The Missionary Mindset

Twitter :)

2009-06-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

So yes I have really gotten into this. Get up with me @jjphillgin Thanks all!

Prayer for the Indian Church

2009-06-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

I was just sent this video by a good friend of mine. It really has broken my heart. Would you just take a minute to watch this video and pray fro the persecuted church. Thanks,

JJ

Chapter 1: "Stop Praying!" (and stand in awe of who He is)

2009-06-03T19:56:00.001-07:00

So have you ever been spanked by your parents? Alright well have you ever been spanked by the Creator of the universe? Tonight God broke my heart. I opened this book and started chapter one where Francis Chan talked about talking "at" God, rushing in with words. First Chan said to watch this video on his Crazy Love site. I encourage you watch this video first before reading the rest of my response.

That blew my mind away!Myself, JJ Philligin, I try to understand THAT?! With my mind, my tiny brain, I try to figure out the guy who created that WITH HIS WORD! Talk about putting me in my place!

Psalm 19:1-4
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world

We really just need to take a minute to stop, and think about who we worship. This is another video he provided. Please take the time to watch.:)

God is Holy, God is Eternal, God is all knowing, and all powerful.Yet we question him. I question him everyday. One thing I have asked God lately, and I have been so mad at him. I ask God why my back hurt?...Why would you allow me to feel pain like this? Why would you continue to allow this to overtake me when you could so easily take it away? Know what the answer is?...cause He is God. Psalm 115:3 says "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him." Who am i to question him? When I ask him why does evil prosper? Why are people starving and hurting? Why don't you make yourself more obvious to the people of the world?...because He is God. We have no right to demand such answers.He has all answers and sees the future. I do not understand now why, but I trust in him who does have my future in His hands.

Daniel 4:35
35 All the people of the earth
are nothing compared to him.
He does as he pleases
among the angels of heaven
and among the people of the earth.
No one can stop him or say to him,
‘What do you mean by doing these things?’

God does not owe me an answer for these things. There is sin in the world and the God of the universe hates it! There will be no one who is counted as righteous by their own action or doing. Justice had to be served for all the wickedness of mankind. It took God himself, his son Jesus, to redeem his people. He sent Jesus so that I would no longer suffer, that I could have life, that i could be in a relationship with the Father of the universe...personally. Thinking about this now tears come to my eyes. The God...who so so big, so wonderful, so loving and just. That God...loves me. Thank you Jesus for giving yourself up that we could know you, and we could truly worship you. This chapter has opened my eyes and changed me. I can not wait to see what the next chapter hold. Until then stay tuned!

Crazy love?!?!?!

2009-06-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

My mentor recently gave me the task of reading a book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I just bought the book today and just from reading the intro I have a feeling I am not going to like what it has to say, but will love what it says at the same time. A "2X4 behind the knees" as Joe would say. Anyways I will be blogging a series of what I am reading and how its affecting me. My church Lifepoint just finished a series by the same name (Crazy Love) and started a series of events where the church gave back to the community by showing it "crazy love". I hope this book will have the very same affect on me.

Reflection on Luke 10:17-24

2009-05-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Luke 10:17-24

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”(ESV)

23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

God is really showing up in my quiet times lately. I have been working on summer school math work most of the day. Frustrated, I began to talk with the love of my life about my frustration with it all. She suggested that I take some time and spend it with Jesus, and the go back to working. It was such a wonderful idea. Praising God to Hillsong worship and reading scripture from Examen.me recharged my batteries! I went into Luke 10 today where Jesus is talking to his disciples as he does many time through the book. The disciples were amazed that even the demons knew of Jesus' power. Jesus does something incredible here. Jesus chose to give that same authority over to us!V.19 "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you." I can imagine the disciples faces as they herd this news. I imagine a football team after a touchdown. Players jumping up in down in there air, giving high-fives, and maybe even a little bit of butt slapping haha! However, Jesus is quick to correct them.V. 20 "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Talk about a downer right? This is one of those moments why Jesus is God and I am not. Without V 20 there would be (and are very much so today)people who claim the authority for themselves. I think of televangelist or even churches I have been to where the authority given to us by the spirit is being used, yet, no credit is being given to Jesus. It's almost like plagiarism. Taken credit for work you did not do! I am currently in college and if I was to take credit in class for work I did not due, there would be trouble...major trouble. I could be expelled from the school with a mark on my permanent record. The same could happen to us as believers. If we try to use our own power or own authority for what Jesus is doing in us, we could end up like the Jews in Acts 19 that were pushing out evil spirits. Says in Acts 19:15-16 15(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.(NIV)" Demons are very real, active, are are at war with our Father. Only by his power can we take authority over them. Our own power will just not do it. We as believers should use this authority when needed, along with the other spiritual gifts God has blessed us with. I pray that God that he might humble me, not allow myself to use my own power, but the power he has blessed myself with through the Holy Spirit.

