Fire On Your Head

Where has all the time gone?

Literally.

Sorry for the lack of updates in the last several months. We have been quite busy in ministry things down here in Peru, and with getting ready for the book launch, then we went to Canada to visit family over Christmas. On top of that moved into a new an unfinished apartment only 9 days before our flight!

Today's episode is from my time sharing a message at River Run Fellowship in Peterborough, Ontario this past Sunday before we returned to Peru.

I shared about some themes long-time listeners of the podcast are familiar with in terms of discipleship and only having one shot at this life.

Will you stand before Him on that day wishing you had done more with your time and your talents, or will you hang your head in shame wishing you had done more?

Enjoy today's message about how time stops for no one, therefore it's up to us to decide how we're going to spend it in light of eternity.

Blessings and fire on your head,

Steve

Gone are the days when missionaries left their homeland to only have the chance to communicate to their friends and family via sketchy phone service and snail mail.

The Internet allows instant—mobile even—access to just about anyone in the world.

It's a whole new world.

Several months ago ChurchMag Staff Writer Chris Wilson had the opportunity to interview me about using tech on the mission field. In fact, if you listened to the episode of the Fire On Your Head podcast with him about what we both wish we knew before we started blogging, well this interview was actually recorded first. It's just now going live, but good things take time, right?

You'll also hear about technology being used in other places in the world—other than the Western world.

Here are some cool ways to connect with ChurchMag:

• Their cool blog
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+

You can leave a comment below or use the ChurchMag Podcast hashtag: #cmagcast

Enjoy!

This week on the podcast I have a very interesting conversation with Dan Dailey. As usually happens in internet land, I came across a blog post he wrote, wrote a response to it, he found it, and we became social media friends and eventually had a podcast conversation.

To bring yourself up to speed, he wrote a blog post called Regarding the Done with Church Buzz. A few months later when it was getting heavily shared on Facebook thanks to Wayne Jacobsen, I wrote my own Regarding the Done with Church Buzz in response to his.

Dan shares his background and how he wound up 'leaving the institution' and becoming a 'done'. Practically born in a church pew, Dan comes from a long line of pastors and ministers on both sides of the family which takes us to about a year ago. By age 35, Dan doesn't think he missed any two Sunday services in a row over a span of twenty years, and led worship and served as an elder, would preach in his fellowship on many occasions.

Going strong after the Lord, but no longer 'attending' and fellowship, how did he become one of the 35 million former church attenders who now identifies himself as a "done"? We explore his journey in today's episode.

Check out Dan's blog at danieldailey.wordpress.com

If you believed it would be 500 years before Jesus returned instead of that He may return any minute, would that affect the way you live your day-to-day life?

I know for many the answer would be no. But unfortunately I know many more believers for whom it would make a world of difference.

If we believe we’re in the last of the last days, and that Jesus will come in 5 years instead of say 500, we will live and act accordingly and “let it” get worse by our inaction and watching the sky awaiting Jesus’ return. Even people who believe in a post-tribulation rapture can still live with a mentality that everything has to get worse with the only difference from their pre-trib counterparts is that the Church will be here for that worsening. If it does all get worse, does that mean it’s acceptable to not do anything about the evil in the generation around us?

Unfortunately, it usually does… Give this episode a listen and be challenged.

Links mentioned:

Why a Victorious End Times View is Needed to Transform Culture

Praying Medic's book A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse.

This week I am privileged to have on the podcast one of the men who's heavily influenced my ministry here in Peru. I'm talking about Mike Breen, author and phrase coiner. In the first part of our chat I ask Mike where he came up with the idea for Lifeshapes.

In the second half of the conversation I ask Mike where Missional Communities came from. Mike shares some stories of how this took shape in the late 1980s and early 90s and what obvious lessons emerged from his experiences. Towards the end of this week's episode he tells us of the "Happy hour" ministry he's launched in his new neighborhood.

Visit Mike's site at DisciplingCulture.com

Follow Mike on Twitter @Mike_Breen

Instagram @mikejamesbreen,

Like his Facebook page at mikebreen3dm.

This week I am privileged to have Mark Burgess back on the podcast for the first time in almost three years exactly to the month. We discuss family on mission and give some descriptions of experiences, good and bad, that we've had creating a discipleship culture here in Chorrillos, Peru. It's not a matter of prioritizing family or the mission, but combining them and being a family, whether biological or extended, who are on a mission together. We believe this is the bedrock for seeing disciples made, and a movement expand as we're finally starting to see down here in our sphere of influence.

In this show we discuss:

• Why your pastor can't disciple you
• Why discipleship is HARD work and the reason many would rather not bother with it, and instead resort to collecting people to be passive and sit in the pew week after week
• The danger of allowing words like "organic", "missional", and "discipleship" to be buzzwords without any practical life application
• Why we need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk of the Kingdom of God and the making of disciples
• Practical ways we can do family on mission in our own contexts and cultures

Visit our ministry's website at Oikosperu.com

A few weeks ago I was privileged to be on The Praying Medic Podcast. Over the previous weekend PM and I had a three hour recorded Skype conversation on the heels of having just recently recorded a lengthy episode of my own podcast with Chris Wilson on blogging and writing.

This is the second part of my interview with Praying Medic on his podcast to talk about book publishing and self-publishing.

This part is nearly 82 minutes long

The Amazon review of sugar-free gummy bears can be found here.

The review of the book Moon People can be found here.

6 Lies People Believe about Divine Healing

Nine Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues

Increase Your Faith: Practical Steps to Help You Believe For the Impossible

Divine Healing Made Simple

Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple

Life Resurrected by Jesse Birkey

I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short

If you're looking for an editor, you might check out Lydia Conrad

A few weeks ago I was privileged to be on The Praying Medic Podcast. Over the previous weekend PM and I had a three hour recorded Skype conversation the heels of having just recently recorded a lengthy episode of my own podcast with Chris Wilson on blogging and writing.

