VV Talk Ouline
Intro: We are really happy to be with you all today. For those of you who don’t know us, we are… little introduction. Who we are? What is Christian Associates? What are we doing?
We are grateful for the time that you give us to share with you what God is doing. We wanted to do something a little different this time at Valley View. We want to share with you some of the awesome things God has been doing in us and around us. Our time in France has been rich and we can honestly say that we have fallen deeper in love with Christ through the ups and downs.
1An Importance in church is community- people make the church.
"most of us still feel that, if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo." -Nouwen In the name of Jesus
People and community is what you can't get online. You can get great teaching or good worship on the computer in the private isolation of your own home but we can not get that sense of belonging. To truly belong we need real human interactions. in our times today the thing we need most out of the church is the people. (which i think is a really good thing) we can basically have our own little church service from the isolation of our own homes but in this we never belong anywhere except on the web by ourselves. All the information and even the artistry are available to us outside of our local church but The one thing that we can't replace is the sense of belonging in community
B- importance- Why is that so important? Because man was not meant to be alone. We have struggled with it since the garden. Sometimes we think that God is all we need. And that is true, but God himself said that it is not good. Genesis 2:18 Adam had God's company in the garden but he did not have the company of the church. He was alone. The next Eden will be different. It will not be one man in relationship with God it will be one bride in relationship with Jesus. And this one bride is made up of many body parts. Each part has their own function and all are important. This is the way it will be when Christ sets up his new eden. (Rev 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.) Jesus is ready to meet this whole group of people, 'his people, as vs 3 says. This is what Jesus is looking forward to.
This time we are many united in one body.
ATwo ways we need each-other in community
One of the biggest parts of our role in church work is to create spaces. Spaces for people to grow closer and connect to God and to each other. We create spaces.
1Belonging
Public- Eagles, big church gathering (almost a culture)
Social- coffee at church, serving together, neighbors
Private- small groups, dinners
Intimate- only a few people in this group
Each space has its own unique way in which belonging is expressed and experienced. Confusion arises when we expect belonging to be expressed and experienced the same way in all four spaces. Each space provides its own unique way of experiencing community. To expect otherwise is to invite frustration. Following are the four spaces with a short description highlighting the distinct way belonging is experienced in each space:
* "Public belonging happens when we connect through outside influences. It isn't about connecting person to person; it is about sharing a common experience. Think of fans at a football game, members of the PTA, shoppers at a grocery store. In each case an outside influence brings these people into a common grouping. They connect because of the outside influence, not because of shared personal information" (p. 41).
Ex. of public; [Christmas Carol Service, Sunday service]
* Social belonging is often denigrated as superficial, but it is vitally important. "In many ways, social belonging is the 'small talk' of our relationships" (p. 45). The neighbor relationships of social belonging allow us to "share snapshots" of who we are with others. A shared social space also "provides a safe selection space for us to decide with whom we would like to grow a 'deeper' relationship" (p. 46).
Guarded communication. Politenesses. What is appropriate to share with one group may not be appropriate to share with another. Men, women, strangers etc. Authenticity doesn’t mean we till everybody everything about us. Ex, how are you doing and dump when someone is not really asking how we are doing. There is a place for guarded communication. We can’t be too quick to share something personal with someone you don’t know or someone you can’t trust. There is a place for polite surface conversations. We all need that and this a level of community. We were meant to go deeper too. We can’t be fine, great, awesome with everyone. The truth is, “You can’t trust everybody, but you can trust somebody.”
Ex. of Social in ICCP [Thanksgiving, Cevennes, Rentree, Easter picnic, coffee at church, ok coral]
* Personal belonging involves the sharing of private information. It takes place in a safe setting where trustworthy confidences are built. "[W]e connect through sharing private - although not 'naked' - experiences, feelings, and thoughts" (p. 47). The people to whom we belong are friends or "close friends" rather than acquaintances.
Appropriate self disclosure- small groups may start as social but are meant for personal. This is where we take risks and reveal our ‘as is tags’. By revealing ourselves. This includes our failures, embarrassments, and vulnerabilities. It goes beyond clichés and opens up the heart.
