Wow, we had a great meeting on Sunday in Faribault. I know that Brian wants to expound upon some of the things we talked about, so I will let him work those thoughts out and post them here when he is ready. In the mean time, you can check out Simeonconnects.com for some great stuff from people from our group there as well.
Do you know what the voice of God sounds like?
Right now at the Roberts house, we are trying to make a few tough decisions. So, since there are 3 believers here, we all decided to pray for a few days, and listen for God to tell us which of 2 specific things was the right thing to do. We explained the importance of this to Cameron, the 9 year old, and talked about Jesus, James, John and Peter in the garden. We prayed together and covenanted to pray over the next few days, asking God for an answer.
Today we came together to talk about what God said. Brian and I both got very clear answers, the same answer (go figure :) Cameron said that he didn't hear from God. We asked if he thought he had put in the time speaking to God the way he should have, and he of course said no.
Here is the thing...if you don't speak to God on a regular basis, how will you know what His voice sounds like? I hear all the time, from non-believers and believers alike, "I asked God for an answer but He ignored my prayers" Well, my response to this from now on is going to be, "Do you talk to Him enough to know what His voice sounds like?" Perhaps He is screaming at you, but you can't hear Him because you are not in-tuned enough to His "frequency".
Lynda Ellison and I were at a ministry event the other day, and saw a woman standing a few feet away that we recognized from another ministry we are involved in. So we went to say hello, because that's what you do. Mary Anne, the other woman, looked at us as we walked up and after we said hello, she said, "I thought I recognized you standing over there, but didn't know who you were until you started talking." I laughed and said, "Oh man, is that bad?" and she said, "No, I just recognize voices. Once you started talking, I remembered who you were."
God isn't like Mary Anne...He recognizes you immediately because He created you, every hair on your head and the breath that you breathe comes from Him. He doesn't need to wait for you to start talking before he realizes who you are...He wants you to talk to Him though!
You should be like Mary Anne...as soon as God says something to you, you should recognize the voice as His and be ready to listen. But you never will if you don't open those lines of communication. MR
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
This week's thoughts...from Brian
I was listening to the radio recently. A song came on from a famous country music singer named Tim McGraw. The song is called Live Like You Were Dying. It hints about a guy who found out that he was going to die in the very near future from a disease of some sort. In the opening verse his buddy asks him, after he gets the news of his impending demise, "how'd you take it, what did you do?" The song then breaks into the chorus: I went sky diving, Rocky mountain climbing, I went 2.7 seconds on bull named Fu-Man Chu... The second verse then describes that this news made him a better man, a better husband, a better friend. Essentially this news caused him to do all the things that he wanted to do and hadn't done. It caused him to get his priorities straight and to finally be the person that he knew he was supposed to be.
The scripture is clear that sin has brought death into the human experience. Where once we walked along side a Holy God in a perfect place, with no thought, feeling or concern of death or dying we now have to suffer the consequences of our actions. The wages of sin is death. The subject of Tim's song comes to this realization in his 40's, the words tell us. He realized through the doctors information that he is, in fact, dying.
But the simple matter of it all is that we are all dying. From the moment we are conceived in our mothers womb we are destined to a physical death. It shouldn't take a doctors note or a painful message from a police officer or a verdict from a judge to make us realize that we, and everyone around us, are dying. I guess because most of us think that we have "time", we don't live like we are dying, to the point of Tim's song. But the song makes another crescendo building point. The writer tells us to ask ourselves, "if you were living like tomorrow was a gift and you had eternity to think about what you'd do with it...what would you do with it?" What would you do with tomorrow?
For us believers the fact that we are dying right now is not breaking news, nor is it very scary. Maybe the way way we will leave the earth is scary for some of us, but mostly the destination seems exponentially better than our situation right now. But I have to ask, if this was your swan song, if this was you last moment, if the fat lady was in fact singing for you right now...what would you be doing...saying...thinking? Would you be the best husband you could be, would you have your priorities in the right order...would you be leaving a legacy that is eternal? Would you leave behind thoughts, memories and words about yourself or about your Savior? Will the writings of your life be those of a rock star or a disciple of the God of the Universe. I heard Louie Giglio say this..."the Name that is echoing through the corridors of heaven, is the Name of Jesus Christ." When all others names and accomplishments are dead and gone, the Name of Jesus and the cross of Calvary will be on the lips of the eternal for 10,000 millenia and beyond.
