The Good Deposit - Trev's Blog

Environmentally Friendly Musings

2008-10-27T19:28:00.004+11:00

At UTS, for each subject students enroll in, we fill out a survey form indicating our feedback for the subject. This semester the uni has adopted an online system of surveys as opposed it's paper predecessor and to encourage us to do these online surveys, the uni has offered us incentives. Incentives I hear you say? Well for example I completed 5 surveys and at 5 pts a survey I am now entitled to either 5 pages of free printing or can donate 44 cents to The Smith Family! But what this hard copy to soft copy conversion really got me thinking about was the environmental initiatives that many companies, unis, etc. have started to implement with a focus on avoiding printing. For example, all UTS emails have the following tagline attached to them; "Think. Green. Do. Please consider the environment before printing this email." Other ones I've seen used to decrease/avoid printing:
- encouraging double sided printing (for the record, double sided printing = pet peeve)
- encouraging the use of recycled paper
- payment for printing can generally discourage people from printing unnecessary things at uni for example

My thoughts were, does all this really make a huge difference? I don't consider myself a huge "over printer" of things but sometimes I just like to read something in a hard copy, paper form. Am I hurting the environment?

A Life of Humility

2008-10-26T21:49:00.003+11:00

Just got home from hearing an awesome sermon by Lairdy on Phil 2:1-11, praise be to God. Was a really good look at humility in our lives and how our ultimate example of humilty should be Christ Jesus.

I think what really hit home with me was Phil 2:6 "Who (Christ), being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped". Lairdy made the point that while Christ was equal with God and could have used that power to do anything, he instead chose to humble himself and become a servant to those he created!! It made me think how many times I feel robbed when I don't get something I "grasp" at. I'm thinking promotion at work, recognition for doing a good job, etc. I think "I deserve that, therefore I want it and I'm going to make sure I get it". In reality, That's not how I want to live my life. I want to aim to be like Christ; humble myself, become a servant, bet totally obedient to God.

In this way, I want my life, with total reliance on God, to bring glory not to me but to Christ. James 4:6 "But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

What strikes you guys about humility?

Famous Christians

2008-10-25T13:02:00.003+11:00

I was reading October's Southern Cross and read this in a book review by Craig on "Bright Lights, Dark Nights", Simon Smart's book on 13 famous Australian Christians:

"As young believers my friends and I were often excited when rock stars and other celebrities said they were Christians. Why was this important to us?

I guess it came about from a cultural cringe, a feeling of embarrassment at owning the label 'Christian'. So if 'popular celebrity x' is a Christian, well, being a Christian must be legitimate and cool, right?"

I have to admit that this has been my experience with hearing about famous Christians up until recently. I remember a while back finding a website that was dedicated to the testimonies and stories of famous Christian athletes. It was an American site so most of the athletes were from American sports like Gridiron, Ice Hockey, etc. but I'm quite familiar with these sports so I recognised most of the names and I remember only getting a real "buzz" when one of the names was a player that had actually made a pretty reasonable career out of his specific sport. The rest were a bunch of moderately successful pro's and part-timers. On reflection though, that's a really poor attitude to have, because really I was judging them based on their sporting prowess rather than their faith in Christ. They're humans just like us, with the same struggles in their faith and in this sinful world and I think it's important to see them like that.

On the other hand, the question should be raised, are the testimonies of famous Christians useful? I think yes, but we need to think why? Craig said in his article in answer to the question "...is there any value in a book like Simon Smart's Bright Lights, Dark Nights..." "...that there is, but not because of the celebrity glamour. It's because underneath it all, we find a number of stories and stories that are worth hearing." Famous Christians provide great stories about their faith and living under the spotlight of the media, but I think we should find as much value in a testimony of a Christian office worker who shunned the "work hard, play hard" culture of our city. The same for the testimony of a Christian media worker who is confronted by a world that loves material possessions and multiple truths every day.

I love reading the testimonies of famous Christians, but I think I should love it because of the stories and the testimony, not becuase they are famous.

What will you do in the crematorium queue?

