a.look.into.my.world

BE(coming) like Jesus

justinroper — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:11:16 +0000

In the late 1990′s early 2000′s you may remember the colored bracelets worn by youth groups and youth pastors all over the country with the inscription W.W.J.D. I admit that I had one as well; but not a bright pink one or anything. The bracelet’s purpose was to serve as a help in time of need device, that if you were questioning a specific decision you should ask What Would Jesus Do? Once you asked that question the answer would magically appear and you would know what to do and in that particular moment in time you would be like Jesus. But isn’t this at the heart of every Christian to know the will of God and to be like Jesus? Isn’t this the goal for every Christian to be like Jesus and take on the very mind of Christ? Yes and Yes.

The more that I read the Bible and the more that I get to know my Savior the more light he sheds on my dark heart and the more I realize how I am NOT like Jesus. Jesus throughout the Gospels was preaching and teaching so much that he rarely had time for any sleep or alone time, but still through the craziness of life he still had compassion on those around him. I tend to get grumpy when I haven’t had any sleep and people demand things from me and sometimes compassion is the farthest from my emotional state. This is just one area where I fall short. A more accurate verb for the Christian life is BECOMING like Jesus.

Catalyst 2009 line-up

justinroper — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:25:24 +0000

Catalyst leadership conference just released their line-up. Here are three that are coming… check out their website for the list.

Rob Bell
Louie Giglio
Francis Chan

iPhone Survival 2.0

justinroper — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:18:57 +0000

If you have an iPhone you know how amazing they are and how addicted you can become to their awesomeness, and this isn’t more evident that when you experience a near death experience or a death experience of your iPhone.

Three months ago I dropped my iPhone on the concrete and the screen was completely crushed. It was a sad, sad day! After gracious permission and understanding from my wife, I got another one. On Easter Sunday Jenna and I were leaving for church in a hurry and so we left our home and pulled out onto a busy road in Charlotte and I heard a ‘THUMP’ on the side of the car. My immediate reaction was: I either hit a dog OR that was my iPhone. Honestly, I wished that it were a dog BUT no it was definitely my iPhone. I looked over my shoulder and saw dozens of cars flying by and so I did a quick u-turn and went back to find my iPhone. There it was, in all of its glory lying facedown on the road and with a near death crush by a car turning I jumped out of the car, picked up my iPhone expecting it to be crushed — AGAIN — but NO it was alive with only a few scatches! WOW!! This amazed me!

I am thankful because now I dont have to get a Blackberry or some other stupid phone.

What is your iPhone survival story?

A Nation Seeking to be United?

justinroper — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:19:26 +0000

After watching the immaculate inauguration on Tuesday I felt for a brief moment a sense of unity throughout our nation. However, once the speech ended and the 2 million people cleared out of the District of Colombia the division was back. I have been asking myself lately: What would it take for a nation to unite? But more importantly, What would it take for the CHURCH to truly unite? With a nation that values tolerance over truth and acceptance over authority, we as a nation will never reach true unity. Today as I found the map below that shows the county by county results of the 2008 election I was surprised for many reasons by what I saw, and I ask: Are we a Nation seeking to be United? Are our presumptions about the true ‘colors’ of our nation accurate?

Post a Video on Myspace and you may become a Rockstar

justinroper — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:03:19 +0000

I was listening to the radio today when I heard the coolest story from a guy from Charlotte who works at a Home Depot in Steele Creek and is now the lead singer for Boston on their summer tour after being discovered on the internet. Check the story out!

Preaching is…

justinroper — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:44:42 +0000

I hesitate to even draft this blog, but for my benefit and hopefully for those of you who read it I hope my reflexions are of some value. I have recently been discouraged with men within the church who hold the title of “pastor” and have failed to uphold the integrity of the pulpit. Below are some things that I have noticed that have caused me to increasingly become more and more discouraged.

