trinitypastor

Learning to Read the Gospel Again | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

2011-12-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

Great article on Forming Kids (and the rest of us) in the Gospel!

Learning to Read the Gospel Again | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Many words in my head

2011-11-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

I am thinking about Christ Lutheran Church school chapel tomorrow (theme: holy waiting) www.ChristRPV.com

I am thinking about Mt Olive Lutheran Church Midweek Advent worship service tomorrow night at 7.30p. (theme: Holy Hoping). www.MtOliveLutheranRPV.org

I am thinking about the Lutheran Bible Institute meeting on Thursday night and the sharing I'll do on Friday morning. (theme: holy ambition)

I am thinking about the School of Ministry classes that I'll lead on Dec 12 & 19 at Grace Huntington Beach (theme: Holy Habits)

It looks like a series, but I'll be the only one who goes to even two of these.

dream time

2011-07-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Can we do some dreaming?

It is Summer 2011.
We are a core group of Christian leaders who want to plant the church in San Pedro.
We love the demographic. We feel called to live here. We feel called to grow in grace here. We feel called to bless this community with grace. We would love to be strategically placed between the gates and the ghetto. We would love to see the congregation as the expression of the Kingdom of God here in San Pedro. We would love to be a part of God’s answer to the prayer, “Let your Kingdom come here in San Pedro as it is in heaven.” Of the 200 or so people who have expressed interest in starting a new work in San Pedro, we see a diversity of ages, backgrounds, economic statuses, but true concord in our confession of faith.

BREAKING NEWS! An older church wants to give us their building. They will have it paid off around September, and want to give it to us DEBT FREE! That’s right—no mortgage! The sanctuary is beautiful. The location is ideally placed between the gates and the ghetto. The kid’s ministry space is dated, but at least there is space for our kids to grow in grace too! The kitchen is bad, but hey, who can complain—its free! The youth ministry space looks like lots of good ministry has happened there through the years (old! Ratty carpet! 3rd hand sofa’s). There is beautiful space for adults to gather for various reasons. There are beautiful prayer rooms, offices galore. There is an old house on the property, and even 5 rental units that bring in some income. Parking is insufficient for growth, but there are 2 small lots and we are blessed to use a friendly neighbor’s lot.

THIS JUST IN! A local congregation desires to partner with us this next year. They have budgeted around half a million dollars to support our plant for this next year!

Trinity is actually 90 years old, but what if we were just starting with what we have now? What would we do differently if Trinity was going to launch on September 2011?

What do successful urban church plants do it in 2011? Are they careful exegete’s of the Scriptures? How about the community and culture?

Do they focus more people coming to their church or the church going to the people?

Do they know the ethnic make-up of their community?

Do they know the special ethos of their community?

Do they care about their community?

What does their prayer sound like?

How do they communicate? Internally and externally?

Pastor's Report 2011

2011-06-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Pastor's Report 2011 from Nathan Hoff on Vimeo.

Multisite resource

2011-05-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

House Blessing

2010-12-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

We did a house blessing today. It is a beautiful, short service, praying for God's provision, protection, and His generous blessings on the inhabitants. We move around the home, claiming Scriptures promises, we listen for any prophetic word the Lord gives, we mark the entries with the sign of the cross. We close with this prayer of Basilea Schlink:

O Jesus,

May Thy gracious hand

Protect and guard our home and land.

Thy holy blood our refuge be

Against the raging enemy.

Thy cross, the sign of victory,

Makes Satan's forces turn and flee.

And so, Lord Jesus, may Thy cross

Be placed upon our land and house,

That by this sign they may be known

As being Thine, and Thine alone.

Protection for this place we claim,

Lord Jesus, in Thy precious name.

It is the mightiest of pow'rs,

And guard home, land, and souls of ours.

You can order the prayer printed beautifully on a card from the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary.

Wednesday in Advent

2010-12-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

For over 30 years, men have showed up at 6am at the Prayer Chapel off Trinity's sanctuary for mutual conversation and consolation around the next Sunday's text (this week Matthew 1.6-11). We pray for each other, the sick, traveling missionaries, our families, and the congregation. We receive Holy Communion and a blessing. It was great to have the Guldseth brothers with us this morning. Many of the guys go to breakfast (I do too, when the kids are on break from school). These guys are the best, and they make preaching easier. They help me hear from the Lord better for the upcoming Sunday. More ears hear better.

Home for breakfast, then the daily office in the office.

Marilyn Pearce did a fantastic job filling in for Shelly today. She warmly welcomes official and unofficial business to the church office.

The women of Trinity meet at 9:30am in the Prayer Chapel for devotional thought, Holy Communion and prayer. They have been faithful intercessors for years. Where would we be without them?

Property taxes are due this week for LA County, so I walked one block over to 8th (the only full-time 100% volunteer-run US Post Office in the country. The Assistance League of San Pedro runs it. I paid my taxes, and thought about St Matthew the Tax Collector. People must have been rough on him, much of the time deservedly. I pray for the businesses on 8th street regularly. I smell Polly Ann's Bakery early in the morning (and sometime eat there). I smell Shin Shin's at Noon (and sometimes eat there). I smell 710 Grille in the evening (and sometimes eat there). I talked to Nova who has a beautiful flower shop on 8th and Weymouth, and we talked about Christmas Eve service times (4 & 11pm).

I prayed for the property on 7th and Weymouth. Lord, do you have something for Trinity here? If so, how will you provide? We trust You!

I called back Principal Lukas Fitzgerald at Pacific Lutheran High School (www.PacificLutheranHigh.com). I was to do chapel today, but he postponed me a week, and my schedule is open, so I was glad to say "yes." It is always great to see Ashley and Michael and the staff, and the whole school there!

I had a great conversation with Darcie, our wonderful Children's Ministry gal. We are excited about some opportunities to make the Trinity Campus more kid welcoming and safe.

Lunch with Joy!

I started really mapping out the BELIEVING COURSE, which will be like a Beta after the Alpha course. Here are some of the resources I'm using.

I had to renew my passport which expired a year ago. I am going to Camrose, Alberta in January to teach the book of Acts at Canada Lutheran Bible Institute www.clbi.edu with Poul-Erik Norgaard my buddy and fellow elder at Trinity. PE is theologically trained in Denmark and receiving training at Fuller in the School of Psychology. I feel so honored to teach there. I got my passport pics taken at Fotoby at 25th and Western. This guy loves missionaries and helps our missionaries get their presentations set up for free or very reasonably.

Tonight we went to the Advent worship service at Christ Lutheran where so many of our kids from Trinity go to school. Tonight the 3-5th graders led the service. The 3rd graders are below. Good end to the day!

An Advent Tuesday

2010-12-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

I wanted to give you a glimpse of an Advent Tuesday.

Most Tuesdays, Pr Justus and I meet at 6am in the Trinity prayer chapel. This morning he was on his annual mission run to orphanages just south of the border. I am thankful for the weekly connection with Justus. When we meet we pray for Trinity and Community (our respective congregations), other pastors and congregations here in town, San Pedro, and our own families. This morning I prayed in the prayer chapel. I did what I do most mornings (though I rarely use the prayer chapel). Usually I am in my study at Church for my morning prayer, on my day off and other times I am in my chair in my bedroom or the couch in our living room or on the back patio.

I sing the matins service from the hymnal with the recording of the Kantorei from Concordia-Ft Wayne. I read the Psalm, the OT and the NT daily readings (this morning they were Ps 25; Isaiah 24.1-12; and 1 John 1.1-2.14. The matins service closes with general prayer, to which I add supplication for those the Lord brings to mind who are hospitalized, sick, searching, missionaries, etc.

After prayer, I returned home and crawled back into bed for a few more minutes of rest.

After breakfast and parting with Joy and the kids, and letting Ruby into the back yard, and the chickens out of their coop, I went to church.

I get to work with the best staff around. George usually greets me outside, but this morning he was in the office with Shelly. Tuesday morning is usually busy around Trinity.

9:15am We have office prayer with whoever is around from the Moravian Daily Text (today was Proverbs 21.2). We give thanks to God, repent, intercede for the congregation, and plan to incorporate the truth of the text into our day.

9:30am we sing Morning Prayer (on Tuesdays). Usually a group of 7-15 show up for this. Today was the commemoration of Ambrose, pastor and hymnwriter. His story is inspirational to me. He was 34 years old (1 year younger than me), and a catechumen in Milan , Italy. They needed a new bishop, and the church agreed that Ambrose was the one! Tradition says that on December 7^th 373 (or 374) he was baptized, ordained priest, and consecrated bishop. He wrote, “For I was carried off from the judgment seat, and the garb of office, to enter on the priesthood, and began to teach you what I myself had not yet learned. So it happened that I began to teach before I began to learn. Therefore I must learn and teach at the same time, since I had no leisure to learn before.” I can relate. Learning and teaching at the same time. BY GRACE ALONE! Augustine, in his Confessions, thanks God for Ambrose, and was won over, not just by his excellent teaching, but also his kindness. We sang Ambrose’s “Savior of the Nations, Come.” The 7^th verse is translated by Pr. Gifford Grobien of South Bend, IN. He is the son of Karen and Gifford, thankfully in the praying congregation this morning.

10:00am Bible Study begins in the lounge. We are studying one Psalm a week. This week was Psalm 13. A lament psalm that moves from complaint, to call, to credo, to commitment to praise. This group is terrific as it bears one another’s burdens, prays for one another, and eats together occasionally. Against custom, I left before lunch.

11:00am Staff Meeting in my study. Often in our home, but today worked better on campus. We take turns with a devotional thought and prayer. Today Darcie BROUGHT IT! God gives her such timely insight and an excellent word from Ephesians. We look ahead. We look back. We get off track. We get back on. We laugh. We cry. Today we missed Ray, our faithful servant of the congregation. He helps with so much. We also missed Sue, our Deaconess who is travelling. Sue and Shelly help us by looking look further down the road than we would if they were not on staff. Different gifts, each one from God!

12:15pm Travel to Long Beach

1pm Pr Bob Mabry and Mo Olson (shared Youth Director) and I each lunch with each other occasionally. I love it when we do. In Long Beach we go to $1 Taco at Hole Mole. In SP we usually go to Shin Shin. Sometimes we meet half way at Buono’s on Ocean in LB. We connect, we sort, WE EAT! Then we pray for each other. I’m very thankful for both of these men. Mo is doing a terrific job at a hard job. Youth ministry is one of the toughest jobs on the planet. He is doing it with grace!

3:30pm I got back to church and received a call from a friend about the lot next to the church. I (and others) have been praying about that lot for well over a year. It sits empty, and would be very helpful for parking, or… We lack parking at Trinity, and are thankful for our neighbors who let us park in their lots on Sunday mornings.

The friend had information about that lot from the owner. After a conversation with the church president (Gordy Rich), we agreed that it would be a good time to pray for God to show us what He thought about the lot. Would he provide direction, provision, a “yes” to move forward and purchase it? Would he provide it by another means? I don’t know—but I know Who does.

Walking back to my office,

I took a picture of the beautiful job George does lighting up Broadway for the Advent/Christmas season.

Usually I go home at 5pm for supper, but tonight we stuck around because Joy had one more drama practice for the God Rock’s (Trinity’s kids choir) Best Christmas Present Ever program coming up on Sunday afternoon at 4pm. Fun to have kids running around the campus. Now I take Peter home, and find some dinner. Maybe tomorrow I’ll give a glimpse of Wednesday.

Location Vocation

2010-12-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

World Magazine scores again with the terrific article, "Called to a Community." Making the point that vocation is more than profession or career or job, Timothy Dalrymple asks, "were we right to leave family and friends in the belief that our calling to particular careers trumped everything else?"

Well, in response, maybe we were right. Jesus sometimes calls us to leave and cleave. In the marital vocation it is certainly true to some extent. Jesus' "come follow me" sometimes takes us away from origin. Sometimes we follow Him closer in to where we have come from.

But the critique remains. Jesus didn't say "When your career calls, follow it." Your career can't talk. Jesus calls us to follow Him, and you can be sure it will be into the community of the cross. "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." Jesus points us a p

articular people and says, "Behold your mother," or "Behold your son."

COMMUNITY: Dalrymple says, "Vocation is less a profession than a purpose pursued through our careers but also through the common life we share."

CROSS: Dalrymple, "Christians in American culture struggle with a sort of vocational schizophrenia. We want to make a difference while making money, to remembered for serving the forgotten We want to give our cake to the poor and sell it too."

CONFINEMENT: Jesus says to "take up our crosses and follow Him "daily," never "tomorrow."

This message is not for me after I get "it" together. After you get your degree or certificate. After our facebook relationship status is at least semi-squared away. It is a call today.

It got me thinking. What ways are we living out our vocation to location here in San Pedro (and greater South Bay)? Jesus says to us who are here in the South Bay today, "Behold your mother--Behold your son." This is your family--your community. Even if He calls us somewhere else later, today He has called us here.

50 years from now (2060) when we are sitting down at Acapulco watching ships coming in and out of the harbor, what will we say, "I wish we would have done _________ in 2010."

"I wish we would have planted ______ in 2010."

"I wish we would have focused our energy in the _________ neighborhood in 2010."

