“Become A Disciple for Christ”

Mount Carmel Baptist Church

Philadelphia, PA

July 17, 2011

Dr. Tony Campolo

Mount Carmel Baptist Church

Philadelphia, PA

July 17, 2011

10:00 AM

  1. In Haiti, the official language used to be French; it was a means of control. Now the Bible has been translated into Creole.
  2. In Haiti, they have slaves, which they call Restaveks.
  3. In Haiti we had a program to teach kids to read that would meet every day at 5. The Earthquake struck 5 minutes after 5, and hundreds lost their lives.
  4. Joke about how at Penn they never let you forget if you got your PhD at Temple.
  5. Up until Freud all counseling was done by ministers. After Freud professionals did the work, and they didn’t care about reconciliation. They cared about individualization.
  6. Back on a TV show Tony used to host, a woman on the show had written a book “Creative Divorce.” Wanted to divorce because husband was “stifling creativity.”
  7. In secular counseling, all the problems are about the past. Never focused on the future.
  8. When I grew up my father didn’t care if I as happy. He wanted me to be good. Sometimes what is good may not make you happy.
  9. Story about Robertson McQuilkin, the former President of Columbia Bible College who resigned to take care of wife at the peak of his career. There is something more important than a calling from God, and that’s a promise.
  10. The tendency of modern psychology is “It’s all about me”. It’s not. It’s about the other person.
  11. Story about the man who committed adultery. “Well did you kill her husband?”
  12. Used to belong to another church, but it shut down. Mount Carmel was the closest thing they could find.
  13. At my old church, they would have an Evangelist come in once a year “On judgment day they’re going to play a movie of every sin you ever committed, and your mother will be there.” I was more scared of Heaven than hell.
  14. Remember how the Nixon tape was erased? Jesus has erased your tape!
  15. Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to us.
  16. Jude: On that day he shall present you to the father.
  17. Yes we need to confess our sins. He wants to forgive us and to cleanse us.
  18. The Holy Spirit wants to cleanse you.
  19. Philippians 2:13-14.
  20. While secular psychology says we are controlled by our past, Christian psychologists say that the past is not as important as the future.
  21. If a child is the result of his environment, and that’s it, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
  22. By the grace of God all things are possible.
  23. I was able to organize an all-star game between the kids in the hood and the Philadelphia Eagles. I told them to imagine themselves as college students, the coach told them not to, that nothing would change.
  24. We define ourselves by our future. Go to school, get a job, get money, and buy stuff.
  25. We just bought what we didn’t need, a flat screen TV.
  26. Something sinful about buying all these things we don’t need.
  27. When I call young people to serve God, I tell them that the world will hold up a set of values and goals, and they know these don’t really have any fulfillment.
  28. To win people to Christ we have a problem. The African American community has had their teeth kicked in over the years. They needed a Christ who could empower them. But sometimes you get so committed to social justice that you forget to win individuals to Christ.
  29. Story about students at Penn watching the movie Marjoe.
  30. Drugs are a temporary feeling of heaven. But it’s only temporary and will destroy them in the end.
  31. Story about being in an elevator with a kid, banging on the wrong door thinking that they didn’t open. The kid didn’t laugh at all.
  32. Be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
  33. Story about Billy Graham and John Perkins.
  34. The only thing that matters in politics is what happens to the least of these.
  35. We are called to become healthy, joyful people. Comes by being committed to the work of the Kingdom.
  36. Story about college kids and TS Eliot. We win.
  37. Altar call.

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