I read an article yesterday about Bill Johnson of Bethel church in Redding, Ca and then did some research on Rob Bell. From the small amount I know of each of these guys and their ministries it seems as if they are nearly polar opposites in their beliefs. Now I'm sure that's not totally true but the self proclamation of core beliefs that they make their stand on and launch from I'd say it's mostly true. Johnson reminds me of the farmer of Faith like Potatoes fame. He is the same miracle working God now as in the first century A.D. Then there is Rob who challenges the traditional view of everything from hell to marriage to most of the basic tenants of the faith.
It seems to me that Bill is pretty right on but I'm not completely sold on his school of ministry. Now, I don't question what goes on there, that all seems legit from my seat in the stands, but I do question what becomes of it when one comes home. There is no reason to doubt that a group of people gathered to worship God daily and dwell in His Spirit will see miracles and prophetic utterances. If they didn't that would be reason to worry. One could stay in that atmosphere forever and get closer to God than they ever imagined. My question is: Can one come down from that mountain top experience back to their home, get a regular Joe job, and continue to thrive in the Spirit? Can that person bring healing and prophecy to those around them? Does the (Force) remain strong with them long after the mountain has been left behind? In the ministry where I've been involved that to me is an amazing mountain experience I find that some people are an absolute mess away from the ministry times. In other words, a camp or retreat or mission experience should serve to feed and grow the roots of your faith in God. The fruit of which should be seen in one way or another all throughout your everyday life. If you only experience the greatness of God in a retreat setting, it's probably time to sequester yourself from those experiences. Not to isolate yourself from God, but to isolate yourself with God. Anyone can be swept away in a raging river but few can be swept away when there is no river in sight. In the quietness of your mind, in the quietness of your soul, God is waiting to cultivate a deep intimacy that just cannot be farmed in the mass produced manifestation of the Spirit. A different type of quality vs. quantity.
I don't know if I can tie this all together in a coherent way. Kinda seems like this should have been two separate posts. So now to Rob. I just finished a Bible study recently that was more than anything a study of the love of God. It really challenged my religion. So much so that in the fifth chapter I think it was I almost threw out the book. If I'd just been reading it on my own that would have been the end. Luckily it was in a group that I treasure. That, and I shared my struggles with my wife and she saw it so differently that she had trouble understanding my difficulty. God continues to bless me through her. So Rob's ministry is based completely on loving people. Coincidentally, God's ministry is based completely on loving people. Where the two clash is in how that love is framed. God has designed us with a very specific set of operating protocols. When that love is framed in God's design it is a very beautiful and powerful thing. We tread on very dangerous ground though when we put loving each other above the laws of God. Those laws are as unchanging as the God who wrote them, yet somehow we think that the principles of God's love have precedence over God's laws. The most obvious area that Rob abuses this is with Gay marriage. Now before you throw this post in the garbage or start to cheer let me just say this: I believe we will see folks who lived a gay lifestyle in heaven. Homosexuality is a clear cut black and white sin. But so is sex before marriage. No one except for Jesus lived a sin free life. All of us will continue to sin and yet some will go to heaven. This is the grace of God. Given freely to those who pursue God with all they have. As the chasing after God comes before and during my sin I will still have sin when I am whisked away to heaven. Some will have great sins and some small. Addicts and prostitutes, gays, saints and sinners will all be there. But we can't endorse the sin. God designed it (us) a certain way for a reason. Whether we understand that reason has no bearing on things. The collective understanding of the human race would not consume one breath of the Lord's lungs. So how is it we think we understand better?
My wife is so amazing. She is showing me by example how one can love unconditionally never compromising God's truth. Never condemning one's sin but not endorsing it either. Jesus didn't condemn their sin but said go, and sin no more. Our sin is a hindrance to God. A barrier between us and Him. If I am therefore hell bent on loving God at any cost, I must strive at all cost to eradicate sin from my life. So my challenge is to give myself fully to loving others and let the Holy Spirit speak to others about their sin. Because I am already loving them, I get to be a part of helping them heal as God points out sins He wants them to deal with.
As God continues to challenge and forge my theology I find myself cheering along with some and totally at odds with others. The funny thing is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would stand toe to toe with God and debate for all I'm worth of some things that He is wrong and I'm right. To admit fault is the first step of recovery right? If it is then that's a pretty powerful self eval. The journey is the destination. No one person will ever get it all right. It's never been a journey of finally understanding it all, but a journey of unending seeking. Searching, seeking understanding is the victory. Does that make sense? I can learn lots from Rob, and Bill, and Oprah and Rich Mullins, from Jews and Gentiles, Muslims, Catholics and Christians and a carpenter from two thousand years ago. Every piece I learn must be weighed against God's word, strained by the Holy Spirit.
Friday, December 19, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Christian hero
How many of you get spoken to by God in movies? I think we can see/experience God anywhere if we are open to it. Maybe there's something to removing the construct of Christian vs. secular that can help one to experience God in unexpected places.
Die Hard 4. I love good action movies. Good plot and action mixed together. Like Die Hard 1-4, Terminator 1-3 and I'm dying to see 5, Serenity, Red-both and the Chronicles of Riddick. The last movie was a stinker though. There's a bunch more for sure. One more gotta mention. Tomorrow When The War Began. I can watch that over and over.
So if you'll remember, in dh4 Mclane is sent to retrieve a young hacker and turn him into the FBI. Of course lots of people are trying to kill him and John has to kill lots of bad guys in spectacular ways. But, throughout the film there is a thread run about what a hero is and how and why one becomes a hero. At one point John tells this kid that being the hero causes you to lose your wife and family. Then the kid asks, so why do it? Because no one else can, answers our hero. Now we know that being the hero is not what robbed him of his family, not fighting for his family is why they have left him, but there is a tremendous nugget for the Christian here.
We are called to be the hero. Not in a blockbuster stop the hackers or skynet kinda way, but like John Mclane says. The hero steps in and does what no one else can, that's what makes them a hero.
As Christians we have this calling or spiritual profession that is out there waiting for us. Too often though we sit and wait for it to come to us or we spend all our energies preparing for that one thing. It's like we are training and stockpiling weapons for a zombie apocalypse while everyone around is dying of bird flu. All around us are jobs just waiting to be done. People are wasting away under the weight of sins they don't know how to escape. Secretely, Christians are dying all around us as we earnestly seek our calling, preparing for that great ministry up ahead. God is looking for hero's.
The Bible is chock full of heros. Story after story of people who didn't have the skills, were not prepared, not educated for the task at hand. So what will we do? On the road to your great calling are a line of people. People who need what you have right now. People who will give you what you need as you serve them.
I bumped into a guy at Home Depot last week. He 'Meredith' was picking up a few maintenance items for the church. Said he was just doing whatever needed to be done. Filling in the unfilled gaps. He's done this as long as I've known him. A true servant, or hero if you will.
So what will you do? What will I do? This is as much to me as it is to you. This is where I am at right now. The journey IS the destination. Every place I am at is a place of service to the King. Every place! Every minute is a moment for worship. If you read my last post you know I fail miserably. I do not become a failure though. Never do you or I become failures. Not possible in the eyes of our Father. We fail and yet receive redemption. Conviction not condemnation.
So what inspires you? Where does God touch your heart? Spiritual epiphany? Look for those places. God is speaking. Let's be listening.
Die Hard 4. I love good action movies. Good plot and action mixed together. Like Die Hard 1-4, Terminator 1-3 and I'm dying to see 5, Serenity, Red-both and the Chronicles of Riddick. The last movie was a stinker though. There's a bunch more for sure. One more gotta mention. Tomorrow When The War Began. I can watch that over and over.
So if you'll remember, in dh4 Mclane is sent to retrieve a young hacker and turn him into the FBI. Of course lots of people are trying to kill him and John has to kill lots of bad guys in spectacular ways. But, throughout the film there is a thread run about what a hero is and how and why one becomes a hero. At one point John tells this kid that being the hero causes you to lose your wife and family. Then the kid asks, so why do it? Because no one else can, answers our hero. Now we know that being the hero is not what robbed him of his family, not fighting for his family is why they have left him, but there is a tremendous nugget for the Christian here.
We are called to be the hero. Not in a blockbuster stop the hackers or skynet kinda way, but like John Mclane says. The hero steps in and does what no one else can, that's what makes them a hero.
As Christians we have this calling or spiritual profession that is out there waiting for us. Too often though we sit and wait for it to come to us or we spend all our energies preparing for that one thing. It's like we are training and stockpiling weapons for a zombie apocalypse while everyone around is dying of bird flu. All around us are jobs just waiting to be done. People are wasting away under the weight of sins they don't know how to escape. Secretely, Christians are dying all around us as we earnestly seek our calling, preparing for that great ministry up ahead. God is looking for hero's.
The Bible is chock full of heros. Story after story of people who didn't have the skills, were not prepared, not educated for the task at hand. So what will we do? On the road to your great calling are a line of people. People who need what you have right now. People who will give you what you need as you serve them.
I bumped into a guy at Home Depot last week. He 'Meredith' was picking up a few maintenance items for the church. Said he was just doing whatever needed to be done. Filling in the unfilled gaps. He's done this as long as I've known him. A true servant, or hero if you will.
So what will you do? What will I do? This is as much to me as it is to you. This is where I am at right now. The journey IS the destination. Every place I am at is a place of service to the King. Every place! Every minute is a moment for worship. If you read my last post you know I fail miserably. I do not become a failure though. Never do you or I become failures. Not possible in the eyes of our Father. We fail and yet receive redemption. Conviction not condemnation.
So what inspires you? Where does God touch your heart? Spiritual epiphany? Look for those places. God is speaking. Let's be listening.
Friday, December 12, 2014
I took the Lord's name in vain
Yesterday as I was showering Emma came in the bathroom and turned on the cold water in the sink. It wasn't the extra hot water that turned my temperature up but rather the pile of towels innocently lounging about in the sink. There are many choice explicatives that I could have chosen in that moment, I'll refrain from listing them out since most of you are Christian and would never use those words, hehe, but I chose God dammit. Ill get to the significance of that shortly.
My last post was a call to arms for Christians, and before that, well I don't really remember off hand, and then there was my journaling through the book of Mark. All good Christian stuff buuut, every Christian (like myself), contains within himself the God side, wherein is the lifelong process of becoming like Christ, and the dark side, or sin nature, which is why we need to engage in a lifelong process of becoming more Christlike.
My choice of colorful language was not merely an accident but rather a colorful release of something inside desperately needing to get out. God has trusted me with this little 'angel' who seems designed specifically to find and repeatedly target my buttons. But why? Why am I chosen for this most dangerous mission? Quite certainly I never prayed for patience. I'm already mostly insane. It is a simple thing to open the lid and examine those characteristics and trainings which lend me to service of the King, but in this case, in my little Emma, I find not reason. The sense of it, the logic escape me. I see but one thing. I was willing.
And there it is. Use me Lord. Even yesterday I did pray that time and again, in between my cries of why me. And He's using me to save the life of this little girl. Per chance one piece of this puzzle that is Emma pinpoints my overabundance of me. Me me me. I like me. I like me way too much. If I have a larger fault I know not what it is. Maybe this little girl is God's missile aimed straight at the me of me. I know that isn't the larger picture, at least I don't think so. I think the bigger picture is that this little girl needed saving and we were in the right place at the right time to say yes, Lord.
She pushes my buttons. Man does she ever. But she has also wrapped my heart around her little self. Try as I might, I just can't seem to grasp the impact she has on my life each day. I try to imagine if she were suddenly gone, how would I feel. I can't seem to do it. Maybe somewhere deep inside is a self protection mechanism protecting me from myself. From ever projecting a life without her. There isn't one. No more than there is without Chris, or Tony, or Josh, or Ashtin. God is love and He is using me to love this little girl.
So I will keep on loving her. And I will keep on arguing with God when I don't feel up to the task. And that's the journey isn't it.? More steps forward than back.
My last post was a call to arms for Christians, and before that, well I don't really remember off hand, and then there was my journaling through the book of Mark. All good Christian stuff buuut, every Christian (like myself), contains within himself the God side, wherein is the lifelong process of becoming like Christ, and the dark side, or sin nature, which is why we need to engage in a lifelong process of becoming more Christlike.
My choice of colorful language was not merely an accident but rather a colorful release of something inside desperately needing to get out. God has trusted me with this little 'angel' who seems designed specifically to find and repeatedly target my buttons. But why? Why am I chosen for this most dangerous mission? Quite certainly I never prayed for patience. I'm already mostly insane. It is a simple thing to open the lid and examine those characteristics and trainings which lend me to service of the King, but in this case, in my little Emma, I find not reason. The sense of it, the logic escape me. I see but one thing. I was willing.
And there it is. Use me Lord. Even yesterday I did pray that time and again, in between my cries of why me. And He's using me to save the life of this little girl. Per chance one piece of this puzzle that is Emma pinpoints my overabundance of me. Me me me. I like me. I like me way too much. If I have a larger fault I know not what it is. Maybe this little girl is God's missile aimed straight at the me of me. I know that isn't the larger picture, at least I don't think so. I think the bigger picture is that this little girl needed saving and we were in the right place at the right time to say yes, Lord.
She pushes my buttons. Man does she ever. But she has also wrapped my heart around her little self. Try as I might, I just can't seem to grasp the impact she has on my life each day. I try to imagine if she were suddenly gone, how would I feel. I can't seem to do it. Maybe somewhere deep inside is a self protection mechanism protecting me from myself. From ever projecting a life without her. There isn't one. No more than there is without Chris, or Tony, or Josh, or Ashtin. God is love and He is using me to love this little girl.
So I will keep on loving her. And I will keep on arguing with God when I don't feel up to the task. And that's the journey isn't it.? More steps forward than back.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The world around us. What the heck? This is a call to battle
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Why is this so hard to remember? I have heard every possible person or group blamed in the Ferguson tragedy except the spiritual realm. What about when a child is raped or trafficked? How can that have happened? The war in Israel/Palestine?
Back to Ferguson. Can cops really not be trusted? Are they all dirty? All without honor? And what about black's? Are they all thugs and criminals? Of course not. Yet haven't we heard all these things said from so many places? And how many of us who claim to be emissaries of Christ have passed this junk along on Facebook? Even cute little meme's are not so harmless as they appear. Why are we so desperate to do the enemies work for him? Are we really so blind as to not see that that's what we are doing?
What if we said to the world the truth? What if we told everyone who would and wouldn't listen that this is the work of the enemy, of Satan? We would be laughed off of the face of the earth wouldn't we? Would that be so bad? Is this world that great that we would fight to stay in it? In the 1930s as Hitler was gaining in power the church had a choice. Put God and His tenets first, or put the government first and God second. They chose almost unanimously to put government first. One by one all the church's that didn't were exterminated. What if all the churches had stood their ground? What if they had had the faith enough to know beyond doubt the their God would fight for them? Germany was a Christian nation and that platform was twisted and turned until it became the opposite of anything remotely Christian. They fought a spiritual battle without the spirit. Being that Hitler's platform was a pure Christian Germany, it would have been pretty hard to make that fly if all the churches had stood together and proclaimed God's word, stood against the tyranny. And if they had all been exterminated that would have removed a substantial portion of his support base. Unfortunately, their earthly lives were worth more than eternity. I know that's a broad statement but more true than not.
