Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunday Mind Dump

I love Potluck Sundays! So much food and fellowship...they really are a great time....although it was funny...as soon as we left church April was telling me she was already hungry again...She is a trip! So let's dump:
  • Great food and fellowship...I know I already mentioned it but you can't say it enough!
  • Had our church business meeting today, approved a budget, and talked last years finances.
  • Also...we announced today that we have raised the initial $15,000 for our matching $15,000 grant. Can I just say right now how awesome that is! God provides!!
  • So many big things on the agenda for this year...I am really excited about where we are as a church.
  • Working on some new message series...I can promise you this...it won't be dull :)
  • Someone (to remain nameless in order to prevent a liable suit) was taking pictures of me today in order to highlight the fact I wear Hawaiian shirts and sandals in the winter in Ohio...like that is so strange!
  • I better get back to work. The rest of the MythBuster series isn't going to write itself!!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sunday Mind Dump

Some days you feel great teaching and some days you don't. For me, today was one of those days I felt like I had tunnel vision and wasn't thinking as clearly as when I wrote the messages. Some days are just plain better than others! So, let's dump:
  • A heavy teaching day...the MythBusters subjects were very difficult and the room was fairly split on how they felt about the questions before I presented my answers...That makes for a tricky answer! No matter what you say someone isn't going to agree with it!
  • I do want to say a huge thank you to everyone who volunteers and makes 242 possible....you guys are awesome :)
  • Next week is our 5th Sunday potluck...no message...just fellowship...I love it!
  • Also, we will have our all church business meeting after the potluck. We'll go over the finances from last year and talk about this years budget. We'll also talk about a few things we want to do this year....should be fun!
  • Took a 2 hour nap today after church...that ALMOST never happens!
  • Now, on to some Chili and Football!!!
  • I am out!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Sunday Mind Dump ( Monday Edition)

Yesterday we kicked off a new teaching series called "MythBusters". As part of this series, I am answering the questions asked by members of 242 church. It was a lot of fun answering the questions and honestly, messages like this help keep me theologically and intellectually sharper...so, let's dump:
  • Question 1: Does God still speak to us: Yes, primarily through the Bible, Occasionally through visions, dreams, circumstances, and people, and very rarely audibly.
  • Question 2: What does the Bible say about race: We are all one people. Genetically speaking the different racial characteristics are a very small part of our genes.
  • Question 3: Does the Bible mention dinosaurs: I believe it does. See Job 40...
  • Question 4: Can a person partake in communion without being baptized? Yes...
  • Question 5: Can God create a rock so large he cannot lift it? No, not because he's not powerful enough, but because it would go against his nature...
  • If weren't in church I suggest you go to the web site (www.findlay242.org) and give the message a listen...I think you'll enjoy the message and perhaps learn something!
  • Great day all around for us....love it when we have to pull out extra tables and chairs to seat everyone!!!
  • Next week we have more difficult subjects....I can't wait!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sunday Mind Dump

Some days I just love being able to teach...today was one of those days! There is just something awesome about standing before God's people and allowing God to speak through you in a way that buildts peoples faith in him. It's awesome and very humbling....so let's dump:
  • Talked this morning about what do we do when God has promised us something but it doesn't seem like it's happening...in fact, many times, it seems like it's getting worse and not better.
  • It's at times like that we need to remember our circumstances do not have to be at 100% for our faith to be at 100%. We trust God in spite of what is going on around us.
  • Next week we are starting our mythbusters series...I can promise you this....it's going to be fun!!
  • I think this morning was the best the band has sounded in a long time...we played and sang well...you guys are awesome!
  • Looking forward to the end of the month....yep, you guessed it, it's potluck Sunday!
  • Loved seeing people singing, raising hands, and worshiping this morning...Awesome!
  • Time to watch some football!
  • See ya!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

What's more important-Knowledge or love?

Every now and then I read something that I just fall in love with and today was one of those days. Here is an article written by Francis Chan (one of the best Bible teachers out there)! Enjoy!
I've enclosed the link at the bottom of the story if you want to check in out at it's original source.


Francis Chan: What's More Important—Knowledge or Love?

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Francis Chan: What's More Important—Knowledge or Love?
Your brilliance is worthless if you’re not building up your brother—and even worse if you’re destroying him with your knowledge.

