"We will have lunch together and a presentation and discussion of Ezekiel 18:31, 32 by Mark Judy, Larry Wilson, and Glen Wurdeman. Please join us at Southport Presbyterian Church (7525 McFarland Blvd., Indianapolis, 46237) on Tuesday, October 9 at noon for a time of fellowship around the study of God’s Word! It is important that we know of your plans to attend, so please call the church office at 255-7557..."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 NIV
"The internet continues to redefine global society on both micro and macro levels. In wired nations, like ours, web-based media influences are becoming more apparent in the political landscape, in changing business paradigms, in the ways we access information, shop, form relationships, etc. As social institutions evolve in dynamic response to the many dimensions of everyday life that are now impacted by our digital world, the Church has an unparalleled communication opportunity...."
But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. Hebrews 10:12-13 NIV
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Lamentations 3:21-24 NIV
Many ministry leaders look to FaceBook as a means for easy promotion. Its true FaceBook can help you communicate your events with people who are on the network, but that’s only part of the story. You need to understand your audience and understand the medium before you can become effective using FaceBook for promotion.
FaceBook is a social medium used by people who want to connect in real relationships. They tend to suspect people and groups that come to the site using all their “promotional speak” and spamming out invitations to events and groups. Too much promotion and not enough real networking will cause people to want to drop you from their friends list. So before you begin promoting, be a good neighbor and learn what happens on FaceBook.
Also pay attention to what you are learning about people through FaceBook. People are very candid about their interests and dislikes on the network. You can get a lot of “guerrilla research” just mingling with the people you find on FaceBook. When you understand people better, you may find that you change the kinds of ministries and events you program through your church.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:22-23 NIV
LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even whenit hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken. Psalms 15:1-5 NIV
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. Proverbs 23:12-14 NIV
But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. Hebrews 10:12-13 NIV
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV
"I’m glad I was able to make it to morning devotions on Thursday morning. Robby Richardson shared with us from Hebrews 1 and 2 a thought about keeping our focus where it belongs.
Hebrews 1 starts by talking about the way God has chosen to communicate with us throughout the ages. First through the prophets, and now through His Son. Hebrews 2 starts, following a wonderful parenthetical explanation of Who God’s Son is, by encouraging us to no forget what we’ve heard. Gospel Communications, Robby talks about, should be about - get this - communicating the Gospel. And really, that’s what all of our ministries should be. The problem isn’t that we’re... " [continued at InternetMinistryConference.org]
*****************
Be sure and read the various participants' thoughts re (author) Rex Miller's plenary session.
And stop by their consolidated Flickr Photo Pool. [This is a conference that really 'does things right'... There's much to be learned just by observing their methodologies re connecting & communication for the sake of the gospel.]
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. his is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loveddarkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. John 3:16-21 NIV
PBS Religion & Ethics... "Lawndale Community Church"
[Ed. Note: Many of you involved with CCDA Indy 2005 are familiar with this model neighborhood concept. Enjoy. Or better yet, plan to come with us to St. Louis for this year's CCDA national convention.]
Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turnaway from wickedness." In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:19-22 NIV
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:16-18 NIV
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-31 NIV
If you'd like to get your favorite ministry in line to be interviewed sometime, you can reach Ivan Schumann via our Facebook collection of active CityReachers. Or leave a comment below.
Today's post... at Colossians 1:22 Blog... "SEEKERS"....
"We live in a “seeker” time period right now don’t we?
People are seeking to latch on to something or someone.
I believe that this is the time that Followers of Christ need to start reaching out to these seekers.
There are several ways to do this. One of them I believe is that we just need to walk with people. Im reading a book called..." [continued at Colossians 1:22 Blog]
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:25-26 NIV
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
"The 'bridge people' are gone. The only evidence they once lived under the Westfield Boulevard bridge are stone fire rings left in the dirt. Gone are three tents where about a dozen people, including children, lived before packing up their belongings and disappearing one day this week..."
But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ere there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians 3:8-11 NIV
Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:12-14 NIV
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness." Jeremiah 33:14-16 NIV
"It is easy to raise a church with one culture, one language, one worldview. Anyone can raise up a large that is one culture. But building a church that includes the alien, the immigrant poor, can only be done with Christ. That is our biblical challenge and our biblical mandate."
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Titus 2:7-8 NIV
Go Fish hasn't made a profit for owners, but it has helped the poor and spread God's word
The store John and Teresa Welch have mortgaged their lives for has its share of expensive oddities.
There's the $1,200 sculpture carved from a single piece of mahogany -- a piece that resembles Rodin's "The Thinker" but in a more amorphous, modernistic way. And, selling for $600, there is the hefty coffee table base that is carved from wood to depict the "Three Wise Monkeys" of see-, hear- and speak-no-evil fame.
While those eye-catching items aim for a clientele with the wealth to afford them... [continued at IndyStar.com]
You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? Matthew 5:43-46 NIV
Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalms 27:11-14 NIV
Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. Daniel 2:20-22 NIV
Bin Laden Video Urges Americans to Convert to Islam
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (Psalm 46:10)
- AP
Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a videotape Friday released ahead of the 6th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to end, according to a transcript obtained by FOX News. Bin Laden made no overt threats and did not directly call for attacks, according to the transcript. Instead, he addresses Americans, lecturing them on the failures of their leaders to stop the war in Iraq despite growing public opposition in the U.S.
