Cow Tipping 4 - Super Size Me!

Cow Tipping - 4
Super Size Me!
Troy Kennedy, Worship Pastor

Worship led by Jimmy this morning (because Troy was preaching).   Last song of the worship set was "It Is Well With My Soul" - one of my all-time favorite hymns. 

... Pastor Dan introduces Pastor Troy Kennedy (while explaining the pastor team model - nine pastors). We use a team teaching approach.

Big idea for this series: Jesus expects us to examine our beliefs in the light of scripture.

... Take whatever we believe from whatever source we got it, hold it up against scripture. Passing the mic to Troy Kennedy, Worship Pastor.

... praising Dan's character. Approached this topic with great fear and trepidation ... talking about God and your bod. A biblical framework for how we treat our bodies. Not going to impose some kind of cultural standard about how we should look. Our standard has always been different as Christ followers.

... Troy relates his struggles with his body and his health. Had a case a diverticulitis and a hernia. How do I manage my age and be the best possible person I can be for Him and my family.

Big idea for this teaching: Your body was made by God, for God, to honor God.

... Pastor Troy using a wagon wheel to explain the hub and spokes as a metaphor.

Your relationship with God is not a category. It is the hub of the wheel.

We all tend to fall into two categories regarding our health - Worshipers and Neglecters.

... easy to obsess on our image.

1 Timothy 4:8 TNIV For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

... only about four percent of people who were healthy and active in high school and college maintain that lifestyle in the future. The neglect happens over a long period of time.

Taking care of our bodies is an act of worship.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

... Paul juxtaposing your physicality with your spirituality. It is the whole of our lives but it also includes our bodies. How many of your have heard the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit? Troy relates the context for the Temple in Paul's time as a Jew. Also goes way back to Moses, wandering in the wilderness, pillars of smoke and fire, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, then Solomon and building the Temple. Then Jesus and the sacrificial system but He pays the ultimate price, once and for all. The Comforter (the Holy Spirit) will come to you (the Disciples).

1 Cor. 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? ...

... The Temple is no longer a place, it is you. We don't worship the Temple or neglect it, but we value it because of who lives there.

Taking care of our bodies is an act of stewardship.

... How many Lord of the Rings fans out there? City of Gondor from the outside this guy looks like he's the king, he's part manager part protector. He is the Steward. The King gave him the keys to the kingdom to take care of it while he was gone.

1 Cor. 6:19b-20 You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

... Manage your weakspots. It is not an excuse to say 'that's just the way I am, accept it.'

We take care of our bodies because it is wise.

... Saving for retirement is wise, correct? Those little decisions you make now add up to a quality of life later on. Our lives are the accumulation of all our decisions.

... Parenting examples and the excuses we use to neglect our bodies. Not all cultures are equally good. You are just doomed to feel poorly about yourself (if you follow the Hollywood standard). Since when have we let culture dictate what we as Christ followers do?

... When you and I are irresponsible about our bodies now, we burden the ones we love.

The Spirt of God will give you everything you need to do what he is calling you to do.

2 Tim 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

... We are not animals. We are not slaves to our urges and appetites. Loving God, not a cruel God. He promises to meet us in the middle.

Three things to get started:
admission,
assistance,
accountability.

Starting a lifeline here in September called Body & Soul to go on this journey together.

We are accountable to a creator who gifted us this body ... do something good with it.

... Pastor Dan takes back the mic after Troy's ending prayer. See you at the park next week.

Announcements from the Bulletin

Summer Break Over for Doctor Who So 'Let's Kill Hitler'

I suffered through some disappointing summer science fiction television recently (most notably "Falling Skies" on TNT). But all that is behind me now with the return of the Doctor and the best 'bad girl' in any time or space: River Song. Amy and Rory continue their quest to reunite with their daughter, Melody Pond, also known as River Song, although her parents are still coming to grips with their daughter's incorrigibility, knack for mad-cap adventures and an obsession with the Doctor not of her own making.

And River, as Mels, Amy's BFF from childhood, who coins the episodes title 'Let's Kill Hitler' when she finally meets the Doctor, after Amy and Rory destroy a wheat field with a crop-circle calling card. Holding the Doctor and the TARDIS at gunpoint, Mels corrals everyone into the TARDIS for a trip back to pre-war Berlin. Mels manages to shoot the TARDIS and forces a crash landing in Hitler's office, interrupting a shape-shifting humanoid robot containing miniaturised humanoids has assumed the form of a Wehrmacht officer and attacked Hitler.

