Month: September 2009

Posted on

Don’t be mastered by Twitter

Graham Stanton wrote a great post today about some of the dangers he’s found since using twitter. He paraphrases 1 Corinthians 6:12 – ‘Twitter is permissible, and may even be beneficial; but I will not be mastered by anything’ and then outlines his strategies for not being mastered by twitter. Here are his four points:

don't be mastered by twitter

4. Missing what’s happening because I’m telling other people what’s happening
3. Being constantly occupied with thinking I should be tweeting something profound
2. Mistaking Twitter for the Bread of Life
1. Living my life for the praise of men

Go read them in full

The picture above is from Portwiture – it grabs the most frequent words from your twitter feed and matches them with a relevant (and random) picture from flickr. (h/t church crunch)

Posted on

Be Thankful

Failing to thank God is one of the symptoms of sin and rebellion (Romans 1:21). It follows, therefore, that part of repenting of sin and turning to God is being thankful to God. Colossians (in the Bible) has a thankfulness thread that runs through the letter.

be thankful

Paul is thankful to the Father that the Christians in Colossae have their faith in Jesus (Colossians 1:3). He then encourages them, as those who’ve been forgiven by God, to likewise give thanks to the Father (Col 1:12). Presumably, part of their conversion to Jesus was shown in thankfulness, hence Paul urges them to continue to be overflowing with thankfulness (Col 2:7).

In chapter 3 they are then urged to “be thankful” in response to the peace that Jesus brings (verse 15). In the next sentence they are to teach and sing with thankfulness to God (verse 16). And then finally, the section closes with a verse that suggests that thankfulness is to be an all-consuming characteristic of the Christian life: “And 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.” (verse 17)

Be thankful.

sxc pic

Posted on

The second best book to read | Jesus All About Life

The best book to read is the Bible. Hands down. But I think I’ve recently discovered the best book, after the Bible, to read. Over the last 10+ years I’ve been recommending books to teenagers, to help them get to know who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. My top three were the John Dickson trilogy for teenagers: A Sneaking Suspicion; A Hell of a Life; and Hanging in There. Now, don’t get me wrong – JD’s books still rock the suburbs, seriously. But they are starting to date and we need more good books that will help to introduce young people to the real life that is found only in Jesus.

Jesus all about Life by Murray Smith

Introducing, Jesus All About Life by Murray Smith. This book is now my number 1 recommendation to teenagers (closely followed by JD’s trio). It’s brilliant! Murray, one of the Pastor’s at Kirkplace Church, is a really smart dude. So he knows his gear. Yet he writes in an informal and teenage friendly style, without trying to be a teenager!

Continue reading “The second best book to read | Jesus All About Life”