Sorry it’s been awhile and I never posted my Northwest trip play-by-play. Most of my pictures are on my friend’s camera, so ’til then, I’ll keep those memories packed in my peanut memory the best that I can.
Ever since I got back from vacation, I feel like I’ve hit the ground running. I really don’t have much to show for it and I still manage to sleep a lot, but my body sure feels like it’s been busy and stressed. The other day I was talking to a friend and wondering how I could start my day at 6am and go ’til midnight during high school. My days were cram packed with activities, homework, and work, but I still managed to handle it all. What the heck is different? Certainly being seven years older isn’t a valid excuse. Hold on. Did I say seven years? Holy smokes.
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I’ve been desperately desiring the Truth lately, but I haven’t been feeling like a sponge. More like a wall in which everything I learn bounces off. All these hours in a car for work has spurred me to continue digging in and I’ve been listening to sermons again. The past two days, I’ve listened to Rob Bell and his sermon, Wine and Heaven.
Rob has been my wild card in the midst of all the podcasts I listen to — primarily Matt Chandler from Highland Village’s The Village Church and Mark Driscoll from Seattle’s Mars Hill Church (not to be confused with Bell’s Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan). There’s quite a few criticisms about him and how he tends to emphasize experience over Scriptures, but when I listen to him and read his books, his love for the Jewish culture and the Hebrew language makes it hard for me to believe all he says is junk. His teachings encourage me to learn more about culture during the times Scripture was written, to fully understand why the writers wrote the words they did.
Anyway, Wine and Heaven was a fairly long sermon for Bell and it was fairly scattered (although I was scattered making sure I didn’t get lost in Dallas during work). Towards the end, Bell hit a home run when it pointed out something in the Gospel of John… Read more »
Temptation –> Lust, giving in –> Sin –> Death.
Trials of faith –> Endurance –> Perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Guest speaker, Ben Stuart from Breakaway Ministries, has been a refreshing voice at church recently. One thing I enjoy about The Village is that even when Matt isn’t speaking, you can always count on the guest speaker to be passionate about Christ and passionate about Scripture.
I missed his second sermon (although I listened to half today, good stuff!) his third and final installment was chock full of goodness. As much I tend to cringe when pastors speak on “quiet times” and good ol’ fashion spiritual disciplines, I know they are necessary. After all, my favorite part of his sermons is when he discussed how we are wired. And how Satan knows how we are wired. Tricky.
Mind –> Affections –> Will.
What we put in our heads, what we keep in our heads, what floods our thoughts… stirs up emotions, our affections, awakens and fills the heart… then it fuels the wheels, gets the body in motion, moves the arms and legs.
So what do I think about? What do I dwell on? What fuels me? Ben’s words reminded me of Jesus’s half-brother James and his first words in his book. I summed a few of them up at the begining of this post. Do I think about my trials, do I suffer with joy and endure through them, am I willingly being sanctified? Or do I bury myself in temptations, do I want something I can’t have, shouldn’t have, do I go for it anyway knowing it will not only bite me in the end, but result in death?
The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - II Peter 3:9
