AccounTEXTability
Tools Needed: cell phone w/ active text capabilities
[WEEKLY]
At the beginning of each week (i.e. Sunday):
1) Text or call each other with an update on a prayer focus for the week;
2) Share a verse that you’d like to memorize for the week (option of memorizing each others verses)
[DAILY]
1) Agree on a time to regularly expect a text from each other (i.e. AM, PM, lunch break, etc). Text a simple prayer (most cell providers cap out a single text at 120-160 characters) – can be as simple as “I’m praying for you today” but I recommend you to be more specific, as this will go along way to provide a boost of daily encouragement to each other.
[RECOMMENDATIONS]
>I’ve been doing this for a week now with 3 close friends and have been blessed/encouraged beyond what I initially imagined. My friends have been very specific and challenging in their prayers which has both refreshed me and given me something to ponder for the day. I look forward to praying for them and the discipline of doing so reminds me to be praying more fully for other people and aspects of my life.
>Augment your texted prayers by calling/meeting each other regularly, whether weekly or monthly. My friends are all long distance, so the power of technology has been well used to bring us closer.
[TRY IT TODAY...]
Send a simple text to your friends (not everyone that I sent the initial text to responded or wanted to do it, that’s fine, it’s not for everyone). Text I used (took 2 messages):
[MSG #1] Would you like to commit to accounTEXTability w/ me? Rules: DAILY 1) send a quick text prayer for each other, as simple as “Im praying for you” or a specific…
[MSG #2] prayer. 2) send a verse, request or praise as it comes up. WEEKLY (on Sunday) 1) prayer request for the week, 2) a verse for the week (option to memorize)
Let me know how it goes.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
Obamasiah
Obama has completed his first 100 days as President of The United States of American, congratulations. So, as art often likes to renown itself with an innovation of offense, we have the most recent poli-religious painting of note. What better time to have a religious/spiritual discussion as brought into the public arena via art and by the artist’s own declaration as a discussion of “truth”.
The object inspiring this post is the most recent messianic depiction of Obama (not the first, probably not the last), it brought to my mind a comparison of the accomplishments of Christ what might be perceived as the highest nature of the accomplishments of our President, Barak Obama.
In regards to the implications of this painting, I’d like to state that first of all, I hope that Obama does lead in a Christ-like manner. How amazing would it be that he would lead the nation to consider the laws of God, honoring the will and kingdom of God above all else? I pray that he would take to himself the words of Christ in saying, “My delight is to do your will, oh God.”
When you look at the historical cross, what imagery does it bring? I suppose that most would associate it with salvation, though even in Evangelical circles there would be some disagreement as to the definition, nature and extent of that action. If you look to the Biblical account of the cross, you find the culmination of the redemption narrative – in other words, this is a pivotal moment, a climax in the entire story of God’s salvation plan for mankind.
From the account of Adam, who did have a choice to sin or enjoy the full presence of God. Whom God gave every excuse not to sin but did indeed choose to disobey, chose to disregard a very simple and plain command and thereby calling upon himself his removal from the blessing of pure fellowship in the presence of God. Even in that account, there is the promise of the Savior to come, the One who will crush the serpent’s head, the One who will conquer the work of Satan, the hold of death and the bondage resulting from man’s sin.
The message of the cross is salvation, but when you see Christ upon the cross, from WHOM and/or WHAT is Christ saving us from? Who set the consequence for the disobedience of Adam and Eve? Who cast Adam and Eve out of the garden? Who made the promise of redemption? Who will we (you and I) face when this short life ends and to whom will we have to give an account to?
If Obama is in any sense a savior, whom and/or what is he saving us from? If Obama’s most ambitious goals are accomplished, will we be saved – saved from what? As intriguing of a historical figure Obama may be, do we really put that many of our chips in the ability of a single political figure to reshape our collective and individual paths? (Parenthetical sidenote: when one political figure is looked to as the lone figure to reshape a nation’s course, it historically doesn’t tend towards a positive end)
As a historical observation on the definition of the messiah, when Christ came many were expecting a political ruler, for that King of the Jews to rise and bring a sword to crush the Roman Empire (Herod feared this at Christ’s birth, going to great lengths to kill Him even as a baby). There were many in Jesus’ day that were severely disappointed that He came not for political rule upon this earth (something Satan offered Christ), but came to offer His life as a sacrifice for many. Now, in our current illustrations of “the messiah” the redemptive work is still seen as insignificant/trivial and reduced to a politicized imagery.
