Category: grace turned outward
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What Christians should be known for
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) I’M FOR THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND HATE — a popular bumper sticker that speaks a volume of truth. Every once in a while, it becomes necessary to refocus our sight. Who are we as Christians; what do we stand for; and what are we…
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What to do in these strange days
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) These are truly strange days, indeed. If I ever feel myself growing tired or complacent, I simply pinch myself and say, “Is there no crisis? No hijacking of Christianity by issues? No washing out of the message? Steeples are toppling everywhere; the institutional church is…
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Urgent
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) Series: Characteristics of the Jesus Movement for today 8. It was urgent. For whatever the reason, be it the soon-expected return of Christ, or simply the passion of getting the gospel out to as many people as possible, there was an overall sense of urgency…
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The gospel according to the roosters’ crow
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) My daughter lives in a house in the mountains of Oahu, Hawaii, minutes up the hill from the most popular surfing spots on the North Shore. The houses up here all sit on roomy lots where everyone seems to own chickens. So much so that…
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The law that sets you free
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) “So whatever you say and whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free” (James 2:12). The law that sets you free? That’s a strange law. Laws don’t normally set us free. They do the opposite. They enslave…
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On the street where you live
Come take a stroll with me down the streets of the internet, the only place I know where people the world over are all your neighbors. Mr. Rogers never had it so good. Some people claim you can’t have real relationships on line. We beg to differ.
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‘God is God’
Our Catch today is a song I’d liked you to hear and think about. It’s by Joan Baez. She didn’t write it but I must assume that because she is singing it she must believe at least most of it. I do too — most of it. The final verse is a little ambiguous, but…
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First responders
I was just climbing into bed at two in the morning last night when I smelled something burning. Believe it or not, we do have fireplaces here in southern California, and some people actually use them to burn real wood, but this was not that. It smelled like something synthetic being burned. I doubted anyone…
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Live in peace
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone … Hebrews 12:14 This is a very broad blanket statement. There are no qualifications and no exceptions. “Live in peace with everyone” is all inclusive. It includes enemies, strangers, atheists, people of all races and religions, immigrants, and that neighbor of yours who loves to pick…
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Unshakable
“Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens…” so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. Hebrews 12:26-28 Is anybody feeling a little shaky these days? Like things are a little unstable? We’re talking about what creates…
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One more reason why church should be like an AA meeting
Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. Hebrews 13:13 “Hi, my name is John, and I’m a sinner.” “Hi John!” That’s the way church should begin. Before the Call to Worship; before the opening hymn — even the Invocation. Church should start with, “Hi, my name is John, and…
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No enduring city
For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Hebrews 13:14 Outside. Everything happens outside. Jesus died outside the camp. We go to meet Him outside the camp where He meets our disgrace with His grace. Once that’s happened and that grace has turned us…
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Amazing Grace
“Are not the gods just?” “Oh, no, my child. Where would we be if they were?” (C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces) by Marti Fischer There was once a time when I got distressed about the existence of evil/sin in the world and wondered why God didn’t run the world right.
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A revolution of love
One of the greatest injustices we do to our young people is to ask them to be conservative. Christianity is not conservative, but revolutionary. – Francis Schaeffer You have been strategically placed right where you are for one reason: to bring the kingdom of God to your corner of the world. It matters not where…
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Celebrating a homecoming
Last night in our fascinating interview with Os Guinness about his new book, The Magna Carta of Humanity, he mentioned how President Biden talks about reclaiming the soul of America, and the former President spoke about Making America Great Again, but neither one of them went back far enough to talk about and embrace what…
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Tears for fears
In April of 2007, I published an article about Francis Schaeffer in Christianity Today magazine. For our younger readers, Francis Schaeffer had a unique ministry to young intellectuals graduating from college in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Many of them were from evangelical homes with bigger questions than their churches or Christian colleges could…
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Is our worldview building bridges or walls?
Our excellent discussion with George Barna last week on BlogTalkRadio kicked open the door on Christian or biblical worldview discussions. So tonight on BlogTalkRadio, our good friend Wayne Bridegroom will be joining me to continue the conversation. Wayne and I have been bantering back and forth about this all week, so I thought we would…
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Perplexed
Perplexed, but not in despair … 2 Corinthians 4:8 This is not about victorious living — this is about ordinary life lived out through the surpassing power of God. It’s not about you (or me). It’s about the all-surpassing power of God through us.
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Declaration of a Marketplace Christian (Part 1)
This declaration is so central to all that we believe and represent here at the Catch that it is a permanent document always accessible here at our website. However, I have found it necessary to review it often as it is prophetic and remains true to how we interact with the culture around us. Therefore…
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The Advocate
Angela walked off the Greyhound bus in downtown Los Angeles near skid row with a paper sack of belongings and $200 minus her bus fare that got her there from prison. She was dusty and scared, with nowhere to go and no hope of changing the circumstances that put her in prison in the first…