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So i’m preaching this sunday at church. i am really excited about the opportunity to portray God’s love and truth to people. i will be speaking about the relationship between God and personal individuals and how that relationship affects the relationship between people.
i’ll be speaking from deuteronomy 6.4 – 9 and luke 10.26-28
deuteronomy 6.4-9 reads like this from The Message translation:
4 Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! 5 Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got! 6-9 Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.
And Luke 10. 26-28 reads like this from The Message:
26He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”
27He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and
intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
28“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
Two interesting points i want to bring out for food for thought today: first, we see in both of these passages that the relationship with God comes before the relationship with man. God makes a point to say “love the Lord your God with everything FIRST and then SECONDLY you can love your neighbor. And this brings me to a question i pose to you: can we truly Godly love people if we do not first and foremost, love God?
Secondly, in the first passage (Deut. 6.4-9), God calls attention to ALL ISRAEL. Not just one person, or one family or one church for that matter. But God calls out to a community of people. A community of people to truly care about and to walk alongside each other as they live. This includes the second passage as well (luke 10.26-28). In the NT, Christ wasn’t just talking to the Jews, who were the chosen people. Christ came for both the Jews and the Gentiles. That barrier between the two is now gone. Christ has demolished it and proclaims that you are to love every neighbor, not just the Jews. When jesus was being asked this question, their “neighborhood” wasn’t like it is today. They weren’t always 200 feet away or just a skip across a dusty ol’ bridge and your at your buddies house. Some people lived multiple miles away from one another. So their definition of “neighbor” isn’t the same as ours. Jesus taught to love people regardless of how far they lived from you. This idea of “neighbor” was more a wake up call for them. This brings me to my second question: how often do we allow distance or unknowns about a person or persons to keep us from truly loving them the way Christ taught us in this passage?
i’m gonna leave you with a question b/c i’ve found for me, questions make me take a step back at my life and see exactly what i’m living for.
Are you loving people with the overflow that comes out of your love for God and your relationship with God?
” It”
– Craig Groeschel
So, I began a book series last month for “Crazy Love” by Franchis Chan. However, my intern needed my book for a study so I am without it. I have decided to continue this by reading “it” by Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv in Edmond, Oklahoma.
I’m gonna post as I read this book. I want to know your thoughts and comments and to discuss with you what Craig says in this book. I must be honest, I was a bit skeptical about this book. For some reason, I anticipated that Craig was going to give us a formula for “it” or a pattern that a church must take. Fortunately, I’ve only read a few chapters but it is obvious that this is not his intent. Made my heart rejoice!
-the good news: if you don’t have it, you can get it.
– the bad news: if you have it, you can lose it.
Okay so this is what I’m doing. I’m taking the discussion questions at the end of each chapter and just kinda sharing my thoughts. I am praying for God to open my eyes and show me what he has for his Kingdom’s work. I am excited to be a part of it.
okay so i can’t really sleep. so funny me, i decided to blog about today’s conference. tonight, we had a lady speaking about what i thought was a great thing to think about. Here’s a question for you to ponder and get back to me.
Question: When you accept Jesus as your savior, do you not give your life wholly, and completely to Jesus Christ? Which in turn, does that mean you and Jesus become the same person?
Personally, i believe that yes, when you accept Jesus and ask him into your heart (salvation), your life becomes melded with Jesus and you become one. Now, the hard part is allowing yourself to give your life to Jesus and allow him to take you where he wants you. My struggle, and obviously others’ around, is that I continue trying to take that ownership back. I give it to Jesus and then I take it back. Instead, we should continually be giving everything we get to God and asking, okedoke God, what do you want me to do here? And I think eventually when you become disciplined enough to do this on a daily basis, it almost becomes non-existent because your thoughts and your desires are catered to and centered around the desires of God. When we can make it there, the struggle between our flesh and our spiritual nature is conquered (as much as it can be) and it becomes somewhat of a natural thing for our lives. What is to stop us from becoming like Jesus?
Let’s take a look at the company Jesus kept:
Paul – he was a tax collector before he became a Disciple of Christ. He would be considered a terrorist during that time period because he persecuted people.
Peter – he denied Christ three times to save his own hide, not to mention he’s a quick tempered, sword-toting burst of fire. Don’t forget that Jesus also had to take Peter’s sword down and correct the outburst of his actions.
Thomas – he doubted everything everyone told him, including Jesus! He would not believe that his savior had been resurrected until he saw the holes in his hands and his feet in the upper room
Judas – he totally betrays Jesus for the price of 30 pieces of silver. A traitor? Amidst Jesus Christ? And Jesus Christ allowed him to stick around? He didn’t ask the “traitor” to leave? Hmmmm I think our church today could definately take a lesson from the company Jesus kept…
Remember: The church is a place for the sick. and who exactly is sick? You and I, including those other people. So what does this mean for the church?
Okay so another ADD post. My apologies. Give me some thoughts on what you’re thinking. ADD’ers are encouraged to be themselves as well.
Hey friends,
I think an important issue was addressed last night. Franchis seemed to call the church to task and to ask them to evaluate the way they are doing ministry. I think he made some valid points about what the church does with its’ resources. WHy do we spend money on a building when we can definately create a building for less than the “appropriate” amount? It almost feels as though the church building has a competition.
“the church with the biggest, baddest (by baddest, i mean coolest), and best building will win the most heaven tokens to play the game!” I understand time constraints and things that have to be done but can’t we be using that money for better things? I bet we put over 60% of our resources and efforts into Sunday mornings and the things done for that. What if we spent those resources and time and effort into things done for people outside the church? Just a thought. The church is to be a home for the sick and those wanting healing. Aren’t we all sick and needing help? Aren’t there better things we can be doing to bring God’s Kingdom to earth? Are we really being responsible for the resources God has given us? Just a thought. Give it a thought. Let me know what you think…
Top Random, Unexpected Things Heard the First Day of NYWC
1. Hearing a speaker for the General Session say “Sphincter”. Not really sure if I spelled that correctly though…
2. Franchis Chan yelling that poop was more valuable than flavorless salt.
3. Andrew Marin describing a situation in which a teenager dropped f-bombs at him for a straight hour.
4. Watching Mark Yaconelli disco dancing with a disco ball.
5.Being part of the “Slow Club”.
6. Listening to Andrew Marin practically yell at the audience for using the term “homosexual” to describe gays and lesbians.
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alright alright. so the first day of the conference was incredible! I don’t know how to put it into words so i won’t at this exact moment. But Francis Chan spoke to my heart on Friday morning/afternoon. He spoke about what the church is today and what the church looked like in the book of Acts. He made some really good points with regard to the use of our finances and the efforts and the things that the churches seem to find so extremly important. I think it’s something that we, as God’s bride and God’s body, need to look at as a church and see where we come up short or where we put too much value into….It was an amazing thought-provoking talk. More on that later…
But the conference is incredible. Getting some great time alone and some time to rest. it’s needed for me right now. this has been a great experience. I look forward to getting back to ministry and being able to wrestle with all the things i’m Hearing this weekend. I will have adequate time to actually dissect stuff and think through what i’ve heard.
I’ll be back soon. Buh bye.
creative canvas 