Agape Newsletter, January 30, 2009: Special New Members Class and Sword of the Spirit Edition

Hello all, 

I have no time to think up a clever introduction to this newsletter, because there is too much to say, and not enough time to say it, so let’s just start with our ultra quick summary: 

5. Check out our blog! Pinsonchurch.com/blog Updated every week with this newsletter, as well as funny/amazing videos and other articles to build you up. 

This Sunday’s message is going to include a surprise twist - what sort of twist? Well, you’ll have to wait and see, I’m afraid. What I can tell you is that we will be completing our 3 part series on holiness Sunday, with a message that will teach us how to overcome temptation and the enemy by using the Sword of the Spirit. The message should be practical as well as quite challenging, and I hope you can make it! The last two messages in the series are available on our website, thanks to David. Click Here for Agape’s online sermons.  

Also this Sunday, directly after worship and word, we will be having a class for anybody who wants to join Agape. The class is very informal, quite short, and includes a free meal. What a deal! If you are planning on coming, and you haven’t already told me, or one of the other staff members, that you were, please email me as soon as possible so I can have an accurate count to give to our head chef Jennifer Z. At this point, I’ve heard from 31 people (including children, and staff families) that they plan on being there. 

This Wednesday night, we will be tackling one of they great mysteries of Jesus’ teaching, the unforgivable sin. What did Jesus mean when He said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin? Come join us as we complete our study of Matthew 12, and look towards Matthew 13. 

Finally, check this website out: One Prayer 2009 (click here) this is a nationwide and worldwide unity and service effort of the Body of Christ to reach our neighborhoods and neighbors for Jesus. Be sure and watch the videos from Craig Groeschel and Dino Rizzo to get an idea of what this movement is all about. What do you guys think about doing this in Pinson for June, 2009? 

To close, here are some links for the week that are interesting: 

*****     One of Ted Haggard’s close friends and ministry partners (at New Life Church) shares his reaction to the recent documentary about the former pastor and evangelical leader caught in a sex-scandal. “Something always does — and always did — smell off about the “Jesus makes life perfect” version of Christian witness” Click Here 

*****     Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talks about his faith: CLICK HERE 

*****     Pendragon, a new movie made by a couple of homeschooling families, actually might be pretty decent: CLICK HERE  and CLICK HERE 

*****     Hooray - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been picked up by Fox - Narnia Lives! CLICK HERE 

*****     The 2009 Christianity Today book awards: CLICK HERE

I conclude with the full text of Oswald Chamber’s devotional from this past Monday, sent to me by my wife. (from My Utmost for His Highest): 

Agape Newsletter - January 22, 2009 - Special Scottish Preaching edition.

Hello all, and welcome in to another info packed Agape newsletter.

Things you don’t often see on a church site #7: A mating dance.

This Bird of Paradise mating dance is so cool and unbelievable that I simply had to post it here. You won’t regret the time you spent watching this!

As long as we’re on the subject of birds, here’s another bird video that is even more amazing than the one above. This is the Lyre bird, which can imitate almost any bird song or call, as well as other sounds (like a chainsaw). Utterly amazing! (The best parts are towards the end…keep watching)

Coming tomorrow: The Agape weekly newsletter…stay tuned!

-Chase

Dinner and Laughs tonight at Agape (6:00pm)

Here’s a preview:

Rick Warren’s Inauguration Day Prayer Transcript + Video

And now, here is Rick Warren’s prayer - interestingly (and boldly) he prayed in the name of Jesus, but also strove to be somewhat inclusive. How did his prayer strike you today? (The transcript below is an edited version of the original transcript done by Ted Olsen of Christianity Today)

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hingepoint of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of goodwill today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa (Koranic term for Jesus), Jesus (Hey-sous, as in the Spanish way of saying Jesus), Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

I’d love to hear your feedback…what did you think? I

Chase

Transcript: Joseph Lowery’s inauguration prayer, 2009.

This one is quite controversial - what do you think about it?

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand — true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you’re able and you’re willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these. (derived, partially at least from Matthew 25:31-46)

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed, the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate, on the side of inclusion, not exclusion, tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power  back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. (from Amos 5:24)

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around — (laughter) — when yellow will be mellow — (laughter) — when the red man can get ahead, man — (laughter) — and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

Interesting….what do you think? How did it strike you?Leave a comment!

