HISHE genius

Jedi Mind Trick Evangelism

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As a Pastor, I find myself wishing I could use the Jedi mind trick on people to get them to do what they should do.  No mess, no fuss…just a wave of the hand and a few simple words to convince people that they need to live for Jesus.

If only it were that easy.  If the Jedi Mind Trick were and effective evangelism I could sit on my couch while watching my favorite TV shows after having Jedi mind tricked whoever passed by me that day and in know time the world would be made Christian.  It would mean I would never have to fear rejection. I would never have awkward conversations about my faith.  I would never have to show or compassion to anyone.  I would never really have to share the Gospel.  How easy it would all be if the Jedi Mind Trick was an an evangelism tool?

It seems to me that while I can’t imagine anyone employing a Jedi mind trick approach to evangelism, we tend to look for the magic formula or the quick and easy way to reach people for Christ with a minimal amount of effort.  We do what we can to avoid making people feel uncomfortable or to avoid rejection and we almost but never really share Jesus with others using actual words because we are afraid.  I know I am often hindered in sharing my faith because I allow my fears to dictate my behavior instead of allowing God’s love for me and others to drive out the fears in my life.

To see others come to Christ more often than not requires hard work, relationship building, trust building, and sacrifice.  It requires us to rely on the work of the Holy Spirit in our life and in the life of the person that we are building relationships with instead of cheap tricks and tactics that allow for us to sit idle without doing the hard work.  Much is required for those who follow Christ…the cost of making disciples is high.  If we are going to make disciples a simple wave of the hand will not work.  Magic formulas won’t work.  We must involve ourselves in the lives of others (and our communities) as messy as that might be so that the Holy Spirit can provide  opportunities to bear witness to Jesus in the messiness of life.  Those opportunities will not come to us as we sit on our couch hoping that God won’t ask anything to difficult of us or as we wait for him  give us everything we think we deserve in the form of big houses, cars, or money. God isn’t so much interested in our best life now as He is interested in his followers living up to the calling That Jesus left to us to make disciples.

Stewards of God's Grace

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Stewards of Grace

1 Peter 4: 8-10 says this:

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace

The greek word for steward is this oikonomos
oy-kon-om’-os; a house distributor (that is, manager), or overseer, that is, an employee in that capacity; by extension a fiscal agent (treasurer); figuratively a preacher (of the Gospel): – chamberlain, governor, steward.

This clip from the 1998 movie Les Miserables demonstrates this idea amazingly

Three significant things at work here:
Radical Hospitality
Radical Love
Radical Grace

May we all be good stewards of the grace God has given to us and practice  radical hospitality, love, and grace to those we meet.

Superman Classic

Its been awhile since I have loved anything Superman, but when I stumbled upon this, I found myself really enjoying it.  Well Done Robb Pratt.  I hope to see more stuff like this from you. This was brilliant.

I can’t help but wonder if their was a nod to Doctor Who with the phone booth.  I hope so cause that would be pretty cool.

Star Wars Obsessed

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My five year old son has a problem.  He has  a serious Star Wars addiction.  Now in the interest of full disclosure, I have a great love for Star Wars myself.  I love watching him enjoy the movies and the games.  I love listening to him talk about the virtues of using a lightsaber over a blaster.  I even love the repetitive statements declaring how awesome the Jedi are.  Its a blast sharing this thing with my son.  It gives us this cool thing that we share in common that serves to build and the father son bonds of affection.  Admittedly, I am grateful to have something in my life like this with my son.

I remember when I was a kid I was really into baseball cards for awhile.  I collected any card I could get my hands on.  Eventually my dad took notice and it became a hobby that we shared.  While sometimes I wondered if it wasn’t his hobby more than mine, I still took comfort in the fact that my dad wanted to do something with me.  He loved me and wanted to connect with me.  I still cherish those times together when we would get a pack of cards and open them with anxious anticipation hoping there would be a rare find in the pack. Most of the time there wasn’t anything special in the pack…it was the time together that meant the most.  I am glad that I have that with my son.

Thanks George Lucas.  Honestly, I never thought I would utter that sentence after seeing the prequels, but it seems appropriate now.  Thanks for creating something both my son and I love.