Sabbath Recap.

What my day looked like:

-       I woke up around 9:00 and got ready

-       I headed out to Barnes and Noble and bought Jesus for President

-       I chilled in Adriana’s and read Jesus for President some.

-       Then I went to Groucho’s for lunch with Andrew.

-       After Groucho’s I headed to Café Strudle to read, write and relax

-       Shortly into this I had to leave and help Britt change a tire.

-       Nap.

-       Dinner.

-       Laziness.

 

I didn’t get to the heart of my Sabbath activities, real one on one time with God. So I think it is safe to say that I have to get better at this. Here is the list of what I want to do on Sabbaths:

               1. Read an extended portion of the Bible. (i.e. a prophet book, a gospel, a history, Romans, or Revelation). – Started to finish Jeremiah, then stopped. Almost immediately.

               2. Listen to a sermon. – Didn’t have Internet service when I went to download one.

               3. Write down 5 verses to memorize throughout the week. – Wrote down one.

               4. Read a book because I want to read it. – Jesus for President

               5. Write. – Monday Sermon Notes

Monday Sermon Notes.

Chaotic Joy – Dustin Willis

Philippians 1:1-6

 

How can Paul have joy in crappy situations? (He mentions joy 16 times throughout the letter)

-       v. 5 – Partnership with others who get it (the gospel)

o      Partnership here implies financially partnered

§       more than just words, but actions in the partnership

o      Romans 1:12 – “Mutually encouraged by each others faith”

§       It is encouraging when people are going for the same thing we are going for

o      Not a passive partnership

§       The Philippians were bringing the Kingdom of God to earth.

·      We should be encouraged by Christians all over the world who are doing this. Christ is using them

-       v. 6 – Looking towards the end.

o      We have joy from having confidence in God’s promises, mainly that he will fix us and the world.

§       We should get joy from knowing that the battle is won, and that the work will be fruitful

Racial Reconciliation.

What does it look like?

Handless Heroes.

Mark 9:43-47

            And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life, crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.

 

            That’s some hardcore stuff. I mean how many of us want heaven and righteousness so much that we would literally cut off our hand to get there. Since I see a lot of two-handed people at church on Sundays, I’m going to say not many. In my mind that is a problem. For me and everyone else.

            I think that this verse is taken a little watered down most of the time. I don’t think many pastors will preach it literally. I think that it should be taken literally, but that it should also be taken figuratively. I know that is a little contradictory so let me explain.

            I think that these verses are meant to be taken figuratively. If seeing rated R movies causes you to lust. Don’t see rated R movies. If having your computer in your room at night causes you to masturbate. Get your freakin’ computer out of your room. There is no thing that is too small to do to not sin. We should be doing everything in our powers to avoid sin. This means we need to take a preemptive stance against sin.

            Now the part that no one will agree with. I think that this could and probably should be taken literally. It would be better for you to cut off your hand, foot or eye for the sake of righteousness. Nothing is worth going to hell. Nothing. Not even my own body. We should be prepared to do anything to avoid sin, no matter what the cost, because in the end heaven is worth more than we could ever sacrifice for it.

            It sucks that we don’t have this attitude. I want it. I don’t have it. If I did I would probably have no hands, no feet and no eyes. This is an attitude that God needs to instill in us, an attitude of “Whatever the cost, I’ll do it.” We can’t see how amazing eternity in heaven will be, but if we believe in Jesus and the Bible, we have to trust in the fact that it is worth everything we have. We should hold nothing back. Not even our own comfort, not even our own things, not even our own hands.

Discuss in the comments. I want to know what you think. 

Starbucks-like Depth.

            There is too much in common with the community one finds among Christians and the community that is found at a Starbucks. Starbucks is something a large percentage of Americans have in common. Many of them go there on the daily. It is the headquarters of the American hipster culture.

            When we see someone with a paper Starbucks’ cup and there is an immediate connection. A conversation can happen.

            “What do you drink?”

            “A skinny caramel latte. You?”

            “Oh, I drink…”

Our addiction to brand name coffee unites us on a large level. We have something in common with millions of other people, because Starbucks are uniform across the country.

            The depth of conversations in the Church has started to take on this surface level depth. This is for two big reasons; the first being that we change churches more than we change what we order at Starbucks. Sure, you can become a “regular” at one place (Either Starbucks or church), but as soon as the place goes a direction that doesn’t suit you personally its time to find another Starbucks/church to suit our wants.

            Churches should really be our homes, where we encounter our family. You are more than a regular. You are involved. When you are in a family you can’t just leave it when there is a disagreement or when someone changes the music on the radio. You have to work through it. It’s about more than you. It’s about the family as a whole. Even past that Church is about Jesus, it’s not about us.