"I wish we would have budgeted ________ in the class of 2010 (they would be 68 then--I will be 85, Lord-willing)."

"I wish we would have started a _________-language service/church in 2010"

Share your thoughts!

2010-11-15T14:15:00.001-08:00

Jesus didn’t do door-to-door evangelism. Through His presence the kingdom of God came to bear on people in their current condition. Lepers were cleansed; sick healed; sinners forgiven; demonized delivered; proud humbled; dead raised; hungry fed. Jesus engaged with people. He taught his disciples to do the same—with His empowering presence, the Holy Spirit. Most people don’t think they can do evangelism, but most can engage with people. With the Spirit’s power, they can also bring the Kingdom of God to bear on people in their current condition. Think of those in their current condition around you: addicts; unemployed; consumers; rat race runners; sick; depressed; workaholics; unhappy; misguided; insecure; proud; fearful; angry. How do we equip the body of Christ to ENGAGE?

The Bible Summarized in Only a Few Words

2010-10-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Bible Summarized in Only a Few Words

2010-06-24T09:52:00.001-07:00

O Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95.6

Dear brothers and sisters,

Grace and peace from Jesus! I had a talk with someone close recently who knows Trinity. They said, “I’m so jealous of what you have at Trinity. You all actually expect to encounter God when you get together. Oh, we have a great church, but don’t really expect to encounter Him. We have the Lord’s Supper, but it’s just a memory of Him. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, but we kind of expect Him to be quiet.” This conversation made me realize how precious it is to be and live among people who expect encounter. I wrote this after that conversation:

We aim for nothing less than an encounter with God. God desires an encounter with us! This is what He created us for. When Adam and Eve believed God—they shared precious encounters. When they believed the enemy of their souls, they didn’t show up for their encounter. God still showed up, but they hid themselves. God called them out. God preferred an encounter when them in their brokenness, than no encounter at all.
When the time was right, God found a way to repair our times of encounter. He put on flesh and came right down. Touching us. Laughing with us. Weeping with us. Healing us. Making us whole and holy. Feeding us. Teaching us. Demonstrating to us how far God would come to rescue us. We were dead in our brokenness—so he came all the way to death.
The early Pentecost church of Acts recognized themselves as an apostolic movement and extension to all people and places of the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the personal encounter with God. The Spirit called forth new life and gathered the body together to encounter the presence of the Reign of God in Christ through the Good News of Jesus: encountered in his promises; preached in the word, where we encounter God talking to us in a primary way; received in Absolution where we encounter God freeing us from the bondage of accusation and the need to self-justify; washed in the water and word of Baptism, where we encounter the claim and name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus-the fruits of the cross-available whenever we hear and remember his word, and trust what it says; filled and re-filled with the Holy Spirit, the empowering presence of God, freely given to us, that we might be freely given to those around us. I’m so glad to be in a community of encounter with each of you!

MEANS OF GRACE
Holy Word:
SUNDAY SERIES:
 Holy Spirit – Holy Church series began (Summer of 2009)
 Wake Up – 10 Old Testament Revivals (Fall of 2009)
 Redeeming Relationship – Relationships of David (Jan-Feb 10)
 Short Galatians Series (June 2010)
 I use the assigned reading from the Common Lectionary for the Sundays between series, and the daily lectionary from the hymnal for Tuesday morning prayer service
LENTEN SERIES: Shared with Jenny Lowen “Christ Who Lives in Me.”

Holy Communion: Offered first service every week unless there was a baptism, 1st/3rd weeks at second service, Thanksgiving Eve; Late Christmas Eve Service; Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Every Wednesday morning with men and women); First Communion for McKinley Severson on Maundy Thursday.

Holy Baptism: Hannah Holland 09 05 09; Michael Holland 11 15 09; Kason Lovaas 11 15 09; Hagen Mark Severson 11-18-09; Deborah E Adams 06 7 10

Holy Absolution: offered privately, as well as before Ash Wednesday worship service.
OTHER MINISTERIAL ACTS
Confirmation: Assisted Deac. Sue Scott in classes held September-May; Hanna Lopez; Rachel McGivern; Hannah McGivern; Austin Tyler (Nov 2009)
Holy Matrimony: Michael and Stephanie Holland 04 17 2010
Burial: William Tunilla 06 09; Roy Beal 07 08 09; Julio Maes Jr 07 16 09; Karen Inlow 09 25 09; Lavere (Bill) Drader 10 11 09; Loralee Fitzpatrick 11 07 09; Ruth Fisher (Pastor Christenson) 01 02 10; Anthony Rodin 06 10 10; Fred Ulles 06 05 10

Personal Core Orientations & Convictions
 Grace orientation
Conviction: This was Jesus’ m.o., and ought to be ours as well.
Scripture: Romans 5.8; Ephesians 2.8-9; John 3.16-17

 Lordship orientation
Conviction: Jesus wants to save and transform us!
Scripture: Romans 6.1-4; 8.29; Luke 9.23; Galatians 5; Romans 12.1-2

 God’s Word orientation
Conviction: Truth exists, and God’s Word is the place to find it—it is also the only place to find life.
Scripture: Psalm 1; 19; 119; John 1; 2 Peter 1.20-21; 2 Timothy 2.16-17; Romans 10.14-17; 1 Corinthians 2.2

 Get the Lost or Urgency orientation
Conviction: People apart from Christ Jesus are lost. They were the reason he came.
Scripture: Matthew 9.35-38; 28.19-20; Luke 19.10; 2 Peter 3.8-9

 Worship orientation
Conviction: God’s glory is an end in itself. Style must always serve substance.
Scripture: John 4.23-24; Psalm 23, 24

 Kingdom orientation
Conviction: Jesus proclaimed (in his preaching/teaching) and demonstrated (in his healing/deliverance) the Kingdom of God, and has commissioned his church (you and me) to do the same.
Scripture: Genesis 12; Matthew 4-10; Luke 10; Acts 1; 1 Corinthians 2.1-5; Romans 12; Ephesians 4; 1 Peter 4.10-11; Revelation 11.15; 21.4

 Multiplication orientation
Conviction: God desires multifaceted growth. He wants congregations to grow, and he wants Christians to grow. This is done most effectively through multiplication.
Scripture: Matthew 28.19-20; 2 Peter 3.18

Many thanks to the Staff, Elders, Council, P3 (Pastor’s Prayer Posse), as well as my own pastor confessor. I am thankful for each of my five kids. They demonstrate the varied grace of Jesus to me (1 Peter 4.10). Joy! “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband” (Proverbs 12.4; 16.31). I’m so glad to share the adventure with you.

Trinity, it is a joy to serve you as your pastor! In Jesus, Nathan

Spiritual dullness replaced by vibrant joy

2010-06-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Dullness being replaced by vibrant joy

What causes dullness? This week we will unpack the sources of our dullness to spiritual matters, and pray that God would do the miraculous work of giving us abundant joy!

A good resource book for this week is John Piper’s WHEN I DON’T DESIRE GOD: How to fight for joy. Crossway 2004.

Monday: Inattention as a cause of dullness.

Joy picked up a “sharp” knife from the drawer the other day, and said, “These knives could use some attention.” I had not been attentive to them for some time. Spiritual matters can be the same way. Over time we are inattentive to repentance, and Bible-reading, and Jesus-treasuring! Tell yourself to “Hope in God!” Praise Him for He is your salvation.

Psalm 42 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation

Martin Lloyd-Jones writes in Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul has been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.”

Let us pray: Father, show me what I have overlooked, and grown inattentive to. As my Great Physician, write me a prescription that will result in vibrant joy. Help me to talk to myself more instead of listening to myself. Through Jesus Christ.

Tuesday: Lack of curiosity as a cause of dullness.

Dullness stays dull when nobody asks questions—hard questions. We settle in to passivity, afraid of questions, because of the stir that they make in our lives. We become content with pat answers. We grow used to the status quo. The Holy Spirit engaging us in the Word of God is the only way to awaken us to our spiritual hunger. Our hunger for things of God will cause us seek and find the God who speaks to us, and abides in us, and overcomes sin, death, and the evil one.

1 John 2 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Though hordes of devils fill the land all threat’ning to devour us,
We tremble not, unmoved we stand; They can not overpower us.
Let this world’s tyrant rage; In battle we’ll engage.
His might is doomed to fail; God judgment must prevail!
ONE LITTLE WORD SUBDUES HIM!

JESUS!

Let us pray: One little word, O Lord, has the power to awaken us to our hunger, and fill us all the same. Jesus, make me seek you and find You.

Wednesday:
From Kevin Klonoski today…
From my quiet time this morning: spiritual dullness comes from a lack of trusting God to meet our needs. When he allows challenges in our lives his intent is for us to call on him. When we don't trust we begin to take matters in our own hands, discouragement follows, we become overwhelmed and look for other things to dull our discouragement. When we are in the midst of trials we need to press in to ask God for help - even when he seems far away. Are we actively taking advantage of all the opportunities to meet and pray together? God is not far away - he's in his word and in his church when we are actively trusting and seeking his help.

Please God forgive me for not trusting you with everything in my life.

Colossians 2.6, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him…” Friend, you received Jesus by faith. Live in Him now by faith.

Thursday:
I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “The same yesterday, today, and forever.” Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [about the unforgiveable sin] left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God. John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

Heb 12 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is often true that we use perfectly good tools for the wrong use. For instance, one reason the “sharp” knives in our drawer are dull is I use them in the garden sometimes. The problem isn’t the knife, it is the use of the knife. We sometimes use the portions of Scripture which command and demand to try to motivate and prod us. The point of these perfectly good portions of Scripture is not perfect us, but to point us to our PERFECTER, Jesus! He is our righteousness!

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, my true Righteousness, help me keep my eyes fixed on You, and not myself. For in me I find only limits and disappointment and despair. But, with You is limitless grace, true justification, and hope. Through Jesus Christ!

Friday
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you; as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63.1

Sometimes we can become so familiar with our circumstances that we become dull to the possibility of a change. Sometimes we can become so familiar with holy things that we become dull to the awe that we once had for the things of God. We receive grace upon grace day after day, and we forget how amazing it really is.

Let us pray: God, put earnestness back into my life, that I might recognize the serious thirst that You so consistently quench me with!

Saturday
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. Psalm 43.4

Exceeding joy or exceeding exhaustion? By Saturday we can collapse in a heap of exhaustion. Maybe it is more than a tired weekend for you, but a tired season. Are you dull because of exhaustion--over using the energy that God has given you? Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy this week. That can sharpen our dullness, and remind us that God will continue to provide and produce and sustain our world without your direct involvement. Rest so you can go to the altar of God who is your exceeding joy!

Let us pray: Exceeding Joy, I anticipate coming to Your Altar tomorrow to receive the amazing grace of Your Word and Sacrament. Help me to find rest in You, my Sabbath. Through Jesus Christ!

Wayward Children Coming Home

2010-05-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Today we pray together for those who are considering repentance.

Luke 15 17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Let us pray: For those who are waking as from the slumber and stupor of sin and waywardness, we pray to You Father, asking that by Your Spirit you would speak clearly to them: “Awake, O Sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you life!” Awaken your slumbering church as well, that we may be prepared for your work among us. Revive us, Lord! Amen

Thursday: Today we pray together for those who are looking and waiting and praying.

Luke 15 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

Let us pray: Father, you know better than anyone the heart for the wayward son or daughter who has forgotten the identity that is still theirs. Please remind parents and all those looking and waiting and praying that they too have not been forgotten nor forsaken by You, but that You are waiting with them for their loved one. Make us a community ready for their return. In Jesus’ name.

Friday: Today we pray together for those who are lost and living at home.

Luke 15 25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

Let us pray: Lord, lest we spend all our focus and energy on those far off, today we remember those who are under our roof, but may be far away. May they are religious and even good performers. Help them to know that Your love is not conditioned on their performance, but You love them because they are Yours and You paid a great price for them. In Jesus’ name!

Saturday: Today we pray together for those who have the wrong impression of God.

Luke 15 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' 31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

Let us pray: Father, You are the One who entreats! You came to me and to all others who are trusting You. Please help my loved one know of Your entreating ways. Help them know that You are the God who pursues relentlessly and says even in the midst of my confusion, “All that is mine is yours!” Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayers for Wayward Children

2010-05-24T19:55:00.001-07:00

Monday: Today we pray together for those who are prone to wander.

Luke 15 11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

Let us pray: Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Lord, there are times that I am prone to wander. Seal my heart to Your own. Give me the compassion for wanderers that you have for me.

Tuesday: Today we pray together for those who are lost and far away.

Luke 15 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Let us pray: Father, You love our loved ones more than we love them. We plead Your grace for those who are far away. Maybe they are running from You. Maybe they were taken captive by the enemy. However they got away, we know they are not too far from Your reach. Jesus, as Your cross was planted into the broken earth, so plant a demonstration of Your love into their broken heart. Holy Spirit, brood over my loved one, and call them from darkness to light. Bring order to their chaos, and interpret God’s loving Word to them. In Jesus’ name.

Prayer for marriages week

2010-05-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
Marriage is lived in vows made by husband and wife
I, take you, to be my husband (or wife), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy will; and I pledge to you my faithfulness.

