TimHowey.Com

Don't Be a Loving, MISGUIDED Parent

I think every parent KNOWS they should protect their kids. I think most every parent WANTS to create a healthy, safe environment for their kids.

Jesus was a HUGE advocate for protecting kids. In fact, using pretty graphic imagery. Once Jesus said, "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, that that he should offend one of these little ones." (Luke 17:2) Ouch. I think all of us can relate to that thought, especially when you hear of a child enduring brutal violence or being sexually molested.

At the same time, I think there's a disconnect in society.

• Dating -- Parents sometimes encourage their kids to date/have a girlfriend/boyfriend WAY, WAY, WAY too early.  (I've heard of parents brainstorming together about their boys and girls starting to date each other as early as 6th grade! Really?)
• TV & Internet -- Parents quite often allow their kids to have UNRESTRICTED access to internet or cable TV. (You wouldn't let a strange man go play with your kids upstairs by themselves, would you? Then why would give your kids head upstairs to have unrestricted access to the explicit images and video of strangers, instead of installing a product like www.SafeEyes.com?)
• Emails & Texts -- Parents, I'm sure out of an honest desire to help their kids, provide email accounts or iTouches or cell phones to allow them to communicate. But these tools often include UNMONITORED emails or text messages. (Someone forwarded me an email a child received from another child. It had a link link to a racy YouTube video with this note [ACTUAL EMAIL], "this a dirty video but i love the song!!!  you will luv it too !!! but ya it is really dirty and made feel WIERD!!! if u know what i mean!!! hehe". If your child wanted email, why wouldn't you provide monitored email when they're at a young age? If your child absolutely HAD to have a cell phone, why wouldn't you limit who they can send/receive texts from?)

We need to close the gap as parents.

I know many of us think to ourselves, "If I just show trust to my kids, they'll come out OK." You're wrong.

We think, "My kids don't have friends who will send them that stuff." You're wrong.

They need you need to protect them and journey with them as they grow.

Web Bonus - Bottom Line on God

It felt like coming home.  After a few weeks off, I got the chance to see everyone again, worship together, be encouraged, teach, minister...you name it.

Our topic was "The Bottom Line on God" from Deuteronomy 6. The bottom line was this:

• God is not interested being a "part" of our lives

Lots of stuff to add to yesterday...

• Not Your "Avg-Joe" -- It was great to have recording artist/worship leader Joe Henschel from San Diego lead worship for us.  He did a fantastic job & gave Pastor Ben a "break" (working audio).
• The Shema -- Our study centered on the bottom line many Jewish rabbis might give "On God": the Shema.  The Shema is at least 3 things:
• • A Word -- The Hebrew word "Shema" is translated "Hear" in English
  • A Verse -- Specifically Deuteronomy 6:4, the greatest expression of monotheism & the uniqueness of God in Scripture, & the final words a Jewish person attempts to say
  • A Prayer -- The Shema is the first verse of the morning & evening prayers of Judaism consisting of praying these 3 sections of Scripture back to God: Deut 6:4-9, 11:13-21, Num 15:37-41
• Bonus Verses -- I came across these in my daily reading just before the message, but couldn't find space for them:
• • The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10)
  • The fear of the Lord is teachable (Psalm 25:12)
  • Are you guided by God's eye...where He's looking? (Psalm 32:8)
  • No one...no one is like God (Psalm 35:10)
• The "Highest" Highlander -- When I was talking about there being only 1 God, I REEEEALLY wanted to pull out the Highlander reference.  "There can only be one!!!"  [One God, that is.]
• Calling all Men!! -- Speaking of "Highlander" & real men, it's time for every man to "man up" and register himself & his son & his dad & his boss & his friend for the quarterly men's event called "Men's Community".  Besides getting a free breakfast of "man-food", we'll hear Jimmy Dodd on how to follow God, even through the most difficult times of life. Man up & show up hungry at 7:30a on Sat Aug 28.
• Calling all Women!! -- The time's running out to register for the Imagine event at the Sprint center and reserve your hotel room with other Grace Church ladies. Register here today. And check out the preview video here. P.S. If men have to "man-up", do women have to "woman-up"???

Next week's topic is "The Bottom Line on Home." We all know a neighbor, a friend, or coworker (or US!) who desperately NEEDS to be there next weekend. Do whatever it takes to get them there beside you!

