Crkr82 notes: A Creeker since 1982 shares sermon notes

Justice begins with “Just Us” 2009.12.12

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:45:27 GMT

Guest Speaker: Harvey Carey, who left Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church six years ago to plant a church in the poorest zip code in Detroit.

Harvey identifies himself as a preacher that that teaches God’s Word like pure black coffee, with no cream, no sugar. He is a human, spiritual Espresso!

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me according to your word." Then the angel left her.

Luke 1:26 – 38

Rosa Parks was a reluctant leader in the civil rights movement.

God can take someone who feels unworthy; but is willing to be obedient – and He can do amazing things through these broken people!

When someone is favored by God, they often do not know what to do with that favor…

God will send them messages of what to do…

Remember: TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN, MUCH IS REQUIRED

God will put us in situations where you will be at your end, so He can put some SUPER on your NATURAL and show the world His glory in delivering you.

When you do what God anoints you to do, where you are – God can bless you and through you bless the world!

Elizabeth (Mary’s cousin) thought that the value of her life was gone… But God said the herald of the Messiah (John the Baptist) will come from the womb of of this “barren” woman!

At the end of the passage, Mary (in effect) says “OK… I am the Lord’s Servant.”

It was in that moment of obedience and submission that Jesus was incarnated within this young Jewish virgin…

LiveJournal Tags: Justice Harvey Carey,Luke,2009

Family (Ephesians 6: )

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:09:55 GMT

Beyond Belief

When we see the powerful work of God in our world… it’s beyond belief

Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3 tell us what we believe

Ephesians chapters 4.5. and 6 tell us what we DO with our beliefs…

We live in trouble times – How can we THRIVE in troubled times?

Every human relationship has problems…

All families either HAVE struggled, ARE struggling, or WILL struggle.

John 16:33 tells us “in this world, you will have troubles”

Good relationships are NOT conflict free; they work through the conflicts and grow stronger!

* Listen to each other!

* Demonstrate the love of God through actions in your family!

John 13:34 gives us a new command to “love one another”

Those who know us best can easily hurt us the most, so the hardest place to live out love is in our family.

Honor Christ by loving others no matter what it costs you!

Make a list of what would bring great joy to _____ (your spouse, child, parent, best friend)

then go do those things!

The greatest gift of security that parents can give their kids is having the parents be a loving couple!

Young people… OBEY!

Love by ACTION, not RE-action… Act BEFORE being told what to do!

* Say “I love you” every single day!

There is no line I can cross where God will suddenly decide “That’s it! No more love for you!”

* Trust in God

Each one of us (in our extended families) is a data field in a larger spreadsheet…

any one of us can easily change the bottom line result!

Peter walked on water…

When we take our eyes off Jesus, we begin to sink – only by reaching out to Him are we put back on our feet.

Find the place where hope never dies…

Nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God in Christ!

LiveJournal Tags: Family,Ken Davis,Ephesians,2009

Only God can lead the submitted heart

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:48:40 GMT

If life is a story, there is a Storyteller” GK Chesterton

Acts 13: 1 -

There were Christian prophets and teachers in Antioch

The Holy Spirit indicated that Saul and Barnabus were to be blessed

God speaks through the Holy Spirit (thoughts/ impressions)
The better we listen to God, the more we will hear from Him
Great discernment must be used to test thoughts/ feelings/ impressions
If a prompting passes testing, then it is to be obeyed fully and FAST

Devote time daily for God… 10 to 30 minutes

Read a selection from scripture, journal on it, and then pray (perhaps write out your prayer in your journal)

If you set aside time to hear from God, He will be far more likely to show up and speak to you!

You are a treasured child of the Most High God… and I am in it with you”

Promptings are precious gifts… don’t waste them or let them pass you by!

