HUNGER AND THIRST by Keith Giles

HUNGER AND THIRST by Keith Giles
*NOTE: This is adapted from a sermon which is available as an mp3 download on my blog.

MATTHEW 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Here Jesus is speaking to his disciples, his followers, about life in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom reality, the place where God has His perfect will and reign, is the one true reality. We know that soon the full and total reign of God will come to this Earth and that Jesus Himself will sit on the throne and rule over every tribe and tongue and nation.

But Jesus is asking us, his followers, to begin living under the rules and the laws of this Kingdom today! We’re not to wait until this Kingdom fully comes, or else we’ll be left out of this Kingdom. We’re to live now, today, as if the King were here and the Kingdom had fully come.

This is why Jesus came; to announce that the Kingdom of God was “at hand”, that it was “near” and to call disciples who would be willing to live in that Kingdom Reality now.

Jesus uses here the terms “hunger and thirst” because they are powerful. He uses these terms because they are synonymous with the most powerful impulses in the natural realm. Literally these words mean “to suffer deep hunger” or “to suffer thirst” for the Kingdom (or for Righteousness).

Righteousness (or justification) means “to be made right with God”. Therefore, Jesus is saying that the only real happiness and satisfaction is found in being right with God.

Hunger and thirst are intense desires. Most of us have never really known true hunger or thirst. Seriously.
But the kind of hunger and thirst Jesus is speaking about here is continual. The mystery is that, even though he says we “will be filled” or satisfied in our desire for “being made right with God”, the Greek verbs here are present participles, which implies a continuous action. We are to be “continually” seeking desperately after the righteousness of God.

I want to look at a quote by a guy named Martyn Lloyd-Jones who said-
“ I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you are a Christian. If it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again.”

What he means by this is, if you are true disciple or follower of Jesus, you should have an intense desire to be made right with God. You should have an immediate sense of your sin and your need for God, and if so, then this verse will be a great joy to you because here Jesus is telling you that you will be filled, your hunger and your thirst will be satisfied.
But, if this verse means nothing to you, then maybe you’re hungry or thirsty for something else? Satisfaction is available, but only through Christ.

SO WHAT DO YOU HUNGER FOR?
Many of us have never experienced life-threatening hunger or thirst. We may have experienced hunger for a specific food, a craving for something we’ve not had in a while. In those moments, when we’re tired of eating certain things we begin to hunger after things we’ve not had in a while. We can all relate to this concept of hunger; that is why this is such a great illustration that Jesus uses here in the Sermon on the Mount.

We as humans hunger and thirst not only for food but for satisfaction in life. We search in all kinds of different areas to be filled, to be satisfied, but we always end up falling short.

Blaise Pascal said that we all have a “God-shaped void” in our lives. All men are hungry and thirsty; the problem is that we try to fill that emptiness, that hunger, with things other than the righteousness of God. Some of you hearing this message are empty; you have not been satisfied. You are trying to fill that “God-shaped void” in your life with all kinds of things, but you are left empty, unsatisfied.

WHAT ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR?
As a young man I developed a passion for jackets. Especially leather jackets. I can remember one Christmas telling my parents that if they only bought me one gift that year that it had to be a specific black suede leather jacket with fringe along the sleeves and along the back. When I opened the gift I was thrilled! I wore it constantly. I was satisfied. At least until I saw another jacket even cooler than the one I already had.

Over time I began to wise up and realize that, no matter how many leather jackets I owned, I would never be satisfied. As children we all remember wanting a certain toy desperately, and after we received it we forgot all about it only a few days later. Why? Because these things, these toys, these objects of our desire, are incapable of satisfying us. What we hunger for is something more elusive and beyond our touching.

We try to satisfy ourselves with money and power, education, sex, pornography, boyfriends and girlfriends, toys and earthly possessions that allow us fun and entertainment for a time, but yet all these things lead to a deeper sense of need, a deeper longing for satisfaction, because they do not fill that need.

C.S. Lewis states:
"We are half hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased."

Remember: When the prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon husks, but when he was starving, he returned to his father.

