OK…this is a test…this is only a test. Had this been a real blog entry, valuable information would have followed below. But it’s not. May 25, 2009
Posted by Steve Doyle in Uncategorized.add a comment
I’m testing out a blog entry to see if it picks it up on my facebook page. I know, I know…I’m lightyears behind in my ability to use and take advantage of the various internet and networking technologies available at my fingertips…but cut me some slack…I’m learning.
Post-election Reaction! November 5, 2008
Posted by Steve Doyle in Christianity, Politics.Tags: Add new tag, democracy, election, God's sovereignty, McCain, Obama, Politics
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Well, I’m finally getting back into blogging. I figured my thoughts about the election were a good way to get back into it. It’s only been a mere 16 months since I last blogged! Here are the thoughts that I emailed our congregation after the election results became evident:
- Celebrate freedom. How awesome it is to know that we have the freedom to vote and make our voices heard in this nation. Voting is such a privilege. I talked to a man last night who was sharing with me that a co-worker of his is a newly nationalized citizen who immigrated here from China. This co-worker of his went to vote and was almost giddy as he did so. This Chinese-American man said to his friend “this is so amazing that I get to choose my government leaders.” It is amazing, and it is a God-given privilege. It was a great joy yesterday to see so many people taking an active part in our democracy. Take some time today to simply stop and pray to our God a word of praise that we live with such freedoms. Our broad freedoms are relatively new in the history of human governmental systems, and we should never take them for granted. So celebrate today, even if your candidate didn’t win.
- Celebrate diversity! Our nation is becoming increasingly diverse. I love diversity. If anyone doesn’t like diversity, they won’t enjoy Harbins because I dream of our church being a very diverse church. We should all celebrate that an African-American man is now the leader of the free world. What an amazing thing! Only 150 years ago, black Americans were enslaved, and so we rejoice that barriers have come down, permanently let’s pray.
- Celebrate God’s sovereignty. God is never surprised by an election or a turn of events in a nation. Remember that He is constantly working all things for the good of those who love Him, so if you are a believer you should rest easy, regardless of your political preferences, knowing that God is always on His throne and that He has your best interests in mind. Daniel 2:21 says, “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings.” God, in His providence, has set up Barak Obama to lead our nation. Now we must pray for him and honor him as our national leader. We may not always agree with him, and we must still as Americans voice our convictions, and we should always boldly stand up for God-honoring truth to prevail. But Scripture makes it very clear that we are to honor, respect and obey our leaders in all arenas of life, including politics.
- Celebrate a greater citizenship. If you are in Christ, then you are a citizen of heaven. Even though we should be concerned with the state of affairs in our nation and in our culture, our citizenship in heaven outweighs such concerns dramatically. Jesus illustrated this best when his opponents tried to back him into a political corner regarding taxes. When asked if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar or not, he simply said: “Render to Caesar the thing’s that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mt 22:21; Mk 12:17; Lk 20:25). Jesus cares much less about political powers, processes, taxation, etc…than He does about men’s hearts. Jesus is after the hearts of men and women in this nation and so must we be. Politics will never keep us from loving others, serving people, meeting needs, standing up for the weak and mistreated in our world, and sharing the Good News – the only means by which men can be saved. So celebrate your heavenly citizenship…and then go out and live like a citizen of heaven.
His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived! March 1, 2007
Posted by Steve Doyle in Christianity, Worship.2 comments
At almost exactly 7:00 this morning lightning struck relatively near our house and the ensuing thunder caused our house to vibrate like a drum. Almost as quickly as the thunder followed the lightning, my son’s voice shrieked out as he yelled, “daddy! daddy!” Noah is much like I was as a child…scared of loud noises and easily startled. I remember living in Quito, Ecuador at the age of 14 or 15 when an earthquake struck the country. The epicenter was not in Quito, but it was close enough to seriously rattle buildings and send me sprinting down the hallway of our house (past my brother Tim who was sleeping very soundly in his room) screaming “earthquake! earthquake!” I was reminded of that incident as Noah was screaming this morning while his sisters slept soundly in their rooms.
After getting wrapped up in a warm blanket, and sitting by the space heater in my office, Noah began to regain his composure and then he said something very important: “Daddy, there is one thing I really like about thunderstorms.” I was curious to hear what it was, since I knew he hated storms. He then said, “I like thunderstorms because they show me how big and powerful God is.” I smiled and nodded in agreement. Immediately I thought of the familiar passage in Romans where Paul debunks the idea of human innocence: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
I love for my kids to see God in everything. The power of God in the storm, the gentleness of God in the delicate flower, the faithfulness of God in the sunrise, the creativity of God in the peacock, and so on. It is not enough for us as parents to say, “You’re OK, the storm can’t hurt you, God is bigger than the storm, go back to sleep.” We need always be ready to say, ”You’re OK God is bigger than the storm, God created the storm, God is in the storm, God holds the storm together, and yes…that same big, awesome, and powerful God loves you more than you could ever imagine. Nothing can happen to you apart from His loving will for you.” No one has an excuse not to see God in the power of the storm.