I'm Baaaaaaack...

I'm baaaaaaack!

I've been trying to unbury myself since family vacation to give me enough space to catch everyone up and rejoin the blogosphere.  I think I'm there.

The vaca-update will have to wait for the weekend. But I wanted to give everyone a heads up about some big dates on the horizon.

• Fri Aug 13 -- Our middle & high schoolers are having "Re-Entry"...an overnite lock-in as a blow-out to close out the summer. I'll be speaking to the students from John 2 (one of my favorite stories), and recording artist / worship leader Joe Henchsel is flying in from San Diego for the event
• Sat Aug 14 -- I have 2 funerals to attend.  My aunt Tina finally succumbed to cancer after many years of battling it.  She passed away after we returned.  I was with her & my mom as she passed. The other is a former member of grace, Mike Scott, who passed away in a tragic truck accident in Nebraska. Be praying for the whole family, including those still a part of Grace & hurting.
• Sun Aug 15 -- Joe Henschel will be leading worship with us. Pastor Ben will be working the audio. And I'll back in the saddle again.  I CANNOT wait.  You do NOT want to miss THIS Sunday. We're kicking off "The Bottom Line" series with the bottom line "On God." Check out Deuteronomy 6 for a preview. (Did I say you don't want to miss it?)
• Sun Aug 15 -- Grace Movie Night!!! We'll be watching the movie "Up" together at 6 p.m. in the nice cool air conditioning. :-)
• Mon Aug 16 -- Pastor Ben & I will be LIVE on the AllAboutWorship broadcast at 9 p.m. CDT talking about the "Senior Pastor / Worship Pastor Relationship."  (If you didn't know it, sometimes thoese relationships stink & hold back the entire body of Christ). We'll be joined by 2 other nationally known worship leaders, Troy Kennedy & Fred McKinnon. CLICK HERE Monday night at 9 p.m CDT & join us on TalkShoe!
• Tue Aug 17 -- Steve Baker who is leading a team to Spain to do Short Cycle Church Planting (& shared his story at Grace back on July 11th) will be in our office the entire day, sitting in our our weekend service team meeting, staff meeting, pastors meeting, and semi-quarterly planning meeting. A great day to hang with a great leader.
• Wed Aug 18 -- School starts.  Are you kidding?  Where did the summer go?

More L8R!

Web Bonus - Wrestling with God

Our topic yesterday was "Wrestling with God" from Jonah 4.

When someone is "Wrestling with God," they are going through the process of resolving the tension between THEIR desires and what GOD'S will appear to be.

When we find ourselves "Wrestling with God," we're about as successful as this young man in the red shorts.  :-)

Some "thots" on yesterday:

• Several Profession of Christ -- There were several people (10+ or so?) in all 3 services that recognized that they received Christ as their Savior yesterday!
• A Crash Course on Anger -- I said yesterday that one of the symptoms that appear when someone is wrestling with God is "handling anger inappropriately."  It's not a sin to be angry...that's a big myth among Christians...the thought that it's wrong to be angry.   However, we need to know how to handle our anger appropriately (Eph 4:26).  But what does that mean?  We need to:
• 1. Slow ourselves down -- We need to slow down our emotions and our mouth.  A person who doesn't have control over their emotions is defenseless (Pro 25:28).  A person who doesn't have control over their mouth can't control the rest of their body (Jas 3:2).  A person who is quick to anger is a FOOL (Eccl 7:9).
  2. Find out the facts first -- It's amazing how often we see a fact or two, misinterpret what they mean, then get mad about our own misunderstanding & misinterpretation!  We need to avoid judging things by their initial appearance (John 7:24).  We need to make sure we focus on listening before we allow ourselves to get angry (Jas 1:19).  We need to get the full story before we get angry (Pro 18:17).  To do this, we have to place a healthy MIS-trust in our OWN first impression.
  3. Resolve our anger today -- If we let anger stay inside us, without resolving it, we are just ASKING for problems.  Unresolved anger is like a cancer waiting to spring up and affect everyone around you (Heb 12:14-15).  Unresolved anger is like inviting the devil into your home & life...he lives & works in the space provided by unresolved anger (Eph 4:26-27).
• The Jonah Movie -- Guess what I found online this week.  The entire Jonah movie on YouTube.  It's found here.