Ex of Personal [Alpha, youth group]
* "In intimate space, we share 'naked' experiences, feelings, and thoughts. Very few relationships are intimate. Intimate relationships are those in which another person knows the 'naked truth' about us and yet the two of us are 'not ashamed'" (p. 50).
Includes confession and self disclosure. Not only do we share things about ourselves, things that happened to us, we share things that we’ve don and things that we are in need of repentance and reconciliation for.
Ex of Intimate [prayer breakfasts, Sunday youth groups, E100, cabin times]
2 Belonging in Church- as a body- As a church, in order to belong we do not need to be all the same personalities but we should all have the same Spirit.
A-Personalities What Christ’s image is not [cultural differences]
Personalities We are unique and incomplete
We have different passions, gifting kinds of services, manifestations of the spirit, natural talents, personalities, callings, and we are all in different worlds.
All the parts of the body need each other. All the members make up one.
Independence from God is what moved man from God in the garden. Independence from each other is what is moving man from himself. It is what either shows the world what following Christ is all about or give the world another reason to turn their backs on God and go their own way.
(Unique in personality, function, yet all called to bear the same image)
Yet, we are all called to be in Christ's image. There are certain things that bond us together. Christ calls for unity. Paul calls it fellowship and a united body and one people. But what is being in Christ's image. If we are all in Christ's image does that mean that we should all look the same? Act the same? Make the same jokes, watch the same movies, dress the same way, listen to the same music, and like the same speaker? How can we all be in the same image of one man and still be individuals?
(what christ's image is not)
[Cultural differences in Christianity, Things that we take for granted that you do if you are a Christian, what t-shirts you wear, certain words or vocabulary you use, how you greet one another,
How the church is perceived, need to fit in this box, very high and very closed. More of an institution. Based on behavior changes and fitting into the system. This is not Christ’s image. This is not always true either there are many good things about the churches if France, but this is the perception and it is the history they are coming from.]
First let's take a look at what Christ's image is described as in the bible. We know that it can't refer to his physical image because they never tell us what Jesus looks like. We know it is not referring to what jobs we have because Paul says to some they are called to be apostles, some evan, some etc. And he says to new converts to stay in their current job. They don't all need to drop their job as tax collector like Zaccieus, or roman soldier like ? or
It is not a matter of what music we listen to. Scripture describes these things as unimportant. It is a matter of taste. Not of Christ. Special days, what foods we eat, books full of rules. These are not the things that determine if we are in Christ's image.
B-All called to same image of Christ- bonds us in unity of love
“4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” Ephesians 4: 4-7
Our transformation into Christ’s image comes from the Spirit.
“17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflecta the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2cor 3
What that will look like that we can see is the fruit:
Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, Humility, Bearing with each other and forgive each-other’s grievances, and of coarse love.
3 Community Outside of the church
A Primary truth is we bear Christ’s image, secondary fallen [Collette and Joe]
Primary truth is that we were created in Christ’s image. Then after being created in Christ’s image we fell. And, though it is true that we are all distorted images of Christ now, works in process, when I walk around and look at the people I meet, that God puts in my life, I have a choice, I can see a sinner in need of salvation, or I can see someone who was created in Christ’s image and lives in a fallen world so that image has been smudged and changed but somewhere underneath they still bear the marks, even if ever so faint, of his fingerprints. God can help me to see that. Underneath all the distortions lies his image. (Gen 9: 6“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” this is even after man has fallen.)
[Collette and Joe, are displaying godly attributes; generosity, sharing meals with anyone who comes over, love; they genuinely love us, kindness etc. Still missing the truth and to know what Godliness is by knowing God. They are able to hear us because we can hear from them. To learn from them allows us to grow in Christ even around those who do not yet know him and it makes it a relationship. In relationships we learn from each other and we listen to each other. It is not one person who knows it all and one who knows nothing. They have lived life and challenge us in their generosity and hospitality.
Youth group kids, I try to give them apologetics but many just have faith and believe. That is challenging.]
B In need of peace and truth and hope [Joe, wants to believe] [lonely people shan, old lady]
- COMMUNITY…living in community. We experience that now with our neighbors. We had a fire… many many conversations with them about faith, now going to Alpha in French. We now have Christian neighbors who are just infiltrating the neighborhood.