Superbowl Prediction February 2, 2007
Posted by Steve Doyle in Uncategorized.add a comment
OK, here’s my prediction:
Indianapolis 24 – Chicago 13
Man-centered Trap; God-centered Freedom February 2, 2007
Posted by Steve Doyle in Bible, Christianity, God-centered, spirituality.add a comment
When you study Scripture it is so very easy to fall into the man-centered trap. The snare of man-centeredness occurs when one views Scripture and God and all that God has accomplished through Christ as being primarily for men and focused on men. That type of thinking will entrap you quickly. As a result you will not fully be able to understand Who God is; your mind will ache when you encounter Biblical difficulties and Divine mysteries; and false understandings of Truth will slither into your mind, leading you down paths of foolishness and maybe even heresy. You are in a trap.
But let your mind move in a different direction, the direction of God-centered freedom and you will find yourself traveling grand open plains of wonder and glory. You will find soul freedom when you see God’s Word and every action, concept, and thought found therein to be radically and unashamedly focused on Him and His glory. His sovereignty will become a doctrine as sweet as honey and His unsearchable ways will drive you to know Him more each moment of each day. With new-found freedom you can navigate the hard-to-understand passages and embrace His mysteries like never before…all the while growing closer to Him knowing with no shadows of doubt that all things are from Him and through Him to Him, forever amen.
Blossiping January 19, 2007
Posted by Steve Doyle in Southern Baptist Issues, Southern Baptists, spirituality.1 comment so far
It seems to me that there is a blossip problem with Christian blogs. Especially Southern Baptist blogs. Blossip is what I call blog gossip. Back during the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) it seemed that so-called spiritual blogs (at least in Baptist circles) where bogged down with political name-calling and gossip. Some blogs were better than others as disseminating useful information and critically analyzing issues that face Southern Baptists. Others simply blossiped. Blossip about this or that…call this person a name…say I heard this or that. Its gossip glossed over in the techno-hipness of blogging. Its still sin. Many of the blossipers get angry and the established SBC leadership for fighting battles that are over (i.e., the conservative resurgence), but I blame blossipers as much as anyone for creating new battles. That’s not to say I don’t personally have some serious issues with the way the SBC is lead these days, but those discussion can be handled without name-calling, innuendo, fact-bending and speculation. Let’s stick to honest, intellectual, and Biblical discussion. Anyone out there to catch me blossiping better call me on it.
Soon I’ll get to my series on Spiritual Warfare.
lsdjr
Spiritual Warfare January 16, 2007
Posted by Steve Doyle in Our Church, church planting, spiritual warfare, spirituality.add a comment
I recently read something that said that one of the biggest mistakes church planters make is to underestimate the spiritual warfare that planting a church brings and thus are not prepared to fight those spiritual battles when they come. I believe this applies to the entire core group starting a church. I know that our core group, not just Greg’s family and mine, have experience increased spiritual tension over the past couple of months.
Over the next few entries I will write about spiritual warfare and write about the necessity to develop spiritual disciplines to fight spiritual battles. Spiritual disciplines have been all but lost in today’s American church scene. Spiritual disciplines, enable by God’s grace, can take us into deeper into the character of God and thus change us radically. They equip us for the battles, and bring theology and doctrine to real life. They force us to live what we say we believe.
Jesus summed up our purpose for life in the great commandment:
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31 (ESV)
Spiritual disciplines serve the purpose of taking us deeper into our love and desire for God, thus the four-fold area of loving God is key to spiritual warfare: heart, soul, mind, and strength. I started off this year challenging myself to grow for the glory of God in each one of these areas. Heart means the passions of your life. Where does God fit in my passions and desires? Do I desire Him above all other things? Soul signifies the spiritual element of my life; am I digging deeper into the mysteries of God, embracing His beauty and majesty; am I swimming in the depths of His Word? Mind is the intellect. Am I challenging myself intellectually for the glory of God. How much do I read, what do I read, and do I reflect on things with wisdom? Do I buy into pop-Christianity because everyone else does, or do I stimulate myself to think through every theology, taking every thought captive? Strength is my physical being. Am I letting my body glorify God? Whether I eat, drink, whatever I do with this body, am I living as the temple of the Holy Spirit as God has chosen me to be?
