The snow has started here at the Byrd House.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
#2 Cain and Able: Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11
Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11
Cain and Able
“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” - LORD God (Genesis 4.6 & .7)
Cain and Able are Adam and Eve’s first two boys. Cain works out in the fields. Able works with livestock. One day both of them bring an offering to the LORD. Cain just brings some of the fruit of the soil. Able brings the fatty portions of the first born. The LORD accepts Able’s offering because it is the choicest parts being sacrificed. While Cain’s offering is just normal everyday food. Cain is upset by this and the LORD warns him that sin desires to have him but he must master it. What a warning!
Now if the LORD spoke directly to me with a warning like that I think I would listen to him. If the LORD spoke directly to me every time my own evil desires were tempting I think I would listen. I think I would know better after some help like that.
But to often like Cain we ignore the warnings and walk through temptation and into sin. We knew better but went ahead. We knew the Holy Spirit was pulling us away but we did not control ourselves. We allowed sin to master us.
Self-control is not easy but I believe it is a defining characteristic of a follower of Jesus Christ. Self-control is about being self-aware and thinking ahead. When we master ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit then the LORD is our master not sin.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
All You Need to KNow in Life You Will Learn From D&D
This is an awesome short talk about all you'll need to know in life.
All I Need To Know About Life I learned From Dungeons and Dragons. An IgniteOKC Talk. from Chad Henderson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
#1 Don't Follow god but Follow God
Don’t Follow god but Follow God
First in a Series of Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Narrator (Genesis 1.27)
“You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” - The Serpent (Genesis 2.4 &.5)
The truth of the first 11 chapters of Genesis is not just that they happened that they still happen. Each and everyday the same temptations, righteousness, sin and victory occur. We are given a choice. We can either follow god or the LORD GOD.
The Serpent tempts Adam and Eve in the garden with the idea that they can be like god knowing good and evil. They see this temptations as something they desire. The desire to be like god gives birth to sin. The sin to pridefully and selfishly be like god leads to death. This is a death of their, and our, relationship with the LORD GOD. Death of their life in the Garden. Death of the joy they were to experience. Death of who they were created to be. Eventually, their own deaths as they were cut off from the Tree of Life.
What they forgot was they were already like God. When the LORD GOD creates us He created us in His image and (wait for it) LIKENESS. We were already like God but we believed the Serpent’s lie! The lie that we can be like the god of our creation not the God of creation
We were created by the LORD GOD to be in His image and likeness. We will only find who we are truly created to be when we stop following god and follow GOD.
First in a Series of Reflections on Genesis 1 - 11
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Narrator (Genesis 1.27)
“You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” - The Serpent (Genesis 2.4 &.5)
The truth of the first 11 chapters of Genesis is not just that they happened that they still happen. Each and everyday the same temptations, righteousness, sin and victory occur. We are given a choice. We can either follow god or the LORD GOD.
The Serpent tempts Adam and Eve in the garden with the idea that they can be like god knowing good and evil. They see this temptations as something they desire. The desire to be like god gives birth to sin. The sin to pridefully and selfishly be like god leads to death. This is a death of their, and our, relationship with the LORD GOD. Death of their life in the Garden. Death of the joy they were to experience. Death of who they were created to be. Eventually, their own deaths as they were cut off from the Tree of Life.
What they forgot was they were already like God. When the LORD GOD creates us He created us in His image and (wait for it) LIKENESS. We were already like God but we believed the Serpent’s lie! The lie that we can be like the god of our creation not the God of creation
We were created by the LORD GOD to be in His image and likeness. We will only find who we are truly created to be when we stop following god and follow GOD.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
What I Learned From 2 Lego Cars
What I Learned From 2 Lego Cars
During a recent Upper Room Teen Ministry’s Sunday Night Live we built Lego cars! Two teams each had one small Lego car to build with one small twist. The twist was that the instructions were across the hall and only one team member could look at the instructions. She then had to tell her other team members what to build. The one who looked at the instructions could not build the car, that wasn’t their job. The other team members were the only ones who could build. Amazingly it took more than 30 minutes for a group of 7th - 12th grade students to build these cars.
So why did I do this to them? So they would learn 3 important things.
First, I wanted them to learn that instructions are important. If we want to know how to build something right we need to look at the instructions. In life we don’t have an instruction book but we do have the Bible that gives us guidelines as to how the LORD calls us to live. If we want to know how faithful followers of God live, we read their stories in the Bible. If we are called to follow Jesus, we need to know how Jesus lived. We need to read those stories in the Bible. Instructions also need to be interpreted. Sometimes it isn’t really clear what the Lego instructions are showing us. The Bible is similar. We have to take what we read and ask, “How do we live this?” We need to carefully observe our lives, the stories we find in the Bible and merge the two into a life that is pleasing to the LORD.
