First of all this book is a very interesting read. It wasn't what I expected it to be; most Christian "self-help" types don't push you enough or go beyond the boundaries. This book did that, too often people think that since books are written by a Christian that they have to be cookie cutter and have a certain image that comes along with them. I enjoyed Andrews' writing style, with his one-liners and the way he creates the characters within the story. Although I wouldn't say that this is one of the best books I've read or a book that has changed my life, it is a very good read.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: The Noticer
Monday, March 16, 2009
COMMUNITY (Part 3 of 4)
Alright so I'm FINALLY updating! I do have an excuse though, it would have been updated last week but I somehow lost all of my material when I clicked post...it was a sad & frustrating night. Well anyways, we're almost done with this 4-part series on Community. It has definitely taken a lot longer than I planned so I hope to be wrapping it up pretty soon. Well lets get to it...
COMMUNION
This is something that a lot of us never truly understand.
The kind of Communion I'm talking about is not the breaking of the bread (cardboard wafers) & drinking the tiny cups of grape juice, that type of Communion is the Eucharist. (By the way I'm in no way dulling down the Eucharist, but this just isn't the type of Communion that we're talking about) The type of Communion I'm talking about is unlike all of the other prior essentials, because Communion is taking place during Community, not before Community can begin.
There has to be Communion within our Community because Communion is a spiritual closeness with our brothers & sisters. We take our example of this spiritual closeness straight from Christ. Jesus had this kind of relationship with His disciples, one thing that I would like to point out is that this relationship wasn't evident with all of His disciples. I'm not trying to say that Jesus was picking favorites, but the reason it isn't evident with all of the disciples is because those select few were seeking Christ just as He was seeking them.
Jesus was continually seeking a closer relationship with them, it was their choice to either grow closer with Him or back away. Judas is one of those that backed away. This is the exact thing that we see within our own relationships, there are those that we will continually pursue and then there are those that we back away from. We have to be in continual pursuit of our brother's and sister's love and relationship. The stronger the relationships, the stronger the Community.
This is more than some give and take relationship. This is a mature kind of love and relationship, one that needs continual love and continual pursuit of Christ. This sounds very simple and it actually is, but we make it harder than it is. We have so many insecurities that we shy away from really connecting with other believers, this is the reason that I said that Communion is something we never truly understand. But I want to challenge all of us to throw out the insecurities and pursue Christ and relationships with other believers.
Don't get comfortable when you get through certain parts of Community, keep pushing yourself to develop and grow in Christ.
The final essential of Community that I'll get into next time (hopefully soon!) will be Unity...
Thursday, February 19, 2009
COMMUNITY
As I stated in the last post, the next essential after Communication, that I would like for all of us to dwell on and get involved with is:
COMMITMENT
Nowadays, Commitment is a word that a lot of single guys try to shy away from. Lately there has been these ideas that Commitment is a bad thing, something that ties you down and keeps you from exploring or doing things that you want to do. I'd really like for you to get this idea out of your head, and instead implant the idea that Commitment is actually an act of God, an act that doesn't hold you down but releases you to do amazing things.
There are essentially 2 supreme examples of Commitment that I'd like to illustrate for you. All of these examples are coming from the Bible & they all feed off of one another (this actually amazed me when I started thinking about it). The first example is Stephen, the Scripture starts in Acts 6 & goes until the end of chapter 7, but to simplify things a little bit lets jump straight to the end of Acts 7 starting with verse 54...
COMMITMENT
Nowadays, Commitment is a word that a lot of single guys try to shy away from. Lately there has been these ideas that Commitment is a bad thing, something that ties you down and keeps you from exploring or doing things that you want to do. I'd really like for you to get this idea out of your head, and instead implant the idea that Commitment is actually an act of God, an act that doesn't hold you down but releases you to do amazing things.
There are essentially 2 supreme examples of Commitment that I'd like to illustrate for you. All of these examples are coming from the Bible & they all feed off of one another (this actually amazed me when I started thinking about it). The first example is Stephen, the Scripture starts in Acts 6 & goes until the end of chapter 7, but to simplify things a little bit lets jump straight to the end of Acts 7 starting with verse 54...
