The Kingdom of God, as Jesus saw it.

Michael Green in his book “Evangelism in the Early Church” writes the following about Jesus and the types of followers who flocked to him.

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He came preaching the kingly rule of God; he exemplified it in his community of followers, which embraced Pharisees like Nicodemus, Herodians, ordinary patriots like James and John bar Zebedee, collaborationists like the tax collectors Matthew and Zacchaeus, and extreme Zealots like Simon the Zealot, and perhaps Judas Iscariot and Peter. He welded this collection of political irreconcilables into a deep and united fellowship as a foretaste of what he could do in reconciling political and social tensions anywhere.

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That’s just plain cool. Can you imagine one church, one movement, where Democrats, Republicans, members of the Green Party and the Libertarians, representatives of whatever polar opposites of the political spectrum you can dream up, all came together under the singular influence of the gospel? What would that movement look like?

Well, we have only to look at Scripture to truly see what occurred. Men were transformed and a movement was begun, empowered by the Holy Spirit in which enough of the various “cheese in charge” types got so upset they murdered or exiled many of this movements leaders. Exciting, huh? And yet read the rest of the story. The world was transformed.

What is holding us back today? Is it fear of repercussions? Are we afraid that the first to pop his head up may loose it? Do we fear loss of reputation? What will others think of the crazy dude rocking the boat? More frightening yet, are we so comfortable with the existence we currently maintain, that we actually fear the Holy Spirit showing up and doing a work that we have not penciled into our plans?

May the God of both comfort and dis-comfort grant us the grace and peace, both in His eyes and in the eyes of one another, to pursue with undivided hearts the Kingdom of God.

Calvinism at 500 years

The following is a short video from Pat Robertson's CBN on Calvinism (borrowed ever so humbly from another blog I follow regularly). It is a rather well-done 7 minute piece referencing Calvin's impact on American civil government as well as Western theology.

The PCA and its Reformed University Fellowship actually get some pretty good face-time. The piece references Tim Keller and Redeemer PCA in Manhattan as well as some comments by PCA teaching elder Greg Thompson, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, VA (and one of the leading "young guns" in the denomination). Thompson actually makes a great point regarding Calvin and Reformed Theology and the impact that it is having in the lives of younger generations in regard to issues of mercy and social justice. The piece also makes reference to the rapidly expanding influence of Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

Overall it is a pretty good video. It is interesting however to hear Robertson at the end offer his "disclaimer" regarding election and predestination. I guess he felt he just had to include that.

Which Are We?

Good stuff from Ray Ortlund Jr., lead pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, TN

In his brief article, "Three Kinds of Men," C. S. Lewis explains that the world is not divided into good people and bad people but into three categories of people. "The first class is of those who live simply for their own sake and pleasure, regarding Man and Nature as so much raw material to be cut up into whatever shape may serve them." Some people are happy-go-lucky unbelievers, busy with self-gratification.

Lewis continued: "In the second class are those who acknowledge some other claim upon them – the will of God . . . or the good of society – and honestly try to pursue their own interests no further than this claim will allow." These are people with a sense of God, even a sense of Jesus. Their consciences are somewhat awake. They know they should do right. But "doing right" divides their lives up like a schoolboy's life – time "in school" when they have to do what the teacher says, and time "out of school" when they can do what they want. For them, going to church is like paying a tax to God. When they feel they have paid that tax, and thus obligated God to improve their lives, they feel diminished by having to deal with him at all. But when they fail to pay the God-tax, they feel guilty and fearful that he might punish them. They may smile some, but their hearts have never known real joy.

Lewis concluded: "But the third class is of those who can say like St. Paul that for them 'to live is Christ.'" These folks have gotten beyond the tiresome calculations that divide life up between the claims of Christ and the claims of Self. They have rejected Self, in order to embrace Christ. "The will of Christ no longer limits theirs; it is theirs," Lewis wrote. This third way, and this alone, is Christianity: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44). "For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8).

