What Is God Pleased With?

I was going to leave this as a comment on a friend's blog, but decided instead to blog it because it became too long. Campus Crusade for Christ had their semi-annual staff conference this past week and they brought in Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. Many of you know him as the one who inspired the great little children's Bible Reynolda give out at the infant baptism.

Anyway, my friend is on staff with Crusade and he posted two of the talks that Tim Keller gave to them at CSU. I enjoyed listening to them on the road this week back and forth to Charlotte. I think the really challenging thing he said in both talks is that many Christians perform good works or ministry to earn favor with God. I believe the Spurgeon he quoted was that we should not preach the Gospel to prove it to ourselves. The fruit of our ministry is not the stamp of approval on our lives. Our stamp of approval is already on us when we accepted Jesus.

He went more in depth in the first talk about what the Gospel really is. He said that many people view it as a pardon. Yes, you are no longer in jail, but who would hire you? They think that now you have been saved, you need to prove yourself as worthy

Here is the kicker... apart from Christ you will never be worthy. You are only worthy because God said you are worthy. He has bestowed worthiness on you. You are created to be worthy. When you live out who God has created you to be instead of trying to be someone you think will be worthy, then you will experience the pleasure of God. Sure, God delights in blessing His children, but that is not a sign of His favor

His favor was shown in His removal of the barrier between you and Him. His favor is still shown in His constant calling for you to come to Him... spend time with Him... share His heart. You were create to minister, but the ministry we do is not toward others; it is not toward ourselves; it is toward God out of love for Him. We were created to minister to a place in God's heart that only we can minister to

God's heart aches without you. When you run from Him to try to prove your worthiness to Him, He painfully waits to catch your eye. The good news is not advice how to please God. The good news is that God came to tell us He loves us. Jesus is not only the truth of the Gospel; Jesus is not only the way to God; Jesus is also the source of life that we may be free from the life of trying earn God's favor.

Tim Keller speaking to the Crusade staff.
photo courtesy of David Hand

Shallowford Popcorn Farms Field Trip

Summer is well on the way and many of you are looking for something to do with your kids. Allison had the great idea of going to visit a popcorn farm. Most of you have let her know if you are planning on coming. But, if you haven't the trip will take place this Tuesday, June 30 at Shallowford Popcorn Farms, which is 15 miles west of Winston. Click on the link to find directions to the popcorn farm. The end of the tour ends with a fresh bag of popcorn!

Image Courtesy of CafePress.

Background Music for Shame Off You Class

I had handed out the CD I made as background music for the class and the prayer time. If had heard songs that you liked and wondered what they were and who was singing them, I have listed the song list for the CD below. A lot of these are my favorite worship songs and all of the Hillsong we sing at Reynolda. The links below are to legal downloads of those songs. You will need to register at the site to pull the songs. Enjoy!

1. For Who You Are - Hillsong
2. Jesus I Am Resting, Resting - Jean Sophia Pigott
3. Let Us Adore - Hillsong
4. Meet With Me - Ross King
5. The Stand - Hillsong United
6. Be Unto Your Name - Robin Mark
7. Alabaster Box - Julie Meyer
8. All Who Are Thirsty - Vineyard
9. Hosanna - Hillsong
10. Where I Belong - Matt Gilman & Cory Asbury
11. Jesus, All For Jesus - Robin Mark
12. Exalted (Yahweh) - Chris Tomlin
13. At the Cross - Hillsong
14. Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing) - Vineyard
15. Who May Ascend - Ross King

Reynolda Church Wallpapers

I sent an email out for the first month I did, but here is another wallpaper for the church I put together. Here are both together. I hope you enjoy it.

Reynolda Church Wallpapers

Shame Off You Follow Up Class

Thank you for all of you who were praying for the follow up class that Allison and were leading for the Shame Off You Conference. The class went very well. We learned so much adding in those extra classes after what we did for Parents of Preschoolers.

We combined a lot of Pastor Alan's material with Restoring the Foundations (RTF) and our personal experience. This diagram below is from RTF and was the hook that we kept coming back to.

Here are the handouts and the slides we used for the class. The two zip files are all of the notes and/or slides on one file. Both are about 1Mb a piece, but it would save downloading each PDF seperately. If you right-click on any link and select save as, you can download the files to your computer.

Shame Off You Follow-Up Class Handouts (zip)

• Session 1: Guilt and Conviction (pdf)
• Session 2: The Lies of Shame (pdf)
• Session 3: Inner Vows (pdf)
• Session 4: Scapegoats (pdf)
• Session 5: The Real Gospel (pdf)
• Session 5: Am I Blessed? (extra pdf)

Shame Off You Follow-Up Class Slides (zip)

• Session 1: Guilt and Conviction (pdf)
• Session 2: The Lies of Shame (pdf)
• Session 3: Inner Vows (pdf)
• Session 4: Scapegoats (pdf)
• Session 5: The Real Gospel (pdf)

What We Assume Jesus Would Say

This is funny video that shows how so many of us think Jesus speaks to them. You might have to listen closely to some of it because of the sound quality. I found it hilarious because it took people's misconceptions and carried them out to an extreme. Enjoy!

This video was created by Vintage 21, a church in Raleigh.

Shame Off You Recap

Congratulations! We now have no shame. :) We actually went through a lot of material the last few weeks. I have put together a directory of each lesson for your reference in case you want to go back. The link within the title is the blog post related to that week and the notes link is the handouts for the class.

• Shame Off You Introduction
• Chapter 1:   The Power of Words
• Chapter 2:   The Power of Marriage
• Chapter 3:   The Power of Forgiveness
• Chapter 4:   The Power of Confession
• Chapter 5a:   The Power of God’s Voice (notes
• Chapter 5b:   The Power of Celebration
• Chapter 6:   The Power of Mom and Dad
• Chapter 7:   The Power of Boundaries
• Chapter 8:   The Power of Walking With Jesus
• Chapter 9:   How to Change Others
• Chapter 10:   How the Church Tries to Change You
• Chapter 11:   How the Gospel Tries to Change You
• Chapter 12:   How Idols Keep You from Real Change

It has been a great semester. I know I have learned a lot. Let's all take the summer and rest our brains. Try to incorporate some of the things we discussed in class. We will be having some fun events over the summer, so if you have signed up for the RSS feed on the right, you will be updated of them. We will also be sending out an email, but I thought I would encourage the late adopters to sign up for the feed.