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
This passage of Scripture makes me want to cry every time I read it, because I've never in my life had that kind of Commitment. I've never been persecuted for anything in my life, I've never been put into the position where I need to choose one way or the other & have my life hanging on my decision. I should have mentioned earlier that this stoning came about because Stephen was preaching that Jesus was the Righteous One who came to save all people. Stephen was so Committed, not just willing, but Committed to preaching the Truth to those who didn't believe, that he literally Committed his life to God. That is RADICAL! There is nothing more radical than being Committed to someone so much that you'll die for them! Stephen was so much out of the ordinary (radical) that he went against the grain of every Jew, and was martyred for the LORD.
Alright, so I don't know if you noticed or not but in that Acts 7 passage there was a guy named Saul, well here's a quick background on Saul. He was a persecutor of Christians (nice job title), he was a Jew who, in no way, believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Well one day, after receiving permission to persecute more Christians, Saul was walking down the road to a place called Damascus. Before Saul entered the city, a bright light blinded him & Jesus told him that he would receive a word on what he had to do when he entered the city. SO to wrap things up Saul received his word from Ananias that he will be a instrument of God and he received his sight. The major point I'm trying to make here is that the Scripture right after that says:
20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
IMMEDIATELY...not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, but immediately. Saul was so Committed that he immediately started proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. You may be wondering what this has to do with Community, but the thing is that this has everything to do with Community!
These men, although they had absolutely no idea it would be this way, were in Community with each other because they made a Commitment to Jesus. It's an amazing thing to think that two men, one who helped kill the other, can be in Community with one another because they have a Commitment with the King. Commitment brings Community. If we're Committed to our brothers & sisters in Christ and we are Committed to loving them, helping them, and putting trust in them then it will help bring about a Community...
In the next post we'll hit on the 3rd essential for Community which is Communion...
This passage of Scripture makes me want to cry every time I read it, because I've never in my life had that kind of Commitment. I've never been persecuted for anything in my life, I've never been put into the position where I need to choose one way or the other & have my life hanging on my decision. I should have mentioned earlier that this stoning came about because Stephen was preaching that Jesus was the Righteous One who came to save all people. Stephen was so Committed, not just willing, but Committed to preaching the Truth to those who didn't believe, that he literally Committed his life to God. That is RADICAL! There is nothing more radical than being Committed to someone so much that you'll die for them! Stephen was so much out of the ordinary (radical) that he went against the grain of every Jew, and was martyred for the LORD.
Alright, so I don't know if you noticed or not but in that Acts 7 passage there was a guy named Saul, well here's a quick background on Saul. He was a persecutor of Christians (nice job title), he was a Jew who, in no way, believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Well one day, after receiving permission to persecute more Christians, Saul was walking down the road to a place called Damascus. Before Saul entered the city, a bright light blinded him & Jesus told him that he would receive a word on what he had to do when he entered the city. SO to wrap things up Saul received his word from Ananias that he will be a instrument of God and he received his sight. The major point I'm trying to make here is that the Scripture right after that says:
20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
IMMEDIATELY...not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, but immediately. Saul was so Committed that he immediately started proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. You may be wondering what this has to do with Community, but the thing is that this has everything to do with Community!
These men, although they had absolutely no idea it would be this way, were in Community with each other because they made a Commitment to Jesus. It's an amazing thing to think that two men, one who helped kill the other, can be in Community with one another because they have a Commitment with the King. Commitment brings Community. If we're Committed to our brothers & sisters in Christ and we are Committed to loving them, helping them, and putting trust in them then it will help bring about a Community...
In the next post we'll hit on the 3rd essential for Community which is Communion...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
COMMUNITY
This is a subject that seems to be talked about by EVERYONE , but lately I've been thinking about it a lot & thought that I could possibly put it into a different perspective. Community, in some sense, has been taken out of context and skewed. When we normally think about community we may think of a gathering of people or a block of houses, or maybe a certain type of culture together in one place. But it's time to change those thoughts...
The kind of community I want to talk about is first our community with Christ & secondly our community with our spiritual brothers & sisters. I've found that there are essentially 4 things that come from having pure community in Christ and with our spiritual brothers & sisters.
The kind of community I want to talk about is first our community with Christ & secondly our community with our spiritual brothers & sisters. I've found that there are essentially 4 things that come from having pure community in Christ and with our spiritual brothers & sisters.
COMMUNICATION
The first essential part or piece of community is communication. Communication is the start of all relationships. Any type of feeling, emotion, point or position you want to express or say has to flow from you --- to the recipient.
This is communication.
