Rants on Issues that MATTER!!!
(to me)Archive for September, 2008
.sometimes it is so difficult.
Sometimes it is so hard to follow Jesus. Are you there with me? Sometimes it would be so easy to be selfish and just do what I want to. Yet I don’t that is the mystery. Can I say that? There are times when I am tired, when I am sick of it all or when I just don’t know how it is going to work out that I just want to throw in the towel and walk away. Yet I can’t. Why? Because Jesus has changed me and captured my heart.
There is a quote by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation that I absolutely love, here goes it:
It remains hard to live the Jesus way, to live and love in a way that brings God glory. The power of our flesh cries out for us to be selfish and to refuse to love those who have not treated us well, have worked against our better interest, or have simply been the annoying gnat in our conversation.
This is so true, living in a way that brings God glory is hard. It is treacherous, it sucks sometimes, it is exhausting and so much more. However it is the greatest thing ever also. No matter what comes, when we glorify Jesus we have true joy. Joy that can get us through the hard times. When we suffer for the glory of God we live life to the fullest. So may I walk faithfully the Jesus way.
.poor and broken.
Here is a great quote by Rich Mullins, that challenges and encourages me.
Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.
He is so right on this. Growing up in a church where the main concern was about building a perfect little life, there was not much emphasis on helping the poor and loving the broken. In fact if you were broken you must be a bad person and poor people were just lazy. There is such a problem with that. We are to live amongst the poor and broken and bring the whole gospel to them. We can not run away from the hard places and make a “Christian” ghetto.
What do we do with this?
How do we react?
.love of God.
Wow this is just some more pure amazing words from John Perkins
If we do not value the love of God above all other things, we will not give ourselves completely to it. If our families, our friends, our material wealth, our reputations, our worldly success, our physical lives are more important to us than the love of God, we will not benefit from all it offers us. if we reduce it to an idea that we agree with rather than an indwelling, living reality, we will gain only what an idea can give us. We will not allow the love of God to transform us, and we certainly will not expect it to transform anyone or anything else.
I almost do not want to say anything after this, because I am afraid of ruining these beautiful words. However being me I will, trying not to ruin this thought. May I say that our lives show what we truly value. If we value our physical lives, what we do will show that. If we value the love of God, then our lives will show that to be true.
These words cut deep, because when I think that I am on the right track and being transformed by God in this part of life, I fail. I fall down and worship myself, everyday I worship me and my physical life. There are times that I value the love of Jesus above these, however I wish I could say that most of the time that I value Jesus more than my physical life. So what do I do… I fall on my knees before God who is holy and say “transform me, because I can’t do it. I need the cross dear Jesus, change me to value your love above all.” I need the gospel everyday.
What do you think? Do these words cut deep for you?
Are you encouraged? Challenged?
Do you disagree with the quote?
I would love to hear what you think.
.an interesting preaching resource.
Hey go over to my friend Seth’s blog where he found an interesting series by Josh Harris on the preaching manuscripts of some amazing preachers. It is a good resource and nice to see that they all do it different.
.piper on preaching.
Go to Piper’s blog to read some good things about the biblical-oriented preacher vs. the entertainment-oriented preacher.
.advocates.
By proclaiming the sovereign authority of our just God, the church challenges and warns those who exploit the poor. The testimony of our life as a community, planted in the places of pain, should be our battle cry: “We intend by God’s grace to chase away the demons of darkness.” –John Perkins
Do we do this as a church. I think that the church in general has failed to do this. There are some churches out there that actually follow this and proclaim the sovereignty of God and fight for the poor. Growing up in a rural/suburbia church we did not do this. However though many circumstances and joining an urban church Jesus has put it on my heart that He is about reconciliation, not only with Him but also with those around us. We need to bring the message of Jesus to all and fight for justice. There are many things in this world that are unjust to those that society think are second class. We need to by the power of God help those who are poor and care for them. We need to live among those that society has thrown out and be the advocates.
What do you think?
Are you ready to do something about it?
.palin and Jesus.
So I have been discussing on a blog where the author wonders how a Christian can be complementarian and still vote for the McCain/Palin ticket.
To me those are two separate things. Think about it with me for a minute. The Bible lays out (clearly in my opinion) that the overseer (elder/pastor) role should be limited to males. I know that this idea is going to get some people to dislike me and people to think that I am a chauvinist, if you know me then you would know that this is not true. However the Bible lays this role out as male, now I think that females can be in leadership aka deacons, however they are not allowed to be an overseer.
Now the point of the post is not to argue whether or not females should be overseers, though some will. The point is that the Bible speaks to women and the office of overseer in a church. However no where does it talk about women in politics. You see the one is an office of spiritual influence and the other is political influence. Now some might argue that Palin would be in leadership of millions however if she was trying to be an overseer she would be in charge of 50. To me this is a mute point. Why? Because one is the bride of Christ and the other is not.
So if you agree with the McCain/Palin ticket and are a complementarian vote for who you thinki is the best choice for that office.
So what do you think, I would love to know.
Do you agree, disagree? Tell me.
.closer to God.
“Nearness to God brings likeness to God. The more you see God the more of God will
be seen in you.” —Spurgeon
“A man is made by that which he feeds upon, and for the best manhood you need the
best food. As certain silk-worms have their silk coloured by the leaves on which they
feed, so if we were to feed on Christ, and nothing else but Christ, we should become
pure, holy, lowly, meek, gentle, humble; in a word, we should be perfect even as He
is.” —Spurgeon
.pretty fly for a white guy.
I so wish I was sometimes.
So maybe some of you know I grew up in H-ville, for those of you not from there that is Hudsonville. So let me tell you about H-ville, it is very suburban and a slight bit rural. So as you can guess it was not very diverse.
Well through a course of events that God has put in my life to direct me where He wants. Where is that you ask, at an urban church, doing urban ministry. So sometimes I wonder why God would put me in a place like this. First I am one of the whitest people I know… I was not the Hudsonville kid who listened to rap and try to be in a “gang”. I think if people from high school knew that I was a part of an urban ministry they might say “are you kidding me.” Probably the same for people I went to college with. I think that I surprised my parents with it. Even I am surprised and trying to process it all.
The thing about it is that I have never been more excited and sure that this is where I am supposed to be. You see, Jesus is the one in charge He has given me a heart, a desire, the skills and a mentor to minister in a urban context. I have so much to learn, yet I have come so far. The amazing thing is that for the Gospel I have had to give up some dreams of mine, yet I would not change my old dreams for what Jesus has for me.
So I have been changed and hope to be continually changed for the sake of the Gospel.
For His glory alone