We have got to start seeing what's really going on. Forget about the conspiracies of government and global baddies and remember whose we are. There is a veil that separates our reality from the true reality. That veil should begin to get thinner as we move closer to God. I fear that too often this just isn't true. I have this amazing desire to know God and for Him to infiltrate every part of my being. I wonder how many are with me here. We can't continue to fight to make abortion illegal. We must certainly take that stance but not as our first armament. We must fight for the hearts of broken strangers. A heart that knows Christ AND has hope is a heart that would be very unlikely to take the life of an unborn child. A Christ filled hope filled heart would transform the ghetto around itself.
Let's bring God into it. Into the discussion. What can fix Ferguson? God can. What can repair the life of the raped woman and the one who raped her? God can. How can we eliminate abortion, drug use, alcohol abuse, prostitution, slave trade? How about apostasy in church? God can. He will not do it for us. But He will do it with us. We must stand up and just do it. We cannot remain silent any longer. However, as we begin to speak, we must do so in love. No longer can we preach to the world that their sexual identity is wrong. No longer can we fuel the tensions in confused and scared cities across America. No longer can we scream what is right and what is wrong. No! We can't do it this way!
Hey you, I love your soul. Hey you, that pain that you never knew you would have from an abortion, I know where there's help for that. Hey you, you say you're tired of porn and you want your girlfriend to trust you again. I have the answer for you. Hey you, you say you know that black's are not all bad people but you can't seem to change the way you think about them. I have a cure for you. You raped a girl in high school and it's eating your soul. I can help with that. We have the answers for a lost and hurting world. We know the author of the story, we've read to the end. We know who wins the battle in the end, but there is victory to be had today. God wants us to have victory in every part of our lives. It is so past time to develop a craving for God. You say you don't know how? Ask God. I know I should want that but it's pretty scary. I mean what might God want me to do? Ask God for courage.
If you are not willing to step up and give your life, then give up. Go home, snort some coke, watch some porn, order some prostitutes. Take it all the way because there is no middle ground. Stop kidding yourself. There is a life of God's glory or there is a wide road to hell. If you think you are not that bad, where's not that bad in the Bible. It's nowhere you want to be found. There is no easy road. If you honestly can't give it all to God, don't be a coward, tell God. I'm a coward, I'm afraid. I want to serve you all the way but I don't know how. God will take you where you are. And then He'll take you where you could never dream. I'm talking about adventure man. Or woman. We cannot change the world. We cannot even change ourselves. What we can do is turn it over to the creator. Let Him change us. And we still don't change the world. But we do change the world around us. Then we trust God to continue the change through those changed souls. Man, we've got to do this.
Why is this so hard to remember? I have heard every possible person or group blamed in the Ferguson tragedy except the spiritual realm. What about when a child is raped or trafficked? How can that have happened? The war in Israel/Palestine?
Back to Ferguson. Can cops really not be trusted? Are they all dirty? All without honor? And what about black's? Are they all thugs and criminals? Of course not. Yet haven't we heard all these things said from so many places? And how many of us who claim to be emissaries of Christ have passed this junk along on Facebook? Even cute little meme's are not so harmless as they appear. Why are we so desperate to do the enemies work for him? Are we really so blind as to not see that that's what we are doing?
What if we said to the world the truth? What if we told everyone who would and wouldn't listen that this is the work of the enemy, of Satan? We would be laughed off of the face of the earth wouldn't we? Would that be so bad? Is this world that great that we would fight to stay in it? In the 1930s as Hitler was gaining in power the church had a choice. Put God and His tenets first, or put the government first and God second. They chose almost unanimously to put government first. One by one all the church's that didn't were exterminated. What if all the churches had stood their ground? What if they had had the faith enough to know beyond doubt the their God would fight for them? Germany was a Christian nation and that platform was twisted and turned until it became the opposite of anything remotely Christian. They fought a spiritual battle without the spirit. Being that Hitler's platform was a pure Christian Germany, it would have been pretty hard to make that fly if all the churches had stood together and proclaimed God's word, stood against the tyranny. And if they had all been exterminated that would have removed a substantial portion of his support base. Unfortunately, their earthly lives were worth more than eternity. I know that's a broad statement but more true than not.
We have got to start seeing what's really going on. Forget about the conspiracies of government and global baddies and remember whose we are. There is a veil that separates our reality from the true reality. That veil should begin to get thinner as we move closer to God. I fear that too often this just isn't true. I have this amazing desire to know God and for Him to infiltrate every part of my being. I wonder how many are with me here. We can't continue to fight to make abortion illegal. We must certainly take that stance but not as our first armament. We must fight for the hearts of broken strangers. A heart that knows Christ AND has hope is a heart that would be very unlikely to take the life of an unborn child. A Christ filled hope filled heart would transform the ghetto around itself.
Let's bring God into it. Into the discussion. What can fix Ferguson? God can. What can repair the life of the raped woman and the one who raped her? God can. How can we eliminate abortion, drug use, alcohol abuse, prostitution, slave trade? How about apostasy in church? God can. He will not do it for us. But He will do it with us. We must stand up and just do it. We cannot remain silent any longer. However, as we begin to speak, we must do so in love. No longer can we preach to the world that their sexual identity is wrong. No longer can we fuel the tensions in confused and scared cities across America. No longer can we scream what is right and what is wrong. No! We can't do it this way!
Hey you, I love your soul. Hey you, that pain that you never knew you would have from an abortion, I know where there's help for that. Hey you, you say you're tired of porn and you want your girlfriend to trust you again. I have the answer for you. Hey you, you say you know that black's are not all bad people but you can't seem to change the way you think about them. I have a cure for you. You raped a girl in high school and it's eating your soul. I can help with that. We have the answers for a lost and hurting world. We know the author of the story, we've read to the end. We know who wins the battle in the end, but there is victory to be had today. God wants us to have victory in every part of our lives. It is so past time to develop a craving for God. You say you don't know how? Ask God. I know I should want that but it's pretty scary. I mean what might God want me to do? Ask God for courage.
If you are not willing to step up and give your life, then give up. Go home, snort some coke, watch some porn, order some prostitutes. Take it all the way because there is no middle ground. Stop kidding yourself. There is a life of God's glory or there is a wide road to hell. If you think you are not that bad, where's not that bad in the Bible. It's nowhere you want to be found. There is no easy road. If you honestly can't give it all to God, don't be a coward, tell God. I'm a coward, I'm afraid. I want to serve you all the way but I don't know how. God will take you where you are. And then He'll take you where you could never dream. I'm talking about adventure man. Or woman. We cannot change the world. We cannot even change ourselves. What we can do is turn it over to the creator. Let Him change us. And we still don't change the world. But we do change the world around us. Then we trust God to continue the change through those changed souls. Man, we've got to do this.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Why do we put God in boxes?
I was so driven to sit down, I just couldn't wait to get to the keyboard and write this out, now I don't know where to start. I have heard people say that God is a Jew, that in heaven the language will be Hebrew. I have lived with and fought both sides of Pre-destination vs. Free will. God has seen every sin ever committed and He is completely pure. In God's character there is not a shred influenced or affected by sin, yet we still say I'm too sinful for God. If He could see the things I've done He'd never want me. If I were to step foot in a church lightening would strike me. This is one way of putting God in a box. We bring Him down to our level, to our understanding. To simplify that which cannot be simplified.
What would be the simplest of creatures? An ant? Maybe a goldfish? Not the simplest but pretty simple. The comparison of my brain to that of the ant or goldfish would be similar to that of God and man. We are so woefully inadequate to understand the simplest things of God. So much so that God sent a part of Himself to earth a couple thousand years ago and spent 3 years or more trying to explain the most basic parts of God's character so we would have some way to take the first steps of relationship with Him. Everything I know screams aloud that language and music in heaven will be so beautiful, so enchanting, so impossible to understand with our small minds. Is there anything on earth that reserves a place in heaven apart from the soul of man? Why would that be? Because man is not fit for heaven. The Bible says we will be transformed (in the blink of an eye). Yet, we were made for this place. This place was made for us. Like two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together, the earth and man are like that. But, we were made for so much more. God reached down into this disposable earth, into disposable man, and stuck deep within him eternity. As Rich Mullins says, the stuff of earth competes for the allegiance we only to the giver of all good things. We are called to greatness. Far beyond Olympic gold and Grammy's and Oscars, Nobel peace prizes and government office, we are called to another kind of greatness. Like a child is made for the playthings of childhood and then grows to adulthood, we are made for the playthings of this earth but we will grow to adulthood. A spiritual adulthood. One day we will graduate, either to heaven or to hell.
So back to boxes. Is it predestination or free will? No or Yes. No or yes? Don't you mean one or the other? Absolutely not. It is both. The church has fought this battle as long as there has been a church. The Bible says we have been predestined. To those who have been called. But, it also says that God wills that none should perish but all would have eternal life. It is our tiny minds that cannot understand how it can be both. There is more scripture that would support both sides but you will have to search it out yourself. We see this in our lives every day. God has called me. He put that desire in my heart to search Him out. Yet, I have to step out. I must take a step closer to Him.
Ooh, how about law versus grace? Which side of this is God really on? Or which side must I be on to be where God wants me? None of this is really a boxing issue until we put it on another. You must serve God by following the law. Or, it's really all about grace, don't worry about the law my friend. In each of us lives a grand design unique to us. That means to see God in the way that I can get close to Him I need a certain amount of law and a certain amount of grace. But these are not even a constant in my life. As I grow and mature those percentages are changing. There is no specific amount of either. But there is an amount that is right for me today, for the part of the journey I am on right now.
Or how about daily devotions and prayer and scripture reading/memorization? What is the correct amount? There are endless amount of devotions out there. Every color and style imaginable and more being made each day. Bible reading plans? 365 day, chronological, random, New Testament twice and Old Testament once per year. This is what I do, you should try it. How do we search for the right amount, the right thing for us. What do you want for me God? How do I find time for you? How much time to I commit to you each day? Always we try to put it in numbers. Quantity per day, per week, even per year. Is there a right quantity of God per day? How do we put Him in that box? This is a deeply personal search. It is a relational search between each person and God. For example: I used to do a 365 reading plan but would get into what I was reading and stray off plan regularly. Then, I gave up the plan and would read from beginning to end like I do any book but at the same time each day. This worked good for me. I would read and then pray for people buuut, at the end of the day I was like, oh yeah, God, how have you been? Like once that part of the day was over I would scarcely think of God again. No matter what I did it seemed to turn into a ritual also. Dead and cold. Reading just to read, dreading it, and not getting anything out of it. So one day I just quit. It was a horrible feeling. I felt like I was betraying God. But I didn't keep this to myself. No, I talked to God about it all the time. So I quit my devotions and picked up relations with God. It seems so simple put that way but it was not and is not simple. As I don't think it should be for most of us. We cannot can devotions. One size does not fit all. The search for what is right for me, the search for intimacy with God daily is the goal. In the striving we find victory. So I read scripture. I can't tell you how much per day cause it doesn't work that way. I pray for myself and others, but I have no record. I have no list. I pray what God brings to mind, what is on my heart. If this seems mature, it doesn't feel that way. What is maturity anyways? One more thing.
On fb came this message, an argument against Kirk Cameron's saving Christmas. The crux of the issue is that Dec 25th is not Jesus' birth date. So why celebrate on that day? This day is a pagan celebration dating at least a thousand years before Christ's birth. Somewhere along the line Christians stole it and claimed it for Christ. But why not just make our own holiday on the right date? The well respected commentator made this comparison. What if you decided to celebrate your anniversary or your wife's birthday on a different day? Maybe a few months away. How would your wife feel? Seems like a good argument. Except for one detail. It is us that need things to be a certain way at a certain time. Time and space were made for man. God is outside of such trivial things. And what are the emotions your wife would feel if you changed her birthday? Anger, frustration? Don't you care about me? This is part of my identity, my being. How do you think you can so easily change it? God is not like us. We are made in His image but we are not like Him. We cannot transfer what we would feel to God and expect that He feels this way. Nor is God concerned about timelines, specific dates and such as we are. The other side of this issue is this. God is in the business of reclaiming sinful things every day. Taking that which the enemy has meant to steal kill and destroy and turning it for His glory. So these little ant Christians that are made in the image of God have done the same. They have taken a pagan holiday and turned it into a celebration of their savior. Redemption. What a great thing it is. Once again my belief does not a box make. Nope. It is when I shove my belief on you and expect you to believe the same that it becomes a box.
The Roman Catholic church is full of ritual and tradition. To the founders however, this was how they came close to God. and to many millions since, it is also how they have grown towards God. It is not perfect, not even good in many way as I see it, but it works for many people. Just as my Christianity is not perfect and does not work for many others. It is mine. It is not specifically meant for everyone. It is my relationship between God and me. Boxing day in Canada is not so much about boxing at it is about unboxing. Just as Christmas is here. It is time to take our Christianity out of the boxes and share the gift free of strings, free of our expectations.
What would be the simplest of creatures? An ant? Maybe a goldfish? Not the simplest but pretty simple. The comparison of my brain to that of the ant or goldfish would be similar to that of God and man. We are so woefully inadequate to understand the simplest things of God. So much so that God sent a part of Himself to earth a couple thousand years ago and spent 3 years or more trying to explain the most basic parts of God's character so we would have some way to take the first steps of relationship with Him. Everything I know screams aloud that language and music in heaven will be so beautiful, so enchanting, so impossible to understand with our small minds. Is there anything on earth that reserves a place in heaven apart from the soul of man? Why would that be? Because man is not fit for heaven. The Bible says we will be transformed (in the blink of an eye). Yet, we were made for this place. This place was made for us. Like two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together, the earth and man are like that. But, we were made for so much more. God reached down into this disposable earth, into disposable man, and stuck deep within him eternity. As Rich Mullins says, the stuff of earth competes for the allegiance we only to the giver of all good things. We are called to greatness. Far beyond Olympic gold and Grammy's and Oscars, Nobel peace prizes and government office, we are called to another kind of greatness. Like a child is made for the playthings of childhood and then grows to adulthood, we are made for the playthings of this earth but we will grow to adulthood. A spiritual adulthood. One day we will graduate, either to heaven or to hell.
So back to boxes. Is it predestination or free will? No or Yes. No or yes? Don't you mean one or the other? Absolutely not. It is both. The church has fought this battle as long as there has been a church. The Bible says we have been predestined. To those who have been called. But, it also says that God wills that none should perish but all would have eternal life. It is our tiny minds that cannot understand how it can be both. There is more scripture that would support both sides but you will have to search it out yourself. We see this in our lives every day. God has called me. He put that desire in my heart to search Him out. Yet, I have to step out. I must take a step closer to Him.
