Hope and comfort
Was just reading in Isaiah tonight and came across this passage:
“But you, O Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
You descendants of Abraham my friend …I took you from the ends of the earth,
From its farthest corners I called you.
I said, “You are my servant,”
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.So do not fear, I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
That’s great news for Christians. God will strengthen us and help us. He’ll uphold us with his righteous hand … which is especially good news for me, being full of unrighteousness!
Tags: bible, isaiah, christians, john koetsier
Romans chapter 14
This is the fourteenth installment of what I hope to be a complete “translation” of Romans. Please note that this is not scripture; it is my understanding of scripture. Any with questions or concerns should check the original.
Church-planting: helps if God’s onside
What are the reasons why church plants succeed? Why do they fail?
ChurchRelevance has a list of reasons why they fail which is originally from Griffith Coaching Network.
Here’s the list:
- Lack of a clear definition of “success” and a clear exit strategy
- Premature birth (starting public worship too quickly)
- Mismatch between the planter and the community/context/target audience
- Insufficient assessment (of the planter and the planting context)
- Lack of training and coaching
- Putting all your eggs in one basket (depending on one big advertising campaign or event)
- Too much overhead too fast
- The inability or unwillingness to recruit new people
- Lack of focus and ignoring the pressing priorities
- Inebriation (being drunk on your vision)
Oddly enough, lack of God’s blessing is not one of them. Not following God’s will is not one of them. No prayer is not one of them. The church plant not being God’s will is not one of them.
Churches are not businesses. Success isn’t a result of following a checklist. Success is due to God’s blessing, first, foremost, and finally.
That seems obvious enough to a Christian, doesn’t it?
Tags: church, christianity, building, planting, god, prayer, john koetsier
Pigs and infidels
I’m fairly glad to not be living in Saudi Arabia:
In a kingdom where Friday preachers routinely refer to Christians as pigs and infidel crusaders, even a twisted cross ranks as an abomination.
It’s all part of the impending Saudi crusade against the evil letter X.
Tags: christian, saudi arabia, john koetsier
Romans chapter 13
This is the thirteenth installment of what I hope to be a complete “translation” of Romans. Please note that this is not scripture; it is my understanding of scripture. Any with questions or concerns should check the original.
One million wishes
Have you seen the Million-dollar blog post yet? It’s not a money-making scheme, it’s a money-giving scheme.
Post your wish - one dollar will be donated to charity for each wish posted.
Here’s mine:
My one wish is not for “others” to be better, or for faceless governments to change policies, or for NGOs to make a difference, or for organizations, groups, categories of any kind.
My wish for the world is that I will be a better human being, and so doing, will be more, do more, and give more to those in need.
(Bonus wish: that you - yes you reading right now - would do the same.)
Tags: one million wishes, million dollar blog post, john koetsier
Eternally different
Peter Field, a friend and business associate of mine, sent me the following email a couple of weeks ago. I thought I’d post it here, with his permission:
Hi all my people,
Something really neat happened tonight but I have to preface my story with a little detail dating back to the summer.
We were so busy in the summer around the time of JJ’s birthday that we could not plan him a “friends party”, we just had a family dinner and celebrated his young life.
It is Jordy’s birthday today and the 14 of us that all live together (temporarily)… me and my 5, Sharon’s brother Paul and his 4, Mom & Dad and James (plus Auntie Joan a visitor not a resident!)… all joined us for dinner tonight to celebrate. Jordy wanted to have friends over but we wanted to keep things fair between the boys.
But this is what was so neat…
We had dinner and while everyone was around the table… a thought came to me. I grabbed Jordy and I stood with him in my arms before our whole family and announced that I wanted to say a few words… I told everyone how proud I am of my boy and drew attention to all his good qualities and focused on what I see God doing in him.
Then I asked if we, as a family, could spend some time praying for Jordy, thanking God for Jordy and pray blessings on him. I did not know where this would go so I suggested short sentence prayers for the kids and any adults that wanted to pray. I started and from there we spent a good 15mins as a group blessing this young lad.
Something interesting began to happen as we prayed for and blessed this young man… I felt his heart racing in my hands… like really pounding… I was wondering what was going on so I peeked… as I looked down upon my son I saw tears streaming down his face…not little guys… I’m talking gushers!
When we finished praying I asked Jordo why are you crying? He looked up at me and said “Dad I Am Soooo Happy!” He said as he heard the words of his family praying for him, blessing him and praising God his heart was filled to overflowing. He said that this is the best gift he has ever received and that this was the best birthday ever.
Now let’s keep things in perspective folks… prior to us praying he was given FIFA World Cup Soccer for the XBOX… and only a few moments later that meant nothing to him. As a father, I can’t imagine a better feeling, I was so happy to hear these sentiments from my 9 year old son. Praise God!
I looked at Sharon…Sharon looked at Paul…Paul looked at Mom…Mom looked at Joan…Joan looked at Dad…Dad looked at me…I looked at James…James looked at JJ… JJ looked at Jeni and you can only imagine the tears of joy that flowed. Praise you Jesus our God and King! I love the little moments in life that carry such impact… I am eternally different today. AMEN.
Wow. That is such an awesome experience.
Humanity
So the next time a bum tries to cadge a buck out of you, at least have the courtesy to pull the earbuds out and engage him as a fellow human being. Don’t give him any money if you don’t want to. But acknowledge him. He’s not a blot on your aesthetic little world. If he is, well, your problems are bigger than his.
Christmas is coming
Just chillin’ on a Sunday night, Mahalia Jackson singing Silver Bells on the stereo, raining outside, warm inside, kids in bed, church was good, friends are good, Teresa’s watching Opera I mean Oprah …
Life is good; I am thankful.
Tags: christian, sunday, john koetsier
Ghandi’s 7 blunders
Saw this on Museums of the Mind: 7 Blunders of the World.
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