Prayer, is the divine communication from something that is far from perfect (humans) to the one who is Perfect (God). If we want to express to God that we are happy, sad, in need of anything at all...then we must pray. Prayer is the only way to have an intimate relationship with God. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about the Lord's Prayer but before He gets to the actual prayer He says:
This is communication.
Prayer, is the divine communication from something that is far from perfect (humans) to the one who is Perfect (God). If we want to express to God that we are happy, sad, in need of anything at all...then we must pray. Prayer is the only way to have an intimate relationship with God. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about the Lord's Prayer but before He gets to the actual prayer He says:
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
This is showing us that not only are we not supposed to "show off" our prayer as though we're above anyone, but we are supposed to connect with God in a secret or intimate way. When you read that verse, you almost have to ask "umm why is God in secret?" But the reason God is "in secret" is because he wants you to actually communicate with him. Communication with God is about growth, as people in general we have to keep growing not just physically but we have to mature. If you want to mature and grow in Christ, you have to talk to Him. You have to put forth an effort to talk with God, I'm not saying you have to get down on your face & start crying; but in order to talk with the Creator of the universe you actually need to show effort. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure he's worth it.
Communication with God through prayer is the key to being divinely connected with the Almighty. But to communicate with a person, it's just a matter of speaking. When I was younger I was a pretty shy kid. I didn't really want to meet a whole bunch of new people because then I'd have to open my mouth & talk to them, and then I'd have to go through a list of question & answer time to get them to shut up.
As I've grown I've come to realize that communication is not just rambling on about nothing, it's a means of connection & growth with people. In community, if there is limited or no communication then there is NO community. Communication is the first and foremost connection between one person & another person. If you aren't willing to communicate then you aren't willing to connect & grow with others...oh and just a side note: listening is a key to communication ;).
In the next post I'll go in depth (once again) on the second essential for community which is Commitment...
Communication with God through prayer is the key to being divinely connected with the Almighty. But to communicate with a person, it's just a matter of speaking. When I was younger I was a pretty shy kid. I didn't really want to meet a whole bunch of new people because then I'd have to open my mouth & talk to them, and then I'd have to go through a list of question & answer time to get them to shut up.
As I've grown I've come to realize that communication is not just rambling on about nothing, it's a means of connection & growth with people. In community, if there is limited or no communication then there is NO community. Communication is the first and foremost connection between one person & another person. If you aren't willing to communicate then you aren't willing to connect & grow with others...oh and just a side note: listening is a key to communication ;).
In the next post I'll go in depth (once again) on the second essential for community which is Commitment...
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Plant Yourself in the Good...
Matthew 13 contains the Parable of the Sower. Jesus is speaking and teaching the people of what happens to us if our faith and our doctrine and our Biblical knowledge is too shallow or too dry.
Jesus speaks of seed being sown on a path, a rocky place, in thorns, and lastly on good soil. So many things pop out at us in this passage, a path is somewhere where there is nothing there. It's empty. Desolate. There is nothing for the seed to even land in. Therefore just as Jesus said, the birds come and eat them up. If we have nothing behind us, no Biblical knowledge and no doctrine to live by, then we fall having gained nothing but lost everything.
Secondly, the seed falls on a rocky place where there is just enough dirt for the seed to plant itself and spring up quickly. The bad thing about a plant that springs up too quickly is that it can easily be scorched by the sun, which makes it wither and die. Too many Christians get into this practice of getting 'just enough' on Sunday to make it to Wednesday and then hopefully they can make it to the next Sunday. Believe me I'm guilty of this same thing, living the life I wanted before church on Sunday, then leaving church full of life and happy because "Today is the day I'm going to change my life!" and then of course I kept going the way I'd been going. Jesus is strictly warning us of this and how it will end in nothing. Why waste our time getting a little here & a little there? Why not give ourselves completely to God, so that we don't have to ride the rollercoaster?
Third, the seed falls on a place full of thorns. Christians, especially new Christians find themselves falling so fast and so easy whenever they're faced with some sort of temptation. Again, I've been a victim of this. I would go to this awesome youth event and get everything in my life straightened out, but when I'd go back into the real world...things changed. I always found myself falling, over and over and over. It was exactly like the old cliche, a roller coaster. My life would be so good, then so bad, so good, then so bad. Time after time Christians fall just because they have no knowledge of God, and no fear of God. No fear of the One who created this world and every person and animal on it. Ridiculous to think that we, measly humans, can sin against THE God. Just think that every time we sin, it's like looking at God and saying "Thanks for the world, animals, family, and breath to live on; but you're not that great" That's insane! But that's what not knowing God gets us to, and being an unknowing Christian thrown into a world full of sin get us. It gets us nothing, it gets us hurt, and it leaves us in a rut where we think we can't get out. Jesus is your way out of that rut.
