Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Anatomy of Backsliding
i was wandering around desiringgod.org and ran across something that was encouraging at my current stage of life ...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
missional community
so lately i've been wrestling so much with what's the purpose of the church and of a small group and of a saturday night service. what's biblical and what are my expectations? and where do those two things align and where do they not? because of my confusion i thought i would look to someone else for some help ... coram deo church that i went to in omaha gave me some insight that i thought i would share. i found some of it super interesting because it shows that if my expectations are wrong then of course i will be frustrated or disappointed or confused.
it's still far from being applied to my daily life, but here's their thoughts on missional communities ....
what is an MC (missional community)?
it's not a bible study
it's not a fellowship group
it's not a support group
it's not an activist group
it has elements of all of the above, but it's not just one of these
a MC is a group of people seeking to live in light of the gospel; experiencing and expressing the gospel; pursuing God together; believers and nonbelievers
what are we trying to accomplish in MC?
create a context for gospel formation, ministry, and mission
they used the illustration of a plant and how we can't make it grow but we can try to put it in an environment to encourage growth. it's the same with a person ... God is the only one that can make a person spiritually grow, but the MC can help shape the environment to be a place where growth can more easily occur
what kills MC?
1. wrong expectations
2. passivity ... not taking responsibility for your role in MC ... serve, love, contribute
3. pride ... judging people, defending self, thinking i have it all figured out
what gives a MC life?
taking responsibility for others in the group
transitioning from functional to formative
7 indicators of a healthy MC ....
LISTENING
• Lots of people can talk, not many are skilled at listening. If people are listening well, the following indicators will come much more naturally.
• Do you find yourself easily distracted, thinking about other things, or pondering what you are going to say next?
SPIRITUAL INQUIRY
• Put simply, this is following up, digging in, and inquiring into how people are doing spiritually.
• Does the way that you respond to people draw them out and encourage deeper conversation?
ENCOURAGEMENT
• If you see that someone handled a situation in a spiritually mature way, make note of that by encouraging him or her. If you see that someone is taking a step of faith in a new area of their life, encourage them with words of affirmation.
• Do people feel encouraged by you during a Missional Community discussion?
PRAYER
• One of the ways to model the Gospel to Christians and non-Christians is by revealing your dependence upon God and the unique relationship you have with God as your heavenly dad.
• Do you stop in the middle of your MC discussion to pray for what is being shared?
CHALLENGE/REBUKE
• Speaking truth in love while confronting others with a spirit of humility, calling them to turn from sin and trust in the finished work of Christ.
• Is your Missional Community tolerating unrepentant sin?
STUDY SCRIPTURE
• 2 Tim. 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
• Do you talk about the Bible naturally in the context of conversation?
GOSPELIZE
• Helping each other apply the good news of Jesus and the work that was accomplished on the cross. The Gospel is for Christians and non-Christians alike and is a message that you will never outgrow or mature out of.
• When someone asks for insight or counsel, do you respond with good advice or good news?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
God's faithfulness
so a sermon on lamentations 2 from bob thune...
God is so faithful to his covenants which is sometimes good for us and other times bad for us. we too often mistake God's faithfulness for God being on our side and always working for us... but really he wouldn't be God if he did that. sometimes he works against even his own people ... check out lamentations 2. he doesn't make idol threats, but instead gives out both blessings and curses according to what he promises in his covenants. if we don't obey ... there will be consequences. sometimes i think that believers nowaday think it's only non believers who will face the horrid curses for their sins and they should all repent for those ... but in reality when we don't repent, he is faithful to work against us. the whole sowing and reaping stuff ... if we sow disobedience and sin how can we expect to reap blessing? if we sow laziness how can we expect spiritual maturity? but we do!! how does that happen!!
because God is faithful we need to fear him. let's worship God for his faithfulness in the midst of lamenting over the sin in us, around us, and towards us ... let's worship him because ITS GOOD NEWS THAT HE IS FAITHFUL... he even worked against his own perfect son because he is faithful towards his covenants
oh that we would have a right view of God
at least we aren't to the end of the book of lamentations yet :) ... as we read in ch 2 about the writer begging for mercy. ... he is also faithful in his mercy!
