6 July, 2010
Mick
Book Review
Andrew Farley, Book Review, Jesus, Naked Gospel, Religion
Andrew Farley’s book, The Naked Gospel, was an enjoyable read. In a nut shell he pretty much says that all you need in this Christian life is Jesus. And he is correct.
One of the things I have said many times over is that we cannot expect to change people. Too many times religion is used to shape someone into some kind of moral elitist, but that is not what following Christ is about. Religion, though it can be a good thing, can be harmful and unnecessary. Farley hits on this point, and I’m glad he did.
For the first half of the book, Farley explains some of the issues that have developed over the past 2000 years since Jesus was around. The second half then goes into some of his theology and such.
I like the idea, but am not completely akin to his theological views. But then again, do any of us have the same theology?
When all is said and done, only one thing will really matter; your relationship with Jesus. This is what is really at the heart of The Naked Gospel, and I couldn’t agree more.
1 July, 2010
Mick
Christianity
Christianity, Music, Religion, success, Worship
I read this blog by Jimi Williams on worshiptogether.com. I thought it was great and want to share it with all of you.
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As worship leaders, we often ask the question “How do we measure success?”. This question is more easily answered by a retail store or a mechanic than by a ministry leader. It can be hard to get your arms around the metrics that should be used to measure success. Is it how many people show up on Sunday morning? Is it how many people have their arms raised in worship or say “good job” when you are done?
Certainly both of these things can point in a general direction of success, but they leave out the possibility that God may be using you to bring about some other good. From the Old Testament, would you say Elijah’s ministry was successful? He was hated by many and spent part of his life hiding from people who wanted him dead. But he was God’s voice to a wayward nation. Successful? Maybe. Obedient? Definately. So perhaps the better question to ask is “Am I being obedient to the will of God?”
To unpack this question, ask yourself the following:
- Am I faithfully doing what God has gifted me to do?
- Am I living my life according to the Bible by loving God, loving others and avoiding sin?
- Am I willing to do the right things, even if they cause me discomfort?
- Would I still be willing to serve God in the same way if no one ever said “thanks” or “good job”?
In the end, I believe God values obedience more than success. So should we.
29 June, 2010
Mick
Christianity
Christianity, communion, Jesus, Mighty to Save, Music, Religion
Mighty to Save is such a great song. Wouldn’t you agree? Not only is the chorus just an anthem to God, but the lyrics have such depth. Take the first line, for example:
“Everyone needs compassion, a love that’s never failing.”
Everyone needs the love of God. Why? Because we are all sinners. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Just because we are here at church this morning doesn’t mean that we are any better than the person who is still sleeping as I speak. We are all sinners.
So we’re faced with this problem. All of man has sinned, and therefore does not deserve to go to heaven. I don’t know about you, but the thought of not going to heaven is something I’d rather not think about. This is a serious issue, and we don’t even have the ability to fix it.
And that is exactly why we take communion. It’s to remind us that even though we can’t do anything about this sin problem, God has given us a way out, a scape goat if you will. Jesus Christ, God’s only son, died by means of a Roman Crucifixion so that we no longer have to face punishment for our sin. We don’t even deserve this, but it’s because of God’s grace that we can be forgiven.
“Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior.”
The Savior that we sing about is Jesus Christ.
25 May, 2010
Mick
Christianity
Christianity, Disciple, Exponential, Jesus, Neil Cole, Religion
The last two years, I have been able to sit in on a work shop from Neil Cole during the Exponential Conference. In both, he talked about being a disciple of Jesus and what that meant. I really liked what he had to say, and his words have been proven true by Scripture.
Pretty much what he said is that we cannot expect people to follow us. Even though one of the goals with Twitter is to amass an army of followers, as Christians we should not expect people to really follow us. We all need to be followers (or disciples) of Jesus. That sounds really obvious, but do teachers really think that way?
“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” -Matthew 23:8-12 (ESV)
Think of a copy machine. What happens when you make a copy of a copy of a copy? It starts to fade and all the imperfections become more noticable. They will never be as good as the master copy.
The same would go for us as Christ-followers as well. If Jesus is the master copy, we need to go to Him. As teachers, we should not point people to what we have to say, but point people to Scripture and what Jesus says.
24 May, 2010
Mick
Christianity
Christianity, Exponential, Leadership, Religion
A fellow church-planter told me these four questions will bring any kind of meeting to the next level. He heard them at Exponential 2010 in a workshop he attended. Check them out, and I encourage you to use them.
- What went well?
- What went bad?
- What was confusing?
- What is missing?
I just had a talk with a friend of mine, JW, who added one other question. I think this is particularly important when dealing with anything concerning God’s Church.
5. God, what are you doing here?
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