I’m not going to dare add anything to this master piece, just watch and answer truthfully.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnB02zrhcXk]
Even nature sings
This world is messed up in magnitude, but there is a more amazing God who has invited us to know him, linking arms with us that we might be amplifiers for the beauty of Jesus to all peoples.
He is not only a global God — he’s a galatic God. He is bigger than anything we can imagine. We don’t have a clue, really, about who we are dealing with. The universe was one of God’s thoughts.
These are some of the thoughts that Pastor Louie Giglio shared at the Desiring God 2011 National Conference. His text was from Psalm 148: 1 – 5
Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created.
In the message he helps up to remember that God tends to direct our attention to things greater than us to lead us to worship. We don’t understand the expanse of the worship that constantly surrounds the throne of God. I hope that is short clip from his message will help you to realize the heavens are already doing what God is calling us to do everyday. Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB835wkz1Tc&feature=related]
A Crucifixion type love
I hate getting Facebook inbox messages. Here’s why, I already have 3 email addresses that I use for various reasons and those are hard enough to keep up with let alone adding another one. As a matter of fact I almost dropped Facebook all together when that started adding email addresses to the site. That being said every once in a great while I have some meaningful conversation through my inbox or someone sends me a video that will turn my day upside down. The other day I received this link from my wife from a local spoken word artist named Brent Rice. I honestly don’t know much about him but I have heard of Alea Lovely, a local videographer and photographer, who shot this video.
After watching this video I ended up watching it over and then once again and every time I was challenged in a different way. Given the caliber of this work I will defiantly be looking for mare content by this artist in the upcoming days. Here is my wish for you, no matter what your relational status I want you to experience and pursue this type of love. It’s a standard that I [personally] may never achieve but my aim is firmly set that way.
Please enjoy this video….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9doP6EtHk]
When life is not fair
A few weeks ago I once again received a call to come back to Park Hill Baptist Church. This church asked me to fill in the pulpit again as they continued the search for an Interim Pastor and eventually a new Senior Pastor. Much like last time I found myself not feeling comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment I have never been to before, and possibly will not return to, I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say, and this time it was a doozy. Once again, I traveled back to my pastoral study (aka BlackDog Coffeehouse) and prayed until the Father answered. This sermon was for me and as I soon found out for many people in the attending audience. I pray that it is half of the blessing it was to me in preparing it. Maybe this will give you an idea of where I am going with this sermon:
“Life is not fair. Good people have to die early. There are people that waste money like water, and there are other people who struggle to pay for their parents hospital bills. There are people that spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, and there are other people working three jobs to make ends meet. The funny part is people that spent thousands of dollars on vacation wouldn’t pay for their children’s tuition, and people that working three jobs wants to pay for their children’s tuition. How sad…Life is not fair. And it never will be. What’s the point of life anyway? See the injustice and then you die, painfully.”
Below you will find both audio and video versions of the sermon “Patience in the fires of life” (Malachi 2:17 – 3:7a). Please enjoy!
Audio:
[audio https://somajc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/patience-in-the-fires-of-life-malachi-2_17-3_7a.mp3]Video:
Video: Poor audio quality
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38177824]
Almost (saved) by Ezekiel Azonwu
Ezekiel Azonwu is a resident poet at P4CM which is a ministry looking to Intentionally Impact the world for Christ. They build you up spiritually and teach Biblical subjects in a creative way that can be understood by all. They constantly deliver powerful and compelling word of mouth and this piece does not disappoint. Throughout the poem half of me was smiling and nodding my head, the other half was wincing in pain while evaluating my own life. In the end our enemy does not care if you look right on the outside to the rest of the world, or about your church attendance, he is looking to destroy you by letting you be [well]…. almost.
Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqfU3OFNZA0]
4 World-views that rule our world
A few weeks ago I received a call out of the blue. Park Hill Baptist Church‘s pastor of 28 years had retired and was looking for some people to fill in there pulpit while they began the search for an Interim Pastor and eventually a new Senior Pastor. I was overwhelmed by the invite but I quickly obliged. Over the next week I did not feel comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment I have never been to before, and possibly will not return to, I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say. This is NOT said in anyway as a swipe to those pastors who use the same or similar messages for different venues, in some ways I envy you. After a rather interesting conversation with a barista at Blackdog Coffee house (aka my place for sermon prep), I found myself framing a few basic world-views that most people fall into.
- Religious world-view: Which says, that there is a god, whoever he or she is, that must be appeased through a series of actions. So there are things that we do and do not do in order to curry favor with that god and to somehow get eternal life when we die.
- Secular world-view: says, that there is no god, there are no forces, there is no energy; there is simply us and what we make of it.
- Spiritual world-view: Which is different from a religious world-view. The spiritual world-view says there’s probably not a god, but there are forces driving things. Maybe that force is karma, maybe the universe itself is driving, but we need to tap into those spiritual realities and be aware of them to milk out of life all that we want.
- Gospel centered world-view: Is really simply living in such a way that this gospel is central. Thus when any kind of a situation arises we can say, “How does the gospel apply to this situation?” When I am dealing with a particular sin or temptation I can ask, “How can I apply the gospel to this sin?” When I am confused about parenting, how I am to raise my children, I can ask, “What does the gospel tell me about my task in parenting?” The primary reality of the Christian life is this one: Christ died for our sins and was raised. Thus everything else flows out of that gospel and every question is answered in reference to it.
I’ll be honest, after the conversation and as I looked back over my life the Gospel centered world-view has not dominated my thinking and movement through my life. This realization was humbling and encouraging and the sermon turned out to be more of a reminder of just how faithful our Father as been throughout my life. My prayer is that as you listen to this message you prayerfully apply what is said and examine yourself.
Below you will find both audio and video versions of the sermon, please enjoy!
How the Gospel saved my life!
Audio:
Romans 5:1 – 11
Video: Poor audio quality
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/36066256]