Knowledge is essential, but it’s not sufficient. It takes knowledge for me to write this. We need to think. We must know the truth.

But knowledge alone is not sufficient for the Christian life. It’s not enough just to have knowledge. That’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:2: “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Think hard. But know that it’s not enough. Paul says even if he had all knowledge but didn’t love, he would amount to nothing. In other words, you can be brilliant and worthless.

It would be like a great basketball player who never misses a shot but keeps shooting into the opponent’s basket. He may say, “I was five for five today from the three-point line,” but his teammates would respond, “But you’re killing our team! You’re shooting at the wrong basket!” He answers confidently, “But I did not miss.” That is the kind of attitude that Paul is confronting here. You might be brilliant, but you’re killing our team. You’re not building up the brothers; you’re making them feel dumb and wounding their conscience. You’re not stirring them up to love and good deeds. You just keep making them feel inadequate. By your knowledge, this weaker brother is being destroyed!

Your brilliance is worthless if you’re not building up your brother—and even worse if you’re destroying him with your knowledge. So when you look at people, do you love them? Do you think, Let me use my knowledge to build this person up?

What Christians Say to Each Other

So often when I read statements on blogs (or tweets)—comments that brothers will write to those who are supposed to be fellow brothers—I think, “Where is the love?” It burdens me. I can’t believe some of the things Christians say to each other in person—and maybe especially online (when you don’t have to look them in the face). How is what you’re saying supposed to build that brother—or anyone else who hears it or reads it? Our knowledge should be pressed into the service of love. It should serve to build each other up. That’s what love does. It builds up. It looks to help others, not hurt them.

True Knowledge

It is such a danger to puff yourself up and imagine that you’re a brilliant person. It’s like the school bully who imagines himself as the hero because he is the strongest. He can beat anyone up. But everyone else knows that he’s not a hero but a jerk. If he were a real hero, he would defend the weak. He would be lifting them up, using his strength to care for them and protect them, not to bully them.

In the same way, with biblical and theological “knowledge” come the intellectual bullies who seem to know so much and imagine themselves to be so knowledgeable. But Paul is saying that they may be only imagining that they are knowledgeable, because if they really knew, they would use their knowledge not to weaken others but to strengthen them. Not to tear them down but to build people up. That’s what love does.

A Closing Challenge to Thinkers

Thinkers, let’s not fool ourselves: To “be conformed to the image of [Christ]” is what we were predestined for, right (Rom. 8:29)? We’ve been predestined to walk as Jesus walked. It’s great if we have thought hard about Jesus and wrestled with doctrines such as predestination, but my prayer is that this information becomes true knowledge and that we actually become like him and that our knowledge doesn’t make us arrogant so that we gloat about it and show off what we know. My prayer for me, and for you, is that everyone we come in contact with would feel our love for them and be built up. That they would see the fruit of our having said, “How can I lift them up with this knowledge that I have?”

Let’s not fool ourselves and imagine that we know so much. Maybe we don’t know anything at all. Maybe some of us have been using our knowledge to tear our brother down and hurt that brother for whom Christ died. Let’s not be guilty of the Corinthian error.

So I’m asking God even right now as I write these final words that he would give me love for others. Oh, God, let me believe what I’m saying. And I hope that you would think through your words and how you can build others up and think about others as brothers and sisters in Christ—so much so that when unbelievers see it, they will have a glimpse of God.

http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/157071-francis_chan_whats_more_important_knowledge_or_love.html#.TwZGyeTlxX0.email

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sunday Mind Dump ( Monday Edition)

What a cold and windy day to start off a new year! That said, it was still a great day...so, let's dump:
  • Started a new 2 week series based on the book Sun Stand Still. One of my favorite stories and prayers found in Joshua 10. Awesome God sized miracles and faith!
  • We talked about the notion today that if their is something in our lives that's too big for us to do it's just the right size for God.
  • Praying a Sun Stand Still prayer means you might have to march (or pray) all night long for it to come through. God wants to see our faith before he turns on his power.
  • Next week we'll look at what do we do when we have a Sun Stand Still type of prayer but we haven't yet seen God move? What then?
  • Some really cool things on the agenda. 242 is going to have a huge 2012!
  • Over the next month I'll share some of my Sun Stand Still prayers for 242.
  • I am out!