4 Community needs communion with Christ first
Christ is the head of every man. So we need him. In fact, everything I say about community will be basicly worthless without a real vital relationship with Jesus. (you can ignore all that is above if without this next part because is is the foundation of our faith and the rock we stand on.
Henri Nouwen puts it like this,
‘If we do not know we are the beloved sons and daughters of God, we're going to expect someone in the community to make us feel that way. They cannot. We'll expect someone to give us that perfect, unconditional love. But community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness: "I'm so lonely, and you're so lonely.’ It's beloved grabbing onto beloved.
We need to draw from Christ first. Our love and our daily bread. He is all that we need and the satisfier of our souls. Not the people around us. They are will never fulfill us like Christ can.
Community without Christ is like Babble. God know that it is not good to have great community without communion with Him. If we try to save ourselves and forget that we have a need for a savior. We cannot live the lives we are called to live without God. It is impossible. We cannot resurrect ourselves, we cannot save ourselves from sin. It will always twist itself into new types of sin like pride or selfishness with out being rooted in Christ. He says, 'you can do nothing apart from me.' Nothing of kingdom worth that is.
A Nouwen quote [story of coming to France, prism of pure light]
- “The Layers of Christ.” The depth of Jesus is astounding and we have come to know how we have only scratched the surface of His awesomeness.
“Nothing with out me” John
For in him we live and move and have our being.
He gives us strength, transforms us, all love comes from God, life is found in him, He is the way, he is our hope, he is truth, He is love, our guide, our redeemer, He is our daily bread, our nourishment, knowing him is eternal life. Nothing without. Fountain of life
Yet God calls us to community. In our solitude, our quiet times spent with God, He will always calls us to reach out to other people, to be in community with them
5 Church is not top down it is each of you
A willing people who follow his call in faith [Adam P, Morees, Susie]
Each one of us has a special part to play. No one is useless and no one is any more essential than any other part of the body.
(how we get there- holy spirit, connecting with God)[Story about prism and being away from family and needing to cling to God instead of man.]
B God equips those he calls [never felt prepared to lead a youth group, thought they were monsters in middle school, God changed our heart and equipped us. Equips for public speaking and other things that are part of the call.]
- One of the things God has shown us is our dependence upon Him. We had read verses like: …….. but they took on a whole new meaning after moving to France. We put ourselves in a position to depend on Him. Quote from a book… depending upon Christ. I get sad when I hear people say things like “I could never do what you do…” The reason that it makes me sad is because, “You can!” God wants us to depend on Him…to trust Him… to break out of our comfort zones and give Him a chance to show you how capable He is. American Christianity is safe… One of the things I love about French Christians is how passionate they are… sold out. Friend named Clement… or Melissa…
(Call to ownership.) Can be grumblers and complain that where we are is not where we want to be. Like the Israelites did in the desert of Sin, or we can be agents of change in this broken body. In this broken and lonely world. We can be gateways of the invisible love of God pouring out into our physical world. All that we need to do every good work is available to us right now. Not tomorrow or next year, right now. God equips those he calls. And he calls us all to be united in love in a world of division.
[We have Morees in com who jumped in and started a small group, ordered the books and video, gathered people and welcomed them into their home. They are facilitating community. Or Susie who took the women’s ministry or
Adam P who hopped into youth min with us even though he only knew Christ for a year himself and was a young believer. He jumped right into games and hanging out with the kids and he has a lot to say. The students listened to him when he talked because God gave him a message of his love and grace. He didn’t have all the answers but he was willing. He was willing to share what God had taught him so far in the journey and give back to these kids.]
Monday, October 12, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Talk ideas for VV
People and community is what you can't get online. You can get great teaching or good worship on the computer in the private isolation of your own home but we can not get that sense of belonging in any of the four spheres.
Even in the public and social we cannot truly belong without real human interaction. Social networks help us to sustain relationships and to launch or relaunch friendships but only as a starting place. It never makes it into what Jesus would describe as community.
