You are looking at posts that were written in the month of November in the year 2007.
Posted on November 23rd, 2007 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Blogs.
Why do we love to complain? It’s as though complaining is the only way we carry on conversations. The government is bad. Gas prices are too high. It’s too cold. It’s too hot. If only churches did this, or that.
This is the default attitude that Satan is selling us. Everything would be better if I bought this and had that. We clime higher in credit card debt believing that this item would make me feel better. What we never seem to learn is that our unthankfulness and our noncontempt is driving us into a slow depression.
Jesus breaks this mold. He becomes a rebel in the world we live. He teaches us to be thankful and contempt for what He has given us.
After watching shows about people who one the lotto, they all have one thing in common. The money never makes the people happy. Most lotto winners divorse within the year. Others find out that they blew it too fast and only have larger bills.
But Jesus breaks our way of thinking. Be thankful for all things. Paul writes, “For I have learned that in all situations to be contempt.” Where is this verse found? No one remembers this verse. But actually it is found right before the one where he states “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Happy Thanksgiving.
Posted on November 16th, 2007 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Blogs.
This week I felt the energy drain from my body. My motivation was gone. By Tuesday my muscles clamped up. My mouth became overwhelmed with ulcers (my body’s sign that I am over stressed). Wednesday morning I woke up after getting 9 1/2 hours of sleep still feeling exhausted. Got up and made my son pancakes like I do everyday, dropped him off at the daycare, then called in sick. Got home and slept over 4 more hours still wanting more.
Somethings wrong.
During my next quiet time, currently working through “The Mind of Christ”, I was asked what I do with my negative emotions.
What negative emotions? The ones where I do everyone else’s job except my own? The one where everyone calls me for their free computer tech support? The one where people call the church, get the secretary and specifically ask for me so that they can get a phone number and when I ask why didn’t they just ask the secretary and they say,”I thought she was busy”?!?
My response to the question is “bottle it all up inside”. And wallah. The reason for burn out. Although I wouldn’t call it anger but a lot of resentment. So now the question is, how do you guys deal with resentment?
Posted on November 16th, 2007 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Blogs.
The world is ever changing. What did we ever do before cell phones, text messaging, iPods, and the internet? I can’t imagine going back before all these things existed. I view the 80’s like others view the Stone Age.
Technology is changing. Education is changing. Jobs are changing. Families are changing. Societies, national governments, currency are all changing. With every decade, life as we know it has a new definition.
As the whole world changes, there are two places that every generation wants to feel safe — home and the church. For most, the church has become a close nit family. We like showing up at church with some clue of what is going to happen, seeing people we know and love, and singing praises to God with songs that we know.
Although this seems to be the recipe for a perfect church, therein lies a dilemma. As times are changing, what one generation wants is not what the other likes. Teenagers feel ignored and irrelevant in decision making. The senior adults feel like they are being pushed out. Baby boomers love to take control and fix the situation. Generation X doesn’t like what is going on so we leave, but no one even notices because so many of us don’t tithe, attend Sunday School, or volunteer.
Although music may appear to be the problem, it is only the battlefield of choice. Some churches create a blended worship service to please everyone, but no one actually is. Welcome to the 21st century. This is what most churches have become.
Let me introduce to you a new paradigm. What if we all came to church with a surrendered heart? “Lord, what is pleasing to You?” And we lay aside our own personal desires. What if we could invite members from every generation to sit down at the table together? What if our worship service wasn’t about the young verses the old but instead was about unifying, edifying, and encouraging each other? What if seniors could share their wisdom, youth could share their energy, and everyone in between shared their heart with their hands? Welcome to the first century church. Welcome to the family table. – Brian
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