Friday Random Linkness
Aug 28, 2009 Friday Random Linkness
Yes, it’s true. Week 3 of Friday Random Linkness is upon us.
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Quote of the Week by Steve Jobs.
Forget P90X, here’s a good workout from the 1800s.
That’s right! It’s a 300lb Lego Batman Cake.
There’s a cake on this link too, but it’s not as cool as Candyland Street.
Please, Urban Outfitters, say it’s not true. Please tell me Hammer Pants aren’t back!
This is truly the most awesome drift car ever.
I’m pretty sure I need to have a secret passageway installed into my house.
OK…I think the British have convinced me to stop texting while driving. (Warning: this is graphic…and one line is haunting me: “Mommy, Daddy, please wake up.”)
The Nines
Aug 26, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Leadership Network is doing a pretty cool conference on 9/9/09. It’s called “The Nines” (I’ve been told there is another 9 releasing on that day, but that’s a completely different thing). Here are the reasons you should be excited about this conference:
- It’s free (but you have to register)
- It’s online (so you can watch it all day on your computer while you do other stuff)
- Each speaker is limited to 9 minutes (so they have to get to their point)
- The speaker line-up is amazing, with one notable exception…
Oddly, I have been invited to speak at this conference. I have to tell you the truth, when I saw the lineup I wondered if I was invited because of a clerical error of some sort. I mean for crying out loud, look at these big names: Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, John Ortberg, Leonard Sweet, Ed Stetzer, Larry Osborne, Alan Hirsch, Greg Surratt, Brian McLaren, Darrin Patrick…and 50 or so others.
How the heck did I get invited?
Pray for me if you get a chance. I am working on my 9 minute video for them today. I have to sit in front of my webcam and answer the question:
“If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the one thing that you would tell them?”
Make sure you sign up for this thing. I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty awesome.
I Heart Riv
Aug 24, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This past weekend, I shared a few areas where I am really proud of Riverview. Here are a bunch of other things I love about Riv:
- It feels like home.
- The variety of musical styles.
- My co-pastors.
- The amazing team of staff and volunteers.
- The fact that our kids memorize Scripture.
- The amazing stuff our teams pull off with almost no money.
- The sacrificial spirit of so many individuals and families.
- The olders who consistently sacrifice for youngers.
- Awesome art.
- The theological content of the music.
- The fact that my kids love to go to church.
- The fact that my kids get to serve at church.
- Our ministry to families with special needs kids.
- Our compassion team and their outreach to our community.
- My crazy / non-commital / flaky / awesome / hilarious Life Group.
- Hundreds of changed lives.
- The welcoming spirit of so many people even when it’s hard to figure out who needs to be welcomed.
- The sense of freedom, both from legalism and sin.
- The meals team that keeps us fed during the weekends when we are working.
- The coffee.
- The acid washed concrete in the lobby.
- Unity in the midst of diversity.
OK…that’s enough gushing. I feel honored to be part of such an awesome church family. Thanks, all.
Tags: riverview
Friday Random Linkness
Aug 21, 2009 Friday Random Linkness
I’ve been swamped this week, so I haven’t had much random surfing time. However, I didn’t want to lose one week of momentum with my Friday Random Linkness, so here you go.
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Awesome idea: a church in Atlanta takes a cool approach to the issue of abortion.
Want to waste a couple hours? Check out the 50 Funniest Scenes in the History of Film. If you don’t want to waste a couple hours, just scroll and resist the temptation to hit “play.”
Do you have 20 minutes to learn how to Speed Read? Or did you waste your 20 minutes on the last link…?
Powerful post on 9 Things You Can Learn About God From Planet Earth.
I am so getting this.
Continuing the theme from yesterday about why bad things happen to “good” people, here’s The Story of Job, Through the Hipster Eyes. Be warned, there’s a lot of profanity in this so if that bugs you don’t watch it.
When Bad Things Happen to “Good” People
Aug 20, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This weekend at Riv, I’ll be touching briefly on the concept of bad things happening to “good” people. Interesting that I stumbled onto this video from Matt Chandler giving an interesting perspective on why that often causes people to leave the church.
Can you lose your salvation?
Aug 17, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This past weekend, I hit very briefly on the question of whether or not a Christ-follower can lose their salvation. I promised that I’d post that small bit of my manuscript for you, so here it is. This is by no means a full treatise on the subject, but it hits a few high points.
Now there are many who have created bad theology from this verse (Luke 8:13). It is one of a dozen or so favorites for those who believe a Christian can lose their salvation. The reason is it gives (at first glance) the idea that you can be a Christian, but after some time fall away and become a non-Christian again. But don’t forget what Jesus showed us during last week’s message: you can’t just pick a verse at random and use it to build theology. Theology is built from the whole Word of God.
So, very very quickly let’s look at what the Word says about your salvation, starting in John 5:
John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
They have eternal life. They will never be condemned. They have already passed from death into life. In other words, before you followed Jesus your status was “dead.” When you become a Christ-follower, your status changes to “alive.” Remember we talked about this a few weeks ago: Satan “had” the power of death. He used to be able to hold it over our heads. Now, he doesn’t. He can’t scare us with death because we have eternal life!