Prayer: Father, we pray for those who have made vows of fidelity to be reminded of them and strengthened in them. Give us Your Holy Spirit to fill us with faith toward You, and love toward one another, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thursday
Marriage is protected by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Matthew 19.6
“What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.”
Let us pray that every friend of marriage would be strengthened. Praying together, playing together, face-to-face time, shoulder-to-shoulder time ; a common mission; worshipping together; serving together, expressing love together; forgiving one another; setting good boundaries; respecting one another; making small deposits everyday in the relationship account. Lord, help us to multiply these traits, and everything else that is a friend of marriages. We also pray that you would be an enemy to everything that seeks to undermine marriages today. In Jesus’ name!

Marriage is prayed for and supported by the holy Christian congregation
Almighty and everlasting God, our Heavenly Father, grant that by Your blessing husband and wife may continue to live together according to Your Word and promise. Strengthen them in faithfulness and love toward each other. Sustain and defend them in every trial and temptation. Help them to live in faith toward You, in the communion of Your holy Church, and in loving service to each other that they may ever enjoy Your heavenly blessing; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Marriage is to be a mysterious experience and witness to the relationship between Christ and His Church

Ephesians 5 31 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

God, we finish this week by praying that You would stir each husband to love their wife with the love that Christ has for His precious church. Inspire husbands to lay down their lives, in sacrificial and life-giving service. Stir each wife to respect her husband as the church respects Jesus Christ even when she doesn’t understand Him. Inspire wives to build up their husbands in word and deed. We pray this in Jesus’ name.

Marriages and Families being reconciled and renewed

2010-05-18T14:33:00.001-07:00

Monday:
This week as we pray for marriages and families, let us use the elements of the marriage service to guide our prayer.

Marriage is instituted by and founded on the Word of God
“It is not good that the man should be alone…” Genesis 2.7, 18-24
“Be frutful and multiply…” Genesis 1.26-28
“Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband…” Ephesians 5.1-2, 22-33
“They shall become one flesh.” Matthew 19.4-6
“What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10.1-9

Prayer: Lord, we look to you this week as the One who instituted and founded marriage. We also recognize You as the One who instituted and founded the individual marriages that we are familiar with. Forgive me—Forgive us for any ways we have undermined what you have instituted. Draw us back to Your living Word, give marriages life according to Your Word! In Jesus’ name.

Tuesday:
Marriage is entered in by the consent of one man and one woman
To the bridegroom: “Will you have this woman to be your wedded wife, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony as God ordained it? Will you nourish and cherish her as Christ loved His body, the Church, giving Himself up for her? Will you love, honor, and keep her in sickness and in health and, forsaking all others, remain united to her alone, so long as you both shall live? Then say: I will.”

To the bride: “Will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony as God ordained it? Will you submit to him as the Church submits to Christ? Will you love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in health and, forsaking all others, remain united to him alone, so long as you both shall live? Then say: I will.”

Prayer: Lord, our intentions don’t always meet our actions. Help us to fight the temptation to reject Your intentions for husband and wife because of our failure to do what You expect. Fill us with Your Gospel’s power which frees us from condemnation and accusation, and allows us to love and serve one another out of the love and service we have received from Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray.

Removing Old Animosties (Thur-Sat)

2010-05-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday: Col 3 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Again from Total Forgiveness (Charisma House): How has the Lord forgiven me? Unequivocally and unconditionally. My sins, which are many, will never be held against me, and nobody will even know what I did. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103.12). It therefore follows that I should not hold people responsible for what they have done to me. I will hold nothing against them, and I will not tell other people, not even my closest friends, what they did to me.”

Special Focus: removal of animosities between groups in our town: racial, cultural, religious, class

Friday: Clarifying forgiveness:
What it is not (Taken from RT Kendall, Total Forgiveness)
1. Approval of what they did. (John 8.11)
2. Excusing what they did
3. Justifying what they did
4. Pardoning what they did
5. Reconciliation
6. Denying what they did
7. Blindness to what happened
8. Forgetting
9. Refusing to take the wrong seriously
10. Pretending we are not hurt
Father, forgive me for I have trusted the enemy of my soul who lied to me saying that forgiveness will make matters worse. Help me not to listen to the liar anymore, but to listen to You as You say, “Trust Me. Trust Me with your hurt. Trust Me with your enemy.” Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saturday: Clarifying Forgiveness:
What it is (Taken from RT Kendall, Total Forgiveness)
1. Being aware of what someone has done and still forgiving them.
2. Choosing to keep no record of wrongs.
3. Refusing to punish
4. Not telling what they did (with the exception of legal reasons to protect others, or therapeutically to tell a counselor one time)
5. Being merciful
6. Graciousness
7. It is an inner condition
8. It is the absence of bitterness
Father, prepare me to receive your Word and Sacrament tomorrow in celebration of Your great removal of the enmity that separated me from You and from my brothers and sisters. Re-member me into Your body, as I remember Your death and resurrection. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Old Animosties Wednesday Prayer

2010-05-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Luke 23 34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

I held bitterness tight against an offender. They deserved it even though they didn’t know I was bitter against them. They had hurt a child. I knew I had good justification for being bitter against them, for Jesus even said something about a millstone around their neck. I thought that sounded like a good idea, until the Lord gave me a vision of the offender being offended himself as a child. The hurter was being hurt. My bitterness turned to compassion. Not permission or a free pass for what they did, but grief over how broken we are. Generation passing broken selfish sinfulness on to generation. Today I pray for the wounded wounders. Those who hurt others out of their own hurt.

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Father, forgive them for they do only what they know. Father, break the cycle of wounding through inviting the wounded to find rest in Your Son’s wounds, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Special Focus: removal of animosities held against those who have offended others.

2010-05-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

This week we are praying for old animosities to be removed:

Monday: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

“God forgives freely and without condition, out of pure grace, because He has so promised, as the Gospel teaches. But God says this (“as we forgive”) in order that He may establish forgiveness as our confirmation and assurance, as a sign alongside of the promise, which agrees with this prayer in Luke 6.37, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Therefore, Christ also repeats it soon after the Lord’s Prayer, and says in Matthew 6.14, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” and so on.”
Large Catechism on the 6th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.

Lord, You have forgiven me freely and without condition. So convince me of it today, that I may freely and fully forgive others as a sign of your miracle of grace in me. Through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Special focus: removal of personal and family animosities

Tuesday: Eph 4 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

In his excellent book, Total Forgiveness (Charisma House), RT Kendall writes, “It is also my experience that the quickest way I seem to lose inner peace is when I allow bitterness to reenter my heart. It’s not worth it! I made a decision for inner peace. But I found that I had to carry out that decision by a daily commitment to forgive those who hurt me, and to forgive them totally…Having been on both sides, I can tell you: The peace is better. The bitterness isn’t worth it.”

Father, some days I feel strong to choose freedom through forgiveness, but other days, I am helpless over my bitterness—it consumes me. Holy Spirit, I receive you again, for you do not abide near bitterness for it grieves You so. Fill me so, that bitterness has no room. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Special focus: removal of inner-congregational animosities.

77 days

2010-05-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Praying Friends,
Jesus' grace to you today!
I mentioned it on Sunday, but wanted to include those of you who may have been gone. My friend Colleen, sent me her prayer list for our congregation. It so resonated with God's heart, it was like a wake up call from God. I would like to call our congregation to pray these 11 petitions for the next 11 weeks. That's 77 days of prayer! We had an amazing response on Sunday to the call for prayer. I won't sent this mass email again, but if you would like to receive regular prayer updates during this season of prayer, please respond, and say, "I will pray with you."
These are the dates we will start praying for the themes listed below.

Sunday May 2, hundreds of people coming to Christ,
Sunday May 9, old animosities being removed,
Sunday May 16, marriages being reconciled and renewed,
Sunday May 23, wayward children coming home,
Sunday May 30, long-standing slavery to sin being conquered,
Sunday June 6, spiritual dullness being replaced by vibrant joy,
Sunday June 13, weak faith being replaced by bold witness,
Sunday June 20, disinterest in prayer being replaced by fervent intercession,
Sunday June 27, boring Bible reading being replaced by passion for the Word,
Sunday July 4, disinterest in global missions being replaced by energy for Christ’s name among the nations, and
Sunday July 11, lukewarm worship being replaced by zeal for the greatness of God’s glory.

The first petition is for hundreds of people coming to Christ.
I am convinced that our call to bless those around us with the grace of God, is based on WHO Jesus is.
If you had all authority in heaven and earth, what would you do? What car would you drive? What neighborhood would you live in? What TV would you watch? Where would you travel? What would you change in the world?
Jesus has this. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28.18-20 ESV).
All authority is our Lord's, and His greatest desire is people. People you know. People you love. People you don't care much for. People that are similar to you. People vastly different from you.
Pray with me, "Jesus, show me Your heart for the people around me. How much do you love them? Help me love them like you do! Amen

Thanks for praying with me!
+Nathan

Most Beautiful Mission Statement

2010-04-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

http://catholicexchange.com/2010/03/30/128761/
Check out this touching article about a convent in France with one of the most beautiful mission statements I've ever seen! Thanks to Amy Julia Becker for reliably reflecting on the gift of people with down syndrome.

The Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb are a contemplative religious community in France that enables girls with Down syndrome to respond to a religious
vocation.

The tiny community, founded in 1985 and based in Le Blanc, in the diocese of Bourges, is made up of seven sisters, five of whom have Down syndrome.

In a world where up to 90 percent of Down syndrome children are aborted, the Prioress of the Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb says the order exists, “To allow those who have the ‘last place’ in the world, to hold in the Church the exceptional place of spouses of Jesus Christ. To allow those who depend on others for their everyday life to take in charge, in their prayer, the intentions that are entrusted to them. To allow those whose life is held in contempt to the extent of being in danger from a culture of death, to witness by their consecration to the Gospel of Life.”

A Prayer About Ultimate Health Care

2010-03-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

Is talk about health care reform causing you health problems?

Is your blood pressure increasing?

Do you have shortness of temper?

Are you seeing red?

Perhaps you should try PRAYER.

A Prayer About Ultimate Health Care

I did.

It is helping.

(Thanks to Scotty Smith over at The Gospel Coalition. You will find good stuff there.)

All 18 Suprises & 9 Reliefs

2010-03-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

18 Suprises from Transformational Church survey
□ A little over 20% of our people don’t feel like they “actively participate during the worship service”
□ 44% of our members aren’t that excited to bring friends with them to our worship services
□ 99% mod/strongly agree “I know what it means to worship God outside of the church building” □ Small groups are very important to our members, but not always well publicized
□ Biggest discrepancy btwn me & rest of church: Most agree that 20%people do 80%work; I totally disagree.
□ Less people feel like our church helps people understand their spiritual gifts than I thought
□ 27% believe it is difficult to find a place of ministry at Trinity
□ 10% disagree, “I have several very close friends in our church”
□ Offering limited programming at church so people have time to serve beyond church: I agree, most disagree
□ 78% agree “our members are comfortable sharing their faith with unbelievers” Wow!
□ Pretty equal spread on “urgency in sharing faith with non-Christians.” Some yes, some no
□ Great majority trust the leadership of the church, some don’t. Both are important!
□ There are some faithful/mature people who disagree with the leadership, yet they stay.
□ 27% don’t know the vision of our church—I don’t think its their fault
□ 32% don’t think we have a system in place to raise up future leaders.
□ A clear discipleship process (immaturity to maturity) is not so clear at Trinity, not is it well communicated
□ Trinity is really good at a warm welcome and really bad at following up on first time guests.
□ Most agree that it takes a while for people to get involved in the life of our church.

9 Reliefs from #TransformationalChurch survey
□ The worship services at our church are centered on the gospel of Christ 85% strongly agree!
□ 98% moderately or strongly agree that a first time visitor would know we value the Bible highly!
□ 94% moderately or strongly agree that they encounter God at our church worship services!
□ Our leaders remind most people of Jesus. Some people are not reminded of Jesus by our leaders
□ 99% mod/strongly agree that “Prayer is an important value in our church.”
□ The greatest alignment between me & the congregation was in the prayer section.
□ 93% strongly agree, “God receives the credit for the great things that happen in our church.” Tears of Joy!
□ Spontaneous prayer is normal in our church (worship/small group) 94% agree
□ 98% mod/strongly agree, “Our church has observed God answer prayer.” Come Holy Spirit!

Questions from #TransformationalChurch survey
How can 94% encounter God in worship, and 44% not be that excited to bring friends with them?

Info on #TransformationChurch
Measures areas in a congregation including: worship, community (fellowship), mission, leadership, prayer, relational intentionality, missional mindset.

3 requests in 18 hours

2010-03-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

In the last 18 hours, 3 people have contacted me in regard to the Holy Spirit, and the move of the Holy Spirit. Maybe some of these reflections would be helpful to others...

So far as the Charismatic issue goes, I did grow up, and still identify with the movement taking place called the Charismatic movement. That movement was concurrently touching many denominations including the Lutheran church, and looked a little different in each denomination. Here are some of my reflections.

