All posts by Joshua

Book Reviews

Breakthrough by Derek Morphew

Over the course of my life there have been five books that have changed my life – now there are six: Derek Morphew's Breakthrough. 

Derek Morhpew is a South African theologian who provides an amazing over view of the Kingdom of Heaven/God theology in Breakthrough.  I have spent the last few months reading this book and pondering the themes and implications thereof.  It took so long, not because how the book was written (it is very readable), but because if what it says is true – then everything changes. The way I work, live, eat, server, vote, ect. Everything changes….

Change is always hard… not matter if the change is for good or bad. Yet, to really know God is to invite change. We are to ALWAYS be changing and growing closer to Him – not sitting still or being content with the status quo. This reminds me of a sermon my Grandfather gave about ten years ago. In this sermon, he points out that the Church is an invading force – no matter if one is ten or ninety. We, the Church and Bride of Christ, are suppose to be taking back the land for Jesus!  We are to continue fighting against the gates of hell to our last breath!

Breakthrough. Kingdom of God.

I don't have the space to give a detail view of the Kingdom of God and why it's so important. I will say that the Kingdom of God refers to the rule and reign of God – not an actually geographical kingdom.  Looking at the Bible through these eyes brings new light to EVERYTHING![@more@]

I wish I could copy the chapters about cessationism, healing, Israel, and pre/post/amillennialism so you all could read them…

If your heart is to learn more about the Lord, I pray that you will pick up a copy of this book and read it. While I may recommend many books, this is one of the top six books in my life – and I've read a lot of books!

Vineyard Movement

What an exciting time!

I had a meeting this afternoon with a member of our church about the possibility of teaching an energy efficiency class to members of the community! The class would be based out of our church's food pantry facility and would be offered every twelve to ten weeks. This is an answer to a year long dream to take Let's Tend The Garden principles to the community in practical ways!

What makes it even sweeter is that God brought someone on board the LTTG team who's passion is energy efficiency!!! This means there's someone who can champion the class without everything relying on me (delegation is a GOOD thing!). And if this was not enough, God placed someone in position with the food pantry with the SAME VISION!! Only He could have worked all this out!! Hallelujah!!!! Laughing

While I was at the church, I bumped into a friend who leads a crisis pregnancy center. We discussed the need to have a family planning class in the church to help couples understand the Biblical foundations to having children as well as the best ways to delay having children.

Currently the main education source on birth control is the world as the church is not addressing the issue. We tell single people not to have sex before marriage or if they do, not to have an abortion. What we don’t to is education married couples on how to protect against unwanted pregnancies in a way doesn't kill unborn children. [@more@]

Add to this the fact that our society considers children as an unwanted 'thing', and we have a problem. We, the Church, need to teach people that children are a GIFT FROM GOD and are to desired, not despite.

Today was a brief conversation in a hallway – I don't know what God is going to do… I pray that somehow, someway, we will be able to create a class or seminary that addresses these issues within the church. Only He knows when that would be or who will teach it… Undecided

May the glory be to Him who create all life.

Vineyard Movement

"The Great Warming" – a movie night and discussion

Sunday evening we hosted a movie night at our church. We set up the big screen and surround sound system similar to the one you can try here which is great for adding to the cinematic experience as well as making sure everyone at the back can hear it the film. The theme of the evening was climate change and we made sure to include time for a discussion afterwards. We started by watching the film “The Great Warming” – a wonderful documentary about the changing weather patterns in the world. Unlike the “Inconvenient Truth”, “The Great Warming” has a positive feel to it – showing that even though the world’s weather patterns are changing, there are things we can do to help soften the impact. It also has a ton of interviews with various scientists and evangelical leaders. If you have a chance to watch it, I would recommend you do so. Wink

After the movie, we had a great discussion about some of the issues surrounding climate change. One topic was about the compact fluorescent light bulbs that are being heavily promoted right now. Some people are worried about the mercury content of the bulbs, which, while small, is an issue. As part of our discussion we discovered that “overall mercury emission by CFLs is less than the mercury released into the atmosphere by coal-fired power generation for series of equivalent incandescent lamps over the same period.” (Wikipedia) Of course, not all power comes from coal-fired power plants so you will need to make your discussion on whether or not you support CFLs. Personally, I like them. Cool

We talked about some other items as well – but the most emotionally charged item was about the “alarmist video” we watched. Since I know some of you don’t agree with the whole “climate change” deal, I would like suggest that the disagreement is not whether the earth climate is changing, but WHY it’s changing. In other words, is this change man made or just a natural weather cycle?

