A Boost for Today

God Believes in You
by Max Lucado

The tale involves a wealthy father and a willful son. The boy prematurely takes his inheritance and moves to Las Vegas and there wastes the money on slot machines and call girls. As fast as you can say "blackjack," he is broke. Too proud to go home, he gets a job sweeping horse stables at the racetrack. When he finds himself tasting some of their oats and thinking, H'm, a dash of salt and this wouldn't be too bad, he realizes enough is enough. It's time to go home. The gardener at his father's house does better than this. So off he goes, rehearsing his repentance speech every step of the way.

But the father has other ideas. He "had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."

We don't expect such a response. We expect crossed arms and a furrowed brow. At best a guarded handshake. At least a stern lecture. But the father gives none of these. Instead he gives gifts. "Bring out the best robe ... a ring ... sandals.... And bring the fatted calf ... and let us eat and be merry" (Luke 15:11--23 NKJV). Robe, sandals, calf, and ... Did you see it? A ring.

Before the boy has a chance to wash his hands, he has a ring to put on his finger. In Christ's day rings were more than gifts; they were symbols of delegated sovereignty. The bearer of the ring could speak on behalf of the giver. It was used to press a seal into soft wax to validate a transaction. The one who wore the ring conducted business in the name of the one who gave it.

Would you have done this? Would you have given this prodigal son power-of-attorney privileges over your affairs? Would you have entrusted him with a credit card? Would you have given him this ring?

Before you start questioning the wisdom of the father, remember, in this story you are the boy. When you came home to God, you were given authority to conduct business in your heavenly Father's name.

When you speak truth, you are God's ambassador.

As you steward the money he gives, you are his business manager.

When you declare forgiveness, you are his priest.

As you stir the healing of the body or the soul, you are his physician.

And when you pray, he listens to you as a father listens to a son. You have a voice in the household of God. He has given you his ring.

God believes in you. And, I wonder, could you take some of the belief that he has in you and share it with someone else?

You and I have the privilege to do for others what God does for us. How do we show people that we believe in them?

Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down! Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you.

From
A Love Worth Giving
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

Great Day for Chattanooga

Today VW announced that their new U.S. plant will be built in Chattanooga. This assembly plant is expected to create 14,000 new jobs here.

Pictures of the Pool Party

Here are the pictures of the last pool party. We had a ball! We hope you can join us on this Sunday at 5:00pm.



Call us for details: (423)316-0034

Map to our place

My Score on Eschatology

What's your eschatology? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Amillenialist Amillenialism believes that the 1000 year reign is not literal but figurative, and that Christ began to reign at his ascension. People take some prophetic scripture far too literally in your view. Amillenialist 75% Moltmannian Eschatology 70% Premillenialist 60% Preterist 50% Postmillenialist 40% Left Behind 20% Dispensationalist 10%

How I Scored As A Theologain

Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Jonathan Edwards You're the original hellfire-and brimstone preacher and you take God's justice very seriously. You are passionate about preaching and an accomplished theologian. Jonathan Edwards 80% John Calvin 67% Anselm 67% Karl Barth 60% Friedrich Schleiermacher 53% Martin Luther 47% Augustine 47% Paul Tillich 27% Jürgen Moltmann 20% Charles Finney 13%

My Theological Worldview Score

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 82% Reformed Evangelical 75% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Neo orthodox 61% Fundamentalist 54% Classical Liberal 43% Roman Catholic 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% Modern Liberal 21%

These scores seem to be pretty right on. Why don't you take the test and let me know how you score. (docfarrand@gmail.com)

Blessings

A Lifestyle of Spirit-Led Leadership

from: Simple Church Journal

The following is from Kent Smith (emailed to me some time back by Mike Steele) on 'A Lifestyle of Spirit-Led Leadership.' Kent is a missions professor at Abilene Christian University and has been involved in training leaders of simple churches:

The great soccer player Pele was quoted saying, 'I have just three moves . . . but I do them very, very well.'

That brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from Peter Drucker: 'Effective people focus on a few areas where outstanding performance will produce outstanding results.'

We want to be an expert at:
1) Loving, hearing and obeying Jesus.
2) Leading others to love, hear and obey Jesus.
3) Leading the leaders of others to love hear and obey Jesus.

If we do these things well, we believe we will fulfill the Lord's purpose for our relational family and the peoples and cities God calls us to bless and encourage around the world.

In light of this . . .

We don't assume that the challenge and task we face is first and foremost church planting. We assume ra"

A word from House Church

One of the unintended consequences of conventional churches and their focus to grow is the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, message that unreached people are targets that need to be “reached” and “brought in.”

I heard the atheist, Matt Caspar (Jim and Caspar Go to Church), speak at a conference and describe how he asked his new Christian friend, “Am I your friend or your project?” His question reflects the way Christians have gone about relating to the world around them and the perception that unChristians have as a result.

On the one hand, there is the reality that the Father’s heart is broken for children who are separated from Him. This is central to a Biblical worldview in which Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost, invites us to join Him in the missional adventure of taking His good news and compassion to a broken, truly-lost world. God is not simply a God on a mission, He is a missional God at His very loving core.

However, when this message is coupled with an organized church’s “vision to grow”, it is so easy for our passion to love and bless people to take on a religious, weighty sense of performance"

SimpleChurch Journal aka House Church Blog: The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

SimpleChurch Journal aka House Church Blog: The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community: "The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

Halter Hugh Halter and Matt Smay have written an interesting book on 'Creating Incarnational Community.' It's a good read. Following is not a book review, rather just some notes (and quotes) that I wrote after reading it:

Author Hugh Halter tells this story:

As I’m sitting at a Starbucks in the final week of editing this book, I just took a break to talk to a guy named Don. Don grew up in a non-practicing Catholic home, watched his father convert to a Seventh-Day Adventist tradition, but only remembers the types of meat he couldn’t eat. His wife hates the idea of God, and Don’s already expressed his disdain for organized church. Since he seemed open to talk, I lobbed up this question: 'If Christianity was only about finding a group of people to live life with, who shared openly their search for God and allowed anyone, regardless of behavior, to seek too, and who collectively lived by faith to make the world a little more like Heaven, would you be interested?”

“Hell yes!” was his reply. He continued, “Are there churches like that?”

On belonging to those we are reaching:"

Lighting Storm Affects Our Property

These are the pictures of the results of the recent storm that pass through our property.