DO YOU STARVE AFTER GOD?
(John 14:13-14).The Woman at the Well - Jesus answered and said unto her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life

(John 6:26-27) Feeding the 5000 – Jesus answered them and said, most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.

In your life right now, what are you hungering and thirsting after? Where is your heart?

David, a man after God's own heart has said:
“Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You.” PSALM 63: 1

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. MY SOUL THIRSTS FOR GOD, FOR THE LIVING GOD. WHEN CAN I GO AND MEET WITH GOD?” - PSALM 42:1-2

CONCLUDING POINTS:
Thomas Watson said, "He who has the greatest need for righteousness is the one that least wants it.”

Do you find yourself saying, "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). Or are you self-righteous, thinking everyone else is wrong and you are right?

If you are in any sense satisfied with yourself you need to question whether you really hunger after righteousness.

Does Anything External Satisfy You? Do things seem to be better in your life when you buy something new? A hungry man will never be satisfied with flowers, music, or an encouraging speech--he will still want food. A thirsty man will not be satisfied unless he is given a drink.

Man's need for Righteousness is not compared to one who needs to be awakened from a light sleep, but it’s compared to someone who needs to be raised from the dead! It is a life-or-death issue--not an optional activity to be squeezed into an already busy schedule.

Do you hunger and thirst for God like it’s about life and death? Do you “starve” for God?

IN MATTHEW 6:33 Jesus is urging us to stop worrying about the daily needs of our life, and to stop pursuing the things of this world (food, fashion, shelter, etc.), but to instead “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Jesus is urging his followers to understand:
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU!

THIS WORLD IS PASSING AWAY!

STOP LIVING FOR THE EMPTY, TEMPORARY THINGS OF THIS WORLD!

THE KINGDOM OF ORANGE COUNTY IS PASSING AWAY!

THE KINGDOM OF FASHION ISLAND IS PASSING AWAY!

THE KINGDOM OF SOUTH COAST PLAZA IS PASSING AWAY!

THE KINGDOM OF ENTERTAINMENT AND PLEASURE AND MATERIALISM AND VANITY….ARE ALL PASSING AWAY VERY, VERY SOON!

SO, STOP LIVING FOR THOSE THINGS WHICH CANNOT SATISFY!

START HUNGERING AND THIRSTING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR “BEING MADE RIGHT WITH GOD”, FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD….NOW, TODAY!

**MATTHEW 13:44 gives us a picture of what the Kingdom of God is like for those who really “see” it and “find it”.

“The Kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

WHATEVER IT TAKES, GET THE KINGDOM. WHATEVER IT COSTS, LIVE FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

The man in this parable is eager to sell all that he has in order to get the treasure he’s found. The Kingdom is the treasure, and “with joy” (it says) this man ran and quickly sold all that he had in order to exchange it for this great treasure.

Have you seen the Kingdom? Really? Do you hunger and thirst for God and for being made right with Him?

Are you eager to run and sell it all, give it all, whatever the price, in order to be part of that Kingdom?

If so, Jesus has good news for you, “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled”.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all those other things will be added to you as well.”

AMEN
kg

INTERVIEW: JIM WALLIS

“GOD IS NOT A REPUBLICAN….OR A DEMOCRAT”
An interview with Jim Wallis, author of ‘God’s Politics’

By Keith Giles
*NOTE: This interview was published in "THE NOISE" Magazine, June 2005

Jim Wallis has spent his life on the poor. To a culture obsessed with entertainment, amusement, self-gratification and the pursuit of wealth, Wallis has been a voice crying out in the wilderness. He’s spent the better part of his life urging the Bride of Christ to awaken from her deep slumber and hear the cries of the poor and the oppressed in her own backyard.

