Alert & Oriented: Conversations about God between Friends

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Have you ever wondered if you would be missed if you left your community? Scripture says we are a body, and so any missing part would be missed indeed. God might call us elsewhere, but everybody's departure should be noticeable.

Community and Calling are linked. Just as the hand needs the foot, so our communities needs us to discover and walk in our calling. 

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

And very special thanks to Keith Medley for his FANTASTIC 27 string guitar background song. You can find more of Keith's music at: http://www.keithmedleymusic.com/

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

 Many of us just sideline Scripture. We claim it's authoritative and accurate, but it just doesn't seem applicable to our lives anymore, like, we've outgrown it. So, like we do with many older players, we bench it, and put someone younger on the field.

Sometimes I wonder which position is the most dangerous position to take on Scripture: outright denial of its authority? or benching it for someone younger.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

Gary called me this week to discuss a podcast he was listening to: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It was so fascinating, we just had to share our conversation with you. We hope  you find it challenging as we do, and we hope we all grow in knowing the real God as he really is, not as we self-focused humans often mis-portray him.

To hear the podcast we reference, click here: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/  (While we are fascinated, we don't agree with all of Christianity Today's positions.)

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

On February 26, 2020, just a few weeks before COVID 19 became a household name, Gary and I (with friend John Hard) recorded a conversation together on "Dealing with Discouragement." Unknown to me at the time, I was just recovering from COVID myself, thinking it had been bronchitis. 

So it is even more fascinating for us to look back at this discussion in light of what would become a national discouragement for months to come. As Gary and I re-listened to it, we thought it worthwhile to share with all of you.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

To join us at THE NOBLE HEART COMMUNITY, click on this link: https://thenobleheart.mn.co/share/iyTB2uHZmzWhI-Fo?utm_source=manual

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

Curiosity is a great way God leads. Moses went over to look at the Burning Bush out of curiosity. How might God be leading you in ways you haven't considered?

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

It's wrong (and foolish) to live unaware of the dangers around us, but it is more wrong (and more foolish) to let the environment around us cause us to live in a state of fear. But fear is exactly the message bombarding us from both the left and right, and center: the message of FEAR-ISM.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

We all want happiness, who wouldn't?, and the world offers lots of shortcuts. What is God's plan for our happiness? What does He offer us? Listen as Gary and Sam discuss another "counterfeit answer" from the world, and the offering from God. 

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

How is God calling us to do ministry in a spiritual fashion that cannot be replicated apart from the work of God? How much do we adopt the tips and techniques of the world, and how much do we stand apart?

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

Today we address the cultural moment of our culture's mishandling of God by appearing embarrassed to declare the "whole counsel" of God. Do we really think we, today, this cultural moment, know more about human problems than God does?

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.

If you have a question or comment, click here and send us a text.

The first house Carla and I bought was a trilevel. Only two of the three floors were completed, and we decided to finish the third floor ourselves, creating a family room, office, and second bathroom. 

I had worked with carpentry, wiring, and plumbing before. But I had never done drywall. I figured the drywall mud would be easy to sand down, so after hanging sheetrock, I caked on mud like a teenage boy piles his plate at an all-you-can-eat buffet. And I went back for seconds.

Alas. It took us more time to sand off that surplus mud than it took me to frame in and wire three rooms and to plumb the bathroom. Carla and I spent scores of hours of bored agony, sanding, wet-sponging, power-sanding, and bathing off our layers of dust.

The history of the world is the long story of bad answers: I had thought mudding was the easy part. 

The Christian world has become flooded with worldly answers to life’s problems. Jesus came to save us from the world and sin, but there is enormous pressure to adopt worldly answers that promise life but result in death; they have “eyes that do not see and ears to do not hear.” 

God’s answers always birth a new life unlike the world’s.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: https://thenobleheart.com/ and https://beliefsoftheheart.com/.

For more information about Gary or Sam visit their websites: 

• The Noble Heart
• Exploring Intimate Theology - Beliefs of the Heart.