askingY.com

Shaping your Spiritual Experience – a discussion

Adam — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:11:31 +0000

I read an article yesterday about mega churches, check it out here.

There was one part of it in particular that I thought was interesting:

One of the big attractions of megachurches, the study found, is that they offer savvy consumers an opportunity to pick and choose their level of commitment.

“Part of the attraction of the megachurch is that it provides a way for folks to shape their spiritual experience to best meet their needs,” said Scott Thumma, the lead researcher.

Any thoughts on this?

Discuss…

Where and how did you learn to pray?

Adam — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:48:49 +0000

The other day on Twitter and Facebook I threw out a simple question: If you pray, where and how did you learn to pray? It’s a question I have never really thought much about before last week, but it seems like that might be something important to know. I mean, knowing where and how you learned to talk to the Creator of the Universe seems sort of significant. And yet, I usually don’t think about how I do it, or how I learned to do it, I just kind of wing it, which is not necessarily bad.

The informal survey that I took yeilded one result that really struck me. Of the 20 or so answers that people gave almost all of them had a relational basis and not a scriptural one. This is not necessarily bad, just significant. A lot of people said they learned from their parents or grandparents, from their teachers or from the example of other poeple at church. Every answer could be traced back to the simple idea that every person that responded learned how to pray from another person! That is significant if you think about it.

In realizing the significance of this I also realized two other things. First, if we are going to learn from other people, effectively acting as their disciple or student, then we need to make sure that they are a Godly person with an intimate and genuine realtionship with the Father with whom we wish to speak.

Second, and more profoundly, we must realize that other people are learning to pray by watching us. I don’t know about you, but that one scares me. I can tell you flat out that my prayer life is not what I want it to be, and if my kids are going to model their prayer life after me then I really have some work to do, and fast. In realizing this I also realize my responsibility to study scripture all the more to make sure that I know as much as I can about what the Bible says about prayer.

So let me end by asking you: Where and how did you learn to pray? And to add another question; how does that effect the way you want to teach others?

Listening to God is like listening to the Radio

Adam — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:57:26 +0000

Have you ever been somewhere when you heard the faint sound of the radio playing? Maybe in a public place and somewhere off in the distance you notice music. At first you don’t have any idea what song it is, you listen for the words but you can’t quite make them out. You try to hear the melody or the hook, but you can’t seem to find it. Then, suddenly, you recognize what song it is. You know the name of the song and the artist who sings it. And at that moment a funny thing happens. All of the sudden you can hear all of the words crystal clear. You can hear the melody and you find yourself singing the hook. I don’t know about you, but this happens to me all the time. And, it got me thinking, isn’t it often like that with God?

It seems like I often know that God is speaking, but I can’t quite understand. I know that He is leading, but I’m not exactly sure of the direction. I know that he has a plan for me, but for the life of me I can’t see even the first step. But then, when I finally get in sync with Him, it’s all clear. I can hear His voice, feel His leading and see at least a few steps down the road.

I think the key to hearing the music is the same as the key to hearing God, it’s an issue of familiarity. If you have never heard the song playing on that radio off in the distance you are unlikely to ever understand any of the words. But, if it’s your favorite song you will be tapping your toe in no time. In the same way, if you don’t know God, then you have no way of hearing His voice. But, the further you walk in relationship with Jesus, the more you will be able to hear and respond to His leading.

Its simple: Knowing God more = Hearing God more.

If you are a person that really wants to hear from God, then get to know him. Read scripture, pray, and learn to listen. Otherwise you will find yourself straining to hear words that you will never quite grasp.

Happy listening.

One Reason Life is Greater in Decatur… Chickens!

Adam — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:46:14 +0000

So, my favorite city was in the news just the other day for being an urban city where raising chickens happens to be popular.

Check this out.

I’m kinda thinking I need some chickens at my house. No roosters though, who needs to get up at dawn… oh yeah, I have kids… same thing.

HT: Decatur Metro.

We should stop thinking like Westerners.

