Genesis

A funny thing happened this Sunday.  It wasn't until after I preached at the 9:30 that some things began to make more sense and settle in for me.  So, the 10:50 message was different.  Here are some key points and a challenge... 

We are to be the "aroma of Christ"  Aroma is caught by being near and spending time with something.  Are you engrossed in the presence of God in such an intimate way that you carry around the aroma? 

Thought:  Faith does not exist without Trust; Trust rarely exists without Experience; and Experience is the direct result of Relationship 

I am eagerly looking forward to our next series... 10 Commands: ancient stones, timeless truth... more info coming soon...

Pray for Brian and Sarah as their baby is due any day!

Thanks to the graphical expertise of Brian, our new worship leader... you are looking at the new genesis logo as it will be sported soon on the Sunday handouts.  Click on the image to get a sharper look.

Thanks to Dean Dunavan for speaking this last Sunday.  I have not gotten a chance to listen to the entire message yet, but wanted to let anyone respond who felt the urge. 

Today we talked about living a real faith. Knowing and pursuing God with all that you are. It is too easy to know all the right things to do, say and act. But, the real turning of the heart is much more challenging. The challenge today is to not be content with plastic faith. That is, faith that is surface. Faith that doesn't demand something of you. What is God asking of you? What does it look like to not just know of but truly know God in a living and active way. What does that mean for the rest of our lives? What do you think?

This morning’s message challenged us to be aware of what’s going on in our culture, and to use elements of our culture to preach the Gospel.

 

Paul used the situation in Athens- their spiritual emptiness- to point to Christ.  He also referenced and quoted their cultural icons to help give his message credibility and connect with his audience.

 

What would this look like today? Where do you see our culture showing spiritual emptiness? And how could we use the icons of our culture to preach the Gospel?

 

I see emptiness in the pursuit of religion in Hollywood (Kabala, Scientology, etc), as well as our culture’s willingness to accept any religion as equally true and valid.  I also see everyday people pursuing the ‘religious’, but not finding God.  Just look at our book best-seller lists!

 

God is calling us to reach this culture.  How?

Some of you have expressed interest in a post that is more general than the "response to message" post. I will be attempting to regularly throw more general posts like this on so that we can form some comment streams on a variety of topics. So, I'll leave this to you. If you've got a random thought, a deep penetrating question, a funny story. Post a comment and let the discussion begin.

Sorry I didn't get this post on Sunday.  Thanks to those who commented anyway on last weeks. 

A couple of thoughts.  Mark had an excellent testimony!  What a powerful example of God's real ability to move and change someone's life. 

My prayer from this last week is simple.  Protect us from complacency, keep us from apathy and open our eyes to be who you have called us to be. 

If you have any thoughts, feel free to  post them here.