May 15 2009
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Leadership, Personal Growth, Resources, Teaching, Theology

Notes From the Pepperdine Lectures – Curt Sparks

Notes from Curt Sparks’ keynote speech – “You Have Died With Christ” covering Colossians 2:16-23 – Thursday 7PM.

  • Starts presentation by playing a clip from The Sixth Sense – little kid saying “I see dead people … walking around like regular people – they don’t see each other – they only see what they want to see – they don’t know they’re dead!”
  • Paul is saying the same thing in Colossians 2 – he sees people who’ve died, only they’re walking around living like everyone else not realizing they’d died to their old way of life!
  • Colossians 2:12 and Romans 6:1-14  link becoming a Christian to dying to your old way of life and allowing Christ to live through you. Paul taught and modeled this (Galatians 2:20).
  • The “philosophy” mentioned in Colossians 2 rejected the work of Jesus on the Cross by adding to it. Teaching “Jesus + _______” as a path to salvation rejects the effectiveness of Jesus’ dying for our sins on the cross. Jesus does not need help from another religion or spiritual philosophy to save people. In fact, to add to the message of Jesus is to destroy it.
  • Working for your salvation leads to arrogance, pride, and a spirit of exclusiveness  – that is, the people doing the works will be the ones saying who’s in and who’s out (case in point: the Pharisees).
  • This “philosophy” in Colossae was an approach to religion based on fear and superstition likely tied to a folk religion. The people needed to understand that Jesus had already taken care of any dark powers present and they needn’t worry about them.
  • For the people in Colossae, it wasn’t the getting it (being saved) that was the issue – it was keeping it (staying saved) that was the issue. Voices were telling them “you must do x, y, or z to stay saved” – the x, y, or z was tied to folk religion or paganism.
  • Things like this still occur today – denominations and faith tribes have set up “markers” – there are certain things you must teach or do in order to be deemed “saved”
  • Many Churches of Christ have set up markers like this – there’s an entire platform you must carry, and if you change one point of it “you’re out!”
  • “We should no longer be offended for God when God is not offended!”  (Amen to that!)
  • “Living in fear of retribution does not equal abundant life!” (Amen to that too!)

Great stuff! Listen to more of Curt’s preaching by clicking here.

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May 13 2009
1 Comment
Devotional Thoughts, Discipling, Evangelism, Leadership, Missional Living, Outreach, Resources, Simple Church, Small Groups, Teaching, Theology

Notes From the Pepperdine Lectures – Phil and Meredith McCullom

Notes from Phil & Meredith McCullom’s class at Pepperdine – “New Churches in New Places for New People pt. 4” – Friday, 9:00PM

  • We don’t plant churches – we teach people to obey – church plants occur naturally when people obey.
  • When we obey, God gives us more opportunities to be obedient.
  • Making disciples isn’t an event so much as it is a way of life. If a person isn’t making disciples where they are right now, why should they go “plant” a church somewhere else and expect things to be different?
  • The Holy Spirit & Jesus plant or build churches – our job is simply to be gospel planters or Word of God planters – God will build His church, not us.
  • Make sure you’re planting the real seed – not something else. Your goal has to be for people to rely on the Lord – not for them to rely on you!

Phil & Meredith are simple church planters working in East Hollywood, CA. Airiel and I are hoping to have them up for a visit sometime.

I thought their comments on the church planting panel were biblical and very practical.

If you’d like to keep up with the McCullom’s work, bookmark their website: http://WayOfLifeVillage.org

Happy Wednesday!

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May 12 2009
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Baptism, Devotional Thoughts, Teaching, Theology

Identity in Christ and An Encouraging New Blog

I’m preaching on Philippians 3 this weekend, am thinking about this character known as the apostle Paul (yes, he would be a little ‘a’ apostle), and am pondering what it means to have an identity wholly found in Christ (no, I don’t know for sure what’s going on in the picture, but am thinking it was possibly taken in San Francisco).

Paul’s conversion experience was a frightening, dramatic thing. I’ve spoken several times before about how he saw the world differently when the scales fell from his eyes. He no longer saw the people of the world as he once did – he no longer saw Christians as he once did. His view of God changed, his values changed, his mission in life changed, and his motives for action changed (from being self-centered to being Christ-centered).

In addition to seeing all those things in a different light, he also saw himself differently. His view of self underwent a complete overhaul after Jesus was revealed to him.

 In fact, according to Paul, a Jesus follower should only worry with self enough to crucify it with Jesus. He taught that those who commit to following Jesus make a conscious decision to die to their old way of life and to allowing Christ to live through them by imitating Him. Paul modeled what these teachings looked like by applying them in his own life.

When Paul decided to follow Jesus, his core identity – the markers that defined who he was as a person – completely changed. No longer was he the same man!

His reason for existence changed, and that change occurred because his view of Jesus changed. No longer was Jesus a backwoods, simpleton heretic in Paul’s mind. He was the Lord of the Universe and the Savior of Mankind! When Paul came to grips with that reality, he was never the same again, and God used him to turn the world upside down.

Philippians 3 highlights what Paul thought about Jesus after his conversion, and how his view of Christ played into shaping his new identity.

Much in Paul’s life story parallels my own. Before my conversion, I can honestly say that my identity was found in things other than Christ (and most of those things were in opposition to Christ), but after … well, things changed.

They didn’t change all at once. I continued to struggle with sin, and I still sometimes struggle with worrying what other people think more than I ought to (rather than simply worrying about what Jesus thinks without considering the rest), but I can honestly say my life looks a lot different now than it did before I decided to follow Jesus. That’s because, in addition to seeing the world differently, I see myself a lot differently now too.

I’ve come to realize that I’m not the most important thing in the universe, and have even come to understand that the world doesn’t revolve around my selfish wants and desires (shocking, yes). When a person is living in a sinful state, it is natural to put self at the center of all.

But seeing things through the spectacles of Christ changes everything. The message of Philippians 3 is one that I grasp because its one that I closely relate to.

What about you? Any conversion stories you’d like to share? Ever pondered what it means to truly find your identity in Christ?

—-

While we’re on the topic of conversion, my dad (a.k.a. Jim Woodell) referred me to a new blog you need to check out.

The author of that new blog is Falesha – a recently baptized believer who is blogging about her new life in Christ. Check out her inagural post, and add this blog to your reading list: I once was lost … through Christ I’m found!

That’s a great example of a healthy identity change right there!

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