Starting out in the anti-war movement of the Sixties, Wallis discovered a more radical message than any of the other revolutionaries he’d ever read before; the message of Jesus Christ. “I was reading, in those days, Karl Marx, Ho Che Minh and Che Guevara, but I didn’t find answers there,” says Wallis. “Then I went back to the New Testament. During all that time I don’t think I ever quite got shed of Jesus, even though I’d left the church.” After years of being tear-gassed at rallies and chased by police, Wallis read The Sermon On The Mount and discovered a Jesus he had never met before. “I’d never heard a sermon (on this text) in my whole life growing up. It was the Magna-Carta, the Constitution, of the New Order of Jesus Christ. This was it. This was the way of life,” remarks Wallis.

Reading the words of Christ as an adult, Wallis found his view of Jesus, and of Christianity itself, transformed. “I was mesmerized by it. This was the most radical thing I’d ever read. More radical than Che and Marx put together because this was going to change everything. It was meant to change the personal, social, economic and the political. It turned the world upside down. It turned the values of the world on its head. This was a whole new order of things. This was a revolution if there ever was one,” says Wallis.

Early on, Wallis and a handful of seminary students started a magazine for matters of faith and social justice called “Sojourners”. More recently Wallis has published a book called “God’s Politics” which takes a hard look at the blurring of Christian values and political policy. Like many American Christians, Wallis is alarmed at what he sees.
One of the greatest challenges facing America, Wallis feels, is the confusion many Christians have reconciling their faith and their patriotism. Instead of standing silently by as our political leaders claim that “God is on our side”, Wallis is asking American’s another question; “Are we on God’s side?”

“God is not a Republican or a Democrat,” says Wallis. “God is not partisan. God is not ideologically committed to our Left or Right. God’s politics challenges all of our politics. It includes the people our politics regularly leave out; the poor and the vulnerable. I think God calls us to a consistency in our politics. There’s an independence to God’s politics in that, we’re not called to be ideologically predictable or loyally partisan. We’re called to uplift the poor, the vulnerable, the voiceless, the Creation itself, and we’re called to hunger to resolve our conflicts in a more peaceful way. That’s God’s politics.”

Wallis has been touring America promoting his book in bookstores and by speaking in Churches across the nation. He’s also appeared on every major political talk show known to mankind. He’s been on “Meet The Press”, “Hardball with Chris Matthews”, and most notably, “John Stewart’s Daily Show” where his message of a socially-conscious Gospel of Jesus was met with loud whoops of approval from the audience of Twenty-Somethings.

“After that show I got thousands of emails and most of them went like this; ‘I lost my faith because of Television Preachers or the Religious Right or embarrassing fund-raising or pedophile priests or cover-up Bishops or White House Theology, etc., and then they’ll say, ‘I didn’t know you could be a Christian and care about poverty or the environment’ and it’s just amazing to me,” says Wallis. “These kids have been outside the sound of our voices and all they hear is the Religious Right, and then, for the first time, they hear something different,” Wallis says. “At the end of most of the emails I received, the best part is where they tell me that, ‘Because of what I heard and saw on ‘The Daily Show’ I went out and got the book, and now I’m coming back to my faith.’”

“What you didn’t see on ‘The Daily Show’ was afterwards when John Stewart leaned over to me and said, ‘You know, I really like this. Can we stay in touch? Can we keep talking? I’d like to help somehow. I’m pretty secular, but I sure like this,’ Wallis reports.

Because of that single appearance on John Stewart’s faux-news show, Wallis has begun to attract a much younger audience to his bookstore talks and public appearances. “I had parents at my book table share with me how their son lost his faith. Then they got a letter from him saying that he saw this guy on ‘The Daily Show’ and went and bought his book and he wanted them to know that he was coming back to his faith now,” says Wallis. “There’s been a whole generational response to this book that, to me, is the best part of it. People hear me giving a voice to these things and they want to add their voice to it also. It’s not just about my voice,” says Wallis. “It’s about their voice too.”

“The first week I was signing books on the book tour I’d have these very young looking students at my table. I’d say, ‘What grade are you in school?’ and they’d say something like, ‘I’m in High School, I’m a Freshman’ and Mom and Dad aren’t even there. They had come with their friends,” Wallis says.

