Saturday, April 28, 2012

Incarnational Ministry

As the Jesus disciple living in the city, urban ministry is an incarnational ministry: living where you serve; serving where you live. This includes the metropolis as well as the neighborhood. How are you personally serving the diverse people of your urban sphere of godly influence? What needs are there to be met with compassion and action?

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Voice of God or the "Voice" of Emergents

Here is a recent stream from Facebook of a dialogue my cousin and I had over a USA Today article highlighting a new, emergent translation of the bible called "The Voice" to be published by Thomas Nelson. It targets younger audiences and will feature contributors such as Brian McClaren and Donald Miller who wrote the book "Blue Like Jazz." if you want to continue the dialogue, follow it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/michaelleecarter --------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Lee Carter recommended a link. 3 hours ago 'The Voice': New Bible translation focuses on dialogue www.usatoday.com Publisher says offeres modern American readers a more accurate translation of the Bible. Like · · Share Dudley Bryan Jr likes this. Michael Lee Carter Disclaimer: I do NOT approve of the bible changes mentioned in the article above. The above article is where apostasy and false teaching about Jesus begins. It's always been around, but now it's clothed in the names Thomas Nelson and Houston Baptist University. 3 hours ago · Like · 1 Michael Lee Carter Know what you believe about the Gospel, Jesus, and the Word of God, then place it under the lens of correlated, biblical evidence and scholarship. 3 hours ago · Like · 1 Dudley Bryan Jr Some interesting discussion in the comments. It's always a valuable note to remember that the KJV is the third official english translation of the bible, commissioned by the king of Scotland who gave it's translators instructions to insure the translation supported church doctrine of the time, and it's beliefs around ordained clergy. I tried to read one criticism of it, but even re-reading it, the criticism makes numerous allegations that are vague and mostly without any reference to specific passages from the new work. http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=1230 Like one of the commenters in the article, unless we're committed to reading Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, it sounds entirely reasonable to openly consider new English translations. Especially if they speak to an age not rooted in the 17th century. What translation do you prefer? From the Lighthouse BlogThomas Nelson Goes Forward with “The Voice” – A “Bible” Project by Emergents www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com According to a February 11th article in Christian Today, “New Bible Project for ...See More about an hour ago via mobile · Unlike · 1 · Michael Lee Carter I prefer reading the scriptures from several English translations that seek to preserve the original language of the Hebrew and Greek. Traditionally, the KJV, particularly the 1611, was translated into English from the original languages under great persecution in order to bring light to how the Bible text really read versus what the religious authority wanted the common people to hear. Modern translations such as the NASB and the ESV bible seek to preserve the same, yet within the context of how modern English is read and spoken without altering the original language. For example, the word "Word" in John 1:1-2 (http://bible.us/John1.1.ESV) and John 17:17 (http://bible.us/John17.17.ESV) is rendered "logos" in the Greek. If the proposed word "voice" is used to supplant the word "Word" in John 1:1, something is lost. Mainly the sense that the "Word" references the very personified word or message of God than simply the voice of God. The word "voice" in the Greek is rendered "phone" or "phones," such as written in Revelation 4:20 (http://bible.us/Rev3.20.ESV) and Luke 3:4 (http://bible.us/Luke3.4.ESV). John the Baptist was the voice calling from the wilderness for example. Because Jesus is the Word, the "Logos," then He and God have always been the same and have never stopped being the same. Yet at one brief moment in time, the "Logos" became flesh and dwelt among us (John1:14, http://bible.us/John1.14.ESV). Jesus prays to the Father in John 17:17, "Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth." If Jesus is the "word" and if He is "the way, the truth, and the life..." (John14:6, http://bible.us/John14.6.ESV), then Jesus is the very truth by which his disciples are sanctified. The word "truth" is rendered in Greek "aletheia" in both John 17:17 and John 14:6, which is "verity" or "veritas" in the Latin. In the Gospel of John, the disciple declares, "These [words] are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:30-31, http://bible.us/John20.31.KJV). Rendering any Bible translation that makes this unclear, seeks to derail the Gospel, not proclaim it. John 1 ESV | YouVersion www.youversion.com previous next John 1The Word Became Flesh1 In the beginning was the Word, and t...See More 18 minutes ago · Like ·

Friday, April 20, 2012

God's Present Plan in My Momentary Suffering

This morning as I prepared to read the scriptures, the verse of the day popped up: "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you" (1 Peter 5:10). Yesterday evening I returned home from the hospital after receiving Achilles tendon surgery due to a rupture I suffered at work. During the pre-op, I was in good spirits with an upbeat attitude praising the sovereign Lord through my circumstances, although this injury meant an early summer vacation from school. God has blessed me with so many people who have come to my care and to meet my needs, especially from my wife, my parents, and the body of Christ. On the morning of the surgery, the medical staff were a delight and demonstrated a level of hospitality and assurance that can only come from a sovereign God who loves and cares for me. Both my wife and my parents were at my side. At this point, brothers and sisters in Christ had also been praying for me as well as interceding for the medical team's sake. We saw evidence of this in the post-op care and encouragement at the hospital. However, I had not really taken into consideration the level of pain I would encounter when I returned home. For the first time (ATR being my first real surgery), I experienced a pain that I'd never known. Excruciating to say the least. I thought about Christ and how he suffered on a cross for my sin and wondered, "Wow! He endured the pain of a Roman crucifixion; the burden of not only my sin, but the sins of the world; and the abandonment of his loving Father in the briefest of moments that must have felt like an eternity." For the first time, I personally knew real, physical suffering. Although the pain medication began to do its job last night, the Father had not abandoned me. Nor had my wife and parents, unlike the disciples. God bless my wife Tiffany. For although she had to go to work this morning, is helping out tonight with a jr. high overnighter through our church, and has administrative duty on campus tomorrow, Saturday, she arose several times through the night to care and assist me through the pain and difficulty. That's when a bible verse came alive for me from 1 John 4:10-11: "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." She deeply loved me during the night and sacrificed sleep on my behalf. I cannot dismiss this as duty, for she didn't "have" to do it. She did it because she loved me and had compassion for my weakness. These acts in turn has made me fall madly in love again. And God's greatest love toward us should cause us to love him and to love one another. My momentary suffering (though not as a result of the gospel) is a platform for God to demonstrate his glory, power, love, and majesty in my life and in the lives of those around me. He is full of grace and has secured eternity for me through his Son Jesus Christ. God intends to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish me himself. All this he accomplishes with a goal in mind: to increase my faith and to spur in me a further love and compassion for others, especially for the lost and for the household of faith; to shape me to become more like him.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Jesus Walk

We should realize that every relationship we foster within our personal spheres of influence present opportunities for significant ministry and service. If we begin to see “work as worship,” ways to joyfully engage the world around us with compassion and purpose; intentionally walking as Jesus walked in the context of our relationships, then we can fulfill what is true about those who truly follow Him: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

How the Wild Weasel Popped on Friday the 13th

I ruptured my Achilles tendon on April 13, 2012. It was a Friday. I currently work as a teacher’s assistant at a therapeutic day school in the Chicago area. Although the students had a break from school that day, the staff arrived for a full day in-service. During a morning circle activity involving a blow-up beach ball, the freakish thing just happened. We all heard a loud pop and down I went to the floor. I have officially renamed the sinister Achilles “The Wild Weasel.”  It even has theme music: 3rd Bass - Pop Goes the Weasel.


To read the rest of this post, check out my Achilles blog at  http://achillesblog.com/laughitupfuzzball/