Just a quick interlude from Justin’s Apology. The events of yesterday have me thinking and praying hard…I’m concerned for our country.
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House of Prayer
In Matthew 21:13 Jesus says “my house shall be called a house of prayer”.
During his ministry on earth Jesus stressed a great deal of emphasis on prayer. He taught the importance thru words, like when he taught the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6 and in actions when He was often seen praying in public. We also see in the Bible that He took time alone for prayer. either way we see that Jesus placed a very high importance on prayer.
Jesus also taught on the power of united prayer in Matthew 18:19-20 and the first thing we see the newly born church doing in the book of Acts is forming a prayer group in verses 1:11-14.
So why all the emphasis on prayer?
Jesus knew that if the church were to truly become a house of prayer we would see ourselves and members of the body:
1. More focused of the kingdom of heaven and thinking less about the things of this world.
2. More focused on praising God for His provision and less focused on our own desires.
3. More focused on repentance and expressing Godly sorrow than fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.
Most importantly I think Jesus knew that as a church focused on prayer we would see prideful ness replaced by humble humility and insensitivity replaced by loving service to God and His people.
Prayer changes us and the way we look at things.
Answered prayer is one of the strongest pieces of tangible evidence of God working in our midst . And it is a glorious thing to see souls turning to Christ, healing and provision as a result of our petitions to God.
A church body that becomes “a house of prayer” would find its members strengthened in faith and trust that God is real and He is at work in our lives. We would find it easier to give our testimonies about Christ, find peace through trials and stand firm when faced with temptation because of witnessing answered prayer.
Imagine our church body here in Panama city beach becoming the house of prayer Jesus was speaking of.
It Is Good.
To have friends and …
to know that we will all be dorkier in 20 years!
Our perception of God.
Perhaps one the most destructive forces working against us in our relationship with God is a misinterpretation of scripture leading to a misunderstanding of who God is and who we are in Him. Our understanding of who God is and how He sees us shapes our lives dramatically. Just imagine for a minute that walking into any room in the normal course of any day we see God seated in front of us. What is the reaction on His face when he sees us? The reaction we imagine on Gods face at that very moment tells us a lot about our perception of God. Does He jump from the chair with joy running to hug us and tell us how He has longed to be with us? Is He sitting there tapping His fingers on the table saying we have a lot of explaining to do? Is His head hung in utter disappointment? Knowing the answer to this question tells us a lot about how we see ourselves in our relationship with God. OK now that we have formed an image of God’s reaction to us in our own mind how does it line up with scripture? Does our image match what the Bible has revealed to us about God and our place in the story He is telling?
We can isolate Scripture to say just about anything and people often do. Some religious leaders may do it in order to establish control over people or for personal gain.We could develop a constant fear of losing our salvation or think Gods needs our money. There is also a danger of falling prey to “folk” theology when we believe things like “God helps those who help themselves” or “cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Those aren’t even in the Bible. So in your own mind what is Gods reaction when you walk into that room where He is sitting? Does it match the story God is telling in scripture?
It may be the most important question we ever ask ourselves.
Slogan Theology
So, in perusing some of the blogs and boards I visit frequently, someone posted a link to The Advertising Slogan Generator. It’s one of those fascinating little online oddities that help wile away the hours for bored office workers.
Here’s how it works: Type in any word into the field provided, and the program spits out a clever slogan. I’m assuming the whole thing is designed to tickle the disenfranchised, those who are desensitized to marketing. It’s sort of a “man behind the curtain” thing…revealing that most advertising slogans are so inane that random generation of words are about as effective as what Madison Avenue offers us regularly.
So I typed in Jesus.
And here’s what I got.
You know what’s really sad about that? As absurd as those slogans are…I could easily imagine a best-selling book with those titles. We Americans…rather, we American Christians seem to love slogans. In fact…I would almost go so far as to say that mainstream church culture has a certain “slogan theology”. That is, we like the aspects of Jesus we can easily sell.
Meditate on the revelation of God, the Bible? No way…just ask “what would Jesus do?”
Struggle over God’s will through anguished prayer? Heck no, pray the Prayer of Jabez!
Lay down your will, surrender your rights and live sacrificially for the Kingdom? Not a chance…instead, live “Your best life NOW!”
But why stop there? I could write quick books that have catchy titles now that I have the slogan generator! How about these:
“Tired of the same old grind, tired of not getting ahead?…You need to MOVE AT THE SPEED OF JESUS!”
“That old timey religion got you bored? We’ll teach you what we’ve learned about presenting a cool version of the gospel, because WE DO JESUS RIGHT!”
“THE WORLD’S LOCAL JESUS, 7 steps to innovative neighborhood outreach from your cell group ministry”.
Slogan theology.
You heard it here first folks.
That’s because:
SHALOM!
