A few days ago, the yearly reading on YouVersion was Nehemiah 10.  As you read through the chapter it starts talking about many of the sacrifices and offerings that were required to be right with God.  It wasn’t repent and ask for forgiveness.  It was find the best animal/bread you have and offer it up to God.  All through the Old Testament you can see this.  The Israelites had to do so much to keep in good standings with God.  Fortunately it didn’t end there.  We aren’t caught up in the same rules.  Jesus came to wipe all that out.  Now we have access to God through Jesus and not constant bloody sacrifices and a high priest.

As I was preparing for last Sunday this chapter stood out to me.  We constantly try so hard to earn forgiveness and love from God but we can never live up to it.  Even if we did still follow the old rules, we wouldn’t be good enough.  But no matter how hard I try or how badly I fail, the love of God is not determined by me.  It is always there.  I never deserve it, but it is always there.  And all because Jesus came for me.

One of the songs that was chosen for Sunday morning was called Jesus Saves.  I just can’t get past that.  The Israelites had to do so much before Jesus came.  Now all we have to do is turn it all over to Him.  He saves.  I don’t deserve it and never will, but He saves.  Love it.

Thank you to the wonderfully talented people at LifeChurch.tv for their YouVersion Bible.
I have been a fan of the iTunes app and using it on my iPod Touch for a little over a year.
I recently discovered the website and apps for Blackberry and mobile web.
It is an incredible, collaborative, interactive tool. You can keep a private or personal journal, interact with other users, contribute to comments, and create or join groups.
This is the feature I am most excited about. You can create live events for your group which allows members to participate by showing the scripture, entering prayer requests, entering notes, responding to polls, and sending information to Twitter.
I am going to test this at our church this weekend and hope to get some users involved for something coming in January.
Check it out at http://www.youversion.com and our group at http://www.youversion.com/groups/umtemple

I love YouVersion.com the online Bible that Life Church created.

I just spent a few minutes in John 12 and couldn’t hardly get past the first several versus.

John 12:3 Then Mary took
about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on
Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled
with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,

5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He
did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a
thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was
put into it. 7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “
It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

Jesus and the Disciples are back in Bethany just six days before Passover.  He had just brought one of his best buds Lazarus back from the dead, which had stirred up both those who believed and those who didn’t.  On this day, Jesus was having a little down time.  Hanging out with some close family friends Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha.  Martha doing her thing, staying busy and serving, and here is Mary again blowing me away with her amazing faith.

I’m sure the disciple, “the boys” were chatting about how Oklahoma Sooners lost by the three on Saturday to the Longhorns… BOO!  Judas is counting through what’s left of the crews funds.  Then there’s Mary.  Mary breaks out the most expensive thing she owns, a pint of nard.  Maybe like pulling out a pint of Armani cologne, you know the expensive stuff, and she doesn’t hold back.  She begins to pour out the entire pint onto Jesus’ feet as to give him honor.

Listen, I love cologne, but I spray, or dab it.  I mean on myself.  I don’t pour out the whole thing.  Mary pours it out on Jesus’ feet and begins to wipe his feet with her hair.  She brought her very best to anoint Jesus.

How often have you brought your very best before Jesus and poured it out, I mean all of it to bless Him?

Or do you find yourself to be more like Judas, ticked off that blessing was “wasted” on Jesus instead of on what he supposedly wanted to use it for?

Honestly, and more often than not, I tend to find myself thinking like Judas rather than like Marry.

Father, Give me a heart that beats like Mary’s, that I would break out my very best for you.  I want to be a blesser of your name, not a whiner of mine.

Many people now have iPhones, iPod Touches, Blackberries, and WinMo Phones that support Life Church.tv’s Bible application. They released a new feature called “YouVersion live” last week. We used it in our student services and I’ve got great feedback. It’s totally free and doesn’t require anything to be projected on screen, etc. People just log in from their phones.

10,000 miles Live Event: (last week’s message)
http://www.youversion.com/events/707

CrossWalk Group Page
http://www.youversion.com/groups/CrossWalk

It allows you to host “live” events for sermons. Everyone in your audience  can follow your sermon, take notes, email their notes, submit prayer requests, twitter, tithe, take a poll, and more from their phone while you’re preaching. They can even go to the website youversion.com and look at your sermon later. We had several people using the service last weekend.