FYI, this Wednesday night, we're taking a break from our Numbers study for our Ignite Worship Night (7-8 pm).  Make sure you bring some supplies for Hillcrest Transitional Housing (like Hamburger Helper, Chicken Helper, Tuna Helper, boxed cereal, mac & cheese, canned chicken, & laundry detergent).

Next Sunday, we'll close out our "Beyond" series talking about "Choosing your God" from Nahum 1.  Nahum was written about Ninevah some 70-100 years after the story of Jonah.  It's "the rest of the story..."

Startrekmovie.com

Ooooh!

05.08.09.

StarTrekMovie.com

Saw the trailer.

Can't wait to see the flick!

Web Bonus - Indiana Jones Conclusion

Just got back from our pastor's whirlwind retreat.  God laid some VERY cool things on our heart in the area of Spiritual Development (i.e. Discipleship) in the future...I believe it's truly innovative (& life-changing) stuff!  More details later.

Anyway, back to yesterday...we finished off our "Indiana Jones & the Tabernacle of You" series..."unearthing" how the Tabernacle teaches us about our daily relationship with Jesus, and looked at Exodus 40.  Here are some thoughts:

• To review the series, we played a game & gave away Indiana Jones M&Ms.   I realized that the Mars Co. (& probably George Lucas) should show us some love for the attention.  :-)
• I decided to wear the Indy costume 1 more time.  Cracked the whip, too.  (Mmmmm...I'm ready for our fall church-wide Trunk-or-Treat).
• Here is some more "cutting-room-floor" verses so you can dive deeper:
  
  • "The Door"
  • Jesus is the 1 road to God (John 14:6)
  • Jesus is the 1 door to God (John 10:9)
  • "Traveling West"
  • Israel entered east to west (Exo 27:13-16)
  • God moves east to west (Matt 24:27)
  • "The Veil"
  • The veil was torn top to bottom (Mark 15:37-38)
  • There is a "veil" on people's hearts too (2Cor 3:15-16)
  • "The Pillar"
  • They stayed whether it was a mo, wk, or yr (Num 9:17-23)
  • It was an indication of God moving (Num 10:33-36)
• I enjoyed the series a ton, but I am READY for the next series now.  (Check out this passage & this TV show.)  :-)

Web Bonus - Indiana Jones Priesthood

Yesterday, I had a GREAT time.

We finished up week #7 of 8 of our "Indiana Jones & the Tabernacle of You" series.  This week was all about "unearthing" how the Levitical priesthood teaches us about our daily relationship with Jesus.

We studied both Exodus 28 & Numbers 18:

• EVERY Christian a priest?? -- Yup.  Years ago, this BLEW me away.  But check out 1 Peter 2:5 & 9 and Revelation 1:6.
• Bearing their Names -- My favorite detail of the priests this weekend was how the high priest would carry people's names on his shoulders (Exodus 28:12) & heart (Exodus 28:29) before the Lord.  What an INCREDIBLE picture of caring for people & praying for them.
• Land on Loan -- I mentioned that the priests (picturing you & I) today would never own land...they'd just borrow it.  Moses describes this to a new generation in Deuteronomy 10:8-9.  You can read about how they FINALLY got their loaner-land in Joshua 21.
• New Christ-Followers!!! -- There is NOTHING that gets me more pumped up than seeing God work in people's hearts.
  • The Baptisms -- What powerful stories from Katie (who just came to Christ during our 24 Series) and Tom (who wanted to show his faith after years of following Christ)!
  • The Salvations -- Several people recognized that they received Christ yesterday: 3 in the 1st service & 5-7 in the 2nd service!
• Where was Mom?? -- My Mom planned to be at church this Sunday with my Stepdad.  Unfortunately, he got sick.  (But you can listen to my pitiful call, "Mom??" within the first minute of the message by clicking here.)
• Don't Miss Next Week!! -- You aren't going to want to miss the conclusion of our series next week.  :-)  (And remember to start attending our 1st worship to free up more prime-visitor spots in 2nd service.)

L8R.

Web Bonus - Indiana Jones Laver

Ok.  Finished week #6 of 8 on Sunday through our "Indiana Jones & the Tabernacle of You" series.  We're "unearthing" how each artifact teaches us a different element of our daily relationship with Christ.