“I’m signing books for 15 year olds now. One night I had a 12 year old at my table, and then a few weeks ago I had an eleven year old. I had to stop and ask this one girl, ‘What did you get from tonight?’ to see what she had understood. She looked at me and said, ‘Well, I think we’re just going to have to change the world.’ I asked, ‘And who’s going to do that?’ and she said, ‘People like me.’ I saw her parents behind her with tears in their eyes,” says Wallis.

Everywhere Wallis speaks these days, he’s inundated by supporters of all ages who want to know how they can vote for a politics that embodies a consistent morality. “The answer is there is no party that is advancing God’s politics,” admits Wallis. “Neither party is doing this. Basically we need to create what I call ‘The Fourth Option’. It’s not being conservative on everything, or liberal on everything. The Fourth Option makes the link between personal ethics and social justice, between personal and social responsibility. It’s really like the Catholic Consistent Life Ethics. I think there are people in both parties who are drawn to this,” says Wallis. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a majority of the people in this country supported this kind of agenda that my book puts forward, but they never have a chance to because both parties have interest groups who prevent this option from rising to the surface. So, the way you have to do it is, you have to build a movement based on this kind of option.”

Wallis is convinced that what is needed for our times is another social movement of the scale that was seen in the sixties under Martin Luther King, Jr. “Social movements are what change history and the best social movements are those that have a spiritual foundation,” he says. Going back even further than that, to Charles Finney and the nineteenth century Evangelicals, Wallis finds inspiration for a movement that could change American faith and politics. “Finney invented the altar call because he wanted to sign people up to the anti-slavery crusade. You had Evangelicals leading the battle against slavery, the battle for women’s suffrage, for child labor law reform. Back in the eighteenth century, in Britain, you had Charles Wesley and William Wilberforce, who was a convert of a Wesleyan revival, and he, for thirty years lead the battle against slavery and died three days after they won, it was amazing.”

We have many powerful examples of spiritual revivals that lead to social reform throughout history. “That’s what I believe in,” Wallis says. “That’s why I’m a nineteenth century Evangelical born in the wrong century. That’s what I think we need today.”

Wallis is quick to admit that a change of policy or politicians isn’t what our nation needs today. Instead, Wallis aims to see a change of heart that results in a changed people. “Martin Luther King, Jr. changed people’s hearts. He changed the way they thought about race. The laws changed because the people were being changed. Watching him and the others in the marches get beaten and clubbed on the streets of Birmingham, people said, ‘Look at that. That’s terrible. I don’t want my country to be like this.’ So their hearts got changed,” he says. “That’s why I want to go back to the nineteenth century. It was a conversion to Christ that got Wilberforce to fight the slave trade. He came to Christ, and then he became an Abolitionist.”

Is there a new revolution of heart and mind brewing on the horizon? Wallis is hopeful. “That’s what I’m feeling now at these book events for “God’s Politics”. A woman came up to me at a bookstore after one of my signings and said, ‘My father is a Southern Baptist Preacher and I decided I just didn’t want that kind of faith, so I left. But when I read your book I saw a different kind of faith was possible and so I want to come back.’ Thousands of people are rejecting the Religious Right. They’re saying, ‘If that’s faith, count me out’. But when they see that there’s another kind of faith that embraces the poor and the things that Jesus values, they want to come back to their faith.”

For Wallis, getting involved in the work of helping the poor isn’t just about writing a check from the safety of our pews, nor is it about rolling up our sleeves to slop soup at the local shelter, although he agrees these are all good things. Wallis contends that, when the Church really gets serious about social justice she will engage the culture and the political systems around her in order to effect real, positive, lasting change. “Checks are not enough, and neither is just engagement with the poor enough, unless we’re asking the questions of justice,” says Wallis. “I think history is moved by social movements that have a spiritual foundation. That’s what changes things. Now the Church is poised and ready to do something on domestic and global poverty. We’ve got to be the spiritual engine that changes the way our nation thinks. Will it be political? Of course. You find you need a civil rights law in 1964 and a voting rights act in 1965, but it was a black church that was the moral foundation of a civil rights movement and that lead the way. Now this movement to overcome poverty has become the next civil rights movement,” Wallis says.

