Owner: Rend the Heavens URL:http://blog.allthenations.org Join Date: Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:46:20 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Musings from an Emergent Revivalist... who longs so see this generation turns their hearts towards Jesus. Site statistics:Click here
On a date! 2007-09-01 00:00:00 Hannah and I went out tonight... Dinner, coffee and a movie. Oh yeah.
Is This Legal? 2007-09-01 00:00:00 Two blogs entries in one day... is that legal? :)I just have a few random thoughts bouncing around in my head that I just have to get out... I'm finding that most people have no clue about the reality of the spiritual realm. No clue. A lot of people have diminished any idea of the supernatural and limited it to the days during which the Bible was written. Or they take a "there's not really a devil, or demons, or evil" approach... They seem to think that that part of the Bible is fiction.I was asked recently, "do you think demons are the same today as they were in the Bible" (which came from one of my AWESOME students... she was just talking Bible). Obviously, demons are not Jesus... Jesus never changes, but as far as we know... because our enemy, satan, has not been thrown in to the pit yet... that he (the devil) still accuses the brethren and fights tooth and nail to destroy our lives... so yes, I, 100% believe that demons exist and operate today as they did during the season of the
Super Saturday Spotlight #11 2007-09-01 00:00:00 Here's 3 fun, random things from around the net. Hope you enjoy them!Talk about class prank...This prank is quite hilarious. A class utilizes a crosswalk and an underground tunnel to pull this one off.Click here to view the article/video.Year 2000 Illustrative PredictionsCheck out these photos/illustrations of what people thought our lives would be like in the year 2000. To view them, click here.Click here to view the collection of Year 2000 pictures.New Ground Level WebsiteThis one isn't random. We just launched our new website for our student ministry, Ground Level this past Wednesday night. Check it out here.Click here to view the new Ground Level Website.Quote for Today's BLOG:"Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it is
so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die
preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die
practicing it." - Matthew Henry Read more:Super
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Integrity: A Great Defense 2007-09-01 00:00:00 If there is one man, just one, that I could be like... I'd have to say I would want to be like Job. There's many, many, many men that I esteem throughout the Scriptures. Hosea... wow, what grace and mercy! Enoch... to have the intimacy with God that he had... David... to be labeled a man after God's own heart... Ehud... to be used by God no matter what label society places on you. The list goes on and on.But if I had a choice of 1 person to be like, it would be Job.I shared with you from Job 1:8 at the beginning of the week. But think about it, his integrity is what kept him from falling. It's what protected him.Just listen to what his wife had to say to him in Job 2:9: "His wife said to him, 'Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.'" The person closest to him, his wife, wanted him to throw in the towel. To even give up his integrity.The enemy knows if he can steal our integrity... if he can get us to give up that defense/guard, then he has us right wh Read more:Great
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Integrity and Excellence 2007-09-01 00:00:00 I think Integrity
and Excellence
go hand in hand. Let me explain what I mean.When I speak of "excellence", I do not mean, in any way, perfectionism. Perfectionism, when taken to the extreme, can really mess up your life. Striving for excellence, on the other hand, can be life-giving and fruit-bearing. So what does excellence have to do with integrity?Well, if you remember yesterday, I mentioned that I felt integrity was more than just keeping ourselves from sin... but putting up boundaries to prevent us from even having the opportunity to sin.One thing I'm challenging my students is to set a higher standard. Why do we set in our hearts, "at this point I'm sinning" but we do everything we can up till "that point"? Why do we do that? Honestly, we enjoy our sin too much. Way too much.But think about it, what if a generation of young people... or any age generation stands up and says "I'm not going to settle for the standard, but I'm going to raise the bar."Now I'm not talking about l
Integrity Quotes, part 2 2007-09-01 00:00:00 Hope you all are enjoying the thoughts on Integrity
. Here are some more quotes..."It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity." - Francis Bacon"Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do." - Don Galer"What convinces is conviction. Believe in the argument you're advancing. If you don't you're as good as dead. The other person will sense that something isn't there, and no chain of reasoning, no matter how logical or elegant or brilliant, will win your case for you." - Lyndon B. Johnson"If moral behavior were simply following rules, we could program a computer to be moral." - Samuel P. Ginder"Every wrong seems possible today, and is accepted. I don't accept it." - Pablo Casals"Image is what people think we are: integrity is what we really are." - John Maxwell"The meas Read more:Quotes
