wordspring creative group - Recently Updated Pages

Video Loop Sources?

MattSt — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:04:26 CDT

I just discovered a great resource for backgrounds, video loops, etc., stuff that I haven't see used a lot, yet...
istockphoto.com, provides free weekly photos and videos for those who join, and you can tap into a pretty good archive of material, too. I'm teaching a series using gardening as a theme, and so I searched the video archive for gardening, and came up with several good jumpback type loops to use...

This may be old news to everyone else. I'm just beginning to emerge from the dark ages...

Videos and Multimedia

MattSt — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:02:54 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Jeremiah 1:1-3: Born for Bad News

mtullos — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 10:30:01 CDT

Matt Tullos

The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Jeremiah, perhaps the most courageous of all Prophets, from a family of holy men is commissioned to give the nation of Israel, tough words. This would be similar to a man saying that God had switched his alliance from the United States to a country like Iran. I couldn't even imagine the tension as he spoke. He's the ultimate bearer of bad news. A word from God about how awful things really are, is rarely greeted with adulation during good times. For the most, on the surface, these were good times. Josiah was in power. He had cleaned out the temple and even found a copy of the Torah. (Can you imagine going into a church having to search every nook and cranny for a copy of the Bible?) Josiah's grandfather, Manasseh represents the low-point in the Jewish history of kings. Morally and spiritually, he was trouble with a capital "T". Sacrificing to false God's in the temple, he executed supporters of his fathers. In short, he delivered hell to the front door of the temple and then ushered it into the Holy of Holies.

I can't even imagine how this grieved God. It must have been like a child starting a methlab in your master suite. In the end, the king repented but it was just a faint holy time out. Then Amnon, his son, continued the family tradition of idol worship, sex selling, and power tripping.

But things turned with Josiah's reign and in comes Jeremiah with more bad news from Jehovah God at a time when there seemed to be a strong sense of civility.
I can relate. Can you? You've been through a season of hardship, difficulty, spiritual warfare and wounding. And just before you can catch your breath you hear the dreaded words- "It's not over" And this is the beginning of a book of sorrow, dashed dreams and torturous consequence but it the midst of all this junk there is hope. Hope hat comes from the Father. Hope that imbedded in the muck... Hope that we all receive.

Incredible Churches

mtullos — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:34:14 CDT

Matt Tullos

You can download the powerpoint presentation from the semon on June 11th at Bluegrass Baptist Church, Hendersonville Tennessee. Hopefully notes will soon follow.

Worship Through the Scriptures

shane@nailscars — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:12:59 CDT

by Shane Yancey

General Info:

This is designed to be presented “Reader’s Theater” style.
The scripture references are there for informational purposes only. Do not read them.
All scripture taken from the NIV Bible.
Included at the bottom of this page is a link for a PowerPoint presentation of these verses.
Project each verse on the screen as they are being read.

One: ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. (1 Chronicles 16:29)

Two: You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Nehemiah 9:6)

One: Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. (Psalm 29:2)

Two: Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; (Psalm 95:6)

One: Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. (Psalm 96:9)

Two: Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. (Psalm 99:5)

One: Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. (Psalm 99:9)

Two: Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. (Psalm 100:2)

One: The Lord will be awesome to them the nations on every shore will worship him, every one in its own land. (Zephaniah 2:11)

Two: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:23)

One: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

Two: Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, (Hebrews 12:28)

One: Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

Two: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (Revelation 4:8)

Both: Come! Let us worship the Lord!

Download PowerPoint Presentation (File Size 2.2 MB)

Flesh

mtullos — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:17:00 CDT

We look upon the enemy of our souls as a conquered foe, so he is, but only to God, not to us.
Oswald Chambers

Everyone is as God has made him, and oftentimes a great deal worse.
Miquel de Cervantes

Writers

mtullos — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 08:21:53 CDT

An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.

Charles de Montesquieu

Kingdom

mtullos — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:20:39 CDT

The church has failed to follow her appointed pathway of separation, holiness, heavenliness and testimony to an absent but coming Christ; she has turned aside from that purpose to the work of civilizing the world, building magnificent temples, and acquiring earthly power and wealth, and, in this way, has ceased to follow in the footsteps of Him who had not where to lay His head.

