Religion v. Relationship

We spoke last Sunday about how our relationship with Jesus can easily degenerate to a religion. The relationship is built upon our love for God first and our neighbor 2nd. When we begin to lose our love we become religious. Here are 4 indications that our relationship has turned into a religion

1. Jesus/God becomes a vehicle/tool to promote a personal goal or ambition.
eg. when the Israelites use the ark of the covenant to try to win the battle against the Philistines

2.We become more willing to sacrifice for our belief than we do for God

3. There is a change in who we consider our friends and who we consider our enemies.
Pilate and Herod became friends over how to deal with Jesus

4. We lose our sense of humor. Have you ever seen a picture of Bin Laden smiling or laughing?

THE HIDING PLACE

This Friday, April 9 @ 7:15pm in the church, we will be showing the film, 'the hiding place'. It is a classic about Corey Ten Boom and her family hiding Jews during the Nazi reign. I have seen the movie a couple of times through the years and I am looking forward to seeing it again....Everyone is invited