Bruce did a teaching on this a few years ago http://hoowhat.blogspot.com/search?q=community
I was talking to a friend the other day about church and what's important in church, he was sharing why he goes and what he looks for in a church. So he said that he loves to worship but it is less important to him than the teaching because he can go onto itunes and listen to worship any time. And then I asked if he goes onto itunes and listens to sermons at all. he said yes, he was not growing through the local church that he was attending's teaching and he did go online for those too. So as we were talking we stared to realize that in our times today the thing we need most out of the church is the people. (which i think is a really good thing) we can basically have our own little church service from the isolation of our own homes but in this we never belong anywhere except on the web by ourselves. All the information and even the artistry are available to us outside of our local church but The one thing that we can't replace is the sense of belonging. Life is more than information and artistry. Those things are important but they are not real people. They are not community.
A sermon I was listening to,.. online, had an interview with a man who was talking about a community outreach program that this church body initiated. He said that even if the government can help, "you can't get a sense of community from the government." Why is that so important? Because man was not meant to be alone. We have struggled with it since the garden. Sometimes we think that God is all we need. And that is true, but God himself said that it is not good. Genesis 2:18 Adam had God's company in the garden but he did not have the company of the church. He was alone. The next Eden will be different. It will not be one man in relationship with God it will be one bride in relationship with Jesus. And this one bride is made up of many body parts. Each part has their own function and all are important. This is the way it will be when Christ sets up his new eden. (Rev 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.) Jesus is ready to meet this whole group of people, 'his people, as vs 3 says. This is what Jesus is looking forward to.
This time we are many united in one body. Each one of us has a special part to play. No one is useless and no one is any more essential than any other part.
We need each other. No man is an island.
"most of us still feel that, if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo." -Nouwen In the name of Jesus
Two ways we need each other: (belonging and as a body)
Belonging to community
public
social
private
intimate
Henri nouwen talks about some of the ideas here in moving from sol-com-min.
talks about jesus praying on the mt alone, so we know solitude is necessary. And a quote that I love from that talk is
Personality and giftings.
Every good gift comes from God. He gives gifts such as wisdom and discernment to anyone, anyone, who asks. Other gifts are unique and serve special functions.
Hud says we all have a life purpose and statement. All of ours is different.
We have different passions, giftings, natural talents, personalities, and we are all in different worlds. No one else lives your life. No one else is in connection with all of your friends and has the opportunities you do. No one else sees the same hurts and needs that God exposes each one of us to. We are unique.
And our uniquness is what makes us depend on each other. God made it purposely so that we could not be independent. Independence from God is what moved man from God in the garden. Independence from each other is what is moving man from himself.
It is what either shows the world what following Christ is all about or give the world another reason to turn their backs on God and go their own way.
(Unique in personality,function, yet all called to bear the same image)
Yet, we are all called to be in Christ's image. There are certain things that bond us together. Christ calls for unity. Paul calls it fellowship and a united body and one people. But what is being in Christ's image. If we are all in Christ's image does that mean that we should all look the same? Act the same? Make the same jokes, watch the same movies, dress the same way, listen to the same music, and like the same speaker? How can we all be in the same image of one man and still be individuals?
(what christ's image is not)
First let's take a look at what Christ's image is described as in the bible. We know that it can't refer to his physical image because they never tell us what Jesus looks like. We know it is not referring to what jobs we have because Paul says to some they are called to be apostles, some evan, some etc. And he says to new converts to stay in their current job. They don't all need to drop their job as tax collector like Zaccieus, or roman soldier like ? or
It is not a matter of what music we listen to. Scripture describes these things as unimportant. It is a matter of taste. Not of Christ. Special days, what foods we eat, books full of rules. These are not the things that determine if we are in Christ's image.
(What being is Christ's image is)
Being in christ' image is a
(how we get there- holy spirit, connecting with God)(Story about prism and being away from family and needing to cling to God instead of man.)
Christ is the head of every man. So we need him. In fact, everything I say about community will be basicly worthless without a real vital relationship with Jesus. (you can ignore all that is above if without this next part because is is the foundation of our faith and the rock we stand on.
Henri Nouwen puts it like this,
‘If we do not know we are the beloved sons and daughters of God, we're going to expect someone in the community to make us feel that way. They cannot. We'll expect someone to give us that perfect, unconditional love. But community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness: "I'm so lonely, and you're so lonely.’ It's beloved grabbing onto beloved.
