the gospel according to John Wayne

"Life is tough... and it's a lot tougher if you're stupid"
---John Wayne

is the future looking dark?

When God is about to do something great, He starts with a difficulty.
When He is about to do something truly magnificent, He starts with an impossibility.
Armin Gesswein

here's an original idea

My close friend and mentor Ray Ortlund recently shared this on his blog.
It was so good, I thought I would add it here as well.
Profoundly Simple thoughts that, I believe, would up-end the status quo.

"We in the modern church confuse witness with reputation. We conceal facts discreetly, saying, 'It wouldn't be a very good testimony if this sort of thing got around.' Discretion is valuable in its place. What we sometimes forget is that the world around us is well aware of what goes on in our congregations and institutions. Truth will out. And as people begin to realize not only that our standards of behavior are no different from theirs but that we tolerate and conceal what we profess to abhor, our preaching becomes an empty parroting in their ears. It is not sin which destroys our witness, but concealed and tolerated sin. If we were to deal with sin more openly, more radically, and to be less concerned with our reputations, our witness would in fact be powerful."

John White, The Golden Cow, page 35.

Proposal. A full-page ad in The Tennessean. Section one. Right hand page. Lots of white space. Two simple words in big font at the top: "We apologize." Then, in smaller font just below that, something like this: "We, the undersigned churches of Nashville, apologize to our city. We have not been the witnesses for Christ that he commands. We are neither delighting you nor disturbing you with Christ. This is our failure alone, and we own it before him and before you. God helping us, we pledge to be humbler, clearer, more provocative and more pleasing to you in the future. If we break this pledge, you will have no reason to take us seriously ever again. But we cannot go on as we have been. The time has come for repentance and revival." Below that, the participating churches could be listed, in alphabetical order, in columns. Then everyone involved could go back to their churches and we could get down on our knees and beg the Lord Jesus Christ to change us.

What do we have to lose? Only the status quo.

Get your eyes off yourself

"While I know Christ's righteousness, I shall the less care to know about my own holiness. To be holy is necessary; but to know how holy I am, is sometimes a temptation."

John Owen, Works, VI:600-601. (note, thanks to Ray Ortlund for calling my attention to this quote.. I paraphrased it to get through Owen's hard to understand English)

Any thoughts out there in Blog land?

inspiration

Check out Josh Squyer's Olympic trial. Josh was in my discipleship group last year. I'm very proud of him.
Makes me think about 1 Cor. 9:22-27

Worship

“Worship is:
The submission of all our nature to God.
It is the awakening of the conscience by his holiness;
the nourishment of the mind with his truth;
the purifying of imagination by his beauty;
the opening of the heart to his love;
the surrender of will to his purpose
and all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin”
William Temple

This is what we were created to do
This is what Jesus redeemed us to do

Lets not reduce it to singing a few songs on Sunday, but rather open our eyes to the endless possibilities of having our hearts enlarge, our affections re-wired, and our lives transformed as we engage with God himself in worship

New Things

Lots of new things are happening in my world. New relationships; new performing opportunities (I got cast in The Tempest--finally getting to do some Shakespeare); new role with an indie film group in Atlanta (I'm gonna be a PA on some productions this summer!); and still more new chances to be creative in The Gathering. Oh, and also I'll have new roomies soon. It's an exciting time, being at the beginning, the "front end" as they say in biz-speak, of so many things, knowing that I'm gonna learn a lot in each of these journeys--that I'll use a lot of my gifts and develop new skills.

A verse came to mind yesterday as I pondered all this new-ity.

"Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

That's from Isaiah 43:19. Don't really have any insight there, just thought of that verse, and how it is applicable as I see God offering me new opportunities now, as well as working new things in my heart (more posts on that soon).