Chase

Avowed atheist Penn Jillette talks about the importance of evangelism. (I’m not kidding!)

This is a pretty amazing video. Only a couple of weeks ago, I posted a link in one of our newsletters that featured an atheist writer who talked about the importance of Christian missionaries in Africa, and what a (good) difference was made when Africans converted to Christianity. Here’s one that is even more astonishing. Penn Jillette, an atheist who has often attempted to “debunk” Christianity, recently had an encounter with a Christian who gave him a small New Testament with the book of Psalms. Penn uses the word proselytize, which basically means to convince somebody to convert. I would use the word evangelize - but from the outside looking in, I can see how it might appear to mean the same thing. The main amazing part of this video is from the middle on, but the whole thing is worth watching. It is just incredible! 

Here’s Penn’s pertinent quote: “I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all.  If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, and not getting eternal life or whatever. And you think that it’s not really worth telling people this because it would be socially awkward. And atheists who think that people shouldn’t proselytize, just leave me alone, keep your religion to yourself. How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize, how much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them that. I mean, If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it that that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you, and this is more important than that.”

Powerful words, considering the source! 

- Chase

Agape Baptist Newsletter….Special we now have a blog edition! (Also: Holiness, a call to prayer, and Julio Jones)

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Agape newsletter - now available online as well as via email! Yes, that’s right - we have now entered the twenty first century with a blog! Rejoice! I’ve already posted all of the past Agape newsletters online, so you can relive them should you have a need to. More on the blog in a moment, but first let’s get to our super fast summary: 

1. Sunday message: The wonderful/terrible fire of God’s holiness. 
2. A CALL TO PRAYER (Sunday morning at 9:15) 
3. A special baby shower…
4. More on the blog Pinsonchurch.com/blog 
5. Wednesday night fellowship dinner
6. The Nest, January 27th

This Sunday (January 18) at Agape, I will be bringing a message that concerns God’s call to His church: “Be Holy as I am Holy”. The Holiness of God is both a wonderful and terrible thing, and His call to the modern American church to be Holy is often either ignored or phariseeized by us. Sunday, as God gives grace, I hope to bring a message out of the unchanging word of God that will call us to challenge our ways, our habits and our words, while at the same time avoiding any sort of ungodly, liberty killing response. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty” vs. “Be Holy as I am Holy.” Both are scripture, yet the church tends towards one or the other “extreme”, though we are called to both liberty and holiness. I hope you join us Sunday to find out how we can be both free and holy! 

God is calling us at Agape to make prayer a priority like never before. I believe that to be true with all of my heart. After last week’s 9:15 am prayer time, David challenged us to move prayer from a side section of the sanctuary to front and center. We heard his challenge, and believe it to be from God, so beginning this Sunday, the entire sanctuary will be devoted to prayer from roughly 9:15am up until small groups begin. The Bridge (our coffee and cookies hospitality center) will be moved to the foyer, and also function as a welcome center for guests. I implore and challenge you to come and pray with us at the front of the sanctuary this Sunday, beginning at 9:15. 

This Sunday, we will be having a surprise baby shower for Tameka, one of the Olivia’s house ladies, that has been joining us for worship lately. The shower will take place during Ann Talley’s small group (upstairs, near the sound room), and I encourage all of us to bring items that would be fit for a mom with a newborn. Let’s wrap our arms around Tameka and show her the love of Jesus!

As noted above, we now have a blog. All of these newsletters will be posted there, as well as other thoughts and musings, videos and random things. When you see something interesting there, please forward the link to your friends! The blog can be found at http://www.pinsonchurch.com/blog . It is not currently hosted on Agapepinson.com due to that server not being able to support blogging software. Late last week, while I was setting up the blog, I got a call from my mom, who had been at the hospital with my aunt for her knee replacement surgery. It turned out that Alabama receiver Julio Jones had surgery the same day that my aunt had surgery, and Julio’s room was right next door! My mom spent quite a bit of time talking with Julio and his mom, she told me about it, and I wrote a blog post about it on our new site. One week later, that blog post has been linked to by at least 15 websites, and our site has been visited by almost 2000 people from 8 different countries (including Djibouti and Kuwait). How funny is that? 

