Sunday, June 13, 2010

Tullian Tchividjian on Worship and Our Fears

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Here's a great post by Tullian Tchividjian on What Really Motivates Our Worship. Check out these lines:

"Behind everything you worship is some fear that, without this person or thing, you'd be lost. Life wouldn't be worth living. Your fears cause you to attribute ultimate worth either to things such as success, reputation, family, relationships, or to God."

Wow!

Tchividjian goes on to remind us that God is our only reliable object of worship.

I'm looking forward to reading this guy's new book.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

GOD'S ULTIMATUM FOR LEADERS

Want to know God's ultimatum for leaders?

Check out Deuteronomy 17:18-20.

Deuteronomy 17:18-20 (NLT), "When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. 20 This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel."

I like the way it reads in the Message.

"This is what must be done: When he sits down on the throne of his kingdom, the first thing he must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation on a scroll, copied under the supervision of the Levitical priests. 19 That scroll is to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so that he may learn what it means to fear his God, living in reverent obedience before these rules and regulations by following them. 20 He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign as king in Israel, he and his sons."

If I'm reading this right, basically God said, "Good leadership starts here..."

* Read God's Word and transcribe it by hand...

Why did God want these guys to write it down? I believe it's because reading, coupled with the discipline of writing or journaling increases retention and aids in memorization. God wanted people in leadership to "get it" when it comes to His Word.

* Keep the Word of God by your side at all times...

* Study God's Word every day...

* Allow God's Word to shape every aspect of the leader's life...

* Develop a sense of reverential awe for who God is and all that He has done...

* Allow the Word of God to reveal every leader's tendency and propensity to give place to pride and arrogance...

* Keep going back to the Word of God day in and day out...

* Don't just read God's Word, learn to apply it!

A Prayer for Leaders: Oh, God, help all who lead - in every area of life - to read, write, memorize and apply Your Word... May our leadership be characterized by a high regard for Your Word and a deep reverence for who You are... May we never lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge You and Your Word... As we read Your Word may we always remember, "You are God and we are not... You're in charge, and we're to follow... You are King and we are Your servants..."


QUESTION: How would this kind of commitment to God's Word change the way leaders "lead"? In government? Family? Business? Church? Life?

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Dana Key of Degarmo & Key Passes

Degarmo and Key was one of the first true "Christian Rock Bands" I ever experienced live... A small group of four or five us "kids" traveled to Trinity College to catch a live show... We had heard their first few releases: "This Time Thru," "Straight On," "This Ain't Hollywood" and their double live album, which ranks as one of my all time favorites, "No Turning Back - Live" and wanted to catch the band live and in person. Wow! That night was amazing! It still ranks as one of the best concerts I've ever personally experienced!

This morning I just read that Dana Key, the lead singer / front man for the group passed away this past Sunday night...

Amazingly, I just listened to that double live album a couple of weeks ago... Dana still ranks as one of my favorite vocalists. He was a gifted writer, singer and guitar player...

The early D & K releases were very instrumental in challenging and inspiring my faith as a teen and young adult...

Some of my favorite songs from D & K include:

Casual Christian
Addey
Love Is All You Need
Over and Over
Out of the Danger Zone
Strength of Love
Teenage Suicide
Jericho
Long Distance Runner


Check out this article from Christianity Today Online on Dana...

Take a moment to pray for him, his family and the church he pastored... If you've never got to listen to any of his music, check out some of the above referenced songs...

Monday, June 7, 2010

Legendary Coach John Wooden on Love, Loyalty and Death

Five of the best minutes you'll ever spend... Here the late and legendary Coach John Wooden talks about his undying love for his beloved wife. Watching this video made me want to be a better man.

Dream Team Huddle Extended Notes

Last night we had an incredible turn out for a2's Dream Team Huddle. Wow!

I'm including the extended notes from last night's session below... We talked about our priorities for the next six months - one year... We also conducted a pretty extensive live interactive poll with real time results via polleverywhere.com.

If your church or organization is looking for instant polling results and something that turned into a fun experience for us, check out polleverywhere.com. Special thanks to three technical gurus who helped to pull the poll off: David Jacks, Dan Butcher and Zack Butcher. You guys are amazing!

We followed the "huddle" up with a2's own Sundae's On Sunday Ice Cream Bar. Teddie Butcher knocked it out of the park on this one! Thanks, Teddie.

Great job to everyone who was involved. Thank you so much!

