andrew dodson

Luke 8:1-15 (Listen)

8:1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

1.  What is the will of God?

(v. 15) For us to hear God’s word, hold it fast and bear fruit.

2.  In light of God’s will, what is He like?

In spite of the majority of people rejecting salvation, God still offers salvation to everyone.  This shows his love and mercy.

3.  What are practical ways we can apply God’s will?

Don’t get discouraged by rejections to the Gospel.  If we have family or friends who wither away from the Gospel, we should continue to sow into their lives.  “To get as much seed as possible to take root in good soil,” (Life Application Study Bible).

4.  What are ways we blow God’s will?

We can let the Gospel be devoured by our life, by not responding to it at all.  We can let the Gospel wither away when the first trial in our life comes and we abandon God.  Or, we can let the Gospel be choked by our worldly desires and pleasures.

5.  What thoughts are revealed by these actions?

The world is more important to us than a Savior.  We don’t hear the Word well enough or often enough.  We don’t dig into the Word often enough.

6.  What beliefs about God are revealed by these actions?

Despite rejection of God’s Word being inevitable, we should continue to sow seeds.  Some of us need to hunger more for the Word.  Some of us need to weed out things that are preventing us from spending time in the Word.  Some of us need to be more intentional about spreading the Word.

7.  How are you doing in this area?  Or, what is your response to the Word?

I have held fast the word, and I seek to bear fruit.  That’s not to say I always succeed, but I try to bear fruit daily.  He is still revealing areas of my life that need to be weeded out to make more room for Him.  I could do a much better job of spreading the Word to others.  I thank God for making me good soil.  Now, I seek to grow and yield a crop. 

Thursday is for links, so today…

• The Resurgence has posted the audio from the conference. Go check it out!
• This is the kind of church Barack Obama attends.
• Rick posted 10 passages of Scripture every Christian should know.
• Now I know why I spend so much time on the internet.
• Shane posts about Spurgeon on sin.

Wednesday is generally for random blogging around here. I’m taking some liberty today and passing it off as random blogging. Have you all tried iGoogle and the rest of Google’s way cool features yet? I’m pretty convinced that Google has a plot to take over the world, and so far, they’re succeeding.

I just started using iGoogle today, and it’s slowly becoming an idol in my life. I will likely have to repent from spending too much time on it. See, I’m a big geek and iGoogle is like a geek’s playground. It’s basically a home page that is fully customizable to suit your needs and tastes.

Next up, I started using Google Calendar today. I try to keep a good, accurate calendar and agenda each week. But, I use several computers, a cell phone and other gadgets, so I always feel like I have my dates, to-do’s and appointments in several places and they’re never all the same. With Google Calendar, I can set up reminders via email and text messaging, have a daily agenda emailed to me each day, share my calendar to my multiple computers via iCal, and always be synced up.

Google Reader seems to be a pretty cool answer for keeping up with all the blogs I visit. I’d been using endo for a couple of weeks, but - once again - I have to have multiple copies on multiple computers and they’re never in sync. I can now just log into Google Reader on whichever computer I’m using at the time.

I try to stay pretty organized and all the features that Google offers seems to meet my needs. At minimum, I can centralize all the information in which I need access.

Seemingly, the real drums at The Point are both a hit and not even noticeable to some! That apparently means I held back pretty well on Sunday morning. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start playing louder. I still want to give our sound guys some control in the house. But, it’s good to get nothing but positive feedback so far.

Just to be on the safe side, I’m going to switch to a lighter stick. My stick-of-choice in the last few months has been a Pro-Mark 747. Last week, on the real drums, I used a Pro-Mark 5A. This week, I’m trying out a Zildjian 7A. It should help with keep the volume down. I’ve never really been comfortable using a light stick, so I’m hoping to get used to it at lower volume playing levels.

It does feel better to be back on real drums, and the recording sounds much better!

It dawned on me last week that I had never posted the story of how I became a Christian.  I’ve decided to break it up into a two-part series.  Today, you get the first part, and you’ll have to check back next week for the conclusion.

Romans 10:9-17 (Listen)

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Part One: Pre-Conversion

I was born into a Christian home.  In a sense, my conversion came easy.  I don’t have the testimony of a former drug addict or prostitute that came to know Christ.  Brace yourselves.  I have a boring testimony, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My parents are both Christians.  Nearly every Sunday for the first 18 years of my life, I was in church.  Mostly, Nazarene churches.  I’ve always been a fan of music, and some of my earliest memories of music are Kids Praise and Carmen.  I was a big fan of both.  I wore out the song “Radically Saved!”  My other musical memories are of suffering through car rides listening to southern gospel!  Just kidding.  Sort of.  My parents were big fans of Gold City, The Cathedrals and more.

