On the blogs for Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Here are some good reads for today:

Evangelicals (deep, but informative)

Why You should bring a bible on Sunday (thought these were some good thoughts)

A little short...more to come later

Some more blogs for Monday, December 28, 2009

Financial Resources (these would prove helpful if you are in need of some financial assistance)

What the bible is not (interesting take on this)

More on the Manhattan Declaration (thought this was interesting with all the debate about who did & did not sign it from the evangelical world)

Decision making with regard to the community of faith (interesting perspective)

Going back to the basics

Yesterday with the church, we talked about going back to the basics of the Christian life. The fundamentals we emphasized were personal devotions & prayer.

Personal devotions refers to the time spent in the scriptures sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him. He desires to speak to us and commune with us.

We looked at Luke 10:38-42 to discover the necessity of sitting at Jesus' feet particularly in a busy world of activity in which most of us live.

We also surveyed John 6 where Jesus explains & emphasizes himself as the "bread of life" and the "true bread from heaven".

I was particularly struck by John 6:63. By God's grace & the work of the Holy Spirit through the word, true spiritual life & growth in our spiritual life comes through the consistent exposure to and obedience to the word of God.

We also surveyed John 15:1-8 about abiding in Christ and his words abiding in us as the gateway to fruitfulness and an effective prayer life.

We finished up looking at 1 Peter 2:2 and the appetite that Christians must have for the word as if it were their very sustenance for life--that which they cannot do without.

To help us get back to the basics of personal devotions (we'll tackle prayer in two weeks on Sunday, January 10), we provided some guidelines that can be used in personal devotions to help us focus on and remember and apply what the Holy Spirit teaches us in our daily time at the feet of Jesus. We also provided a reading schedule for the first 35 days of 2010 as a tool.

Here is the reading schedule & the guidelines. May God use these in your life to "sit at the feet" of the Master Teacher.

Daily Bible Reading Plan
January 2010
The Book of 1 John & James

Day 1: 1 John 1:1-4
Day 2: 1 John 1:5-2:2
Day 3: 1 John 2:3-6
Day 4: 1 John 2:7-11
Day 5: 1 John 2:12-14
Day 6: 1 John 2:15-17
Day 7: 1 John 2:18-23
Day 8: 1 John 2:24-29
Day 9: 1 John 3:1-3
Day 10: 1 John 3:4-9
Day 11: 1 John 3:10-15
Day 12: 1 John 3:16-23
Day 13: 1 John 3:24-4:6
Day 14: 1 John 4:7-11
Day 15: 1 John 4:12-16
Day 16: 1 John 4:17-19
Day 17: 1 John 4:20-5:5
Day 18: 1 John 5:6-13
Day 19: 1 John 5:14-17
Day 20: 1 John 5:18-21
Day 21: James 1:1-11
Day 22: James 1:12-18
Day 23: James 1:19-27
Day 24: James 2:1-13
Day 25: James 2:14-26
Day 26: James 3:1-12
Day 27: James 3:13-18
Day 28: James 4:1-6
Day 29: James 4:7-10
Day 30: James 4:11-12
Day 31: James 4:13-17
Day 32: James 5:1-6
Day 33: James 5:7-12
Day 34: James 5:13-18
Day 35: James 5:19-20


Guidelines for Daily Devotions

Goal: to spend 20-30 minutes daily being nourished in the scriptures sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him

A. Begin each time with prayer asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you and apply the word to your heart and life
B. Read the scripture provided
C. Use the following to think about & meditate on the scripture you’ve read
a. Write out word for word the verse(s) that jumped out to you as you read.
b. Write down the observations & questions that come to mind.
c. Summarize the main idea of the verse in a phrase or two
d. Write down ways to apply this verse(s) to your life.
e. How will you live differently based on the truth you have learned?
D. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you live out the truth that you have been taught.
E. If possible, discuss your observations & questions about the passage you’ve read with family or friends.

On the blogs for Monday, December 28, 2009

Some reading for today:

The New Paganism (deep, but good foundational truth about worldviews today)

Employment (I thought this was interesting, particularly for pastors)

Prayer (good reminder about praying without ceasing)

Improving the Gospel or Losing the Gospel (this is a good reminder of the centrality of the gospel and the importance of holding fast to it)

Enjoy...

On the blogs for Sunday, December 27, 2009

Here are some good reads today:

What the young church did not have (interesting)

For the New Year (these are good to review every now and then)

The Danger of Distracting Ourselves

Enjoy!

On Christmas

Whether you will agree with the following two posts, they are at the least very thought-provoking & worth our attention. Read them in order.

Why we no longer celebrate Christmas

Christmas, revisited

Enjoy...

On the blogs for Friday, December 18, 2009

Here are a couple of good reads for today. Enjoy!

Building up the body of Christ (excellent!)

