“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”
Luke 9:25
It may seem to you
That I pick a nit
Yet still I must ask
What my soul’s for-fit?
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”
Luke 9:25
It may seem to you
That I pick a nit
Yet still I must ask
What my soul’s for-fit?
Our flesh screams to be “pro-served”
Where every whim is catered
Yet only by being “ob-served”
Can our soul’s thirst be sated
Details TBD: Probably Labor Day Weekend somewhere in Northern California
WADACAM! Weekend Workshop is a mashup spiritual retreat and boot camp. The goal is to equip men to succeed in their most important and difficult challenges (i.e., relationships). We do this by tapping into the power of the cross via an innovative small group process known as Rings of Reconciling (pronounced “RoR!”).
Continue readingTo set our mind
On kingdom things
Requires a Settler
Who’s a King
Our flesh is the shame
God built into our genes
To help us survive
Without Him
The only cure
For our Self
Is God Himself
We were created
To cultivate
And consume
The Fruit of the Spirit
Enjoying it
Is like being
Back in Eden
The function of the Spirit
Is to bring the Word
Into the World
Our world
My world
My mind was blown a couple months ago when our preacher that week pointed out, almost as an aside, that the Fruit of the Spirit was primarily something we gave other people.
Perhaps like you, I had subconsciously assumed that Fruit meant I was feeling more love, joy, peace, etc. But once I reimagined Fruit as “experiences we give others that contain the seed of Christ,” I started to get really excited.
For three reasons: Revival, Metrics, and CounterFruit.
Continue readingThis Wednesday (June 30, 2021) I invite you to join me in encountering God’s wisdom in Ecclesiastes 3, as part of the Bay Area Summer Peer Mentoring group for the Octet Collaborative.
Continue readingJoin us on The Great Reset (via Zoom or YouTube Live at Tue Dec 22 1PM PST) as David Johnson pitches us on the concepts he feels we need to Love More Like Jesus.
Question: What does this group need in order to function the way God intended for us?
Join us on The Great Reset (via Zoom or YouTube Live at Tue Dec 15 1PM PST) as we wrestle with Ted’s challenge about how to love the whole world More Like Jesus.
Question: Why did God place us in a world full of brokenness and pain?
Perspective: So we could share in the glory that only comes from becoming more like Jesus.
This week on The Great Reset, we invite you to learn along with us as we try out a new practice of being cooperatively taught by God.
Question: How do we shift from intellectually studying God’s word to humbly obeying it?
Perspective: By submitting ourselves to be Discipled By Scripture together to Love More Like Jesus (“LMLJ”)
Continue readingInspired by the USA Network TV show, Dick Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems model, and a Dream and Vision I had.
In order of appearance
Also featuring:
I see a locked door. In a dark and scary place, like a monster movie. Big, iron, with crisscrossed chains and padlocks.
Natalie walks up holding a flashlight. Monk trails behind nervously.
Suddenly Stottlemeyer steps in front of them. His eyes are bloodshot, as if he has been drinking, crying, or not sleeping. Perhaps all three. He is holding his gun in two shaky hands. Pointed at them.
“I warned you not to come here,” he rasps in a hoarse voice.
Dear God,
Thank you for creating me in Your image, and for loving us like Jesus.
Make me more and more like Jesus as I listen to your Word, your Spirit, and your Body.
Heal the wounds in my spirit that keep me from loving You, myself and others as Jesus did.
Help me show Your love to the world by practicing the generosity and vulnerability Jesus showed on the cross.
Teach me to always rejoice in the privilege of being your child.
I ask this because of everything Jesus did for me. So be it!
Spiritual Maturity: Thanks
God made all of us on purpose. We are happy when we obey that purpose. We become happier the better we understand and live out that purpose.
We share many purposes with other people, because God made us the same:
Joy is happiness of the spirit. It is the deepest and most important kind of happiness. But there are two very different ways our spirits can be happy.
Holiness: Open to God
Lots of people admire Jesus. Even those who aren’t Christians often consider him a model for how human beings should treat each other.
Last time we talked about skills that help us become more like Jesus. So why doesn’t everyone practice those skills? Why do we ourselves often do the opposite of what Jesus wants us to do?
Because we have a wound in our spirit.
Dear God,
I need your help.
Please fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Teach me self-control.
Show me your love, joy, peace & patience.
Help me be a kind, good, gentle and faithful friend.
I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Inspired by Galatians 5.
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