Dwell Conference Text Message Update #3
The latest text message update from my friend Toby, from Darrin Patrick’s session at Dwell:
“Be fishers of men, not hunters of men.”
“This is an investment. This is a sacrifice…Sacrificial investment. What non-Christians need to see is that we are like them, but they also need to see is that we are like them, but they also need to see that we are not like them. This comes as you are hanging out with them…People need to see the gospel at work in your life.”
“The gospel erodes our self-righteousness. The gospel empowers our evangelism.”
Dwell Conference Text Message Update #2
The latest text message Dwell Conference updates from my friend Toby:
Driscoll is up now. He said he will not be angry tonight because he spent the day with his wife and he is happy. He is preaching “Dwelling in the Text.” All great. Particularly challenging was his encouragement to fast from media and meetings 2 days per month to dwell in the Word.
Some Driscoll quotes:
“Don’t be excited about church planting. Be excited about Jesus and you will have a church.”
“If Jesus is not the reason you go to the Scriptures, he will oppose you in all you do…Jesus does not want to be used…He was you to go to the Bible and meet with him and trust him to do whatever he has called you to do.”
Dwell Conference Text Message Update #1
The latest text message Dwell Conference update from my friend Toby:
C.J., Stetzer, and Eric Mason so far. All outstanding. Stetzer knows all. C.J. preached his “watch your life and doctrine” message. Great and always good. Eric Mason of Epiphany in Philly is in the middle of a message on Incarnational Ministry. Very solid and engaging so far. “If your people have not been with Jesus you are not incarnating anything…”
Dwell Conference
The Dwell Conference is underway in New York City. My buddy Toby is there and is sending me updates via text message. So far the update is:
“Sweet conference! Wish you could be here.”
Cities of God
“Early Christianity was primarily an urban movement.”
-p. 2, Rodney Stark, Cities of God: The Real Story Of How Christianity Became An Urban Movement And Conquered Rome
Motorcycle License
I passed my motorcycle safety class this weekend and now have my motorcycle license!
Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God
This week I finished working through Gordon Fee’s excellent book, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God. This 203 page book is a condensed, re-packaged version of Fee’s 992 page tome, God’s Empowering Presence.
Perhaps someday I’ll work through the 992 page version. But for now, Fee’s 203 page work will receive a prominent place on my shelf, replacing J.I. Packer’s Keep In Step With The Spirit as my favorite, most helpful read on the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
From the opening pages:
If the church is going to be effective in our postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to recapture Paul’s perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowering return of God’s own personal presence in and among us, who enables us to live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we await the consummation. All the rest, including fruit and gifts, serve to that end.
Romans 3:11, My Problem with The Seeker Sensitive Movement
My problem with the theology and methodology behind the seeker sensitive church:
…no one seeks for God
Romans 3:11b
Contrary to those who believe the seeker sensitive church model is a thing of the past, a fad of the 80′s and 90′s, I think this movement is alive and well in 21st century America. I’m all for audience sensitivity and contextualization, but let’s not misunderstand the nature of the human heart as seeker-sensitivism does.
Wedding Photo/Advertising
My wife just pointed out to me that, all these years later, one of the photos (I love this photo) from our wedding day is still serving as the main advertisement for our wedding photographer. Over the years we’ve seen this photo pop up in bridal magazines here in the Bay Area.
Famous for Preaching the Gospel
Early this morning, while sipping coffee at Peet’s and working my way through 2 Corinthians, I came across this wonderful verse:
With him [Titus] we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. -2 Cor 8:18
What a way to be identified–as a man famous for his preaching of the gospel!
Preachers, in our calling we face the temptation towards fame and self-glory, measuring our preaching by how much self-fame it generates among those who listen to us. Let us flee this temptation and, like the brother mentioned above (do we know who this verse is referring to, I haven’t researched this?), pursue a healthy fame: being known and identified as a brother who preaches the gospel skillfully, all to make Jesus increasingly famous.