1) The hip term “communicator” has seemed to replaced the word “preacher”
2) The absence of a pulpit on most stages of churches. (maybe at least have a clear one)
3) Lack of true, authoritative expositional preaching from the Bible
4) Failure of pastors to make a stand on issues, but instead are so easy to dismiss issues as ‘grey matters’

So what Preaching is…
1) The primary task is to FEED the flock by leading them to green pastures.
2) A TRUE Sermon calls for a verdict, a call for change in someone’s life, behavior, thought, and belief
3) It is a characteristic of Christianity — we are the only religion that has preaching
4) In the NT, it’s proclamation of good tidings — a person receiving a message from God.
5) It is through a chosen person with natural gifts that can be developed to meet the needs of humanity.
6) A sharing of the message of God, NOT just a public speech.

I see the authority of the preached word of God being diminished from within the church. Church has always been about feeding the FLOCK and not the Goats. We must realize that we have no authority to change another person’s life, no matter how hip or crafty your sermon is, only the Holy Spirit can do that — BUT as a pastor you must ask the Holy Spirit to make the passage alive to you so that you can preach clearly to your church.

“Become what you preach and then preach Christ in you” – James Stuart Stewart. Throughout history the spirituality and spiritual life of the visible church have been linked to the quality of preaching.

So, pastors take hold of the gift that God has given you,
don’t be afraid to preach
take authority in your role
ask God to speak to you and have scripture become more alive to you than it has in your life
don’t preach for emotions sake but preach TRUTH
take a stand – even on tough issues
Take a Sunday off to refresh
Spend more time in sermon preparation
Take a seminary class for refreshment and knowledge
PREACH and take pleasure in your role as more than just a communicator…you are a PREACHER
Renew your respect and awe for the pulpit
Preach the CROSS, Preach the WORD, Preach the GOSPEL — i know we all want to be culturally relevant, but scripture is alive, our saviour is alive, and the CROSS, WORD, and GOSPEL is life-changing NOT being hip.

**I would like to thank and give credit to Dr. John Oliver, Professor of Homiletics at RTS for his heart and passion for the preached word of God**

WOW!! What a Way to Thank Your Staff

justinroper — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:06:34 +0000

Ever wondered how to thank people who work with you, for you, volunteer for you, or anyone who you are leading? Check out what this Chicago based company decided to do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Severely Yours.com

justinroper — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:55:04 +0000

The past two weekends have been amazing! I have gotten to travel with Severely Yours, and besides leaving Jenna at home, it has been an awesome time. God has really blessed us with some great worship times filled with students who are so hungry for a freshness from God. We were at Metamorphosis in Raleigh, NC and the NC Youth in Caswell, NC.

On Friday we leave for a LOOONNGGG drive to Indiana and i am expecting God to do some great things! Get ready Indiana!

Try Japanese, Try Jesus

justinroper — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:54:00 +0000

Driving home today I saw a typical, cheesy,Christian bumper sticker on the back of a soccer mom’s gas sucking SUV that said ‘Try Jesus’, and I almost threw up in my mouth as I began to think about all the cheesy messages that Christians are sending the world. Our God is a creative God who SPOKE the entire universe into existence (read Genesis 1 and count how many times “and God said” appears) and breathed life into man, and the best we can give is a bumper sticker? Creative NOT Cheese

Is Jesus just another commodity to try? The implications of the sticker is that if I ‘try’ Jesus then I am going to like him like the first time I tried Japanese? What about the people who ‘try’ Jesus and don’t like him like some try Japanese and don’t like it?

The picture that I see in the gospels is that ‘trying’ Jesus doesn’t come without a high price to pay. Luke 14 says unless you hate your father or mother, your children – even your own life – you cannot be his disciple. Later in the chapter unless you take up your cross and give up everything you cannot be his disciple. Being a disciple of Jesus is demanding.

Jesus paid a high price for redemption. He is not a mere commodity to try and to toss out if we don’t like him or keep if we do. He demands and desires a life of Loving him with ALL of our heart and mind.

Try Japanese

Are You a New Creation?

justinroper — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:05:31 +0000

I found this today and was BLOWN away!!

Dex performing New Creation at one of Fellowship Church’s weekend services at the Grapevine Campus.New Creation is a featured song on the upcoming album “Closer To The Start” by Fellowship Church. Check it out at closertothestart.com!

more about "New Creation on Vimeo", posted with vodpod