Passionately Following Jesus
We kicked off our new series today at New Passion Church called “There’s An App for That.” During the series we will be exploring how the Bible has an app(lication) for some of the tough issues we deal with in life. Today we kicked off with “Hope in Distress.” Below is the schedule for the remaining 5 weeks:
November 8 – Healing for Broken Relationships
November 15 – Healthy Finances
November 22 – Harmony at Home
November 29 – Guest Preacher Tim Carnes
December 6 – Honor in our Uniqueness
I visited Iamsecond.com today thanks to my friend Dan who tweeted about a video for Sam Bradford from the Oklahoma Sooners. As I was surfing around the site, I found a video for Blake Mankin. Honestly, I’ve never heard of him, but keeping with Sunday’s theme from New Passion and Monday’s blog post on Revolutionary Change through our local and global influence, I liked what I heard. Here’s a little bit about Blake…
In 2007, Blake started Hope for Africa at his school. The club raised more than $6,000 by selling buttons during homecoming. The money paid for two wells in Southern Sudan that now provides more than 10,000 people with daily access to clean water.
It all started with Blake asking a friend “What If?” – I wonder how many people are creating revolutionary change around the world because of those two words? “What If?” – I love that Blake said he believes “Jesus is the Ultimate Thirst Quencher.” Blake is not driven for change based on a desire for personal fame, rather he is out to create revolutionary change so that Jesus might be made known to those who are far from him.
Go check watch Blake’s video on Iamsecond.com HERE. You can also follow Blake on Twitter HERE. You can help Blake create Revolutionary Change through Water HERE by donating to his fundraiser!
Join the Conversation…Who do you know that’s creating revolutionary change either locally or globally?
On Sunday we continued with week #2 of our Rediscover Church series. We discussed how New Passion values “Having Intimacy with God” as individuals and as a church.
We took an in-depth look at Religion and how when we go through religion to get to God, we always end up further from God than where we intended to be. Religion allows us to set obtainable goals, that when reached make us feel spiritual, increases our opinion of self, reduces our opinion of those who have not reached our spiritual level, and reduces the effort that Christ made on the cross to redeem us and to have a relationship with us. (Phil 3)
I had to confess…For 6 years I bought Nicki her favorite candy, Ferro Rocher, and would stuff her Christmas stocking with them, because I wanted to give her something she loved. It was about a year and a half ago that I discovered for the first time that she in fact hated the Ferro Rocher candy because it had nuts in it. I could not believe she claimed she did not like the candy, I was 99.999% sure she had told me they were her favorite, but Nicki informed me that she never ate them, but didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to hurt my feelings.
My challenge was this, “How many of us do that with God?” We give him what we think pleases him through rules, rituals, and man made opinions (Religion) while He’s provided the only method that we can gain right standing with him, and that was through His Son Jesus. “What are you offering God? Is He pleased with it?” We watched about 4 minutes of Pete Wilson preaching about the Mathmatics of Religion from week 1 of Cross Point’s Religion Lies Series, he pointed out that Religion always adds to (Jesus) and that it always complicates that which God made easy. It tied in perfectly with our message. You should go check that series out on their website.
Join the Conversation…What are some ways you have offered God something you thought pleased him, when all he wanted was your heart?
I’m a little late on this, but wanted to blog about New Passion’s launch last Sunday, September 13. I wanted to get a post up last week, but I am quickly finding out that serving in the role of “Bi-Vocational” pastor is not that time friendly, so we’ll see how it affects my blogging in the near future.
Here are some of my thoughts and highlights from our first week as a new church:
Last night at our launch team meeting we looked at two contrasting visions in the book of Acts. One is found in Acts 19 and the other in Acts 17. Here are a few of my follow up thoughts and main points to the devotion:
About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. 24 It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy. 25 He called them together, along with others employed in similar trades, and addressed them as follows:
“Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. 26 But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province! 27 Of course, I’m not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I’m also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis-this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world-will be robbed of her great prestige!”
28 At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” – – – 40 I am afraid we are in danger of being charged with rioting by the Roman government, since there is no cause for all this commotion. And if Rome demands an explanation, we won’t know what to say.” 41 Then he dismissed them, and they dispersed.
Demetrius had a vision. His vision was for his own personal gain. He had an agenda to have a successful business and to make a lot of money. The worship of the false goddess, Artemis, is what fueled Demetrius’ towards achieving his vision of a successful business. Demetrius was smart because he played on the emotions of his employees. He understood that a man will do whatever he has to do to provide for his family, so Demetrius painted a picture that Paul was taking there ability to provide for their family and to make money by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. Two things stick out about Demetrius and I believe we can say the same thing for anyone who pursues their own agenda over God’s vision:
In Acts 17:3-9, there is an opposing reaction to God’s vision and movement. Check it out…
He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” 4 Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.
5 But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. 6 Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too. 7 And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, named Jesus.”
8 The people of the city, as well as the city council, were thrown into turmoil by these reports. 9 So the officials forced Jason and the other believers to post bond, and then they released them.
Christ’s movement was increasing through the influence of Paul and Silas. Many people were placing their faith in Jesus Christ. Jason caught this vision from God and through his actions we can see a couple of things that is evident when we embrace God’s vision for his church and his people: