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…and here is our first attempt at vodcasting. Enjoy this short video! http://vimeo.com/14348982
Here is our first podcast of the sermon. Woohoo! We’re feedable! 
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Anyone that has spent time in the military knows that you never do anything alone. Even the most benign tasks are implicit with the command to bring your battle buddy. This is the military structure at its core. On a larger scale you have platoons, companies, battalions, squadrons, etc., all of which are composed of yourself and a battle buddy. Well, you get the idea. So, what is the purpose of this unit? Here are just a few job descriptions of the battle buddy:
- share the night guard shift
- keep you awake if you are fatigued on the job
- encourage you when you want to give up
- stop the bleeding until the medics get there to sew you up
- carry your load if you can’t go any further
- cover your back in a fire fight
- make sure you don’t miss a step
Do you have a battle buddy, brother, sister in Christ?
9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” -John 15:9-13
Hello, world! We’re working on a new format for our online services. Soon, you will be able to listen to SATR messages on the go, and even catch a video or two of the rockin’ SATR_band! If you prefer Facebook or Twitter – no problem! Our posts will show up on the social network of your choice. On Facebook – Click Here. On Twitter – @SATRtweet. We also have a channel on Vimeo – Click Here.
Please keep us in your prayers as we grow and learn how best to minister to Greenville, Hunt County, and the surrounding area. Thank you!
As you may have noticed, America is obsessed with being thin. Watch a little tv on Saturday afternoon or at one in the morning, and you’ll quickly see that about 80% of the commercials have to do with weight loss. They have machines to make working out easier, diet plans that include everything you love to eat but will take 10 inches from your waist. They have garments to wear under your clothes that will make you look 2 sizes smaller, and belts that contract your muscles for you so you don’t have to do even one sit up. You’ll see ab loungers, ab rockers, ab busters, and ab rockets. You’ll find diets that will tell you to eat all carbs, eat no carbs, drink cabbage soup, or eat nothing but oranges. And in every case, the only thing you need to be the skinny you that’s waiting inside that chubby body is to buy what they are selling.
But have you ever known anyone who really lost weight and got healthy?
I know two right now.
And here’s the thing . . . when someone finally gets serious about getting healthy, they don’t just do sit ups. They don’t just eat cabbage. They don’t JUST do anything. See, as much as the makers of weight loss products would like you to believe otherwise, getting healthy is about major life change. It’s not about changing one thing. It’s about changing EVERYTHING. It’s about working out with friends, giving up Diet Dr. Pepper cold turkey, eating nothing but chicken and asparagus, and giving up eating out altogether. It’s about going to your kickboxing class still sore from the 20 minute shred you did with your friends. It’s about becoming the person who WILL do anything to get healthy instead of being one of the millions who just SAY they would. And when someone gets to that place, they don’t just lose weight. They feel better. Their asthma gets better. Their blood pressure goes down. Their mood lifts. They find that what they gain in trade for what they have lost is more fulfilling than even they thought it would be.
As you may have noticed, America is also in crisis. Finances, divorce, drugs, out of control kids, abortion, idolatry on a level to match any country in the world . . . you name it, we’ve got it. So the government tells us we should “go green” to save the planet. We should pass health care to solve the woes of povery. We should make child abusers go to counseling to rehabilitate them. We should make kids go to public schools more hours of the day to make sure they can keep up.
But are any of those things really going to make a difference?
I don’t think so.
Here’s the thing . . . when we really get serious about making an impact on our world, we aren’t just going to write our congressmen. We aren’t just going to give money to a homeless shelter. We aren’t going to JUST do anything. We’re finally going to be willing to change EVERYTHING. We’re gonna teach our kids that Christ is the center of their universe. We’re gonna stop filling our minds with the trash this world offers as entertainment. We’re gonna feed ourselves on the Word as if we’re starving. We’re gonna love the people around us in tangible ways. Ours knees are gonna be sore from being on them before the throne. And when we get in that place, we’re gonna do more than just impact the people around us. We’re gonna feel better. We’re gonna breathe easier. We’re gonna find peace. We’re gonna be drunk on the Spirit. And we’re gonna find that what we gain in trade for what we have lost is more fulfilling than even we thought it would be.
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)
–amm
(Author: Jon Bloom)
“Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42).
I confess, I have not always obeyed this command.
I’m a veteran urban-dweller. Having lived in an inner city neighborhood for 18 years, I’ve encountered many beggers and borrowers. Some I discerned as cons I have called out or waved off. Some I have hired to do work. Others I’ve given to because I felt the conviction of this text.
I’ve thought a lot about this command of Jesus over the years. I’ve discussed it with many. I think I know all the major reasons why not to give when someone asks. You don’t want to encourage deception. You don’t want to feed a chemical addiction. You don’t want to contribute to someone’s cycle of poverty. And there are many others.
But still this text unnerves and convicts me.
The reason is that Jesus doesn’t give this command in the context of addressing how I can best facilitate transformation in someone else. He is telling me how I should respond to those who are making demands on me, either from explicitly evil motives or just plain out of their difficult situation. He is telling me how I ought to respond even when being taken advantage of.
- Do not resist the evil person, he says. Let him slap you twice. (v. 39)
- Give him more than he is suing you for. (v. 40)
- Do more than he is forcing you to do. (v. 41)
- Give to those who ask. (v. 42)
- Love your enemy. (v. 44)
Jesus is telling me to actively show kindness and radical generosity toward those who hate me or who are seeking to take advantage of me.
Really, Jesus? Isn’t that rewarding sinful, or at least unhealthy, behavior?
Of course, I can think of Biblical examples that illustrate when it seems right to resist or flee an evil person in situations of theft, deception, abuse, persecution, war, etc. So when the Word speaks, I must listen carefully, and I must weigh all of his words.
But from the words Jesus speaks here, I think it applies more often and more broadly than I want it to. He does not let me off the hook easily. He tests my heart with such radical love. And in my heart I see my selfish, unloving impulses that do not want to part with my money, possessions, time, or convenience for needy or evil people. And I have a ready arsenal of noble-sounding rationales that conceal my sin, almost from myself.
What Jesus is calling me to is gospel love. It’s the love that drove him to die for me with when I was still a weak, ungodly, sinful enemy of his (Romans 5:6-10). There is something about such over-the-top, radically generous love that is so different from the way the world loves that it reflects the Father’s love for sinners. It’s why Jesus calls us also to costly love. It is both an expression and picture of the gospel.
Pray for me. I have an opportunity in my life right now to obey this command, which is why I’m wrestling with this text again. Pray that I will love the way I have been loved.
So… biblegateway.com is a great resource for just about any Bible related task. It’s like having a really thick billion-page dictionary / concordance / Bible-in-every-language-or-translation in your pocket! But not nearly as heavy.
Give me some Bible passages to support your answer to the following question (please be aware of context). This should be fun!
What does God tell us about health care?
Feel free to address this question in regard to current policy, what health care looks like in the Bible, or personal responsibility.
-Brian [end]
