Sep30
Martin Luther:
To let your face blabber one thing while your heart dwells on another is just tempting God…Any and every thing, if it is to be well done, demands the entire man, all his mind and faculties.
What is your best time of day? When is your mind and spirit the freshest? Give that time in devotion to God.
Sep23
Last Sunday at Orlando Grace Church, we continued our short break from the gospel of John, and Pastor Curt delivered a sermon on giving. It was one of the best I have heard on the topic. It’s inspiring to see someone who labors and wrestles diligently to rightly handle the Scriptures each week. Praise God for his Word!
Although it may seem self-serving for me to publish a post on giving while Nicole and I are in this season of raising a financial team of partners, my aim here is not to talk anyone into giving to our ministry. My aim has very little to do with our ministry at all, except I hope to encourage those who have joined our team and worship God by giving to Him through our ministry. I also hope to challenge everyone (myself included) to continue to worship God by the giving of their money during this and every other season of life. Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis (if there is anyone) know that we post links and thoughts on all different topics, and I would hate to not share a beneficial resource simply because of our current season in life.
The passage of Scripture that Pastor Curt ’expositopically’ preached from was 2 Corinthians 9:6-9. The theme of his message was:
Because giving of our means results in huge blessing to us as givers, we should aim to excel in the grace of giving to the Lord’s work as followers of Jesus Christ.
For those of you who fear this was a message derived from a prosperity gospel ideology, it was far from it!
Four Components of Gracious Giving
Pastor Curt highlighted four components of the kind of giving that hugely blesses the giver:
I love alliteration!
The link to the sermon is not yet on the web. I’ll post it once it becomes available. Definitely check back in a few days! Then, come here on Sunday at 10:45 am!
—– UPDATED —–
The sermon is up on the web. You can find it here! Thanks, John!
Aug7
Below is a video a friend showed to me. It’s another part of God’s creation. More of his glory on display. It’s his work of art, and we are his unique masterpieces created in his image.
This causes me to praise my God.
How much more so will we be in awe when we stand before the One who made all of this? I long for the day.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” – Isaiah 40:28
Aug7
After our National Staff Conference, Nicole and I traveled just south of Denver to stay with some of our extended family for a couple days. There is a good possibility we wouldn’t have had the chance to see them again before we left for Italy, so we were glad to stay a few extra days.
For one of the days, we traveled up to Breckenridge to go hiking. Below is some pictures from our hike.
During the hike, I kept asking myself, “why does this bring me so much joy?”
What is it about vast landscapes and high peaks and grand waterfalls that makes my heart glad? Why do I seek out strenuous, grueling hikes in order to reach the top of a peak? Why does my heart smile when I’m on top of that mountain, feeling the reality of how very small I am?
Because in those instances, God’s glory is on display, and God’s glory is most satisfying.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. – Romans 1:20
God eternal power and divine nature are put on display when you look out over a valley at sunset. For some, there is an temptation to look out over creation and praise the creation itself. Scripture even affirms this: “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” Although God’s creation is beautiful, it’s beauty is meant to point us to God. It’s a reflection of his beauty. Thankfully, because God has opened my eyes to see the truth, I cannot take in such views without seeing and feeling the power of our infinite God. And not only has God imagined and created these mountains pictured above, but He causes them to sing, and the rivers and trees to clap their hands in worship (Isaiah 55:12, Psalm 98:8). Wow! We serve a God that would make the rocks cry out if we were silent in our worship (Luke 19:40). He is constantly upholding this universe that He has created by the “word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). Think about it…everything you see remains in existence because God tells it to.
This is not an autonomous world that God created, and then left alone to run on its own. He is always providentially interacting with his creation. Each morning, ‘he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good.’ (Matthew 5:45) To quote John Piper, “He brings the sun to rise. Can you imagine why the sun rose this morning on this city – this wicked city? This world is so full of us-type sinners, and He makes paradise rise in the sky…What kind of patience are we dealing with here?”
Our God is intentional in causing the sun to rise each morning. He wants us to worship him.
Jul30
The 2009 National Staff Conference ended tonight. Whew.
While our time here had a more relaxed feel than everyday life, we find ourselves mentally exhausted. I feel as if I have been drinking through a firehose the past 8 days. We had the privilege to hear three gut-wrenching, heart-checking, face-melting talks from Dr. Tim Keller. We received challenges from our president Steve Douglass, and from U.S. Campus Staff Director, Steve Sellers. We were blown away by two seminars featuring sensitive material taught by Josh McDowell. We received teaching throughout the conference in various other seminars. We met with leaders of Agape Europe, and had the chance to hear what God is doing throughout Europe. We laughed with Tim Hawkins. We worshipped God with Tenth Avenue North and Lecrae. And finally, we experienced great fellowship with the thousands of other Campus Crusade staff throughout the world.
We feel as if we could spend the next month digesting and decompressing everything we learned. But our time here has been what we had hoped. We feel encouraged and re-energized to return home to Orlando to continue to involve people in God’s work in Italy. I know that we both connected with the Lord in a real way, as He once again displayed Himself as our loving Father who is working all things together for our good.
Below is a short video and some pictures documenting our time at CSU. Enjoy!
Jul25
This remarkable video was played this morning at our National Staff Conference, except Tim McKenzie stood on stage and recited all the scripture by memory while the images played on a screen behind him. It was a very worshipful experience. All the words spoken are scripture.
It’s about 30 minutes long, so make sure you have time to watch the whole thing. You’ll want to.
