Tangible Kingdom (Week 3 Day 4) “What is Good News?”

What is Good News?  I guess it depends on who you ask. If you ask a well-to-do suburbanite whether or not clean socks, water and a pack of crackers is “good news” he will laugh at you.  But ask that man on the corner of I-35 and William Cannon the same thing….and he not only [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 3 Day 3) “Convergence”

That little area of the 3 circles coming together (Communion, Community, Mission)….is where we see and experience the Kingdom breaking through. I’ve experienced it many times growing up….but it never lasted. In section 3.1,  I mentioned that my only exposure to the Kingdom was in church…and that is probably a very common occurrence.  But we [...]

ANC Sermon Notes: 06.28.09 – Acts 2:22-41

Acts – 2:22-41 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 3 Day 2) “The Spirit”

Just a short thought for now. I look forward to writing more later. Today’s reading really stuck with me. Specifically the prophetic passage of Isaiah 61 that Jesus chose to read in the synagogue, ”The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor….He has sent [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 3 Day 1) “The Gospel”

During His earthly ministry, “the Kingdom” was a primary topic for Jesus. Even when discussing love, He often did it in a way to explain what the “Kingdom of God is like”. Yet many believers have no concept for what the Kingdom really is. And often there is little effort to understand it. In the [...]

Missional Church: Elderly & Homeless in need.

I am having to make this announcement via blog, because we are having problems with email server.  However, there are two sectors of people in our city who are in need during this season of record heat: Homeless: Our homeless brothers and sisters are having to fight this heat without air-condition and very little water.  [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 2 Day 7) “Communion with God”

Today’s reading in the TK Primer is straight from Psalm 22. It’s an amazing passage. I want to add today some thoughts from Matthew Henry. He’s an old-school dude and his writing is pretty “churchy”, but I think he adds some extremely insightful perspective to our text. While we read it (read Psalm 22 first), [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 2 Day 6) – “Why do the Primer”

Last night the co-author of The Tangible Kingdom, Hugh Halter, shared with the leaders of the Austin New Church Restore Communities about the tension between being intentional in living incarnationally and forcing incarnational posture.  His advice, “Chill out”. Great advice. Sometimes we work so hard to make it happen that we sabotage our own journey… and [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 2 Day 5) “Incarnational Posture”

Today’s discussion might be one of the most important yet (If you haven’t, please take the time to read section 2.5 of “Tangible Kingdom Primer” on pages 40 and 41). What we’ll find is that the questions do not just point us towards an understanding of what incarnational is, but even more so it poses [...]

Tangible Kingdom (Week 2 Day 4) “Pay it Forward”

The “Tangible Kingdom Primer” sets aside today as a “Day of Action” that comes with a simple challenge. Here’s our homework from the study: Bless one person, without any strings attached and without trying to talk about God or getting any acknowledgement. Reflect on how your heart felt. What if you could live a life [...]