Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 73
January 29, 2018
New Happy Rant: Ronnie at Leisure, Motivational Motivation, and Morgan Freeman Protests
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas hash out the following.
Ronnie at Leisure including dinner, watching football, rollerblading, watching ballet, and talking about his feelings
Their failings about all things “motivational”
Morgan Freeman’s protests of an anatomically correct SAG award
Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April. TICKETS ARE $10 THROUGH 1/31 THEN THE PRICE GOES UP TO $15. So get yours now.
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #180
January 25, 2018
3 Things I Like This Week – January 25
[image error]I know, I know – Red Wing Boots are all hipstery and whatnot. Let me clear a couple things up. First, Red Wing boots were around before Hipsters were a glimmer in their waspy suburban mothers’ eyes. Second, Red Wing boots are super comfortable, at least the Irish Setters are. Third, Red Wing boots last forever, unlike hipsters. Now that we’ve cleared that up, I’ll simply say that some of you will get sticker shock when you see the price of these boots – understandable but also worth it. High quality footwear is worth breakign out the old Dave Ramsey Cash envelope and springing for.
2. Bosch
[image error]If you love crime procedurals Bosch is one of the best out there. It is an Amazon exclusive show (but you can get a free 30-day trial for Amazon Prime and watch it then). It is based off Michael Connelly’s excellent series of novels about LAPD detective Harry Bosch. Connelly is a former crime reporter, so he tells the stories with a kind of pace and detail that differs from your more common dime store thriller. Titus Welliver, a classic Hollywood “that guy” (or “character actor” if you prefer) plays Bosch on screen and is pitch perfect. Botht he books and the TV series are excellently done and enjoyable.
3. Italian Grandmother Learns To Use Google Home
This video made me laugh harder than anything I have watched in quite a while. When she starts singing it is simply amazing.
January 24, 2018
Video: How Curiosity Feeds Creativity
People are created to be image bearers of God. One of the primary, unique ways we do this is through creativity, and the only way to be truly creative is by being intentionally curious. In this message I share with with the Austin Stone Worship Collective about how curiosity is essential for creativity and intentional image bearing.
[image error]For more in the impact curiosity can have on your life, relationships, and ministry check out The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life. If you are interested in seeing what kind of curious person you are (or are not) visit CuriousChristianBook.com and take the short assessment.
January 22, 2018
New Happy Rant: We Are Frankie
In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas hash out the following:
Drisky Business involving speaking in tongues and a college QB
Awkward over-Christian responses to a normal question
Responding to a missile crisis
Ronnie’s love for Francis Chan
Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April. TICKETS ARE $10 THROUGH 1/31 THEN THE PRICE GOES UP TO $15. So get yours now.
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #179
January 18, 2018
HAPPY RANT SPORTS EPISODE 2: NFL Playoffs, Blake Bortles, and NBA Books
In this episode of Happy Rant Sports Ted and Barnabas dig into the following sports topics.
Ted plays “Blake Bortles Apologist” in which he tries to defend the Jaguar’s QB and compares him to other current QBs
The Vikings INSANE win over the New Orleans Saints and Barnabas’s roller coaster ride as a Vikings fan
A Brief preview of the NFC and AFC Championship games.
Recommended books on NBA basketball
Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April. Tickets are $10 through 1/31 then the price goes up to $15. So get yours asap.
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Happy Rant Sports Episode #2
3 Things I Like This Week – January 18
Each week I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1. Goodreads
If you are an avid reader or simply someone who aspires to read more or read more widely Goodreads is super helpful. I use it to set reading goals for the year, keep track of what I’ve read, leave ratings and reviews, and pick up suggestions and ideas based on what others are reading. It is a wonderful way to discover new books and share what you enjoy. As a perk, it syncs with the Kindle app so that any highlights or quotes you save while reading on those devices can be shared or posted to Goodreads.
2. Good Poems, collected by Garrison Keillor
Poetry always intimidated me. It was complex. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t really enjoy the poems I felt like a smart person is supposed to enjoy. Then I realized that was all based on an understanding of poetry defined by literature majors and aimed at impressing someone. That meant I could read whatever poetry I liked and just like it. This book is just such a collection. Keillor, the long time host of Prairie Home Companion, is a master story teller and connector with common sensibilities. That’s what what this book represents – poems about real life beautifully written by an array of poets from anonymous to laureate. I loved it.
3. Traveling Alone by Jason Isbell
The man looks like he’s 14 and has an old soul. I can relate. What I can’t relate to is Isbell’s lyrical and musical ability. Both are remarkable. This is my favorite song of his, but he has dozens of others that are fantastic as well.
January 17, 2018
Over-Complicating Accountability
We’ve made accountability way too complicated. Just reading the word “accountability” probably made some of you cringe just a little. Visions of awkward, forced conversations or going through a list of prescribed questions come to mind. Or maybe sitting at a round table with people you sort of know, drinking bad coffee out of styrofoam cups in a church fellowship hall during a men’s or women’s bible study. Some of you think back to college and your accountability group who got together, all admitted to the same sins as last week, limply suggested you all do better, and agreed to try again at the same time and place next week.
Accountability has become a formal word associated with groups and meetings and appointments. We’ve mistaken formality for intentionality. Accountability must be intentional or else it won’t happen. But when it becomes formal we usually stop being accountable. We’ve made it too complicated.
It really only has two main ingredients.
Humility
We must be humble enough to know we need help, to recognize our shortcomings, to admit them to others, and to listen to their counsel. Humility gets us over ourselves, our fear of losing face, our shame. It recognizes our need for others and their contribution to our betterment.