· This tape is actually a very dangerous signal to all Americans, for before a Moslem attacks, he must invite his intended target to embrace the teachings of Islam. Continue to stand your watch against any and all incursions in the days immediately ahead. Cry out for mercy for our nation -- a mercy which we do not deserve, but which is the nature of our heavenly Father to bestow, even so. Stay alert and be prepared in all ways: spiritually, mentally, physically and emotionally.
· "Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared." (Proverbs 3:25,26)
OUR PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
CCNews ~ "God and Father, You have heard to call of him who would call us to desert You the One True and Living God. Grant to us as a nation a spirit of repentance, where we recognize afresh and anew our historical founding and spiritual significance in modern history. The outward appearance is we have abandon our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant to us, Oh God, a spirit of true humility to come upon us. Help us to want to pray to You the living God, the God of all Creation, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. May we have a growing desire to pray and talk with You as a friend to a Friend. Help us to seek Your Face as looking for one in a crowd in the circumstances of our life. Oh God help us to turn from all our harmful thoughts, words and ways that we treat others and turn on ourselves. Help us to be truly sorry for our wicked ways. We need for You to hear our heart, forgive our sin, and to heal all the land of our broken life. We come to You by way of the Cross of Jesus Christ, His shed blood for our sins and all mankind, and with the hope and promise of new life through Christ's resurrection. Amen." ~ Editor, CCNews
The Youth Transition Network is a coalition of youth, college and military ministries working together to prepare and transition students into the next phase of their Christian walk.
YTN offers new preparation and motivation tools annually that churches and parents can use to encourage their students to connect for life.
LiveAbove.com is our collaborative site designed for students. LiveAbove is designed to meet what research indicates are their three greatest challenges when Christian students leaving home:
Friendships
Roommates
Finding a church or ministry to fit into
Today LiveAbove has 4,700 ministries on over 3,000 campuses for students to interact with online. Facilitating healthy, Christian connections significantly reduces the likelihood that the stress and temptations of a new environment will draw your students away from the Lord.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
We’ve all heard about people sentenced to community service instead of jail. But how do they spend their time? And does it really benefit the community?
Georgette Sims, supervisor of the Community Service Program of the Marion Superior Courts’ probation department, is an expert on the subject.
"As long as the work is for nonprofits, faith-based organizations or government agencies, we can provide help..."
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. Deuteronomy 8:1-6 NIV
Influential conservative leader Dr. D. James Kennedy died Wednesday morning, church officials reported.
Kennedy, whose retirement as senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida was recently announced, died "peacefully, in his sleep, at home" around 3 a.m., said the Rev. Ronald Siegenthaler of the megachurch, according to Sun-Sentinel.com. He was 76.
IndyChristian Ed Note: But for God working through Dr. Kennedy as he did and thus impacting my life very directly, IndyChristian.com would not be here. And knowing him as I did, I'm quite sure he'd want me to include the following...
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. John 5:21-24 NIV
Labor Day's behind us... The 'harvest' is ahead...
[I really enjoyed Pastor Bryan Hudson's blog-post from Saturday. And I trust you will too...]
Bryan Hudson
"With Labor Day coming on September 3, we have reached the unofficial end of summer. We still have about 20 days left before summer ends, but now is the time when we think about Fall. If we were farmers, we would be preparing to reap our harvest. If you're a student, you're headed back to school.
We have our "official" dates, but we tend to think in seasons. Most of us are not farmers, but we know this is the season of the natural harvest. Sometimes, natural seasons stir up thinking about spiritual seasons.
Jesus used the example of a harvest to teach His disciples about preparation and action: 'In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”...' "
See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:10-11 NIV
PEARLINGTON, Miss. (AP) -- The sweat and donations from religious groups are bringing hope and new homes to many residents in this tiny community, still struggling two years after Hurricane Katrina left much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast in ruins.
Adolph Harris, who watched his house get washed away while he clung to a nearby tree as the storm roared ashore, will move this month into a new home built with money and volunteers from a Kempton, Ind.-based Christian organization.
Standing outside his new home, one of 35 new homes built by the International Disaster Emergency Service, Harris said he often thinks about the miracle of his survival.
"I was up the tree from 8:30 that morning until about 7:30 that afternoon,"
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:34-38 NIV
For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. Hosea 3:4-5 NIV
The article mentioned some obvious potential solutions... "What this suggests is that if you can invest in things that reduce poverty -- things like education and job training, raising the minimum wage and expanding the earned income tax credit -- there might be a big economic return."
Conclusion: We all need to be discerning as we read. And we need to develop our own capabilities for getting at key data -- we can't count on mainstream media to tell anything beyond the politically-correct version of the story. And we need to be sharpening our new-paradigm capabilities... email, blogs, podcasts, video and social-networking... to get 'Truth' to the people.
P.S... Btw, our Indiana Family Institute friends (at www.VeritasRex.com) have known this for years, and regularly help us all work toward helping Hoosiers focus efforts on creating strong (MARRIED) families.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 NIV
"A
centralized media site for Greater Indianapolis Christians. We connect & communicate among 'Driven-Christians in the Racing Capital of
the World' to accelerate the Great Commission!"
"If
you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from
his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one
in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but
in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not
only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus..." (Philippians
2)