C. I. Scofield

Compassion

mtullos — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:14:48 CDT

Peace of heart that is won by refusing to bear the common yoke of human sympathy is a peace unworthy of a Christian. To seek tranquility by stopping our ears to the cries of human pain is to make ourselves not Christian but a kind of degenerate stoic having no relation either to stoicism or Christianity.

A.W.Tozer

Generosity

mtullos — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:10:42 CDT

You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.
William Blake

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.

Corrie Ten Boom

As for ourselves, yes, we must be meek, bear injustice, malice, rash judgment. We must turn the other cheek, give up our cloak, go a second mile.

Dorothy Day

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

John Wesley

Create Your Own Psalm

shane@nailscars — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:11:28 CDT

by Shane Yancey

Psalm 98:1 says sing to the Lord a new song. Many times in our worship times we are reciting the words that others have written. This activity encourages participants to come up with praise in their own words. It also invites people to go beyond just the first word that comes to mind and to really think about the God that we praise.

Pass out the "psalm" printed below or download the .pdf version attached to the bottom of the page. Instruct your group to fill out the psalm with their own words. Encourage them to go beyond just church words. Play some soft music while they are writing. Give them 3 or 4 minutes to complete the activity. Once they have finished tell them to find a partner and share their psalms. (for smaller group settings have the participants share their psalm with the whole group)

Create Your Own Psalm

I will praise You, O God, for You are _______ and __________ and __________________

___________ is the Lord and worthy of Praise!

The Lord my God has __________________
____________________________________

He has shown his love to me by ____________
______________________________ and by
____________________________________

His works declare that he is _______________

I will praise the Lord because to me He is ____________ and _________ and ________ and __________ and ________ and _______!

Nintendo Gospel

shane@nailscars — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:47:36 CDT

by Shane Yancey

Biblical Basis: Jeremiah 29:11; 1 Peter 2:21

Possible Points: God can give us instruction, either one at a time, or all at one time. But until we give Him the controls, we will never be successful. He knows all the pitfalls, all the troubles, all the coins, and all the joys, because He wrote the game. He knows the outcome. Give your controller over to God. He's waiting to lead you.

Characters:
Kid: around 10 years old, can be played by someone of any age
Expert: The idea is that the expert is God, but you don't have to have God play the part

Setting: Actors are sitting side by side on chairs facing the audience. Kid is holding a video game controller. It is important that the Expert remain kind towards the kid throughout the entire sketch.

Kid: O.K. now, be sure to tell me where are the hidden stuff is, and warn me if I'm going to get killed, O.K.

Expert: Sure, but I don't think this will work, here let me guide you.

Kid: No! I want to do it, you keep your hands off and just tell me what's coming up. (Kid starts playing, background music starts. Kid makes elaborate movements with the joystick that move his entire body. Through the Experts following line Kid gets more and more frustrated)

Expert: No wait, you missed a coin back there. Stops go back, slowly all right jump. No, you missed it. O.K. right there it's a free man, jump get it. You almost had it. Etc. No jump on the block to the right.

Kid: Are you sure cause Billy said to go under the block.

Expert: Of course I'm sure. Wait! Look-out! Oh, you died.

Kid: I know I died, I think I can tell I died.

Expert: Now don't get upset, I tried to tell you it wouldn't work.

Kid: Of course it won't work, you're waiting to long to tell me what's next.

Expert: Well, I have to wait until you get there, You won't know what I am talking about if I tell you before hand.

Kid: I think I can handle it. Why don't you just give me all of it at once?

Expert: Nah, I think you should let me guide you.

Kid: I don't want you to play my game, why don't you play your own game so I can see how it is done.

Expert: I did that already remember.

Kid: Well I didn't see it.

Expert: I gave you a manual based on that game. It is full of eyewitness accounts of people who watched me play.

Kid: I don't like to read, won't you just tell me everything in advance.

Expert: O.K. are you ready?

Kid: You bet I'm ready!