Well last night was very eventful. We had a prayer meeting at my house, we had live worship, and the spirit was really moving.  I haven’t felt the presence of God like this in a long time. We had communion, and talked about it’s significance. When we take part in communion, we do this to remember God’s sacrifice. Not being a parent I can’t even fathom sending my son to die, I’m sure that when I am a parent I probably still won’t be unable to fathom that sacrifice. The very people that he sent his son to die for… were the people that killed him, I also can’t fathom that aspect of it. Being a passionate person, I tend to anger quickly to injustice. I still get flustered when I watch the trial scene in the Passion of the Christ. What a selfless sacrifice. In all my aspirations I don’t know if I could be so selfless. In fact I tend to think not.  It’s a dog eat dog world today. We’re taught to look out for number one, the very opposite of what Christ did on the cross. Why is it so hard to care about other people and their feelings? Is it because the media has painted a fowl picture on compassion? I think that is a major aspect of it. In almost all the movies today compassion is labeled “weak” and “Girly”. I think compassion makes me a better man. Without compassion, and without love what are we? I’ll tell you what we are… We are Godless… we are nothing. Without compassion (God is compassion), without love (God is love)…….

1 Corinthians 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I am without compassion… I am without love… what am I? …I am nothing.

Romans 8:6-8

“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.”

NLT

It’s pretty cut and dry, but I’ll touch on it anyway. “The sinful nature is always hostile to God, It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.” Wow, are we in trouble or what? We are born in sin, we all have a sinful nature, does this mean that in fact it is impossible to follow God’s laws? Yes it does, it is only by God’s grace that we are saved. Now does this mean that we don’t try? No, we are to try to the best of our ability to follow God’s laws, which gets easier as our spirit’s become more sensitive to His voice. This is what people don’t get. Being a Christian does not mean you have to dress a certain way, you don’t have to shove the Bible down people’s throats. And you don’t have to be perfect. In fact it is (supposed) to be the most receiving faith.  But we have lost sight of that, because of our sinful nature. Instead we have made it about which Church had the most in attendance last Sunday morning, or which Church has the bigger, flashier sign out front, or which Church is sponsored by <insert big name corporation here>. That last one was not a joke either. I mean for Heaven’s sake, why can’t Church be about the people? I am ranting I know, but the point I am trying to make is this. We (The Church) have to get rid of our sinful nature, or we will never please God. When will we get it? My God, when will we get it?

“God grant me the strength to do your will, help me in my journey to better myself for you. I am your servant, and by your will, I am saved. Amen”

Let’s start from the beginning, I was born on November 1, 1989, in Lakeland, Fl. I have lived in Fl my whole life, apart from a two year excursion in New Mexico. Beautiful State, but I prefer the city. I love music, I am a guitarist of sorts. I enjoy all kinds of genre’s except country and rap. I have been in and out of Church for a few years now. I am currently engaging in Bible study groups as I am between Churches. Something tells me that I will not be finding a Church of my dreams anytime soon, no politics, no drama, no cliques, ect… So I have decided while I am searching, to start this blog to post my thoughts on scriptures, and to journal daily. All feedback is appreciated.

My hope through this is to better my understanding in the Word of God, and help anyone I can through my inquiries.

Yo bro,

I don’t know if you have seen this YouVersion Live . I only got a second at the moment, but check the links for more info. It’s pretty awesome and will definitely allow for a different way of interacting with a group of students. Allowing them to openly express themselves, without necessarily being personally connected to the statement or whatever… (you can watch a webinar here, with a lot of great info about YouVersion Live)

Basically YouVersion Live is (from YouVersion Live Site):

1. Share content on mobile devices during live events and services.

2. Invite interaction through polls, notes, prayers, giving, and more.

3. Share results and include feedback in your communication.

4. Get people actively involved in the message.

What I like:

- All of it, it’s free and that you can make groups

I hope:

- that there might be some type of share feature in time

- that a collection of the “groups” comments (not only individual notes) can also be viewed on each verse as currently done in YouVersion “community”. Making it a community learning experience service as well.

From their site:

YouVersion.com has given you the ability to engage with Scripture like never before, and with YouVersion mobile you have access to the Bible, corresponding contributions, and online community no matter where you are.

