{"id":5439,"date":"2014-11-13T10:35:27","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T17:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=5439"},"modified":"2014-11-13T10:35:27","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T17:35:27","slug":"lollipops-munchkins-whatever-takes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=5439","title":{"rendered":"Lollipops, Munchkins & Doing Whatever It Takes!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Munchkin\"<\/a>Why would anyone dress up in what has been described as both the best and most disturbing costume for Bethel’s 5th Annual Trunk-or-Treat? I have been asking myself that question since first seeing this photo. Disturbing, indeed!<\/p>\n

I certainly did not dress up as a “Lollipop Guild”<\/em> member because I look stylish in the green and white leggings or simply adorable with my skullcap wig (which blended in way too easily with my retreating hairline). The answer to my question is really quite simple.\u00a0 At the end of the day, Bethel\u2019s Halloween Outreach Event \u2014 including all the candy and\u00a0 costumes \u2014 is really about doing whatever it takes to reach our community with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

We have been given the awesome privilege and mandate to carry out the Great Commission and live out the Great Commandment.\u00a0 What\u00a0 better way to “redeem the time”<\/em> (Ephesians 5:16) and accomplish both\u00a0 purposes simultaneously than to invite our friends and neighbors over to our \u201chouse\u201d<\/em> on Halloween?<\/p>\n

Bethel has decided that we will use every day — including Halloween — as an opportunity to push back against the darkness, to be salt and light in a culture that is increasingly post-Christian and anti-God.\u00a0 It would be easy \u2013 in fact understandable \u2013 for Christians in our culture to want to withdraw from the world. But, that is simply not an option. We are called to engage the culture, not to accommodate the culture and not to retreat from the culture. And, that means 365 days out of the year.<\/p>\n

Every day is the Lord\u2019s Day \u2013 a day that He has made.\u00a0 No day belongs to Satan! Therefore, whether it is through Trunk-or-Treat on a Friday night or shopping in Wal-Mart on Saturday or eating out at a restaurant on Sunday or going to school on Monday or working at your job on Tuesday or walking the dog in your neighborhood on Wednesday or shopping at the mall on Thursday, every day and every place can be an opportunity to be salt and light in our culture:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?\u00a0 It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

You are the light of the world.\u00a0 A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.\u00a0 Nor do\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.\u00a0 In the same way, let your light shine before\u00a0 others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/span>(Matthew 5:13-16)<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With Thanksgiving only two weeks away and Christmas, the season of lights, fast approaching, unbelievers will be more open to the message of the Light of the World at this time of the year. As Christ-followers, let\u2019s be intentional as we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world in our culture! And, let’s do whatever it takes to share the life-transforming message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Time’s a-wastin’ and the stakes are too high!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why would anyone dress up in what has been described as both the best and most disturbing costume for Bethel’s 5th Annual Trunk-or-Treat? I have been asking myself that question since first seeing this photo. Disturbing, indeed! I certainly did not dress up as a “Lollipop Guild” member because I look stylish in the green…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,11,33,39],"tags":[78,139,225,3373,450,3165,457,469,551,3188,3185,3186,3189,2312,3187,1003],"class_list":["post-5439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-culture","category-missions","category-theology","tag-alamogordo","tag-bethel-baptist-church-alamogordo","tag-christmas","tag-culture","tag-gospel","tag-great-commandment","tag-great-commission","tag-halloween","tag-jesus","tag-light-of-the-world","tag-lollipop-guild","tag-munchkins","tag-redeem-the-time","tag-salt-and-light","tag-the-wizard-of-oz","tag-trunk-or-treat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-1pJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5443,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions\/5443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}