When Trying to Convert a Non-Christian Advice

Jonathan McIntosh over at Rethink posted a video of a friend of his who is not a Christian, but gives valuable advice in how we should approach people when wanting them to meet and trust in Jesus.

I remember what it was like to be a non-believer and also what it was like for some to try to convert me in very unloving and unhelpful ways so I could not agree more with much of this wisdom as someone who has been on both sides of the fence.

Rethink is a great site dealing with what living in a missional way really looks like today.
Click Here to Check It out.

Josh Harris on Self Control

As I scrolled through my Google Reader, after checking my Facebook and Tweeting, I found this video from Josh Harris...conviction.

The Fight Against Lust

By Faith magazine has a great article called, Lust: A Life and Death Matter. I highly recommend that you check it out.

Here is a great excerpt on one of the outcomes lust has:

Second, lust distorts our vision and leads us to see people as objects instead of what they are—unique masterpieces created in God’s image

Read The Rest Here

Christianity Is Against Individualism

This quote is good prep for this coming Tuesday at The Well as we will look at the community that came from Acts 2.

From A Brick In The Valley

Cornelius Plantinga:

Christianity is against individualism. In the Old Testament God made his covenant with Abraham and his descendents, with a whole people. We now baptize persons not because they are individual believers or even because they belong to a family of believers, but because they belong to the extended family of believers – - the people of God. We are all baptized into this community, into a body that existed long before we did. We did not join this body. We are called into it.

When God’s people are called out of the world, they called into fellowship, into what the New Testament calls koinonia. Good words are associated with koinonia: “common,” “commune,” “commonwealth,” “community,” and “communion. We were called into koinonia, which means we have something in common with other believers.

Rather we have someone in common. . . . But, always it is Jesus Christ who is the fount of blessing, the broken bread, the life-giving vine, the head of the body. We belong to him – - and thus to each other. (Beyond Doubt, pages 116-117, emphasis his).

Religion vs Gospel

Last night at The Well I mentioned the distinctions between religion and The Gospel. I read from a list that comes from Tim Keller of what marks religion and what marks The Gospel. Below is some of the distinctions that comes from Tim Keller that has been compiled by The Journey Church in St. Louis.

Click here for the pdf. version.

Here is a few of the distinctions:

Religion
“I obey-therefore I’m accepted.”

Gospel
“I’m accepted-therefore I obey.”

Religion
Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

Gospel
Motivation is based on grateful joy.

Religion
I obey God in order to get things from God

Gospel
I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

Religion
When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

Gospel
When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

Religion
When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

Gospel
When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism. That’s how I became a Christian.

Click Here for the Rest

Props: Reformissionary

6 Essentials of College Ministry

Working in college ministry for over 2 years now, I could not agree more with these 6 essentials. Especially with #1, Jesus cannot be overlooked or understated in college ministry. He is our source of life, redemption and eternal joy, we cannot act like He is just a means to an end or that Christianity is about moralism and duty.

From The Resurgence:

1. Don't confuse the gospel with religion
To prevent doing this, talk about Jesus (who he is and what he has done) all the time. If you don't, students will think Christianity is really about something else, like morality, philosophy, piety, social justice, or a religious experience. If you start talking more about what they should do instead of what Jesus has done, you're preaching another gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), which is to put heavy burdens on them (Matt. 23:2-4).

2. Learn about sexual assault
The prevalence of sexual assault is staggering. At least 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men are or will be victims of sexual assault in their lifetime. And the numbers are much worse for college students. These young women and men feel crippling shame, deep guilt, and painfully alone because of what has been done to them.

3. Teach students how to read and interpret the Bible for themselves
This means being clear on the relationship between the law and the gospel. The law is "perfect, true, and righteous altogether" (Psalm 19:7-9) and "holy, just, and good" (Rom. 7:12), but it does not effect what it demands (Gal. 3:21). The good news is that on the cross Jesus took our penalty of law-breaking and fulfilled the law, so he could give us his righteousness. God then works in us to will and to do his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). The very law that condemns us becomes the very thing that God fulfills in us through the power of his Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:18-23), not through our effort (Gal. 3:1-3).

4. Be prepared to comfort students because of divorce and death
College students are at a phase in life where their parents seem to get divorced, if they aren't already, now that their children are leaving home. This is also the age when grandparents begin to die.