There have also been new things opening in this area--a new Avenue shopping center, Lifetime Fitness and an outdoor amphitheatre. Working for the local newspaper makes me privy to all of them, and I hear all of the buzz for weeks leading up to each. Well, I was able to attend the Grand Opening of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Saturday night. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performed, and the evening was full of fanfare...and it's share of kinks that hadn't yet been worked out--the toilets weren't flushing, leaving upwards of 4,000 women to 'hold it' for the night, or brave long lines and stinky rooms...my date didn't want to, and I didn't blame her (us men were fine, though). Across town, my gym's grand opening wasn't without it's share of kinks as well, a big one--it blew a transformer within the first few hours of being open on Saturday and was out of power until today. I was telling my sales manager about all of this today, and she mentioned that that's why folks usually have soft openings, an unannounced opening usually a couple of weeks before a grand opening publicized event, to make sure they've ironed out all of these kind of details, like working power and public restrooms--you know, minor details. Guess the big guys are too big for that...

Sunday's sermon was from Matt and I though he brought it! It's worth downloading if you missed it. It was on being non-fiction in a synthetic age, and he really honed in on why we so often hide behind masks instead of being real--because we are scared of being found out, and we forget how completely loved and accepted we are by God. In the course of the sermon he said a few things that really hit home with me, but one applies here. He said when we become Christians, we are made new, as new creations, but he explained it in a different way. He said we are truly new, but not completely new, meaning we are at our core, deepest level new, but we still have the flesh shrouding us that we must fight against. Our redemption is complete, but we haven't fully realized what living it out looks like. You might say we have our own kinks that we need working out; and we could use a 'soft opening' of sorts before the big show to make sure all systems are go. I think Christmodeled that, so I don't think we are to expect to be an exception.

So those are my thoughts on all the new things happening. I'll keep you posted on how they all develop as I continue to work the kinks out.

Reason For God

This week Mike Lefevre will be finishing up our current series titled, "My Problem With Religion." This series as some of you may know was based off of a book titled "Reason for God," which was written by Dr. Tim Keller.

Tim Keller is a pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City. I would encrourage all of you to take some time and download these free sermons by Dr. Keller. Typically these sermons are $2.50, so here is a chance to get some free sermons by a phenomenal preacher and writer.

Also, these sermons are great for anyone you know who may have any questions about Christianity.

Exclusivity: How can there be just one true religion?

Suffering: If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?

Absolutism: Don't we all have to find truth for ourselves?

Injustice: Hasn't Christianity been an instrument for oppression?

Hell: Isn't the God of Christianity an angry Judge?

Doubt: What should I do with my doubts? (by David Bisgrove)

Literalism: Isn't the Bible historically unreliable and regressive?


Hope you enjoy these...

whose got your back?

how about this picture? i've got to start wearing my shirt like that.
chuck norris was the original Weapon of Mass Destruction.
how much confidence would you have going into virtually any situation if you knew that mr. walker texas ranger had your back???

Well, many of us live lives of fear and intrepidation because, on the core level, we really think we are all alone. we think that its all up to us and that no one has our back.
But, if you belong to God, you are not alone.
To walk by faith, you will inevitably be called to follow God into some sticky situations, but you will never be called to go there by yourself.

Where is God calling you to exhibit courage right now?
If you are walking with God at all, you can be sure there is somewhere he wants you to live in a more daring fashion: risking all to follow him.

check out these 2 verses:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1.9

But you are a shield around me, O LORD;
you bestow glory on me and lift [a] up my head. Ps. 3.3

Where do you need to defy your fear right now, in order to follow the Good Shepherd's leading? You will not go into the battle alone. He's got your back

my preferred ride to work :)

No, its not particularly green.. it may well offend Al Gore.. its 505 Horse Power are far from socially responsible and politically correct... BUT,
this is my preferred way to defy gravity and melt asphalt, its a Corvette Z06.
427 cu. in. of chest pounding all aluminum Chevrolet Small Block V8.
Sorry, had to indulge my macho side with this post.. possibly some girl peeps out there who would enjoy it as well.

gardening your heart

"The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos; the church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption.
The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray." AW Tozer


30 I went past the field of the sluggard,
past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;

31 thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.

32 I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:

33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man

Prov. 24. 29-34

solid logic

this quote gives pause to those, like me, who sometimes have bouts of verbal diarrea.

I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels. John Calvin

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent,
and discerning if he holds his tongue. Proverbs 17.28

memorable words from a memorable man

"Heaven is by grace. If it were by merit your dog would get in, but you would not"- Mark Twain

now that's worth thinking about