Great Quote!

2009-05-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

"A Christian is either a missionary or an imposter." Charles H. Spurgeon

Reflection on Hebrews 6:13-20

2009-05-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

I use the website Examen.me for my time with God everyday. I use it mostly for its convenience. After talking with my mentor this morning I went to start my time with God. Have you ever been hit between the eyes with scripture before? One of those moments when scripture just screams at you. I was asking God "When did you put THAT in there?" I started my Exam with a simple prayer: "Lord Jesus, I need your words as I need food. It sustains me, and guides me. Lord, speak you word into my mind and into my heart." Jesus did more then just "speak" into my heart. He turned the volume up to 10 on the bull horn and screamed it to me! What a rush! I read it first in the ESV, then in The Message.

13-18When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!" Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.

18-20We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

Wow, I just encourage you all to read that one more time.God made a promise. Unlike myself, God will always keep his promise. God spoke and promised Abraham a covenant that he would never see fulfilled in his lifetime. Yet, he still believed and pressed on through faith. We have the ability to look back into time and history and see that yes his promise was true, God kept it. God will not break his word, it is against his nature to do so. We have a life-line now, a promise by God through Jesus Christ. We are his children and I am His son. God made this promise through the blood of Jesus. It is by Him do we no longer have to walk behind the curtain of the old temple, but now we rejoice in our salvation that has come and is here! Praise the Lord for his mighty work through Jesus Christ that we may have life, true life for all its worth.

Drinking & Jesus(repost from old blog in 2007)

2009-05-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well according to Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary they dont.

“I can assure you of this: if you are associated with the use of beverage alcohol, I think I dare exaggerate not to say that 99% of all doors of ministry in the Southern Baptist Convention will be closed to you.”

- Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Now dont get me wrong. I highly respect Al Mohler and being a former Southern Baptist, I use to believe this. I have a ton of respect for the people and leadership for the Southern Baptist Church, so i am not addressing this to them as a whole. I just think its absolutly crazy to think that 99% of your ministry will be "closed to you" if you drink. Now this is a very....well interesting statement to make at the least. Its interesting because many of the fathers of the church, Calvin and Luther both drank beer and whine. C.S Lewis actually drank and smoked in bars and pubs in England as he witnessed to drunks there. Jesus made Wine and drank it with his disciples, and Paul actually instructed Timothy to drink wine. Now did all these men have 99% of there ministry "Closed" to them? I dare say not. Yes I agree that getting drunk with either Beer or Wine is a sin. Thats not a issue for me. Personally, I have seen what Beer can do to a family, my father being a great example of what can happen when you drink in excess. Beer and Alcohol have at times almost tearing my family apart. Other things tear apart our society, not only beer. But so does preventable obesity and people eating until they clog their arteries and have premature heart attacks and die and their families suffer. So does greed and gluttony cause people to suffer in other ways. So does unhealthy marriages that impact children who even grow up in pastors homes or children in homes where anger issues are a problem etc. Heck Alcoholism isn't anything new to this world, its been around even since Jesus walked the Earth. So the whole "causing your brother to stumble" argument (it is not how it was specifically used in the Bible with that verse), then Jesus Himself was causing brothers to stumble at the wedding He created more wine at. Is the argument more for protecting the "Conservative Christian" then an Alcoholic to stumble? This is really interesting.

I would be interested in how this statement would be played out in regards to Jesus, since He drank and even created wine (when there was also alcohol abuse happening in His time) and even the sacrament of the Lord's Supper/Communion was originally with wine as well. I am wondering about this especially if you are a Southern Baptist. If Jesus came to apply for a job as a Southern Baptist pastor, would He have 99% of the doors shut?

Drunks need the Gospel. If you are of age (21 in this country not 12 people) and you drink in moderation....I feel more then confident that your ministry will be done. Look at Calvin, Luther, Timothy, C.S Lewis and even Jesus....I think they did pretty well! I'm sorry Mr. Mohler I strongly disagree with you.