Adam — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:33:24 +0000

I have become completely convinced that unless we have a firm grasp of our Hebrew heritage and a comprehensive understanding of Jewish and Near East culture we will never have good theology. Our understanding of scripture must build upon the foundation that God laid out in the Torah, not in spite of it. Our understanding must grow out of our Hebrew roots, not sepeate from them. If we are to be wholeistic followers of Jesus (our Jewish Rabbi) then we must learn to be more like Him in our thinking; meaning we should think less like Westerners and more like someone from the ancient Near East.

Thoughts?

Nothing is Secular

Adam — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:05:22 +0000

Have you ever found yourself asking the question, “why do young people seem to hate the church?” Its a valid question that has been kicked around a lot over the past few years. I think the reason that young people are shying away from the church is because their generation grew up in a church with a dualistic view of faith. The attitude seems to be that there are some “sacred” areas of life, like church and quiet times; and then there are “secular” areas of life, like work, and leisure time.

The problem with this dualistic view is that to people from my generation is seems fake and hypocritical. In my experience growing up in church you talked about God at church, but not at home. You studied the Bible either at church or during your “quiet time” but nowhere else. The problem is, that is not the type of faith that I want to give me life to, and I think most of my generation agrees with that sentiment.

Religion by it’s very nature is religious at certain times and certain places, but it rarely goes further than that. But, the younger generation doesn’t want religion that is stale, compartmentalized and ultimately unsatisfying. We want an encounter with the creator, a touch from the all power finger of God, a brush with infinity. To find this I think that the first step is recognizing that for a follower of Jesus nothing is secular, but everything is sacred. God created everything, and our daily lives are to be an act of worship for and to Him, so it would stand to reason that everything we do, we do for His honor and glory, making everything that we do sacred.

I’m still thinking this through, any thoughts?

Being a Disciple

Adam — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:14:08 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple was (and is) more than just learning your masters teaching, but it also involves learning his character and following in his ways. Which is making me wonder, am I really following in all the ways of Jesus?

Am I:

Teaching and brining up other leaders who can teach?
Serving the poor regularly?
Visiting the sick regularly?
Seeking out the most lost people in every city I visit and developing a real relationship with them?
Living what I read in scripture as fully and completely as I can?

I do only a few of these things, and I do none of them well. I’m going to keep thinking on this. My list is incomplete, but my goal is to live as Christ. It isn’t easy, but it’s essential to following Him.

Any thoughts?

Backing up our words

Adam — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:23:00 +0000

Last night in our Home Gathering we found ourselves discussing our beliefs and asking if our actions really play out according to what we claim to believe. The question was asked, if we really believe that Jesus is the way and claim to want to share Him with the world, are we actively praying for several individuals that we know to come to faith in Him? If we really believe in discipleship as the best model for spreading Jesus in the world are we actively being discipled by someone and are we actively discipling someone (or at least seeking to)?

If these things aren’t happening at the moment, how about in the last year, or the last two years?

If we are to claim these things, we have to actively live them out, otherwise we are no better than the Pharisees who claimed a lot about God, but knew very little of what it meant to walk with Him.

Following Jesus is not a matter of mere words, but a life of dynamic relationship with the Lord leading to action.

Thanks to my brother Chad for asking these tough questions.

Any thoughts?

We really should learn some Hebrew

Adam — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:11:36 +0000

Have you ever really studied Old Testament Scripture? Ever done a word study? If you have, then you know that the English language is actually a pretty poor substitute for ancient Hebrew. Ancient Hebrew can describe in one word for phrase what will often take a paragraph in English!

For this reason I am becoming more and more convinced of the need for followers of Jesus to be willing to take a “drastic” step and begin to familiarize themselves with the language of God’s people. If you think about, you really have nothing to lose, but a lot of understanding to gain.

If you are interested, I have started doing a little study at www.hebrew4christians.com, I encourage you to check it out!

a new Theme for a new start

Adam — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:33:40 +0000

Time to start blogging again. So much has changed in my spiritual life over the last few months that I feel that I must begin writing again. So, I have chosen to start by updating to the newest version of wordpress and implementing a whole new theme. Take a look and let me know what you think!