Am I saved, or am I being saved? Talking Theology via email…(with several guest authors)

I’m kind of hopeful that this kind of post will take off and be a staple of the blog. I composed an email this week (copied below), and sent it out to a few people that I thought might be interested in a nice, deep Biblical discussion. The response back has been great, and I’ve copied most of it below. First up, my original question: 

Hello all, Consider this: 

1 Peter 1 3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I find that verse 9 to be quite striking. In fact, I have always found the NT teaching of salvation to be very interesting when compared/contrasted to what the modern church teaches about salvation. For us, we always emphasize the instant aspects of salvation - the one time thing that happens suddenly. I certainly believe that is an aspect of salvation, but verse 9 above seems to also see salvation as a continual thing that is ongoing. 

In the ESV, it says: 

Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This thinking goes along with these verses also: 
 

Philippians 2:12 

 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

Phil 3:12-13

 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
 

Romans 5:10 

10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

(Note the future tense, “shall be saved”) 

1 Timothy 4:16

16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

(Again, note the future tense: “you will save”) 

I wonder about the practical aspects of this teaching in scripture. Perhaps we have all heard the thought that the Bible teaches we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. I think the Bible certainly uses verbiage consistent with that idea, but we rarely teach it, and only emphasis the instantaneous transformation. What we we missing when we do so? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? Again, I am interested more in the practical aspects of this understanding, rather than the theological ones. How should this impact our evangelism and counseling? How does it impact our discipleship? I might turn some of our discussion (if we have any) into a blog post. 

I close with a solemn warning and a promise: 

Philippians 1:6 (the promise) 

6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Romans 11:22 (New International Version) (the warning) 

 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

thanks for reading…..Chase

That was the original email. For ease of reading below, I have put each persons response in bold typeface, and left my own comments and linking sentences in regular print. Verses are in italics. Here are some responses:  (CLICK THE READ MORE LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE POST):

Read more

Julio Jones in the hospital story (somewhat off-topic)

Alabama wr Julio Jones

In fairness, if David wants to post a Kodi Burns in the hospital story, he can! ;) This week my aunt was at St. Vincent’s hospital to have a complete knee reconstruction done. Being a nice sister, my mom has been at the hospital the last couple of days to support her. Mom just called to share an interesting story with me:

She said that while she was outside my Aunt’s room earlier in the week, a young African American man was wheeled out of surgery, and into the room next to my aunt. Mom tells me that she struck up a conversation with the mom of the young man who had just had surgery. His mom mentioned that her son was a football player, and my mom asked where, and lo and behold, he played at the University of Alabama. My mom perked up a bit then, and asked who he was, instantly recognizing Julio Jones’ name when told, though my mom still calls him “Julio” with a hard “j” sound.

According to Julio’s mom, he had surgery on his shoulder and left wrist. Julio’s mom said that he played the entire season with a broken left wrist, an injury that he apparently received in high school. Julio’s mom said that he initially didn’t tell the coaches because he wanted to play so bad, so he just played with a bulky wrist wrap, to protect his wrist.

The next day, mom walked by the room, and Julio was sitting up, waiting to go home. So, my mom knocks on the door, and goes in to talk to Julio’s mom. (my mom isn’t a very shy person, I guess you might say). She ends up talking with Julio for several minutes. At first she said that she was going to ask him for an autograph, but that Julio’s writing hand was the one that just had surgery (according to my mom), and his other hand had an IV in it. So my mom said, I was going to ask you for an autograph for my 10 year old son, but I see that you can’t write.” Julio told her that he’d try anyway, and sure enough, he gave her an autograph for my little brother. Julio mentioned that he was headed back to Tuscaloosa because class started back today. My mom asked him if he’d be okay going to class so soon, and he said, “Oh yes ma’am, I don’t hurt at all - I haven’t even had any pain medicine.” Tough guy!

Mom asked him about playing with a broken wrist all year, wondering whether it bothered him, and he said that it hurt every time he got hit. (It sure didn’t show). My mom walked away very impressed with Julio, calling him soft-spoken, humble, and very nice. He seems like a really good guy. She said that Julio also mentioned four other players that had surgery that week, but she didn’t remember the names, except for a T.J., or A.J. (”B.J., I asked?” “Yes, that was it” she said).

Disclaimer: My mom is not a journalist, so some facts may be not be airtight, but she’s usually pretty reliable.

I’ll try to get a scan of his autograph later on and post it.

Chase