by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Dec 31
My Conversation With An Atheist
Posted by Josh
I wanted to write a short post about my recent conversation with an Atheist. Sometimes I think Christians are intimidated to talk with someone that believes that there is no God. However I had the privilege to do just that and trust me I am not all that intellectual if you know me you know this is true ha. This guy had his phd in Micro Biology I believe it was so trust me I was way out of my league I know little about biology. However I greatly enjoyed our conversation and my opportunity to learn why he believed what he believed.
I would like to say that many times Christianity gets lumped into just being another religion. However when I stopped him and said I am not part of a religion and that I can never get to God but that my faith is about God coming to me he stopped for a moment and said well it is all semantics. When I confronted him that it is not all semantics but rather there is a large difference he agreed with me. It is good to have conversation without arguing. The fact is I will never argue someone into heaven and I wil never be argued out of my belief that God exists. There are people alot smarter than I scientifically that believe in Jesus Christ.
I must say I really wrote this to say this. In my conversation this man relayed to me that the most hatred that he has seen from people have come from those that profess to be followers of Christ. He then said that he had friends that were Christians but when they found out he was an Atheist they wanted nothing to do with him. Isn’t this a sad commentary on our faith. How often do we do this to others just because they believe differently than us. These are the very people we find Christ hanging out with and if someone who does not believe in God does not see God lived out in us then we have a major problem.
I guess what bothers me the most is that we are notorious for making excuses we say things like “they are not interested in following Christ so it does not matter” or I have heard one pastor say “if they really want to grow they will grow” I have said similar things at times we so often excuse our failures and even sins as no big deal.  This is just not acceptable.  We must show Christ to the unbeliever.  I hope in some small way I showed Christ to this man.  When he left he thanked me for talking with him and told me it was good to meet me I told him the same. Â
I am thankful that on that day I had a conversation with someone that did not believe like me.Â
God Bless.
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Dec 27
What A Great Story
Posted by Josh
I remember hearing about this story but this is the first time I have seen video of it. This story is such a great story and very moving. Watch the video.
Amazing Softball Story – Watch today’s top amazing videos here
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Dec 24
The Gospel Lived Out
Posted by Josh
Please take time to read whole Story. So powerful.
They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.
It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.
Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?
They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.
It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on by name.
“I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us to hit their kids,” recalls Gainesville’s QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. “I wouldn’t expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!”
And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.
But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five handcuffs ready in their back pockets and marched them to the team bus. That’s because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.
Please Read the Whole Story here.
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Dec 18
Learning From an Atheist about Evangelism
Posted by Josh
I believe this video speaks for itself. You may recognize him from Pen and Teller fame. The video should really cause us to rethink our evangelistic efforts.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Dec 15
President Bush is Fast
Posted by Josh
I happen to like president Bush and I know that is hard for some to believe especially living in a world where he seems to be hated by so many people.  When I saw this clip on the news I was not surprised by the guy throwing his shoes I was surprised by how fast President Bush was able to get out of the way.  Not only that I was surprised that the President kept a smile on his face the whole time.  Well here it is.
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by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Nov 26
Posted by Josh
Well tonight we had family thanksgiving with my wifes side of the family it really was some good food. In fact I had some great cranberry relish and some good potatoe stuffing. As usual I washed it down with my wife’s pecan pie. I am biased and I know it but my wife males the best pecan pie in the world. We had a lot of folks here at the ridgeway Baptist church but as I sat hear I was thinking about family and how we are all different. I am glad that my wife’s family is not the same as my family how boring would life be if we were all the same. I know for me life would be boring.
If I am really honest I use to jot want to come to these things with my wife. Deep down inside I guess I never really felt welcome but I would always cone to make my wife happy. I know how lame I am but it is the truth. Now for the most part I like to come. But I can’t help but wonder if this is how so many feel coming to our churches. Do they come in the door looking to be accepted and loved into a family but in the end they feel rejected and not part of the family at all. I think we are failing miserably in the church and when we stop making church less about our comforts.and more about loving God and loving others we will see Him move. Lets together change the atmosphere of how we do church.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
Nov 12
Posted by Josh
It seems that I make this a theme. I do not post for a long time and then I come on and post and talk about how busy I have been and that is the reason for not posting.
