2010 & Me – A little life update from yours truely

I have not be one for new years resolutions, I haven’t really made thought of actually doing anything about changing my life at the beginning of a new year. To me it has always seemed like another marketing plot to get me to spend money… when they don’t have to do anything special to get my money, I generally am a “Cheerful Shopper.”

Recently though I have been challenging my own life, and how I live; and I soon realized that if I am wanting to achieve certain goals in my life, I am going to have to do something about it sooner rather then later. To be 100% honest with you, most years I constantly think about that but just dismiss it with a lazy day watching TV and eating Pizza (which is NOT the way forward). But, this August I will be getting married to the most amazing woman I know! She is my best friend and I am madly in love with her! One of the things that has been going through my mind recently is that I am going to be a HoH (Head of household) for the rest of my life…! That is a huge things for me… I am no longer only going to be responsible for my actions and how I live, but now I am going to have a wife, my partner for life, someone who God has commanded me to help cultivate into the woman that He has created her to be. That is a huge pressure! It freaks the *blank* out of me…

So this year, 2010, I have made a few decisions. I am going to have to start doing things different. For instance, I need to know my bible, I need to understand God’s will and know what the bible has called me to be not only as a man, but as a husband. Thus, I have started a yearly plan to read my bible completely! I have made that choice 5 times in my past and done it twice. So This is my sixth attempt and will be my third victory!

One of today’s readings was of Psalms 11, and in verse seven is says this, “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” As soon as I read that my spirit jumped. I knew that I wanted to be behold His face. Righteousness is something that I have been studying in the bible the past 6 months, it keeps on coming up in my mind, and God keeps on speaking to me about it; and yes, I can take a hint! I know that God has called me and my wife to live a life chasing after God, and seeking His Face.

I also wanted to say a huge and massive thanks to a few men of God that have kicked my but into becoming a man. John Piper, Matt Chandler, & Mark Driscoll have been a huge influence in my life this past year and have helped me stay on the straight and narrow. Those men, along with proud say long list of others have helped me along the way and will continue to.

So, if you are like me, and New years is just another holiday that you get and nothing more, start planning for your future, take a look and see what you may want to do, to become, where you are wanting to go, and see if there is any area where you can help yourself accomplish that. Also, get a friend to keep you to your decisions… Actually mean what you say, I have just started to take that serious and I have noticed a huge difference in my joyfulness and peace already!

Missional Community Part 1: Community Is None Negotiable

A lot of the modern day world is based on, “what have you done for me lately?” In some areas of life, “What have you done for me today?”

We live in a post-modern world where experiencing something trumps knowing something every time. In the past decade we have seen the rise and fall of the financial sector, politicians, and even Christianity. People are no longer taking people’s word for things, they want to see results, they want proof, and if you don’t have proof or get the results you have said… WATCH OUT!

Church life is really something special isn’t it? If you have been apart of a church you know what I mean. There are some amazing moments when God shows up and rocks place… then there are those days when you see things that go on and it makes you question what you are actually doing their. Community is a big topic for me right now. Living in a Godly biblical community is something that I am desiring and longing for. I believe that there needs to be a shift in the mindset about community; that it should be what drives a Sunday morning meeting. Meaning, missional community needs to be the focus, and NOT a Sunday morning. If your church focus is the Sunday morning meeting then if something happens to the meeting or the power goes out, how then is the gospel going to be shared? The best place to find anything Godly is always the Bible! It should be a safe haven for every believer. For the past 6-8 months 1 Thessalonians 5: 12-22 has been a continual refuge that there is a hope, there is a standard, there is a place to learn from. The text says:

12We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,13and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.

After reading that passage, there is no mentioning of the fact that some people may not be apart of community… Everyone is involved, no matter what. This is what Paul has set out for the church of Thessalonica. It is not something that people can choose weather or not they want to be in Community… It is more, “if you love Jesus our Messiah then here are some guidelines on how you can live your life and in doing so letting Jesus reach people’s hearts. But, this is how you show them that you love them and are there to support them.” One thing that I am battling with at the moment is breaking the worldly mindset that I can do what ever I want; which then means with God there are going to be several chooses and I get to choose the one that makes me least break out of my own fears and insecurities. This is proving very hard for me at the moment. Getting over myself… I am starting this journey and most likely will take me my whole life to constantly remind myself that I am hear to glorify Christ, and not Me.