And it's at this point where Hitler becomes a minor impediment to the ongoing conflict between the newly regenerated River Song and her immediate assassination attempt on the Doctor, Amy and Rory kidnapped by the miniaturized humans, and a dying Doctor. Hitler is locked in the cupboard by Rory. My husband and I laughed repeatedly on that dialogue.

The tiny robot-occupying humans reveal themselves as time-traveling Justice Department personnel who mete out punishment to infamous criminals by snatching them in the last seconds of their life and torturing them for thousands of years for their crimes. They switch gears from Hitler (they arrived too early anyway in 1938) to River Song, who has a criminal record including killing the Doctor. So now we spend the last thirty minutes of the Doctor's life arguing whether River can be tortured for killing the Doctor when he is in fact still alive.

Best bit of lore gleaned this episode about the Silence (spoilers follow, obviously):

Robot Amy: Records Available
Doctor: Question.  I'm dying.  Who wants me dead?
Robot Amy: The Silence.
Doctor: What is the Silence? Why is it called that? What does it mean?
Robot Amy: The Silence is not a species.  It is a religious order or movement.  Their core belief is that Silence will fall when the question is asked.
Doctor: What question?
Robot Amy: The first question, the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight.
Doctor: Yes, but what is the question?
Robot Amy: Unknown.

This episode did not have the impact of 'A Good Man Goes to War' (but how could it with the big reveal of who River's parents actually were). However, I loved it (as I do most Doctor Who episodes) for the great writing, story-telling and acting. I know where I'll be every Saturday evening ... wherever the TARDIS re-appears.

Book Review: Divergent by Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to Post-Apocalyptic Chicago, where the trains never stop (even to take on or drop off passengers), the streetlights go dark by midnight and Lake Michigan is now the Marsh. The surviving remnants of humanity think they've found the cure for war in the five factions: Amity (the peacemakers), Candor (the honest), Erudite (the scientific), Dauntless (the brave) and Abnegation (the self-less). Choose your path (for life) when you turn sixteen or live destitute among the faction-less, a fate worse than death for anyone raised in a faction.

We meet Beatrice as she approaches her sixteenth birthday, the day of her aptitude test, designed to help her decide what faction she will join. Raised in a prominent Abnegation family, she feels like a constant failure because she isn't self-less enough. Beatrice struggles to be the first to serve others or lending a helping hand, not always thinking of others first as she's been taught. Her aptitude test confirms her confusion, when the results are inconclusive and she's labeled secretly by her helpful Dauntless tester as Divergent and advised never to tell anyone that she is.

At the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice watches her brother, whom she considers a perfect living example of Abnegation, choose Erudite. Through this shock, she strives to select between Abnegation (and her family) or Dauntless (and never seeing her family again). She chooses Dauntless and soon Tris flies free, proving to herself and all her doubters that she believes in 'ordinary acts of bravery, and in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.'

The Dauntless initiation process taught Tris fighting skills, forging friends and enemies, and facing her fears. But her Divergence, her uniqueness, gave her the tools to fight for the helpless. For all her inner struggles with her perceived selfishness, Tris excels at self-sacrifice.

Many reviewers compared Divergent to The Hunger Games and I will grant some small similarity. But I liked Divergent much more for its intelligent plot, nice character development, affirmation of core values, re-iteration of corrupting influence of power (or the pursuit of controlling power) and I even enjoyed the innocent romance.

A very quick read (and hard to put down once you start) which I highly recommend Divergent to teens (and adults).

View all my reviews

Book Review: Leviathan by Westerfeld

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this in mid June 2011 as a member of the Fantasy Book Club group read. A quick, easy read, as I expected from a young adult novel, and one of my first (if not the first) steampunk stories. I learned quite a bit about pre-World War I Europe through my tangential research to better understand the alternate view of those events presented by the author. I definitely related to the Clankers, one of the political powers of this world represented by the familiar Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The Darwinists, on the other hand, fascinated but left me queasy (similar to how I feel now about genetically modified flora and fauna). The inevitable intertwining of the two worlds from our two protagonists provided good action and drama, and some character development, but the ending just frustrated me. If you don't like very abrupt cliffhangers, you might want to have the sequels, Behemoth and Goliath, on hand when you finish Leviathan.