Relationships
We must have trusted friends. We don’t need a posse of them, just a couple. They must be people with whom we are honest and who are honest back, who will tell us hard truths knowing that we’re humble enough to listen. They must be unafraid of our opinions or our wrath. (Of course most wrath isn’t humble, either.) They must be godly and invested, in our lives enough to see the ebbs and flows of emotion and soul. And they must allow us to be for them as they are for us.
This is it. That’s the recipe for accountability. Have friends and be honest.
None of this is easy. But neither is it complicated. Do you have godly friends you can trust? If not, start there. If yes be intentional about trusting them and asking them to trust you. Might it help to meet regularly? Yes, but as friends who care not as “accountability partners” who devolve into rote questions and stock answers.
Accountability only works if it is rooted in relational investment. It works if it is not merely a Q&A but rather life lived alongside life, through conversation, meals, fun, crisis, ups, and downs. This is relationship, the kind out of which real accountability grows. The kind where it’s safe to be humble and honest.
Don’t over-complicate things. Keep it simple – humility and relationships. Then start the hard work of growing in those.
This was originally posted at The Blazing Center
Video: What Pastors’ Kids Wish Their Churches Knew About Them
What to PKs wish church members realized and were more aware of? In this short video I recorded with For The Church I do my best break it down.
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For more on serving pastors’ kids well and the challenges they face check out my book The Pastor’s Kid: Finding Your Own Faith and Identity. If this blog is all the reading you can handle you can get the audio book which I read instead. I’m no Morgan Freeman, but it’s not too bad.
January 16, 2018
He Reads Truth: Glory on Display
I have the privilege of contributing to He Reads Truth, a website of whose purpose is “To help men become who we were made to be, by doing what we were made to do, by the power and provision that God has given us to do it, for the glory of Jesus Christ.” They do this by providing scripture reading plans accompanied by reflections that can be accessed for free online or purchased as print books. For those of you looking to engage scripture in a fresh way – either because you are dried up or have been away from it, these studies/plans will refresh your soul and engage your mind.
What follows is one of the pieces I wrote for the Gospel of John plan. You can find the full plan HERE.
John 2:1-25, Psalm 104:14-15, 1 Peter 4:11
I’m thankful for many things about my mother. One of those things is that, despite myriad opportunities, she has resisted the urge to put me on the spot in public and embarrass me. Jesus didn’t have such a luxury. Mary put Him in quite a spot—and at a wedding, no less.
Weddings in that culture were multiple-day celebrations with much feasting and drinking. For the wine to run out early was a real downer. It would shame the hosts and be terribly embarrassing, so when it happened at this wedding in Cana, Mary declared that her son could fix it. She knew something of His capabilities and that He was no mere man. Jesus gently reprimanded her because His time for this sort of thing had not yet come, the time in which He wanted to reveal His power and glory to people. But He helped nonetheless.
By turning water into wine, Jesus did more than save a host from embarrassment or add to the enjoyment of the guests. He revealed, ever so slightly, His power over the natural world. He wasn’t a magician. He was a creator. The Creator. The laws of nature did not apply to Him because He had written them.
The chapter takes an interesting turn here. It shifts from joy and celebration and partying and a miracle, to a more serious, intense, even angry tone. Jesus reveals another side of His glory and identity. At the wedding He revealed His generosity, His creative ability, His power over nature, and His desire for people’s joy and happiness. But in the temple He reveals His zeal for holiness and the perfect glory of His Father.
Upon arriving at the temple during the Passover, a time when Jerusalem was overflowing with pilgrims who had come to worship as the law required, Jesus saw that this holy day of remembrance had been turned into an opportunity for commerce. Merchants lined the temple courtyard, selling animals for sacrifice (likely at a huge markup, as you would find in any tourist trap) and changing currency at a profit. This place was meant to be devoted to God during this celebration of how the Lord rescued His people. But now it was a mercenary’s heaven.
Jesus would have none of it. He drove the sellers out. He declared the temple to be His Father’s house. And, when challenged as to His authority, He prophesied His own death and resurrection by metaphorically calling Himself the temple, the gateway to God’s presence. Jesus declared Himself to be the Son of God, the sacrifice, and the means by which any who believed could enter God’s glory.
With subtlety, generosity, and flare, Jesus showed Himself to be Creator of the universe. With passion, fierceness, and strong (though veiled) language, Jesus declared Himself the Son of God. In both cases people were intrigued, though most found an explanation other than the truth.
Yet those with eyes to see and ears to hear believed and followed.
January 15, 2018
New Happy Rant: Top 100 Evangelicals and Carman the Life Coach
[image error]In this episode of The Happy Rant Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas tackle three pressing issues.
A list came out of the Top 100 Evangelicals, so of course we had to judge, parse, and otherwise discuss it.
Carman, the iconic CCM artist, has moved into life coaching.
Why do pastors love the phrase “moralistic therapeutic deism”?
Big thank you to our sponsor this week – Renae and Kevin Adelsberger. Renae has written a wonderful Bible study on the book of James – A Study of James: Mature in Every Way. You can download it entirely for free and Renae has also recorded a 15-episode podcast to walk students and leaders through each lesson. Check it out today!
Be sure to visit our website to get fresh roasted coffee from Lagares Roasters, order your Happy Rant swag from Missional Wear, and order your tickets for our next LIVE event – Together for the Rant – to be held in April.
Please consider supporting the podcast financially as well. We have set up a Patreon page, and your donations help us cover production costs, do live events, and grow the podcast by trying some new things. Oh, and of course there are perks for those who commit to helps us such as free books and coffee!
To listen you can:
Subscribe in iTunes.
Listen on Google Play
Listen on Stitcher.
Leave us a rating in iTunes (it only takes 1 click and it really helps us).
Listen using the player below.
Episode #178
