quoting [Perry Noble]
a movement of God cannot be planned, but it must be prepared for.
quoting [steven furtick]
Mistakes aren’t fatal. Apathy is.
:: steven furtick, pastor @ elevation church in charlotte, nc
quoting [Steven Furtick]
You can measure the value that you place on a relationship by the level of discomfort you are willing to engage to make that relationship the best it can possibly be.
dang. seriously. dang.
read the rest of his post here.
quoting [Reese Roper]
Do you have an opinion on the Christian market today?
Yeah, it would be to say that it is just as insular and backstabbing as it ever was, but somehow more appealing. There are a few bands out there that do a great job at spreading the love of Christ to the world (Switchfoot, you guys know I love you!), a few more who equip and encourage the church, and a great mass of musical hatchet-jobs that could never survive anywhere else but for the appeal of the forgiving and under-schooled ears of the Western Church. They only exist to add padding to our already comfortable church pews…
preach it Reese. as a musician, it’s irritated me for a long time that for centuries the Church lead the way in the arts. now, it’s hard to find anything in the creative arts labeled ‘Christian’ that is anything more than a cheap, watered down knock-off of something popular in the secular vein.
you may know him as the frontman from Five Iron Frenzy (RIP). check the whole article on Relevant here.
what are you putting off?
There are some things you don’t need to pray about. You don’t need to pray about whether you should love your neighbor. You don’t need to pray about whether you should give generously or serve sacrificially. You don’t need to pray about whether you should bless someone when it is within your power to do so. God has already spoken. What you need to do is quit praying and start acting.
there are plenty of things that if i’m honest, i’m waiting for a solution that never shows up. truth is, it’s not the solution that doesn’t show up – because i already know what it is. instead i’m waiting for some sort of confirmatino after confirmation to get me to a place of my assurance that i cannot fail. and you know what: a lot of those things never happen because i’m not confortable feeling safe from failure.
but when the crap were we ever promised safety from failure?
Psalm 37:23-24
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.
even though God establishes our steps, we still fall. i read this a few weeks ago on one of my favorite blogs:
I’ve been encouraged many times by reminding myself that God orders my steps. He helps me make wise decisions. He guides me in my choices.
But doesn’t it encourage you even more to know that He even orders your falls?
He doesn’t just help me choose the right path. He redeems me graciously even when I choose the wrong one.He doesn’t only order my successes. He orders my failures too.
And it all works together for my good, and His glory.
quoting [Martin Luther]
“Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest
treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds hearts, and
spirits…a person who…does not regard music as a marvelous creation of
God…does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted
to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
Martin Luther
quoting [Tom Morello]
Q: What would you say to a guitarist who feels like his tone is stuck in a rut?
A: We’ll I’ll tell you what I did when I encountered that problem – I gave up. For years, I tried to find this perfect tone I had in my head. Then, one day, I spent a few hours fiddling with my gear, and I decided that I didn’t particularly love the tone, but it wasn’t going to get any better. So I marked those settings and said, “Now I’m done. This is my sound.” And those settings are the same ones that I used in today’s rehearsal – as well as on every record and every show I’ve ever played. When I stopped worrying so much about tone, and started worrying about music, the problem went away.
i read this in an old issue of Guitar Player magazine recently. i’ve always loved tom’s playing, in both Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. there’s so much much depth to this thought for me, both musically and spiritually. do you remeber what your big picture is, or are you buried in the details?
ripped from the headlines
here’s today’s gem from FOXNews:
Apes Deserve Human Rights, Spanish Leaders Say
Spanish apes are one step closer to receiving the same rights to life and freedom humans have. (more)
now, i don’t mean to state the obvious about human rights, but…
quoting [Rev. Eugene Rivers]
In some cases, because the American public is not terribly theologically literate, they hold contradictory views because they haven’t thought deeply or been taught deeply about their faith tradition.
here’s a link to an article & video from msnbc.com regarding some thoughts on the scope of faith in American as a whole. while i’m becoming less and less tied to the results of surveys, this quote really nails down where i believe the Church as a whole needs to step it up.
how’s the Biblical literacy rate in your church?