1. The movement was a biblical movement. Anywhere there is an inconsistency between biblical teaching and church belief/practice, it is the church that must change, not the biblical teaching. This is the case in the ELCA today. There is now a gap between the consistent teaching of Scripture, and the voted on belief/practice of the ELCA in regard to human sexuality. One conviction I have is that the church can vote on anything that God has not already voted on. If God has already voted, we have no business voting. The charismatic movement was a reform/renewal movement, seeking to make consistent the church's belief/practice with biblical teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It included seeking the Lord in His word to find out what we were missing from the book of Acts, and Romans, and 1 Corinthians, and 1 Peter—New Testament Christianity! We had to change—not the Bible’s teaching.

2. The movement was churchly. Most people desired the unity of the body of Christ, the upbuilding of the body. As a result of the Charismatic movement, there were fresh expressions of unity among denominations. There was a palpable unity around the essentials of the faith, and especially around the One who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth keeping it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” They didn't desire division and disunity. Sometimes they/we didn't act this way. Pride rises, and the flesh is always at war against the Spirit, and too often the flesh exerted its ugly self, causing hurt and division.

3. Sometimes the movement went too far. Sometimes it went farther than Scripture. This was and is wrong. BUT, the question comes, "How do you respond to abuse?" Paul dealt with this in 1 Corinthians. When a doctrine or practice is abused, you don't stop teaching the doctrine or doing the practice, you correct it. The Corinthians abused spiritual gifts and Paul corrected them. He didn't tell them to stop practicing prophecy and speaking in tongues, etc. He corrected them in their belief/practice. The Corinthians abused the Lord's Supper. He didn't tell them, "Better off just stopping the Lord's Supper--its more work than its worth, its too dangerous." He corrected them.

My prayer was and continues to be, "Lord, I want everything Your word says is mine in Jesus Christ. I don't want to miss any of my inheritance as Your child. I want to say "Yes" to everything You say "Yes" to, and "No" to everything You say "No" to, because Jesus is Lord and I am not."
Thanks for asking this, it gave me a chance to think again about my convictions. Let me know if I can clarify or converse about any of these or other subjects.

Healthiest churches

2010-03-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

I just did a Google search for "the healthiest churches". I was curious as to what qualities various people were using in determining the "healthiest churches". I had just read a blog by Mark Batterson where he wrote:

I cannot cite a verse or a study, but I honestly believe that the healthiest churches are churches that laugh the most. I'd also add cry the most to that. They are churches that feel deeply, feel freely. The gospel isn't just in their heads. It's in their hearts.

At the top and bottom of the Google search page was this suggestion from the great Google:

"Did you mean: the wealthiest churches "

Is it possible that the great Google, based on similarity of words and frequency of searches that they were helpfully asking if instead of "healthiest", I must have really meant "wealthiest"?

What do you think?

As I write this I was reminded of a short conversation of a couple of weeks ago. It occured after a service where the Kids Rock were up front leading worship, I told one of the "kids" that they did great. She said, "I knew we did good because I could see it on some of the peoples' faces." I asked her what she could see. She replied, "I saw tears. I saw tears running down the faces of five people."

A wish

2010-03-01T18:39:00.001-08:00

I wish Alan R would blog more often. That guy is insightful and finds awesome stuff to pass along.

Anyone guess who wrote this?

2010-02-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

"The gift or the karismata are what is
given to the believers after the forgiveness of sins by the God reconciled
through Christ. In my judgment, the next three verses pertain to these
gifts. I take them to be joined because three times he repeats the name of
the Spirit: "right Spirit," "holy Spirit," and "princely Spirit."

"Thus the true Spirit dwells in the believers not merely according to His
gifts, but according to His own substance. He does not give His gifts in
such a way that He is somewhere else or asleep, but He is present with His gifts
and creatures by preserving, ruling, and strengthening them."

New Years Poem

2010-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

from Steve Marconi after 1st Service

A New Year' resolution:
I want to lose some weight.
The weight of burdens carried,
All those worries, small and great.

I pray the yoke be lifted
From my shoulders bent and bruised
That I be freed to serve you,
That this year I will be used.

Put me in a place of blessing
Where my wait will be for you,
That the Lord will be my portion
And the Word be what I do.

Loose the bonds that hold me captive,
Weigh me down with fret and fear.
Take my voice, God, calm my spirit
So it's your voice that I hear.

Give me strength to stay the course,
Self-control to keep this vow:
Make this the year that's more of you
And less of me--starting now.

Thielicke on the Incarnation

2009-12-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

From Helmut Thielicke, I Believe: the Christian's Creed.

Isn't love much more than what a person feels on his wedding day, when the
heavens ring with music and the honeymoon beckons? Then even the heart of
a would-be Cassanova is brimful of what he is sure is love. But whether or
not it was really love becomes apparent only as the rice-showered couple creep
year by year through the prosaic pages of daily life--when illnesses or problems
with the children occur, or when one hurts or disappoints the other. At
these times, a really loving person does not leave the scene. On the
contrary, the worse it gets, the tighter his loving hands hold on. One
partner does not want to have it better than the other; if one lies sick in the
hospital, the other suffers every pain too, at least in spirit.

For this reason, we may believe God's heart belongs to us. He doesn't
give us a friendly nod of goodwill from heaven, but he suffers the fate of a
refugee with us as an inhospitable manger receives him and the flight into Egypt
stretches before him...That is the extent to which God becomes man, the extent
to which he loves us and wills to experience unconditionally what it means to be
human. Therefore we can believe in this love of his and be sure that be is
completely for us.

Primal

2009-12-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

"Is that what it is really all about?" Just Sunday, a new couple worshipping at Trinity for the last few weeks, with a strong religious background, asked something akin to this primal question, "What is life really all about?" They were uncovering layers of stratification. Years of veneer covering over what seemed a primal message. They were engaged in the difficult task of sorting out what was of the essence of the Christian story, and what was added over time. And of the stuff added over time, what was helpful, and what was obfascating.

Mark Batterson, best-selling author, has written a new book asking these primary questions. He makes a fantastic statement as he descends the stairs of history to the church's basement to see what we have forgotten, what we have devalued, what we have covered over. He says, "I've discovered that when I've lost my way spiritually, the way forward is often backward" (Primal 8). Batterson is a gifted question asker, and helps lead to at least a part of the primal Christian identity. Batterson is light on the primal creed of the Christian movement, emphasizing the primal deed (great commandment). His purpose is not to emphasize who God is, and who I am in Him, but to present primal Christianity as a way of life. He invites you to be motivated by grace, not paralyzed by it. You can test the first chapter at the link below.

http://reader.waterbrookmultnomah.com/2009/12/07/sneak-peek-primal-by-mark-batterson/

Revival and the Liturgy

2009-12-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

From Bishop Bo Giertz,

This, then, is our program: to learn of the past that we may be prepared to
meet the coming day, to immerse ourselves so deeply in the great life stream of
the church that we may be equipped to proclaim the Word of God in a new age, and
to modern men and women, and to live His life in the manner which the new
century in the history of the church demands.

From Liturgy and Spiritual Awakening

More quotes:

Awakening is the fire that flames forth in dead souls.
Liturgy is the work of the same Spirit in preserving the flame which has
been lighted.
Probably we could express the difference between the two by saying that
awakening is like the fire of the Lord which fell upon the water-drenched altar
of Elijah. It is the uncalculable, sovereign invasion of God, which
reveals His power among the heathen. Liturgy, on the other hand, is the
fire which burns upon the altar in the temple and about which the Scriptures
proclaim that it never be extinguished. Awakening is lightning from above
that ignites a new fire. Liturgy is the flame of the Lord already burning
among us, lighting and warming the faithful.

Sad Prayers

2009-12-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

I did chapel at Pacific Lutheran High School in Torrance this morning. I talked about strongholds--those things we habitually run too looking for protection, provision, life, relief, release... They are really false gods. We go to them because we trust them. The problem is, they are not trustworthy. Here are some examples of sad prayers to some strongholds.

Worry. "Dear Worry, in exchange for loss of sleep, health problems including ulcers, reflux, heartburn, and even divraticulitus, I ask that you would be my companion until all this works out, if it ever will, which I'm sure it won't with my luck. Amen."

Unforgiveness/Bitterness. "Dear Bitterness, you know I got the raw end of this deal. Its always going to be the same, I guess its my destiny to be the victim. Dear Unforgiveness, help me guard my heart, make me so hard that anyone who tries to get close will bounce off me. Amen."

Addiction. "Dear Addiction (materialism, booze, food, porn, gambling, amuzement, etc), my real life hurts so bad, that this made up life is my only refuge. All the stuff I can buy satisfies...for a while, the substance anesticizes...for a while, the beautiful, fake person on the screen or in a magazine, or in a book won't hurt me like the realy people in my life, and in my fantasy they will accept me for who I am. Amen."

Perfectionism. "Dear Perfectionism, I know if I dedicated my life to perfection nothing could harm me. If I keep trying harder and harder to get it right-everything will go right. I haven't been able to get it all right in the past, but maybe something will be different this time. I commit myself to at least a 4.0 grade point average, never being late (Please let there never be traffic), perfect musicianship and sporting ability, relationship where I never offend others and am never offended. I know you can find some other perfect people for friends and a future spouse. I haven't met them yet, but they must be out there somewhere. Amen."

Try Psalm 71:1 or 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 instead!

Wheat and Harvest

2009-08-11T13:41:00.001-07:00

If you ever stood in a wheat field...

If you ever rode on a combine havesting wheat...

If you ever read about Jesus talking about wheat and harvest...

You might enjoy these words and pictures from Ann Voskamp, a woman of faith, a wife of a farmer, a gifted writer.
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2008/07/harvest-workers.html
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2009/08/like-wheat.html

After you read a couple of her blog posts you may want to bookmark her site and return often:
http://www.aholyexperience.com/

I think you will be glad you did.

Decay

2009-06-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays prayer after devotion by Bishop Bo Giertz:

"We pray to You, Holy Spirit, that You let Your wind blow over the world. May it destroy and eliminate every that has decayed in Your church and everything that is parched and dead in Christianity. Fill every heart with a faith that can conquer the world and with joy that warms the children of the world and with peace that the world can not give..."

What would the church look like if God answered this prayer?

Help me out

2009-05-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Could you help me out by taking the following survey for fall ministries here at Trinity? Much thanks!
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/139674/fall-09-survey

Devotional Resourse Extraordinaire!

2009-05-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

You may be interested in what I am using for my personal devotional life. In our weekly worship bulletin we make available a series of Bible readings throughout the week. That list can be found on pages 299-304 in our hymnal. A resource has been produced that includes all of those readings printed out, along with orders for daily prayer (for use as individuals or families or small groups), the small catechism, the whole Psalter, and numerous other prayer resources. This is all under one cover and is available this month for half price at the following website:

http://www.cph.org/dailyprayer

I use the morning prayer service which includes a "wake up call" verse to begin, Psalm 95, the Psalm for the day, and Old Testament Reading and and New Testament Reading (using this resource for the whole year gets you through almost the whole NT, and 1/3 of the OT). An additional reading from a trusted Christian source is also included. Then there is the morning canticle (the Benedictus - Zechariah's song from Luke 1). Then a time for prayer and petition, and a closing benediction. Just this morning the Lord had a clear communication for me from His word and through the prayer time.

A few evenings a week I use the Compline service (Night Prayer) which is a service of made up of various Bible verses that allow me to sleep in peace, pray for my family and home, and for those who work through the night, and for my fellow believers.

If you are looking for some structure for your daily prayer, this resource may help. It has helped me.

Let me know if you get this resource so we can support one another. Also, If you have another helpful discipline, comment below. Encourage us!

Also, the text included is the English Standard Version.

Palm Sunday Picture

2009-05-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

My favorite picture from Palm Sunday 2009. I love the body of Christ at Worship!

Birthday Party

2009-04-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever received a birthday greeting from China?

I have. It was a delightful surprise to see one of the first Birthday greetings on my Facebook wall from Annie Hall. Annie is studying for a semester at Huazhong Normal University (also known as Central China Normal University or CCNU) in Wuhan, China. Annie is the oldest daughter of David and Susann Hall, oldest grandaughter of Fred and Sandy Hall. Some of you may remember that Annie attended TLS for a semester when her uncle Dan was principal.

To even greater delight I saw her Facebook post yesterday:

there's a party in Heaven tonight! :)

I immediately hoped she was referring to Luke 15:10. Today I read her story on her blog. I encourage you to read it too. I agree with her title: There's a party in Heaven today!!!! (And I agree with each of the exclamation marks.)

Happy Birthday "Jill". To be more precise...Happy NEW BIRTH Day!!!! Welcome to the family.

Surprise Me!

2009-03-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

Surprise me!

Have you ever prayed that as a two word prayer? My two word prayers are usually "Help me", "Bless me", "Forgive me, and "Give me".

The thought of praying "Surprise me" had never occurred to me before this morning. I saw the "tweet" posted by Mark Batterson on Twitter. He posted:

"Surprise me. That is my two-word prayer to God today. We get so locked into our assumptions and expectations. Surprise me."

I was also remembering this morning my brother Roy. Six years ago today he lost his fight with cancer and died but continued his eternal life with Jesus. He used to call me to come to his shop on a Saturday morning to "help" him with something he was trying to do on his computers but it was also to spend time together. The phone conversation would usually end with "What time? Want to meet for breakfast?" And the and the answer was usually "Yes". It was at one of these "meet for breakfast" that I as I was looking at the menu when the waitress walked up and greeted Roy by name that I heard him say "Surprise me". I looked up, kind of surprised myself. I was waiting to hear what he was ordering before finalizing my decision. Now he went and spoiled my plan with "Surprise me". I ordered oatmeal. He told me that he ate there most every morning and they knew him, what he would order, what he liked, and that he trusted them to try to please him. I got oatmeal. He got eggs over medium, bacon, and whole wheat toast.

