So it’s finally happened. we’ve hit that 10 year mark. I graduated High School 10 years ago. I can’t believe it.
Well, now I feel old.
I’m part of the Reunion Planning team, and we’ve just set a date August 15th, 2009 at Wilde Rover in Kirkland. If you are finding this and you are a part of the LWHS class of 99, please join up our facebook group so you can stay up to date on all development.
If you are interested. As always I am open to feedback. leave a comment. Thanks.
This morning in my reading I came across this in Joshua 13
“Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. . . . (The LORD lists all the areas that still need to be conquered) . . . I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.”
Now I don’t want to get into the means of God driving the people out of the land. But yesterday at Creekside I was teaching on 1 Thess 5:12-28, Paul basically lists how the church should do life together, and it’s a big list of things to do, Be joyful, be patient, be thankful, etc. Just looking at the list, it could be overwhelming. Paul concludes this list by saying let God do it. Love that. All the stuff that we think we need to do we can trust that God will do it.
The Gospel is not a works based system, it’s a gift. And we simply receive the grace that God has provided and we allow him to work through our hearts to change and transform us. So great. Let God do it.
Read this this morning from the worship trench:
Our coporate worship encounters with God will rarely get further than the private, personal worship of our congregants (and especially leaders!). Many times I have seen Worship Pastors spend every ounce of energy on designing and fostering corporate worship only to be frustrated with the “results.” Perhaps if we spent more of our time on fostering personal worship times among our members, Sunday morning would be much easier to lead people into the presence of God.
So how do we do this?
It seems like I have been handed some of the more challenging passages of Scripture over the past four years. I love being a part of the teaching team at Creekside Church, but so far I have talked about Circumcision, Talking Donkeys, and the like. Last sunday was no different. I spoke on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 a large part of that section of scripture is about the Return of Christ and the rapture. Many people have said many things about the return of Christ, and growing up I was terrified of Jesus coming back. Paul wrote this passage to talk encourage the Thessalonians and to show that the return of Christ should inspire hope. So here is the sermon from last sunday morning:
A very helpful resource on all this stuff was from Mars Hill, when Mark Driscoll did a series going through Revelation. This series was different than any other Revelation sermons I had heard before because it focused on Worship throughout the book of Revelation. Check it out.
I was listening to some CD’s that I just imported into my iTunes, and I heard this song from Lauryn Hill’s Unplugged Album. Everytime I hear this song I have to fight back tears. I wish our corporate worship times in church could be this authentic. Please watch this video, it’s worth 10 minutes of your day. Trust me.
I can’t vouch for everything Lauryn has said or done, but this song is so real. I thought I would share it with you all.
Mark Driscoll has a great post on St. Patrick. I would recommend everyone read it.
. . .
Los is back with a great post here.
of particular note is #4.
I wonder if modern day Christian leaders are more concerned about becoming famous than becoming Jesus?
And here’s a quote from Will Wilimon
“The gospel is not simply about meeting people’s needs. The gospel is also a critique of our needs, an attempt to give us needs worth having. The Bible appears to have little interest in so many of the needs and desires that consume present-day North Americans. Therefore, pastoral care will be about much more than meeting people’s needs. It will also be about indoctrination, inculturation, which is also- from the peculiar viewpoint of the gospel- care. Our care must form people into the sort of people who have had their needs rearranged in the light of Christ.“
thanks Bob.
And from Ben Arment
Next time we complain about our audience not bringing their Bibles or not laughing at our jokes or not taking us seriously or listening intently, we have to remember… we raised them that way.
Just some thoughts from the blogosphere.
This was a pretty cool happening. In my bible reading this morning I read Deuteronomy 18 which talks about the Prophet like Moses, and Mark 13, where Jesus is speaking as a prophet in the temple. Pretty awesome “coincidence.” Thanks Biblegateway.com
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
3And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
14“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be ( let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
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