Winning Ways: What Are You Seeking?

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think...'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be."

That's what NFL quarterback Tom Brady told Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes a few years ago.

Brady has started for the Patriots eleven seasons, leading his team to the Super Bowl five times and earning them rings in three of those games. He's won the Super Bowl MVP twice, gone to eight Pro Bowls, and his league record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season has yet to be surpassed. But in a moment of candor he admitted to Kroft, "Maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life.' Me, I think, 'God, it's got to be more than this.'"

"What's the answer?" asked Kroft.

"I wish I knew," Brady replied, "I wish I knew."

I think his new backup QB could suggest an answer.

In the first chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus notices two men trailing him and he asks them, "What are you seeking?" Have you paused in your busy life long enough to answer that question yourself? What are you seeking?

This Sunday we'll spend some time with that biblical story as we wrap up our series, "Questions God Wants to Ask You." It will also be a perfect study for introducing you to a new campaign called "Explore God." Our church is one of 280+ Austin churches participating in this effort.

"Explore God" is a citywide effort to bring spiritually prepared believers together with spiritually curious people to begin to have conversations about God. The campaign begins in July with an area-wide advertising blitz designed to raise awareness and create curiosity regarding spiritual issues. In July and August, we'll train you to talk naturally with others about these issues. The campaign culminates with a sermon series in September and October when our Sunday messages and small groups will be centered on seven common questions about God and faith. Our goal is for 400,000 spiritual conversations to take place and for 50,000 people to hear the gospel!

To learn more, go online to HillcrestAustin.org/ExploreGod. And be sure to join us this Sunday as we think through Jesus' profound question: "What are you seeking?"

__________________________________________

Subscribe to "Winning Ways" and

it will arrive in your inbox each Wednesday

hillcrestaustin.org/newsletters

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 25

 

The Navy is looking into whether Capt'n Crunch is impersonating an officer.

 

12 Great Ideas That Went Horribly Wrong

 

Want to change the world? Sponsor a child.

 

"We don’t belong to anyone’s political party. We don’t belong to anyone’s organization, and so we ought to have the freedom, then, to speak prophetically to both parties and to all parties" says the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. A profile of Russell Moore.

 

J.D. Grear: "I’m often asked, “Why even bother with something like the SBC? Aren’t the days of denominations over? Can’t we be just as effective on our own? Why deal with all the red tape, bureaucracy, and downright crazy people who speak in the SBC’s name?.” Cooperating with the SBC offers a fair number of challenges: we are not a perfect people by a lot shot. And for many people, the solution seems to be to simply sever ties and go our own way. But cooperating together for the mission of God, however challenging, is biblical, expedient, and personally beneficial." Read the rest.

 

"The way people treat restaurant staff is, I think, a kind of poker tell, revealing a person’s character." HT: David Mills

 

From Time's international cover story: "In the reckoning of religious extremism—Hindu nationalists, Muslim militants, fundamentalist Christians, ultra-Orthodox Jews—Buddhism has largely escaped trial. To much of the world, it is synonymous with nonviolence and loving kindness, concepts propagated by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, 2,500 years ago. But like adherents of any religion, Buddhists and their holy men are not immune to politics and, on occasion, the lure of sectarian chauvinism....Every religion can be twisted into a destructive force poisoned by ideas that are antithetical to its foundations. Now it’s Buddhism’s turn." Time covers the promotion of violence against Muslims (and Christians) by Buddhist monks in Southeast Asia.

 

Find from era of King David may confirm Old Testament text -- if politics don't interfere

 

Peer pressure and teens

I came to this same conclusion after reading the NY Times piece on the consequences of women denied abortions. You to into the Times piece thinking you're going to get a sober wake-up call on the sad burden of being "forced" to carry a child to term. What you get instead is a story of life!

 

 

The time it takes to prepare a sermon. This is about right: My investment is about 15 hours, give or take.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Winning Ways: Accepting and Copying the Sacrifice of Christ

Christ's sacrificial service to us is something to accept and copy. We miss the fullness of the Christian life if we ignore either of these actions.