View all my reviews

Book Review: Day of War by Graham

Day of War by Cliff Graham

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I snagged this novel from one of the Barnes & Nobel free Friday offerings for Nook owners. A Christian fiction, with heavy emphasis on Bronze Age/Early Iron age military tactics, retelling or 'filling in the blanks' of David and his warriors (and Jonathan and his army).

In his Note to the Reader, Cliff Graham references 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11 as inspiration for his retelling of David and his 'Dirty Dozen.' He warns the reader about the battle violence and after-battle pillaging and plundering, although compared to some of the dark fantasy I've read, Graham did an admirable job restraining himself from too much gratuitous violence or sex.

He modernized the language (both internal and external) to such a degree that I found it distracting. And he repeatedly lapsed back into passive voice, despite his riveting active voice fight scenes. A compelling read, but I'm not the intended audience (which probably requires a lot more testosterone than I have flowing through my estrogenized veins).

View all my reviews

Cow Tipping 3 - Grace Is Free, But It Isn't Cheap

Cow Tipping - 3
Grace Is Free But It Isn’t Cheap
Brian Phipps, GROW (Discipleship) Pastor at Westside Family Church

Big idea for this series:  Jesus expects us to examine our beliefs in the light of scripture.

... East Coast City Boy anectdotes ... college in Oklahoma  ... an automobile graveyard in Missouri ... old Pontiac Firebird ... rusting combine ... Spirital Aha ... we are created in God's image ... but that image of God is still visible in us, but is corrupted and rusted away.  We resist God's truth.  Our emotions go up and down ... crazy ... guilt and shame ... we are left broken on the side of the road ... in need of someone to come and restore us.  Talking about the American Restoration show ... transition to Jesus, the master restorer of lives. 

Big idea for this teaching: Jesus came to give you life... not just life insurance!

... He is not just a rescuere ... he's a restorer. 

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  

2 Peter 1: 3-4 (NIV)

1.  Prioritize what Jesus made possible!

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith...

2 Peter 1:5 (NIV)

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  

Philippians 2: 12-13  (NAS)

... What do we prioritze in our life?  Our checkbooks and our calendars are great indicators of what we prioritize. 

2.  Take your next step!

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 

2 Peter 1: 5-7 (NIV)

... can get overwhelmed with the process ... can't get to the end zone tomorrow ... take little steps.  Goodness then Knowledge then Self-Control then Perseverence then Godliness ... one step at a time. 

... from preaching to meddling ... Brian shares his life with us ... we need people around us to have the same passion to be restored.  He's been in a men's group since college and he'll be in one until he dies because he doesn't trust himself.  He needs accountability. 

... You might ask, why bother? 

“Life is an uphill battle. If I am in neutral, I’m going backwards!”

... we must be going forward, taking initiative. 

3.  Never forget the price Jesus paid.

But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

2 Peter 1:9 (NIV)

... driven to restoration by Christ's sacrifice. 

Back to American Restoration anectdotes ... combined episode (entitled "The Pick, the Pawn, & the Polish") between American Pickers, Pawn Stars and American Restoration ... restoring a 57 Chevy for 70th birthday to the tune of over $70k ... Jesus went all-in. 

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 1: 10-11 (NIV)

That's what God wants for you.  That's what Jesus has done for you. 

... back to Roach, Missouri and the old Firebird (before and after pictures). 

Discipleship Pastor (GROW Pastor) is Brian's title.  Heads a team of five who fast and pray to get you into the right group.  Ask God for your next step and take.  Sign up for a Life Group this week. 

Prayer:  Jesus, all glory and praise and honor to you who though scorn and pain was coming, walked past it and through it, and the Cross and endured it ... let us be restored in your image to your glory.  Amen. 

Pastor Dan ... don't just float along.  Go for it.  If you are not in a group, why not?  You cannot do the Christian life solo.  Next Week:  My Health Really Doesn't Matter 

***

Later in the week, you can watch the video of this message from Westside's website repository. 

Cow Tipping 2 - Jesus and Politics

JESUS AND POLITICS
Cow Tipping - 2
August 14, 2011
Pastor Dan Southerland

... is a fan of country music (not the old twangy stuff, the new young stuff).

... list of worst Country Music song titles (and shared a few of his favorites with us): 

Drop Kick me Jesus through the Goal Posts of Life
I've been roped and thrown by Jesus in the Holy Ghost Corral

How can I miss you if you won't go away?
I would have writ you a letter but I couldn't spell yuck.
I'm just a bug on the windshield of life
If you don't leave me along I'll go and find someone else who will
If you leave me, can I come too?
She made toothpicks out of the timber of my heart?
Momma get the hammer, there's a fly on Daddy's head
Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed.

