Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Shack
Obviously I am posting this about 18 months or so behind "The Shack" craze, but I read it then and had issues, and this review puts a lot of them in type and backs them up scripturally.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Simplicity is Sweet
I thought this was a good article for myself especially with my people pleasing tendencies.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Weird dude in search of weird team
Thought this was a great blog post by Driscoll. Hope to get plugged into one of these communities one day.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Gospel
The last month has been one of Gospel saturated preaching for me, and it has been GREAT! I started out the past 3 weeks with a trip to T4G (Together for the Gospel) in Louisville, KY, and ended it up last week in Raleigh, NC at Advance 10 (Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South). I came away from both with a deep desire to see the Gospel proclaimed in our churches, and a heavy heart of realization that it has been sorely neglected or even intentionally left out in most of our churches.
The focus of T4G was "The Unadjusted Gospel". This is the gospel we as believers are bound to proclaim. Unfortunately for a plethora of reasons the church has adjusted the gospel. Those adjustments have been for what men thought were good reasons whether it be to draw people into the church, or to make the gospel more mainstream, or less offensive, but the effect has been to water it down or make it something other than the Gospel all together. This has no doubt been a plan of the enemy to lead many astray and to sleep in the comfort of false religion.
The speakers at T4G were men whom God has used in a huge way to further the gospel in their contexts and around the world. The sermons/talks were so incredibly God glorifying and refreshing to my soul. God was the focus and His glory was magnified through the proclamation of the greatest story ever told, THE GOSPEL. I highly recommend going to t4g.org and checking out the talks.
I had about a 10 day break between arriving home from T4G and going to Advance 10 which was a good break to try and digest the meat of God's word I had been fed in KY. My good buddy Zack and I headed out to Raleigh and stayed with my in laws for the second annual Advance the Church conference. The venue had changed this year (held at the Summit Church this year instead of the Durham Performing Arts Center), and a lot of the nationally known pastors that were at the first Advance conference were not at this one in person for various reasons. However that did not slow or hinder the proclamation of the Gospel in all its glory. God is moving among some young men of the faith and I feel grooming them to be the next group of nationally known proclaimers of His message. The Summit Church also put the Gospel on display in their service to those of us who came to the conference. It was an amazing volunteer staff.
The focus of Advance 10 was the contextualization of the Gospel in the "New South". The church is declining faster in the south than anywhere else in the nation. This is true for many reasons, but some of the major ones are the influx of people from other regions of the country that are traditionally less churched, as well as the quickly growing number of dechurched (people who have walked away from the church for various reasons) people in the south.
The problem is obvious, but what has been the cause, and what is the solution? That is what the conference strove to answer. Much of the problem has stemmed from a few major issues. One being the teaching of quaint moralism in the church instead of the Gospel. People think the church is a bunch of good people telling other good people how to do good things (paraphrase of Mark Twain). Another is a stem of this quaint moralism in that people are trying to bring about outward mechanical change and not addressing the heart issue which brings about inward organic change. So what we have is a bunch of unconverted people in the pews that the church is trying to moralize. Obviously this doesn't last, and the outside world sees straight through the hypocrisy which results. Those that grow up in it see the nominalism and walk as soon as they get a chance. Therefore you have a steep decline in the church. Couple this with the lack of true missional focus in the spread of the true Gospel and the cause of said decline is glaring.
So what is the solution? The solution is the Gospel and it's proclamation in every context of society. Whether that be to the affluent old money south, or the generationally impoverished projects in our cities and every pocket of culture in between. To proclaim it we obviously have to understand it and have been changed by it ourselves. So knowing what it is, and is not, and then making it central in what we preach to our congregations is imperative.
So now the process continues in my own life of being changed by the Gospel as it is the "medicine we Christians must take everyday" (Tchividjian). I will close with this quote form J.D. Greear (who probably stole it from someone without quoting them : ) ) "The Spirit of God using the story of God to make the beauty of God come alive in our hearts" That story of God is the Gospel and God is using it to draw us to making Him our treasure. So why would we use anything else to try and draw people to the church?
Soli Deo Gloria
The focus of T4G was "The Unadjusted Gospel". This is the gospel we as believers are bound to proclaim. Unfortunately for a plethora of reasons the church has adjusted the gospel. Those adjustments have been for what men thought were good reasons whether it be to draw people into the church, or to make the gospel more mainstream, or less offensive, but the effect has been to water it down or make it something other than the Gospel all together. This has no doubt been a plan of the enemy to lead many astray and to sleep in the comfort of false religion.
The speakers at T4G were men whom God has used in a huge way to further the gospel in their contexts and around the world. The sermons/talks were so incredibly God glorifying and refreshing to my soul. God was the focus and His glory was magnified through the proclamation of the greatest story ever told, THE GOSPEL. I highly recommend going to t4g.org and checking out the talks.
