Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Test

Hi there testing posting from iphone

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

facebook, blog, website

ok. I think I finally have all three linked in some fashion

if on facebook, link to blog and automatic blog insertions
if on blog, link to facebook [but you will need an account]
if on website, link to blog...need to figure out facebook connection

John 3: 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

or to put it another way

God did not send his CHURCH into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world

or

God did not send YOU / ME into the world to condemn the world, but to save it

so...why...

  1. why do we spend so much time protesting things?
  2. why is christian talk radio so full of venom?
  3. why do we expect non-christians to act like we should act as followers of Jesus?
  4. why do we try to manipulate morality through politics instead of focusing on transforming peoples lives through influencing them to follow Christ?
  5. why is church the most dangerous instead of the safest place to confess 'sin?'
  6. why do people split churches and bail from churches instead of forgiving 7 times 70 and obeying the command to 'love one another?'
  7. why is love such a low priority and 'holiness' such a high priority?

I guess i am frightened that we have become the very thing Jesus was opposed to: Self righteous; judgmental; mean spirited; thugs.

Jesus confronts...but notice the verse above and see that he doesn't condemn

Jesus forgives...even from the cross

and at times i wonder why we don't look, act, speak, and have the attitude of Jesus.

i am spending some time today looking hard at myself at who i have not yet forgiven and still hold in a position of condemnation. I suspect this won't be fun. But I also suspect that there will be more freedom in the flow of love, than the dam of emotional energy wasted on bitter roots and condemnation.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Just in case those frozen signs held up in the bleachers that say JOHN 3:16 at Football games has caused us to numb over with a cliché white-noise when we read these words; let me try to remind us about just how incredible these words are that Jesus said long before before bumper stickers; t-shirts; and wristbands. Words that reveal realities behind them that are FAR FAR larger; more shocking; nearly unbelievable; and amazing…words that tell us about God…ourselves…and where we intertwine!

This is how much God [how much what…what quantity is about to be talked about? How much stuff God has at his disposal…how many pickles, or how many stars or electrons?] loved [ok this is the subject…love…and a lot of it…mountains, valleys, galaxies of limitless love is at his command and he about to do something with that massive amount of limitless and eternal love….what will it be? Where will that loved be aimed…who will be worthy of it?] the world: [the world…you’ve got to be kidding…why the world…why those who have rebelled against him, those that ignore him, those that cause human trafficking…pornography…wars…kidnappings…pedophiles…liars…thieves why in the world would he leverage all of his love towards the one place in the universe of eternity that is so most obviously in opposition and at war with him?] He gave his Son, his one and only Son. [whoa…what kind of a Father would send his son into this mess? What kind of a Father would put his child at risk in the hands of his enemies? What kind of a Father would ask his son to go to certain death? And what kind of a son would choose to go?] And this is why: [ Yes please, tell me why?...what could possibly be worth this? Why in the name of reason would God send his only son into the ghetto of his creation; the trailer-park torn apart by twisters, the hood being held hostage by gangs of the godless?] so that no one need be destroyed; [ oh so that is what he is trying to stop. Our self destruction. The justice we deserve for all those secret and not so secret things. He is trying to rescue us from the insanity of our self-destructive nature-nurture-and civilization. But how…how will this happen?] by believing in him,[is it really that simple? That profound? It’s like doing a u-turn in the garden of Eden where humanity made the choice to not trust God and started trusting demons and themselves. All he is asking is for us to reach out and re-engage again with him. To let him be what he has always been…EVERYTHING. He just wants to be the trust of our hearts; our minds; our money; our everything. But who is this available to? The Jews, good people, moral people, who gets to win this lottery ticket of eternity?] Anyone [are you serious? Anybody…everybody? Me. You! This is too much. The love of God…placed in his ONLY son…killed by us …somehow made alive again…given to us freely…asking us to re-enter into the way it always should have been…available to anybody no matter who they are or what they have done. And if we do this what will happen? If we accept this love is there a catch?] can have a whole and everlasting life. [Are you serious! Not only will the quality of my life here be dramatically better and full of Gods presence…but…the quantity of life will last forever! God wants to be with me forever! Limitless time stretching into a mind numbing forever! Never bored by me, always intimate with me. Wow! Those signs at the ballgames don’t seem big enough now.