Wallis is passionate about justice and poverty because it was the avoidance of these issues by his home church in Detroit that drove him away from his faith as a young man. “I left the church over these issues,” he says. “People do it every day. They want to believe. They’re hungry spiritually. They would like to hope in Christ, something compels them to faith, but when they look at the Church they just don’t see it. Somehow Jesus survives the failures of His Bride,” Wallis says. “We’ve lost our way in the twenty-first century, but many young people are becoming nineteen century evangelicals for the twenty-first century. This whole generation of young evangelicals may not name themselves as such, but that’s what they are. They’re the kind of Christians we had in the nineteen century,” says Wallis.

“The Church today is more American than Christian. The Kingdom of God is not the same as the American Empire. When we are more American than Christian we confuse the meaning of the Body of Christ with any nation state. This notion of the Church as a counter-cultural movement is Biblically obvious. There’s no doubt about that. We’re in the world to transform the world for the sake of this new order that has come in Jesus Christ. If Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom was so threatening, why is our vision of the Kingdom so safe?”

**
For more info on Jim Wallis go to http://www.sojo.net

THE MISSION: An outside testimony

A few weeks ago, my friends John and Lisa Wahrmund came down to visit us and to play (as the band "West Of Verona") during the MOMENTUM '06 conference.

In her own words, Lisa shares about their visit to our house church meeting on the night before the conference began. It's a sweet story and I haven't had the time to write out my version of what happened yet...so, go and read Lisa's blog entry about their visit to "The Mission":

HERE:

WEST OF VERONA AT THE MISSION

FREE DOWNLOAD: "HOUSES THAT CHANGE THE WORLD"

This is a great book on the basics of the House Church by a guy named "Wolfgang Simson" and you can download the ENTIRE BOOK for FREE!

Yes. Free.

It's in a .pdf format here:

HOUSES THAT CHANGE THE WORLD by Wolfgang Simson

I'm currently listening to a six-part series of cd messages from Wolfgang that I wish I could share with everyone too. Maybe I'll find a way to post those here also.....hmm....

Until then, enjoy the free book...and now you can't say I've never given you anything.

Peas,
Keith

EYES TO SEE, EARS TO HEAR?

I've updated the website with a load of new goodies to read and to listen to.

First: MOMENTUM 06 PODCASTS- Now linked off this site, at the lower left, are all of the sessions from MOMENTUM '06 Conference featuring excellent messages by DAVID RUIS ("Mustard Seed") and TODD HUNTER ("Emerging Evangelism") and several by MIKE PILAVACHI.

Go and listen!

Second: PDF Article Update- Nearly a year ago, I came across a document that set my life on its current course. It was a scholarly, historical examination of the early church entitled "EMBEZZLEMENT: THE CORPORATE SIN OF CHRISTIANITY" by a man named RAY MAYHEW. I've linked the pdf to the lower left also under "READ THIS!" (so you can't miss it).

READ THIS!- Mayhew: "Embezzlement" Paper

Essentially, the article looks at how the early church viewed the tithe as belonging to the poor. I challenge you to read this and to make comments here on this site.

It was because of this article that Wendy and I decided to launch our house church, "The Mission" because we wanted to be part of a church where 100% of the tithe could go to the poor, and not to pastoral staff, facilities, or video projectors, etc.

ENJOY!

**
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THE GOSPEL: FOR HERE OR TO GO?

I've written a six-part series called "The Gospel: For Here Or To Go?" based on the workshop I did at Soul Survivor's MOMENTUM '06 Conference last month.

The articles deal with our calling to be missionaries into our culture, various methods towards an evangelistic lifestyle, the difference between conversion and discipleship, etc.

Part one is online now at GINKWORLD (http://www.ginkworld.net) and the entire six-part series will run every two weeks. I invite you to go check it out and to leave any comments about the articles here or on the Ginkworld boards.

ALSO: If you'd like to read these articles before they publish online be sure to subscribe to the [SUBVERSIVE UNDERGROUND], my free, weekly e-newsletter. I will send out one part every week (not every 2 weeks like on Ginkworld), so you faithful subscribers can read it before anyone else does.

