NEW THINGS

This week we finally had a new sound system installed in our building. This new system is primarily about sound and allowing people to hear better, but it is much more than that. This system allows us to come into the modern world more fully, making available DVD's, CD's and Digital recordings in general as well as posting to the Internet in the future.

I believe it is money well spent as we look for more ways to reach out to our modern world. Now there is always some grumbling when we "modernize". Some folks are bound to hold on to the idea, "the old way of doing it was good enough for our parents, so it should be good enough for us."

Let me assure you that "Modern" is not always a bad word. In fact it is defined as, "relating to, or having the characteristics of the present or most recent period of development," (Webster). I know from experience, that as we age we tend to look at some of the new ideas and trends of our world with skepticism. It's natural for us to do so I think. I personally try my best to hold back some of my natural prejudices and think outside of the box in which I was raised. I'm not always successful, some times my thoughts are based upon "my feelings" or "my likes and dislikes," and to a certain extent that's OK, its how God put us together as humans.

I would suggest though there is a better criteria for deciding whether a new or modern idea is acceptable or not. In his instructions to the early believers Jesus said, "Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NLT)

Here we see that we art to go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them to obey all of the commandments of God. Going and making disciples are the primary command; teaching about obedience in "ALL" of God's commands is next. So sometimes we need to modernize our thinking as to how to "GO and TEACH," but never about keeping all of the commands of God.  We need to think outside of the box in which we were raised and sometimes live, but never compromise the truth of God's Word.