This morning I was thinking, why haven't I ever prayed "Surprise me". He certainly knows me. He knows what I like. He knows what I don't like. He knows what I fear. He knows my limits. He knows what I think my limits are. He knows where I am comfortable. He knows where I need to be stretched. He knows where I am soft. He knows where I am hard. He knows my hunger. He knows my thirst. He knows me.

The closest we sometimes get to "Surprise me" in the church is a potluck. But then we often play that safe by organizing it so get ample choices of salids, hot dishes, and deserts.

So my prayer today is "Surprise me". It is not original, thanks Mark Batterson for the idea, but it is a first for me today.

How about you? Have you prayed "Surprise me"? What is your two word prayer?

Lesson from an Atheist

2009-03-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

Do you know of Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller? Maybe you saw him on "Dancing with the Stars" last year. Perhaps you know that he is an atheist.

In this clip Penn asks a good question:

“How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell someone about that?”

Youth Ministry

2009-03-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

HT to Paul T McCain (Cyberbrethren)

Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

Free online access to ESV Study Bible during March

2009-03-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

Crossway, a publisher of the ESV Bible, is making free trial during the month of March of their online Study Bible. As I understand it, until now the online version was only available for purchasers of their print version. You can signup at http://www.esvstudybible.org/online

I use their site for accessing the ESV version. I search for words like in a concordance, I have it find verses for me, I copy and paste it into other things I am working on, I have it read the text to me, and I even have subscribed to one of their reading plans and have it delivered to me via Google Reader.

I have been using http://www.youversion.com/ as a personal daily journal. I like journal format with the text on the left, a journal area on the right, and a minimum of distractions.

I have hesitated to share this as you may now want to judge the value of the software or website by what you see in my attitude and actions. (I resist putting bumper stickers on my car as my driving may negate the message on the sticker.) So please check these out for yourself.

Have you tried any of the online Bibles? Post in a comment any benefits you discovered that might encourage others. (But only if you have already been in the Word today. ;-)

More of the story...

2009-02-27T21:12:00.000-08:00

Are you familiar with Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story"? Well this is just more of the story. A story of Grace. A story of God's faithfulness.

Back in the '90s our AAL Branch at Trinity held a fundraising dinner (over $5,500 was raised) for the Paul and Sue Hoiland family, Bible Translators in Sipacapa Guatemala. Sue had been a Bible school classmate of several of us at Trinity, had had Pastor Larry as teacher, and had come for ministry at mid-month while a student at CLBS. The family was returning from the Guatemala to Dallas where Sue was undergoing treatment for cancer. A couple of years later (forgive my approximations of time), Sue and Paul spoke to an informal group of us in the Trinity lounge. Some of you may have met them at that time.

This week we got a note from Sue about Tim, their middle child. Sue wrote:

Tim has the wonderful opportunity to return to Guatemala and visit Sipacapa, the village where we lived for many years. He will be seeing Mario and some of our old friends there, and we are thankful for this renewed contact with Sipacapa after many years away. He leaves today and will return on Monday, March 9. Would you please join us in prayer for God’s protection and blessing on all of his contacts? Attached is a pdf that Tim wrote, explaining his motivation for this trip. We would appreciated your continued prayers for God’s work in the lives of our Sipakapense friends.

You can access Tim's letter at http://www.tjhoiland.com/junk/guate09.pdf I encourage you to read a powerful story. You can also follow Tim's blog as he is posting from Guatemala. Be sure click on the Bio button and read it for even "more of the story". If you are not into reading, you can check out his photos. I think you may be as impressed as I was with the story so far. I am not sure I will ever view missionary kids the same again. I am looking forward to following this story as it is a powerful story of God's grace.

As for Paul and Sue, they live in Lancaster County, Pennslyvania. They are both still with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Paul is working on a commentary for translators of the book of Song of Solomon (my understanding). Sue works in member care. The cancer has been in remission for years now. They were planning a trip to California this last fall but it was postponed for a variety of reasons. They were interested in speaking to any group we could get together. I will let you know when they are coming. I am thinking that their story has more to come as well.

Why Satan fears small churches more than megachurches

2009-02-16T20:52:00.000-08:00

Here is one favorite - Tim Chester (Total Church) quoting another favorite - Neil Cole (Organic Church).

Here's a quote from Organic Church (p 211-212) by Neil Cole. It's a story that made me cry when I first read it.

While doing some teaching in Japan, I had a dream that Heather, my daughter, started a church. In the dream, a room was full of young people who were all seriously worshiping God. When I returned from the trip, I mentioned it to her just to let her know that she was on my mind and in my dreams while I was away.
The next day she said, 'Dad, my friends all want to do it!' 'Do what?' I asked. 'Start a church.' I told her that she would have to do most of the work, and I would coach and lead only a little. She said that was fine. The next day she arranged a house to meet in, picked a night of the week, and found a worship leader; flyers were soon being passed out to friends on campus.
After the church had been meeting for several months, I met with these students and we all sang praises to the Lord. I felt the Lord's pleasure. I asked the students what was the biggest church they had ever been to. Living in Southern California there are many options of megachurches, and a number of churches were mentioned, ranging in size from two thousand attendees to more than fifteen thousand.
I then told them that I think Satan is more intimidated by this little church of fifteen high school kids than by any of those Godzilla-sized churches. They all sort of chuckled and looked around the room at one another with smiles.
I showed them why I thought this way: 'How many of you think you could start a church like one of those megachurches?' No one raised a hand. I asked, 'How many of you think you could start a church like this one?' and all raised their hands. I asked them to look around the room at all the raised hands, and I said with a new found soberness, 'I assure you, Satan is terrified by this.'

it even comes with a Starbucks...

2009-02-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

(Thanks to Monday Morning Insight who shared it it from sacredsandwich.com)

One word clean comments welcome.

Quote of Dr. Martin Luther King

2009-01-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

I ran across the quote of Dr. Martin Luther King...

If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'

This reminded me of our own beloved George Olivares. It reminded me of the example he was to my son and daughter when they were at TLS. They will never meet Michelangelo or Beethoven or Shakespeare in person but they did meet George. I am thankful.

I am praying for your quick return to full health, George.

New Year Questions

2008-12-28T08:09:00.001-08:00

Here are the questions from Sunday based on Luke 2.22-40 & Galatians 4.4-5:

1. What has God fulfilled in 2007. Ask God, "Lord, what are you fulfilling in me now?"

2. What is God promising for this next year? What is he giving you a heart for? What is his call? Ask, "God, what are you saying to me for this next year?"

3. Ask God, "Lord, who would you love through me? Who would you speak to through me?"

4. Ask God, "What areas in my life are under a burden?" "Thank you for coming under the burden with me, now please show me the way out."

ESV Bible in Wordle

2008-11-14T11:45:00.001-08:00

Advent Conspiracy

2008-11-09T18:26:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year Pastor Nathan encouraged me to post from time to time on his blog about stuff I find that might be of interest and to share my personal take on it.

Here is a site I wanted to share:
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

Almost a year ago I first heard about the "Advent Conspiracy" as I read a story about Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon.

Then I heard about the "Advent Conspiracy" from 3 or 4 other sources. I saw a reference to it today on a 10/31/08 post on http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/
Check out http://www.adventconspiracy.org/ for yourself. Don't miss the video on the home page.

Here are some of the thoughts that came out as I wanted to share my personal take on this...
Today I saw in the Benediction the call for help for "Crocheters, Knitters, Quilters & Those Who Sew" to help make Blessing Blankets for our Pantry families this Christmas. (Contact Joan Wong) My mother was one of those people. My dad would joke that she would "knit one, pearl two, rip three", but after she died we had to go through closets, chests, and boxes of handmade afghans, quilts, and blankets. Many were tagged as she made sure every grandchild and great-grandchild got something handmade with her love. But many items went to local retirement homes, especially those where she had experimented with color combinations popular in the 1970s.

These memories along with the message of the Advent Conspiracy brought up another memory of my mother's handmade crafts. It was while I was a teenager, (you can figure out how long ago that was?), I remember that for a year or two she crocheted "hats" for rolls of toilet paper. I don't know if you have ever seen them but the idea was that you could put a spare roll of paper in one of these "hats" and then sit it right on the back of the toilet or on the counter and it added to the decor as well as made available something that would sooner or later be needed. But it always kind of bugged me that she made and gave away dozens of these hats, in all different color combinations, and all they did was keep a roll of toilet paper hidden. Had we really solved all the worlds problems that all was left was to make wool hats for rolls of toilet paper? (In all fairness, she certainly accomplished more with her hands than my dad and I together, while watching "Bonanza", "Gun Smoke", "Red Skelton", and "Wide World of Sports".)

I am asking myself what can I do. I don't have an answer yet. But I think I should share what I do know about one of the Pantry families. The family is a single mom with four kids. Last week there was part of the sheet cake in their box. I asked if they really wanted it and I learned that it was the Mom's birthday and later this last week one of her daughters would celebrate eight years. Today as I carried the box of food in I told the kids that their box was the heaviest one I had today. I told them they should tell me if they find rocks in any of the bags as that would help to explain why it is so heavy. They told me they had never found any rocks. (Our Father is like that. If we ask for bread, He will not give us a stone.)

So what?

So I know one of the things Joan Wong is doing in her own take on "advent conspiracy". What about you? Share your ideas/plans in the comments. Or you can join me in my prayer... "Father, what would you have me to do?"

Cardboard testimony

2008-08-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

We have all seen the people at the stoplight or on ramp with a cardboard sign.

What would you write on your cardboard sign?

Check out this video from a church in Texas.

Caution! It may evoke an emotional response.

Lost in Translation

2008-07-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

We are getting close to the Olympics in China. Have you seen any of pictures of the signs in China with the funny English translations?
(If you enjoy these you can find more with a Google search on "chinglish".)

I am still working on my first language, so who am I to be critical? I have read that there are 300-500 million users or learners of English in China. This translates to more people speaking English in China than in the USA.

I am guessing that they may rely computer programs or web translation services to do their translation work. I say that because of this next photo:

When I saw this it brought to mind the question: "What translation of the Bible do my neighbors read?"

Not just the bibles that they may have and may even read....but the translation of God's Word that is lived out in front of them every day by my attitute, actions, inactions, words, and silence. Perhaps I should wear a sign that warns "translate server error". Better yet, I should go back to the source and work on getting the translator server (me) to do a more accurate translation.

What translation of the Bible do your neighbors read?

Welcome?

2008-07-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Find more videos like this on Creative Worship Tour

Ecclesial Disease

2008-07-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Evangelisation:

'Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By
analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian
communities. For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present,
oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be
suffering from spiritual Alzheimer's. And when we behave in a disorderly manner,
going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with the head or the
other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson's.'

Link to the blog here.

FROM FOUR LAWS TO FOUR CIRCLES

2008-07-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

This is the most refreshing, balanced evangelistic move I've seen.
Interview by Andy Crouch | James Choung has found a way to tell the old, old story to a new generation.

Your version, though, has a different emphasis from some previous diagrams.

Well, what was missing from the diagrams I had learned was anything substantial about one of the most important themes in Jesus' own preaching: the kingdom of God. I was reading a lot about the kingdom of God, in the Bible and in recent scholarship, but when it came to sharing the core message of the faith, I'd always fall back on an evangelistic diagram that didn't include it. And it dawned on me: Even though there are tons of books out there about the kingdom of God, very few people will be able to share it with their friends unless they are given some tool or aid—some icon—that will help them remember the key points. So even though I'm not a fan of canned presentations, I felt that creating a diagram was essential to help us understand a bigger picture of the gospel that Jesus taught.

How does sin—a central part of the biblical vocabulary—enter into your presentation of the gospel in the Big Story?

Evangelicals have traditionally assumed that we have to start every gospel message by helping people see they're sinners. If we don't, then we can't move on to salvation or how Jesus gives them assurance that they will be in heaven when they die.

It's not that this message isn't true, but the approach is jarring. We haven't created any common experience or authority so that our message will have any weight. We just come out and say it's the truth. And in a postmodern setting, that sounds arrogant. How do we know it's the truth? Have we ever been to heaven?

So at the beginning of the Big Story, we instead talk about our common perception: the world is not the way it's supposed to be.

We all agree with that. And we all agree that it makes us sick to our stomachs when we think about it. No one thinks that our world is great as it is. We hunger for a better world. And up to this point, there is no disagreement. We all experience this.

It's from this point that we can move on and say that our hunger actually must be evidence that a better world did exist, or will some day. Because our hunger points to food, and our thirst points to water—shouldn't our hunger for a better world point to something? And then we can share that the world was "designed for good."

But we still come back to the concept of sin in the context of a broken world. Each person contributes to the mess. We all do. And when we present sin in the context of the results we see in the world (instead of, to a postmodern, an arbitrary set of rules that one tribe happens to live by), then our sinfulness is much easier to accept. It's still sin: our failure to love our neighbors is ultimately our failure to love God. And then sin seems much deeper and more real. And our need for a Savior becomes stronger, not weaker.