With YouVersion mobile the Bible is with you…during your morning commute in the tube, while waiting in line at the grocery store, or in church on Sunday. YouVersion gives you the power to engage in 40 different translations, in 22 languages, on one device that rests in the palm of your hand. Download the free App and enjoy regular time with the Bible, right when and where you need it.

Download it today at YouVersion.

Slides on Slideshare from YouVersion.com/live event today

Now that the baby is out of the bag we finally get to include everyone in all of this craziness that is pregnancy!  No, ladies, I am not claiming that I have a clue what being pregnant is like, but I can tell that it is definitely crazy.

On July 6 at 6:49 AM I was informed that we had a little one growing and that I should plan on cleaning the house for the visit that the stork would be paying us in early spring of ‘10.  (Is that just 10?  010 just doesn’t seem to work.  Is it then 2010?  That will get pretty wordy for the next decade.)  As you all know, we are very excited, but that’s enough of the pregnancy test story.  I wanna skip ahead to that night.  For some reason I (or God) decided it was time to open up my paper Bible (which has been sidelined for quite some time with the entrance of YouVersion on the computer and iPhone) and read where I had left off last time.  I really think this was all God because I hadn’t done that in a really long time and just felt like it was a good night to read from the paper Bible instead of the iPhone.  Well, God gave me this Scripture to read.

Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you; you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep.

~ Psalm 127:3-5

I love it.  To me it is God’s confirmation.  This is a gift.  This child growing (that at the moment is a little bigger than a lime) is a little birthday present from heaven.  It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the midst of pregnancy and completely forget or ignore the fact that He alone gives breath.  We didn’t create this baby (well, in that way…yes we did).  We are not the ones forming it.  God is doing all that.  He is building this gift.  I’m not questioning timing.  I’m not questioning if I’m ready.  I’m not saying I know what I’m doing, but I do know that this little citrus sized being is a gift.  Now we just have to raise it well and pray that it really does become a weapon for God.

(I think I like that.  Maybe the kid needs a weapon for a name.  Shotgun.  Dagger.  Nun-chuck.  Missle.  Silencer.  Yeah.  That would be a manly gift from God!  Of course if it is a girl, it would be like Butterfly Knife or Throwing Stars.  Oh!  And if there were twins they could be Bo and Arrow!  Wow that would be awesome.)

I’ve been using YouVersion’s Bible app on my phone for over a year. I’ve always thought it was great. Today’s announcement reveals it’s about to get exponentially better.

Click here to check out the new upgrades

Here’s an e-mail announcement they sent out:

Hey YouVersion friends,

We’ve got some really exciting news and we want you to be the first to know! Soon, you’ll be able to use YouVersion in a whole new way…

Introducing YouVersion Live!

Beginning in October, you’ll be able to interact with live events on your mobile device using YouVersion Live.

During church services, conferences, Bible studies, small groups, and more, you can:

* Follow along with message outlines and take notes
* Read related Bible verses and click through to the expanded passage
* Vote on a poll and see the results live
* Respond to questions anonymously
* Request prayer
* Take it all home with you on your phone

Anyone with a web-enabled mobile phone will be able to take part, along with iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android users. And if you’ve got a laptop or computer with an internet connection nearby, you’ll be able to join in too.

YouVersion Live gives you a simple, free way to participate, contribute, and get involved in the conversation.

Check out http://youversion.com/live and sign up for email updates to stay in the loop!

For those looking for a B90X post yesterday, there was not one. Sorry about that one. I dropped the ball. If you can forgive me that would be awesome!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Alright, since I missed yesterday we are going to rock through Exodus and try to finish strong.

Exodus 15-40

Jethro’s Advice:

So not sure if this is a big deal but in 18.13-24 Moses receives some wise advice from his father-in-law Jethro. Moses was rock’n it by himself for the most part. He was “the man.” Now, don’t get me wrong he was the man, but even for Moses he was doing a ton.

Moses was killing cockroaches when he shouldn’t have been and Jethro decided to tell him, not ask him, to set up able men to help judge Israel. So easy cases were for the Judges and hard cases were for Moses. Simple.

Sometimes I find myself killing cockroaches when I shouldn’t be. How about you?

And if you don’t know what killing cockroaches are check this out:

Alright, still with me?

