Matt's Blog
2011 is almost in the books, so its a good time to review the top 10 messages of the year according to your listens and downloads. So, without further adieu, here is YOUR top 10:
10. Friends - Do your relationships build you up & encourage you, drawing you closer to Christ?
9. Authentic - Make the teaching about Jesus Christ attractive to unbelievers.
8. Song of Solomon - Set Him as a seal upon your heart.
7. The Church at Philadelphia - God opens doors no one can close and closes doors no one can open.
6. The Church at Sardis - It's time to wake up.
5. Get Activated - Celebration believes in the power of Christian community through small groups.
4. The Second Coming of Christ - A working man's eschatology without all the fluff and hype. There is a theme here, despite Mr. Camping's predictions...
3. He's A Little Runaway - Forgive: it's the right thing to do.
2. Dudes. - This look at Biblical masculinity will empower and encourage men to be EVERYTHING they're called to be as men in Christ.
And the number 1 message of 2011 according to YOU.......
1. Hey Jude - Defend and build each other up in our most holy faith.
10. Friends - Do your relationships build you up & encourage you, drawing you closer to Christ?
9. Authentic - Make the teaching about Jesus Christ attractive to unbelievers.
8. Song of Solomon - Set Him as a seal upon your heart.
7. The Church at Philadelphia - God opens doors no one can close and closes doors no one can open.
6. The Church at Sardis - It's time to wake up.
5. Get Activated - Celebration believes in the power of Christian community through small groups.
4. The Second Coming of Christ - A working man's eschatology without all the fluff and hype. There is a theme here, despite Mr. Camping's predictions...
3. He's A Little Runaway - Forgive: it's the right thing to do.
2. Dudes. - This look at Biblical masculinity will empower and encourage men to be EVERYTHING they're called to be as men in Christ.
And the number 1 message of 2011 according to YOU.......
1. Hey Jude - Defend and build each other up in our most holy faith.
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31 Days To Finding Your Blogging Mojo Review
I figured a blogging mogul like Bryan Allain would never pick a lil ole pastor blogger like me to review his new book 31 Days To Finding Your Blogging Mojo, but he did. He was probably desperate and wanted into the Christian marketing niche.
He sorely overestimated me and my meager blogging reach.
But I digress.
While the title is a bit odd and the writing style is a bit forced (in a funny, awkward way) the material is excellent. The book offers 31 very practical ways to refine, focus and take your blog to a more focused and effective level. I found myself wanting to follow the steps very carefully (but I couldn't because I had 3 days instead of 31 to review it). He helps bloggers find their true voice and offers great tips on creating, refining, and maximizing great content.
31 Days to Finding Your Blogging Mojo makes good on its promise, and I plan on working through it again to find mine.
(Cue L.A. Woman: ”Mr. Mojo risin...”)
Click here and read more about Bryan Allain & order the book.
Philemon Phollow Up, Part 2
Its a twist in your gut. That pang of guilt and regret that just won't go away. You feel it when you see something that reminds you, hear something that makes your thoughts drift back to that day, that time, that person. You know you need to do something about it but you just can't. There's something to say, something to do but you just can't make your mouth say the words, or your body complete the task.
You've been running. Plain and simple. Its just easier to do. Facing the music will be painful. It will feel shameful. You're pretty certain it's more than you can bear. It's a mess that overwhelms and confuses you. Where should you start? You don't have the answers so you just freeze. Or keep running. Whichever keeps you from having to deal with it.
Then one day it happens. You know its time. You've been thinking about it. You've been praying about it. The Holy Spirit lets you know its time to stop running. It's time to reach out. It's time to reconcile. Its time to forgive. It's time.
There will come a day when we all stop and face the music. You'll finally understand what to say. You'll understand what to do. You'll find wise and Godly counsel, and you'll listen. You'll find the strength and determination you've been lacking to do what must be done because its coming from the Spirit of God.
Just like Onesimus.
