andrewtheshaw

Acts 17 and the Gospel

2012-11-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Acts 17 is one of the prime passages that is looked to when wrestling with contextualizing the gospel to a culture. The Apostle Paul was very good at explaining and communicating the gospel. All throughout the book of Acts he is constantly looking to preach the gospel. Jesus did the same thing. The Southeast Church is going through the book of Mark right now. We're seeing how Jesus made proclaiming the gospel the primary concern of his ministry.

So when we look at Acts 17 we get excited about how Paul addressed the culture and proclaimed the gospel. What we often fail to consider is the response and how Paul handled it afterwards. Directly following Paul's time in Athens he headed to Corinth (Acts 18). When we look at the beginning of 1 Corinthians where Paul is recounting his state when he arrived we see something interesting. In the beginning of chapter 2, Paul writes "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

Paul had just seen how his great contextualization of the gospel resulted in very little result. I'm by no means arguing that we should avoid contextualization, but rather that we need to really look at culture and invest time and thought into how we do it. The gospel is going to sound crazy to most people because it divides our nature as sinners and we don't like that. We want to be in control. We pull our own weight and don't need help. The gospel is the opposite of this. The gospel says that we can't do it and so we have to rely entirely on what Christ has already accomplished.

Paul saw results and people being saved in Corinth. Let's not get too excited about the one stop that Paul didn't see people get saved and even crushed his spirit to a certain degree. Let us be bold in preaching Christ crucified on our behalf to accomplish what we cannot. Let us rest in the Power of God that is made known to us because of the resurrection.

Church Planting

2012-01-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

I've been knee-deep in planting a church now since this last summer. My sending church, Oregon City Christian Church, is supporting me to expand the Gospel. It's pretty awesome and something I've been wanting to do for a long time. We're actually coming upon the start of our weekend service beginning. That is what this post will be about.

Part of what I've been spending time doing is looking at how churches operate and how well those churches are reaching people. It's been really good and something that I love doing. I've seen some really cool things where people are engaging the culture and effectively sharing Jesus. One church in particular is about two-and-a-half years old and has grown to about 800, with well over half of those being new believers. Awesome.

There has also been some things that are troubling to me. One church I was looking at online offered people to join them in worship "if they could find them." I get that that can make it seem cool and really locally focused on a particular neighborhood. My issue is what if someone heard about that church and wanted to find where it met to visit without sending them an email? This seems to miss a big part of how churches can reach out to their community.

Going into this church plant, I was really anti-buying a building. Part of that was coming from a church where 1/3 to 1/4 of the tithes had to go to pay a mortgage. That is too much to pay and I saw how it hindered the church. So that made me reject buildings and think how cool it'll be to be completely mobile, working in coffee shops, pubs, and my living room. There is a very big advantage to that. I'm in the community a lot. I support local businesses this way. I get to see my kids more. We save a lot by not having rent or a mortgage.

My thinking got rocked on this one day while listening to the great wise Ken Swatman. He was preaching about why OCCC has a building and how it's a reminder to the local community that the church is present and that we're committed to serving it. That made me really think about things and buildings and how to proceed.

I still don't like the idea of making payments, however I am fully for having a building, so long as it doesn't hinder the growth and opportunities of the church. That will come through God's provision and our patience, the latter of which is the hard part.

We will be launching a worship service at another local church on a Sunday evening next month. The goal is to proclaim the Gospel so as many can hear, repent, and believe as possible.

Philippians 1:9-11

2011-11-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
(Philippians 1:9-11 ESV)

This passage has been stuck in my head for several weeks now. I keep going back to it. I keep thinking of Paul's prayer for the Philippians.

The Philippians weren't exactly wealthy but they gave out of what they had to support Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome. They weren't giving out of their excess, but giving out of what they had for the sake of supporting the Gospel. They sacrificially gave so that Paul could continue to survive and defend the Gospel. Paul wrote Philippians to encourage and thank the Philippians.

The amazing thing is, Paul didn't pray for them that they would be repaid or provided for. He prayed that they would love one another more and more, live holy lives, and be filled with the fruit of righteousness. Paul's concern for them was their spiritual well being. The Philippians gave out of their lack for Paul's provision. Paul prayed that they would continue to bear fruit. This is the problem with Americanized Christianity.