Ooh, how about law versus grace? Which side of this is God really on? Or which side must I be on to be where God wants me? None of this is really a boxing issue until we put it on another. You must serve God by following the law. Or, it's really all about grace, don't worry about the law my friend. In each of us lives a grand design unique to us. That means to see God in the way that I can get close to Him I need a certain amount of law and a certain amount of grace. But these are not even a constant in my life. As I grow and mature those percentages are changing. There is no specific amount of either. But there is an amount that is right for me today, for the part of the journey I am on right now.
Or how about daily devotions and prayer and scripture reading/memorization? What is the correct amount? There are endless amount of devotions out there. Every color and style imaginable and more being made each day. Bible reading plans? 365 day, chronological, random, New Testament twice and Old Testament once per year. This is what I do, you should try it. How do we search for the right amount, the right thing for us. What do you want for me God? How do I find time for you? How much time to I commit to you each day? Always we try to put it in numbers. Quantity per day, per week, even per year. Is there a right quantity of God per day? How do we put Him in that box? This is a deeply personal search. It is a relational search between each person and God. For example: I used to do a 365 reading plan but would get into what I was reading and stray off plan regularly. Then, I gave up the plan and would read from beginning to end like I do any book but at the same time each day. This worked good for me. I would read and then pray for people buuut, at the end of the day I was like, oh yeah, God, how have you been? Like once that part of the day was over I would scarcely think of God again. No matter what I did it seemed to turn into a ritual also. Dead and cold. Reading just to read, dreading it, and not getting anything out of it. So one day I just quit. It was a horrible feeling. I felt like I was betraying God. But I didn't keep this to myself. No, I talked to God about it all the time. So I quit my devotions and picked up relations with God. It seems so simple put that way but it was not and is not simple. As I don't think it should be for most of us. We cannot can devotions. One size does not fit all. The search for what is right for me, the search for intimacy with God daily is the goal. In the striving we find victory. So I read scripture. I can't tell you how much per day cause it doesn't work that way. I pray for myself and others, but I have no record. I have no list. I pray what God brings to mind, what is on my heart. If this seems mature, it doesn't feel that way. What is maturity anyways? One more thing.
On fb came this message, an argument against Kirk Cameron's saving Christmas. The crux of the issue is that Dec 25th is not Jesus' birth date. So why celebrate on that day? This day is a pagan celebration dating at least a thousand years before Christ's birth. Somewhere along the line Christians stole it and claimed it for Christ. But why not just make our own holiday on the right date? The well respected commentator made this comparison. What if you decided to celebrate your anniversary or your wife's birthday on a different day? Maybe a few months away. How would your wife feel? Seems like a good argument. Except for one detail. It is us that need things to be a certain way at a certain time. Time and space were made for man. God is outside of such trivial things. And what are the emotions your wife would feel if you changed her birthday? Anger, frustration? Don't you care about me? This is part of my identity, my being. How do you think you can so easily change it? God is not like us. We are made in His image but we are not like Him. We cannot transfer what we would feel to God and expect that He feels this way. Nor is God concerned about timelines, specific dates and such as we are. The other side of this issue is this. God is in the business of reclaiming sinful things every day. Taking that which the enemy has meant to steal kill and destroy and turning it for His glory. So these little ant Christians that are made in the image of God have done the same. They have taken a pagan holiday and turned it into a celebration of their savior. Redemption. What a great thing it is. Once again my belief does not a box make. Nope. It is when I shove my belief on you and expect you to believe the same that it becomes a box.
The Roman Catholic church is full of ritual and tradition. To the founders however, this was how they came close to God. and to many millions since, it is also how they have grown towards God. It is not perfect, not even good in many way as I see it, but it works for many people. Just as my Christianity is not perfect and does not work for many others. It is mine. It is not specifically meant for everyone. It is my relationship between God and me. Boxing day in Canada is not so much about boxing at it is about unboxing. Just as Christmas is here. It is time to take our Christianity out of the boxes and share the gift free of strings, free of our expectations.
Monday, November 17, 2014
personal savior/personal relationship with savior
I have some people in my circle who are vehemently opposed to the term personal savior. I am not opposed to them, I actually agree, but sometimes the comments are said so strongly and with so much emotion behind them that I don't want to even listen. This is similar to the idea of legislating morality. What I mean by that is that this is just a term representing what's underneath. If we attack the top instead of going deep inside to the root(s) of the problem we might as well stand on a street corner with a sign stating our opinion.
This is not what bothers me so much though. We need a personal relationship with God. For those with a lesser understanding the term personal savior could interchange with personal relationship with savior. Until you have a personal relationship, you may not know the difference.
I read some stories when I was young about missionaries who went deep into the jungle searching for some unreached people group to witness to. Sometimes it was a man by himself and others were families. I came to a place where I wanted to be like them. No, not the jungle part. I want the part where they can be away from their church, their Godly community, and still maintain an active living breathing relationship with their creator. That's what I seek. And to a great extent I have found it. It is a personal relationship with God. Not religion. No religion anywhere to be found. Just me and God. To everything there is a season. I really enjoy going to Coth on Sunday, listening to Bruce and/or Jason and being surrounded by God's people, but there are many other times when I can't. I have loved my table discussions with those in the pastor's class Wednesday nights and my Tuesday Bible study with Paul and Carol. Other Bible studies past and I'm sure those to come. Buuut, if I were to live and exist solely off of these times I would still not be growing. Really I'd be dying. No, in order to live I have to have a deep personal relationship with the one who made me. Who understands me in the dark places. It is this deep intimacy between me and my savior that all of the other things of my life need to flow. Not that they do now, not that they ever will, not all of them anyways, but more now than yesterday, and more tomorrow than today.
Community is critical. Community is where my faith becomes faith. It is here that faith grows hands and feet and commits itself to action. Where others' faith is consummated by reaching into my life with action. Without others faith is not faith but merely thought. But all things must come from somewhere. There must be roots underneath. Those roots are my personal times with God. Quiet time reading, praying, being still, glorious nature, Sunshine. Yes, I capitalized sunshine. It's that important. Music. Yet all this could be confused with personal savior. The foul here would be to inadvertently tell one who doesn't know the difference that community is all important and one's personal relationship with God is not as important as or even worse, not what God wants. That it's a bad thing. I don't say this to stir up the poop pot as my wife would kinda say, but because we could easily offend someone who doesn't understand the term. Just some food for thought. Sometimes we are too quick to throw our terminology around and not quick enough to throw our theology around. We need to give a why and not just a what. Thanks.
This is not what bothers me so much though. We need a personal relationship with God. For those with a lesser understanding the term personal savior could interchange with personal relationship with savior. Until you have a personal relationship, you may not know the difference.
I read some stories when I was young about missionaries who went deep into the jungle searching for some unreached people group to witness to. Sometimes it was a man by himself and others were families. I came to a place where I wanted to be like them. No, not the jungle part. I want the part where they can be away from their church, their Godly community, and still maintain an active living breathing relationship with their creator. That's what I seek. And to a great extent I have found it. It is a personal relationship with God. Not religion. No religion anywhere to be found. Just me and God. To everything there is a season. I really enjoy going to Coth on Sunday, listening to Bruce and/or Jason and being surrounded by God's people, but there are many other times when I can't. I have loved my table discussions with those in the pastor's class Wednesday nights and my Tuesday Bible study with Paul and Carol. Other Bible studies past and I'm sure those to come. Buuut, if I were to live and exist solely off of these times I would still not be growing. Really I'd be dying. No, in order to live I have to have a deep personal relationship with the one who made me. Who understands me in the dark places. It is this deep intimacy between me and my savior that all of the other things of my life need to flow. Not that they do now, not that they ever will, not all of them anyways, but more now than yesterday, and more tomorrow than today.
Community is critical. Community is where my faith becomes faith. It is here that faith grows hands and feet and commits itself to action. Where others' faith is consummated by reaching into my life with action. Without others faith is not faith but merely thought. But all things must come from somewhere. There must be roots underneath. Those roots are my personal times with God. Quiet time reading, praying, being still, glorious nature, Sunshine. Yes, I capitalized sunshine. It's that important. Music. Yet all this could be confused with personal savior. The foul here would be to inadvertently tell one who doesn't know the difference that community is all important and one's personal relationship with God is not as important as or even worse, not what God wants. That it's a bad thing. I don't say this to stir up the poop pot as my wife would kinda say, but because we could easily offend someone who doesn't understand the term. Just some food for thought. Sometimes we are too quick to throw our terminology around and not quick enough to throw our theology around. We need to give a why and not just a what. Thanks.
Life...the great adventure
This last weekend Josh had his birthday Saturday evening and his friend Brandon stayed over night. Sunday morning I wasn't sure how or when Brandon was getting home before church. His parents aren't too keen on him going to church with us and we don't try to push that in any way. However, this morning was no walk in the park as Emma was not happy. She's had a runny nose for a few days and finally showed a fever. Chris wanted to stay home with Emma and try to get some homework done. Yeah, those two things don't really go along, but it's worth a try right? All the kids ended up staying home so I got to fly solo for church. I don't usually like going by myself but this day was different. I was almost driven to be there. For some reason I didn't yet know, I was excited to get to church. Didn't take too long to figure out why. Today was another baby dedication. For me this was a really special occasion. You see, many months ago when this baby was just a small baby bump I had the incredible privilege of going up front and praying for this couple. Well, I went up front to pray for whoever would come my way but it wasn't me just praying for them, really we all prayed together. The willingness and exuberance of each of them to open up and talk to God in our small group of three and whoever else might be close enough to hear was incredibly encouraging. I have worked with so many broken people. And so often the hurt and pain of these broken lives could have been never a issue if Jesus had been in front. If He had ruled their lives. Yet here is hope. Not just a little hope but a whole dump truck full. Here is this couple with their 8mo and one day old baby who are starting something new, something incredible. Something the angels in heaven are rejoicing for. And those in the grandstands are standing and cheering, screaming and whistling. They've got their video camera's and heavenly ipads out recording every moment. It hasn't been all lollipops and roses though. There has been pain, that evil that seems to befall so many of my friends, miscarriage. But they have not lost hope. No, their hope is fresh and new every day. And now one part of that hope is curled up in her arms.
I love that part of the movie where the kid opens the forbidden book, The Neverending Story, or the treasure map is found, or the secretive man shows up and says you are the one remaining descendent who would save us from the coming doom. Is there anything better? Now I'm hooked. How does this little kid become the savior, or find the treasure? I want to know. But this isn't a movie or a book or a map. No, this is an adventure even greater. That of two people coming together not to fall into someone else's pre-written story but to write that of their own. In the last couple of years I have seen many of my friends find that someone special and begin to write their new story together. I really badly want to list out some names but this isn't my private notebook but rather the world wide web and I don't have permission. But if I could, I would talk of a wonderful worship leader who puts hands and feet to thought and plays for and feeds the homeless as well as the souls of many many others. Of one who used to run and play with my kids in the back of the youth group but sailed across the pond to live happily ever after with her prince charming. Or a wonderful young princess who attacks life with a fervor, running aimlessly through town with a camera and several youths in tow or tearing up the streets on a lengthy board. And let's not forget to throw in at least one young man who also likes to run the town on a long board, even hitting freeway speeds near the high school. Make sure to keep my story right by getting married to her, ok dude.
These are some of the real treasures in my life. The things that fill my heart to nearly exploding if it could. And it is not just because of marriage but because I see God's work in action. God's story being written. It is that thing deep down inside of me, placed there before time began, connecting my story to their story to the greater story, that of eternal consequence and eventual glory. The best part is I get to continue to watch from a distance as families begin to grow (you can start now, by the way), but so many more of you are just going about your lives looking for mr/mrs right, serving God right where you are while God is preparing you for the next step of the journey and for most one day that next step will be marriage and family. Enjoy the ride.
I love that part of the movie where the kid opens the forbidden book, The Neverending Story, or the treasure map is found, or the secretive man shows up and says you are the one remaining descendent who would save us from the coming doom. Is there anything better? Now I'm hooked. How does this little kid become the savior, or find the treasure? I want to know. But this isn't a movie or a book or a map. No, this is an adventure even greater. That of two people coming together not to fall into someone else's pre-written story but to write that of their own. In the last couple of years I have seen many of my friends find that someone special and begin to write their new story together. I really badly want to list out some names but this isn't my private notebook but rather the world wide web and I don't have permission. But if I could, I would talk of a wonderful worship leader who puts hands and feet to thought and plays for and feeds the homeless as well as the souls of many many others. Of one who used to run and play with my kids in the back of the youth group but sailed across the pond to live happily ever after with her prince charming. Or a wonderful young princess who attacks life with a fervor, running aimlessly through town with a camera and several youths in tow or tearing up the streets on a lengthy board. And let's not forget to throw in at least one young man who also likes to run the town on a long board, even hitting freeway speeds near the high school. Make sure to keep my story right by getting married to her, ok dude.
These are some of the real treasures in my life. The things that fill my heart to nearly exploding if it could. And it is not just because of marriage but because I see God's work in action. God's story being written. It is that thing deep down inside of me, placed there before time began, connecting my story to their story to the greater story, that of eternal consequence and eventual glory. The best part is I get to continue to watch from a distance as families begin to grow (you can start now, by the way), but so many more of you are just going about your lives looking for mr/mrs right, serving God right where you are while God is preparing you for the next step of the journey and for most one day that next step will be marriage and family. Enjoy the ride.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Demons
Boy do I have my demons. I guess there's all sorts of different aspects of life I could look at in this respect. I've been married for almost 20 years, yet much of my time is spent close to that of a single father. My wife, my lover, my best friend, she is the adult in our relationship. She works a full time job and then carries a full load between college and university working towards her bachelors and I think probably masters degree after that. I am the stay at home sloth. See, there's one of my demons poking his head out. I always believed in working hard and supporting a family. Being the stay at home dad/work at home dad sure has it's moments, moments where the condemnation of not doing my part, of being too lazy, not keeping the house up, not keeping everything in time, is just about more than I can handle. It is so hard to share this load with anyone. It's hard to find time to share anything with anyone, at least that's what it feels like. It's not right to unload it on Chris, she has more than one should have to carry already. Class comes two nights a week and every other Saturday, then three of the four kids have an activity one night a week that one of us has to get them to. The remaining one weekday night is my Bible study twice a month. Boy do I need that.