With that said, here are the extended notes from last evening's session.


a2's Dream Team Huddle
Sunday, June 6, 2010

Our Priorities As We Take The Field:

1. Worship that touches the heart of God.

a2 Core Value - God First: We call it worship. It’s about expressing our love and devotion to God. It’s responding to all that God is with all that we are. We want to honor God in everything we do by worshipping passionately, praying intensely, living with integrity and always doing our best (Matt 22:36-37; Col 3:17, 23; Mal 1:6-14).

1 Peter 2:9 (NIV), But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Malachi 1:6-8 (MSG), “Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: “You priests despise me! 
“You say, ‘Not so! How do we despise you?’ 
“By your shoddy, sloppy, defiling worship. 
“You ask, ‘What do you mean, “defiling”? What’s defiling about it?’ 7 “When you say, ‘The altar of God is not important anymore; worship of God is no longer a priority,’ that’s defiling. 8 And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you’re trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn’t that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you."


2. Prayer that storms the gates of hell.

a2 Core Value - Pray Hard: We will pray like everything depends on God and work like everything depends on us (Eph 6:19-20; Col 4:2-6).

Colossians 4:2 (NLT), Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

Colossians 4:2 (ESV), Continue steadfastly in prayer…

Colossians 4:3-4 (ESV), At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison--4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

“…history belongs to the intercessors…History belongs to those who will believe and pray the future into being…” ~ Walter Wink

2 Thessalonians 3:1 (MSG), Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response, just as it did among you…


3. Gutsy leadership that pursues the heart and purposes of God, regardless of what a poll indicates, conventional wisdom dictates, or what religious traditionalism it infuriates.


4. Relationships that move people past cheap sentimentalism, but that ignite spiritual growth, personal transformation and revival in the lives of those who are courageous enough to invest in them.

Acts 2:44-47 (NLT), And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

a2 Core Value - Love and Acceptance: We love and accept people unconditionally, right where they are, no strings attached, and lead them to the healing and wholeness available in Jesus Christ (Rom 15:7; Jn 13:34-35; Matt 2:15).

a2 Core Value - Everyone Belongs: We were made to do life together. We believe that lasting life change, personal transformation and spiritual growth best occur in the context of authentic, life-giving relationships (Acts 2:42, 46-47; 1 Jn 4:7-13).


5. A missionary mindset that challenges us to do more than chill out “under the sound of chapel bells, “ but motivates us to “run a mission a yard from the gates of hell.”

See Steve Camp's contemporary Christian classic: "Run To The Battle."

Luke 5:31-32 (NLT), Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor-sick people do. I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough.

a2 Core Value - Love and Acceptance: We love and accept people unconditionally, right where they are, no strings attached, and lead them to the healing and wholeness available in Jesus Christ (Rom 15:7; Jn 13:34-35; Matt 2:15).

a2 Core Value - People Matter: People matter to God and they ought to matter to us. We reach out to people who haven’t experienced a relationship with God and invite them into the adventure of a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ (Lk 5:30-32; 15; Matt 18:14; 28:19-20).


6. An amazing team that is so committed to God’s purpose and plan for the church that it’s willing to invest the “sweat equity” necessary to see the purpose and plan of God “blow up” in our church and community.

a2 Core Value - Make A Difference: We believe that God has given every individual some amazing gifts. We champion the gifts, talents and abilities of every individual and challenge them to use these gifts to honor God by serving others and making a difference in our community and world (Mk 10:45; 1 Cor 12, 14; Rom 12; Eph 4; 1 Pet 4:10).

1 Peter 4:10 (ESV), As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace…


What You Can Do To Take The Field:

• Engage your mind.

• Believe with your heart. Get pumped up about God’s activity!

“God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm. He is delighted with all that is good and lovingly concerned about all that is wrong. He pursues His labors always in a fullness of holy zeal. No wonder the Spirit came at Pentecost as a sound of a rushing mighty wind and sat in tongues of fire on every forehead… Whatever else happened at Pentecost, one thing that cannot be missed by the most casual observer was the sudden upsurging of moral enthusiasm. Those first disciples burned with a steady, inward fire. They were enthusiastic to the point of complete abandon.” ~ A.W. Tozer – Of God and Men

• Pray like crazy.

2 Thessalonians 3:1 (MSG), Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response, just as it did among you…

• Connect in a Small Group.

- Summer Dinners for Eight (Leaders Sign Up Immediately)
- New Small Groups Kick Off in August


• Just do something!

Isaiah 54:2-5 (MSG), Clear lots of ground for your tents! Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big! Use plenty of rope, drive the tent pegs deep. 3 You're going to need lots of elbow room for your growing family. You're going to take over whole nations; you're going to resettle abandoned cities. 4 Don't be afraid--you're not going to be embarrassed. Don't hold back--you're not going to come up short. You'll forget all about the humiliations of your youth, and the indignities of being a widow will fade from memory. 5 For your Maker is your bridegroom, his name, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies! Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel, known as God of the whole earth.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (MSG), God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
21Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

I Heart God Extended Notes

This morning we launched a new series at a2 titled, "I Heart a2." This series is all about the church, and why we love it...

