Mark's idea of reaching one!

In yesterday's message I talked about the importance of sowing good seed. Most of us if we are willing to admit it have sowed our fair share of bad seed. Most of us have spoken words that can't be taken back. Most of us have taken action against someone that we later regret. Most of us have even indulged in activities that we now look back on with a bad taste in our mouth and wished that we had never done it. But of course the kind of seed that Mark is referring to here is the Word of God. What are the kind of words that God would want us to share you ask? Words of love and compassion. Words that build up others instead of tearing them down. Words of invitation to church and to fellowship and to getting know some of these crazy Christian's in their environment and home. Words of encouragement and grace. These are the kind of words that should come from us. But most of all we should extend to our friends and family words of forgiveness that only Christ can offer. So just keep up the good work.

Before I go I wanted to share with you some of the books I am currently reading and some of the websites that I frequently visit.
Books:
"Bonhoeffer" Written by Eric Metaxas just this year. His work has been on the New York Times Bestselling list. And I can see why. The author takes an almost bigger than life individual, at least in the Lutheran and the Christian academia world, and gives a wonderful historical account of his life from birth to his tragic murder in 1943. It is a large volume to read but well worth it to see how he came to the theological, moral, and ethical position that guided his life.

"Essential Church? reclaiming a gneration of dropout
Thom Ranier has connected with his oldest son, Sam, in writing about an all but forgotten subject and group of people. It is full of statistical data about why and how to reclaim these lost souls. It is inspiring, but don't kid yourself, it can be a depressing book as well. Depressing in the sense that it makes you wonder what you could have done to prevent this exodus and now that it has happened is there anything that we can do to reverse it. All in all, a very good read with lots of ideas.

Websites:

Most of these websites are church websites that I watch their services on. None of them are close to Des Moines but it is great to see how others come before the Lord.
www.parksidechurch.com--This church is in Cleveland, Ohio and is pastored by Alistair Begg This is one of my favorites.
www.vineyardcincinnati.com This is a very contemporary church and they also address issues of the day on a weekly basis. They are very topical in their preaching.
www.pclive.org This church is in Nashville, Tennessee. Many of the "famous" singers and songwriters of the country music world attend this church. But I've never seen any on tape. The pastor Rick White has been their pastor for at least 20 years and for the most part his messages are expositional as opposed to topical. Good stuff here.

One final note about these websites is that generally you need to locate the media button on the webpage and this will take you to the archives and you can choose what you want to watch. The other thing is that if you don't have high speed internet access, the best way to watch these is to download them and then watch.

Have fun and let me know what you think.