From James Bond in Britain to Spy Kids in 3-D, we all love our espionage movies with a passion. It must be the combination of way cool gadgets, secret identities, and triumphing over the EEEEEVIL that lurks in every corner of the world - or maybe if you're like me, you just like to see stuff blow up... a lot.

Interesting that the writers of this film chose the name "salt" isn't it? Perhaps they were trying to shake up the summer a bit and add some flavor to the already action packed movie offerings? Either way, this flick should definitely quench people's thirst for 2 hours of answering the 'Who is salt?' question.

Interesting also that one of the primary ways that Jesus identifies His followers is as salt as well. Not that we are potential counter agents on the run so we need to dye our hair and generally destroy anything that gets in our way...even though that might be exciting.

No, we have a much bigger mission:

"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless" (Matthew 5:13).

When you see sin or damaging behavior in someone else's life, how do you know when to keep quiet and when to speak with them?

You don't go to everybody. You are not called to spend 18 hours a day walking up to people saying, "Don't smoke!" or, "Don't drink!" or, "Don't swear!" or, "Don't hit your wife!" or, "Don't fail to discipline your children!"

That's not our job. We preach the gospel to the world, and as occasion arises we might link some destructive behavior to the gospel as a way out.

In the church the question becomes more urgent. In the church, the answer to the question is going to hang on criteria like, how serious is the sin? If it is really serious, immediately urgent, and you know that the person is a part of the church-even if you don't know them personally-you might go and do Galatians 6:2. "If you find a brother taken in a fault, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness lest you too be tempted."

In the first three parts of this series, we examined how we need a better hierarchy, better language and better understanding. In this concluding post, I'll demonstrate why I think we need better structures as well, if we want to fully involve all of God's people in all of God's mission.

One structural glitch that needs to be changed is the compartmentalizing of mission as a separate ministry in churches. It is true that someone has to champion that cause, but it is not Bob or Sue's job to do missions on behalf of others. The "mission champion" needs to move everyone toward mission in all that the church does.

Moving toward mission means that all ministry efforts have as their primary goal the same goal God has, which is His glory being displayed among the panta ta ethne, the peoples of the world. So, whether it is the nursery, elementary classes, middle-school or intergenerational small groups, the goal can never be Seven Steps to Happier Living, but the role those gathered people play in God's mission.

Some traditions use set prayers. Others rely on extemporaneous prayers. Both have their place. But I believe what our congregations need most are studied prayers, well prepared, well expressed. These prayers may or may not be read, but will be thought through ahead of time. Publicly leading a church in prayer deserves thoughtful preparation.

2. Pray Scripture. Don't just ask God for what we want. Let him teach us what we should want.

3. Don't footnote. Charles Spurgeon: "It is not necessary in prayer to string a selection of texts of Scripture together, and quote David, and Daniel, and Job, and Paul, and Peter, and every other body, under the title of 'thy servant of old.'" The Lord already knows who said everything, so don't tell him again in your prayers.

4. Leave the preaching for the sermon. Don't exhort. Don't explain texts. Don't unpack complex theology. Spurgeon again: "Long prayers either consist of repetitions, or else of unnecessary explanations which God does not require; or else they degenerate into downright preachings, so that there is no difference between the praying and the preaching, except that in the one the minister has his eyes shut, and in the other he keeps them open. It is not necessary in prayer to rehearse the Westminster Assembly's Catechism."

The ministry-minded among us tend to be jazzed by relationships, not regulations. We look upon tomes of policy with disdain, fearing death by legalistic rules and passion-less programming. But it's a fair argument to say that avoiding this church business is not being a good steward of the resources that God provides each of our communities.

We do have to make sure the plumbing runs and the paychecks get cut. We need lights and A/C and erosion control. But church business can take a toll. 

I talk to pastor's wives, whose eyes betray the battle scars their family has endured at the mercy of "business." I consider my own experiences helping raise a new church from its infancy, and recognize that nothing has the power to fracture and divide a community like the need to get something accomplished.

God speaks in all sorts of ways. Sometimes He reveals His will to us by an impression. Sometimes He speaks by an inner voice. Sometimes we can hear Him speaking through the voice of a stranger, a friend, the words of a song, a thought from a book, or a verse of Scripture. God has no special formula or method for communicating with His people, but His guidance can be broken down into three general categories: personal, corporeal, and supernatural.

God communicates through His Word. He sometimes communicates to you when you meditate on His Word - gradually breaking a thought down, working it over and over in your mind. His word has basic principles you can follow for guidance and direction in determining His will for you. If you receive a message that does not agree with the Word of God, disregard it because God never contradicts His Word (Ps. 119:4-5, 24).  