Expert: (This section should be played for humor and said as fast as you can.)Here goes: walks forward exactly fourteen steps, then jump up this reveals a hidden block. Jump on this block being careful not to hit the squirrel walking by. From here jump up slightly to the right, to revel the first stork. Chase the stork, but don't forget to jump over the flaming fence of death. Then hit the ninth block on the upper level, but don't hit the eighth or the tenth, because this will drop an jalgite on your head. Climb over the yellow block under the blue one break the purple one. Watch out for the mighty gork that will be following you. When you get to the maze, turn left, right, up, left, down, right, right, left, left, down, up, left, right, down, left, right down. Jump the turtle, then turn to down-left, then you get to the gramplite. To kill the gramplite jump on his libythian.

Kid: Wait a minute, what is a libythian?

Expert: It's a small round thing sticking out from his matacon.

Kid: Oh.

Expert: then you hop on the purple happernathy, and you've completed stage one.

Kid: all that for stage one?

Expert: Stage two is even longer, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Well, are you going to play or not?

Kid: I guess I'm going to play.

Expert: Let me play for you, please.

Kid: No. I can do it. (tries to play and dies almost immediately.) I still died.

Expert: I'm sorry

Kid: No, you’re not, you're happy. Go on, say I told you so.

Expert: I did tell you that your way was destined to fail, but I'm not happy you failed. I care about you. Let me have the controller.

Kid: Well, how do I know that you know what you are doing?

Expert: I designed and built the game. Besides, I told you I've played before.

Kid: Well, O.K. I guess. (hands Expert the controller, who calmly begins playing. Kid looks on and quietly shows his excitement until the sketch ends.)

Worship

mtullos — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:48:32 CDT

Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped.

Jack Hayford

The whole person, with all his senses, with both mind and body, needs to be involved in genuine worship.

Jerry Kerns -

Song Writing

mtullos — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:42:18 CDT

I wish that worship songwriters would choose to write more songs that focus on the character of God and teachings of Jesus and what we should be like in this life, in addition to the thousands and thousands of songs about the cross and the substitutionary atonement. If we only view worship through the atonement, we don’t focus Jesus’ teaching on this life and on being a kingdom-minded disciple.

Dan Kimball

clothing

mtullos — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:11:55 CDT

I began thinking about ties, and where did they come from? Why do we wear them? I remember reading somewhere that in American history suit and ties originally were discouraged from being worn in the church. The reason was that only wealthy people could afford suit and ties, and it showed a subtle discrimination against the people who couldn't afford them - so in churches they discouraged people from wearing suit and ties originally. Now in some churches, the pastors and leaders wear suits and ties and it seen as not being respectable if you don't dress up.

More....

Dan Kimball

Church Planting

mtullos — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 09:48:23 CDT

Not to boast, but we have stayed on our mission and gone from nothing to 3600 in the nation's least churched city. Meanwhile, the gay pastors are on their mission, the Republican pastors are on their moral mission, the Charismaniacs are on their prosperity mission, and the list goes on forever. What I'm finding is that if I stay on my mission, eventually a platform gets big enough that you kind of just have permission to do your thing and others respect you even if they don't like you.

Sure, some pastors and churches are angry that I'm not putting my weight behind their mission, but in the end, I won't stand before them for judgment and they won't stand before me, so I just let it go and keep pushing ahead until I see Jesus and He can separate sheep and goats and hand out rewards to the faithful. In the meantime, I refuse to get off my ladder, but keep my sword close by, and if a wolf shows up in my flock, then I draw my sword, but not until then.

Mark Driscoll

View From...

alenaf — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:41:15 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

welcome to the wordspring wiki!

mtullos — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:20:39 CDT

In the coming days you'll find lots of free resources for worship, preaching, drama and ministry. Thanks for coming by! Want to contribute? Just let me know and I'll set up a contributor login for you.

To check out what's new on the site today check out this link.

WordSpring Creative is currently a project of Matt Tullos. To learn more about Matt go to Tullos.org

Jill Baughan

mtullos — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:07:47 CDT

Jill Baughan is an adjunct English instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University for now, but she dreams of one day making a living as a professional goof off. A member of the worship staff at Cool Spring Baptist Church as a musician and a writer, she is also the author of Born To Be Wild: Rediscover the Freedom of Fun.For more information on how to access your Inner Harley, you are invited to visit www.jillbaughan.com.

