the muse @ aeffect

It's not WHAT work satisfies, it's WHOSE work satisfies

2011-03-07T10:27:00.002-06:00

Work was never meant to ultimately satisfy us. God was meant to ultimately satisfy us.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has placed "eternity on our hearts." Not just this week or this year or even this lifetime, but eternity, He has placed eternity on our hearts, and so our hearts long for something more than what happens 'under the sun'. Our hearts scream out for MORE! But now sin has come into our hearts and absolutely sickened them, and now our hearts only deceive us and make us work for things that will never truly satisfy us. Jeremiah 17:9 says that the "heart is deceitful above all else, it is desperately sick." And so sin comes in and makes our hearts dark, and now we go about pursuing pleasure and purpose in all these things outside of God.

And the self-help, American culture answer to our heart problem is to just think more positive, or to try harder, or be more happy or whatever. You can try and work for any of those things--more happiness, more purpose, more self-fulfillment, but your heart remains dark and broken. So now we seek ultimate pleasure and satisfaction in our jobs, or in relationships, or in friendships...but deep down we know (and the Bible says) that those things can never ultimately satisfy us.

It's not WHAT work satisfies us, it's WHOSE work satisfies us.

Jesus Christ. His work on the cross for us, that is the work that satisfies us, and we rest, trust, and submit to that work then all of the other work that we do with hour minds and hands will have meaning! Only when we seek Christ first and allow Him to give us a new heart can we begin agreeing with Paul when he says "nothing you do FOR THE LORD is ever in vain". Because when Christ is the goal, when you are resting in His work alone then no matter what you are doing, from the mundane to the extraordinary, is in vain.

Whether you work in downtown Dallas or teach in Richardson or do any number of jobs that the church often (and wrongly) considers "secular" Paul says your work is not in vain! You don't have to be a pastor or a missionary for your work to not be in vain, you can do any work, and if Christ experienced and glorified is the goal of your and is what you are ultimately seeking satisfaction in then nothing you are doing is in vain. Nothing. It may not seem that way, but it is the truth.

Find your ultimate satisfaction in the work of Christ on the cross, and then allow God to show you how work can bring you great joy and bring others great joy as well. Jesus Christ comes to give us a new heart, one that beats for Him, and one that seeks the Kingdom in all areas of life!

Don't make being a great Christian the ultimate goal!
Don't make being super content at work the ultimate goal of all your work!
Don't make praying more the ultimate goal!
Don't making being a great boyfriend or girlfriend the ultimate goal!

Make Christ the ultimate goal. Christ treasured, experienced, and glorified the ultimate goal.

AND THEN...you will find the means to be a strong Christian, and to be content at your job, and to be more passionate at prayer...and so on! That is the only way the order can work--Christ first and then any other goals you have second!

Only Christ can fill the void in hearts that long for eternity!

Pauls says his only goal in all his work is to "gain Christ and be found in Him"

would it be so with us,
RD

Vision 2011

2010-12-31T15:46:00.003-06:00

The New Year always brings out lists of New Years resolutions for people of how they want to "do better" in the next year. Statistics show that most people don't keep these resolutions. Discipline is hard. Life change is hard, but it necessary and the start of a new year really is one of the best times to ever try and start something.

Here is my take on the traditional New Years Resolutions. It is more of a "Casting Vision" for relationships and individuals with big ideas backed up with different questions to ask. These are for people in relationships to ask each other as they try and set vision for 2011 and also for individuals who are single to ask themselves as they set out in 2011. There aren't "action steps" here for how to implement all these, but I think asking questions and finding creative ways to change your lifestyle is important.

The biggest resolution to ever have is to push harder and more deeply into Jesus because in Him is all life, meaning, hope, and peace. He is the goal and the prize and the One that we chase, for our deep joy and the world's good. I hope some of these help you to start thinking about how to take your life to another level and begin to run the race with endurance, to live a life in 2011 that actually matters.

When I use the word "we" in all these I am meaning for both couples and also individuals. So wherever you are at you can ask these questions for yourself and/or for the relationship you are in. Happy New Year to everyone! Praying that 2011 is the best year of your life yet, why should you settle for any less of a goal?

1. Physical
How will you/we (individually/together) be active? What will we do? How much will we do? When will we do it? How often? Running? Working out? Walking? Sports? How will we eat? What foods will we eat? Will our food/dining choices glorify God and be good for our bodies? Can we make our food choices benefit local farmers more? How will our food choices fight social injustice? Can they? How will we eat healthier? More socially responsible? How will we get in the best shape of our lives in 2011?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: SIGN UP FOR A 5K OR HALF-MARATHON
COUPLES: RUN, WALK, OR PLAY A SPORT TOGETHER

2. Emotional & Mental
How will you/we (individually/together) stay mentally and emotionally sane? How will we engage emotionally with each other? What will we spend our time talking about? What will we read this year? How will we be entertained this year? How will we find time to emotionally recharge? How will we stay emotionally connected? Mentally engaged to each other? How will we be emotionally available to each other? How will we communicate better? How will we grow intellectually in 2011? What is something that we can learn about this year?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUAL-- PICK A SUBJECT YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO LEARN ABOUT AND ACTUALLY LEARN ABOUT IT ALL YEAR.
COUPLES--CARVE A NIGHT ONCE A WEEK OR TWICE A MONTH TO TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP.

3. Gospel
How do we live out the gospel in our relationship/in our individual lives? How do we show each other the gospel through our words and deeds? How do we keep the gospel central? How do we base a relationship on grace and not works? How are good works in service to each other the fruit of our relationship and not the root? How do we practice forgiveness and grace tangibly? How do we challenge each other to be like Jesus Christ everyday? How is our relationship going to be increasingly gospel-saturated? How are you growing in your knowledge of the gospel? How are being obedient to Christ?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUAL--READ A BIBLE WITH A GOOD COMMENTARY AND GET A READING PLAN AND STICK TO IT.
COUPLES--FIND TIME TO TALK ABOUT JESUS, THE GOSPEL, AND WHAT ROLES YOU HAVE IN A RELATIONSHIP BIBLICALLY.

4. Money
How do you spend money? in a relationship? What gifts do we get each other? Do we spend too much on each other? Too little? How do we handle individual finances? How can we improve this? Are we being biblical stewards of the money in our bank accounts? Does our spending glorify God? What can we cut out, modify, or change in our finances? Are we spending money on each other for dates, gifts, and to show deep affection OR to just show off and impress?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUAL--ACTUALLY TITHE TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH.
COUPLES-- GO ON FEWER DATES IN THE CITY AND STAY HOME AND COOK AND WATCH A MOVIE SOMETIMES.

5. Family
How are you loving your own families? How are we reaching out to them? How are we getting to know each other's families? How are you keeping your family in the loop about your life? About your relationship? How are we being Christ to them? And how are we reaching them with the gospel? How can we grow closer to our own and to each others families in 2011?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS--CALL YOUR PARENTS MORE OFTEN OR WRITE THEM EMAILS MORE OFTEN.
COUPLES--TALK ABOUT YOUR FAMILIES, BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER'S FAMILIES.

6. Mission
How do you/we live for others and not just ourselves in 2011? What will be your missional focus? How we will individually reach out to the lost? How will we do that through a relationship? How will we pursue justice? What will we pray for? What will we do that actually matters in 2011? How will we live on mission? For our city? For the nations? For God? How can we be more obedient to Christ? How can we love selflessly and sacrificially so that those far from God would be brought near?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUALS--SERVE/LOVE YOUR CITY THROUGH THE CHURCH OR A LOCAL NON-PROFIT.
COUPLES--SPEND TIME WITH OTHER COUPLES AND REACH OUT TO THEM.

7. Fun/Play
How will we have fun? How will we do Sabbath? What does rest look like for us? What new things do we want to try individually and together? How can we keep things fresh and exciting and fun? How much should we play? Why should just play sometimes? When do we need to just cut up? How you/do we enjoy each other and life more in 2011?
DO SOMETHING
INDIVIDUALS--GO SKYDIVING, GO ON A HIKE, TRAVEL SOMEWHERE CRAZY
COUPLES--LAUGH A LOT MORE TOGETHER. DON'T BE SO DANG SERIOUS ALL THE TIME. IT'S BORING. BE SPONTANEOUS.

8. Friendships
How will you/we grow our own same gender friendships? How will we reach out to our friends? How will we make new friends of our same gender? What kind of time will we carve out with them? Weekly? Monthly? Who will we mentor? Who will mentor us? How will we engage with our small groups? How will we deepen our closest friendships? What other couples will we reach out to and engage? How will we keep up appropriate boundaries with opposite sex friends? What steps can we take to remain above reproach and completely faithful to each other? If you are single do you want to remain that way? Do you want to pursue dating? What does that look like?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: GROW DEEP FRIENDSHIPS WITH PEOPLE OF YOUR SAME GENDER. OR BECOME A FRIEND TO A GIRL BEFORE YOU ASK HER OUT (GUYS). AND DON'T WEAR TIGHTS FOR PANTS (GIRLS) OUT IN PUBLIC.
COUPLES: FIND A YOUNGER OR OLDER COUPLE TO SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME WITH.

9. Work
How will you/we approach work/school in 2011? What goals do we have in our work? What needs to change? How will we approach work as Christians? What role will our jobs and/or schools have in our lives? In our relationship? How will we work as unto God and not man through our vocation in 2011? How can we encourage each other in our vocations? Do you need to change vocations? And how can we nurture our dreams for our future vocations?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: SPEND SOME TIME REFLECTING ON WHAT YOU DO AND WHY EXACTLY YOU DO IT.
COUPLES: VISIT EACH OTHER AT YOUR DIFFERENT PLACE OF WORK. IT'S FUN AND THOUGHTFUL.

10. Relationship
How are we doing? How do we continue growing as a couple? How do create time to check in on our relationship? How do we create a safe place for growth and vulnerability? How can we challenge each other to love better? How can we love each other more specifically? How can we encourage each other deeply? How much time will we spend with each other? How many date nights? With others? How can we keep biblical boundaries physically (if you aren't married)? How can our relationship be missional? How can we date for the sake of others? How do we pursue greater unity? How do we communicate? How do we work on loving each other more deeply, passionately, biblically, and holistically in 2011?
DO SOMETHING:
INDIVIDUALS: DON'T WORRY. BE YOURSELF. YOU WILL GO ON A DATE THIS YEAR. AND IT COULD BE YOUR LAST FIRST DATE EVER.
COUPLES: ALWAYS BE HONEST. ALWAYS. AND CREATE A SAFE PLACE FOR HONESTY IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP.

And finally...what might be one word to stamp on 2011 as we go forward? Individually? What is your theme word for 2011 for yourself?
What is your vision/theme statement for yourself in 2011? What is it for us as a couple in 2011?

Hope something in there helps! Questions help us frame our lives and can give us direction so that who we really want to be "one day" we can start become "today".

If you do nothing else. Read your Bible. And everything else, as they say, will take care of itself.

Happy New Year to you all,
R.D.

Never Good Enough

2010-09-30T11:34:00.003-05:00

"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." -Hebrews 10:4

The entire message of the Old Testament is this--Man blows everything up. That is really it.

God spends book after book, man after man, generation after generation, year after year showing anyone who will read this book that man's sin wrecks everything. The Israelites worship everything but God most of the time and the leaders of the Israelites fall in every single way imaginable. They, like us, are failures.

Romans says "all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory." That is a nice way of saying we fail God. All the time.

The story of the Old Testament is the story of God and the story of the Law that God passed down to man. The Law that God passed to man are God's rules, God's commands for His people to live by. But man cannot follow the Law. The Law, in the end, exists to show man how far he is from God and how much He fails God. We fail the Law because our morality and our good works cannot get us to God, the sacrifices of bulls and goats do not please God.

Enter the Gospel. God's sacrifice for us, on our behalf. It is all God. Not us. We don't do anything. God does it all. All of it. God saves, not us...we can't save ourselves. Only God can save. And only He does. So we can now rest in that and quit trying to earn our way to God. We can't do it. The Old Testament screams that.

But today we still try and offer sacrifices to God, maybe not bulls and goats in Dallas, TX, but replace bulls and goats with relationships, work, vocation, family, morality...insert any of those there. We think (I can think) that if sacrifice enough in our relationships or if we work hard enough at work or if we are morally righteous then God will accept us and loves us and even bless us. How good is good enough? No such thing. Old Testament. Read it. Man is evil and wrecks everything on his own.

Jesus came to deliver us from our condemnation under the law. The law only shows us how guilty we really are and reminds us how guilty we are, but Jesus came to set us free from that and make us quit sacrificing to please Him and start resting in His sacrifice for us.

You will never be good enough for God. No matter what you do. But through Jesus Christ, God has accepted you and freed you from living a works-based religion. What the law could never do Christ did. The Old Testament paves the way for the New Testament and for the Gospel...for Jesus to set us free from having to be good enough.

Romans 8:1-4
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."

R.D.

Refugees, Orphans, Prodigals, and Me

2010-08-31T22:15:00.003-05:00

"He had spent everything...and he began to be in need." -the prodigal son (luke 15)

We are a people in great need. Born into the world broken, orphaned, and looking for refuge. For some of us the need for a home, the need for a refuge is masked (to a degree) by our families, who love us and raise us, giving us a place to feel accepted and loved. Many, however, are born into vastly different circumstances.

There are over 140 million orphans in the world.
There are over 10 million refugees in the world.
There are over 25 million internally displaced people. (Individuals who live as virtual refugees in their home country.)
There are nearly 500,000 children in the US foster care system.

Heartbreaking.

Even more heartbreaking is the billions of people who are unaware that they are orphans, that they are prodigals, that they are refugees seeking a home. The Scriptures are clear, all of us, EVERY SINGLE ONE, was an orphan before we were adopted (Galatians 5) by our Abba Father. We were all refugees, and God revealed Himself to be to our refuge. We were all prodigals, and God came running to us as Father. Deuteronomy 10:19 calls Israel "to love the alien because you were at one time aliens in Egypt." We are to love the orphan, the alien, the refugee...because at one time we were ALL these things, and God came in search of us.