I believe that if set spiritual goals, and if we pursue spiritual disciplines and use them as tools to focus ourselves spiritually, then we will grow in the depth and extreme joy of knowing God more each day, and He will recieve great glory. I pray for our core group and I pray that God will strengthen us and prepare us for the battles that undoubtably lie ahead for Milestone Community Church.
lsdjr (elguapo)
If the LORD wills… December 30, 2006
Posted by Steve Doyle in Christianity, Discipleship, Religion, The Fix, spirituality.2 comments
If you are like me you usually begin each year with a list of resolutions that bear the purpose of making us better men and women in the upcoming year. Resolutions range from the silly to the serious, and are often things we are unable to keep. Our failure to keep New Year’s resolutions, goals, or oaths does not negate the value in making them, but rather reflects our weakness and thus need for a power outside of our own, namely the power of God. Any resolution apart from God is simply a trifle attempt to accomplish something in the power of our own flesh. This line of thinking brought me to this familiar passage:
James 4:13-17
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
What a convicting passage. I know that I have been very guilty of making resolutions or setting goals without ever prefacing it with “if the Lord wills.” James makes it so clear to us that no day is guaranteed, and to proclaim one’s intentions about the future is foolish apart from an acknowledgement of the overarching, sovereign will of God. Is not this why Jesus, in his model prayer (Matthew 6:10) implores us to pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done?” The Kingdom of God is less about a future destination as it is about a current reality and thus everyday, even every minute, is to be lived in conscious acknowledgement of His Lordship and Kingdom reign over every aspect of our being. So to make a commitment, a resolution, a goal, an oath or a pledge of any sort apart from an acknowledgement and a mindful surrender to His will is foolishness.
Was not Peter guilty of this? He was a very bold man, and would have been considered Jesus’ most faithful disciple. He was, after all, the first disciple to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, and when Jesus prophesied that all his disciples would be scattered like sheep, Peter boldly made a rash oath that he would never leave Jesus (Mt 26:34; Mk 14:30). Peter’s rash oath was foolish. He didn’t consider that it was God’s will that Jesus be abandoned and ultimately die for Peter’s sins and for the sins of the world. Peter should have known this, but when Jesus had earlier told the disciples about his upcoming death Peter foolishly rebuked Jesus as if Peter knew more about being Messiah than the Son of God did (Mt. 16:23, Mk 8:33). How prone we are too to make rash oaths without considering the Lord’s will. Perhaps had Peter not made such rash oath he could have asked Jesus to prepare him for this difficult time to come? Ultimately Peter was restored, and was given a new beginning (John 21).This year continue the journey of faith. Make oaths, make resolutions, seek to do things that will partner with God in His purpose of growing you more into the likeness of Christ, but preface it all with an attitude of seeking God’s will first.
Looking forward to a great ‘07 for the glory of God.
Thoughts from Ethos December 7, 2006
Posted by Steve Doyle in Christianity: Leaders and Leadership, spirituality.1 comment so far
OK, so I didn’t blog during the conference. Sorry. I meant to, but my connection at the hotel was not good, and I spent much of my time in discussion with my dad about what we had heard that day. It was very interesting being at the conference with my dad who comes from a generation of Christian leaders who don’t generally respond well to the ideas and excitement of leaders like Erwin.
The conference was awesome! It was inspiring and truly worth the effort to get to NYC. What I liked about the conference was that it was mostly a time of stirring your passions and affections for God instead of giving us pre-set formula’s on how Mosaic does this or that. There was very little in the conference about structure or methods. It was more about passion and vision.
There were many good things I took from the conference…there were some things I disagreed with. But I am a better leader and better follower of Jesus now than I was before. They also gave away a lot of free stuff, like Erwin’s new book Soul Cravings, Rob Bell’s controversial Velvet Elvis, a Nooma video, Mark Batterson’s In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, and finally a new Ed Gungor book, Religiously Transmitted Diseases. Boy, you have to love freebies!
Here’s the main way that the conference spoke to me personally…this is from my journal the day after the conference finished:
Don’t fear ambition! I have had a deep ambition for greatness in my heart for many years now. I have tried to suppress it for far too long. This past week with Erwin McManus has helped me to feel the freedom to unleash that ambition and that desire for greatness. In the past, I have always suppressed my ambition thinking doing so was the way to remain humble. But why would that ambition be there if it not be from God? Humility comes not from denying a God-given passion and ambition, but from directing them in the right direction and toward the proper end, namely the glory of God. So with that said, I have a great desire to break out of the norm and be…a revolutionary, a visioneer, a fighter, a conquistador, an entrepreneur, an architect, an artist, a word-smith, a navigator, an explorer, a community detonator, a catalyst, a spark, a hero…yes, a barbarian.
I’m heading to NY, NY November 26, 2006
Posted by Steve Doyle in Christianity, Christianity: Leaders and Leadership, Church, Emerging Church, spirituality.add a comment
After stuffing my face with too much food, and watching entirely too much football, I’m ready to return to something more spritual. So, I’m heading to New York!
I will be attending the Erwin McManus’ Ethos Conference in NY. What is the Ethos Conference? Here’s the description from the website:
A leadership development experiment designed as an opportunity to dialogue with cultural shapers and innovators from Los Angeles, New York, and around the world on topics ranging from leadership, culture, creativity, innovation and the future of the Church.
It is my prayer that this be a spiritually invigorating experience. I plan to blog each night when I get back from the sessions.