Ok, Verse 12. This means that we need to respect those in authority over us when they come and ask why our lives seem to be not going anywhere and challenge us on our relationship with God. That is very hard for a leader to do and for us as “sheep” to not take offense and shut down our hearts to them. Verse 13, isn’t it great that Paul answers the hard ones for us! We need to show them support for what they are doing in our lives and that stems from us living a humble life. Verse 14, the best way to describe “admonish the idle” is using a car. Our cars may be on but we are not going anywhere… So we should be warning those who we care and love if we don’t see them idling around in their lives. “Encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” Pretty easy to understand, some people will need more encouraging then others, they will need you to support them and most of all, be patient with them. Verse 15 “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” Again, pretty simple but we constantly need to be checking our heart motive; “seek to do good to one another” in the context of your community that you are in; “and to everyone” in the context of people you meet throughout work, travel, friends of friends etc. Verse 16 “Rejoice always” that is the hardest one yet. Because that involves you correcting yourself, so when you are alone and had a crap day, what is going on in your mind? What is going on in your heart? Verse 17 “pray without ceasing” the ESV Study bible has this note beside verse 17, “suggests a mental attitude of prayerfulness, continual personal fellowship with God, and consciousness of being in his presence throughout each day” Verse 18 “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Being thankful for what God has done in your life is an essential belief. If we are not constantly giving thanks to God, for the things in our own lives, we can then get in to thinking that we can do things without God’s will, and without his power. That is a very steep slope that all of us are on. I am going to bunch Verse 19-21 all together because they won’t make sense apart. “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good” Ok, the church of Thessalonica has started to shut down when prophecies when they are brought without testing them with Scripture and with the elders. So Paul is saying when someone brings a prophecy, don’t shut out the Holy Spirit but test it and stay strong and the things that are good. Finally, verse 22 “Abstain from every form of evil.” At the time of this letter Paul was writing to address people who were getting stressed about life and God. Anything that is not glorifying God should be kept at a safe distance if possible… But I know it is not always that easy. The best way I can summarize that is by saying; you know you strengths and your weaknesses get help from people that Love and Care for you. Don’t feel shamed to ask for help, that is why God made community! So we wouldn’t have to fight on our own.

Enjoying Life…

When I look at my life, I don’t see this perfect Christ driven man, who is aware of All of his sin, and working it out with God on a daily basis… I see a broken me, who struggles to give all areas of my life to Christ. A me who inadvertently sins daily… and who overtly sins daily. A me who is tired of religion and is trying to figure out how to separate God’s law from “church” law. I think that a lot of young Christian men feel the same way.

But, there is a solution; His name is Jesus. He loves you more than anything, and if you say you follow Him, you’re going to get haunted by the Holy Spirit in all areas that are not submitted to Christ. You will be blown away by His grace and His compassion. But you are also going to be taken on a life long journey of trials, suffering, persecution, and betrayals by friends, family, and strangers. You are probably going to have a couple of massive set backs in your life as well. BUT, (there is always a “but”) you are serving a God, who turns all things round for His Glory. Who will strengthen you in times of weakness, who will teach you to be wise, and not be prideful. So that when those breakthroughs come, it isn’t you that people are amazed about… It is Christ they are in awe about.

Ecclesiastes is an amazing book of the Bible, the theme of the book is the necessity of fearing God in a fallen, broken, and therefore frequently confusing and frustrating, world. It is a book that will was written roughly in the 10th Century B.C.

I have been going to church my entire life, I have been apart of several different churches, and have visited a lot more on vacations, and mission trips. I have seen some amazing things, and I have seen some things that have made my skin cringe. But at none of these churches have I never heard on quote from Ecclesiastes, and never preaching out of a chapter. To me that is really unsettling. I have talked about it with some friends, and they say that it is “the depressing book” of the Bible, “The life and everything in it is worthless, so why live book”.

To be honest, for a new believer, it would seem that way. Some youth that I know describe asked, “why did they put that book in the Bible?!” But if you read some of the chapters it nails society in present day, and it will continue to until the end of the world.

Ecc. 5:10-12 – “10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.”

That verse is a timeless truth, which will never go away, and will never be forgotten. The love of money never goes away, you don’t wake up one morning and say, “well I have 10 Million, and I’m done working!” Greed is powerful and constant; wanting the bigger and better house, car, computer, phone, etc. will never stop, people like that don’t rest in life, they keep on going and going and going until it kills them, and then there kids get to spend all of it and not learn how to be or do anything in their lives except spend mommy or daddy’s money.

