“But if we set our face to make [marriage] what God designed it to be, no sorrows can stand in our way.” #marriage #truth
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“Jesus said you are to love one another as I have loved you, a love that will possibly lead to the bloody, anguished gift of yourself; a love that forgives seventy times seven, that keeps no score of wrongdoing. Jesus said this, this love, is the one criterion, the sole norm, the standard of discipleship in the New Israel of God. He said you’re going to be identified as His disciples, not because of your church-going, Bible-toring, or song-singing. No, you’ll be identified as His by one sign only: the deep and delicate respect for one another, the cordial love with reverence for the sacred dimension of the
human personality because of the mysterious substitution of Christ for the Christian.”— Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God -
“The tapestry of worship is formed by the various threads of conversation that occur in interweaving fashion: God’s Word being communicated to the gathered community (both individually and corporately), worshipers responding to God under the prompting of God’s Spirit, and those same worshipers sharing with each other their understandings of their faith commitments and of the ways in which God is at work in their lives.”
— Gary A. Furr -
The Winter Wheat and an Upside Down Kingdom
Spring is here and life is bursting forth all around us.
It is an amazing time to be outside engaged in the work of caring for our community, and I find there is always a renewed enthusiasm at The Farm as we plant our first crops of the season.
However, it is easy to miss the work that took place over the winter to ensure that the spring planting is possible.
Over the winter, we planted wheat to serve as a cover crop for the soil. These crops serve to manage soil fertility, water, weeds, pests, diseases, and all kinds of other things while we prepare for spring.
Then when spring comes these cover crops are plowed under before reaching full maturity in order to complete their work of providing nutrients for the soil.
The fruit they are capable of producing does not become the end of the story; it becomes the beginning of another one.
It becomes the source of life for other plants as they use the wheat’s potential to produce a richer harvest.
As believers and members of faith communities, we often view the fruit that we are capable of producing as the main point of the story.
However, can we pause for a moment to consider a larger view of God’s restoration story that is taking place in the world?
Could our entire life’s labor be spent for the sole purpose of being a source of life for others?
Can we live out the small and humble work of the gospel every day and be okay to let our contribution never be fully known?
Are we willing to walk through the winters of life to ensure that those who come after us have a rich soil from which to build?
Can we commit our lives to prepare others to cross over into God’s promise for their lives?
Can we find hope in a life that feels as if it may never bear the fruit we desire?
…and in the winter wheat can we see the kingdom as God does?
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
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“Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing. If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, “God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired… I’m so busy… It’s just not convenient now…” When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away.”
— R. T. Kendall -
This past week we had the honor of having Mike Foster, Founder of People of the Second Chance, in NW Arkansas for Cobblestone Project’s “Present in the City: Grace.”
Here are links to download the audio files from the evening
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“What about you? What precious perfume is locked inside your heart that could be lavished on our Lord? The little treasures you and I struggle to hold on to may hold back opportunities to worship Him with extravagant praise, releasing ministry and service to Him that will bless all those around us.”
— Angela Munizzi -
“Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped.”
— Jack Hayford -
“It made me… sick to think of the people who lift me up because I have a gift of communication… when these [the persecuted] are the ones… man, their lives look like Christ.
These martyrs and these people who really have died for the Gospel, if we lift them up to be heroes, we have to constantly ask ourselves the question, ‘do I want to be that?’”
~Francis Chan
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“When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart.”
— Lamar Boschman