God is so faithful to his covenants which is sometimes good for us and other times bad for us. we too often mistake God's faithfulness for God being on our side and always working for us... but really he wouldn't be God if he did that. sometimes he works against even his own people ... check out lamentations 2. he doesn't make idol threats, but instead gives out both blessings and curses according to what he promises in his covenants. if we don't obey ... there will be consequences. sometimes i think that believers nowaday think it's only non believers who will face the horrid curses for their sins and they should all repent for those ... but in reality when we don't repent, he is faithful to work against us. the whole sowing and reaping stuff ... if we sow disobedience and sin how can we expect to reap blessing? if we sow laziness how can we expect spiritual maturity? but we do!! how does that happen!!
because God is faithful we need to fear him. let's worship God for his faithfulness in the midst of lamenting over the sin in us, around us, and towards us ... let's worship him because ITS GOOD NEWS THAT HE IS FAITHFUL... he even worked against his own perfect son because he is faithful towards his covenants
oh that we would have a right view of God
at least we aren't to the end of the book of lamentations yet :) ... as we read in ch 2 about the writer begging for mercy. ... he is also faithful in his mercy!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
it's all about the heart
seems as if it has been quite some time since i blogged aye? (i'm beginning to like the use of the word aye...perhaps it's because my boss is canadian and no matter how hard he tries not to use it, it still slips out every now and then). the past few weeks have pretty much been eat, sleep, and work ... hence the no blog post since feb 6th. from march 3rd to march 18th i jumped into our first experiment with baby pigs. i fed them twice a day and did some other researchy things ...ask if you want more details :). other than eat, sleep, and work, last week i got in my first frizbee playing of the year ... super fun and yes, i too am stoked about the warm weather!
last night i got to have supper with my boss, a future phd student, the head of the animal science department and his wife, and another prof and his wife. it was really good actually. i was a bit nervous going in, but i was actually comfortable with just being myself. i didn't talk much, but that's me. i took off my shoes and no one else did, i didn't drink alcohol and most did ... but walked out of there 1. not embarrased to be me at all and not caring what they thought at all ... and 2. i felt pain for the brokenness of a fallen world and the effects that sin has on people ... and 3. they talked about global stuff and traveling for reasons the world would travel, but when they talk of india or china my heart was affected .... moved ... stirred. it's interesting to feel pain and to be affected by things i used to not be affected by but longed to be affected by. i rarely get affected at a heart level when people talk about missions ... but when these people talked about people overseas and when i got to see in the lives of these americans here ... something happened in my heart. i could walk out of that place praising God because i can see evidence of Him graciously taking bits of my heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh. it was a good night ... my boss even asked me to pray before the meal. i thought it was funny because his intial question was started with since you like public speaking and you go to church ...would you mind saying grace? it's funny because praying isn't really public speaking and going to church doesn't seem to mean a whole lot these days, but you know ....
i beg God that they would see me as more than a girl who goes to church or a nice girl who does good churchy things or works hard or doesn't drink as often as "i should"... but instead i would live a God glorifying life ... a life that's different and distinct from the world. a life that's real and not worried about appearance ... and all that other God glorifying stuff :)
my boss had me read the bestseller business book called who moved my cheese.... i guess i missed blogging about that, but perhaps someday he'll ask me what i thought about it
last night i got to have supper with my boss, a future phd student, the head of the animal science department and his wife, and another prof and his wife. it was really good actually. i was a bit nervous going in, but i was actually comfortable with just being myself. i didn't talk much, but that's me. i took off my shoes and no one else did, i didn't drink alcohol and most did ... but walked out of there 1. not embarrased to be me at all and not caring what they thought at all ... and 2. i felt pain for the brokenness of a fallen world and the effects that sin has on people ... and 3. they talked about global stuff and traveling for reasons the world would travel, but when they talk of india or china my heart was affected .... moved ... stirred. it's interesting to feel pain and to be affected by things i used to not be affected by but longed to be affected by. i rarely get affected at a heart level when people talk about missions ... but when these people talked about people overseas and when i got to see in the lives of these americans here ... something happened in my heart. i could walk out of that place praising God because i can see evidence of Him graciously taking bits of my heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh. it was a good night ... my boss even asked me to pray before the meal. i thought it was funny because his intial question was started with since you like public speaking and you go to church ...would you mind saying grace? it's funny because praying isn't really public speaking and going to church doesn't seem to mean a whole lot these days, but you know ....
