Today our entire church fasted and prayed over their lunch hour.  It doesn't seem like a big deal (skipping one meal), but it can make a huge spiritual impact.  The point of fasting is to take the focus off your physical needs and put focus on your spiritual needs.  Prayer accompanies fasting as you pray for God to "feed" your spiritual needs.  We don't have time or space here to go into the proofs of fasting, but suffice it to say that fasting is considered a spiritual discipline by the Bible and its authors (Isaiah 58; 1 Samuel 7:6; Acts 9:9).

For my Scripture reading I read, meditated, and journaled on Luke 15,16.  I love these chapters as they contain parables that express how much God loves humanity, including myself.

After reading my prayers took the direction of thanking God for all He has done at our church.  In 11 years throughout the growth of the church He has provided buildings that could house us and give us a home.  He has blessed us with countless great memories here - Christmas and Easter celebrations, children's events, outreaches, etc. 

After being thankful my prayers moved to requests.  The constant refrain in my prayers was for God to take something small that we offer and turn it into something big for the Kingdom of God.  Oftentimes as pastor I see the negative or challenging things that we have in our community: I'm too close to the situation to see the great things that are happening.  So I prayed for God to use our small things and show me how He is working to accomplish big things.  I prayed for our Sunday worship that it would be not only pleasing to Him, but also that He could use it to break the hearts of those who were in attendance.  I prayed for the simple things to become Kingdom impacting things; nothing is too small for God.

It would be great if all BRCC would be in prayer for the little things to make a huge difference in community around us. It would be great if all BRCC had a vision for what God is doing in their life and what He could do in the future!

Luke 7:40-50New International Version (NIV)


40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a]and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

I was playing some of my old worship CD's this week  and I came across a Rich Mullin's album.  It was very influential on me in my early colleges days as I struggled to make my faith my own.  This is a video of Rich (now deceased) performing a signature song, "Step by Step."  Enjoy!

I follow a lot of blogs on ministry, church, theology, etc.  One that I follow is by a guy named Ron Edmondson (http://www.ronedmondson.com/).  He has a lot of advice for pastors and church members alike.  He recently wrote an article on how Christians should behave online.  Here are his main points:

Currently I'm reading a book by Steve Turner called Popcultured.  The book is designed to help Christians  navigate the postmodern pop culture pathways.  One paragraph that I found particularly helpful for the Christian consumer of pop culture came in the chapter "Celebrity Culture,"

"So how should we approach celebrity as Christians?  We need to maintain our perspective.  Because someone can write memorable songs, tell gripping stories or design wonderful clothes doesn't mean they are worthy of reverence or deference.  We can respect someone who has a basic gift that they have subsequently developed, but we shouldn't glorify them as though they had invented the gift it self . . . it came directly from God" (105).

Good stuff.  Keep perspective and remember to keep the main thing, the main thing.

"Abiding in Jesus is the central matter of living a dependent life.  The consequences of not abiding are severe: were are cut off from divine empowerment.  We can't accomplish anything of lasting value - bearing fruit - unless we're dynamically relating to Him while He is abiding in us.  If we're disconnected from divine relationship and resources, we're just as fruitless as the three soils in the parable (Matthew 13:3-23 - click to read passage)." - Klaus Issler Living into the Life of Jesus, 48.

I've had Keeping in Step with the Spirit by J.I. Packer on my shelf for quite some time.  Every time I walk past the book I say, "yes, I will get to that!"  Well, I've finally got to it.  The purpose of Packer's book is to raise awareness of the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual formation of Christians.  Without getting into too much detail (this is not a book review), I wanted to focus in on a quote which I think is helpful in understanding the Spirit's role of making Christians aware of sin - a definition of sin itself.  The word and even concept of sinfulness is used quite a lot, but I struggle with a precise definition (I would even go as far to say that in our cultural setting we need a new more relevant description that people can understanding).  All that being said, I think Packer provides us (me) with a helpful definition, 

"Sin, which is in essence an irrational energy of rebellion against God - a lawless habit of self-willed arrogance, moral, and spiritual, expressing itself in egoism of all sorts . . . " (34).