How often do we think of the prodigal son as someone else? Someone besides ourselves? Someone who has sinned far worse then we ever have. Let's keep it real, we are all prodigals, we have all gone in search of treasures outside of God. The prodigal son eventually spent all of his money, trying to find a host of things to satisfy him. It is then that Luke says that the prodigal son "began to be in need." What an interesting turn of phrase. It is here, when the prodigal son begins to understand his need, that I believe he begins the journey home.

It begins with need. It begins with our understanding that before we can start to act "Christ-like" we need to be awakened to our great need "for Christ". Need precedes transformation. And it is our great need that God comes to fill. Luke writes "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." The Gospel. Right there. When we had no hope, when we were far away, God came running to us. Every single time that we rebel God seeks to rescue, to reconcile us back to Him.

There are physical refugees and orphans in this world, and we need to love them and provide a home for them. www.togetherforadoption.org This is a biblical imperative, it is not optional. We must remember that we, that you, were once an orphan, were once a prodigal, filthy and dirty and eating with the pigs until God came and got you and made you clean. It was nothing you did, it was all what God did. I pray we all remember this, and that this would spur us to love and good deeds toward the orphans, refugees, and prodigals among us.

11Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, — 12remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God... -Ephesians 2:11-13, 19

Jesus himself, born in a borrowed barn in Asia, became an African refugee in Egypt. He is one who understands the plight of the refugee, the plight of all of us. So much so that He came to give us a home, a home full of love, life, and His eternal presence.

this is our God,
R.D.

Falling In Love With Your City

2010-08-30T00:17:00.002-05:00

"You will be the restorers of the streets..." - Isaiah 58

You can't phone in love. Love requires presence. Love is a verb. To truly love someone you have to know them, and to know them you have spend time with them.

Intentional proximity breeds transformational intimacy.

The Scriptures lay out a very simple idea for transformation. Experience Christ, fall before Him in worship, give your life away in total abandon. Repeat steps 1 through 3. I went there.

Life flows from God. And God desires for that life to flood into His cities and His nations. They are all His. The King of New York City is Jesus Christ. The King of Dallas, Texas is Jesus Christ. He owns it, it's His. And He is calling us to fall in love with it, and to give our lives for it. For the people in our city. The need is immense. The brokenness is overwhelming. But God.

But God has called His bride, the church to be the repairers of the breach and the restorers of the breach, to be people seeking the peace of our city. We should be loving our city to life. The gospel is life, and people are dying. Act.

Don't stand idly by and pray only. If prayer was enough the world would be a whole lot better by now. Love your city to life. Toil, sweat, strive, work for the peace of your city through your vocation, your free time, your relationships, your church, your whole life. Spend time with the people in your life and spend time getting to know where you live.

How do you fall in love with someone? Over time.

Fall in love with your city. So love your city to life in the name of Jesus. Be a restorer. Not a bystander. Be a giver, not a taker.

True sacrifice is seen not in what you give up but in what you gain, and in loving the people God has put in your life you get Christ, and the abundant life that He has for us right now. And the abundant life that hundreds of thousands in our cities don't have a clue about.

Get your Bible. Read it. Experience Jesus in the Bible. Worship Jesus. And act. The book directly after the gospels is called ACTS. Not thoughts or ideas, but ACTS. Where is God calling you to act? Where is He calling you to move?

We have been called by God to go into our cities and point them to life. Use your time, money, and gifts for this end, the glory of God among the city and the nations. What could possibly be more satisfying?

If our God is for us...then who could ever stop us?

Spend time with people this week with the intention of telling them about Jesus Christ. Just do it. Our God is always for us.

for the city,
R.D.

Singleness, the Sufficiency of Jesus, and the Beautiful Woman at the Well

2010-06-07T00:38:00.004-05:00

I have often tried to imagine the backstory of the woman at the well that Jesus encounters in John 4. What was her life like in the years leading up to her encounter with her Maker?

I imagine a beautiful Samaritan woman, a woman who once a little girl, growing up in a family, and perhaps hoping to get married and have a family of her own one day. Finally, the big day arrives, her wedding day. The day she will begin spending the rest of her life with her husband, a man who will love, cherish, and serve her. She has finally arrived, she has finally gotten to that "hallowed" day, her wedding day. There will finally be someone to tell her how beautiful she is.

The Samaritan woman's day at the chapel is only the beginning of what will become her greatest shame, attempting to find love, life, and identity in men. She goes on to get married again and again and again and again. Each time she gets divorced. The woman at the well is a woman whose sins are apparent, but she has not sinned alone. In those days, husbands divorced their wives, but wives did not divorce their husbands. If this woman was married and divorced five times, then five men divorced her. Imagine that? This woman has been passed around by five different men in her city, and now she is just living with a man, a man who is not even her husband. What must her self-worth be like? What must her feelings of contentment be like? What of her girlhood dreams of love and marriage and family? Here she sits, trapped with a man who won't marry her, and running from five men who have told her they don't want anything to do with her.

I imagine a woman battered and bruised by men, broken by the pain of failed relationships, and emotionally devastated by a life filled with heartache and self-doubt. When was the last time when someone told her she was beautiful? When was the last time when someone told her she had worth?

"Now Jesus had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (John 4:4-7)

It is noon, a time when few other people would be at the well because of the heat at this time of day. Most people come to draw water in the morning or night when it is cooler, and our Samaritan woman knows this. She doesn't want anyone else to see her, to be there when she draws water. Perhaps her shame is simply too much to bear. Jesus, however, stops at this well right at noon.

Jesus breaks all kinds of rules talking with this woman, and I imagine this woman was skeptical of this man talking to her. Another man who simply wants something from her, another man who wants to use her, just another man she might be thinking. But Jesus knows all of this woman's past, and today he is going to speak words of truth to her, words to free her.

This woman is thirsty, thirsty for so many things. Thirsty like we can be. Thirsty for contentment, for peace, for meaning, for a boyfriend or girlfriend, a wife or husband to finally satisfy us, to finally give us ultimate meaning, to finally fulfill us. We look for everything and anything to satisfy us, to give us meaning, to give us hope. IF ONLY I could get that THEN I would be happy is how we often think (how i often think). Perhaps our water girl at the well was searching for her contentment in men, in marriage, in relationships, and hoping that with each new man she might get closer to being truly content. And yet over and over again she gets thrown out and let down, each time she is more and more broken and more convinced that nothing out there can truly satisfy her thirst.

Jesus tells her "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." (John 4:13-15). And there it is. Jesus offers her living water and the woman yearns for it. THIS is what she has been searching for! This living water, this water will finally satisfy her. But, just as Jesus offers her this hope he exposes her deepest shame.

"Jesus told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." I have no husband," she replied.Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." (John 4:16-18).

BOOM. Jesus exposes her sin and her shame. Can you imagine the pain gripping our water girl's heart at this moment? And yet Jesus does this to contrast His living water with her water, water that only keeps her in shame and pain and discontentment. Jesus reveals Himself to her as the Messiah. He is the one she has been waiting for. He is the great prize, the great hope, the great peace. I wish I could have seen the Samaritan woman's face in this moment when she realized who this man was.

Finally, our Samaritan woman is drinking from the well that will satisfy her, that will bring her joy, that will tell her how beautiful and worthy she is. In fact, this woman becomes the first evangelist in the gospel of John. And because of her many people come to believe in Jesus Christ as the One who can ultimately satisfy them.

As people, whether single, dating, or married we are constantly searching for that thing will satisfy us, that will quench our thirst. Sometimes we find this in money, or a job, or a relationship, or a hobby, and perhaps for a time that "thing" does satisfy us, but eventually we will hit a wall and have to move on to our "next husband", we will have to move on to something else that we hope will do for us what only God can. There is only one well, only one person, only one relationship that will never leave us wanting more.

Is Jesus sufficient for you? Is He more than enough? Is He where you find your sense of self-worth?

The woman at the well, had a radical encountered with Jesus, and could finally believe what she always hoped was true of her. That she was unbelievably beautiful. Jesus had told her so.

Jesus + nothing = EVERYTHING.
R.D.

Who's Hungry?

2010-05-16T23:16:00.003-05:00

Luke 9 tells the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Verse 10 begins to set the scene. "When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."

The disciples want the people to go back to their homes so that they can eat and have a place to sleep. There are thousands of people yearning to be around Jesus, but apparently there was no food or lodging where they were, but the people didn't seem to care, they wanted to Jesus. The text says Jesus "welcomed the people and spoke to them about the kingdom of God..." The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that Jesus was ushering in with his presence. The Kingdom of God that was going to push back all the darkness in the world, begin to fight against injustice and heal people with the power of the gospel. These people yearned for this good news, this Kingdom because they were full of sin, full of painful pasts, full of worry, full of pain, full of broken relationships, full of shame, full of all the things that weigh all people down. They were no different from all broken people, they were yearning to hear something different, to hear something hopeful, to hear the good news of the Kingdom.

But the disciples have decided it is time for the people to go...Jesus has done enough and he needs his rest so it is time for the people to go away now. Jesus, however, flips the disciples' demand for the people to GO GET stuff for themselves by challenging the disciples. In responding to the disciples telling the people to GO AWAY and get something to eat Jesus says to the disciples in verse 13 "You give them something to eat." Oh no Jesus didn't?! Us? What can we do? What are we supposed to do? Feed them? Isn't that your job Jesus? Perhaps these questions came to the disciples mind when Jesus fired at them the command to feed the people themselves.

This is quite an exchange between Jesus and his disciples. In fact, the feeding of the five thousand is the only event (outside of the crucifixion and resurrection) that is mentioned in ALL four gospels. In this interaction between Jesus and his disciples you see the Kingdom of God beginning, a Kingdom where God's people are commanded by God to do His work. Jesus, of course, is the one who ultimately accomplishes all things, but he has commanded us to join in him in his feeding of all peoples.

The disciples immediately object to Jesus' challenge (as we often do to Jesus' challenges) by giving him a math lesson. The text continues by stating "They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." 14(About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." 15The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. 16Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. 17They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over."

Jesus still does all the heavy lifting here, but Jesus still asks the disciples to perform certain tasks to help the distribution of the food to all the people. Jesus challenges his followers to DO, to feed others, to get in the fight and quit being so passive about things going on. It's time to WAKE UP! How can we feed people? What is God calling us to do?

First, we need to be feed by God, by His word and by His spirit. Radical service to Jesus is an overflow from love for Jesus, and to have a love for Jesus we have to know Jesus. God is ultimate source here, and all mission for God begins with an intimacy with God. However, we cannot simply grow spiritually fat by consuming and consuming, we must give and sacrifice for the Kingdom. We must feed others, we must give to others and we must be for others. As Matt Klingler said, "Consumption does not create community." Community is born from radical giving and outward living, living to FEED others and lose everything for Jesus to get Jesus!

We yearn for the day when heaven and earth look exactly alike, when the Kingdom is fully realized, but until then there is work to do. That is why Jesus tell us to pray for the Kingdom to continue to be seen by all so that the earth might become more like heaven. Jesus is always calling us to feed others, to live for others, to give everything for others, to be FOR others.

So look at those you see today with compassion and feed them with the things that actually matter, the great news of the Gospel, the glorious news that the Kingdom is both here and still to come, the great news that Jesus calls all of us to be heralds of. And "do not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9). Love is a verb. You got to do something, and you have to KEEP doing that good thing for the glory of God, trusting that God will restore, heal, transform, redeem, and save lives according to His good pleasure.

So who's hungry?

Feed 'em,
RD

Thoughts on Counting on the Cost, the American Dream, and My Friends Who Are Leveraging Everything for the Kingdom

2010-05-07T00:41:00.007-05:00

What is the cost of the Christian life? What does it cost us?

For most Christians in the West (and especially in Dallas), the cost is extremely low. There is not sacrifice involved in the American Christian life. Most churches call people to very little, and most people are happy to remain comfortable, safe, and free from the obedience Jesus demands. After all, people are after the American dream, this is what really matters. The pursuit of happiness, at all costs. Just give me happiness and if Jesus gives me some happiness then that is fine too, but just don't let Jesus make any type of claim on my life, make any type of demand of me, or request any type of radical obedience from me.

I find it interesting that Jesus would tell people following him (whether believers, seekers, or skeptics) to count the cost before really thinking about following him. It didn't matter to him where they were spiritually, He was about calling people to die to themselves and live for Him. It was not a simple prayer of asking "Jesus into your heart" and now everything is okay. Jesus looks at the people near him, people of great poverty and great wealth, people with tons of struggles of their own, people looking to Jesus to fix all of their problems and tells them they need to hate their parents in comparison to how much they love him. Jesus is after obedience and not just faith, he is after disciples and not just believers.

Jesus stares at the people in the face and says "Count the cost before you think of following me. Count the cost." What did it cost Jesus? Everything. What did it cost the disciples? Everything. What did it cost the early church? Everything. Jesus demands EVERYTHING still. Nothing has changed, He demands radical living for the sake of the gospel. After Jesus left He sent the Holy Spirit to be with His people, and it is the Holy Spirit that can lead you to start doing some pretty radical things.

At some point don't you just get to the place where you can't do business as usual? You just can't do the same old thing, the same old thing that is doing absolutely nothing for the Lord? Isn't there more? Isn't my life meant for more than this? It is. It is meant for so much more, your life is meant to be given away for all peoples for the glory of God. As radical as you want to get for Jesus...I assure you Jesus wants you to get more radical. You cannot get radical enough for Jesus.

There are some radicals being stirred up in our Dallas community these days though and it is encouraging to hear, people giving their life away for the things of God. Some of them have been doing it for a while now, and some of them (like me) have only recently begun to be devastated by the Holy Spirit about how non-radical our lives are.

