Dan O’Deens Blogspot

From Paris to Dijon!  What a fabulous part of the world.  Some of the best wines, and some truly great people.   Just returned from an incredible missions trip to encourage our mission teams in France.  Of course, I was the one who was blessed. 

The first stage of our trip was to meet the “Burgandy Team.”  The heartland of the best wine in the world.  (Also the home of Dijon-Mustard).   What a blessing to share with a great body of believers with the church in Dijon.  Pastor Frank is an incredible man.  I pray that God will use him to see this region become known not just for its wine but for those who will come to know the one who changed water into the BEST wine ever!     My two girls got to go to an elementary school and speak English to the students in their English class. 

Off to Paris.  A prayer walk and historical journey of God’s movement in a country that has seen many philosophers who have shaped the secular worldview.   A great time with our teamates in Paris.  Distributing Bibles at the University and eating and playing games with a group of young adults who have become friends to Rob and Nicole Plaster. 

Mohammhed and Sabrina became good friends.  We had a great dinner on our last night at a local restaraunt.  We will stay in touch.  Thanks for giving us a great time…and I pray that you will come to love not only the family of friends there in Paris, but also the God that makes this friendship special. 

 The Bible refers to Old Wineskins and New Wineskins.   Some of the best wine is found in the old bottles.  But NEW Wineskins are needed to continue to reach a new world of people who need to know experientially the Love of Jesus and come to an understanding that following Jesus is the best journey they can take as they explore their futures.

Thanks for all of you who prayed and supported us on this great trip.  I was able to pray with and speak with all of our missionaries in France.   Let’s pray for the Light of the World to shine LIFE into a city and country that needs another period of ‘enlightenment.’

Well today is the big day.  My two daughters and I leave for Paris, Dijon and Lyon France on Mission.  We hope to first be an encouragement to our missions team there in France.  We pray that God will open our hearts and minds to learn about these great people who need Jesus as we simply build relationship with them.  We will be in churches, home groups, leadership groups and in schools and universities.  

As I have opportuinity I will update via this blog.  Blessings on you and I pray that God will do a great work in us and through us!    Later!

What sets us apart from the world?  In the book UnChristian, a statement is made that answers that question.  It is one paragraph, made up of one sentence, made up of two words:  ”NO DIFFERENCE.”  Statistical reports from Barna Research point us to this alarming truth.  So… Interact with these statements from Brian McLaren: 

• Christians are the ones who love people, whoever they are – gay or straight, Jew or Muslim, religious or atheist, capitalist or not, conservative or liberal.
• Christians are the ones who have done more than anyone in the world to stop the HIV/AIDS crisis.
• Christians are the people who gravitate toward the poor and who show compassion through generous action and seek justice so that the systemic causus of poverty are overcome.  They call the rich to generosity, and they call on rich nations to work for the common good.
• Christians are people who believe that art and creativity are important, so they consistently produce the most striking, original, and enriching art.
• Christians are willing to give their lives for the cause of peace.  They oppose violence in all its forms.  They will lay down their lives to protect the vulnerable from the violent.
• Christians care for the environment.  They don’t just see it as raw materials for economic gain, but they see it as the precious handiwork of their Creator.
• Christians have personal integrity.  They keep their marriage vows and are aware of how destructive misused sexualtity can be.  Yet they are compassionate toward people who make sexual mistakes, and they never consider themselves superior.
• Christians build harmony among races.  You always know that you’ll be respected when you’re around a Christian.

VISION:   To be a catalyst for discovering, developing and experiencing Christ.

MISSION: We are a community of followers of Jesus Christ, committed to live by faith, to be known by love and to be a voice of hope.  Our name comes from an understanding that Jesus came so that ALL could find hope and life.  The church is the hope of the world.  The church is the ‘gateway’ to personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

VALUES: Authentic Relationships; Creativity; Relevance; Growth; Generosity; Biblical Authority

 WE WANT TO ”LIVE DIFFERENT” Live Positively, Live Dangerously, Live Spontaneously, Live Generously and Live Intentionally. 

 GCwired.com  Gateway Church / Grace Connection  -  “An EPIC journey”

E xperiential

P articipatory

I  maginative

C onnective                                    “the ‘C’ wins out every time”

Relationship are critical to reaching the younger generations of our day.  Thoughts to consider as we interact with people in our culture that shows that we value authentic relationships:  They are screaming:  (From unchristian.  Dave Kinneman – pg 194,195)

1. Listen to me
2. Don’t label me
3. Don’t be so smart
4. Put yourself in my place
5. Be genuine
6. Be my friend with no other motives

C.S. Lewis  “There is someone I love, even though I don’t approve of what he does.  There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me.  There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most.  That person is me.  There are plenty of things I do that I don’t like, but if I can love myself without approving of all I do, I can also love others without approving of all they do.  As that truth has been absorbed into my life, it has changed the way I view others.” 

