My Weblog

Working at Home

Julie and I are still in Seattle visiting my daughter Emily and her husband Scott. Scott works for Safeco Insurance, but he doesn't travel to an office. The cool thing is he works out of his home as a customer service agent.

Sushi in Seattle

Julie, Emily and I went out for lunch together yesterday. We went to a cool place for sushi. The sushi moves around on plates and you just grab whatever you want. It was really good. My daughter Emily is the one in the striped sweater if you didn't know already.

A Word From God?

Yesterday in our Sunday gathering we had a homeless man stand during worship and speak what is commonly known as a “word of prophecy.” What he had to say seemed right on, although I did have some concerns and I privately asked him to refrain from speaking.  I know that some people will think that what he did is appropriate in the church and in line with sound teaching. I am not one to keep God from speaking through people, but I believe we need to be in line with what God says in his scriptures concerning people coming into the church and having a “word from the Lord.” In John 7:15-16 Jesus tells us to “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.” This verse assumes some things concerning people who have a message. The first assumption is discerning believers and leadership will need to make a judgment concerning people who do have a word or a message. This is also repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 that says, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good.” 1 John 4:1 also tells us to test the spirits of prophets to see if they are really speaking from God. John warned against believing every spirit; that is, we are never to assume every spiritual experience or every demonstration of spiritual power is from God. We must test spiritual experiences and spiritual phenomenon to see if they are in fact from God. To test a prophecy there must me some type of judgment concerning whether it is from God, that person’s own understanding, or demonic influence. The second assumption from Jesus is that there will be wolves that look like sheep in our gatherings. There are people who seem to have a good message, but there is a life behind the message that is contrary to the life of a Christ follower. When Paul was in Philippi he was followed by a woman who was saying some things about Paul and his friends that sounded right on. You can read about it in Acts 16. Her very words were, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” To you and I that sounds acceptable, but if you examine the context you would know that she was demon possessed. When someone just off the streets comes in and speaks a word, it may sound all good and right, but we really don’t know the context of that person’s life and we really don’t know anything concerning that person’s spirituality.

Here are some scriptures along with some questions to think about:

Matthew 7:15-20 – Is the person bearing Christ-like fruit?       
1 Corinthians 12:7 – Is it for the common good of the church?       
1 Corinthians 14:26    - Does it strengthen the church?           
1 Corinthians 14 – Is it given in an orderly manner?
Ephesians 4:11-16 – Does what the prophet is saying equip the church for works of service?
Hebrews 10:25 – Is the person speaking involved in the life of the church?
1 John 4:2 – What does the person believe about Jesus?
1 John 4:6 – Does the person speaking listen to the spiritual authority given to the church by God?
2 Peter 1:20-21 – Since a prophecy is from the Spirit of God, does the person speaking exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24) in his or her life?

There are other scriptures that dictate what constitutes a word from God and how to judge. If you have any thoughts or teaching leave me a comment.


 

Sunday Night Mind Dump #2

This is my second blog on random stuff.

• Friday and Saturday we had our first team retreat with our staff and board at the Redwood Christian Park.  Awesome time for team building and unity. Even played a little Frisbee golf. This will definitely be a yearly event.

• Saturday night  I went to the roller derby in Santa Cruz with Ryan Lipert. Dude, what a riot! It just amazes me how those ladies fall and get right back up.  Way to go girls!

• Today was our last message in our vision series. The theme today was "influence" and my primary verse was Acts 10. I thought it went OK, but not the best. I tend to evaluate myself on my way home from church and sometimes I tend to be my worst critic. We did had a lot of new guests this morning.

• After church Julie and I flew to Seattle to visit with our daughter Emily and her husband Scott. We haven't seen them for over a year. We will be here until Wednesday, then we will fly to Spokane, WA. We leave for Spokane. On Thursday I will be driving a moving truck to Palm Desert. Julie's parents sold their house and are moving to their other house in Palm Desert, CA. I am a little nervous about driving a moving van that far.

• Oh, really cool! Our new youth pastors Brandon and Kendra came up on Thursday to look for a place to live. They will be arriving in Santa Cruz around the first of October.

• It's raining in Seattle.

Sunday Night Mind Dump

Sunday after the gatherings is usually relaxing, but I always have a lot of stuff running through my cranium. Here are some of the things on my mind for this Sunday:

Personally, our Sunday gathering went well. Our worship team is awesome! We had a lot visitors from our of town. I thought that people responded to God, the worship was moving, people were friendly. We are in our vision series and I hope that people leave the building with a new calling and connection. It was a good day.

Julie and I went to Bobby and Rachel’s after the Sunday morning gathering. We had lunch with friends and watched some football, the Chargers. I got home to watch the last few minutes of the Seahawks game. The Seahawks lost. Bummer!

Thinking a lot about our “John” series in two weeks. Entered a few thoughts on my computer. Three aspects of the Gospel John I want to examine:

o    The portraits  Jesus paints
o    The people Jesus encounters
o    The parties that Jesus attends

I’m pumped!

Silvia called and she is not moving to San Diego after all. I thought we were going to loose her from our Life Group. Julie and I were so relieved.

Busy this next week. Brandon and Kendra (New youth pastors) are coming up on Thursday to look for a house. Our team retreat is Friday and Saturday. Julie and I leave for Seattle on Sunday. I think the best part of the week will be the retreat. I’m pumped!

Julie and I are flying to Seattle next Sunday to see my daughter and her husband. I haven’t seen them for almost two years. I am really excited about it. After we see our kids we are flying to Spokane, WA and move Julie’s parents down to Palm Desert, CA.

A Bad Day In Africa

I thought this was a crack up. Maybe not for the gazelle.

Ryan and Shakespeare

Ryan is sporting this new growth on his face and I thought for a minute that there was a resemblance to William Shakespeare. What do yo think?

Obama'a Origin

Did you ever wonder were Barak Obama came from? Did you ever wonder about his family origin?
This may help you understand a little more about the Democratic candidate. Or maybe not.

glumbert - A Moment For The History Books