Food For Thought: Getting Back In The Swing Edition
Every week here at Pursuing Glory I try to bring together the best posts I’ve found that will equip the end-times church to operate in her God-ordained destiny. These are the best blogs, articles, books and other resources related to our purpose here at this site. Feel free to visit, comment, and make use of the resources found at each site.
This week marks the return of me to blogging after letting that part of my life slide for a few weeks. I’ve had a chance to hang out with some of the coolest people who aren’t part of our house church recently. However that time spent has taken me away from writing, so I’m going to try and get back in the swing of things. This post represents the best posts from the last few weeks. Enjoy!
I think that Jesus is most frequently the part of community that we leave out when we begin to discect a Christian community. Alan writes about Jesus’ centrality in a way that makes his whole discussions on the elements of a church more palatable than most similar discussions.
Two Vital Needs of Every Disciple
One of the things that gets left out of most discussions about discipleship is the necessity of being able to make other disciples. Here Ray writes about the paradox of following Jesus and leading others into following Him.
Change the Atmosphere, Change the Culture
One of the shifts that I’ve seen help people move from a static church mindset into a movement mindset is discovering the spirit of multiplication that the apostles walked in. Here J.D. talks about how that happens with a group people who currently have no vision for reproducing churches.
One of the common misconceptions in the body of Christ is that house churches in the third world are effective because persecution happening around them fuels evangelism and discipleship. Actually persecution causes the church to return to her organic roots and when she does that, she spreads quickly and naturally.
With the house church movement in the United States as new as it is, little has been written about what mature house church networks look like. This post has an incredible visual that says volumes about how a network of house churches can function interdependently.
Photo Credit: Design Probes – Food for Thought by centralasian.
What Japan Doesn’t Need
I just finished reading an email sent out by Wolfgang and Mercy Simson describing their perspective on world events in light of the recent earthquake and tidal wave that has rocked Japan. Opinions about the situation are a dime a dozen, but I found this thought by Wolfgang extremely helpful. In describing how the church should address such a crisis he says this:
“Don’t do what the world does, but do what only Kingdom people can do, and no-one else. Kingdom people do not need to join the choir of a world without God that only sees the superficial humanitarian, economic, scientific or psychological aspects of disasters.” –Wolfgang Simson
I think this is incredibly key for the hour that we’re living in. Right now, with all of the calamity and war taking place around us, it can be easy for us to become humanitarians. And while I love helping others (and trust me, we will be called to help others) there has to be something that separates our response from the response of every other human being that doesn’t know Christ. You see Japan doesn’t need more money, they need Jesus.
The world has money, star power, volunteers, and sympathy. What they don’t have is any cure for the wrath of God that manifests itself partially in this age and fully in the age to come. What they don’t have is Christ, loving them, leading them, indwelling them, and empowering them. He alone is the cure for everything broken in this world. He is anything but impractical. When a group of people come under the Lordship of Jesus and experience His life, they will change and heal society just by their very nature.
There will be a day when all the world’s money, star power, and volunteerism will not suffice to bring healing. The weight of sin and the outpouring of God’s wrath will be too great. In those days the church will no longer be able to rely on what she has been able to do through human means, but only on what she has learned to give from Jesus. Her access to a supernatural God who changes mankind, heals the sick, restores the broken, and shifts the heavens will be crucial. The time to learn how to give this is right now.
Wolfgang goes on to describe other practical responses the church can make, and I would encourage you to check out his email that he sent and the pdf attached that gives you some insight into his revelation about Japan.
Photo Credit: Shibuya Night by Guwashi999
Notes From The Margins: Temptations
Every blog post in my “Notes from the Margins” series is an ongoing attempt to process the truth I’m finding in the Bible as I go. You’re welcome to join me by dialoguing, asking questions, or doing your own “Notes from the Margins” post on your blog. There are a few rules that you can read here.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.'” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve,’” (Luke 4:1-8).
One of the things that I love about Jesus being a man is that He was tempted in every way just like we were. That means that there isn’t any temptation you face that Jesus didn’t have to face in some way. Not all of those ways are recorded, but I guarantee he faced everything you faced and more. He was tempted to the extreme. That’s why reading the account of where he was actually tempted can be so helpful as we look to Jesus as our example of how to overcome temptations.
Today as part of my reading for our 2&3, I came across the account of Jesus’ temptation in Luke 4 again. Here’s what struck me as I read it this morning: Satan was offering something to Jesus that was already promised to Him (Psalm 2:7-8). He wasn’t just offering to make Jesus the idol of all humanity. Satan was actually offering Jesus the destiny God had promised Jesus without having to go through the cross. It was destiny minus the pain.
But that got me thinking about how often we fall for the same temptations. We want to be like King David but we don’t want to be chased through the wilderness by the leader God has removed his hand from. We want the ministry of Paul minus the misunderstandings by people we love, even fellow believers. We want to walk by faith without attempting and failing like Peter did when he stepped out of the boat. We want the promise without the pain. And very frequently we forget that the pain and the suffering are the very things that God uses to prepare us for His promise in the first place.
Satan was looking for worship. Whenever we take short cuts to step into God’s promises with following God’s ways, I think we enter into a measure of worshiping Satan. But to choose the hard path that God is leading us through, all the while believing that God will still deliver on His promise? That’s true worship of the Father. It’s something we’re supposed to give only to Him. Maybe you aren’t being offered a chance to become God of all the nations today, but are you taking a short cut to something God promised in way He hasn’t provided? Today, I’m going to choose the way of God that honors Him, no matter what it costs me.
That’s today’s “Note from the Margin.” Feel free to comment, discuss, and dialogue in the comments section.
Photo Credit: April 25 Notes by Iowa_Spirit_Walker
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 