God bless the world
Tags: blessGod bless AmericaUSAWorld
Greg Taylor
My wife, Jill, and I have three children: Ashley, Anna, and Jacob. We live in Broken Arrow and I preach for The Journey: a New Generation Church of Christ in Tulsa (www.thejourneychurch.faith). I have a B.A. in Journalism and an M.Div. from Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tennessee. Before coming to Tulsa, we lived in Nashville, Tennessee four years, where I worked with The Zoe Group and Wineskins Magazine. From 1994-2001 we lived in Jinja, Uganda, where we worked with a church planting team, an experience that forever changed our lives. With Randy Harris, I co-authored Living Jesus: Doing What Jesus Says in the Sermon on the Mount and you can learn about other books I've written at my web site, www.gregtaylor.org. My most recent book co-authored with Randy is Daring Faith: Meeting Jesus in the Book of John.
Saw a bumper sticker in NLR last weekend that read “God Bless Everyone. No Exceptions.” Amen! Amen!
I have often wonder how Christians could read the Bible, say they believe it, and yet only be concerned about their nation/tirbe/group receiving God’s blessing. So for a person who dislikes the bumper sticker, I like reading one that promotes God as one who loves and seeks to bless the entire world.
Rex
I agree with Rex.
Great post brother.
Keep up the great posts and blogging.
I hope you have a great weekend.
In Him,
Kinney Mabry
Greg,
I just read your excert from wineskins and I want to encourage you to stand firm and keep speaking what so many of us have been trying to say to kids for years. What a refreshing read!!!!
Because of a cross,
Joey Wrape
Greg, We just read your article in Wineskins and can’t begin to tell you how it touched our hearts and validated our feelings. We left the Church of Christ about 10 years ago and began attending a Community Church. We still believe that Jesus died for our sins and is the risen son of God. We believe in baptism. We take communion every Sunday. We read our Bible daily and have a Bible study that meets in our home. We have grown spiritually in leaps and bounds over these years. However, many members of our family believe we have left the church and are going to hell. My mother-in-law cries every time we visit. She is so grieved. It is hard to see her heart breaking and our hearts are breaking also. We believe our family to be Christians but we believe we are Christians too. We know this hurts them but we also believe we cannot go back to the Church of Christ just to make them happy. We have to follow what we believe to be true. We are grateful that some Churches of Christ are beginning to accept those from other demonations as member of God’s family. We pray this will spread throughout the brotherhood. And we pray for a time when families can be reunited in Christ.
Hello Greg,
thanks so much for your article in Wineskins:
21st Century restoration–will we join it?
My grandfather was a baptist minister, my dad is a church of Christ minister, My husband & i attended FHU & then spent 20+ years in the International churches of Christ. Now we worship with a non-denominational church planting in NYC. You expressed so well what i have felt & have also experienced. I agree wholeheartedly & will pass your article on to many others. We have joined the 21st restoration after many mistakes–I pray that others will see the truth you expressed & join as well.
Hi Greg,
It is so good to hear that someone is praying for the Iraqis. I have always cringed when the news would say “Three Americans were killed today in Iraq, and, by the way, 60 Iraqis killed. Now I have a husband(FBI)in Afghanistan. Most of his time is spent protecting innocent Aghans rather than Americans, although he does that too. He has just extended and I told my children last night. It was Good Friday. I tried to explain to them, as well as myself, about how God asks us to do things we don’t want or understand. He is asking their daddy to stay away from us to help others. God asked Jesus to go through suffering, abandonment, betrayal and death. Jesus didn’t want to do it either, but he did it for Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans-everyone from then till now. I love my rights as an American,
but I could have been born in Afghanistan. God would not have loved me any less.Last note- my husband just met a local woman who had been wearing her dead husband’s shoes because she had no others. And some Taliban member is walking around wearing my husband’s gloves.
God bless the world.