Be Careful What You Worship On the Fourth of July
HT: Tyler Braun

Every Life Has A Story

“Great sermons will get you pats on the back. Savvy leadership skills will win you admiration from your colleagues. Hard work will catch peoples eyes as you separate from the pack. But if you don’t love you’re nothing more than a noisy gong, or a clanging cymbal. If you don’t love the people God has placed in your life nothing else really matters.” – Pete Wilson on Finishing Well

“Without obstacles, nothing grows.” Blaine Hogan on The Gift of Obstacles

The Power of Love

“What most Christians can’t do is have transparent, authentic relationships with non-Christians.”

Should Christians Be Concerned for the Environment?

“For a long time now, I’ve been convinced that the way most Christians think about redemption is influenced more by ancient Greek philosophy than by the Bible. We think of ultimate redemption as being redemption from the body, not of the body; redemption from the world, not of the world; redemption from the material, not of the material. This, however, goes against what the Bible clearly teaches about redemption.” – Tullian Tchividjian on Making All Things New

8 Ways to Spot a Manipulating Leader

Spiritual Pride Smells of Hell

You’ve Got Vision… Big Deal!, and a bit of a follow-up.

Many of us spend our lives waiting for opportunity to come knocking at our front door. But Proverbs 18:16 says “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.”

Have you ever wondered why the Bible seems to be guilty of double-talk when speaking of “the world”? John 3:16 tells us God loves “the world” and Jesus, in Mark 16:15 commands his disciples to “go into all the world”, yet 1 John 2:15‑17 tells us not to love the world, James, in James 4:4, tells us that “a friend of the world” is “an enemy of God” and Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:17 to be separate from the world and to “go out from” unbelievers. So, what do we do? Well, it all depends on which sense of the word “world” you mean. Tullian Tchividjian gives a great explanation of these scriptures and the complexities of the original language in which they were written, in this post.

You Can’t Build A Reputation On What You Are Going To Do

Something we can all benefit from – the art of apologizing well.

Before Apple sold 2 million iPads in just 2 months, they first had to fail at the Newton. Instead of ignoring our failures, maybe we should learn from them. Mike Foster tackles that in a post for Catalyst, Snuggle Up With Failure.

What is a joyful mind?

I’ve touched on this issue before, but over 90% of Americans claim to believe in God, yet less than half of that number are part of a church community. Perry Noble addresses this issue in a two-part post, It’s Not the Product, It’s the Service (Part 1) and
(Part 2)

In a similar post to Perry’s, Jarrett Stevens talks about a recent hospital visit and that the church could learn from it.

It’s one thing to worship with passion and excellence when the room is full and all eyes are on us. The real test of worship comes when your auditorium is empty and the only people remaining are the staff who now have no responsibilities but to stand before God and still give Him everything they’ve got. – Steven Furtick on The Real Test of Worship

So what makes a city manly? Apparently salty snacks and professional sports.

Are you really listening, or are you merely hearing?

Hearing is defined as the process, function, or power of perceiving sound; specifically the special sense by which noises and tones are received as stimuli.

The definition of listening is to pay attention to sound, to hear something with thoughtful attention, or to be alert to catch an expected sound. So listening is not simply hearing; listening is absorbing the sounds you hear, whether they be words, music, laughter, cries, noise, etc. and applying them to memory.

The act of listening is an act of love.

May we hear less and listen more.

I saw this post from Scott Hodge (The Orchard Community) earlier today and loved it so much I felt the need to put it here.

Apologizing has become somewhat of a lost art, don’t you think? And to a large degree it’s understandable because no one likes to admit failure – it’s humiliating and when done well, there’s no room for pride to stick around. Which is why it’s so hard to do! Yet…..you know this as well as I do…apologizing well is one of the most powerful gestures we could ever show another human being.

So here’s five quick thoughts on how to do it well.

1. Acknowledge your failure.

“I have failed you. I’ve let you down. I have done wrong.”

2. Acknowledge the impact of the failure.

“I have failed you….and as a result, I know I’ve caused you a lot of pain….I’ve put you in a very precarious position…..I have hurt you.”

What NOT to say: “I’m sorry you were offended by what I did.” NO. That sucks. Take responsibility.

3. Tell them you’re sorry.

“I’ve failed you….and I know it has caused you a lot of pain….and I just want you to know that I am truly sorry.”

4. Commit to change.

“….and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure that never happens again.”

5. Shut the #*($&! up.

This is where we get into trouble. Because the tendency is to add on:

“I’m sorry….it’s just that…”

“I’m sorry….but I didn’t mean it!”

“I’m sorry…it’s just that you…”

No. Don’t make excuses. Don’t complicate it. Don’t qualify it.

HT: Scott Hodge on Apologizing Well
The Orchard Community