Jesus' invitations into the kingdom seem to be summed up in a couple of words: "Follow me." Jesus didn't always require people to see the depths of their sin before they started a journey with him. They just needed to be willing to change.

read the rest here!

or James Choeng's website

ALL

2008-07-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

ALL

I was struck by the number of times this word appeared in Psalm 145:8-21 when we gathered for Men's Prayer on Wednesday morning. It stuck me that God's "all" is much bigger than my "all" in every dimension.
The folks at Nikon have an interesting website that may help get at the size of God's "ALL".
It compares the size of things from the 10^-14m (femtometer), a neutron, to 10²⁵m (1 billion light years). This site does not speak of God as the Creator but one can still use the information they present to magnify the Creator of ALL things.

Good thing His ALL is bigger than mine. He knows and designed what is beyond the farthest edges of space and time. He designed and knows the details of the smallest parts of particles that we cannot even see with our most powerful micoroscopic instruments.

Check out the website, especially the 10^-2m section. Someday I will ask Him why His ALL included the mosquito, the ant, and the housefly?

Until then...He is certainly able to handle "ALL" my needs, even the mosquito, ant, and housefly.

Cool!

2008-07-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks Alan for the heads up!
http://wordle.net

Hostage

2008-06-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

What is your favorite movie or story that involves hostages?
(This doesn't sound like the beginning of a post on the Pastor's blog that will get me invited back to write again.)
Really, what stories or movies come to mind that involve hostages?

The first that came to my mind with "Inside Man" with Denzel Washington. As I recall, it involved hostages in a bank robbery as well as the police on the outside trying to negotiate and rescue.

Next to come to bubble up was the real story of the 1972 Munich Olympics. I saw this last week that Jim McKay died and more than one writer put his most famous words as "They're all gone", as he shared with the world the news the Israeli hostages were killed.

I was passing on some verses to our new church council and one of the verses was from Matthew 20:25-28:

He (Jesus) said, "You've observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It's not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage." --The Message

I chose those verses because of the clear challenge for "servant leadership." But in the last few days, it has been the very last word from the text that has caught my attention: "Hostage". But not just one hostage, but "the many who are held hostage." While Jesus is certainly speaking to his disciples who are pressing for the best "positions of leadership", His focus and goal remains on the mission: free the hostages at whatever cost.

Okay back to the movies.... or at least the movie playing in my head....
How would a hostage movie play out if instead of the FBI or a SWAT team, or hostage negotiators, the hostages were dependent on the Christians in their neighborhood to plan their rescue?
One hostage would say to another, "What is taking them so long? Are they forming a committee? Maybe reading a book and holding weekly discussions on theories ethical treatment of kidnappers? Can they at least send a salad or hot dish from their potluck supper?

Seriously, who are the hostages? I am thinking it is anyone held captive. Any of us could find ourselves captive to our sins, our habits of bad choices, our lifestyle. Hostages could be held by chemicals, alcohol, fears, and anxiety. Hostages could be in our own families, they could be next door, in the next workspace, or in a country we can't on a map.

Good news, Jesus hasn't forgotten about them. He as already paid the ransom. So the mission is over?...not quite. The hostages haven't heard yet. It is up to us Christians to let them know. To convince them there is a way out, sometimes the hostages have been brainwashed. To find them and walk with them from the darkness in to the light as often hostages are kept in closets, windowless rooms, basements, or locked in a trunk or container.

But the reality is sometimes like the 1972 Olympics. The rescue attempt fails. Was it too little? Too late? Poorly executed?

Now to get back in the good graces of my pastor and other pastors...The pastor sometimes is used the escort the hostage to freedom, but the pastor's real job is to train and equip the rest of us to escort the hostages to freedom. So like a well trained and experienced FBI or SWAT team, each member of the team has a job to do. Remember the goal is not to climb to the lead position on the team but to rescue hostages.

How about you.... if you were/are a hostage, would you want to be depend on someone like you to be on the team to rescue you?

Reggie McNeal

2008-06-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

why people like Jesus

2008-06-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this blog, Levite Chronicles, a couple of weeks ago by Jon Swanson, a man I don't know and have never met, but it seemed that he loved Jesus. His post s has been on my mind many times since so I thought I would pass it on.

He starts off with:

One of my fundamental life questions comes from Luke 15. Why did “tax collectors and sinners” like to, choose to, want to hang around Jesus? This is particularly compelling to me as it seems that the same is generally not true about church. Sinners and tax collectors generally do not choose to show up around church. Or invite church to show up around “them”.

He summarizes the passage from Luke 15 as:

Jesus talked about a shepherd who has 100 sheep and when counting them at the end of the day, discovers that one has wandered off and is lost. He leaves the 99 sheep huddled together in the open country and goes looking for the missing one. When he finds the missing sheep, the shepherd puts it on his shoulders, carries it home, and invites the neighbors over for a party to celebrate finding the lost sheep.

He goes on to list 5 reasons for the attraction.

Before you read his list....what is your list of reasons people like Jesus?

Thank you Jon Swanson. I think we will probably meet some day because we have a common friend who will do the introductions.

Rebels

2008-05-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

"Rebellious spirit".
The words mentioned at the Men's Prayer Group on Wednesday have come back to mind several times in the last couple of days. It seems to be the core of "wrong turns" in many of our lives. We may have yielded to our "rebellious spirit" so often that it has become part of our personality. It helps some of us standout and get noticed.

So when I opened the daily email from "Breakpoint" and say the title "Rebels with a Good Cause", it caught my interest. http://www.informz.net/pfm/archives/archive_608384.html

Check it out for yourselves. It caused me to check out the blog of these two teenagers, Alex and Brett. http://www.therebelution.com/blog/
I followed one of the links to listen to an interview on NPR.

The verse 1 Timothy 4:12 is part of the logo at http://www.therebelution.com
"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

Now here is a revolutionary idea. Rebel against the status quo. Rebel against the culture that seeks to put you in a box.

So what about us older folks? We could be the ones with a bent for "despising youth"....or we could be their cheerleaders.
I remember being at the LA Coliseum at a PromiseKeepers event a dozen years ago when tens of thousands of men rose to their feet cheering and clapping as several thousand teenage boys ran into the Coliseum.
It's been a dozen years. I stand and cheer Alex and Brett. I cheer all the teens they inspire and challenge.
How about you?

since you asked

2008-05-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

My buddy asked about a subject I get to frequently. I wanted to put it here as well.
It is all about abiding.

Now here’s what I need: Your comments on “root vs. fruit” sins- pride & idolatry, I believe, were those you called “root” sins.
I like the thoughts, and have referred to them. Now I need to flesh them out (no pun intended).

I use root and fruit in nearly every counseling session.
I was close, but not quite there. Pride and idolatry are in the root system--under the surface, but the tap root to beat all tap roots is belief/misbelief. Faith alone!
Example:

Faith root: I don't believe what God really says about me. I don't believe he is trustworthy. I don't believe the Gospel. I believe the enemy's questions "Did God really say? How could he love you?" more than the Father's promises "I will never leave you, I baptize you, I forgive you, I love you, given and shed for you..."
This feeds a self-oriented "I am the authority of my life--I am the Lord" kind of idolatry. Our creed is, "I believe I am the creator of my life--I hold my destiny in my hand, I believe that what I do (my performance) will identify who I am. I can fix myself." The problem is not unbelief, but total misbelief. PRIDE!
This feeds living a lie. It manifests in fantasy, libertinism, legalism.
This manifests in porno/masturbation, work addiction, substance addiction, intimacy addiction, video game addiction, pick your favorite.
The problem in the church is that we focus on the fruit and fruit pruning (sin management), and don't deal with the real problem (misbelief). I now appreciate focusing on fruit for a minute, for the sake of following it down the tree to where it is coming from.
Accountability is helpful (needful even), but it is just pruning. Only confession can kill, and absolution make alive. My true identity needs to be fed by dying and rising in Jesus daily. Out of all the last will & testaments Jesus could have left, I think its important that he left food--bread and wine--his presence. Everyone is hungry, the question is what are you being fed? When I hear and believe that God is "for me" in Jesus, and has given the Holy Spirit to fill and re-fill me, I am abiding in him, and he in me, and the fruit that bears is pleasant.

False Allure of Extra Time

2008-05-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Joachim Trier, a 34 year old Norwegian film maker, commented on the vast wealth of most Norwegians in yesterday's LA Times. They have money for the arts, resources for most young people to get the education they desire, and time for self reflection. He said,

There is something interesting about people who have the privilege of
self-reflection and then figure out that knowing about yourself doesn't help you
a bit."

Director and co-writer of "Reprise"

Sounds like a life ready for the grace of Jesus.

Peter's scooter adventure

2008-05-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

Peter, our youngest, has been riding a toddler razor scooter since about three days after he could walk. He usually rides it like a champ. On Friday night at our HomeBuilder's small group, he was cruzin' with all the other kids, and fell off of it, and we think he landed on it. Ended up, he broke his femur (spiral), and was in great pain on Friday night through to Saturday morning when he had a surgery. 6 titanium screws, with an exterior mechanism (looks like a handle) that keeps everything in place. This will all be removed in 6 weeks, Lord willing. He is now home and much happier. Thank you for praying for full recovery and no infection.

Is it all about me?

2008-05-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago at a men's retreat, Jay Cook, long time friend of Trinity and currently living in Montana, pulled out his laptop, popped in a disk and shared a video with me and Tim Patrick, a former member of Trinity who now lives in Huntington Beach. We all laughed out loud (LOL) and I have shared it with several people since then. (Kudos to the creative folks at www.ignitermedia.com)

Each time I watch it, I still laugh, but I am slightly more disturbed by it.

How about you...is it funny or disturbing?

Daily Reading

2008-05-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

From today's reading

1 John 2.1 My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous...

My readings include a snipet from Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg (1711-1787) Journals from February of 1754...

The kernel of the sainted Luther's teaching is unknown in many parts of the
Evangelical Church, an it is mutilated in practice. If Luther himself, the
excellent man, reappeared, without being recognized, and began to teach in many
places as he once taught in the Symbolical Books, in his Preface to the Epistle
to the Romans, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, and in other
evangelical writings, he would be denounced as a Pietist and Enthusiast and
chased to his fellows in hell. It seems as if the world does not wish to
have anything to do with the whole of true Christianity; it wants either
godliness without change of heart and faith, or faith without preceding change
of heart and consequent sanctification; and regards this or that as
orthodoxy. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.

Spirit's behavior

2008-05-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

A woman here at Trinity told a group a women her advise: teach your babies to say "da da" first, then when they wake in the night, dad will be on duty.

It matched this quote from Diadochus of Fotike I found in Cantalemessa's book, "Come Creator Spirit."

When teaching us to cry "Abba," the Spirit behaves "like a mother teaching
her own little baby to say 'daddy,' repeating that word along with the baby until it becomes so much the baby's habit that it calls its daddy even in its sleep.
Anyone know who Diadochus of Fotike is?

history of religion in 90 seconds

2008-05-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

HT to Carla and Bill

rearrangement

2008-05-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

Quite a stir occured when I moved my study around on Monday. Sue Scott said, "I've never seen it different since 1980 when I came here." My parents who attended here in the 70's said, "It was the same when we got parenting help from Pr Christenson in 1978." One old pastor once told us that the first thing you should do when you get to a new congregation is paint the doors red. It tells the community that something new is happening. We have glass doors so I refrained in Oct 05 when I got here, but I should have changed the study around a long time ago. My only hope is that God is doing far more transforming than I am around Trinity.

Big Footprint

2008-05-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

http://maps.google.com/maps?rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SKPB&q=1450+W+7th+St,+San+Pedro,+CA+90732,+USA&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

Have you seen 1450 W 7th Street on a website like Google maps? The sanctuary, MPR, back parking lot, Broadway parking lot, Alpha house, pool, yard, 602 S Weymouth, and Trinity East on Broadway is a big footprint for an urban church.

Even though Google looks down from the heavens and sees our footprint bordered by 6th and 7th Street, Broadway, the alley, and Weymouth, God sees our footprint in a very different way.

God zooms in! God calls and gathers those who show up to connect with him. He zooms in to the prayer chapel on Wednesday to touch us and to give us himself to taste. His authority undergirds and energizes our leadership to make wise decisions about our life together. His healing power is evident as we pray and proclaim in Jesus’ name.

God zooms out! God zooms out and sees members and friends of Trinity serving food in Jesus’ name, building families on the Word of God, making a difference in people’s lives in the workplace, and bearing witness to our hope at nearly every school in our area.

God zooms way out! God zooms out and sees a church in central Mexico that rely’s on the generosity of Trinity people, a young Asian sailor that knows Jesus because Pastor Jack introduced him to the Savior in our Port, over one hundred children that are cared for through Handclasp in Thailand, a desperate church in Zimbabwe that is strengthened through the input of the Gerharts.

