Living Stones
Growing People, Multiplying Leaders

E40 Trading Authority for Preference

Week 2 - Modern Life

4 years ago

We are witnessing a time of great polarization in America - a growing cultural divide. This divide is not primarily racial or political, but rather a collision of competing worldviews for pre-eminence, and the prize: the heart and soul of our nation. But as God's people, we are called to be countercultural, as well as the salt and the light of the world. We are to be "in the world but not of it." In our series Modern life, we will help you navigate through this confusing time so that as Christ's bride, we will remain faith-filled, fearless and fruitful in the midst of cultural chaos, confusion and compromise.

One of the subtle seductions of modern life is the sheer number of options we enjoy by virtue of our freedom and prosperity. The list of choices before us is dizzying, but choice has become a value in itself, even a priority.The problem is that the focus is on choice as choosing rather than choice as the content of what is chosen. Being “pro-choice” is seen as virtuous. We have become a culture that celebrates choice regardless of whether the choice is right or wrong, wise or stupid. Choosing is all that matters. You are the sovereign chooser.While this is wonderful when you are pursuing the college of your dreams or the toothpaste of your liking, it is deadly when applied to faith and morality.

Christianity, however, is a revealed religion. It comes to us as objective truth and not open to buffet-style revisions. God is a God of truth and what He says is true.

The Great British pastor and theologian Martin Lloyd Jones writes, "There can be no doubt whatsoever that all the troubles in the Church today, and most of the troubles in the world, are due to a departure from the authority of the Bible.We all therefore have to face this ultimate and final question: Do we accept the Bible as the Word of God, as the sole authority in all matters of faith and practice, or do we not? Is the whole of my thinking governed by Scripture, or do I come with my reason and pick and choose out of Scripture and sit in judgment upon it, putting myself and modern knowledge forward as the ultimate standard and authority?"

This is the question we all need to ask ourselves today.

Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:2

Launching in 1981 as just 30 people in a living room in Northwest Indiana, Living Stones has grown into a vibrant multi-generational church family. Stones are a product of God the Creator — formed in nature and no two are alike. As we come to faith in Jesus Christ, scripture tells us that we are like living stones in the hand of God and He is using us to build up a spiritual house. Our foundation was built on the work of nurturing and restoring healthy, biblical marriages. In continuing that mission, everything we do here at Living Stones is centered around loving, healing, and equipping individuals and families to grow into a greater likeness of Christ Jesus! By the Holy Spirit, we exist today to Renew Hearts, Restore Homes, Reform Culture and Reach the Nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5 ”As you come to him who is the Living Stone — he was rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious — you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” We are a family — misfits, hypocrites, creatives, addicts, reformers, over-churched, unchurched, wanderers — each of us a stone, uniquely crafted by the hand of God, made alive through Jesus, and now living by the power of the Holy Spirit. Together, we are Living Stones.