces of parents whose children were taken,” Christian Newswire reported.

Chai also said she dreamed that “justice will roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream…that God would bless his promised land of China and the World,” according to Christian Newswire.

Question: “What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?”

Answer:
In Romans 12:1, Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. Pauls admonition to the believers in Rome was to sacrifice themselves to God, not as a sacrifice on the altar, as the Mosaic Law required the sacrifice of animals, but as a living sacrifice. The dictionary defines sacrifice as anything consecrated and offered to God. As believers, how do we consecrate and offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice?

Under the Old Covenant, God accepted the sacrifices of animals. But these were just a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Because of His ultimate, once-for-all-time sacrifice on the cross, the Old Testament sacrifices became obsolete and are no longer of any effect (Hebrews 9:11-12). For those who are in Christ by virtue of saving faith, the only acceptable worship is to offer ourselves completely to the Lord. Under Gods control, the believers yet-unredeemed body can and must be yielded to Him as an instrument of righteousness (Romans 6:12-13; 8:11-13). In view of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus for us, this is only reasonable.

What does a living sacrifice look like in the practical sense? The following verse (Romans 12:2) helps us to understand. We are a living sacrifice for God by not being conformed to this world. The world is defined for us in 1 John 2:15-16 as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All that the world has to offer can be reduced to these three things. The lust of the flesh includes everything that appeals to our appetites and involves excessive desires for food, drink, sex, and anything else that satisfies physical needs. Lust of the eyes mostly involves materialism, coveting whatever we see that we dont have and envying those who have what we want. The pride of life is defined by any ambition for that which puffs us up and puts us on the throne of our own lives.

How can believers NOT be conformed to the world? By being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We do this primarily through the power of Gods Word to transform us. We need to hear (Romans 10:17), read (Revelation 1:3), study (Acts 17:11), memorize (Psalm 119:9-11), and meditate on (Psalm 1:2-3) Scripture. The Word of God, ministered in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, is the only power on earth that can transform us from worldliness to true spirituality. In fact, it is all we need to be made complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16, NKJV). The result is that we will be able to test and approve what God’s will ishis good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2b). It is the will of God for every believer to be a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ.

Recommended Resource:
A Godward Life by John Piper