scrip.ly + short urls for biblical reference

Check out this website I found at scrip.ly

This site is pretty cool. It is a url shortener for a Bible passage link. It is like tinyurl.

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The Desert

For a little while I have felt like I have been being led by God to experience some temptations. It has been very difficult to deal with. At times I have felt like I am being drug through the gutter. I know God will sustain me but that doesn't make it less difficult. Today I opened an email from my mother that was from "Prime Time with God". I've never heard of that before but it caught my attention when it had the verse that I have been reading and reflecting a lot on lately. Below is what it had to say. When I read it I have to admit it brought a few tears to my eyes because it confirmed a little of what I have been going through. 

Being Led into the Desert
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman
11-14-2009

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil" (Matt 4:1-2).

After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist He was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be temped by the devil. Jesus was being tempted as a man, not as God. Jesus came to earth as a man to live His life with the same limitations as you and I. Satan wanted him to come out of His human condition into His God nature to deal with His hunger. It was Jesus' first real test to be a human being.

Some people think God would never lead His people into the desert to be tested. Some would even say this is the devil's doing. The fact is, both statements are true. God actually uses Satan to test His servants to help develop obedience in their lives.

Jesus had to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit in His life just like you must in order to have victory over temptation. God was testing His obedience. He was not allowed to be God in this situation. This would be true for the rest of His life. The miracles He would perform were the result of seeing what the Father was doing and obeying His commands. Jesus said we would do even greater works than He did because we have the same access to the Father as He did.

God led the people of Israel into the desert to learn something about themselves. They learned about their level of obedience when life became difficult. "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands" (Deut 8:2).

When God leads you into the desert, He is allowing you to learn something about yourself. We all need to learn how we will respond to temptations in our lives. As we press into God during these times the roots of our faith are forced deeper and deeper into the soil of His grace.

Do not fear being led into the desert. This too is the way of God. 

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The Sunglasses of Discipline

I recently went on a road trip to see U2 with some friends. On our way home I took my place in the back seat, because someone else with us got car sick. Frankly I hate sitting in the back seat because you will generally be left out of the conversation and the music will be too loud to hear anything that is being said. So I had a lot of time to sit and think.

As I was sitting in the back seat I began to think about sunglasses and world views. They say world views are like glasses we put on that affect how we see the world, while I don't agree with that concept wholeheartedly I think it can be appropriate at times. As I this thought snowballed in my head I started thinking about spiritual disciplines as sunglass changers. How we can use different disciplines to change our perspectives. While this isn't the only goal of a spiritual discipline I think it is a facet of them.

This is something I am going to continue to think through. As I think about it more I will share. 

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The Holy Spirit

Life Church.tv is starting a new series on the Holy Spirit. The video is great. Check it out.

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Check out this link (Shared via http://ow.ly):

Check out this website I found at ow.ly

A friend shared this on twitter. I really enjoyed his perspective. We cannot spend to much time on any one specific task. If we do we will become unbalanced and not very useful.

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Service Without Requirements

A few weeks ago I watched this video. And I have to admit that was slightly concerned over the video. Why would these people willingly help people who would continue in their sin? It seemed like they were enabling the girls who lived there, and as a Christian shouldn't I be against enabling people to sin? In the midst of thinking this thought a story from the Bible came to mind. The story is found in Luke chapter 17 verses 11 to 19. In this story Jesus heals 10 lepers but only one turns back to praise Jesus because he was actually healed. Now this passage would have little impact on our understanding if Jesus just healed everyone he came in contact with, but that doesn't appear to be the case. In addition we see in John 5:19 that Jesus only did what he saw the Father doing. So it leaves us to reckon that God, the Father, knew what would happen as well as Jesus, the Son of God. If one or both knew what would happen and still healed these men than they would have healed them knowing they wouldn't respond correctly. What strikes me is that Jesus healed them anyways, regardless of their response to him. His healing was given without requirements, and so should our service. We should serve those around us without any requirements placed on our service. Now I am not one of those who is in favor of never telling someone why we serve them. I think we should be open about our service for Christ. We should share that we are doing it because we are called to love like Christ but then leave it at that. We share that we are serving because of Christ and leave it to them when they are ready to hear more. Although we should always allow the Spirit to move and if the Spirit tells us to speak we should speak. We certainly should never serve someone with a requirement that they follow Christ, for this would be contrary to the Gospel, the Gospel is not forceful upon others. The Gospel respects the freewill of the person, although there are consequences for rejection.

What do you think about service to others without requirements? What do you think about these people helping out a brothel? Any other thoughts?

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Video Test

Testing to see how this works with a video. 

<p>Third Culture Video - Short from Newsong Church on Vimeo.</p> 

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Creativity?

I find that I'm not a very creative person, but I wish I was. I wish I had creativity sparked within me every once and a while. Occasionally it comes out but I'm not sure where it comes from and I'm unsure how to hold on to it for any significant amount of time. Creativity within humanity is often spoken of as one of the distinguishers of the Image of God. Of all of creation only humans are creative. A given bird species will not depart from its standard song, it does not create but reproduces. So creativity is down there deep inside of us all. But some have the ability to hold onto it for significant periods of time. How do they do it? What do you do to spark creativity inside you? Do you consider yourself creative? Any thoughts on how to form this inside yourself or others, primarily me?