Integrity 2007-09-01 00:00:00 "The the LORD asked satan, 'Have you noticed my servant Job? He's the finest man in all the earth--a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil.'" (Job 1:8)Yesterday, during our student discipleship class, I talked with the students about integrity. I generally define integrity as "doing the right thing even when no one is looking." But really, I've been thinking lately, it's more than that.Here are the 3 definitions that Miriam-Webster give for "integrity":1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY2 : an unimpaired condition : SOUNDNESS3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : COMPLETENESSI think integrity is doing the right thing (at all times) AND it's knowingly putting yourself in a position TO DO the right thing. It's not just "not sinning" but it's keeping yourself away from the opportunity to sin. Now obviously, we can't do that 100% of the time. But I know there are times whe Read more:Integrity
Integrity Quotes, part 1 2007-09-01 00:00:00 In light of the last two days focused on Integrity
, I thought I'd share a few quotes I've accumulated on Integrity. Enjoy.Oh yeah, and be sure you comment with your thoughts on Integrity. I'd love to know what you think!"What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient." - Bodie Thoene"Integrity is not a 90 percent thing, not a 95 percent thing; either you have it or you don't." - Peter Scotese"We are all faced with conflicting desires. No one, no matter how spiritual, can avoid the battle. Integrity is the factor that determines which one will prevail. We struggle daily with situations that demand decisions between what we want to do and what we ought to do. Integrity establishes the ground rules for resolving these tensions. it determines who we are and how we will respond before the conflict even appears. Integrity welds what we say, think, and do, into a whole person so that permission is never granted for one of these to be out of sync." - John Maxwell "The first key to Read more:Quotes
Super Saturday Spotlight #10 2007-09-01 00:00:00 With today's spotlight being #10, I thought I'd add a 4th item. Enjoy!Frozen Smoke"A miracle material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spills and even help man fly to Mars."Click here to view the article.NothingnessSo the latest finding is an area of space of billions of light years of nothing. No stars. No galaxies. Nothing.I think it just confirms Job 26:7 (part of my favorite portion of Scripture)... "He hangs the earth on nothing..."Check out the article here.Jesus ShirtsIf there's one thing I really like, it's Christian T's. Not hoaky, but cool stuff. I found a really great site... and their shirts are Holy Ghost! :)Visit JesusBranded.com here.We Cry OutIf you'd like to hear and incredible worship CD check this one out. You will not be disappointed.Click here to check it out... and buy it!Quote for Today's BLOG:"My dear Jesus, my Savior, is so deeply written in my heart, that I feel confident, that if my heart were to be cut open Read more:Super
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Super Saturday Spotlight #14 2007-09-22 05:30:00 World's Steepest Street......right here in Pittsburgh, PA! As the site says, the record holder is in New Zealand... but the real steepest street is Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh. Check it out here...Visit the site here.Sync with Gooooooooooooogle CalendarI've been searching for quite some time for a way to sync my Treo 650 to my Google Calendar... especially with our busy church schedule... thankfully, I've found it. Check it out here.Visit the site here.Blog of the World's Most Beautiful Woman Gets a Face Lift!That's right folks, Hannah Davis, commonly known as the World's Most Beautiful Woman (at least by Chris Davis' standards) just received a blog face lift. Click here to check out the new design.Visit the site here.Quote for Today's BLOG:"The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray." - Samuel Chadwick
Read more:Super
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Video Blog #3: Supernatural 2007-09-21 05:30:00 God is supernatural. We should allow Him to operate in our lives... outside of our God box.Can't see the video? Click here to view it!
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Update on GL 2007-09-20 05:30:00 I thought I'd give everyone a brief update on our Student Ministry. I'll have to continue my posts on Sunday (Friday is Video blog day... and Saturday is Super Saturday Spotlight...). So if you want to know if we "HAVE TO" sin, check back on Sunday...So God has been doing awesome things at Ground Level (our Student Ministry). Seriously incredible stuff. The fruit that we're already seeing in our students is amazing... our numbers are growing... visitors are bringing visitors... good stuff!A couple of things...Personal Relationships with God:We've received feedback that a couple of our students have been consistently having quiet times (devo/prayer) and how much of an impact it's been having in their lives. Oh yeah!Amost every week we have students start or re-start their relationship with Jesus. And last week we gave an altar call for those who wanted Holy Spirit to fill their lives to help them reach out... about 35 students or so responded for prayer!Reaching Out:Three weeks ago Read more:Update
Worth 2007-09-19 20:45:00 Just an FYI... You are worth more than a whole flock of sparrows... Matthew 10:29!
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My little prince 2007-09-19 20:00:00 Isaiah made a crown at church tonight.
