just-in-case faith September 20, 2009
Posted by highofseventyfive in documenting life, theology.Tags: acts 17, church, faith, gospel, Jesus, matthew 8:5-10
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Jeff Bell came and was a guest speaker at church today. He’s Jeremy’s brother, from Indiana. He gave one of the most compelling gospel presentations today. It was “bring a friend sunday” which i totally forgot about. But the message was sooo good! He talked out of Acts 17, saying how the people of Athens had an unknown god amongst their idols, “just-in-case” they missed one. Likewise today, if we come to church just on Christmas and Easter, or when we really need something or come into a rut, we have just-in-case faith. This is a hard place to be in. Our lives are are centered around in fact no faith at all, and we pray or attend church just-in-case God is really there. Or we might have a buddha in one room, a statue of the virgin mary, a kabbala bracelet, etc, again– just-in-case.
But Jeff told us that we can have a just-Jesus faith. Because Jesus is the hero that conquered all, who’s big enough and powerful enough to handle anything, and worth giving our whole lives to. Jesus is the answer.
The thing that struck me today, was part of his message for believers. We looked at Matthew 8:5-10,13 where it says that a centurion came to Jesus asking for help to heal one of his servants. Jesus says, “I will go and heal him”. The centurion says, dude, you could just say it, from here, and it would happen! you are the Lord! I’m a guy of authority, i tell people what to do and they do it. How much more will that be so for you! (that was my paraphrase)
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
Jeff asked us, if Jesus would be stopped in his tracks, astonished, by our faith, or by our lack of faith.
and the youth group band played, which meant there was way more energy in the room, it sounded awesome, and we rocked as we worshiped God!
oh how he wrecked it–explained. September 14, 2009
Posted by highofseventyfive in Media, just thoughts.Tags: church, crowder band, john mark mcmillan, lyrics, sloppy wet kiss, worship
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here is the post from john mark himself about the crowder cover of how he loves, and the lyric change that is causing quite a stir!
please read john’s thoughts here:
http://johnmarkmcmillan.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-he-loves-david-crowder-and-sloppy.html
“HEAVEN meets EARTH like a sloppy wet kiss”
The idea behind the lyric is that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth converge in a way that is both beautiful and awkwardly messy. Think about the birth of a child, or even the death of Jesus himself. These miracles are both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sloppy (“gory” may be more realistic, but “Heaven meets earth like a gory mess” didn’t seem to have the same ring). Why does the church have such a problem with things being sloppy? Do we really think we’re fooling anyone on Sunday morning, especially God? Are we going to offend him? I mean, he’s seen us naked in the shower all week and knows our worst thoughts, and still thinks we’re awesome. What if we took all the energy we spent faking and used that energy to enjoy the Lord instead? That could be revolutionary!
and to reference my old post on this topic not too long ago:
http://highofseventyfive.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/oh-how-he-wrecked-it/
i’m rather agreeing with his feelings that, jeez why is everyone so gosh darn uptight, that this beautiful imagery wouldn’t be allowed in church or on the radio or whatever. its kinda ridiculous.
spring break recap March 17, 2009
Posted by highofseventyfive in documenting life.Tags: bible study, church, God, hiking, kelly clarkson, look around you, small world coffee, spring break, talks, work
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So this past week was terrific the more i think about it.
SPRING BREAK 2009:
monday: up early, hiking with deb and dyana–in the rain. that was terrific. drive back, go with laura and christine to get laura’s tattoo. that was entertaining. i love hanging out with those two.
monday late night had an intense talk, unexpected, but much needed.
tuesday: hung out with my mom. that went pretty horrible, although we did go grocery shopping and i’ve been able to eat some vegetables this week. then, went to my grandma’s for a hair cut. we talked about God a little! she thinks the recession is God’s way of waking America up. interesting…
then i got to go to a media team meeting at Central. semi-productive.
then came home and watched LOOK AROUND YOU videos all night with Anna. TEE-riffic.
wednesday: went to laura’s, did funnel stuff, went to work. monthly STAFF MEETING! yay!
met with jess cheng after and went to small world coffee. sweeeet. i love jess cheng hang outs. went to Rider for dinner!! mucho fun, and stayed for their LG. heavy confusing stuff for me. good to see all mah buds again. they are so pumped for basileia! came back home and got all distracted and stuff again.
thursday, work 9-5. came home, watched a movie with anna and derouv and ice cream.
friday- homework, errands ALL DAY. hockey game with sarah at night to see carly. some drama on the home front, but resolved nicely. more movies and ice cream. another super INTENSE talk that night with Anna. much needed. spirit led.
saturday- homework, errands ALL DAY. church at 5 at wash cross. AWESOME. met the guy from school i had met a few weeks earlier. pretty sweet! i feel like i’m supposed to make it on saturday nights for a while. came back, more homework. i think i remember there being some fun craziness in there with all of us.
sunday- church, grocery store, lunch(grilled cheese!) went with Anna to Target in East Windsor. Always an adventure. funny music and car dancing. got the KELLY CLARKSON CD! and we made quite a ruckus all the way home and then AT home. deb came back from her retreat. BIBLE STUDY! with the cool brazilian couple! who are just SO AWESOME! i’m pumped for it. every other sunday night. woot. more craziness in the house at night.
high light jokes of the week: PETTICOAT 5, just about every line is hilarious.