Here are some examples...
Rachael Dial and Valerie Flynn and Esther Tepait living to love refugees in Vickery.
Emily Burrows and Jessica Hall feeling the Holy Spirit tell them to join Rachel, Val, and Esther in Vickery.
Charlotte Baker and Shannon are spending nearly two weeks (presently) in Africa to love orphans.
Katie Griffith and Thuy Ton recently returned from China where Courtney Mullins works loving those caught in the sex industry.
Brad Riddell inspiring a garage sale revolution to help the future generations at Northwest Bible come to know Jesus Christ.
Russell Thompson and Colby Harries serving others through apartment where they just saw one person come to faith in Christ!
Daniel Windle loving people through something as random as ultimate frisbee and creating environments there for people to come to be engaged in community.
Bethany Tiffin is headed to Africa for missions and to meet the child she sponsors through Compassion International.
Jessica Hall (already working in the foster care system) and Katie Fisher (a teacher also being equipped at DTS) are headed to Africa this summer for missions.
Stephen Sardone is already in Papau New Guinea for a vision trip as he looks to return there full time next year.
Brandon Long works and loves the homeless people of Dallas and keeps Christ central to all that he does for them.
Sharon Roberts is headed with Northwest to Guatemala this summer for missions.
Shelby Hausler recently returned from a mission trip to Cuba.
Esther Tepait is headed back to the Philippines for three weeks.
Brian Bain calling men to authentic manhood, to the great battle, to live for something worth living for, the glory of God.
There are hundreds of you leveraging all you have for the kingdom in medicine, teaching, the business, graduate schools, and other avenues it is inspiring to hear stories from the front lines, from people choosing to count the cost of following Christ--wherever he may lead. Keep fighting the fight, keep pursuing Christ, keep loving others even if it seems like no fruit is blossoming. We are called to be faithful, it is God who moves according to His good pleasure.

What is the cost? The cost is everything, but the prize is Christ. He is our great reward, our great hope, our great joy. At some point you get to a point where you can't NOT go, you have to go, you have to live differently, you have to choose to die so that you can live, and you have to sacrifice a great deal of comfort, and security, and even happiness. Trade in the American dream for a city, a nation, a world that desperately needs Christ. Whatever it looks for you live radically in your context...DO IT!
The mission field is everywhere! God has you where you are for such a time as this.

Scripture says that God ordained the times in which we would live so that we might point others towards Him. It is inspiring to see what God is doing among our midst, people leveraging all of the sake of the Kingdom, there is an awakening happening, not birthed out of human effort or ability, but from GOD. So look around and see what is happening, it is really incredible, and be challenged by Jesus that only in laying down everything do we truly gain everything.

Christ is all,
R.D.

Love is an Orientation

2010-04-19T23:45:00.003-05:00

Tonight was the last night that I got to spend with a group of people I have come to love. Nearly every Monday night for the past two years I have been going to down to South Dallas to serve the residents of Park Manor, a retirement community in a very impoverished and high crime area of the city.

The first time I walked into Park Manor nearly two years ago I was not extremely excited about being there. It was a requirement of Dallas Seminary that I serve in some capacity through a missional community. Walking into the recreation room for the first time to share the gospel and play bingo with over fifty people, the majority of whom were older and African-American pushed me out of my comfort zone. How could I relate? What would I say? Why was with these people?

A major area of sin in my life is pride, and looking down on others, especially others that I serve. As I was serving these people I often found myself feeling superior to them in so many ways. I admit it. Like they somehow needed me, they were (dare I say it) lucky to even have me there. I went to an elite liberal arts college, I am now attending an elite seminary, and I have big plans for my life, plans SO much bigger than just playing bingo with some old people every Monday night. I was better than them. This is the truth.

How God killed my pride and my entitlement mentality these past two years. Serving others is supposed to humble us, but I think it can just as easily exalt us. We are the great saviors, we are the great heroes, we are the ones who come in to save the day and help those people who always seem to need our help. We are the enlightened ones and those that we serve just aren't. Oh the sin in that type of thinking. The people of Park Manor are just like me. The Cross levels the entire playing field. Grace makes everyone even, there is no one greater than anyone else in the Kingdom of God.

The 86 year old African American woman needs Christ just as much I do. Our life circumstances may be different, but we share a sinful nature and the need for a great Savior. I think it is important to view the people that we serve as people to love, and not people to convert. Most of us are the people who get asked to serve others and this can make us seem much more important than we actually are. What a tragedy it would be to spend your life thinking it was you who saved anyone, to spend your life feeling that you are better than someone else.

As we serve others it is important that we love unconditionally and realize that the grace of God makes all people equal. Genesis says that ALL people are made in the image of God and this means that all people have inherent dignity and worth. All people. Regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, or age all people deserve God's love because all people are created in the image of God. So to think of myself as better or more worthy than someone else? Absolutely sinful.

As Ephesians 2 makes clear we once were separated from the family of God, but have been brought near by the blood of Christ. All of us were non-Christians at some point, and all of us were deserving of God's wrath. But through God's great mercy we now have peace with God. So do we give lip service to service? Do we love only those people who are like us? Do we think of ourselves as better than others?

Let's tear down those walls which separate from one another. Let's be reconciled not just to God, but to each other. The Gospel united me with over 50 older, African American people for the past two years in a radical and powerful way. They humbled me greatly, teaching me far more than I taught them and loving me far more than I ever loved them.

The way to serve people is to truly love people. And to truly love people you have to go where the people are and live where they live. We have to do more than just send people down to the ghetto to tract bomb people. You can't phone in mission, you have to be there and get your hands dirty loving those people for the sake of Jesus Christ. So be faithful to the work God has for, whether what you are doing seems "cool" or not. Being cool is vastly overrated and often hinders us from walking the path God has for us.

Judging people is easy. Pointing out others sin is easy. Ranking people around you in terms of how cool or awkward they are is easy. Loving people unconditionally is hard. Loving people different from us unconditionally is even harder. Do the hard work of the Gospel, loving others and extending grace and acceptance to them on their own terms and not your own. This is, after all, the great news of the Gospel, that God came in pursuit of all of us in Christ, not showing favorites or thinking of himself as better than anyone else. He came not to be served but to serve and move in with the poorest of the poor, loving, serving, and giving himself for them.

Would we do likewise.

R.D.

Thoughts on Hurting Others, Being a Weak Man, and the Sufficiency of Christ

2010-04-14T23:20:00.005-05:00

Isn't it easy to pretend? Easy to put on a mask? Easy to get caught up in the expectations others have for you? Easy to plan out your whole life...until those plans get wrecked. It sure comes easy to me sometimes. I am a man, and I am not a big fan of being vulnerable and having people see my weaknesses, to see behind the mask.

I would rather be the guy at "God's Gym" bench pressing the cross. You remember those ridiculous shirts? You do. Ridiculous. Point is, I want to have it all together, to be strong, to be seen as strong, and to often use God to get me what I want. Yes, use God. I do it. God can be a means to an end, the end is my pleasure or me being seen as strong or all put together. I need God...when I need God.

My Bible is in my hand (for all to see), my shirt is tucked in with my khaki pants on. I look the part. Look at me...I have it all together. Sin? Only on Friday nights, maybe. Weaknesses? Can't even spell the word. Hurting others? Never. Not me...I love Jesus, I am going to seminary, to official church world one day...I have it all together. I have to have it all together? Right? All the happy people do? Don't they?

I've learned a lot of tough lessons over the past year. I've messed up a lot. A LOT. Hurt people, wrecked relationships, lived selfishly, pursued things that didn't matter, been dishonest and spiritually lazy, been a poor friend, lead people on, used my money to glorify myself and not God, excelled in spiritual pride, often acted like a boy and not a man, and put my will in front of the will of God, and I could go on...So there's me. Ouch. Looking over the past year (and more) and seeing the devastation that happens when you put yourself before Jesus Christ can be overwhelming. Why admit all that? Why share?

Because I don't think you can truly grow until you look honestly at your life and where you are. And I don't think it is good to pretend to be someone you are not. You're not good. I'm not good. I'm just not. So I'm going to quit pretending that I am good. Only God is good. That's it. This is what community groups are for, this is what real friendships are for, to confess sin and how much we get it all wrong and still love one another as Christ has already loved us. Can we just be real? We are all broken. We are all messed up. We sin like it's our job.

The difference between where I am now and where I have been is that I have finally taken the mask off. I just got tired of trying to be someone I wasn't and I saw how that was hurting a lot of people. Sometimes God has to break us before He can truly use us. I just want to encourage you that God knows all your crap and loves you anyway. God still used me in amazing ways over the past year, and God will continue to use me even as I continue to sin and fall short.

It's not about being perfect, it is about resting in the sufficiency of the One who is perfect.

So confess to God, confess to your friends, and start living in the radical grace and freedom of the Gospel. Jesus didn't die for the perfect and well put-together people, but for those who recognized their desperate need for His grace. God is faithful to forgive us, and faithful to love us through it all, and faithful to use us in spite of us.

It was humbling to admit where I had been and where I still often find myself. It is tough to look back and see how selfish I was and how bent I was on doing whatever I wanted, but I finally allowed the grace of the gospel to rush over all my stained parts and make me clean again. Transformation happens best when we admit our NEED for it. God continues to call us out of darkness, out of our sin, out of the brokenness we create to new lives filled with the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Kingdom.

Admit it. You're messed up. And give it all to Jesus. It is what He does...trading in the old for the new. It is what He has been doing from the very beginning. He loves to do it. Stop being a slave to sin and the past, quit being so worried about yourself, and get yourself on mission serving and sacrificing for others in real and tangible ways. How many of us through our full-time jobs or through volunteer efforts encounter utter brokenness and pain all the time in the lives of others? We are the wounded healers...only truly able to heal others by allowing God to begin healing all that has gone wrong within us.

God says to Paul that "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Power made perfect in...weakness, not strength. This is where God shines through most magnificently, in our weakness. Healing happens with honesty. So be honest! Get that sin, shame, guilt, pain, darkness out there and see healing begin to take place!

We are in desperate of need of grace, so let's receive it, and start living in the glorious freedom the gospel creates in people who are honest enough to admit they don't have it all together and need someone to rescue them. This is what the Body is, broken people helping/loving/serving other broken people and pointing them to the One who was broken for them.

So take the mask off. Because in Christ it's already off. The Gospel is sufficient.

His grace truly is enough,
R.D.

Our Great Shepherd

2010-04-13T00:13:00.002-05:00

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd -Matthew 9:35-36

Sheep are animals in need. According to experts sheep are an easily scared bunch, often stubborn, dependent on someone to guide them, often killed by other predators, and are creatures of habit. This is why sheep so often have dogs and a shepherd to guide them and protect them from others and from themselves. There is, in fact, very little sheep can do on their own. They are an animal in great need.

We are a people in great need. According to the Scriptures we are people whose hearts are deceitful above all else (Jeremiah 17:9), bent on pursuing our own flesh (Ephesians 2:3), full of utter darkness (Isaiah 1:5-6), and by our very nature children deserving God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3). There is, in fact, nothing good man can do on his own. We are a people in great need.

We, like sheep need someone. Someone to rescue us, to deliver us, to free us. Scripture says that sin is not just something that we do, but something that is in our very essence (Romans 5). As sheep we have fled, fled from God, departed from relationship with Him. God's holiness demands someone to pay the penalty for the sin, someone has to pay the debt for our rebellion.

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." -Jesus (John 10:11)

We are the Prodigal Son. We have left all that God has for us to pursue all that we want. We have left God, but God has come in search of us, He has come to rescue us, to reconcile us to Himself, to redeem our fallenness. Jesus Christ on the cross satisfies the wrath of God. God is storing up wrath for you. (Ephesians 2:1-3). His wrath will (ultimately) be felt by all who do not trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. On the cross Jesus Christ dies in our place, giving us (you) His righteous obedience. It is the great trade, in your place Christ has died. Everything you could never do, Christ did.

Jesus Christ, our good shepherd, satisfies God's wrath through His death on the cross for our sins and our sin nature.
Jesus Christ gives to us His perfect obedience to God to remove our guilt so that we might live new lives in and for Him.

Imagine an entire flock of sheep gathered together enjoying perfect fellowship and peace together. Suddenly, one of the sheep runs away, leaving the shepherd and the rest of the flock behind. The shepherd watches him go, never quite losing sight. Quickly, the lost sheep is at risk of being killed by a predator, or being lost from the flock forever, unable to ever find his way back. Where the sheep was once clean and comfortable and warm he is now alone and dirty and surrounded by things which separate him further from home. He is helpless. It is in this moment that the shepherd comes to rescue him, to bring him back to the flock, to bring him back home. The Shepherd places the helpless sheep on his shoulders and carries the whole burden upon Himself to bring the sheep back. (Luke 15, Matthew 18).

Jesus Christ is our Great Shepherd. And we are the sheep. He knows all of our sin, all of our failures, all of our imperfections, all of our lies, all of our darkness and still comes in search of us. He looks upon us with compassion and deep love, for we are like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. Would we rest in the fact that there is nothing we can do to earn God's love and there is nothing we can do to separate us from God's love. God doesn't love some future "better" version of us, but us as we stand right now.

Think through your role as the lost sheep this week, your place as the one Christ has come to rescue, your place as the one who has fled from God and is in need of grace upon grace. As Matt said Sunday night, we aren't just in the water trying to tread well enough to stay alive. We have sunk to the bottom of the pool. We are dead. In Him we now live.

When Jesus Christ died that day, R.D. McClenagan died too. Died to my sin nature, to my past, to all that separated me from God. God knows sees Christ in my place, and He sees Christ in your place as well. Would we be people of great boldness who look out upon others with the eyes of Jesus, looking for the lost sheep and going in search of them no matter where that may lead us.

"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" -Hebrews 13:19-21

reigning in life through Jesus Christ,
R.D.

I Killed Jesus

2010-03-31T01:23:00.004-05:00

The Garden of Gethsemane sits silent, awaiting its place as the most famous garden since the first on in Eden. Where the first battle was lost by a man, this battle is about to be won by a man, the man--Jesus Christ. The battle is won here before it is won on the cross come Friday. The moon hovers over the night and the wind blows through the trees, over the body of Jesus as he lies pressed the ground crying out to God for what is to come. Everything is at stake, everything. The most important three days of Christ's life is about to begin.