Romans 3

mtullos — Thu, 31 May 2007 23:40:06 CDT

1 I can just hear you asking: What is the value of a true Israelite? (A legitimate question, by the way.)

2 Let me count the ways! First off, your family tree was blessed with the Torah (the words of God!)

3 But what about the Israelites whose lost faith in God and the Torah. Does that completely zero out the power of God’s promise? Or to put it another way- Does man’s faithfulnesses cancel out the faithfulness of God and the sheer integrity of His Word?

4. A thousand times no! If that’s the way it works, how could God judge human faithfulness if God’s own faithfulness crumbled under the weight of man’s flaws. God’s much bigger than that. Take a look at scripture when David repents of his sin, David says to God, I’ve sinned against You and you only but You are completely righteous and have every right to condemn me and then forgive me. Your righteousness prevails over all! (Psalm 51:4)

5 then another question pops up: “If our unrighteousness clearly demonstrates God’s righteousness why does He punish our unrighteousness? We’re actually helping people see God’s power when we sin! Right? (I’m just throwing out this question to prove my point.) The answer to that question is: No way!

6 God is fair. He doesn’t play those kinds of games. Remember, He’s God and has ever right to judge every living person on the face of the Earth.

7 Believe it or not, there are many who actually think that way. And when they do, it’s slander against God and all believers.

8 They say, “I can sin all I want I’m helping to promote God’s mercy by creating this wild life that ends with God intervening and saving me.” Thanks crazy talk! And they will be condemned for their cheap rationalizations.

9 So back to your basic law abiding Jews. What about them? Are they a cut above the rest? No. It doesn’t matter who you are. You ‘re a sinner. The good, the bad, the Jew, the non-Jew… We all sin. Period.

10 The book of Psalms backs me up on this.
Righteousness alludes us all.

11 No one is righteous- outside of God
No one is wise- outside of God
No one is spiritually passionate- outside of God.
We’ve all gotten lost. We are all a mess.

12 We’ve all taken a wrong turn.
We’re all counterproductive.
Our lives don’t work outside of God.
None of us!

13 Our words are dead. The breath of those outside of God smells like death warmed over.

14 They are living a lie when we rely on their own righteousness. Our words are poison from a viper.

15 They aren’t even above murder to get their way.

16 Destruction and misery follow them all the days of their lives.

17 And they will never dwell in the God’s house. Peace will be illusive.

18 and they have no awe, passion, or heart for God. They wouldn't see God even if He was standing right in front of them.

19 It's clear that the law was given to people so that they could understand God's standard and to keep them from rationalizing and to make it crystal clear the standards of God. And even in a broader, deeper, and more universal sense, it declares to the world that we are guilty.

20 Law don't save us. They point simply underscore our helplessness to overcome the blight of our sins.

21 But this is where the story turns.There is an answer to this dreadfully bleak problem of our spiritual helplessness. Moses and the prophets knew it.

22 No matter who you are, Jesus Christ, God's Son, took our place and He performed the feat of perfection that we could never do.

23 Because we're all sinners. We all fall short of God's renown and His standard for life.

24 Through the gift of his freely given grace, we are forgiven by Holy God. Yes! The cost of our sin was the life of God's son. It was the one and only exchange would work.

25 God didn't hold back His grace. What sacrifice! He made a covenant with made and it was paid and signed in the blood of the one perfect offering- His Son. God held back His anger toward sins past, present and future. It is a reflection of God's character: divine and merciful.

26 So this is the agreement between God and man. If we have faith in Jesus, the Holy Judge Jehovah declares us, "Not guilty."

27 So then, where are the bragging rights of the law abiding, prideful religionists? They're counted as meaningless. It's either faith in Jesus or you are on your own. (Please note: Nobody has ever made it on their own.)

28 The law and salvation don't even share the same equation and never shall they meet. We're talking apples and oranges.

29 So is God for the Jews? Yes. Is He for everybody else? Yes again.

30 So it doesn't matter how you got here, who your parents and grandparents are, the shading of your skin or the accent of your lingo. The same faith can save anyone, anywhere, at any time.

31 So what about the law. Some might say, "Who needs it, then?" The answer is clear. We do. It still must stand. Again it's apples and oranges.