Access » Uncategorized http://iwantaccess.org Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:54:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Manifesto http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/manifesto/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/manifesto/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:54:41 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/06/12/manifesto/ I am posting a link to “an Evangelical Manifesto” that was released last month. I highly encourage everyone to read this. Very good!

http://www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com/index.php

Also, Pastor Brian Zahnd for Word of Life Church did a very nice blog on the Manifesto and summary for those who do not want to read the entire document… granted it is only 20 pages long, so not that long of a read.

http://www.brianzahnd.com/index.php?app=blog&p=230

Hope you enjoy.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/manifesto/feed/ 1 Park Night Reminder http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/park-night-reminder/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/park-night-reminder/#comments Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:03:39 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/06/03/park-night-reminder/ Just a reminder that we will be having a night of fellowship and food at Lamar Park this Thursday, June 5th.  Start time is 7pm.  Lamar Park is located at the corner of Porter Ave and Byron Center Ave.  Hope to see you all there.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/park-night-reminder/feed/ 2 I recommend http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/i-recommend/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/i-recommend/#comments Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:52:23 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/06/02/i-recommend/ Last week I finished the book, Jesus Mean and Wild, by Mark Galli – I need to say – read this book. Galli shows a side of Jesus that many of us don’t think about, a side of God that some of us like to box and confine only to the pages of the Old Testament. The type of God who burns cities, curses fig trees, flips over tables, and drives the rebellious characters out with a whip. A God who at times can seem a bit “mean and wild.”

The book opens with this line… “God loves you and has a difficult plan for your life.” Not the lovely, touchy-feely God that we were taught in Sunday school. But a God that is calling us to following Him, regardless of the cost. Matter-of-fact, the cost will be great. Jesus tells us in Luke 14 that we need to pick up our cross and follow Him.

Are we willing to do that? Will we die to Jesus so that we can live? Jesus said that those who lose their live will find life. Pick up a copy of, Jesus Mean and Wild, I believe that it will challenge you to examine how you live, serve, and worship.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/06/i-recommend/feed/ 2 Left to Right, Top to Bottom http://iwantaccess.org/2008/05/left-to-right-top-to-bottom/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/05/left-to-right-top-to-bottom/#comments Wed, 21 May 2008 13:49:24 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/05/21/left-to-right-top-to-bottom/ I once heard Brian Zahnd say that although a pastor by vocation, he is actually paid to read and not preach. For myself, I do not believe that there is a more accurate description of my own life in full-time vocational ministry. I read. I study. I think and ponder. I pray, and then pray some more. Then I start over. And then I teach (or preach if you will, but I have always thought myself more of a teacher than a preacher…). Anyways, I thought that it would be interesting to share with everyone the books that are part of my life, or those that are challenging me and ministering to me. So periodically I will be posting comments on the books that I am reading and some incite into them. I hope everyone will join in and together we can help encourage one another to turn off the TV, computer, and play-station and engage a book.

So for my first review I thought I would post on the new big book in Christianity, The Shack, by William P. Young. I am not much of a fiction reader but I was told that I had to read this book – it would transform me. So I sat down and within 24hours I had completed my assigned task. To start I will say that the book is very well written and the story line is truly gut wrenching. The story revolves around the main character, Mack, and he pain that he is living with after his daughter (around the age of 7) is kidnapped and murdered. In the end, Mack blames God and begins to develop a hatred for Him. Then Mack has an encounter with the Trinity. -I will stop there as not to give the book away- Again very gripping story-line, but I would not recommend it. Here’s why…

When it came to solid theology, The Shack, failed to deliver. The way that the Trinity was represented was borderline heretical and there where places in Mack’s experience that left the reader with more questions than answers and at times, although it did not come to this conclusion, it could be taken down a Universalistic path. The book is also written as though the story actually took place with Mr. Young taking a part in the story referred to as, Willie. No acknowledgment that the story is fictional. Which makes me worry that people will not see it as such. But will rather begin to build their theology on it, or at least be theologically influenced by it. If you disagree, I challenge you to ask yourself or someone else regarding “end times” and you will most like get a quote from the Left Behind series. Many of us are more influenced by “Christian Fiction” than we are the actual Word of God.