 In essence:  It is NOT my job to change them or judge them.  (that is God’s job).  It is y job to love them and point them to the love of Jesus.    That is GRACE CITY – those are GRACE CONNECTIONS!

Some say ‘love has no agenda’  I say, ‘love is the agenda’!  John 13:35.  We will know that we get it when we are not just talking about those things we care about, but people we care about. 

We are all provided with equal GRACE in the eyes of God.  We all share the same fallen DNA.    Jesus ENGAGED with those who were being crushed by their mistakes and bad choices.  Jesus wiped away the tears of the prostitute, held the hands of the outcasts, and touched the wounds of the sick and the crazy.  He hung with the not-so-perfect people of the world and showed them what Christianity was all about.  WE ARE ALL IN NEED of this beautiful thing called:  GRACE!

 Let’s Think People…Let’s “LIVE DIFFERENT”

 Christ followers must learn to respond to people in the way Jesus did. 

 Respond with the right perspective – ‘ears to hear and eyes to see”

1. Connect with people – through relationships and friendships.   “we don’t spin the Christian message, we live it.”  If we don’t demonstrate loving relationships within the church, we have nothing to say to outsiders.  They already see Christians as those ‘who eat their own.’
2. Be creative.  Jesus was a master communicator. 
3. Serve people. – We must cultivate deep concern and sensitivity to ‘outsiders.’
   1. Gen 12:2-3 – God wants the lives of his people to bless others
   2. Is. 58:10 – God followers should spend themselves on behalf of the poor.
   3. Micah 6:8 – We should be known for living humbly and pursuing justice and offering mercy.
   4. Matt. 5:44 – Love people who seem to be ‘enemies’ and pray for them.
   5. Matt 25:34-40 – Whatever people do for the ‘least of these’ – forgotten and overlooked people in society – they do for Jesus.
   6. Mark 9:35 – The greatest role in life is to serve others.
   7. Luke 4:18 -  Jesus’ ministry was first introduced as freeing captives, serving the oppressed, and healing the sick.
   8. Luke 15;3-7 – God pursues people like a shepherd would search for even on straying sheep.
   9. Luke 15:11-32 – God is described as a father who patiently waits for the return of his child.
   10. John 3:17 – Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it.
   11. John 15:13 – You cannot love a person more than by giving your life up for him or her.
   12. Galatians 5:13 – Christians have freedom to love unconditionally, as Christ loved people.
   13. Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim 4:6; 1 John 3:16-19 – Our lives are to be ‘poured out’ and spent to serve God’s purposes.
   14. Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:21-22 – Our attitude should be like that of Jesus, who loved and accepted humans even though they were ‘enemies’ of God.  Then he changes their status from enemies to friends, even sons and daughters of God, when they commit themselves to him.
   15. 1 Tim. 3:1-7 – One of the qualifications of Christian leadership is to have ‘a good reputation with outsiders’ v. 7 NIV
   16. Tutus 3:2 – Christians should be peaceable and considerate, showing true humility toward everyone.
   17. 2 Pet. 3:9 – God wants everyone to repent and turn to him.

Colsen and Pearcey (How Now Shall We Live?)  “God cares not only about redeeming souls but also about restoring his creation.  He call us to be agents not only of his saving grace but also of his common grace.  Our job is not only to build up the church but also to build a society to the glory of God.  As agents of God’s common grace, we are called to help sustain and renew his creation, to uphold the created institutions of family and society, to pursue science and scholarship, to create works of art and beauty, and to heal and help those suffering from the results of the Fall.”

Being Christian means being God’s agent of common grace in the world.  That includes:  putting the needs of others above your own; loving your neighbor, doing good to those who would do evil to you, exercising humility, suffering with those less fortunate, and doing it all with a pure heart is nearly impossible.  

Dating Helps

 Proverbs 6:20-23 (NIV)                           

 Tim. 4:12 (NIV)  

When a teen is mature enough to set an example for other believers, then he’s old enough to begin to consider dating.

 LEVELS OF DATING and Friendships

Acquaintance ;  Casual Friendship ; 

Close Friendship ; Intimate Friendship

 When Are You Old Enough To Date?

1. When your parents agree
2. When you are aware of both the benefits AND dangers of dating
3. When you have personally worked out from Scripture a set of dating standards
4. When you have purposed that you will NOT lower those standards even if it means losing dates.

 ·      EVERY DATE IS A POTENTIAL MATE

 PARENTS NEED TO BE INVOLVED

1. Eph 6:1-2 – Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.  Honor your father and your mother.
2. Prov 6:20-23 – 2 Lights in your lives. God placed them in your lives and they might know a bit more about life and marriage and relationships than you do!   I know that is hard to believe.