To be sure, Christ is THE Ruler of all, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, do not confuse His patience for laziness/forgetfulness. In this artful or political search for a “messiah” perhaps one should account for the consequence of finding a political savior but meeting the end of life without an eternal one. Another job, a dent in the federal deficit, even the end of war are some of the highest political possibilities (stretch) but death is certain.
As a people who claim to follow Christ, take a moment to recheck your Christ against the Christ that Christ revealed. If you are a person who has never encountered Christ’s command to, “Follow Me.” Perhaps today is that day. The cross is a message of salvation, salvation in Christ alone.
Link to article that brought this painting to my attention – HERE
FNB WIRe 3.30.09
Flesh & Blud :: Week In Review :: 3.30.09
::Items That Grabbed My Attention This Week
Looking back, the topics of this week had a lot to do with the Emergent Church, which is something that I have been discussing with others to some degree, but the points that grabbed my attention this week were those that addressed the nature of how we view and treat the Bible.
>>Redemptive Movement Hermeneutic (RMH) – From what I can tell this was officially coined and launched with the release of Willam J. Webb’s book Slaves, Women and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis.
I found Wayne Grudem’s review of this publication to be very helpful. Here’s an excerpt:
At the heart of Webb’s system is what he calls a “redemptive-movement hermeneutic.” He says that some may prefer calling his approach a “progressive” or “developmental” or “trajectory” hermeneutic and he says “that is fine” (p. 31). Webb explains his hermeneutic by what he calls “the X→Y→Z Principle.” The letter Y indicates what the Bible says about a topic. Webb says, “The central position (Y) stands for where the isolated words of the Bible are in their development of a subject” (p. 31). The letter X represents “the perspective of the original culture,” and the letter Z represents “an ultimate ethic,” that is, God’s final ideal that the Bible is moving toward.
Therefore in Webb’s system, what evangelicals have ordinarily understood to be “the teaching of the Bible” on particular subjects is in fact only a point along the way (indicated by the letter Y) toward the development of a final or ultimate ethic (Z). Webb says,
The X→Y→Z Principle illustrates how numerous aspects of the biblical text were not written to establish a utopian society with complete justice and equity. They were written within a cultural framework with limited moves toward an ultimate ethic (p. 31).
In addition to this new paradigm for looking at the Bible, Webb also proposes 18 hermeneutical criterion for understanding Biblical passages. From what I can discern, the underlying themes leading to these conclusions are:
1) A problem with Sola Scriptura (readily admitted by many emergents, though probably not by my definition) – a fundamental shift, rather than starting with Scripture as the guide for how we understand the culture(s) and engage people with the gospel, Scripture becomes a part of the equation, often verbally esteemed, but in reality culture has more of an effect on interpretation than does God’s own revelation of Himself.
2) An incorrect understanding of the flow and nature of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.
3) A problem with the perpescuity (basically the clarity) of the Scriptures, Webb’s work improperly complicates a clear understanding of The Bible and has at its roots a belief that Scripture is insufficient to answer all of our questions relating to life and practice (which is the heart of Sola Scriptura).
>>A panel discussion on the topic of The Emerging Church with Kevin DeYoung, Tony Jones, Scot McKnight, Alex and Brett Harris.
One of the most encouraging things that came from the discussion was a comment from one of the Harris brothers where he states that if on the one hand you are arguing for an orthodox faith that is grounded in Scripture and on the other side you are calling for an active faith, grounded in love and engaging social issues, the youth we are meeting with are asking, “Why do I have to choose between the two?” He commented that they youth they are meeting want to dig into the truths of Scripture (mentions them leaving conferences with Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology in one hand and their book Do Hard Things in the other), want an active and loving faith as well as being involved in social issues.
>Resources to discover more about the The Emergent and/or Emerging Church:
::Kevin DeYoung’s book Why Were Not Emergent by Two Guys Who Should Be, as well as his blog (clever title)
::Scot McKnight’s blog; he mentions in the panel discussion that he has been writing articles in Christianity Today for the last 3 years to help explain and answer the critics of the Emergent Church
::Mark Driscoll would be another voice in the conversation, Driscoll has said that he is not Emergent but Emerging. I’ve referenced his church’s blog (Mars Hill in Seattle, WA) The Resurgence earlier; and he wrote a book Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (which I recently ordered, so perhaps there will be more on that later)
Out of this, I didn’t realize that younger Harris brothers (you may remember Josh Harris from his most popular book Why I Kissed Dating Goodbye, he has continued writing on other topics since) existed or were having such an impact. Their book Do Hard Things is basically young authors speaking to their generation about battling the low expectations society/church has placed upon them, inspiring a movement that lives out the heart of 1 Timothy 4:12.