This is what Jesus taught the night before he went to the cross. We read in John 13 that Jesus knelt down before each of his 12 men, removed their sandals, and washed their feet. You wouldn't come to the dinner table with dirty feet in that culture any more than you would come to the dinner table with dirty hands in our culture. So, washing feet was a menial but necessary task often assigned to the lowest servant in the household. In this instance, though, it was the Lord Jesus who took the towel and basin and served his men.

Afterward he asked in verse 12, "Do you understand what I have done for you?"

Well, do you?

Here's what he has done for us: He has served us in a way we must accept and copy.

First, accept the way he has served you. Jesus' act of foot-washing was a symbol of the coming cross. He dealt with dirty feet one day and with dirty souls the next day. The Holy One accepted the penalty for our unholiness to save us. "If I do not wash you," Jesus said to a reluctant Simon Peter, "you have no share with me" (verse 8). He says the same thing to us. We are accepted by God not by what we do for him but by what he has done for us in Christ.

Second, copy the way he has served you. He said in verse 14, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." How do you serve others? Through forbearance and forgiveness. Through sacrificing your time and resources to meet their needs. The Christian life is a foot-washing life in imitation of our Lord.

Join us this Sunday @ 10am as we find ways to John 13 to action.

And don't forget: After the 10 a.m. service there will be no Sunday School or Common Ground. Instead, we'll dismiss in time for you to get a lunch and bring it to our churchwide picnic at City Park! We're going to baptize some people at this event, so let me know if you're ready to take this step of Christian obedience. Find out more at HillcrestAustin.org/OutdoorBaptism.

__________________________________________

Subscribe to "Winning Ways" and

it will arrive in your inbox each Wednesday

hillcrestaustin.org/newsletters

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Winning Ways: Baptism: The Meaning, The Method, The Moment

At 61, Texas hero Sam Houston became a believer and submitted to baptism in Ricky Creek near his home in Independence. One old companion of his wilder days winked at his dripping-wet friend and asked if he felt his sins had now been washed away. "Yes," said Houston, adding, "and God help the fish down below!"

We're scheduling an outdoor baptism at our churchwide picnic on June 23. Find out more at HillcrestAustin.org/OutdoorBaptism. And let me know if you're ready to take this step of Christian obedience.

The Bible can guide you to understand the meaning, the method, and the moment of baptism.

The Meaning: Baptism is a public expression of your faith in Jesus. It's a powerful symbol of your union with the Lord who died and rose again to accomplish your salvation. Just as my wedding ring reminds me of my commitment to Diane, my baptism reminds me that I belong to Jesus.

The Method: Immersion is the form of baptism that symbolizes your union with a Lord who was buried and rose again. That's why Paul reminded his readers that they were buried with Christ through baptism (Romans 6:4). In fact, the English word "baptize" is our transliteration of the biblical Greek word baptizo, which means "to dip" or "to plunge."

The Moment: Baptism is an act you choose for yourself after you've committed your life to Jesus. If you were christened as an infant, you should thank your parents for their commitment to raise you in the faith. But now you should publicly express that you've made that commitment for yourself.

We're encouraging parents to talk with their children and teenagers about the June 23 baptism, but adults need to consider this step, too. We interviewed several members who were baptized at Hillcrest as adults, and they tell their stories at the video found at HillcrestAustin.org/OutdoorBaptism. I think you will identify with the thought process they went through to reach this decision. If you have any questions, parents with a child or teen needing baptism should contact Karen Raulie or Steve Cloud, and adults needing baptism should contact me. We will want to talk with anyone interested in baptism before June 23.

I look forward to this special church fellowship!

The Sam Houston story was found in an old Texas Monthly article by Jo Brans called "Every Day a Great Awakening."

 

Posted with Blogsy

“It was about my feeling that if you did all the right things, you would get all the right results”

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6, ESV)

That’s a proverb, not a guarantee. A proverb states what is generally true. What is generally true is that if you engage in the hard work of good parenting, you will see the fruit of your labor lived out in your adult children.