We need to draw from Christ first. Our love and our daily bread. He is all that we need and the satisfier of our souls. Not the people around us. They are will never fulfill us like Christ can.
Community without Christ is like Babble. God know that it is not good to have great community without communion with Him. If we try to save ourselves and forget that we have a need for a savior. We cannot live the lives we are called to live without God. It is impossible. We cannot resurrect ourselves, we cannot save ourselves from sin. It will always twist itself into new types of sin like pride or selfishness with out being rooted in Christ. He says, 'you can do nothing apart from me.' Nothing of kingdom worth that is.
Yet God calls us to community. In our solitude, our quiet times spent with God, He will always calls us to reach out to other people, to be in community with them
(Call to ownership.) Can be grumblers and complain that where we are is not where we want to be. Like the Israelites did in the desert of Sin, or we can be agents of change in this broken body. In this broken and lonely world. We can be gateways of the invisible love of God pouring out into our physical world. All that we need to do every good work is available to us right now.
"20May 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, 21equip 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
This God who raised Jesus from the dead, he has that much power, has the ability to equip us for good works. And he has the power to work within us to change mature us and purify us and grow us.
Not tomorrow or next year, right now. God equips those he calls. And he calls us all to be united in love in a world of division.
Don't
It is not a matter of what job we have. It is a matter of what we do in the job we have. Will we be like zaccieus before he encounters jesus or z after he encounters Jesus.
Even in the public and social we cannot truly belong without real human interaction. Social networks help us to sustain relationships and to launch or relaunch friendships but only as a starting place. It never makes it into what Jesus would describe as community.
Bruce did a teaching on this a few years ago http://hoowhat.blogspot.com/search?q=community
I was talking to a friend the other day about church and what's important in church, he was sharing why he goes and what he looks for in a church. So he said that he loves to worship but it is less important to him than the teaching because he can go onto itunes and listen to worship any time. And then I asked if he goes onto itunes and listens to sermons at all. he said yes, he was not growing through the local church that he was attending's teaching and he did go online for those too. So as we were talking we stared to realize that in our times today the thing we need most out of the church is the people. (which i think is a really good thing) we can basically have our own little church service from the isolation of our own homes but in this we never belong anywhere except on the web by ourselves. All the information and even the artistry are available to us outside of our local church but The one thing that we can't replace is the sense of belonging. Life is more than information and artistry. Those things are important but they are not real people. They are not community.
A sermon I was listening to,.. online, had an interview with a man who was talking about a community outreach program that this church body initiated. He said that even if the government can help, "you can't get a sense of community from the government." Why is that so important? Because man was not meant to be alone. We have struggled with it since the garden. Sometimes we think that God is all we need. And that is true, but God himself said that it is not good. Genesis 2:18 Adam had God's company in the garden but he did not have the company of the church. He was alone. The next Eden will be different. It will not be one man in relationship with God it will be one bride in relationship with Jesus. And this one bride is made up of many body parts. Each part has their own function and all are important. This is the way it will be when Christ sets up his new eden. (Rev 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.) Jesus is ready to meet this whole group of people, 'his people, as vs 3 says. This is what Jesus is looking forward to.
This time we are many united in one body. Each one of us has a special part to play. No one is useless and no one is any more essential than any other part.
We need each other. No man is an island.
"most of us still feel that, if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo." -Nouwen In the name of Jesus
Two ways we need each other: (belonging and as a body)
Belonging to community
public
social
private
intimate
Henri nouwen talks about some of the ideas here in moving from sol-com-min.
talks about jesus praying on the mt alone, so we know solitude is necessary. And a quote that I love from that talk is
Personality and giftings.
Every good gift comes from God. He gives gifts such as wisdom and discernment to anyone, anyone, who asks. Other gifts are unique and serve special functions.
Hud says we all have a life purpose and statement. All of ours is different.
We have different passions, giftings, natural talents, personalities, and we are all in different worlds. No one else lives your life. No one else is in connection with all of your friends and has the opportunities you do. No one else sees the same hurts and needs that God exposes each one of us to. We are unique.
And our uniquness is what makes us depend on each other. God made it purposely so that we could not be independent. Independence from God is what moved man from God in the garden. Independence from each other is what is moving man from himself.
It is what either shows the world what following Christ is all about or give the world another reason to turn their backs on God and go their own way.