Now how does someone cross over from death to life? Jesus says it is someone who “listens to his message and believes in God.” What is this message? Paul says it this way:
Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
You are saved “by God’s grace, through faith.” You were not saved “by good works,” it’s not a reward for how you lived your life. The reward for how you’ve lived your life is hell. Rather you were saved “so [you] can do the good things he planned for [you] long ago!” Now, what happened when you were “saved?” According to Jesus, you have eternal life. According to Paul, you are created anew. He says this again in 2 Corinithians 5:
2 Corinthians 5:17 …Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Notice the consistency in this message! You “used” to be dead! You aren’t anymore! This only rolls in one direction! It’s like those tire spikes at rental car places. You can only drive over them in one direction. We tend to think backward in this. We think that this human existence is “life.” It’s not–it’s death! But by grace, through faith, you are made alive! In the book of Romans, Paul makes a logical argument for Jesus’ message of salvation and in chapter 8 he hits his climax on our position in Christ. He writes this (and I’m going to read the whole long section):
Romans 8 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”*) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,* neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is absolutely nothing that can separate you from the love of God. Who dares accuse you? Anyone who accuses you will have to answer to God because he is the one who has already given you right standing! He will have to answer to Jesus who died for you and was raised for you and pleads your case to God every time you screw up. He will have to answer to the Holy Spirit how resides inside of you and seals you forever as God’s very own child.
That means that if you are in Christ you can not be separated from God by anything and that includes yourself!
Tags: eternal security
Friday Random Linkness
Aug 14, 2009 Friday Random Linkness
I have been told that I fill up people’s Twitter and Facebook status updates so much because of the random crap I post about and link to. In order to save you from having to read notes from me all day long and eventually get fed up and unfriend me (so sad), I have decided to limit my randomness throughout the week (although I can’t entirely resist) and give it all to you in one fell swoop weekly.
Of course any long term reader of this blog knows I get easily distracted and my weekly traditions quickly fade (see this, this, and this).
So for what it’s worth, here’s the first Friday Random Linkness (which I think needs a new name, but I’m not feeling creative).
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I pity the fool who doesn’t love Tea.
Awesome 3D projection on a building in Germany.
Have fun with Engrish at the Translation Party.
The work of a famous artist or 4 year old? Take the test.
Cheetos-flavored Chapstick. Really?
OK…I’m pretty sure my neighbors wouldn’t like it, but it would be fun to have one of these.
Sick of people always saying, “That’s what she said”? Get this shirt.
Awesome plate idea.
Check out this amazing “Blind Search Engine Test.” For me, Google won hands down.
Messy
Aug 11, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This past weekend at Riv, we talked about the temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness at the start of his public ministry here on earth. For those of you who haven’t watched the message yet, beware this post comes with spoilers (seems weird to say that about a sermon).
The bottom line of my message was that each of Satan’s temptations were really asking Jesus the question,
“Do you REALLY believe that God’s plan is the best plan?”
I then gave a few examples where we may be tempted to think our plan is better than God’s. The two that have spurred the most conversation are Sex Before Marriage / Shacking Up and Divorce. I picked these two because they are both big issues with people at Riv. And as I chat with people who are facing the issues, I always get the same response: “But MY situation is unique.” In other words, God’s standard can’t possibly be the same for me as it is for everyone else…I have extenuating circumstances.
The response from the message has been huge, and I am reminded how messy sin makes our lives. Here’s a sampling of the people I have had dialogue with:
- An unmarried woman who has two children and is living with the kids’ dad.
- A man who is living with his pregnant girlfriend and he just became a Christian.
- A Christian woman who is living with her non-Christian boyfriend.
- A man going through a divorce he doesn’t want while he takes care of his young child.
- A couple who were on the edge of divorce and are now trying to reconcile / rebuild their marriage.
- A single woman who is rebuilding her life after an affair with a married man.
Wow. Each of these situations is so very unique. The people involved range from their early-20s to early-50s. Some are single, some are married. Some are Christians, some are not. If there is one way to describe all of this it’s: Messy.
Is there no better picture of why we need Jesus? Our lives are a mess because of sin.
Is there no better picture of how awesome it is that we have a God who has faced temptation? We can lean on him and trust him to understand.
Is there no better picture of how huge and amazing and all-encompasing his love is? “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.” – Romans 5:8-9
If you have placed your faith in Jesus, you have already been made right with God. You are free from condemnation. Let that sink in. Yes, your life is a mess. But let God work on you. Trust him that his plan is really the best plan for you and start taking steps in a new direction. It’s gonna stay messy for awhile, but that’s OK, Jesus understands.
Back in the Saddle
Aug 10, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Summer are always quite the adventure. Normally, I do a lot of conference speaking and a little bit of vacation (which means I bring my family when I speak somewhere). This summer, I had no speaking engagements. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Instead, I had actual vacation time.
I had no idea.
It was really refreshing.
But what a pile it left in the office! Now that I have had a week to wade through all of that, I feel like it’s time to really fly into the fall. Here are a bunch of random things I am excited about right now:
- Getting back into teaching more at Riv.
- The relaunch of our MSU Venue and the chance to reach tons of freshmen and sophomores on campus.
- Teaching at the MSU Venue live once this fall (instead of video)…you heard it here first.
- My daughter going to the Jr High and turning 13…wow I feel old.
- Sharing our revamped mission / vision with the church.
- The launch of our sweet new website.
- Cooler weather.
- Wearing jackets.
- Blogging more consistently again.
So…what are you excited about right now?
Itching Ears
Aug 6, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
For some reason, this video made me think of these verses:
1 Timothy 4:3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
