40 - A Video Of Jesus In The Wilderness

Amazing Video. I have been thinking a lot about the 40 days in the wilderness lately. I am going to dive into it after the Sermon on the Mount series is over with this weekend.

HT> Mark Riddle

Blessed are the Peacemakers

 

This is the last week of the series on the Sermon on the Mount. I wrote this comic today while I was studying to illustrate our views of harmony and peace.

Tita And The People Of La Limonada

This is where we will be in Guatemala this summer. We will be visiting Tita and the community there in La Limonada. The squatter village is in a ravine of 60,000 people.

About 13 years ago, sister Tita went to minister a family there and knew that it was God’s calling, without even knowing where she was or the plans God had for her.

Some time later, God provided, miraculously, the land in which today she has a three story building. She has a daily program for children there; this place has become a hope, refuge and solution for the needy. It is a spiritual, physical and moral oasis.

Quote of the Day:

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says there are three basic obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom. These are the three P’s: power, prestige and possessions. Nine-tenths of his teaching can be aligned under one of those three categories.

I’m all for sexual morality, but Jesus does not say that’s the issue. In fact, he says the prostitutes are getting into the Kingdom of God before some of us who have made bedfellows with power, prestige and possessions (see Matthew 21:31-32). Those three numb the heart and deaden the spirit, says Jesus.

Read Luke’s Gospel. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read Matthew’s Gospel and tell me if Jesus is not saying that power, prestige and possessions are the barriers to truth and are the barriers to the Kingdom.

I’m not pointing to Church leadership, I’m pointing to us as the Church. The Church has been comfortable with power, prestige and possessions for centuries and has not called that heresy. You can’t see your own sin.

Richard Rohr
from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p.18

Seank Preview

 

Here is a sneak preview of this weeks message: Blessed are the Pure in Heart/Merciful

Refusing To Lead

Love this thought.

New Favorite Website

I have been loving the Resurgence Greek project.

www.zhubert.com

It is a great Greek study sight for those of us who know very little about Greek.

Who has say in your church?

Thanks to ASBO for this gem

Jon Foreman - Your Love Is Strong

My New Favorite Song

Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire

I love this video. Sarah did a cheap recording of her song world on fire and showed where the money she would have spent on the production was put to use in other areas of the world.

David After Dentist

This kid is still buzzing from the "happy gas" at the dentist. I believe that I felt the same way a few times after the dentist. Being a redhead, it takes a bit more to "juice me up" according to my dentist.

Thanks to Keely for this video

A Good Day

Today has been a good day.

First off, I got this letter:

Dear Pastor Tom,

In the spirit of all the negativity lately
and your sermon last Sunday - I felt
perhaps it is time to step up to the plate
and commend you on your sermon.
-We are so quick to criticize and/or forget
1.) I was taken aback with the
quote on Blessed are those who mourn
for they will be comforted.
As I mentioned at coffee
I never got that - It does make
much more sense with the vast
impact of the Sermon on the Mt.
2.) The words "Salt & Light" have
been plauging me all week -what
a simple reminder of truth with
a (little) spice!
I just mentioned to my boss the
above & wonder if I should put a
salt shaker on my desk as a
reminder!
Tom, things change minute
by minute, all we can do is
keep moving forward step by
little step & be sure our motives
are pure- we all have a part
of ourselves that wants to be
puffed up or recognized- I do as well
but unless I'm mistaken that takes
away somewhat from the love one
anotehr and humility clause in
the Bible
If you wish, share this w/
Kendall & keep your chin
up- I always have a hug
available!

That was a great pick me up. As you may remember from my last letter I received, I am a little hesitant to read letters sent to me. But I am glad I opened this one.

Then I got another letter donating $200 to a member of our Guatemala team annonymously.

Then I got an e-mail letting me know that I won a $50 gift card to Home Depot from Barganeering.com He e-mailed me:

"1 out of 664 chance... you got it. :)
Thanks for the kind words, I hope you keep reading!
Cheers,
Jim"

Man what a day today!

Guatemala City -zone 18

Ellen DeGeneres ~ I Love Jesus But I Drink A Little (HQ)

Don't watch this if you are eating or drinking anything! It's messy.

Awesome Post

My friend Josh started blogging, and I laughed out loud at this recent post of Demotivators:

Guatemala Trip 2009

If the world had 100 people in it. from John Chow on Vimeo.

This video really makes you think about how blessed we are.
The part that struck me was "If you keep your food in a fridge, clothes in a closet and sleep in a bed and have a roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the rest of the world.

I did a message this past week on blessed are the poor, and there were people saying, "Well I must be blessed, because I am poor." Not when you place things in proper perspective.

We are going to Guatemala this year for a missions trip, we will see people who have no fridge, bed, or closet, and the roof over their head is corrugated tin. The house that they live in is as big as my kitchen, and 15 people live there.

We go down not to stoop down and help out the poor little people in Guatemala, but we are going down to take part in the HOLY privilege of serving the people that Jesus identified himself with.

"If you do it for the least of these, you do it for me." Working with the poor is a privilege that we get to do and by serving the poor in this way, somehow, we are serving Christ himself. When we build a home, we are sheltering Christ. When we give a family a dozen eggs, we are feeding Christ.

Read Matthew 25:31-46