It's not just the busyness of it all but there aren't a lot of adults to talk to at work. I make sure to talk to myself as much as possible, guess I'm gifted that way, but it is nice for the voices to be outside my head sometimes. Maybe the bigger enemy is my dysfunction. There are two main buggers here: Asbergers and Seasonal Affect Disorder. My spellcheck didn't like asbergers and wanted to change it to beefburgers. Sure would taste better. So asbergers is a social disease to a great extent. Difficulty socializing, making new friends, meeting new people. My first impression is often jerk. I'm sure that might be good if I was a Communist leader but not helping my life much. And Sad is the Northwest disease. Without exposure to sun and it's warmth my whole world turns dark. What makes this a trifecta is depression. I always figured my depression was pretty mild, but with the death of Robyn Williams, it has become apparent to me that it is quite the opposite. During that time I posted on fb what it is like inside of me during depression. It was the first time I've ever been able to imagine myself into that mental state in order to explain it. Unfortunately, I spent a few weeks or more trying to dig myself out of the hole that caused. I don't think I can read that again without crying. Some days I drop the kids off at school, put Emma to bed after a while, and then curl up on the couch under a blanket and sleep. The world just looks so cold and ugly.
So here's my plan. Change and new things are enemies of mine so the plan, the very very simple plan, will take some time to implement. I'm gonna try cinnamon flavor fclo and when I can't seem to venture out to the world (actually the world is ok, like Walmart or Autozone, but going to the shop or just doing laundry is hard) I'm gonna partner with my savior. Maybe reading scripture and journaling or blogging (see, already started) or praying for myself and others. These are probably the more positive things but a movie is not a terrible thing. All things in moderation right? Something like that. All said and done, I have a very blessed life. I have a great job, an awesome wife, super duper kids, and God provides for all my needs. Yes, even in my depression God is there. Clearing some rocks out of the way, pulling my sorry butt over others, He never leaves, He never will. He blesses me sooo richly.
This is not to make you feel bad for me. These are my demons--some of them. You have your demons. We all do. So what are your demons? How will you, how do you handle them? This is why we have the body of Christ. Why we NEED the body of Christ. There are many people who lighten my load, who help me put it in perspective. Sometimes I get to help with your burden. We need each other. Sometimes those demons are conquerable. I desperately want to be there to help you find relief from your burdens. To shine God's light in the dark places. To offer hope. There is light, and here is where it is. Some of you will never find relief until I step into the place, the void reserved for me, and do what God has reserved just for me. Some of my stuff will never be healed until you step into that similar empty place and do what God has given you to do. What a shame it is when we see church as only take, as only what will fill me. This is a selfish disease, probably most pronounced in Americans. Just like marriage, if I give first I will surely be filled.
Is this a good place to end? I really get inspired about things but then often don't know how to wrap up so to speak. My mom just called to tell me her dog hurt Josh pretty good on his leg below the knee so now my thoughts are kinda scattered. It's how life goes, huh? Something always bumping off course. Mmmm, beefburgers.......it is past lunch. Now I feel kinda extra stupid. It's aspergers with a p not a b. Now added to my spellcheck dictionary. but beefburgers is in there. Wouldn't that be two words? Hmmm.
It's not just the busyness of it all but there aren't a lot of adults to talk to at work. I make sure to talk to myself as much as possible, guess I'm gifted that way, but it is nice for the voices to be outside my head sometimes. Maybe the bigger enemy is my dysfunction. There are two main buggers here: Asbergers and Seasonal Affect Disorder. My spellcheck didn't like asbergers and wanted to change it to beefburgers. Sure would taste better. So asbergers is a social disease to a great extent. Difficulty socializing, making new friends, meeting new people. My first impression is often jerk. I'm sure that might be good if I was a Communist leader but not helping my life much. And Sad is the Northwest disease. Without exposure to sun and it's warmth my whole world turns dark. What makes this a trifecta is depression. I always figured my depression was pretty mild, but with the death of Robyn Williams, it has become apparent to me that it is quite the opposite. During that time I posted on fb what it is like inside of me during depression. It was the first time I've ever been able to imagine myself into that mental state in order to explain it. Unfortunately, I spent a few weeks or more trying to dig myself out of the hole that caused. I don't think I can read that again without crying. Some days I drop the kids off at school, put Emma to bed after a while, and then curl up on the couch under a blanket and sleep. The world just looks so cold and ugly.
So here's my plan. Change and new things are enemies of mine so the plan, the very very simple plan, will take some time to implement. I'm gonna try cinnamon flavor fclo and when I can't seem to venture out to the world (actually the world is ok, like Walmart or Autozone, but going to the shop or just doing laundry is hard) I'm gonna partner with my savior. Maybe reading scripture and journaling or blogging (see, already started) or praying for myself and others. These are probably the more positive things but a movie is not a terrible thing. All things in moderation right? Something like that. All said and done, I have a very blessed life. I have a great job, an awesome wife, super duper kids, and God provides for all my needs. Yes, even in my depression God is there. Clearing some rocks out of the way, pulling my sorry butt over others, He never leaves, He never will. He blesses me sooo richly.
This is not to make you feel bad for me. These are my demons--some of them. You have your demons. We all do. So what are your demons? How will you, how do you handle them? This is why we have the body of Christ. Why we NEED the body of Christ. There are many people who lighten my load, who help me put it in perspective. Sometimes I get to help with your burden. We need each other. Sometimes those demons are conquerable. I desperately want to be there to help you find relief from your burdens. To shine God's light in the dark places. To offer hope. There is light, and here is where it is. Some of you will never find relief until I step into the place, the void reserved for me, and do what God has reserved just for me. Some of my stuff will never be healed until you step into that similar empty place and do what God has given you to do. What a shame it is when we see church as only take, as only what will fill me. This is a selfish disease, probably most pronounced in Americans. Just like marriage, if I give first I will surely be filled.
Is this a good place to end? I really get inspired about things but then often don't know how to wrap up so to speak. My mom just called to tell me her dog hurt Josh pretty good on his leg below the knee so now my thoughts are kinda scattered. It's how life goes, huh? Something always bumping off course. Mmmm, beefburgers.......it is past lunch. Now I feel kinda extra stupid. It's aspergers with a p not a b. Now added to my spellcheck dictionary. but beefburgers is in there. Wouldn't that be two words? Hmmm.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Journaling on Mark 16
There wasn't much I really felt needed to be journaled on in chapter 16. That time when your dad leaves for work and you don't want him to go. Even though the second time Jesus left them was a supernatural leaving I have to imagine there was heart break burning inside. Kinda sealed who Jesus is.
Journaling on Mark 15
15:1-15 Pilate is just one of many people who are like pieces in a giant cosmic clock. As each piece does it's job, Jesus gets closer and closer to the cross, to redemption for all of mankind. In a way we should be thankful to Pilate, for his cowardice. For bowing to the people instead of doing what he knew was right.
15:3-5 Pilate had had many men come before him. Most of them would say anything to escape death. Jesus says nothing but what is necessary to ensure death. Imagine for a moment all these people; Pilate, Judas Iscariot, the high priest and his cohorts, the company of soldiers in vs. 16, imagine all of these people met God 1900 years ago and know the story in a way we don't yet. I wonder how they would tell their story now. They killed Jesus and then met Him in His glory. Awkward! Imagine they know what they've done and yet Jesus and His daddy still love them. What a sad revelation to find this truth too late.
15:29-32 As I read this I want to rise up and defend Him. As if Jesus has some insecurity that needs to be defended. But it's only my insecurity showing up that I care about what people say about me.
15:33 I would think there would have been mass panic when it suddenly got dark from 12-3pm. If there was it was not important to the gospel writers, nor is there any mention of how it went dark--like sun went out or dark clouds or? I've always been curious.
15:3-5 Pilate had had many men come before him. Most of them would say anything to escape death. Jesus says nothing but what is necessary to ensure death. Imagine for a moment all these people; Pilate, Judas Iscariot, the high priest and his cohorts, the company of soldiers in vs. 16, imagine all of these people met God 1900 years ago and know the story in a way we don't yet. I wonder how they would tell their story now. They killed Jesus and then met Him in His glory. Awkward! Imagine they know what they've done and yet Jesus and His daddy still love them. What a sad revelation to find this truth too late.
15:29-32 As I read this I want to rise up and defend Him. As if Jesus has some insecurity that needs to be defended. But it's only my insecurity showing up that I care about what people say about me.
15:33 I would think there would have been mass panic when it suddenly got dark from 12-3pm. If there was it was not important to the gospel writers, nor is there any mention of how it went dark--like sun went out or dark clouds or? I've always been curious.
Journaling on Mark 14
14:1 Amazing. These guys had waited hundreds and hundreds of years for the son of David to show up. The excitement for His coming passed down from generation to generation. The day finally arrives, He's here, and they can't wait to kill Him. To silence this man, this teacher, who seeks to overturn their way of life, to remove the comfort of their sacrifices and outward piety. He shows them their faults, and they want to bury Him and keep all their dirty little secrets and shame buried deep. But, aren't we just like them when we think our way is best and God, well, He just doesn't understand.
14:2 Was it that Jesus was stealing their thunder or that Jesus was condemning their religion? Probably both! The people as a whole loved Jesus for all the reasons the Pharisees hated Him. The Pharisees have controlled the people for a long time so they understand there is a time and a place for all things. And control they did. For in a weeks time the crowd they didn't want to riot against them would riot for them for to execute the king. Jesus.
14:3-9 Verses like this make me smile because almost 2,000 years ago Jesus said her story would be told in memory of her and I sit here reading it.
14:10-11 I've always kinda wondered why He had to be betrayed. Like if Judas hadn't betrayed Him the Pharisees would have just given up. Well guys, if someone could just tell us where to find this Jesus Christ superstar we could find a way I'm sure to kill Him, somehow. But, oh well.
14:17-19 The heart can be a scary creature. These guys have spent 3 to 3-1/2 years together and I'm sure know each other inside and out, yet they each question themselves rather than another of the group. They must have had no idea Judas was capable of this betrayal. Maybe too, they had each been shown so much of themselves they didn't know was there, the thought is. I don't think I could be the one but maybe Jesus knows something about me that I don't. I hope not. In another place it says Jesus told Judas to go and do it. Even with this the disciples did not know Judas was betraying Jesus.
14:27-50 There is a certain romance about the future or glorification of response in a yet to happen circumstance. I imagine myself greater, nobler, capable of withstanding great pain or humiliation. Yet when the time comes, often the delusions shows itself. This is what happened here. The reality came suddenly, a fairytale ended and darkness exploded. What are you doing? He's done nothing wrong. He's a good guy. He wouldn't hurt a fly. Where are you taking Him? This doesn't even make sense. He's a teacher, He's not hurting anyone. In an instant the world of each disciple was turned upside down, inside out. Jesus, show them who you are. Your daddy is God. Did you lie to us? How can man hurt the son of God? This doesn't make sense. And Judas, what the heck are you doing? You are one of us. Just a bit ago we were eating together, what happened to you? I can't imagine in myself how turned around the world of each disciple was. The confusion and hurt inside must have been sickening. Yet this was the furnace. This was the time that forged something inside the 11 that would lead many others to glory and each of them to their death.
14:53-64 Jesus was not guilty of any crime, certainly not one worthy of death. Had He offered defense of Himself He likely would have been set free so He keeps His mouth shut. When He does finally speak, He says something very true but something He knew would anger the high priest and ensure He continued on His road to death. I believe He also came to a place where it would have been highly disrespectful to not answer. It may seem silly to us the need to be respectful, but Jesus loved or I guess loves this high priest just the same as you or I or Peter or John and was in a position due respect.
14:65 These are the highest of the religious leaders and should understand the need to love and respect all men even if you don't like them. Jesus displays this while they display the opposite.
14:66-72 This is Peter's undoing here, his unraveling. These three denials are the first half of his final forging. The other half is coming soon. I imagine everything inside of Peter is all jumbled up. He's given everything to Jesus, seen the unbelievable time after time. This is the Messiah. The Messiah! Upstairs being beaten. What could possibly be going on? What plan could Jesus have now? Just days ago we were coming into town triumphantly. The king coming home. All around was joyous celebration, laughing and dancing. Where has it all gone wrong? My king, were we wrong? You were so convincing. All those miracles. You calmed the sea. How can you have done so much and not been our savior, the Messiah? The one who would save us, restore our land, make all things right? None of this makes sense. No, it's not right. C'mon Jesus. Show them who you are. Use your power. Save yourself and us. But.....Are you just a fraud? As I write this I imagine if I were inside Peter's mind at these moments his thoughts would be shooting so fast, this way and that. Just a short glimpse would likely fill a book and I imagine that book crying. Sitting on the shelf with tears pouring out. Such anguish of soul was Peter that He had no faculties to make sense of it. Somewhere deep inside he knows the truth. That Jesus is about to die. But this truth has never fit into the story right. It doesn't belong. He even told Jesus as much and Jesus called him Satan and said to get behind him. What was that? This is the great intersection. All Peter knows one way, and all he doesn't the other way. The stoplight is broken and it's all crashing together. He responds just as most of us would. He's not denying himself, but Jesus. Soon it will all change.
14:2 Was it that Jesus was stealing their thunder or that Jesus was condemning their religion? Probably both! The people as a whole loved Jesus for all the reasons the Pharisees hated Him. The Pharisees have controlled the people for a long time so they understand there is a time and a place for all things. And control they did. For in a weeks time the crowd they didn't want to riot against them would riot for them for to execute the king. Jesus.
14:3-9 Verses like this make me smile because almost 2,000 years ago Jesus said her story would be told in memory of her and I sit here reading it.
14:10-11 I've always kinda wondered why He had to be betrayed. Like if Judas hadn't betrayed Him the Pharisees would have just given up. Well guys, if someone could just tell us where to find this Jesus Christ superstar we could find a way I'm sure to kill Him, somehow. But, oh well.
14:17-19 The heart can be a scary creature. These guys have spent 3 to 3-1/2 years together and I'm sure know each other inside and out, yet they each question themselves rather than another of the group. They must have had no idea Judas was capable of this betrayal. Maybe too, they had each been shown so much of themselves they didn't know was there, the thought is. I don't think I could be the one but maybe Jesus knows something about me that I don't. I hope not. In another place it says Jesus told Judas to go and do it. Even with this the disciples did not know Judas was betraying Jesus.
14:27-50 There is a certain romance about the future or glorification of response in a yet to happen circumstance. I imagine myself greater, nobler, capable of withstanding great pain or humiliation. Yet when the time comes, often the delusions shows itself. This is what happened here. The reality came suddenly, a fairytale ended and darkness exploded. What are you doing? He's done nothing wrong. He's a good guy. He wouldn't hurt a fly. Where are you taking Him? This doesn't even make sense. He's a teacher, He's not hurting anyone. In an instant the world of each disciple was turned upside down, inside out. Jesus, show them who you are. Your daddy is God. Did you lie to us? How can man hurt the son of God? This doesn't make sense. And Judas, what the heck are you doing? You are one of us. Just a bit ago we were eating together, what happened to you? I can't imagine in myself how turned around the world of each disciple was. The confusion and hurt inside must have been sickening. Yet this was the furnace. This was the time that forged something inside the 11 that would lead many others to glory and each of them to their death.
