A great jam here. Can't wait for their show in Madison!
Get the record here.
Friday, July 20, 2012
I've Got To Try This With My Kids
All the adrenaline of playing with explosives with none of the danger.
True and False Hope in Our Movies
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When our culture’s biggest films express hope – and when audiences embrace them for doing so - it’s evidence that we collectively yearn for something better, that even those without faith ache for a world as God intended it to be.Read the rest.
And yet there is something false about the hope offered by The Dark Knight Rises. It’s false to the series in particular and false, in a wider reading, to the sort of hope that Christians hold dear. The last-minute assurance the movie gives us reminded me of certain portions of N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church. Discussing contemporary, feel-good ideas about heaven, he writes, “What we have at the moment isn't as the old liturgies used to say, 'the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead,' but a vague and fuzzy optimism that somehow things may work out in the end. ”
As Christians, we need to carefully discern between vague hope and resurrection hope in our popular stories. It does Scripture a disservice to mix one with the other. Christian hope isn’t simply a happy ending. It isn’t a villain’s death. It’s belief in the prospect of a new creation, one borne of sacrifice, forgiveness and even, at times, earthly defeat.
Cheap eBook Alert
Baghdad Believer
Author: Jay Nealson
Price: $2.99
What is there in Baghdad that is worth dying for?
When Mahmood, an educated young Sunni Muslim shopkeeper in Baghdad, reads a secret New Testament, amazing dreams and a curiosity about Jesus follow. But threats from his frightened wife and angry father build as relatives are beaten and killed by religious fanatics. Mahmood must choose between pursuing peace or keeping the “honor” of his family and cultural traditions.
His choice may surprise you!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Cheap eBook Alert
Billy Graham
Author: David Aikman
Price: $3.55
The Case for Christmas
Author: Lee Strobel
Price: $1.99
There is a Time to be Silent in the Face of Criticism
James MacDonald with some very wise words here.
Criticizing Poorly and Poorly Criticized
Zack Eswine:
Recently I read a highly critical review of a pastor and his work. The critique left me irritated and sad. I suppose because I too have given and received such criticisms–like potato chip bags, such critiques look full and inviting on the outside but once you open them you realize that most of the appearance was held up by hot air. Here are some tips for gaging how much hot air we are giving or receiving in Jesus’ name.Read the rest.
Disciple of Children and Discipline of the Heavenly Father
Tony Reinke:
As a side note, is it not odd that many in our culture would generally have no problem with abortion yet would have a huge problem with spanking a child. Seems like a rather strong disconnect. We can kill the child, no problem. Just make sure the kid is small enough, not developed enough, quiet enough, and done in an environment that is sterile, cold, and clean. But to give a swat on the rear that is painful for a brief moment for the sake of loving disciple would be unthinkable. Very odd indeed.
Slate recently reported that spanking children may not be such a bad form of discipline after all. Surprisingly, the reporter pushed past a lot of the cultural anti-spanking prejudice to ask some reasonable questions about what the studies indicate. Although it appears she has not been persuaded to spank her own child, and she chooses to end the piece with a touch of doomsday, she maintains a level of clearheadedness in much of the article.Further on...
What I find so interesting about this discussion is how it digs down to expose the roots of our theology and forces a much bigger question onto the table: Does God purposefully and intentionally send stinging pain into my life? For those addressed in Hebrews 12:3–11, the answer was “yes,” the strong opposition to their faith and their persecution was an experience of God’s loving discipline. God wanted to grab their attention.Read the rest.
Perhaps we prefer that our Heavenly Father delivers only a “tippy, tap, tippy, tap” or “light pressure.” And that’s all we want to attribute to God. But the really hard and painful times of suffering in life — those memorably painful times — may be stinging discipline from our Heavenly Father.
On one hand, we need to be careful in how we interpret providence in our lives and in the lives of others (see John 9:1–3). But we also need a category for “sharp and memorable pain” in our lives as an expression of God’s love for us. And until that point of theology becomes settled for us, trying to define parental discipline for children will be really hard to figure out.
As a side note, is it not odd that many in our culture would generally have no problem with abortion yet would have a huge problem with spanking a child. Seems like a rather strong disconnect. We can kill the child, no problem. Just make sure the kid is small enough, not developed enough, quiet enough, and done in an environment that is sterile, cold, and clean. But to give a swat on the rear that is painful for a brief moment for the sake of loving disciple would be unthinkable. Very odd indeed.
Your Desk Is Making You Stupid
Jessica Stillman:
(HT: Tim Dunn)
Your desk, scientists reported recently, is trying to kill you.Read the rest.
According to the New York Times, scientists discovered that when we sit all day, "electrical activity in the muscles drops… leading to a cascade of harmful metabolic effects," and sadly even getting regular doses of exercise doesn't offset the damage. But now there's new evidence of the harm of sitting. Not only is it making you fatter, it might also be making you dumber.