TO SUBSCRIBE: Click on the link at the lower left "JOIN THE [SUBVERSIVE UNDERGROUND]" and add your email to the list. It's that easy!

**

VISION: I am currently looking for a new full-time job and as part of this process I've been thinking pretty hard about my personal calling, vision and mission. Here's what I think God is saying to me:

1) The Mission: Our house church which meets every Thursday night is a big priority for our family. This is where we feel called to serve and to fellowship. It's out of these conversations and experiences that we will draw strength and direction for future service and ministry.

2) Writing: I have felt, more and more, the calling to write. This is why I have this website. This is why I'm sending articles to six or seven different web-zines. This is why I'm sending out a weekly e-newsletter. I feel called to write. Honestly, I am not sure exactly what the fruit of all of this writing might be, but I know I have to be obedient to this calling.

3) Kid's Club: Wendy and I (and our two boys) are starting a neighborhood outreach to the kids on our street starting TOMORROW!! We have felt all along that God called us specifically to this exact house and to minister the Gospel to these specific families here. After our 5 week series on "Jesus" is done, we're praying that God would open doors of relationship and fellowship with each of the families here so that we might start a Sunday Morning house church group on our block.

4) Motel Ministry: For about 3 years now my family has been serving the families at the California Studio Inn in Santa Ana. Thousands of homeless families in Orange County have jobs and steady income but cannot afford an apartment or a house. Their only option is to live in their car or raise a family in a motel for $275 a week. We've built steady and meaningful friendships with several families in this motel and we're excited about inviting our "Mission" house church group to join us for future ministry there.

5) House Church Network: After meeting with Ken Eastburn (The Well OC) and Neil Cole (CMA Resources), and others locally I sense that God is calling me to do something in the OC area for other house church leaders/pastors. If nothing else I want to find a way to gather these guys and gals together and pray with them, get to know them, encourage them and share ideas. Maybe that's all it will be, or maybe it could turn into something more? We'll see...

6) Ministry To Prostitutes: Honestly, this is the biggest "outside my comfort zone" ministry I've ever known. If nothing else I feel called to help others launch an OC ministry or non-profit resource to help these girls who are trapped in a dead-end lifestyle. I need to connect with L.A. ministries such as The Dream Center and Children Of The Night to see what can be duplicated for an organization here in the OC.

7) Book Projects: I'm nearly finished with my first little booklet "The Power of Weakness", and I also want to compile some of my past articles and interviews into other books for sale online as self-published works and/or to pitch them to publishers I have a built-in relationship with such as Gospel Light/Regal Books and Relevant Books. Either way I will publish these books. I've also been looking into the concept of self-publishing PDF versions of my books for $10 each as a downloadable file here on the website. Either way, I want to make this "next step" with my writing and start publishing books.

So...as I look at the second half of 2006, these are the areas I feel God has called me to focus on and to step out in faith to follow Him.

Thanks for your prayers!

Peace,
Keith

WOW!!

I can't believe this, but ALLELON.org just published one of my articles!

"Less Is More" is online now
http://www.allelon.org/main.cfm

*These guys publish stuff by Dallas Willard, Brian McLaren, etc. and now they've published one of my articles too?! What the...?

I've also got a smattering of articles published at places like

Next-Wave magazine:
http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue90/

TITLE: "Jesus Is A Verb"
*(and soon "BBQ Waffles?" in the July issue)

at Ginkworld.net:
TITLE: "Poverty Light"
AND: "Poverty & Relationships"

theemerge.com:
TITLE: "Conversatio Morem!"

and seedstories.com
TITLE: "What's Wrong With This Picture?"
AND: "Light VS Heat"
etc..

THE PLAN:
My very intentional goal is to have revolving articles posted online in as many emerging/church-planting internet magazines as possible.