So, what do you do if you “train up a child”—that is, if you invest in your child’s interests, discipline your child, set a good example for your child, display God’s glory to your child—what do you do if train up your child in the way he should go and then he departs from it?

Moms (and Dads) will be grateful for this guest post on A Holy Experience by Lysa TerKeurst. It starts out this way:

I stood at the vending machine infuriated.

More than annoyed. More than mad.  More than angry.

Infuriated.

A girl can sometimes have responses out of proportion to the wrong they are experiencing.  And like a compass pointing to truth north, this infuriation pointed somewhere.  Somewhere, I didn’t want to explore.

I wanted a Diet Coke. So I did what was required.  I followed the rules.  I put in the required money.  I pushed the right button.

Only what I got wasn’t at all what I wanted.

Something had gone wrong.

I clenched my fists and bit my lip.

And I knew. My out of proportion response wasn’t really about a soda.

It was about being disillusioned. By one of my teens.

It was about my feeling that if you did all the right things, you would get all the right results. You do what’s expected of you and you’ll get what you expect.

Put in the money. Push the button. Get the Diet Coke.

Put in all the time.  (Love.  Daddy daughter date nights.  Intentionality.  Prayer. Discipline.  Bible lessons.  Sundays at church.  Dinners at the table.  Talks at bedtime.  Kisses.  Hugs.  And chores.)

Push the button.  Get the child that walks the straight and narrow.

But sometimes you get the unexpected.

And you know what I’m tempted to do as a mom?  Draw a straight line from my child’s wrong choice to my weakness in mothering.

That will just about kill a mama.  Crack her heart open and fill it with paralyzing regret of the past and fear for the future.  And that’s exactly where Satan wants us mama’s to stay.  Paralyzed.

But what if that’s the wrong line to draw?

Read the rest.

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 11

12 Obsolete Technologies that Americans Still Use

 

Texas Bible converts "you" to "y'all." I've always thought the Southernism was superior to requiring the word "you" to cover you singular as well as you plural. And, non-Southerners could learn something from the late great Lew Grizzard: "Y'all" is not used when Southerners are referencing just one person.

 

"Perhaps the pope making saints out of the hundreds of brave men [in Italy's Otranto] who six centuries ago gave up their lives rather than experience forced conversion to Islam will remind cynical secular historians that the religious fanatics aren't always the people who die for their faith. Sometimes the fanatics are the people who kill them." (Charlotte Allen in the WSJ)

 

Award-winning short, "The Coffinmaker." I like the idea that handles on a coffin represent that we are meant to carry each other:

 

With the Southern Baptist Convention in Houston this week, here are 9 Things You Should Know About Southern Baptists.

 

Related: A Primer on the Southern Baptist Convention, Part 1, Part 2

 

"In Norway — one of the most secular nations in an increasingly godless Europe — the runaway popularity of the Bible has caught the country by surprise. The Scriptures, in a new Norwegian language version, even outpaced 'Fifty Shades of Grey' to become Norway’s best-selling book" (AP story).

 

Posted with Blogsy

Our Recipe: Respect + Conviction

"Christianity is something that if you really believed it, it would change your life and you would want to change the lives of others."

And then the atheist added, "I haven't seen too much of that."

You read that correctly. A nonbelieving student at Dartmouth expressed disappointment that his Christian acquaintances were not engaging him with the gospel.

There's a lesson here for us. Our recipe for impacting our neighbors involves generous measures of conviction and respect. It's a falsehood to think that showing respect for those who disagree with you means you have to play down your convictions.

The nonbeliever's story was highlighted in an article for the Atlantic by Larry Alex Taunton, executive director of the Fixed Point Foundation. The article was about what he had learned from simply asking university students about their journey to unbelief.

Here are his discoveries. I'll add a "takeaway" that we as church leaders need to apply from each point.

They had attended church. For the most part, atheists were not raised by atheistic parents. Rather, they had spent some time in a Christian church.

Takeaway: Since our neighbors have likely spent some time in a church in the past, they think they already know the message of our church. Don't assume they actually do. Sometimes when discussing faith with a nonbeliever its helpful to ask what they rejected or didn't find persuasive in their previous church experiences. Often the gospel differs from what they heard (or thought they heard). Explain those differences.