I knew of God and believe He was real, but I never placed my faith in him.  My mom was the strongest example of Christianity during my childhood.  I would often see her with a Bible open on her lap, or praying.  She would play hymns on the piano and sing.  My dad always seemed to know a lot about Christianity and the Bible, and was a great father and provider, but he wasn’t as strong of an example as my mother.

During high school, I started to lose any desire I had to go to church.  Up to that point, I at least enjoyed it because of friends at church and occasional youth activities.  I never experienced a church with a strong youth program, though.  In high school, I was envious of other kids my age who went to churches with strong youth groups.  I lost my desire to go.  Mom would successfully drag me out of bed each week to go, however.

Once I got to college, I was free!  Not having mom to wake me up each week was quite nice.  Sleeping in on Sundays was a new and enjoyable thing.  Despite going to a fine Baptist institution (at the time), having plenty of opportunities to be involved with campus ministry groups, and churches in town that catered to the college crowd, I passed up getting some Jesus in my life.  I avoided it pretty strongly, in fact.

Not long after I graduated from college, God started to work on me.  I was asked by my high school band director to play drums occasionally at Evergreen Baptist.  Sadly, I mainly did it because it paid.  But, God knows my weaknesses!

It was during this time that I went with a group from Evergreen to see Michael W. Smith and Third Day at Rupp Arena.  We had second row seats, and I was center stage.  In fact, at one point in the concert, I was front and center on the big screen.  I was amazed that I actually enjoyed the concert.  I enjoyed Christian music!  How could this be?

After playing at Evergreen on-and-off for about a year, my friend Jeremy started telling me about Crestwood.  He told me about how it was different, and how this Rick Long guy was a really good preacher.  They had a good band that played good, upbeat music and there were a lot of young people.  I decided to go on the Sundays I didn’t play at Evergreen.  I liked it!  After about a month of visiting, their drummer announced he was leaving the church.  God had opened a door for me.

(Tune in next week for Part Two!) 

This week, we decided to ask an alternate question, instead of questions number five and six.  A slight change of pace.

Luke 7:36-50 (Listen)

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

1.  What is the will of God?

To save sinners; to cancel the sinful debt of even the greatest of sinners; To be worshiped by those He forgives.

2.  In light of God’s will, what is He like?

Forgiving; Grace-filled; Just.

3.  What are practical ways we can apply God’s will?

We can worship Jesus for the forgiveness He offers us by joining a local church, bible study, prayer; Build a relationship with Him through these activities; Show devotion to Him, honor Him and praise Him.

4.  What are ways we blow God’s will?

(vs. 44-47) Simon failed to greet or show love toward Jesus like the sinful woman; In the same way, we can fail to greet Jesus daily by neglecting regular bible study & prayer; We can fail to show love to Jesus by not attending a local church regularly, or failing to worship him in response to our salvation; We can also point out the sins of others, all while overlooking the sins in our lives.

7.  How are you doing in this area?

Currently, it seems I’m on a “conference high” from the Resurgence Conference.  Mainly, I’m more motivated than ever to serve at The Point and do more - “step up,” so to speak.  Why?  I want The Point to be a great place for us to gather and worship Jesus.  To greet Him with a kiss and wash His feet, through hearing His word preached, music, and prayer.  To honor Him and glorify Him each week.  To see new sinful people come to know Him and be forgiven of their sins.

Alternate question:
>> How does the sinful woman’s actions toward Jesus demonstrate worship?

(Wikipedia) Worship usually refers to specific acts of praise, honor, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as God.

She honored Jesus by anointing him; She praised Jesus by wiping and kissing his feet; She showed devotion to him by not ceasing in these activities.

It has been announced that Rob Cavallo is producing the next Dave Matthews Band album.  They are currently in the studio.  Cavallo has produced Green Day, Alanis Morrisette and more.  I found a GREAT interview with Cavallo.  It’s about thirty minutes long, but is extremely good.

One of my small ambitions in life is to be an A&R guy for a record label.  Cavallo discusses his work as an A&R guy in the interview.  If you’re at all interested in the music industry, this is great.

> Watch the interview

This edition of random blogging might appeal to your visual and aural senses.

• I’ve posted my Seattle photos!  Go here to see a Flickr slideshow.
• I’m enjoying Wilco right now.  I’ve never really given them a fair shot, but I picked up a couple of albums on iTunes and they’re growing on me.
• Nine Inch Nails has released an all instrumental album consisting of 36 tracks.  It is available through their website and at Amazon for $5.  This is interesting.  I’ve never been a fan, but I enjoy instrumental music - especially music that blends rock and electronic.  I’ve read the music was recorded in a ten-week span in an almost improvisational way.  This also interests me.  I’m always a fan of improvisation.  I’m thinking, for $5, it’s worth checking out.
• The Barcode Trio is a new jazz favorite of mine.  The simplest label I can give them is pop jazz.  Not a huge display of “look what I can do” solos, but good, easy to listen to music.  They’re on iTunes - check them out.