(Unique in personality,function, yet all called to bear the same image)
Yet, we are all called to be in Christ's image. There are certain things that bond us together. Christ calls for unity. Paul calls it fellowship and a united body and one people. But what is being in Christ's image. If we are all in Christ's image does that mean that we should all look the same? Act the same? Make the same jokes, watch the same movies, dress the same way, listen to the same music, and like the same speaker? How can we all be in the same image of one man and still be individuals?
(what christ's image is not)
First let's take a look at what Christ's image is described as in the bible. We know that it can't refer to his physical image because they never tell us what Jesus looks like. We know it is not referring to what jobs we have because Paul says to some they are called to be apostles, some evan, some etc. And he says to new converts to stay in their current job. They don't all need to drop their job as tax collector like Zaccieus, or roman soldier like ? or
It is not a matter of what music we listen to. Scripture describes these things as unimportant. It is a matter of taste. Not of Christ. Special days, what foods we eat, books full of rules. These are not the things that determine if we are in Christ's image.
(What being is Christ's image is)
Being in christ' image is a
(how we get there- holy spirit, connecting with God)(Story about prism and being away from family and needing to cling to God instead of man.)
Christ is the head of every man. So we need him. In fact, everything I say about community will be basicly worthless without a real vital relationship with Jesus. (you can ignore all that is above if without this next part because is is the foundation of our faith and the rock we stand on.
Henri Nouwen puts it like this,
‘If we do not know we are the beloved sons and daughters of God, we're going to expect someone in the community to make us feel that way. They cannot. We'll expect someone to give us that perfect, unconditional love. But community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness: "I'm so lonely, and you're so lonely.’ It's beloved grabbing onto beloved.
We need to draw from Christ first. Our love and our daily bread. He is all that we need and the satisfier of our souls. Not the people around us. They are will never fulfill us like Christ can.
Community without Christ is like Babble. God know that it is not good to have great community without communion with Him. If we try to save ourselves and forget that we have a need for a savior. We cannot live the lives we are called to live without God. It is impossible. We cannot resurrect ourselves, we cannot save ourselves from sin. It will always twist itself into new types of sin like pride or selfishness with out being rooted in Christ. He says, 'you can do nothing apart from me.' Nothing of kingdom worth that is.
Yet God calls us to community. In our solitude, our quiet times spent with God, He will always calls us to reach out to other people, to be in community with them
(Call to ownership.) Can be grumblers and complain that where we are is not where we want to be. Like the Israelites did in the desert of Sin, or we can be agents of change in this broken body. In this broken and lonely world. We can be gateways of the invisible love of God pouring out into our physical world. All that we need to do every good work is available to us right now.
"20May 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, 21equip 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
This God who raised Jesus from the dead, he has that much power, has the ability to equip us for good works. And he has the power to work within us to change mature us and purify us and grow us.
Not tomorrow or next year, right now. God equips those he calls. And he calls us all to be united in love in a world of division.
Don't
It is not a matter of what job we have. It is a matter of what we do in the job we have. Will we be like zaccieus before he encounters jesus or z after he encounters Jesus.
Friday, October 2, 2009
personality,
Our individual personalities are important and necessary, but let them be tempered by the presence of Jesus in our lives.
In Christ's image. Still us, just a redeemed new us made in his image. Not all eyes or mouths. We are all personal and individual who come together as a part of the larger body. Both are our identity. I am a muscle and I am a man. We are gifted and we are the bride of Christ.
In Christ's image. Still us, just a redeemed new us made in his image. Not all eyes or mouths. We are all personal and individual who come together as a part of the larger body. Both are our identity. I am a muscle and I am a man. We are gifted and we are the bride of Christ.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
YG talk ideas
Topics for Youth Group
How do we live as citizens of the Kingdom?
1) Sex
2) Self Image
3) Environment
4) Drugs
5) Family
6) Outward Appearances
7) Money
8) Relationships
9) Security
10) Plans/Future
11) Humility
12) Making Decisions
13) Time
14) Hospitality
15) Parties/Social Situations
16) Conflict
17) Friendships
18) Community 19SEP
See also Deb Hirch's ideas on post last week.