>>Reformed Theological Seminary has made available through iTunes an extensive course on Systematic Theology. Technology meets theology, it’s like a theological drive thru.
>>Started reading through Hebrews and found that James White is preaching through Hebrews, he’s posted his sermons on youtube.
>>Some great details on the heart and effects of Calvin’s teachings in Geneva (quick read).
Skinny and the Gospel
I walked into Starbucks the other day, to purchase a hot caffeinated beverage for my wife. Apparently I had quite the look of consternation as the attendant, correction-barista, commented that I looked as though I were concentrating and trying to remember something. We laughed and I made the order, “Grande, nonfat-no sugar-Carmel Macchiato.”
Macchiato & Contextualization
She was very gracious and permitted me temporary access behind the veil, enlightening me with an excerpt from the top secret Starbucks glossary . She said that it may simplify things to order a, “Grande-skinny-Carmel Macchiato.” Marvelous. I expressed my deepest gratitude as this indeed does simplify my journeys into the depths of corporate evil (much sarcasm – the only thing more evil than Walmart is Starbucks, right?).
My benevolent barista was quick to qualify stating that the beverage wasn’t truly “skinny” as the final carmel topping isn’t non-fat/non-sugar. This is a surprisingly consistent qualification as near every time that I make the order there is some casual comment either to me directly or between baristas as to the true nature of “skinny”. I admire that there is a consistent clarity amongst baristas on this Starbucks truth.
As I was leaving Starbucks today, a pit stop on the way home from a meeting in which we had several discussions pertaining to matters of the church, so the two experiences were blending in my mind. My experience at Starbucks is a fitting example of what we face in communicating the gospel within our current cultural environment(s). The baristas had a firm understanding of the deeper truths of the Starbucks menu as well as an understanding of practical terminology and were joyous in enabling me to function with a better understanding that simplified my experience without sacrificing a standard of truth.
Though I am exaggerating a point, I believe the discussion touches on a real task of the church in every generation, meeting people where they are at, being diligent to present Christ and His Word in a manner that people can understand without sacrificing truth or undermining/countering His own revelation of Himself. Culture does not create the context for understanding the Bible, but the Bible must wisely be contextualized to engage the culture. This distinction is far from merely a matter of semantics, how you view and apply the Bible is foundational truth; core truth that should not be compromised.
The Sheep Dog Perspective
Our former pastor (Reverend Clifford F. Howery) had frequently referred to himself as a sheep dog stating that the church has but one shepherd, Christ, and as a pastor, his calling was to be as a sheep dog serving the sheep under the direction of the Shepherd.
I appreciate this attitude as it recognizes the True/Primary Shepherd (Christ) and places the role of the pastor (as well as leaders/overseers) in accountability to the role of Christ.
Sheep Dog At Work
Christ clearly casts Himself as The Shepherd of His flock, the church, and nowhere is that more clearly expressed than in John 10. In John 21:16 Christ gives the command to Peter, “Shepherd My sheep,” which is further expounded in passages such as Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:2-4.
The duties of the pastor do not derive their authority from the pastor himself but from Christ. Scripture is adamant that there are clear and certain character requirements that must be met to be even considered for leadership (note 1 Timothy 3), but the pastor’s role and authority is founded solely in Christ.
Pastors are therefore accountable to be diligent to look to The Shepherd for their instructions and in the integrity of that accountability to uphold the commands of Christ for the flock (church).
When the pastor conducts Himself in submission to Christ, His Word and Holy Spirit, then he does and must operate in authority to teach, encourage and reprove the flock.
As a sheep dog, the pastor should be tenacious in protecting the sheep: 1) To protect them from themselves, from wandering away from The Shepherd; 2) To echo The Shepherd and ensure that His commands are being obeyed; 3) To guard them from assailants, external as well as internal, that seek to lead them astray or devour them.
The New Testament is full of instructions and examples for ministers, pastors, leaders and the church as a whole. This discussion is in no way exhaustive on the topic of the pastor, but I believe that the humility and accountability of what we will call the sheep dog perspective serves as a valuable encouragement to pastors and the church.