You've been running. Plain and simple. Its just easier to do. Facing the music will be painful. It will feel shameful. You're pretty certain it's more than you can bear. It's a mess that overwhelms and confuses you. Where should you start? You don't have the answers so you just freeze. Or keep running. Whichever keeps you from having to deal with it.
Then one day it happens. You know its time. You've been thinking about it. You've been praying about it. The Holy Spirit lets you know its time to stop running. It's time to reach out. It's time to reconcile. Its time to forgive. It's time.
There will come a day when we all stop and face the music. You'll finally understand what to say. You'll understand what to do. You'll find wise and Godly counsel, and you'll listen. You'll find the strength and determination you've been lacking to do what must be done because its coming from the Spirit of God.
Just like Onesimus.
Philemon Phollow Up
You broke the law. Now you're on the run. It's not your best moment or your proudest. As far as you're concerned, if no one ever finds out about what you did, how you acted, how low you stooped, that would be just fine. You did and said things you promised yourself you'd never do or say. You put yourself in positions you never dreamed you'd be in.
Then something great happens. God finds you. He sends you someone who not only understands where you've been and where you're going, but actually has answers that make sense. You find forgiveness. You find restoration. You find usefulness. You find hope.
God did it thousands of years ago with a runaway slave named Onesimus, and he can do it with you. Onesimus found himself on the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of the conflict with his master, Philemon, and ran. But in the process he found the Apostle Paul who showed him salvation through Jesus Christ. He found his Kingdom purpose and his destiny.
In Philemon 15-16, Paul writes, "It seems you lost Onesimus for a little while so that you could have him back forever...Now he will mean much more to you both as a man and as a brother in the Lord."
That's just like God. He can find you and take you in your lowest moment, your darkest hour, and turn you right around. If you let him, he can take that heart that seems so distant and dead and make it alive in Christ, useful in the Kingdom.
Sometimes he lets us get lost for a little while, so he can get us back forever.
Then something great happens. God finds you. He sends you someone who not only understands where you've been and where you're going, but actually has answers that make sense. You find forgiveness. You find restoration. You find usefulness. You find hope.
God did it thousands of years ago with a runaway slave named Onesimus, and he can do it with you. Onesimus found himself on the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of the conflict with his master, Philemon, and ran. But in the process he found the Apostle Paul who showed him salvation through Jesus Christ. He found his Kingdom purpose and his destiny.
In Philemon 15-16, Paul writes, "It seems you lost Onesimus for a little while so that you could have him back forever...Now he will mean much more to you both as a man and as a brother in the Lord."
That's just like God. He can find you and take you in your lowest moment, your darkest hour, and turn you right around. If you let him, he can take that heart that seems so distant and dead and make it alive in Christ, useful in the Kingdom.
Sometimes he lets us get lost for a little while, so he can get us back forever.
When God Invades Our Plans
Ezekiel was 25 and training to be a priest at the time the Babylonians took the first 10,000 Israelites into exile. By the time he was 30, he was an exile in Babylon and instead of operating as a priest, he was called to be prophet of God.
What a turn of events that must have been for Ezekiel. His whole adult life he thought he would be a priest ministering to God's presence in the Temple in Jerusalem and when it’s finally his time, he's called to be a prophet in Babylon to a bunch of stiff-necked exiles. I'm wondering if Ezekiel wasn't confused by these turn of events? I don't know. But I do know that when God invades our plans to reveal his plans, it creates a crisis of faith.
Ezekiel responded well to a very tough job. Being a prophet was no easy ride. He was asked to do some very difficult things throughout his prophetic years in order to be God's messenger to the Babylonian captives. But then again, he got to be God's messenger to the Babylonian captives, no small honor.
Makes me wonder how we will respond when God decides to invade our plans...plans that may be our birthright.
Will we follow God like Ezekiel did or will we resist like the exiles?
Will we follow God like Ezekiel did or will we resist like the exiles?
