"The Living Word"

September 20, 2006 in Other with 0 Comments

Church Update
The new road is coming slowly but surely. It looks like they’ll have to break time records in order to be finished by the end of the month – but I guess anything’s possible. The public hearing on the Airport Expansion Project is still scheduled for next Wednesday, Sept 27 at 5:00p at Dickinson School. We have not yet heard from them.

We began a new series this past Sunday called “Balance”. Spanning five Sundays we’ll look at God’s five purposes for our lives (fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism, and worship) and how they need to balance with each other and be balanced in themselves – ultimately bringing balance to our lives. Our new Connection Cafe opens at 10:00a and the Sunday service begins at 10:30a.

Personal Update
This week has been interesting. Our internet connection was down last week Thursday through Saturday, so I didn’t post anything here and couldn’t do some web site work I needed to finish. Then sometime Saturday our water heater died. There was enough hot water in it that we didn’t notice until we were trying to get ready for church Sunday morning and there was no hot water for showers! That was replaced today; yeah!!! Thanks, Ben. The new one is larger and probably doesn’t come pre-limed-up inside. : )

Scriptural Thought of the Week
My Greek professor pointed out something to me that I had noticed before. If you have already seen or heard this, let this be a reminder to you; if not, pay close attention. The very last thing Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians was a great prayer of blessing on them:

“The grace [be] with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying [love].” Ephesians 6:24 (my translation) 

What a great prayer – that God’s grace would stay upon them as they continued to love Him! But there was a problem. Sometime after Paul’s letter, probably after his death and maybe even Timothy’s, something happened to cause Jesus to write,

“But I have against you that your love – the first one – you abandoned.” Revelation 2:4 (my translation) 

The love that was to be undying, that would allow God’s grace to flow through the church, had turned into legalism – simply doing all of the right stuff without love for the Master.

May God never find the need to admonish us in the same way! May His grace be with you as you maintain your love for your Savior, Jesus Christ!

Quote of the Week
I wish I could quote a whole chapter of this book. I just finished chapter two, and it is fantastic! I can’t wait to get to the rest of it. The reason I like it so much, I think, is because it is both a brain-stretcher and a spirit-stretcher. Rob Bell asks you to bring your whole mind and soul to his discussion of Christianity – hopefully so you can experience the life change God wants you to have. So – reluctantly – here is just a sample of chapter two.

The reason the Bible continues to resonate with so many people isn’t just because it happened. What gives us strength and meaning and direction is something in addition to the historical events: It is the meaning of these events. Some call this the more-than-literal truth of the Bible.

We live in the metaphors. The story of David and Goliath continues to speak to us because we know the David part of the story – we have lived it. The tomb is empty because we have met the risen Christ – we have experienced Jesus in a way that transcends space and time. And this gives us hope. We were in darkness and God brought us out into the light.

The Word is living and active and it happens. Today.

Quoted from: Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), p. 61. ISBN: 0739456652

 

Until next time,

Dan’l

Men are God’s Methods

September 7, 2006 in Other with 0 Comments

“Men are God’s method”

Church Update
The rust protection is on the roof, and it’s already looking better! According to the last report, the new road is to be opened by mid- to late-September, bringing all sorts of traffic looking directly at our building. Pray that we use this exposure for God’s glory.

The Airport Authority has scheduled their next Public Hearing on the Airport Expansion Project for Wednesday, Sept 27 at 5:00p at Dickinson School.

Scriptural Thought of the Week

None of us likes to take on a project with no support. Even mavericks don’t like to go-it-alone on everything. God is looking for people who will fully give Him themselves so that He can more fully show Himself to them.

“The eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB) 

 


“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) 

 


Quote of the Week

 

We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the Gospel. This trend of the day has a tendancy to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.

Quoted from: E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer (London and Edinburgh: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, LTD, 1907), p. 9. ISBN: 0802467296

 

Until next time,

Dan’l

August 30, 2006 in Other with 0 Comments

Hello again! Thanks for returning to my blog.

Church Update
Not much change in our status at this post. However, assuming we get a couple of dry days, we intend to get a coat of rust protection on the metal roof, our final prep before spraying the rubber membrane.

Personal Update
This has been a week of anticipation. We are going to help my parents with moving into their new house this weekend. Next Tuesday (9/5) will be the one-year anniversary sale at my dad’s public auto auction, at which we are hoping to run over 100 vehicles for sale. Next Monday also begins a new two-week, two-hour per morning class which I teach 7-10 times per year at Hope Rescue Mission in South Bend.

Scriptural Thought of the Week
This week I want to tie this in with the “Quote of the Week” section below.

I am occassionally asked, “Why are you working toward a Master’s degree? Won’t that cause you to be less practical in your teaching and preaching? Won’t it make you less ‘in-touch’ with the normal church attendee?”