14:53-64 Jesus was not guilty of any crime, certainly not one worthy of death. Had He offered defense of Himself He likely would have been set free so He keeps His mouth shut. When He does finally speak, He says something very true but something He knew would anger the high priest and ensure He continued on His road to death. I believe He also came to a place where it would have been highly disrespectful to not answer. It may seem silly to us the need to be respectful, but Jesus loved or I guess loves this high priest just the same as you or I or Peter or John and was in a position due respect.
14:65 These are the highest of the religious leaders and should understand the need to love and respect all men even if you don't like them. Jesus displays this while they display the opposite.
14:66-72 This is Peter's undoing here, his unraveling. These three denials are the first half of his final forging. The other half is coming soon. I imagine everything inside of Peter is all jumbled up. He's given everything to Jesus, seen the unbelievable time after time. This is the Messiah. The Messiah! Upstairs being beaten. What could possibly be going on? What plan could Jesus have now? Just days ago we were coming into town triumphantly. The king coming home. All around was joyous celebration, laughing and dancing. Where has it all gone wrong? My king, were we wrong? You were so convincing. All those miracles. You calmed the sea. How can you have done so much and not been our savior, the Messiah? The one who would save us, restore our land, make all things right? None of this makes sense. No, it's not right. C'mon Jesus. Show them who you are. Use your power. Save yourself and us. But.....Are you just a fraud? As I write this I imagine if I were inside Peter's mind at these moments his thoughts would be shooting so fast, this way and that. Just a short glimpse would likely fill a book and I imagine that book crying. Sitting on the shelf with tears pouring out. Such anguish of soul was Peter that He had no faculties to make sense of it. Somewhere deep inside he knows the truth. That Jesus is about to die. But this truth has never fit into the story right. It doesn't belong. He even told Jesus as much and Jesus called him Satan and said to get behind him. What was that? This is the great intersection. All Peter knows one way, and all he doesn't the other way. The stoplight is broken and it's all crashing together. He responds just as most of us would. He's not denying himself, but Jesus. Soon it will all change.
Journaling on Mark 13
13:1-2 Because we have never experienced anything but this world it is difficult for us to take our focus off of it. While it is true the temple did get destroyed, I think Jesus is saying that even the greatest things in this world will pass away, our treasure must be above.
13:3-37 After Jesus had told the disciples above that the beauty of this world, the temple in this case, would pass away, He goes on to tell really of the end of all the earth, and of the son of man coming back. Imagine if, with our perspective, we could go back to this moment and be like, guys, this is Him. The one telling you the story will be the one coming in the clouds with fire. I don't think they would get it. I don't think I really get it. Oh, I know the basic facts, but don't think I really grasp the majesty of it all.
13:5-8 Boy, have we not seen a lot of wars and rumors of wars? Are we close? Maybe, maybe not. I don't really know. Four hundred years ago or so we had the seven year war. The whole world at war. one hundred years ago WWI, seventy years ago WWII. Everything can get worse than it is now. Likely it will. Jesus said to keep our eyes open, to watch the times, but He never changes our job, to be fisher's of men. The time will come when it's time, but now is our time. Our time to grow in relationship with our creator, to build up and grow others out of that relationship.
13:10 A lot of people are hanging their hats on this verse. Like the last item for God to check off on a long list and then, Bam, Jesus comes. I don't think it's like that. More like the workings of a clock. Hundreds of pieces all working together to bring about the desired end result. The correct time. Our world, our universe is a giant organism. And like that clock, it has an infinite number of pieces all working together to bring about the correct result--the right time. This is not to argue about the 10/40 window or any such thing. Every piece has it's purpose and will bring the whole into completion. I'm just not going to narrow down the prime importance of Christians as a whole to just one thing.
13:11-31 We could spend entire lifetimes deciphering Jesus' words on the end times, Paul, John, Daniel, and others, but to what end? The Pharisees and scribes and teachers of the law knew the scriptures better than anyone, yet they missed the Messiah. Not only missed, but killed. To me, this is a lesson showing the limits of projecting the picture on the wall when there are so many pieces that can be fit differently, and will make a different picture. Jesus said it--don't worry about tomorrow, today has enough worries of it's own.
13:14 The abomination that causes desolation-let the reader understand. I think when this happens, we will understand.
13:36 Do not let Him find you sleeping. Sleeping in this case would be immersed in the dream of this world wholly ignorant to the call of Christ.
13:3-37 After Jesus had told the disciples above that the beauty of this world, the temple in this case, would pass away, He goes on to tell really of the end of all the earth, and of the son of man coming back. Imagine if, with our perspective, we could go back to this moment and be like, guys, this is Him. The one telling you the story will be the one coming in the clouds with fire. I don't think they would get it. I don't think I really get it. Oh, I know the basic facts, but don't think I really grasp the majesty of it all.
13:5-8 Boy, have we not seen a lot of wars and rumors of wars? Are we close? Maybe, maybe not. I don't really know. Four hundred years ago or so we had the seven year war. The whole world at war. one hundred years ago WWI, seventy years ago WWII. Everything can get worse than it is now. Likely it will. Jesus said to keep our eyes open, to watch the times, but He never changes our job, to be fisher's of men. The time will come when it's time, but now is our time. Our time to grow in relationship with our creator, to build up and grow others out of that relationship.
13:10 A lot of people are hanging their hats on this verse. Like the last item for God to check off on a long list and then, Bam, Jesus comes. I don't think it's like that. More like the workings of a clock. Hundreds of pieces all working together to bring about the desired end result. The correct time. Our world, our universe is a giant organism. And like that clock, it has an infinite number of pieces all working together to bring about the correct result--the right time. This is not to argue about the 10/40 window or any such thing. Every piece has it's purpose and will bring the whole into completion. I'm just not going to narrow down the prime importance of Christians as a whole to just one thing.
13:11-31 We could spend entire lifetimes deciphering Jesus' words on the end times, Paul, John, Daniel, and others, but to what end? The Pharisees and scribes and teachers of the law knew the scriptures better than anyone, yet they missed the Messiah. Not only missed, but killed. To me, this is a lesson showing the limits of projecting the picture on the wall when there are so many pieces that can be fit differently, and will make a different picture. Jesus said it--don't worry about tomorrow, today has enough worries of it's own.
13:14 The abomination that causes desolation-let the reader understand. I think when this happens, we will understand.
13:36 Do not let Him find you sleeping. Sleeping in this case would be immersed in the dream of this world wholly ignorant to the call of Christ.
Journaling on Mark 12
12:1-11 Could not this vineyard be the earth? Men come proclaiming there is more, a great God, but they don't want more than this life, they don't want greatness, outside of this earth, they want to control what they see, to be lord over themselves. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to leaving this degenerated wasteland and going home. There is so much ugliness all around us. To think that people would steal kill and destroy for this. Sheesh, get a life.
12:13-17 We just had a discussoin on f.b. about idols. It ranged from you have to worchip it for it to be an idol, to any image is an idol. I thought of this scripture because Jesus does not say the coin is an idol, He doesn't say all belongs to God, quite the opposite. He says the coin belongs to Caesar because his name and image are on it. Jesus' entire mission was to usher in grace through His sacrifice and with that change our religion from what is seen on the outside to what is in the heart. Even in this instance they are hung up on who gets what. The real question is, where is your heart?
12:18-27 I once read a book that had about the same premise as the Shack. In this book people would get to heaven and meet in a circle of people comprised of their earthly family. This scripture came to mind. I just don't think our relationships will be the same. Plus, we will all be brothers and sisters of Christ so we are all brothers and sisters. It seems we will however know each other as evidenced by Jesus' telling of the rich man, Lazarus, and Abraham. The rich man knew Abraham and called him by name. Trying to understand our relationships and those dynamics in heaven while still on earth is quite futile. I believe things will change in ways we can't process with our sad little earth brains.
12:35-38 This is a genius scripture. Jesus is trying to peel back the veil that separates our reality from the truer reality. To take their minds off the idea that it's all about this world and introduce to them that there is so much more going on. To see the eternal implications of heaven and it's kinda smacking them in the face even if they don't realize it yet, because the Christ is right in front of them. They are touching the eternal every day.
12:38-40 Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's the saying anyways. The teachers of the law had long since forgotten why they had power and where it came from. Ironically, God has absolute power and is incorruptible. Sometimes the greatest leaders are those who don't want it because they are aware of the dangers--the pitfalls of power.
12:41-44 I have nothing to give. Jesus knew we would come up with this excuse, it's almost become a motto. But, He pre-empted our pathetic excuse by telling us about this widow who gave it all though it amounted to barely more than nothing. I know your thoughts says Jesus. Give something, give anything, just give.
12:13-17 We just had a discussoin on f.b. about idols. It ranged from you have to worchip it for it to be an idol, to any image is an idol. I thought of this scripture because Jesus does not say the coin is an idol, He doesn't say all belongs to God, quite the opposite. He says the coin belongs to Caesar because his name and image are on it. Jesus' entire mission was to usher in grace through His sacrifice and with that change our religion from what is seen on the outside to what is in the heart. Even in this instance they are hung up on who gets what. The real question is, where is your heart?
12:18-27 I once read a book that had about the same premise as the Shack. In this book people would get to heaven and meet in a circle of people comprised of their earthly family. This scripture came to mind. I just don't think our relationships will be the same. Plus, we will all be brothers and sisters of Christ so we are all brothers and sisters. It seems we will however know each other as evidenced by Jesus' telling of the rich man, Lazarus, and Abraham. The rich man knew Abraham and called him by name. Trying to understand our relationships and those dynamics in heaven while still on earth is quite futile. I believe things will change in ways we can't process with our sad little earth brains.
12:35-38 This is a genius scripture. Jesus is trying to peel back the veil that separates our reality from the truer reality. To take their minds off the idea that it's all about this world and introduce to them that there is so much more going on. To see the eternal implications of heaven and it's kinda smacking them in the face even if they don't realize it yet, because the Christ is right in front of them. They are touching the eternal every day.
12:38-40 Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's the saying anyways. The teachers of the law had long since forgotten why they had power and where it came from. Ironically, God has absolute power and is incorruptible. Sometimes the greatest leaders are those who don't want it because they are aware of the dangers--the pitfalls of power.
12:41-44 I have nothing to give. Jesus knew we would come up with this excuse, it's almost become a motto. But, He pre-empted our pathetic excuse by telling us about this widow who gave it all though it amounted to barely more than nothing. I know your thoughts says Jesus. Give something, give anything, just give.
Journaling on Mark 11
11:1-11 Prophecy of Old Testament fulfilled right here.
11:12-14, 20-25 I find it hard to believe that God (Jesus) withered the fig tree just so He could lecture the disciples about faith again. Maybe this is so. They passed this tree two days in a fow so maybe it was in a place that would offer a continued reminder of Jesus and of faith as Jesus was being killed and of course afterwards.
Scary thought to think that God will not forgive our sins if we do not forgive others also.
11:27-33 Jesus seems to only answer their (the religious leaders) questions with another question or a parable--there are exceptions of course. If they had seen Jesus heal and cast out demons yet didn't know where His power came from.....they knew it wasn't satan and they refused to believe it was God--the only two possible answers. So really, they knew the answer deep inside, just as all men do.
11:12-14, 20-25 I find it hard to believe that God (Jesus) withered the fig tree just so He could lecture the disciples about faith again. Maybe this is so. They passed this tree two days in a fow so maybe it was in a place that would offer a continued reminder of Jesus and of faith as Jesus was being killed and of course afterwards.
Scary thought to think that God will not forgive our sins if we do not forgive others also.
11:27-33 Jesus seems to only answer their (the religious leaders) questions with another question or a parable--there are exceptions of course. If they had seen Jesus heal and cast out demons yet didn't know where His power came from.....they knew it wasn't satan and they refused to believe it was God--the only two possible answers. So really, they knew the answer deep inside, just as all men do.
Journaling on Mark 10
10:2 This is the spirit of a Pharisee. How far can I go? How much is ok? If this is ok, can I do that too? The exact opposite of the gospel. First shall be last, get underneath and lift up, Jesus, others, and self.
10:2-12 The single biggest result of sin in our world is family breakdown. This break down is like a sin multiplier. First, sin causes families to implode, explode, or disintegrate in other ways, and this in turn leads to multitudes of more sin. Porn, affairs, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, abuse. All these and more are before and after effects of divorce and other family dysfunctions.
10:13-16 I have seen myself and many many others suffer and struggle much because we simply made simple things difficult. Over and over Jesus tells us to come to Him as a little child. I wonder if there could be some connection between our struggles and the things Jesus tells us repeatedly?
10:17, 18 Jesus never sinned, His death as a spotless, sinless lamb atoned our sins, and yet Jesus says He's not good. But Jesus also said "when you see me you see the Father". It seems to me that one answer here would be--good equals not tempted by sin, but even Jesus was tempted. Maybe Jesus was also trying to keep a type of separation here between Himself and God which could serve to keep their view of God undiluted by earthly things. Jesus could and would be accused of many things but being "good" like God would make Him equal in a way that they could accuse or see God in the same way. If we believe God can be tempted or weak in any way than He is no longer God. Maybe Jesus is trying to keep the filter they viewed God through spotless.
10:17-22 This man had lived a pure, morally upright life, but Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter. His heart. Who or what held his heart? It turns out that his wealth held his heart. The place where Jesus needed to be king.
10:23-25 In America our greatest wealth is security. We rely on our job to support us. If that fails, we have unemployment, cash assistance, food stamps, food banks, clothing banks, missions, churches and so on. We rely on our friends, our networks, our cars, government, schools, policemen, firemen, doctors and more. Netflix and Facebook we turn to for company. When do we truly have to rely on God? None of these things are evil. So what would be a definition of evil be? I think evil is absence of God. So anytime we go to these "other" things to get what we should rely on God for I think would be sin. How hard it is to put all this aside and give preference and rule and reign to God.
10:26, 27 This I believe is where God comes into our story, where grace comes in and makes the impossible possible.
10:28-31 Jesus is making a leftover stew here. You know, the one where you take all the leftovers in the fridge and make one stew or noodle mystery casserole. Or maybe it's more like the prize package at the end of a daytime tv game show. If you've left everything you get all this.....1.a hundred times as much in this age, 2. persecutions, 3. eternal life, 4. the last first and first last. Each part of this could be a whole sermon. The hundred times as much is looking pretty good (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields) until He sneaks in persecutions at the end. Umm...I'll pass on the 100x as many persecutions. It seems the positives would come from the body of Christ and the persecutions would be from outside-evil working against God. How sad it is that many times it is the body that persecutes it's own members. I have seen people leave the Christian church and God altogether and some go to other religions due to being hurt by fellow believers. Some of my Hebrew roots friends fall into this category. At least a few of them were hurt inside the Christian church. A close family member of mine has ended up in a new age religion. Where is the Love? First-last, last-first. Think Pharisees and Zaccheus. The teachers would have been expected to be first in line for Heaven but Jesus says "you brood of vipers, who told you to flee?" Zaccheus was considered the worst of sinners but as soon as he experiences Jesus, everything changed. Jesus says, today salvation has come to this house.