Join us in a passionate discussion about publishing books. Whether you're a reader, an author or someone who aspires to publish books, this discussion is sure to have something of interest to you.

We begin with an update on what our friends have been doing. You'll hear names come up like Jesse Birkey and Jeremy Mangerchine, both of whom are people I've had on the show at least once, and who I would not have ever met if not for Praying Medic connecting us in some way.

The lesson to be learned? The power of connecting with like-minded people in your area of interest or ministry.

Then we discuss recent book projects, including Praying Medic's next book on how the Kingdom of God responds to economic crisis. We then shift gears and share our thoughts and experiences with writing books and how each of us wrote our first one.

We wrap things up with a discussion about the importance of editing.

There's much more ground that we cover in part 2 next week.

Praying Medic's blog can be found at: Prayingmedic.com

6 Lies People Believe about Divine Healing

Nine Lies People Believe About Speaking in Tongues

Increase Your Faith: Practical Steps To Help You Believe For The Impossible

Divine Healing Made Simple

Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple

Life Resurrected by Jesse Birkey

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. Read my full-detailed review of the book, If You're Serious About Writing, Read Stephen King's Memoir

If you're looking for an editor, you might check out Lydia Conrad

This week we have returning guest Stephen Crosby on the show mostly to discuss themes in his book, Praise, Worship, and the Presence of God: A Better Way to Worship — A New Covenant Perspective

Here are some bullet points to summarize each section of our conversation:

6:00 - The Worship leader — Access to God through Music?

Do they really take us into and out of the presence of God? Nope. No such thing exists. No brokers of His presence. Jesus has done it. We are in God's presence because of what Jesus did on the cross, and not because of anything the worship leader does. The manifest presence of God is like oxygen in your lungs — it's something you breathe.

16:05 - The recent history of contemporary worship music and practices ("Restoration of David's Tent")

Have you ever wondered or been asked WHY we do things the way we do in our charismatic services when it comes to the music before the preaching? Chances are you have little idea and neither will the person you ask. We just do it. In 1948 a move of God is where it all changed. Prior to that, hymns were typical. Out of this movement came the "restoration of David's tent" which spread a misinterpretaiton of Amos 9:11-15 through a lot of the church and evolved during the charismatic movement of the 60s and third wave of the 80s. We discuss the need to understand what we are doing and what our theology behind it is.

26:56 - No to apostles and prophets, but yes to a modern paid position that has no NT substantiation?

You can find more churches who will fight and split over modern-day apostles and prophets despite their repeated mention in the New Testament, but yet you can't find the modern professional musician worship leader in the NT, yet it seems nobody questions that. Why on earth is that?

If we can have the presence of God without music, then we have to ask ourselves why are we bothering and what are we doing? On the other hand, just because we can't find something in the New Testament doesn't mean it's forbidden or morally wrong, however, we should be carefully to not then elevate these things to a level of status and requirement.

43:00 — Swapping one high for another: when worshipping and sensing the anointing becomes addictive

We talk about how the look and feel of a lot of the "cutting edge" worship can take on a rock concert appearance and if you muted the volume you wouldn't know the difference. The same way the Jews of Jesus' day had built so much tradition on what was once originally pure law code, in a sense we've done the same thing with various traditions related to worshipping through music.

57:00 There are no second generation burning bushes

Dr Crosby explains how one of the ways we find ourselves in situations or methods and traditions is when one generation experiences God in a certain way, and when discipling the next one they are taught the "how tos" of the first generation's experience, but without experiencing that same burning bush for themselves. One of two things happens:

1. We fake it because we want to experience it so bad, or
2. We go into despair because we not experiencing it like the previous generation did.

Likewise, David's life is not our example. He merely is a type and shadow who pointed the way to the Messiah who came. The One greater than David has come, and He has united Himself in Spirit with us in the inner most being. If you're going to create a template for worship and "pressing in" to His presence, do it based on Christ who is IN you and not old covenant modalities.

Deep down in our own souls, we struggle with needing to earn and be rewarded, rather than just accepting what's been given and freely poured out on the cross at Calvary. Charismatics and Pentecostals who are thrill-addicted struggle to believe it can all really be that simple.

We close out the last half hour or so of the discussion sharing stories and experiences, for better or worse.

Visit Dr Crosby's site at www.stevecrosby.org

There's a video that's been making the rounds on social media lately of Shia Labeouf yelling various iterations of "just do it", followed by the customary parody videos the internet is making. This episode of the podcast is not meant to join in on the meme, but in a similar way, what's holding you back? JUST DO IT!

We talk about how the biggest reason a whole generation of Israel that left Egypt failed to enter the Promised Land, because they basically talked themselves out of it.

Ten people were able to ruin it for over 2 million people. A whole generation of Israel that missed their purpose, and made God wait for the next one to be raised up.

Many believers already know there are various levels on which Israel rebelled against the Lord, and various specifics could be pointed to in the wilderness narratives as the cause of their spending 40 years there instead of inheriting their promised land immediately after leaving Egypt. However, it is interesting to note how seriously this incident affected their destiny.

It is worth taking serious consideration for our own lives since 1 Cor 10:6 says these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire or crave evil as they did.

Give this a listen and ask yourself: who are you listening to? Whose opinion matters so much to you that, even though they mean well, you are listening to them instead of God and pursuing whatever He has put on your heart to pursue?

To subscribe to our podcast, visit this link for options: http://stevebremner.com/subscribe-to-podcast/

Enjoy!