Profound reminder to guard against becoming the “they” of tomorrow.
The Anointing by R.T. Kendall : “The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday…getabsorbed…n

I only wish I had gotten this sooner!

It’s not that I agree with every viewpoint or even share some of the conclusions found inside; it’s that I like having a very accessible and systematic way of walking through what is often murky waters…

Politics.

There are those of you out there that have immediately stopped reading this simply because it IS about politics and you’re so sick of the bombardment that you just can’t take anymore.  There are also those of you who are so adamant about what you believe (often without knowing why) that it takes more than a book addressing issues from a Christian perspective to stir you to think.

Then there are those of you who are curious.  I believe the church is the hope of the world.  Might be good to actually know what’s happening in the world we are called to serve:) Ahhh…that’s where How Would Jesus Vote? makes the biggest impact.  In our data saturated culture, it’s tough to sift through what’s relevant and what’s garbage.  How Would Jesus Vote? can help.

The 2008 election is shaping up to be one of the most important political contests in American history. In fact, Dr. D. James Kennedy believes it will be a watershed moment that could impact our very survival as a nation under God.

Values voters-people whose political views and votes are based on their faith in God-are being targeted as never before. As the campaign season moves forward, the significant players will debate terrorism, radical Islam, nuclear threats, global warming, social issues, gay marriage, immigration, education, health care, and many other essential issues that can create sharp ideological divisions.

Into this overwhelmingly complex political situation, Dr. Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe bring a clear, compelling, and nonpartisan exploration of what God’s Word has to say on these critical matters. How Would Jesus Vote? isn’t intended to tell readers which candidates to support; rather it offers a Christ-centered understanding of the world to help readers draw their own political conclusions.

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074061

If you’ve read this far, I want to ship this book to you!  I have ONE How Would Jesus Vote? hardback book for the first person who emails me nathan@lakeviewworship.com…getabsorbed…n

Jerry Newcombe is senior producer for Coral Ridge Ministries television and has produced or coproduced more than fifty documentaries. The host of two weekly radio shows, he has also been a guest on numerous television and radio talk shows. He is the author or coauthor of more than fifteen books.

Dr. D. James Kennedy is one of the most trusted and recognized Christian leaders of our time. The senior minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he is the featured preacher on television’s “The Coral Ridge Hour” and radio’s “Truths That Transform”, syndicated on over one thousand stations throughout the U.S. The founder and president of Evangelism Explosion International and chancellor of Knox Theological Seminary, he is the author of more than sixty books, including the bestselling What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?

It’s so easy to get caught in the rhythms of normalcy that pull me toward the safe, the comfortable, the known.  I just can’t help but think that a creative God, One that designed the cosmos, has so much more up His proverbial sleeve than what you and I call normal.

Seriously.  If YOU were the Creator of all things known and unknown, had limitless power and capability and actually stood outside of the boundries of time and space and were GOOD…wouldn’t YOU totally mix it up?  I mean get creatively crazy with how this whole thing called humanity plays out?  Sure we’re not pawns without free will but gheez….if there was a guy over here in Nevada and a guy over there in India and they both needed each other to accomplish YOUR intended purpose and they were both asking YOU (remember YOU’RE diety in this game…and this game only:)for help, wouldn’t ya answer them?

Sometimes I feel like God has this grand adventure for me to live but I’ve settled for something else.  In the words of C.S. Lewis..”We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Adventure awaits…getabsorbed…n

Been reading a great book by international best-seller and marketing guru Seth Godin.  I saw him at the last Catalyst Conference in Atlanta and well, cause he’s a marketing guru, he gave every one of the 12, 000 plus attendees a free book.  Smart move.

I’ve always said “settling for ok” isn’t ok for a child of the King.  Life on this earth is too short to be mediocre in anything and eternity is too long not to put your best effort into all the people around you.  However a glance around the landscape reveals some pretty mediocre stuff.  Come on!  People’s lives are at stake.  What worked yesterday needs to be challenged, re-examined and reworked to meet an ever evolving culture.  When iron sharpens iron and deep calls to deep, Spirit-led ideas change the world.  Isn’t that the kinda place you wanna be a part of?  However, check out this quote from “Tribes“..

“The end result of (average life) is that many people (many really good people) spend all day trying to defend what they do, trying to sell what they’ve always sold, and trying to prevent their organizations from being devoured by the forces of the new.  It must be wearing them out.  Defending mediocrity is exhausting.”

Amen, Seth.  Anybody tired?…getabsorbed…n

“

One of the most difficult things to wrap myhead around is the grace of God in the form of Jesus Christ.

I’ve heard countless sermons, studied Scripture, listened to podcasts, read books, sang songs, (gheez…wrote songs) and still I wrestle with this Invisible grace that has been extended to me; this freedom that comes through the death, burial and resurrection of a King who CHOSE to walk this earth as a man that I might walk for eternity with Him.

