Over the last few days I have been spending my spare moments trying to get around the amazing world of PODCASTING. It came about because I have been wanting a way of providing audio files to people who have a hunger for the fulfillment of God's kingdom purposes on the earth. These are the ones for whom only the ultimate is good enough.
This is referenced in the Bible in a number of places. One of these days I will do a series of blog spots or audio programs on the issue of ultimate things. If you know anything about the God who is revealed through his Son, Jesus Christ, you will know that there has always been a plan. God invented the idea before Stephen Covey put it in a book: "Begin with the end in mind." It is one of his habits of highly effective people. God is at the top of that tree by the way. He was the first person to commit to the idea that only ultimate and complete fulfillment was worth working for.
We have to see how our lives fit into the big picture or we will end up spending time and energy on frivilous and fruitless activities. REALITY can only be defined by ULTIMATE things. I can look back on many days and months of my life and realize that I wasted so much effort and energy and created so much needless pain because I made something other than the ultimate things the most important things. I was watching the last interview Andrew Denton did on the ABCTV program, "Enough Rope." It was with a former high flying lawyer called Andrew Fraser who was jailed for a number of criminal offenses. He was someone who became the epitome of the good life. Now he wants to spend time supporting his kids and helping with Open Family Foundation (rescuing street, and other "at risk" people). It took some years in goal to provide him with a perspective on REALITY.
Anyway, here at Grace we are becoming more and more passionate about less and less things. We might even get to the point where we can say with Paul the apostle, "...this ONE THING I do...." Now there was a man who had his eye and his body on the ultimate.
For us the ULTIMATE can only be the church rising to represent its full potential. That potential can only be measured by the degree to which it becomes the full tangible presence of Jesus Christ to any community or region. That is why we have given up trying to invent the ultimate attractive building and program and we are simply training missionaries to plant churches in their community spheres.
In fact we are pursuing the only things described in the Bible that will ever enable the church to achieve that potential. By purpose reading the Bible over a number of months, it is my ever-deepening conviction that four things must happen togther if the church is ever going to have a chance. The words below are not new, but their definition is new to me. I didn't realize how much we have doctored the Bible and robbed words of their real meanings. Here are the four things:
HOLINESS that can only be defined by Jesus indiscriminate love for lost people (1 Peter 1)
ONENESS that can only be described by the relationship between Jesus and his Father (John 17)
FULLNESS that can only be measured by the power represented by the ministry of Jesus to work signs and wonders and miracles over circumstances, nature and in the lives of ordinary people to produce the kingdom rule of God. The Bible says that this only comes when the criteria described in Ephesians, especially chapter 4 are happening.
COMPLETION that can only be measured by both the will and the strategic plan to reach the nations of the world with the gospel in every single successive generation (Matt. 24,28)
So this is a long way of telling you about my podcast site. It should be up on the iTunes Music Store directory in a few days. It has been lodged there and they have to have a look at it and make sure it is acceptable. I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't get a run there.
Regardless of that, the URL for these audio programs is here:
http://brianmedway.mypodcast.com/rss.xml
To have it working as an automatic download you need to download the iTunes software from their site and register with them. There are a lot of resources there that you may find interesting anyway.
http://www.meitunes.com/index.html
If you have problems, let me know and I will pool my ignorance with yours. That way we will both end up in more trouble. Sounds like fun.
I have placed a few programs there just to test the system, but I will be putting lots of resoures there coming out of various teaching modules that I am doing. I will also add any resources that come from other sites and other people that may help.
At the last Crosslink (the national network of churches we are part of) Conference I spoke about the fact that there needed to be people who were determined to commit to doing what it took to see the church reach its destiny of looking and acting like Jesus. We talked about the four matters referred to above as a mountain that was yet to be climbed. It might be like Everest before 1964. It was there. People had tried. Other mountains had been climbed, but not the highest.
I am thinking now of that great and classic book by Oswald Chambers: "My Utmost for His Highest." I am convinced that the church anywhere has a destiny that is unfufilled. Its like we have a whole raft of base camps and a few are higher than a few others. But as the clock ticks over and days tumble out after each other we can find ourselves going around and around the mountain instead of climbing to the top. We can find ourselves compromising with the comforts of our present experience. We can allow ungodly compromises to rob us of the prize.
I hope you will join those of us who have decided to find the way to the top. For want of a better idea we have called ourselves the "Summit Expeditionary Team." Its not a new organization, but it is a seed movement. We can't imagine how any part of the church should be denied their destiny, so we want to seed every part with the inspiration and encouragement that will see that destiny defined by the Word from heaven, not the circumstances on the earth.
God bless you. Let me know if you are willing to be a part of this team.
lifepurpose@ozemail.com.au
is where you can find me.
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