Speak Lord, we are listening…”

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,Bill Hybels,hearing God

When God Whispers… in uncertainty

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:32:03 GMT

Reflect on your year and note what you are thankful for in preparation for the holiday meal on Thursday…

Imagine a bowl with eggs, flour, milk and all the proper ingredients and proportions to become cake… How long would you have to stare at that bowl before cake emerged without the intervention of someone who decided “I WILL MAKE CAKE”…

“I do believe… help me with my unbelief”

Our heavenly father watches us, always present and ready to rescue us – we will not drown.

Jesus KNEW but we must live as “trusters”

Doubt is a part of the human condition… part of being finite.

Be merciful to those who doubt” (Jude 22)

Every human being lives by faith… just different amounts.

As long as we’re alive, our level of certainty will ebb and flow…

God is whispering all the time in everything around us

The real mystery is how anything exists at all” - GK Chesterton

Try to prove the statements “it’s good to be alive” or “all people are created equal” or “every child deserves lavish love”…

No one can live their whole life believing that “life has no purpose.”

The questions go far beyond our origins… and extend to our search for meaning

Faith never comes completely free of doubt… where there is no doubt, then you KNOW and there is no faith

We hunger for food… good thing we have food. We thirst for water… good thing we have water. We hunger for meaning and purpose… maybe there is no meaning; but if that is true then why do we have this hunger?

Aim to develop faith as a core conviction

Types of convictions:

Public	things we SAY we believe	King Herod
Private	things we think and believe inwardly at this time	Peter
Core	beliefs that actually shape who we are and our views of life

When core convictions change, live change

Jesus lived with all His public, private, and core convictions in synch!

In our pain, God whispers comfort…

In our brokenness, God whispers conviction…

In our doubts, God whispers reassurance and a sense of certainty

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,John Ortberg,Whispers,Faith & Doubt

Walk on Water Chapter 2 “Boat Potatoes”

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:03:43 GMT

If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat - Participants Guide (0025986250560): John Ortberg: Books

When you are given a gift, you must make a decision….

Is the gift “too valuable” to ever be risked? or is the gift “too valuable” to NOT be risked and shared?

There is no greater tragedy than an unopened gift….

My wife and I gave a DVD player and a DVD as a gift – and years later when I visited that person’s home and noticed that the DVD was still in its shrink wrap, it hurt my heart…

With the great gift of a second chance at life that has been given to us, we must decide to risk it or not.

Peter chose to live life at a “full-tilt boogie.”

In YOUR spiritual walk do you want a promise or a command… do you want a guarantee or a mission?

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,John Ortberg,Walk on Water

The Case for the Real Jesus

Sun, 17 May 2009 03:39:00 GMT

1 Corinthians. 15 states that if Christ wasn’t raised from the dead then faith is futile.

EXECUTION Jesus truly died, no scholar doubts that he was crucified

EARLY there is no long delay between the events and the record

EMPTY there is no one in the tomb, even the Roman leaders tried to create a cover story

EYEWITNESSES there were a significant number of resurrected appearances

1 Corinthians 15:3 – 8
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

this creed is at the very core of the sect that became Christianity

Galatians 1:18 – 20
Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord's brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

For 515 people to share the same hallucination. it would require a greater miracle than the resurrection!

BOTTOM LINE: John 1:12 gives us the equation…

Believe + Receive = Become!

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,Lee Strobel,Evangelism,Case for Real Jesus

Only God can Soften a Heart of Stone

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:41:04 GMT

Who is “beyond hope of redemption”?

Bet $10,000 that Osama bin Laden will NOT be saved and baptized in Christ by the end of 2009...

Maybe we should be praying for him...

In the early church, no one would have even been praying for Saul of Tarsus!

In Acts 9: Saul was an anti-Christian terrorist seeking to attack the believers in Damascus.

Jesus confronts Saul's behavior. Saul is blinded and lead by hand to Damascus.

Jesus had said to Saul: Get up, Go into the city, and Wait for further word

Ananias (a believer in Damascus, just the kind of guy that Saul was gunning for) was told:

Go meet with Saul... Ananias was afraid to go to the man from Tarsus.