THURSDAY
The battle begins here in the Garden. Isn't it amazing how God uses a garden to once again to showcase a choice, the ultimate choice, between life and death. What will Jesus choose? The easy way? The safe way? He cannot. He will not. He chooses God. The climax of Holy Week truly starts on Thursday with the Last Supper and Christ's call of radical love and then His truly remarkable battling with God in the Garden. What is Jesus' first action when He steps into the Garden? With all that is at stake, with all that is about to happen, what does Jesus do. Dr. Luke tells us his gospel, chapter 22 verse 39 "And he came out and went to the Mount of Olives. And when he came there, he said to his disciples, pray. And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed."

This is ridiculous. Jesus is God. And yet in this moment He still goes before His Father and begs for His will. For Jesus obedience is absolutely nonnegotiable. It is a must. And yet it is not without tears and sweat and even some pain. Prayer can be a full-contact sport. That is pray that is God all about. Prayer filled with passion, overflowing with honesty, and birthed in the heart of someone who is trusting God to act. As Jesus moves toward the Cross and towards the Resurrection He gets on His knees and He prays and lifts up His cries to God. In the same way, let us be challenged to pray this day, to pray for the preparation of our hearts for Friday and Sunday.

SCRIPTURE:
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. -Luke 22:39-44

RESPONSE/ACTION:
Pray. Pray for your heart and that all that God yearns to do within it will be done over these next few days. And pray with honesty, asking God to act and to move and to stir your deepest affections for Him. He is always for you. But He delights in the prayers of His people. Prayer is the foundation of any world-changing movement. Just look to the Garden. The Second Garden.

FRIDAY
The nails pierce the hands of Jesus. They are driven down hard and strong, tearing through his bones and skin and chaining him to the Cross. His hands and legs have been nailed. The cross of thorns sits atop his head. Blood flows down from His face, blood flows down from his wounds. Blood flows everywhere. Blood to cover us. Blood to appease God. Blood shed with a deep joy for the sake of love. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." -Hebrews 12:2-3. He has scorned the shame of the cross for God's sake, for our sake. At the heart of Christianity is the humiliation of its Savior. Tortured and abused, mocked and left alone he has his eyes fixed, never shifting, never moving. Jesus knows exactly where he is going and he doesn't miss a step.

SCRIPTURE:
"And they came to that place, Skull Hill, there they crucified Him. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." -Luke 23:33-34

RESPONSE/ACTION:
Forgiveness is at the very heart, the very core of God. It is who God is. Jesus does not get angry with those who are torturing him, who are killing him. He prays to God that He might forgive them. Why? Because those killing Jesus that day, those Roman soldiers, those religious leaders, those people that we often think we would never be if we were there. Those killing Jesus that day, those people are us. It is our sin that put Jesus there. We killed him. Or perhaps more accurately it was God who crushed His own Son, but it was for our sake, for our sin that God's wrath had to be appeased. But you must see yourself as those killing Jesus, as those for whom Jesus is praying. He is praying for you. That is you trust Him, there you can find forgiveness. For while we still sinners, still enemies of the cross, Christ died. Live in that this Good Friday.
Even as you were killing God, He was loving you and praying that you would know forgiveness from Him.

SUNDAY
Did somebody say Resurrection??? This is THE DAY! Jesus Christ has triumphed over the grave! Christ is Risen! Three words which change everything! Everything. He was more than a man, He was indeed God. What a magnificent day Easter Sunday is. The darkness of Friday has given way to the light of Sunday morning. Satan has been defeated. God wins. Evil loses.
This is a day of great celebration and thanksgiving for all that God is done. It is all so wonderfully true. This is something to celebrate you! And to share with others! The Cross was not the end, it did not kill Jesus Christ, and my sin did not ultimately separate me from God because of the cross and that fact that Jesus triumphed over it.

SCRIPTURE:
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. -2 Corinthians 5:14-15

RESPONSE/ACTION:
Live lives worthy of the Gospel. If we truly believe this story, this great tale of what God has done then we must speak of it. It was never meant to be a secret, to be something we just danced around, but to be something that we sang about and told others about. Trust Christ! See Him as All-Sufficient! He is All-Precious! His love compels us! We must act! Billions are headed to a Christless eternity and we have the only means of salvation. Fear God. And then you will fear nothing else. And go and lives in the city and the culture which cry out, in creed and deed "HE IS RISEN!".

He is risen indeed,
R.D.

Mondays with Matt

2010-03-15T19:35:00.000-05:00

Running on Fumes?
Sweet times of bible soaked, risky faith are memories of the Spirit’s past work. Telling the stories of His fading work gets drab. Was it high-school, college, just after you got out? The bible was alive, dripping from every thought. Faith was full of “are you sure, God, that seems a little risky.” With every risk, He was sure, faithful and present. He still is, but the love relationship is fading with the apathy of self deceit: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves, do what it says (James1.22).” Why is our faith not alive, and our relationship with God so dead?

My hope is that we take this week to listen. To listen to the wonder of His word, the other world truths that transform our ordinary lives. Maybe we’ve never known Him deeply, day in day out interacting with the Creator of the world. Let this week be a return to the past vibrant faith you once had, or a move towards life with Christ for the first time.

Three things are key. Time. Plan. Action.

Time: When will you meet with Him this week? Set aside twenty minutes each day, right now, when you will meet with Him. Write them on your calendar, block it out in your outlook, set aside time to be still slow and silent.

Plan: What will you read? Below we have set aside a piece of God’s word for us to read each day this week. You may want to interact with God in these passages, or you may want to pick your own. After this week is over, think about reading through the NT with our church www.northwestbible.org/read-listen-respond. Pray. Read the passage. What is God saying? How does it impact your life? See the above link for some helpful tools in your time with Him.

Monday: James 1.19-27

Tuesday: Luke 24.36-49

Wednesday: Matthew 13.1-9; 13.18-23

Thursday: Psalm 119.1-96

Friday: Psalm 119.96-176

Saturday: Psalm 1

Sunday: John 5.39-47
Action: God has implanted His Spirit in our hearts. The Spirit desires for God’s word to come alive for you, in understanding and action. Write down what God has communicated to you through His word, stick it on your dashboard, or mirror as a constant reminder through the day, to cling to and obey His commands.

Ps. If your love for Christ is waning, or you are unsure if you know Him, spend some time slowly working through the greatest story of all time, the gospel. Below you will see scripture that captures what we were created for, how we have screwed it all up, and how God has moved towards us to redeem our brokenness in His Son’s death and resurrection.

Slowly move through these passages if you like, all each day, or sections at a time. Ask God two things: What do you want me to learn about myself? What do you want me to know about you?

1. Created For and By Him: There is no life outside of God’s original intention for His creation

Malachi 2:10

Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

Psalm 100:3

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Acts 17:24-28

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. [25] And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. [26] From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. [27] God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. [28] 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Genesis Ch1-2
2. All Have Sinned: Every one of us is born in enmity towards God

Psalm 51:5

Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

(“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me” NAS)

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things

and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

1 John 1:8

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Romans 5:12-14

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- [13] for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. [14] Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

Exodus 20:1-17 Standard Broken/Lifestyle abandoned

3. Sin’s Penalty: Death physically and eternal separation from God

Isaiah 59:2

But your iniquities have separated

you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

so that he will not hear.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rev. 21:8

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return."

4. Christ Paid the Wage: His death as sacrificial substitutionary atonement for our sins

Ephes. 2:4-7

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [7] in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Mark 10:45

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

1 Peter 1:18-19

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, [19] but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Cor. 5:18-19, 21

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation… God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Titus 3:5

he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

Ephes. 2:16, 18

and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Col. 1:19-20

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
5. We Must Believe: Place your trust in Christ the Messiah rather than yourself

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; [26] and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

John 1:12

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

Jn3.36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Ephes. 2:8-10

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
6. Assurance: You have no need to fear, God has called you as His own from eternity

Ephes. 1:3-8

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [4] For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love [5] he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace [8] that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

1 John 5:11-13

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

[13] I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

John 5:24

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

Ephes. 1:13-14

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.

1 Cor. 15:4-5, 57

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve... But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matt

Mondays with Matt

2010-03-08T22:00:00.001-06:00

As we begin a new series at AEffect we thought it would be good to have some follow-up directly related to Sunday nights hit the blog on Monday so that we continue to move from nights of worship to lives of worship. Every Monday for the next three months Matt Klingler will be writing on the blog to continue fanning the flame of worship from our Sunday night gatherings into our week. Whether you attend AEffect regularly or read this blog from outside Dallas I know you will be enriched by what Matt has to say because of his love for our great King and his passion to see people far from God brought so very near.

His first post begins below. Praying all of you have a week ordered with intentionality that brings joy to the heart of God and Christ to the hearts of those far from HIm.

with great joy,
R.D.

I must say, it was a pleasure worshiping with you all last night. We are more than refreshed by your desire to interact with God, towards a more intimate relationship with Him, and to seek the concrete truths of the faith. In relationship with Him, clinging to solid truths, we will continue to use our weeks to make decisions which move us to places of death (to self for others), and may one day be called to give our lives for Him (if we end up somewhere over seas this may be more probable).

Below you will find two things: First, my life story in three churches, experiencing a varied liturgy in each. Second, a short explanation of how to create some intentional personal liturgies for yourself this week. Our hope is that you will grow in your love of God, intimately knowing Him, and in your grasping of core doctrines of the faith, clinging to them in glorious life until death.

My Church Story:
My nose sniffs for the scents of liturgy smoking from the bishop’s incense jar, swinging gently from left to right as he walks the center isle. A train of pallbearers, or acolytes, trails behind him. Death lingered there. No gospel. Not much bible. Lots of inclusion. Many Episcopal churches are drenched in the gospel, the bone dry community of Saint Johns Episcopal rattled with Jesus’ absence. I wondered if smoke would rise from the gold dangling jar if it lay limp. Lots of the pomp and circumstance dissipated before my 12yr old heart could drink in the hollow majestic. Sitting, Prayers of the People, standing, chanting of the Nicene Creed, kneeling, starchy wafers for communion.

I miss it. I miss God’s grandeur shouting from stain glass windows; Jesus’ big wooden cross staring down at me; knowing I don’t decide when to sit and stand. Somehow, in this jumbled broken church, I met Jesus. Maybe it was God’s little trick to remind me I’m not in control, and He’s not predictable. He guides my sitting, standing, praying. My brother met Jesus in YoungLife. The Holy Spirit dragged them both to me right in those pews. Confirmation class was more fun after that.

“What do you mean, Jesus died for your sins? What’s that have to do with this?” the teacher asked. I clammed up, not knowing she wasn’t pressing my ignorance with her truthful inquisition. The gospel somehow trickled through the liturgy, the call to worship, the time of confession, the preached word which never mentioned Jesus, and the sacraments that mentioned Him every week. My Confirmation teacher didn’t have to know what she was talking about.

My rebellious teen years brought me, and my brother, to Grace Community Church. Our parents’ feet remained cemented for two years in what I thought was their “dead church.” Nothing like church to split a family. Now we just do it internally, sending kids this way, wives that, and husbands at home or isolated in their own manly bible-studies. Grace Community was a wonderful church, timely placed by God to draw me into a deep love relationship with Jesus, and connect me in a community of His followers seeking to reach the lost. No pews, just cooshy chairs; no hymnals, glitzy Power Point and guitars; no swinging incense, no cross. We were cool. We wouldn’t let the building or the liturgy stop anyone from hearing the gospel through the preached word and praise band. He spoke loudly.

Intentional leaders shepherded me through the bible, taught me how to pray, showed me that a relationship with homeboy Jesus, and reaching the world were grand goals. Sure we were in small groups, a corporate Sunday morning service (which our youth-group leader didn’t attend), but what really mattered was our quite times. I grew a ton. Even married the pastor’s daughter.

College had me in a PCUSA church run by a Princeton grad who held hands with the PCA, and hired a DTS covenant theologian as his right hand man. Needless to say, we were a church seeking identity. I have never been a part of a more disorganized, uncool, Sunday morning service aiming for “contemporary” and missing it by a mile. But, the preaching and Sunday School adult education opened my eyes to the sovereignty of God and the diversity of His expression. Theology never smelled so good. God’s current eddied in a denominational stream. Miraculous. My mind, passions, and expression of church would never be the same.

Then we came to Dallas. Married, and seeking a church that would “fit” both Courtney and me, Northwest Bible became home, and then office. I’m not sure we get it all right, pretty sure we don’t. I know we come before Christ in brokenness, and sometimes celebrate His work in redemption. He is center stage. The sacraments remain background highlights, and hymns are sung early to satiate the old school. But we’re trying. In every broken setting: liturgical; bible church; or some sort of blend, Jesus trickles through the cracks.

Personal Liturgy:

God is the first cause, the fount, the beginning. We are affected, caught in His stream of movement, and react to His impetus. Our corporate liturgy, as experienced last night, captures the following elements:

1. God calls us to worship Him; stepping into His presence we are struck by our sinfulness and respond with confession.

2. God assures us of blamelessness in Christ; we respond singing songs of praise for His grace.

3. God speaks to us through His word explained; we respond by clinging to Christ in communion in our shortcoming, remembering His provision, and for the power to obey.

4. God charges us to live lives empowered by Christ, through the Holy Spirit, as His friends and disciples; we respond by stepping into our week to worship Him with our lives.

In the coming weeks we will experience God through interacting with Him in these same elements, though in a sundry ways. On Sunday nights, before you week begins, reset the pace of your week, plan for times where you will intentionally interact with God.

When creating this movement for yourself, we hope that the following suggestions are helpful:
1. Spend time sitting before God to prepare your heart (Ps46.10)

2. Knowing that He has welcomed you into His presence reflect on Him, His holiness, character, perfection, provision…

a. Choose a small piece of a Psalm to read slowly. Allow it to capture for you who He is.