If you are living like you are dying...and you are dying, whether you realize it or not...will you leave anything eternal behind? Buildings or houses?.. will one day fall to the ground. Wealth or an inheritance?.. will one day be spent or stolen. A rock star resume or university degrees?.. will one day be forgotten. A beautiful love song or breath-taking painting?.. will be replaced by another song or painting. A fortune 500 company or brand new invention?.. will one day not be so fortunate or new. Religions and traditions?.. will be challenged and changed.
But if you leave nothing but the person of Jesus you leave The Way, The Truth and The Life for all who would look. When they remember me, I want them to remember Jesus...just Jesus.
I hope someday you take the chance to live like you were dying. BR
The scripture is clear that sin has brought death into the human experience. Where once we walked along side a Holy God in a perfect place, with no thought, feeling or concern of death or dying we now have to suffer the consequences of our actions. The wages of sin is death. The subject of Tim's song comes to this realization in his 40's, the words tell us. He realized through the doctors information that he is, in fact, dying.
But the simple matter of it all is that we are all dying. From the moment we are conceived in our mothers womb we are destined to a physical death. It shouldn't take a doctors note or a painful message from a police officer or a verdict from a judge to make us realize that we, and everyone around us, are dying. I guess because most of us think that we have "time", we don't live like we are dying, to the point of Tim's song. But the song makes another crescendo building point. The writer tells us to ask ourselves, "if you were living like tomorrow was a gift and you had eternity to think about what you'd do with it...what would you do with it?" What would you do with tomorrow?
For us believers the fact that we are dying right now is not breaking news, nor is it very scary. Maybe the way way we will leave the earth is scary for some of us, but mostly the destination seems exponentially better than our situation right now. But I have to ask, if this was your swan song, if this was you last moment, if the fat lady was in fact singing for you right now...what would you be doing...saying...thinking? Would you be the best husband you could be, would you have your priorities in the right order...would you be leaving a legacy that is eternal? Would you leave behind thoughts, memories and words about yourself or about your Savior? Will the writings of your life be those of a rock star or a disciple of the God of the Universe. I heard Louie Giglio say this..."the Name that is echoing through the corridors of heaven, is the Name of Jesus Christ." When all others names and accomplishments are dead and gone, the Name of Jesus and the cross of Calvary will be on the lips of the eternal for 10,000 millenia and beyond.
If you are living like you are dying...and you are dying, whether you realize it or not...will you leave anything eternal behind? Buildings or houses?.. will one day fall to the ground. Wealth or an inheritance?.. will one day be spent or stolen. A rock star resume or university degrees?.. will one day be forgotten. A beautiful love song or breath-taking painting?.. will be replaced by another song or painting. A fortune 500 company or brand new invention?.. will one day not be so fortunate or new. Religions and traditions?.. will be challenged and changed.
But if you leave nothing but the person of Jesus you leave The Way, The Truth and The Life for all who would look. When they remember me, I want them to remember Jesus...just Jesus.
I hope someday you take the chance to live like you were dying. BR
Monday, June 15, 2009
Hospitality, baked not fried
Wow, have you ever seen my apartment? It is small, like 700 square feet including the storage areas small. Yesterday we had a meeting here, and there were 17 people here. That's a lot, considering we used the kitchen, office/dining area and living room only (cuz, come on, let's face it, no one really needs to go into my bedroom...) It was AWESOME!!! You couldn't go anywhere without stepping on someone, it was very cool. And 2 of us were trying to cook in my little kitchen...haha that was an adventure.
Have you ever taken one of those churchy "Spiritual Gift Assessments"? You know, where you answer a bunch of questions and they give you your top 3 Spiritual Gifts? I won't tell you what I really think of those...I am sure you could guess :) But I have taken them, several times, and the answers were always the same - Administration (tell me where that is in the Bible), Mercy (I'll by that) and Evangelism (I believe that a true assessment would have shown up as Exhortation instead, but whatever). I think you see where I am going...Hospitality is not one of my gifts. I LOVE having people over, but I am bad at it. However, yesterday was so much fun. I was not nervous or edgy at all! I did throw a toy at Kim when I found out she let her 2 year old eat yellow cake with chocolate frosting in my son's bedroom, but she cleaned it up herself and all was better.
