<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776823762643771979</id><updated>2011-04-21T21:30:24.746-07:00</updated><title type='text'>SIMPLE CHURCH</title><subtitle type='html'>Living life together following Him.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://simplechurch.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7776823762643771979/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://simplechurch.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Terrence</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pyE_byEgoek/SZ9LhOoqeWI/AAAAAAAAARM/3-7D-z2fW78/S220/Me+Baker+Mt.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776823762643771979.post-1072641267366363883</id><published>2011-02-25T04:28:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-03-02T18:28:25.957-08:00</updated><title type='text'>It really is Simple?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Many people are hungering for something more, something they can belong to and yet be a significant part of. They are not content with Church as usual. Some churches have found they are good at drawing people in but not giving them a place to be and to do the simple things. One can read of the church in the New Testament and wonder how did we get where we are now?  The New Testament accounts are much different from our experience every week. We hear the stories of the church expanding in China, India, the world, and their hearts long to see it here. Dare we dream for something more? “Can we experience the same power?”  will the Kingdom of God unleash itself on an unsuspecting society such as the United States? Yes Yes!'&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;by Terry Devlin-'Basileia Vineyard'&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jesus told us to pray for it, "Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Mat 6:10)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;RED PILL OR BLUE PILL?  You know where they lead....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Before Neo swallowed the red pill in the Matrix,he was given a choice. Members of the strange sect meet Neo to take him to Morpheus. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt; A member in the car&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt; turns&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt; facing Neo with a gun in her hand and demands that he surrender completely to their agenda or take a walk. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt;Neo defies  their demands and she shouts &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt;“Stop the car!” &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" &gt; As he opens the door to leave, Trinity a beautiful and respected computer hacker, stops him and says "you have to trust me". He asks why he should trust someone he just met. Looking down the dark street with rain pounding down relentlessly, she says, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“Because you have been down there, Neo. You know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that’s not where you want to be.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Neo slowly gets back in the car, unknowingly resigned to an appointment with a red pill.&lt;br /&gt;When you look at church in America and all that it offers, sometimes your left looking down an old soggy road. There's no desire left to go down that road anymore. More vision statements, more Christian concerts, more sermons and more blueprints for bigger auditoriums are not enough. There are those who will do for Jesus what they won't do for a vision statement. Is there something better? There has to be. Jesus did not die and rise from the dead so we can have better church bulletins and more comfortable pews.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To use the words of the fictional prophet Morpheus, in the Matrix, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;“Let me tell you why you are here. You are here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it.  You’ve felt it your entire life."&lt;/span&gt; Jesus said the Kingdom is near you, upon you, in you, and still yet coming. You have sensed, felt, or experienced His presence.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You also sense something is not right, something needs to change. Again Morpheus says,&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; " You don’t know what it is, but It’s there like a splinter in your mind driving you mad."&lt;/span&gt; It is this feeling that has brought you to this site. You know what I’m talking about.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All around the world people are taking the red pill and they are not going back. Church as you have known it, is changing. This is your moment of choice. Jesus said "Follow me." This is your red pill.&lt;br /&gt;The Kingdom of God awaits you. Let the adventure begin.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7776823762643771979-1072641267366363883?l=simplechurch.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://simplechurch.blogspot.com/feeds/1072641267366363883/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://simplechurch.blogspot.com/2011/02/many-people-are-longing-for-greater.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7776823762643771979/posts/default/1072641267366363883'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7776823762643771979/posts/default/1072641267366363883'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://simplechurch.blogspot.com/2011/02/many-people-are-longing-for-greater.html' title='It really is Simple?'/><author><name>Terrence</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pyE_byEgoek/SZ9LhOoqeWI/AAAAAAAAARM/3-7D-z2fW78/S220/Me+Baker+Mt.jpg'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry></feed>
