“O LORD, Thou Knowest my great unfitness for service, my present deadness, my inability to do anything for thy glory, my distressing coldness of heart. I am at a loss to know what thou would have me do. Return again with showers of converting grace to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.” pg 99
“I deserve that thy kingdom be taken away from me. Lord, I confess my sin with feeling, lamentation , a broken heart, a contrite spirit, self-abhorrence, self-condemnation,self-despair. Give me relief by Jesus my hope.” pg 190
I am really excited for July 24th and the start of our Jonah series. I have had a chance to preach through a portion of Jonah in the pastand have been challenged and blessed by it. This short book is packed with great teaching that will encourage, challenge and convict us all.
(right click on image and ‘save as’ to help promote Jonah over your social media sites/wallpaper)
The Book |
Jonah is a great book and I look forward to digging into it with you guys over the next couple of months. Jonah is many times linked with a fish and the major focus is on this small portion of the message. We will see that Jonah is more about “Revealing God’s Heart and Ours”, which is the title for this series. Click on this link and you will find the books I have been using for this series, the Jonah promo video (done by our very own video team), a schedule of the sermons for the next two months, and other great things.
Maybe you don’t have time to check facebook for our updates. If you’re on twitter, it’s just as easy to stay connected! And the great thing is we are posting all the DWYS 2010 Reading Plan verses on our twitter daily.
This past weekend we talked a little about Calling and where God is leading us. Here are the things I talked about for us to
Understand our Calling – We need to see that every single one of us has a calling on our life.
Get into the Bible – The Bible will help is see the explicit things that we are called to do. These are, but are not limited to; studying about Jesus, praying, giving, going, loving, serving.
Get into community (you need feedback) – You need people to let you know if what you are dreaming about doing is really what God has for you. I might feel like God is calling me to be a basketball player, I could even have big hopes to make it into the NBA. What I really need are people around me letting me know I’m 5’8″ white boy who is about 15 lbs over weight.
Get into service (mission) – It is really hard to know where God wants you when your just sitting there playing Halo, COD, or reading twilight. Do something, anything; just serve Jesus.
Get out of the river and onto the stream to see Life pass by - After you have done the above, and only after, take a day to get out of the craziness of life and see what God is saying to you. Take your Bible, notebook and maybe some key reading and think through where God is leading you.
Get into action – Go after it!
These are just a few ways to help us discern the call God has on our life. What are some others?
We talked about not wasting our life this past weekend. Here are a couple links to content that may help you not waste your life.
Journaling Bible | This is a great way to be in the word and put your thoughts down as you read. You can use this to make notes to remind yourself of the greatness of Christ in the whole Bible.
Journaling Moleskine | You can use this to keep your thoughts, ideas and tasks. Journaling helps you see what is dear to you and your life.
Backgroud images | These are great ways to be reminded when you get on your computer about the importance of living for Christ.
Don’t Waste Your Life (Book)| This is a great read for anyone looking to not waste their life. Find it here. Also, you can check out our Don’t Waste Your Summer pageand grab a free copy of Don’t Waste Your Life, by John Piper.
With Don’t Waste Your Summer in full swing, we want you to be as connected as possible with things going on within the ministry. One way to stay in touch is to friend us on facebook. We have set up all our statuses in advance to post the Bible Readings for DWYS 1.0. There are also notes started to discuss the books from 3.0.
So be our friend! We’d love to stay in touch and hear from you regarding how you’re growing.
Here is a quote that I used this past weekend at Atmosphere Park Ave. I was preaching on The Kingdom and our lives.
“For the lusts of the flesh hold us entangled, when in our minds we dwell in the world, and think not that heaven is our country; but when we pass as strangers through this life, we are not in bondage to the flesh.” Calvins Commentaries (22 Volume Set) – 1 Peter 2.11 (page 78)
What a great plea from Calvin to live not of this world, but to live of the world to come. May our lives daily seek to live in The Kingdom of God here and now!