Fourthstream

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We live in a world that is asleep spiritually. One of things I love about CS Lewis stories is that he often recognizes and paints a picture of our sleepy dream. If you have ever read Prince Caspian you know what I mean. People can be asleep even though we appear awake. It is the nature of the deception and the Deceiver. If he can paint a false picture that mirrors truly being awake, then he is close to engineering slumber that can last a life-time…and an eternity. Kind of like our own matrix of reality.

Today we are reviewing one of the most direct passages in the God Story concerning the sleepy dream. While Ephesians 5:14 is our home base: “For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you,” we also expand our search to include the context in which the Christ-Follower Paul passed on his ideas about remaining awake.

If the idea of spiritual awakening intrigues you, the stuff below will help.

Enjoy, our wide awake friend!

The Sleepy Dream/Ephesians 5:14
Waking Up
Extended video teaching on Awakening
Awakening Prayer
An Awakening Song

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Being outside of time would bring unique perspective to your life, would it not? This is one of the realities in which God moves. It is part of our Creator being “unbound.” We see everything through a time prism. While God created time He lives uninfluenced by time – apart from the choices He has made to create and use time for His purposes.

We, on the other hand, “live and move and exist” within God’s reality, not the other way around (Acts 17 is great on this). This is one aspect of the achilles of mankind: we want our gods to serve us. But the Living God “is not served by human hands” so as to be validated OR diminished by mankind. This is part of what it means to be God.

Today we are visiting the macro – how big and great is the Lord God of the heavens and the earth? God’s interaction with Job in chapters 38-40 is breathtaking. This conversation occurs after many words have been spoken by Job and his friends. One of the cool things about Job is that he either pre-dates or was a contemporary of Abraham. Hence – he lived before the Hebrews even existed. Along with Genesis 1 and 2 and the book of Revelation, Job gives us some of our best insight into God and Time.

Definitely something worth contemplating for the welfare of your soul!
Enjoy, our soul-searching friend. The video below is pretty short but worth it.  🙂

Job Watches Stars (from this podcast)
Sense of Wonder
Watching Stars Video
Reading Job
A Star song

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We don’t select our parents. That part of our story is out of our hands. Nor do we have any control over how our life launches. Circumstances, health, genes – things are well under way by the time our own choices begin to emerge and dominate.

God is interested in generations. He blesses homes, families and even nations – especially those who embrace His Kingship. And for the Christ-Follower, it is cool how our own spouses, kids and grandkids can be a part of our “work” – and that almost every possible human relationship can provide windows into spiritual opportunity.

Today we dive into Titus 2:1-8 and talk about how generations are launched and impacted for the sake of the Kingdom. Family is important for sure, but seeing the Kingdom grow in and around us can be exhilarating in our quest for a satisfied mind. Friends, co-workers, and neighbors are all part of the opportunities of life. Wherever we can provide shelter there is opportunity for Kingdom generations!

Titus Kingdom Worksheet
Men & Women of God and the Kingdom
A Kingdom Song

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Living in Iowa it is always enjoyably interesting to watch the crop process as the magical year-long calendar unfolds. The cultivating. The planting. The tending. The waiting on God for rain. And then the harvest.

This is one of the GodStory’s teaching metaphors because it is hard to escape our ultimate connection to the soil. Jesus taught it. Israel lived it. And the disciples embraced it. God is the ultimate Grower, and we are His harvest helpers – if we choose to be!

Today we are talking about 1 Peter 3 where we learn about some of the conditions surrounding the harvest of souls God is accomplishing on the surface of the earth. You can find some good notes under the New Ground link below. When we are living and breathing God into our part of the world it is not merely about the task of evangelism – it is about our connection into the world in which God has placed us.

You may also find the Snapshot except from the book Curious Journey helpful as you consider your own picture of “giving an answer for the hope that is within you.” And if you want to really dive in, I have included a study guide to the book of Acts, where you can see the Kingdom unfold in beautiful power.

1 Corinthians 3.9
“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

John 4.35
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.”

Revelation 14.16
Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Snapshot
Reaching Out
New Ground
Deeper in the Book of Acts
A Good Harvest Song

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It feels great to be included among your friends or with the people at work, doesn’t it? Especially when someone acknowledges you or invites your contribution. When you feel included you feel you matter. When we are excluded (intentionally or unintentionally) it makes us fight the mind games of disappointment and speculation.

God the Father is the “ultimate includer.” He has designed everything to draw us in and to set us free. This seems counter to what we see in the world around us, but God has set the parameters of trouble and deliverance – and that is what Paul’s declaration in Athens was all about (Acts 17). He stands before some very self-important leaders and addresses their philosophies with the kind, pure truth of the Gospel. As you read Acts 17 (below) search for principles of “how” Paul shared truth in this incredible God-situation!

Here are some great inclusion questions upon which you can ruminate:
– Why did God establish such a risky environment for mankind?
– What about your story, your life, makes you feel special?
– What is the value of eternal life to your soul?
– In what ways do you feel included? Excluded?

Enjoy, my Aeropagalean friend!

More on Ultimate Inclusion (Acts 17:22-31)
The Perfections of God
A God is Great Chorus