Mission update #1

Well..
This is the first of many MANY posts that are my mission updates.

At the moment I'm in my very early stages of preparation..

My current preoccupations:
- Needing to find a full-time Job so that I can save for the trip (My current guess-timations are sitting at $10k).
- Working with Tim on where I will be going and what I may be doing.
- Trying to understand the complicatedness that is going overseas.
- Reading reading reading and learning about Cambodia.
- Setting dates to aim for.

If you feel like praying for me, these are the things I need prayer for at the moment (plus some other things I guess!)

Quick to listen..

A conversation I had today:

"I don't think he would listen, 'cause I'm new [to church]."
"It's the new people we want to bring in.. so it's the new people's opinions that matter most!"

How often do we listen to the voice of the new-comer or the visitor?

Bother..

And here I was thinking I was being original..
other people have been Imagining* about the 'Hymn of the Atheist' too.. check it out:

http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2008/09/imagine-no-sill.html

*pun wholeheartedly intended

Losing freedom..

"Christianity's claim to being the truth takes away my freedom.. all truth is relative"

"Post-modernism's claim to relativism takes away my freedom.. to believe the Gospel"

Listening and Blogging.. Mutually Exclusive?

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.."

I think James wrote this knowing that some time in the future there would be people blogging on the internet.

Imagine..?

"Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today"

This is the reality of so many people, living life for a 'heaven' in which Jesus doesn't exist.
Where Christ's atoning death counts for nothing as we live our daily lives pretending the biggest moment in recorded history was simply an unfortunate event for a man and his family.
Lennon describes the Atheist's heaven, which becomes the ultimate Hell. Separation from God.

I don't need to imagine John, I can see the people living for today all around me.. and it makes me sad.

Lennon's song was supposed to be one of hope.
The reality is probably better reflected in the cover by A Perfect Circle.

Spurgeon Quotes #1

This is a bit of a funny one..

"Well," says one, "I like to be my own master." Yes, and that involves two things - first, you have a very bad master; and, next, your master has a fool for his servant! But he who takes the Lord Jesus Christ as his Master will be rightly and wisely guided - and hence arises the comfort of such a relationship. - A King Sent in Love (2760)

A bit of *Driscoll* controversy..

Tim Challies makes comment on Mark Driscoll..
He brings a voice of reason to the discussion on Driscoll's style.
Love or 'Hate' MD it's a good read.

A bit of Controversy..

The chorus of a popular and much anticipated rock song* of 2006 goes like this:

"I need to watch things die
From a good safe distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so
Why can't we just admit it"

In context, the song is talking about watching death on the television, via the news and other programs: "Stare like a junky into the TV"

But having a listen tonight for the first time in a while had me thinking, is this not true of our experience as Christians if we aren't getting out there and spreading the Gospel?
You might react and see this as harsh.. but if we aren't actively seeking to share the Gospel, are we just living while the whole world dies?


*the song is Vicarious by the band Tool. If Maynard knew I was linking his music to sharing the Gospel I think he'd be sick, many times.

Gospel according to..

Second hand information can be good.. but sometimes it's really helpful to get back to the source.

This has never been more true than with the Gospel.
In the big bad world of evangelism so many people have their own idea of the Gospel, and preach it daily..:

• "Jesus was just a man"
• "The Gospels of Mark, Mark 2.0 (Luke), Mark 2.1 (Matthew), and John are all literalist revisioning of a Pagan Mystery religion."
• "There was no literal Jesus."
• "The Good News is there's a sale on Mormon ties and hoodies"

In our present post-christian society (anyone got a technical term for this?), we have the challenge of preaching and ministering the Gospel to those who have already "heard it" today..
They'll accept anything as Gospel..


..without reading it themselves.

How can we be challenging the secular world to be opening the Bible before creating their own version of the Gospel?

The Ps, the Es, and a little Irony

I just can't dig politics.
Nor economics.

I just don't quite understand them.
I know their value, and I know, in a sense, we need them both.

And as a Christian it's certainly something I need to be mindful of.

But I could never blog about it.
This is ok, because One Salient Oversight covers it. (I can't pretend to understand most of what he talks about.)

If he blogged about NIN or Rage Against the Machine (bands in his favourite music list that I am known to be a little fond of), then I would understand the content.. Ironically enough, both bands bang on about politics and economics..

Edit: if you rearrange P(s) E(s) and I(rony) you get PIE.. not related, but yummy.

A quote to ponder..

John Piper at the Resurgence National Conference 2008 - Text and Context

"I think the way to be faithful to John Calvin, insofar as he was true, is to stay faithful to his book, which is right here [the Bible], not the institutes. And so the way to push the truth of any system that you think has got some truth in it, is not to wave the banner of the system, but to wave its foundations here, talk about [the Bible]"

any thoughts?

EDIT:
Taken from a live Q and A with American Pastors John Piper and Matt Chandler. Full vid here

"In the world, not of the world.."

A common phrase.
But what does this really look like?

How much should we be removed from the world?
To what degree should we involve ourselves in the activities of this world in order to win people to Christ?

There are the extremes.
The Exclusive Brethren are at one end, our 'lapsed' brothers and sisters at the other.

We are called to be the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16), and shine like stars in a depraved generation (Philippians 2:12-18). We are also called to do all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:23-33).

Does this define our behaviour in certain contexts, or, does it define which contexts we place ourselves to behave?

Are we to witness in every place, or is there places or contexts that we cannot witness?

Can we also participate in the world, for necessity (say our Jobs), being witness to Christ to the best of our ability?

Lists

I'm a guy who loves lists.
I'll list anything if it helps me grasp a concept or a requirement sooner than it takes to write the list.
Often they don't function as a checklist, but more a 'know list' things to be aware of. Keeps me a little more aware.

The other day I started a list, but, more of a checklist, for all the costs and other time consuming things involved with going to Cambodia.

It's huge!! And sobering..

and getting bigger.. :-s