10:35-45 For the third time in as many chapters Jesus tells them He's gonna be killed. Right after this, or soon after, James and John ask to be seated at His right and left side in His kingdom. This is another reason I'm not Jesus. I'd only have had 10 disciples left after this. Bam! See that spot there,That was James and John. Once again Jesus reiterates that in this new thing He's teaching them the first are last and the last are first. In that culture, He would have had an easier time explaining space ships. They were born and raised in an external-works based society. Not until they received the Holy Spirit and fully grasped everything of the last 3-1/2 years do I think this started to make sense. Jesus taught them well because once they got it, they became the teachers, and they are still teaching us today.
10:46-52 Your faith has healed you. He had one of two ingredients necessary. He had faith, Jesus had power. With the Holy Spirit we now have both ingredients. Then he turned and followed Jesus. I wonder what became of him. He gets healed, follows Jesus, then a week later his Messiah is killed.
10:2-12 The single biggest result of sin in our world is family breakdown. This break down is like a sin multiplier. First, sin causes families to implode, explode, or disintegrate in other ways, and this in turn leads to multitudes of more sin. Porn, affairs, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, abuse. All these and more are before and after effects of divorce and other family dysfunctions.
10:13-16 I have seen myself and many many others suffer and struggle much because we simply made simple things difficult. Over and over Jesus tells us to come to Him as a little child. I wonder if there could be some connection between our struggles and the things Jesus tells us repeatedly?
10:17, 18 Jesus never sinned, His death as a spotless, sinless lamb atoned our sins, and yet Jesus says He's not good. But Jesus also said "when you see me you see the Father". It seems to me that one answer here would be--good equals not tempted by sin, but even Jesus was tempted. Maybe Jesus was also trying to keep a type of separation here between Himself and God which could serve to keep their view of God undiluted by earthly things. Jesus could and would be accused of many things but being "good" like God would make Him equal in a way that they could accuse or see God in the same way. If we believe God can be tempted or weak in any way than He is no longer God. Maybe Jesus is trying to keep the filter they viewed God through spotless.
10:17-22 This man had lived a pure, morally upright life, but Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter. His heart. Who or what held his heart? It turns out that his wealth held his heart. The place where Jesus needed to be king.
10:23-25 In America our greatest wealth is security. We rely on our job to support us. If that fails, we have unemployment, cash assistance, food stamps, food banks, clothing banks, missions, churches and so on. We rely on our friends, our networks, our cars, government, schools, policemen, firemen, doctors and more. Netflix and Facebook we turn to for company. When do we truly have to rely on God? None of these things are evil. So what would be a definition of evil be? I think evil is absence of God. So anytime we go to these "other" things to get what we should rely on God for I think would be sin. How hard it is to put all this aside and give preference and rule and reign to God.
10:26, 27 This I believe is where God comes into our story, where grace comes in and makes the impossible possible.
10:28-31 Jesus is making a leftover stew here. You know, the one where you take all the leftovers in the fridge and make one stew or noodle mystery casserole. Or maybe it's more like the prize package at the end of a daytime tv game show. If you've left everything you get all this.....1.a hundred times as much in this age, 2. persecutions, 3. eternal life, 4. the last first and first last. Each part of this could be a whole sermon. The hundred times as much is looking pretty good (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields) until He sneaks in persecutions at the end. Umm...I'll pass on the 100x as many persecutions. It seems the positives would come from the body of Christ and the persecutions would be from outside-evil working against God. How sad it is that many times it is the body that persecutes it's own members. I have seen people leave the Christian church and God altogether and some go to other religions due to being hurt by fellow believers. Some of my Hebrew roots friends fall into this category. At least a few of them were hurt inside the Christian church. A close family member of mine has ended up in a new age religion. Where is the Love? First-last, last-first. Think Pharisees and Zaccheus. The teachers would have been expected to be first in line for Heaven but Jesus says "you brood of vipers, who told you to flee?" Zaccheus was considered the worst of sinners but as soon as he experiences Jesus, everything changed. Jesus says, today salvation has come to this house.
10:35-45 For the third time in as many chapters Jesus tells them He's gonna be killed. Right after this, or soon after, James and John ask to be seated at His right and left side in His kingdom. This is another reason I'm not Jesus. I'd only have had 10 disciples left after this. Bam! See that spot there,That was James and John. Once again Jesus reiterates that in this new thing He's teaching them the first are last and the last are first. In that culture, He would have had an easier time explaining space ships. They were born and raised in an external-works based society. Not until they received the Holy Spirit and fully grasped everything of the last 3-1/2 years do I think this started to make sense. Jesus taught them well because once they got it, they became the teachers, and they are still teaching us today.
10:46-52 Your faith has healed you. He had one of two ingredients necessary. He had faith, Jesus had power. With the Holy Spirit we now have both ingredients. Then he turned and followed Jesus. I wonder what became of him. He gets healed, follows Jesus, then a week later his Messiah is killed.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Mark ch.9
9:9-10 Some things we are not meant to know now--that could mean in this present age or just in this moment of time, and God will reveal it to us at a later time. The disciples didn't understand what Jesus meant when He said "rising from the dead." This was Peter, James, and John here, the inner circle, but 3 other times in ch. 8, 9, and 10 Jesus tells the disciples plainly that He will be killed and rise in 3 days. Even after He had risen they didn't get it. Jesus gave them many 'pieces' that later would add to the whole of their ministry, their faith.
9:14-29 The disciples had experience healing people and driving out demons but they couldn't drive this one out. The disciples are missing a key ingredient. They had not yet received the Holy Spirit, and unlike their earlier mission trip, this time Jesus had not given them His power. So they need to pray. They need power greater than their own.
9:23-25 The father gets the right answer here. This should be our prayer. Lord, I have faith, help me to have more. In this case though, it appears that Jesus heals his son not because of his faith but because of the crowd. Not healing him would have hurt the faith of the crowd. It also appears that in this case, healing him is likely what the father needed for his faith to grow.
9:37 This is the crux of kingdom relationship we must understand. When we love others, we are loving Jesus. When we love Jesus, we are loving God. All of relationship with God boil down to relationship with people. There is an additional element here. The child. Children have not been so contaminated by fact. They believe the impossible, they love without reason. There is a simple beauty to the kingdom that stymies our reason, eats at our logic. How many times do we ask a child, they answer simply, and we reply, "it's just not that simple."? Maybe it is. Maybe it is we who have it wrong.
9:38-41 I think it's our judgement. We see something different and condemn it; never stopping to put our kingdom glasses on, no, no, no, no, no, that's not the way to do it. You are not the one to do it. How often do we crush the work of God because we don't know what He is doing?
9:42-50 Here Jesus is trying to show us just how grave it is for us to be out of tune with Him. When we are out of tune with Him we have the opportunity to send others to hell. Better be sensitive to the Spirit and work with than to........perhaps a little too much insensitivity to the Spirit and not only do we send others to hell but ourselves as well. Best to keep a finger on the pulse. Perhaps this is a place for a mentor or a prayer/accountability partner, definitely where our need for community is laid bare.
9:14-29 The disciples had experience healing people and driving out demons but they couldn't drive this one out. The disciples are missing a key ingredient. They had not yet received the Holy Spirit, and unlike their earlier mission trip, this time Jesus had not given them His power. So they need to pray. They need power greater than their own.
9:23-25 The father gets the right answer here. This should be our prayer. Lord, I have faith, help me to have more. In this case though, it appears that Jesus heals his son not because of his faith but because of the crowd. Not healing him would have hurt the faith of the crowd. It also appears that in this case, healing him is likely what the father needed for his faith to grow.
9:37 This is the crux of kingdom relationship we must understand. When we love others, we are loving Jesus. When we love Jesus, we are loving God. All of relationship with God boil down to relationship with people. There is an additional element here. The child. Children have not been so contaminated by fact. They believe the impossible, they love without reason. There is a simple beauty to the kingdom that stymies our reason, eats at our logic. How many times do we ask a child, they answer simply, and we reply, "it's just not that simple."? Maybe it is. Maybe it is we who have it wrong.
9:38-41 I think it's our judgement. We see something different and condemn it; never stopping to put our kingdom glasses on, no, no, no, no, no, that's not the way to do it. You are not the one to do it. How often do we crush the work of God because we don't know what He is doing?
9:42-50 Here Jesus is trying to show us just how grave it is for us to be out of tune with Him. When we are out of tune with Him we have the opportunity to send others to hell. Better be sensitive to the Spirit and work with than to........perhaps a little too much insensitivity to the Spirit and not only do we send others to hell but ourselves as well. Best to keep a finger on the pulse. Perhaps this is a place for a mentor or a prayer/accountability partner, definitely where our need for community is laid bare.
Mark ch.8
I hope somebody enjoys reading these. I've gone all the way through Mark but I've been typing these on my phone so it takes forever, just a little lazy when it comes to taking time to sit down and actually do this. Of course, there is that little thing of actually finishing something. That's kind of a rarity in itself. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, God bless.
8:11-12 The Pharisees asked for a sign. Jesus had done many miraculous things up to this point, even His disciples had done so on their mission trip. None of this was done in secret. The Pharisees had seen much of this, yet they asked for a sign from heaven. Another sign. Jesus refuses their request. He knew that another sign would only serve to harden their hears further. In another book is added--no sign shall be given except the sign of Jonah. Jonah went to Ninevah and performed no miracles, preached repent, and they did so. Jesus came with lots of miracles and preached repent and the religious folk asked for more signs. Their hearts were already hard as stone.
8:14-21 The disciples had seen Jesus do many miraculous things, they also had done some, but somehow they still didn't get it.
8:22-26 This is the only recorded miracle where Jesus has to do it twice before the person is healed. Not only this but Jesus also took him out of his village to heal him. Both of these were quite unusual. Jesus doesn't heal just to show His power, He heals to reach us deep down inside. I imagine He partially healed this man in order to allow his faith time to grow. And I believe his village was a hindrant to his faith. Jesus says "don't go into the village". He doesn't have to tell anyone he's been healed as they would have known immediately. The villagers might have stolen his new found faith if given a chance. The first part of his healing is on the faith of those who brought him to Jesus. The second however, is on his faith. That's the whole point. The people didn't NEED to be healed, they would have continued to live out there lives as they always had and been ok. No, Jesus heals No.1 to show His power, and No.2 to spark the faith of them and those around them. To show everyone that something new was here. Hey, pay attention. Heaven has come to earth and is right in front of you. Believe in me and you shall join me in my kingdom. Everything Jesus does in some way point to this core directive. It's all about your eternity. Instead of praying for someones behavior to change, pray for their relationship with God to grow, or pray for them to find a relationship with God. Once that seed has been planted deep inside, God can begin, or continue, to grow them. Everything grows out of the seed within. When that seed changes or comes alive, then the behaviors and actions of un-health will also begin to change. This is why it's so futile to fight for anti-abortion legislation, or a Christian nation, or other such noble purposes. The necessary change does not come from the top down but rather from deep inside. The heart is the necessary change. When the heart changes, then everything else does also.
8:27-30 Over and over we see the disciples just not get it. Here, Peter proclames Jesus is "The Messiah", so it's not that they just don't get it. They get that Jesus is the Messiah, they just don't understand who the Messiah is, what He is all about.
8:31-33 Peter sure takes the brunt of things, He's like Jesus' lead go getter. He rises to the top over and over only to fall the hardest--both here and at Jesus' execution. This is the process of forging. Peter is the Rock. This rock must not be broken, therefore Jesus breaks him in certain ways in order to forge him into a man who will not break. A man who knows that the prize is far greater than the punishment.
8:33 How often could this be said of each of us? How many times do we pray for God to bind Satan or destroy our sin nature when in reality it is God putting us through this thing-maybe even at our own prayer for growth. Too often our view is of one piece when God has the whole picture and can see where this piece fits.
8:34-38 This is us. No where in here is going to church every Sunday and back to life on Monday. No, this is a once for all battle call.
8:11-12 The Pharisees asked for a sign. Jesus had done many miraculous things up to this point, even His disciples had done so on their mission trip. None of this was done in secret. The Pharisees had seen much of this, yet they asked for a sign from heaven. Another sign. Jesus refuses their request. He knew that another sign would only serve to harden their hears further. In another book is added--no sign shall be given except the sign of Jonah. Jonah went to Ninevah and performed no miracles, preached repent, and they did so. Jesus came with lots of miracles and preached repent and the religious folk asked for more signs. Their hearts were already hard as stone.
8:14-21 The disciples had seen Jesus do many miraculous things, they also had done some, but somehow they still didn't get it.
8:22-26 This is the only recorded miracle where Jesus has to do it twice before the person is healed. Not only this but Jesus also took him out of his village to heal him. Both of these were quite unusual. Jesus doesn't heal just to show His power, He heals to reach us deep down inside. I imagine He partially healed this man in order to allow his faith time to grow. And I believe his village was a hindrant to his faith. Jesus says "don't go into the village". He doesn't have to tell anyone he's been healed as they would have known immediately. The villagers might have stolen his new found faith if given a chance. The first part of his healing is on the faith of those who brought him to Jesus. The second however, is on his faith. That's the whole point. The people didn't NEED to be healed, they would have continued to live out there lives as they always had and been ok. No, Jesus heals No.1 to show His power, and No.2 to spark the faith of them and those around them. To show everyone that something new was here. Hey, pay attention. Heaven has come to earth and is right in front of you. Believe in me and you shall join me in my kingdom. Everything Jesus does in some way point to this core directive. It's all about your eternity. Instead of praying for someones behavior to change, pray for their relationship with God to grow, or pray for them to find a relationship with God. Once that seed has been planted deep inside, God can begin, or continue, to grow them. Everything grows out of the seed within. When that seed changes or comes alive, then the behaviors and actions of un-health will also begin to change. This is why it's so futile to fight for anti-abortion legislation, or a Christian nation, or other such noble purposes. The necessary change does not come from the top down but rather from deep inside. The heart is the necessary change. When the heart changes, then everything else does also.
8:27-30 Over and over we see the disciples just not get it. Here, Peter proclames Jesus is "The Messiah", so it's not that they just don't get it. They get that Jesus is the Messiah, they just don't understand who the Messiah is, what He is all about.
8:31-33 Peter sure takes the brunt of things, He's like Jesus' lead go getter. He rises to the top over and over only to fall the hardest--both here and at Jesus' execution. This is the process of forging. Peter is the Rock. This rock must not be broken, therefore Jesus breaks him in certain ways in order to forge him into a man who will not break. A man who knows that the prize is far greater than the punishment.
8:33 How often could this be said of each of us? How many times do we pray for God to bind Satan or destroy our sin nature when in reality it is God putting us through this thing-maybe even at our own prayer for growth. Too often our view is of one piece when God has the whole picture and can see where this piece fits.
8:34-38 This is us. No where in here is going to church every Sunday and back to life on Monday. No, this is a once for all battle call.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
God and satan
Have you ever wondered if God has ever been proud of satan? Like, satan is God's creation and he does bring amazing things out of us sometimes even if it is for bad, so I just wonder. Hmmm...