I would love to hear a preach on that! Right now for me this is what I am looking forward to:

Ecc. 9:9 – “Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have laboured under the sun.”

Amen! I am going to have to work (toil under the sun) for the rest of my life, but I am going to get to spend every day with the Woman that I love! The best part about that verse is it says, “Enjoy”.

Now I know that, that doesn’t mean I am going to enjoy ever minute with my wife, and we will never have an argument, or agree on the same thing. But when all is said and done, the Bible is telling me to Enjoy the woman whom I Love; that’s all I need to hear when a issue comes in-between me and my fiancée.

Take a look the outline at the bottom of this blog and just see if this book isn’t one of the greatest, and life changing books there is. Very practical, true and simple. Use this book as a guide to test your life to. Use it to see where your true passions are. Use it to challenge you to move forward.

Ecc. 12:13-14 – “13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

…
Chris Long

Outline
I. Introduction and Theme (1:1–3)
II. First Catalog of “Vanities” (1:4–2:26)
A. The “vanity” of the natural world (1:4–11)
B. The “vanity” of wisdom and knowledge (1:12–18)
C. The “vanity” of pleasures, possessions, and accomplishments (2:1–11)
D. More on the “vanity” of wisdom (2:12–17)
E. The “vanity” of labor (2:18–26)
III. Poem: A Time for Everything (3:1–8)
IV. Fear God, the Sovereign One (3:9–15)
V. Second Catalog of “Vanities” (3:16–4:16)
. The “vanity” of mortal life (3:16–4:3)
A. More on the “vanity” of labor (4:4–12)
B. More on the “vanity” of wisdom (4:13–16)
VI. Fear God, the Holy and Righteous One (5:1–7)
VII. Life “Under the Sun” (5:8–7:24)
. Injustice (5:8–9)
A. Greed vs. contentment (5:10–6:9)
B. Wisdom for living “under the sun” (6:10–7:24)
VIII. The Heart of the Problem: Sin (7:25–29)
IX. More on Life “Under the Sun” (8:1–12:7)
. Wisdom in dealing with foolish authorities (8:1–9)
A. The importance of fearing God (8:10–13)
B. The limits of human knowledge (8:14–17)
C. The unpredictability of life and certainty of death (9:1–6)
D. Finding enjoyment as circumstances allow (9:7–10)
E. More on the unpredictability of life (9:11–12)
F. The paths of wisdom and foolishness (9:13–11:6)
1. The power of wisdom (9:13–18)
2. Proverbs concerning wisdom and foolishness (10:1–20)
3. Wise practices in light of the unpredictability of life (11:1–6)
G. Aging and the “vanity” of mortal life (11:7–12:7)
X. Final Conclusion and Epilogue (12:8–14)

Gospel Community

Gospel Community:
My thoughts after listening to Matt Chandlers preach here.

Jesus. The face of Christianity…. If we knew what his face looked like. A lot of people that I know have quite a few questions around Jesus, and who he is, what he came to do, how he did it, and pretty much anything and everything he did.

His life is should be the one thing that I study continually, testing my life against in all areas. If I don’t I find that my life and my priorities in life change drastically in a matter of days. This got me thinking then about the whole concept of “Gospel Community” and what that means. I hear a lot of preaches from people whom I really respect, always talking about living in “Community” and “Missional living”.

Something that I have found difficult to differentiate is preaching from the bible and how the Apostils lived there lives, and how they conducted themselves, or how Jesus lived his life, and what he said; compared to someone preaching about their own methodology about a topic in the bible, mainly living in “Community” or living a “Missional Life”.

It’s origins for me come to the importance and a physical building. Matt Chandler the pastor of The Village Church in Texas said this, “Community does NOT define the Gospel. The Gospel defines community… to say otherwise is at best silly”. This speaks loads to me, I have found that people are always talking about how we need to be a community and need to have a close community and family feel as a congregation, but when push comes to shove the majority of churches and the majority of congregations are not living a life that stems from the Gospel. The Physical building is just a gathering place for people to meet in. Now, some churches have their own gyms, have there own cafes, have there own little community that is separate from the city in which they live, and if that is what God has called them to do, then who am I to say that is wrong. But, for me I believe that the church building should not be the focus and the centre point, and I know that most people will say that it isn’t. But in their actions, they seem to place an over emphasis on the actual building. Church should be a safe place for everyone, which I agree with, but when that gets put above the Gospel, and above relationship outside of our Christian Community, that’s when things can very easily start sliding back.

