Faith For All

Discussion:Should Christians care about the Environment?

This week Cross of Glory's Climate Action Team, alongside a couple of random church members, discuss the topic of Christians and the Environment.
 
 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 NIV
 
 

Caring for our planet, part 4: I can make a difference

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
James 2: 14-17 New International Version
 
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:20 New International Version

Caring for our planet, part 3: The number one thing we can to to combat it.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
1 John 4:7-21 NIV
 
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Caring for our planet, part 2: Climate change impacts us all

**This sermon was recorded during an outside worship service (somewhat appropriate for a sermon on the environment) and the sound quality is lacking. 
 
 

Caring for our planet, part 1: What does the Bible Say?

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
    So God created mankind in his own image,    in the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:26-28 NIV
*Man was to rule over the earth like a king. The Hebrew word is "radah." It's a royal word. Not like a tirade king described in Ezekiel 34:4, but like a humble king described in Psalm 72. 
 
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
     the world, and all who live in it;
or he founded it on the seas
      and established it on the waters.
Pslam 24:1-2 NIV
 
“‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
Leviticus 25:23 NIV
 

Discussion: Prayer, what is it and what is it good for

This week random members of Cross of Glory discuss prayer

Living the Lord’s Prayer: Part 5

This is prayer most christians pray, but how well do we really know what it means?
"and whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. truly i tell you, they have received their reward. but whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
when you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
pray then in this way:
our father in heaven,    hallowed be your name.
 your kingdom come.    your will be done,        on earth as it is in heaven.   give us this day our daily bread.   and forgive us our debts,        as we also have forgiven our debtors.    and do not bring us to the time of trial,        but rescue us from the evil one.
for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your father forgive your trespasses."
Matthew 6:5-15 new revised standard version

Living the Lord’s Prayer:Part 4

this is prayer most christians pray, but how well do we really know what it means?
"and whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. truly i tell you, they have received their reward. but whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
when you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
pray then in this way:
our father in heaven,    hallowed be your name.
 your kingdom come.    your will be done,        on earth as it is in heaven.   give us this day our daily bread.   and forgive us our debts,        as we also have forgiven our debtors.    and do not bring us to the time of trial,        but rescue us from the evil one.
for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your father forgive your trespasses."
Matthew 6:5-15 new revised standard version

Living the Lord’s Prayer: Part 3

This is prayer most christians pray, but how well do we really know what it means?
"and whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. truly i tell you, they have received their reward. but whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
when you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
pray then in this way:
our father in heaven,    hallowed be your name.
 your kingdom come.    your will be done,        on earth as it is in heaven.   give us this day our daily bread.   and forgive us our debts,        as we also have forgiven our debtors.    and do not bring us to the time of trial,        but rescue us from the evil one.
for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your father forgive your trespasses."
Matthew 6:5-15 new revised standard version

Living the Lord’s Prayer:Part 2

This is prayer most Christians pray, but how well do we really know what it means?
"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,    hallowed be your name.
 Your kingdom come.    Your will be done,        on earth as it is in heaven.   Give us this day our daily bread.   And forgive us our debts,        as we also have forgiven our debtors.    And do not bring us to the time of trial,        but rescue us from the evil one.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Matthew 6:5-15 New Revised Standard Version