2008-09-30T08:52:00.008+10:00

This was the tagline from the MTS Challenge conference I attended. Catchy huh? But It makes me think that yeah, we have a limited time on this earth and we need to make the most of it.

For those of you not familiar with MTS Challenge here is what MTS say about it:

“Challenge has been established to challenge men and women to give up their lives for Christ and the preaching of the gospel. God is raising up a new generation of servants of the Word.”

I went to the conference with no real agenda and found it to be a fantastic time. Here are the interesting things I took away from the conference.

1) Ministry is to an audience of one
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” It only really matters what God thinks of our ministry in the end. People’s encouragement and praise is nice but it’s not why we should be feeling good about ministry.

2) Ministry is serious
I remember Mark Driscoll saying at BYPJ “If I stuff this up, it totally counts.” Going into ministry is serious in this life. You have the power to convert people but if you stuff it up, God will judge you more harshly. Firstly on this earth “To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” (1 Cor 4:11-13) If I want to go into ministry I have to ask myself, do I want to become the scum of the earth? In judgment too, If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” Like Mark Driscoll says, what we do in ministry matters.

3) The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matt 9:37)
I don’t think I really appreciated the need for full time gospel workers. At our church we have two full-time pastors, 3 MTS guys and at least 5-6 guys at college. But I never stop to think how blessed we are. Ben Pfahlert is the MTS Director and he told us about when he used to live in Melbourne. 5 to 10 years ago he said if they needed an evangelistic speaker, they always had to call NSW, there just weren’t any in Victoria!! Another guy was talking about Bondi. With a population of 40,000 odd, there are roughly 100 Christians there. It really make you stop and go wow, there really is a need out there.

4) Christ started it, we need to finish it
Gavin gave an interesting talk on one of the more contentious verses in the bible, Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” Whilst often it is seen as Paul implying that there was something lacking in Christ’s death and resurrection (which there obviously isn’t!!) Gavin pointed out it’s more Paul saying that Christ is not on earth anymore and he is carrying on what he is unable to do – that is, minister the gospel to people. And it applies to us too. Paul is long gone so now those charged with the good deposit (the gospel) – us – need to go and spread it to the nations to the glory of God.

