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You Need Community…Really…You Do…

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I was privileged to get a copy of Brad House’s book Community, the latest in the RE:LIT series.  House serves as a pastor at Mars Hill Church, Seattle, where he oversees community groups for the multi-site church.  For me, a good book is built on the basics of God’s Word and filled with practicality, or what the foundational truth from God’s Word should look like fleshed out.

The tension in a book on a particular facet of ministry is that while a broad cross section of evangelicalism may agree that something is important and even rooted in God’s Word, we may disagree on its practice.  I thought House did a great job of helping us see that what Mars Hill Church has chosen to do, how it has come out of Biblical conviction, but isn’t meant to be replicated by every church.  We are responsible, however, to flesh out community in our midst and this is the real strength of the book.

In Part 1, the foundation (or as he calls them, Building Blocks For Life) is unpacked.  This lays some biblical footings for how the book will flesh itself out in the later chapters.  Why do we need community?  How did God create us for this and other truths.

Part 2, health plan, helps to lead us in a positive direction by helping us see the different facts of community that need to be considered.  How should groups function, how often should they meet, where should they meet, what should they do?  Are you getting a feel for the practical side yet?

Part 3, treatment, gives us ways to effect change in our groups.  In other words, I’m given practical tools in this section to go about changing things from the way we’ve always done them.  This includes not only changing the past, but equipping leaders for the future.

Positives in this book include getting a great feel for what the Bible says about community, how those are fleshed out in a local church taking those commands seriously, humility in communicating what has been pursued, stories of how pursuing this has helped, as well as what I’ve already mentioned: practical things.

Negatives for me were that it is a longer read.  At times I felt the book drag.  This might have been my fatigue or the time of life when I’m reading this (3 kids under 5), but as I pressed through, it proved to be time well spent.

House has definitely thought deeply about this issue.  And if community is something you would like help in applying or tweaking in your particular ministry, then this book would be a book worthy of your time and investment.

Weekend Recap – Better Sacrifice (1)

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My sermon from 10/9/11AM entitled Better Sacrifice (1) from Hebrews 9:1-10 is now online.  The sermon really unpacked the bad news on the limitations that were in place for the OT worshipper.  There wasn’t access to God, but barriers and even the priests work was continual and dealt with outward realities.  We need words like this occasionally to see the brightness of the Gospel.

I saw a good summary of my sermon on Google+ in a quote from John Bunyan:

“Run, John, run, the law commands but gives us neither feet nor hands;
Far better news the Gospel brings: it bids us fly and gives us wings.”

Hope you have a great week standing in awe of what God has provided for you to draw near to Himself through His Son.


What Up G?

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I stumbled across the 4 Gs this week, again, (truths that set you free)…Here’s a listing of them:

1. God is great – so we don’t have to be in control

2. God is glorious – so we don’t have to fear others

3. God is good – so we don’t have to look elsewhere

4. God is gracious – so we don’t have to prove ourselves

The deal is, we have our eyes on so many other things (than God Himself) that we are discouraged, frustrated, feeling weak and powerless and not very much changed by the Gospel. However, if we can look to God and turn from our way (that whole repentance piece), we can find that the Gospel is, indeed, the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes (that’s peeps like you and me). So, today, if you’re not feeling quite changed by these things, lift up your eyes to where your help comes: the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Paul Tripp on Marriage

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I’ve used Paul Tripp’s What Did You Expect? to walk with people in pre-marital, marriage enrichment, or marriage class about 5 times since it came out and continue to commend it.

As he begins in session 1 of this, he says “A marriage of unity, understanding, and love is not rooted in romance; it is rooted in worship.”  As you think about your relationship, how is worship affecting you?  We must put our identity over our activity (to quote Tripp again).  We won’t honor God in our marriages until we honor God in our marriages.  He must be supreme.

Today, look at what your heart is revealing as the true source of worship and see if this isn’t just part of what God is seeking to change in you.

Weekend Preview – Walk Through The Tabernacle…

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This coming Sunday, we will be examining Hebrews 9:1-10 in the AM service.  The writer of the book of Hebrews wants his readers to be exhorted to keep on keeping on when it comes to their faith.  To give them the kind of foundation he needs to, he presses on them the superiority of Jesus in every realm of religious life they’ve known.  And in Hebrews 9:1-10, he walks them through the tabernacle and the ministry that took place there so that when they get down to Hebrews 9:11-14, Jesus will shine bright and beautiful.  God has crafted the storyline of the Bible in particular colors so that they pop.  Join us this Sunday as we look deep to see Jesus lifted high.

Better Ministry – For Real!

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My sermon from 10/2/11AM is online.  The sermon was entitled Better Ministry and was out of Hebrews 8:6-13.  This section of Scripture, which included the longest quote of the OT in the NT, pointed us to the ways in which Jesus’ ministry was better than the old covenant way of relating to God, since it was built on relationship and offered forgiveness for sins.

I trust it will help you to rest in the final work of Jesus alone for your sanity, but deeper, for your relating to God.

Weekend Preview – Better Covenant…

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This coming Lord’s day, we plan to look at Hebrews 8:6-13.  It is an amazing picture of seeing just how beautiful our relationship with God through Christ looks.  Here’s a couple of gems from Pete O’Brien:

So Jesus’ role as mediator is not in a strict sense that of an arbiter or intermediary of a bilateral agreement. The terms of the covenant are not in dispute or up for discussion, so that Jesus has to act as a mediator by bringing the two parties together to hammer out an agreement. He is an agent, or delegate invested with divine authority in God’s settlement, which Jesus realizes and guarantees. (p.292)

One benefit of the new covenant is that we know God and again, O’Brien writes:

To know God is to recognize Him, to trust Him, and to obey Him. (p.300)

I hope to see you this coming Lord’s day as we relish in these and other glorious truths so that Christ is seen as the glorious Savior that He is.

Weekend Recap – Heaven Is For Real

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Yes, my sermon from 9/25/11AM entitled In Heaven from Hebrews 8:1-5 is now online and yes, it did talk about the reality of heaven.  It seems the writer of Hebrews is bent on encouraging our perseverance, so he urges us to consider our present in light of eternity, or, specifically, in light of the reality wherein Christ serves.  I hope the sermon was encouraging.

In the evening, my small group looked at the lack of gratitude we exhibit in the church and sought to fought that in the Gospel.  I need to update my Facebook status accordingly: “God, thank you for the gift of Facebook and how it allows me to stay in touch with so many friends.  Thank you also for the trials that come when they change things, knowing that you are working on my character through it.”  Something like this should be our heart in everything.