A Stone's Throw

“One of the greatest expressions of love is simply to notice people and to pay attention to them. If you really want to know God, go to his people….. Rather than read twenty books on servanthood, get the idea, and then serve people. Some of us have experimented with this little prayer: “Lord, lead me today to someone whom I can serve.” – Richard Foster

Saw this quote as a friend’s FB status.  Good stuff.

Wonder what would happen if I would “experiment” with that prayer today?

Great, simple post from Seth Godin.  I had to include it in it’s entirety it is so good!…

I’m mad at everyone

No, not you. Not anyone in particular, actually.

I’m angry at the idea of ‘everyone’ and what they want and what they say.

Everyone says you should do your site and your online presence a certain way.

Everyone is upset at what you did.

Everyone is frustrated at the slow pace government is getting this done.

Everyone knows you should listen to your customers and do what they say.

Everyone knows that our school is wasting money.

Everyone says you need to go to a ‘good’ college.

You get the idea. That everyone.

The one that’s almost always wrong.

Seth’s Blog: I’m mad at everyone.

You need to check out these clips from sermons by Ed Stetzer.  He is a missiologist that works for Lifeway.  Came through on my RSS reader yesterday and I thought I would share.  Make sure you watch both segments…they are both great!  Painful though.  Good preaching often does that, doesn’t it…sometimes the truth of God hurts!

He starts off with an amazing rant about people with a lack of the idea that they need to be on mission for Jesus…

If we [church leaders] disciple people through knowledge without action we’re training people to be puffed up gnostics.. . .Listen, I’m worn out–I am sick of knowledgeable, religious people not living on mission and then criticizing those who are. . . . I just think that what we need to have happen is that this knowledge-based needs to lead to an action life and they need to get off their “Blessed Assurance” and do something for Jesus!

and ends the first segment with this gem…

“The greatest sin in most churches is that we [pastors] have made it o.k. to sit there week after week and do nothing and call yourself a follower of Jesus.”

He does a little Ross Perot imitation and says this afterward in the second segment…good stuff…

The reality is, I don’t care if you have 5 purposes, if you rename yourself ‘missional,’ if you move into a house, or you ‘emerge’ into something else! I care that you have a Biblically driven church that is challenging people to be changed by the Gospel and then in doing so, they follow Jesus on His mission in the world!  I care less about the label and more about the lifestyle. Maybe we need to fight a little less about that and focus more on the calling that we have.

The irreducible minimum…

Disciples see what Jesus in doing and they join Him in doing it.  Is your church leading your people to join Jesus in His mission?…[Pastors] Go home and say “what am I going to say differently about my message so they’ll join Jesus on His mission.”

This message sure does go along with the message that I am preaching tomorrow @FPCarthage in our Outflow series.  We are going to be talking about the idea that Christ wants us to reach out to those people in our community.