Spending Your Life
I like to read while I am in the restroom. On this particular occasion I forgot to bring some current reading material with me so I grabbed some materials out of “the drawer” where some of the unfinished magazines and books find rest. I read a small section from a trade magazine and then grabbed “The E-Myth Contractor: Why Most Contractor’s Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It”, a supplemental follow up to “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber. (As a side note, if you are looking for a book that will help you with directional values and to solidify business principles, I recommend The E-Myth Revisited)
I happened to turn to a section dealing with the subject of time:
The first thing you have to do is put Time into perspective. You’ve got to think of it as Time with a capital T…You must accept that you have only so much Time, that you’re using up that Time second by precious second. And that Time, your Time, your life, is the most valuable asset you have. Of course, you can use your Time any way you want. But unless you choose to use it as richly, as rewardingly, as excitingly, as intelligently, as fully, as intentionally as possible, you’ll squander it and fail to appreciate it. (pg 95,96)
This segment helped to bring home a principle that time is more than a component of life; in many senses time is life. How you spend your time is defining your life. The message of your life, the conclusion of your life (your legacy), is being written in time.
How altering is it to understand that spending time is more than just seconds turning into minutes, each second is life that you are spending and of which you have a limited supply?
If you are spending time in worthwhile pursuits then you can say that you are investing your life in what is important to you. If you feel that you are wasting time, you may very well be wasting life. Be careful where you invest your time for you are paying with your life, literally.
In practical terms, we exchange time for money, which means we are selling a portion of our lives for money. If we thought of the exchange rate of life for money, perhaps there would be fewer things that we were willing to pay for with our lives. There is much that we can waste our lives on, but there is also much that we can invest our lives in.
Life in this current measurement of time has a definite end. Christ spoke to the matter in this way, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26 NIV) Not that you can spend your time to earn salvation, but are you spending your life pursuing things that will give it back? Is what you are spending your life on worth the investment; worth the price of your life?
Jesus set the example of spending life (time) with God as well as investing his life (time) in the lives of others. Even though He died (on the cross), Christ says that He gave His life and did so to ransom many (Mark 10:45). Christ lived to fulfill the purpose that God had given Him. His life was very much intentional and He spent His time pursuing His purpose. God raised Christ to again demonstrate His power over death (the end of life). Christ died and rose to save the lives of others. Christ died to save your life and to bring great promise as well as purpose to the living of your life – the spending of your time.
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My last post (The Spiritual Reality of Busyness) promoted a series of messages by Michael Kennedy, the first of which confronts the cultural pressure of busyness and how this has largely been adopted in the lives of Christians as well as the church. 50 minutes well spent to help you identify and confront these cultural pressures that distort our focus and often cause us to spend our lives (time) unwisely.
The Spiritual Realities of Busyness
Identify spiritual and cultural encumbrances that may be silently affecting your relationship with God and your effectiveness in completing the work he has put before you. This is a message of freedom from cultural pressures that if left un-confronted will distract and undermine your spiritual growth.
Enclosed is the link to the first in a series of messages from Pastor Micheal Kennedy of Faith Evangelical Free Church in Moline, IL. If you need a formal introduction, here is Mike’s bio from the church website.
This series of messages serves to enlighten the followers of Christ on the roots of busyness, the effects of materialism and the often un-confronted cultural pressures that have been adopted even in the fabric of the believer’s thought process and the church at large. You are invited to take a humbling look into the principles of Scripture and the life of Christ and how completely different our current mindset is undermining what we often quote as our Christian mission. Allowing God’s word to test and weed out these hindrances, we can operate in the freedom and power of God’s Spirit.
Message 1 “Jesus and Simplicity (part 1)” from Sunday 01-04-09
Sermon Archive note messages entitled “Jesus and Simplicity”
I have a personal connection with Mike Kennedy as I enjoyed his love for God, love for others and practical-sincerity in his approach to Christianity. If you choose to listen through these messages, you may not have the relational context that I enjoy, but you will certainly benefit from the truths that are presented.
Are You A Man?
Mark Driscoll: A Study of Man From Genesis 1, 2 & 3
(Link to Audio)
In this study is not only a better understanding of the fall of Adam, the historical and current implications of that fall, but also a clear call to Biblical Manhood.