Lastly, Jesus tells us that when the seed is scattered on good soil, it produces a crop hundred, sixty, or thirty times the amount that was sown! That's amazing to me. If we just plant ourselves in the Word and plant ourselves in God then we will not only grow, but we can produce over and over and over again what God has for us. Producing is not something that is just for us, it's for God. God reaps what we sow, that is the heart of Christianity. We must give ourselves to a greater calling. Producing encompasses providing information and knowledge to those that don't, and are in need. It's such a great feeling to give someone something that you know they really want. Christmas is my favorite holiday, not only because of the celebration of Jesus' birth and the gifts that we get. But I love being able to give to my family the things that they asked for or even things that they didn't ask for and we know they want. It's amazing to see the reaction when they open the gift, that's one of the greatest feelings in the world. We must first plant ourselves in the good soil in order to grow and then produce. We have to give our gift, the gift of the Savior, to those that need it so that they can grow and multiply the gift over and over. I urge us all to go read Matthew 13 and the Parable of the Sower, we have to get into the Word and plant ourselves in the good Soil...
Jesus speaks of seed being sown on a path, a rocky place, in thorns, and lastly on good soil. So many things pop out at us in this passage, a path is somewhere where there is nothing there. It's empty. Desolate. There is nothing for the seed to even land in. Therefore just as Jesus said, the birds come and eat them up. If we have nothing behind us, no Biblical knowledge and no doctrine to live by, then we fall having gained nothing but lost everything.
Secondly, the seed falls on a rocky place where there is just enough dirt for the seed to plant itself and spring up quickly. The bad thing about a plant that springs up too quickly is that it can easily be scorched by the sun, which makes it wither and die. Too many Christians get into this practice of getting 'just enough' on Sunday to make it to Wednesday and then hopefully they can make it to the next Sunday. Believe me I'm guilty of this same thing, living the life I wanted before church on Sunday, then leaving church full of life and happy because "Today is the day I'm going to change my life!" and then of course I kept going the way I'd been going. Jesus is strictly warning us of this and how it will end in nothing. Why waste our time getting a little here & a little there? Why not give ourselves completely to God, so that we don't have to ride the rollercoaster?
Third, the seed falls on a place full of thorns. Christians, especially new Christians find themselves falling so fast and so easy whenever they're faced with some sort of temptation. Again, I've been a victim of this. I would go to this awesome youth event and get everything in my life straightened out, but when I'd go back into the real world...things changed. I always found myself falling, over and over and over. It was exactly like the old cliche, a roller coaster. My life would be so good, then so bad, so good, then so bad. Time after time Christians fall just because they have no knowledge of God, and no fear of God. No fear of the One who created this world and every person and animal on it. Ridiculous to think that we, measly humans, can sin against THE God. Just think that every time we sin, it's like looking at God and saying "Thanks for the world, animals, family, and breath to live on; but you're not that great" That's insane! But that's what not knowing God gets us to, and being an unknowing Christian thrown into a world full of sin get us. It gets us nothing, it gets us hurt, and it leaves us in a rut where we think we can't get out. Jesus is your way out of that rut.
Lastly, Jesus tells us that when the seed is scattered on good soil, it produces a crop hundred, sixty, or thirty times the amount that was sown! That's amazing to me. If we just plant ourselves in the Word and plant ourselves in God then we will not only grow, but we can produce over and over and over again what God has for us. Producing is not something that is just for us, it's for God. God reaps what we sow, that is the heart of Christianity. We must give ourselves to a greater calling. Producing encompasses providing information and knowledge to those that don't, and are in need. It's such a great feeling to give someone something that you know they really want. Christmas is my favorite holiday, not only because of the celebration of Jesus' birth and the gifts that we get. But I love being able to give to my family the things that they asked for or even things that they didn't ask for and we know they want. It's amazing to see the reaction when they open the gift, that's one of the greatest feelings in the world. We must first plant ourselves in the good soil in order to grow and then produce. We have to give our gift, the gift of the Savior, to those that need it so that they can grow and multiply the gift over and over. I urge us all to go read Matthew 13 and the Parable of the Sower, we have to get into the Word and plant ourselves in the good Soil...
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