Americanized Christianity tells us to give what we can, not what we can't. Americanized Christianity tells us that we need to behave and follow the rules so that we don't get in trouble at church or look bad. Paul tells us to love each other more and more and abound in righteousness (which we can only do when we live completely in Christ and in the good news of the Gospel). Americanized Christianity prays that we would all have our needs met, our car payments will be reasonable, and that God will give us the means to buy the big house that we won't use for his glory.

Is this you? Are you living the American Christian dream? Do you look for security in your neighborhood, your home, and your income? Or are you looking for security through loving your neighbors and abounding in righteousness and giving sacrificially?

1 Corinthians 5

2011-06-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

I was listening to 1 Corinthians the other night while walking home from the church and some things stuck out to me and got me to thinking. Thinking for me usually requires an outlet for me and to spare my wife of more of my ramblings and thoughts than need be necessary, I bring them here. (By the way, I was listening to Jason Nightingale recite the book from memory. If you haven't heard him speak, check out http://www.wordsower.org/store to download his stuff. It's really good.)

So anyways, I was thinking about 1 Corinthians 5 and pondering verses 9-13. In it, Paul is writing to the Corinthians telling them to not associate with those guilty of "sexual immorality, greed, idolaters, drunkards, or swindlers." He is not telling the readers to avoid people who are not believers who fit those categories, but rather those in the church (professing Christians). He even says that to avoid those who fit that bill outside the church would require leaving this world! While it isn't the primary emphasis of what Paul is saying, we can realize and apply the concept of being around those who are not believers who fit those descriptions.

How many times in the last year have you intentionally gone to a place that you don't feel comfortable with the intention of reaching people with the Gospel? Have you gone to a marketplace or restaurant to share Jesus with someone? Have you gone to a bar or a pub to try to meet people to share Christ? Have you gone to the gay/lesbian community and tried to involve yourself with the intention of lovingly sharing the eternally transforming Gospel? Why not?

One of the areas that I really believe the church (worldwide, not just locally, although locally as well) has failed is to enter the world to not be of the world, but to engage the world with the intention of sharing Christ. Jesus never commanded his disciples to leave culture and hide away from all things evil so that they wouldn't risk being influenced or 'led astray'. Rather he went to the outcasts, the drunks, the prostitutes, and those in greatest need of a complete transformation of their lives. Paul further writes how he 'became all things to all people so as to win as many as possible with the love of Christ.' Are you doing this?

If you want to really start living the Gospel then get out in the world. Engage culture with a mission-minded intention to show Jesus. Use a guerrilla warfare mindset. Slip into culture, engage culture, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and start showing the transformational aspects of Jesus.

Additionally, are there those in your life who fit that bill listed above who are professing believers? If so, lovingly restore them. Talk to them. Encourage them. Show them that they need to give that over to Jesus. It is your job as a believer to show them what restoration looks like.

The Will of God

2011-05-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

I read a good book the other day. It's called "Just Do Something" by Kevin DeYoung. It's a really easy read regarding how to make decisions and live within the will of God. I recommend it.

The main premise that DeYoung is arguing is that God isn't too worried about where you live, what you do, who you marry (so long as they love the Lord), or what hobbies you do. God is much more concerned in how you do those things. How do you do your job? Is it to His glory, or yours? Does your job contradict the Gospel? If not, then keep at it, unless you want to change. In order to live the will of God in your life, you simply have to "be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:9-10). If you live those verses out, you will be within God's will.

Do you like where you live? If not, then move and glorify God elsewhere. It will be within his will. Do you like your job? If not, then find a new one and glorify God at your new job and honor him with your work ethic. Living within the will of God is an incredibly simple thing. My friend's grandfather used to tell him regarding decision making to "draw as close to the Lord as you can, and then do whatever you want." So long as you're staying close to the Lord, whatever decisions you make will be within his will.

Now there may be times that God has something certain in mind for you and he will cause events and roadblocks to occur in order to get you where he wants you, but those are rare I believe.

Also, if you're still struggling on understanding and hearing the voice of God, here is how to do it. This is the number one way God speaks to us and reveals his will to us....you ready? Here it is...read, study, and understand the Bible. God has chosen the written word to reveal himself to us and to guide us. Will we know which job to take from studying the Bible? No, but you can understand wisdom comes from God (Proverbs, James) and that we need to worry most about pleasing the Lord. After that, so long as your job doesn't contradict the Gospel, choose whatever job you want.

So, study your Bible. Obey what it says. And continue to share the Gospel with those in your life.

Thanks to Kevin DeYoung for writing a book that I summarized above. I highly recommend reading it.