Magazine ananysis to see what the world is saying. They pay money-why?
How do we live as citizens of the Kingdom?
1) Sex
2) Self Image
3) Environment
4) Drugs
5) Family
6) Outward Appearances
7) Money
8) Relationships
9) Security
10) Plans/Future
11) Humility
12) Making Decisions
13) Time
14) Hospitality
15) Parties/Social Situations
16) Conflict
17) Friendships
18) Community 19SEP
See also Deb Hirch's ideas on post last week.
Magazine ananysis to see what the world is saying. They pay money-why?
I believe it is better, a better truer fuller life. He is life.
Great commission of Love
my love to be the gateway to the unconditional love of God is better by far. I can't love you the way that you want to be loved; but God can.
If I withheld that love and did not want others to receive that unconditional love of God than I would be like Jonah to the Ninivaties, witholding the good news.
my love to be the gateway to the unconditional love of God is better by far. I can't love you the way that you want to be loved; but God can.
If I withheld that love and did not want others to receive that unconditional love of God than I would be like Jonah to the Ninivaties, witholding the good news.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
life management stuff web site links
http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/
http://www.echoprayer.com/front/welcome.php
http://mymemorizer.com/
www.mvelopes.com
www.simpleology.com
Book recomendations for different areas of life- 360
Crazy l-neil
http://www.echoprayer.com/front/welcome.php
http://mymemorizer.com/
www.mvelopes.com
www.simpleology.com
Book recomendations for different areas of life- 360
Crazy l-neil
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
deb H and kingdom ways
http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/
We get immersed in the world.
What I want to talk about is what it is to live as kingdom people.
Discipleship.
Critique and see some of the obstacles that keep us from living like kingdom people.
Challenge ourselves to be more christ-like and more free.
There ought to be a quality about us who follow Jesus that make people look twice at our lives.
1) Distorted views of Jesus
God created man in His image and then man returned the favor."
Not "nice" but loving all the time. Real. We have domesticated him. Trapped inside a church. Sanitized. Rubbed people the wrong way. Not all the social graces. not smiley happy and say nice things to each other. Jesus was authentic and real. HOLIEST MAN on earth. But he was deeply loving. All the unholy were drawn to him even though they ran from the religious.
Holiness is inside out. Moralism is outside. You are... Embrace those images and remove the unhelpful ones. Self image is attached to purpose. If you think purpose is 'ahole' then that is how you will act. Or if your identity is something good you will live in that and aim at that.
2) View of Self- deeply impacts us as people. Can limit our freedom. Replace old negative labels or identities with things that God says about us.
3) View of Others
"First thing you can say about any human being on the planet?"
Do we think of others as sinners who need to be saved first or As people who have been made in the image of God had have fallen short and need to be saved. It is a primary truth. In God's image first before the fall. Then the sin.
4)Romantic love- different types of love (4 loves)
Permeates our society. For good and for bad. Fed to us through all the media; movies, books, music. Good feeling type of love. Consumeristic type of love. Problem is that it has so saturated our society that it is the love that we hold as the ideal love.
Romantic love will get you to the alter but it is not romantic love that will take you the distance. We need another type of love for this. ex "after three years 'we're out of love. We're thinking of divorcing. We've fallen out of love.' They had fallen out of romantic love. But the sad thing is that this is exactly the time that real love can be expressed.
EX. Dogs are abandoned 6-8 weeks after Christmas. They had this romantic, lovely image of a puppy and they go and poo all over the place. When the reality hits we freak out. Isn't that terrible?
(Sacrificial or)faithful love. Will keep us in relationships. Foundational of all love. The type of love that Jesus loves us with. We need to receive this love from him. He asks us to love other in this love. How does this work? There is no situation in which you can not love someone. You can always love.
5) How we spend our money
Stewardship. Trust in money or in the Father.
See Foster- Money, Sex, and power.
2nd most talked about topic by Jesus is money. Do we attach value to it beyond it's worth. Observe Rich don't have any more to gain by getting more money. More cars, clothes, etc than we need. We are consumers. It is a blind spot. Seductive.
*Identity, purpose, meaning, and belonging now make consumerism an official religion. "She was worked to death making things that we try not to call shit."
