What is your view of Heaven and how does it need to change? My notes from Fanning the Flame Wednesday Night with Karl Black

Sorry for these being late, but I'm sure that you have been processing through this one as well. I'm confident that this will be a very interesting post to revisit for me. I'm hugely moved by the idea that I have a picture of Heaven and it affects how I live now; on this earth. Anyway, here are my notes from Wednesday Night!

Karl Black: Fanning the Flame
We, the Church

"The Church is God's vehicle to changing the world"
THEREFORE
"YOU are God's plan to change the people"

Sometimes we prioritize the things that aren't a priority to God.

Luke 4:18- Jesus' business (change the world)

We, the Church are people who LOVE. (Matthew 22:34-40; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13)
-Christians are supposed to be defined by Love.
-God doesn't value us more because we read the Bible a lot. That's important, but it doesn't change our place in God's eyes.

We, the Church can't afford to get this on WRONG
-We don't need to get this right so we feel better. We can't get this one wrong because people's eternal life is at stake.

How do we get this wrong?
-We don't do the things we aren't supposed to do.
-We start to think we deserve God's Grace.
-Who are the kids in school that we don't care if they come to know God.

We, the Church are people who need to REALIZE we are MESSED UP too. (Luke 7:39, Romans 2:1-5)
-God's gameplan is Kindness. Ours is bashing with the Bible

We, the Church are people who need to see with God's Heart. (Acts 9)
Tony Campolo's story about Roger
"I knew I wasn't a Christian, because if I was I would have been Roger's friend." - Tony Campolo
"You don't have to Legitamize someone's lifestyle to stand up for them, befriend them, speak up for them." -Tony Campolo

"God's love takes us into uncomfortable places."

What does our picture of Heaven look like?

We Categorize- God doesn't
We Label- God doesn't
He died for EVERY person and he doesn't give up on anyone!

There are consequences for mistakes, but we choose not to affect people by them.

Fanning the Flame wraps up tonight in the Fieldhouse at 6:45pm! It's gonna be a great end to a great week!

Tonight! We wrap up Fanning the Flame 2010! God has been moving the past 3 nights and I am confident that He is going to show up again! See ya tonight at 6:45p.m. in the Fieldhouse! It is going to be great! Boo-ya!

Stepping forward, keep us from just singing, move us into action, we must go!

Man did God speak to me tonight through Karl. My biggest was a culmination of the night that ended forming in the one of the closing songs' lines: "We must go, live to feed the hungry, stand beside the broken, we must go. Stepping forward, keep us from just singing, move us into action, we must go" That line just went straight to my heart. Pretty powerful stuff.

Here are my notes:

Karl Black: Fanning the Flame
Ambassadors of God's Heart

2 Corinthians 5:16
Christ reconciled is and gives us responsibility to do reconciliation ministry.
-You are part of this! You have a job!

Key: v. 20 we are His ambassadors...

As he does the work inside of us, God begins to use us in carrying out his ministry

Genesis 12:1-3
God's Intention: "Blessed to Bless"
-the point is because Abram became God's ambassador so that everyone can be blessed

Deuteronomy 24:17-22
Generosity is our hearts response to God
-We have to come to remember that we are nothing without him.
-Without what he has done, we have no hope

Proverbs 22:9
Matthew 6:22-23
We are intended to see through God's eyes
-Good Eye: a generous man in Hebrew culture
-If I had the monopoly "Boardwalk" game piece, would I be willing to give it away (St. Jude's hospital)?

Proverbs 11:25
Philemon 1:7
Generosity refreshes other people's souls
-They have the time to really care when they ask, "How you doing?"

Where should our blessing be directed:

Luke 4:18-19 = Jesus Mission
-the Poor
-Brokenhearted
-Prisoners
-the Oppressed

They are all MARGINALIZED...

Examples in Jesus' Life:
Luke 19: Swindler, Cheat and Traitor
John 8: Woman in adultery
John 4: Samaritan Woman
John 4: Hung out with Half-breeds Matthew 8: Touched Lepers
Matthew 15: He listened to Caaninite Woman
Matthew 9: Invited Tax Collector to be disciple
Luke 7:
Matthew 9: hungout with the tax collector's friend...

"Obese students were slightly less happy than chemotherapy patients." - Powerful representation of how we treat people in our own lives and marginalize the people who are just as blessed as we are and are simply different.

We abuse people and we don't take time to look at it and consider the ramifications.

Luke 14: God is Love

Our calling us not to love just the lovable, but love because Love lives in our hearts.

Notes from FTF Monday Night with Karl Black... what pieces of my heart have I not given to God and instead to someone else?

