anyone else thinking of getting their HOA / Strata to put some reserve funds into BTC? #asknostr

Don't be like Jonah Am I disobedient because I don't want God to use me in a certain way? Do I lose interest in being obedient because God doesn't use me how I want? Do I get angry about the way God chooses to work? Am I worried about how others will judge my obedience?

#Bikestr

Prairie Creek & Powderface!

"Then he spoke to the people: "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" No one said a word. (Mark 3:4) What kinds of thoughts were the people thinking here? These are rhetorical questions. Of course the answer is "doing good", "helping people". But... there were objections in their hearts that they weren't saying out loud - what about keeping these rules that are so important? these things we are doing (or not doing) for God? Aren't these things what you want, Jesus? This is what happens when our religious activities take center stage, become the most important thing - we are blinded. What kind of action suits Jesus church, his body, best? Helping people or leaving them helpless? But... we have to put on a weekly worship service. We have to tithe 10% to the church. We have to volunteer for church programs. Right? Isn't that what you want, Jesus? The sabbath had become to them what church has become to us. It rules over our relationship with God. It prevents us from putting our energy towards what is most important to Jesus - doing good, helping people.

What if we embraced the local church as a business serving the community?

A paraphrase of Acts 39-51 "We crave worldly ways - give us celebrities to follow! We build church buildings that we call the house of the Lord, and put on weekly concerts in them for ourselves, congratulating each other on the wonderful religious programs we have put together. God isn't pleased, but he lets us do it our way, embracing every new marketing or business strategy that comes down the pike - and live with the consequences, churches that are devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit. And all this time we've had direct access to God - we are his temple - and his Holy Spirit dwells in and among us. Jesus built this temple when he died for our sins on the cross. And he continues to build His Church which is simply those who follow him together on His mission to save the world. Yet we continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on our hearts, flaps on our ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit. We have been given God's kingdom here on earth - gift-wrapped! - and we are squandering it!"

Let this sink in... "We bear zero responsibility for how people respond [to the gospel]. There is no strategy that is more able to save a person than any other. A well-articulated argument is no more or less effective in a person's coming to faith than the testimony of a person who stutters and fails to string two sentences together well. Why? Because we can't save anyone - ourselves or anyone else. We all need Jesus to be our Savior. Our methods, our strategies, our arguments, our personalities, our sermons, our concerts, our outreach events, and our programs are not capable of bringing salvation to even one soul. They never have been. It is Jesus, and only Jesus who saves. We must put more faith in the gospel and less faith in our own methods. When you put faith in a method, that faith is placed in something other than Jesus." - Neil Cole, Viral

"The voice of God is a big deal, right? Access to God's wisdom, direction, encouragement, and message of peace is everything. Jesus paid an excruciating price so that we can all have this opportunity to hear God's voice. But too often we are listening to many other voices. We are listening to sermons, to our pastor's advice, to our friend's advice, to the world's counsel, to propaganda, and even to our own broken hearts and impulses. We must value the voice of God and tune in to hear it. Then we must do what it tells us to do. This is the contagion. This is what spreads like a virus. If you have ears to hear, listen to Jesus and do what He says." - Neil Cole, Viral

"There is no substitute for going out among the people, looking deeply into their eyes, and begging God for their souls to be made free." - Neil Cole, Viral

Ha Ling with my favourite person on her birthday!

The world craves centralized power which when pursued or submitted to within the Body of Christ will disconnect you from the power of the Holy Spirit.

"You never trust a millionaire quoting the sermon on the mount. I used to think I was not like them but I'm beginning to have my doubts about it." - Arcade Fire, City With No Children

"When all effort is expended on something less, the greater thing is left untried" - Neil Cole, Viral

"Jesus has always intended for His Kingdom to be decentralized and go viral." - Neil Cole, Viral

"[the Israelites] spent forty years wandering in the wilderness until a new generation with little memory of the old place emerged. It is actually quite common for God to move from trying to convince adults who have an entrenched mindset to using youth to fulfill His desires." - Neil Cole, Viral

My early 90s playlist today: U2 - Achtung Baby Tragically Hip - Fully Completely Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream Soundgarden - Superunknown A consistent theme is guitars split between the left and right channels.

In Ephesians, Paul talks a lot about unity in the body of Christ, the church. Saying that the body of Christ is the church is not the same thing as saying that the church is the body of Christ. It is our connection to Christ that makes us part of the body of Christ. Being a part of the church, or a church, does not connect us to Christ. The same thing applies to the unity Paul is calling us to. Having unity in a church or denomination I belong to is not the same thing as having unity in the body of Christ, the church. And in many cases, the things that might unify a church or denomination end up causing division in the body of Christ. We are united by Jesus death on the cross. We now share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father!

"Prayer is not just a means to an end; it is an end in and of itself" - Neil Cole, Pray

Starling Initiatives – Catalyzing Kingdom Movements

Biking up Haleakala today! Left at 3am and got 25 minutes in to the ride to realize I forgot my pack :( So I tacked on an extra hour to the ride! The sun is up now and it's a beatiful day on Maui.