The next lesson I wanted them to learn was that they are needed as part of the church. No member of the construction team was more important than another. The one who looked at the instructions was just as important as the ones who built. The same is true in the church. The church is the Body of Christ and each part of the body is needed for it to continue the work of the LORD. The church is the Family of God. Each family member is needed to complete the family and for the family to function. For this Family of God or Body of Christ to function properly, we need teachers for Bible classes. We need people to volunteer to lead singing, pray, give a Communion devotional and introduce visitors. We need people to volunteer to set up tables and chairs for fellowship meals and other activities. If the parts of the Body or the members of the Family don’t do their part it won’t function.
The third lesson is closely linked with the second, not only are you needed as part of the Body of Christ or the Family of God but you need to be present when they meet. In our Lego car building if one of the construction team members decides not to participate, the team would have been able to finish the task. If the person who looked at the instructions decided not to do their job, the rest of the team would not know what to do. If the builders decided not to do their job, the instructor would not have anyone to build. If we don’t show up when the Family of God meets then the family is not complete. If parts of the body don’t show up when the Body of Christ meets, then the body is incomplete. The Family, the Body can not be what it is called to be if the parts or members are absent.
Isn’t it amazing what you can learn from a small Lego set.
During a recent Upper Room Teen Ministry’s Sunday Night Live we built Lego cars! Two teams each had one small Lego car to build with one small twist. The twist was that the instructions were across the hall and only one team member could look at the instructions. She then had to tell her other team members what to build. The one who looked at the instructions could not build the car, that wasn’t their job. The other team members were the only ones who could build. Amazingly it took more than 30 minutes for a group of 7th - 12th grade students to build these cars.
So why did I do this to them? So they would learn 3 important things.
First, I wanted them to learn that instructions are important. If we want to know how to build something right we need to look at the instructions. In life we don’t have an instruction book but we do have the Bible that gives us guidelines as to how the LORD calls us to live. If we want to know how faithful followers of God live, we read their stories in the Bible. If we are called to follow Jesus, we need to know how Jesus lived. We need to read those stories in the Bible. Instructions also need to be interpreted. Sometimes it isn’t really clear what the Lego instructions are showing us. The Bible is similar. We have to take what we read and ask, “How do we live this?” We need to carefully observe our lives, the stories we find in the Bible and merge the two into a life that is pleasing to the LORD.
The next lesson I wanted them to learn was that they are needed as part of the church. No member of the construction team was more important than another. The one who looked at the instructions was just as important as the ones who built. The same is true in the church. The church is the Body of Christ and each part of the body is needed for it to continue the work of the LORD. The church is the Family of God. Each family member is needed to complete the family and for the family to function. For this Family of God or Body of Christ to function properly, we need teachers for Bible classes. We need people to volunteer to lead singing, pray, give a Communion devotional and introduce visitors. We need people to volunteer to set up tables and chairs for fellowship meals and other activities. If the parts of the Body or the members of the Family don’t do their part it won’t function.
The third lesson is closely linked with the second, not only are you needed as part of the Body of Christ or the Family of God but you need to be present when they meet. In our Lego car building if one of the construction team members decides not to participate, the team would have been able to finish the task. If the person who looked at the instructions decided not to do their job, the rest of the team would not know what to do. If the builders decided not to do their job, the instructor would not have anyone to build. If we don’t show up when the Family of God meets then the family is not complete. If parts of the body don’t show up when the Body of Christ meets, then the body is incomplete. The Family, the Body can not be what it is called to be if the parts or members are absent.
Isn’t it amazing what you can learn from a small Lego set.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Spiritual Implication of Play-Doh (Romans 12.1 & .2)
I really enjoy Play-doh. When you open the little yellow container to that wonderful smell a whole world of opportunity opens up. I dump out the lump and begin to shape it. With my hands, I can make abstract shapes, little people, creatures, plants, vehicles or buildings. These things aren’t going to make themselves. I have to shape them and mold them. I have to take my time to form what I have in my mind to create.
Play-Doh has no choice but to conform to how it is shaped. It can’t ask me to be a square, a car or a little kid. It is going to become what I want to make. It will conform to the shape of a cookie cutter. It will conform to the shape of various tools that come with Play-Doh kits to make spaghetti or tube or stars. It has no choice but to conform to the outside forces placed upon it.
We, on the other hand, are not like play-doh. We have some choices. We can choose to conform to the patterns of the prevailing culture. We can choose to look, act, talk and think like the culture, the world, around us. If we choose to conform ourselves to our culture we will only find sin and death.
But...
We can also choose to cut across that culture and live differently. We can’t do this on our own. We can only be transformed into something new through our faith and obedience in the LORD Jesus Christ. It is our participation in His sacrifice, through baptism, that our relationship with God is restored. It is only then that the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit directs how we live our lives. When we choose to be conformed into the image of Christ we becoming a holy, pleasing and living sacrifice to God the Father each and everyday.
You are not a lump of clay to be shaped and molded by forces outside or your control.