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Recent Reflections

So I haven't posted much in a while and I blame it all on the fact that I haven't been doing much thinking lately. Lately I've spent a lot of time playing video games and doing the opposite of thinking. I used most of my summer to shut off my brain instead of thinking. I am by no means advocating this, simply stating the truth. Truth be told I would advocate the opposite of what I did this summer; if that was a little to twisty for you that means I advocate thinking. It is something I think we should all value. We should desire to understand more and be able to think things through.

Well school has started up again so that requires my brain be turned on. This past week in Old Testament class I came to a conclusion. I don't delight in God's law all that often and that concerns me. Psalm 1:2 stats "but he delights himself in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." This man is called "Blessed" in the previous verse and that is a good thing to be called if you ask me. So I have been reflecting on this the past few days. When we delight in something we devote time to it and we think about it a lot, hence why he meditates on it day and night. Frankly I don't take much delight in God's law right now, at least my actions say otherwise. I genuinely enjoy reading the Bible but I have "lost that loving feeling" towards it so to speak. I have had that delight for it before and it disappeared at some point, and I'm not sure where it went. But I am going to find it. This is something I am dedicated to. I am all in on God and his word, the Bible. Don't know how but I am going to do it. I certainly know where to start. And that is by reading it and putting it first before TV, video games, and other things.

As I have thought about this for myself I wondered where my friends and others are at with this. If you are a Christian do you find yourself delighting in God's word? If you are not a Christian have you ever read the Bible? If so what did you think of it? If you haven't would you consider it? That is all for now.

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Question

So recently I have been on this kick to ask people questions on facebook to get random discussions going, get people to know each other and to open up a bit. Apparently I am not the only one asking single questions of people. I found this video via a friend and thought I should share it.


Fifty People, One Question: London from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

I also have been thinking about how asking questions can help form community, yet we seldom ask them. Questions help us to get to know other, which is an essential part of community. If we don't know the other we don't have relationship or community. If we don't ask questions we won't see our common threads and where God is moving our community. If we don't ask questions we will never know the little details of other, or at least not well. But we must also ask questions of ourselves as this will help us interact with others. So as you watch the video or reflect on this think about what questions you need to be asking right now or what questions you can be asking. One of my questions right now is "Are we prepared where God will lead us next?"

Anonymous Comments

So I had a friend point out that my comments did not allow anonymous people (on blogger) per the post titled Confessions. If you wanted to before a decided not too because you could not anonymously post before feel free to do so now on this post rather than going back to the others. And here is my commitment: As much as I will want to figure out who posts the comment I will not try to figure out who you are. If by random chance I figure it out I cannot control that but I will not actively pursue your identity as that is part of confession; it is anonymous.

Events - Wise or Directed

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Jim who works at Saddleback on the college ministry team known as Crave and we had a great discussion about life and ministry. We eventually found ourselves discussing how we should respond when an event has some hiccups. What do you do when you have a snow day event and the forecast calls for rain? Or what happens when you always go to a certain retreat center but another, more "attractive", location becomes available? Now I know most of you are thinking "I'm not in ministry, so this doesn't apply to me." but I think you are wrong. I think it will apply to you and I will try to show you why. As we continued our discussion we framed those questions with another, "Is this something God wants me to do or is this simply a wise decision?" As we posed this question it brought new light to the two examples. If the event is something God wants me to do then I must follow his lead and trust that he make sure it doesn't rain or the retreat will be great at the usual location. But if it is simply a wise decision to have the snow day then we should also act wise and cancel or we should choose the new retreat center. Now don't get me wrong here, both option are equally good; it is okay to act on wisdom when God does not say one way or the other. But before we act on wisdom alone we should probably ask God about it, especially when it is a big decision. So my question for you is where in your life right now do you need to start acting on faith and where do you need to start acting on wisdom? I'm not sure there will always be both in your life but I would guess that there are. Where in your life do you need to ask "Is this something God wants me to do or is this simply a wise decision"?

Next

So this post is based on The One-Minute Writer.

The question is: What do you hope is around the next bend in the road?

I think currently I hope there is a lot of things around the next bend. Not in a depressed way but in a hopeful way. Things are great right now and I see the potential for them to get even better.

I hope there is Kingdom growth, in my life and others.
I hope some friendships grow deeper.

But I hope for a new Reformation the most. I am not the first to say we need this, and I imagine I won't be the last, but I agree with the statement nonetheless. That is what I am hoping for.

Advice from Bush Twins

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This was on a friend's page and thought I would pass it on. Great stuff.

Confession

I had this random thought today. "What if people wanted to confess something but have no avenue?" So I decided to write this post. If you want to confess something feel free to do so at the bottom; I believe you post anonymously (if not let me know and I'll fix that). I hope you use this as an opportunity to let something of your chest that has been eating at you. If you want advice on what to do or want a blog response write "Response" as the last thing. So have at it. Depending on the response I might have one of these posts every so often.

