The Hope of His Calling

Oh. Also. I almost forgot.

2009-11-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

This month on Christian Audio the free download is Desiring God by John Piper! I haven't read it, but have read several by Piper and am always wrecked and humbled by him. I would definitely get it while you can.

Better Late than Never.

2009-11-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

I am not sure if that is always true. I am sorry that these took so long to get posted. Here are those videos we watched a few weeks back.

Here is the Louie Giglio

and then Francis

The World Has Big Problems, But We Have A Bigger God

2009-10-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Facts.
Every day, more than 6,800 people are newly infected with HIV and more than 5,700 die from the disease; that equals 2.5 million new infections per year and 2 million deaths. Perhaps the most disturbing fact of all is that AIDS has now left 15 million children behind as orphans.

As many as 5 million people die every year—one child every 15 seconds—of water-related illnesses.The lack of clean water causes millions of needless child deaths. Yet the cost to bring clean water to one person costs only one dollar per year! When you realize that a gift as small as a dollar can save a life, it is hard to argue that you’re not wealthy enough to make a difference.

15 million children have already lost their parents to HIV/AIDS; by 2010, there will be 20 million orphans from HIV/AIDS

Orphans throughout the world face many challenges-malnutrition, starvation, abuse, disease, loss of family property, decreased school attendance, if any, and death.

Millions of children are being trafficked, forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery, and forced into prostitution and/or pornography.

Human traffickers make more money than Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined.

This Thursday, we are going to going to talk about the true awe-someness of our God. Sometimes, I get annoyed that the word "awesome" is so over-used these days, I feel like we lessen the the impact of the word. Our God is the King of Kings, He is the Holiest of Holies, He is the Great I AM, truly He is AWE-some. And he sees these problems as opportunities to show his glory just like the story of the loves and the fishes like we discussed last week.

In preparation for Thursday, please read:
Psalm 9
Matt 5: 13- 16
Ephesians 1-3

Also, please come with your favorite passage of that describes the awesomeness of God.

See ya Thursday!

But I'm a Doer!!!!

2009-10-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

During the early years of our marriage, and I wanted to demonstrate to Megan how much I loved her, I would think of some project that I think she would get excited about and then spend an entire weekend making it happen. She would smile and act pleased but it took me a couple of years and some resources (like the book “The Love Languages”) to realize that she would prefer that I be with her rather than off doing for her. I could have just curled up on the couch with her and good book and she would have been much more excited. I still still struggle with this same issue of “doing for, rather than being with” in my relationship with the Lord.

I bring this up as an important disclaimer before we begin to focus on God's call to action for the least of these.

When asked what the greatest commandment Jesus said:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt: 22: 37, 39)

I am personally overwhelmed with the infinite number of good works that I could do in His name but its the role of the Holy Spirit, the great Counselor, to help us discern the specific works He has for us.

So as we walk through the next several weeks and flesh out this monster To-Do list of service possibilities, don't get overwhelmed or in my case anxious to start doing it all. We still need to start each day by curling up on the couch with HIM and The good Book.

Just a thought.
Mike

Perspective

2009-10-22T08:41:00.001-07:00

Welcome! We are glad you are here!

2009-10-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that you have signed up to join our small group, Mike and I can't wait to get to know you more. I personally have been praying for each of you.

Over the past 18 months God has really revealed to me His heart for those who are the poorest of the poor, those who don't have a voice, and those are being treated unjustly. I didn't and don't really understand why there is so much suffering in this world. I have read a lot about huger, modern day slavery, child solders and etc and then I turned to the BIble to see what God has to say about these atrocities. Well, as it turns out, He has quite a bit to say about suffering and injustice. He spends a lot of time in Bible discussing it...so we will too in the weeks to come. Please don't think that this will be a bummer of a small group--it won't be all down and out, our glorious Father is Hope and Love and in the midst of despair is His love overcomes all and as part of HIS plan, we get to help--Eph 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Anyway. I can go on and on. I just wanted to briefly introduce myself and to say that I am really excited to meet you all.

Here is one of my favorite YouTube Videos on Joy!