I recently listened to a sermon/lecture by Matt Chandler entitled “God and Sex.” It really hit home to me and in turn, I feel like I need to pass it on. However, I have some things that I want to say first:
This is not a casual listen, it’s extremely blunt.
This isn’t your muzing section. This isn’t a feel-good message. This is serious, down to earth stuff.
I would recommend you listen to this when you’re in the right mindset to take stuff in.
This kinda goes with the previous point, but this recording is about two hours long, so be aware of that too.
I would recommend not listening to it with someone you aren’t completely comfortable with.
Different guy and girl… functions are mentioned without hesitation, if that’s a problem–it’s blunt.
The rest of the disclaimer at the beginning of the recording, and you can also read Mitchell’s disclaimer.
I wouldn’t consider this a guy-only talk, but I hope that it isn’t offensive to anyone. There’s a whole lot of good stuff in it, and here’s one of my favorite parts. It got a big amen from me. :)
Matt Chandler in God and Sex: (this is 1hr:11mins in)
I think that a lot of the problems of dating in evangelical circles is the girls. I’ll tell you what I’m talking about; you guys will tolerate some flirty idiot, flirting and romancing you without serious pursuing you. And I promise you, you hold the ace of spaces of maturity for some of these idiots. Where you would go, “Quit flirting with me and grow up.” I promise you, they will lay in bed that night and go, “ughhh, I need to grow up.” But because you put up with it and let it feed your insecurities, it just perpetuates it. And so you keep getting your heart broke, you keep getting your heart broke, you keep getting your heart broke because you’re not willing to tell a man–a little boy, really–”I tell you what, I think you’re cute. You make me laugh. If you would act your age and grow up, we might be able to talk, but as for now, you need to get out of my face.”
…until then, when they can get away with [everything], there’s no one pressing on them, except me–and all I do is stand up here and call them idiots.
I sure hope I’m not ever being that guy aka being hypocritical. Thanks to Mitchell Carter for posting this first. I hope that I didn’t offend anyone by posting it, unless it’s in a good, life-changing way. ;-) God bless,
Posted: March 28th, 2010 | Author:Jon Yoder | Filed under:Jesus talk | No Comments »
I’m still anxiously awaiting the day that I can relax knowing that I have nothing else that I should be doing. Sadly that hasn’t come yet. But enough of that–life is beautiful, still.
Some of you know that I’m a big fan of John Piper. The way he teaches through the scriptures in wisdom is very encouraging and challenging. Today I read a blog post by him about his coming leave from all his current responsibilities because “a growing sense that my soul, my marriage, my family, and my ministry-pattern need a reality check from the Holy Spirit.” I’d recommend the read. It got me reflecting about my own life. I’ve been doing ‘alright’ in my walk with God, but not to a point that I see if fully guided by the Holy Spirit. There’s always so much that we need to let go of to experience the kingdom of God more.
“I know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the job the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible and goes along with what I’ve been thinking about. So many times things come up in our lives that take too much of a spotlight, pulling us away from what matters most.
The sermon today at Downtown church was about God’s pursuit of us, and our response to His pursuit. The response that was highlighted on was fasting. This, along with some other things that have been going on around campus have kinda brought to light the importance of fasting in my life. Whatever it is that you fast from, make sure that the space is filled with growth and time with God.
We’ll see where this goes. Grace, peace, and love be with you all.
Posted: March 21st, 2010 | Author:Jon Yoder | Filed under:Jesus talk | 1 Comment »Edit: It was pointed out to me that Francis Chan does a sermon about this very thing, called “The Most Important Lesson I Could Ever Teach.” I highly recommend checking it out, and you can download the video or the audio.
“How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ . . . and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the worshiping, seeking, singing church on that subject is crisply set aside. The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a Brainerd.” (pp. 16-17)
This quote hits home for me because I’m one of the worst perpetrator of this. I try to read and listen to things to hopefully make God more real in my life and reflect through my actions–different blogs, sermons here and there, chapel talks, devos, etc., BUT as far as me actually making spiritual food through my own research, my own reading, etc., I’m doing pretty bad. Sometimes I feel like I expect Jesus to fix me without any effort on my part. I need less of self and more of God.
“This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
I am the LORD,
who has made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
On an unrelated note, I took some pictures of the prayer room the other day. I’ll put it together into something better later, but for now here’s just a little panoramic.
Posted: February 10th, 2010 | Author:Jon Yoder | Filed under:Jesus talk, Personal | Tags:John Piper, ptp, youtube | 2 Comments »I just added a new category to the blog called “Jesus Talk.” It’s basically the category that I’ll put all my spiritual (thoughts, ideas, findings, etc.) in. This post will be the first one in the category, but hopefully I’ll do this a little more often. We’ll see.
A perfect man would never act from sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc.) can do the journey on their own. (C.S. Lewis)
I don’t always think of the reality of this truth, but it is so true. I find myself trying to be good so often, and trying to do what’s right, but when I’m doing that, things just don’t work out. It’s like trying to be a Christian without Christ. I still struggle with this, and sometimes I can feel good about doing good for a few days, but then soon it will catch up to me, and I just won’t enjoy doing good things or being encouraging to people.
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