Relationally Thinking

2010-08-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

The other day I was pondering what it means to "have a relationship with Jesus". I was watching this video a church made about their history and growth and someone in it was talking about how they never had "a relationship with Jesus" before, but rather church was just religion. Now before I get ahead of myself I agree that we are created to be relational creatures modeled after God (the Triune God). I agree that it is imperative that we have a relationship with Jesus. But since Jesus is in heaven with God the Father, how do we have that relationship? The easy answer is through the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God (the Bible), and through prayer/meditation. This doesn't quite satisfy me though. So I started to ponder it and think through some of the practical issues with that. Here are my results:

1. We are relational creatures made in God's image and therefore must have relationships in order to operate as we are designed.

2. The church is the literal physical body of Christ. Jesus is the head, we are the body. We must operate as a body and be unified in our local churches.

3. In order to have that relationship with Jesus, we must work it out through the body of Christ. It is through living in the church community that we have the opportunity to flush out the intricacies of being a Christian.

This is not to say that it is only through community that we can have a relationship with Jesus, but rather to say that through community we are able to have a complete relationship with Jesus. We must still be spending time in the Word on our own, in prayer on our own, and relying on the Holy Spirit daily. So the bottom line is that you better be involved in a community of believers where you can serve, love, rejoice, mourn, celebrate, pray, meditate, worship, and live relational lives which will reflect who our Creator is.

Observations on Observing

2010-05-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be one on observation. Since attending Multnomah Bible College years ago (man time goes quickly), I have really begun to learn to observe things. It began in my Bible Study Methods class but then began to encroach upon many other parts of my life. As a guy, I tend to think in boxes, each individualized and separate, so this observing thing is getting out of hand. I notice things about the world around me, about systems, about glaring problems at my place of work and elsewhere, and all sorts of other things. One of the problems I'm running into regarding the problems, is that once I notice them, I have to think about them and try to figure out how to fix them. And then usually I will figure out how to fix them, get 70-80% of the problem fixed, but then see another problem and fail to finish the first problem. So then I am surrounded by various problems which are only 3/4 fixed, but the last quarter is the main problem. Perhaps I need to stop observing things and then I won't have to worry as much. It would be an easier option, however I don't know that I can at this point. So I suppose I should figure out how to finish the problems I address, thereby making less problems in the long run, therefore causing me to need to observe less.

The Countdown is Close

2010-03-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

After months of waiting and staring out the window, baseball is about to start again. A fresh start for every major league club. Every team starts on the same footing. Every team is an equal number of games away from the pennant. After Monday, that all goes out the window. Teams will win and lose, some closer to the pennant, other closer to the cellar. Buy everyone gets that fresh start. Much like the Grace of God through Christ, we are all equal again. This weekend also marks the most important Christian holiday (sorry Reformation Day). The day that Jesus rose again. The day he beat back death and opened the door for all to be restored to the Father. So come Easter, come. Celebrate the resurrection as we celebrate the new baseball season, only this celebration is eternal.

Nostalgia

2010-01-17T22:21:00.000-08:00

I have expanded my photography interests as of late. I recently got a Holga 120N for Christmas from my wife. The Holga is essentially a toy camera. It was designed as a cheap camera for anyone to be able to purchase and use. Then film changed and everyone switched to 35mm instead of 120mm. The Holga has only a few basic settings: Aperture (which doesn't actually work), Focus (four basic settings), and Bulb (quick shutter speed or long shutter). There is a hotshoe for a flash, but I don't have one so I don't use that. The back sometimes falls off so I hear so I've put a rubberband around it so it will stay on. There's also a lot of customizations you can do for it which are referred to as hacks. I'll let you know if I try any of them. So the Holga is basic and I am pretty excited about this. It's sort of like going back to my high school days of shooting photos. Back when you were on a leash in regards to how many shots you could take in a day. Back before digital took over. Not that I'm against digital. I have a Nikon D40 and I love it. But there's something about using film, especially 120 film and only having 12 shots per roll. I'm planning on getting some developing equipment and really take it back to high school photo days. The photo included here is literally the first picture I took with the Holga. Overall I feel it turned out ok. I like the results you get with film. I scanned this on my home printer/copier/scanner, so quality is less than ideal. Hopefully I can continue to afford the film and developing and get some more prints on here.