Just check’n.

Another reason to thank Jesus:

Just so you know if you were looking for another reason to thank Jesus for dying on the cross check this out. From 29 on there are so many offerings Israel had to perform. Sin, food, burnt, grain, incense, wave(?), drink, freewill. For us I believe there is only one, Tithe. And to think we have a problem with just this one.

Your turn.

Thoughts on Exodus? Weird verses? Statements?

Just picture this, a 40 year old moves into a new home.  Everything is going well, but after a few months, people stop seeing him and start getting concerned.  The police break into the house and find this person laying on the kitchen floor, literally starving and unable to move.  When the police look through the cupboards and fridge, they find all sorts of food.  As this 40 year old is taken to the hospital, they tell police that they didn’t know how to feed themselves.  Would that person seem normal to you?  Would this seem like a reasonable situation to find a 40 year old person in?  Would you think of them as a mature person?

The reason I tell this story, is that often church goers give a complaint about “not being fed” (which means not feeling like you’re making progress), and yes, I’ve heard it from teens as well.   There are many similarities between your physical and spiritual life, and one of the characteristics of a mature person is the ability to feed yourself.  That means learning how to listen to God, how to read your Bible, how to pray, and serve on your own, without depending solely upon what happens in the church building, or what the leaders feed you.

The question is, who’s ultimately responsible for your spiritual journey?  Is it the pastor, the church leaders, small group leaders, President Obama, your parents, or yourself?  The right answer is: Yourself.  You are the only one who will have to answer for the path your life took, and be held responsible for what you’ve done, or not done.

With that in mind, there are several place you can go to help you learn how to do some important things online, such as Bible study and pray.  Here are some links that would be worth your while to check out.

Youversion is a Bible study website where you can choose the best version for you.  It has a reading plan, comments by other users, a place for you to journal privately, and a place for you to share thoughts publicly.  You will need to register (for free) to gain access to some of the features.

Sacred Space is a website run by Irish Monks that take you step by step through a daily prayer, around a theme.  It takes a little bit of time to do properly, like all prayers can when done well.  There can be some big words to work through, so be prepared for that.  This is a free site as well.

Deeperdevotion.com is a website that offers articles, daily devotions, music reviews, and other resources to help you mature in your walk with God.

Steelroots.com is a website for skaters, snowboarders, and surfers primarily.  It has videos, daily devotionals, prayer board, and some giveaways.

These are just a few of the web resources you can use to further your spiritual walk.  If you have any questions, go ahead and ask them, either of me or someone you trust.  Take responsibility, life isn’t what happens TO you, it is what you DO.

Recently Sunday’s for me have been like GAIN, the dish washing detergent.

Weeks can be a grind, so its good to get washed with freshness.

Today was a reminder to:

A. Recognize Idols in my life

B. Sacrifice them on the Altar

C. Press On Toward God

D. Evaluate Again

Repeat A-D

[Phil 3: 13]

What made you Fresh today?

Real Students Mobile Version

That is a question that will make you think. It is July and the year is half over, so you still have time left to make some really good decisions.  I can’t take credit for this question, it comes from a blog that I read by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. Here is his blog post:

______________________________________________________________

I love the Bible

If someone asked me: what is the BEST DECISION you’ve made this year? It’s an easy answer. The decision to read through a one-year Bible.

Honestly, I’m falling in love with the Bible all over again. It’s the most inspirational book ever written because it was inspired by God himself. It’s the best sin deterrent I know of. And it’s the way you carry on a daily conversation with God. I’m not sure who said this first but it’s so true: when you close the Bible God closes His mouth and when you open the Bible God opens His mouth.

Nuff said.

_______________________________________________________________

What about you? Is this a challenge you are up for in the final six months of 2009? Are you ready to hear from God in 2009? Sure it can be scary to think of, but it can be a great ride. Don’t have a bible, check out YouVersion a great new site that helps you read through the bible and offers 16 english translations, and even an apps for your iPhone, Blackberry and a mobile web version. Any way you can read the Bible is great. Go ahead and put the Bible  on your phone.

2 Timothy 3:15 – 17 (The Message)

15 … There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.17 Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

So leave comment and let me know what your answer is.

What is the BEST DECISION you have made this year?