5. Study apologetics
Many students still have brain cells left, and they've been reading and thinking about their world. They have legitimate questions about who Jesus is and what he did and why he isn't just a good example. They want to know why they should trust the Bible as reliable. The immense suffering in the world makes them doubt either the goodness or power of God or both. They think Christians are hypocrites and bigots, so why should they become one?

6. Be prepared to counsel students about what they're really facing
You must be prepared to counsel about eating disorders, pornography, cutting, abusive relationships, and the lingering damage of sexual sin. College students tend to be the shock-absorbers of the myths our cultural sells. Idols are brutal slave masters.

Truth On Campus

From Think Christianly:

“There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative.”—Allan Bloom

“To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what it is not that it is not, is true.”—Aristotle

“…You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”—Jesus

“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair”—C.S. Lewis

The Motions

I am praying that this song, The Motions by Matthew West, is our anthem for The Well. As we fight just going through the motions of ministry this year. That our all-consuming passion is Jesus, to love, follow, obey and make His name known to the city and campus. That our lives would be lived in such a way that He is all people see with how we risk and love.

That's my prayer for 2009-2010, I don't want to look back in May and say, "I wasted it."

Listen to this song, the story of Matthew West is a story of God's grace and love.

I was so stoked on this song that I bought his album, Something to Say, which is really good and worth a purchase. My buddy Zach also used to play with Matthew so that helped me like it even more.

Click here to purchase via Amazon

Also Check Out Matthew's Myspace

This Tuesday At The Well

Preview for The Well Aug. 25 2009 from Carlos Griego on Vimeo.

Summer Camp for Atheists

From Jonathan Morrow:

Atheistic summer camps? Yep. Check out this short 2 minute video clip. One thing stuck out to me that I whole heartily agree with: "students should be taught how to think not just what to think." How do you think the students in your youth group would fare in a conversation with the next generation of atheists? Are they being prepared?

Piper Gives Advice for Back to School

Heading to college can be an overwhelming and challenging experience for a Christian. How do you answer the tough questions? How do you think through philosophies that seem to compete for attention with God's Word?

John Piper offers some great advice here:

Francis Chan Has New Book Coming Out

Pastor of Cornerstone Simi Valley Church, Francis Chan has a new book coming out about the role and authority of the Holy Spirit called, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.

If you have followed this blog or been to The Well you know how much I have endorsed Chan's first book "Crazy Love". So I am very much looking forward to this next book, especially since we will be studying the book of Acts this coming year at The Well.

Here is a video preview:


And further explanation

A follow up to the profound message of Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan offers a compelling invitation to understand, embrace, and follow the Holy Spirit’s direction in our lives.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and … the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two? As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, today’s church has admired the gift but neglected to open it.

Breakthrough author Francis Chan rips away paper and bows to get at the true source of the church’s power—the Holy Spirit. Chan contends that we’ve ignored the Spirit for far too long, and we are reaping the disastrous results. Thorough ural support and compelling narrative form Chan’s invitation to stop and remember the One we’ve forgotten, the Spirit of the living God.

Props: Vitamin Z

Hospitality Is Not Optional

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” (Romans 12: 9-13, ESV)

I can remember walking into Desert Springs Church as an “outsider” as a former Catholic who had not wanted anything to do with church or “organized religion” for the past 5 years or so. I was a college student. I was new to this whole Christian church thing. I was overwhelmed and really confused.

“Why is there screens?”
“Does the priest here wear a robe?”
“Why are we singing so much?”

More than that I was petrified about what people would think. From an outsiders’ perspective Christianity is full of really moral, uptight and right wing people, well at least from this outsider’s perspective. I was petrified about what people would think about my life style. I was not pure. I was not home schooled. I was not Republican. I was not a straight edge kid, I had tattoos, tattoos that represented other religions, tattoos that did not in someway tell a Biblical story or have scripture included. I was usually hungover on Sundays, not singing or listening to a preacher.

What would people think...would I be welcomed or looked down on?

I think it was a kind of in between feeling after that first Sunday. I had a couple people come up to shake my hand, but I sat alone. I am naturally a shy guy, especially in new situations, so this was a totally overwhelming experience. I left the church, a bit confused by all that happened and still felt like an outsider. That feeling would remain for the next year.

It was not until someone at The Well, the new college ministry DSC had started, remembered my name did I begin to feel welcomed. That took a year. A year of Sunday attendance, a year of feeling like a round peg in a square hole.

Why did I keep coming back? Because I kept feeling this is what God wanted me to do, no other reason really.