6)Status Anxiety- Everyone wants to be noticed, to get attention. we begin to measure our self worth against one another. We climb over each other to get noticed. When we are on the same level we are happy but we are not satisfied with being the same or having enough. We get status anxiety.
7)Family- nuclear family as an idol- if only we could get back to that everything would be alright. If we are 1st concerned with this unit we can loose the social justice that we are called to. Safety and comfort over calling and looking after than more than your own. There are a lot of lost out there with no family to call their own. Let your family be a reflection of the kingdom and of heaven.
Peace- Not just the antonym of war. Shalom. "So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace." Judges 6:24 "Yahweh-shalom"
Colossians 3:1-17
Scripture
"Rules for Holy Living
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is youra life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.b 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Story
Principle
Challenge
What would it be like to encounter God?
Question
We get immersed in the world.
What I want to talk about is what it is to live as kingdom people.
Discipleship.
Critique and see some of the obstacles that keep us from living like kingdom people.
Challenge ourselves to be more christ-like and more free.
There ought to be a quality about us who follow Jesus that make people look twice at our lives.
1) Distorted views of Jesus
God created man in His image and then man returned the favor."
Not "nice" but loving all the time. Real. We have domesticated him. Trapped inside a church. Sanitized. Rubbed people the wrong way. Not all the social graces. not smiley happy and say nice things to each other. Jesus was authentic and real. HOLIEST MAN on earth. But he was deeply loving. All the unholy were drawn to him even though they ran from the religious.
Holiness is inside out. Moralism is outside. You are... Embrace those images and remove the unhelpful ones. Self image is attached to purpose. If you think purpose is 'ahole' then that is how you will act. Or if your identity is something good you will live in that and aim at that.
2) View of Self- deeply impacts us as people. Can limit our freedom. Replace old negative labels or identities with things that God says about us.
3) View of Others
"First thing you can say about any human being on the planet?"
Do we think of others as sinners who need to be saved first or As people who have been made in the image of God had have fallen short and need to be saved. It is a primary truth. In God's image first before the fall. Then the sin.
4)Romantic love- different types of love (4 loves)
Permeates our society. For good and for bad. Fed to us through all the media; movies, books, music. Good feeling type of love. Consumeristic type of love. Problem is that it has so saturated our society that it is the love that we hold as the ideal love.
Romantic love will get you to the alter but it is not romantic love that will take you the distance. We need another type of love for this. ex "after three years 'we're out of love. We're thinking of divorcing. We've fallen out of love.' They had fallen out of romantic love. But the sad thing is that this is exactly the time that real love can be expressed.
EX. Dogs are abandoned 6-8 weeks after Christmas. They had this romantic, lovely image of a puppy and they go and poo all over the place. When the reality hits we freak out. Isn't that terrible?
(Sacrificial or)faithful love. Will keep us in relationships. Foundational of all love. The type of love that Jesus loves us with. We need to receive this love from him. He asks us to love other in this love. How does this work? There is no situation in which you can not love someone. You can always love.
5) How we spend our money
Stewardship. Trust in money or in the Father.
See Foster- Money, Sex, and power.
2nd most talked about topic by Jesus is money. Do we attach value to it beyond it's worth. Observe Rich don't have any more to gain by getting more money. More cars, clothes, etc than we need. We are consumers. It is a blind spot. Seductive.
*Identity, purpose, meaning, and belonging now make consumerism an official religion. "She was worked to death making things that we try not to call shit."
6)Status Anxiety- Everyone wants to be noticed, to get attention. we begin to measure our self worth against one another. We climb over each other to get noticed. When we are on the same level we are happy but we are not satisfied with being the same or having enough. We get status anxiety.
7)Family- nuclear family as an idol- if only we could get back to that everything would be alright. If we are 1st concerned with this unit we can loose the social justice that we are called to. Safety and comfort over calling and looking after than more than your own. There are a lot of lost out there with no family to call their own. Let your family be a reflection of the kingdom and of heaven.
Peace- Not just the antonym of war. Shalom. "So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace." Judges 6:24 "Yahweh-shalom"
Colossians 3:1-17
Scripture
"Rules for Holy Living
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is youra life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.b 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Story
Principle
Challenge
What would it be like to encounter God?
Question
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