(HT: Tim Dunn)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
On Tipping Well
Raymond Johnson:
(HT: Owen Strachan)
What Christians may not realize is that, by tipping servers poorly, they are in danger of living inconsistently with the Gospel they preach. Indeed, poor tips are an example of what Moses teaches in Deuteronomy 25 -- muzzling an ox when it is treading out grain (Deuteronomy 25:4). It relinquishes responsibility to the Great Commission, because the Gospel is about grace. Of all the people in the world, Christians should understand that they are unworthy to be recipients of the great mercy, grace and generosity shown them in Christ. Even an unbelieving person can tip fairly, but Christians should be more than "fair" tippers, they should be generous because God has generously provided redemption for them through His Son, Jesus Christ (Luke 7:47). For the Christian, tipping shouldn't be contingent upon the dining experience.Read the rest.
When a Christian determines the tip percentage of the bill based on quality of service or uniqueness of the dining experience, he or she contradicts grace and flirts dangerously with greed. It is flirting with greed because it forgets, at least momentarily, that underserved grace is shown to us every day.
(HT: Owen Strachan)
Killing The Church Caste System
Ed Stetzer:
Books by Ed Stetzer:
My fear is that we have created a class system in the body of Christ comprised of the "called" and the "not so much called." Nothing could be further from the truth. The ministry assignment of the laypeople is not to simply "lay" around and tell the called what they should be doing. Laypeople are not to be customers of religious goods and services served by the storekeeper clergy. We are all called although our current assignments may vary dramatically.Read the rest.
Jesus said to an ordinary group of people, "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21). These were not professionals, with the exception of professional fishermen and a professional tax collector. And if we hope engage and evangelize the world with the gospel, we cannot possibly rely on professionals to do it.
Laypeople often think that this means their job is to pay, pray, get out of the way. To make sure we are not communicating a low, irresponsible view of laypeople one thing is critical. We must create an atmosphere of expectation.
In all of our research on churches, people in transformational churches were taught that they were responsible for the ministry of the church. This was a recurring theme that they perceived, rightfully so, that they were the owners of the ministry.
To do this, we must begin by declaring the two class system of ministry dead-- we may even have to kill it. A new level of ownership must be given to the people of God, and the people of God must embrace what they are given. God's desire is to have a church made up of every day Christians living like missionaries.
The clergy-laity caste system is killing churches and hindering the mission of God. Let's kill it.
Books by Ed Stetzer:
- Planting Missional Churches
- Compelled: Living the Mission of God
- Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation
- Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations
- Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them
- Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can, Too
- Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community
- Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)
But What If I Don't Feel Authentic Assurance?
J.D. Greear:
If you were honest, you’d probably admit there are moments when you do not feel “Christian” at all. Moments in which you care more about what’s coming on TV that night than you do the spread of the kingdom of God in the world. Moments in which you have fallen to that same old temptation for the thousandth time. Moments when God feels distant, almost like a stranger. Seasons in which your emotions for Him are lukewarm, if not downright cold. When you don’t jump out of bed in the morning hungry for His Word. When your mind wanders all over the place during prayer—that is, when you can bring yourself to pray. Moments when you’re not even sure you believe all this stuff.This is an except from J.D.'s forthcoming book. Check it out here.
Does that sound familiar to you? Times like that are familiar to me. Not all the time, not even most of the time, but certainly more often than I’d care to admit.
What do you do in that moment? Pray “the sinners’ prayer” again? Should I call my old church and have the pastor fill up the all-too-familiar baptismal?
The answer is to keep believing the gospel, to keep your hand on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how we feel at any given moment, how encouraged or discouraged we feel about our spiritual progress, how hot or cold our love for Jesus, the answer is always the same—exercise faith in the gospel.
On your very best of days, you must rest all your hopes on God’s grace to you in Christ. On your worst of days, it should be your refuge and your boast. Your posture should always be one of dependence on it.
Many people assume the “feeling” of being saved indicates whether or not they actually are saved. Feelings, however, are fickle and dangerously misleading, and Scripture never points us to our “feelings” for assurance. Feelings come from assurance; they are not the basis for it. Assurance is based on the fact of Christ’s finished work; our “feelings” of being saved come from faith in that finished work.
Cheap eBook Alert
Live Sent: You Are a Letter
Jason C. Dukes
Kindle Price: $2.99
Our everyday lives are more than just a story being written.God created each one of us to receive and send a message—intentionally — into the lives of the people we do life with daily. That’s how love is demonstrated, how relationships happen, and how people find the abundant life as they are intended to find it.Pastor and speaker Jason C. Dukes helps readers see how giving yourself away in the daily means being to other people the letter of God’s love that has been written on our hearts.Our community needs us, and our world needs us . . . to live sent.
7 Ways To Put On Humility
Mark Altrogge:
Click over to read these points fleshed. It's very helpful stuff.
A couple great books on humility that you should check out:
- Listen to others.
- Be teachable.
- Don’t blame others for your sins.
- Don’t be so sure you’re right all the time.
- Take an interest in others.
- Ask for forgiveness; don’t just say I’m sorry.
- Ask for prayer for areas of weakness and temptation.
Click over to read these points fleshed. It's very helpful stuff.
A couple great books on humility that you should check out:
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