My whole world changed though when someone remembered my name, when someone took the time to get to know me and my story. I felt part of the church. I felt welcomed. I felt love.

Could I have done more to get involved on my own? Yeah, probably, but honestly as a newcomer it was not my job to do that, nor to be honest did I know how to. It was the community of God who I was surrounded by every Sunday who needed to be the ones who reached out to me. And when that happened I felt love, the kinda love that the church is supposed to be. I just wish it had been faster than a year.

It is 6 years later. I am now on staff at Desert Springs. I am in fact the director of The Well. It is 6 years later and I often have forgotten what it is like to be a visitor, to be someone who does not know lots of people. I have forgotten what it is like to enter the building and be overwhelmed and feel unwelcomed and ignored.

I need to remember what that is like. I need to realize that it is on me as a Desert Springs member to seek out to show love and honor to guests and to all people in the church. This is not an option. This is not a “thing” to put on my to do list, this is a gospel implication type of thing.

We love, we show honor, we abhor evil because that is how we are to respond to the grace we have been given and love that has overwhelmed us from Jesus Christ. Jesus loves the unlovely (us), Jesus died to bring us into the family of God. None of us have any merit to stand on, no pedigree to flaunt over each other. We all have only the blood of Jesus to claim as our means to coming into the family to forever be with Jesus.

We are called to love like we have been loved, we are called to seek to love, to intentionally seek it out. To fail to do this is a fail of understanding the gospel.

If you are one of those who have felt unwelcomed, and unloved, take this as an apology. We are imperfect, we are messy, we will fail at this again. We forget about our mission and our calling to love others. We are in process. We are sinners saved by grace in the daily need of the blood of Jesus too.

For those of us who are members, who are “connected” and part of the family of God. May we repent of our self centered times when we seek comfort and ease over meeting someone new that may be a bit awkward. May we repent of our neglect of loving others and connecting them with the rest of our family cause we are too lazy or ignorant to do so. May we repent of our lack of love and honor to others.

Acting and Waiting On The Lord

John Piper talks about the tension between what it means to "wait on the Lord" and when it is time to take action.


For more John Piper media go to DesiringGod.Org

Resurgence: Masculinity Reclaimed

Over at Resurgence.Com they have just finished a great series about redeeming Biblical masculinity. Here is a good quote from the series.

Ladies in our churches, young and old, are not as horrified by an emphasis on reaching men as one might expect. Ultimately our women don't want to be surrounded by a crowd of wusses or a bunch of bullies. Biblical masculinity is such a rare commodity that women are usually attracted to it rather than repulsed (though this may surprise them at first).

Click Picture to see the whole series (Fellas, DO IT!!)

Something Really Worth Getting Excited About

Wolverine, Star Trek, Up!, Transformers 2 and Harry Potter are all this summer’s “blockbusters”. The question is now that all of these have come out is, how has life changed?

I remember a few years ago “Superman Returns” came out, and I was counting down the days before its release. I would watch the previews over and over again just getting more and more stoked. The movie was good, I enjoyed it, but honestly I can say even though I have it on DVD I have not watched it in a quite a few months.

I think the same can and will be said of these past summer’s movies. We don’t think about that though when they come out, do we? We are stoked, we will count the days down, we will re-watch the other movies in the series if it is a sequel, we may even read the books the movies are based on. Fast food stores will load us down with toys and commemorative glasses in high anticipation of the upcoming flick. On opening day we may even stand in line or save seats for hours on end, we will wait 12 hours to see a 2 hour movie.

I think if we are honest with ourselves we end with a bit of disappointment. Nothing is truly gained by all this anticipation and waiting, we are just left being amused for a couple hours by robots, wizards, aliens or mutants. Soon enough in fact we are thirsting and counting down for the next big movie.

We are addicts. We are in constant search for our next entertainment high. We act if not flat out think that this movie will be “awesome”, “life changing”, or at least by our actions worth spending a huge amount of time waiting for or thinking about.

In the end we are left wanting and wandering...

There is a bigger story though, that does give us reason to wait with excitement. Although this coming, does not have a countdown on it, or at least a countdown that we know. This coming will be unlike any movie, for when it comes everyone will notice and everyone will be eternally changed.

I am referring to the second coming of Jesus Christ, our great King. When He comes all of life will be transformed, wrongs will be made right. Pain will be wiped off the earth. Tears will be no more. Disease? Gone. Sin, banished. Satan, fully defeated.

