getting stoned...

so the next time i'm preaching at CC will be on the 17th of august and i'm going to be looking at the story of stephen from acts6-8v1. this will be the longest grouping of scripture i've been given to preach on before. the cool thing about it is that it is a story and it is worth the read. than post the full text here i'm just going to give you a link to it. i'd love to know what you think of this story, what you know beyond him getting stoned, what hits you and moves you, what frustrates you, what questions you have, etc. and i'd love you to tell me your thoughts on this video that i might use for it.

here is the link to the text: acts6-8v1

summer wedding fest...

sorry for the blog silence, but it has been a busy season. i have done a wedding the last 3 saturdays and have another one next saturday and two more after that! i will say that it is a total blast and a honor to be a part of a couples wedding day. i'm working on a new website for my wedding stuff. it is slow in development, but if you know anyone interested in a wedding officiant/pastor/counselor you can point them in my direction...

here is the link... WWW.SEATTLEWEDDINGPASTOR.COM

u2 re.mastered....

so if you didn't know u2 is re.releasing re.mastered versions of WAR, BOY, & OCTOBER.

if you want to hear all the re.mastered goodies and lots of the extras

brace yourself for the joy and click here...

u2.re.mastered

if you need a sample here's one to enjoy!

free coldplay...

for any of you that like coldplay like me, you may be excited to know that there is a free "non album" song download available.

you know you want it...

click here to get it...deathwillneverconquer

enjoy!

miracle.proclaim.repent.bless.[repeat]

So a couple of posts ago I shared the text that I was going to be teaching at CC. I know I have been slow, but I finally got around to getting you all the link to it. This was a very interesting text for me to teach. If you listen you'll hear the story of how this sermon came about.

I'd love any thoughts on the sermon if you have any...

here is the link to the sermon - acts3v11-26

here is the link to the handout - acts3v11-26

And thanks to Christine Canty for the honest/real words that helped form my thoughts!

thanks for reading everyone/anyone!

worship thoughts..

today as i'm preparing for leading worship this week i got this email from one of my best friends who is an incredible worship leader and he shared about an experiment he did at his church last week that i thought was interesting.

i comes from 1.peter2v9

[the message]

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

[niv]

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

here is the portion of the email he sent...

Last Sunday we did an “All request hour”, where the congregation shouted out 7 songs for us to lead and then we just went for it after a few minutes of organizing. I used it to serve as a reminder that we are all meant to be priests (I Peter 2:9) – worship leaders before God; and that a worship service isn’t a time for the congregation to be serviced, but a time to offer a service of worship together to God! People got right into it and owned the priesthood.

so this week as i am preparing for leading worship the idea that will be in dialog will be that of power - satan's, man's, and of course God's. i'd love it if you had any song ideas/requests, scriptures, pictures, etc. that you thought might help in the planning of this set. and i'd also love your thoughts on 1peter2v9 and my friends sunday service experiment.

grace and peace

r

think about it...

and now for something completely different...

after a long week, holiday happenings, and sunday sermons i can always use some laughter. thanks for your prayers and for stopping by to read/comment.

enjoy...

sunday preparation...acts3v11-26

so here is the text for this weeks sermon that i'm working on. again i'd love your thoughts. here is a little context...

chapter 2 of acts ends with a summary of the beginning of the early church stating that the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, prayer, fellowship, and to the breaking of bread [see previous posts for more on this]. after this comes an illustration of the miraculous signs and wonders seen in peter healing the crippled beggar. it is this story/event that brings us to the text for this week which is peter speaking to the onlookers who witnessed this healing.

i'd love to hear what stands out to you, what hits you, questions you have, etc.

acts3v11-26...

11While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. 17"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ[a] would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'[b] 24"Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'[c] 26When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."

here it is...

so some of you have been asking how my last sermon went. personally i would give it a 6 out of 10. i received some nice feedback and some encouraging words which is always nice and i did end up showing the clip below. all in all it was one of those weeks that you know will be cut short on time, but by how much is unknown. it makes preparing difficult. we had a baby dedication and our last goodbye to Bill Glad our beloved sr. pastor and his family all of which were great, beautiful, and right, and as expected all took longer than planned.

as a result i felt very crunched on time but felt i was able to get my main point across. so if you'd care to listen to it feel free and i'd again welcome any dialog about it. it's called "the early church...in summary"

click here to get the outline
click here to listen

and if you want to hear other past ones you can click this link which gives you a list of things i've done. the list is just a list so if for instance you see a sermon and no link it is because you have to go to the sermon section to find it, but it shouldn't be to hard. here is the link.