Lansing Pictures
Sep 30, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
OK…I need your help for a little art project I’m doing.
Basically, I’m looking for pictures of the Lansing area taken by Riverview people. They don’t have to be artistic, professional, or even very good, but they do need to follow these guidelines:
1) You took the picture
2) The picture was taken in the Greater-Lansing, Michigan area (if you drive to Riv for church you live in the Lansing area)
3) It somehow communicates something (good, bad, whatever) about the Lansing area
Here are a few samples (click on them to make them bigger):
If you don’t have a picture you like, just step outside of wherever you are right now (as long as it is in the Lansing area somewhere) and snap a picture with your phone. I want to see what you see when you look at Lansing.
Email your picture to N...@RivChurch.com. If you do so, you are giving me permission to use your picture as I see fit, by the way.
Thanks! Can’t wait to see how you see Lansing.
Tags: Lansing
Heart for the World
Sep 29, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This is the continuation of my slightly longer than a week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Having a Heart for the World
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus compassionately and actively shares Jesus with those who don’t know him. Here’s a snippet from my recent teaching:
It is easy to begin to live in a “Christian World” and not because the world has become Christian but because we tend to only hang out with other Christians. Each of us should be spending time with those who don’t know Jesus and compassionately sharing our faith with them. Many of us are afraid to talk with our non-Christian friends about Jesus because we are afraid of what they will think or that we will come across as some kind of weirdo. The sad reality is we are being incredibly unloving to them by not telling them about Jesus. So what active steps can we take in this arena?
- Have non-Christian friends – Don’t just be their friend for the sake of talking with them about Jesus…no one wants a friend like that. Genuinely be their friend.
- Hang out in the same places – I frequent the same coffee shops, restaurants, and bars. Over time, you begin to know the people in those establishments and you make friends.
- Pray for Opportunities – Pray that God will give you opportunities to talk with your friends about Jesus. It’s a prayer he loves to answer.
- Go there – When the opportunity presents itself, go there. Don’t be afraid.
Any other practical suggestions?
Financial Generosity
Sep 28, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my slightly longer than a week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Financial Generosity
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus uses the money God has entrusted him to further God’s purposes. Simply put, what we do with our financial resources is a barometer of our priorities. Here’s a little bit of my teaching on this from a few weeks ago:
Here are a few suggestions to help you in this area.
- Get out of Debt – Seriously…start now. I know it seems impossible, but it’s not. I taught on this a few years ago at Riv. You can listen to the audio here or watch a really crappy video of the message here (we didn’t have our fancy HD camera yet). The bottom line is you can’t be generous if you are throwing your money down the toilet of interest every paycheck!
- Get Help – If you need help with your budget or getting out of debt, we can help. Here are a bunch of resources.
- Pick a Percentage – While we don’t teach that a Christ-follower has to give a certain percentage of their income to God, it is super helpful to pick a percentage of your income that you are going to use as the minimum you will give. My wife and I decided over a decade ago that 10% was going to be our number. And by the grace of God, we have always given at least that much. During the current building campaign, we have given substantially more–the first year, we nearly doubled it. Now I don’t say that to brag, rather, I say it to challenge you and to show you what you can do when you aren’t saddled with a ton of debt.
- Graduate your Giving – Let’s say you pick 1% as your number this year. Next year, make it 2%. You will be used to giving already and the extra 1% won’t feel like much. You do that every year and you are giving a lot in no time.
- Give up a Raise - This is a great year to use this strategy. The cost of living has actually decreased in Michigan this year and yet some people will still get raises. Why not commit your raise to God this year?
- Look for places to Give - While a Christian should give first to their local church, we should also be finding other places to give. There are tons of great causes out there from missionaries who raise their own support to AIDS research. Find something that is near to your heart and give.
- Make it Automatic - My wife and I “let the red bucket pass” each week not because we are not giving, but because we do so automatically online each month just like all of our bills. You can sign up to do that here.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Friday Random Linkness ZOMBIE EDITION
Sep 25, 2009 Friday Random Linkness
Even thought we are going through the series on Sacrificial Followers right now, I didn’t want to ditch the Friday Random Linkness. Just for fun, today’s edition is entirely ZOMBIE RELATED! Don’t pretend like you didn’t know this was coming someday.
____________
Got an iPhone? Make sure you get yourself some Zombie Aps or you could just go for the best and grab the Army of Darkness Ap.
I already posted this on Facebook last month, but I can’t resist linking to Zombieland (which has potential to be the best movie of all time).
Engrish Zombies
OK…the Zombie Apocalypse has Arrived: what do you do?
See how often the term “zombies” is mentioned on blogs compared with other words…for instance: “Noel.”
Apparently “zombies” is one of the popular search terms that brings people to this blog. Which is weird because before today, I have blogged about zombies 4 times.
According to BBC (you read that right), researchers have determined that a zombie attack would lead to the collapse of civilization as we know it. Duh.
Lifestyle of Worship
Sep 25, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
A Lifestyle of Worship
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Is your whole life worship? I’ll admit there are areas of my life that are not very God honoring, which is shameful for a Christian. Here are a few simple things I am working on in this area. Maybe it will help you.
- I think about my roles. I am a Christian, a husband, a father, and a pastor among other things. In each of these roles, I try to sketch out goals each week. Embedded in those goals is the overarching principle that I am to worship God in that role.