Our footprint is only made possible because of the Footprints that walk next to our own. They are the Lord’s! We have spent some time on our geographic foot print over the last 2 years. We will still need to maintain, and steward this great property and buildings we have been entrusted with. But, I believe the next great focus will be not on property, but on people, not on buildings but on building people. Evangelism, equipping the saints, and being sent people is our call at this time. I can’t wait!
In Jesus, Nathan

online men's prayer

2008-05-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

Online Men's Prayer

2008-04-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sacrificial Forgiveness

2008-03-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

An Undying Love

Pr Richard Wurmbrand

When I was in jail I fell very, very ill. I had tuberculosis of the whole surface of both lungs, and four vertebrae were attacked by tuberculosis. I also had intestinal tuberculosis, diabetes, heart failure, jaundice, and other sicknesses I can't even remember. I was near to death.

At my right hand was a priest by the name of Iscu. He was abbot of a monastery. This man, perhaps in his forties, had been so tortured he was near to death. But his face was serene. He spoke about his hope of heaven, about his love of Christ, about his faith. He radiated joy.

On my left side was the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest almost to death. He had been arrested by his own comrades. Don't believe the newspapers when they say that the Communists only hate Christians or Jews--it's not true. They simply hate. They hate everybody. They hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate anti-Semites, they hate anti-Christians, they hate everybody. One Communist hates the other Communist. They quarrel among themselves, and when they quarrel one Communist with the other, they put the other one in jail and torture him just like a Christian, and they beat him.

And so it happened that the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest nearly to death had been tortured nearly to death by his comrades. And he was dying near me. His soul was in agony.

During the night he would awaken me, saying, "Pastor, please pray for me. I can't die, I have committed such terrible crimes."

Then I saw a miracle. I saw the agonized priest calling two other prisoners. And leaning on their shoulders, slowly, slowly he walked past my bed, sat on the bedside of this murderer, and caressed his head--I will never forget this gesture. I watched a murdered man caressing his murderer! That is love--he found a caress for him.

The priest said to the man, "You are young; you did not know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart." But he did not just say the words. You can say "love," and it's just a word of four letters. But he really loved. "I love you with all my heart."

Then he went on, "If I who am a sinner can love you so much, imagine Christ, who is Love Incarnate, how much He loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tortured, know that they forgive you, they love you, and Christ loves you. He wishes you to be saved much more than you wish to be saved. You wonder if your sins can be forgiven. He wishes to forgive your sins more than you wish your sins to be forgiven. He desires for you to be with Him in heaven much more than you wish to be in heaven with Him. He is Love. You only need to turn to Him and repent."

In this prison cell in which there was no possibility of privacy, I overheard the confession of the murderer to the murdered. Life is more thrilling than a novel--no novelist has ever written such a thing. The murdered--near to death-received the confession of the murderer. The murdered gave absolution to his murderer.

They prayed together, embraced each other, and the priest went back to his bed. Both men died that same night. It was a Christmas Eve. But it was not a Christmas Eve in which we simply remembered that two thousand years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was a Christmas Eve during which Jesus was born in the heart of a Communist murderer.

These are things which I have seen with my own eyes.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was the founder of Christian Missions to the Communist World, Middlebury, Indiana.

That Martin Luther? He wasn’t so bad, says Pope

2008-03-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

From The Times of London
March 6, 2008
Richard Owen in Rome

Pope Benedict XVI is to rehabilitate Martin Luther, arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices.

Pope Benedict will issue his findings on Luther (1483-1546) in September after discussing him at his annual seminar of 40 fellow theologians — known as the Ratzinger Schülerkreis — at Castelgandolfo, the papal summer residence. According to Vatican insiders the Pope will argue that Luther, who was excommunicated and condemned for heresy, was not a heretic.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said the move would help to promote ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Protestants. It is also designed to counteract the impact of July's papal statement describing the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as defective and “not proper Churches”.

The move to re-evaluate Luther is part of a drive to soften Pope Benedict's image as an arch conservative hardliner as he approaches the third anniversary of his election next month. This week it emerged that the Vatican is planning to erect a statue of Galileo, who also faced a heresy trial, to mark the 400th anniversary next year of his discovery of the telescope.

The Pope has also reached out to the Muslim world to mend fences after his 2006 speech at Regensburg University in which he appeared to describe Islam as inherently violent and irrational. This week Muslim scholars and Vatican officials met at the pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue in Rome to begin laying the groundwork for a meeting between the Pope and leading Muslims, also expected to be held at Castelgandolfo.

Cardinal Kasper said: “We have much to learn from Luther, beginning with the importance he attached to the word of God.” It was time for a “more positive” view of Luther, whose reforms had aroused papal ire at the time but could now be seen as having “anticipated aspects of reform which the Church has adopted over time”.

The Castelgandolfo seminar will in part focus on the question of apostolic succession, through which the apostles passed on the authority they received from Jesus to the first bishops. After the Reformation Protestants took the view that “succession” referred only to God's Word and not to church hierarchies but some German scholars have suggested Luther himself did not intend this.

Luther challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the sole source of religious authority and made it accessible to ordinary people by translating it into the vernacular. He became convinced that the Church had lost sight of the “central truths of Christianity”, and was appalled on a visit to Rome in 1510 by the power, wealth and corruption of the papacy.

In 1517 he protested publicly against the sale of papal indulgences for the remission of sins in his “95 Theses”, nailing a copy to the door of a Wittenberg church. Some theologians argue that Luther did not intend to confront the papacy “in a doctrinaire way” but only to raise legitimate questions - a view Pope Benedict apparently shares.

Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X, who dismissed him initially as “a drunken German who will change his mind when sober”.

Online Men's Prayer

2008-03-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

Brother, Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

John 11 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." 45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,

As we gather in Jesus’ name, we take time to engage the Biblical focus for the upcoming Sunday. After reading the text (silently or together) we reflect for 10-15 minutes, writing down where it seems the Lord is speaking through the reading. If appropriate, we read what we have received with the others. Next, we take time to pray for one another, receive the Lord’s Supper, and then we are sent out with a blessing.

Online Men's Prayer

2008-02-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Brother, Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

John 9 1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" 9 Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." 10 So they said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed and received my sight." 12 They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know." 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." 18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." 25 He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" 28 And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." 30 The man answered, "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." 38 He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.

As we gather in Jesus’ name, we take time to engage the Biblical focus for the upcoming Sunday. After reading the text (silently or together) we reflect for 10-15 minutes, writing down where it seems the Lord is speaking through the reading. If appropriate, we read what we have received with the others. Next, we take time to pray for one another, receive the Lord’s Supper, and then we are sent out with a blessing.

Unity in the body

2008-02-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

"And when the priests came forth from the holy place (for all the priests who
were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions)...then the
house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could
not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the
house of God" (2 Chronicles 5:11-14).

Their divisions in the priesthood had been ordained by God according to individual families and unique purposes. These were not carnal divisions, born of jealousy or strife, but divisions of purpose, function and timing. Yet, when the priests entered the holy place, God required they "sanctified themselves without regard to divisions" (verse 11). In other words, when it came to building the temple and entering the holy place, the priests had to lower the priority of individual service, which in a sense divided them, and raise the priority of seeking God's glory, which united them. It was here, when they were "without...divisions" that the glory of God manifested.

So also today, God has appointed churches in each city with different functions, graces and talents, all of which are needed to meet the needs of a diverse surrounding culture. These differences, however, are not meant to divide us, but to complete us. But if we desire to see the glory of God return to the Church, the divisions of purpose must be subordinate to the unity of Spirit.

Francis Frangipane

I think we are seeing this in San Pedro. We have been praying for revival in our families, congregations, and town on Tuesday mornings at 6.30-7am. I had an encouraging encounter with Pr Benjamin "Pedro" from 1st Mexican Baptist of San Pedro who has the same heart for our city, and is prayer walking with his congregation, going door to door, and preaching the gospel on the primary street corners in his neighborhood in NE Pedro. They have seen a down turn in crime since doing this. We prayed for our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in town this last Tuesday, and heard of a healing minister who was at Mary Star this last week. They had to shut down the street next to the church because of the attendance.

Lent=repentance=revival! Join us in prayer on Tuesday in the Trinity Sanctuary or from you own home.

Ministry Teams

2008-02-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

From Transforming Church
Article by Gregg Burch

Team is one of the most misused terms in the lexicon today. How many times have
we seen church committees renamed teams, and nothing else changed? I have worked
in groups, both at work and church, my whole adult life. The typical output was
a total not equal to the sum of the parts. Most groups I experienced operated
somewhere between 40-90% of the potential of the individuals. Hence, the
expression, “A camel is a horse designed by a committee.”
Teams, on the
other hand, are about synergy. Look at the great sports teams. Everyone
contributes out of their strengths, or they are not on the team. Everyone is
clear about their role. They pursue team goals, not their own agenda.
Expectations are clear. Norms of behavior are important. It is a rare church
committee that exhibits these traits.
I never experienced an effective team
until my EMBA at Georgia State University from ‘96-’98. Our cohort of 50 had to
self-organize into work teams that would stay together for the entire two years
of the program. Often, team projects made up the majority of the grade for a
class. Through a very intentional process of developing a covenant, clear roles,
expectations, consequences and norms, five of us bonded into a wonderful team.
Our work projects emerged from dialog on the team among very diverse people.
Dialog is equal parts inquiry and advocacy...

http://www.transformingchurch.com/resourcetoolbox/2005/10/the_body_of_chr.php

Multi-site Worship

2008-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

Twin Cities-area churches are part of a national trend in which individual places of worship are spinning off satellite locations to meet the varied needs of their ever-growing flocks...

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/15438921.html

Online Men's Prayer

2008-02-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

Brother,
Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

John 3 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus a by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again b he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. c 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind d blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. e 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. f 16 "For God so loved the world, g that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

As we GATHER in Jesus’ name, we take time to engage the BIBLICAL focus for the upcoming Sunday. After reading the text (silently or together) we reflect for 10-15 minutes, writing down where it seems the Lord is speaking through the reading. If appropriate, we read what we have received with the others. Next, we take time to PRAY for one another, receive the LORD’S SUPPER, and then we are SENT OUT with a blessing.

Prayer for Revival

2008-02-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends, Please join us in sustained and regular prayer for God to renew his church, and reach the world with the good news of Jesus: crucified, risen, and coming again. Pray for this daily, and join together with other brothers and sisters on Tuesday's in lent 6:30am in the Trinity Sanctuary.
IN Jesus,
Nathan

Online Men's Prayer

2008-01-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

Brother,
Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

2 Peter 1 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, a with whom I am well pleased," 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

As we GATHER in Jesus’ name, we take time to engage the BIBLICAL focus for the upcoming Sunday. After reading the text (silently or together) we reflect for 10-15 minutes, writing down where it seems the Lord is speaking through the reading. If appropriate, we read what we have received with the others. Next, we take time to PRAY for one another, receive the LORD’S SUPPER, and then we are SENT OUT with a blessing.

Life in Swedish Church!

2008-01-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

Christ's Healing Is the Real Thing

2008-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

Gospel Commentary for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM CapROME, JAN. 25, 2008 (Zenit.org).

The Gospel passage for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time closes with these words: "Jesus went about all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and infirmity of the people." About one-third of the Gospel is concerned with the healings performed by Jesus during the brief time of his public life. It is impossible to eliminate these miracles or try to give a natural explanation to them without pulling apart the whole Gospel and making it incomprehensible.

The miracles of the Gospel have unmistakable characteristics. They are never done to stupefy or promote the one who does them. Some today allow themselves to be enchanted by certain people who possess powers of levitation, or who can make objects appear and disappear, or who can do other things of this sort. Who gains anything from these types of miracles, supposing that they are miracles? Only those who perform them; they recruit disciples or make money.

Jesus works miracles out of compassion, because he loves people. He also works miracles to help them believe. He heals, ultimately, to proclaim that God is the God of life and that, in the end, together with death, sickness too will be defeated and "there will be no more mourning nor weeping."
It is not only Jesus who heals, but he also orders his disciples to do the same after him: "He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the infirm" (Luke 9:2). "Preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick" (Matthew 10:7ff.). We always find the two things linked: preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. Man has two ways to try to overcome his infirmities: nature and grace. Nature indicates intelligence, science, medicine, technology; grace indicates direct recourse to God, through faith and prayer and the sacraments. The latter are the means that the Church has at its disposal to "heal the sick."

Evil begins when we try to take a third route: the way of magic, that which appeals to a person's supposed hidden powers, which are not based on science nor on faith. In such a case, either we are dealing with a total charlatan and illusion or, what is worse, with the enemy of God.It is not hard to determine when we are dealing with a true gift of healing and when it is a magical counterfeit. In the first case the person never attributes the results that are obtained to his own powers, but to God; in the second case people are doing nothing other than showing off their own pretended "extraordinary powers."When you read advertisements that claim so-and-so the magician "succeeds where others fail," "solves all problems," "is recognized to have extraordinary powers," "expels demons, rids you of the evil eye," you need not have a moment's doubt: You are dealing with a fraud. Jesus said that demons are chased out by "fasting and prayer," not by giving people money!