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Obedience and Sin, part 2 2007-09-19 05:30:00 There obviously are several reasons to keep our hearts from sin... but I think a simple, yet most important reason is found in Ephesians 4:30..."And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live."Hello.Do you see that? When we sin, when we go against His will, we break His heart. I don't know about you, but I don't want to break God's heart.It's a bummer where our nation has headed morally. But really, have we as a church had a part in turning their hearts away... because we've focused on the outward side of sin... and not the real issue, the heart? Because we've preached hell more than we've preached the heart of God?Don't get me wrong. I believe 100% that hell is real is part of the eternal destination of those who do not surrender their lives to Jesus. But how much more should we focus on the heart of God!?God desires our simple obedience. Not that He wants us to live boring, structured lives. He longs for us to obey simply because He knows what's best for o Read more:Obedience
Obedience and Sin 2007-09-18 14:49:00 For a moment think about "SIN". In my mind we've painted a very distorted picture of what "sin" really is. When we see or hear the word "sin" we immediately think of such things as murder, lying, lust, drugs, etc. But really, sin is much more than that. And really, "sin" has nothing to do with the action because it all begins in the heart.Sin is simply disobedience to God's Word and His Will for our lives.If you remember, Jesus didn't leave the "sin line" at the ACT of adultery... he said that it begins in the heart with lust. Same with murder... it begins in the heart with ANGER. And so on... (See Matthew 5)So if we've gotten to the point where we think we're not sinning... because the "big sins" aren't a part of our lives... then we've fallen off our rocker. Sin begins in the heart.Obviously, all throughout the New Testament there are specific types of sins listed. For instance, there's Galatians 5:19-21... Ephesians 5:5... Colossians 3:5-6... But look at the beginning of the Read more:Obedience
Park time 2007-09-17 16:45:00 We found an awesome park today!
Unconditional Obedience 2007-09-17 08:13:00 I've been reading Forever Ruined for the Ordinary by Joy Dawson. It challenges the norm of just doing things one our own... it's a challenge to actually listen to God's voice and follow His will in every aspect of our lives. I thought I'd share an excerpt with you from the book:"Unconditional obedience to God should be our love response to Him for His unconditional love to us. This removes all the dutiful dullness from our responses to His directions. Every influence God brings into our lives to encourage us to obey Him is so that we will do so because of who He is." (pg. 133)And here are a few things that Joy Dawson lists that God is: - Supreme in His authority - Dazzling in His beauty - Flawless in His character - Ingenious in His creativity - Timeless in His existence - The most exciting Person - Unswerving in His faithfulness - Matchless in His graceThat's just a small glimpse of who God IS.So many times we think we're simply obeying Him because we're not sinning... but that Read more:Obedience
I hate it when... 2007-09-29 16:17:00 I hate it when I start a project... and lose inspiration to finish it.I'm normally self motivated... and I'm a big dreamer... so I start projects... and as I'm creating them, putting them together, I realize how big of an undertaking it really is.Aw.aken.us is one of those projects.It was going to be my answer to a problem that seems to exist amongst the charismatic/pentecostal blogosphere... it almost doesn't exist. There are sites like Pneumablog but to me, that site is extremely disorganized and biased.So I need a breath of fresh inspiration.Got any?
Super Saturday Spotlight #15 2007-09-29 05:30:00 4 items for you today. Actually, the last two kind of go hand-in-hand...YouVersion.comHere's a new site you may want to check out. It's called "YouVersion". It's a quasi social networking site built around the Scriptures. Great concept. Click here to visit it.Chuck Norris is toughIf you've ever seen the show "Will It Blend", you know that their blender will blend anything. That is, until Chuck Norris came along. Check out the video here.I love coffeeDid you know that Americans ingest the caffeine equivalent of 530 million cups of coffee every day? Well, that's what this particular coffee facts site says... Click here to check it out.Over 70? No donuts for you!Senior citizens in New York are upset because their home's administration will not allow donuts to be served to them. I'd be mad too... Click here for the full story.Quote for Today's BLOG:"We have a God who delights in impossibilities." - Billy Sunday
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Video Blog #4: Holy Spirit 2007-09-28 05:30:00 A continuation on our God box... and how Holy Spirit longs to move in our lives. Can't see the video? Click here...