Usually one of the first things a person will ask me when they find out I am a follower of Christ is whether or not some activity they are involved in is considered a sin. My answer for that is that for each person it’s different. Some things we know are just out and out wrong. Like murder or stealing, but what about more personal things like smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol? I go back to, for each person the Holy Spirit will deal with him or her on an individual level. There is no written law for a believer to follow. God has placed a burden on each of our hearts to align ourselves with Him and His will and we can trust in the Spirit of God to convict us when we need it and guide us back into Gods will when we humble ourselves and repent. This is great Luke but is what I am doing considered a sin?
In the movie Grand Canyon, an immigration attorney looks to get around a traffic jam by taking a different route than usual. As he drives on through the back streets it seems to be getting more and more run down and darker till he finds himself in a very desolate area. Then predictably his very expensive car stalls. He quickly reaches for his cell phone and contacts a tow truck driver to rescue him. Before the tow truck driver arrives a gang of tough street punks appears and threatens him with bodily harm if he doesn’t give them his disabled car. Then just in time the tow truck driver pulls up and earnestly begins hooking up the car to the tow truck. The street thugs protest that he is interrupting their heist. The driver takes the leader of the gang aside and says, “ The world aint supposed to be like this. Maybe you don’t know it but this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be able to do my job without askin you if I can. And that dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you guys rippin him off. Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is here”
The word Shalom is often used as a greeting in the Hebrew language but its meaning is much more profound than just hello or goodbye. The word Shalom represent the harmony God had intended for the universe and everything in it. His original intention was for us to live out eternity in harmony with Him, each other and everything in the Earth and universe. Sin is the enemy of Shalom. I would think it safe to say that anything that disrupts this perfect harmony or Shalom that God had originally intended could be considered sin.
Yea but Luke is what I am involved in a sin? I would say that if it disrupts the harmony God intended between Him and us, us and the rest of the human race or us and the Earth (including the animals and environment) it’s probably a sin.
SHALOM!!!!!
Sufjan Stevens Christmas
I don’t have much to post today. I came across this video and want to share it with you since it’s timely. Sufjan Stevens is probably my favorite indy folk artist, and this is a song from his Christmas album. It makes me feel warm and slightly fuzzy, although it may just be that I need a shave. It also remeinds me of Schoolhouse Rock, which makes me sort of nostalgic as well.
Anyway, enjoy:
On Becoming Real
In the book The Velveteen Rabbit, a little stuffed bunny is given as a Christmas present to The Boy (as he’s called in the story). During his time in the nursery, he is befriended by another toy, The Skin Horse. The Skin Horse instructs the toy bunny about what all the toys of the nursery are really waiting for, and that is, becoming real. When the Velveteen Rabbit asks the Skin Horse what this means, here is the reply:
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” …
The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.
Welcome to the world of the Christ Follower, on a journey to know the transforming power of Love.
No More Mr. Nice Christian
A few months ago I was asked to speak at a camp in March and I was excited! It’s not everyday I get asked to speak somewhere (as a matter of fact the youth at my church are glad I only speak once a month!) so I was up for the challenge. I was then told about the theme of the camp and I was given a suggestion for a book to read to help me better understand how the camp was going to be set up.
So, I get the book on Amazon.com and I begin to read through it and the more and more I read the more and more I wanted to find out about the author. So, I ask around and I find out he has a couple web sites and I find a podcast that he did with a different website so I decide to listen.
At the beginning of the podcast we hear the hosts making nicey nice with the guest but you know, deep down in side, that they are about to bring the noise, thy are going to bring the hammer down on this cat, and sure enough about halfway through, they do.
The thing that is the most hurtful to me as a Christian who is trying his darndest to love God and love others it the angry, cocky and sometimes mean spirited way both sides of the ‘discussion’ were treating each other during the cast. Now, I know that makes me sound like a prudish big time sissy boy, but trust me I am not. I just know that the world is checking us out and if we are not living for Him on our websites, podcasts, bus rides, work places, hearts .. people WILL see it, and God knows nobody wants to serve the God of punks. When asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus replied:
“The first in importance is, “Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: “Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
I don’t see anything in His words about being right all the time and if your not getting aggressive when challenged, or lashing back. As leaders we have a duty to be humble, to serve, and above all else to love. I realize this is a strange post, but I have had a heavy heart about this so I wanted to put it up with the hopes that it start some dialog.
[Note: If you are interested in hearing the podcast I was referring to check out www.stupidchurchpeople.com and find the Tony Jones podcasts. There are two of them]
Mac vs PC parody, Part Two
I don’t know…this may be right along the lines of “us versus them”…but there still needs to be room for parody and self deprication, which the PC “Christian” really is. I believe it’s self deprication because the PC Christian is my brother, no matter how he comes off. We’re sharing the same life, so to point out his goofyness, I am indicting myself along the way.
Anyway…I still thought it was funny.
WONDERWHAT 