Last night I spent some more time cleaning the basement. Went through 8 portable file containers, whittled the contents of them down to one portable file container. Gave Haley a whole bunch of clothes to donate to Goodwill.

We were going to put price tags on the the garage sale items, but Haley opted to let me continue cleaning the basement.  Haley is tentatively planning a garage sale this weekend.  I’ll find out if it’s going to fly or not by tomorrow.

Tonight is the high school youth group (Underground).

My inlaws are coming into town this weekend (Friday night). Suggested to my mother in law that she check out the Lighhouse Opening. http://www.kenoshahistorycenter.org/events6.htm Even if she doesn’t get to go to the party on Friday night, she can always go see and do a tour of it on Saturday.

I’m gearing up to do a deacon retreat Friday night / Saturday morning.  We’re going to be talking about some changes that will be happening over the summer / fall for our church.  Looking forward to it!

Haley has a bunch of things for her parents to do this weekend. 

I’m also signing up for BT 5502 – 01 Biblical Theology of the New Testament at Moody.  This course runs from 05/24/2011 – 07/18/2011 and is an introduction to New Testament theology from the perspective of each author, the progress of his thought, his historical background, and culture. It includes a study of the three Synoptic Gospels, the book of Acts, the Pauline letters, the Johannine writings, and the General Letters. I will be learning how to trace themes within the biblical text.

There’s only three more weeks of regular middle school ministry left.  I’m going to miss the leaders that are leaving, but I’m looking forward to the new leaders that are coming in!

-brian

there are people that are gifted in worship.

there are people also gifted in evangelism.

i was thinking about worship and evangelism and how the two play a role in the church.

evangelism serves to bring people to a relationship with Jesus Christ. through Jesus Christ our relationship is restored with God the Father. as a result, we are then able to worship God as His children.

worship serves to glorify God the Father. however, people have no need of worshipping God until they realize the broken relationship, which necessitates evangelism.

what a day that will be when all of God’s people are brought home, being able to worship God forever!

-brian

Luke 23:48-49 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. (NIV)

The death of Jesus stunned those left around the cross at the end. What were the crowd to do now? All hope had gone. There was no point staying there, so they went back into the city. But before leaving, they beat their breasts. Culturally, death was greeted with loud wailing which expressed the personal loss of the loved one. But ‘beating the breast’ was more than that; it was a public loud sign of hopelessness, dismay, remorse and repentance. They had failed Jesus and knew that regret was not enough.

Somehow the crowd had understood that the death of Jesus Christ was about them too. Those who had shouted, “Crucify Him!”, then heard the centurion pronounce Him ‘not guilty’ (Luke 23:47). So, when the crowd felt guilty, they were right. It was for their sins that the Lamb of God was slain. Isaiah 53:5 puts it like this, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

But if they had believed the words of Jesus and the numerous prophecies in the Old Testament, they would have been full of hope – looking forward to His resurrection. But that was the problem: they did not believe Him, and so they were hopeless. That is the real reason why so many feel hopeless today. They do not know that the love of Jesus is still burning towards them; that the power of Jesus is close at hand; and that the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus is free to all who ‘beat their breasts’ (despair of themselves) and put their trust in Him. There cannot be any hope in following even the wisest of dead leaders, because our future is always limited by how much we can achieve. However there is abundant hope in following the risen Jesus. His sacrifice for our sins is far greater than anything we can do, and also gives us access to His living love and power, now and for ever. If you know it, rejoice … and tell others … it is the best news in the world.