God communicates through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will tell you whatever He hears from the Father and He will glorify Jesus (John 16:13-14). In the Old Testament, the presence of the Holy Spirit was selective and temporary. The anointing was given as a temporary gift to provide God's powers and direction in some area of service. After Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit became a universal and permanent dwelling in believers.  

I live in the Southern California desert, so summer is definitely not my favorite time of year. And yet, if I'm going to be faithful to the Scriptures, then I must line up my thinking with Philippians 4:11, which declares, "I have learned in whatever state (condition, circumstance, season) I am, to be content." Easier said than done when the thermometer is well into the triple digits! Yet if I spend my entire summer grumbling about the heat, I'm certainly not going to enjoy the blessings that God has for me during this particular season.

Obeying God doesn't always mean that I have to walk through fire for Jesus. Most of the time it simply means "renewing my mind" according to Romans 12:2, which explains that our thought processes must be changed to conform to God's Word rather than the prevailing trends and mindsets of the world.

When I became a Christian in 1974 (yes, I was one of the "Jesus freaks" of that era!), I immediately realized that everything I had ever thought or believed was wrong and that I had to relearn absolutely everything from God's point of view. I knew nothing at the time about the instruction in Romans 12:2 to renew my mind, but that was exactly what I set out to do as I opened my Bible for the first time and began to study.

Life is difficult. That blunt, three-word statement is an accurate appraisal of our existence on this earth. When the writer of the biblical book named Job picked up his stylus to write his story, he could have begun with a similar-sounding and equally blunt sentence, "Life is unfair."

Life is not just difficult, it's downright unfair. Welcome to Job's world.

Job was a man of unparalleled and genuine piety. He was also a man of well-deserved prosperity. He was a godly gentleman, extremely wealthy, a fine husband, and a faithful father. In a quick and brutal sweep of back-to-back calamities, Job was reduced to a twisted mass of brokenness and grief. The extraordinary accumulation of disasters that hit him would have been enough to finish off any one of us today.

Job is left bankrupt, homeless, helpless, and childless. He's left standing beside the ten fresh graves of his now-dead children in a windswept valley. His wife is heaving deep sobs of grief as she kneels beside him, having just heard him say, "Whether our God gives to us or takes everything from us, we will follow Him." She leans over and secretly whispers, "Why don't you just curse God and die?"

"What's happening in your marriage?" I asked.

"My husband treats me with disrespect," she said. "He's sarcastic with me, ignores me when I'm talking, and spends more time playing video games than listening to me."

"I mostly pray about it," she said. "I talk to my friends and they tell me I need to just keep praying. They quote the Scripture where Peter instructs wives to be submissive to their husbands so that their husbands will be won over without a word." (I Peter 3: 1-4)

"That is a great Scripture," I said. "Peter goes on to say that your 'unfading beauty' comes from a gentle and quiet spirit. I don't think, however, that it means that women aren't also to speak truth at times. I don't think it means that you can't use wisdom to set boundaries when destructive things are happening in your marriage."

I went on to share another story I heard recently from a friend. Apparently there was a sign in an antique store where a fisherman was in a row boat being tossed around by the waves. The message for the fisherman was to have great faith and pray, but also row for his life.

Dinesh D'Souza explains moral Atheism and intellectual Atheism. Taken from a special Q&A session with Pastor Greg Laurie and Dinesh D'Souza, from the Crossover Series.

Christianity Today, our sister publication, recently asked several financial advisers, researchers, and other observers to weigh in on whether churches should increase their operating budgets next year. Here are their responses:

Dan Busby, president, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, and an Editorial Advisor for Your Church

"The years of prosperity concealed underlying internal issues that are the real reason giving is down at some churches. During the time the economy was good and offerings were increasing, statistics say the offerings were not increasing on a per-giver basis. ... They were growing their operating budgets by growing numbers of people. When the lean resource environment sets in, scarcity begins to clarify everything. For some of these churches, it clarifies that they haven't been healthy for a while, and the abundance of money was just covering it up."

Source: Christianity Today | YourChurchBlog

Maybe you thought it would have been love at first bite...but shockingly Bella is still as waifish in her affections and wavering in her commitments as the first moment the bare-chested wolfish man-cub appeared to turn up the heat on the love triangle.

And this is the riveting dialogue that you can expect from the third installment of the wildly popular and mega big bucks earner Twilight series. See if you can pick up all the new and unexpected plot twits from the official movie summary:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: Kristin Stewart's Bella finds herself torn between Robert Pattinson's Edward and Taylor Lautner's werewolf Jacob Black.

See what I mean? Because if I remember correctly, The Twilight Saga: New Moon was about Kristin Stewart's Bella finding herself torn between Robert Pattinson's Edward and Taylor Lautner's werewolf Jacob Black.

Subtle difference to be sure...so if you like New Moon, you'll love Eclipse, because it's the SAME MOVIE!!!

Source: Christian Post