IS SEX AS NORMAL AS OXYGEN, EATING and DRINKING AND SLEEP?   YES! But there is a distinction

1. the denial of sex does not produce harmful physical effects
2. the satisfaction of hunger for food or thirst for drink, have no social implications or consequences as does sexual intercourse.
3. satisfying sexual hunger involves another person.
4. there is no such thing as ‘unstimulated kissing”  we cannot control what God created to happen naturally.

 THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN THE OTHER

1. Is he/she a believer?
2. How is their relationship with God?
3. Do they have a desire to serve God?
4. Does he/she get along with mother/father?

 WHAT TO DO NOW

1. develop your philosophy in harmony with Christian principles and scientific facts
2. set ups some guidelines for dating and courtship. 
3. plan dates in advance  (don’t be spontaneous)
4. group participation dates are healthy – plan them
5. avoid situations/activities which provoke sexual stimuli
6. plan well balanced life – you need personal time
7. avoid long engagements

You make friends not lovers

 Positive Relationships STEPS

1. make sure your motives are pure
2. The objectives of the relationship need to be defined upfront.
3. Openness and good communication are necessary
4. Honesty must be stressed
5. Set a proper atmosphere.  Don’t let yourself be caught in an awkward situation
6. Don’t become trapped by the relationship. Do things with other people.
7. Strive to be like Christ and build each other up
8. If you don’t have it, don’t touch it.
9. Don’t start to get romantically involved.  Don’t start something you cannot righteously satisty.
10. Pray for the relationship
11. Let Christ be in control

One should BE what he/she EXPECTS. 

 Parent – Child Communication

• Stay under parent’s authority.  Rom. 13:1
• Build strong relationship with your parents
• KNOW the person you date is a believer, has a proper understanding of parental authority and has strong convictions and is growing in Christ

 1 Thess 4:3-7 – Sexual Purity 

            Purity Rings and Covenant

 Does God have a perfect mate for me?

1. Be careful of the “compatibility myth”.  No two people are compatible.  All are sinners by nature.
2. Be careful of thinking that God has a perfect mate for me, therefore I will pray and sit still.  Better:  List the kind of person you want and then get busy becoming that kind of person yourself.
3. Be careful to think that “God will stop me if it’s not His will”
4. Be careful of acting after prayer.  God still expects you to follow biblical absolutes.

 HOW TO PREPARE YOURSELF:

1. develop skills, talents and social graces.
2. learn biblical love and giving
3. take proper care of your physical body, your mind, heart

I was just thanking the LORD for the Great Church I get to serve in and live in Biblical Community together with!  I am so in love with one of God’s greatest ideas!  I’d give my life for it…well…I kinda have!  The church is not a building it is a body of believers.  Here is what I love about my church:

1.  They are SO accepting.   Forgiveness can truly be realized here!

2.  They are SO fun.  Yesterday, in a drama, they said, “don’t let the door hitcha, where the good lord split ya”  I just rolled! 

3.  I love the music.  It connects my heart to God’s.  Keep up the great tunes…Jonny P and worship team!

4.   I love the ‘family.’  When life is hard, they pick me up.  An email, a meal, a kind word!

5.  I love their willingness to adapt to change as God navigates his church in an ever-changing culture!

Thanks CHURCH for being such a HUGE part of my life!   I love you guys!

YES!  Finally!  David Beckham and all of the USA’s finest can now be seen on the pitch in Chester, PA!  2010 will be the year to launch some great soccer in our back yard!  Soccer is finally making it in America!  For Now…well…Go Barcelona! 

So the Brownies signed Anderson to $60 million long term!  So what happens to Brady Quinn….the first round draft pick who threw all of 8 passes last year?  Who should be playing?  Your thots?

Ever been too busy?  I don’t think tomorrow gets easier!  But in the midst of family, ministry, building a church building, building the church, soccer, school programs, equipping leaders, encouraging brothers and sisters, I am reminded that it is a privilege to be so busy doing God’s business:  The ABC PRAYER!  

*      A lthough things are not perfect

*      B ecause of trial or pain

*      C ontinue in thanksgiving

*      D o not begin to blame

*      E ven when the times are hard

*      F ierce winds are bound to blow

*      G od is forever able

*      H old on to what you know

*      I magine life without His love

*      J oy would cease to be

*      K eep thanking Him for all the things

*      L ove imparts to thee

*      M ove out of “Camp Complaining”

*      N o weapon that is known

*      O n earth can yield the power

*      P raise can do alone

*      Q uit looking at the future

*      R edeem the time at hand

*      S tart every day with worship

*      T o “thank” is a command

*      U ntil we see Him coming

*      V ictorious in the sky

*      W e’ll run the race with gratitude

*      X alting God most high

*      Y es, there’ll be good times and yes some will be bad, but…

*      Z ion waits in glory…where none are ever sad!

“I AM Too blessed to be stressed!”

The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance

between your knees and the floor.