Noteworthy are the expositions on the spiritual priesthood of every man/father, the call to responsibility to be a man both for the unmarried as well as the married and clear directives/consequences of not fulfilling the Biblical call to be a man as God intended (generically in the sense of the definition of man and very specifically in the sense of being a Biblical man).
I believe this message is critical for men of all ages, but also a good message for women as you understand very practically what a Biblical man should be.
This is a worth while investment of 45 minutes of your life. Warning, this is not a sugar coated message – if you are not offended something is wrong with your listening mechanism.
Let me know what you think.
“What Happens When You Don’t Go To Heaven?”
So, tonight we are reading a passage in a “children’s” Bible – you’ve probably read one with your kids – condensed message that outlines a bible story without a whole lot of details. Tonight’s story was about some friends who brought a blind man to Jesus to be healed and through the passage I was discussing with my 6 year old daughter and 3 year old son how important it is to choose and be a good friends.
I don’t recall how, but the conversation progressed into believing about Jesus and somewhere in there my daughter asked, “So what happens when you don’t go to heaven?”
I should preface by saying that my wife and I have a strong commitment to the principles of 1) being available to discuss ANY topic with our children and 2) not glossing over the truth but working to help our kids understand truth to the best of their ability to comprehend. The topics of hell and sex are obviously some of the biggest challenges to these principles, but here we are in real time.
“Well, heaven is where Jesus is, where those who believe in Him get to live with Him forever. When you don’t believe in Jesus, you go to a place called hell, that is where Jesus is not and it is not a very nice place at all. Those that do not believe in Jesus have to go to hell, where they will not be with Jeuse, they will be with the devil.”
6 year old daughter: “What does the devil look like?” (Note, this is a 6 year old and the progression of questions are quite logical but also reveal an exposure to spiritual topics and a hunger for truth)
“Well, he probably is very beautiful to some degree as he was created by God and had a very important job but decided that he wanted to be like God. Since only God can be God and the devil had decided to do something other than what God had created him for he had to be sent out of heaven.”
6: “Isn’t the devil red?”
“No, that is an incorrect creation of people, similar to many of our religious images (talked about the wimpy images of Jesus).”
6: “Did great grandpa go to heaven?”
“I didn’t know great grandpa really well and only Jesus decides who goes to heaven. From what I understand of great grandpa I don’t think that Jesus was a priority for him, I don’t know that he believed in Jesus.”
6: “So then he didn’t go to heaven?”
“I don’t know for sure because I didn’t know him but it would depend on whether he believed in Jesus.”
I don’t remember just how she worded it, but she mentioned something about when we die we our eyes are closed so we can’t see in heaven. We talked about physical bodies and spiritual bodies, I turned to Philippians 3:20, 21 and we discussed that we will have perfected physical bodies. Since the word transform was in the text and my children are quite familiar with Transformers, I used that as a discussion point to talk about transformation through Christ.
Some nights we have good discussions. Some nights the discussions are brief. I think the important thing is that there is an open format for spiritual discussion and when times like these come along, there isn’t a fear of diving into difficult topics. Tonight was about 45 minutes of deep topics all centering around heaven, hell and death.
As my wife and I were reflecting on the conversation, we were discussing the natural consequences of our commitments and the deeper truth that was revealed by our 6 year old. We were enlightened to just how much of a hunger for truth our 6 year old daughter was displaying, just how logically she was processing the information (granted, 6 year old logic, but none the less logical) but also the reality that she is receiving information that is of a spiritual nature with or without us. If we do not create an open door for our children to discuss ANY topic they will find some other source to feed them information about those topics. If we are not honest with our children, they will not get the information that they yearn for as they search for truth and the trust they have in us as a conduit for truth will deteriorate over time.
If you didn’t catch that, let me sum it up: IF YOU AREN’T DISCUSSING (fill in blank) WITH YOUR CHILD, SOMEONE ELSE IS. If you aren’t discussing spiritual things or sexual things or any other thing with your child, then someone else will and they probably won’t be framing topic in the proper moral context.
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A resource that has been pivotal in changing our mindset towards youth ministry and parenting has been “You Want To Pierce What?” by Walker Moore (available as a book and/or movie presentation). We were so blessed when we were working with youth to have attended a presentation at a SBC Youth Conference where Walker presented his ideas. What struck us was that you could tell Walker had put his time in understanding how not just to create a successful youth group but how to actually help youth develop into spiritually functioning adults.
Last I checked on Amazon there were 6 avaliable (92 cents plus shipping) – type in “You Want To Pierce What?”