Psalm 139; 27; 36; 45; 8; 104; 148; 33; 89; 96; 66; 99; 145; 23; 42; 51; 32; 111; 130; 76; 89; 93; 19; 119; 71; 97; 113; 104; 139; 143; 34; 81; 107

b. List the characteristics of God that most stuck out to you. How did He show you this about Himself recently?

c. Confess the opposite of this in your life (ex. if He is faithful, how have you been unfaithful).

3. Bask in the forgiveness He offers, and has secured for you in Christ.

a. the following scriptures may be helpful in remembering your security in Christ.

2Cor5.12; Eph2.1-10; 1Jn1.8-10; 1Jn3.1-3; 1Peter3.18a; 1Peter1.18-19

b. Spend time simply praising God, thanking Him for His grace. Linger on Jn1.12, knowing you are and will always be His child. Sing, write, sit, do whatever helps you to praise Him.

4. Spend some time listening to God’s word. Study whatever you are studying, meditate on whatever scripture you are currently reading. Begin in the gospels if you are not currently reading anything. What is He saying to you about Himself, and yourself.

5. Do not merely listen to the word do what it says (James1.22). What is God commanding from you? Is there a change in your actions He is commanding? Is there a change in your belief He desires? Set a plan to live in the grace of Christ, by the power of the Spirit, in this step of obedience. Tell a friend (maybe someone in your small group) and ask them to help walk with you in this obedience.

Matt

Mondays with Matt

2010-03-08T16:15:00.002-06:00

Give It Up

2010-02-17T01:09:00.002-06:00

I grew up in the Episcopal Church for many years and so I participated in the season of Lent for many years during my childhood. Every year my family would "give up" something for Lent. It was a tradition and this year I am going to try and bring some of my liturgical roots back.

What is Lent you may be asking? Even if you aren't asking it...I am going to tell you what it is my people...

Lent originally meant "springtime": the word comes from the Old English word for "spring," lencten, which came from lengan, "to make longer"—reminding us that the slow, wonderful lengthening of this season in our souls can signal an end to a winter of bitterness and the flowering of Christ's love in us.

Lent begins today, on Ash Wednesday, a day which starts the final 40 days until Easter Sunday, April 4th. Lent has been celebrated since the early beginnings of the Church and especially by the Catholic Church, and that devotion to the Lenten season continues today, and it is seeing a revival among Protestant churches. This is good stuff.

During Lent, these upcoming 40 days, many people decide to fast from something that they are truly committed to. Whether that is giving up television or fast food or facebook or sweets...you want to give up anything that will cause some type of sacrifice on your part and bring your attention from whatever you are giving up back to God and seeking His provision during the time when you are fasting from whatever you have given up. Give it up and give that time back to the Lord.

This year I plan on giving up any type of drink except for water. Can I drink only water for 40 days? I am going to give it a go, and I am following after this program from the clean water organization Blood: Water Mission. Check out the program here.

I hope that you will consider joining millions of Christians around the world and throughout the history of the Christianity in participating in the forty days of Lent. Is there something you should fast from? Something that you can give up for forty days for God and point your heart towards the coming of Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday. Find something you love and for the Lord...

Give it up,
R.D.

GET OFF YOUR BUTT

2010-02-08T23:20:00.004-06:00

This past weekend I was down in Austin attending the Verge Missional Community Conference. It was, without question, the most spiritually powerful and transformative weekend of my life. I have never been in a setting where I felt the spirit of God more directly. The Holy Spirit was just making it rain all over the weekend through worship, the speakers, and the entire conference.

The conference was aimed to get the church get off her butt and out in the culture reaching people groups, cities, and nations with the message of Jesus Christ. Speaker after speaker kept challenging all of us that for a church to reach the culture it has to be outward focused, not inward focused. The church has to be without walls, a sending agency for all the people of God to do the work of God.

The work of God is for all God's people. Everyone is a minister, everyone possessing all the gifts they need to plant the Gospel in anyone...anywhere. Alan Hirsch, a speaker at the conference, said that "Your conversion is your commission, your baptism is your ordination." And he talked about the church (and any institution) often strives for equilibrium, for the status quo, for business as usual. And he said this is why the church in the United States is simply no longer reaching the culture. The church is passionate about her equilibrium and "maintaing" order.

Jesus is our disequilibrium.

Jesus is all about messing us up and making us uncomfortable and breaking us of our traditions for the spreading of His Name. The closer you get to Jesus, the more dangerous things are gonna get. Jesus has called you to share Him with everyone. You have all the gifts you need. You must go. Live on mission wherever you are. Wherever you are.

Jesus has sent us out in the world. We exist for Him. So how many lost people do we know? How many times have we had them over to dinner in our apartments the last few weeks? How well have we loved others?

Do we really take the time to see people? To walk slowly enough through life so that all the people that we interact with can be impacted by us. Give up the comfort, give up the security, give up spending your life doing things that don't matter.

Jesus is so serious about loving others. We take so much of what Jesus said as suggestions, as good ethics to live by, but we are either obedient to Christ or we aren't. End of story.

So is Jesus your disequilibrium? Francis Chan spoke Saturday afternoon right before the conference ended and he spoke on suffering. The Scriptures call all of us to die to ourselves and that call for most Christians has meant they will probably die physically because of their faith. Francis Chan said that "some of us need to suffer just to know if we are for real." Are we for real? If all you had was Jesus would that be enough? If you woke up tomorrow and everything you had was gone and everyone you loved was gone and all you had was Jesus...would he be enough? Francis Chan challenged us to live radically for the sake of Jesus. To quit being Christian atheists who say we love Jesus but don't love the poor, don't tell anyone about Jesus, don't want to actually sacrifice in any way for the Kingdom. And in the worship that followed him message the Holy Spirit absolutely blew up the room like nothing I have ever seen. Ever.

And I think there was such unity in the room, such oneness in the room of people saying we are done playing church, we are done with the small things of this world, we are done trying to get people to like us, we are done doing anything except surrendering to Christ and His will for our lives. We are done seeking equilibrium for our lives. We want Jesus and His spirit. And Jesus was saying right back that this it...we are getting it finally. We exist for others. You exist to love others.

GET ON MISSION. LIVE THE GOSPEL. LOVE YOUR CITY. PRAY FOR THE NATIONS. LIVE LIKE JESUS ACTUALLY ROSE FROM THE DEAD. BE JOYFUL. NOW. RIGHT NOW.

True giving is not measure in what you actually give, but in what you give up. Francis Chan said that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter and he asked us "Why would God send the Comforter if we were supposed to be comfortable?"

LET JESUS BE YOUR DISEQUILIBRIUM. KILL RELIGION. LIVE THE GOSPEL. BE RADICAL. EVERYTHING IS AT STAKE.

"I had to go, I just had to go, and I didn't care anymore if anyone was coming with me...cause I had to sleep at night." -Francis Chan

SO GO. GO. GO. GO. GO. JUST SAY YES AND GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND INTO THE CITY.

Check out this video from the Austin Stone. It says it all. The Gospel matters. And those who have yet to be transformed by it remain enslaved to brokenness, to shame, to guilt, to separation from ultimate LOVE.

FREE THE SLAVES,
RD

A Generous God

2009-11-26T00:19:00.002-06:00

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." -Psalm 118:1

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9

People often throw around such phrases like "God is good" or "God has been so good to me" with such frequency that it can seem to lose its meaning, or worse yet...have its true meaning dumbed down to something reserved for a quotation on a coffee cup or an old and tired running shirt. It is a powerful and beautiful phrase, but do we even know what it means when we say it?

How is God is good? How has He been good? Paul says that the wages of our sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. On Thanksgiving we recall so many good things in our lives-- our family, our friends, our freedoms, our blessings, our faith. We recall things that we are truly thankful for, for ways that love has been shown to us.

The Psalms remind us over and over again to thank our good God, our powerful God, our mighty Lord. Psalm 118:1 tells us to "give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." It is right and good to think of God as mighty and powerful and sovereign, but it also important to remember to remember that our God is GOOD. In all things He works for the good of those who love Him Paul says in Romans. ALL THINGS work together for the good of us and the glory of God. Good days, bad days, heartbreaks, celebrations, joys, sorrows...ALL THINGS work together for our ultimate good and for His ultimate fame. On Thanksgiving I think it is especially important to remember that our great God and King is good in His essence. If I have described LOVE as a VERB, an action, then God has shown us His love and goodness in the cross of Jesus Christ.

We know that God is good because He has been good. We are thankful to Him because of what He has already done. Often we are looking for God to do this thing for us or that thing for us to show us that He truly is good, when we need to look back to what He already has done to see how much love He has for us.

God has been so generous to us. Through the cross Jesus gave us something to boast in, someone to boast in, someone to ultimately thank for every good and perfect gift. He remains the one and only God, the great Savior, mighty and awesome, the reconciler and redeemer, the lion and the lamb, our greatest hope and ultimate reality, our GOOD God who shows us love in this way...that while we still sinners, while we were at our worst...He died.

So we remember how wonderfully generous God has been to us and be generous to all those God has put in our life. In the same way that we love because He first loved us, we are generous because He has been so generous to us.

May we trust how good God is by seeing how good God has been in the cross of Jesus Christ. May we be thankful for our salvation, for the death of our sin nature, and for the ultimate resurrection of all who believe in the name of God's son.

God is good indeed,
R.D.

Fusion Conference

2009-11-03T15:13:00.003-06:00

The Fusion Conference is coming up this weekend at Irving Bible Church here in Dallas.

Interested?

The conference is an incredible time of worship, challenging teaching, and calls to be "traders"....people who want to trade in the American dream for a generation of people in desperate need of the Gospel.

The conference runs from Friday night to Saturday afternoon and registration is only $29. This is a good investment of your time.

The conference website is here

Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Donald Miller, Kay Warren, George Barna, and others will be leading throughout the weekend, challenging young adults to put their faith in Jesus into action for Jesus in this world.

Love is a Verb. Join us at the this conference and be inspired to risk even more for love, and even more for sake of our great God.

R.D.

Love is a Verb

2009-11-02T01:15:00.002-06:00

1 John 4:7-12
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

Love is a Verb.

The word love is thrown around with such frequency these days that its' meaning has become lost. We love God. We love our girlfriend. We love our socks. Same word. Three radically different things.

Love...is a Verb.

Love is an action. It is not some theoretical idea floating about in space, just out there, way out there. I have come across many people who always struggle with understanding God's love for them. How does God love us? How can we feel this love more deeply? We can unpack human love, love between two people, but when it comes to God's loves for us it can be hard to articulate in a passionate way actually.

Love comes from God. God is love. And God is always on the move, asking all of us to join Him in His mission of turning everything that has gone wrong into beautiful pockets of redemption. God created man, and then created a woman for that man to love, to cherish, to romance, to fight for. Does Adam love Eve by simply staring at her? By randomly walking by her and dropping her off some classy (minus the classy part) Hallmark card? No! He goes and practices some dominion over the animals and cooks her a meal and shows her that he loves her by moving with action towards her.

Love is birthed in the heart of God. A love centered on action. Jesus comes on a rescue mission, on a love mission to bring us back to Him. John says that "this is love: not that we love God, but that God has loved us and SENT His son as atoning sacrifice for our sins". THIS IS LOVE! God. In Action. On the move. Flexing His muscle. Fighting for His bride--the church.

Let's recover LOVE. Love is an action, not an idea. Love as the hard work of the Gospel lived out in a community of broken people. This is love, that God has loved us in a radical way through the Cross. There is no greater action than this...Christ walking to the Skull Hill--to the Cross. John goes on to say that when we love each other, God Himself lives in us and this love has been made complete. Love is a way of living, not simply a way of thinking about someone else. This is how Christ has modeled love for us, as an action, as a sacrifice for the sake of His name.

Love is a Verb.

How did God show us His love? By an ACTION! By sending His son--Jesus the Christ. How do we show love to others? By giving our time and resources to them. So go for that coffee, that lunch, that phone call and live out this love and watch your love for God grow as you come to understand His love for us in the way He always meant for us to understand it. As Matt Klingler often says "Let's just start loving people like crazy...". Let's love them like crazy with deeds.

"Greater love has NO ONE than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" -Jesus Christ (John 15)

Lay it all down. With actions. Jesus has laid it all down for us.

LOVE IS A VERB.

that the city would know His love (through us),
R.D.

All Things for the Gospel

2009-10-23T15:52:00.003-05:00

For those who interested...this is the entry I wrote for Northwest's October daily prayer guide concerning our new building fund and future generations vision at the church that has been distributed church wide. Today is my day. More people praying is always awesome.

All Things For the Gospel

"For by grace you have been saved. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10

The world is broken. Dallas-Fort Worth is broken. You are broken. I am broken. Everything is broken. And there is nothing we can do to fix it. Nothing. In our essence as men and women we are fractured, and no amount of self-help or education or money is going to fix that.
The greatest problem in the universe is sin. It is our sin that makes us broken. And no matter how many Max Lucado or Beth Moore books you read, no matter how much you volunteer at Northwest, no matter how many R-rated movies you avoid, you can't save yourself. You can't do it. Jesus Christ is the only one who can fix that brokenness. In order to be agents of the gospel we have to know the gospel. God saved us in His sovereign grace. Paul says, "This is not of your own doing, this is not a result of works so that nobody can boast." Because if it was our works that saved us, then we would just boast in ourselves and how we accomplished this or that goal.
As we build a new building or do anything as a body, it is vital to never forget the radical beauty of the gospel and its implications. I pray we would never become indifferent or apathetic to the gospel because we "get it" or because we have heard it so many times. We must praise God for His grace, for the cross, for Jesus every single day. We must not simply be hearers of the Gospel, but must do the hard work of the gospel. Paul says we were created in Jesus 'FOR good works', not saved by them but created to walk in them, to do them after we have been saved. So we are saved FROM but also saved FOR! This is how we push back what is dark in this world, by serving our city and our world with the love and grace by which we were saved--tearing down all the walls that humanity puts up to divide.
Everyone is broken. So let's not just be passionate at memorizing Scripture and doctrine, but let's be passionate about serving the least of these--the oppressed, the forgotten, the poor--that those far from God would come near.