So if you have read Young’s fictional work, The Shack, or intend to, I encourage you to read it as such, a fictional book that was written to entertain and not be a theological commentary.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/05/left-to-right-top-to-bottom/feed/ 3 MUSIC http://iwantaccess.org/2008/05/music/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/05/music/#comments Mon, 05 May 2008 03:11:22 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/05/04/music/ It’s amazing the emotions that music can arise inside of us. I am sitting here on my couch just before midnight listening to some songs in iTunes… thinking. The playlist just hit David Gray’s “Otherside,” and I find myself thinking about the life after this one. What it will be like? Will the journey be instantaneous from this world to the next? Will I know immediately that I have stepped from this life into eternity? Who will be there waiting? To all of these questions I have to confess that although I have my thoughts and opinions I truly don’t know. The afterlife is a fascinating, and at the same time, scary reality. Some day, each and everyone of us will step into eternity and stand before our creator. Standing there, completely exposed, with our life’s deeds laid out before us, what will we say?

Will I have lived it right?

Will I have accomplished what I was suppose to?

Did I use my talents unselfishly and complete the task that I was assigned?

Did I love others?

Was I salt?

Was I light?

Did I….

Was I…

The questions could go on all day but only one questions matters…

“Is Christ being formed in me?”

Have I totally surrendered myself to the Lordship of Christ? Do I look more like Jesus today than yesterday? Do my actions, words, character, and desires show that I am a follower of the Messiah? Am I truly following my Master, or just trying to escape hell’s flame?

As I get older, as I watch my little girl grow up, I have been realizing how the things that I thought were important really are not. This life is so short, yet we have all eternity to remember it. For some to rejoice in the correct choices, and for some to regret and mourn the wrong ones.

But the most important choice – the deciding choice – have you, have I, followed Christ.  Have we picked up our execution stake and followed Him?

Have we truly followed Him…….?

By God’s grace, I am getting closer to those beautiful words: “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Lord: continue your work in me. Change me everyday so that I will conform more to your image.  Have your way in me.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/05/music/feed/ 2 iwantaccess.org http://iwantaccess.org/2008/04/iwantaccessorg/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/04/iwantaccessorg/#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:35:05 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/04/24/iwantaccessorg/ The iwantaccess.org bump stickers are here!  Make sure you grab some at service tonight and stick them on your car, dorm window, or a lamp pole.  We want to get the word out about what God is doing here at Access and on college campuses throughout the Grand Rapids area through the students connected here.  Be blessed and we’ll see you tonight.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/04/iwantaccessorg/feed/ 3 Chicken Dance http://iwantaccess.org/2008/03/chicken-dance/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/03/chicken-dance/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:29:13 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/03/15/chicken-dance/ The big night finally came… Blake and Sheri’s wedding. It was very nice and Blake and Sheri looked great. Everything went smoothly… at least from a spectator’s viewpoint, and everyone was in humorous mood. About 9:45pm I leaned over to my wife and said, “Look at that!” Ronzi and Mike on the dance floor; truly some things in life are priceless. It was great, Mike busted out moves that I haven’t seen in quite a while and some that… well… I have never seen, but they were awesome. We cheered them on, taunted them just a bit, and I was let known how jealous I was of the amazing moves… and that ultimately, I had been “served.” Let’s just say my stomach hurt from laughing. My wife and I were talking about the dance floor (we are not dancers), and came to the conclusion that regardless of every person’s ability to dance, everyone on the dance floor was having fun. They didn’t care if they were the worst or best dancer out there, they were just enjoying life.

It got me thinking about King David in the bible and when he dances in front of the Ark of the Covenant in his undergarments. David didn’t care what people thought, he wasn’t interested in impressing anyone, he was just loved worshiping his God.

Today so many of us worry what others will think about us regarding our faith that it stops us from stepping out and being bold for Christ. But what does it matter what others think? Are we trying to impress man, or honor our God? Our we mindful of Christ, or the “popular” crowd at school and work?

I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but I know that I want to be the type of person who will dance in my underwear for Jesus (though I do feel sorry for those who might see such a frightening sight). I want to be bold for my God. I want to be salt and light to my generation. Like David, I want to be a man after God’s own heart. I want to go out, not care what others think or say, take the dance floor and bust it up for Jesus. I pray that you do as well.