Mark 7
7:1-13 The religious leaders had put following law above loving people. God is love. Our love towards God is not flowers or candy or toys as it would be for a spouse or child, it is not that direct toward God. But, when we love others directly, we are expressing our love for God, to God.
7:15-19 No little amount of controversy in these verses. Jesus declared all foods clean. It seems here that Jesus is unbinding the Levitical or Mosaic law here. You know, the stuff about split hoofs and chews the cud. That's the way I read it. However, the law was for the Jewish people of Israel and I'm not one of them either. My guess is that those who still follow the Old Testament food law do not see pig and such as food because they are unclean animal and an unclean animal would never be considered food and therefore clean food has no relation to unclean animal. That's my best guess. Whether you believe this or believe bacon and all other foods are good to eat, we do good to honor our conscience, to honor God by obeying what our conviction holds.
7:20-23 Jesus went to great pains to try and teach us that the heart is what matters. In the old way I could make an offering and follow the law, but have hardness in my heart. With Jesus however, it is no longer based on what is seen externally but in the heart. This is why we struggle so. We can't see the heart so we judge what we can see, the action. Too often the two are light years apart. Fortunately, God looks at the heart and gives us grace accordingly.
How often, if we knew, would we find that the man just busted for drunk driving or cheating on his wife one more time is the man in whose heart God is working mighty change? Yet I judge him as being the same old drunkard or the guy that will never learn to keep it in his pants. The way I judge him is the way I will treat him. I may destroy the work God is doing without even knowing, all because I judge.
7:24-30 Jesus came to the Jews. The Jews were God's chosen people and He needed to teach them the father heart of God so they could be missionaries to all people's of the earth.. the disciples had enough on their plate already, they were not ready to understand the gift of God was no longer just for Jew, but for every man, everywhere. As such, Jesus tried to keep his work mostly to the Jewish. Here though was an outsider who already knew what Jesus was teying so hard to teach the disciples. Jesus didn't just, oh, what the heck, since your here I'll go ahead and do this. No, Jesus heals her daughter because of her faith. She was not leaving without what she came for. Oh that we would have that kind of faith.
7:31-37 There is a great parallel between Jeus' ministry and the way God modulates free will and destiny in our lives. Jesus is trying to control His fame, His destiny. He needs to achieve or establish His God-head to the disciples, yet still end up on the cross. Here Jesus is controlling or preserving His (destiny) by leaving the Jewish areas and going into more pagan areas, preventing the people from trying to crown Him. But at the same time He doesn't control their (free will) by choosing who comes to Him for healing. Same is true in our lives. God has an end game for each of us and He controls certain details but at the same time He gives us free will for other details and yet we always end up precisely where we are supposed to be. So they bring a deaf and mostly mute person to Jesus and He heals him. He allowed their free will. Then He commands them not to tell anyone. His control. But they go and blabber it to everyone. Seems like chaos for Jesus' ministry. Yet, He still ends up exactly where He needs to be after 3-1/2 years of this. So it is in our lives. Looks like so many years of chaos, but .......
7:15-19 No little amount of controversy in these verses. Jesus declared all foods clean. It seems here that Jesus is unbinding the Levitical or Mosaic law here. You know, the stuff about split hoofs and chews the cud. That's the way I read it. However, the law was for the Jewish people of Israel and I'm not one of them either. My guess is that those who still follow the Old Testament food law do not see pig and such as food because they are unclean animal and an unclean animal would never be considered food and therefore clean food has no relation to unclean animal. That's my best guess. Whether you believe this or believe bacon and all other foods are good to eat, we do good to honor our conscience, to honor God by obeying what our conviction holds.
7:20-23 Jesus went to great pains to try and teach us that the heart is what matters. In the old way I could make an offering and follow the law, but have hardness in my heart. With Jesus however, it is no longer based on what is seen externally but in the heart. This is why we struggle so. We can't see the heart so we judge what we can see, the action. Too often the two are light years apart. Fortunately, God looks at the heart and gives us grace accordingly.
How often, if we knew, would we find that the man just busted for drunk driving or cheating on his wife one more time is the man in whose heart God is working mighty change? Yet I judge him as being the same old drunkard or the guy that will never learn to keep it in his pants. The way I judge him is the way I will treat him. I may destroy the work God is doing without even knowing, all because I judge.
7:24-30 Jesus came to the Jews. The Jews were God's chosen people and He needed to teach them the father heart of God so they could be missionaries to all people's of the earth.. the disciples had enough on their plate already, they were not ready to understand the gift of God was no longer just for Jew, but for every man, everywhere. As such, Jesus tried to keep his work mostly to the Jewish. Here though was an outsider who already knew what Jesus was teying so hard to teach the disciples. Jesus didn't just, oh, what the heck, since your here I'll go ahead and do this. No, Jesus heals her daughter because of her faith. She was not leaving without what she came for. Oh that we would have that kind of faith.
7:31-37 There is a great parallel between Jeus' ministry and the way God modulates free will and destiny in our lives. Jesus is trying to control His fame, His destiny. He needs to achieve or establish His God-head to the disciples, yet still end up on the cross. Here Jesus is controlling or preserving His (destiny) by leaving the Jewish areas and going into more pagan areas, preventing the people from trying to crown Him. But at the same time He doesn't control their (free will) by choosing who comes to Him for healing. Same is true in our lives. God has an end game for each of us and He controls certain details but at the same time He gives us free will for other details and yet we always end up precisely where we are supposed to be. So they bring a deaf and mostly mute person to Jesus and He heals him. He allowed their free will. Then He commands them not to tell anyone. His control. But they go and blabber it to everyone. Seems like chaos for Jesus' ministry. Yet, He still ends up exactly where He needs to be after 3-1/2 years of this. So it is in our lives. Looks like so many years of chaos, but .......
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
musings on Mark ch.6
Mark 6:1-6. It's the people closest to us; coworkers, family, and children maybe especially that we have a hard time realizing talent and giftings in. It's so easy to brag about the friend we grew up with who is now a big star. A movie star or musician or such, but what about when we are still close to them? We can gain a sort of popularity or even influence by a connection to the distant star. How about?; we grew up together, went to the same school, same Bible camps, then I went to 4 years of seminary while he slept his way across Europe for 2 years and now he has an amazing ministry and I'm a cashier at Safeway working 50 hours a week just to get by? It's not fair! What's so special about him? Jesus grew up in a society or town where everyone is basically the same or equal. Suddenly He turns 30 and starts healing people and claiming to be the son of God. Everybody was like, we know who you are and where you come from, you can't fool us. Sometimes knowledge or familiarity blind us to the supernatural.
6:7-13 The disciples went out two by two and preached a simple message that people should repent. In 1:15 Jesus said "the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news." In 1:4 John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repent, repent, repent. Should our message be any different today?
Jesus gave the disciples authority over evil spirits-they drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. The disciples had yet to receive the Holy Spirit. It was only by Jesus' authority that they are able to do it now.
6:31 Jesus says to his disciples "come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Jesus is leading them in the importance of Sabbath rest after a time of ministry. Do we get this?!! Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was never meant to be a day of well meaning ritual, but rather a time of spiritual renewal thru rest, through no effort of our own.
6:34 Jesus had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. I once heard two older ladies talking. One said she'd been a Christian her whole life but it wasn't until her husband died that she had to forge a faith of her own. She had always lived off of her husband's faith. This is what these people had. The priest took care of all the religious duties and the people did what was commanded of them. They didn't have their own religion or relationship with God. Add to this that Jesus was set to bring change. This change was to take people from a religion of fulfilling duties and ritual (external) to a direct one on one personal religion with their creator (imternal). The religious leaders of the day had no understanding of this or ability to lead people into it. Hence they were sheep without a shepherd. So Jesus began teaching them many things.
6:45-46 One of the things we get stuck or hung up on is how much man was Jesus and how much God was Jesus? If He was God, then why did He have to pray to God, and if He was man, then why did the demons fear Him? Imagine Jesus has always been in perfect relationship. With God, with the Holy Spirit. Even with war in heaven they have always been in perfect unity, perfect harmony. Now Jesus has had to leave the group. He's doing a solo tour while His space sits empty on the team's bus. How hard that must have been. So Jesus sends everyone away. He isolates Himself, goes up on a mountainside, and prays. To the degree possible He joins the circle He's always been part of. How refreshing it must have been. Home again. No matter how He loved His companions, the 12 disciples and others, to some degree they were idiots. Trying their very best they could barely grasp the minimum of what Jesus was teaching them. How frustrating it had to be at times for Jesus. Here Jesus demonstrates variety in life. Time for family, time for friends, time to minister, time to recharge. As busy as His life was, He lived Ecclesiastes 3.
6:45-48 So Jesus sent His disciples away on the boat to go across the lake, the He goes away on his own, walks up a mountainside, talks with God. He walks back down and to the lake, then walks out on the water and gets half way across where He meets the disciples. They have been fighting some furious weather and have only managed to reach the middle of the lake. Even if it had been 9pm when they dismissed the 5 thousand men vs.44, that would mean they had been fighting the weather for an easy 6 hours or more. Their muscles had to be jello by now.
6:47-50 Jesus was heading out to the disciples but instead of going straight to them, He makes like He's walking past them. I wonder if He was letting his humorous side out. I can't wait to see how they react to this, this'll be epic. Or, was it something about having to call Him for help? Kind of like, you've obviously got this handled so I'll just keep on walking. I wonder what would have happened if they would have called out to Jesus before He showed up. What if Jesus had been praying on the hill and the disciples called to Him for help? I can only imagine He'd have been there Johhny on the spot. Jesus knew how long to leave them in their trial. He always knows the right time to step into our trial too. How many times do I miss what God is doing in my life because I focus so on getting out of my trial rather than discover what I am getting out of my trial. They'd been straining at the oars for hours and hours already. Also, I know I seem to forget that this is a monster storm when Jesus is walking on the water. Maybe the first miracle here isn't just Jesus walking on water, in a storm no less, but more like Jesus owning the laws of nature. Maybe in Jesus's eyes He's walking on a beautiful path through a sunny garden and they are right next to Him in a boat on stormy waters. Certainly, however Jesus sees the situation, He is master of it and He calls us, with His help, to be the master of ours.
6:51 Jesus was in a peaceful place already when He stepped into the boat, the boat and it's surroundings became enveloped in that peace.
6:52 The disciples had seen many, many miracles, yet, or maybe because of that, their hearts were hardened.--seeing the supernatural does not create faith in the supernatural--faith is built by believing without seeing.
6:54-56 Just a short time ago, before the disciples first mission trip, Jesus had been and could do little due to their lack of faith. But here in Gennesaret people are brought from everywhere to be healed. Jesus could have healed anyone and everyone. His goal is not to use His faith, but the people's faith. He didn't come to grow himself (that'd have been a quick visit), but to mature and build the faith of us, of them, his followers. So, where the people have great faith, Jesus does much, where they have little, Jesus does little. He still does some though, He gives them something to start with. This further illustrates the parable which says he who has much will be given more, and he who has little, even what he has will be taken away.
6:7-13 The disciples went out two by two and preached a simple message that people should repent. In 1:15 Jesus said "the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news." In 1:4 John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repent, repent, repent. Should our message be any different today?
Jesus gave the disciples authority over evil spirits-they drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. The disciples had yet to receive the Holy Spirit. It was only by Jesus' authority that they are able to do it now.
6:31 Jesus says to his disciples "come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Jesus is leading them in the importance of Sabbath rest after a time of ministry. Do we get this?!! Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was never meant to be a day of well meaning ritual, but rather a time of spiritual renewal thru rest, through no effort of our own.
6:34 Jesus had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. I once heard two older ladies talking. One said she'd been a Christian her whole life but it wasn't until her husband died that she had to forge a faith of her own. She had always lived off of her husband's faith. This is what these people had. The priest took care of all the religious duties and the people did what was commanded of them. They didn't have their own religion or relationship with God. Add to this that Jesus was set to bring change. This change was to take people from a religion of fulfilling duties and ritual (external) to a direct one on one personal religion with their creator (imternal). The religious leaders of the day had no understanding of this or ability to lead people into it. Hence they were sheep without a shepherd. So Jesus began teaching them many things.
6:45-46 One of the things we get stuck or hung up on is how much man was Jesus and how much God was Jesus? If He was God, then why did He have to pray to God, and if He was man, then why did the demons fear Him? Imagine Jesus has always been in perfect relationship. With God, with the Holy Spirit. Even with war in heaven they have always been in perfect unity, perfect harmony. Now Jesus has had to leave the group. He's doing a solo tour while His space sits empty on the team's bus. How hard that must have been. So Jesus sends everyone away. He isolates Himself, goes up on a mountainside, and prays. To the degree possible He joins the circle He's always been part of. How refreshing it must have been. Home again. No matter how He loved His companions, the 12 disciples and others, to some degree they were idiots. Trying their very best they could barely grasp the minimum of what Jesus was teaching them. How frustrating it had to be at times for Jesus. Here Jesus demonstrates variety in life. Time for family, time for friends, time to minister, time to recharge. As busy as His life was, He lived Ecclesiastes 3.
6:45-48 So Jesus sent His disciples away on the boat to go across the lake, the He goes away on his own, walks up a mountainside, talks with God. He walks back down and to the lake, then walks out on the water and gets half way across where He meets the disciples. They have been fighting some furious weather and have only managed to reach the middle of the lake. Even if it had been 9pm when they dismissed the 5 thousand men vs.44, that would mean they had been fighting the weather for an easy 6 hours or more. Their muscles had to be jello by now.
6:47-50 Jesus was heading out to the disciples but instead of going straight to them, He makes like He's walking past them. I wonder if He was letting his humorous side out. I can't wait to see how they react to this, this'll be epic. Or, was it something about having to call Him for help? Kind of like, you've obviously got this handled so I'll just keep on walking. I wonder what would have happened if they would have called out to Jesus before He showed up. What if Jesus had been praying on the hill and the disciples called to Him for help? I can only imagine He'd have been there Johhny on the spot. Jesus knew how long to leave them in their trial. He always knows the right time to step into our trial too. How many times do I miss what God is doing in my life because I focus so on getting out of my trial rather than discover what I am getting out of my trial. They'd been straining at the oars for hours and hours already. Also, I know I seem to forget that this is a monster storm when Jesus is walking on the water. Maybe the first miracle here isn't just Jesus walking on water, in a storm no less, but more like Jesus owning the laws of nature. Maybe in Jesus's eyes He's walking on a beautiful path through a sunny garden and they are right next to Him in a boat on stormy waters. Certainly, however Jesus sees the situation, He is master of it and He calls us, with His help, to be the master of ours.
6:51 Jesus was in a peaceful place already when He stepped into the boat, the boat and it's surroundings became enveloped in that peace.
6:52 The disciples had seen many, many miracles, yet, or maybe because of that, their hearts were hardened.--seeing the supernatural does not create faith in the supernatural--faith is built by believing without seeing.