Prayer
May we be people who constantly come before the cross of Jesus Christ and cry out, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." The Gospel callus to humility, to an understanding that God has saved us out of the overflow of His mercy and love TO mission. May we be people who both receive the Gospel and live out the Gospel in a broken world. Let's pray for the beautiful depth of the Gospel to constantly challenge, confront, and expose our arrogance, our idols, and our works-righteousness. Let us also pray to be agents of the Gospel, to have Christ show us ways to be His hands and feet in the city of Dallas and the world.
John Newton said, "I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour." May this truth be written in our hearts and lived out with our lives for the glory of God and the salvation of all people.

For the City

2009-10-19T00:29:00.001-05:00

For the City
There is a growing movement of people here and abroad who are seeking justice for the oppressed, fighting poverty, standing in the gap for the least of these, and actively seeking the restoration of broken world.

People seem so willing to serve their city and their world. This is good news. And part of THE Good News of the Kingdom of God.

James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Good, old fashioned religion--seeking justice.
This is not an optional call for Christians, this is part of the call to mission. You would have to be truly close-minded not to see the heart for justice that Jesus has in the Gospels. Seeking justice for the oppressed in this world is what we must do while we are here.

At Aeffect we have been dealing with issues of heaven and hell and with how we call people to service in the here and now. We have highlighted Apartment Life and will be rolling out a beefed up missional evangelism program where we will be going out to meet the people of Dallas where they are instead of always inviting them to things that we are doing. Through Meet Up groups, events, and other service activities we are going to "get out" there more than ever and be present with people where they are, loving and serving them for the sake of Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 61

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

The Lord loves justice because He loves joy. As justice is unleashed upon people joy increases in the hearts of those receiving justice and those fighting for justice. Jesus is after our joy, and our joy is made complete in Jesus Christ. You love God by loving your neighbor and serving those God has placed on your heart.

Coming next month to Dallas is a great event, the Dallas Justice Revival.
On November 10-12, Tuesday through Thursday nights there will be live worship and preaching in downtown Dallas from those who are extremely passionate about social justice AND Jesus Christ. Registration is free, but required. More importantly the Justice Revival event is organizing a city-wide "Service Saturday" event for November 14th where 10 different service events (from painting elementary schools in South Dallas to cleaning up homes in West Dallas) will be done from 9am to 1pm. I'm hoping you register and join me (and thousands of others) who will be serving on that day for the city and for the glory of God.

I think many of us have a burden for people to know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the best ways to unpack the Gospel for people is to love them and meet their physical needs. So don't be indifferent to your city or against your city, be FOR your city and engage in acts of mercy and justice to the lost, the least, and the left out.

Push back the darkness in this world. Serve Jesus. Serve the poor. Affect Eternity.

for the city,
R.D.

If you have 15 minutes. Check out this video from the Catalyst Conference and Compassion International. This is the Gospel.

For the City

2009-10-17T00:16:00.002-05:00

There is a growing movement of people here and abroad who are seeking justice for the oppressed, fighting poverty, standing in the gap for the least of these, and actively seeking the restoration of broken world.

People seem so willing to serve their city and their world. This is good news. And part of THE Good News of the Kingdom of God.

James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Good, old fashioned religion--seeking justice.
This is not an optional call for Christians, this is part of the call to mission. You would have to be truly close-minded not to see the heart for justice that Jesus has in the Gospels. Seeking justice for the oppressed in this world is what we must do while we are here.

At Aeffect we have been dealing with issues of heaven and hell and with how we call people to service in the here and now. We have highlighted Apartment Life and will be rolling out a beefed up missional evangelism program where we will be going out to meet the people of Dallas where they are instead of always inviting them to things that we are doing. Through Meet Up groups, events, and other service activities we are going to "get out" there more than ever and be present with people where they are, loving and serving them for the sake of Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 61

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

The Lord loves justice because He loves joy. As justice is unleashed upon people joy increases in the hearts of those receiving justice and those fighting for justice. Jesus is after our joy, and our joy is made complete in Jesus Christ. You love God by loving your neighbor and serving those God has placed on your heart.

Coming next month to Dallas is a great event, the Dallas Justice Revival. www.justicerevival.org
On November 10-12, Tuesday through Thursday nights there will be live worship and preaching in downtown Dallas from those who are extremely passionate about social justice AND Jesus Christ. Registration is free, but required. More importantly the Justice Revival event is organizing a city-wide "Service Saturday" event for November 14th where 10 different service events (from painting elementary schools in South Dallas to cleaning up homes in West Dallas) will be done from 9am to 1pm. I'm hoping you register and join me (and thousands of others) who will be serving on that day for the city and for the glory of God.

I think many of us have a burden for people to know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the best ways to unpack the Gospel for people is to love them and meet their physical needs. So don't be indifferent to your city or against your city, be FOR your city and engage in acts of mercy and justice to the lost, the least, and the left out.

Push back the darkness in this world. Serve Jesus. Serve the poor. Affect Eternity.

for the city,
R.D.

If you have 15 minutes. Check out this video from the Catalyst Conference and Compassion International. This is the Gospel.
http://vimeo.com/7072300

You Weren't Born a Christian

2009-09-15T02:28:00.001-05:00

You Aren't Born a Christian

You aren't born a Christian.

According to Scripture we are all born in darkness and far from God. Genesis 3 records the Fall. Everything is broken.
The world is lost in darkness. In Genesis 12 God gets his boy Abram and begins pushing back all that is dark in the world through a chosen people...the Israelites. They will be the light, they will be God's holy people.

The story of the nation of Israel is one of heartbreak and pain, joy and grace. It is, in every sense of the word, epic.

Enter Jesus Christ. God's Son. Our Savior. Our Peace. Our Sacrifice. Our King.

Jesus ushers in the Kingdom of God and calls people to repent and believe. Jesus calls all people to this. Repent.

In Matthew 28, Jesus lays out what has become known as the "Great Commission". Jesus tells His disciples to go out, to baptize, to call people to repentance, to teach them about Him, to work for the welfare of the nations. The story of this Great Commission continues to this day. You don't know Jesus apart from His first 12 disciples. Without their preaching and teaching of the Gospel throughout Israel and beyond we do not know Jesus Christ as Savior.

You aren't born a Christian. 99% of us come to Christ because someone told us about the Gospel. Whether that is a family member or a spouse or a friend or a pastor you were told about Jesus by SOMEBODY. You weren't born with a knowledge of God's love for you or an understanding of the Gospel. You were made aware of it by the love of someone for you in your life.

As we were told the beautiful message of the Cross at some point in our life we should find the courage to tell someone else in our life about the Gospel. It has been reported that almost 90% of Christians never share their faith. Shameful.

Everyone is created to worship God, but most people substitute something in for God. Something far less than God. John Piper writes that "Missions exists because worship doesn't." Missions is not the end goal for us, worship is.
The worship of God is what we are created for and it is where we come alive and find our meaning and our hope.

Continue the message. Fight the fight. You weren't born a Christian. Someone told you about Jesus. Once you were far from God, but now you have been called God's.

1 Peter 2:9-10 states "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

God did it. He sends His people to shout to the world BE RECONCILED TO GOD!!!

Praying we love people enough to share the Gospel with them.
For the City, For the Nations, For the Glory of God.

R.D.

Functional Saviors

2009-09-01T22:59:00.002-05:00

What do we worship?

We are all created for worship, for the worship of God. But people often substitute numerous other things for God. These are counterfeit gods, good, bad, and neutral things that we make ultimate in our lives.

All people desire certain things. Praise, community, love, and purpose to name a few.
Where might non-Christians and even Christians go to ultimately satisfy these desires?

Praise--Athletics/Sports
Community--Friendships
Love--Spouse/Boyfriend/Girlfriend
Purpose--Religion/Spirituality

But let's be honest, Christians are also likely to make these things ultimate in their lives. We may not always actively seek out such things, but the way we live our lives screams out that we find our identity and fulfillment in sports or girls or our job. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but when we make good things ultimate things then we are falling into idolatry.

These things become our functional saviors and they take us away from Jesus, our ultimate savior. I am all for playing sports, for dating people, for excelling at your vocation, for loving your family, but when those things become where I find my peace, my meaning, my joy, my hope then I am falling into sin and in the end only making myself more unhappy, more angry, and more hopeless than before.

As Christians we want to continue to move our hearts toward God and we want to push people far from God towards God at the same time. So we need to ask what things pull us more towards God? And what things pull us away from God? What stirs our affections for Christ Jesus? And what robs us of those affections for Jesus?

I think it could be a good idea to make a list of things that you do which stir up your soul for Jesus and a list of things which don't. These lists would likely change over time as we grow and mature in our faith, but my lists look like this.

What stirs up my affections for Jesus Christ.
1. Reading stories of international missionaries both past and present
2. Early mornings and hot coffee (now that God has finally opened my eyes to the glory that is coffee)
3. Watching people worship
4. Going on drives and turning up some great music (all kinds of music here)
5. The book of Ephesians
6. A great meal with great friends
7. Listening to sermons by Tim Keller, John Piper, Francis Chan, and Matt Chandler
8. Talking with people about the Gospel
9. Reading deep, weighty theological books
10. Watching sunsets

What robs me of my affections for Jesus Christ.
1. Too much time alone
2. Staying up too late at night for no real reason
3. Watching too much television or spending too much time on the internet
4. Being lazy
5. Focusing too much on me and my issues
6. Watching too many sports or following sports too closely
7. Spending too much time with only Christians (does that make sense?...it does to me)
8. Not finding time to work out or run

Now these lists will definitely look different from any list that you might make. Praise God! But this is just to give you an idea of what you might write down. There is no one size fits all method to growing in Christ. I can promise you it will include two things...praying and reading the Scriptures. Outside of those two things I believe God has given us all a lot of different passions and ways which make us truly come alive in Him.

Don't try and be like someone else. You aren't them. You aren't supposed to be. Discover what makes you come alive in Jesus and run in that. Run towards Jesus, to the cross of Christ and find your identity and your hope there, not in your best friend, your job, your boy or girlfriend, or even your parents.

John Newton said "Two things I know: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Saviour." So do things which impress this beautiful truth on your life in tangible ways. Christ has saved you. Live in that and run away from all of these counterfeit gods that only move our affections away from Christ and rob us of the deep joy Jesus has for us.

May the Lord bless you and keep you this week.

R.D.

A Praying Life

2009-08-28T02:23:00.002-05:00

Prayer can (and often is) a difficult thing for most Christians. I will admit it is something that has never come very easy to me. I am not one of those people who loves waking up at 6 in the morning to pray continuously for 30 minutes every single morning. I am not that guy. Prayer can be hard for me.

What does a biblical prayer life look like? I think it is important to realize that there is not one way to pray that pleases God more than others. I don't think it matters when you pray or even (dare I say it) how long you prayer. Prayer is a time for you to connect with God and for God to speak over you. I don't think it automatically has to look like you getting on your knees and praying on your bed every night before you go to bed in order for God to hear your prayers. There is no one standard. God has wired us differently and one of the ways Christians can differ is in how they approach their prayer life.

Pray. Jesus prayed. Jesus calls us to a praying life, a life that calls, pleads, and begs God to move on behalf of a person, a city, or a people group. We pray because we love. We love because God has loved us.

Keep on praying, let the Holy Spirit guide you with what to pray for. Be honest. Be real. Be you. Don't try and use fancy theological words or go on and on and on to try and impress God or make Him more impressed with you by your words. Don't be that guy or gal. Just don't. Please. Speak with God about what is on your heart, what you struggle with, what you dream about, what you don't understand, what you love...and so on. Pray about your life and pray about things besides your own life too.
Confess your sins. Thank God for His love and grace. Pray for God to move in your life and in the world. And say Amen.

Things/People/Organizations/Randomness I Pray For (in case you care or want some other things to pray for)
-People far from God to come to near to God
-the local and global Church
-the city of Dallas
-Compassion International (children I sponsor, children who needs sponsors) www.compassion.com
-International Justice Mission www.ijm.org
-Charity:Water www.charitywater.org
-Mercy Ships www.mercyships.org
-National Center for Missing and Exploited Children www.missingkids.com (children who have been taken from their homes)
-St. Jude's Children Research Hospital www.stjude.org
-my family
-Christian friends/Non-Christian friends
-different cities in the world/different countries in the world
-the Persecuted Church www.persecution.com
-public schools in the United States
-education for children around the world
-HIV/AIDS patients
-victims of human trafficking/child slavery/forced labor
-international missionaries
-my heart, my life, forgiveness of my sins, deeper joy
-orphans/orphanages
-extreme poverty
-homelessness both locally, nationally, and globally
-people with life-threatening diseases, illnesses, or health issues
-the redemption, restoration, and renewal of all things for the glory of God

Now no I don't pray for all of these things every single time I pray, but throughout a given week I try and find time to pray through most of these of things. It is good for my soul.

Pray for big things for we serve a big God. Don't let prayer frustrate you, let it bring you to the throne of God with a healthy fear and a holy trembling and fill you with a deeper more majestic vision of our Great God and King--the Lord Jesus Christ.

praying for all of you,
R.D.

For the Good of the City and the Glory of God

2009-08-18T01:17:00.002-05:00

The biblical account starts in a garden, but it ends in a city. When the gospel first began rolling out it began rolling out in the cities, the big cities of the Ancient world. The gospel began to tear down all the walls that separate man from each other and create a new humanity.

Whether it was age, race, gender, socio-economic status, religious background, political persuasion...whatever it was that separated men and women from each the gospel tore it down, just blew it all the way up.

In what world do people from all over the map (on virtually every level one can possibly mean that) come to sit down together at the same table? In what world does a Fortune 500 business executive dine with a homeless city dweller? Where does the mother of four from Nebraska sit with the redeemed prostitute from Long Island? Where do people of different tribes and tongues become one people in this radical way? In the new humanity that is God's kingdom.

It all starts in the city. The gospel must blow up the city because culture flows out from the city today into the heartland. It is in the city where so many cultures, religions, and peoples collide on a daily basis and it is there where the gospel must be planted and unpacked for the people.