i beg God that they would see me as more than a girl who goes to church or a nice girl who does good churchy things or works hard or doesn't drink as often as "i should"... but instead i would live a God glorifying life ... a life that's different and distinct from the world. a life that's real and not worried about appearance ... and all that other God glorifying stuff :)
my boss had me read the bestseller business book called who moved my cheese.... i guess i missed blogging about that, but perhaps someday he'll ask me what i thought about it
Friday, February 6, 2009
body or mind?
lately work has made me think about whether it is better to beat my body or beat my mind. seems perhaps like a crazy thought ... and maybe stretching both body and mind are good ... but i am reminded of working at the udcc (dining service) and also working in a kitchen at camp and how i was physically exhausted when i was done. but i enjoyed it. it felt good. in omaha at mcd, and now here at isu i have found myself in jobs that are mentally draining. not as if it's good or bad, i'm just experiencing a different kind of ehaustion than i'm used to. sometimes 8 hours flies by ... and other times it seems to take forever.
so working in an academic setting is beating my poor little brain . . .
so working in an academic setting is beating my poor little brain . . .
Monday, February 2, 2009
football
oh i forgot to say i really enjoyed the superbowl and i think i freaked out my parents and bro's in-laws because i yelled so loud a few times. i used to not allow myself to enjoy football very much because it didn't fit into the christian bubble very well. but hey, i enjoy it and it's ok!
what does it look like to be a Christ follower today?
so as i fumble around in this new stage of life i often wonder what in the world it's supposed to look like to be a gospel centered christian in ames, ia in 2009 working at isu. ever since a little over a year ago i feel like everything in my heart and head was ripped out and thrown into a game of 52 card pick up... leaving me confused as i pick up the pieces and sort through everything i have known and believed for so long...somethings i learned from the inside out (by God's transformational grace) and others from the outside in (by trying really hard to clean myself of sin from the outside-ps doesn't work).
another lesson from a bob thune sermon ... not like he's God, but God speaks to me through him in a cool way ... convicting and yet encouraging. it was a sermon that asked the question what went wrong with christianity? instead of living like a real biblical follower of Christ ... christians have tried to christanize this culture. make them have good morals or something. and what do we do? we either slip into a christian bubble with our christian music and movies and friends ... or we hang out and live life so no one can see there is a difference between someone of the world or someone belonging to the kingdom of God. what happened?? somewhere along the line we all forgot the gospel... the repentance from sin that's needed and the power He gives to enable us to change.
what do i need to repent of? what do i need power to change?
how can i be distinct, but not disconnected?
it's interesting to think about this stuff now ... i think God's been trying to teach me this and He put it into words tonight as i ran and listened to a sermon. the past few weeks i have been so conflicted about what i'm doing in a job that seems to have little eternal significance? how can this job seem to fit so well? how can it be so clear that this job was given to be by God? how is it possible that God would want me here researching about baby pigs instead of loving and serving homeless people in downtown omaha? and it just became a tiny bit clearer that i need a little help getting out of a christian bubble ... because i can't seem to get myself out of it alone ... and that's not the way it's intended to be. oh the grace and mercy of God is so sweet and gospel so beautiful!
another lesson from a bob thune sermon ... not like he's God, but God speaks to me through him in a cool way ... convicting and yet encouraging. it was a sermon that asked the question what went wrong with christianity? instead of living like a real biblical follower of Christ ... christians have tried to christanize this culture. make them have good morals or something. and what do we do? we either slip into a christian bubble with our christian music and movies and friends ... or we hang out and live life so no one can see there is a difference between someone of the world or someone belonging to the kingdom of God. what happened?? somewhere along the line we all forgot the gospel... the repentance from sin that's needed and the power He gives to enable us to change.
what do i need to repent of? what do i need power to change?
how can i be distinct, but not disconnected?
it's interesting to think about this stuff now ... i think God's been trying to teach me this and He put it into words tonight as i ran and listened to a sermon. the past few weeks i have been so conflicted about what i'm doing in a job that seems to have little eternal significance? how can this job seem to fit so well? how can it be so clear that this job was given to be by God? how is it possible that God would want me here researching about baby pigs instead of loving and serving homeless people in downtown omaha? and it just became a tiny bit clearer that i need a little help getting out of a christian bubble ... because i can't seem to get myself out of it alone ... and that's not the way it's intended to be. oh the grace and mercy of God is so sweet and gospel so beautiful!
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