You and Your Sin

Some Sunday morning thoughts about my sin and your's.

Romans 6:12–14

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”

“Let?” Do we have a choice?  Yes of course we do.  We are not to be controlled by those passions that lead us away from Christ.  In short this is telling us to not make ourselves slaves to sin.  Don’t surrender to it.  We are to not roll over and allow it subjugate us. We have the choice to obey the will of God or the orders barked at us by our sinful desires.

“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

Sin is not just something we trip into. It is something we knowingly walked (or run) to meet. We are active participants in our own sin.  We call the shots here. Sin does not take us by surprised.  We should never be shocked by it. (We are shocked at the effects it and how devastating they can be.) Let’s not be fooled by our own clever justification and excuses here.  We need to own the power we give sin.  We need to acknowledge we choose it over and against the will of God for our lives.  There is no doubt about this, we present ourselves to sin for it to rule and reign over us.

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

This is a very matter of fact statement!  We will not be dominated by sin, because of God’s grace. Done.  End of story.  It will not have a place in our lives.  This is oil and water.  Sin and grace cannot cohabitate.  This is not because of our own determination, but because of God’s grace and Christ love. Only when we spit on the work of Christ and chase away grace (figuratively) do we hand over controlle of our passions and desires to sin.

Off the Grid

Saw this on Fast Company.  This dude nails it!

Thoughts on Shared Leadership #6

"Shared leadership is about accountability and not babysitting."


When I first join the staff at The Next Level Church I learned part of my job description was to be the clearing house for vacation hours/days.  The other guys on staff were to report to me how they were using their vacation days and I was to keep a report or log in order to make sure they stayed within their allotted number of days.

Just about as fast as I could I dropped this responsible from the list of things I worried about. I told the guys, "We are all adults who can manage their own vacation time.  Besides if you are abusing your vacation time and not getting your job done you have bigger problems than me to worry about."

I am a pastor not a babysitter.

Likewise, the Pastors around TNL don't worry if we don't see each other in the office much.  I am actually in the office the most, but that does not cause me to wonder what my peers are doing with their time.  Just be cause they are not in the office does not mean they are not doing what is important to God's kingdom and our community.  If I ever wonder where anyone is, I just have to open Outlook which has all of our individual calendars synced together.  And as always I have the freedom to ask.

This is accountability.

In the same respects there are times when life just implodes or explodes depending on how you look at it.  Workload, personal health, mental health, crisis, marriages, families, friends sometimes require we retreat and recover.  Extra days off, creative flexible scheduling, time away to think, pray and listen, opportunities to refresh and recharge, cutting out of church or events early are all part of the survival culture around here. Even though no one is keeping track, communication is key during these times.

This is about being a team and respecting each other.

In the end, shared leadership is about trust.  Trusting that people are doing what they are called by God to do, paid to do and responsible to do. Around here we will check in with and on each other, but we refuse to babysit or handhold.

The Top 100+ Christian Blogs

"There are hundreds of great church blogs and ministry blogs to read, but do you ever wonder which church blogs everyone else is reading?

I do, which is why I have compiled a list of the world’s top church blogs.
Some focus exclusively on ministry, while others are more like theology or news blogs. Regardless of how you label them, these are the world’s most popular church blogs written by many of today’s most influential church leaders, journalists, theologians, and Christ followers."

Here is the list.

Publish Post

Catholic Bloggers Aim to Purge Dissenters

"Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it's not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn't Catholic enough. Enraged by dissent that they believe has gone unchecked for decades, and unafraid to say so in the starkest language, these activists are naming names and unsettling the church."

Read more here.

Personal Issues with Catalyst

 A comment on Out of Ur concerning the Catalyst Conference:

“It’s impossible to love people and avoid tension at the same time.”
This is good thinking and these are challenging words.

"Then, after an amazing spectacle, an audience participation exercise in percussion (think Blue Man Group with 13,000 people beating out the rhythms) and a spectacular demonstration of trampolinists reaching tremendous heights, twisting and flipping even while wearing skis and snowboards, and only after all that, did the speakers unpack the statement about tension."
This is a circus.


This is why I did not go to Catalyst, even though I had an offer of free tickets (labs included).