I find in my life that I can be very petty and very jealous of people, and I think that I may not be the only one who things feels that. When someone else comes into the picture at my youth group, my initial response is to hurt them for stealing “my” light!! How bad is my heart! When someone has a revelation from God, and they have most likely been spending a lot of time with God and praying, and He then reveals something to them, I think to myself, “WHY THEM!” and then I figure out 10 different reasons why they are fake Christians and they are not true to God. So as you can see my life is not the perfect picture of the Gospel and how Christ should impact someone’s life. But I try and live a life of repentance and meet up with guys and chat about my heart issues; because I know that I can go to being a very cynical Christian who is very stubborn in his own ways, very quickly, by the way…I am 21. So for me, Chirst has put a huge weight on my heart about seeing people live a life of repentance and not being proud of who I am.

One Body with Many Members
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our un-presentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

This text is something that I really look at for guidance when thinking about community, because I can very easily judge how people act and their contribution, where as this text keeps me humble and allows me to process how each part of the Kingdom of God plays a vital part in a Gospel Community.

Conclusion: Christian community is based out of God’s triune nature. Where we freely love God out of the overflow of his own love within the trinity he loves us. The Father says look at my son, the son says look at my father, and the spirit says look at Christ who leads you to my Father. But if we view church as a toll for our own private improvement, we are robbing ourselves of the community that cleanses us and is used by God to grow in and bless others.

Are we walking in obedience to what God has called us to? If not why are we waiting? And what does that hesitancy reveal about our hearts?

A Continuing Ethic

For the past 6 months I have been listening to The Village Church’s weekly podcast and it has really impacted my life. It has helped me realize that the standard that I have been living my life for pretty much the past 7 years has been relient on others teaching me the gospel and telling me what I should believe and why I should believe that. Which in it’self isn’t wrong but when I relied on that to be my only contact with God during the week, it made the way I live very difficult for me because I was beig fake to myself which meant I couldn’t be real with anyone else.

But this past weeks podcast really convicted me and was a refreshing slap in my face about how I live my life. “The Hope of the message was that we might walk in a constant state of confession and repentence and that in so doing our realtionship with God and others might deepen.”

If you want to listen to the podcast or listen to the message online go to: www.thevillagechurch.net/sermons

Review of “Fight Clubs” by Jonathan Dodson

Reading Jonathan’s ebook has really opened my eyes to something that I have been feeling for awhile but haven’t been able to think of a solution to what I was feeling. This book opened my eyes in a lot of area’s in which I had not even thought about, and at the same time realized that living in England means the culture here is not at all similar in the way people view God, Church, and Life.

I moved to Bath, England because I knew God had called me to be here, and I truly love being in England and apart of a community; but I also am slowly growing a deep routed dislike for meekness, and complacency. It is a serious understatmente to say that people in England like to mock Americans…(some might say love to do it) And I am fed up with that way of life. Not because I like America and agree with the things that they do, but there is an almost hatred about them here…. (sorry for the rant now back on track).

Discipleship is something that is stuck in my heart. I love it, it is something that from a very young age my Dad used to be huge on it and still is today. So, growing up, seeing set modules that people have followed, being apart of a few myself… I have been able to see how some things start out nice and meaning full and the initial heart behind is good, but the end result leads to a religious dictatorship or Laws that you have to follow that aren’t in the bible.

So for Jonathan to write about what he has been through and what hasn’t work and why connected with me right away, especially when talking about what Fight Clubs practically are. “Fight Clubs are about promoting gospel-centered discipleship, groups of two to three men or women fighting the fight of faith. We make disciples of one another in the gospel and in community. We are peers in Jesus, not professionals or novices. Fight Clubs promote a radical peer-to-peer discipleship.”

Then Jonathan continues in clarity by giving what Fight clubs are and are not. I am eager to see how this may come in to my personal life with my friends who I am accountable with and see if it catches on.

If you want the read the book, check out this link here.

What Is Repentance?