The mission and message of their churches was vague. Here's a good warning for those who say the key to cultural relevance isn't found in Bible study groups and Sunday worship but rather in social justice and community involvement. Taunton remembered Stephanie, a student at Northwestern who said of her disappointment with church: "The connection between Jesus and a person's life was not clear." Taunton added: "This is an incisive critique. She seems to have intuitively understood that the church does not exist simply to address social ills, but to proclaim the teachings of its founder, Jesus Christ, and their relevance to the world. Since Stephanie did not see that connection, she saw little incentive to stay."

Takeaway: We should participate in practical activities for community improvement, but we should always show how these activities develop out of the impact Christ has made on our lives. There is no conflict between biblical proclamation and practical service.

They felt their churches offered superficial answers to life's difficult questions. They were hoping to find a church that didn't shy away from the tough stuff. Taunton, again:

When our participants were asked what they found unconvincing about the Christian faith, they spoke of evolution vs. creation, sexuality, the reliability of the biblical text, Jesus as the only way, etc. Some had gone to church hoping to find answers to these questions. Others hoped to find answers to questions of personal significance, purpose, and ethics. Serious-minded, they often concluded that church services were largely shallow, harmless, and ultimately irrelevant. As Ben, an engineering major at the University of Texas, so bluntly put it: "I really started to get bored with church."

Takeaway: Take the time to show how Christian belief stands up to tough questions. Our Explore God campaign this fall will be a perfect opportunity to have conversations with seeking people about some of the faith questions they struggle with the most. Over 280 Austin-area churches of many denominations are participating in this campaign. Deacons and Bible study leaders are encouraged to come to breakfast at 8:30am on either June 23 or June 30 to learn more about this upcoming campaign.

They expressed their respect for those ministers who took the Bible seriously. The Dartmouth student whose comment opened today's post surprised Taunton with his disappointment over Christians unwilling or uninterested in engaging others with their faith: "I really can't consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn't trying to convert me." It reminds me of what the atheist and illuionist Penn Jillette said years ago: "I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all....How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"

Takeaway: Respecting the views of others doesn't mean staying silent about your own views. It's wrong to express your views in a way that marks you as defensive or easily-offended. But the alternative isn't to shut up. In the long run, people are impressed with people of respectful convictions.

Ages 14-17 were decisive. For the majority of atheists, the high school years were the time when they embraced unbelief.

Takeaway: Pray for our youth ministry!

The decision to embrace unbelief was often an emotional one. Taunton wrote, "With few exceptions, students would begin by telling us that they had become atheists for exclusively rational reasons. But as we listened it became clear that, for most, this was a deeply emotional transition as well."

Takeaway: Just because someone gives rational reasons for their nonbelief, be prepared to help them explore the emotional reasons, too. Grief, disillusionment, and anger are often the driving motivations to rejection of faith. C.S. Lewis, recalling his own time as an atheist, famously defined an atheist as "someone who does not believe in God and is mad at God for not existing."

The internet factored heavily into their conversion to atheism. When Taunton asked the nonbelievers to cite key influences in their conversion to atheism, he assumed he would hear how they were impacted by lectures and books from the militant atheists such as Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens or Sam Harris. He wrote, "We did not. Not once. Instead, we heard vague references to videos they had watched on YouTube or website forums."

Takeaway: Make use of social media in your efforts to influence. Go to ExploreGod.org to get a preview of resources we'll be encouraging you to use during our citywide "Explore God" campaign in late summer and early fall.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Winning Ways: Are You Afraid to Win?

I know perfectionists driven by a fear of failure, but I’ve seen more people crippled by the fear of success.

Fear of success? Who could possibly be afraid of success? Could the answer be...you?

Eugene Peterson recalls a time when he was five years old, standing at a barbed-wire fence, watching an adult neighbor and fellow church member, 'Brother Storm.' The man rumbled up and down the field in his enormous tractor and the daily wish of little Peterson was to ride on that John Deere.