Be Real,

Jeremy

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Here’s a shout out to the folks at LifeChurch.tv and a wonderful product they’ve provided called YouVersion.com.

Sign up for free.

Many versions of the Bible available.

Keyword searches.

Parallel view options.

Your own personal journal and notes section.

A community to share with.

Even mobile apps.

It’s easy to navigate and you can hightlight (star) and save passages that you want to come back to. While bulky concordances and commentaries can be intimidating, having a resource I can trust for quick, accurate results and cross-referencing when writing lessons.

My new favorite thing:  One-year reading plan.  You can get daily reading updates in your email or as an RSS feed (for all you super-bloggers) to read the Bible in a year.

I encourage you to check it out – YouVersion.

Are you a group leader who connects with members through the week on facebook? Are you a group director that has established a facebook group for your coaching team? Do you have a group twitter or blog? Does your group connect through online bible applications like YouVersion?  Are you a group that has created a ning page?  If you have other ideas… the rest of us small group leaders would love to hear them. Maybe you know of someone else who’s using Social Media to enhance their ministry? Please have them share their thoughts with us as well.

Just enter in the comments below. This can be an amazing resource for small group ministries!

So I was reading the Bible last night using my handy YouVersion app on my iPhone.  It’s good stuff.  If you have an iPhone and you don’t have this app, you should definitely get it!  Amazing.  Anyway, I was reading the daily segment that they have for the yearly Bible in the Message and saw something that I have seen before, but continues to hit me every time I see it.  Throughout the Old Testament, the Message translates God of hosts as God-of-the-angel-armies.  Wow.  That’s pretty powerful.  I mean really huge!

How often do we forget that?  How often do we treat our relationship with God as just god, the man upstairs, etc.  Now don’t get me wrong.  He absolutely is a close and personal God, too, but it seems like we forget sometimes that awesomeness that is God.  He spoke everything into existence.  Spoke it!  Not only can He just speak things into being, He is in charge of all of it!  That is pretty all-encompassing.  Kinda hard to get out of that.

He is in control.  No matter what is going on in your life, He is in control.  If you just won the lottery, met the woman of your dreams or just saw your perfect, healthy, new baby be born, He is in control.  If you just lost a family member, lost your job or you world is just in general falling apart, He is in control.  Rest in that.  There is absolutely NOTHING that escapes Him.  Nothing.  Trust in Him.  He will take care of you.  Remember that He is not only the personal and intimate God, but He is the God-of-the-angel-armies!

Hard times are bound to happen.  That’s life.  Unfortunately life isn’t perfect all the time.  Difficult seasons will come.  It doesn’t matter what that season is.  He is and always will be there for you.  Deaths, layoffs, wrecks, bankruptcies, questions, sicknesses, all of it.  The season won’t last forever.  When it does change, don’t forget that He is what got you through it all.  After all, He is God-of-the-angel-armies.  That’s pretty powerful!

Even though I was raised by parents who were in the retail business, I can’t remember when inventory was taken.  I have faint recollections of doing so around the beginning of a new year, but I’m not really sure that was when it was always done. 

Nevertheless, I want you to do a quick inventory.  Here it is…how many Bibles do you have?  For my sake, I will say…at home.  If I begin to count the ones in my office, we will be here a while.  OK…here’s the crazy thing…we have 14 just in our study at home.  And I’m not really sure how to count the YouVersion Bible that is on my Blackberry that contains 16 translations…do I count that as 1 or 16?  Anyway…are you done?

I don’t really know of the point of the inventory, except to say that most of us have a few copies of the Bible around our home.  From personal experience, I have learned that it doesn’t matter how many copies you own.  What really matters is how much of any of them we have consumed!  And all I know for myself is…not enough!  It is kind of like when I referred to the quote by Craig Groshcel on Sunday…of how he refers to himself as a ‘full-time minister and a part-time follower of Christ’.  As much as I can relate to that and say ‘Amen’ to it countless times, I can take it a step further when it comes to the Bible.  I can read the Bible all day with my “sermon eyes and mind” wide open, but that is not going to impact me personally until I open my eyes and mind on a personal level to allow God to speak to me as an individual.  

