wesbell.tv

Guest Blogger: Jed Davis

Steeple Transformation

No thank you. I'm simply too busy and not in need of any additional business. These words were recently spoken to me. Pretty much leaving me speechless. I thanked him for his time and then hung up the phone.

Let's call this guy Hank. Hank owns a business and I was offering referrals with virtually no investment from Hank. Potentially generating thousands in sales for Hank. From my perspective, it was a huge win win. From Hank's perspective, it was simply additional noise in an already noisy world.

Huh. Shortly after this experience, my head started to spin. I was amazed, astonished, confused, and puzzled. What just happened? What went wrong?

The church and the lost instantly popped to mind. The lost are everywhere. The car behind us, the cubicle next to us, the house next to us, or the seat in front of us. Ironically enough, the church is everywhere. Across the bridge or down the street, a steeple is likely around the corner.

But, does the church ever relate with Hank? Looking at referrals, the lost, as simply additional noise in an already noisy world. The lost walking past these steeples. The church huddling underneath these steeples. Only drywall and lumber separating the two. Yet, this drywall and lumber appearing as mighty walls. Perhaps it's time for a reverse Jericho...with the church blowing their trumpets and allowing their walls to crumble.

I'm not here to condemn or convict. I love the church! I'm part of the church. But, I cannot ignore the stirring of God. Telling me to roll up my sleeves and get dirty as reaching and saving the lost is dirty business. It will stretch our comforts and customs. It will remold and reshape our steeples. It will not only change the lives of the lost...but, it will change me and you.

I can only speak for myself. But, I'm ready...ready to...

- Let go of my me mentality.
- Stand behind the leaders God has lead my way.
- And...short of sin, do whatever it takes to reach and save the lost.

Anyone with me? Let not Hank infiltrate our steeples as these steeples cost God the life of Christ. Until next time. Jed.

If you like to check out Jed's blog click here

A couple of things I'm thinking about this morning....

 
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work […].’”  – Exodus 20:8-10 (NIV)


“The Sabbath is a day to let go of perfectionism and let God run the universe. On that day I will do my best to stop working, let God worry about what I’m not doing right and rest in the joy of knowing him.” – Lynne Baab, Sabbath Keeping: Finding Peace in the Rythms of Rest (InterVarsity Press, 2005)

What's your thoughts about the Sabbath? How do you find your day of rest?

Great Quote

"The catalyst for me to begin actively loving other people was the discovery of God’s unconditional love for me. God just decided to love me. I didn’t look a certain way, belong to a particular political party, have a particular size or shape – he just chose to love me. I didn’t grasp that until age 33, but when I did, my attitude toward other people began to change.” – Regi Campbell, About Your Father's Business: Taking Your Faith to Work (Multnomah, 2009)

Good Quote

"Virtue is that by which man seeks continuously for his Maker and when he finds him, adheres to him with all his might." -- Bernard of Clairvaux, from On Loving God.

Greg Samaritan

Great Moment from Catalyst 2009

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Guest Blogger: Al Dennis

Is Your Cord Plugged In?

“For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O LORD, how great are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.”  – Psalm 92:4-6

 

   The Psalmist got it! We triumph when we allow Christ to work in and through us. The brutish or natural man doesn’t get it. He either cares nothing of God or tries to earn his way into heaven by his own efforts. The brutish Christ follower reverts to his own strength rather than God’s, therefore accomplishing little of eternal value.

 

   Paul echoes the Psalmist with these words… “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” - 1 Corinthians 2:14

 

   Paul says our hope of glory is Christ in us (Colossians 1:27). Christian, why not ask the all-powerful God within you to empower you to live worthy of your calling? The early Church in Jerusalem understood Jesus would work in and with them by His Holy Spirit. These simple folks turned the world upside down because of it. “And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.” – Mark 16:20

Get Out of Your Seat

In my reading, I came across this great story:

Danny Cox, a former jet pilot turned business leader, tells his readers in Seize the Day that when jet fighters were first invented, they "flew much faster than their propeller predecessors. So pilot ejection became a more sophisticated process. Theoretically of course, all a pilot needed to do was push a button, clear the plane, then roll forward out of the seat so the parachute would open."

But there was a problem that popped up during testing. Some pilots, instead of letting go, would keep a grip on the seat. The parachute would remain trapped between the seat and the pilot's back.

The engineers went back to the drawing board and came up with a solution. Cox writes:

The new design called for a two-inch webbed strap. One end attached to the front edge of the seat, under the pilot. The other end attached to an electronic take-up reel behind the headrest. Two seconds after ejection, the electronic take-up reel would immediately take up the slack, and force the pilot forward out of his seat, thus freeing the parachute.

Bottom line? Jet fighter pilots needed that device to launch them out of their chairs. Question is, what will it take to launch us out of our seat?

source: Danny Cox, Seize the Day: Seven Steps to Achieving the Extraordinary in an Ordinary World (Career Press, 1994)