Life2gether

Last night I asked one simple question that opened the doorway to closer community with a few people in our church.  All I asked was, “What’s your faith story?” and the Holy Spirit led us into joyful humility and awe at the redeeming work of Christ on our behalf.  It was a sweet time remembering the grace of God in each of our lives.

It got me thinking, as followers of Christ we need to share our stories more often.  Why?  Not only does it build community, it strengthens our faith in a God who can do the impossible.  He is not restrained by our sinful rebellion.  He is sovereign.  He can save.  And he can do it in a multitude of ways.  No one is beyond the reach of God’s saving grace.  We need to remind ourselves of that as we pray and seek the salvation of our friends and family members.

And perhaps most of all, we need to share our stories because our stories help us to see that the gospel is alive.  It carries us and lifts us even now.  It awakens us and amazes us today.  We never get used to the gospel.  Indeed, Christ is our ever-present Savior who is acting on our behalf and shaping our stories until that final day when our journey comes to an end (or should I say beginning) in heaven.

My friend, Jonathan Dodson, just launched a new website jonathandodson.org heretofore known as Creation Project.  I have learned so much from this man about the gospel, community and mission.  He is the real deal.  I encourage you to bookmark his blog and tell others.

BTW, Jonathan has a great series of posts on How Not to Be a Missional Church at the Resurgence.  You can also check out an interview I had with him over his first book, Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  That’s the name of our upcoming series on the Life of David beginning this Sunday at LBC.  Here’s what my senior pastor Tony Rose says about this series: 

Beginning February 7 we will begin a study of the Life of David, the Old Testament king of Israel. We will follow his story as it is recorded in the books of I and II Samuel. David’s story is truly one of the good, the bad and the ugly. If we take this story at its true value it will have a considerable shocking effect on us. When God told David’s story he did not sanitize it, God told it as it was. Most of us tend to sanitize the stories of our own lives, for ourselves and for others, but God does not. Following David will help us to truly know God in our real life situations and with our real life selves.

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Powerful exhortation on why the church needs small groups and community.  This is from a sermon on John 4 where Jesus addresses the woman at the well and tells her to “Go get your husband.”

(HT:  Tony Walls)

In response to Ray Ortlund’s excellent post about How to Wreck Your Church in 3 Weeks, my friend, Eric Schumacher, writes this helpful exhortation on How to Improve Your Church in 3 Weeks.  In summary, live out the one-another’s of Scripture and so adorn the gospel!

Ray Ortlund on the former; Josh Harris on the latter.  May we heed Romans 12:10 & 18. (Update: link fixed)

(HT: JT)

Martin Luther King Jr. with a powerful call to the church, which still rings true today as it did fifty years ago:

There was a time when the church was very powerful–in a time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.  In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society … But the judgment of God is upon the church [today] as never before.  If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.”

Originally taken from Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” p. 17 (later quoted in Brothers We Are Not Professionals by John Piper, p. 203).

Tim Chester, from his excellent book, You Can Change:

God is using different people, the contrasting personalities, in your church to change your heart.  He’s using the difficult people, the annoying people, the sinful people.  He’s placed you together so you can rub off each other’s rough edges.  It’s as if God has put us, like rocks, into a bag and is shaking us about so that we collide with one another.  Sometimes sparks fly, but gradually we become beautiful, smooth gemstones.

What if you could really hear/see the people you were supposedly having “online Church” with?

(HT: Brent Thomas)