Truthfully I have been busy. This last Sunday was my first Sunday as the interim pastor at Lancaster baptist church here in Missouri as well as the interim youth director at FBC Macon. Right now I travel to Lancaster (roughly 45 miles) on Sundays and I stay there until Monday afternoon. I then am in the office at Macon on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This gives me Friday and Saturday off though I usually do alot of work from home.
We have been seeing some really neat stuff happen in our Youth over the past several weeks and just this last week we have seen three salvations. God is good the youth ministry has grown both numerically and spiritually it has been great to be a part of it.
I have been in contact with a church down in Souther Illinois and will be heading that way to preach on December the 5th pray that God direct and if this is where I am to be that I will know it and so will they. These last two years have been both great and trying at the same time. Great because I have continued to do ministry and see God work and trying because my heart is for full time ministry and I have not had the opportunity to do that or the stability that it brings to my family. All in all I know God is in control.
Until next time.
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by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Oct 01
Posted by Josh
It has been awhile since I have posted primarily because I have been terribly busy over these past few weeks. Right now I am the interim youth director at my church and we have seen God doing some really cool things. We started our first week on Wednesday evening with 35 students and the very next week we jumped to 55 and have had over 50 every week since. Sunday school has been pretty much the same way. However I know I can’t be an interim youth director my entire life. These last few years have been difficult on my family and have tried our faith but nonetheless we recognize that God is in control.
Recently I was asked to become the interim pastor of a small church near us. Honestly it is greatly appealing to me but at the same time I see God doing some great things where I am at. It would be difficult to give up teaching teens on Sunday’s and building those relationships. Right now the question is do I try to do both if both churches were to agree to it? Or do I just stay put. I will continue to pray.
Life, My Thoughts
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Russell Moore’s sermon manuscript, Joseph Is a Single-Issue Evangelical: The Father of Jesus, the Cries of the Helpless, and Change You Can Believe In, is now online. Here’s how it closes:
The question for us, then, of whether we are truly pro-life or not, has very little to do with how many signs are in our yards or what bumper stickers we put on our cars. Indeed, it may be the case that after this election the abortion debate will be over in this country politically.Â
But even if that’s the case, it’s not over. Our churches are to follow in the walk of faith, which means that–like Joseph walking away from stability and comfort–our churches must be different, they must be counter-cultural, the kind of place where the teenage mother is welcomed and loved, where abandoned children are received, and where a culture that is in love with death can come and hear a message saying that life is better than death because there is a man, an ex-corpse, a former-fetus, who is standing as the ruler over all the nations and the universe. And he is not dead anymore.Â
 What we must have is a church in which the gospel we give is the kind of gospel that leads people out of death and despair and toward the kind of life that is found in confessing a name–a name that was first spoken by human lips by a day-laborer in Nazareth, “Jesus is Lord.”
 If we follow this kind of pure and undefiled religion, it doesn’t mean we will be shrill. It doesn’t mean we will be culture-warriors. It doesn’t mean we’ll be belligerent. It will mean that we will have churches that are so strikingly different, that maybe in ten or fifteen years the most odd and counter-cultural thing a lost person may hear in your church is not, “Amen,” but is instead the sounds of babies crying in the nursery.
 And hearing the oddness of that sound, when they look around at the place in which all of the Lord Jesus’ brothers and sisters are welcomed, protected, and loved, the place in which the lies of a murderous and appetite-driven dragon are denied, the lost person might say, “What is the sound of all these cries?” And maybe we’ll be able to say with our forefather Joseph, “that’s the sound of life. That’s the sound of hope. That’s the sound of change.”
 You might even say, it’s “change you can believe in.”
You can also listen to the MP3 online.
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Jan 08
Posted by Josh
When I was just a boy I remember reading this poem by Helen Steiner Rice.
| Friendship is a priceless gift That can’t be bought or sold, But its value is far greater
Than a mountain made of gold.
For gold is cold and lifeless, It cannot see nor hear, And in your times of trouble,
It is powerless to cheer.
It has no ears to listen, No heart to understand. It cannot bring you comfort
Or reach out a helping hand.