Here is my point...I AM GROWING!!! I know that there is probably a lot of speculation about whether or not this "is working" and can we really "do church" this way. Do we really fulfill all the scriptural commandments for a church meeting? Are we really growing closer to God? I think the answer is yes, and I think yesterday was proof of that for me. The point is to get rid of all the distractions and focus on getting to know God better...we really do that. Is there still rabbit chasing, yup. Are there times we get ready to leave and realize that we never sang, there sure are. But we are seeing growth, amongst the adults and the kids. All 3 of the nine year-olds sat with the adults for almost the entire meeting, and that's amazing.
Next week, we will be meeting at Lynda's house in Faribault, around 12. A lot of people will be in town, visiting or getting ready to do Berean's camp. It should be a lot of fun!
Have you ever taken one of those churchy "Spiritual Gift Assessments"? You know, where you answer a bunch of questions and they give you your top 3 Spiritual Gifts? I won't tell you what I really think of those...I am sure you could guess :) But I have taken them, several times, and the answers were always the same - Administration (tell me where that is in the Bible), Mercy (I'll by that) and Evangelism (I believe that a true assessment would have shown up as Exhortation instead, but whatever). I think you see where I am going...Hospitality is not one of my gifts. I LOVE having people over, but I am bad at it. However, yesterday was so much fun. I was not nervous or edgy at all! I did throw a toy at Kim when I found out she let her 2 year old eat yellow cake with chocolate frosting in my son's bedroom, but she cleaned it up herself and all was better.
Here is my point...I AM GROWING!!! I know that there is probably a lot of speculation about whether or not this "is working" and can we really "do church" this way. Do we really fulfill all the scriptural commandments for a church meeting? Are we really growing closer to God? I think the answer is yes, and I think yesterday was proof of that for me. The point is to get rid of all the distractions and focus on getting to know God better...we really do that. Is there still rabbit chasing, yup. Are there times we get ready to leave and realize that we never sang, there sure are. But we are seeing growth, amongst the adults and the kids. All 3 of the nine year-olds sat with the adults for almost the entire meeting, and that's amazing.
Next week, we will be meeting at Lynda's house in Faribault, around 12. A lot of people will be in town, visiting or getting ready to do Berean's camp. It should be a lot of fun!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Tammy's test...
Help! God has told me to do something. It involves (as usual) an enormous test of faith.
Why is it that God always asks you to do what doesn't appear to be ... right? At least at the time it looks like He's got to be crazy!
But I know that He's in control - how do I walk through this without so much fear?TB
Why is it that God always asks you to do what doesn't appear to be ... right? At least at the time it looks like He's got to be crazy!
But I know that He's in control - how do I walk through this without so much fear?TB
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Ekklesia Praise reports
This past Sunday, Doug presented a really awesome praise report to the group. It wasn't your typical "God gave me what I asked for" praise, it was so much more real than that. And it got me thinking....
I asked all the people who have been meeting with us to send me a praise report. Not a lame one, like "Cameron got a really good report card" but a raw and bleeding before Christ, even if it doesn't look like a blessing it is, only God could show off that way PRAISE REPORT!
I will post them here, or if they come in the form of a comment I will just leave them as comments. I am still getting the hang of this blog thing, and I wish there was a way that other people to could post instead of just having to comment. Oh well, I will get it eventually!
UPDATE...here is Doug's praise report. Keep them coming!
Knowing that my time of employment was soon coming to an end, God left me an awesome bread crumb trail of information that allowed me to leave the company the right way. By way of His blessing, I was able to sustain my family and start up two new businesses that with His grace will not only sustain my family but become a blessing to others as well.
1st God put me in a car with two other managers while they were discussing severance packages. At that time I knew nothing of severance packages and had no intention of leaving my position, so while the information was interesting, it seemed at the time of little direct importance to me.
2nd The day I knew I was on my way out, God put me in another meeting wherein two different peers discussed the importance of a person quitting the company before being fired in order to receive a severance package.
3rd About 30 days before I left, God reached out to a coworker/friend whom I had not spoken to in months and prompted him to contact me. When I told the friend I was on my way out of the company, he put me in touch with someone who had gone through almost exactly what I was going through a couple years earlier. This man, a brother in Christ, gave me detailed instructions on how to get the best possible severance package.
4th God gave me the courage to do exactly what this brother in Christ told me to do and the result was a package much better than what I had expected.
God is good!
I asked all the people who have been meeting with us to send me a praise report. Not a lame one, like "Cameron got a really good report card" but a raw and bleeding before Christ, even if it doesn't look like a blessing it is, only God could show off that way PRAISE REPORT!
