Nehemiah: Rebuilding Series

We got in the car Friday and Deshi wisely says, “Daddy put on your seatbelt!  I said, “What would I do without you Deshi?” He wisely replied, “You will surely die.” I think you are laughing:)

There are some habits of life we need to become good at because they are life saving.  There are habits of Christian living that must be practiced or we will surely wither and die.  Today, we focus on one of them we find in the book of Nehemiah as he responded to the obviously broken and troubling report he received regarding the walls of Jerusalem.

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”  Nehemiah 1:11 (ESV)

Read the rest here — Nehemiah 1: The Prayer Response

Singing the Gospel

Songwriter, Bob Kauflin has changed the way I look at music in the local gathering of believers. I sing different songs and I sing them with a different heart since reading his book, “Worship Matters.” Here is an excerpt from his blog:

From the Archives: Can Singing About the Gospel Become Rote?.

New ministry post at Glad Tidings Assembly

God has graciously opened a door to serve in the local assembly, Glad Tidings, in Lincoln Nebraska. We are barely in the door, camping out in our apartment until our “stuff” arrives tomorrow. God’s people have been very gracious and welcomed us with open arms. We are feeling stressed and blessed in the same heartbeat! Thanks to all of you who prayed for us through this last year as we waited on God to open a door to serve his church.

Began my first preaching series on my first Sunday. Nehemiah: Rebuilding.  Here is the first message in the series, Chapter 1: The Honest Assessment

If you are interested I will be posting my sermon notes in the “Bill’s Bible Teaching” section of this blog. Subscribe and you will get a link to each message in your email.

In Memoriam - Charles Wendell Colson

Reblogged from Thunder on the Right:

“It is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began…Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man but enmity to God.”  C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

 “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself.  Unless you know God as that—and therefore know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. 

Read more… 2,255 more words

Colson has been an instrument God has used to cultivate the Christian mind. I miss him already.

Simple Church

I’m reading “Simple Church” by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. Excellent tools for boiling down all of our busy Christian activity into the base elements that truly define us as the body of Christ. The authors present it simply enough:) “Simple churches create a process which moves people through the stages of spiritual growth. The four elements critical to this process are: Clarity, Movement, Alignment, Focus.”

The book has serious merit for streamlining ministry schizophrenia and the ongoing temptation to over-program and entertain when gospel power simply isn’t in motion. I have one concern however. The philosophy is simple. The process is not. The process is not simple because it involves change and as we all can agree, “until the pain of remaining the same exceeds the pain of change, things remain the same.”  I recommend it for every church leader.

 

Now to find a book titled “Simple Pastor.”

Encouraging songs

These words have been an encouragement to me.

When Trials Come

When Trials come no longer fear,
For in the pain our God draws near,
To fire a faith worth more than gold,
And there His faithfulness is told.

Within the night I know Your peace,
The breath of God brings strength to me,
And new each morning mercy flows,
As treasures of the darkness grows.

When I am weary with the cost,
I see the triumph of the cross,
So in its shadow I shall run,
Til He completes the work begun

One day all things will be made new,
I’ll see the hope you called me to,
And in your kingdom paved with gold,
I’ll praise your faithfulness of old.

by Keith and Kristyn Getty

How Jesus Fought in the Dark Hour

Pastor John Piper has some great insight on Jesus final hours. Vital habits for facing valley experiences.

How Jesus Fought in the Dark Hour.

First Gathering at the Performing Arts Center 2003

believe it or not

“A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the wall of his cell.”  C. S. Lewis

We think we can diminish God by pretending he isn’t there? His very person defines reality. His very incarnation defines truth and grace.

Socialism notes

Reblogged from SODEGLO:

Creating a Heaven on Earth by David Noebel

What do the following places have in common: Trumbull Phalanx in Ohio, Modern Times in New York, Brook Farm in Massachusetts, New Harmony in Indiana, United Order in Utah, Amana Colonies in Iowa, Oneida Community in New York, a kibbutz in Israel, and the Pilgrim’s Plymouth Plantation?

Each was an attempt to establish a form of heaven on earth, or put another way, to establish through socialism a utopian community by (1) abolishing private property and (2) eradicating self-interested acquisitiveness.

Read more… 315 more words

In an election year, I thought this post from the past appropriate to consider.