But the beautiful thing about waiting on Him is that he will renew our strength and give us a hope.  Some Scriptures that I have been meditating on this week talk about this hope and the fact that God hasn’t forgotten or left me in my struggles.

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that^[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:18-27; 37-39 NIV)

I’m preaching on these verses in a couple of weeks…good stuff.

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

(Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)

Reading Radical:Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream by David Platt.  It is really good.  But as Russell Moore, Dean, Southern Baptist Seminary writes in his endorsement…I have wanted to set it down several times–ouch!!

Sometimes people will commend a book by saying, ‘You won’t want to put it down.’ I can’t say that about this book. You’ll want to put it down, many times. If you’re like me, as you read David Platt’s Radical, you’ll find yourself uncomfortably targeted by the Holy Spirit. You’ll see just how acclimated you are to the American dream. But you’ll find here another Way, one you know to be true, because you’ve heard it before in the words of the Lord Jesus, perhaps most forcefully in the simple call ‘Follow me.’ Read this book. Put it away for a time, if you need to, while your conscience is invaded by the Spirit driving you to repentance. And then pick it up again. After you’re done reading, I think you’ll know better how to pick up your cross and follow Christ for the advancement of the kingdom and the destruction of false dreams. —Russell D. Moore, dean, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

David Platt sets up the book to explain the vast difference between what the modern church in America holds dear and what the Jesus of the Bible taught and held dear.  There is a huge difference.  Here is a great example of his wonderful writing style (emphasis mine):

Whenever the crowd got big, he’d say something such as, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”[John 6:53] Not exactly the sharpest church-growth tactic. I can almost picture the looks on the disciples’ faces. “No, not the drink-my-blood speech! We’ll never get on the list of the fastest-growing movements if you keep asking them to eat you.” By the end of that speech, all the crowds had left, and only twelve men remained.[John 6:66-67] Jesus apparently wasn’t interested in marketing himself to the masses. His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly than the crowds were ready to accept, and he seemed to be okay with that. He focused instead on the few who believed him when he said radical things. And through their radical obedience to him, he turned the course of history in a new direction.

Soon I realized I was on a collision course with an American church culture where success is defined by bigger crowds, bigger budgets, and bigger buildings. I was now confronted with a startling reality: Jesus actually spurned the things that my church culture said were most important. So what was I to do? I found myself faced with two big questions.

The first was simple. Was I going to believe Jesus? Was I going to embrace Jesus even though he said radical things that drove the crowds away? The second question was more challenging. Was I going to obey Jesus? My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus’ words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to him. In other words, my biggest fear is that I will do exactly what most people did when they encountered Jesus in the first century.

That’s why I’ve written this book.

Check out the book’s promotional website here.  You can go and download the first chapter there as well as view promotional videos.  Also, each chapter has several of Platt’s sermons that you can listen to along with the reading of the chapter.  There is also information on the “Radical Experiment” that his church, The Church at Brook Hills is carrying out to practically apply these teachings.

Tonight was our first baseball game for Taylor’s team.  I am managing his team this year and it has been a lot of fun.  We played really well but came up a bit short tonight.  However, one big thing that I know I personally learned was that we all need to learn WHO we should listen to–in baseball…and especially in life.

My fellow coach came up after a half inning and said, “Only one of us (coaches) needs to talk to a batter at a time. I noticed that I was trying to talk to a batter and I looked down and you were already talking to him.  They aren’t hearing both of us…(probably neither of us when we are talking at the same time.)”

We also have a couple of players that have a really hard time “nicely ignoring” the crowds and focus on just coaches and fellow players.  When I was umpiring, one of my mentors used to say, “you can’t have ‘rabbit ears.’”  Meaning, when you are behind the plate, especially, you need to focus on your job, not listen to your critics calling balls and strikes from the stands on the 1st or 3rd base lines.

I was reminded tonight of the passage in the Gospel of John where Jesus tells about the sheep and the shepherd.