One day while the little preschooler stood by the fence with that mixture of awe and longing, Brother Storm stopped. He stood up from the seat, and made strong waving motions to Peterson with his arm. 'He looked mean and angry,' said Peterson. 'I knew I was probably where I shouldn't be; five-year-old boys often are. I turned and left. Sadly, I hadn't felt I was doing anything wrong -- I was only watching from what I thought was a safe distance and wishing that someday, somehow I could get to ride that tractor. I went home feeling rejected, rebuked.'

The next Sunday at church, Brother Storm approached young Peterson. 'Why didn’t you accept my invitation the other day? I was hoping you’d ride with me a while.' In his preschool eyes, Peterson thought the man was shooing him away when instead he was beckoning him into an experience the little boy had long desired.

I wonder how many times God calls us into what we most want to do, but we think he's shooing us away.

We fear success. We fear the work success requires, we fear the ridicule our dreams might bring from others, and we desperately fear that we might not have what it takes. After all, if there was no possibility of failure, they’d call it 'sure-thing-taking,' not 'risk-taking!'

Every venture is a test of our mettle, and some of us would rather stay within the safe confines of our private dreams instead of face the risks.

Those of us most crippled by the fear of success are most surprised by Psalm 20. 'May he give you the desire of you heart,' the poet prays for the king, 'and make all your plans succeed.' Imagine that: God put that prayer in his Book so we would have permission to talk to him about our desires!

Are you hiding your timidity behind pious-sounding excuses? Trust God with your dreams!

__________________________________________

Subscribe to "Winning Ways" and

it will arrive in your inbox each Wednesday

hillcrestaustin.org/newsletters

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 4

Church Sign Fail (HT: Ed Stetzer)

 

Good to Know, Onion: Texting While Driving Okay If You Look Up Every Couple Seconds

 

5 Ways to Find Joy in a Job You Don't Love

 

Have you ever heard colors?

 

"The main reason I'm planning on celibacy for the foreseeable future is just that I'm Catholic and lesbian and them's the rules, bud." Eve Tushnet explaining in The Atlantic why she, a lesbian, joined the Catholic Church. You should read this. "I think gay Catholics can also offer a necessary witness to the broader society. By leading lives of fruitful, creative love, we can offer proof that sexual restraint isn't a death sentence (or an especially boring form of masochism). Celibacy can offer some of us radical freedom to serve others....Moreover, celibate gay Christians can offer proof that friendship can be real love, and deserves the same honor as any other form of lovingkindness, caretaking and devotion."

 

Hanging Out With Sheryl Crow and Her Kids--Where?

 

There have always been conflicts over Christian worship music. And ever shall be?

 

Posted with Blogsy

What Does "The Promotion of Hatred" Mean to Apple?

According to Macworld, Apple approved, and then rejected, an iOS app designed to help people address a range of struggles. The app offered free courses to help Christian disciples deal with such things as overeating, substance abuse, cutting, and gambling. But what got the developers in trouble was the temerity to offer a course option on same-sex attraction. The All Out organization generated an online protest against Apple for listing the app in iTunes, and Apple reversed their decision.

It's irresponsible of Macworld to entitle the post 'Apple pulls app that claimed to "cure" homosexuality.' Putting "cure" in quotes leads the reader to assume the app developers made that claim. And based on the comments below that post, mission accomplished. But the only place I can find the use of that word is on the protest site, not the Setting Captives Free website. Seems to me there's a significant difference between someone claiming to 'cure' unwanted feelings and someone claiming to help you successfully resist acting on unwanted feelings.

Apple's app developer guidelines prohibit "the promotion of hatred toward groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity." No one has asked Apple why they concluded the app "promoted hatred," or Apple hasn't responded to inquiries. I know nothing about the Setting Captives Free organization other than what can be learned from a quick scan around their website. But it seems to me that the organization is operating on the worldview most Christians hold: Jesus expects his disciples to resist acting on certain impulses, and the work of the Word, the Spirit, and the Body can strengthen a disciple's resistance. Could someone get Apple to clarify if this is what "the promotion of hatred" means to them?

 

Posted with Blogsy