Slow down and read this again till the whiplash of the ideas has slapped you fully awake again with the shocking avalanche of undeserved love that is offered to you. The staggering bigness of God, the huge limitless oceans of his love, focused on one small planet…one small group of creatures…one small person nearly microscopic…you! And his love and desire for you is given a razor sharp focus and will cost him watching his own son suffer and die in order to bring you back into right relationship with him. All of eternity; all of his emotions; all of his thoughts; all of his being crashing into you through his son dying on a cross to take the penalty of our rebellion against him. No love story; film; novel; or song. No painting; poem; or even imagination could ever create a greater story of love. It is so colossal it is almost impossible to even bring it into our hearts and minds to comprehend it. He made you; created you; he knows all the hairs on your head. And he wants you so deeply; his longing is so overwhelming; his ache at unrequited love is so massive; that he will sacrifice his most precious Son for you.

For you! [Romeo and Juliette; Twilight; Pride and Prejudice; all of these stories and more are a joke compared with this]

Stare up at the clouds today. Look through the stained glass windows. Lift your voice in the songs we sing. And listen for God in between the words the preacher says. And if you search you will find that He is signing back, shining through the sun, dancing invisibly all around you, and screaming and shouting through His SON “I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, ILOVE YOU!”

For God so loved ________________[your name goes here]______________ that he…

Description of a Missional Church
A missional church is a collection of missional believers acting in concert together in fulfillment of the
missio dei.1
A missional church is one where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people as their identity and vocation.
A missional church is faith communities willing and ready to be Christ's people in their own situation and place.
A missional church knows that they must be a cross-cultural missionary (contextual) people and adopt a missionary stance in relation to their community.
A missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). They will become intentionally indigenous.
A missional church understands that God is already present in the culture where it finds itself. Therefore, a missional church doesn't view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.
A missional church is about more than just being contextual, it is also about the nature of the church and how it relates to God.
A missional church is about being -- being conformed to the image of God.
A missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities.
A missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say.
A missional church understands the power of the gospel and does not lose confidence in it.
A missional church will align all their activities around the
missio dei -- the mission of God.
A missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.
A missional church will give integrity, morality, good character and conduct, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope preeminence to give credence to their reasoned verbal witness.
A missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.
A missional church will always be in a dynamic tension or paradox between missional individuals and community. We cannot sustain being missional on our own, but if we are not being missional individually we cannot sustain being mission-shaped corporately.2
A missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.
A missional church will be totally reliant on God in all it does. It will move beyond superficial faith to a life of supernatural living.
A missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
A missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God's presence and to be realigned with God's missionary purpose.
A missional church is orthodox in its view of the gospel and scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the world view of the hearers.
A missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week.
A missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning "the way of Jesus." Spiritual development is an expectation.
A missional church will help people discover and develop their spiritual gifts and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.
A missional church is a healing community where people carry each other's burdens and help restore gently.
A missional church will requires that its leaders be missiologists.

facebook

my facebook page just got updated with a ton of photos and groups and comments and a host of other thngs.

take a look and tell me what you think

Saturday, November 15, 2008

  1. you can get your e-mail immediately
  2. you can update facebook immediately
  3. you can access all your music on your home computer anytime using the free ap simply media
  4. you can access the bible anytime
  5. maps is a GPS tracker and search engine so you can never get lost
  6. you can search ebay anytime
  7. jott ap lets you talk to your phone while driving or walking in the woods...it records it...converts it to text...and sends you an e-mail
  8. shazam lets you find any new music you hear...tuner lets you listen to any radio station in the world..and white noise lets you listen to rain on the beach while going to sleep
  9. gas bag tells you where the cheapest gas is
  10. urban spoon and around me ap's tell you the best food and sights around you
  11. air share ap lets you have access to all documents on your home computer anytime

i think my next laptop is gonna be a mac!

sick makes you pray

i have been sick for about 2 weeks.

and when i am sick i pray a lot.

and i usually find that i have gotten off-page with God and that he uses this [for me, not necissarily others] to draw me back into what he wants me to be doing.

these are my prayer discoveries:

  1. i decide to do things so that people will be impressed by me, instead of choosing to do the things God wants me to do as his servant.
  2. i give my leftover energy to my family far too often instead of giving them my best.
  3. prayer gives me FAR more insight than study, dialogue, or my own thinking.
  4. the best way to influence the visible world is to spend time in the invisible world.
  5. i run at a speed-of-life that is unnatural and unhealthy, thus when most unhealthy i try to do things in the midst of exhaustion and absent of being connected and focused on God.
  6. my mouth says a lot of useless stuff...what if i spoke only what God would send an angel to say?!
  7. people are rarely villians, but are often victims speaking and reacting poorly to thier wounds; they need help not judgment or gossip.
  8. denial doesn't work.
  9. trying to explain everything you do to the people looking in the fishbowl is a fulltime job that is impossible to even start not to mention finish.
  10. god is good all the time...alll the time god is good!

 

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