I had about a 10 day break between arriving home from T4G and going to Advance 10 which was a good break to try and digest the meat of God's word I had been fed in KY. My good buddy Zack and I headed out to Raleigh and stayed with my in laws for the second annual Advance the Church conference. The venue had changed this year (held at the Summit Church this year instead of the Durham Performing Arts Center), and a lot of the nationally known pastors that were at the first Advance conference were not at this one in person for various reasons. However that did not slow or hinder the proclamation of the Gospel in all its glory. God is moving among some young men of the faith and I feel grooming them to be the next group of nationally known proclaimers of His message. The Summit Church also put the Gospel on display in their service to those of us who came to the conference. It was an amazing volunteer staff.
The focus of Advance 10 was the contextualization of the Gospel in the "New South". The church is declining faster in the south than anywhere else in the nation. This is true for many reasons, but some of the major ones are the influx of people from other regions of the country that are traditionally less churched, as well as the quickly growing number of dechurched (people who have walked away from the church for various reasons) people in the south.
The problem is obvious, but what has been the cause, and what is the solution? That is what the conference strove to answer. Much of the problem has stemmed from a few major issues. One being the teaching of quaint moralism in the church instead of the Gospel. People think the church is a bunch of good people telling other good people how to do good things (paraphrase of Mark Twain). Another is a stem of this quaint moralism in that people are trying to bring about outward mechanical change and not addressing the heart issue which brings about inward organic change. So what we have is a bunch of unconverted people in the pews that the church is trying to moralize. Obviously this doesn't last, and the outside world sees straight through the hypocrisy which results. Those that grow up in it see the nominalism and walk as soon as they get a chance. Therefore you have a steep decline in the church. Couple this with the lack of true missional focus in the spread of the true Gospel and the cause of said decline is glaring.
So what is the solution? The solution is the Gospel and it's proclamation in every context of society. Whether that be to the affluent old money south, or the generationally impoverished projects in our cities and every pocket of culture in between. To proclaim it we obviously have to understand it and have been changed by it ourselves. So knowing what it is, and is not, and then making it central in what we preach to our congregations is imperative.
So now the process continues in my own life of being changed by the Gospel as it is the "medicine we Christians must take everyday" (Tchividjian). I will close with this quote form J.D. Greear (who probably stole it from someone without quoting them : ) ) "The Spirit of God using the story of God to make the beauty of God come alive in our hearts" That story of God is the Gospel and God is using it to draw us to making Him our treasure. So why would we use anything else to try and draw people to the church?
Soli Deo Gloria
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Advance 10
Leaving for Advance 10 in Raleigh in about 20 minutes. Looking forward to it, and hopefully having time to blog about it and T4G upon my return. Looking forward to some good Theology talks with my buddy Zack on the way to and fro.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
T4G
Heading out to the Together 4 the Gospel conference tomorrow with my father-in-law and a group of men from his church. Looking very forward to it, and what God has in store for all in attendance.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Week or 3
Well, when I started this blog I thought I would have more spare time to write. However, I have been working in W-S with my dad for the last 3 weeks which means almost 2.5 hours of my day are spent in the truck. Hence the reason that my week in my original post has turned into 3 weeks.
I had manifold reasons for leaving Facebook to start a blog. Just a few of which I will cover here tonight. I am not in any way saying that I think Fb is evil, in fact I think it is a great way for people to connect and share their lives. However for me having a Fb page posed more opportunities to stumble than I needed to put in front of myself.
First of all having a page provided me with an opportunity for pride to take over and be manifest. I mean who puts an ugly picture of themselves up on Fb? (Well there was that one picture with the 70's hair and glasses) We all tend to paint ourselves in the best light possible from what we say to the pictures we post. We desire for people to think we are funny, intelligent, beautiful/handsome, and successful. It is almost like a constant online high school reunion. I just got tired of playing the game. I am a saint dwelling in a tent of depraved flesh which lends itself to all kinds of vices and sin. So who am I kidding acting like I have it all together. I am in desperate need of Grace daily and I didn't feel like that is what I was portraying on Fb. So in reality I was maintaining a "face" page of what I wanted people to see hoping they would like me. What I have known for about 4 years and has really began to register is it doesn't matter whether you like me, the God of the universe loved me enough to sacrifice His Son on my behalf. So He evidently places a high value on me....which is a mystery.
Secondly as a man who struggles with the sin of lust (as most men do whether they are truthful enough to own up to it or not is another issue) I didn't need the provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. I ain't hatin' on anyone in particular on Fb, but some women make it hard on men who desire to live Godly lives when they post some of the pictures that they post. I know you can say that "I don't have to look at them" and you are right so I got off Fb. This doesn't even take into account the adds that pop up on the right side of the page constantly. Just too much temptation for me and my flesh is weak.