God said GO! I am going to use that man!

Ananias went... and said what God told him to say...

“Brother Saul” was how Ananias greeted him... imagine saying “Brother Osama”

Saul gets up, he can see again, and he gets baptized – but where?

He is baptized at the very same house church that he had set out to destroy!

Justice vs. Mercy vs. Grace

Justice “getting what you deserve” is an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth... a fair, rapid, satisfying way to a sightless, toothless world! (Calvin Miller)

Mercy “not getting what you deserve” is turning thumbs up on an old antagonist at the end of ones rapier (Calvin Miller)

Grace “getting what you don't deserve” is finding that someone else has willingly covered the overwhelming debt that you could never pay off on your own efforts!

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,Bill Hybels,Soften,Only God

Easter message

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:52:09 GMT

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Are you “hitting the wall” vocationally? in your employment? in your search for significance? financially? relationally? in your marriage? with your children? with your health? in facing your mortality?

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment” Hebrews 9:27

Jesus broke down even this most formidable wall…

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” John 11:25

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5

Jesus solved the biggest problem we have and offers to help us with the smaller ones… if we are willing to work with Him and not give up.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9

And Jesus will never give up on us or leave us in the lurch…

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,Easter,Bill Hybels,Wall

Beggar song lyrics

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:35:36 GMT

After re-reading my notes from the “Me-Ville” seminar I attended last night, I kept thinking about the lyrics of a song I first heard in the same year that I first started attending Willow Creek…

So, pardon my nostalgia but I’m going to post the lyrics that have been haunting me…

Beggar

Words and Music by John Fischer (1982)

I know where the food is
And it isn't very far away
Doesn't cost much but an empty soul
And the pride that stands in the way

I'm not one who's got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I'm just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food

Have you found the water
That will never make you thirst again
Jesus is a well of water springing up
Into eternal life from within

I'm not one who's got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I'm just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food

Maybe you aren't hungry
And maybe you don't thirst at all
But maybe the years have hardened the tears
And you really are a beggar after all

I'm not one who's got it all in place
Telling you what you should do
No I'm just one old hungry beggar
Showing you where I found food

LiveJournal Tags: Me-Ville,2009,John Fischer,Beggar,lyrics

Rescue Us from Me-Ville part 3

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:22:45 GMT

Guest speaker: David A. Zimmerman

IDOLATRY ---> DISILLUSIONMENT ----> EMPATHY

Left to our own devices, we would live in a self-centered form of idolatry.

God calls us OUT of where we are…

Far too often, we want to SETTLE somewhere other than where God wants…

The CHURCH is not meant to be a PLACE we go (destination death or “We-Ville”) but rather a JOURNEY or PROCESS.

Those who make their local church connection out to be their whole world; are guaranteed unhappiness and disillusionment.

Dietrich Bonhoffer in “Life Together” wrote about this disillusionment and said that those people within the church that become disillusioned will become accusers of the brethren, accusers of God, and finally accusers of themselves.

The two great commandments that Jesus taught went out of the way to subvert the idolatry of Self and calls us to Empathy.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love others

The goal is Empathy in God’s manner: walk as God walks, do what God does, notice what God notices, befriend who God befriends…

How can we be priests for one another since we are called to be a holy priesthood?

How can we minister to one another? How can we communicate grace to one another?

How can we communicate our need(s) to one another so others can minister to us?

What are our responsibilities as not just individual Christians but together as “a holy nation”?

Where is God taking us and sending us as His church?

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,David Zimmerman,Me-Ville

Only God can free the captive heart

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:18:53 GMT

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.

He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"

"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.

