Whatever you might think of Willow Creek, they value the role of the church, and want to train people to lead others and make the church all it can be. I love Bill Hybel's quote, "The local church is the hope of the world." I believe that to the core of my being, and believe we have the best news on earth in the good news of Jesus Christ. So to that end:
We are taking a team of 10 to the Arts Conference this year. I encourage you to check out their website, and if you can make it up to Chicago, it would be worth your time.
In honor of MLK day, thought I'd share one of Martin Luther King's quotes.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven will pause to say, 'There lived a great street sweeper who did his job well'."
As the New Year begins I want to remind you that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a New Creation.
The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Do you know what this means? This means that when you follow Jesus, you are a new person. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you and guides you. You are not a lowly sinner saved by grace (that's what we used to be), but you are a saint that sometimes sins.
As you begin this New Year, know that you are a New Creation. Know that when you decided to follow Jesus, you took on the following characteristics (compiled by Bob Warren in his Romans study):
• Crucified with Christ • Not condemned • Sealed in Him • Holy and blameless before Him • Raised up with Christ • Forgiven • Justified • Glorified • Perfected • Complete • In Christ • Made a saint • Washed • Member of God's Household • Citizen of Heaven • Holy and beloved
In 2009, live knowing you are a New Creation. In Philippians 3:16, Paul tells us to "live up to what we have already attained." He is saying, you are a new creation, live like it!
I love to read. I can't read all the books I want to because of school right now, but I try to read as much as I can. If we are followers of Jesus, then we're disciples, and a disciple is a student. We're not just students for a season, we're lifelong students. And students are lifelong readers. So I encourage you to read books as often as you can, and read about subjects that you don't necessarily always agree with.
So without any further ado, here are some of the books I read in 2008 and I recommend to you. I read other books, but they aren't worth your time.
(In no particular order)
Axiom by Bill Hybels In a pit with a lion on a snowy day by Mark Batterson Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson Walking with God by John Eldgridge It by Craig Groeshel This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson Reversed Thunder by Eugene Peterson Living the Resurrection by Eugene Peterson In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero The Living Church by John Stott Prayer by Philip Yancey The Great Omission by Dallas Willard Experiential Worship by Bob Rognlien The Worshippping Artist by Rory Noland Ancient Future Worship by Robert Webber Blended Worship by Robert Webber Revelation's Rapsody by Bob Lowery His Story, Our Response by Dinelle Frankland The Shack by William Young Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron
There is a rare and out of print Christmas cd that you have to have in your collection. It is titled Joy and is recorded by Bebo Norman, Ed Cash and Levi Allen. This was put out in 1997 and is now hard to find. You can download the album from itunes, but good luck finding a cd.
Go out and get this album today. This is the best Christmas album I have ever listened to, and I've gotten a lot of my friends hooked on it too.
This is a collection of eclectic music, all with the foundation of acoustic guitars. Enjoy!
Most of the time, as the Christmas season approaches, our schedules fill up rapidly with parties, shopping outings and other festivities to celebrate the holidays. Unfortunately, most of us lose focus as to the real meaning of the season. We do not do this maliciously, we just get busy, and other things become our priority.
Each year as Christmas draws near, we hear the word Advent used. However, if you’re like me, you’ve never quite understood what the word fully meant, or how to observe the Advent season. So this year I created a Daily Advent Devotional. The link is below:
Advent has been celebrated since the year 400, and marks the beginning of the Christmas season. The word “Advent” means arrival or coming in Latin, and represents the approach of Christ’s birth (and fulfillment of the prophecies about that event); and the awaiting of Christ’s second coming. It is composed of the four Sundays before Christmas Day, starting on November 30th.
The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is often to prepare for the second coming while commemorating the first coming of Christ at Christmas. These readings direct our thoughts to the first coming of Jesus Christ as Savior, and to his second coming as Judge.
In Max Lucado’s book God Came Near, there is a short story titled “The Arrival”. It takes us through the environment of what it might have been like at the time of Christ’s birth, and shows how people weren’t intentionally neglecting the coming of the Messiah, they just weren’t preparing themselves for the arrival, and they missed it. Lucado then brings the story to the 21st century and closes the story with this powerful line, “Those who missed His majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking. Little has changed in the last two thousand years has it?”
Lucado’s words sting because we too have missed the real meaning of Christmas, and turned to secular materialism instead. I believe the remedy to recapturing the meaning of Christmas is by preparing ourselves daily and returning to the rich tradition of the church and observing Advent for the four weeks before Christmas in our churches.
I pray this will help enrich your Christmas season this year, and help prepare your heart for the arrival of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.
So it's been a while since my last entry, and I wanted to bring you up to speed on what's been going on at Cherry Hills.
This past Sunday night we just wrapped up a 4-week series called "The Least of These." Big props to Matt Bortmess at Rochester Christian for sharing the graphics with us.
We looked at the issue of social justice and Jesus' concern for the poor throughout the series, and asked people to give in several tangible ways, leading up to Thanksgiving. The results were unbelievable.
First, we put a shoe box under everyone's seat in the worship center and asked them to fill a showbox for Operation Christmas Child. People ended up returning 802 shoeboxes for children around the world!
Next, we asked people to take a "Limit Your Consumption" challenge for 5 days (Nov. 16-23) and eat only what 90% of the world eats (oatmeal, rice, beans and tortillas). Then with the money saved from eating on $2 a day, bring a bag of food for Contact Ministries and Salvation Army and/or bring an offering to give to Compassion International's Global Food Crisis.
On Sunday night at our Thanksgiving Service, people brought over 400 bags of groceries for local ministries, and I think over $2000 will be collected for the global food crisis.
I'm blown away by the generosity of God's people, and truly believe that if we'll look to Him this Thanksgiving we'll be filled with joy and generosity because of what the Lord has done for us. Happy Thanksgiving!
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