For a lot of Sunday Night, I was taking notes and taking in a great amount of information that is key in understanding a great and many things about the Salvation that God has provided for me. Last night, I was blown away with how much I had to look into my heart and see what was going on. What have I given my heart to? The illustration Karl used last night is powerful to me in this way: How many little pieces of our fragmented heart have we tried to give to other people or things and we should be giving them back to God?
Here are my notes:

Karl Black: Fanning the Flame Monday Night
Seeking God

Mystery behind the mystery- Parker Palmer - a frozen river

God never intended the brokenness that we feel in our lives. So now God wants to bring us back to His original question.

Wholeness is God's Agenda:

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Literal Hebrew Meanings:
1. For I know the plans-machashabah- thoughts, ideas, intentions
2. I have for you- chashab 'al - devise/invent together with you
3. Plans to prosper you- shalom- complete, wholeness - unbroken mirror
4. Not to harm you- ra'aah- injure/hurt- ranger and the turtle- when we go through things that are painful... In the details of my life you can't see me but i'm there...
5. To give you hope and a future- 'achariyth tiqvah- set in motion towards hope- movement towards something

Karl Black Translation:
"I want to participate with you in creating a new future, a future that will bring healing and wholeness to your life, not more fractures, and this participation between you and I will lead you continually into more hope! As you become more whole/complete you will search for me - then you will seek me with more of who you really are and you will begin to discover me to be present in the circumstances of your life."

Big point: It's all about the heart. God wants our heart back. We took it at the fall, Restoration is God working to show is why He needs to have our heart if we are to be completely whole.

Philippians 2 is is getting to know God's heart again... Allowing our heart to become more like God's.
Cute Guy Principle- Cause your brown bagging and he's buying-

Harmony with God is when we fully offer and give of our hearts to him... When we allow him to mold our hearts to his. Powerful right here!

Things begin to happen:
Less Anger
Less Lonliness
Less Anxiety

Slow transformation... But it is for a big plan.

What have I truly given my heart to? How do I know? Fruit inspector... You are the caretaker of my heart, you can give it to whomever or whatever you choose.

Restoration is waiting for you when you're ready to give God all your heart.

My notes from Fanning the Flame Sunday Night. Where do we see ourselves in the journey from Shalom to Shalom?

Man, after last night, I have a bunch to chew on. Karl really brought it and I filled a couple of pages in my Moleskine. I have heard of some of this stuff before through some of my experiences in classes at Bethel and here at NMC, but some of this stuff was pretty raw for me. Here are some of my notes from my own experience last night:

Karl Black: Fanning the Flame
Salvation: The Full Story

The Beginning of the Story is Genesis 3 -> God said, "This is Good" = Shalom -> Peace -> Fullness -> Harmony

Creation -> Shalom
Fall -> Disconnect from God
Redemption -> Hebrews have a different understanding -> Ultimately it's the Cross
Restoration -> Return us to His Place -> This is the ongoing story that is the part that doesn't always get retold

Salvation is the process of Shalom back to Shalom. 

Isaiah 52: Salvation = "Your God Reigns"

Four Conditions of Salvation in the New Testament:
1. You BELIEVE and TRUST Jesus as Lord
------ Romans 10:9-10
2. ACKNOWLEDGE Jesus Publicly
------ Romans 10:9-10; Luke 12:8
3. REPENT- Turn from sin to God
------ Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38
4. Be BAPTIZED for the forgiveness of sins
------ Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16

Baptism and what it meant:
A. Forgiveness of Sins - (Mark 1:4)
B. Receiving the Spirit - (Matthew 3:11)
C. Jesus' Specific calling - (Luke 12:50)
D. Change in allegiance to Christ - (Acts 19:5)

The term "Rescue" had a different mentality for the Hebrews that included much more than what we see it as and we can easily miss the total meaning of "Saved" if we focus on a single part.

Three Meta-Narratives that make up Salvation:
1. Priestly Sacrifice - A Static Moment in Time (John 3:14-15)
------ ATONEMENT for Sin ------ Access to God
The Hebrews saw this in the sacrifices made in the Temple. We see this in Jesus.

---------The Cross Happened, therefore We are Saved Enough---------

2. The EXODUS Narrative - A Journey through Time 

------- from SLAVERY to FREEDOM------

God moved His people from Egypt to the Promised Land. Then when they cry out, he says, "Remember the Exodus?"

3. The EXILE Narrative - Movement in our lives.

------- MARGINALIZED to RESTORED -------

Examples: Prodigal Son & Zaccheus

Philippians 2:12-13

We don't need to be re-saved or saved-er, we just need to re-access that freedom and true full salvation.