³The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

⁷Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:3-10

So, who are you listening to?  Are you trying to listen to too many things all at the same time? Are you listening to the encouragers in your life?  The critics? Let us focus on the Master’s Voice, which brings us life!

Matthew 14:18-21 -  Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed,broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.

Matthew 26:26-28  -  During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, andgave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body. Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them: Drink this, all of you. This is my blood, God’s new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.

Four Words from Granger Community on Vimeo.

For most of you all that know me very well, I have a huge heart and affection for the Passion folks.  When I was a student pastor, I would follow Louie and Tomlin around the country for Student Life Camp each summer.  It was (and still is) a pretty bad “crush.”  Actually, I think I like the movement so much because it really speaks to my heart like not a whole lot of other things.  I think that it is because it is all about making Jesus famous…taking His Fame and Glory to the nations.  I think the other thing is that worship has always been a huge part of my connection with the Savior.  There have been times of worship, both corporate and private, that have been very instrumental in my journey.  Many of those times have been around songs and sermons at Passion conferences. I love that they are still influencing the future generation to preach the Gospel to the Nations.

I first met Chris Tomilin over a very cheap meal for youth pastors in Fort Worth, TX while I was in seminary and he was a student at Texas A&M.  He was working for Dawson McAllister Conferences and we had a very enjoyable conversation over a “conference information lunch” about ministry, college life, and Taylor Guitars!  My, what God has done through him and used him to influence millions of people through his music!  What I loved about him was his “guy next door” demeanor.  He didn’t care to “work the room” like so many others in that room, but was very humble and personal.  It is amazing how God places experiences in our lives to teach us on this journey.  Pretty cool.

Kevin said I needed to check out the new Passion CD…it is amazing…as usual!

The title song is great and really speaks to my heart right now.  What would happen if we all truly had an “awakening” and Christ became the center of all of our lives!  What could happen if we “woke up” to the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ needs to go to the nations? What would happen if we were awakened to the fact that the Gospel needs take root in our own lives and our neighbors’ lives? Amazing things would be done for the name of Jesus!

Here are the words…

In our hearts Lord, in this nation
Awakening
Holy Spirit, we desire
Awakening

For You and You alone
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing
For the world You love
Your will be done
Let Your will be done in me

In Your presence, in Your power
Awakening
For this moment, for this hour
Awakening

Like the rising sun that shines
From the darkness comes a light
I hear Your voice
And this is my awakening

Like the rising sun that shines
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing
From the darkness comes a light
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing
Like the rising sun that shines
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing
Only You can raise a life
Awake my soul
Awake my soul and sing

In our hearts Lord, in the nations
Awakening

I

n our hearts Lord, in this nation

Written by Chris Tomlin and Reuben Morgan / © 2010 sixsteps Music / worshiptogether.com Songs / Vamos Publishing (Admin. by EMI CMG Publishing) / Hillsong Publishing (admin. in U.S. & Canada by Integrity’s Hosanna! Music) (ASCAP)

Chris Tomlin – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar • Matt Redman – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar • Kristian Stanfill – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar • Christy Nockels – Vocals • Nathan Nockels – Vocals, Keys • Brett Younker – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar • Jesse Reeves – Bass • Daniel Carson – Electric Guitar • Travis Nunn – Drums • Matt Gilder – Keys

The Culps from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Check out this video from Granger Community Church.  Really funny stuff!  Guess we should read our Bible more, huh?

Allow me to brag a big on one of our KidCity volunteer leaders.  Randa Dysinger is one of our volunteers with our elementary aged kiddos.  She and her husband Matt basically took on this event and boy did she run with it!  She had balloons tied to “sticks”(rolled up brown paper) around a short sheet that summarized all of the things we learned about this year so far.  She did an awesome job…here is what was written on the “stick.”

The movie UP is filled with wonderful expressions of many of the virtues we have learned throughout 2009.  Here are a few…

Compassion

The “Spirit of Adventure” could be the Spirit of Compassion

God showed the greatest compassion to us when He saw our need for a Savior,    He gave us His only Son – Jesus!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Hope

“Cross your heart”

Jesus promises forgiveness and eternal life in heaven if you believe in Him and invite Him into your heart.  He gives us hope.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Faith

“Grand Adventure to Paradise Falls”

Life is a grand adventure when you have your faith in Jesus.  The adventure ultimately takes you to our “Paradise Falls” – Heaven!

