A few quotes from my May 6 message on Jealousy.
“Jealousy is believing that God cannot completely give you life and provision for it.”
“Jealousy means you are living your life for what others have, rather than for what God has for you.”
“We need (and should want) exactly what God has for us.”
To hear the complete message The Heart of the Matter: Jealousy.
Thanks to Andy Stanley.
We just had Calab Quaye play and speak at our Sunday AM Service this past weekend. Jon Verwey made this great intro video and I thought I would share it with you.
Around my junior or senior year, a new English teacher arrived at my high school and also started attending my local church, along with his wife and soon-to-be growing family. His name was Frank Underhill and he was one of my first real mentors.
I was rough and not a very good candidate for mentoring, but Frank was able to make an impact. The worldview he exposed me to has largely framed my life and given me the tools to grow.
I’ve had several important mentors over my life. Pastors, college professors, friends, peers and folks younger than me each made a difference, but few made the impact of Frank who was willing to spend his time and resources on a crazy guy with a lot of rough edges, who could barely read. Thanks, Frank!
The other day I rediscovered the poem I have kept hanging on the wall in my office. You know how that works. Something once deemed important has been in front of you for years, but you don’t really see it anymore. Suddenly, BAM! There it is—fresh revelation. Frank gave it to me framed about 20 years ago, and it describes what he did for me and what I hope my church and I can do for others.
Blessings,
Joe
2 Timothy 2:2
The Bridge Builder
By Will Allen Dromgoole, 1860-193
An old man going a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“there followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”
Resurrection does not have to do exclusively with what happens after we are buried or cremated. It does have to do with that, but first of all it has to do with the way we live right now. But as Karl Barth, quoting Nietzsche, pithily reminds us: “Only where graves are is there resurrection.”
We practice our death (we find true freedom) by giving up our will to live on our own terms. Only in that relinquishment or renunciation are we able to practice resurrection.
Peterson, Eugene H – The Pastor: A Memoir
I love this quote from Marva Dawn. I used it in this weekend’s Resurrection Day Message.
Books have covers, which give a false sense of completeness. It’s all there, laid out nice and tidy for you. But life is not that way.
Life is full of starts and stops, blind alleys, disappointing detours, and bad guesses. Eventually, by God’s grace, we find our way into acts of obedience, acts of praise.
There are no higher levels in the life of Christ – there is simply following Jesus and obeying him, day after day, struggling with sin and sinners, and being surprised by grace and resurrection.
Marva J. Dawn. The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call
For More Listen to the Message, “Dying Well”
I have been rightly told by some who listen to my Sunday messages that I really only have one thing to say, but say it in different ways and contexts every Sunday I speak. Rather than offend, this encourages me. It confirms to me that I’ve found the voice God has given me and a consistent central vision for the church I lead.
The simple point of my message is this:
We need to hear God as the primary voice in our lives.
Everything else I say is about how to hear and respond to God.
There are many voices speaking to us about who we are, what we are worth, and the things we want and need. To become truly free as God created us we must focus on the one voice that is the measure of all – God’s.
Amidst this noisy world, from His Absolute Word all can be measured, weighed, understood and then, acted upon.