A Passing

2010-01-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

I got the news the other night that my grandfather, Stanley Hudson Westlund had passed away. While most people would see this as horrible news, I am quite happy about it. Before you break out the mat and "jump to conclusions" (see it's a mat and you can 'jump' to conclusions-sorry, Office Space reference) know that I had a wonderful relationship with my grandfather. He was pretty much the awesomest guy ever. On a scale of 1 to godly, I think that only Jesus beat him. When it came to loving someone regardless of who they were or what they had done he was also awesome at it. So now he gets to go home. He gets to meet his Savior face to face. In fact, a few times this last year he had to be revived and was quite upset about it. He was ready to head home. So now we'll head down to California and celebrate with hundreds of other people. We'll celebrate that Grandpa Stan is home. We'll celebrate the countless lives he affected. We'll celebrate the life he lived and think about how we all want to be as awesome as he was.

10 months

2009-09-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

It's been almost ten months since I've posted on this thing. Since then I've had a son, moved, started taking a lot more pictures (over 3000 actuations since March), and done some other stuff. It's amazing how fast time passes. When I was a kid, summer's lasted forever. I would play baseball in the street every day and it seemed to never end. Now, summer's pass in the blink of an eye. This is probably due to the longer I am alive, the shorter percentage of my life three months is. That and having a job kind of kills the summer vacation thing. Perhaps I should figure out a way to just be a professional student. Anyone want to pay me to do that? If so, email me. Thanks.

Updates

2008-12-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

So, my basement is slowly coming along. I'm hoping to finish up the mud on the sheetrock and texture it tomorrow. It hasn't taken too much work, I just haven't had the time to work on it. For some reason my job prefers me to show up sometimes? I know, I don't get it either. Speaking of work, our new building is about to open. It's only about a year overdue, so really in construction timelines, we're a little early. It's amazing how something like a building can be such a pain. We supposedly hired a company that knows how to build these things in a timely manner. Timely meaning way longer and way more expensive than was originally intended. Basically the general contractor sucks. So I've been offering up some precatory prayers for him. If David can offer them up, then I can offer them up. I reckon that God will take care of all the little things in due time, but it never hurts to remind him of what's going on. That is what happens in Revelation, with both angels and people crying out for justice. So I've been crying out for justice on occasion.

As long as we're talking about jobs, at least I am, there's some other good news. I realized the other day that it actually hasn't felt like I was going to "work" since January of 08, which was when I finished working construction. So basically, for almost a year now I have been going to a place of employment, putting in hours and accomplishing various tasks that I am paid to accomplish and oversee, and it hasn't felt like I was actually going to work. I guess that is the point in life where you have found your "calling". So that's a big relief. I was getting pretty tired of going to work. Oh yeah, go to materialchurchnw.com and check it out. And buy stuff through our links. Thanks.

Awesomeness.

2008-11-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

I found this on failblog.org. This is pretty awesome. Every girls dream.

Reconstruction

2008-11-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

I reckon that I am a bored man, or a very foolish one. I have decided to remodel part of the basement of the house I live in which I finished remodeling just under a year ago. The primary reason is because this will give us more living space, which we need; and one less bedroom, which we don't necessarily need. Hopefully people will like this as we will be listing our house on the market again in the spring. So Obama had better make some changes and people need to continue in their American Way of overspending and racking up debt. After all, credit is the American Way right? I saw something at adventconspiracy.org that was interesting. Americans spent like 450 billion on Christmas each year. 450 billion. Wow. That number is really staggering. Especially when the best gift one could receive at Christmas is free. In order to show people that that gift is worth it and that we like them, I guess we have to spend 450 billion dollars. I wonder how much of that 450 billion is put on credit cards and not immediately paid off? I would imagine most of it if I know America at all.
So I'm off topic. My basement remodel will hopefully allow my house to sell quickly in the spring and make at least enough to cover the cost of it. If I'm really lucky perhaps I'll even come out on top so that the hundreds of hours spent finishing it last year will come to fruition. So, wish me well...

