Author: Wick

Preaching this morning and tonight!! Really looking forward to it, but at the same time wondering how tonight will go. In the past it’s been a small turn out, and I would feel a bit awkward pretending I need to preach when there’s only like 8 people there. I’m going to try and use a Nooma DVD, and do a sort of “small group” session. Lord willing, it goes well…cause I’d like to use it again sometime.

Preaching this morning from Philippians 4:8.

What gets our attention? I know the things that most often grab my attention probably are not the best. Sex, loud noises, things that benefit me, things that hurt me, things that involve me. We’re a pretty selfish society, and I think for the most part, the things that get our attention are the things that affect US. We could probably say the same for our country as a whole.

What should get our attention?

How about things NOT involving us directly? Okay, but that’s only a surfacey portion of the underlying picture. This is one of the main reasons we’re looking at Philippians 4:8 this morning….what is God telling us through Paul….should get our attention???

I always looked at these words, and figured they’re all pretty close in meaning…whatever is good, whatever is good, whatever is good….whatever is good…blah blah blah. Yah, I know…..if it’s good (about God), make that something you think about. Oh boy was I underestimating the power of this scripture….and the amount of spiritual SUSTINENCE there is to be found here.

I challenge you to look up the original Greek words used, find their actual definitions and root words. Look at other verses that use that exact word, and see how the author uses it. We find that Paul said each of those distinctly seperate words for a reason…and in doing so we find what things ought to grab our attention.

I bought Worms for X-Box yesterday…..great game. You should come over and play it. I will destroy your worms.

Love God, Love Others, Take Time to listen – FIF – 5 Minute Walk

An excerpt from my reading in “Orthodoxy”, by Gilbert Chesterton. So far so good. He will get into doctrine later on in the book, but at first confronts points of view from which we see these doctrines. He explores what makes a man “mad”, and/or “sane”. You’d have to read it to get it all, but so far to sum it up…the mad man analyzes EVERYTHING. The mad man uses logic (based in the self) and in an attempt to explain everything, drives himself to a maddened state. The sane man is completely aware of complexities, and is okay with not being able to analyze them all. The illustration of the “Mad Hatter” was a good one, from Alice in Wonderland. He’s mad because he spends his life “measuring the heads of men”. Analyzing, figuring out, and breaking down each person he meets, he drives himself mad. Anyways…here is a small section I thought pretty good….it was hard to stop copying it, because every sentence gave way to another…u’ll have to read it to fully appreciate it. But here’s a sample:

“Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of to-day) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also. Thus he believed that children were indeed the kingdom of heaven, but nevertheless ought to be obedient to the kingdom of earth. He admired youth because it was young and age because it was not. It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.”

Lord help us to continue in the MYSTERY of God. Amen.

PRAY FOR DARFUR. If you’re wondering either 1: Where’s Darfur? 2: Why should I pray for them? Check out this link: http://www.worship4justice.org/info_on_darfur.htm

Past, present, and future…God is calling us to care more about social justice…peace….and the condition of the world we live in. What can we do? Pray. Tell others about things we know of. Pray. Sponsor a child. Pray. Commit to learning from the things we’ve seen. Pray. What a powerful tool/weapon/avenue to God we have in Prayer.

Having a good week. Learned how to make millions in radio advertising, and also attended a seminar on “Making ethical decisions in journalism”. It was all about what stories to air, and when to air them, and how to air them. It’s good to know at least a handful of journalists realize how much the stuff they put on our tv’s affects the general public. It was encouraging to hear some of their discussions on ethics. I actually somewhat enjoyed it.

Kicked off a summer of lessons last night with the Youth Group. I’m stoked to get to each thursday, as we explore people in the Scriptures who knew God. We had a great lesson last night, and it was stinkin’ awesome.

Anyways, my mind is flighty right now, TV’s on…..air conditioning is loud….refrigerator is running. Whew. I’m lucky if I can write this much. K then….God bless…love ya’ all….and see you lata’!!