Hilarious

A friend sent this video to me... hilarious!

Gospel of Mark

The Bible was originally transmitted orally. People would sit around and tell stories about Jesus. Chris, a man from my Seminary (Bethel), memorized the book of Mark and does a dramatic presentation of it. He is coming to EFCC on September 12th @ 6:30. It is going to be a great night.

Martin Luther King, Jr speech

As I was studying for this weekend, I ran across a great speech by MLK. He wrote this from jail:

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

HOT or NOT

A while ago there was a popular website called, Hot or Not. It still exists, but I'm not sure of its popularity level anymore. Anyway, the whole premise of the site is that people upload pictures of themselves onto the site and other people vote on how hot they are. Pretty funny, huh? (if you wouldn't mind taking a few mins to rate me, I'd really appreciate it... just kidding)

This week i am teaching on Revelation 3:14-22 - the passage where Jesus tells the church that he would rather them be either cold or hot, but because they are lukewarm he is going to spit them out of his mouth. Harsh words. Words that demand that we ask the question... "Am I hot or not?" As I was studying this passage I started to develop a sense of gratitude that this is the kind of God we have. A jealous God. A God who gave all of himself and in return wants all of us. What would it say about him if he didn't? It would be like a husband saying to his wife, I really don't care if you cheat on me and have other lovers... We would have to question whether or not the husband really loved his wife. So, because we have a God who loves and gives passionately, we also HAVE to have a God who is jealous for our affection.

Unfortunately I think because of the comfortable nature of religion in the States, we have become a church where Jesus is more like a hobby than a way of life. This passage demands that Jesus be more than a hobby. More than a Sunday morning activity and a nice ideal. This passages begs that I ask the question, I am I HOT or NOT?

An Open Door?

This week I am teaching on Revelation 3:7-13 and Jesus' letter to the church at Philadelphia. In this passage it says that Jesus holds the keys of David and the door He opens, no one can shut. What a great statement. It displays the power, majesty, and activity in our world. On the surface this statement seems pretty understandable. I mean, it seems logical that the doors that God opens for us have good things behind them. I wonder if God's perspective of an open door is different from ours.

In Acts 16 Luke describes a scene where Paul had really wanted to go to Asia to preach the Word, but the Spirit of God had kept him from doing so. Finally, in a dream God tells Paul that its time to go to Asia and preach... there is an open door! Behind the open door there is a woman who responds to gospel, but there are also a few other things waiting for Paul and Silas. They were: stripped, beaten, severely flogged, and thrown in jail. Sort of makes you wonder if you want to walk through the "open doors" that God provides.

Here is the kicker. They are in jail singing (?), and there is an earthquake that shatters the jail walls and they walk out. One of the things that I think we need to remember about open doors is that God calls us to walk through them, to trust him in the midst o the hard parts of life, trusting that he will be faithful. As followers of Christ we are called to see the beauty breaking through the brokenness. We can only see that if we are willing to walk through the open doors that he provides.

healer faker

In my previous post I talked about how cool it was that this guy sang the song 'Healer' with oxygen tubes in his nose... turn out he is a faker. He faked the whole thing - 2 years of faking cancer... not even his family knew. Issues! You have to wonder what was going on inside his heart to amke him want to do this. As I have thought about this a little bit over the past week, I think there is something a little deeper that God would want us to see through this.

I would love to say that I am surprised, but it seems as though Christian leaders (not that he was a leader, but a prominent person) have a habit of letting us down. I guess this should serve as a reminder that only God is worthy of our worship. Often times we elevate people to that status, maybe unknowingly or unintentionally, but in case you haven't notcied there are definitely Christian celebrities. I guess in that sense it's a good thing that people continually remind us that they are unworthy of our worship. May we fix our gaze on the only one worthy.

Healer - Hillsong

The song “Healer” appears on the new “Hillsong Live - This is Our God” album (i highly recommend it). The story behind this song is amazing. The song was written by Mike Guglielmucci from Planetshakers (another australian chrisitan band that I also like). He was diagnosed with a blood disease, some kind of cancer, that kept him in a wheelchair for a long time. While suffering he wrote this song:

I BELIEVE that YOU’re my HEALER
I BELIEVE YOU are all I Need
I BELIEVE YOU’re my portion
I BELIEVE YOU’re more than enough for me
JESUS, YOU’re ALL I NEED

You'll see on the video that he is still singing - even while still on oxygen. While we know that God doesn't always heal our physical aliments (anybody who believes that he does must be ignoring the staggering statistics on the % of people who eventually die), at times he does still choose to heal. Better yet, he is constantly healing and softening and drawing the hearts of people... an even greater miracle. Anyway, check out the song and video. They removed the best one (the one about the story), but this still gives you a great idea. It's a great song!