A brand-new six part series called "The Gospel: For Here Or To Go?" will begin posting over at Ginkworld.net starting in the next few weeks. Subscribers to the [SUBVERSIVE UNDERGROUND] newsletter will get to read these in advance of the online publication, so if you don't want to wait, be sure to subscribe to the free e-newsletter at the link on the lower left.

THE BOOK(S):
Right now I'm working on my book, "The Power Of Weakness" (only 3 chapters to finish up!), and contemplating a collection of my previous articles into a much larger print version which would compile all of them into sections like "Compassion", "The Kingdom", "House Church", and "Spiritual Development". Volume 2 of this same collection would compile all of my interviews from the Relevant Magazine series called "Subversive" where I talked with Dallas Willard, Todd Hunter, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, and several others. Already have a groovy title for that one in the bag. Just need the time and the cash to get these printed up. Possibly considering a pdf book version of each of these to sell online here also.

More later...
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HOUSE CHURCH ARTICLE ROUND-UP

After several comments from various people about my house church experience, etc. I have compiled a list of articles found both on the [SUBVERSIVE UNDERGROUND] newsletters and also here on my website over the last four or five months.

Here's a list if you're feeling adventurous.

*FROM THE [SUBVERSIVE UNDERGROUND] ARCHIVES:

JOY (A report of what happens in our house church meetings)

BBQ WAFFLES? (If we want what they had, we have to do what they did)

WHAT IF? (What would happen if Church took place every single day?)

SUCCESS AND FAILURE (What dos "success" look like in the house church?)

STEP ONE

HOUSE (House church...not Biblical?)
http://subunderground.blogspot.com/2006/03/subversive-underground-house-by-keith.htm

MODELS (How important are models of doing/being church?)
http://subunderground.blogspot.com/2006/03/subversive-underground-models.html

FAILURE (God shows me my own hypocrisy in the middle of our house church meeting)
http://subunderground.blogspot.com/2006/05/subversive-underground-failure.html


**
(FROM THE MAIN WEBSITE ARCHIVES)

DOWN RIVER (Leaving "The River" to enter "The Mission)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/11/down-river-by-keith-giles.html

TERTULLIAN'S WINDOW (A quote from Tertullian about early church life)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/11/tertullians-window.html

THE MISSION: OUR VISION AND VALUES (Our Vision and Values Statement at The Mission)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/10/mission-our-vision-our-values.html

THE MISSION- DAY ZERO (After our first interest meeting)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/01/status-report-mission.html

STATUS REPORT: THE MISSION
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/01/status-report-mission.html

A WEDDING A WEEK? (The difference between a Wedding and Thanksgiving in terms of Community-Building)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/10/wedding-every-week-by-keith-giles.html

WHY THE HOUSE CHURCH? (A list of reasons why House Church makes sense)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/10/why-house-church.html

2 MORE REASONS WHY THE HOUSE CHURCH (nuff said)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/10/2-more-reasons-house-church.html

IN PRAISE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH (Keith eats crow!)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/12/in-praise-of-local-church-by-keith.html

APPLES AND ORANGES (The Goal of an Apple Tree is not to produce apples...)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/12/apples-and-oranges-by-keith-giles.html

LIVING STONES (A short note on how we, the people of God, are the Church)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/01/living-stones.html

TWO OR MORE (God teaches me another lesson in the house church)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/02/two-or-more.html

THE MISSION UPDATE- MARCH
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/03/mission-update-march.html

CONSTANTINIAN FALL-OUT (this one has some negative and frustrating emotion in it, but it is valid to the discussion)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/03/constantinian-fall-out.html

CLOSED DOORS, OPEN WINDOWS (My experience leaving the traditional church and entering full-time house church)
http://www.seedstories.com/articles/article.cfm?id=35

THE EARLY CHURCH AND US (Excerpts from an excellent article by Ray Mayhew that helped formulate my calling into house church)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2005/08/early-church-and-us-excerpts.html

LIGHT VS HEAT (Reformation, not Revolution)
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2006/04/light-vs-heat.html

TOMMY (A surprising story of compassion and mission on house church night)
http://www.seedstories.com/articles/article.cfm?id=44


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More on this later...
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