Tim Boyd's Blog

Jesus did exactly what Satan wanted to do. What did Satan want?  He wanted to be counted as the best and brightest and be exactly like God.  In Isaiah 14 it's found that Satan wanted to become like God and have people worship him.  He wanted all the power and all the glory. (Who do you want to have control?  The person who is burdened with love of people and therefore wants the best for them?  Or do you want the person who wants power and wealth and glory to rule over the people?) So in Philippians chapter 2 we read that Jesus came in all humility and humbled himself, even to death on the cross.  Jesus did the opposite of what Satan did and then he received exactly what Satan was searching for - "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow on heaven, earth, and under the earth."  All glory is Christ's glory.  It is because he humbled himself, which is the opposite of what Satan did. So let us set this in place with the idea that Jesus throws out in Matthew 7 of

I love the song "chicken fried" by the Zac Brown Band .  It's fun and simple with a poignant message.  Here's the best part. And its funny how it`s the simple things in life that mean the most Not where you live or what you drive or the price tag on your clothes There`s no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I`ve come to know Here is another glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven in real life.  Jesus didn't come to get all the money and distribute it to his followers.  Jesus didn't come to get all the power.  Jesus didn't come to be world famous. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth and to rescue us from the teaching of the world. Life is not about what we get.  Life is not about always moving forward to a better life.  Life is not about retiring with a bunch of money.  Life is about living.  (Too simple right?) A person is not alive until he or she has realized that there is a God who has made everything.  There is free will.  We can choos

So when Paul went to set up the church in Philippi he first met some ladies at a place of prayer.  Lydia and her whole family were baptized that day and thus the church began. In Acts 16:16-40, we find the rest of the account of the church.  They kept meeting at the place of prayer.  There a young woman had an evil spirit on her that kept her shouting, “These men are servants of the most high God.”  Paul got annoyed and cast the spirit out of the girl.  The owner of the slave girl got mad because he charged people to hear her give them their fortunes.  So he took Paul and Silas to the middle of town to be judged by the leaders.  They cast the two of them in jail.  In jail Paul and Silas were singing hymns and there was a violent earthquake.  During the earthquake all the chains came loose.  Paul and Silas did not flee.  The guard came to check on them and not seeing anybody decided to kill himself.  That would be better than the fate ahead of him for losing prisoners.  Paul shouts out

The History of the City of Philippi Philippi was named for Philip the 2, the father of Alexander the Great.  This was a great city with a forum the size of a football field, a library, an open air theater, and two large temples. It was a greek city for about 300 years.  That means that they were a pagan city that worshipped greek mythological gods. Then, if you remember your world history, a very famous scene happened there.  In 42 BC Mark Antony and Octovian chased down Brutus who was the guy who killed Julius Ceasar.  They chased him and killed him at Philippi. Then in 31 BC the Roman Emperor sent some Italian exiles to the city and He made it a Roman City.  That is a big deal because being a Roman city had it’s advantages. Then in 49 AD (80 years later) Paul comes to plant a church.  So the church is set in a very pagan culture with Greek pagans and Roman pagans.  Needless to say the people of the city thought very highly of themselves.  They weren’t the great city of Rome, but

The blogs are going to be coming more frequently over the next week or so.  There will be three types coming; personal entries, Book of Philippian entries, and consumerism quotes - linked to the paper I am writing on Consumerism and the American Church. Here is my personal entry: My wife has struck up a good relationship with our neighbor.  She is a sweet lady with fibromyalgia.  She takes care of her grandkids a lot.  She is pretty sad, but finds joy through her grandkids.  To me, they are her source of life. This past week she was feeling good enough to come to church.  I started the series on the book of Philippians titled "finding life."  This past Sunday dealt with the idea that God has laid a burden on each one of us.  Paul felt God's burden with a dream to go to Macedonia and plant a church there.  God does the same for us.  When we actually respond to that call is when we find true life. So I finished by asking a question; What is God asking you to do?  Sh

The book of Philippians was a letter written to a group of people that formed a church.  It is in the Bible because it is written by the Apostle Paul.  Paul wrote to this church.  Here are some fun background facts about the book: A letter to a church in Philippi written by the Apostle Paul. Birth of the church ; Acts 16:9-10, God gave Paul a vision to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of Macedonia.  Paul faithfully responds.  Acts 16: 12-15, Paul goes to the city of Philippi.  The church starts because of a prayer meeting.  Paul responds to God’s call and travels to the area.  Paul then goes to a prayer meeting and shares the gospel of Christ.  The church has begun.