- I ask myself: “would THIS THING I’M ABOUT TO DO honor God?” If the answer is “no,” I try not to do it.
- Reboot my brain. Every once in awhile, I have to take a walk and mentally hit “RESTART.” I pray that God would focus me on worshiping him then I step back into whatever I was doing.
- Apply the Word. Whatever I am doing, I try to apply the Word I have been reading to that area.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Promoting Community
Sep 24, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Promoting Community
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus sees the value of Christ-centered friendships and pursues connectedness with the larger body of Christ. Here’s the little snippet of my teaching where I talked about this:
Pretty much everyone sees the value of having friendships. The big question for a Christ follower, though, is whether or not we have friendships that are centered on our relationship with Jesus. Many of our friendships are shallow (at worst) or avoid spiritual things (at best) because they are centered on activities we enjoy together, shared employment, or proximity alone.
So…how do we develop community that is focused on Jesus? Here are a couple basic suggestions:
- Look around. Do you have close friends that are Christ-followers? That’s the perfect place to start. Begin to deepen that friendship by talking about what’s really going on in your life, spiritual journey, etc.
- Begin serving. A lot of times we can find close Christian friendships simply by beginning to serve somewhere. At Riv, we have tons of places where you can serve and I know several people who began serving in an area of ministry and ended up finding lifelong friends in the process.
- Open up. I won’t hit on this too much because I wrote about it yesterday, but once you find this friend, it’s time to Be Genuine.
Another simple step would be join or start a Life Group.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Matt Chandler on a Personal Walk with Jesus
Sep 23, 2009 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This past weekend at Riv and this week on my blog, we are talking about our personal relationship with Jesus and how to develop it more. This video by Matt Chandler is great because he taps on the few things we are hitting on: that you need a plan and you need a plan that works for you. Take a few minutes and watch this to see how he describes his walk:
(via Acts 29)
Being Genuine
Sep 23, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Being Genuine
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus is appropriately open and transparent with God and others. Here’s an excerpt from my recent teaching on this:
We have a sinful tendency to do one of two things: bottle everything up or blab everything about our lives to anyone who will listen. Here’s a simple question to ask yourself if you fall into one of these two categories.
For the Bottlers
“What are you afraid of?” – A lot of times, we bottle everything up because we are afraid–afraid of being found out, mocked or belittled. Maybe someone hurt us once when we shared our lives and now we won’t go there. If this is you, start by giving those fears to God. Then, take a step of faith and share something (even something little) with a friend.
For the Blabbers
“Do you believe what God says about you?” - Many blabbers I have met have a hard time accepting that God has forgiven them or that he can help them with their lives. Instead, they talk with every living soul about their issues because they are seeking validation, approval, or help from others that should be coming from God.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Aggressively Teachable
Sep 22, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Aggressively Teachable
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus recognizes his need to grow and goes out of his way to do so, at the expense of self when necessary. This is not something our culture does well but it is an essential mark for someone who claims to follow Jesus. Here’s a little bit of my recent teaching on this:
This can be a difficult trait to have in our lives, I know this personally. There are many things that have historically hindered my ability to be teachable and I’m just going to list a few of them out without a lot of commentary:
- Defensiveness
- Pride
- Inappropriate View of Self
- Insecurity
- Hidden Sin
- Fear of “Getting Found Out”
- Letting my “yes” be “yes” and my “no” be “no”
So, what “defense mechanisms” or practical suggestions would you add?
Prayerfulness
Sep 21, 2009 Sacrificial Followers
This is the continuation of my week long series through the 8 Marks of a Sacrificial Followers we have been talking about at Riv. The goal of this blog post is to create a forum where you can give and receive suggestions that help you as you grow in these areas.
Today, we are talking about
Prayerfulness
A Sacrificial Follower of Jesus engages in prayer, which is a consistent, authentic, intimate conversation with God about all aspects of his life. Here’s a snippet of a teaching I gave on this topic a week or so ago:
This is an area I have struggled with in my life. I read excellent articles like this one on prayer in the New Testament and I am challenged to pray, but I feel like I fall flat. I want to be a “prayer warrior” but fall terribly short of that ideal. I am surrounded by people who are great at this and it is an uphill battle for me.
I think the biggest reason is I have carried unrealistic expectations of what prayerfulness is. I have imagined it to be someone who sits down for a long period of time each day and wrestles with God about what they are dealing with.
Over time, I am learning to let go of this image of a prayerful person (as accurate as it may be for some people) and to embrace a different picture that is true to Scripture and also true to how God has wired me. Here are a few things I do to help me in my prayer life:
- I keep a list of prayer requests. I used to try to keep a “prayer journal” where I wrote lots of stuff about what I pray for and how God answers my prayers. That literally never lasted more than a week. Instead, I just keep a list of prayer requests. If you ask me to pray for you, I add you to my list and I take it out several times a week to pray through.
- I walk and pray. I am not very good at sitting still so I walk around when I pray. In good weather, I’m outside; in bad weather, I’m inside.
- I pray throughout my day. As I face different situations, I just stop and pray for a few seconds. When I read email from people, I stop and pray for a few seconds. When I surf Facebook, I stop and pray for a few seconds.
- I subscribe to the RivChurch prayer requests and pray for them as soon as I read them.
So, what practical suggestions would you add?
Tags: prayer