Music from todays' worship experience included:

Where The Spirit of the Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels
(Another great track from the Passion Awakening release...)

Let God Arise by Chris Tomlin
(The band always does an incredible job with this one...)

For Who You Are by Ricardo Sanchez and Free Chapel
(From Free Chapel's "The Power of the Cross" release...)

Now by Hillsong London
(This is the theme song for the new series... The band "brought it" on this one... We did it as an "item number" during the offering...)

Our God by Chris Tomlin
(This may be our church's favorite song right now... I loved hearing our church family sing this like crazy this morning...)

Here are the extended not from this morning's message...


I Heart God
I Heart a2 - Part 1


People With A Passion For The Church:

• Paul the Apostle

2 Corinthians 12:15 (ESV), I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

• The Apostle Peter

1 Peter 5:1b-2 (NLT), As a fellow elder, this is my appeal to you: 2 Care for (shepherd / feed) the flock of God entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.

• The Household of Stephanas

1 Corinthians 16:15 (KJV), ...(you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints)...

• Jesus

Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV), Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

• My Dad and Mom


God’s original blueprint for the church:

Acts 2:42-43 (NAS), They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Acts 2:44-46a (NLT), And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. 45They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.



This Week's Core Value: Worship

Acts 2:46 (NLT), They worshiped together at the Temple each day…


Core Value of a2 Church

God First: We call it worship. It’s about expressing our love and devotion to God. It’s responding to all that God is with all that we are. We want to honor God in everything we do by worshipping passionately, praying intensely, living with integrity and always doing our best (Matt 22:36-37; Col 3:17, 23; Mal 1:6-14).


Psalm 100:1 (ESV), Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

Why We Worship:

1. Worship gets my attention off of me.

Psalm 100:1-3 (ESV), Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

Psalm 100:2-3 (ESV), Serve (worship – NIV, NLT) the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Psalm 100:3 (ESV), Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.


2. Worship helps me cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

Psalm 100:4 (ESV), Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT), Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.


3. Worship breaks the grip my problems, challenges and difficulties have to suck life and joy out of me.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NLT), Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
 He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

4. God is mysteriously and powerfully present when we gather together with other believers to worship Him. Our worship not only connects us with God, but with God’s activity in the lives of other believers.

Psalm 100:4 (ESV), Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Psalm 22:3 (ESV), …you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3 (KJV), But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV), Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25 (CEV), Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.


“At home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through.” ~ Martin Luther, quoted by Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, page 164.


5. Authentic worship is the expression of a heart that is blown away by the greatness of God and extravagance of His love and grace revealed in Jesus Christ.

Revelation 2:4 (NIV), I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

Revelation 2:4 (MSG), …you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway?

Matthew 22:37 (NIV), Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Russell Moore on the Tragedy in the Gulf

Earlier this week I shared this article on Facebook... Since some of the readers of this blog are not FB users, I thought I would share it here...

Russell Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as a preaching past at Highview Baptist Church.

Dr. Moore is a gifted communicator and a deep thinker.

This article is poignant and profound. Read it. Share it. Pray about it. Decide to take some kind of action.


Ecological Catastrophe and the Uneasy Evangelical Conscience
— TUESDAY, JUNE 1ST, 2010 —
Russell Moore

I’ve left my hometown lots of times. But never like this.

Sure, I’ve teared up as I’ve left family and friends for a while, knowing I’d see them again the next time around. And, yes, I cried every day for almost a year in the aftermath of a hurricane that almost wiped my hometown off the map. But I’ve never left like this, wondering if I’ll ever see it again, if my children’s children will ever know what Biloxi was.

As I pass that sign on Highway 90 telling me I’m leaving Biloxi, I can look out behind the water’s horizon and know there’s a Pale Horse there. A massive rupture in the ocean’s floor is gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, with plumes of petroleum great enough to threaten to destroy the sea-life there for my lifetime, if not forever. Everything is endangered, from the seafood and tourism industries to the crabs and seagulls on the beach to the churches where I first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is more than a threat to my hometown, and to our neighboring communities. It is a threat to national security greater than most Americans can even contemplate, because so few of them know how dependent they are on the eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico. This is, as one magazine put it recently, Katrina meets Chernobyl.

I am leaving this morning, but I am leaving changed.

