Archive - August, 2009

1 Corinthians 13 & Bob Dylan

August 28, 2009 in Awesomenessness, General, Music, The Word, Worship, Wrestling With Scripture with 1 Comment

A few weeks ago I purchased the Bob Dylan Collection, a digital box set, from iTunes. The collection includes every Bob Dylan release from Bob Dylan (’62) to Modern Times (’06). I have found so many great Dylan songs that I have never had the chance to hear before now. One of my new favorites is Watered-Down Love from the 1981 album Shot of Love. The lyrics seemed instantly familiar to me. They sound an awful lot like what Paul had to say about pure love to the church in Corinth.

Watered-Down Love
Shot of Love
Bob Dylan

Love that’s pure hopes all things,
Believes all things, won’t pull no strings,
Won’t sneak up into your room, tall, dark and handsome,
Capture your heart and hold it for ransom.

You don’t want a love that’s pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love

Love that’s pure, it don’t make no claims,
Intercedes for you ‘stead of casting you blame,
Will not deceive you or lead you to transgression,
Won’t write it up and make you sign a false confession.

You don’t want a love that’s pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love

Love that’s pure won’t lead you astray,
Won’t hold you back, won’t mess up your day,
Won’t pervert you, corrupt you with stupid wishes,
It don’t make you envious, it don’t make you suspicious.

You don’t want a love that’s pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love

Love that’s pure ain’t no accident,
Always on time, is always content,
An eternal flame, quietly burning,
Never needs to be proud, restlessly yearning.

You don’t want a love that’s pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love

I hope that no one would ever dedicate this song to you or me. Jesus said that people would know that we were his disciples by the way we loved others. Let’s live everyday loving those around us with pure and unadulterated love.

No watered-down love around here.

“If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self–seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1Corinthians 13:1-8 TNIV)

Matt Chandler’s Philippians Top 10

August 27, 2009 in Bible Study, Discipleship, Ministry, Mission, Wrestling With Scripture with Comments Off

In this blog post from The Resurgance Matt Chandler writes the top 10 reasons he wanted to teach on the book of Philippians. Gotta love this list.

1) How the church began. Acts 16: Lydia is a wealthy Asian (Thyatira); the slave girl is an oppressed Greek, and the jailer was a middle class Roman. All were transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the diversity of that cast.

2) The book teaches that the gospel advances regardless of circumstance (Phil. 1:12-18). In an age where it is not uncommon to hear that you can put God into your debt by behaving, I thought this was extremely important.

3) Paul’s cry “To live is Christ and die is gain!” How could he not say that! Lydia was wealthy, religious, and empty; the slave girl was bitter, oppressed, and angry; and the Roman jailer was indifferent and cruel. All were lost in their lives. What else would you live for?

4) The book clearly teaches humility in the life of a believer. We can’t hear that topic enough (Philippians 2).

5) Paul ferociously outlines the reasons to pursue Christ (Phil. 3:1-11).

6) Then, he follows it up by teaching how to pursue Christ (Phil. 3:12-21).

7) Chapter 4 talks about what the heart and mind of a man of God look like. This is invaluable information as there seems to be some confusion on this matter.

8) Contentment is a gift more precious than jewels (Phil. 4:10-19).

9) It gave me a chance to remind everyone that Philippians 4:13 isn’t about playing sports, making the team, or being successful in business.

10) Because if I can help us be “the lights of this world holding fast to the word of life” I would humbly and gladly spend my life doing so.

link

My Friends, My Mentors

August 27, 2009 in Books, Ethos, Experience, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Resources with 2 Comments

Mark Batterson over at Evotional had this to say about Virtual Mentors:

When I am in my office, I am surrounded by several thousand mentors that sit on my bookshelves. Authors are virtual mentors. Some of them died hundreds of years ago. Others would never have time to meet with me one-on-one. But their writing is a form of mentoring.

I’ve heard that the average author takes about two years to write a book. So that means when I read a book I gain two years of life experience. Read a hundred books this year and you’ll gain two hundred years of life experience.

I’m being mentored by George Müller, Eugene Peterson, Francis Chan, and Scot McKnight right now. That translates into a lot of life experience according to Mark. Makes me even more determined to read, learn, and lead.

Who is mentoring you today?

Community Prayer

August 26, 2009 in Prayer with Comments Off

I talked with a parent about the idea of “community prayer” last week. The idea is that by sharing your concerns and prayer needs with those around you the community is rallied around your need bathing it in prayer. I loved this idea! I even twittered this brilliant little thought I had:

Never underestimate the power of God’s people praying in one direction.

Sounds good right? I took much pride in my ability to come up with such a great little concept in well under 140 characters- a little wisdom honey dripping from my lips. There’s only one problem.

It isn’t exactly true.

After I said this (seemingly) brilliant nugget I thought of a specific passage where God acted when his people prayed in the same direction.

Look what it says in Exodus 2:23-25:

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

“Wow, look at what happened when God’s people prayed!” I thought. Then I realized that my statement was a bit off.

You see, there was no power found in God’s people in this passage. They were trapped, desperate, weak, alone, and pitiful. The power came from God alone. Yes they were one in mind and heart but the power wasn’t in what they did but in the one they were submitting to. The truth of the matter is this:

Never underestimate the power of God when his people pray in the same direction.

Think about when Peter was in prison in Acts 12. The church was gathered in prayer for his release and safe return. They were in community prayer for the life of their brother. They were all focused in one direction but it was God who acted. It was the power of God that sent the angel, that dissolved the chains, that opened the prison gates. Peter thought it was all a dream until he realized that he was standing alone outside of the prison.

I am in love with this idea of community prayer. I want to engage my brothers and sisters in it more and more but let’s not kid ourselves here. Let’s remember where the true power lies- firmly at the feet of the creator and sustainer of the universe.

Never underestimate the power of God when his people pray in the same direction.

Mission Trip 09 Part 2

August 17, 2009 in Awesomenessness, Discipleship, Mission, Prayer, Summer, Youth Ministry with Comments Off

So I had just found out that the homeless shelter that we had planned to serve while on our mission trip was broke and on the brink of closing. We would no longer have a place to serve. That’s it. End of story. This was creating a giant black hole right in the middle of our mission trip.

When I was scheduling places for us to serve, a food bank in Atlanta had given me a list of non-profits that could host our group. I called the first one on the list: Project Open Hand.

Within 20 minutes we had scheduled time to deliver meals on Friday and Saturday and to pack meals on Monday for the clients of Open Hand.

Remember when I had prayed to God to step in a save our trip? He was about to deliver… big time.

On Friday & Saturday we delivered meals all over the city of Atlanta. We were welcomed into apartments and homes and we were able to pray with many of the families. It was an eye opening experience for all of us. We saw men and women of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and classes. We met disabled people and we met the terminally ill. It seemed that no matter what the circumstance, these people were thankful for the little bit that they had. Some even offered to pray for us! It was such a blessing. Of course, we met difficult people and some simply reached a hand out the door, snatched the bags of food, and were gone. These were few and far between though.

We overwhelmingly had an incredible few days at Open Hand. On that Monday, I think we pack closed to 3000 meals. That is not a typo – Three thousand meals for people in Atlanta. Only by the grace of God!

The whole focus of our trip had started out to be aimed directly at ministering and serving the homeless of Atlanta. We were still scheduled to do this on Saturday night and Sunday morning. However by Saturday afternoon I had begun to wonder whether or not we would still be able to do this in a meaningful way. Again, I guess I underestimated how God would answer our prayers.

To Be Concluded in part 3