Acts 12:1 – 17 (NIV)

^{King Herod was persecuting the early church, arresting believers in The Way.}

^{James (of Peter, James, and John – the first three disciples and the inner circle of Christ) was killed}

^{Peter, the leader of The Way, is arrested where he was awaiting his “show” trial and execution}

^{The believers were praying HARD for Peter}

^{Based on Philippians 4:6 – 7 the way they were praying:}

^{Make your request known to God}
^{Remember what God has done before}
^{Receive a deep, abiding peace}

^{Peter was sleeping peacefully in his cell when an angel woke him and lead him out of the prison to freedom}

^{Peter went to a gathering of the believers; but they doubted it was really him at the door.}

^{Peter told them what God had done, said “tell others what has happened” and then he left}

^{The power of prayer is that even if your circumstances haven’t changed (yet) you already feel differently about them!}

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,Bill Hybels,Only God,prayer

Rescue Us from Me-Ville part 2

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:43:31 GMT

Guest teacher: David A. Zimmerman

The Bible as a Road Map

In negative economic times, community increases while divorce rates and crime rates decrease… How interesting?!

The life of faith is a journey from the kingdom of Self (Me-Ville) toward the kingdom of God!

Jeanne Twenge found that the belief that external forces control your life (more than you do) increased 50% from the 1960’s to the 2000’s

Sliding into Me-Ville: the Fall in Four Acts

self-consciousness leads to self-congratulations “Hey, I really AM all that!”
embarrassment/ humiliation/ scandal
scapegoating
self-restoration “elevating self by pushing others down”

Thomas Merton wrote that the person needs to be rescued from the individual

Impact of Pride:

Adam and Eve playing “Not it” and blame shifting
Tower of Babel believing that “He may be God; but He’s not the only one who can be GREAT”
David and Bathsheba… I can have whatever/ whoever I want; she’s pregnant?!, send for Urriah…
Samson… or King Saul… Jacob… Moses…

so many Biblical stories trace the four stage fall of pride!

We live in a world where everyone is “looking out for number one” but God’s presence is obscured…

God may seem hard to find; but God wants to be found AND known as our friend!

In Christ, God made himself visible; but many still didn’t notice (see John 1:)

What gets in YOUR way of noticing God?

Pace of life
Noise of life/ media
Intellectual assent

Whatever gets in our way; Jesus came to confront those barriers…

Jesus and the Rich, Young Ruler (RYR) in three acts:

Jesus and the children – the little ones ignored by society are blessed by Jesus
Jesus and the “RYR” – the man with “everything” is told he lacks one thing… “It’s not about your stuff and what you’ve done” confronts the man defined by accomplishments and accumulation!
Jesus and the disciples – if “RYR” must give up everything; since we already HAVE, what about us?

Jesus is the original Idealist-Realist!

There is a key difference between God being there and God being “there for you”… Deitrich Bonhoffer says God is PRO-ME

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31, 38 – 39

This passage almost seems to be enabling or good news for a narcissists?!

The walk of faith is not free of problems; but we will never lose more than we will gain in the end.

What helps remind you that God is with / for you?

Nature
Scripture
Music (lyrics)
Fellowship
Past Blessings

Revelation 21:3 – 7 tells us that God will be WITH us, be our God, and WE will be His children… this is the “happy ending” of the Bible!

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,David Zimmerman,Me-Ville

Rescue Us from Me-Ville part 1

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:14:21 GMT

Guest teacher: David A. Zimmerman

Artifacts of a Culture of Narcissism:

or How we wound up with iPods and American Idol

Jeanne Twenge wrote a great book titled “Generation Me”

In the 1970’s, teens had low self-esteem (thinking “I’m not that important”) but had high levels of satisfaction
35 years later, teens have high self-confidence and very low satisfaction (high misery levels)

We now have the first generation that was raised to believe that everyone should have high self-esteem.

Biblically speaking, Narcissism (pride) is number one among the Seven Deadly Sins

“Pride comes before a Fall”

Narcissism is not developmental, psychological, or cultural… it is spiritual! Though it is reinforced by our culture.

Cultural Archeology

Let’s examine the changes of music in our culture:

Worship thrives when human beings sing together to God…

For the most part, except “Happy Birthday” or “Take me out to the Ballgame”, when do we sing together as a culture?