We are broken. Dallas-Ft. Worth is broken. The world is broken. Everyone and everything is broken. And whether you profess faith in Jesus or Buddha, or whether you hate the gospel it doesn't really matter--everyone knows something has gone wrong in the world. Just take a drive through downtown Dallas any night of the week and see the brokenness in our city in the eyes of people's faces.

In Dallas it is hip to go to church. The culture is still pretty heavily Christian, but not very biblical. In the DFW area people have had just enough of Jesus to feel like they "get" Him, like the understand Him and don't really need to be taught the same things over and over again on weekends at church. This is the city where most of us who read this blog live. It is a difficult city to reach for Christ, we actually need to get people lost in order to get them found. Good times...I know.

This looks different in every city, from Dallas to Seattle, Austin to Boston, London to Cape Town, but we all serve the same God, who calls us to love the city where He has us and serve the city for the good of the city and for the glory which is all God's.

Greater things are still to be done,
R.D.

All That Matters

2009-07-24T12:42:00.002-05:00

I recently wrapped up over six weeks of teaching/pastoring/learning with high schoolers in Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, and West Virginia. It was truly an amazing summer. God did mighty things in and through and sometimes even in spite of me.
The Gospel was made clear to many and hundreds came to confess Jesus as Savior.

What else is there then that?

As I reflect on my summer and think about what it is that we are trying to do here in this world I was struck by the fact that what else is there but the Gospel? What else to hope in, to cling to, to hold fast to?

So many students I came in contact with thought there was so much more out there then the Gospel and it was a joy to be able to unpack who Jesus was and wasn't for them and to see that just blow up their worldview. Many came to know Christ, but a good number didn't. At the end of the day all we have as Christians is the work of Jesus Christ for us on the cross. Without that what do we have?

As I return to Dallas in a little over a week and get back to the regular Monday to Friday grind of life I pray that I take advantages of opportunities that are all around to intersect the gospel of Jesus with people's lives. God is already on the move. He doesn't need us, but He wants us. How much better is that? God doesn't need to use us, doesn't have to have us to accomplish His great story, His great plan but He chooses to us to make His name known.

Are we sinful? Yes. Are we broken? Yes. Are we often confused about what to do? Yes. Does God still use us...Yes. Don't wait to get your life perfect or for God to call you to Africa to get moving. Get in the fight now...right where you are.
Don't ask "God, what is your plan for my life?" ask instead..."God...what is Your plan?" and then go align yourself with what God is already doing in your family, school, job, city, and world.

All that matters is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Name, Fame, Renown lifted higher. It is that beautiful and that simple.

So you don't get to just hang out and talk Jesus with people all day in your job? So what...get on the move where you are and let God be God. In the end...it is all we have and it is all we can depend on.

People are searching for truth and we pass by hundreds of them every single day.
Enough said.

This Summer at AEffect

2009-06-10T23:42:00.002-05:00

The summer is here...but the goodness that is AEffect continues to roll on friends...

AEffect is on for the 1st and 3rd Sundays through the summer, covering choices singles specifically make. The series “Every Single Choice” and it looks into things like living conditions (who to live with, roommate or not, moving…) or rest (video games, vacations, not resting…) and others. Basically, we will look at the choice and then scripture principles that will affect the way we make choices in that area.

June7:

Home: Living Conditions

June21:

Money: Buy Save Sell or Give?

July5:

Schedule: Overbooked Outlook

July19:

Dating: Start, End, or Marry

Aug2:

Free-time: Entertaining Vacation

Aug16:

Friendship: Community Life

Of course there is also Summer Study in the Park behind the Klinglers' house on Thursday Nights...here is the information for that...
Here is the plan…

All guys small groups and all gal small groups and anyone who wants to will meet at the park behind my house (15531 Leavalley Circle, Dal 75248 on Thursday nights throughout the summer (starting in June). The basic schedule of the night will be as follows:

6:45pm Open Hangout (Frisbee, bocce, tennis, talking, snacks…)

7:15pm Official Start Large Group Icebreaker/Game

7:30-8:15 Study in Small Groups (15ish mixed gender groups)

8:15-8:30 Current Small Groups Connect for prayer/accountability (The group you lead, guys with guys gals with gals)

8:30 and beyond… hang out...making great life choices no doubt into the moonlight...

Should be an awesome time all June, July, and August. Also, here is a link a sermon from Francis Chan. Just scroll down to 3/8/09 to listen to his talk called "Living Eternally" In fact anytime you want to check out Francis Chan...this is a good life choice...don't go exercise or walk your dog...listen to Francis Chan ;)

I am sure that many of you will be in and out this summer doing a thousand different things, but I hope you can make time for Thursday and Sunday nights for sure and for everything else that goes on throughout the week here in the Singles' Ministry.

I, your loyal blog host, life coach, and all around good guy will be out of Dallas until August teaching at some high school Christian camps. But, let not your hearts be troubled I shall return and I will be keeping the blog going while I am away and perhaps even sharing a funny story or two from camp this summer.

Have a wonderful summer.

R.D.

"You Are Here"
-A great video that kicked off the Catalyst West Coast Conference

This world matters. God has placed us here on earth to make His name famous. We are not just here waiting to go to heaven. We are on mission. We have work to do.

The world is broken and fractured and in need of redemption, redemption found in Jesus and brought about through people telling other people about Jesus. God has given us the responsibility of telling others about Him.

We, the church, have to engage the culture with Jesus right here and now.

People are dying. Jesus is the life.

What else is there to say.

-R.D.

A La Carte (4/21)

2009-04-21T04:52:00.002-05:00

Some interesting articles for you guys to roll through...

The Hand of God?
-Tremendous picture from nearly 600km above the Earth.

The Death of Girls in China
-Haunting article on China's one child policy

Adopted By Way of the Cross
-Powerful story of a husband and wife who adopted a newborn baby who they knew would live less than a year

Quiet Times Are Dead...Kind Of...
-Good little post from blogger Tim Challies about doing quiet times that actually transform your life day to day.

I pray that for those of you still working your way through the Old Testament with me that much good is coming from that. I was able to get away from the city this week and spend some time down in the countryside of Texas. It was truly a sabbath type weekend for me. As I was driving back up to Dallas I passed through miles and miles of open fields and lakes that you simply cannot find in the urban areas.

There is something to be said for getting away from it all...even if only for an hour or two a week if that is all you can muster for that week. Life is meant to be lived in community for sure, but make sure that you take some time for yourself to get alone with God and get away from all the noise that keeps us from reflecting on who we are and where we are going in this world.

Think. Reflect. Pray. Live. Keep it simple.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him so pursue joy and satisfaction in your relationship with Jesus as you take time to actually think through and reflect on who you are and what/where/why God has called you to certain things to bring glory to His name.

-R.D.

He is Risen

2009-04-12T00:54:00.000-05:00

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Christ has died
Christ has risen
Christ will come again...

Maundy Thursday

2009-04-09T16:54:00.002-05:00

If you've never heard the term, it's not Monday-Thursday (which always confused me as a kid), but Maundy Thursday, as in Mandatum Thursday. Mandatum is the Latin word for "command" or "mandate", and the day is called Maundy Thursday because on the night before his death Jesus gave his disciples a new command. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (John 13:34).

At first it seems strange that Christ would call this a new command. After all, the Old Testament instructed God's people to love their neighbors and Christ himself summarized the law as love for God and love for others. So what's new about love? What makes the command new is that because of Jesus' passion there is a new standard, a new examplar of love.

There was never any love like the dying love of Jesus. It is tender and sweet (13:33). It serves (13:2-17). It loves even unto death (13:1). Jesus had nothing to gain from us by loving us. There was nothing in us to draw us to him. But he loved us still, while we were yet sinners. At the Last Supper, in the garden, at his betrayal, facing the Jewish leaders, before Pontius Pilate, being scourged, carrying his cross, being nailed to the wood, breathing his dying breath, forsaken by God–he loved us. To the end. To death. Love shone best and brightest at Calvary.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy, cast off that I might be brought in, trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend, surrendered to hell's worst that I might attain heaven's best, stripped that I might be clothed, wounded that I might be healed, athirst that I might drink, tormented that I might be comforted, made a shame that I might inherit glory, entered darkness that I might have eternal life.

A great video about King Jesus from a sermon by S.M. Lockridge in 1976.
Good, rich stuff.

-R.D.

My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes, groaned that I might have endless song, endured all pain that I might have unfading health, bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem, bowed his head that I might uplift mine, experienced reproach that I might receive welcome, closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness, expired that I might for ever live (The Valley of Vision, "LoveLustres at Calvary").

The End of Christian America

2009-04-06T19:27:00.003-05:00

Newsweek's cover story next week is "The End of Christian America".
What are we to make of the end of Christian America? I am optimistic about the future of Christianity in America. The times...they are a-changing, but I don't think that is all bad. God is doing some new and exciting things through the local church here in the United States. As we take down "cultural Christianity" we can reinvent it and build it back up from the ground up. This is good news.

It is truly the end of a Christian America. But Jesus is still Jesus and His bride is still doing Her thang. This is no surprise to God and it should be no surprise to us.

We must continue to engage the culture with the gospel. Continue to combine the truth of the gospel with being Jesus' hands and feet in our city and our world.
The world has changed...as it always does...

but...

the work of Jesus goes on...as it always does...

happy holy week,
RD

Holy Week

2009-04-04T20:57:00.002-05:00

Holy Week is upon us.

What a name for a week? Holy. Week? Really? Yes...really. It is 'da holy week.

So that means you must be completely holy and sinless this week! It is holy week!

I jest...I will be watching the NCAA Basketball Championship on Monday night, getting my American Idol on Tuesday and Wednesday and doing other things besides reading my Bible throughout the week. Es bueno.

Holy Week kicks off with Palm Sunday. When Jesus came rolling into Jerusalem on a colt.
Mark 1:1-11 records the scence this way...

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2and said to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.'" 4And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5And some of those standing there said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" 6And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!Hosanna in the highest!"
11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve."

This is the beginning of the end. Jesus is headed to Jerusalem. This is the triumphal entry. The people are expecting the revolution to begin. This is the messiah who will restore Israel. The time is now.

And so they worship Him. But they do not know Him. And they do not love Him.
They will be gone by Friday. Disappointed and downcast.

But this is Palm Sunday and Jesus is beginning His movement to the cross. It has all been building to this week. This is the climax of the story. Without it we have nothing.

Matthew 21:10-11 goes like this...

"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Who is this? The people had little idea what was about to happen. Most of them apparently had no idea who Jesus was at all...

But there were some, those who knew. This is Jesus from Nazareth they told the city.
What a week it is going to be.

It is holy week. It is a different week. Take some time this week to dwell upon what this week means for those of us who confess "Jesus is Lord".

Maybe it won't pass by us like just another week.

-R.D.

April/May Reading Plan

2009-04-02T13:25:00.002-05:00

The Old Testament continues...

April 1: 2 Samuel 1-10
April 2: 2 Samuel 11-20
April 3: 2 Samuel 21-24
April 4: 1 Kings 1-10
April 5: 1 Kings 11-22
April 6: 2 Kings 1-10
April 7: 2 Kings 11-25
April 8: 1 Chronicles 1-8
April 9: 1 Chronicles 9-17
April 10: 1 Chronicles 18-29
April 11: 2 Chronicles 1-10
April 12: EASTER!
April 13: 2 Chronicles 11-21
April 14: 2 Chronicles 22-30
Apirl 15: 2 Chronicles 31-26
April 16: Ezra 1-5
April 17: Ezra 6-10
April 18: Nehemiah 1-6
April 19: Nehemiah 7-13
April 20: Esther 1-5
April 21: Esther 6-10
April 22: Job 1-10
April 23: Job 11-20
April 24: Job 21-30
April 25: Job 31-42
April 26: Psalm 1-10
April 27: Psalm 11-22
April 28: Psalm 23-35
April 29: Psalm 36-50
April 30: Psalm 51-65
May 1: Psalm 66-77
May 2: Psalm 78-88
May 3: Psalm 89-99
May 4: Psalm 100-110
May 5: Psalm 111-120
May 6: Psalm 121-130
May 7: Psalm 131-140
May 8: Psalm 141-150
May 9: Proverbs 1-10
May 10: Proverbs 11-20
May 11: Proverbs 21-31
May 12: Ecclesiastes 1-12
May 13: Song of Solomon 1-8
May 14: Isaiah 1-10
May 15: Isaiah 11-20
May 16: Isaiah 21-30
May 17: Isaiah 31-40
May 18: Isaiah 41-50
May 19: Isaiah 51-60
May 20: Isaiah 61-66
May 21: Jeremiah 1-10
May 22: Jeremiah 11-20
May 23: Jeremiah 21-30
May 24: Jeremiah 31-40
May 25: Jeremiah 41-52
May 26: Lamentations 1-5
May 27: Ezekial 1-10
May 28: Ezekial 11-20
May 29: Ezekial 21-30
May 30: Ezekial 31-40
May 31: Ezekial 41-48
June 1: Daniel 1-12
June 2: Hosea 1-14
June 3: Joel/Amos
June 4: Obadiah/Jonah
June 5: Micah/Nahum
June 6: Habakkuk/Zephaniah
June 7: Haggai
June 8: Zechariah
June 9: Malachi
And done...for those of you who did it...congratulations...job well done...

Whether you read through the OT with me or not is okay...I would just encourage you to spend some time in the Sciptures every day. It will be good times for you.

as always...email me with questions, comments, or funny jokes ;)

grace and peace,
RD

A La Carte (3/26)

2009-03-26T02:27:00.002-05:00

Matt Chandler on reaching the culture...

John Piper on radical Christian sacrifice...

Tim Keller on religion versus the Gospel...

Erwin McManus on God transforming your destiny...

Francis Chan on the narrow road...

-R.D.

Justice

2009-03-22T22:22:00.002-05:00

For those of you that were at AEffect on Sunday night you know it was an amazing time of worship with Travis Taylor. It was a powerful night.

