Tumblr

So I probably won't be updating here much. I found out that Tumblr is much cooler. You should check it out. http://aadom.tumblr.com

Another Quote from 'The Heart of the Gospel'

"The Lord Jesus Christ says to you, "I love you; I died for you. Do you believe? Will you receive the Salvation that I bought for you with My own blood?" You need do no work; not even so much as to get up and turn around. You need not go and ask your fellowman across the church aisle, there, whether he has believed, and received, and been saved. All that you need to do is with all your heart to say, "Dear Lord, I do take this Salvation that Thou hast bought for me, and brought to me." Simple, is it not? Yes, very simple: yet such receiving it is the soul of faith." (http://ping.fm/cTzXh)

Good Quote from 'The Heart of the Gospel'

"for," he said, "if I read, 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that' when John Newton believed he 'should have Everlasting Life,' I should say, perhaps, there is some other John Newton; but "whosoever" means this John Newton and the other John Newton, and everybody else, whatever his name may be." - John Newton (http://ping.fm/cTzXh)

Is There a 'Submit' Button?

My best friend, Dwayne Forehand, had a conversation about biblical submission this weekend with an old friend of mine. She has always had a hard time with the concept, but Dwayne seemed to be listening and following the Holy Ghost and said that submission isn't where we as men need to focus, it's on leading. This made sense to her. She sent him a note thanking him for his response, saying "I appreciated what you had to say about submission... I don't know, I just thought it was real and humble."

Anyway, he and I were talking, and I made the joke that 'submit' is the button you click to give your idea to the developers. This got my brain spinning, and I started to think of other ways that we use the word submit. Like a writer who has to submit his article or book to the publisher, they are coming under authority of that publisher. If, then, the publisher doesn't want to print it, or wants the writer to change it, that's their prerogative and therefore, as his job, the writer needs to follow his bosses orders.

Now, that led me down a different path. The one of the boss. His job is to lead those under him to do their jobs, and do them well. If he's a jerk, then when he throws the article back on the desk and says "Start over" the writer might have a hard time, since now, his fear is his bosses reaction to another poorly written article. If the boss is not a difficult man, but is caring, gracious, and still effective, when he hands the article back to the writer asking for a re-write, that seems to make for an easier time where the author can work.

How does this tie back into my role as a husband? If I am focused on loving my wife, encouraging her where she needs it, gently rebuking her when necessary, and walking along side of her, instead of sitting behind my desk, fat cigar in my mouth, then our marriage will be more like the picture of Jesus and the Church.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Stages of Renewal

Pastor Mark's post called Worship: God Transforms is quite refreshing. Our team just went through the stages of renewal in one of our meetings which challenged me to focus on my personal renewal and my relational renewal. I've included the section we focused on for your reading enjoyment.

Stages of Renewal

1. Personal renewal (love God) – simply everything begins with a renewed passion for Jesus as our greatest treasure and object of worship. Personal renewal occurs as we take time each day for mini-Sabbaths to do such things as pray, read Scripture, and connect with Jesus as well as taking a Sabbath day every week, day or days out of town unplugged from technology to renew every month, and take non-working and spiritually renewing vacation every year. The key for personal renewal is to unplug from all that drains us to plug into Jesus who renews us to be and do what he asks of us in all of life by his strength. Personal renewal does not fix everything in our life, but it sets our hearts and minds aflame with hope to press forward in life.



2. Relational renewal (love others) – once we have personal renewal with Jesus the first effect is that we have new hope for people and pursue them in love. If married, relational renewal begins with our spouse. And, if we are parents our children ensue. Relational renewal allows us to be authentic around others, stop pretending and performing, and simply be in loving community where we are known and know others thanks to the work of Jesus gospel.



3. Missional renewal (love the mission) – once we have personal and relational renewal, the result is that God’s people want to be on mission together doing what God commands of the church. Without personal renewal, a church cannot have relational renewal. And, without both a church has no life or unity that allows them to press forward on mission with God together.



4. Church renewal (love the brothers and sisters) – the fruit of personal, relational, and missional renewal is that a church that has a new culture of grace internally and new passion for lost people externally. In a church this results in people trusting their leaders and one another more, wanting to spend more time together, hanging out longer after services, and singing together more loudly as they see themselves as a unified community.



5. Structural renewal – once the personal, relational, missional, and church renewals have been established so much has changed in how a church operates and people interact that new structures must be built so as to accommodate God’s renewing work. This includes new policies, procedures, and ways of managing the affairs of the church so as to enable further renewal.



6. Institutional renewal – institutions (e.g. denominations, seminaries, publishers, record companies, conferences, etc.) are always the last places of renewal because they function to preserve and sustain the renewal of a previous move of God. Subsequently, they become the equivalent of a trunk on a tree while new growth happens out on the ends of the newest limbs.

Where do you need to focus?

How I use Tweenky

Here's how I use Tweenky for those not in the cool club.



How I use Tweenky from Adam Wygle on Vimeo.

My Response to "Please Don't Laugh"

I did laugh, but not because I don't think you should, but because we belong to a church where such a question is totally appropriate :) and there's tons of people who can answer, which is awesome! I then proceeded to tell her how to go about asking the question.