seventwentyfour

Here is an interesting — and convicting — article from Boundless.org today that seems to go along with this month’s series, which we’re finishing up tonight.

I empathized with this woman’s situation. At the same time, it made me question if I too often have an irritated attitude at the slow pace of a situation, or if something isn’t accommodating my needs.

What popped into my head next were situations when I’m standing in line to pay for a single item at a store where only one register is open. Then the person in front of me poses a complicated question, demands a price check on an item that is 10 aisles away or writes a check. I may look like I’m waiting patiently, but inside I’m screaming, Get on with it, already! I’m inconvenienced because my expectation was to be in and out of the store in 20 minutes.

Too many times I let convenience control my perspective and decisions, and even steal my joy and focus. Where does this attitude come from? Do I spend more time worshiping the god of convenience than the God of the universe?…

As Andy Stanley might say, only rich people are so bothered by being inconvenienced. The more convenience we have, the more we depend on it, and the easier it is to become irritated when our routine is interrupted. I know I do.

And for my thoughts on one of the greatest casualties of failing to “be rich” well, check out this article at BreakPoint.

According to the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, epistemology can be defined as the “branch of philosophy that deals with knowing and the methods of obtaining knowledge”. A fascinating subject. As Christians, how do we come to know what we know? By what standard do we evaluate ideas?

Postmodernism is a much harder term to define. It is a reaction against Enlightment ideas and the reign of modernity, specifically rejecting the perceived unbiased nature of pure reason. I have read some of David Wells’ book ‘Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World’ and already I’ve been intrigued by Wells’ summary of the effects of postmodern ideas, such as the replacement of commonly held virtues with privately held values.

For information on the topic regarding the effect of postmodern thought in Christendom, check out John Hendryx and Nathan Pitchford’s take on its effect on American Evangelicalism. They do a good job on exposing the supposed humility of the postmodern-thinking Emergent Church, which asserts that faithfulness is more important than certainty.

Emergent churches have key insight into the problems with American evangelicalism. I believe that accusations like, ‘Many evangelical churches are arrogant, lack authentic community, don’t engage culture and raise people that often have a set of core beliefs that do not inform their day-to-day lives’ are genrally true, exposing its man-centered selfishness (I readily confess that I am guilty).

However, the article also exposes the hypocrisy present in the solution, because the proposed solution is also man-centered and selfish! Their answer is basically, ‘well, we can’t really know anything anyway, because we can’t view the world through a genuinely objectivce lenses, so let’s toss doctrine out because it produces hypocrites, and replace it with a general call to live lives that follow Christ’s example’. Hendryx and Pitchford rightly point out that this is ‘trading one form of certainty for another’ and worse, it is a substitute for the Gospel.

If we are arrogant, the solution is not to work really hard to try and follow Jesus’ example. The ultimate humbling truth in the world is the Gospel. It says we have ZERO righteousness and that we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. If we lack authentic community, the greatest truth we have to combat this is the Gospel: Christ died and restored Christians, and thereby we can have authentic communion with God, and that should motivate us toward genuine communion with others. If we aren’t engaging culture, let the Gospel sober us in realizing that all men are under the wrath of God until they trust by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for salvation. And if theology isn’t inspiring our daily lives, let’s ask ourselves: what are we truly living for that we think is bigger than God? The Gospel should be our motivation for showing fruit in ALL areas of our life, because Christ is to be our supreme joy.

Join us Tuesdays in June at 7:30pm in the sanctuary as we start our summer video series, How To Be Rich, by Andy Stanley. The RBC pastors & staff are just finishing up this study, and have been both challenged and encouraged. We think you will be too.

Most of us spend our entire lives trying to get rich, and yet we never stop to consider how to be rich. Enticed by our culture, we focus so much on achieving an ever-increasing standard of living that we never realize when, in fact, we become rich. Because the reality is that if you have more than enough–including food in the pantry, money in a savings account, or clothes in your closet–then you are rich. In this four-part series, Andy Stanley explores a passage of Scripture written specifically to the rich, in order to help us learn how to be rich.

June Schedule:

• June 3 - Congratulations!
• June 10 - Daddy’s Money
• June 17 - Dollar-Cost Living
• June 24 - Diversify
• July 1 - Off Night

The audio from Pastor Paul Goodnight’s teaching from Haggai chapter one is now posted - Paneling Went Out in the 70’s. Enjoy!      listen | download

By now, many of you have probably heard of the book The Shack, which is making waves amongst Christianfolk. Our own Travis McSherley, editor of Breakpoint Online (a Prison Fellowship ministry), published a featured review of The Shack. Travis’ review is worth a read if you’ve read or heard about the book - you can check it out here.

SEVENTWENTYFOUR | Join us Tuesday nights in May as we begin a new set of studies. On May 6 & 13, we will host a video study called Jesus Among Other Gods. This study features renowned apologist and thinker Ravi Zacharias and will contrast the truth of Jesus Christ with the teachings of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

On May 20, Pastor Paul Goodnight will be our featured teacher. May 27 will be our off night this month.

Seventwentyfour meets each Tuesday night at 7:30pm in the RBC main campus.

For the past couple years, I have taken about half of my tax return and set it aside and prayed that God would reveal some way to use it in ministry. That’s by no means to make much of my puny offerings, but He has been faithful to answer that prayer in profound ways. It is always exciting to watch what the Lord can do with the fish and loaves we give back to Him.

So I’m with the Pipe-man on this one. A blogger at CT has some similar thoughts. And if any of you are able, and feel led, to devote your rebate check to some ministry project, please leave some comments here to testify how God uses it!

Pastor John Piper encourages us to make much of Christ with our upcoming “economic stimulus payment.” Worthy of consideration, no?

For those of you unable to attend last night, Carter Keeton was originally slated to speak, but was unable make it out due to travel. We’ll attempt to reschedule Carter for May. Stay tuned for May’s lineup - we’ll post it here as soon as the schedule is finalized.

The audio from last night’s teaching is now posted.   listen | download

T4G is a conference held bi-annually in Louisville, KY. From the T4G site:

Together for the Gospel (T4G) began as a friendship between four pastors. These friends differed on a number of theological issues, like baptism and the charismatic gifts. But they were committed to standing together for the main thing—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

T4G is convinced that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among those who proclaim the name of Christ. The goal of these friendships, conferences, and networks is therefore to reaffirm this central doctrine of the Christian faith and to encourage local churches to do the same.

This year’s conference finished up last week. Wish I could have attended, but the audio is already posted online. You should definitely check it out.