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Birmingham is filled to the brim with people in Lewis’ first two categories. There are non-believers and then there are people who pay their “God tax” as Ortlund puts it.

Obviously, revival fire, the kind which gives birth to a movement that sweeps through cities and regions, the kind which transforms individuals, families and entire communities, the kind which we see evidence of in Acts, will never begin from this first group. But neither should we expect it to be birthed out of this second group. Our pews are filled with too many people playing at religion, when what we need are people who, through a relationship with Jesus, are so enflamed by the gospel of God’s grace that they can do nothing but pursue the agenda He has set, which is radical heart renewal leading to kingdom expansion to the ends of the earth.

If Lewis is correct, then we must place ourselves on this spectrum. Where are we?

Repent – Believe - Fight

OMPC and La Quemada in the B'ham News

By: ANNE RUISI

Birmingham News staff writer

Vivid reds, blues and lime green are the accent colors, but it's the smiles of the children playing that brighten the new playground near the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

"It's got a lot of slides. I like slides," said 7-year-old Melanie Rodriguez of the playground on 17th Avenue designed and built by volunteers from Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church.

"It goes fast," added her friend, Maricela Javarrete, 8.

It's the first time the girls and their friends have had such a playground in this cramped, mostly Hispanic pocket of Woodlawn. Most of the homes, bland cinderblock buildings fronting alley-sized streets, have tiny yards that limit play.

The church is a familiar presence in the neighborhood, having sponsored children's activities there for about four years, said the Rev. Mark Hunter, the church's associate pastor. Its minister to the Hispanic community, Octavio Samper and his wife, Rosie, have a children's Bible Club. One Saturday a month, about 30 youngsters are brought to the Shelby County church for soccer games and a cookout.

Usually the church organizes an annual overseas mission trip, but with the shaky economy, members decided this year to do a project in town and chose to build the playground, Hunter said.

Church member David K. Eyrich, a landscape architect with Environmental Design Studio in Cahaba Heights, designed the playground and led the project. About 40 volunteers, including some families, built the playground the week of June 8-13, Hunter said. Each adult donated $250 to participate.

Before they started work, Tractor & Equipment Co., a neighboring business, graded the site and prepared it for construction. The company also let the church store playground construction materials on its site.

The playground is more of a mini-park, with separate areas for activities, such as the centerpiece tower with climbing equipment and four slides. A construction company donated two tractor tires, 6½-feet wide, which were partially buried upright. One tire acts as a short tunnel for walking through and the other has more tread so the kids can climb up it, Eyrich said.

Old utility poles were used to build an arbor with its own wooden porch swing under a black cherry tree. Residents such as Maribel Calderon enjoy the shady swing while they watch their youngsters play.

"It's good, very good," she said through an interpreter.

Some of the utility poles were cut into short lengths, then painted in bright colors and set into the ground. They're used for sitting, or as Melanie and Maricela demonstrated, to hop from one to another.

The neighborhood's children got to put their own stamp on the playground by the decorating large wood cutouts of hearts and flowers placed on the fence that rings the site. They autographed and painted their palm prints on the cutouts, so everyone can see that Alex T., Melanye and Tito are among the kids playing here.

About $12,000 was spent on materials, but the group would have easily spent a minimum of $35,000-$40,000 if they'd hired paid labor, Eyrich said.

"It was a lot of work for do-it-yourselfers," he said.

The playground site is owned by Myrtis Herring, who lives next door. Lawyer Greg Mixon, a church member, worked out a lease agreement for $10 a year, Hunter said.

Until she became disabled in recent years, Herring used to take neighborhood children to Crestway Baptist Church for activities, said her daughter, Deborah Herring. Her mother knows the Oak Mountain Presbyterian group, since she's allowed them to use the site for its program for Hispanic youngsters.

"My mom was happy to let them do this," Herring's daughter said.