... he's not making these up!


Big idea for this series:  Jesus expects us to examine our beliefs in the light of scripture.

Sacred cow: A belief that adds up to something that isn't necessarily true.  Sincerity doesn't make a belief true.  Take the belief and hold it up in the light of scripture. 

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to observe what is right."

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)

... Scripture corrects us and teaches us.  You should leave church feeling corrected and feeling like you can learn to change.  Change by correction or encouragement or both.

Today's sacred cow: when it comes to politics, Jesus is a member of my political party.

... We've just decided that he's on our side.  Let's stuff Jesus in the small box of a political platform.  He don't fit.

The truth of scripture:  Jesus’ purpose is higher than politics.

... Let's have a little fun.  Context:  How can we understand from the 21st centurary what was happening in the 1st century. 

The politics of Jesus day – a three party system:

    * Pharisees – party of religious and cultural purity – preservers of traditional values – conservatives.  ... Rule keepers, litmus tests.  Hard on everyone, particularly on Jesus.  Political Right Party (way to the right).
    * Saducees – no belief in life to come – emphasis on here and now – religious liberals. ... Did not believe in an afterlife, if there's only this life, we'd better do some good now, the only thing that lives after us is our influence, or legacy.  Love to ask ridiculous questions.  Answered questions with questions.  Doing good was more important than God (doing the stuff that made you look morally good). 
    * Zealots – fanatical crusaders – wanted to overthrow the political system – revolutionaries. ... Rebels looking for a cause; looking to over throw everything.  Always armed.  The original conceal and carry folks.  Carried large knives or short swords under their garmets.  Always looking for a fight.  Simon the Zealot, the Knife Carrier, one of Jesus' disciples. 

... not much has changed in 21 centuries in politics.  It's about the nature of man. 

Jesus endorsed none of these political parties.

... was courted by all the parties, but he never endorsed any of them.  Why?  He had a higher purpose.  If politics could change the world, God would have sent a politician.  But because we needed a savior, that's who he sent. 

Why did Jesus not get involved in politics?

    * Jesus was building a different Kingdom.
      My Kingdom is not of this world.  John 18:36
    * Jesus was focused on regeneration (on saving souls).
      I came to seek and to save those who are lost.  John 19:10

... Jesus is conservative in theology, moderate in his habits, and liberal in his love.  He doesn't fit our labels.

Would Jesus endorse any political party today?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

... He did not.  Is he endorsing one today.  He is not.  He has a higher purpose. 

What are our civil responsibilities as Christ followers?

    * Recognize the authority of government.

      Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 

- Romans 13:1 (NLT)

    * Pray for the leaders of our government.

      I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Savior …”  

- 1 Timothy 2:1-3

Prayer:  (You don't have to like someone to pray for them) 

Prayer for our President (and other government leaders): 

Jesus, in all the years of my life, I've never been this concerned for our country.  We are economically wrecked.  We have forfeited the position of the strongest economic nation in the world.  We are morally bankrupt.  We have forfeited our position as the leader of morality in this world.  And, God, it feelsl ike we are politically adrift.  Jesus I know you use everyone in authority.  Change is possible.  Prayer is necessary.  You want us to beseech you.  So right now we lift up the Presidence of the United States to you.  I cannot imagine the burden he carries, the pressure he is under.  And Lord, I think he's probably at the "I can't do this alone" place.  I pray he turns to you.  Lord, surround him with wise consellors and let him hear  for your Word.  Forgive me Lord for spending more time being critical than I have in prayer.  In Christ's name, Amen. 

To view the video of this message (later in the week - usually around Wednesday) follow this link.

Book Review: Consider Phlebas by Banks

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

My first attempt to read Consider Phlebas began a couple of years ago. I made it to the fifth chapter and abandoned the book. This past June, the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club selected Consider Phlebas as the science fiction group read. The discussion leader provided two avenues for discourse: by topic or by chapter. I opted for the chapter course, hoping that by only absorbing one chapter per day I might actually finish the novel. Some chapters made better lunch reading than others (for example, if you're squeamish, you might avoid the sixth chapter, or at least avoid masticating and digesting dinner while reading it).

