Stuck on Jesus

Posted on August 31, 2020 by jwfisch

 

Look at us over the last week and a half. Go to our website and scroll down through the recent Catches and you’ll find they are all about Jesus.

“Jesus is the answer” 8/28/20

“The truth about Jesus never gets old” 8/27/20

“It’s still all about Jesus” 8/24/20

“In the presence of the Lord” 8/21/20

“ Jesus unscathed” 8/20/20

“Do you know Jesus?” 8/18/20

“Looking unto Jesus” 8/17/20

We are stuck on Jesus. What a wonderful, glorious place to be! We just can’t get enough of Jesus. And why should we? What else is there we could talk about? A pandemic? An election? A tanking economy? Racism? Street protests? A fractured country? A divided House? Who’s going to buy TikTok? Yes, we can and should talk about all these things, but at the end of the day — at the end of the week, for that matter — where will we be? Will we be any closer to where we want to be? Will we be any closer to solving anything? Will we be further down the road? Or will we be stuck?

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Jesus is the Answer

Posted on August 28, 2020 by jwfisch

Why don’t you look into Jesus?

He got the answer.

               – Larry Norman

 

Jesus is the answer for the world today.

Above Him there’s no other; Jesus is the way.

                – Andrae Crouch

 

It seems so simplistic. Jesus is the answer. It’s sweeping. It’s all-encompassing. In an election year, it sounds a little like a campaign slogan — too good to be true. Promises, promises …

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The truth about Jesus never gets old

Posted on August 27, 2020 by jwfisch

It hasn’t been since the 1960s that there was so much division and political and social unrest in America, prompting some to speculate that other parallels might exist between then and now. For instance, it was out of the 60s that the Jesus movement was born, which makes you wonder if we might be on the brink of another spiritual revolution among millennials and Gen Z youth. There was a huge disillusionment with politics and institutions 50 years ago, and a great distrust in those who were in power, not just in the government, but in the church as well. That certainly is true today. That’s why so many young people were taking a fresh look at Jesus.

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Posted in Jesus, Jesus Movement, Millennials, Red Letter Review | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Evangelicalism broken down

Posted on August 25, 2020 by jwfisch

EVANGEL: the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ for you and for the sake of the world.

ICALISM: other stuff; might be good, might be bad, but it’s not the evangel.

I received the quote above from a pastor friend of mine and thought it a fitting introduction to an important Catch. Here at the Catch, we are and will always be about the evangel — “the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ for you and for the sake of the world.” As for the “icalism” part? We could care less.

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It’s still all about Jesus

Posted on August 24, 2020 by jwfisch

All last week Jesus was our theme. It was to be a reminder that it’s always all about Jesus. We are so easily sidetracked onto other things. We nod our heads that it’s all about Jesus but then suddenly we are talking about and debating theology or social issues, or doctrine, or politics — not that these are supposed to be off limits, but they become the dominant themes of our discussions on Christianity as if there was an official Christian position on any of these things. There is no Christian politic, or Christian social doctrine, or Christian theology that we are all supposed to agree on. There is no Christian agenda, and no Christian culture. No, practically speaking, there is just Jesus, and then there is all the rest.

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In the presence of the Lord

Posted on August 21, 2020 by jwfisch

I have finally found a place to live

In the presence of the Lord

                – Eric Clapton

That was then; this is now. My purpose for turning back the clock on the Jesus movement (see yesterday’s Catch) was to show how God periodically breaks in on history, and when He does, it’s to bring us back to Jesus. Jesus alone. Simplify. Clear out the clutter. And it’s not just the message about Jesus we’re talking about, it is the person and presence of Jesus. Jesus and nothing else. It’s the presence that changes everything.

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Jesus unscathed

Posted on August 20, 2020 by jwfisch

Some say He was an outlaw, that He roamed across the land

With a band of unschooled ruffians and a few old fishermen

No one knew just where he came from or exactly what he’d done

But they said it must be something bad that kept him on the run

                      from “The Outlaw” by Larry Norman

Why was it called the Jesus movement of the 1970s featuring Jesus people and Jesus freaks, and why was the music played considered Jesus music? Because in 1970, it was all about Jesus. Nobody officially designated any of these labels; they just came about through natural use because everybody was talking about Jesus. Everybody preached Jesus, talked about Jesus, and sang about Jesus. It was not about Christianity. It was not about even becoming a Christian. It was not about the church. Jesus was actually what made the movement popular. People — especially young people — were not interested in any of these other things, but they were interested in Jesus. It was as if Jesus somehow stepped out of the pages of history unscathed, without religious bias or prior baggage, and no one had considered that kind of Jesus before.

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Posted in Jesus, Jesus Movement, Millennials, new frontier | Tagged | 5 Comments

Something in the wind

Posted on August 19, 2020 by jwfisch

It’s all about Jesus. Nothing added; nothing taken away. It’s not Jesus plus something or Jesus minus something. It’s Jesus. Always has been; always will be. It’s just that sometimes in history we wake up to this because we go through long periods of being lulled to sleep by a cultural or folk religion that begins to take on agendas other than following Jesus. This happened 50 years ago when a youth generation discovered that the institutional church was rolling along quite fine without Jesus, and yet they were finding Him alive and well in the streets where they were crying out for peace, love and justice. 

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‘Do you know Jesus?’

Posted on August 18, 2020 by jwfisch

OIP-6

It’s all about Jesus.

Let’s simplify and clarify the religious playing field in this country. It’s easy to do. It’s Jesus, or something else. It’s Jesus, or it’s religion. It’s Jesus, or it’s politics. It’s Jesus, or it’s evangelicals do this and evangelicals do that.

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Posted in discipleship, Jesus | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Looking unto Jesus

Posted on August 17, 2020 by jwfisch

OIP-5

As it was fifty years ago in the Jesus Movement, so it is today: our message is simply Jesus. It is Jesus, His life, His words, His death, His resurrection, His commissioning, His ascension and His coming back that we follow.

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Posted in Jesus, Jesus Movement, word of God | Tagged , | 4 Comments