The last reason I will cover tonight (even though there are a few more) for the sake of time is time. It was just too easy for me to come in from work (or if I was home as I am unemployed) and feel like I needed to look at all my friend's status updates from that present time to the last time I was online. So I could spend anywhere from 20 min. a day to an hour plus of cumulative time farting around on Fb. Many of those days I had spent 5 minutes or less in the Word or prayer with the God who gave SO much on my behalf. So my priorities were seriously out of whack, and Fb only provided one more thing to steal my affections from the One who deserves them most. Not to say I have my priorities all ironed out since leaving Fb, but I have one less trivial (temporal) thing vying for the time of the essential (eternal) things in my life.
As I continue this blog I hope to be much more open and honest about my struggles as a believer and as a man trying to walk with the Lord in this messed up world. I just need to get my wife's permission first as I tend to let it all hang out sometimes without worrying about the consequences or how what I say affects her. I feel that a blog is a much better place to do that than on Fb. I so long to be over posing, and have for the last 4 years since God saved me out my sin and the life of a huge lie. I just long to be REAL and hope that the world sees a whole lot more of Christ in my life, and a whole lot less of me or who my foolish pride wants you to imagine me to be...
I had manifold reasons for leaving Facebook to start a blog. Just a few of which I will cover here tonight. I am not in any way saying that I think Fb is evil, in fact I think it is a great way for people to connect and share their lives. However for me having a Fb page posed more opportunities to stumble than I needed to put in front of myself.
First of all having a page provided me with an opportunity for pride to take over and be manifest. I mean who puts an ugly picture of themselves up on Fb? (Well there was that one picture with the 70's hair and glasses) We all tend to paint ourselves in the best light possible from what we say to the pictures we post. We desire for people to think we are funny, intelligent, beautiful/handsome, and successful. It is almost like a constant online high school reunion. I just got tired of playing the game. I am a saint dwelling in a tent of depraved flesh which lends itself to all kinds of vices and sin. So who am I kidding acting like I have it all together. I am in desperate need of Grace daily and I didn't feel like that is what I was portraying on Fb. So in reality I was maintaining a "face" page of what I wanted people to see hoping they would like me. What I have known for about 4 years and has really began to register is it doesn't matter whether you like me, the God of the universe loved me enough to sacrifice His Son on my behalf. So He evidently places a high value on me....which is a mystery.
Secondly as a man who struggles with the sin of lust (as most men do whether they are truthful enough to own up to it or not is another issue) I didn't need the provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. I ain't hatin' on anyone in particular on Fb, but some women make it hard on men who desire to live Godly lives when they post some of the pictures that they post. I know you can say that "I don't have to look at them" and you are right so I got off Fb. This doesn't even take into account the adds that pop up on the right side of the page constantly. Just too much temptation for me and my flesh is weak.
The last reason I will cover tonight (even though there are a few more) for the sake of time is time. It was just too easy for me to come in from work (or if I was home as I am unemployed) and feel like I needed to look at all my friend's status updates from that present time to the last time I was online. So I could spend anywhere from 20 min. a day to an hour plus of cumulative time farting around on Fb. Many of those days I had spent 5 minutes or less in the Word or prayer with the God who gave SO much on my behalf. So my priorities were seriously out of whack, and Fb only provided one more thing to steal my affections from the One who deserves them most. Not to say I have my priorities all ironed out since leaving Fb, but I have one less trivial (temporal) thing vying for the time of the essential (eternal) things in my life.
As I continue this blog I hope to be much more open and honest about my struggles as a believer and as a man trying to walk with the Lord in this messed up world. I just need to get my wife's permission first as I tend to let it all hang out sometimes without worrying about the consequences or how what I say affects her. I feel that a blog is a much better place to do that than on Fb. I so long to be over posing, and have for the last 4 years since God saved me out my sin and the life of a huge lie. I just long to be REAL and hope that the world sees a whole lot more of Christ in my life, and a whole lot less of me or who my foolish pride wants you to imagine me to be...
Prosperity Theology
Ran across this today on the resurgence and thought it was a great series for a problem that is plaguing the world.
I also intend to start writing some of my own stuff for this blog tonight...
I also intend to start writing some of my own stuff for this blog tonight...
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Grounds for moving.
I thought these were some great insights on the question of moving to another church.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Reading but not yet writing
still haven't had much time to write, but thought this was an interesting article
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Post to come...eventually
I will be working on this blog in my spare time which for the next week or so is going to be limited. When i do start posting i intend to share my reasons for leaving fb, if anyone cares to know. More importantly I hope to post a lot about Him and minimally about me, unless it relates to how I relate to Him or He to me.
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