With my support and therapy groups ready and willing to urge me on, I reluctantly consumed a chapter a day and finished my first (and perhaps last) Culture novel. Many of my thoughts and comments can be found in the discussion threads here.

Banks' writing style lent itself to rich cinematic visualizations, especially of some of the action sequences (escaping from space ships, orbital rings, runaway trains). Those images, created by Banks' prose and my own imagination, are forever seared into my memories, some of them as vivid and visceral as a strobe light flash in a Halloween haunted horror house.

My most intriguing find resulted from the epigraph which quoted two lines from T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and directly relate to the title and the tone of the novel. My research lead me to further contextual reading in The Waste Land to include the entire section surrounding the epigraph quote:

IV. DEATH BY WATER

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

I found few likable or relateable characters, with the exception of the robots and Minds (Banks' AI permutation). Knowing nothing of the Culture prior to reading Consider Phlebas, and in light of the quote above, I can understand and appreciate the author's endeavor. Just not my cup of tea.

View all my reviews

Space Opera Showdown Minus the Corral

September is Space Opera month at the five thousand strong (and growing) SciFi and Fantasy Book Club on GoodReads. Wikipedia offers this definition of Space Opera:

Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap opera" (see below). Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.

Sometimes the term space opera is used pejoratively to denote bad quality science fiction, but its meaning can differ, often describing a particular science fiction genre without any value judgement.

So help us choose from among these excellent contenders and make our September space opera adventure glorious!

September SciFi Space Opera Poll

Leviathan Wakes
A Deepness in the Sky
The Tar-Aiym Krang
Downbelow Station
Pandora's Star
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

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Pickle Jar Theology Message Notes

CHRISTIANS IN A PICKLE JAR
Cow Tipping - 1
August 7, 2011
Dan Southerland, Senior Pastor at Westside Family Church (as broadcost via their Online Campus). 

Follow this link to watch Pastor Dan give this message.  

Intro Thoughts:

• Sacred cows are commonly held beliefs that are considered to be immune from question or criticism.

• Sacred cows can be a problem because they are often based on non-biblical ideas. Example:  God's Will is always done.  Do you think God's happy with the condition of this world?  

• Sacred cows make great hamburgers. Shoot 'em and eat 'em.  Vegetarians ... don't e-mail Pastor Dan.  He claims the word vegetarian is ancient Greek for 'bad hunter.'

Big idea for this series: Jesus expects us to examine our beliefs in the light of scripture.

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to observe what is right."2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)
... Scripture is not for our entertaiment or to make us feel good.  Basing your belief on logic or emotion will not get you the whole picture.

In other words - we should have no sacred cows!

What happens when we do not examine our beliefs in the light of scripture?

"These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. They have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions." Mark 7:6-9 (NIV)
.. so said the Son of God.
... Why is this so important?  What we believe eventually determines what we become.

Today's sacred cow: God picks us, God saves us, and God keeps us - and that is all there is to it.
... The first part of that statemen tis totally true, but the second part is totally false.
... 'That's all there is to it."  NO!!!! That's just the start.  Why has Pastor Dan called this 'Christians in a Pickle Jar'?  Anecdote about his Aunt's garden, cucumbers into sweet pickles ... the point being to give those away.

The truth of scripture: God does pick us, save us and keeps us - but that is only the start! God also calls us, sends us and uses us.
... What was Jesus's number one invitation?  "Come and follow me."

"Come and follow me and I will send you out to fish for people."Jesus in Matthew 4:19 (NIV)

The invitation - Jesus calls us.
Come and follow me ...

The ordination  - Jesus sends us.
and I will send you out ...
... means you have sent someone with a mission.   If you read a harmony of the gospels, after four months, Jesus sent the disciples out.

The expectation - Jesus uses us.
to fish for people.
... God uses me becuase I expect God to use me.  And I expect God to use me because he's promised that he'll use us.

If God picks us, saves us, and keeps us - and that is all there is to it - then it is all about me.
... Here's the problem ... it makes it think it's all about me.  Christian in a Pickle Jar theology.

That belief system leads to a self-centered life.
... Pastor Dan ... the most self-centered people I've ever met are at church.

If God also calls us, sends us and uses us, then it is all about others.
... Do you hear the difference?

That belief system leads to a service centered life.
... Who else can we rescue?

What do you believe? Which life do you want?

Next week:  Jesus and politics.  Pastor Dan guarantees he's going to offend everyone in the house.