All of this takes me to ‘King James’.  No…not the translation (although I do still have a copy of KJV and even the New KJV around), but the one who “on the court” has been called ‘King James’.  Last night, I thought for sure the Cavs were down 0-2 when there was only one second left on the clock.  And yet, that was all Lebron needed to catch a pass, turn, and shoot a 3-pointer that hit “nothing but net”.  It was indeed ‘Jordanesque’ as Lebron himself referred to the shot as a Michael Jordan type of shot.  I jumped out of my chair (even though it was about 11:00 P.M.) in amazement as the Cavs evened the series on what was an incredible, remarkable shot. 

So what does that have to do with our ‘inventory’?  Not so much with the inventory, but it has so much to do with what happens when I read the Bible for myself personally.  There are those times I see things or hear things or understand things that get me ‘out of my seat’ over and over again.  There are those times I would even refer to it as ‘incredible’ and ‘remarkable’.  Do you ever read the Bible that way?  That’s where we are going in the morning…it has much to do with the different ways we read and understand the Bible.  Come find out now…and don’t wait until there is only 1 second left on the clock!

John Chapter 17 Verse 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.”

Nearly 1500 years later the Christian Church was in turmoil. The Catholic church was losing it’s popular authority (not to be confused with it’s validity or value). Especially throughout Germany and Switzerland the great reformers were beginning to speak out and the people were awaking to their personal destiny as they read and considered the significance of the Scriptures in their lives, families, communities, and their nations politics. Munich established a Theocracy, believing in the Sovereignty of God over mankind, the Church and Political/ City/ State. Unfortunately, even this led to the executions of more than 50 people in the first 4 years.

Enter Peter Meiderlin, an irenic Lutheran theologian and pastor living in Augsburg during the early seventeenth century. As an Irenic Peter was a reformer of a different nature than Luther. He devoted his life the “ministry of reconciliation” and to the hope that the Church would “be one”.

It was Peter Meiderlin, who scribed this plea to the Church:

“In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis (or, dubiis) libertas, in utrisque (or, omnibus) caritas.”
(penned under the anagram RUPERTUS MELDENIUS (Germany, A.D. 1627 and 1628)

[Translated]
IN ESSENTIALS UNITY,
IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY,
IN ALL THINGS CHARITY.

Later J.H. Garrison’s and B.W. Johnson, who published a journal titled, “The Christian-Evangelist” published a paraphrase of the same:

“In faith, Unity; in opinions and methods, Liberty; in all things, Charity.”

Across America (I’m addressing the US specifically, not exclusively), the Church is experiencing many movements (missional, simple church, organic church, emergent) a reformation that is getting even stronger since mid-2008.

A Diamond with many faces
Throughout history reformers have been used to “stir up the faith” among the pagans, non-believers, disenfranchised, disinterested, institutionally entrenched, and the powerful. I praise God for their passion, their Sovereign inspiration and success, and yet like Meiderlin, I would implore the Church today to consider the beauty of a diamond with many faces when the SON shines upon it.

Church, we are the BODY of Christ. Can the hand say to the foot I have no need of you? Therefore I submit that in the midst of these reforms, movements and stalwart faithfulness of Christian denominations and their respective participants and leaders – we must remember the words of Meiderlin. We must thank God for the diversity of expression, understanding that God is not so small as though He could be defined by any denomination or college of scholars. He is not so reserved as to preserve any institution, but in His Sovereignty God has proved since Adam that His Kingdom and His will shall not fail, nor be stalled by any hand. Let us then work together to build that Kingdom of God.

IN ESSENTIALS UNITY,
IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY,
IN ALL THINGS CHARITY.

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Notes:
Wiki the “Major branches of Christianity”
Yahoo lists some 144 Christian denominations
A modern anagram for Peter Meiderlin = “Elder Peter Limin “

YouVersion Mobile (per telefonino, palmare, smartphone ed ogni dispositivo mobile con accesso a internet) ha un nuovo look e nuove feature, tra queste la possibilità di visualizzare tutte le versioni della Bibbia disponibili sul loro sito. Come Bibbia in italiano c’è la Versione Riveduta (ITRIV) che può essere selezionata dal menù a tendina, dopodiché fate clic sul pulsante change. E’ disponibile la lettura del giorno (la Bibbia in un anno) e si può navigare nel testo biblico, sia Antico che Nuovo Testamento.

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