What is your spiritual temperature?

As the the temperature rises throughout this summer, how will your spiritual life respond? I know that the weather outside has little to nothing to do with our spiritual lives, however in a recent youth group devotion, a summer temperature challenge was put forth.

Today is June 3rd ... what is your present spiritual temperature on a scale of 1 to 10?
On September 3rd ... what would you like your spiritual temperature to be?

What are some ways that we as a virtual community can build each other up and along the way help draw each of us closer to Jesus?

Over the next several weeks we are going to hopefully begin a dialogue about how over this summer we all can grow closer to God and raise our spiritual temperature.

Please share your suggestions ....

I WILL GO FIRST:
Join a House Church: This is one of the best ways to better understand what God is doing in our Church and in each of our individual lives. If you have any questions, please let me know

Bryce

Joe and Jesus

Sorry Sorry ... it has been too long ... blah blah blah

Now let's get on with the blog ...

In my most recent sermon (March 30) we talked about the life experiences of Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel (Genesis 37-50). Within my preparation for this message, I came across Warren Wiersbe's thoughts on how Joseph's life uniquely parallels the experiences of Christ. I would like to share a few of those insights and possibly get your thoughts.
* Joseph was a beloved son who was hated and rejected by His own brothers
* They sold him for a slave and then one day met him as their king
* Joseph had to suffer before he could enter into his glory
* He was victorious over temptation and yet arrested and treated unjustly
* Joseph was a faithful servant who ministered to others
* Eventually He was exalted to the throne and was responsible for saving the nations
* His brothers did not recognize him the the first time, but he revealed himself to them the second time they came to Egypt / So it will be with Israel: They did not know Christ when He came the first time, but they will see Him when He comes again and will bow down to Him.

Hopefully you can see how closely Joseph's story mirrors that of Christ.

Please feel free to give your comments and/or questions ...

My next blog will address Joseph's forgiveness of his bothers' misdeeds against him and how this again draws close parallels to what each of us have received from Christ.

No Excuses

It has been too long ...

I noticed that my readership has hit the 1,000,000 reader mark.
Anyways, i will recommit myself to faithfully blog, if you will be faithful to respond ....
Thanks Jason ...
Joy, are you reading this? / Maybe my grandma or at least my own mother takes a minute or two to check out her son's blog. I digress ...

We are going to talk about our shape on Sunday mornings for the next couple of months. I am excited about this series of sermons because I believe that far too many of us are lazy Christians and only want to know how the church can serve us.

I desire to be a part of a Church where the entire congregation is involved in ministry
I desire to be a part of a Church where membership means something, other then sitting in a pew once a week for an hour and a half
I desire to be a part of Church where people are serving in and through their God given shape and design
I desire to be a part of a Church where people are doing things that they are actually gifted to do and not just put in a role because they are breathing and are on the right side of the grass
I desire to be a part of a Church where people inside the Church are burdened for people who are not part of the family of God yet
I desire to be a part of a Church where the goal is proclamation of the Gospel message, instead of protectors or people who want to just conserve the message.

What kind of Church do you want to be part of?
(Probably a Church that had a half decent pastor, right)


Thanks for your support and passion to see God's work progress in this area of His Kingdom

PB

JOY OF YOUR SALVATION

OK, here we go ...

Hopefully over the next several months we can get an awesome virtual conversation going ...



My intent for this BLOG is to give you and I "another" platform to discuss the idea of discipleship.



However for my first entry, I want to ask you a question: Do you remember the JOY of your salvation? Do you remember when you first fell in love with Jesus ? The feelings, the emotions, the thirst for knowledge, the excitement of being forgiven, the joy of being saved ...



This week I had a conversation with someone that helped bring all this rushing back into my heart and mind. It wasn't too long ago that I found an old journal from the summer of 1995 that outlined my earliest pursuit of understanding the Bible. Although there was no formal exegesis training or skills in inductive Bible study, there was a passion for the WORD within the pages of that journal that has rarely been seen since and certainly not recently.



My fear is that we may have fallen into the trap of being Professional Christians and see our spiritual journey as more of job interview for Heaven, then a love relationship with our Lord and Savior.



I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and maybe even fielding some of your questions.

I am sure that it is going to take some time to get rolling, but we have to start somewhere ...



Passionately Serving,

PB