Where Are Your Accusers? 2007-09-27 05:30:00 What an incredible night at Ground Level. I'm amazed and humbled at what God continues to do with our Students. Thank you Jesus. :)We had an awesome drama that illustrated the story from John 8 of Jesus and the adulterous woman. They did a really, really good job. Unfortunately, we didn't get it filmed, but I know for the students and adults that were there were eternally impacted by the skit.I then challenged them from John 8 concerning how God longs to forgive us... He then challenges us to move on... and through the example of Jesus, God mandates that we forgive others.In the middle of my message I had a revelation that I immediately shared with the students... because Jesus has forgiven us... the King of Kings, the LORD of Lords who necessarily doesn't "have to" forgive us because of His righteousness and holiness... BUT He does because He is gracious and merciful... Anyways... Holy Spirit dropped on my heart how... because Jesus has forgiven us, WE HAVE NO RIGHT NOT TO FORGIVE
So big... So quick! 2007-09-26 11:45:00 A year ago today we were in the hospital awaiting the arrival of our little princess Leah. :)
Treadmill Dose of TV 2007-09-26 05:30:00 Hannah and I watch TV on a very limited basis... we actually don't have cable or satellite or anything really... we get our TV through NetFlix. We're not super-spiritual... that's just how we've chosen to limit ourselves on the tube.Anyways, the way we ever get a dose of "outside" TV is either when we're on a trip and we stay in a hotel or I get a dose while on the treadmill at the gym. So I'm running... Sometimes I listen to my Zune... Sometimes I don't. But either way the TV is there and it's hard not to miss what is on... Today, Family Feud came on. I haven't seen that show in a long time. There were some very interesting questions that came up. And one of them really caught my attention... and it really shows the state of where we're at socially in the aspect of raising our children.Now before you go any further, I am not a perfect parent, nor do I claim to be... I just think it's interesting what happened.The question was: "What do you need the most of while raising chi Read more:Treadmill
Hot Button 2007-09-25 07:41:00 Apparently we've hit the hot button on a topic about: "Do We Have To Sin?" If you haven't read it... or seen some of the recent comments check it out by clicking here.Or just jump head first in and click here to leave your thoughts on the entry.Thanks for all the feedback!Be blessed.Chris
Thoughts for the Week 2007-09-25 05:30:00 Here's some random thoughts for the week...- I am pumped about our service coming up tomorrow night at Ground Level. Our creative team has put together an intense drama... I can't wait to see how many students understand God's forgiveness, get sin out of their lives and move forward in their relationship with God.- Today is 23 days out from my 5-year anniversary of being married to Hannah, the most beautiful woman ever. We're going to have a few days away from everything, just she and I and I can't wait to be alone with just her.- I'm looking forward to the times this week that I'm going to get to have times alone with Jesus.- I'm excited about my daughter Leah's first birthday this Thursday! It's hard to believe she is already a year old. I seriously remember how small she was (5 lbs and some ounces) when she was born September 27, 2006.- My Granny, who reads my blog on a daily basis, will be 80 this Saturday! (Happy Birthday Granny!)Quote for Today's BLOG:"Marriage was ord
My favorite... 2007-09-24 15:00:00 thing about Halloween is Candy Corn! Actually, the only thing I like really...
Do We Have To Sin? 2007-09-24 07:55:00 Sorry it took me a while to get around to this topic. This actually can be a heavily debated topic... of which I think scripture makes it pretty clear on the truth of the matter...So once we become believers and are given a new start (new creation) then after that point do we HAVE TO sin? Not WILL WE, but HAVE TO?I think this answer is no, we do not HAVE TO sin. And here's why I believe that:1 John 2:1 says "My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But IF you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely."Everybody say "IF".I know that's one scripture... and it's not good theological practice to build a doctrine around one scripture. So let's look at some others...Romans 6:11 says "So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the Glory of God through Christ Jesus."Romans 6:15-16, 18 says "So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go
The Big T 2007-10-04 09:34:00 Last night at Ground Level we tagged off of last week's message "Where Are Your Accusers?" So this week we talked about temptation.Obviously temptation to sin is something that happens to all of us. And actually it happened to Jesus too: "For He faced all of the same temptations we do, yet He did not sin" (Hebrews 4:15).I think it is so stinkin' awesome that our God does not hold us to a standard that He Himself has not been tested on.Do you get that?Jesus, God in the flesh, was tested and tried in every way we are... YET HE DID NOT SIN.Hebrews 2:18 says: "Since He Himself has gone through suffering and temptation, He is able to help us when we are being tempted."Our God is so amazing. Unfortunately, it seems as though we've painted a very distorted picture of Jesus.Yes, Jesus expects us to deal with sin in our lives. Yes, there is a standard of righteousness and holiness that we should strive for (if we're in relationship with Jesus)... but at the same time JESUS UNDERSTANDS becau
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