Someone once described Roe vs. Wade as the “Pearl Harbor” of the evangelical pro-life conscience. Pearl Harbor is an apt metaphor. Before that date of infamy, foreign policy isolationism seemed to be a legitimate American option. The “America First” committees and some of the most influential figures in the United States Congress argued that Hitler’s war was none of our concern. We should tend to ourselves, and we could deal with whomever won in Europe and the Pacific when all the dust had settled.

After Pearl Harbor, the shortsightedness, and indeed utopianism, of isolationism was seen for what it was. After Roe, what seemed to be a “Catholic issue” now pierced through the consciences of evangelical Protestants who realized they’d not only been naive; they’d also missed a key aspect of Christian thought and mission.

For too long, we evangelical Christians have maintained an uneasy ecological conscience. I include myself in this indictment.

We’ve had an inadequate view of human sin.

Because we believe in free markets, we’ve acted as though this means we should trust corporations to protect the natural resources and habitats. But a laissez-faire view of government regulation of corporations is akin to the youth minister who lets the teenage girl and boy sleep in the same sleeping bag at church camp because he “believes in young people.”

The Scripture gives us a vision of human sin that means there ought to be limits to every claim to sovereignty, whether from church, state, business or labor. A commitment to the free market doesn’t mean unfettered license any more than a commitment to free speech means hardcore pornography ought to be broadcast in prime-time by your local network television affiliate.

Caesar’s sword is there, by God’s authority, to restrain those who would harm others (Rom. 13). When government fails or refuses to protect its own people, whether from nuclear attack or from toxic waste spewing into our life-giving waters, the government has failed.

We’ve seen the issue of so-called “environmental protection” as someone else’s issue.

In our era, the abortion issue is the transcendent moral issue of the day (as segregation was in the last generation, and lynching and slavery before that). Too often, however, we’ve been willing not simply to vote for candidates who will protect unborn human life (as we ought to), but to also in the process adopt their worldviews on every other issue.

Moreover, we’ve seen some of the theological and ideological fringes in the environmentalist movement, fringes that enabled us to see them as not “with us,” and, frankly, to enable us to make fun of the entire question as a silly enterprise. But perhaps the void is being filled by leftists and liberals and wannabe liberal evangelicals simply because those who ought to know better are off doing something else. Working with our secular progressive neighbors on, for instance, saving the Gulf no more compromises the evangelical witness than our working with feminists to combat pornography or with Latter-day Saints to protect marriage.

We’ve had an inadequate view of human life and culture.

What is being threatened in the Gulf states isn’t just seafood or tourism or beach views. What’s being threatened is a culture. As social conservatives, we understand…or we ought to understand…that human communities are formed by traditions and by mores, by the bond between the generations. Culture is, as Russell Kirk said, a compact reaching back to the dead and forward to the unborn. Liberalism wants to dissolve those traditions, and make every generation create itself anew; not conservatism.

Every human culture is formed in a tie with the natural environment. In my hometown, that’s the father passing down his shrimping boat to his son or the community gathering for the Blessing of the Fleet at the harbor every year. In a Midwestern town, it might be the apple festival. In a New England town, it might be the traditions of whalers or oystermen. The West is defined by the frontier and the mountains. And so on.

When the natural environment is used up, unsustainable for future generations, cultures die. When Gulfs are dead, when mountaintops are removed, when forests are razed with nothing left in their place, when deer populations disappear, cultures die too.

And what’s left in the place of these cultures and traditions is an individualism that is defined simply by the appetites for sex, violence, and piling up stuff. That’s not conservative, and it certainly isn’t Christian.

Finally, we’ve compromised our love.

A previous generation of evangelicals had to ask the question, “Is the fetus my neighbor?”

As I’ve seen the people I love, who led me to Christ, literally heaving in tears, I’ve wondered how many other communities have faced death like this, while I ignored even the chance to pray. The protection of the creation isn’t just about seagulls and turtles and dolphins. That would be enough to prompt us to action, since God’s glory is in seagulls and turtles and dolphins (Gen. 6-9; Isa. 65).

Pollution kills people. Pollution dislocates families. Pollution defiles the icon of God’s Trinitarian joy, the creation of his theater (Ps. 19; Rom. 1).

Will people believe us when we speak about the One who brings life and that abundantly, when they see that we don’t care about that which kills and destroys? Will they hear us when we quote John 3:16 to them when, in the face of the loss of their lives, we shrug our shoulders and say, “Who is my neighbor?”

I’m leaving Biloxi today, with tears in my eyes. But I’ll be back. I’ll be back whether the next time I see this place it’s a thriving seacoast community again or whether it’s an oil-drenched crime scene. But I pray I’ll never be the same.