But we must ask ourselves another question: What about those people who, despite everything, are not healed? What do you think? Do they not have faith? Does God not love them?If the persistence of a disease were a sign that a person did not have faith, or that God does not love him, we would have to say that the saints had the least amount of faith and that they were the least loved by God, because some of them spent their whole lives in bed. No, the answer is different. God's power is not manifested in just one way, say, in eliminating evil or in physical healings. God's power also manifests itself in giving the ability, and sometimes the joy, of carrying our own cross with Christ and in making up what is lacking in his sufferings.Christ also redeemed suffering and death. It is no longer the sign of sin, participation in Adam's fault, but rather it is the instrument of redemption.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]* * *Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23.

Fredrica on Roe-v-Wade

2008-01-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

January 22 marks the 35th anniversary of legalized abortion in the United States despite all of the facts demonstrating the presence of life at conception. You don't want to miss this powerful commentary!

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/frederica/

or go through Fredrica's website:

www.frederica.com

Bach the evangelist

2008-01-15T09:24:00.001-08:00

Where Bach was jailed, Asians pay homage
Weimar gets ready for the tercentenary of the composer’s arrival – thousands of Japanese expected
By Uwe Siemon-Netto
(From January 2008 issue of The Asia-Pacific Times)
This year, thousands of Japanese and Koreans will be among the visitors pouring into the central German town of Weimar where Johann Sebastian Bach took up residence exactly three centuries ago, composed most of his organ works and was jailed by the local ruler after seeking greener pastures elsewhere. Bach’s popularity in Asia has become an enduring phenomenon, particularly because of its missionary attributes.
--0—
When Yuko Maru-yama launches into her organ prelude Sunday mornings at the beginning of divine service in a Minneapolis church, chances are she will be playing something Johann Sebastian Bach wrote three centuries ago during the period he was the court composer to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxony-Weimar.
There are two reasons for this probability. First, like an ever-growing number of Japanese, Maruyama is passionate about Bach - she attributes her conversion from Buddhism to Christianity to his music. “When I play a fugue, I can hear Bach talking to God,” she told Metro Lutheran, a monthly church paper in the Twin Cities.
Second, Bach composed three quarters of his organ works in the enchanting Thuringian town of Weimar, which captivated him in a strange sort of way at the end of his nine-year tenure there from 1708 until 1717. When he accepted a more lucrative position in nearby Köthen, Weimar’s Duke Wilhelm Ernst sent him to prison for four weeks, reducing him to a daily diet of bread and water. The lock from his cell is still on display at the Bach Museum in Eisenach, the town where the composer was born in 1685.
Still, this year Weimar will benefit from the persistent Bach boom sweeping East Asia. Scores of Japanese journalists have already roamed this town on pre-tercentenary research assignments, according to Uta Kühne, spokeswoman for Weimar GmbH, a company promoting the city’s economic development and tourism.
Two major tour operators in Japan and another in South Korea have added Weimar to their destinations. Not only is it the site of his brief incarceration but also the birthplace of two of his sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, who were also stellar musicians whose compositions are as much admired in Asia as they are in the Western world.
The influx of Asians to Bach sites in Germany has been perplexing musicologists and theologians alike for decades now. They come in droves not only as tourists but also as serious students of music. Of the 850 students at Germany’s oldest state conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Leipzig, 148 are Asians, chiefly South Koreans and Japanese, according to Ute Fries, dean of students. Bach was musical director of Leipzig’s Thomaskirche for the last 27 years of his life and wrote most of his cantatas there.
Leipzig’s late “superintendent” (regional bishop) Rev. Johannes Richter used to wonder even back in the days when this city was part of Communist East Germany: “What is it about his work that evidently bridges all cultural divides and has such a massive missionary impact for Christianity in faraway parts of the world?”
For years, Richter observed with growing fascination how in his Gothic sanctuary, Japanese musicologist Keisuke Maruyama studied the influence of the weekday pericopes (prescribed readings) in the early 18th-century Lutheran lectionary cycle on Bach’s cantatas. When he had finished, he told the clergyman: “It is not enough to read Christian texts. I want to be a Christian myself. Please baptize me.”
But this scholar’s conversion could have been attributed to the impact of pericopes’ biblical texts on Maruyama. Why, though, would a fugue have such evangelistic powers as it did on the Japanese organist in Minnesota? Why would even listening to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which contain no lyrics, arouse someone’s interest in Christianity? This happened when Masashi Yasuda, a former agnostic, heard a CD with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould’s rendering of this complex Clavier-Übung, or keyboard study. Still, Yasuda’s spiritual journey began precisely with these variations. He is now a Jesuit priest teaching systematic theology at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Some theologians tend to attribute the astounding impact of Bach’s music particularly on the scientific minds of many Asians to the Holy Spirit. Canon Arthur Peacocke, a Church of England clergyman and noted biologist who is also one of the leading spokesmen in burgeoning international dialog between theology and the natural sciences, once suggested that the Holy Spirit personally dictated “The Art of the Fugue,” Bach’s arguably most challenging work, into the composer’s plume.
“The reason why Bach’s most abstract works guide some Asian people to Christ is because his music reflects the perfect beauty of created order to which the Japanese mind is particularly receptive,” suggested Charles Ford, a mathematics professor at the University of St. Louis. “Bach has the same effect on me, a Western scientist,” added Ford, who is also one of America’s foremost experts on the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the martyred Lutheran theologian hanged by the Nazis.
Henry Gerike, organist and choirmaster at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, a Lutheran school of theology, agrees with Ford: “The fugue is the best way God has given us to enjoy his creation. But of course Bach’s most significant message to us is the Gospel.” Gerike echoes Swedish archbishop Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931), who famously called Bach’s cantatas “the fifth Gospel.”
Rev. Robert Bergt, musical director of Concordia’s Bach at the Sem concert series, has first-hand experience with the missionary lure of Bach’s cantatas in Tokyo. He used to be the chief conductor of Musashino Music Academy’s three orchestras in the Japanese capital. Bach’s compositions brought his musicians, audiences and students into contact with the Word of God, he said. “Some of these people would then in private declare themselves as ‘closet Christians,’” Bergt told Christian History magazine. “I saw this happen at least 15 times. And during one of them I eventually baptized myself.” While only one percent of Japan’s population of 128 million is officially Christian, Bergt estimated that the real figure could be three times as high if one includes secret believers.
After two failed attempts to popularize Bach’s music in Japan since the late 19th century, a veritable Bach boom has been sweeping that country for the past 16 years. Its driving force is organist Masaaki Suzuki, founder and conductor of the Bach Collegium Japan that has spawned hundreds of similar societies throughout the country.
During Advent or Holy Week, respectively, Suzuki’s performances of the “Christmas Oratorio” or the “St. Matthew Passion” are always sold out, even though tickets cost more than $600. After each concert, members of the audience crowd Suzuki on the podium asking him about the Christian concept of hope and about death, a topic normally taboo in polite Japanese society. “I am spreading Bach’s message, which is a biblical one,” Suzuki said.
But why do Bach’s melodies and harmonies, so alien to the Asian ear, appeal to the Japanese? Some musicologists attribute this to Francis Xavier and other Jesuit missionaries, who introduced the Gregorian chant to Japan and built organs from bamboo pipes 400 years ago. Though Christianity was soon squashed, elements of its music infiltrated traditional folk song.
Four centuries later, this curious fact is now enabling tens of thousands of people in one of the most secularized nations on earth to turn to Christianity via Bach. But here’s the irony: As some of these will come to pay homage to Bach during the Weimar tercentenary celebrations, his own land has become mission territory after 56 years of Nazi and Communist dictatorships. In Thuringia and neighboring Saxony, only one quarter of the population belongs to a Christian church.
– Uwe Siemon-Netto, a Leipzig-born veteran foreign correspondent and Lutheran Lay theologian, is scholar-in-residence at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis (U.S.).

thanks to Cyberbrethren! http://cyberbrethren.typepad.com/cyberbrethren/2008/01/where-bach-was.html

Online Men's Participation

2008-01-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

Men's Prayer Online

2008-01-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

Dear brother, Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

Isaiah 42 1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged a till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. 5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

As we gather in Jesus’ name, we take time to engage the Biblical focus for the upcoming Sunday. After reading the text (silently or together) we reflect for 10-15 minutes, writing down where it seems the Lord is speaking through the reading. If appropriate, we read what we have received with the others. Next, we take time to pray for one another, receive the Lord’s Supper, and then we are sent out with a blessing.
a Or bruised

Invigorating Small Groups

2008-01-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hope Community Long Beach & Trinity San Pedro present…
Invigorating Small Groups
At Hope Long Beach
Saturday, Jan 12th
8am-Lunch
Free—bring a donation for lunch

Perfect for… workplace/marketplace leaders, moms & dads, elders, Bible study leaders, future Bible study leaders, mens & womens ministry leaders, prayer group leaders, Sunday School teachers, home group leaders, small group leaders, ministry heads, YOU!

Gather & Worship at 8am
“Why Small Group ministries in our churches?” (Pastors Bob & Nate)
“Walking Together through the Stages of Group Life” (Pastor Bob)
-forming, storming, norming, performing, reforming-
“Practicing Transparent Communication in a Meeting” (Pastor Nate)
Pray & Eat

Hope Community Church is located at…

1429 Clark Avenue

Long Beach CA, 90815

Online Men's Prayer

2007-12-31T09:41:00.000-08:00

Dear brother, Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

Isaiah 60 1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, a because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.

As we gather in Jesus’ name, we take time to engage the Biblical focus for the upcoming Sunday. After reading the text (silently or together) we reflect for 10-15 minutes, writing down where it seems the Lord is speaking through the reading. If appropriate, we read what we have received with the others. Next, we take time to pray for one another, receive the Lord’s Supper, and then we are sent out with a blessing.
a Hebrew your heart shall tremble and grow wide

29 pictures from norwegian prayer houses

2007-12-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here are 29 pictures from a couple Norwegian prayer houses.

A talk by Kendall Harmon on the need for traditionalists to achieve differentiation

2007-12-31T08:29:00.000-08:00

Hard to beat Kendall Harmon

K: Can I also mention in passing for those of you who want to study this, because another part of the challenge of this is that this isn’t the first time in church history that this problem has arisen. Think about this - think about the way that Luther had to conduct himself early on. Many people forget about this - Luther didn’t stand up one day and say, "Oh, I’m leaving the Roman Catholic church - bye". He didn’t do that. He had to engage the current structures, and find a way to differentiate himself. And it was a slog, and he had to do all sorts of weird things, like hiding out in a castle with a very unlikely person for a very long period of time - which got a whole lot of people even madder at him. But the point is that - and the other one I would mention is the Methodists. I live in a diocese where George Whitfield was sent out from St. Phillips Charleston because he was publicly indicted for three offences - two of which were "praying in public" and "enthusiasm". I sometimes say to people, "The Episcopal church indirectly caused the Great Awakening" - because the diocese of South Carolina helped send out Wesley and Whitfield because we were so unwilling in the current structures...but the point is that, the reason that happened is because those guys tried to come into the existing structure, showed up at St. Phillips, and then didn’t do what anybody else did from the pulpit. Which is why St. Phillips got so mad, and said, "You’re never preaching here any more". In which case they said, "Fine, we’ll go out in the fields", and they went out in the fields! And you can just hear the people in the back saying, "penalty flag" - we don’t have any canons - you can’t preach in the field - it doesn’t say you can do that! They’re trying to differentiate - I think there are resources to mine in the early Methodist stories and history, and the early Reformation stories of some of how you can try to do this. You look at Wesley, you look at Whitfield, you look at Luther, they’re trying to differentiate, and they’re also trying to find structural relief. There’s all sorts of structural things that are happening in both movements to try to find a way. They don’t find it easy, and they get attacked all the time, but they’re not doing business as usual.

From Standing Firm through Awakening to trinitypastor

Online Men's Prayer

2007-11-26T09:30:00.001-08:00

Online Men's Prayer

2007-11-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Men's online participation

2007-11-13T16:51:00.001-08:00

Dear brother,
Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

Luke 21 5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." 7 And they asked him, "Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?" 8 And he said, "See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is at hand!' Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once." 10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers a and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Online Men's Prayer

2007-10-29T16:51:00.001-07:00

Dear brother,Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

Ephesians 1 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee aworks of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, ball to the praise of his glory. 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love cthings toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

a Or down payment
b Or until God redeems his possession
c Some manuscripts omit your love

Great Reformation Site

2007-10-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Check out this great reformation site.

http://www.cph.org/reformation/index.asp

Men's Online Participation

2007-10-01T10:57:00.001-07:00

Dear brother,Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

2 Timothy 1 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, b 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. c 13 Follow the pattern of the sound d words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
a Or with
b Greek before times eternal
c Or what I have entrusted to him; Greek my deposit
d Or healthy

Men' Prayer Participation

2007-09-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Dear brother,Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

1 Timothy 6 6 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and a we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before b Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time-he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

a Greek for; some manuscripts insert [it is] certain [that]
b Or in the time of

Men's Prayer Participation

2007-09-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Dear brother,Thank you for joining the online version of our men’s morning prayer group. Please read the following passage from God’s Word, which will be the focus of Sunday morning's message. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading, and make note of what God is speaking to you through His Word. Go to the comment section and respond by Tuesday evening 7pm, for your comment to be shared at Wednesday morning prayer at 6 am. Please feel free to also leave any prayer requests. Lord bless you!

1 Timothy 2 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man a Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
a men and man render the same Greek word that is translated people in verses 1 and 4