the Journey

mind-dump- week of March 22, 2009

So, I didn't get this out there last week- probably due to the crazy week that was that week. And, isn't every week turning into that, now? It seems so...

Anyway, here's a few things on the radar for now:

* I'm posting a shot of this car I took while in Southtown to remind you to keep praying about Southtown- it is still our intent to move the worship services out of our building and place one of them towards that area (if not right, smack-dab in the middle of it, again!). Keep praying.

* Be praying about the possible thrift store. This is the week in which we should hear something back on that. If/when this is a go, we will have a venue to raise money for ministry, as well as hire more people and funnel donations through The Village. We don't have to sell everything- we can give away as much as we want. That will be a major part of what we do there. Especially right now while so many people are in need.

* I hope to be able to post pics of the above soon. For now, they're sitting eagerly on the iPhone, waiting to be tweeted, facebooked, and blogged out.

* This weekend was nuts. Everything was sailing very smoothly until about 5:00 pm on Friday- at which point we to deal with a rogue Villager, had to actually send another guy to prison... Saturday was nuts, too... completely un-work-related... but, just nuts. I knew it was a frustrating case of spiritual warfare due to what I would be teaching this Sunday. And, of course, Sunday morning was nuts... all leading up to the sermon time, at which point... gee... talk about distractions! New batteries going dead, kids lighting it up...

* God was still good. And, despite all of that... His word went out and I believe that many people were healed. I lost it and began crying on the front row, as I was sitting quietly. Rodney was playing his music, many of the church members were praying for healing for others in the room that stood wanting prayer... and two of the guys from The Village came up to me and said they had just led another guy to saving faith. It was an incredible moment- as I listened to them, while sitting and listening to another guy singing his own praise songs in prayer to Jesus with everything else that was going on. God is good! And He is gracious!

* I have posted the notes from the sermon online. It's not really a script, it's just a free-thought version of my mental process as I pray through the Scripture. I hope it helps. The audio will be up later on.

* Pray for Rob this week. He's been knocking it out at The Village, working long hours. So, we're kicking him out this week. He's taking a much-needed mandatory vacation to a little monastery somewhere in Cullman to hang with the monks for a few days and recharge. He'll be even more of a powerhouse when he comes back later this week. 

* Rob and I were able to lead another guy to faith tonight at 10:00 pm. Awesome!

* Get the A Day to Make a Difference updates. We have a few meetings this week, as well as a new website up for that event(s). Looking forward to it.

* Another local church, Mosaic, has joined the foray into this, too. Kris Broadhead, the pastor there, has gotten to be a friend- and I look forward to working with him, and them, for the long haul.

* Check this: another church will start meeting in our facility this week. I'll give you some more details about that in the blog post on Wednesday of this week. It's a liturgical, traditional thing that's led by some great people that I've known for a while. Looking forward to working with them for the long haul, as well.

* OK... the week between 4/4 (A Day...) and Easter (which falls on 4/12) will be a week of prayer and ministry at Park Place. I will shoot a video this week (hopefully today?) that we can play soon, post sooner, and help explain what's going on during that time. We're going to flat-out need your help!!!

* Final thought: really excited that this year for Easter we're throwing a party and inviting the neighborhood to come. Shouldn't Easter be the biggest celebration of the year? Really excited that we'll be baptizing at that event, too!

Why we dunk when we baptize, etc.

Posted by Andrew Jenkins

As we prepare to celebrate water baptism at the Sunday evening service at the warehouse this weekend (February 1), I've decided to pen a few thoughts on it. Many times, people ask what it means, way we "dunk" instead of sprinkle, and what they should "think" as they watch others get baptized.

In a real way, baptism is like a living "movie," a real-life image that speaks to a couple of things that Christians fundamentally believe. And, we celebrate much in this multi-layered rite of passage into the Way of Jesus.

Here's what we'll be celebrating while people are getting water baptized:

1. The past. Jesus died for your sin. When we immerse a person in the water (by the way, we "sumberge" when we baptize because the Greek word baptizo actually means "to submerge" or "to bury" in the water. It does not mean sprinkle. And, the word is a transliteration, not a translation- meaning, we are importing a word from another language, not creating our version of it)... anyway, when we bury a person in the water, we are commemorating the fact that Jesus was buried in the tomb. However, Jesus did not stay in the tomb- He arose on the third day. As we "resurrect" the person out of the water, we celebrate this- that Jesus came out of the grave. 

2. The past & the future // lines blurred. In the past, you have had relatives and friends that have died that followed Jesus. Their body is in the grave. You could go dig it up right now. Like Jesus, they have been buried in their own tomb. But, like Jesus did, they will get out of their grave in the future. As you are raised out of the water, we anticipate what the Bible tells us will happen when Jesus returns: "This we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

3. The future. In the same manner, just in the same happening as the verses tell us above, if you die before Jesus returns, you too will get up out of your grave and go be with Him. So, as you are baptized // buried in the water- and as you come up from the water, you are celebrating that Jesus was buried and arose; that those who have followed Jesus and have been buried will one day arise; that if you die before He returns, you, too, will arise. As Paul writes, "God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power" (1 Corinthians 6:14).

4. The present now. We read that: "... with Christ, you died..." (Colossians 2:20). In other words, the Bible tells us that in the same way that Jesus died, an actual part of us- the old sin nature- dies when we receive the new life that Jesus died to give to us. In fact, the Bible teaches this in a lengthy passage in the middle of the Book of Romans:

"How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with Him in baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

"For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus!" (Romans 6:2b-11).

Do you see? There is so much going on in this picture of water baptism!