Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Confessions


If you are a church planter or ministry leader I highly recommend watching or listening to this sermon from Darrin Patrick Teaching Pastor at The Journey Church in St. Louis, MO. Lauren and I watched it last night and it was convicting and eye opening to me as I lead out The Well and look towards one day church planting.

Click Here to Watch or Listen

Click Here to Learn More about The Journey Church in STL, I have been there it is a great church.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Jesus will Provide

In times of economic worries it is so easy to want to cling to our money. Often we come to see how idolatrous and trusting in money we are in these moments. Take this reflection from John Piper on how we are so like the disciples and lose focus on how Jesus will meet our needs (actual needs, not wants).


After Jesus had fed both the 5,000 and the 4,000 with only a few loaves and fish, the disciples got in a boat without enough bread for themselves.

When they began to discuss their plight, Jesus said, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand?" (Mark 8:17). What didn't they understand?

They did not understand the meaning of the leftovers, namely, that Jesus will take care of them when they take care of others. Jesus said:

"When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

Understand what? The leftovers.

The leftovers were for the servers. In fact the first time there were twelve servers and twelve basketfuls left over (Mark 6:43). The second time there seven basketfuls left over—the number of abundant completeness.

What didn't they understand? That Jesus would take care of them. You can't outgive Jesus. When you spend your life for others, your needs will be met.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Men We Are In A War!

One of the ladies from The Well passed this along...fellas watch this...fellas LIVE this!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Zach Morris on Jimmy Fallon

Yes this ages me, but this was pretty funny and brought back some memories...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

This Sums Up What The Well Is About!

Over the past 5 weeks we have been discussing how to live a life that matters eternally at The Well. A lot of this has come from books like Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.

This Video basically encapsulates it all in 3 1/2 minutes...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Revitalizing a Church


J.D. Greer over at Resurgence has posted some great points and thoughts about how to revitalize your church. And I think what he means by revitalize is good and needed, it has less to do with how to pack people in rather more to do with how to make disciples. You know, making disciples, kinda the main mission of the church this side of heaven.

Friday, June 5, 2009

How Tim Keller Prepares A Sermon



Props: Unashamed Workman

No Flash, Just Fight!

Um, yeah do you think that this dude learned the importance of remembering the main thing...to fight.


Props: JT

DO you Realize?

May this quote that Ray Ortlund posted be an encouragement to you this weekend!
"Were you a likely candidate for salvation? Yet didn't God save you? And while he may have used some human instrument, don't you see that he would have saved you with or without any instrument? And haven't you seen other 'impossible' brothers and sisters delivered likewise by the incredible power of the invisible God?

Do you realize from whence you came? You were in the grip of hell. Demons had wrapped their chains about you. The god of this world had blinded your understanding. Yet God struck off your chains and the face of Christ illumined your soul. The damned around you are no more damned than you were, their chains no thicker, their darkness no deeper. Nor is the power of Christ to save them one whit less."

John White, The Golden Cow, pages 151-152.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Keeping The End In Mind

This was incredibly refreshing to my soul today.

From The Redemption Blog:

My wife and I ran a half marathon a couple of years ago. Among many things, it was extremely difficult. About half way through the race I became separated from most of the other runners and for about 7 miles I ran alone.

With every step the desire to quit and keel over became stronger and thought of sitting down sounded heavenly. But the thing that kept me going was thinking about the moment of crossing the finish line.


This same thought does great good for my faith.


We (human beings) are all headed to the same end. Death. After we die, we will stand before Jesus and we will give an account for the life we lived on earth and nothing gets me more excited than thinking of hearing "Well done good and faithful servant," from my Savior.

Imagine this with me. All of our lives we live (hopefully) to worship Jesus and to please and honor him, then finally we see him face to face and he says "well done". Friends, there is nothing sweeter to live for!


This is what I think of when life is difficult or when I feel pride creeping up or when I have a chance to share the gospel. This is the thought that carries me through and motivates me to stay humble, keep the faith, and finish well.

I hope that it does the same for you and I hope we can spend eternity together enjoying God.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

John Piper on Doubting His Devotion to Christ

John Piper is one of the most respected leaders in the church today. He is loved by many young adults, and I believe this video is one of the big reasons, he is authentic about doubts and pains.

The Million Dollar Man's Testimony


I grew up watching WWF (the wrestling organization now known as WWE). I was a Hulkamaniac and was a fierce opponent of Hulk's arch-nemesis "The Million Dollar Man". I am older and not so much into professional wrestling, but still have fond memories. Below is an interview with Ted DiBiase (aka The Million Dollar Man) about his spiritual journey. It really is an amazing testimony and is also very telling about the need for strong men in the church who are men, not boys, no matter how physcialy strong or rich you are.

Here is a very telling quote that I don't doubt ismore common in the church today:

Everything was going according to plan, and then [when I was ] 15 my dad died from a heart attack in the ring. My whole life flipped upside down. I had to move to a small town. I had to watch my mother dive into full-blown alcoholism and sink into self-pity. But I gained strength from the lessons my dad taught me, and I stayed out of trouble, worked hard, and became the first person from my little school to graduate and get a football scholarship.

But then, in college, pride crept into my life, and I started doing things I wouldn't have done previously—having a beer with the boys, and then parties on the weekends—and that's a slippery slope. I quit going to church altogether. There was no longer a male role model in my life to convict me, and I drifted away from God. I didn't graduate from college, I didn't make it to the NFL, and my first marriage ended in divorce after six years. My oldest son is from that marriage.


Ted then goes on to describe his wanderings away from the church and his marital infidelity and a wife who loved Jesus more than him and because of that love stayed with him through it.

I knew I had failed as a man. Afterward my wife came to me and said: "I don't have the strength to forgive you. But God is a God of restoration and not divorce. Because I want to be obedient to Him and for no other reason, I'm going to give you a chance you don't deserve."


Stories of Jesus' transforming power like this need to be celebrated more, and not just because he is a celebrity, but because stories of restoration and hope in broken lives especially marriages need to be shared! After all, our God is in the business of restoring what was once broken and making all things new.

Click below to read the whole interview and testimony from New Man Magazine.

Monday, June 1, 2009