Here I stand in all of my human frailty, surrounded by my sinfulness and my willful disobedience to the Creator of the Universe and STILL He chooses to extend grace to me.  He offers a forgiveness that can’t be measured because it comes from a love that knows no end.

But I can’t SEE it.

So how the heck am I supposed to understand it and walk it, let alone attempt to explain it ?

I’ve come to realize that if I’m ever going to speak of the INVISIBLE grace of God I have to be able to extend VISIBLE forgiveness to others.  You see it’s “in the visible” that God truly speaks to the world through His people.  For example…if you and I can’t offer VISIBLE forgiveness to those that have hurt or slandered us, then we actually have nothing to say to the rest of the world.  Our witness of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He can do is null and void if it isn’t alive and active in our lives.  You can’t tell people there is a God who forgives sins if you yourself can’t forgive others.

I love what the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth.  This was a young church in a wild city so the basics was important.  There were some immoral issues and nobody knew how to handle it.  Paul masterfully addresses the issue but then look at how he brings forgiveness back into light.  If you’ve ever been offended in the visible by anyone, anywhere check out how the Bible says to forgive and why.  It’s a little lengthy but totally worth the life change…getabsorbed…n

2 Cor 2:5-11

5 Now, regarding the one who started all this — the person in question who caused all this pain — I want you to know that I am not the one injured in this as much as, with a few exceptions, all of you. So I don’t want to come down too hard. 6 What the majority of you agreed to as punishment is punishment enough. 7 Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. 8 My counsel now is to pour on the love.

9 The focus of my letter wasn’t on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church. 10 So if you forgive him, I forgive him. Don’t think I’m carrying around a list of personal grudges. The fact is that I’m joining in with your forgiveness, as Christ is with us, guiding us. 11 After all, we don’t want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more mischief — we’re not oblivious to his sly ways!
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

With winter approaching in the Mid-west, nothing says cozy like a good book, a roaring fire and a hot cup of coffee.  The Shape of Mercy is a great trip into a fictional past, pulling you into a story that is both compelling and intricately woven together by author Susan Meissner.

I asked Susan the “why” behind the story and here’s what she had to say:

“When I was 13, I was in play called To Burn a Witch. I played the role of an innocent woman accused of witchcraft who sits in a cell with other innocent young women from her village. When my character realizes she can save herself by pretending to be bewitched, she begins to scream that one of the other girls in her cell – a friend, actually – is tormenting her.  My character is led away to freedom and the woman she accused falsely is led away to her execution.  I had forgotten being in that play until I read a newspaper article a couple years ago about a woman who was petitioning a Massachusetts court to exonerate her great-times-eight grandmother. This ancestor of hers was accused and convicted of witchcraft during the Salem trials, was released when the hysteria ended, but whose name was never cleared. When I read this, I was reminded of how it felt, even as an actress, to be accused of being someone you were not and the far worse feeling of accusing someone you know is innocent. These people who died in 1692 Salem were all innocent. They all died refusing to confess they were in league with Satan. They were heroes.
Who doesn’t love a story about a hero?”

Women of all ages will appreciate this highly-readable, layered, and fast-paced story about self-discovery at all stages of life.  With rich undertones of intrigue and romance, this contemporary novel with a historical twist explores personal blinders and how upbringing and conditioning can shape people to judge others in ways that can lead to unhappy consequences.

Lauren Durough is a college student who finds herself on the road to self-discovery as she is hired by octogenarian Abigail Boyles to transcribe the journals of Mercy Hayworth, a seventeenth-century victim of the Massachusetts witch trials. Almost immediately, Lauren finds herself drawn to this girl who lived and died four centuries ago. The strength of her affinity with Mercy forces Lauren to take a startling new look at her own life, including her relationships with Abigail, her college roommate, and a young man named Raul.  But on the way to the truth, will Lauren find herself playing the helpless defendant or the misguided judge?  Can she break free from her own perceptions and see who she really is?

Readers will identify with Lauren’s struggle to break away from society’s expectations and her attempt to strike out on her own while figuring out what parts of her own story to hold on to.

Order your copy today!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074568

getabsorbed…n

Women.  I can't wait to share with my sons how little I know about the subject:)  Thank goodness for fun books with great purpose.

 

 

Incredible….

Sitting in the first Lab session at Catalyst in Atlanta. Just never ceases to amaze me how God knows exactly what you need to hear. If you’re attentive, God is always speaking. Listening is our gig…

So encouraging to hear that REPRODUCTION (giggle, giggle) is a constant theme. Check out my previous blog on that one. Dave Ferguson www.newthing.org and now Ed Stetzer www.edstetzer.com are both talking Kingdom work and REPRODUCTION.

Two hours in and i’m full of possibility, encouragement and clarity. Can’t wait to pour it all out…getabsorbed…n