The Jetsons

So my friend Amber (who doesn't blog much) were talking about The Jetsons and how it would be an awesome movie, live action or CG (like Walle). So in an effort to get someone to make this movie I decided to blog, not that important people read this thing. But it is worth a shot. As we talked about it I couldn't help but think about other movies I would like to see be made. The first and most important would be G.I. Joe; heck they are the original CTU. Are there any movies you guys would like to see be made?

Blogger-blockage

So I've been trying to figure out how to blog more often and my co-worker Linda blogs every day. I know she's crazy, not really but she does blog a lot. So I asked her what she writes about on a regular basis and she showed me this site that gives prompts for you to write about each day. So next time you want to blog and can't think of what to blog about head over there and use a prompt. There is one that I particularly want to write about, aliens. I know awesome. If you have any other suggestions of places to get help on blogging leave a comment and I'll put together a list of blog helps.

Bored at Work

Had a class mate show me this game. Next time you are bored at work try it out. http://www.helicoptergame.net/

Reconciliation With Hamas???

Someone else directed me to this article. I "wonder" why this hasn't shown up in the Western press. I don't understand how people continue to protest for these people.

History Abounds

Today and tomorrow will be filled many firsts. Today Rick Warren is speaking at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church, the first white man to speak their, ever. Tomorrow we will see the first African-American president, ever, in the history of this great nation. But these two statements lead me to wonder if we have farther to go. We have come such a long way from the society of the 1800's where slavery was legal. It appears that we have become, in general, a post-racism society. But is this where we should stop? If in 15 years I explain to my little brother that these days were historic should I expect him to understand? Or should I prefer that he not understand it at all? Should I hope that he has no concept of race? That he no longer sees someone for the color of their skin but for the character of their heart, which was King's dream. If you'd like to weigh in feel free to do so. And please understand that I am proud to see this day. I am glad we have come this far. But I simply see the ability to improve. But maybe this is misguided. These days truly are great. Here is to a new era.

Comics and Toddlers

So I bought a LA Times today because they had a section on the Inauguration of Barack Obama. When I got home I opened the paper and flipped through. As I was flipping through my little brother was standing by me and I thought "I should show him the comics." Because kids love the comics right. Apparently I was wrong. He didn't get much out of them. Do you know why? I figured it out but it never would have occured to me until I tried to read one to him. He didn't get much out of them because he didn't get them. He didn't get the word plays or the thoughts behind pictures themselves. It occured to me as I read one with a guy playing football buried by a bunch of players and stating to his wife on the phone "Hey, hon, can I call you back? I'm buried." Now I expect you to get that if you are an American who speaks English as a primary language or has some understanding of the English language.

So this got me thinking. How often do we put people off or do people simply not get what we are saying because of the internal language we use. Often Christians have a set of words they use that they assume everyone else gets but really only Christians get. Now I understand that some of this is unavoidable but we can remove some of the interal language. Our message should not be hindered by our terms. So next time you are going to share something about Christianity with someone that isn't a Christian try to use as little Christianese as possible. Crazy factoid: Christianese is actually a word according to my spell check on the Mac. Just goes to show that we have internal language. Now next time you share make sure you are not preventing their understanding because of your Christianese.

Quick Reflection on Psalm 40:1-3

So Psalm 40:1-3 reads:

"1I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD."

Recently while serving at Fuse one of the girls I was serving with commented about one of the other female leaders. She said "I really want to be like her. You can just tell she loves Jesus. I really want my life to reflect that too." This got me thinking. Both of these girls love Jesus and both of their lives have been far from perfect. But the difference is that one of them is allowing the new song in their mouth to be seen. What we have to realize is that this is something that we can allow to happen or prevent from happening. When I interact with people I want to have the new song be evident and this occurs by the way I live my life. Not only in public but in private. The Christian life is not a lazy life. We need to constantly work towards growing. If we never read our bibles and never obey the words of Christ then we can hardly expect our lives to be filled with joy. We need to remember Jesus words in John 15:9-11 regarding abiding in him.

He states: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

If you notice there is a cause and effect that we can participate in. As you go about this next week I hope you partake in this cause and effect. May your joy be full.

Moving Out Of The Way Fail

So I'm working on a sermon illustration for a message I am giving at Saddleback Irvine and I stumbled upon this video. It's pretty funny.

Are You (Red)?

Most of you by now have heard of the RED campaign. If you have not, it is a campaign to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa that was started by Bono from U2. The theory behind the campaign is to get existing companies to commit to donating a portion of their profit when specific (RED) items are sold. By doing so it brings awareness and provides money for the cause. Just recently Starbucks became a (RED) partner and they have an awesome new addition to the campaign. They released the (Starbucks)RED gift card. Every time one of these cards is used between 1/3/09 and 12/31/09 5 cents will be donated to the campaign. Now that might not sound like a lot, but there certainly are a lot of people who go to Starbucks on a regular basis. It is a great place to hangout or do homework. So if you are a regular to Starbucks I encourage you to get one of these cards and continue to use it. Once it runs out of money you can reload it by ask a Starbucks partners (employee). By doing so you will continue to help fight the global pandemic of AIDS. And if you won't reload the card pass it onto someone who will.