See you on the dance-floor!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/03/chicken-dance/feed/ 2 Questions Questions Questions… http://iwantaccess.org/2008/02/questions-questions-questions/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/02/questions-questions-questions/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:29:37 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/02/19/questions-questions-questions/ After concluding our relationships and dating series, one thing that we found to be very successful was the question box – you might remember it, it looked like a mailbox dressed in the Riddler’s outfit from a Batman comic book. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Anyways, I wanted to encourage everyone who is a part of the Access family to continue to summit questions, regardless of topic, via the website or the question box at Access. You can send your questions to access@reslife.org or drop a note in the “Riddle me this” box and I will answer those questions here on the website so that everyone can be blessed and edified by the dialog. No names will be given or shared. No subject is off limits. If you have a question, concern, or prayer requests please submit them and together we will examine God’s Word to see what He says about any given situation or circumstance.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/02/questions-questions-questions/feed/ 1 Lest thee be born again http://iwantaccess.org/2008/02/lest-thee-be-born-again/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/02/lest-thee-be-born-again/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:19:47 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/02/19/lest-thee-be-born-again/ I am not much of a sleeper. Most nights I spend sitting on the couch reading a book or on the internet until 1 or 2, or even later, because frankly I just can’t sleep. Now it’s not that I don’t want to sleep, but for some reason I do not seem to possess the ability to turn off my mind long enough to fall asleep. If I go to bed, I will just lie there kicking and rolling unable to fall asleep which usually leads to my wife not being very happy since I am keeping her up, or getting bored so I get up anyways… which is why now I just stay up until I am tired. I usually run this way for a good five or six days, and then I totally crash – starting the cycle all over again. One positive side effect of being up late is that I find I write my best sermons around midnight… I don’t know why, it just seems to work out that way.
Anyways, sitting here thinking to myself that I need to go to bed since I have to be up in six hours, I decided to “Google” myself to see what came up. There was the typical Reslife and Access info, but I learned that apparently I make pottery on the side and in 1986 I taught a drawing class dealing with “Romantic Card Company Artists”. Wow! I must be pretty good since I was only 7 in 1986… It’s kind of weird to think that there is “another” Brent Matzen out there. I wonder what he’s like? Which of course got me thinking about how different I am today then the “Brent” I was years ago before I knew the LORD – a completely different person… He thought that way, I think this way. He valued that, I value this. He lived one way, I live another.

It’s amazing how God can take something that is so messed up and totally change it. Looking back at the years past, the person I once was seems as much of a stranger as the guy who taught pottery or romantic card drawing classes with the same name. A whole other life; truly a different person.

How amazing God’s grace truly is.

Shalom!

Brent

]]> http://iwantaccess.org/2008/02/lest-thee-be-born-again/feed/ 0 Sliding thru Lights http://iwantaccess.org/2008/01/sliding-thru-lights/ http://iwantaccess.org/2008/01/sliding-thru-lights/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:30:15 +0000 admin http://access.reslifeblogs.org/2008/01/31/sliding-thru-lights/ Only in Michigan can it drop from 50 degrees to 9 degrees within hours. One minute we are running around without our coats and the next seating by the fireplace trying to stay warm. I went to bed with the driveway clear and woke up with a 3 foot drift that my car almost got stuck in. On the way to work I found myself sliding through a red-light intersection with my horn blowing, pleading that no one would run into me, because my brakes couldn’t stop my car. Sitting back in my office, thanking God that He prevented me from getting in an accident, I came to two conclusions, or thoughts… First, winter sucks. Second, how many of us are slide through red lights with God. Let me explain:

Throughout our daily Christian walk, God puts signs up that direct us. Through His Word God instructions us how to live, through His Holy Spirit He confirms desires and ideas in us, and through His children He brings accountability and encouragement. Among these there are places that God tells us not to go, things not to do, and thoughts to pull down. The light turns “red” God tells us to stop, but for many of us we slide through. We think God is trying to denying us something, trying to hinder our fun, but what we don’t understand is that God sees the car coming straight at us and is trying to prevent us from being injured. Sometimes we slide through without ever knowing the danger coming at us, other times we see it and lay on the horn, close our eyes, and plead that God will protect us.

But the truth is that we can never slide through the red lights without paying a consequence. Even if we don’t have a fatal collision immediately, each time we choose to ignore the warning signs that God has placed in our lives, it becomes harder to see them in the future. Our vision gets blurred, our senses become duller, and we lose focus on the road ahead of us. When this happens, it’s only a matter of time before we crash.

It’s strange that we understand the the warning signs of our land… the red lights, deer crossing, icy bridge… but so many times we fail to see the spiritual “stop” signs that God has placed in our lives. So take this as an encouragement to slow down and listen to God’s direction. Be in the WORD daily, pray daily, have an accountability partner. Let God’s path for your life be the one that you follow, including all the stops and detours along the way, even if you don’t understand them at the moment. Trust God – He’s wants to save you from dying.

Shalom!

Brent

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