If you want to know more, about this check out Mark Driscoll’s sermons. www.marshillchurch.org

Repentance is a very common word that a lot of Christians know how to say but very few live a life of repentance. I have been doing a little study of the word repentance and the more a read the bible about what it means to repent; the more I realize that I have not lived my life by it and doing so is a lot harder then most people say it is.

So let’s get straight into this and see what Repentance is:

It all begins with a change of mind, which then leads to a change of life. The reason I say that is because what ever you believe determines what you value, which then determines how you live.

That means that you cannot change your behaviour or life without changing your mindset. All you do then is Modify your behaviour and the bad thing about that is when you then get put under pressure or you are persecuted; you fall back on to your core belief system and values.

Repentance starts in the mind/heart with the scriptures. You’ll read the bible and realize that what you believe about God is not true, and how you are living life is wrong, and the majority of people will then feel convicted, they will feel like they know something is wrong in their “gut.” The solution is straight forward, God is perfect and holy and we need to change our mind in agreement with what the scriptures say. A good way to get another view on this is be seeing yourself how God sees you… So You know all the things that you think, say, and do; so pretend your are looking down at your life and see if there are any areas where you are believing a worldly lie, instead of a Godly truth.
Our Lives are fundamentally built on lies our truth. If you are a new believer or you don’t believe there is one way to heaven and His name is Jesus, then a lot of the core values in your life can be built on lies.

So if you have been living in lies, repentance is a change of mind, receiving the truth, living in the light of the truth. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Practically that is why being in a church were you are hearing teaching from the bible, helps you renew your mind on a weekly basis. Being in a Discipleship Group where you are hearing from people who are following God and you can see how they struggle and how their lives are continually being transformed. That helps bring renewing to your mind. Reading and studying the bible, reading GOOD Christian books can help bring renewing of your mind. But most of all, being in a relationship with God, speaking to him, listening to him, being one in every area with him just like Jesus did. All of these things lead to Repentance.

If your someone who isn’t big on learning, then you are pretty much saying that your not big on repentance. We must all remain teachable and humble if we want to repent of our sins.

Now how do we actually repent? Well when you see sin in your life, imagine the act of Jesus dieing on the cross for your sin. From there you can place your sin on the cross with Him. So then you can now put your sin to death because Jesus died for it! You don’t have to accept it anymore, you don’t need to blame it on others, you don’t need to excuse it, and you don’t need to hide it. You can kill it!

But, because Jesus rose again on the third, you can live a new life of freedom from those things in the past. This means that you can stop sinning in the areas before, because there is a change that has taken place, and a transformation of the mind.

The 3 Tire Levels of Repentance:

1. Conviction

• The Holy Spirit will guide you from sin to righteousness
• When you feel convicted it is a gift from God. Don’t be ashamed, don’t think your life is over, and don’t blame others. The statements, “You made me…” and “The devil made me…” are excuses. It is the holy Spirits job to convict us of our sin.

2. Confession

• Talk about it; since our sin is against God you need to talk to God and express yourself to him. If you find it hard to express yourself, just think, God made you and knows everything thought that you have ever and will ever make, so I think he will get it.
• Talk to the people that you have sinned against, apologize to them.
• Share what’s is going on in your DG, let them be praying with you throughout everything and not just when it become a crisis.

3. Repentance

• It’s deep heart felt remorse which leads to a change of mind that leads to a change of life.
• You put your sin to death and by the power of the Holy Spirit you start to live like Jesus.

*Little Tips*

• If you have ripped someone off, pay them back. Try to fix the mess that you have made. This is called restitution and can help with repentance.
• Reconciliation takes time. If you have hurt somebody, they may need time to re-gain the trust that was lost. You can loose trust quickly but you gain it slowly.
• Patiently earn that trust, just like God has been patient with you.

What Repentance Isn’t…

1. Repentance is not just a verbal confession, there needs to be a transformation of the mind. A lot of Christians love people who will openly confess sin, but sometimes you need to wait patiently and see how their life has been changed.
2. Repentance is not Selfish. People will pretend to repent in order to get something in return from people or God. If you tell God your sorry for the way you live your life and promise to never do it again…But only if you give me a job, or wife, or husband. You cannot manipulate God into giving you something.
3. Repentance is not religious. Religious people will repent of everyone else’s sin and never there own. Be very careful of a leader who is always asking you what you need for prayer but when you ask them they don’t have anything going on in their life. People who think they have all the answers and have life figured out, and have God figured out… are religious.