"Here we are now, entertain us."

I wanted to share a couple of links with you first:

>>> A New Way of Doing Church - by Yo Dude, a poster on the Actscelerate message board.

>>> Out of Ur - Consumerism and Church Buildings - quite interesting!

I've been thinking, last night and today, about why many people seem to prefer being a passive member of a church, attending but not truly digging in and becoming involved, versus actually being an active member, or someone who comes in, gets involved, becomes discipled, etc.

It would seem that Kurt Cobain is truly a secular prophet for my generation, with his line from Smells Like Teen Spirit, "Here we are now, entertain us."

This has become the slogan for my generation of church attenders. Here we are now, entertain us! And so, we do... or, at least, we attempt to do. We have the latest technology, the best bands, cool lights, etc. etc. etc.

But isn't church supposed to be so much more than that? Isn't church supposed to draw us near to Christ? Isn't church supposed to be a place where we are discipled to be more like Jesus, and then are encouraged to take that out into the world around us?

Isn't church supposed to be less like a convention center, and more like a sacred space where we come together to truly experience the presence of God?

I feel a revolt coming on. Anyone want to join me?

God is Faithful. Always.

Today @ MCOG, I talked a lot about being faithful. We are on week 4 of our HEROES series and were discussing the life of Abraham. In the midst of all of this talk about us being faithful, I suddenly realized something.

God is faithful. Always.

God is faithful when the whole world seems against you.

God is faithful when tragedy strikes.

God is faithful when you are sick and when you are well.

God is faithful when your life is filled with strife, heartache and pain.

God is faithful. Always. Even when we aren’t.

Take time, today, to give Him thanks for being an ever-faithful Heavenly Father.

By His grace.

Lust, Porn, and Beholding the Glory of Christ

John Piper has some really important words for us in a post he made Thursday on the Desiring God website (full post HERE).

"I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation."

We're coming to a place where we must make some radical decisions about the place of media in our lives, about the way we dress, and about the way we choose to respond to the way others dress. Needless to say, radical decisions don't come easy, but as we trust in His grace, we will be able to choose the joy of His glory over the lust of our flesh.

By His grace.