5) Life is meaningless
…but in Christ we now have meaning for our lives. Life in itself is pointless – you are born, you live, you die. But as Christians we have a hope stored up for us in Heaven that can’t perish and therefore our lives do have a purpose – that is to live to the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel. This was the focus of Phillip’s talks over the weekend but he was very quick to point out that life is good. Enjoying family and friends is good, enjoying sport is good, working is good and so on – but we do not find the meaning of our lives in these things as Christians. Response? Get into it, dive straight in and have a go with ministry whatever it is. We know Jesus and that is the most important thing we need to know to spread the gospel to people!!

~~~

I was reading an interesting bit of Philippians last night which helped me when thinking about ministry. Philippians 1:15-18 “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”

We need to check our motives for ministry and make them pure asking the Holy Spirit to help us but this passage really helped me. But we’re sinful people and our motives will never be truly pure. So what do we do? We preach Christ. I was talking to someone about Billy Graham and how he was able to start preaching so young (19 I think). So he didn’t have years of theological college behind him, he preached Christ and people responded. I think that’s pretty cool right!? :)

All things (being) considered...

2008-09-17T16:44:00.003+10:00

OK a friend just told me that I haven't blogged for a week so here I am!!

I'm starting to consider options about my future at the moment which is both cool and a little scary at the same time. Up until recently my furture has kind of been quite well mapped out in terms of uni and work. I'm lucky enough to be in the middle of a 6 year commitment to Ernst & Young to work and study which I have thouroughly enjoyed but I have just been starting to feel out my options for what work I want to do for Christ in the future. Not really too worried about it right now but just wanted to see what sort of experiences you guys have had with things like MTS, being a Christian in the workplace, etc.

Cheers

Mens Business

2008-09-10T16:32:00.004+10:00

Men's ministry is something that is starting to become extremely close to my heart.

Over the past 5 years or so I've had around 5 godly men in my life who have helped to shape my understanding of being a Christian and being a man and how the two interact. They have also always been awesome at pointing back to the ultimate man: Jesus. I've found older and more experienced Christian men to be a wise and Godly source of advice and information.

I've been wondering how I can do my part as a growing Christian male to better serve my Christian brothers. While I am not as experienced or mature as some, I would like to feel that there is something I can bring to the table. I am really passionate about men encouraging other men and helping each other to grow. Whilst I know this is going on a lot, it is my personal feeling that there is not enough group oriented encouragment going on. My observation is that guys love to have a catch up with others over supper after church or whenever for 5 or 10 mins to see how each other is going, how work is, etc. but when it comes to serious crunch-time conversations, I feel that this becomes the domain of a one-to-one discussion. Now I know that there is a definite place for one-to-one ministry between men, and I love that I have this with Matt W and Matt L most weeks. But what I would love to see groups (I dunno, call it 5-6 or so) of guys meeting up regularly and chatting about what it is like to be a Christian and a man, and to encourage each other to live godly and masculine lives. I know we can talk as much as the women if we want to guys!!

Some ideas:
- Group of guys go down to the pub have a meal. Go crash at someone's place for a while and over Xbox or whatever have a good chat about things to do with Christianity and men. Totally informal, totally relaxed.
- Camping trip for the men at church. Go away for a weekend, maybe fishing or something like that? Get to know the other men at the church and have some good solid conversations around the campfire!
- 10 or so Christian guys bring a non-Christian friend each to an informal dinner at a pub or something like that for a meal and a chat about faith and God. Whilst this isn't quite men's ministry per se it would be a fantastic time to speak to our friends about the gospel while we have other Christians around and they have other non-Christians around. Besides I think for younger Christians like me I think it would be cool to see how more mature Christians talk to their mates about Christ.

Mostly what I want to see is guys becoming closer together in Christ and encouraging each other all the time.

1 Hebrews 13 says "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

Sin is a big deal for everyone but I reckon guys struggle with particular sins just as women particular with different sins. Having manly encouragement about this from guys that have been there and done that so to speak is a great blessing and I would love to see guys sharing this in large edifying groups!!

Monday Evening Sports Wrap #1

2008-09-08T23:47:00.004+10:00

Alrighty then I have approximately 12 minutes before it becomes Tuesday so lets go:

NFL: My beloved Miami Dolphins came oh-so-close to knocking off the NY Jets in their season opener but went down 20-14. Still after losing all but one game last year, this isn't an all too bad start!!

A-League: Sydney FC belted the snot out of Perth Glory 5-2!!! Up 4-1 by half time, was there ever any doubt?

English Premier League (EPL): International break this weekend so no game played. Arsenal are in 4th place with 6 points from 3 games but have already lost one game after playing pretty poorly so lets hope they can pick up the intensity!

Done with 5 mins to spare!!

Full-Time, Part-Time or Somewhere in Between?

2008-09-05T19:14:00.002+10:00