So when you ask God for a gift, Be thankful that he sends, Not diamonds, pearls, or riches,
But the love of a real, true friend.
|
If my memory serves me correct I was at my aunts house and read those words and they have stuck with me ever since. I have found in my life that some people obviously value friendship far greater than others. I believe there are those that actually understand friendship and those that do not. I have been thinking about this alot lately and am not sure why God has placed this so heavily on my heart. I do know this I thankful for some great friends. Some I have had for a very long time and some are new friends that I have made.
You know actually the Bible has alot to say about friendship. For instance I love Proverbs 17:17 when it says “A Friend loves at all times” friends really do love no matter what. It does not matter your social statues, wealth, or anything else. A true friend stand beside you not matter the circumstances. I have found in my own life it is during those tough times that you find out who your true friends are.
Proverbs 17:9 reads “Whoever covers an offense seeks love,” This is a real friend. Some people are constantly looking for whats wrong. Continually trying to find fault in you they was to judge and criticize in fact that is the first place they often go. I believe that a true friend helps you be the best you can be. Friends that d0 not do this really are not friends at all. I know this is just aspects of friendship and God’s word has so much more to say but when I think of that poem from Helen Steiner Rice friendship really is a priceless gift.
A true friend is hard to find.
Life, My Thoughts, Spiritual Application
by Josh Monda | Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Yesterday was a busy day for me. Â I spent the day seeing patients for the first time and spent the day with several people. Â I had a good day it was fun to spend time with some people yet at the same time difficult knowing that these people are in the last days of their lives.Â
I enjoyed my time with one patient in particular. Â We took time to look at an old car magazine together and I read to him about some of the cars. Â We looked at the prices of some of the cars when they first came out and I shared with him what the horsepower was. Â Even though he could not speak well enough fro me to understand him I could see in his expression and in his eyes that he liked the fact that I took the time to be with him. Â It saddened me to know that perhaps this guy had a very little interaction with men now that he was in a nursing home and more then likely he was lonely and wanted a man to just show some interest in him and who he was. Â I knew he liked cars because he had a picture of an old car hanging on his board. Â My time with him was valuable.
However, this got me to thinking.  What would it be like to talk to someone and to know that they can not understand you.  I know his mind works but it must be difficult to know you can not communicate in a way that people understand you.  For some reason my thoughts turned to forgiveness.  What would it be like to want to say to someone “I forgive you yet not be able to”.  How difficult that must be.
My thoughts have turned to my father.  My father was alcoholic and that is really all I knew him as.  In fact it was a rare moment that my father was sober.  I remember the yelling and the screaming I remember the violent way he behaved when he was drunk.  I could not stand it.  I wanted an escape a way out.  Eventually my mother and father were divorced and I rarely saw my dad.  It got to the point where I never say him and in fact did not even know where he was.  I remember when my dad first found where I was and I m in that first letter he wrote and asked if I would ever be able to forgive him.  My response was “dad I forgave you long ago”  It was barely a year later that my father was murdered on the street of Arizona for a measly 11 dollars.  But what if I had never had the opportunity to tell him I forgave him and what I he never had the opportunity to ask.
This has been on my mind. Â Forgiveness can be a powerful thing and I am so thankful that I have been forgiven by Jesus Christ. Â I am so thankful for the grace that is experienced through the blood of Jesus Christ. Â It took me a long time to get to the point where have forgiven some in my old congregation and how things were handled. Â In fact if I am honest bitterness began to take root in me. Â Do I agree with how things were handled? Â The answer is a resounding no. Â Do I forgive how things were handled the answer is yes. Â I did not want to forgive but God began to break me and I got to the point where I knew without forgiveness my life would eventually be useless in the hands of the potter. Â Now perhaps there are those that think they have done nothing wrong but regardless of the fact I forgive, and have forgiven those that have hurt me. Â I pray God’s grace may abound.
I also know that in my life I am not so naive to think that I do not need forgiveness.  I know I have screwed up many times and many times my errors have hurt others maybe those I have hurt will forgive me.  This I know without forgiveness we are not following Christ.  It would be a terrible thing to want to tell someone you forgive them and not be able to say a thing. Â
Tomorrow I will spend some time with a man that will most likely be dead very soon I am responsible for his spiritual care.  What would it be like to pass away without forgiving I pray I never know.