Philippians 1:21 - For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  Those are Paul's words from a jail cell in Rome.  He is writing to a church he helped set up 11 years before that. Jesus' call to enter through the narrow gate and to walk the narrow road is not about "living a good christian life."  Jesus simply asks for everything.  The podcast is of the sermon (should be up by Monday AM at latest).  Here is a link to Jim Elliot's wiki-bio and the book written by his wife. The Biography on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot The book http://www.amazon.com/Through-Gates-Splendor-Elisabeth-Elliot/dp/0842371524

This cartoon is great!  I heard about these from my friend Seth Bates who works at a church in Assumption, Il.  This cartoon speaks volumes to the sermon that I am preaching this week out of Philippians 1.  Juxtapose this with "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Awesome. Here is the credit for these cartoons:   http://micahprays.org/doodles.htm

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo . We were made to live in harmony. God created us in the way he did for so many reasons. This might be another one of them. 1 Peter 3:8 "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." Romans 12:16 "Live in harmony with one another."

Hey remember that time in Genesis when God sent judgement on the entire earth and everyone was killed except for one family?  To me it sounds like a terrible story.  I'm not saying that it was wrong or that God rushed to judgement,  I am saying that it's interesting that we would take that story and make it a cute kid's story. Here is my favorite so far.  I call it "Noah's Goard."

I have finished the 12 week process of teaching through Jesus' first public teaching. God came down to earth and broke apart everything that we understood to be right. Jesus fulfills the Old Testament and ties it to the new teaching that He just gave us. He finishes by saying that anyone who just heard him and does what he says will be able to stand the storms of life with dignity, grace, and peace. Those who just heard him and did not put that into practice will remain slaves to the world and be incredible fools who are boxed in their own life of prison. So here's the quick re-cap: Matthew 5:1-12 - Jesus announces that he came for everyone. Feel like you don't have what it takes? Feel like you can't keep up? Feel like you don't fit in? Blessed are you because God has come to earth for you. Matt 5:13-16 - Be salt and light. Stop things from going bad. Share the light of the good news of Jesus Christ come to earth to redeem and save. Matt 5:17-48 - Jesus cam

This is part 2 of putting this quote into a real life example. "As well as goods and services, people and relationships are reduced to a monetary value in an increasingly capitalist world." This quote is taken from "Consumerism as a way of life" written by Steven Miles. Time and money. Will this give me more time? Will get this me more money? How much time is this going to take? How much money does that cost? Is that really worth my time? How much did they pay for that? This even goes into churches. "We need to give to God. You can give through your money or your time." What about love? Do couples with one kid love that kid twice as much as someone who has to split there love between two kids? When I started to love my wife, does that mean that I started to love my parents less? How much love will this cost me? Will this get me more love? How much love will it take to do that? Love doesn't work like time or money. You can't spend it a

"As well as goods and services, people and relationships are reduced to a monetary value in an increasingly capitalist world." This quote is taken from "Consumerism as a way of life" written by Steven Miles. How much money is a friend worth? In an age when we increasingly tend to rank things in order of monetary value this phrase may start to become more relevant to every day life than we would want it to be. How does this actually play out in our everyday lives? What do you think? I will attempt to come up with some every day examples here and then in the next week or so. If you are one of the reader's of this blog it is your turn to get involved and come up with a real life example of this quote. My example --------------- When Mindy and I were starting to want to have a baby we tried to figure out the cost of having a baby. We wanted to make sure that we had enough money to do it. Go figure. We didn't. How could we ever afford to have a child?

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Ants follow other ants. Going to hell may not be a decision that we make. It may just be that we are following the wrong people and ideas. The dominant themes of our world may not be right. Jesus isn't telling us to give up hope. He is telling us to wake up and look for the small gate. Then we enter through it and follow the narrow road. Proverbs 14:12 states that "there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction." One gate leads to life and one leads to death. There are no others gates.

Not long ago I wrote about Tim McGraw's song and how it is the song of my life right now. There is a line that talks about watching cars and it compares them to ants moving to the left and the right. My favorite band is the Dave Matthews Band and they have a song "Ants Marching." I have been struck with ants. He wakes up in the morning. Does his teeth, bite to eat and he's rolling Never changes a thing. The week ends, the week begins. She thinks, we look at each other Wondering what the other is thinking, But we never say a thing. And these crimes between us grow deeper. Take these chances Place them in a box until a quieter time. Lights down, you up and die. Goes to visit his mommy She feeds him well, his concerns He forgets them. And remembers being small Playing under the table and dreaming... Take these chances Place them in a box until a quieter time Lights down, you up and die. Driving along this highway All these cars and up on the sidewalk People in every d

God created perfectly. We rebelled. God redeemed us. John 5:22 says that the Father judges no one but has given that job to the Son (Jesus). So Jesus has been given the ominous job of presiding over the final judgement. The judgement is the separation of the good from the evil. The good enters into the Kingdom of Heaven and the bad enters into Hell. When Jesus came to this earth He spent his time redeeming. He didn't judge. There is a time coming when he will judge. We are in the space between the redemption and the final judgement. Are you helping with the judgement (of which you were never asked to help)? Or are you helping with the redemption (which is exactly what we have been asked to help with)?