This week was all about the washbasin (called a "laver") from Exodus 30:17-21.  God designed it to foreshadow how Christ desires to wash us spiritually every day.  A few thoughts:

• Word-Pictures -- I just LOVE the word-pictures throughout this series.  These are the types of studies that got me excited about God's word originally.
• Bonus Section -- Check out John 13:1-10 (especially verse 10) to see a great description of how our whole body is washed spiritually the day we come to Christ.  After that we need to spiritually wash our feet to draw near to God every day.
• Hand Washing  -- Check out Psalm 24:3-4 & Psalm 26:5-7 which talk about our need to cleanse our hands for us to to enter God's presence & approach His altar.
• Feet Joke -- For the record, my wife doesn't have the stinky feet in the family.  I do.  No one does.  :-)
• Marital Change -- A friend of mine told me this morning that he and his wife were SO touched by Ephesians 5:25-26 that they put together a new plan to study the word of God together!

L8R.

Web Bonus - Indiana Jones Altar

Finished week #5 of 8 yesterday of "Indiana Jones & the Tabernacle of You."  We're doing the Indiana Jones thing, trying to "unearth" how each artifact teaches us about our daily relationship with Christ.

Week 5 was all about the sacrificial altar from Exodus 27:1-8 & 29:37-46.  God designed it to foreshadow how Christ as our sacrifice.

A few thoughts on week 5:

• The Five Sacrifices -- I mentioned that ALL 5 sacrifices Israel offered were pictures of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  Dig into Leviticus 1-7 for some GREAT pictures:
  1. Burnt -- Worship with the flock
     
  2. Grain -- Worship with the harvest
     
  3. Peace -- Worship celebrating peace
     
  4. Sin -- Forgiveness for all sins
     
  5. Trespass -- Forgiveness for specific sins
• Coolest Thing I Had to Cut -- Here was the coolest thing I couldn't cover:
  • At Jesus' triumphal entry, the crowds sang Psalm 118:25-26 to Jesus
    • This moment is found in Matt 21:6-11
  • The next verse, Psalm 118:27, talks of securing animals to the altar before killing them
    • This happened to Jesus in Matt 27:35
• Almost..But Not Quite -- I REALLY wanted to have a grill going on stage & cook up some meats during the service, but I just had this low-grade fear of our ear-splitting fire alarms going off.  :-)
• The Big Cut -- Over the years, I have been able to develop some real consistency in both 1st & 2nd services.  But I went longer than I wanted in the 1st service this week.  So during the singing in the 2nd service, I sat backstage with a blue pen and reflected on the 1st service.  I was able to say the same things & shave several minutes off the service.

L8R.

Web Bonus - Indiana Jones Menorah

Yesterday was week #3 of our "Indiana Jones & the Tabernacle of You" series.  We're looking at the 3500-year-old tabernacle (much as an archaeologist like Indiana Jones would) & trying to "unearth" how the various artifacts teach us how to have a daily relationship with God.

Our topic during week 3 was the golden lampstand (or 7-lamp Menorah) from Exodus 25:31-40, 27:20-21, & 30:7-8.  We saw how God designed it as a picture of Christ as our light...that is, the Holy Spirit (Zech 4:1-6, Rev 4:5).

A few thoughts on week 3:

• An Audible -- We have an awesome Weekend Service Team!  During the last song yesterday (maybe 2 minutes before I was up?), I changed our end-of-service plans by grabbing our stage director.  I sensed God wanted to have the band play some quiet, contemplative music during an old fashioned altar call at the end of service.  They all did great!
• Our Menorah -- The 7 candles we burned on our Menorah were timed just about perfect.  The 1st service ended with all 7 candles still burning (but on their last legs).  The 2nd service saw only saw 2 of the 7 candles burn out.
• Who Does His Stunts? -- A 9-year old boy in our church (a friend of my son), when he heard that I had dressed up like Indiana Jones, asked his mom, "Does Tim do his own stunts?"  :-)
• New Believers -- I met yet another person who got saved during our Easter Services a few weeks ago.  And during our "Prospective Members Class," we had a young couple trust Christ as their Savior!
• Digging Deeper -- We saw how God wants us to be "under the influence" of the Holy Spirit, instead of being drunk.  What we didn't have the time to dive into was how God connects being "filled with the Spirit" to letting the Word of God dwell in you & fill you (compare Eph 5:18-19 & Col 3:16).

P.S. I'm headed out on a missions trip.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post by Wed.