A Few Thoughts…

Every now and then I go to digg without having logged in and I’m bombarded with left-wing-political craziness or anti-Christian “authorities” who seem to blast everything in the Bible. Usually these two go together. Digg was a great place when it was about technology. But when they decided to have extra news, things went from good information about new products/tech stuff to a veritable soap box for people to shout from about their personal beliefs about things, and then berate those who might disagree. (more…)

This morning we had the kick-off meeting for the new men’s ministries at church. It was a great time – we ate like kings at Maggiano’s (which does a great breakfast for group meetings), and had a review of some of the activities we will be doing throughout the year. Then we heard a great message from Bro. Rusty Strange. He’s an amazing preacher if you ask me, and brought us a wonderful message about being the preachers of our own homes. Noah was the only man in the bible who was labelled as a Preacher of Righteousness, and the only people he preached to, the only ones he brought to the Lord were his own family. What an awesome responsibility.

I don’t have a family of my own now, but I hope that when I do I will make sure that my actions are directed by God. That’s what hit me this morning – the awesome responsibility of being the man of the family. More than just making sure the family is taken care of in this world, but making sure they are taken care of for after this world. As Bro. Strange put it, to make sure we aren’t buried at the edge of our inheritance, but that we see the full inheritance which God has for us. It was a truely amazing morning, which opened my eyes to the great need for this type of ministry in our world.

The other key point I got this morning was about Simon-Peter. Jesus told him that he prayed for him (which, would be an incredible thing to have said to you for one thing), and then told him that after he was converted, he was to strengthen his bretheren. God manifested in flesh told Peter that his duty when he became a Christian was to help out his brother. Too often these days men have no where to go for comfort and solace when things are going bad. But there are many men who have been through situations before. I know when I have a family I will definitely want to talk to my dad, and other men of God about how to handle situations. The Man Alive men’s ministries at church will make sure that support structure is in place for me, and all other men in the church. We have an awesome responsibility in God’s plan – and we can work together to keep each other strong in times of need. It was a great time this morning, and I look forward to where it will go from here!

I was intrigued by a post over at Tim’s Blog, and I thought I would write a little about it here as well. Tim found and used the term “Godcasting”, which I don’t particularly like, I think because it reminds me of the term typecasting more than podcasting, and I don’t like the thouht of typecasting God. Anyway, the term I came up with is On Demand Services. Now, this would in no way be a substitute for going to a real service at church, but for those times when you’re traveling and can’t make it to church, or are maybe wanting to introduce someone to a service without going to one (keeping the comfort level up, as some people are really nervous about going to church for some reason), or just to hear a really good service or sermone once again – I think the idea has some promise. At my church right now, we have CD sales, DVD sales, and some videos on our website, but it would be nice to have a podcasting style feed that updated after every service for those that are away for extended periods of time, or just want to see what’s going on at First Apostolic. I think I’ll look into the possibility a bit closer, storing things on my machines at first to see what kind of space requirements we need to do what we want, and see how many hits we get!