A Soapy Joe Show? Your Thoughts, Please

I've been considering adding a second podcast to the Average Joe Radio lineup, and would like your input. There is a virtually untapped world of Christian Contemporary music in the Independent music scene. I've been considering adding a fifteen to twenty minute weekly show as part of the Soapy Joe blog. The show would consist of an introduction, followed by three or four songs, a final thought, and a wrap up. Not a whole lot of talk, not a whole lot of opinion. Just a whole lot of praise and worship music. The show would share a Podshow/Mevio feed with The Joe Show at http://averagejoeradio.mevio.com, would be posted each week to the homepage at AverageJoeAmerican.US, but would have it's own home with the Soapy Joe blog. This would allow listeners to subscribe to:

1. all audio content from both shows [FEED];
2. audio content from The Joe Show only [FEED];
3. audio and blog content from Soapy Joe only [FEED];
4. all audio and blog content that is posted to the homepage [FEED].

A wide range of selections to choose from that should provide all listeners/readers with exactly the content that they want. My question is, what do you think? Would you be interested in subscribing and listening to both The Joe Show and a new Soapy Joe show featuring independent Contemporary Christian music? Send me your thoughts. Fill out the form below, or email me. Joe

"What Could I Do?" -- What Can YOU Do?

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: Acts 26:15-19 (MSG)
• O: "I said, 'Who are you, Master?' "The voice answered, 'I am Jesus, the One you're hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I've handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what's happened today, and to what I am going to show you. "'I'm sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I'm sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.' "What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn't just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot.
• A: Why can't we be like this today? Paul, a tormentor of Christians, answered the calling of Christ and "became an obedient believer on the spot." He followed God's direction and spread the story of Salvation to non-Jews. He became persecuted for his beliefs, just as he once persecuted Christians for their beliefs. Today, we hear the church calling us to serve in one way or another, but many find it so hard to answer with a YES. Our lives have become so hectic, so busy, that we don't have time for the One Person we should be devoting all of our time to: God. Can't we be more like Paul?
• P: Father, I myself have found it easier at times to make excuses than to say YES. So many things cry for my attention that I fool myself into thinking that they are more urgent, that God will wait. But I know that You wait for no one. That You wait only until You decide the time is right. Lord, help me to get up and say YES. Move me, Lord.

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Selflessness

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: Acts 21:4, 11, 13
• O: Their message to Paul, from insight given by the Spirit, was "Don't go to Jerusalem." ... "This is what the Holy Spirit says: The Jews in Jerusalem are going to tie up the man who owns this belt just like this and hand him over to godless unbelievers." ... But Paul wouldn't budge: "Why all this hysteria? Why do you insist on making a scene and making it even harder for me? You're looking at this backward. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can't you see that?"
• A: It can be so easy, sometimes, to look at the world in terms of the impact it has on me personally. Most of us do it. It's always, "that car cut me off," or "I just can't afford the price of gas," or "did you drink the last soda?" It can be so much more, in fact, such as favoring abortion because you want to live the kind of life where you might need one some day. Or maybe you just don't stop to help a disabled motorist because you might be late for work. Or, and I'll bet I'm not the only one guilty of this one at times, hesitating to share the word of God with someone because they just might laugh at you. But what of Paul? He was lead by the Lord to go to Jerusalem. Clearly being told by others not to go to Jerusalem because he would be tortured, how did he reply? Did he fear for his own safety? Maybe. But did he let that fear dictate his actions? Absolutely not. Instead, he explained that what happened to him was not at all important -- that whatever God accomplished through Paul's obedience by going to Jerusalem was worth any price he might pay. Must we live a self-centered existence? Or might we reap greater rewards by letting the Lord use us to accomplish his will?
• P: Lord, use me.

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The God of Every Man

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: Acts 10:34-36; Acts 10:44-48
• O: Can't we all just get along?
• A: It is clear that God's intention is for us to live in peace and harmony, regardless of our race, birthright, national origin, or religion. As the Apostle Luke reports in the book of Acts, God has brought together a Jew and a Gentile for the very reason of proving this point. "It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you're from -- if you want God and are ready to do as He says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel -- that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again -- well, he's doing it everywhere, among everyone." ... No sooner were these words out of Peter's mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on "outsider" Gentiles, but there it was -- they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God. Then Peter said, "Do I hear any objections to baptizing these friends with water? They've received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did." Hearing no objections, he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:34-36, 44-48 MSG) The world is filled today with several kinds of people. I'll name just a few: (1) those who love, appreciate, and promote peace; (2) those who would have you believe that their god is calling them to kill in his name; (3) those who find themselves defending the rest of us from the second group listed above by taking up arms and fighting back. It's clear that, first of all, God -- the only God -- is not directing people of any religion to kill others in His name. If they do so, it is because they are either (a) deluded into believing it, or (b) blaspheming the name of God by killing in his name. It would be a wonderful world if we could all live as those in the first group listed above promote, but that is not the world that we live in today, because the enemy -- Satan -- has been given the freedom to move among us and tempt us to act on his behalf. With whom will you stand? The enemy, or the Ultimate Victor? Would God have you turn your back on those in need, or lend a hand in their defense?
• P: Lord, as we continue to defend our country -- the world -- from the tyrants who claim to kill in the name of Allah, guide those who defend us to do what is right and just, to fight only defensively, not provoking or prolonging the fight. Help us to win a swift victory against the enemy -- against the armies influenced by Satan.

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Familiarty = Contempt?

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (MSG)
• O: In church this evening, the message was on the Communion. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me." After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: "This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me." What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
• A: Our church partakes of Communion every Sunday. This can sometimes make the practice seem mechanical, and it can become very easy to forget what Communion is all about. Especially when Communion is taken individually rather than as a group, served by the passing of the serving dishes, as it was done once monthly in the Baptist church in which I was brought up. And if you have kids in church with you, and they see you eating crackers and drinking grape juice, they want some, too. It is all too easy to allow the ritual practice of something such as Communion to become meaningless to us. Have you ever really thought of just what that cracker (unleavened bread, actually) and cup of grape juice signify? Have you given consideration to not just the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but also the humiliating beating he suffered prior to being lead to Golgotha? The shredding of skin on his back as he was lashed with a whip. The blood spilled in the street before he was even nailed to the cross. And, of course, the brutal nailing of spikes through his wrists and feet, pinning him to the cross. His very suffering and death that led to our salvation. The bread: His Body. The cup: His Blood. The final sacrifice for our sins: His Life for ours. If you feel up to a compelling yet graphic depiction of Christ's suffering, try The Passion of the Christ.
• P: Father, Thank You not only for what You did for me, to save me from my sins, but also for providing me with a constant reminder of the cost You paid so that I won't have to.

Download the sermon audio here.

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