It’s pretty easy to lose heart in the Christian life and in Christian ministry. I’m continually saddened by the number of people I personally know who have given up on the Christian life. To a lesser extent, it’s devastating when Christian ministers lose heart and give up their ministry.
2 Corinthians has a lot to say about reasons for not losing heart. In it we meet the Apostle Paul who goes through much hardship, yet has good reason to persevere in his Christian life and ministry. In 4:1 and 4:16 Paul says “therefore we do not lose heart”, and in between those two verses there are at least 5 reasons to not lose heart. Knowing these things will enable you to not lose heart – whether you are a young Christian or an old-timer. Want to know more? Keep an eye out on the next 5 posts, in the meantime have a read of 2 Corinthians 4:1-18:
Prince Harry is in trouble again. I reckon how he should behave as a royal, is a little like how a Christian should behave. Harry didn’t do anything to become part of the Royal Family. He doesn’t deserve to be 3rd in line for the throne. But, because he is part of that family, he needs to live worthily of the name he carries. Philippians 1:27 says to live “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Christians don’t deserve to be Christian. Christians don’t deserve to be members of God’s family and co-heirs with Christ. BUT nonetheless they are to live worthily of the name that they carry. Just a thought.
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Mars Hill are about to begin a new 28 week Bible series, TRIAL: 8 witnesses from 1 & 2 Peter. I’m really looking forward to being encouraged from the Bible during this series.
Ecclesiastes was a book of wisdom written about 3000 years ago. Yet it could easily have been written yesterday with its relevant observations of “life under the sun”. It was written by (or at least through the eyes of) Solomon, King of Israel. In it he speaks about life, death, work, money, pleasure, sex, alcohol, music, justice and God. The big question that Solomon asks is “what’s the point of life?”
Throughout the book he embarks on a search to find meaning and purpose in life. He concludes that everything is meaningless – it’s temporary and won’t last forever. Although everything “under the sun” is meaningless, life under the Son (JESUS) is far from meaningless. As we think about the search for meaning and purpose in life – the key question we want to think through is “what difference does Jesus make?” Knowing Jesus changes everything!
This will probably be the last post for 2008. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for regular broadcasting again in January 2009. Believe in Jesus. Peaceout.
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The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Here are the talks from The Strad 08. The key question we thought through was: now what? The year 12s had just finished their final exams and before they jet off into the rest of their lives, it was good to reflect together on the purpose and meaning of life.
My aim wasn’t to say anything new, but to remind them of things they already knew, and to keep going in Jesus. Anyone is welcome to listen but if you know recent school grads they could be good to pass on. The talks are topical, but we spent a lot of the time in Ephesians.
On 28 July 08 a couple of hundred people packed out the Avoca Beach Cinema for an uplifting night of singing praise to Jesus. The Nite EV crew have done an incredible job at pulling together their first live album: NiteEV Live.
The recording quality of the instruments is exceptional, and even though some of the vocals are wobbly at times, it only adds to the raw energy of the album. Have a listen. Click to keep reading and for pictures from the night:
I’ve written a gospel outline from Ecclesiastes using the Two Ways to Live framework. The first 3 boxes are from Ecclesiastes; while the second 3 boxes are from the New Testament, but with reference to the ideas from Ecclesiastes.
This is the 25th episode of JLCD. Awesome. Is it worthwhile? Do you ever look at the links below? Suggestions for new features? Hope you’re having a killer weekend. BinJC.
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Here is the audio from a workshop that Gus Cameron and I ran today at the Youthworks Youth Ministry Conference 08. Day 1 was a good day. Two highlights: 1) Josh Apieczonek’s talk on Loving the Unloved and 2) Having dinner with Richard, Jake and Andre who came all the way from New Zealand for the conference.
Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, did a series of posts last week on “Running Effective Meetings”. If you’re part of a church and have been involved in running meetings, admit it, you’ve probably run sucky meetings.
Yo bro, the mo had to go, but you can still give it some dough, so go! Put it this way, remaining married for the rest of November was more important to me than cultivating the 3 hairs above my lip. Hope you’re having a killer weekend. Peaceout.
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All exams are finished! Giddy up. This is really a post reminding me to do some holiday reading. Currently, I like Con Campbell because of his jazz. I’m psyching myself up to love him for his contribution to Biblical Greek grammar!
Con has a new book out – he guest blogged about it on the Zondervan Academic blog. It’s on Verbal Aspect. I’m hoping that reading the 5 posts below will be a good primer.
Mission – Köstenberger (doc). This is the ‘Mission’ chapter from the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. It’s basically the same as the summary in ‘Salvation to the End of the Earth’ by O’Brien and Köstenberger. So you get 250 pages summarised into 4. Sweet.
If you’re not about to sit an exam on this stuff, have a read any way. It’s good. If you have no idea who Jesus is – this website is a good start. (sxc pic)
An Evangelical Rationale for Social Action (pdf) by Michael Hill. “By his sacrificial service on the cross (Jesus) revealed God’s standard for all to imitate. He modelled true humanity in his humility and selfabasement before God and his self-giving service… to his neighbours.”
“The reality is that evangelism will lead to conversion and conversion will lead to a new creation and that new creation will oblige people to be involved in social action.” sxc pic
