Just found this site that does comprehensive crime reporting for your neighborhood/area or anywhere in the US for that matter. www.crimereports.com. Maybe we should also be planting churches in the most crime ridden areas if we truly believe that Jesus can change anyone or anyplace.

Okay, cool production but nothing as hooky or memorable melody wise as their previous albums.

Nehemiah went from cupbearer (which, by the way, was a very “cush insider” job) to construction manager to governor. Talk about distinct phases.

Just because God has called you to a specific role doesn’t mean you are to stay in it forever. There are seasons for everything. Sometimes He will call you to narrow your role and other times He will move you to a totally different function or role–often to keep you trusting in Him. When we get in trouble is when you confuse method with mission. God generally calls us to a life mission and the method or role we play can change dramatically. Often we sense our calling is primarily to a certain method or role and we get inflexible and box ourselves, and God, into a presupposition of the same ol’ same ol’.

Example: Phil Vischer used the method of Veggie Tales to accomplish his life mission of reaching people creatively with the hope of God. Veggie Tales came crashing down but he wasn’t devastated or out of the game because he still had his life mission. The method was just going to change.

How open are you to God saying, “You life mission is the same but how you go about it is going to be totally different than how you approached it in the past?” Will you step out or say, “No thanks, God, I like being a cupbearer. It is what I know, I am good at it, and most importantly it is certain and safe for me.” How open are you?

• Goto biblegateway.com. Search the word “wrath.” Then realize Jesus absorbed it for you despite what several popular “Christian books” teach. #

Had to preach this week and it was a crazy week with me serving as head soccer coach for our sportscamp at NW every night. Also, found out a day later then normal that I was preaching. There was a point of confusion on the preaching plan, messing with my weekly rhythm on weeks I preach not to mention, in my mind (feeble yes), I wasn’t originally slotted for this series so hadn’t really been meditating on it early like normal.

So Tuesday afternoon, I crack open Nehemiah 2 and ask, “God, what can I draw out of here that hits both moms and mayors?” As part of our Bless This City series we had tons of area city officials come in and we prayed for them in our service. With only a minor illustration and no personal stories of illustration, I got up and did the simplest exposition of a text possible. Yet it landed well. God reminded me, “It ain’t (yes God says ain’t) about your cool illustrations or literary twists, but about my Spirit empowering the hearing of the Word.” Nice reminder and, boy, does that reduce the pressure to get caught up in any kind of performance mentality in preaching. Thank You for the reminder. K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid).

• Nehemiah –from cupbearer to builder to governor for God’s glory. Cupbearer was a “cush” job. Am I willing to change roles for the Kingdom? #
• There is something beautiful about musical counterpart be it Bach or Prokofiev. Something about it resonates with the order of creation. #

A leader is one who can persuade others to embrace and pursue the leader’s God given purpose and take it as their own (ex. rebuilding the city). As Harry Truman expressed, “It is the the leader’s business to get other people to do what they do not want to initially do and get  them to like doing it.” One is only a leader if one is actually followed, just as if one is a teacher only if someone learns something from him; so to be a leader one has to motivate others. But one must balance that with the danger of becoming a dictator. The way to avoid dictatorship, J.I. Packer says, is to have a deep pastoral commitment to the people you lead. Nehemiah consciously shouldered the people’s well-being, even stopping work on building the walls to help the poor among the workers.

• reflecting on the words “but” and “has spoken” from Hebrews chapter 1 and their meaning. But=contrast to what before and aorist has spoken. #