Announcing New "Hope for the 'Ham" Grant Money

Nothing supports evangelism better than a church involved in extremely generous, loving, vital community service. Listeners to the gospel are far more likely to find it credible if they see Christians meeting needs. Acts 4:32-35, Matthew 5:16, and Luke 6:32 show us that radical generosity had an evangelistic impact in early church history. When we simply live a morally “pure” life, the world may see it but may only feel somewhat condemned by it. However, when the world sees us meeting common, material human needs through deeds, it pays attention.

~ Tim Keller

How can we as Oak Mountain Church be a blessing to the neighborhoods and communities in which we dwell? How can we have an impact beyond simply paying our taxes and keeping our lawns well manicured?

These are some of the questions that we have been asking. Often the church can exert so much energy on maintaining herself that she has nothing left over to be a blessing to those whom God has, in His complete and purposeful sovereignty, caused us to dwell among.

Throughout the entire history of God’s relationship with his people, he has had on his mind an external outlook. Adam and Eve were instructed to have dominion over all of creation, meaning both the spiritual as well as the physical realms. Abraham in Genesis 12:2 was told that he would be blessed “so that you will be a blessing”. It is through this interaction that we see God’s agenda for Abraham and his descendents after him (including us).

Through God’s servant Joseph an entire geographic region was protected from the real and physical threat of famine. Indelibly included within the DNA of Israel were laws of social responsibility caring for neighbors, widows, orphans, aliens, the helpless and the oppressed. Jesus himself spent much more than a token amount of his ministry meeting the real, felt needs of those he came into contact with, even going so far on occasion as to reverse the very effects of death itself.

Listen to the testimony of the pagan Roman emperor Julian.

“Nothing has contributed to the progress of the superstition of the Christians as their charity to strangers...the impious Galileans provide not only for their own poor, but for ours as well.” It was to these acts of service and an externally focused love for neighbor that Julian points as a major reason for the growth of Gospel community.

If Oak Mountain Church gave your LIFE Group $100 to bless your neighbors, what would you do? Would you have a neighborhood cookout? What about cleaning up a local park, or painting a couple of classrooms at your local neighborhood school?

See, that’s the beauty. This is not the staff of the church calling people to participate in a program somebody else thought up. We are asking for YOU to listen to the Holy Spirit and ENGAGE in your area of town. The gospel is not communicated solely through verbal means. Physical engagement and proximity often speaks just as loudly. So what can you dream up?

LIFE Groups lead this endeavor. Here’s the lowdown.

1) IDEA - Any individual can propose an idea for engaging ones neighbors through acts of service or mercy. The idea is presented to the LIFE Group to further flesh out details.

2) APPLICATION – When a LIFE Group has arrived at an idea for a project, a member of the group then submits a grant proposal. This could be the LIFE Group leader or any other member of the group that has been designated.

3) REVIEW – The grant committee will meet to evaluate grant requests. For approved projects, funds will be distributed upon completion of the project. (RECIEPTS REQUIRED) We do not anticipate many rejections, but some groups may be asked to revise their requests or to rethink a certain aspect of their idea.

4) IMPLEMENT – the grant committee will extend approval to the LIFE Group leader and the group will “get after it”!

5) FOLLOW-UP – Upon completion of the project, the designated project leader submits the following materials to the grant committee:

• Receipts: the LIFE Group will be reimbursed for any project related expenses up to $100.
• Waiver: In some particular cases, there may be a required liability waiver that documents permission for work done and permission to use any records/photos that document the work.
• Story: Summarize the project either in written, photo, or video format. The purpose of this will be to share projects with the larger church body for information and vision building purposes.

6) REPEAT - Currently there is no limit to the number of projects that a particular LIFE Group can initiate and participate in. Grant proposals will be accepted and approved until the funds run dry, at which time we will faithfully and expectantly ask God for more funding.

For any additional information please contact Jason Tucker at jtucker@ompc.org or 205-981-4364.