Illiteracy

2008-11-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

So, in this book I'm currently reading by DA Carson, he talks about the problem of Biblical Illiteracy prevalent in today's society, both in the church and outside of the church. I realize that to those outside the church biblical literacy isn't at the top of thier priority list. However, the issue that is extremely depressing to me is that those in the church have little knowledge of the Bible. Even just finding a book in the Bible is difficult to a majority of people in the church who are below the age of 40. The issue is that if they can't find a book in the Bible, what does that say about their understanding of the Bible. I've noticed a trend (one that I'm a part of) of younger Christians going to Bible College so that they can learn the Bible. Is it just me, or shouldn't that be the church's job? After all, what is the primary function of the church? Shouldn't it be to function as the body of Christ? How can the body function when it doesn't even know what it's job is, or what it believes? Another disheartening result of not knowing the Bible is that it shows the importance of one's faith. When we don't know what the Bible is intending to communicate (notice that this isn't what it "means" to us which is a whole nother post to come), we can't follow it. When that happens, suddenly we are much more prone to being swept up in something that may sound good, but in actually is quite unbiblical. There is a tremendous need for churches in western culture to do a much better job of teaching it's members both how to read and study the Bible (not in a reader response method) and what the Bible is actually communicating. I hold a very strong belief that if the church was properly doing it's job, then less people would feel the need to go to Bible College. Now I am in no way against Bible College, however one shouldn't go and spend thousands and thousands of dollars to learn something that the church should be doing.

Hi-Tech

2008-11-03T15:31:00.001-08:00

So this is attempt number two to post to this blog from my mobile
phone. You can't tell it's attempt number two. You'll just have to
take my word. It could be attempt number nine, but why would I lie
since I've already admitted that the first try failed?

-Andy

Jury Duty

2008-11-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting here in a room in downtown. I get to listen to music, surf the old web, watch crappy daytime tv (non-cable too), and await to see if I'll be deciding the fate in anyone's life today. Jury duty is actually strange to think about. Twelve strangers who are strategically chosen by a team of legal experts (based upon a series of questions) will decide the fate of an individual. What makes this strange is that thanks to reader response literature critiquing methods, what each person hears and how they understand it can be totally different. What is true to you isn't true to me. Whatever happened to absolute truth? That is one of those flaws that those who set out argue that a text means whatever the reader wants it to, not what the author wants it to forgot to think about. Once this became common in a text, it was quick to invade our culture. What is true to one person, is not necessarily true to another person. This is extremely problematic when truth exists whether you wish to accept it or not. Not believing that 1+1=2 doesn't make it untrue. If I believe that 1+1=3, according to reader response, makes that true to me. Forget logic and reasonable understanding, it's true to me, so it's true. This problem holds massive logistical problems when we come to the understanding of who God is. Whether you believe in God or not does not make Him exist or not exist. You can choose to not believe in God if you want to, but that doesn't make Him disappear or go away. So back to jury duty, I realize that the idea of it is great, but I don't know how I would feel to have a group of people decide my fate based upon their worldview, whether they know that that is how they judge their decisions or not. Having a pluralistic truth standard in today's society actually scares the hell out of me. Thankfully the hell is out of me thanks to Jesus.

Amelia

2008-11-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Amelia. She's my daughter who was born on August 14, 2007. She's quite a handful and is known to take good pictures. I know, she's adorable.

The crazy thing that you wouldn't guess about Amelia is that she had major heart surgery just over a year ago. Her scar has almost totally disappeared and she has no effects from the surgery at all. I guess the crazy thing is that doctors are able to cut open an eight pound baby and do major heart surgery. Even more amazing is to think about what God can do. He created the heart and it's parts. He also created a desire for life in humans. This is made evident both through an eight pound, three month old baby fighting to live as well as an old doctor doing the surgery in order to save someone's life. God desires for humanity to desire Him in their lives. He wants all of us to fight for life, only the life he offers is so much better than what we think we want. When the apostle John writes about eternal life, it's not something that is going to come after we die; it's something that is here now. We can have a life way better than imaginable if we're willing to take a chance. My wife and I took a chance with Amelia and life is amazing. While major heart surgery is not always needed, we have to be willing to give up what is most valuable to us is we are ever going to experience it the way that God intended. Isn't it worth giving Jesus a chance?

ReBlog

2008-10-30T15:19:00.001-07:00

So a number of years back I created a blog titled andrewtheshaw. After not using it in a couple of years and switching email accounts, I can no longer get into that blog since I don't recall the password. Upon trying to get the password, this website sent my password to an email account that has been deleted for a few years. The moral of the story is...make sure to write down passwords because I seem to always be forgetting them.

In other news, since my last blog (which was several years ago), I have gotten married, had a daughter and switched careers twice. Not too shabby eh? So I'm married to Tara and have a daughter named Amelia. Oh, and we've got another one on the way. Pretty awesome huh? I'll put a picture of the family up shortly. So, since I had so many readers of my last blog (two I think, one of which was myself), there's only room to go up from here.