Godly Man, part 3 (guys, pay attention)

On the blogs for Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009

Happy reading today:

Mutuality & Maturing

Materialism

Criticism from others (good reminder)

The Inclusion of all in the ministry (interesting & good reminder)

7 Questions Leadership Teams Should be asking (these are good & thought-provoking)

Pragmatism, part 1

Pragmatism, part 2

Bible Study (good reminders for personal bible study)

Godly Man, part 2

Who are we here to serve? (funny & convicting at the same time--might make you blush, too)

On the blogs for Mon., December 14, 2009

Here are some good reads for today:

Bait & Switch and Evangelism (good reminder for us)

Firstfruits (interesting perspective on Sundays)

Thoughts on Tiger (even if you read nothing but the last paragraph)

Man's Inability (this is deep, but very thought-provoking)

Prayers of an excellent wife (pass along to your wives)

Godly Man (pass along to the men)

Daily Devotionals (if you are looking for a daily devotional for next year, here is a good list to choose from)

Congregational Care & Oversight, part 1 (good overview)

Care & Oversight, part 2 (overlaps part 1 just a little, but good)

Info-maniacs (interesting)

Prosperity Gospel (if you listen to these folks, don't read this article--ouch!)

Maybe some more later...

On the blogs for Mon., Dec. 7, 2009

Here are some good reads today:

Genuine Life (particularly good for ministry leaders)

From a four year old (this was cute & convicting, be careful)

9 ways the internet has changed our world (this is interesting)

Prosperity Gospel (this is not for the faint of heart or for those who are sympathetic to any of the wealth & health prosperity preachers on TV--just so you are warned)

Senior Pastor (thought provoking)

Furture of SBC (these posts will be enlightening I'm sure)

Verse Card Makers (cool resource)

Consider How You Listen (this is a great challenge for us all)

Holiness (I think I might get this book)

Happy reading!

God bless you all.

Some more blogs for today...

Repent for the kingdom of God

Cheaters & Tigers & Idiots (ouch!)

Twilight & Abstinence (interesting)

Twilight & the Mormons (interesting)

"Senior" Pastor: Pros & Cons (good article that could prompt some good discussion)

Principle of the Presiding Elder (another good article about church leadership)

Real Men Provide

On the Blogs Friday, December 4, 2009

Here are some good reads from the last couple of days.

Hunting Tiger Woods (the peril of sin's pursuit)

Theology of the Twilight Series

Wedding Facebook style (this is funny)

Imitation as Discipleship (hmmmmmm....)

Real Men Protect (my title)

The Spirit's True Work, part 4

Sexual purity at the gym (great advice)

Toys, Kids, & Christmas

Parenting Messages (these are good)

Warren & Obama (interesting)

More on the state of the American Woman

A Call for Discernment

Maybe more later...

On the blogs for Wed., Dec. 2, 2009

Here are some interesting reads today. Enjoy at your leisure.

Why I am Frustrated (I'm sure we can all relate)

A Godly Man Leads (guys, man up: stop being wimps!)

Marks of a true Church (this is excellent)

Sexual Relapse (if you know someone who is struggling, send this to them)

The Spirit's True Work, part 3

Bible study tip (this is really good for bible teachers)

The Gospel: Old & New (good reminder in an age of lots of "gospels")

Mutual Sanctification (how we need the body of Christ to be healthy Christians)

Jesus has aids (interesting perspective)

"Be Still and Know..." Psalm 46:10 (part 1)

Have you ever noticed how noisy our world is? I mean, there are “noise makers” all around us—from TVs, computers, cell phones to radios, mp3 players, ipods, cd players—all of them with their noise-making capabilities. Whether we are at work or play, there is noise of some kind.

As I write this, the washer has finally stopped making its noise, and there is at least some quietness…at least until Carter needs me again.

With all the noise around us, I wonder if we have forgotten how to listen to the voice of the one that really matters. I started reading Wayne Cordeiro’s book Leading on Empty this past weekend and came across this quote: “I needed God to quiet every voice but his own.” Can you relate to that? Boy, I sure can.

Sometimes in the busyness of life, the voice of the one who truly matters gets drowned out by the noise. Somewhere along the way, I confused busyness with deep spirituality & productivity; maybe you have, too.

So, what can we do about it? What if we were more intentional about creating time in our lives for silence & solitude? Jesus did: "Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone."

It is not natural for me to have times of silence & solitude (just to be clear: we are not talking about getting in the lotus position and chanting ohm for three or four hours & seeking to find our navel) in any extended way--I feel lazy, unproductive, and useless. Sure, my devotional times are certainly valuable & indispensible, but an extended period of silence & solitude--that's pushing it for me.

But…it is something I plan to be more intentional about beginning this month--to take time every week & every month to get "unplugged" from the noise of my world…I need it…I need to get unplugged before I short circuit. I wonder, do any of you feel the same way?

Let's journey together this month of December in re-engineering our lives in connecting with Jesus through silence & solitude. To help us, I will draw upon the writings of Mark Driscoll & Wayne Cordeiro and maybe a few others to give us some direction & thoughts to consider as we get "unplugged" from the noise & re-aquainted with the voice that really matters--God's.

A pilgrim on a journey,
Michael

On the blogs for Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009

Here is some interesting reading this morning. Enjoy!

Reasons why marriages fail (pass it along to married couples & those preparing to get married)

Fences, part 2 (good stuff)

A Defense for Leadership in the Home (guys, pay attention)

The Spirit's True Work, part 2

Marks of True Church (thought this was interesting for discussion)

Justified by Faith (be ready to read the whole of Kevin's article)

The Swiss & the Muslims (interesting development)