1877 Thomas Edison invents the phonograph (and by extension the recording industry)

Soon after, songwriters shorten their works to fit on one side of a record

Piano sales fell… we moved from a culture where the average person “performed” music to one where the average person “consumes” music.

Music literacy erodes, sheet music sales plummets…

Radio and TV leads music to become commercial and personality driven. The quality of the song used to matter more than who performed it.

Portable (transistor) radios puts an end to families gathering around the radio.

DJ’s that mix together music begin to be viewed as Artists?!

Sony Walkman and shower radios take music where it has never been before!

iPod have the benefit of making it all about your personal tastes, and provides a personalized soundtrack to your life… BUT iPods have had a negative impact on “sleeve art”, liner notes, interpersonal skills, airplane conversations, and other factors that used to be simple parts of life.

Worst of all, iPods have lead directly to people (like William Hung) lining up believing they are “Idol” worthy

Recently “the Bachelor” ended his “engagement” with Melissa Rycroft on live network television stating, “The worst thing I could do is live with regrets”…

When William Hung was critiqued harshly on “American Idol” for his rendition of “She Bangs”, his response was essentially I did my best and I have no regrets…

It used to be that living without regrets meant NOT doing certain things… but it has evolved to become doing ANYTHING and just not regretting it!

How do we turn back from the William Hung precipice?

Let’s start with Group Singing! Group singing should be multigenerational, historically rooted, communal, participatory…

John Wesley’s rules for singing:

Lift up your voice with strength and power (his quote was “sing lustily”)
Sing every song, not just the songs you like or are comfortable with
Sing in time… not ahead or behind
Sing spiritually – sing to God, not for your own ears or any other person

What other cultural artifacts point toward our societal narcissism?

anything that pushes us toward buying our way to popularity
the belief that MORE is better
the insistence that you DESERVE …
“Time control technology” such as DVRs make us able to watch what we want when we want, without sitting through commercials, because it’s “all about me”… this also severely limits “next day water cooler talk”
the tendency to view all people as one of three categories: Tools (those you can use), Toys (sources of pleasure/ entertainment), or Threats

The most frightening fact about “Generation Me” and their unusually high self-esteems is that they are going out into the multigenerational working world expecting immediate success, financial riches, and social acceptance; but they then find themselves bitterly disappointed when it doesn’t come… There is a very clear loss of appreciation for delayed gratification!

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,David Zimmerman,Me-Ville

Response to Presidential Pledge

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:13:25 GMT

A dear friend of mine (Dom DeBellis) saw my blog entry on celebrities making their "Presidential Pledge" and he sent me his response, which was so good I had to share it...

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond with some pledges of my own.

I pledge to serve the Lord my God, first and foremost, and to exclude any commitments that compromise my walk at His side.

I pledge to serve my fellow humans in the spirit of and in obedience to the One who called me to love my neighbor as myself.

I pledge to serve not the president, but rather to hold him accountable to service of the People of the United States.

I pledge to assume personal responsibility for my government, for if it is to be one "of the People, by the People, and for the People," then it is incumbent upon me together with my fellow citizens to get down to business.

I pledge to resist the notion that our nation and its laws are subject to international bodies, such as the United Nations. The sovereignty of the U.S. must be unencumbered by such foreign interests and entanglements, so that it may remain faithful to its Constitution and its People.

I pledge to support the ideals of freedom and liberty, personal responsibility, and social conscience that creates, fosters, and extends the blessings of America for all who would grasp them, while demanding and expecting personal participation from those same people, for the sacrifices and service to our fellow citizens in the perpetuation of that same America.

Jim, I know you will understand my heart on this, because we share these values and a great friendship together. As I cannot post these pledges to your blog myself, I hope you will consider posting them for me.

Presidential Pledge... I pledge...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:48:19 GMT

I think that some of these personal pledges are a great idea...
but what about a pledge to God and country?
No one mentioned God, and at least one person referred to part of the United Nations... which should NOT come before our own country.
Was Jason Bateman kidding about pledging to flush less?
Shouldn't this whole thing either be taken seriously or the whole thing becomes a joke.