            Christian community should have more depth with one another and more concern for one another. We are amazing at avoiding openness, honesty and depth. We hide what is going on in our lives by just saying “Fine.” to the “How are you?” question, no matter what is wrecking us personally. These brief encounters are only meant to be that. If someone opens up or pries we are blindsided.

            Should we not care about what Jesus is doing in people’s lives? Whenever I get asked that question I get thrown for a loop, because often I have been pushing Jesus to the back burner because of school and work. I have to fake an answer. If I got asked that question enough I would probably actually work to have a real answer for the people asking.

            To be open and honest with each other pushes us to shift from neutral to drive. Depth leads to getting challenged and pushed. It seems that our goal is to avoid that depth so we can stay in neutral for as long as we can for whatever reason. Pursuing righteousness is hard work and can get messy. We enjoy being lazy and clean, but we can’t stay that way.

            We tend to try to fake righteousness and live in blatant hypocrisy. Brothers and sisters should know us well enough to get us to pursue righteousness and the hypocrisy that comes from pursuing perfection and being human. We can’t escape being hypocrites (sinners), but we can strive to change. God can change us and he can use our friends to help with it.

            They should care so much about you that they refuse to let you allow yourself to stay the same. It’s just like Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” We have gotten to the point where if we are all equally dull we are all equally sharp, because we are afraid of the risks it takes to get sharpened, so we avoid it by avoiding showing people who we really are.

            If we really want to change we need to get out of being a “regular” and start being a family member. We need to be open and honest about our faults and be pushed toward Jesus, who can fix them.

Get Low.

            After having some talks with some friends there is one thing that I’ve decided hurts serving people. Our pride. We tend to serve people up to a certain point, the point where we feel walked on and it is not fair. That is pride getting in the way of love and service. We are not too good to be walked on.

            It’s not like Jesus never got walked on, or that we don’t walk on Him when we can even now. Jesus was a servant to other even to death. To death. How is serving and loving your room mate past the point of them thanking you anymore even close to death? It isn’t. If we want to be like the One who we should model are lives after than we shouldn’t be afraid to go to death for the service of others. Isn’t that what martyrdom is about?

            The Word of God does not allow us an option to half way follow Jesus. We are either serving Him (and others) or serving ourselves. Serving yourself leads to your reward being in this life. We are called to be mindful of eternity, for our hope to be there. We don’t need the things of this world. We don’t need to be thought of as better than anyone because we are not.

            We are not too good to be walked on.

Less naps, more coffee.

Unity.

 These definitely make me feel part of a bigger body. 

Real Faith.

            One of my favorite author/theologian is a dead guy by the name of A.W. Tozer. He just writes stuff that hits me in the face and I love it. I’m currently reading a book by him (compiled of editorials from when he was the editor of Alliance Life magazine) called This World: Playground or Battleground?.

            This book is just filled with challenging stuff. In one of the first few chapters he has a quote that I think is super applicable to the Bible belt. He writes, “To many Christians, Christ is little more than an idea, or at best an ideal – He is not a fact. Millions of professed believers talk as if He were real and act as if He were not. Our actual position is always to be discovered by the way we act, not by the way we talk.”

            I think that it is really easy to say one thing and do another. I mean everyone does it. I think striving to live what you say is different than just saying it and doing what you want.

            Tozer continues in speaking those who just talk. “Many of us have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications… Pseudo-faith always arranges a way out in case God fails. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second ways or make shift substitutes.”

            I’m pretty sure it is impossible to not be challenged by this. It is a ridiculously hard and ongoing battle to rely upon God. In the end it is God who has to help us do this. We must “invite God now to remove every false trust, to disengage our hearts from all secret hiding places and to bring us out into the open where we can discover for ourselves whether or not we really trust Him.”

            I want to really trust Him so badly.

How He Loves.

This song is called “How He Loves” and is written by John Mark McMillian. I think it is ridiculously good and powerful. Here are the lyrics:

 

He is jealous for me 

Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree 

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy 

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory 

and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me. 

Oh, how He loves us so 

Oh, how He loves us 

How He loves us so. 

 

Yeah, He loves us 

Woah, how He loves us 

Woah, how He loves us 

Woah, how He loves. 

 

So we are His portion and He is our prize, 

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes 

If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking 

So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest 

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way 

 

That he loves us, 

Woah, how He loves us 

Woah, how He loves us 

Woah, how He loves 

 

He loves us, 

Woah, how He loves us 

Woah, how He loves us 

Woah, how He loves