God, Forgive Our Youthful Arrogance
I love church planters and I love cutting edge, innovative ministry. I’m encouraged by the growth of a kind of Christianity that calls us back to the New Testament model of worship and ministry as we head into the turbulent waters of this next decade. But I’m concerned with what I perceive sometimes to be youthful arrogance, and this concern includes myself.
Home Church at the Cox Household
What do you do when your church on a hill is snowed in? You gather a congregation and have church at home. Our congregation was quite diverse today including elephants, cats, a dog, a kid (there was no separate children’s church offered) and even a duck.
Ella played “O Come Let Us Adore Him” and “We Fall Down” on the piano and I “preached” from Philippians 3:14. Angie led a prayer and Beau was supposed to take up the offering, but refused at the last minute (he needs to re-dedicate His life…).
Can’t wait to be back with the Bethel family, but it sure was sweet to worship with my own little household church today!
He Made the Stars Also
I’ve just begun my annual Bible reading plan over at YouVersion.com and have already been awestruck within the first chapter of the Bible by a single phrase… “and He made the stars also.”
Consider the vastness of the universe…
It so happens that the distance from the earth to one of our brightest stars, the not-too-distant star Betelgeuse (pronounced Beatle-juice), is approximately 520 light-years. Betelgeuse is the bright orange-red star in the winter constellation Orion. 520 light-years is a far-piece! Consider this: the light that left this star at the time that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the chapel door at Wittenberg beginning the Protestant Reformation on October 31, 1517, has not yet reached the earth. In fact this light will not reach the earth for many more years, until about the year 2037.
source credit
In other words, God made some huge stuff out there! But the attention His Word gives to the vastness of the universe is five little words, “He made the stars also.” What does God bring our attention to through most of Scripture? Redemption!
Yes, God made the stars – billions of them, spread across millions of miles of outer space, but His attention is fixed… on YOU! He wants nothing less than eternal life for you. Now THAT’s awesome!
photo credit: Sir Mervs [dose]
YouVersion – My Favorite Online Bible App
With the New Year coming, I want to issue the same challenge I issue every year – to read through the Bible in a year. There are a variety of ways to go about it, and YouVersion.com offers at least 21 plans to choose from. You can read the Bible through chronologically, a combination of Old and New Testament readings each day, or a variety of other methods.
YouVersion happens to be my favorite online Bible app. I do wish its search were more intuitive – with the ability to search keywords by Bible version and display them in biblical order – but the interface itself is awesome.
I also think YouVersion represents the future of online Bible apps in the sense that it involves and encourages community interaction. As you study, you can make notes and share them with others. Very cool all the way around.
Check out YouVersion.com and enjoy!
Do You REALLY Want to Change?
This is based on my sermon for New Year’s, which comes from [youversion]2 Timothy 2:21[/youversion] and surrounding verses.
Is it even possible to really change? Millions of people must be asking that question, especially as we face another new year. You may already have a list of areas of your life you’re going to change. Whether they are “resolutions” or not, you’re hoping you can make it this year.
ONE GREAT TRUTH: Change is possible. In fact, it’s God’s plan for all of His children to change us into the image of Christ, but we have to be ready first – prepared for His use through repentance and renewal.
This Christmas, I Am Content in God’s Gifts
I’m writing this post just after midnight on Christmas Eve, or Christmas morning, whichever you prefer. I’m excited about what the morning will bring forth, but even as I sit in anticipation of tomorrow’s celebration, I can honestly say I’m extremely content.
I just finished packing gifts up from the basement to the tree, and some bore my name, but I really wouldn’t mind if I were empty-handed at the end of the day. Here is why…
The Best of the Creative World in 2009
I have recently joined the ranks of the Fuel Network, which is somewhat of a collection of awesome online magazines about a variety of creative subjects. I’m the Editor of Fuel Your Blogging, a magazine about… blogging, of course.
All of the editors worked simultaneously on “best of 2009″ posts and they all launched together. So if you’re into photography, blogging, coding, design, etc. this is an awesome resource. So, go check out the Best of 2009 at Fuel.
The Light of the Salvation of God
Light has the amazing ability to pierce the darkness around it. It doesn’t take much. I read of a team of skiers who were lost in the Alps of Switzerland. They were rescued because a helicopter was able to spot the light coming from the display of an mp3 player.
ONE GREAT TRUTH: The whole world has been lost and condemned in sin, but Jesus came to pierce the darkness, to the the light of God’s salvation, leading us back into a saving relationship with our Creator.
Merry Christmas To You All
I wanted to pass along the letter that we’re mailing out to everyone in our church family, just in case someone misses it…
Dear Family and Friends,
We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
It’s so hard to believe that 2009 has slipped away so quickly. We continue to feel so blessed under God’s care and are so happy that He has placed us into such a wonderful church family!
The year has brought about some major developments in our family’s life. Angie moved from being a Therapist to teaching Bible in a Christian school, which also meant a change in school for Ella as well. The biggest development, of course, is that we’re now expecting little Samuel David to be born in April of next year.
Within the church, we’ve seen the launch of our food pantry and growth in different areas of the church’s life. We stand amazed at the willingness of people to get involved in seeing lives touched and changed. It’s also been a great privilege to meet new people and welcome them into Bethel this year.
We count it such a joy to serve alongside each of you and can’t wait to see the great things God will do in, around, and through us in the upcoming year
May God bless each and every one of you!
photo credit: alicepopkorn
About Brandon Cox
Brandon is first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ. He's a husband to Angie and a Dad to Ella Grace and Samuel David. He's a Pastor to Bethel Baptist Church, Editor of Fuel Your Blogging and also a logo and web designer.
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