EP*C

Persistent Prayer from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.

Loving God and Loving People are often talked about, but sometimes hard to define. Here’s a great message on this topic by Francis Chan.

Francis Chan “Love God Love People” from Unite All To Christ on Vimeo.

I haven’t yet read ‘Dug Down Deep’ (the new Josh Harris book), but I’ve heard some good things. Here’s a short video about it.

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

One of the greatest thoughts surrounding Christmas is ‘God with us’. Every year we have the privilege of celebrating Jesus Christ’s birth, the coming of our salvation. It’s a pretty amazing thought that the God of the universe would make himself know to mankind, but he did - what an awesome truth!

Here’s a great explanation of ‘Yahweh’ – a Hebrew word for ‘LORD’, the God we celebrate this Christmas.

Here’s a great panel discussion about theology (the study of God) from a young adult ministry called CHANGE out in Sydney, Australia. Carve out a few minutes and work through the videos – really interesting and relevant stuff discussed here.

Here’s a question – how often do you think about the gospel? How often does Jesus and what he has done for us come up in your everyday life?

I ask the questions not to condemn, but as encouragement to focus on the important things in life.

Josh Patterson of the Village Church has an excellent post on the gospel, and whether it is something assumed in your life, or purposefully made explicit by you in your life. He says:

” The issue with an assumed gospel is that it is often too personal and, therefore, becomes private. The person who lives under the assumption of the gospel often knows how it relates to their life, but nobody else does…..their co-workers are left to wonder about what makes them different. Those who live under the assumed gospel often find it awkward to bring it up and talk about the work of Christ. Why? Because they never bring it up and learn to articulate the implications of Christ’s work and their life.

On the contrary, those who are explicit about the gospel in their relationships have a different effect. By living out the gospel and speaking about the gospel and working through the gospel (verbally), they are helping to connect the dots for those around them….co-workers are privy to the reality that this person is not simply a moral guy/girl, but one who is forgiven and transformed by the death and resurrection of Christ.”

You can read the rest of the post here.

So, are you explicit or do you assume the gospel in your everyday life? More importantly, how do you plan do become more explicit?

It seems like a useless question, but in reality, God could have made human beings to work 24hrs without needing to rest for nearly 1/3 of our lives. So why did God invent sleep?

John Piper has a brief,  interesting article on the Theology of Sleep - here’s a short excerpt:

“Sleep is a parable that God is God and we are mere men. God handles the world quite nicely while a hemisphere sleeps. Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Don’t let the lesson be lost on you. God wants to be trusted as the great worker who never tires and never sleeps. He is not nearly so impressed with our late nights and early mornings as he is with the peaceful trust that casts all anxieties on him and sleeps.”

Check out there rest of the article here.

Well, summer is almost here! Apart from taking some time to chill out and enjoy life, it’s worth investing some time into reading  solid books that will help build your faith.

This summer I’m purposely planning to read books that speak specifically about Jesus Christ, helping me to better understand who He is and all that He has accomplised for us. A fuller understanding of Jesus means a more in depth understanding of God – and who wouldn’t want that?!

The first book I’m planning on going through is ‘The Glory of Christ’ by John Owen. Owen was a 17th Century church leader and the leading theologian in his day. Here’s a great quote from the book:

“How, then, can we behold the glory of Christ? We need, firstly, a spiritual understanding of his glory as revealed in Scripture. Secondly, we need to think much about him if we wish to enjoy him fully (1 Pet. 1:8). If we are satisfied with vague ideas about him we shall find no transforming power communicated to us. But when we cling wholeheartedly to him and our minds are filled with thoughts of him and we constantly delight ourselves in him, then spiritual power will flow from him to purify our hearts, increase our holiness, strengthen our graces, and sometimes fill us ‘with joy inexpressible and full of glory.’”

Be sure to check out the book here – it’d definitely worth a read. 

R.O.O.