(Let me say that I have found that to be more of a insult toward “the normal church attendee” than against my actively studying the Bible, as if “normal church attendees” don’t study or can’t understand the Bible. But I digress.)

My typical response goes something like this: “My real goal is not so much the degree – though I do indeed want it – but rather this: I desire to be able to teach just about any Bible concept or principle to just about any person on just about any level at just about any time. So I am studying the Bible on a progressively advanced level in order to be able to understand it myself well enough to be able to do that.”

However, this week my attention was drawn to a verse which sums it up much more concisely and gives us a great description of how a genuine Christ-imitator should approach God’s Word (which is, of course, a main theme of my blog):

“Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra 7:10 (ESV) 

Quote of the Week
That verse was pointed out to me in the following quote about the importance of the intentional, intellectual growth of our minds:

The Old Testament scribe Ezra believed in the growth of the mind. “And Ezra set himself to study the law of the Lord, to do it, and to teach its statutes in all of Israel.” The order of this description of personal growth in a man’s private world is worth noting: he studied; he did what he learned; he shared what was worthwhile. Ezra was a professional student of sorts, putting in far more time than any of us will ever do. But he set a great precedent. And because his mind and spirit were full, God tapped Ezra for the gigantic task of leading a large task force of men across the wilderness to rebuild Jerusalem.

Quoted from: Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World (Nashville: Oliver-Nelson, 1985), p. 112.

 

What could God do with you and me if we deliberately set ours mind to start or continue to study, do, and share His Word? I’m looking forward to finding out; I hope you are, too!

Until next time,

Dan’l

August 24, 2006 in Other with 0 Comments

Welcome back!

This second post will layout the structure that I hope to keep for a while. I hope you benefit from these weekly thoughts and that God uses them to help you move forward in your personal spiritual discipleship.

Church Update
We are making progress in working on the look of the building from the outside. Many people have pitched in to help remove trees, bushes, and weeds. We had our metal roof prepped this week so we can seal it with a rubber membrane that is supposed to turn white when it dries. This will not only stop the leaks (hopefully), it will also make it look better (see the red/white roof in last week’s pictures) and maybe even deflect some of the summer heat.

We have not yet heard from the airport. Please keep praying.

Personal Update
Our three boys are now all in school (3rd, 2nd, and pre-K). Our daughter is two and colors while the boys are schooling. Saralynn homeschools them in the mornings, and works in the afternoons. I have 14 credits completed toward my Th.M. (Master in Theology) from Tyndale Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and am working on my next class.

Scriptural Thought of the Week
(These may come from recent messages I’ve taught or heard, or my personal reading or studying.)

Some of our favorite verses guaranteeing our salvation in the end come from the first verses of Ephesians 1:

  • “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (vs. 4)
  • “predestined us to adoption as sons” (vs. 5)
  • “we have obtained an inheritance” (vs. 11)
  • “you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (vs. 13)

While all of these are true and wonderful promises, let us never forget that salvation is really all about God, not us:

  • “predestined us…to the praise of the glory of His grace” (vs. 5-6)
  • “obtained an inheritance…to the praise of His glory” (vs. 11-12)
  • “sealed in Him…to the praise of His glory” (vs. 13-14)

Quote of the Week
I want to use this section to pass along something I read this week that struck a chord with me. I will give a detailed reference for you who may want to look it up yourselves. It will also give you an idea of what I’m reading right now.

…spiritual growth is a process. Maturity is measured by demonstrative growth in our love for God and for others. It is not a completed program or the acquisition of a skill, but a continual expression of love in our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with one another.

…

At North Point, we have divided “loving our neighbor” into two categories: those in the faith and those outside the faith. So we have defined spiritual maturity as continual progress in three vital relationships: a person’s relationship with God, with other believers, and with unbelievers.

Quoted from: Andy Stanley and Bill Willits, Creating Community: 5 Keys to Building a Small Group Culture (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2004), pp. 64-65

 

Talk to you next week,

Dan’l

August 18, 2006 in Other with 0 Comments

Hello all,

Welcome to my new blog!

I have several goals that I hope to accomplish with this. There are so many of you that want to be updated with our church’s airport situation, that this is a great way to do that. I also want to be able to share what else God is doing in our family and church, and pass along nuggets from Scripture.

The title of my blog is 2 Timothy 2:2, which I have taken as a personal life mission. Paul told Timothy to not only make disciples, but to make disciple-makers. As a pastor, I feel that this is my calling, too – to help grow up people in the faith to where they can also be growing up others. That is how the church is supposed to function.

For this first post, I thought I would share some pictures of our situation with the airport. I took many of these from the roof so you can see just how close this road is coming. I tried to keep the light pole on our property line in each picture to help you see proximity. Enjoy!


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