We were challenged by Travis to get involved, to do something to stop extreme poverty and other social injustices.

True worship of Jesus Christ is about much more than singing songs and raising hands, more than preaching and teaching, more than all of that stuff. Worship of Jesus Christ must extend from the inside out. Jesus served others, He loved others, He gaves His life for others. He just loved.

We are called to do the same. The Gospel cannot just end with our own personal salvation. The Gospel should transform a city economically, culturally, spiritually, and socially. The Kingdom of God is here and now...not just some place we are going someday.

There are so many ways to get involved in the things that God is already doing. You don't have to hop and flight to Africa or Asia (though that would be awesome!) to seek justice for the oppressed and the broken. There are ways to get active here in the city of Dallas or wherever you live. Give money, sponsor a child, or just start informing yourself about what is going on in the world.

Children die every night all over the world from preventable diseases. Millions of women and children are sold in sexual slavery every single year. Extreme poverty kills people, families, and cities all over Africa. There is much suffering and injustice in this world, our world, and Jesus is calling us to speak up for the poor and homeless, fight for the widow and the orphan and actually make an impact in the world He created.

People are dying. Now is always the time to act. Travis Taylor said tonight that though the economy is struggling throughout the world and though many people don't have as "much" as they used to have...those of us who are poor here in the United States are rich almost anywhere else in the entire world.

On the blog site itself there are links to many justice organizations that I support and love...you can click on the blog and look under the "justice" heading and find out more about those...here are some of the groups that Travis talked about at AEffect and some other groups that I love personally...check them out...don't feel forced to give any money or guilted into anything...I don't want to be pulling that card...just check them out and see what God is doing around the world today and the people who answered the call to seek justice.

Opportunity International (microfinancing and small loans)
Compassion International (child sponsorship)
World Vision (child sponsorship, microfinance, disaster relief, HIV/AIDS work)
International Justice Mission (human trafficking, child sex slavery, land exploitation)
LifeWater International (clean water, water wells)
Mercy Ships (medical missions, surgical procedures for the poor)

isaiah 58.5-12

5 "Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

-R.D.

Travis Taylor Concert Sunday Night

2009-03-18T12:03:00.003-05:00

This Sunday Night @ Aeffect will be all worship. We have Travis Taylor in concert at Northwest Bible Church.

It will be an amazing night of worship and encountering Jesus.
Check out his website for songs, info, and other stuff to get an idea of who Travis Taylor is and what he is all about.

Hope to see you all Sunday night at Aeffect! Bring a friend, an enemy, or your favorite stuffed animal. It's up to you.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

-R.D.

10 Ideas That Are Changing The World

2009-03-17T00:17:00.002-05:00

This week's Time Magazine has a feature on "Ten Ideas That Are Changing the World".
I think it is vital that Christians stay informed with the heartbeat of the culture and what's going on in the world around us. Part of that is reading newspapers, blogs, books, magazines and getting engaged with the culture.

Christians are sometimes bad at this. Let's be real. We live in our own bubble of Sunday church, small groups, bible studies, secret bible studies, and of course super secret elite bible studies (call if you want to join mine).

We have to be able to integrate the Gospel with the culture. The only way to do that is to know the Gospel and also to understand the culture and what is going on out there. This blogs exists (in part) to help make people aware of issues, ideas, and events going on "out there" so that we can all know a little more about how to integrate the Gospel into the world.

Leviticus

2009-03-12T18:29:00.002-05:00

Some of you may be saying...can't we just skip Leviticus?

Well...yes, you can.

But...I hope you won't.

There is a lot in Leviticus. I will admit when it comes to Bible Book Idol Leviticus always seems to get voted off first. I know...shocking.

The book of Leviticus is concerned with what it means to be the holy people of God. It is simple. God is holy and perfect. God's people are not holy and not perfect.

What do we do?
We Leviticus. Leviticus outlines the ways by which the people of Israel could make peace with God. Jesus hadn't visited the earthlings yet and so the people of Israel were required to do many things in order to atone for their sinful nature.
The book of Leviticus is fascinating in its entirety because we see the scope by which Jesus Christ fulfilled the OT Law, the Law written about here in the book of Leviticus. We see how a holy God required so much from His people.

Now, we have Jesus Christ but it is important to see how important Jesus is. God demands certain things from His people and He cannot stand sin, but through Jesus Christ he can forgive the sinful nature of those who have called upon Him.

Leviticus sets the stage for the coming of Jesus.
Leviticus 17:11 says "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." In Leviticus, the atonement was through the animal. That is how sinners were spared by a holy and righteous God.

Now...Jesus the Christ. The Levitical Holiness Code was designed by God to give His people a means of sanctifying themselves and living in community with each other. God still demands great things from His people. Leviticus should strengthen your love for Jesus Christ and for the way by which His life puts to death our guilt, shame, and sin.

Meet God in Leviticus. A God passionate about the details of His people's lives so that they might come to know holiness and come to know God.

Exodus

2009-03-07T00:33:00.002-06:00

A group of us just finished reading through the entire book of Exodus out loud together in one sitting.

What a book. This book is all about God and His passion for His glory and for His fame to spreading throughout the world. It is not primarily about Moses, the Israelites, or Pharaoh...it is about God.

It is about a holy and fierce God, a God who demands complete obedience and devotion. A God who throughout the book wants to kill Moses, the Israelites, and sorceresses at different times. Oh yeah, in Exodus 22:18 God lays it down with His statement "You shall not permit a sorceress to live". I didn't say it (I actually wouldn't even think of that one) but God did.

So. The message of Exodus is this...if you see a sorceress then look for a rock.

It must have seemed like God had forgotten the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the Israelites suffered under grueling slavery and oppression. The great and glorious promises of God from Genesis must have seemed...like...well...can I say it? Broken promises. The chosen people of God, the Hebrews had been under oppression, enslaved to an empire for 430 years.

430 years.

If the Hebrews were beginning their Exodus today in 2009 then they would have had to have begun their enslavement to the Egyptians in 1579.
That is a long time to wait. To hope for liberation. Childhood dreams of who God was have now given way to adult disillusionment of who God has become. When will liberation come? When will slavery end and oppression end? When will God deliver?

When will God act?

Enter Moses. Stage left.

"And now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son..." Thank God for this Levi man getting his girl.
God raises Moses up. 40 years in the palaces of Egypt. 40 years of keeping it real in the land of Midian. Finally God blows Moses' world up and sends him to Egypt to lead God's people out of Egypt. God, Almighty God has heard the groaning and the cries of the Hebrews and He is going to rock this thing out.

10 Plagues. Egyptians. Boom roasted. Love Always, YAHWEH.

God shows up in mighty ways, displaying His glory for all Egypt to see and behold. God acts, God delivers, God rocks this baby out and the Egyptians free the Hebrews from under the yoke of slavery and oppression and death. Moses leads the people out, out from darkness, fear, slavery, and hopelessness. Into the land flowing with milk and honey, where all the Hebrews' needs will be met by the Lord God. Moses continues to point the people back to God, back to their liberation from Egypt by God.

In Exodus we see a God, holy and jealous, with a consumming passion to see His people worship Him, to remember Him for what He has done. God delivered. God's promise...kept. God has come through for His people, again. He refuses to leave them (and us) where we are, in our pain and brokeness.

And so the journey of God's people begins. God is leading them out of slavery and into the promised land. It all begins here in Exodus. Towards the end of Exodus, in chapter 33, Moses has this amazing request for his great God and King both for himself and for his people.

Exodus 33:18: "Please, show me Your glory."

We only need to continue the story, the journey of God's chosen people to see all of the amazing and unbelievable ways that God answers Moses' cry.

The Last Train Headed West

2009-03-04T15:38:00.004-06:00

For some Christians, the New Testament can feel like the densely populated states on America's East Coast. The New Testament books are generally smaller, more traveled, more familiar. The books of the Old Testament, on the other hand, can feel like the unknown and storied lands of the the American West probably felt to the nineteenth-century pioneers.

The great open plains of Patriarchal history, the impenetrable Rockies of Levitical law, and the thick forests and deep canyons of prophets frighten off many would be travelers. Everyone knows a favorite story or two brought back by the brave souls who have ventured into the unknown, but many Christians are content to spend their quiet times among the well-known, seemingly habitable landscapes of the Gospels or the epistles. The books of the Old Testament are large. We don't know them very well. The require us to know all sorts of history we have either forgotten or never learned. And all those unpronounceable names! It is like really God...can't we have some more Smiths or Jones or...Smiths to help with pronounciation phobia of the ancient books.

The whole idea of journeying into the Old Testament begins to sound overwhelming, time-consuming, unprofitable, maybe even dangerous and potentially insane. Yes, I said it. Isn't there like an expiration date on Leviticus? No? Okay then...my b.

For reasons like these, most of us have abandoned the Old Testament for the New. Let the scholars, the archaelogists, the Matt Klinglers, the prophecy-hounds, and the children's Sunday school teachers deal with it!
Yet, by adandoning these books, we abandon the revelation of God. More than that, we hinder our ability to understand the New Testament's revelation of Jesus Christ. If Christ is the key to human history, the Old Testament describes the lock.
If you don't get what the Old Tesament teaches, you will never get Christ. Our God does not waste words. Promise. The cross is the answer. The questions are found in the Old Testament.

In order to see God's true glory, his mighty power and awesomeness then we need the Old Testament. If you only read through Ephesians 348 times and never through 1 Samuel or Isaiah then you are being a terrible person...I am kidding...the point is that the Old Testament displays God in truly amazing and awesome ways and if you don't feast yourself on the Old Testament then you will miss your God, the one who moves mountains and destroys nations and invites you into His story.

So pack your bags and grab that last train headed West.

Rhythm

2009-03-01T22:08:00.003-06:00

Genesis.
Genesis is the beginning. This is where it all begins. It describes the creation of the world and the creation of humanity. It is where God whispers and breathes everything into creation. Genesis 1-2 paints the picture of perfect rhythm, all creation is united and connected without separation from God. It is paradise. The Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, however, the rhythm is fractured and broken by sin. And from Genesis 3 until Revelation 21 the Bible unfolds the story of God on a quest to bring his people back to Him. It is the story of God in search of man, reaching out towards the fallen, the broken, and the separated so that they might begin their journey back to the Garden. Back to Eden. It all begins in Genesis. It all starts now.

Old Testament. 90 Days. Just Do It.

2009-02-26T16:14:00.003-06:00

The Old Testament. The Beast. The Mount Everest. The Old Testament is not always our first choice to read when it comes to picking up a book before we head off to sleep at night.
We are rolling through the OT in 90 Days. Put your seatbelts on. It's go time.
90 Days. Genesis to Malachi.
39 Books. 929 Chapters. 23,214 Verses. The Old Testament is chock full of adventure, drama, sex, pain, suffering, love, redemption, mystery, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Without the Old Testament we cannot understand the New Testament.
So what is the point of the Old Testament? Why do we need to read it?
Let's dive in. 90 Days of God's Word. Let's journey back to discover God in all his wildness, rawness, holiness.
We will hit about 10 chapters a day. Not too much. About 20 minutes or so a day.
We will run from Monday, March 2nd to Sunday, May 31st.
There are resources on the blog to the right for each book if you want to dig deeper into the text and learn even more about each chapter and book.
Here is the plan for March:
March 2: Genesis 1-10
March 3: Genesis 11-20
March 4: Genesis 21-30
March 5: Genesis 31-40
March 6: Genesis 41-50
March 7: Exodus 1-10
March 8: Exodus 11-20
March 9: Exodus 21-30
March 10: Exodus 31-30
March 11: Leviticus 1-13
March 12: Leviticus 13-27 (you can do Leviticus)
March 13: Numbers 1-10
March 14: Numbers 11-20
March 15: Numbers 21-30
March 16: Numbers 31-36
March 17: Deuteronomy 1-10
March 18: Deuteronomy 11-20
March 19: Deuteronomy 21-30
March 20: Deuteronomy 31-34
March 21: BREAK!
March 22: Joshua 1-8
March 23: Joshua 9-17
March 24: Joshua 18-24
March 25: Judges 1-7
March 26: Judges 8-14
March 27: Judges 15-21
March 28: Ruth 1-4
March 29: 1 Samuel 1-10
March 30: 1 Samuel 11-20
March 31: 1 Samuel 21-31

Revolution

2009-01-29T18:51:00.000-06:00

Tremendous video from Hillsong United.
Sydney, Australia.

What is the Gospel?

2009-01-28T00:00:00.001-06:00

Pastor Mark Dever
Capitol Hill Baptist Church
The Gospel Coalition

We Want What Jesus Wants

2009-01-20T00:41:00.002-06:00

At Northwest Bible Church, where I go to church there are some cool things happening. One of the most exciting is the theme for this year, that we want what Jesus wants. Whatever the Lord wants. Whatever. It is a courageous battlecry, but it is one that more Christians should make. God told the prophets that they should tell the people whatever God commands them to say. That takes tremendous courage. To move from hearing the commands of Jesus to actually observing them ourselves is always difficult, but it is at the heart of true surrender to the Lord.
In everything we say and do, both creeds and deeds we should glorify God. It is all about God and Him glorified. May 2009 be the year where we say whatever God, whatever you tell us say and whatever you tell us to do.
In the words of the Joker...here...we...go.

Francis Chan

2009-01-18T21:41:00.000-06:00

Awesome moment with Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California and author of "Crazy Love" at the Catalyst Conference 2007.

Vintage Jesus

2009-01-18T16:57:00.003-06:00

These are a series of videos that Vintage 21 Church in Raleigh, North Carolina created as an introduction into their Jesus series. They are very funny and really get at the heart of what many people think of Jesus and the Church. Watch. Enjoy. Pass along.

AEffect

2009-01-18T01:07:00.004-06:00

AEffect is a community of guys and gals seeking to love the city of Dallas with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are a community existing to know Jesus Christ and to make him known to those people that find us along the journey. We are the singles community of Northwest Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, living out the truth of the Gospel in the way of Jesus. Loving the city, serving the city, transforming the city for the glory of God and the beauty of Jesus.