6:54-56 Just a short time ago, before the disciples first mission trip, Jesus had been and could do little due to their lack of faith. But here in Gennesaret people are brought from everywhere to be healed. Jesus could have healed anyone and everyone. His goal is not to use His faith, but the people's faith. He didn't come to grow himself (that'd have been a quick visit), but to mature and build the faith of us, of them, his followers. So, where the people have great faith, Jesus does much, where they have little, Jesus does little. He still does some though, He gives them something to start with. This further illustrates the parable which says he who has much will be given more, and he who has little, even what he has will be taken away.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
thoughts on Mark ch.5
5:1-8 The demon was the one to speak to Jesus. The demon knew who Jesus was and even bowed down before Him using the possessed man's body. Not only does the demon believe, but bows down in fear knowing the power he was facing, afraid of what might happen to him.
5:9-13 I've always found this story strange.
#1 What were the demons (here we find out there are many demons possessing him) so afraid of that they would rather be sent into pigs. What is there in a pig to possess anyways?
#2 Why would Jesus submit to such a request? The Son of God even has mercy on demons.
#3 What did the demons gain? As soon as they were sent into the pigs the pigs ran into water and drowned.
I imagine it was avoidance of an impending doom. Once the pigs were dead they would be released to go to their next assignment or whatever and postpone their eventual punishment. Seems funny that the very thing (avoidance or procrastination) that we practice so often is the same tactic these demons use. Maybe one reason the demons are so good at their job with us is they face many of the same obstacles or life problems if you will as we do.
5:19 Post demon possessed man became a missionary.
5:25-30 I believe that Jesus set aside His God-head on earth and the Holy Spirit did the miracles and such, but it appears in this case the healing comes straight from Jesus as it is His power that healed the woman with bleeding.
5:25-34 Although it was power from Jesus that healed her, it was her faith that brought it to fruition.
5:9-13 I've always found this story strange.
#1 What were the demons (here we find out there are many demons possessing him) so afraid of that they would rather be sent into pigs. What is there in a pig to possess anyways?
#2 Why would Jesus submit to such a request? The Son of God even has mercy on demons.
#3 What did the demons gain? As soon as they were sent into the pigs the pigs ran into water and drowned.
I imagine it was avoidance of an impending doom. Once the pigs were dead they would be released to go to their next assignment or whatever and postpone their eventual punishment. Seems funny that the very thing (avoidance or procrastination) that we practice so often is the same tactic these demons use. Maybe one reason the demons are so good at their job with us is they face many of the same obstacles or life problems if you will as we do.
5:19 Post demon possessed man became a missionary.
5:25-30 I believe that Jesus set aside His God-head on earth and the Holy Spirit did the miracles and such, but it appears in this case the healing comes straight from Jesus as it is His power that healed the woman with bleeding.
5:25-34 Although it was power from Jesus that healed her, it was her faith that brought it to fruition.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
thoughts on Mark ch.4
4:24 It is said a lot "don't judge or you will be judged". Sometimes we apply this saying to things on earth and sometimes to our future as we meet God and are judged. We will all be judged, both here and by God. The variable is 'how will I be judged?' We live under grace and by the mercy of God are not destroyed for our wickedness, but allowed innumerable times per day to fail God's design for us. As such, God simply asks us to treat others, his other amazing creations, just as we are treated by Him. How we live in relationship to those around us is indeed how we live in relationship with God. How we fulfill the great commission, to love all people with the love of 1Cor 13, the measure we use to do that is the same measure that will be used to measure us, to judge us. The great commission is to go into all the world and make believers of all men. What is a believer? One who loves out of or thru the love if God. How do we make them believers? By loving them with Christ's love.
4:25 I build and restore bmx bikes from the late 70s-early 90s. The dream is for a bike to be so beautiful as to leave the mouths of fellow enthusiasts gaping wide open and drooling of course. I don't currently have the skills and likely monetary means to do so, but I'm getting closer. I started by just putting old bikes together that I could ride around on and since then each bike has gotten nicer as my skills and knowledge have improved. So it is with my walk with God. He has given me certain natural abilities and skills. When I use these they are honed and improved, and then seeing I've done well God gives me more. If I didn't use them, if I left that old bike outside and never put effort into it, nature would take it's course. Rust would set in and soon even what I had would be gone. So it is with the gifts of God. Left unused and discarded they will simply fade away. Like a foreign language never used, soon the memory of it as well as the muscle memory of the mouth will go away and no longer will you be able to speak it.
4:26-29 The Holy Spirit grows the kingdom of God. It is what we cannot see, the invisible worker. We may plant seed, we may water, but it is the great helper who puts it all together and makes it grow.
4:30-32 These verses talk of the kingdom of God being like a mustard seed. Super small yet becoming huge. I've seen the same of the believer. The smallest most insignificant person becoming huge as they lay their life down and dedicate everything to loving others. Sometimes we know not what God has planted inside us.
4:33&34 We've had thousands of years to study and dissect scripture with mixed results to say the least. Jesus explained everything to the disciples and yet they didn't understand. The Pharisees and religious leaders had all the info, they knew it all, yet they didn't understand. WE have so much info, yet so little understanding. Info, knowledge, is not key to our understanding. The Holy Spirit, relationship with our creator, relationship with His creation is key to our understanding.
4:35-41 Even though the disciples had seen many miracles and many amazing evidences, they still did not believe Jesus was the messiah. The Pharisees later would ask for a sign but Jesus said no sign would be given. Miracles strangely can distract us from God rather than enforcing belief. Faith comes from believing without seeing. When their evidence was removed (Jesus) they finally got it! The disciples finally believed.
4:25 I build and restore bmx bikes from the late 70s-early 90s. The dream is for a bike to be so beautiful as to leave the mouths of fellow enthusiasts gaping wide open and drooling of course. I don't currently have the skills and likely monetary means to do so, but I'm getting closer. I started by just putting old bikes together that I could ride around on and since then each bike has gotten nicer as my skills and knowledge have improved. So it is with my walk with God. He has given me certain natural abilities and skills. When I use these they are honed and improved, and then seeing I've done well God gives me more. If I didn't use them, if I left that old bike outside and never put effort into it, nature would take it's course. Rust would set in and soon even what I had would be gone. So it is with the gifts of God. Left unused and discarded they will simply fade away. Like a foreign language never used, soon the memory of it as well as the muscle memory of the mouth will go away and no longer will you be able to speak it.
4:26-29 The Holy Spirit grows the kingdom of God. It is what we cannot see, the invisible worker. We may plant seed, we may water, but it is the great helper who puts it all together and makes it grow.
4:30-32 These verses talk of the kingdom of God being like a mustard seed. Super small yet becoming huge. I've seen the same of the believer. The smallest most insignificant person becoming huge as they lay their life down and dedicate everything to loving others. Sometimes we know not what God has planted inside us.
4:33&34 We've had thousands of years to study and dissect scripture with mixed results to say the least. Jesus explained everything to the disciples and yet they didn't understand. The Pharisees and religious leaders had all the info, they knew it all, yet they didn't understand. WE have so much info, yet so little understanding. Info, knowledge, is not key to our understanding. The Holy Spirit, relationship with our creator, relationship with His creation is key to our understanding.
4:35-41 Even though the disciples had seen many miracles and many amazing evidences, they still did not believe Jesus was the messiah. The Pharisees later would ask for a sign but Jesus said no sign would be given. Miracles strangely can distract us from God rather than enforcing belief. Faith comes from believing without seeing. When their evidence was removed (Jesus) they finally got it! The disciples finally believed.
Monday, July 28, 2014
thoughts on Mark ch.3
3:1-6 Sometimes the letter of the law contradicts the heart of the law. The sabbath was meant to restore and repair-it is a day of restoration. The ultimate goal of the kingdom of God is to love others. To leave in suffering when healing is available is un-loving. When we condemn those living a gay lifestyle instead of loving them as Christ does, we are using the letter of the law to destroy those we are supposed to love.
3:22&29 Jesus did not use His God-head, His personal authority to heal and cast out demons, but rather it was the Holy Spirit doing the work. When the teachers of the law accused Jesus of casting out demons by beelzebub, they were calling the Holy Spirit satan,since it was the Holy Spirit doing the work. That is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
3:31-35 One of the earliest reasons that the religious leaders had to hate Jesus is that He claimed to be the son of God. Calling yourself the son of in their culture was the same as being equal to, so He was essentially claiming to be God. Here He is going much further and saying that anyone who does the will of God becomes a daughter or son of God thru being brother or sister to Jesus. This was incredulous heresy to the religious leaders. Up to this point, the best one could hope for is to be a slave or servant of God. Moses was a friend of God and King David was a man after God's own heart but now we get to be son's and daughter's. How much more intimate is that? Also, up to this point there is much talk about tribes and the lost tribe (which is the gentiles [me]) being returned. This was the only metaphor Jews could understand. But we have so much more than tribes and land, we have a royal king who is our brother, and a god, the God, who is our father.
3:22&29 Jesus did not use His God-head, His personal authority to heal and cast out demons, but rather it was the Holy Spirit doing the work. When the teachers of the law accused Jesus of casting out demons by beelzebub, they were calling the Holy Spirit satan,since it was the Holy Spirit doing the work. That is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
3:31-35 One of the earliest reasons that the religious leaders had to hate Jesus is that He claimed to be the son of God. Calling yourself the son of in their culture was the same as being equal to, so He was essentially claiming to be God. Here He is going much further and saying that anyone who does the will of God becomes a daughter or son of God thru being brother or sister to Jesus. This was incredulous heresy to the religious leaders. Up to this point, the best one could hope for is to be a slave or servant of God. Moses was a friend of God and King David was a man after God's own heart but now we get to be son's and daughter's. How much more intimate is that? Also, up to this point there is much talk about tribes and the lost tribe (which is the gentiles [me]) being returned. This was the only metaphor Jews could understand. But we have so much more than tribes and land, we have a royal king who is our brother, and a god, the God, who is our father.
thoughts on Mark ch.2
2:1-5 Jesus honored the faith of the paralytics friends by forgiving his (the paralytics) sins.
2:5-12 Saying "your sins are forgiven" is easy, there's no way to prove that it has been done or not done, but to HEAL the paralytic? The proof (in this case) or lack thereof is instant. It is likely the same level of difficulty to heal as to forgive sins, so Jesus proving that He had authority to do one also proves He has authority to do the other.
2:17 In the law, a sick person was cast out, an unbeliever or foreigner was outside the promises and could not be allowed in. Jesus is breaking down their ideology and replacing it with love, love that reaches out and pulls toward the broken, the hurting, the foreigner, the sinner.
2:18-20 Jesus' ministry was a 3-1/2 year mission trip. The disciples were feasting in the presence of the messiah, but when He left, they would mourn and fast for 40 days until they received the promised helper, the Holy Spirit.
2:23-28 The whole of everything God created is for us. To nourish and provide all our needs
after the need for God himself. The plants, the animals, all the earth is to feed and nourish us so we can turn around and praise the one who created it all. The sabbath was created to fill man's needs, not God's. It is a day of healing. Repairing or replacing what has been used up. If we are being down-trodden, or hurt, or broken by way of the sabbath, then the sabbath has no meaning, or worse really, we have reversed God's plan for it, for us.
2:5-12 Saying "your sins are forgiven" is easy, there's no way to prove that it has been done or not done, but to HEAL the paralytic? The proof (in this case) or lack thereof is instant. It is likely the same level of difficulty to heal as to forgive sins, so Jesus proving that He had authority to do one also proves He has authority to do the other.
2:17 In the law, a sick person was cast out, an unbeliever or foreigner was outside the promises and could not be allowed in. Jesus is breaking down their ideology and replacing it with love, love that reaches out and pulls toward the broken, the hurting, the foreigner, the sinner.
2:18-20 Jesus' ministry was a 3-1/2 year mission trip. The disciples were feasting in the presence of the messiah, but when He left, they would mourn and fast for 40 days until they received the promised helper, the Holy Spirit.
2:23-28 The whole of everything God created is for us. To nourish and provide all our needs
after the need for God himself. The plants, the animals, all the earth is to feed and nourish us so we can turn around and praise the one who created it all. The sabbath was created to fill man's needs, not God's. It is a day of healing. Repairing or replacing what has been used up. If we are being down-trodden, or hurt, or broken by way of the sabbath, then the sabbath has no meaning, or worse really, we have reversed God's plan for it, for us.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Thoughts on Mark ch. 1
These are my thoughts as I read thru the book of Mark. I am only putting scripture references in so you'll need to read along with your Bible if you want to know where I'm coming from. In some cases, you might read scripture first and have to go quite a ways through my comments before finding any correlation. I'm on Chapter 7 as I write this in ones and zeros so it's become apparent to me that these early comments are very short compared to ones to come. Please comment or debate if you like but be kind if you will.
Mark 1:4-John preached a baptism of repentance. Baptism was common for Gentiles, but Jews had no reason til now. Confess sins first, then be baptised. Beginning of a new life.
1:10-heaven being torn open-this wasn't like the clouds parting, this was a tearing of the fabric of our universe, our reality, wherein God's reality, the heavenly realm, and our reality, the earthly realm, were exposed to each other.
1:14-15 THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD: The kingdom of God is near.
1:9-25 Jesus did not begin His ministry until He had been baptised and received the Holy Spirit. Then He was tempted for 40 days. This 40 days was the furnace that forged Him for the work ahead. Notice Jesus didn't do any miracles until receiving the Holy Spirit.
1:38 Jesus came to preach
1:40-44 This may be the first person ever who could have fulfilled the law of showing himself to the priest to be declared pure after having had leprosy.-he did not however go to the priest.
1:23-25 & 40-45 Jesus' ministry had a time line and a master plan if you will. He needed to control the when and where or tempo of people's belief and disbelief also, to ensure the cross and fulfill all the Old Testament prophecy.
Mark 1:4-John preached a baptism of repentance. Baptism was common for Gentiles, but Jews had no reason til now. Confess sins first, then be baptised. Beginning of a new life.
1:10-heaven being torn open-this wasn't like the clouds parting, this was a tearing of the fabric of our universe, our reality, wherein God's reality, the heavenly realm, and our reality, the earthly realm, were exposed to each other.
1:14-15 THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD: The kingdom of God is near.
1:9-25 Jesus did not begin His ministry until He had been baptised and received the Holy Spirit. Then He was tempted for 40 days. This 40 days was the furnace that forged Him for the work ahead. Notice Jesus didn't do any miracles until receiving the Holy Spirit.
1:38 Jesus came to preach
1:40-44 This may be the first person ever who could have fulfilled the law of showing himself to the priest to be declared pure after having had leprosy.-he did not however go to the priest.
1:23-25 & 40-45 Jesus' ministry had a time line and a master plan if you will. He needed to control the when and where or tempo of people's belief and disbelief also, to ensure the cross and fulfill all the Old Testament prophecy.
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