“In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2

Love

“A Wilderness Explorer is a friend to all… “

Jesus is our friend and He will be a friend to all who believe.  In turn, you can  show love and compassion to anyone by becoming their friend.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.” Matt 22: 37-39

This year, we have learned about the virtues of Love, Hope, Faith, Fairness, Wisdom,  Obedience, Forgiveness, Conviction, Individuality, Cooperation, and Compassion.  Take these virtues and instill them into your heart and mind and invite Jesus into your life.    When you do, Jesus will lift you UP when you are down.  He will help you UP when you fall.  Jesus will cheer you UP when you need a friend.  He will hold you UP during difficult times.  Jesus will take you UP to live an eternal life with Him!

Become UP with compassion and care enough to see someone’s need and then care enough to do something about it!  When you do, you will be a reflection of God’s love and compassion.

How about that?  I am so thankful for a great group of people that I have the opportunity to serve with at Forest Park Carthage!  Great job Randa!

What is great about it is the fact that you can dump just about any medium into Evernote and it helps you keep everything organized.  You can clip from the web, cut and paste text, email to Evernote, or even Tweet to @myEN and it will place the Twitter tweet in your notes!

Funny thing happened while I was looking over the program…it has a button that opens the iSight camera (on my MacBook Pro) to take a picture or video note.  I haven’t looked at myself in the ol’ iSight camera in quite some time…and I must say…that thing must add 30 lbs. to my face.  I’ve got a pretty hot looking double chin going!  Then, as I turn to the side…I get a look at what Ronnie calls my “white walls.”  I have “a touch of gray” in my hair these days.  Really, I think it isn’t as bad as the picture would make you believe…probably just really bad lighting in my office!!  I actually don’t mind it because I have always had such a baby face.  Pretty nice, huh?

Got me thinking.  Isn’t it funny how we always are concerned about outward appearances?  @KStratt and I were talking on the way back from a pastor’s deal this afternoon about this.  He is a whole lot more secure in himself than I am, because he is able to not worry at all what people think of him.  I am such a wuss when it comes to that kind of stuff.  I always want to be looked upon as someone who is pretty sharp and has it all together.

My graying hair is kind of ironic.  I really wanted to look older when I was in my twenties.  Especially being a student pastor (they are always the knucklehead/screwballs that are immature in every way), I have always wanted to be looked upon as a guy with purpose and a good leader.  Gray hair was one of those milestones that I had this crazy thought in my head that would help me to “arrive.” Now that I am 36 and turning a little bit gray, I am wanting to look young again.

Anyway, isn’t it funny how we are always caught up on what other people think rather than God? I mean, if I were really honest, sometimes I am more driven by people of quite a loss less significance than the creator of the universe.  I am much more concerned about what a colleague or church member thinks of me than my Savior.  Pretty crazy.  That is not to say that we should just do our own thing all of the time and not worry about how we act, but what we should be concerned about, above all, is the love and acceptance of our Savior.

So, does this iSight make me look fat?  Yeah, probably.  And graying? Yep.  But that shouldn’t make a difference in how I feel about myself.  Easy to say or write, but more difficult to actually put into practice in my life.  I am working on it though.  Kind of like the old SNL skit…”I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog gone it; people like me!”  I guess it is more realistic to say “irregardless of whether other people like me…dog gone it, my Savior loves me!”  And that is enough.

How about you??

The late Ray Stedman once said that every morning when he awakened, he reminded himself of this thought:

I am part of the plan of God. God is working all things to a great and final purpose on earth, and I am part of it. What I do today has purpose and significance and meaning This is not a meaningless day I am going through. Even the smallest incident, the most apparently insignificant word or relationship, is involved in His great plan. Therefore, all of his has meaning and purpose. (source lost)

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