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is church planting. It’s something I’ve been aware of for about 6 months or so now but it was only really after Burn Your Plastic Jesus at the Ent Cent the other night that got me seriously thinking about it. For those of you who weren’t there, Mark Driscoll (MD from here on in to save time) basically said that he hoped to return to Sydney in about 5 years time to train up Christian men to go out and plant churches. After reading Craig’s blog it would appear an overwhelming response to this has led MD to revise 5 years to 18 months of so.

What I have become quite aware of however, is the importance that MD and Acts 29 (the church planting network he leads) places on “the call” to go and plant a church. So the question that I wanted to ask is what if I’m not called to plant a church, can I still be involved in a church plant? On a broader level it’s been something I’ve been mulling over as well; if I’m not called to full time ministry, can I still be involved in ministry? The obvious answer to these questions seems to be yes, but what I have been thinking about is something more “substantial” than simply doing welcoming ministry or kids church (both which have huge value and importance in the church). I feel like I could be of more use at the moment and maybe this is just my own pride talking, but I’m a young, energetic guy and while I have the time (12 hours of uni a week affords you a lot of free time!!) I want to be of some good use to spread the glory of God and make disciples. I was challenged by Matt to go away and think and pray about my strengths and weaknesses and more specifically how I can use my strengths to help the ministry of church or a church plant and how I can ask God for help to improve on my weaknesses to work for his glory.

Roles I was thinking about that I would say are somewhere in between full-time ministry (leading a church, etc.) and part-time ministry (casual ministry like kids church, welcoming, music, etc.) are:
- Organising the strategy for a new church plant
- Surveying people in the area of a proposed church plant to see how they would react to it
- Coordinating men’s ministry aimed more at evangelising our friends and edifying each other at the same time (I’ll look at this in more detail in a later post)
- Organising a ministry that specifically targets a certain group but isn’t a church event or linked to church. Something like what Tim and Matt are doing for fathers.

Let me know if you have any thoughts or comments on this, would love to hear your opinions!
P.S. If you read this please don’t think I am in any way trying to demean full-time or part-time ministry, both of which are of the utmost importance to the operation of the church as a meeting of like minded Christians. I’m actively involved in kids church and welcoming and love doing both!! These are just my thoughts!

Urban Bites

2008-09-05T18:02:00.000+10:00

I’ve just come back from a really encouraging chat with Matt L at Urban Bites (never been there before, it’s a pretty cool café!!) I’ve had a lot of things going around in my head for a couple of weeks now (probably stemming from Sat 23rd Sept when I first heard Mark Driscoll speak in Aus) and it was a great chance to spit ball some of these out loud and have a good discussion about them. We spoke for about an hour so I’m probably going to break up my thoughts into a few blog posts. Hope you guys find it thought provoking!

Iemma Resigns

2008-09-05T13:15:00.003+10:00

Just went to smh.com and saw that NSW Premier Morris Iemma has resigned.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/lightning-strike-asbr-iemma-forced-to-go/2008/09/05/1220121483704.html

Whilst not a shock I guess given the circumstances, it's still somewhat surprising. It just seems like he's had blow after blow since he became premier and hasn't been able to really get back up again.

From the top of my head:
- The Iguana-gate scandal
- Electricity privitisation
- City Rail
- Cross City Tunnel
- Resignation of what seemed like most of his ministers at some point over his tenure

All these things seemed to have just added up against him to a point today when he retired. I'm not going to bring political leanings into this or anything but just wondering if it's more Iemma himself or external factors (ministers, etc.) that led to his resignation. Regardless I feel sorry for him.

Let's play some FOOTBALL!!

2008-09-05T10:43:00.005+10:00

Ok left field thing in my life number 1:

I am a massive American Football fan!!

Bit of a strange game to get used to at first but once you get in to it you start to appreciate it. It's extremely tactical which I like; lots of ways that the defence will try to outsmart the offence and vise versa. Would have to say that the scale that it's done on (although when Americans do things, they do tend to do them BIG!) is pretty impressive. Sold out stadiums every week is pretty nuts considering I'm used to the usual 10,000-20,000ish crowd at whatever A-League, NRL, Super 14 match I'm watching.

I remember originally getting into it when I bought a copy of the official NFL video game Madden 2003 about 4 years ago. I remember playing it and having absolutely no clue what was going on, who was I controlling, whether I actually doing anything at all!?!? But once I started learning the rules and nuances of the game I really began to enjoy it.

Coincidently the opening game of the season is being played right now as I write this. It's the New York Giants (who won the Super Bowl - the grand final if you will - last year) versus the Washington Redskins.

I'm thinking as well as random thoughts about whatever, I might try doing a regular blog entry every Monday about the sports that I follow and how my teams fared.

What's in a name?

2008-09-05T10:24:00.003+10:00

Probably should start with where I got this name from. I've been reading 2 Timothy recently and liked the way Paul describes the teaching that Timothy has received as "the good deposit that was entrusted to you" (2 Timothy 14). I like this passage and the name (The Good Deposit) for three reasons:

1) It reminds me of how lucky I am to be able to hear God's word and receive it and learn from it

2) It makes me realise that God's word is a gift and I need to share it with others

3) I decided a 'deposit' like a depository is a good name for a blog to put down thoughts!!

Anyway, whilst a lot of what I'm going to be blogging about will be Christian themed, I'm also going to chuck plenty down about things I enjoy/find interesting in my life (see next post).