If we choose to be conformed to our culture we will only find sin and death. If we choose to be conformed into the image of Christ we will find grace, love and life. Which choice will you make?
Play-Doh has no choice but to conform to how it is shaped. It can’t ask me to be a square, a car or a little kid. It is going to become what I want to make. It will conform to the shape of a cookie cutter. It will conform to the shape of various tools that come with Play-Doh kits to make spaghetti or tube or stars. It has no choice but to conform to the outside forces placed upon it.
We, on the other hand, are not like play-doh. We have some choices. We can choose to conform to the patterns of the prevailing culture. We can choose to look, act, talk and think like the culture, the world, around us. If we choose to conform ourselves to our culture we will only find sin and death.
But...
We can also choose to cut across that culture and live differently. We can’t do this on our own. We can only be transformed into something new through our faith and obedience in the LORD Jesus Christ. It is our participation in His sacrifice, through baptism, that our relationship with God is restored. It is only then that the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit directs how we live our lives. When we choose to be conformed into the image of Christ we becoming a holy, pleasing and living sacrifice to God the Father each and everyday.
You are not a lump of clay to be shaped and molded by forces outside or your control.
If we choose to be conformed to our culture we will only find sin and death. If we choose to be conformed into the image of Christ we will find grace, love and life. Which choice will you make?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
A Prayer of Thanksgiving after meditating on John 3:16 - .21
A Prayer of Thanksgiving after meditating on John 3:16 - .21
LORD
We come before you tonight confessing our love for lies and our love of darkness.
BUT
You out of your great love sent your son
who is the light
who is the truth
into the world
You gave him so that we will find eternal life through our belief in your Son.
Your Son, who came into this world not to condemn us but to save us all.
THANK YOU LORD
THANK YOU LORD
Thank you for giving us your Son who calls us out of our darkness into his light.
Thank you for giving us your Son who calls us out of our lies into the truth.
Thank you for giving us your Son who call us out of our condemnation into salvation.
Salvation that only comes thru the name Jesus Christ.
It is in his name that we praise you in this prayer.
Amen
LORD
We come before you tonight confessing our love for lies and our love of darkness.
BUT
You out of your great love sent your son
who is the light
who is the truth
into the world
You gave him so that we will find eternal life through our belief in your Son.
Your Son, who came into this world not to condemn us but to save us all.
THANK YOU LORD
THANK YOU LORD
Thank you for giving us your Son who calls us out of our darkness into his light.
Thank you for giving us your Son who calls us out of our lies into the truth.
Thank you for giving us your Son who call us out of our condemnation into salvation.
Salvation that only comes thru the name Jesus Christ.
It is in his name that we praise you in this prayer.
Amen
Thursday, November 20, 2008
A Prayer of Blessing
LORD
We ask that you will put your name on us.
We ask that you will...
guard us against temptation.
guard us against the Evil One.
LORD look at us and bless us.
Look at us and give us your grace.
Look at us and give us your peace.
Look at us and give us your love.
Open our eyes so we may...
Look at others and give them grace.
Look at others and live in peace with them.
Look at others and show them love.
As we wear your name make us a blessing to the world.
We ask this in your Son’s wonderful and holy name.
Jesus the Christ
Amen
We ask that you will put your name on us.
We ask that you will...
guard us against temptation.
guard us against the Evil One.
LORD look at us and bless us.
Look at us and give us your grace.
Look at us and give us your peace.
Look at us and give us your love.
Open our eyes so we may...
Look at others and give them grace.
Look at others and live in peace with them.
Look at others and show them love.
As we wear your name make us a blessing to the world.
We ask this in your Son’s wonderful and holy name.
Jesus the Christ
Amen
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
on the border between real and fake virginia
tyler and i make a run for the border and as you can see things got a little wild!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Guys Weekend Part One
The girls are at a Girl Scout Encampment so me and the boys have a weekend together. Here we are a Ruby Tuesdays for diner last night.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
EARTHQUAKE!
well about an hour ago (1:48 pm) i thought the roof here at the church's building was going to fall on my head. it only took an hour to find out it was a 1.8 magnitude earthquake.
usgs info on earthquake
wtop news on the earthquake
i'll post more information as soon as i have it.
usgs info on earthquake
wtop news on the earthquake
i'll post more information as soon as i have it.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
webcast slides
In order to help you follow along with tonight's class the slides can be downloaded as a pdf by clicking here
check out the webcast of my class tonight at 7:30 pm (edt)
You can tune in here each Wednesday night at 7:30 pm (edt)to view our webcast or visit http://live.yahoo.com/churchofchristinfallschurch to watch it there and participate in the chat room.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Birthday Tree Transplanting
On my birthday we dug a big hole and transplanted a tree from one part of our yard to another. I am happy to report that a week later the tree looks healthy!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
white house easter egg roll pictures
thanks to the generosity of one of the members of my church the kids and i were able to attend the annual white house easter egg roll. we didn't see bush 42 but we did get to see the jonas brothers.
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