My personal view is it doesn’t matter why. It is happening, and we, as the body of Christ need to be prepared to help those who are affected by changing weather patterns. Nine times out of ten it is going to be the poor, uneducated, elderly, and/or young who are affected. Just think about the recent wave of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico; the drought across the south and west; or, internationally, the elderly in Europe who died due to abnormal heat waves. [@more@]

In addition to being a voice for those in need, it also makes sense to limit the use of non-renewable resources – especially with the rising prices of oil. Regardless of whether or not carbon emissions is causing the earth to get warmer, we do know that carbon emissions is the leading cause of air pollution – which, in turn, is causing high rates of lung diseases among Americans. If we cut carbon emission for no other reason but to reduce air pollution in the fight to improve our general health, I say let’s do it! A carbon offset is what we all need.

Two really good papers about global warming have been written from the perspective of the church. One is written by Tri Robinson of the Vineyard Boise while the other was written by Ken Wilson of the Ann Arbor Vineyard. I would recommend reading them, even if you think it’s all a “liberal political hoax”. Wink

Interests

Mac, PC & Linux – Parodies

Most of us have seen the cool "Mac vs PC" commercials (yeah – the ones that start off "Hi, I'm an Mac"). Well, it seems that Novell has entered the fray with some Linux spin-off commercials. And I must admit, they are pretty funning (however, not ROTFL funny as one unnamed relative said). Wink

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Current Events

"The World's First Real Submersible Car'"

Rinspeed, a Swiss car maker, has just released  'the world's first real submersible car'!  It can rech 77 mph on land and 1.8 mph when under water… just imaige going on a date with this car!

"Hey baby, you want check out the coral at the bottom of this lake?"

Then again, if I had this car eight years ago, it would of made my proposal a bit more romantic..  sigh Undecided

Video clip below or at BBC.co.uk[@more@]

 

World Missions

Urbana: Christian Environmental Stewardship?

A lot of Christians are worried about the rise of Creation Care or Christian Environmental Stewardship. To them it seems that the Church is getting away from it's primary message of preaching the Gospel. And to be honest, that is something that the Church needs to guard against. However, it does not mean that the Church needs to sit on the side lines of one of the most important issue in modern times.

We, the Church, need to awake to the reality that God cares for the environmental, the animals, and all those who will be affected by climate change. Some of us may disagree with the science behind climate change – but the fact remains that we, the Bride of Christ, need to be actively engaged in helping those with no clean water to drink or food to eat; those who are destroying their landscape via deforestation because they need the wood to cook and keep warm; those in danger of those both their lives and livelihood due to raising sea levels; those too poor or broken to help themselves.

We need to be living Isaiah 61 – both locally  here in our towns as well as international.

What brought on this post? Mainly two recent articles published by Urbana.org (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship). The first article looks at how missions and environmental stewardship goes together link peanut butter and jelly.

Called to serve an organization that promotes Christian environmental stewardship, I thought – at first – that I was being asked to abandon the great call to missions that had directed my entire career to that point. But I learned, and now believe fully, that I wasn’t leaving my call to missions at all. Instead, I was adding a new and important dimension to my understanding of what missions really is. God was bringing two great themes together in my mind and in my heart. – by Ed Brown, Director of Brackenhurst Center for the Care of Creation

The second article is a response to a book written by a secular biologist to the Church entitled "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth". It is an amazing article that promotes Christ as the solution to every crisis:

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20). Christ offers a holistic solution to the physical, emotional, environmental, and spiritual needs of humanity. That Christianity doesn’t do a better job of addressing these needs is to our disgrace. The fault lies with some Christians’ woeful practice of Christ’s message, not with the message itself. – Jill Feldkamp, Administrative Coordinator for InterVarsity's Global Projects

I pray that you all will enjoy these articles – and hopefully, take another look at the Churchs involvement with environmental stewardship.

Interests

Knight Rider 3000

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned the new Knight Rider "movie" – well, I must repent of my ignorance ways. The new Knight Rider is actually as TV show. In fact, the show premiers this Sunday, February 17th, with a two hour "movie".

The coolest part of the entire new series is K.I.T.T (of course!!). Looking online, I discovered some sweet pictures of the Shelby GT500KR as well as a few YouTube clips about the show. Enjoy.

oh – and it seems that Val Kilmer is to replace Will Arnett as the voice of KITT. "I'm your huckaberry.."

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Current Events

$160 million Art Theft in Zurich

Recent news reports show that thieves recently stole four painting worth $160 million from a museum in Zurich. Luckily the police captured the cooks a short distance away from the museum when their van ran out of gas. Baffled, the police asked them how they could mastermind such an amazing heist, yet forget something as simple as a full tank of gas. 

The ring leader replied, ""Monsier that is the reason I stole the paintings. I had no Monet
 
[@more@]to buy Degas

 
to make the Van Gogh."

[A word from the Editor: I must apologize for the actions of my client. The recent $160 million theft of a Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet from Zurich is no laughing matter. To imply that the cooks where caught in such a careless way is un-acceptable. Have no fears, I will make sure to punish my client for his behavior. Thank you.]