The sad reality is, is that for one group, those who have put their hope in Jesus and his atoning work on the cross that day will be joyful. For the group that hasn’t it will be the day of judgment where they will be declared guilty, and because they do not have Jesus as their wrath-bearing savior, they will take on God’s full wrath for their sin.

So for those who have trusted in Jesus, movies are good to watch, but we wait for something better. For those who don’t movies really are in some ways as good as it gets.

There is still time for all who are reading this to turn and trust in Jesus. To see their sin and rebellion before a Holy God and see that Jesus took on that punishment if we would just believe and trust. To see, love and follow King Jesus!

Click Here for a Big Picture of what Awaits...truly worth waiting and anticipating!!!

Remember The Heart

Very well done video, very convicting..

Props: Holiday @ The Sea

Fear

Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

If someone were to ask me what I believe to be one of the biggest sins that we face as young adults I think the fear of man would top the list. I have found that many people live a life that is marked by an evident fear of how they are perceived or how their reputation is affected.

A good example of what I am talking about is this past Tuesday night at The Well. We spent the night at a local park where we had volleyball, soccer and basketball along with other various activities. We were all having a great time, then we gathered for a time of singing and listening to God’s Word. Here is where the atmosphere of the night changed. Instead of energy and smiles all around, now there was a sense of awkwardness that seemed to take over. We were scared to sing in public!

“What if someone heard how tone deaf I am? What if the neighbors over at the playground areas laughed at me? I better not be too loud or too expressive, that would be embarrassing.”

I am sure that went through peoples’ minds, I know it did mine. Why is that? Simple, we are afraid of what others think more than we are of what God thinks.

I mean we had the beautiful Sandia Mountains in front of us, an amazing sunset to the left of us. The Heavens were screaming “Glory!!! Glory!!!” and yet we were afraid for our friend to hear our voice. We were overcome by what others think more than what He thought and heard.

Our lives and culture are marked by this fear.

Why do we buy $40 T-Shirts with the name of the store we got it at on it?

Why do we shop at The Buckle for $100 jeans and not Wal-Mart?

Why are we afraid to tell our friends about a Holy God who they have offended, and how the ONLY way to salvation is through Jesus Christ??

We are petrified of others’ perception of us.

It is the same reason that the people of Israel wanted a king. They wanted to be like the nations around them, they wanted to fit in. They had a King, the King of Kings leading them and loving them, but they wanted something that made them blend in, something that made them fit in.

We do too.

By nature we are man-fearing creatures. This changes though in a beautiful way when we are saved. No longer are we enslaved to the views of this world or of those around us. We have had our eyes open to the beauty, Holiness and majesty of our Great God, the One, whose opinion of us really does matter. We begin to see how He sees. We see our sin and unworthiness and are brought low only to be lifted up by the news of His Son who has come.

We learn of a God who demands perfection from us, who demands us to fear Him above all else. We learn that we have failed at this miserably and deserve full punishment for this. We learn that God has taken our punishment on the cross in the person of Jesus Christ. That He rose 3 days after death and now to those who trust in His name and His work, He freely gives us His perfection and status. He puts His life on us because He took on our life and guilt on Himself.

This is grace that changes everything.

We are not perfect yet though. Like the night at The Park we will find moments that we fear man over God. Here we are called to repent (turn from that way of living and thinking) and trust in Jesus once again. We are called to fear God, love God and love each other in a way that is reckless, radical and sometimes embarrassing by the world’s standards.

I wish I could say that I have this fear of man thing whipped, I don’t. I do know though that “...he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6). And I look forward to that day when my fear, my love, my mind and my life will be captivated fully and completely by Jesus and only Jesus, forever!

Man Up!

That is what Jared Wilson is saying, and I totally agree with an AMEN!!

We live in a sick culture that allows people to cheat on their wife, not just cheat, but actually had devised software to help!?!

Then turns it around so they are the victims when all the consequences come down..disgusting!

This post from Jared was so needed and I strongly encourage you fellas to listen up!!

Here is an Excerpt:

Mark Driscoll yells at men and some Christians wring their hands about it. I say "Keep it up."

According to this Time article, traffic tripled to AshleyMadison.com (no, I won't hyperlink it) -- a website that helps men and women commit affairs -- the Monday after Father's Day.

What the heck?

The whiners in the article talk about things being tough in marriage.
Welcome to real life.

Click Here for the Rest, Including a Driscoll Video That Needs Watching By All Men

What If I Have Tried To Believe In Jesus, But Can't??

John Piper Answers: