Invite the Poor

Do we really believe every word of the Bible?  Do we take as truth the teachings of Jesus Christ?  If we do we sure are having a hard time doing what it teaches.  I would argue that we don’t really believe every word of the Bible, this belief is from my own life not others.  Simply understanding the truth is one thing but do we put our head knowledge into  practices?  Hear what Jesus says in Lk. 14.12-14

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

When was the last time you invited the poor to dinner?  When did you have people over to your house that you could maybe careless about? I leave you with this passage from James – 4.17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

‘all the people in the world’

The other day I was playing with my boys, 1 1/2 & 3 1/2, and the oldest one said to me ‘dad can you pray’.  Now I thought he was asking me to play and I kept saying ‘I am playing with you bud’ to which he replied ‘NO Pray!’ after a few times I got that he wanted me to pray with him not play with him.  So we stopped what we were doing, he sat on the couch and I prayed with him.  Now the thing about my sons prayer life that is fascination to me is how he cares for others.  Our habit when we pray at our home is to ask everyone if there is anything that we need to pray for.  We do this before we eat, sleep or any time we pray together.  It never fails Braden, my 3 1/2 yr old, always says ‘all the people in the would’.

Most of the time my prayers are about me, my needs, my wants or things that are going to effect me.  Some times I will even pray for other people, but most of them are people I know and have a relationship with, Atmosphere students or leaders, family members (both church and biological).  Almost never do I pray for the people of the world.  How sad is it that a man who is a called pastor, a child of God can be so self centered in his prayer life.  Well thanks to my sons faith and love for the people of the world, this pastor is working on seeing the world through Jesus’ eyes.

10.5 Insights from our Vacation

10.5 Insights from our vacation:

10.5 Put all false teeth in holder
10. Double check the dates you have the camp for
9. 20 month old’s do not sleep well in hotels
8.5 The ocean comes up further then it looks, and you get wet
8. 20 month old’s don’t sleep well at camps
7. Ants all over a camp are no fun!
6. Your children will not remember their vacations until they are 8ish so don’t waste money on it now.
5. If the aquarium is only $5 for an adult, there is a reason.
4. The server at Friendly’s was VERY friendly WOO-HOO
3. Rain is good for trees, and grass (and my dad) but not a stay at the beach
2. 3 year old’s only like to play 6 frames of bowling
1. Your own bed is better than any other place – STAY HOME!

Sorry many of you will not get these but they are all really funny to me and my family! Enjoy your summer vacations.

Leave your vacation experiences below I would love to see what you have had happen on your vacations!

When Sinners Say “I Do” (Quotes 1)

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some quotes from the book When Sinners Say “I Do” here are three.

I hope to work on a marriage booklet for my premarital counseling over the next few months and this book, among others are some that I’m reviewing for my personal life but also for the booklet.  I have been inspired by a friend of mine, Pastor Mark Gedicks, who has a great packet that he shared with me for his premarital counseling.  My hope is that I can add some stuff to it, in the hopes of making it a little more personal.  Here are some of the quotes that will make it in:

This is why the Bible is so important.  As God’s Word, it fills marriage with eternal and glorious significance….  It’s a wonderful, freeing thing to realize that the durability and quality of your marriage is not ultimately based on the strength of your commitment to your marriage.  Rather it is based on something completely apart from your marriage: God’s truth; truth we find plain and clear on the pages of scriptures. (pg 23)

Marriage was not just invented by God, it belongs to God….  Marriage is not first about me or my spouse.  Obviously, the man and woman are essential, but they are also secondary.  God is the most important person in a marriage.  Marriage is for our good, but it is first for God’s glory. (pg 25)

In this book, I want to convince you that dealing with the sin problem is key to a thriving marriage. (pg 29)

I would encourage any married couple, or couple who is thinking of marriage to buy this book, it is only $9.76 HERE and well worth the investment in the most important human relationship you will ever have.

My Vacation

So I will be taking the next week or so off of work.  This means I will be going “connection” free from Monday June 22nd  – Tuesday June 30th (8 whole days without Facebook, Emails, Twitter or Cell Phone calls) crazy I know!  My reason is I want to spend time with Jesus in a deeper way, with my boys playing games and loving my wife and serving her.  During these 8 days as a family we will be taking some trips to different places to “get away” but for the most part we will be low key and chilling together.

During my vacation I will be trying to spend some time reading.  Now I’m no Mark Dever or Albert Mohler [they both had crazy reading lists].   But I am planning on reading a substantial amount, for me!  Here is a list of what I will be reading.

#1 – Spiritual Growth Reading:
Jesus Keep me Near the Cross by Nancy Guthrie.
I only have about 40 pages left to finish this book so I hope to read a chapter a day. The great thing  is the chapters I have left are from Jonathan Edwards, J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, Saint Agustine & Tim Keller.  Can’t go wrong with this line up.

#2 Personal Life Reading
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. by Francis Chan
My wife got me this book for fathers day and I’m pumped to read it.  A close friend read it and loved it, and I also have been very challenged and convicted by a couple sermons by Francis Chan (Living a Life that Matters, “living to display the gospel Mar 15th HERE) & (What do I need to be happy? May 31st HERE)

#3 Marrige Enrichment Reading.
When Sinners Say “I Do”: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage. by Dave Harvey
Many people will spend tons of time and resources on everything in their life but their marriage.  My wife is way to special for me not to invest in her by becoming more Christ like husband.  This book also comes highly recommended and I look forward to the challenge and conviction Jesus will place on me through my reading of this book.

In total I will be reading about 400 pages, now for some people this would be their afternoon reading list, but for me this will be a big challenge.  I will need to read about 50 pages a day, this is also on top of my Bible reading.  So I would ask you to pray that I can use my time well, and bring glory to God by being a dad, husband and servant of Christ this week on my vacation. Thanks in advance for your prayers.

The Gospel & Personal Evangelism

One of the free books I received at the 2009 Gospel Coalition National Conference was Mark Dever’s The Gospel & Personal Evangelism. I’m only 40 pages into the book and feel convicted, excited, encouraged and bless to be a follower of Christ.  Here is an amazing quote from the book in regards to what “true” conversation is.

“Once people have heard the truth bout their sin and God’s holiness, God’s love in Christ, and Christ’s death and resurrection for our justification, the message calls out for response.  And what is that response?  Is it walking down an aisle?  Is it to fill out a card or lift up a hand?  Is it to make an appointment to see the preacher or to decide to be baptized and join the church?  While any of those things may be involved, none is absolutely necessary.  The response to the good news is, as Paul preached, to repent and believe.” [emphases added]

How true, and how far off are we when we become so focused on the filled out card, the walked aisle or the raised hand.  We should be slow to put stake in those things, and look at the person and ask them, and ourselves, ‘have they repented and believed’?

I would recommend anyone to buy this book it is only $5.99 at WTS Books

Description of Book:
Evangelism is not only misunderstood, it is often unpracticed. Many Christians want to share the gospel with others, but because those Christians don’t grasp the fundamentals of witnessing, they feel intimidated and incapable of sharing the truth of the gospel.

Yet those believers fail to recognize that God has already established who and how we are to evangelize. In The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Dr. Mark Dever seeks to answer the four basic questions about evangelism that many Christians ask: Who should we evangelize? How should we evangelize? What is evangelism? Why should we evangelize? In his answers Dever draws on New Testament truths and helps believers apply those truths in practical ways. As readers understand the fundamentals of evangelism, they will begin to develop a culture of evangelism in their lives and their local churches.

Spurgeon on Preaching the Gospel

Spurgeon quote on preaching -

We must throw all our strength of judgment, memory, imagination, and eloquence into the delivery of the gospel; and not give to the preaching of the cross our random thoughts while wayside topics engross our deeper meditations.

C.H. Spurgeon Lectures to my Students – pg 78

Thank You the Resurgence

If you think that reformed faith is not cutting edge, or engaging then your not looking in the right places.  I would encourage you this week to check out the Resurgence headed up by Mike Anderson and the Mars Hill Church Team.

I would like to thank the team at the Resurgence for these gifts to the universal church body, and also the encouragement to do more than the status quo.  I know they have pushed me with my thinking about how and why we engage.
So thanks guys!

Following post is from the Resurgence…

The Biggest Week In the History of the Resurgence

This week may change everything here at the Resurgence. Here’s a quick run down of what you can expect in the next few days. I’d really appreciate it if you let a few friends know about everything we’re doing.

We’re launching a record label: Re:Sound

This has been in the works for years, we want to thank all of you for your patience by giving away a free album sampler chosen from some of the next several albums that we’re going to release this year. Sign up to be notified as soon as we launch.

We’re launching a seminary: Re:Train

As Acts 29 and Mars Hill grow it’s become apparent that we need a way to prepare hundreds thousands of leaders for ministry. This week we’ll post the details, and the application. Make sure to get the form filled out as quickly as possible, there will be tons of interest and since this is the inaugural year we’re opening to a very limited number of people.

Advance Conference

This is the biggest conference we’ve ever been a part of. Nearly 3,000 people will gather in Durham, North Carolina to work towards the strengthening of the local church. Go here to see the speaker list and there are still a limited number of tickets available, if you know any one that should be going to this conference send them here.

Million Dollar Matching

Recently an individual donor has pledged to match up to $1,000,000.00 of donation money to the Mars Hill Global initiative. This money will go to helping plant new churches, get space for the Resurgence Missional Training Center, bulk up current infrastructure to be able to plant 1,000 churches and 100 campuses in 10 years, and much more. Donate Here

Great Music

My buddy Josh (gathered worship) sent me some great music on my facebook – Carmen Dei

As I have said in past post music is a powerful thing for teaching, learning and becoming more focused on the Cross of Christ and what Jesus accomplished on the cross for us.

Carmen Dei -
If your looking for some great theologically sound music, with a great sound that teens and adults will latch onto check out Carmen’s MySpace (I love the first song Awakened).  I bough the whole CD, well worth it.

Your Part of Adoption

I thought I would share one of the biggest encouragement throughout our adoption story, outside of the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

The faithful gifts of those who are called:
What do I mean by this?  There is a strange way that many people have had a big part of our adoption and it is through prayer and listening.  Listening to the prompting of God on their hearts.  Throughout our journey we have had many times where we have felt down, discouraged, not sure what God is doing.  However it seems that every time we get to this point, God sends someone.  Someone who has listened to Gods prompting on their heart and gave of themselves to our child.  Yesterday was one of those days.

The MT. Ahead:
We have a mountain size hurdle ahead of us, in the size of $15,000 before we can move on.  Yesterday God sent someone to show us that God can and will do what He wants, when He wants. This blessing came in the form of a $2,000 gift. God proved that in one single moment He could take our $15,000 down to $13,000 and that we must trust Him for His provision.

Your Part:
Whereas prayer is needed I want to encourage you to also listen to God.  Here are a couple questions to ask in prayer:
- Who can I bless with something this week?
- What do I have to give?
- How can I be apart of an adoption? More then just prayer maybe.
- How can I pray better for people adopting?
- How can I bless the fatherless, homeless, abandoned children of the world?
- Where can I cut back to help change the life of a child?
- Is God calling me to take someone into my home?

Once you ask make sure you listen for God’s answer.  You may just be surprised by His answer.