I'm still a little weirded out by the pledging to be a servant to the President....
Shouldn't elected officials see themselves as "public servants" rather than some demi-god that the public is to serve?

So, what is YOUR pledge?

When God Whispers: Whispers of Conviction

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:46:38 GMT

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Darren Whitehead,Whispers

When God Whispers: Whispers of Comfort

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:45:14 GMT

Worship lead by Tommy Walker

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Whispers,Nancy Beach

Relentless Influence

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:43:33 GMT

Here am I… send me

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Bill Hybels,Influence

Modern Economics – What we can learn from a down-turn

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:41:16 GMT

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Bill Hybels,economics

High Stakes of Decision Making

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:37:46 GMT

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Decision Making,Nancy Beach

Proactive Decision Making

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:36:22 GMT

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Darren Whitehead,Decision Making

Families at their Best

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:44:03 GMT

We’ve seen them… teased them… and wished we were one of them. Those “almost perfect” looking families.

Here’s a quick idea for a family tradition: on New Year’s Eve each person bring top ten list of the greatest blessings in your life from the past year!

We’re all part of a family and each of us either make our family better… or detract from it.

Divorce rates are still in our society (among the secular and among the Christians as well)…

In recent years, the number of couples “living together” has increased by a factor of TEN!

40% of newborns in our society now are born out of wedlock – and these children start off their lives in an unstable environment and “behind the eight ball”!

The United States now leads the world in numbers of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases!

61% of teens from “Christian” families disengage from the organized church and drift from their faith.

We need God at the center of our family lives!

Even among church staff leaders, when asked the question of “who had the greatest impact on your life spiritually?” the answer is not a deep thinking author, or an evangelist… Hands down, most people point to their parents. Parent who did the job of spiritually raising them right.

Families are the ultimate small group. God designed families as His “Plan A” for spiritual formation and development… but God’s plan of having parents living lives that point their children toward a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – it doesn’t always work out. Remember, we are talking about highly fallible human beings here!

What is “Plan B”? There are also church ministries that are committed to the spiritual formation and development of other people’s kids!

As a parent, I can not put into words how much I am grateful to our Promiseland children’s ministry! I remember not enjoying going to church with my parents when I was a kid; but my three year old (Bekah) looks forward to going to church so she can learn about Jesus. Each time she repeats a curriculum point like “Thank you God, for Baby Jesus” or “God loves us; He gave us Baby Jesus” I know that she is learning and retaining some of the most important lessons she will learn in her entire life.

I also think about the high school ministry at our church… and I remember that it was back in 1982 that I was invited to attend the high school ministry and it was there that I experienced personal salvation. The impact that the high school ministry had on me rippled onto my mother, my sister, my step-father, and my brother-in-law. In December 1987, my family walked as a group onto the stage at church and were publicly baptized by Bill Hybels!

I thank God that there are ministries now (for my daughter) and way back then (for me) that are committed to loving and caring for other people’s kids!

Parents… Take full responsibility for “Plan A” raising your children AND take full advantage of “Plan B” opportunities!

If a couple enters into a covenant to raise their kids on “Plan A” then God will reinforce and assist their efforts…

Some of us received a great Christian heritage that preceded us and that we can pass on … some of us didn’t come from a great heritage – but either way, ALL of us can choose to leave a great Christian legacy for those that come after us!

LiveJournal Tags: 2009,Bill Hybels,Families,Heritage,Legacy

20080127 on the environment

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:31:59 GMT

Creation Force

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Bill Hybels,environment

on Racial Harmony

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:30:23 GMT

message jointly given by Bill Hybels and Rev. James Meeks

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Bill Hybels,Racial Harmony

Unseen: What is Heaven like?

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:28:38 GMT

LiveJournal Tags: 2008,Gene Appel,Unseen