I will post them here, or if they come in the form of a comment I will just leave them as comments. I am still getting the hang of this blog thing, and I wish there was a way that other people to could post instead of just having to comment. Oh well, I will get it eventually!
UPDATE...here is Doug's praise report. Keep them coming!
Knowing that my time of employment was soon coming to an end, God left me an awesome bread crumb trail of information that allowed me to leave the company the right way. By way of His blessing, I was able to sustain my family and start up two new businesses that with His grace will not only sustain my family but become a blessing to others as well.
1st God put me in a car with two other managers while they were discussing severance packages. At that time I knew nothing of severance packages and had no intention of leaving my position, so while the information was interesting, it seemed at the time of little direct importance to me.
2nd The day I knew I was on my way out, God put me in another meeting wherein two different peers discussed the importance of a person quitting the company before being fired in order to receive a severance package.
3rd About 30 days before I left, God reached out to a coworker/friend whom I had not spoken to in months and prompted him to contact me. When I told the friend I was on my way out of the company, he put me in touch with someone who had gone through almost exactly what I was going through a couple years earlier. This man, a brother in Christ, gave me detailed instructions on how to get the best possible severance package.
4th God gave me the courage to do exactly what this brother in Christ told me to do and the result was a package much better than what I had expected.
God is good!
Monday, June 8, 2009
June 7...Fruitcake in Farmington
Well, last week (May 31) a bunch of us went to the Big Woods State Park in Faribault for a picnic and hangin out. TAMMY was supposed to write a blog entry for that...hmm, notice it's absence! We (the Roberts), the Beltons and the Schiells had a blast, grilling too much meat, eating too much watermelon and discussing politics...yes, politics. It was fabulous and hopefully someone else will eventually tell you about it ;)
Yesterday Brian and Chris Steiner both had to work, so Kim stayed home (slacker, good thing we aren't being religious or you would be in trouble). I took my kids and went to the Beltons, were we did some boys against girls baking and watched "Fruitcake and Ice Cream" from the Passion series by Louie Giglio.
If you haven't seen this video, I highly recommend it. I really like all of his stuff, he has a way of relating complex matters of science and God in a way that is easy to understand. This talk was about Grace, and I really needed to hear it this week. About reconciliation between ourselves and God. About how Jesus didn't just come to sign our list of sins with His Name and then we could get into heaven, but how His Work on the cross accomplished something so much more than that...all our wrong being put INTO Him, and all His right being put INTO us. I loved how Louie said, "A person like me could become a person like Him" And the redemption story at the end of the video was so powerful...highly recommend it. I know I already said that, but it's true.
Maya asked me a doozie this week..."What's spiritual warfare?" Wow, I did my best to explain it, she said she understood. What I love about our group is that every time we meet, someone (whether a 9 year old or a 35 year old) will ask a question that opens up so much discussion and prayer and study. It's awesome how God works, to put together the people that have questions and the people who know where to find the answers. You are amazing, Lord.
Next week, I think we are going to be at the Steiners in Faribault. Till then, MR
Yesterday Brian and Chris Steiner both had to work, so Kim stayed home (slacker, good thing we aren't being religious or you would be in trouble). I took my kids and went to the Beltons, were we did some boys against girls baking and watched "Fruitcake and Ice Cream" from the Passion series by Louie Giglio.
If you haven't seen this video, I highly recommend it. I really like all of his stuff, he has a way of relating complex matters of science and God in a way that is easy to understand. This talk was about Grace, and I really needed to hear it this week. About reconciliation between ourselves and God. About how Jesus didn't just come to sign our list of sins with His Name and then we could get into heaven, but how His Work on the cross accomplished something so much more than that...all our wrong being put INTO Him, and all His right being put INTO us. I loved how Louie said, "A person like me could become a person like Him" And the redemption story at the end of the video was so powerful...highly recommend it. I know I already said that, but it's true.
Maya asked me a doozie this week..."What's spiritual warfare?" Wow, I did my best to explain it, she said she understood. What I love about our group is that every time we meet, someone (whether a 9 year old or a 35 year old) will ask a question that opens up so much discussion and prayer and study. It's awesome how God works, to put together the people that have questions and the people who know where to find the answers. You are amazing, Lord.
Next week, I think we are going to be at the Steiners in Faribault. Till then, MR
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